Reading the Mood

"Reading the Mood" (空気を読むこと) is a short story from 's store privilege for volume 5 of 2nd Year arc of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with other three short stories.

Summary
During the special exam, Karuizawa kept observing her surroundings, mainly focused on Suzune, as per Kiyotaka's request. Suzune suggested that the ideal opponent for the end-term exam would be Ichinose's class, Class B, and there were multiple reasons behind that. The first being that, unlike Sakayanagi or Ryūen, they would be able to fight freely against Class B without having to worry about any hidden tricks. The second being the fact that since it was class B, they would get extra class points if they won. And lastly, unlike Class C or Class D, Ichinose's class hadn't been able to perform well for some time now. Karuizawa thought that she had never listened seriously to Suzune before, but now since Kiyotaka had begun to expect something from her, she felt that her attention span had increased.

After Suzune finishes explaining her point, Karuizawa waits until Hirata supports Suzune before chiming in. As soon as Hirata agrees with Suzune's plan, Kei acting as if an idiot, agrees with Suzune's plan to target Class B. Right after Karuizawa expresses her support for Suzune's plan, everyone in the class expresses agreement that going for any other classes didn't have much merit. As the other students agree, Karuizawa shivers as she watches the class come together.

Since she had free time, she wanted to go talk to Kiyotaka, but she didn't want to bother him. She then thinks it's an important skill to read the mood and feels that she should continue playing her role. She then goes to chat with some girls that she was close to. Karuizawa knows that she must keep playing her role for as long as it takes. However, she wished for the special exam to end quickly so she could return to her dorm and go on a date with Kiyotaka.