A/N: Here is chapter 2! =)

Monty.

-2- Creating Connections

The next few days became busy ones around the school as every student competing for class president put forth their best effort. Some even went to great lengths as to make speeches during lunch breaks in the hallways, classrooms, cafeteria and the school back field. Advertisement posters were put up with each student outlining their motto they would have as a class president and the promises they make to the student body. Nakami was on a good roll, every student in the class seemed to prefer her as the class president over Katsuo, but that seemed to be the case from the beginning. The moment Katsuo stood up in front of the class; he became an outcast in the competition because of his shyness which Nakami thought was not fair at all. Where Katsuo put in a lot of effort into his struggle for the class president position, Nakami didn't as much and it seemed the class still preferred her over Katsuo. This didn't seem fair at all, but in the end who got the position depended on the collective voting of the students in their classes. The voting was to take place at the end of the month, where the gymnasium would be set up for each class to go into voting polls and cast their votes.

Nakami was making her rounds around the school handing out promotional flyers of her as a president and sticking up posters on vacant spots in an effort to keep up with her competitor. A competitor who was far ahead of her, already gaining some favour from the seniors of the school, the responsibilities of a class president wasn't just to the class but to the whole school. The class president is to be part of the school committee as well, so is the class vice president.

Katsuo was gaining the seniors' support but he was lacking in the eyes of his classmates. Nakami though on the other hand was more widely popular with her classmates as opposed to her seniors. Though each competitor did give their fullest efforts, just some were doing better than others; some were simply cut out for the job. Nakami finished posting up her posters, walking back into her classroom she noticed Katsuo sitting in his seat concentrating on a paper. A paper filled with words, he was making notes on it. Nakami being curious at this walked closer to Katsuo's desk and peeked over his shoulder, she was amazed at the level of detail Katsuo put into his notes. She was also feeling somewhat defeated at the amount of effort he put in comparison to herself. Nakami then walked over to her seat beside Katsuo's and sat down with a heavy sigh. Katsuo didn't pay any attention to her, he was too preoccupied, the speech had his full attention and so did the upcoming election. Two students from Nakami's class walked over to Nakami making small talk. Rooting on for her, they were already decided on Nakami; if she didn't become class president, then there was no use in having one. Then Nakami thought, 'So...is competing for president in a sense a contest of popularity?' but shook her head of such thoughts thinking that Katsuo is bound to get back into the race. She held high hopes that he will gain the favor of his classmates as well overtime with the same determination he has been showing up till now.

The final school bell rang, the school period was over. Everyone was now leaving for their after school clubs. Only Nakami and Katsuo remained in the classroom.

The atmosphere became awkward for Nakami as she sat looking out the window and Katsuo. Katsuo continued to work on his speech, finally feeling fed up with the silence Nakami decided to try and talk to him.

"Hey" called out Nakami.

Katsuo continued to work on his speech.

"Katsuo-san!" again called out Nakami.

Katsuo didn't pay any attention being too engrossed into his speech.

Nakami feeling agitated, she took a few papers rolling them up and held it up above Katsuo's head. Bam! Went hitting Katsuo's head as he instinctively reacted to rub his head and looked up to find a very agitated Nakami. "You know it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you Katsuo-san" said Nakami. Katsuo looked at her continuing to rub his head and spoke up, "Do you need something Nakami-san?"

"I just wanted to talk. It's boring if it's just the two of us here and it's all quiet."

"I see...I'm kind of busy with my speech" replied Katsuo.

"Mind telling me what it's about?" asked Nakami immediately putting Katsuo in full awareness. "Why would you want to know?" asked back Katsuo.

"Don't worry; I'm not trying to raid in on your campaign. This is a fair competition, I just want someone to talk to right now" replied Nakami.

Katsuo looked at Nakami indifferent for moments and looked back at his speech saying, "It's about the changes I will want to make and the promises I will complete if elected as president."

"But you know, every politician tends to make promises, but barely any complete it" argues Nakami. Katsuo looks up at Nakami and says, "But I will keep mine." leaving Nakami a bit surprised and flustered at Katsuo's determination. Nakami took her chair beside Katsuo's desk and sat down gently, unknowingly Katsuo's heart beat began to speed little by little. Katsuo could feel his body heat rising, almost to the point as though he was about to break out sweating. He immediately stood up walking to the front of the classroom with his speech in his hand. He stood by the teacher's desk at the front of the classroom. Katsuo looked back towards Nakami who looked at him in a confused gaze. "Sorry, I just felt the need to get up and walk around a bit" spoke Katsuo leaving Nakami more confused.

