This next is what I heard from Kazu-nii afterwards.
It all started after I sent my message to him.
Kazu-nii was exhausted. It seems preparing for the student council elections was an extremely tough task for the adviser. Also, unlike the student side which involved the council members, election administration, and class reps helping each other out, the only person from the teacher side directly involved was the advisor, Kazu-nii.
He was on his own and has to at least briefly look through all the decisions we made.
It’s the third year since he became a teacher. Kazu-nii wasn’t at the point he was aware of everything going on in the academy. Therefore, it was a pretty cruel and rigorous duty. There was only one reason why Kazu-nii became the advisor. It was because… he was young.
He was a young man who could endure the exhausting work called the ‘student council election’. That was all there was.
Our current student president, Tsukishima, was quite an excellent worker, so he helped out the load quite a lot. However, it was still busy enough his eyes were spinning. Kazu-nii desperately prayed they would finish fast and the next student council members would finalize.
Anyways, the exhausted Kazu-nii started to doze off in the student council after he let his guard down a little. The student council room’s door and furniture were strangely glamorous.
The leather-covered sofa was Kazu-nii’s favourite spot. Lying down on it was, in his opinion, the best and his moment to relax. However, with his previous mistake of triggering the supplementary lessons with Maria-jou, he stopped himself from lazing on that sofa.
Regarding Teacher Hibiya’s next event, which he didn’t tell me about the other day, it’s apparently where he dozes off in the student council room. Maria-jou spots Teacher Hibiya and decides to play a trick on him. “He fell asleep again,” Maria-jou would giggle under her breath and come close. Teacher Hibiya, half-asleep, would accidentally pin her on the sofa.
The heroine gets pushed down and embraced. Teacher Hibiya sees Maria-jou with flushed red cheeks and panics. Once again Teacher Hibiya will apologize, but even as he says sorry, he didn’t let her go.
“Can I hold you a little… longer?” He weakly asks with a cracked voice. Because of how he sounded, Maria-jou nodded.
Eventually, he will get up and place a distance between them. It was when they sat side-by-side Maria-jou opened her mouth. “What kind of dream did you see?” She asks him.
Teacher Hibiya’s coloured with loneliness as he looked off far into the distance. “……An old memory,” he answers. It seems Teacher Hibiya has a painful past……
Or something like that was going to happen. Kazu-nii was going to have a story like this unfold for him. Luckily for him, he was shot up awake by his vibrating cell phone in silent mode. He immediately got up and lightly fixed his suit. At the same time, he heard voices from outside the door.
“So this is the student council room. Once the elections end, it’s going to be my room.”
“It doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the student council…… However, it will be the room where we do much of our activities in school.”
He recognized those voices. They were Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai.
They didn’t have any business inside the student council room, so they didn’t knock on the door and merely chatted.
“You sure look composed. Is that really alright? If Tanaka becomes the vice president, you’ll be demoted, you know,” Mizusaki-senpai pointed out.
“I don’t mind any position, be it accounting or secretary. Depending on the situation, not entering the student council altogether is another idea. Still, it’s not like you at all to say something like that. Tanaka-san will only become the vice student president if your votes are close together, am I right?”
“Hah! There’s no way it’ll actually happen. It’s obvious I’ll be elected with most of the votes.
“You are fine the way you are, Homare. Chairman Mizusaki wishes the same.”
Kaneshiro-senpai’s words make Mizusaki-senpai’s tone darkened. “……Don’t talk about my old man.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaneshiro-senpai apologized.
“Even if it’s just in the school, if the old man knows I’m suitable to run at the top, then he’ll be willing to recognize me a bit…”
“Yes, surely he will.”
“And you’re my aid. You understand?”
“My, my, just how long will I keep having to babysit you, I wonder.”
“Obviously, it’s……? Who is there!”
A thud echoed and a female student appeared in a panic. It was Maria-jou.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to listen in,” she told them.
“You’re……? Hey, aren’t you the honorary member? Why are you here……” Mizusaki-senpai asked.
“I turned down the honorary membership! I had business with Hibiya-sensei…… I came here because I heard he would be here.”
“Business with Hibiya? Ooh? So are you interested in him?”
Maria-jou swallowed her breath.
“Hibiya’s popular, you know,” Mizusaki-senpai continued. “So basically you have a favourite, huh?”
“D-Don’t say something so stupid! There’s nothing wrong with a student having business with a teacher!” Maria-jou shouted, angrily.
“Hmm~?”
“Don’t you feel embarrassed saying things like that when you’re going to be the n-next student president…!?”
“…….!” Mizusaki-senpai lost his words and didn’t rebute back.
“……? W-What’s wrong? Why are you quiet all of the sudden……?”
“……Homare,” Kaneshiro-senpai called out.
“Ah… No, it’s nothing. I got distracted by something. Let’s go already.”
“……Excuse us, Maria-san. Until next time,” Kaneshiro-senpai apologized.
“……Ah…” Maria-jou let out.
“What? You still want something?”
The female student had anger in her eyes moments ago. Yet it disappeared and, in place, she opened her mouth to ask with confusion in her tone. “Could it be that you don’t want to be the student president?”
Mizusaki-senpai didn’t answer back immediately.
“……No.”
