章 141: My Senior
While these elections might still be a bit contentious among the group. At the very least, Arata didn't feel much pressure about who to choose. He really should listen to Misao more often. Of course, if he took her advice on everything, then he'd end up with Misei. So it was best to determine when that girl wouldn't be biased. Key factor being whether that included the student council president or not.
Either way, he decided the best way to avoid the drama was to sneak off to the library. His time as a loner had trained his skills well. So the boy was well aware of the best spots to avoid detection. Though he also chose this spot for the fact that he wanted to talk with Hifumi.
Since Ichiri and Yurime should be busy with their campaigning, the committee, and by extension, the library was more or less empty these days. He was sure that the librarian girl wouldn't mind his presence at all.
"Nice of you to drop by." She greeted him with much excitement. "I see you've brought along some literature of your own."
"Well, since everyone's so busy." He respond. "I figure this is a good time to do some catching up." Arata flipped open his manga and scanned through the pages. His statement was an excuse of course. This story was one he had read a million times.
"I imagine that you came here with some other things on your mind, correct?" Hifumi had read him like a book. She had figured that he might have some questions about the people close to her. Especially when they were doing things so confusing to him.
"If you could fill me in on why those two are running, that'd be cool with me." He replied while trying to keep it cool. His eyes didn't leave the pages while speaking.
"I think she's being quite foolish." She spoke in reference to Ichiri. "Especially since she should know a few things about our dynamics. But, I can't tell you the real reason."
"That's great." His sarcasm was immeasurable. "What was even the point of me asking?"
"I'm certain she'll tell you herself." She continued on. "It's just simply not my responsibility nor my place to expose her own secrets." It must've been pretty serious if that's how she was going about it, he thought.
"Why hasn't she told me by now, or anyone else for that matter?"
"Let's just say she's a little too prideful to allow the truth to get to just anyone." She explained. "But if you're that curious, then you're free to ask her yourself."
"I guess you're right." He was feeling frustrated at the ordeal. Though, she was right. It was best to go direct if he wanted any results. After spending so much time going behind others backs, that was apparently a lesson the boy needed to learn. "I know they aren't usually around these days, but do you think they might come to the library today?"
"I haven't seen them lately, but I'm sure if they hear you're here, then they'll show up." Considering the quick little message he saw the girl send on her phone. Arata figured that was going to be very soon. "But right now, we have some private time to ourselves." This was when Hifumi made her move. She sat down on the chair next to him, scooting it towards him so that they were basically connected. He responded by sitting up on the edge of his seat away from her.
"You know personal space exists, right?" He told her when she leaned up on him.
"Come on, you don't have to be so shy." The girl placed a hand on his thigh. "Cookie?" She also took out a box which contained some homemade treats.
"If you spend this much time baking, you might as well open up a business." He politely accepted it and took a bite. As usual, it was delicious. "It's gotta be better than sitting all cooped up in here."
"I'll try not to see the irony coming from you." She replied, not heeding his warning through body language. "Besides, I'm very well aware of the others. I'm no simpleton, nor will I just stand by and let you get taken away."
"I just don't know if this is the way." It was kind of a weird feeling. Both because he knew that this wouldn't fly if he was the one doing it. But also because it's not as if he minded the attention from her. It was probably because she was imitating a character from one of his favorite anime, and he more or less was playing along.
"I also know you've kissed a few girls yourself." That was only half true. Arata had been kissed by multiple girls, but never had he been the one to make the move himself. "It wouldn't be fair if I got left out." Hifumi closed the gap between their faces, almost doing so with their lips. However, she overestimated just how long it would take for the rest of the library committee members to arrive. Or more accurately, she underestimated Ichiri's tenacity.
"We're here!" She loudly announced her arrive as the pair entered the library. "Is Arata still here?"
"You know we're in a library." Hifumi returned upright, irritated. She straightened her glasses while glaring at the girl.
"Sometimes it looks like you forget that yourself." Arata quipped, not forgetting her constant performances.
"It's great that you're here." Ichiri ignored their remarks and went straight for him. "I wanted to try and convince you to help out again."
"I already told you. I'm not…" He was about to outright reject her once more, but realized that he could take this to his advantage. "Actually, I did want to talk with you… In private."
