章 22: Two rom-coms in one.
"Yo, Kuze! That debate last week was incredible!"
"I heard you took down Taniyama. I'm impressed. I wish I hadn't had cram school so
I could have gone."
It was the following Monday after the debate. Masachika was welcomed with genuine
curiosity and praise the moment he stepped inside the classroom.
"That's too bad, man. You should have been there. Seriously."
"Yeah, it was intense. I've honestly never seen a more exciting debate in my life."
The debate had apparently been the talk of the class before Masachika had even gotten
there. He'd heard a few students gushing about the event on his way to the classroom as
well. That was simply a testament to how exciting the student conference the week before
had been.
"To tell the truth, I thought the debate was over the moment I heard Taniyama's
argument."
"Yeah, and the fact that you two didn't have any questions for her after her argument
made me even more confident that she'd already won."
"Hey, what was your strategy for that debate anyway?"
"Come on, guys. At least let me put my bag down first."
With a pacifying grin, he put out a hand to hold his overly enthusiastic classmates back
while he headed over to his desk.
You guys could just ask the main speaker over there if you're so curious…
He thought this as he looked over at said main speaker—Alisa Kujou. Though she had
been the star of the debate, nobody was gathering around her. The sight made it painfully
clear how unapproachable she seemed to fellow students.
It's not like I don't see where they're coming from, but she's going to be running for
student council president, so this isn't going to work.
How was she going to gain support from her peers and win if her own classmates
wouldn't talk to her? That's why Masachika decided to proactively drag Alisa into the
conversation.
"Morning, Alya."
"Good morning," she replied, lifting her head and taking her nose out of her textbook,
which she always had open before class. She was reviewing before the day's lesson as if the
gossiping going on had nothing to do with her.
She probably doesn't know how to react to all these people talking about her…but her
behavior's making it hard for anyone to approach her, too.
In his mind, Masachika smiled a bit evily at his socially inept partner.
"They want to hear about the debate you put on last week!" he exclaimed, gesturing with
his eyes to their classmates behind him.
"Huh?"
Despite her bewilderment, he set down his bag, turned around to face their classmates,
who seemed just as confused as Alisa, and raised a hand to excuse himself.
"All right, guys. If you have any questions, Alya here will answer them in my
place…because I've got a game to play, and it's not gonna play itself."
"""Seriously?!""" shouted the class half jokingly while Masachika whipped out his
phone with a serious expression. Nevertheless, he stared at his phone screen and shamelessly
launched an app.
"I'm counting on you, Alya."
"W-wait. I—"
The troubled star of the debate and her classmates observed one another from either
side of Masachika. As the students exchanged glances, wondering who would be the first to
talk, Masachika discreetly glanced at Hikaru, who was sitting in front of him, and his friend
immediately knew what Masachika was trying to communicate.
"So, Alisa, I was wondering about your speech. Did you come up with that all by
yourself? Or did Masachika help?" asked Hikaru with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Huh? Oh… I created the speech. Kuze did give me some advice, though."
"Oh, wow. I was surprised, to be honest. I had no idea you were going to be that good
at debating."
"Th-thanks…?"
The other students started chiming in as well—thanks to Hikaru initiating conversation
—until eventually everyone was speaking their mind as though their curiosity had overcome
their anxiety.
"Was not asking any questions during the Q and A session part of your strategy?"
"Yes, it was something we had planned before the debate."
"Then, was Masachika suddenly taking over during the second half of the debate part
of your strategy, too?"
"That actually took me by surprise as well…"
Although unaccustomed to this type of interaction, Alisa did her best to answer the
questions while Masachika nodded to himself, content with how she was handling things as
he gazed at his random loot box reward for the day. Alisa was the center of attention in Class
B for once…but everything suddenly changed the moment a certain male student opened
his mouth.
"Too bad about what happened, though, right? Like, Taniyama just ran away before the
debate even finished. It was a pretty disappointing ending to a good show. Know what I
mean?"
Perhaps he was trying to butter Alisa up but was overly excited by the chance to finally
speak with such a beautiful girl. Other guys began to get in on it as well, until they were all
basically putting Alisa on a pedestal and absolutely trashing Sayaka.