“Then…… are you nervous? Wondering if you are a suitable president? It’s a big job. The whole school’s expectations will weigh on you, and everyone’s happy school life will depend on you too.”
Perhaps she struck where it hurts. Mizusaki-senpai shut his mouth, unable to object to her words.
“It’ll be alright.”
“……Ah?”
The girl’s words were filled with confidence. Mizusaki-senpai probably wondered what basis she had. However, her words had an effect on him since this very moment his heart was weakened.
“I’m sure you can do it. I believe in you too.”
Confidence is not something that’s always grounded. There are times when unfounded confidence is what supports someone instead.
Mizusaki-senpai was the type who gave his best efforts in order to gain confidence in himself. Yet, he also hated other people knowing he tries hard because he thinks it’s uncool. He might be trying to drive himself to the edge and force himself in a situation where he had to give his all. Perhaps that was why he was trying to become the student president.
As such, I wonder how Maria-jou’s “you’ll be alright” echoed inside him.
“……That’s obvious. Who do you think I am? I’m the great Mizusaki Homare, you know?” He snorted with arrogance. As for what expression he gave to Maria-jou, Kazu-nii didn’t know since he could only hear their voices.
“Then I’ll be off now.”
The sounds of her footsteps running down the hallway echoed. Oi, Maria-jou. What about your business with your teacher?
“……She’s an interesting girl,” Kaneshiro-senpai muttered.
“Yeah. The extra weight I was putting on my shoulders lifted. ……I am Mizusaki Homare. How could I not become the student president.”
From this moment on, Mizusaki-senpai started to focus earnestly on his campaign when he had been somewhat indecisive. At first he only had his fanclub girls as his supporters. But with his bold, confident attitude, he managed to increase the numbers of supporters by a lot.
Incidentally, Kazu-nii only heard their voices and the sounds they made. The description added in between everywhere was all based on my imagination.
□ ■ □
The student council election ended with Mizusaki-senpai’s victory.
Incidentally, I was way too busy behind the scenes that I didn’t get to hear the main part, being his declaration speech. Apparently, the whole auditorium cheered with excitement. I was sorting out the ballots we distributed to everyone at that time.
Yumi-chan said Tanaka-senpai’s declaration was very good. She gave off the aura of a smart, competent woman and was very wonderful. It was to the point people asked: how can there be a student council without her!?
According to the actual votes, Mizusaki-senpai became the student president and Tanaka-senpai became the vice student president. Kaneshiro-senpai did his campaign under our noses before we even realized and settled down in the accountant position. The 1st years recommended by the teachers were elected for the secretary and general affairs manager positions.
The fanclub girls won their share of votes; however, they also dragged each other down because they thought it was unfair if only one of them joined the student council.
I think the best members gathered as our final result.
Furthermore, Mizusaki-senpai issued out a strict order after Kaneshiro-senpai was elected. The fanclub girls will get in the way of work, so they aren’t allowed in the student council room. Mizusaki-senpai didn’t know if they would actually obey him though.
“Haa~ It ended. It finally ended~”
It’s like a storm passed through the auditorium and meeting room. I was in those places cleaning up things like the ballot boxes. I mumbled to myself as I struck my shoulder. Yup, yup, I’m exhausted. I feel accomplished but I haven’t studied one bit at all in the past few days. If my semester exam comes back in pieces, I’ll have Kazu-nii personally tutor me.
“Thank you for your hard work,” Iinchou said to me.
He looked quite exhausted too. His hair had no life and his complexion was bad too.
Iinchou came into the meeting room with his bag and two cans of drinks. We were allowed to go home the moment we finished cleaning up. It seems he has finished his quota already.
“You too. I didn’t know that high school students can be this busy.”
“They can be. And I think it’s important to do what you can right now.” He gave me a very honours student answer before handing me a can of ice lemon tea. It was a drink you could buy in the vending machines on the school grounds. It looks like Iinchou brought hot coffee for himself. He was on the team of hot coffee all year round. I wonder where you can buy hot during the summer though?
“Ah, thank you~ Is this a treat?” I asked
“No, no. You can pay me 100 yen,” he replied.
“Tch.”
Well, it’ll be weird to have him treat me, so I obediently gave him 100 yen. The lemon tea was chilled just right and came down refreshingly down my throat.
“If we were adults, we would be drinking a can of beer here,” Iinchou commented.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You might be right.”
“Niimi-san, are you the type that doesn’t want to try?”
“Beer? Hmm… My memories of alcohol involved Kazu-ni—— Ahem, involves my cousin back when he was in university. He came home dead drunk one day and seriously reeked of alcohol. He looked pretty awful too, so I don’t think of drinking. How about you, Iinchou?”
“……. Hmm, Niimi-san, you have a cousin.” Iinchou shifted his eyes away and changed the subject.
“I do. But isn’t someone with no cousins rare?” I pointed out. I guess it’s possible if someone’s parents were both only children, or their parents’ siblings were all single.
Tap, tap, tap……
I lifted my head up. The sound of something hitting the window caught my ears. I thought the reason why it was dark was because it was already evening, but it actually turned out to be rain clouds. But, naturally, I was a sunny woman — it was perfect weather during the student elections for me. I wonder if this meant the weather decided to stop favouring me since it ended.
