Ah, a cool morning. Today was shaping up to be a lovely day. Kaguya-sama was in a good mood this morning, so breakfast went by smoothly. With a friendly "Goodbye", I saw her off in her limousine, while I walked to school.

I cared very little for Shuchiin Academy. Mainly it was a tool to further the interests of Kaguya-sama. Grades mattered little to me, and I spent most of my day blending in as your average teenage high school girl. Ironically, this means I spend very little time with Kaguya-sama at school to maintain the facade. We always arrive separately and only rarely return together. Despite being in the same class, our respective social circles kept us apart.

This was, of course, fine with me. I was quite accustomed to spending my free time alone, and very often preferred solitude if given the choice. Going to high school then was almost an exercise in turning off my brain for nearly eight hours. However...

"~Ai-chan!" A voice called out to me from across the street.

I turned to face the voice. Across the street, a girl wearing a Shuchiin Academy uniform was waving me over. Her long dark hair waved lazily in the slight breeze. One of the two good friends I had made in high school, Erina Tomoko.

Strictly speaking, I never needed to make friends in high school. My life belongs to the Shinomiya group. However, it would have been quite strange for a student at such a prominent school to not make any social contacts. It was necessary to find acquaintances in order to maintain the cover.

That being said, I was oddly fond of these two girls. Their normal, everyday high school problems and joys were somewhat refreshing. My time I spent with them was fairly limited due to the nature of my job, something the two of them never cease to bug me about.

In a blink of an eye, my demeanor changed. I jumped into the ultimate school camouflage: gal mode. "Tomo-chan!" I yelled across the street.

When the walk light came on, Tomoko skipped across the crosswalk and joined me on my side of the road. Suddenly, she put a finger up to her ear and stated in English, "Starfighter Wise, checking in!" (1)

I responded in the usual way. "Starfighter Love, reporting!" (2).

With the familiar greeting, she threw her arms around me before settling next to me as we walked to school together, her book bag slung over her shoulder.

"Say, did you hear?" Tomoko asked, her eyes beaming with excitement.

"Hm?" I replied. Tomoko seemed to always have some exciting news to share. Last week she showed me pictures of the Indian Giant Squirrel.

"Did you hear the vice president got confessed to again?"

Ah yes. Another poor soul was unfortunate enough to develop feelings for Kaguya. It was not an uncommon occurrence; she is, of course, beautiful and gets confessed to quite often. Every rejection seems to get harsher and harsher, as well. Kaguya herself barely mentioned the instance to me, probably seeing the boy as nothing but an insect.

"Yeah, I think I heard something about that," I replied, my voice rising nearly an octave higher than usual. "She rejected him pretty harshly, huh?"

Tomoko nodded. "Apparently the boy was catatonic for hours afterwards. His friends said that he just kept saying 'I am worthless. I want to be reborn as a slug.' over and over again."

I visibly cringed, but inside I was still not surprised. Kaguya told me that people she had once rejected started to try their luck again, so it was simpler to just break them initially. Perhaps she went a little too far this time, though. Still, the poor boy knew what he was getting into.

"How scary," I commented, letting her do most of the talking.

"Very." Then Tomoko got a sad, almost wistful look in her eyes. "It would be nice to get confessed to though. Just once before high school ends."

The air was getting somber, I could feel it. I quickly had to change the mood, or else the entire school day would be quite unpleasant. I grabbed her hand in mine, she looked at me.

In a cheerful voice, I told her, "Don't worry, Tomo-chan. I know you're a catch. Right now there's nobody good enough for you. "

I saw a gleam of happiness return to Tomoko. It seemed to be working. So I continued, "Plus, if none of these boys can recognize how amazing you are, then I'll date you myself!"

Ugh. Not an appealing concept. But Tomoko started laughing, so it was mission accomplished. She smiled. "That could work, but I don't think you're my type."

"Hey now," I responded, "Beggars can't be choosers."

We laughed again, almost approaching the school now. Which means it was about time for...

"STARFIGHTER SUMMER!" A voice rang out from across the street in broken English. Tomoko and I both looked up, knowing exactly who we'd find Seizawa Natsuko. The loudest, brashest, most fun of our trio. (3)

Natsuko was running down the street in the usual Shuchiin uniform, carrying her handbag as if it weighed nothing. Natsuko's father was a high-ranking member of the JSDF. (4) The three of us met from being in the same class last year.

But now that the three of us were together it was time. The three of us stood in a triangle, saluted, and shouted in English, "REPORTING FOR DUTY!"

And as soon as that was over, we all started laughing. It was surprisingly easy to laugh with them. They were always supposed to just be cover, but I suppose I don't mind spending time with them.

"Aaanyway," Natsuko continued as we finished the walk to class. "What were you guys talking about?"