"Yeah, for real. Challenging someone to a debate, then running off like that? Pathetic."
"Yeah, that was pitiful. She ran away the moment things started to get hard."
"Alisa won the debate the moment the Q and A started. Sayaka used to seem unbeatable,
but she gave up the moment someone actually stood up to her."
Maybe they were all waiting for Alisa to say, "Yeah, she was all bark and no bite," but
Alisa's reaction told a different story.
"…"
Her lips were pressed firmly together, and her brow was furrowed. She was clearly
displeased, and her classmates were taken aback, at a loss for words to continue the
conversation. In the midst of that awkward silence, Alisa stood up from her seat.
"Kuze. Come on."
"Hmm? All right."
Masachika slipped his phone into his pocket and got out of his chair, then acted as if he
had just remembered something.
"Ohhh, right. We have student council business we need to take care of still. Sorry, guys.
Looks like we'll have to pick this back up later."
He briefly apologized to his classmates before swiftly following Alisa out of the room.
He kept up with her brisk pace until they arrived at the student council room.
"So? What happened back there?"
But Alisa didn't respond, her brow still pinched together. He had a good idea why she
was upset, though.
"You didn't like them talking bad about Sayaka like that, huh?"
"…Of course not. She—"
"She challenged us to a debate, but she ran away before it was over. They didn't say
anything that wasn't true."
"But still…!"
Alisa seemed to have raised her voice unintentionally, but she didn't continue that
sentence. Instead, she gritted her teeth in frustration.
Masachika sighed as she stayed silent, struggling to put her feelings into words. He
understood how she felt, and that was exactly why he'd sighed. She wasfar too socially inept.
"We now know what was going through Sayaka's mind when she challenged us, and we
know why she ran away during the debate. So I can understand how frustrated you must feel
when people who don't know the details just focus on how she took off."
"…" Alisa listened in silence.
"But to be honest, we don't need to feel guilty for fighting fair and square, and we
shouldn't have to feel bad no matter what Sayaka says. Am I wrong?"
"…I know, but we didn't actually win. The debate essentially ended in a no contest,
right?" Alisa argued.
Winning the way they had wasn't enough for her. Because she knew that Sayaka had
reacted to Alisa teaming up with Masachika. They were the root cause of her rage, and Alisa
didn't want to admit thatshe'd won simply due to her opponent forfeiting. Her pride wouldn't
allow that.
"So what are you going to do? Hypothetically speaking, of course. What would you do if
everyone suddenly decided that the debate was a no contest and didn't count? Sayaka would
be able to redeem herself, but…our victory would be all for nothing. Praising and glorifying
the loser would end up cheapening the victor's win as well."
"…" Alisa fell silent again.
"More importantly, we don't even know if Sayaka would want that. Receiving pity and
charity from the person who beat her could crush what little pride she has left. Plus, it was
her partner, Nonoa, who admitted defeat."
"…I know that."
But Alisa's frustration didn't ease, no matter how reasonable Masachika may have
sounded. She probably realized this, but that still didn't mean she was happy about it. If they
were logical about this, their best choice of action would be to pretend not to notice. They
should accept the victory Nonoa gave them and nonchalantly act like winners. That was how
Masachika felt, and Alisa, too, likely believed this to be the right decision. However, he
didn't call her stubborn or push her away. He just watched over her.
She's really beautiful… Almost blindingly so.
Masachika could have continued trying to convince her to get over it if their only goal
was to win the election, but there was something more important to him than the election:
protecting Alisa's brilliant glow. He wanted her to be satisfied with how she became the
student council president. That was why…
"Anyway, if we were to act rationally, that would be our best option, but…it doesn't
really matter."
"Huh?"
"What matters is what you want to do. Come on. Quit trying to smother your feelings.
Stop with that huffy expression and spit it out. Tell me everything on your mind."
Alisa pouted after suddenly being teased like that.
"What do I want to do? I want to help Taniyama. But that's—"
"All right. Then let's help her," Masachika said with a shrug.