“It’s raining,” Iinchou said, describing the weather just as we could see it. “Niimi-san, did you bring an umbrella?”
As for the answer to his question, I would like him to realize it by seeing my sour face. Well, I mean, I’m pretty sure I was making that sort of face right now.
“Let’s check the janitor’s office and borrow a plastic umbrella before going home,” I answered instead.
Umbrellas forgotten in the academy are collected periodically and placed in the janitor’s office. When there’s sudden rain, those umbrellas will be lent out to help everyone out.
I also had the choice of waiting a bit longer and getting Kazu-nii to drive me back in his car. I have to make sure no one was looking though.
“Ah. Hey, isn’t that Aikawa-san?”
The windows here in the meeting room located in the centre building could see down to the student entrance.
Just like Iinchou pointed out, I could also spot Maria-jou among the other students about to head home. There were so many people out there, yet Iinchou managed to pinpoint Maria-jou. Not bad, Iinchou.
As for Maria-jou, it seems she was in the middle of a quarrel again. She tried to hand her umbrella to a guy about to head home without one and get soaked. Maria-jou was rejected in the end. She dropped her shoulders, dejected. The guy couldn’t stand the mood anymore and stole the umbrella forcibly. It goes without saying they shared that one umbrella.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell his expression from here……
“Yeah, this goes without saying there’ll be lots of rumours tomorrow.”
Rumours of them sharing an umbrella together will circulate by the time we blink.
I only saw them from afar, but I know the situation.
Suddenly, rain fell. Many students were hurrying to head home and that was when Maria-jou spotted someone familiar and stopped her feet. She had a folded umbrella, but it seems he had forgotten one. Perhaps he didn’t check the weather forecast today.
“If you don’t mind, how about coming in?” She called out to him with a smile. He, on the other hand, looked at her with surprise.
Yes, it was Tsuchiya-shounen.
What she was basically saying was, let’s share the umbrella between the two of them and go home together. When Tsuchiya-shounen understood her intentions, he came to the conclusion there’s no way he could do something as embarrassing as that.
“I don’t need it. Mind your own business,” he said bluntly, brushing away her hand rudely. Why couldn’t he be more honest, the young man thought, but there was nothing he could do.
Maria-jou’s shoulders dropped.
Tsuchiya-shounen, too, knew his words would make her react this way. In the first place, he was sure the meaning of sharing an umbrella didn’t cross her mind once. It was him who got self-conscious, hated it, and made her depressed like this.
“I-I got it. Jeez, you’re helpless,” he said, stealing the umbrella from her hand forcibly.
Maria-jou looked up once more.
“……Come on,” Tsuchiya-shounen said as he stiffly opened up the umbrella for her. If he thought about their height difference, it made more sense if he held it. That was all.
“Yeah!” She smiled bashfully before stepping inside the umbrella with him. Her hair swayed; she was close enough that their shoulders were almost touching. The reason why Tsuchiya-shounen couldn’t complain and tell her to move away was because the folded umbrella was small. That was all.
A nice fragrance floated in the air. He wondered if she had perfume on or something. Or if that was her smell to begin with.
“Let’s go,” he told her like he was trying to hide something.
They took one step forward together. The station was not far off. As such, he couldn’t help but wish, if only this moment could last forever……
Hyaaaaaa!! I imagined it too wildly!! Tsuchiya-shounen, I’m sorry! I don’t think you have a scent fetish! I swear!!
My delusions went as far as dubbing over the scene, which made my cheeks hot. I slapped them slightly with my hands. But, jeez, Tsuchiya-shounen is definitely a boy in his youth. Though their conversation in reality might have been much different.
“What’s wrong, Niimi-san? You look like you’re having fun.” Iinchou’s comment was extremely composed.
No, seriously, I’m really sorry.
“Hey, Iinchou.” Oh yeah, isn’t this a chance? “I think Aikawa-san and Tsuchiya-kun suit each other. What do you think?”
Just like how I consulted with Kazu-nii, I was going to put my plan to draw Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen to action. It was the same plan I wanted Iinchou and Yumi-chan to cooperate with me. Of course, we will only be staying in the limits of a nosy classmate.
“How I think……? Well, they might suit each other. But why are you asking?”
“You see, Tsuchiya-kun isn’t very honest. I was thinking it’d be nice if we could make chances for him to be alone with Aikawa-san.”
“That’s…… I think that’ll be too meddlesome.” Iinchou made a reasonable and proper reaction.
After all, a dishonest and shy boy like Tsuchiya-shounen will only get stubborn if the people around him were meddlesome. I understand that.
“Yeah, that’s why we’ll just do it nonchalantly. Nothing obvious. It’ll be nice to make more opportunities for Aikawa-san to talk to Tsuchiya-kun. If they have more chances to spend time with each other, then I’m sure they will naturally become more aware of each other,” I explained.
“……In other words, have Aikawa-san turn her eyes onto Tsuchiya-kun?”
“Right.”
That was basically it.
This world is the setting for an otome game. The possibility of Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen becoming a couple has already been prepared. I don’t know what kind of events occur between the two, but with the more time they spend with each other, the chances of it triggering should get higher, I believe.
If Maria-jou progresses in the story, she’ll naturally enter Tsuchiya-shounen’s route. When that happens, it’s victory for us. Kazu-nii will have tranquility; Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen will be happy.
