"Oi, Ike. I investigated the Katsuragi case".

"Seriously? You're pretty good, Ayanokouji. I'm seeing you in a new light now". Saying that, Ike praised me while putting a hand on my shoulder. Was I even doing something that deserved being seen in a new light? Feeling a little doubt about how low Ike had evaluated me internally, I reported the situation to him.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who from where he was giving it to". That's not quite true. To be more specific, I couldn't find out the profile of any girl he could possibly be giving it to. No matter how much I investigated, I couldn't quite figure it out.

In the same school year, there is no one with that birthday date. However, I couldn't think of any student in the other school years as well.

In this case, wouldn't the person we're thinking of in a completely different location? Looking shocked, Yamauchi raised his head.

"This is bad...I knew this would happen. Just who is Katsuragi going to give his present to?". Rather than joy or excitement, Yamauchi instead made a sorrowful expression as he starts talking as if he's understood something.

"Hey, Kanji. Didn't you think Valentine's was hell back in middle school?".

"W-w-what are you saying all of a sudden? Sure, it was tough for me. But what about it?".

"Basically isn't this a sort of extension of that...that guy, I think he could have bought it for himself".

"Surely no---n-no it could be possible. That baldie doesn't seem like he'd be popular...".

The two of them seemed to be convinced after that brief, hard-to-understand exchange. But still, it was a development that I had never expected and so I decided to ask a question.

"Are you saying he bought himself a present for his birthday?".

"What else could it be, Ayanokouji". They glared at me as if they were angry. Leaving that aside, normally one won't buy themselves their own presents, would they? Of course I did consider that he may have been rewarding himself with it to a degree. Like eating something delicious, or buying something he wants. But in this case, I don't think that's applicable.

He went out of his way to get a package a girl would like, complete with the wrappings and the chocolate inside. If he simply has that much of a sweet tooth, it would have suited him better to buy it in a different form.

"You seriously don't get it?".

"...unfortunately" I replied.

"No matter how you look at it, Katsuragi doesn't seem like the type to be popular with girls, right? But still, he is the leader of Class A".

I'm going to withhold making any comments on that statement.

"That means he must be rather prideful. He would definitely want to make others around him think he's popular. In other words, it's an act".

"It means instead of saying it's something he bought for himself, he's going to play it off as if someone had given it to him, that's what it means".

They must have felt there was nothing wrong with the conclusion they reached, since both Ike and Yamauchi nodded in agreement.

"I also did the same back in middle school too, I made it look like I got it from the cutest girl in the school".

"Hearing it like that doesn't it sort of feel, hollow?".

"Isn't it obvious? Of course it feels hollow, but it's better than the crushing despair of not getting any". He got angry. It seems for Ike, events like Valentine's and birthdays truly are huge events.

"By the way Haruki, you were also in the same boat weren't you?".

"Huh? No, I'm different. I was popular with the girls, you know?" Yamauchi replied to Ike.

"You liar. Then why did you say something like that? Wasn't it because you thought he was doing the same thing as you?".

"I'm telling you that's not true. In middle school, there was an unpopular guy like Kanji that I knew, that's all" Yamauchi said. It was obviously a bluff, but I had neither the means nor the intention to find out the truth.

"But that's just a guess, right?".

"No there's no doubt about it. That absolutely has to be the case!". It seems they've decided there's no further room to doubt the conclusion they've reached, since they did not argue with each other any further.

"Hey Haruki, maybe we've misunderstood baldie...Katsuragi?".

"Yeah. I was treating him with hostility because he was Class A, but now all of a sudden he seems closer to us".

"That means, you were also an unpopular guy who bought presents for himself after all".

"No. It just reminded me of my classmate and I felt sorry for him that's all" Yamauchi replied to Ike.

Yamauchi stubborn denies Ike's statements.

"Do you want to cooperate for a moment?". All of a sudden, something like that was said.

"What do you mean by cooperate?".

"We're going to prepare a birthday present for him".

From a state of antagonism towards Katsuragi, it seems Ike has instead changed to a state of sympathy.

"Sure, I understand it's best getting one from a girl. But that's impossible. And in that case, wouldn't it be a blessing to receive a birthday present from someone else?".

I felt something was off with that logic, but I would be hard-pressed to deny it all.

Rather than buying a present for yourself for a lie, one would want to receive a present from someone else. It's just, the thing to be careful of is sympathy can surprisingly be a troublesome thing. If Katsuragi did indeed buy the present for himself, would he even be ok with Ike and the others, who are in the know, celebrating it? On the other hand, he may instead get angry and reject their sympathy. Ike and Yamauchi have already begun discussing what to buy for him, but once again I felt doubt regarding that conclusion.

Indeed there are no girls whose birthday is tomorrow. But it's not like all other possibilities have been cut out. The teachers of this school and other authorities, including the other employees on school grounds. If we broaden the definition of 'girl' there are still a lot of candidates left.

And besides if it's really a present for himself, would he just boldly buy it just like that. And on top of that, Katsuragi's outfit was the unusual uniform in the middle of summer vacation. It couldn't have done anything but make him stand out. It's easy to imagine people would be suspicious if they saw him, and normally one wouldn't act in uniform.

"Ayanokouji, you fork over some points too. If the three of us each have around 1500 points we could buy something nice for him".

I've already heard this kind of talk yesterday though.....

In other words, my expenditure would double. The expenditure of 1000 points is not a small thing.

"So Ayanokouji, this may be a little fast but tomorrow let's celebrate Katsuragi's birthday".

Has their switch already been turned, it seems the two of them are intent on buying Katsuragi a present.

"Are you really going to buy one?".

"Isn't it obvious we're going to buy? Don't you also think of saving an unpopular, lone man?"

Ahh, this is becoming more and more troublesome so I chose not to refuse them. Having decided to meet up tomorrow, the conversation ended and we disbanded for the day.