"Huh?"
She was caught off guard by how easily he agreed to help, and her expression filled
with disbelief.
"…Are you sure? I mean, you said it yourself. She might not even want our help. I'd
be doing this for me. Besides, this might make the effort you put into the debate all for
nothing…"
"That's fine. Better to go into the closing ceremony with no regrets than to drag this
baggage along with us," he replied casually, and Alisa began to look a bit guilty.
"I'm sorry for this. I know it's probably aggravating."
"Don't worry about it. I told you, right? I'll be there for you."
"I will be by your side to support you." Alisa suddenly remembered what Masachika
had promised her.
"Kuze…"
Something welled up inside her heart as she stood before Masachika, who was bashfully
avoiding her eyes and scratching his head. Alisa clasped her hands in front of her chest,
wondering what this sensation was. Some overwhelming emotion glowed in her eyes, and
that deep, burning passion he saw…was not the only thing on his mind right then because
he'd just realized something else. When he'd shyly averted his gaze, he'd noticed something
by the window at the back of the student council room. Lurking under the student council
president's desk…were two shadows.
Someone's there.
They appeared to be the shadows of the president and the vice president of the student
council. In fact, it wasless of a maybe and more of a sure thing. It wasthe most famousloveydovey couple in the entire school. The massive president, Touya, and the tall vice president,
Chisaki, were crammed under the desk and smushed together as much astwo people could be.
What are they doing? What is this, some kind of romantic comedy?
Masachika caught his breath and shuddered because it was like the pot calling the kettle
black.
Is this what I think it is? They were in their own little rom-com world when we came in,
which made them panic and hide. Then they were like, "Wait. What are we hiding for?" If
you're going to do the trope, then at least hide in a locker, not under a desk!
He could vividly imagine the exchange that would follow:
Chisaki would say, "Hey! Where do you think you're touching me?!"
And Touya would respond, "Ouch! I didn't mean to! It's cramped under this desk!"
And if things kept going in accordance with said trope, they were soon going to be so
close that they could feel each other's breathing and hearts racing, sweat dripping from their
hot, firm bodies until their hormones couldn't take it anymore.
Huh. It looks like the main event was happening over there. Then I guess it's my job to
wait until the moment is right and leave as if I didn't see a thing. I guess you could say I'm
the guy who has to set the stage for the main show. A stage prop, if you will.
Masachika's dirty nerd brain led him to this conclusion, so he turned to face Alisa once
more…and instinctively leaned back when he saw the girl's pure, angelic face.
Huh?! What's going on over here now?! A-am I in the middle of a romantic comedy,
too?! Tsk! Dammit! How could I not have noticed?! This isn't just a scene where two people
hide in a tight space, bringing both their bodies and hearts closer together! This is a scene
where they are watching a romantic comedy play out for them as well! And they're loving
every moment of it! We are stage propsto get those two closer and tools with the sole purpose
of making things even more exciting for them!!
Even as Masachika's 2D-addled mind ran wild, Alisa slowly closed the distance between
them…with fire in her eyes and her hands folded on her chest.
Yeah, this isn't good. What exactly about this isn't good? Everything. Anyway, it's
just…not good. Ack! It lookslike I have no choice but to change the direction thisis heading!!
The unbearable sense of danger forced Masachika to switch genres, a forbidden
technique he swore never to use again. He switched gears from romantic comedy…to serious
drama.
"How long do you two plan on hiding, Mr. President and Ms. Vice President of the
student council?"
The moment Masachika muttered that line, which could be found on any top ten list
of Lines Otaku Want to Say at Least Once in Their Lives, Alisa's face was overcome with
bewilderment. At the same time, loud thuds sounded from under the president's desk.
Oof. One of them must have hit their head.
With no sympathy, Masachika watched Touya emerge from under the desk and stand
awkwardly, followed by Chisaki, whose gaze wandered the room.
"Sorry… We accidentally waited too long to come out, until it would have been
embarrassing if we did."