As for the other targets, they will be fine. After all, they are good-looking. There’s no way the other girls in the school will leave them alone. I’m sure they don’t hold any special feelings for Maria-jou yet, so right now is the other girls’ chance.
Scheming like this after they fell in love with Maria-jou will make them a little pitiful after all.
“……I can’t agree,” Iinchou told me. “But if this is something you want to do no matter what then I might be able to help a little.” His words seemed to hold a hidden meaning as he smiled tiredly. “For example, I’ll let you know if I spot Aikawa-san or Tsuchiya-kun somewhere… I won’t be helping directly. But I can contact you and let you know so that you can help them yourself. …I’ll cooperate in this way, so tell me your phone number and email address, okay?”
We both took out our cell phones and exchanged contact information. Almost immediately, I received Iinchou’s first message and it said this:
[This is Shibuya. I’ll be in your care.]
His address was i_shibuya0621@………. It seems he more or less used his name exactly as it is. Come to think of it, I don’t remember Iinchou’s first name. I vaguely recall it being hard to read. ……It’ll be rude to ask him after all this time. And I doubt I’ll ever need to call him by his first name, so let’s have this slide away.
“Are the numbers in your email address your birthday?” I asked.
Iinchou nodded. “It’s coming by. I’ll look forward to my birthday present.”
Oh, no.
“Is iced coffee okay?”
“Please make it hot,” he replied.
It looks he wasn’t actually demanding a present for real. Still, it would be nice to give him something tasteful. Unfortunately, I don’t know his hobbies or what he likes…
By the time I finished tidying up everything, the sun was completely gone. The weather was bad too, so I was sure there were barely any people left in the academy. I went off to the janitor’s office for an umbrella. What awaited me there was the merciless reality of zero umbrellas left in stock.
“Everyone came by when the sun was setting and took it all. I’m sorry,” the young janitor told me.
“No, it’s alright. In that case, I will give up. Thank you for letting me know,” I replied, bowing my head before leaving.
I still have another plan, after all. First was Kazu-nii’s car.
However, when I was about to send him a message, I realized I already had one from him in my inbox. [I have a wrap-up party to attend, so I’ll be back late. It’s getting dark, make sure to go home early.]
I guess I have no choice. I decided to head to the storehouse to obtain a large garbage bag as my last resort. If I’m remembering correctly, Iinchou had put away extra garbage bags there.
This will be the first time I’ve visited the storehouse. The academy here likes to work their students to the ground. Still, the job of carrying heavy items to the storehouse was given to the boys. In our Class B, it was Iinchou who took upon this duty.
Inside the said storehouse is where items used in the Sports Festival and the upcoming Cultural Festival were placed. Things stored here are items that will only be taken out a few times a year. All the various items for the election won’t be needed again until the next year’s election, so they were all packed away in the storehouse today.
When I reached the storehouse, I noticed there was a notice on the door.
[The lights will be replaced tomorrow.]
…….So basically there’ll be no light inside, huh.
The passing rain was getting stronger and stronger. It was also getting darker because of this violent rain. At this rate, even if I go inside the storehouse, I doubt I’ll be able to find what I was looking for.
I dropped my shoulders. That was when I noticed the sound of something cutting the wind. It made me turn to look in the direction of the sound.
My eyes caught the dojo, which was just next door. This was where students could learn or practice judo or kendo. As for inside the dojo, it was separated into two. One side had wooden flooring while the other side was covered with tatami. It was mainly used during the boy’s gym classes and related club activities.
I heard the sound of air cutting again.
I thought it was the sound of the wind due to the rain, but it seems to be different. When I approached the dojo, I realized the door was opened.
I immediately found the source of the sound. There was only one person inside the dojo — it was Katsuragi-kun. He was wearing a blue tank top and our uniform’s pants. I wondered what he was doing, but it turned out he was practising martial arts forms, which resembled karate in my eyes.
Swoosh, swoosh. His fist cut through the wind, creating sound. Once in a while, he would also add in kicks. He stood there on top of the wooden flooring. Every time he took a step, it would creak.
Although my eyes were of an amateur, I thought his movements were beautiful. I couldn’t help but be fascinated. A lot of sweat rolled down his forehead. You could tell he had been at this for quite a long time.
In the end, he let out a deep breath. Slowly, he turned to look my way.
“I thought I felt someone’s presence. ……So it was you, Niimi.”
It looks like he noticed me. I pasted a smile on my face and said, “I’m sorry. I heard something and wondered what it was. Your moves were beautiful and it surprised me. Since when did you start practising today?”
“…….Morning?”
What!?
“Morning? Even though we had the student council election this whole day?”
“So that’s why no one was around. I was wondering about that. ……? Did it end already?”
You serious? “It ended. The next student president is Mizusaki-senpai. School ended a long time ago. Katsuragi-kun, don’t you think you should head home too?”
Today’s schedule went like this. The candidates did their speeches in the AM, students voted at noon, and we counted the ballots in the PM. As such, there were no classes today. All the students were supposed to gather in the auditorium. However, even if there were students skipping out like this, we wouldn’t have a clue.
As for me who worked non-stop preparing in the background, it’s people like this who piss me off.
This next is what I heard from Kazu-nii afterwards.
