"Ishigami!" Kaguya shouted, scandalized. "A member of the student council shouldn't use such language!"
"Sorry," Ishigami said absent-mindedly, and immediately remembered the danger "Wait, did you read this!?"
"O-Of course not. I would not read something that's not mine." Kaguya said nervously. "But give it back, I was taking it to the lost item's box."
"Ehh… I think it would be better if I took it there, senpai." he said.
'Wait… Why does he look so nervous? He must know what is written in there and doesn't want me to find out! Then it's even more important that I read it!' Kaguya thought. "There is no need, you already helped those girls earlier, you should go to the student council room and finish your work."
"N-No! I must insist, senpai. I should be the one to take this!" Ishigami was starting to panic, he could not let her read that doujin, for Karen's sake, and also for his, because he was pretty sure Karen had started adding his name to the doujin's credits page (He had been hugely against it, because it seemed unnecessary with only two names in it, and it would indicate who was behind the doujin, which was a big risk, but she ignored him.) as thanks for being her editor. If Shinomiya-senpai found out he participated in something like that, she would definitely murder him.
Kaguya was panicking as well, if this continued to unfold this way, she would never get to read that notebook. She was running out of options, and she had to do something drastic. He had to act as she did before.
"Ishigami," Kaguya said frostily and with an expressionless face, as she glared at him. "Give me the notebook at once, or you will not like what happens next."
Ishigami froze. His senpai looked as scary as she was when he first joined the student council. He had to consider his options quickly. He could ignore her, saving Karen but suffering Shinomiya's wrath, or he could give her the notebook, feign ignorance, and let Karen take all the blame. The decision seemed obvious, he would not survive Shinomiya's wrath. He silently apologized to Karen as he started handing Kaguya the notebook.
'Wait. What am I doing? How could I betray doujin-senpai? When I became her editor, I agreed to help her with the doujin in every way I could. She trusted me with this knowledge, and I am the only one who can save her. I will not betray her expectations!'
"S-Sorry, Shinomiya-senpai, but I will be returning it myself!" He said and started to run down the hallway.
"Wait! Ishigami-kun!" Kaguya quickly started running after him. "Why are you running!? Stop!"
Ishigami ignored her and continued running with Kaguya just a few steps back, and closing the distance quickly. He knew he was running out of time, he could not outrun Shinomiya, he had certainly tried before. His only option was to destroy the notebook before she could read it. However, when he took a turn to the right, he found himself face to face with a strangely familiar blond girl who sprayed some substance on his face. He immediately fell over, unconscious.
"Hayasaka! Great timing!" Kaguya congratulated her personal maid, as she arrived.
"Good afternoon, Kaguya-sama, perhaps you could explain why you were chasing the treasurer all over the school? Are you tutoring him again?" Hayasaka asked tiredly.
"No, nothing like that, I was just trying to recover this notebook." Kaguya leaned down and grabbed the notebook. "But he kept running away."
"Wait, are you saying he stole your notebook!?" the blonde asked angrily.
"What!? Of course not!" Kaguya answered. "It's nothing you should worry about, Hayasaka. You should return to what you were doing before people get suspicious."
This only made Hayasaka worry more, but just this time, she decided to trust her boss and leave her be for now.
"Alright, I will move the treasurer to that bench again, and return to my friends." Hayasaka said, but she intended to question Kaguya as soon as they returned home.
The moment Hayasaka left with the treasurer, Kaguya relocated to an empty classroom, and finally opened the notebook, immediately noticing it seemed to be a story of some kind, and seeing Karen's and Ishigami's names on a credits page. It seemed to be some kind of manga, but weirdly, she was the protagonist. The drawings were okay-ish, but the important part was the plot. The more Kaguya read, the deeper she blushed.
"W-What's this…!?"