"Yeah, we were looking for something we dropped when we suddenly heard you two
having a serious conversation, so we didn't want to interrupt…"
Chisaki was ad-libbing a painfully unconvincing excuse, but Masachika wasn't in the
mood to call her out, and Alisa wasn't in the right mindset to say anything.
"Hmm… All right, then. How about we both pretend like we didn't see or hear anything
and call it a day?"
"Y-yeah, good idea. Let's do that."
"Great. Come on, Alya. Let's go."
After they'd all calmly come to an agreement, Masachika grabbed Alisa and exited the
student council room. But right as he closed the door and sighed deeply…his eyes met
Alisa's, and she immediately stepped back and looked away.
"I, uh… Like…"
She spoke nervously, mumbling and tripping over her words, then swiftly turned on her
heel as though to escape her emotional stress.
"I…! I have something I need to do…!"
And she took off running, which was unusual for her. Meanwhile, Masachika looked up
at the hallway ceiling and groaned, turning his head.
"Maybe I should put my ear to the door and eavesdrop? According to the tropes, the
door should suddenly open, and someone will say, 'H-how long have you been there?!' But
I feel like Chisaki would be able to sense my presence almost immediately…," muttered
Masachika as he glanced over his shoulder at the student council room. Giving the scenario
such serious consideration truly marked him as the epitome of an otaku… But perhaps he
was only doing this so he didn't have to face reality.
"Oh my god! Check this out. It's the newest bag from Faimel, and it's so totally cute."
"That is cute! ♪ I want one, too, but I doubt I'll be able to snag one this month."
"Faimel? I know someone who can get you one. You're gonna have to give me a shoutout online, though."
"Seriously? You're the best!"
"Hold up. She barely hassix thousand followers. Not much of a shout-out if you ask me."
"Oh my god! That's rich coming from someone who doesn't even have a thousand
followers."
It was lunch. Alisa had been exuding vibes that said, "Don't even think about talking to
me, let alone look at me," ever since what happened that morning, so Masachika decided to
visit Class D alone to solve their issue…but he froze the moment he saw the girl he wanted to
talk to. Given her surname, he figured she would have been assigned a seat near the window
to the hallway, so he wouldn't even have to step foot into the room…but his plan proved
to be far too optimistic.
Dammit! Their conversation…! They're way too cool for me! I can't. I can't get any
closer!
There was Nonoa Miyamae, one of his and Alisa's opponents from the debate the other
day, and she was surrounded by four other students: two boys and two girls. It didn't help
that they were clearly at the top of the school pecking order, either. In addition to being goodlooking, they were dressed fashionably, albeit borderline against school rules. Nevertheless,
they expressed no signs of guilt and were brimming with confidence. The way they dressed
essentially gave off an aura that kept away those ranked in the middle or lower castes.
"Hey, Nonoa. What do you think of this?"
"Hmm?"
Meanwhile, Nonoa—the center of attention—hardly contributed to her followers'
conversation and seemed a bit bored, with her eyes half-closed and glued to the phone screen.
"This is Faimel's newest bag. Isn't it adorable?"
"Oh, that? Hmm… I used one during my last photo shoot, but I wasn't really feeling it."
"Oh my god. Really? I guess I don't want one anymore, then."
"Wait. Seriously?"
"Seriously. If Nonoa's seen the real thing and didn't like it, then that's all I need to
know."
"Anyway, Nonoa, what are you doing next Sunday? I'm having a party at my house.
Wanna come? My cousin is a huge fan of yours."
"This Sunday? But we have a test on Monday."
They were lower than followers—they were worshippers. They tried everything they
could to get Nonoa's attention, but she was blowing each and every one of them off while she
fiddled with her phone. It was like a group of retainers or jesters trying to please their queen.
"Then we can study for the test together on Sunday, too. Come on. Please?"
"Mmm…"
"Oh, come on. Nonoa, you've been so cold lately," one of the girls said, pouting. That
was when Nonoa, who had expressed absolutely no interest in their conversation up until
now, suddenly placed her phone down, stood up, and wrapped her arms around the girl with
a radiant smile.
"Oh my gosh. I was totally just messing with you. A party? This Sunday? I'm so there."