It all started after I sent my message to him.
Kazu-nii was exhausted. It seems preparing for the student council elections was an extremely tough task for the adviser. Also, unlike the student side which involved the council members, election administration, and class reps helping each other out, the only person from the teacher side directly involved was the advisor, Kazu-nii.
He was on his own and has to at least briefly look through all the decisions we made.
It’s the third year since he became a teacher. Kazu-nii wasn’t at the point he was aware of everything going on in the academy. Therefore, it was a pretty cruel and rigorous duty. There was only one reason why Kazu-nii became the advisor. It was because… he was young.
He was a young man who could endure the exhausting work called the ‘student council election’. That was all there was.
Our current student president, Tsukishima, was quite an excellent worker, so he helped out the load quite a lot. However, it was still busy enough his eyes were spinning. Kazu-nii desperately prayed they would finish fast and the next student council members would finalize.
Anyways, the exhausted Kazu-nii started to doze off in the student council after he let his guard down a little. The student council room’s door and furniture were strangely glamorous.
The leather-covered sofa was Kazu-nii’s favourite spot. Lying down on it was, in his opinion, the best and his moment to relax. However, with his previous mistake of triggering the supplementary lessons with Maria-jou, he stopped himself from lazing on that sofa.
Regarding Teacher Hibiya’s next event, which he didn’t tell me about the other day, it’s apparently where he dozes off in the student council room. Maria-jou spots Teacher Hibiya and decides to play a trick on him. “He fell asleep again,” Maria-jou would giggle under her breath and come close. Teacher Hibiya, half-asleep, would accidentally pin her on the sofa.
The heroine gets pushed down and embraced. Teacher Hibiya sees Maria-jou with flushed red cheeks and panics. Once again Teacher Hibiya will apologize, but even as he says sorry, he didn’t let her go.
“Can I hold you a little… longer?” He weakly asks with a cracked voice. Because of how he sounded, Maria-jou nodded.
Eventually, he will get up and place a distance between them. It was when they sat side-by-side Maria-jou opened her mouth. “What kind of dream did you see?” She asks him.
Teacher Hibiya’s coloured with loneliness as he looked off far into the distance. “……An old memory,” he answers. It seems Teacher Hibiya has a painful past……
Or something like that was going to happen. Kazu-nii was going to have a story like this unfold for him. Luckily for him, he was shot up awake by his vibrating cell phone in silent mode. He immediately got up and lightly fixed his suit. At the same time, he heard voices from outside the door.
“So this is the student council room. Once the elections end, it’s going to be my room.”
“It doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the student council…… However, it will be the room where we do much of our activities in school.”
He recognized those voices. They were Mizusaki-senpai and Kaneshiro-senpai.
They didn’t have any business inside the student council room, so they didn’t knock on the door and merely chatted.
“You sure look composed. Is that really alright? If Tanaka becomes the vice president, you’ll be demoted, you know,” Mizusaki-senpai pointed out.
“I don’t mind any position, be it accounting or secretary. Depending on the situation, not entering the student council altogether is another idea. Still, it’s not like you at all to say something like that. Tanaka-san will only become the vice student president if your votes are close together, am I right?”
“Hah! There’s no way it’ll actually happen. It’s obvious I’ll be elected with most of the votes.
“You are fine the way you are, Homare. Chairman Mizusaki wishes the same.”
Kaneshiro-senpai’s words make Mizusaki-senpai’s tone darkened. “……Don’t talk about my old man.”
“I’m sorry,” Kaneshiro-senpai apologized.
“Even if it’s just in the school, if the old man knows I’m suitable to run at the top, then he’ll be willing to recognize me a bit…”
“Yes, surely he will.”
“And you’re my aid. You understand?”
“My, my, just how long will I keep having to babysit you, I wonder.”
“Obviously, it’s……? Who is there!”
A thud echoed and a female student appeared in a panic. It was Maria-jou.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to listen in,” she told them.
“You’re……? Hey, aren’t you the honorary member? Why are you here……” Mizusaki-senpai asked.
“I turned down the honorary membership! I had business with Hibiya-sensei…… I came here because I heard he would be here.”
“Business with Hibiya? Ooh? So are you interested in him?”
Maria-jou swallowed her breath.
“Hibiya’s popular, you know,” Mizusaki-senpai continued. “So basically you have a favourite, huh?”
“D-Don’t say something so stupid! There’s nothing wrong with a student having business with a teacher!” Maria-jou shouted, angrily.
“Hmm~?”
“Don’t you feel embarrassed saying things like that when you’re going to be the n-next student president…!?”
“…….!” Mizusaki-senpai lost his words and didn’t rebute back.
“……? W-What’s wrong? Why are you quiet all of the sudden……?”
“……Homare,” Kaneshiro-senpai called out.
“Ah… No, it’s nothing. I got distracted by something. Let’s go already.”
“……Excuse us, Maria-san. Until next time,” Kaneshiro-senpai apologized.
“……Ah…” Maria-jou let out.
“What? You still want something?”
The female student had anger in her eyes moments ago. Yet it disappeared and, in place, she opened her mouth to ask with confusion in her tone. “Could it be that you don’t want to be the student president?”
Mizusaki-senpai didn’t answer back immediately.
“……No.”
