The student council room.
Ryo, Kaguya and Chika were all doing their own things until Chika spoke up.
"Question! Love,?, hill, chrysanthemum. What goes in the question mark?"
Kaguya looked up at her. "What are you doing?"
"It's a riddle! Something like this should be easy for you, right? or do you not know the answer?"
"...It's "up".
"Ding Ding Ding~" Chika made a bell-like sound indicating Kaguya got it right.
"Please don't treat me like a fool… It's only natural to solve such a childish puzzle… Don't you agree, president?" Kaguya turned to Ryo who was reading.
"Hm? Yeah…".
["Ryo did not hear a word of what was said!"]
"Well you're correct. They spell out the first letters of the alphabet. So "up" was the answer".
["Just making sure you people at home understand. The Japanese alphabet starts with the letters "A, I, U, E, O, Ka, Ki, Ku, Ke, Ko" And the words in the riddle are: In Japanese "Ai, Ue, Oka, Kiku." Thank you for your time"]
'Thank you… I guess? Who is he speaking to? And you missed out the Ke and Ko'
["You're welcome and I didn't make the riddle"]
"Oo~ I've also got this one" Chika flipped the page of a book she was holding. "Alright next question! "N,E,S,W → ?,3,9,6" What is the missing number?"
"Can I just answer now?" Kaguya asked.
"Ofcourse!"
"Twelve" Ryo said the answer before Kaguya.
"Correct!"
"I'm not surprised the president knew the answer. But If I may ask how did you get it?"
"It's quite simple. N,E,S,W stands for north,east,South and West. Put them on a clock and… E = 3, S = 6, W = 9 meaning N = 12".
"Correct" Chika clapped her hands.
["Surprising, not even I knew that. And here I was thinking you were simple minded"]
'My dad was a big riddle guy, so he used to ask me lots and I guess some just stuck with me'
["So the reason you knew the answer was because your father in your past life told you it?"]
'In short terms yeah'
["You have too much luck. First being sent to another world, then going on a date with Kaguya you're living a dream"]
'If that what you want to call it'
"Question 3: 8 x 8 = 4, 8 x 8 = 32, 9 x 9 = 40 and 19 x 19 = ?"
'This I don't know…'
["It's zero!"]
'Huh? Why would it be zero?'
["Just say it!"]
Kaguya turned to face Chika, preparing to say the answer till Ryo took it from beneath her.
"Zero"
Kaguya turned to Ryo and so did Chika 'That was merely childsplay, but for a commoner to answer it before me'.
"Correct!" Chika turned to look in the book for another one.
"Seems they're simple enough for the president to get," Kaguya said.
'Simple enough!? since when was Kaguya this mean to Shirogane?'
["Calm down. This feels like it's steered totally off course of the story. We need to redirect the scene"]
'Simple enough! I'll show her!' "Chika give me another one" Ryo managed to keep a straight face on the outside.
"Oh um… alright" Chika flipped through the pages.
["He's not listening is he…"]
'I'll be sure to get this one if I'm a little bit serious about solving it. Even an utter moron could solve these' Kaguya thought.
"Question 4: What English word has consecutive double letters?"
"Bookkeeper" Kaguya sipped her tea and gave Ryo a quick sly look.
"Question 5: Summer → Cretaceous, fear → morning, ? → Duck"
"Morning!" Ryo slammed his hand on the table making Chika jump.
"Correct!"
This battle of riddles went on and on, Kaguya answering one and Ryo the one after.
They were both now entirely serious about the riddles and tied. "Chika another one," Ryo said.
"That's all the riddles in the book!" Chika slammed the book closed as they were both starting to scare her.
"Then think of one," Kaguya said.
"..." Chika tried her hardest to think of one.
Ryo and Kaguya sat there staring, awaiting the riddle.
"What goes from Z to A?" Chika finally spoke up.
"What goes from Z…" Ryo said to himself.
"To A…" Kaguya holds her chin in her hand.
["Since they were both continually answering from the riddle book, their minds were set to hard riddles so when an easy one showed up it completely threw them off".]
"Hmm..." They both looked down at the table, then it clicked! They both raised their heads and took a breath to say the answer.
"Zebra" Shirogane said entering the room.
Then they both fell face flat from the answer being swept from underneath them.
"Oh hey Shirogane" Chika turned away.
Shirogane noticed the look Kaguya and Ryo gave him as he walked in. "Did I come at a bad time?".
"No we're just doing some riddles" Chika walked over.
"So why do they look like they want to silence me?"
"I think they were having a competition or something and they were tied and starting to become scary".
Kaguya stood up. "Fujiwara please don't exaggerate the situation. It was merely a bit of fun, nothing more".
Ryo followed her lead and walked over to Shirogane. "Indeed, did you need something Miyuki?"
"Do you mind if I borrow your bike lock key?" Shirogane rubbed the back of his head.
"Why do you need mine?"
"I forgot mine this morning, so you used yours to lock both of our bikes together".