"Really? Yesss!"
"Really. But…"
After letting go of the girl, Nonoa slowly turned to Masachika, then leaned out the
window to the hallway.
"Kuzeee, what's up?"
"H-hey. It's, uh… Yeah."
"Can't talk here?"
"I'd rather not if that's okay…"
"Sure," Nonoa agreed easily without even asking why.
"I'll be right back, guys," she assured her followers.
"Oh, okay."
"I'll fill you in on the details later, then."
"See ya."
"Have fun."
Her followers shot Masachika glances, each with a different emotion, as if to say, "If
Nonoa's not here, then what's the point?" before they all got up and left.
They really do worship her. She has her own freakin' entourage…
Masachika watched in something between disgust and interest until Nonoa stepped out
of the classroom, idly fidgeting with her hair and saying:
"So where do you wanna go? Wanna look for an empty classroom or something?"
"Yeah, sure… Interesting hairstyle you have today, by the way."
Masachika smiled awkwardly after seeing Nonoa up close. She almost always did her
hair in the morning based on how she felt that day, but today was something else…to say
the least. She had braids of all shapes and sizes randomly scattered about with ribbons for
seemingly no particular rhyme or reason. And yet it didn't look bad at all. It was impressive
that she was able to pull it off.
"Oh, this? I let Shuna and Mia do my hair today, and this is how it turned out. Oh, hey.
I almost forgot to take a picture for the gram."
She promptly whipped out her phone, raised it high in the air, and took a selfie as if she
had done it thousands of times. Masachika felt a smidgen of admiration at how she could
pose perfectly at the drop of a hat and how bold she was to use her phone in the hallway,
despite it being against school rules.
"Hmm. Perfect."
"Uh-huh… Anyway, come on."
"A'ight."
After stepping into an empty room, Nonoa crossed her arms with her usual unmotivated
expression, then leaned against the wall.
"So? If you're gonna ask me out, I'm totally cool with that, but…that's not what you
wanted to talk about, is it?"
"Nope… Wait. You'd be cool with that?" asked Masachika reflexively, unable to let
that slip by.
"I mean, I'm not seeing anyone right now. And I don't dislike you," replied Nonoa,
twirling her hair around her finger and tilting her head.
"Wait, wait, wait. You should definitely go out with someone you like, not someone
you don't dislike."
"What? I would have never had a single boyfriend in my life if I did that."
"Aaand I think I've found your problem."
"Not my fault I don't know what it means to 'fall in love,'" Nonoa said with a shrug as
if it wasn't a big deal, which made Masachika frown in discomfort.
"I'm not trying to push my opinion of love on you or anything, but don't sell yourself
short. You don't have to get with every guy who begs."
Nonoa's half-closed eyes opened wide for the first time that day, and her lips curled
somewhat gleefully.
"Ha-ha! Saya said the same thing to me. Her advice came with a slap, too, though."
"Seriously? She didn't strike me as the kind of person who would slap her best friend."
"Yeah, she's… Yeah."
Her smile faded into a half smirk, and her eyes wandered the room.
"I'm not even gonna guess what you did," he muttered with a sigh as though he wasn't
really expecting her to explain what she meant any further.
"Like, you know? It was a long time ago, and she had this boyfriend. And, like, she
caught us making out in the classroom. And we were at, like, second base."
"The hell?! Seriously?"
"Ha-ha! You must think less of me now, huh?"
Masachika's eyes widened. He was taken aback by what he'd heard for more than one
reason. As Nonoa arched an eyebrow and smiled in a self-deprecating manner, Masachika
gulped before replying in a trembling voice:
"That sounds just like how the protagonist usually meets the heroine in yuri comics!"
"…This is actually one of the things I like about you, Kuze."
"That could have been the first chapter's two-page spread in color. The prudish class
president finds some flirty guy and a delinquent girl in the classroom. She regards them with
contempt, but she can't look away for some reason…"
"Yooo. Reality to Kuze. Come iiin, Kuze."
"O-oh… Ahem!"
Nonoa sighed softly.