“Then…… are you nervous? Wondering if you are a suitable president? It’s a big job. The whole school’s expectations will weigh on you, and everyone’s happy school life will depend on you too.”
Perhaps she struck where it hurts. Mizusaki-senpai shut his mouth, unable to object to her words.
“It’ll be alright.”
“……Ah?”
The girl’s words were filled with confidence. Mizusaki-senpai probably wondered what basis she had. However, her words had an effect on him since this very moment his heart was weakened.
“I’m sure you can do it. I believe in you too.”
Confidence is not something that’s always grounded. There are times when unfounded confidence is what supports someone instead.
Mizusaki-senpai was the type who gave his best efforts in order to gain confidence in himself. Yet, he also hated other people knowing he tries hard because he thinks it’s uncool. He might be trying to drive himself to the edge and force himself in a situation where he had to give his all. Perhaps that was why he was trying to become the student president.
As such, I wonder how Maria-jou’s “you’ll be alright” echoed inside him.
“……That’s obvious. Who do you think I am? I’m the great Mizusaki Homare, you know?” He snorted with arrogance. As for what expression he gave to Maria-jou, Kazu-nii didn’t know since he could only hear their voices.
“Then I’ll be off now.”
The sounds of her footsteps running down the hallway echoed. Oi, Maria-jou. What about your business with your teacher?
“……She’s an interesting girl,” Kaneshiro-senpai muttered.
“Yeah. The extra weight I was putting on my shoulders lifted. ……I am Mizusaki Homare. How could I not become the student president.”
From this moment on, Mizusaki-senpai started to focus earnestly on his campaign when he had been somewhat indecisive. At first he only had his fanclub girls as his supporters. But with his bold, confident attitude, he managed to increase the numbers of supporters by a lot.
Incidentally, Kazu-nii only heard their voices and the sounds they made. The description added in between everywhere was all based on my imagination.
□ ■ □
The student council election ended with Mizusaki-senpai’s victory.
Incidentally, I was way too busy behind the scenes that I didn’t get to hear the main part, being his declaration speech. Apparently, the whole auditorium cheered with excitement. I was sorting out the ballots we distributed to everyone at that time.
Yumi-chan said Tanaka-senpai’s declaration was very good. She gave off the aura of a smart, competent woman and was very wonderful. It was to the point people asked: how can there be a student council without her!?
According to the actual votes, Mizusaki-senpai became the student president and Tanaka-senpai became the vice student president. Kaneshiro-senpai did his campaign under our noses before we even realized and settled down in the accountant position. The 1st years recommended by the teachers were elected for the secretary and general affairs manager positions.
The fanclub girls won their share of votes; however, they also dragged each other down because they thought it was unfair if only one of them joined the student council.
I think the best members gathered as our final result.
Furthermore, Mizusaki-senpai issued out a strict order after Kaneshiro-senpai was elected. The fanclub girls will get in the way of work, so they aren’t allowed in the student council room. Mizusaki-senpai didn’t know if they would actually obey him though.
“Haa~ It ended. It finally ended~”
It’s like a storm passed through the auditorium and meeting room. I was in those places cleaning up things like the ballot boxes. I mumbled to myself as I struck my shoulder. Yup, yup, I’m exhausted. I feel accomplished but I haven’t studied one bit at all in the past few days. If my semester exam comes back in pieces, I’ll have Kazu-nii personally tutor me.
“Thank you for your hard work,” Iinchou said to me.
He looked quite exhausted too. His hair had no life and his complexion was bad too.
Iinchou came into the meeting room with his bag and two cans of drinks. We were allowed to go home the moment we finished cleaning up. It seems he has finished his quota already.
“You too. I didn’t know that high school students can be this busy.”
“They can be. And I think it’s important to do what you can right now.” He gave me a very honours student answer before handing me a can of ice lemon tea. It was a drink you could buy in the vending machines on the school grounds. It looks like Iinchou brought hot coffee for himself. He was on the team of hot coffee all year round. I wonder where you can buy hot during the summer though?
“Ah, thank you~ Is this a treat?” I asked
“No, no. You can pay me 100 yen,” he replied.
“Tch.”
Well, it’ll be weird to have him treat me, so I obediently gave him 100 yen. The lemon tea was chilled just right and came down refreshingly down my throat.
“If we were adults, we would be drinking a can of beer here,” Iinchou commented.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You might be right.”
“Niimi-san, are you the type that doesn’t want to try?”
“Beer? Hmm… My memories of alcohol involved Kazu-ni—— Ahem, involves my cousin back when he was in university. He came home dead drunk one day and seriously reeked of alcohol. He looked pretty awful too, so I don’t think of drinking. How about you, Iinchou?”
“……. Hmm, Niimi-san, you have a cousin.” Iinchou shifted his eyes away and changed the subject.
“I do. But isn’t someone with no cousins rare?” I pointed out. I guess it’s possible if someone’s parents were both only children, or their parents’ siblings were all single.
Tap, tap, tap……
I lifted my head up. The sound of something hitting the window caught my ears. I thought the reason why it was dark was because it was already evening, but it actually turned out to be rain clouds. But, naturally, I was a sunny woman — it was perfect weather during the student elections for me. I wonder if this meant the weather decided to stop favouring me since it ended.