"Oh right. Yeah give me a second". Ryo walked over to his desk and opened his bag to get his key. "Here". Ryo threw the keys to Shirogane.
"Thanks".
"Just hook them onto the back of my seat, I have a few more bits of work that need to be done before I head home".
["They would be done if you didn't overdo it on the riddles."]
'Sorry I got carried away'
"Alright, I'll see you later" Shirogane left.
Ryo sat back down on the couch and pulled a stack of papers towards him.
"Well I'm heading home too!" Chika got the hell out of there before they asked her to do another riddle.
"Okay see you later then" Ryo started to write on the papers one after another.
Kaguya was about to head home too but stopped and sat on the couch next to Ryo. "I'll do half".
"Hm?" Ryo looked at her. "Are you sure? it's okay if you want to head home".
"My driver won't be here for a while and it will help me pass the time" Kaguya took half of the stack of papers.
["That was a lie her driver is waiting outside"]
"Thank you then".
The time went twice as fast as they stamped and wrote on each piece of paper.
Ryo stretched his back and arms. "And that's the last one".
"I believe my driver should be outside now, so I should take my leave" Kaguya stood up and picked her bag up walking out of the door.
"Thanks for helping me, I owe you one Kaguya" Ryo said as she walked out the door. And then put his belongings into his bag then walked out of the door and headed through the halls of the school to the bike racks where Shirogane was standing waiting for Ryo.
"Took you long enough," Shirogane said.
"You could've gone home, you didn't need to wait for me" Ryo got onto his bike.
"It didn't feel right leaving your bike unattended, plus it's not like I have anything else to do" Shirogane passed Ryo his bike lock and key.
"Besides studying" Ryo put them both into his bag.
"You got me there". Ryo and Shirogane took off on their bikes.
After a little bit of riding and talking they got back home and Shirogane asked a question that caught Ryo's attention.
"Can I ask you a question?".
'This sounds serious' "Sure".
"I noticed you call everybody by their given names and not their family names".
"Yeah I guess I do. But why do you ask, do you want me to call you Shirogane instead?"
"Oh no, I'm fine with it, it just caught my attention was all'.'
"I've always called people by their first names so it just feels more comfortable to me I guess".
"Just be careful, people might get the wrong idea," Shirogane said, parking his bike.
"Will do, I'll see you tomorrow" Ryo locked his bike up.
"Yeah bye" Shirogane walked up the stairs to his floor.
Ryo walked to his door and opened it.
"Welcome home," An older man's voice said from the kitchen.
The hallway led into the living room. The living room and kitchen was a single room with 3 rooms separating from it. 1 being the bathroom and the other 2 are small bedrooms.
"How was school?" The older man said. The older man was in his late 20s, short dark brown hair, mustache and black glasses.
Ryo sat down at the coffee table. "Same old. Attend classes, do paperwork and make students happy. What about you Goro, how was work?"
"Same old, look at teeth, fill teeth and make the clients happy". Goro smiled, turned around and kept cooking.
["For those of you at home, allow me to introduce Goro Shimada. A local dentist and his elder sister's boyfriend. And yes I know it's weird that you're meeting him before his elder sister".]
'Seriously who are you talking to!?'
["It doesn't matter, at least we're done with today's battle".]
'True' Ryo smiled to himself. 'Who knew my past life would help me' Ryo's eyes started to water.
["Whoa you okay?"]
'Yeah I guess I'm just a little homesick'.
["Understandable"]
Goro turned around. "Ryo you okay? Your eyes are watering?"
"Yeah I'm just a bit tired is all".
"Go and take a nap, dinner won't be ready until your sister's back".
"Will do, thanks" Ryo got up and walked into his room and shut the door to block the light.
1 week later.
Shirogane walked into the student council room where Chika, Kaguya and Ryo were sitting doing their own things.
"Hey, remember last week when you guys were doing riddles?" Shirogane was holding something behind his back.
Kaguya and Ryo looked at each other and looked at Shirogane. "Yeah why?" Ryo asked.
"I got this week's batch of riddles in the mail" Shirogane held up a book similar to what Chika had.
["Oh no"]
Kaguya and Ryo look at each other and remember they're still tied.
"Last time was a little fun so why not" Kaguya stopped what she was doing.
"A good way to pass the time" Ryo put his book down.
Shirogane opened the book. "First riddl-"
"No!" Chika swiped the book from Shirogane's hands.
"Why not?" Ryo asked.
"I won't let riddles become a means of war again!" Chika put the book in her bag and held it close.
"A means of war..?" Kaguya said.
"Just one riddle" Ryo tried bargaining.
"Riddles are banned from the council room now!" Chika ran out of the council room.
"Did she really just ban riddles from the council room?" Ryo looked at Shirogane.
"That is what she said," Kaguya said.
Shirogane held his hands out towards where Chika ran out from. "There goes six hundred yen I'll never get back".
"Six hundred yen!? I thought you said you got it in the mail!?" Ryo nearly choked on his drink.