"Anyway, I was kidding about going out with you…and I haven't been fooling around
with any guys ever since Saya scolded me, either," she half-heartedly confessed, twirling her
hair around her finger.
"'Fooling around'? You're a freshman in high school this year, you know."
"Yeah, yeah… So? What do you want?"
She stared at him with half-lidded eyes once again, and his expression instantly changed.
"Oh… Uh… It's about Sayaka."
"Ohhh. She's not here today. When something gets her down, it gets her way down…
Anyway, what about her?"
"You hear the things they're saying about her around school, right? About how she
challenged us to a debate but ran away before it even ended. I was wondering if there was
anything we could do to stop all this gossiping."
"Oh? I didn't know you were the kind of guy who cared about stuff like that."
Puzzled, she quirked her head to the side.
"My partner cares," he said, shrugging.
"Ohhh. Now it makes sense." Nonoa nodded before she looked up at the ceiling with
both disgust and admiration.
"Heh… Aren't you sweet?" she added.
"I'm not doing this to be nice. I'm serious about this—about a lot of things."
"What you're doing is still nice." She grinned faintly, but her smile became more selfdeprecating.
"And? Why are you telling me all this? I'm your enemy, you know?"
"'Enemy,' huh?"
"Don't tell me you didn't notice I had a few plants in the audience to stir things up."
"Yeah, I know. Konda from Class A, Nagano from Class C, Satou and Kunieda from
Class D, and Kinjou from Class F, right?"
Her eyes widened in astonishment, but her grin grew.
"…Seriously? You found every one of my plantsfrom the stage in that dark auditorium?"
"I was actually only about seventy percent sure until I saw your reaction just now."
"So you tricked me into admitting it. You got me. Looks like you had a backup plan
ready just in case, huh?"
She smiled and gazed up at him from under her eyelashes, but Masachika just shrugged,
maintaining his silence, so Nonoa decided to speculate on her own.
"Well, the faculty has become pretty sensitive when it comes to cheating, ever since all
the bribing and threats during that election a few years back, so if word got out that a few
plants influenced the results of the debate, and if their actual names were leaked, too, then the
school would have to get involved, seeing as how big of a deal the student council is… And
the worse the situation got, the worse we would look, which would end up making you two
look even better. Plus, if there were any doubts of wrongdoing, the subject of debate wouldn't
be considered anymore. You could have won by default that way… You're sick. I like that."
"…There aren't any rules that say you can't run for student council president even if
you lose at the debate, and I didn't want to hurt your reputations if I didn't have to."
"But you would have if you had to, huh? Scary stuff. I'm really glad we didn't win."
But it was obvious she wasn't actually scared, and Masachika's gaze was piercing.
"You're far scarier if you ask me. Asking your buddies to be plants? Sounds like a good
way to lose all your friends."
"Hmm? Oh, people are welcome to come and go as they please. And honestly, I'm, like,
not really attached to any of my friends other than Saya, so it doesn't matter to me if they
end up not wanting to be friends anymore anyway."
It wasn't what you would expect from someone so popular—basically the school's queen
bee. Her indifferent expression didn't help, either. Masachika, however, wasn't surprised in
the least.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
"When you say you aren't attached to friends other than Sayaka, does that also mean
she's the only person you're close to? Why? I thought you didn't get people like her who
internalize their harsher side."
"The fact that I don't get it is why I'm interested in her and want to hang out with her."
"If you say so," he replied, tilting his head in curiosity. Nonoa suddenly brought her face
close to his, then smiled suspiciously.
"You know how I feel, Kuze. You know what it feels like to be attracted to someone
with a sparkle—someone who has something you don't."
But there wasn't a hint of humor in her eyes as she stared into his. It was as if she saw
right through him, making Masachika fall silent. She chuckled at his reaction, then took a
step back and raised her voice.
"Anyway! Now that you've shown me something amusing, let's start that scheme of
yours. I'm sure we can come up with something really evil, since we both understand how
it feels to be drawn to our glowing partners."