“It’s raining,” Iinchou said, describing the weather just as we could see it. “Niimi-san, did you bring an umbrella?”
As for the answer to his question, I would like him to realize it by seeing my sour face. Well, I mean, I’m pretty sure I was making that sort of face right now.
“Let’s check the janitor’s office and borrow a plastic umbrella before going home,” I answered instead.
Umbrellas forgotten in the academy are collected periodically and placed in the janitor’s office. When there’s sudden rain, those umbrellas will be lent out to help everyone out.
I also had the choice of waiting a bit longer and getting Kazu-nii to drive me back in his car. I have to make sure no one was looking though.
“Ah. Hey, isn’t that Aikawa-san?”
The windows here in the meeting room located in the centre building could see down to the student entrance.
Just like Iinchou pointed out, I could also spot Maria-jou among the other students about to head home. There were so many people out there, yet Iinchou managed to pinpoint Maria-jou. Not bad, Iinchou.
As for Maria-jou, it seems she was in the middle of a quarrel again. She tried to hand her umbrella to a guy about to head home without one and get soaked. Maria-jou was rejected in the end. She dropped her shoulders, dejected. The guy couldn’t stand the mood anymore and stole the umbrella forcibly. It goes without saying they shared that one umbrella.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell his expression from here……
“Yeah, this goes without saying there’ll be lots of rumours tomorrow.”
Rumours of them sharing an umbrella together will circulate by the time we blink.
I only saw them from afar, but I know the situation.
Suddenly, rain fell. Many students were hurrying to head home and that was when Maria-jou spotted someone familiar and stopped her feet. She had a folded umbrella, but it seems he had forgotten one. Perhaps he didn’t check the weather forecast today.
“If you don’t mind, how about coming in?” She called out to him with a smile. He, on the other hand, looked at her with surprise.
Yes, it was Tsuchiya-shounen.
What she was basically saying was, let’s share the umbrella between the two of them and go home together. When Tsuchiya-shounen understood her intentions, he came to the conclusion there’s no way he could do something as embarrassing as that.
“I don’t need it. Mind your own business,” he said bluntly, brushing away her hand rudely. Why couldn’t he be more honest, the young man thought, but there was nothing he could do.
Maria-jou’s shoulders dropped.
Tsuchiya-shounen, too, knew his words would make her react this way. In the first place, he was sure the meaning of sharing an umbrella didn’t cross her mind once. It was him who got self-conscious, hated it, and made her depressed like this.
“I-I got it. Jeez, you’re helpless,” he said, stealing the umbrella from her hand forcibly.
Maria-jou looked up once more.
“……Come on,” Tsuchiya-shounen said as he stiffly opened up the umbrella for her. If he thought about their height difference, it made more sense if he held it. That was all.
“Yeah!” She smiled bashfully before stepping inside the umbrella with him. Her hair swayed; she was close enough that their shoulders were almost touching. The reason why Tsuchiya-shounen couldn’t complain and tell her to move away was because the folded umbrella was small. That was all.
A nice fragrance floated in the air. He wondered if she had perfume on or something. Or if that was her smell to begin with.
“Let’s go,” he told her like he was trying to hide something.
They took one step forward together. The station was not far off. As such, he couldn’t help but wish, if only this moment could last forever……
Hyaaaaaa!! I imagined it too wildly!! Tsuchiya-shounen, I’m sorry! I don’t think you have a scent fetish! I swear!!
My delusions went as far as dubbing over the scene, which made my cheeks hot. I slapped them slightly with my hands. But, jeez, Tsuchiya-shounen is definitely a boy in his youth. Though their conversation in reality might have been much different.
“What’s wrong, Niimi-san? You look like you’re having fun.” Iinchou’s comment was extremely composed.
No, seriously, I’m really sorry.
“Hey, Iinchou.” Oh yeah, isn’t this a chance? “I think Aikawa-san and Tsuchiya-kun suit each other. What do you think?”
Just like how I consulted with Kazu-nii, I was going to put my plan to draw Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen to action. It was the same plan I wanted Iinchou and Yumi-chan to cooperate with me. Of course, we will only be staying in the limits of a nosy classmate.
“How I think……? Well, they might suit each other. But why are you asking?”
“You see, Tsuchiya-kun isn’t very honest. I was thinking it’d be nice if we could make chances for him to be alone with Aikawa-san.”
“That’s…… I think that’ll be too meddlesome.” Iinchou made a reasonable and proper reaction.
After all, a dishonest and shy boy like Tsuchiya-shounen will only get stubborn if the people around him were meddlesome. I understand that.
“Yeah, that’s why we’ll just do it nonchalantly. Nothing obvious. It’ll be nice to make more opportunities for Aikawa-san to talk to Tsuchiya-kun. If they have more chances to spend time with each other, then I’m sure they will naturally become more aware of each other,” I explained.
“……In other words, have Aikawa-san turn her eyes onto Tsuchiya-kun?”
“Right.”
That was basically it.
This world is the setting for an otome game. The possibility of Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen becoming a couple has already been prepared. I don’t know what kind of events occur between the two, but with the more time they spend with each other, the chances of it triggering should get higher, I believe.
If Maria-jou progresses in the story, she’ll naturally enter Tsuchiya-shounen’s route. When that happens, it’s victory for us. Kazu-nii will have tranquility; Maria-jou and Tsuchiya-shounen will be happy.