"Okay..." replied Nakami trying not to make her confusion sound too obvious. More awkward tension settled in between the two. "It sure will get busier now, with the election approaching and all soon" spoke Nakami in an attempt to break the silence.

Katsuo is quiet.

"I wonder which of us will get the position"

Katsuo is quiet simply looking out the classroom window.

"Hmm...it sure is going to be interesting to find out who gets i-" continued Nakami as she was suddenly interrupted by Katsuo, "What are you really trying to do? I already know that everyone in this class prefers you over me. So what's the use of this conversation?"

"But you're quite popular amongst our sempais right? They prefer you over me" tried to reassure Nakami.

"Only our classmates can cast in the votes, not the seniors. So what use is it?"

"But you're also trying harder than me...much harder" spoke Nakami.

"But they still all prefer you...it's a contest of popularity in the end! If you're popular you get voted, such crap!" spoke Katsuo with frustration growing inside of him. Nakami looked over to what Katsuo stared at out the window looking at the sports clubs practicing, running laps on the field. She then got up walking over to Katsuo and walking over to the window, opening it and letting the ongoing breeze gently blow in. Her hair blew gently in the wind catching Katsuo's attention; the boy was confused at this girl's actions. Katsuo had never encountered such a person before; this girl was willing to talk to him even though he had no interest in talking to her. She was willing to talk to her own competitor, even though this maybe a friendly competition, it was still a competition. Though Katsuo did feel a sense of relief in his heart, he had someone to talk to. Ever since the announcement of the class president candidates, he had been treated like an outcast amongst his classmates. Nakami was willing to reach out a hand to Katsuo, and he as much as he wanted to take it, he couldn't. Not while they were still in a battle for a very important position. Katsuo though still felt his heart beat faster nervously, yet feeling happy at the girl who is trying to reach out to him and the girl who is trying to reach out and make a connection with the alienated boy.

Katsuo continued to stare at Nakami's blowing hair when his gaze was suddenly broken by a knock on the door. "Sorry, am I interrupting?" comes another girl's voice as Katsuo looked over to the door finding a girl standing in trek clothes. "Miri-chan!" speaks Nakami catching Katsuo's attention. Nakami immediately walks away from the window towards Miri bringing her towards Katsuo.

"Katsuo-san, this is Miri-chan and Miri-chan this is Katsuo-san" introduces Nakami as the two feel somewhat awkward being in this sort of formal situation. "Uh...hi" speaks up Katsuo as Miri returns his greeting with a warm smile.

"Which class are you in?" asks Katsuo.

"She is a year above us, so that would make her our sempai!" speaks Nakami enthusiastically. Katsuo immediately feeling as though he had shown disrespect to his elder school mate by being so casual, he bows down apologizing. Miri finds this somewhat amusing, and taps his back gently telling him it's alright. Miri offers her hand out to Katsuo and he takes it, another connection born between people outlined by a thread of friendship, a connection for which we do not know the future of, a connection which has many possibilities in its advancements and breakings. Miri's hand parts with Katsuo's as he is left feeling a little shy.

"Looks like you're a bit popular amongst the seniors Nakami-san" speaks Katsuo.

"What?" asks Nakami somewhat confused.

"I'm talking about Miri-sempai" says Katsuo hinting towards her. "Well it's just one senior, everyone on the school council seems to prefer you over me though" answers Nakami.

"Still, even one can make a difference" replies Katsuo.

"One like me?" now asks Nakami as she looks at Katsuo who is left standing without an answer to her question. "Maybe...but you're still in the competition. So I don't know..." finally answers Katsuo.

"You're still going on about that?" says Nakami pouting as Miri simply looks at the two giggling out of good fun.

"Let's face it, a competition is a competition. There is no other way to work around this than to see it through to the end Nakami-san."

"Oh yeah! That's another thing, you can stop with the san, you can just use my name without anything beside it" says Nakami with a little fluctuation in her heart beat. Nakami at the time didn't understand why her heart beat increased slightly, but she also knew the possible reason. She had never been able to talk to a boy so casually, as casually as she can with Katsuo here. "Then you can use mine the same to" says Katsuo blushing slightly with a barely visible smile, he was in the same boat as Nakami. Both were the type to never have gotten well along with the opposite gender right away, but some invisible force here seemed to draw the two closer. Miri came in closer to whisper something into Nakami's ears to which Nakami seemed to agree to.

"Well I've to go now Katsuo! See you tomorrow!" says Nakami as she departs from the classroom.

"Yeah, see you Nakami-sa- I mean Nakami" says Katsuo with a small smile appearing on his face. Yet another connection was made today. Nakami walked beside Miri with a smile covering her face as she managed to reach out more to the boy who seemed to lonely at one time. She felt happy to have made her connection known to the boy.