"It's nothing evil, but sure…"
With a smirk, Masachika looked at her seriously and continued:
"It's simple, really. I just want to spread a rumor about why Sayaka ran away during the
debate. Something that sounds plausible."
"…You mean so it doesn't sound like she ran away once things started to get tough. Are
you sure? It'd cheapen your victory."
After she raised an eyebrow skeptically, Masachika shrugged and replied:
"I know. In any case, the reason can be anything. Like she suddenly heard thatsomething
happened to her parents, maybe? …By the way, what did you two do after that? Because we
wouldn't be able to use an excuse like that if you went to a café to wind down or something."
"Oh, after that? We, like, waited until Saya finished crying, then we stalled until
everyone was gone so we could go home without anyone seeing us. But it's not like there
were zero witnesses, so I doubt we could get away with saying she had urgent business to
take care of."
"Oh… Hmm…"
What now? Masachika crossed his arms and pondered for a few moments until Nonoa
suddenly spoke up with an annoyed sigh.
"Mmm… I'll figure something out."
"Wait. Are you sure?"
"I mean, she's, like, my partner. So it's my job to help her. Plus, I'm good at spreading
rumors."
Then she turned on her heel, ending the conversation.
"Anyway, laters."
"Y-yeah, see you around."
After Nonoa left the classroom, Masachika stood alone helplessly and scratched his head,
still baffled by the unexpected turn of events.
Huh. If this were a comic, the next scene would be me calling for one of my minions
hidden in the shadows and saying, "Follow her. And don't let anyone see you."
The geeky scenario came to him after he thought about how he was chatting with one of
his rival candidates and what had happened in the not-actually-empty student council room
that morning. He smiled cynically at himself and decided to jokingly call out the name of his
childhood friend who was kind of like a shadow.
"Ayano."
But he was immediately overcome with embarrassment.
"What am I doing?" he muttered. And he was reaching for the door to leave when—
"Yes, Master Masachika."
"Whoa?!"
He jumped, literally, at the sudden voice coming from behind him. Masachika swiftly
turned around to find Ayano really standing there, and his jaw dropped.
"What are you doing here?!"
"…? I came because you summoned me," stated Ayano, tilting her head quizzically, but
Masachika had already gone beyond mild confusion and had reached peak disbelief.
She's here because I summoned her?! Like a demon from a magic circle?! Can she
teleport whenever I call for her? Or is this that thing ninjas can do when they clone
themselves? Is one of her doppelgänger shadow things always following me around?!
His nerd brain was geeking out at max capacity when another voice suddenly called out
from behind him.
"Hey, I think you're forgetting someone, bro."
He turned around only to find Yuki leaning against the wall with her arms crossed,
grinning like a hard-boiled detective.
"The hell?! Seriously! What are you two doing here?!"
"Heh. We saw you trying to make contact with the enemy, Nonoa, so we hid under the
teacher's desk before you came in."
Yuki approached him with a truly mischievous, fearless, and wild look in her eyes. Under
the desk? Again? thought Masachika as he glared at her reproachfully.
"So what really happened?"
"We were pretending to have a secret rendezvous in an empty classroom when you two
showed up and had a real one."
"You guys have way too much free time."
The fact that they'd been playing pretend made Masachika roll his eyes so hard he could
almost see his brain. All of a sudden, the door to the classroom rattled open.
"Kuze? You in here?"
Alisa peeked hesitantly into the room, perhaps having heard him scream, but when she
saw the three of them together, her expression instantly went blank.
"…Hmph."
"Alya? This isn't what you think." Masachika immediately tried to defend himself.
"What? There's nothing strange about three childhood friends playing together," Alisa
said stiffly.
"Then why do you have such a scary look on your face?"
"It's just your imagination. Anyway, enjoy," she added sternly before closing the door,
but right before it shut completely, she muttered with a slight pout:
"<Hmph. Didn't even bother inviting me.>"
And just like that, her peevish expression was hidden behind the door.
It wasn't like they'd been doing anything to be ashamed of, but Masachika was instantly
overcome with guilt as he stood in silence.