As for the other targets, they will be fine. After all, they are good-looking. There’s no way the other girls in the school will leave them alone. I’m sure they don’t hold any special feelings for Maria-jou yet, so right now is the other girls’ chance.
Scheming like this after they fell in love with Maria-jou will make them a little pitiful after all.
“……I can’t agree,” Iinchou told me. “But if this is something you want to do no matter what then I might be able to help a little.” His words seemed to hold a hidden meaning as he smiled tiredly. “For example, I’ll let you know if I spot Aikawa-san or Tsuchiya-kun somewhere… I won’t be helping directly. But I can contact you and let you know so that you can help them yourself. …I’ll cooperate in this way, so tell me your phone number and email address, okay?”
We both took out our cell phones and exchanged contact information. Almost immediately, I received Iinchou’s first message and it said this:
[This is Shibuya. I’ll be in your care.]
His address was i_shibuya0621@………. It seems he more or less used his name exactly as it is. Come to think of it, I don’t remember Iinchou’s first name. I vaguely recall it being hard to read. ……It’ll be rude to ask him after all this time. And I doubt I’ll ever need to call him by his first name, so let’s have this slide away.
“Are the numbers in your email address your birthday?” I asked.
Iinchou nodded. “It’s coming by. I’ll look forward to my birthday present.”
Oh, no.
“Is iced coffee okay?”
“Please make it hot,” he replied.
It looks he wasn’t actually demanding a present for real. Still, it would be nice to give him something tasteful. Unfortunately, I don’t know his hobbies or what he likes…
By the time I finished tidying up everything, the sun was completely gone. The weather was bad too, so I was sure there were barely any people left in the academy. I went off to the janitor’s office for an umbrella. What awaited me there was the merciless reality of zero umbrellas left in stock.
“Everyone came by when the sun was setting and took it all. I’m sorry,” the young janitor told me.
“No, it’s alright. In that case, I will give up. Thank you for letting me know,” I replied, bowing my head before leaving.
I still have another plan, after all. First was Kazu-nii’s car.
However, when I was about to send him a message, I realized I already had one from him in my inbox. [I have a wrap-up party to attend, so I’ll be back late. It’s getting dark, make sure to go home early.]
I guess I have no choice. I decided to head to the storehouse to obtain a large garbage bag as my last resort. If I’m remembering correctly, Iinchou had put away extra garbage bags there.
This will be the first time I’ve visited the storehouse. The academy here likes to work their students to the ground. Still, the job of carrying heavy items to the storehouse was given to the boys. In our Class B, it was Iinchou who took upon this duty.
Inside the said storehouse is where items used in the Sports Festival and the upcoming Cultural Festival were placed. Things stored here are items that will only be taken out a few times a year. All the various items for the election won’t be needed again until the next year’s election, so they were all packed away in the storehouse today.
When I reached the storehouse, I noticed there was a notice on the door.
[The lights will be replaced tomorrow.]
…….So basically there’ll be no light inside, huh.
The passing rain was getting stronger and stronger. It was also getting darker because of this violent rain. At this rate, even if I go inside the storehouse, I doubt I’ll be able to find what I was looking for.
I dropped my shoulders. That was when I noticed the sound of something cutting the wind. It made me turn to look in the direction of the sound.
My eyes caught the dojo, which was just next door. This was where students could learn or practice judo or kendo. As for inside the dojo, it was separated into two. One side had wooden flooring while the other side was covered with tatami. It was mainly used during the boy’s gym classes and related club activities.
I heard the sound of air cutting again.
I thought it was the sound of the wind due to the rain, but it seems to be different. When I approached the dojo, I realized the door was opened.
I immediately found the source of the sound. There was only one person inside the dojo — it was Katsuragi-kun. He was wearing a blue tank top and our uniform’s pants. I wondered what he was doing, but it turned out he was practising martial arts forms, which resembled karate in my eyes.
Swoosh, swoosh. His fist cut through the wind, creating sound. Once in a while, he would also add in kicks. He stood there on top of the wooden flooring. Every time he took a step, it would creak.
Although my eyes were of an amateur, I thought his movements were beautiful. I couldn’t help but be fascinated. A lot of sweat rolled down his forehead. You could tell he had been at this for quite a long time.
In the end, he let out a deep breath. Slowly, he turned to look my way.
“I thought I felt someone’s presence. ……So it was you, Niimi.”
It looks like he noticed me. I pasted a smile on my face and said, “I’m sorry. I heard something and wondered what it was. Your moves were beautiful and it surprised me. Since when did you start practising today?”
“…….Morning?”
What!?
“Morning? Even though we had the student council election this whole day?”
“So that’s why no one was around. I was wondering about that. ……? Did it end already?”
You serious? “It ended. The next student president is Mizusaki-senpai. School ended a long time ago. Katsuragi-kun, don’t you think you should head home too?”
Today’s schedule went like this. The candidates did their speeches in the AM, students voted at noon, and we counted the ballots in the PM. As such, there were no classes today. All the students were supposed to gather in the auditorium. However, even if there were students skipping out like this, we wouldn’t have a clue.
As for me who worked non-stop preparing in the background, it’s people like this who piss me off.