"Really!?" She got excited over it. Immediately, the girl tugged his arm to usher him out of his seat and led them out of the library.
"Looks like he really will be joining us." Yurime commented as she sat down to grab one of Hifumi's cookies.
"Don't get your hopes up." She corrected. "He's a little too smart to be getting roped into your silly schemes."
"Oh…" Yurime sounded disappointed at the statement. Something that Hifumi still couldn't figure out at all.
"Why are you helping her anyway?" She asked. "You know it won't do anything."
"I know it won't work." It was a bitter truth that they all knew. Ichiri was being irrational, and now it was too late to back out now.
Well, they could back out, but that was unlikely to happen. "But she's my friend, so why wouldn't I want to help her?"
"Or is it because you feel like you owe her something?" Hifumi went right to the root cause that she was certain was true. "Because I don't see why you'd want to do something that would make you suffer in the long run."
"S-suffer?" She was taken aback by the word, and not simply because of the strong language. "What are you talking about, I'm sure it's fine." This act of playing dumb could only last so long.
"Really?" Hifumi was done playing games. "Because we both know that she'll get Arata if she wins this."
"T-that's a g-good thing though, right?" Her nervousness was beginning to boil over.
"Considering that you like the boy yourself, I don't see why you'd want that to happen." That statement was enough to make her give up on the charade.
"It's complicated." Though that was the only response she could give to explain her current position.
Meanwhile, Arata was still being taken by Ichiri somewhere very private. She didn't want any of their friends interrupting them as they had this important conversation. Except to her, she was still unaware to what exact conversation they were about to have.
The little private spot the two found themselves was none other than the roof of the school. This place wasn't off-limits to students, but most were too busy these days to head up there. Not to mention that they're still in the middle of Winter, so who in their right mind would go somewhere so cold?
It's Ichiri, so that answer to the question.
"All right." She spoke when they finally settled on a good place. "It's nice to see you've come to your senses."
"Actually, I didn't want to talk about helping you guys out." He made no effort to let her down gently. "Instead, what I want to know is why you're doing all this." It was time to get to the truth. Arata wasn't planning on heading down those stairs without finding out her reasons.
"Y-you do?" She asked anxiously. Without saying anything more, the girl attempted to walk past him. He countered by taking a step in her way. She then responded by trying to go the other way, to which he continued to block the way.
This went on at least a dozen times.
"All right." He was fed up and grabbed her by both sides. "I'm bigger than you, so you can't escape." If someone were to walk into this scene, it would look really bad for him.
"You're only an inch taller." She remarked, but her escape attempts were futile. He was at least stronger.
"Come on, just tell me." He tried to compel her. "Everyone knows how ridiculous this whole thing is, so just tell me why you want to do it."
"Okay, I'll tell you." He let go of her, and since she made no attempt to leave. It seemed that she was going to tell the truth. "You see, the truth is…" She quietly started to explain herself. Rather uncharacteristic from someone who was very braggadocious. "I love… My senior."
"You're in love?" It didn't hit him right away. The idea that Ichiri had a crush on someone was already hard enough for him to believe. "But if the third years are about to graduate, I doubt becoming the student council president would…" As he was thinking about it, that really made no sense at all. Partially because he was unaware of any of those third years having a friendship with Ichiri.
"That's because… You're my senior." She explained to him. Now that made sense to him, she was younger than him. And that was how she referred to him all the time. Okay, that works for him.
Wait a second…
"What!? You mean, you really like me?" Arata couldn't say that he saw that coming. "So you're doing all this so you can spend more time with me?"
"No, I actually thought you were going to leave the student council anyway." So she was aware of his original plans after all. "But, I want to show you that I'm the best girl here. So if I become the student council president, then I'll prove it to all of you."
"You really don't have to do that." If he was the type of person to care about that, he would've been dating Misei for a long time now.
"Please." She took his hands and held them together with hers. "I have to do this. And I know that I've already confessed now. But, I don't want to you to accept or reject me right now. I just want you to wait for me." With a quick motion, Ichiri leaned in for a kiss. Planting one on his cheeks, as he was too shocked to do anything about it.
Now the day was getting really late, and she quickly moved past him so that the girl could return to working on her campaign. "And when I do win this whole thing." She returned to her regular arrogant self. "I want to know if you'll accept my feelings for you."
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