"Bro, bro, brooo. I know that look. That's the look girls make when they prepare you
lunch to pay you back for helping them at a debate and have been searching all over school
for ya," claimed Yuki, mimicking a hoodlum.
"What kind of look is that?! And stop making a backstory for why she was looking for
me! She wasn't even holding a lunch box!"
"The lunch boxes are probably already on the picnic blanket she laid out in the
schoolyard."
"Stoppp!" shrieked Masachika.
"I bet you feel terrible now," jeered Yuki with an aggravating smirk as she placed a
consoling hand on his shoulder.
"And whose fault is that?!"
Ayano watched their rapid banter from a step away with her usual empty expression,
nearly about to clasp her hands together like a nun being blessed. Nevertheless, her will was
as strong as steel. She wasn't going to do anything that would interrupt their exchange. She
was solely going to focus on being air… But on the other hand, Ayano unfortunately also
happened to look like an anime shipper watching over her favorite couple.
Nonoa was well aware that she would be classified as a psychopath by the general public
if they knew the real her. Her emotions had been numbed since she was a child. Never once
had she screamed tearfully in sadness or raged violently in anger. Feelings of absolute delight,
enough to make her want to jump with joy, were alien to her as well. While she felt pain and
pleasure, it was always so faint that she could control it before exhibiting any signs.
That was why she hadn't been able to understand Sayaka even when they were children.
To Nonoa, Sayaka was a peculiar creature who was usually reasonable but who threw wild
fits seemingly at random. Sayaka puzzled her, but that wasn't an issue that prevented them
from being friends.
Nonoa couldn't fathom why people felt certain ways. She couldn't empathize. But that
was also why she was able to objectively analyze her actions and others' reactions, allowing
her to act exactly how others hoped she would. She knew what to say, what expression to
make, and how to act to calm the peculiar creature's temper. That was what made Sayaka
so easy for Nonoa to handle. Nonoa's parents had even told her to befriend Sayaka, so she
figured she'd do the bare minimum to stay on Sayaka's good side. That was what she had
planned on doing at least…until that happened.
"Stop selling yourself short and getting with every guy who asks! Have some respect
for yourself!"
It was the first time someone seriously got angry at her, and it was the first time she had
ever been slapped as well. The fierce words and glare had sent a vivid warmth to Nonoa's
cheeks, which was a novel experience for someone who had played the "good girl" role all
her life. Although no guy she had ever touched or been touched by had made her heart race,
her heart had been thunderously beating against her chest then.
"How the protagonist meets the heroine in yuri comics, huh? He's probably not that far
off," muttered Nonoa as she returned to her classroom alone. She smiled a bit while thinking
about how she could help Sayaka redeem herself…butshe actually already knew the moment
Masachika asked for her help in that empty classroom. However, she figured he would try
to stop her, which was why she ended the conversation there and left.
More importantly…there were only supposed to be four plants in the audience…
Nonoa curiously tilted her head, thinking about the fifth name Masachika had mentioned.
Kinjou from Class F, was it? He wasn't one of my plants…which, I guess, makes him
someone who genuinely doesn't like Kujou?
The curiosity was there, but she was almost back at her classroom, so she decided to
put it aside for the moment.
Well, I did cause a lot of trouble for Kuze and Kujou the other day, so I guess I can deal
with this Kinjou kid to make it up to them.
And with that in mind, Nonoa opened the door to her classroom and returned to her seat.
"Oh, Nonoa! About time you got back."
"We were waiting forever for you! ♪ What did that kid from Class B want to talk about?"
"He just wanted to know why Saya didn't come to school today. That's all," she replied
to her friends, who looked puzzled.
"Taniyama? She didn't come to school today?"
"Must be because she lost the debate, right? Is she still letting that get to her?"
"Oh, no. It's my fault she's not here, and, like, it was totally my fault she forfeited the
debate."
"W-wait. What?"
"Seriously? Why didn't you tell us?!"
Their eyes glittered with curiosity.
"Like, I actually had a few plants in the audience. And Saya found out. And, like…she
was pissed that I had to resort to dirty tactics to win. So she, like, forfeited," explained Nonoa
as though it was no big deal.
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