Tomoko replied, "How scary the vice president is."

"Oh yeah! She rejected that guy so hard!" Apparently, word spreads fast about such topics. Natsuko continued. "Man, I wonder what kind of man the vice prez would end up with."

Tomoko replied. "Obviously with the president!" She spoke with such enthusiasm as if it were an indisputable fact.

Feeling like I hadn't contributed to the conversation in a while, I cut in, "What? No way?"

Tomoko stopped walking and gave me a shocked expression. We had reached the school gates now. Several other students were coming in with us, but paid us little mind. No doubt Kaguya-sama was in class already, but who knew about Miyuki. Some days he was twenty minutes early, and other times he arrived just as the bell was ringing.

Tomoko continued. "Seriously?"

Natsuko and I briefly looked at each other. "Seriously what?" I asked her.

"You too Natsuko?" She rolled her eyes. "Well obviously the prez and vice prez belong together! Totally obvious. It's as if the universe conspired to bring these two together."

Natsuko laughed. "Geez Tomo-chan. Never you seen this fired up about something."

I nodded. "I know, it's so unlike you!"

Tomoko scoffed. "Ugh, do you guys really not see it?"

I offered, "Um, not really?"

Natsuko agreed, "Yeah not really."

Tomoko threw up her hands. "I can't believe you guys."

Natsuko suddenly pitched in, "Well didn't you guys hear?" Tomoko and I tilted our heads in confusion. She continued, "I heard the president was seen leaving a mixer with a blonde girl from another school!" She whispered this excitedly, despite most of the student being inside the school now.

"Really?" Tomoko leaned forward excitedly. "A blonde girl?"

Reflexively, I twirled a curl of my blonde hair with me finger. So people had seen Miyuki and I at the mixer. I hadn't considered that possibility. As the president of the most prestigious school in the region, I figured people would realize he is above such rumors. Evidently, I was wrong.

"I wonder who it was," I added with feigned amusement. "There's not too many blonde girls around here." I said this, fully knowing it would be easy to cast suspicion onto me.

Natsuko had more news. She continued, excited. "And what's more, they apparently went to karaoke afterwards!"

Damn it! People had even seen that? I suppose Miyuki is a rather famous figure, and his terrifying eyes are quite recognizable.

"Wow do you think something happened there? Singing out their feelings for each other?" Tomoko asked.

Natsuko replied, "Well the rumors after that get less reliable. Some say that the girl left him alone. Others say that she confessed to him that night, and he accepted! Nobody really knows, though."

Quickly, I turned away from them, as we were exchanging our shoes in the locker room. It was a convenient time to look away, because I was blushing hard. That was of course the original plan going into that night. His horrific attempt at rapping is what finally broke my resolve, and nothing happened that night. The rumors were quite imaginative about what happened, but I can't say that they were particularly unpleasant.

Wait, what was I saying? If Miyuki had accepted my confession, I would have rejected him harshly the next day. I was just trying to prove a point to Kaguya, and her happiness is what matters. Plus, even if I did have feelings for him, once Kaguya found out, she would have me and my whole family shipped away to Antarctica.

I interjectd. "Well nothing happened then, because someone would have seen them together again. We know he's not seeing anyone right now, so nothing probably happened at karaoke."

Suddenly, Tomoko gasped and started grinning. This smile of hers was particularly worrisome, when she had just solved a difficult math problem, or knew the solution to a brain-teaser. My heart sank.

"Obviously," Tomoko announced, slowly, drawing it out. "They must have had a one night stand!"

"What?!" I couldn't help myself from exclaiming, much louder than I intended. My face was burinng. The two girls stared at me, confused. "Um, sorry. There was a rock in my shoe." I explained, pathetically. I coughed to clear my throat. "Anyway, there's no way Miyuki-kun would do anything like that." I tried to sound dismissive about the whole thing. I was so caught up in my emotions, that I didn't see the fatal mistake I had just made.

Natsuko shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. He doesn't seem like the type." So far I was safe.

"Hold on minute," Tomoko raised a hand. Sadly, nothing gets past Tomoko. We were right outside of our classroom now. "What did you say, Ai-chan?"

"Hmm?" I tilted my head, not knowing what she was referring to.

"Did you just call the president 'Miyuki-kun'?"

I didn't realize my heart and my stomach could sink so far.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay this time. Finals were rough. Thank you for your patience. I had a lot of fun bringing these two blank slate characters to light. Also, I hope to be able to add more references to Japanese language and culture in the future.

Translation notes:

1. The starfighter names are Japanese writing puns. Tomoko can be written with the kanji for wisdom.

2. Ai means love in Japanese. Aishiteru = I love you.

3. Natsu = summer

4. JSDF= Japanese self-defense force, aka the military