Ishigami and Iino enter her apartment just like the time on which the stalker incident came up first. Although a lot of things changed since back then; the pervert is identified; the auditor and treasurer became a couple, the student council knows about it. But they still haven't had a date, leave alone kissed. Could this evening change their relationship forever?


Please enjoy!


Iino Miko opens her eyes

"Iino, I hate to ask but… I need to use your restroom."

A little bit surprised, the brunette begins to giggle. It's actually better that something so simple breaks the ice. Without raising her voice, she just points at the door to her left.

"Thanks!"

Ishigami runs into the room quickly and locks it behind him, leaving the short girl to her thoughts. She takes deep breaths in and out, just like Onodera told her to do if she's jitty again. It clears her mind. Maybe her boyfriend needs some time to himself as well. 'I wonder… does he still know where my room is?' Heading to the living room, the brown-eyed girl tries to be quiet, not to give away any hint about the room she enters. After carefully closing the door behind her, she sits down on the green couch facing the entrance. 'And now we'll wait. I'm sure he'll find me immediately.'
Iino closes her eyes with a smirk on her face, feeling her fatigue kicking in. 'But right now… I want to…' Yawning loudly without restraint, since the former track leader is not here, the public morals officer sinks into the couch and dozes off.


On the other side of this relationship, the male part examines his reflection in the bathroom mirror while washing his hands. 'The tub is behind me, I'm looking not too horrible, and I'm at my girlfriend's place…' Inhaling deeply to regain composure, he detects that his cheeks are flushed. 'And we're all alone… isn't this where stuff happens?' He washes his face. 'Play it cool, Yuu. Nobody likes a nervous idiot.' After turning off the tap, Ishigami leaves the room, realises that his girlfriend probably went to the living room, and instinctively heads there. He opens the door, ready to strike her with a pick-up line.
The excited boy's mood is crushed by a snoozing Iino. His facial expression hardens, and his thoughts about this entire situation changes, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. 'What the hell was I thinking?'

Checking the room for something to cover her small body, Ishigami finds nothing better than a tablecloth, but decides to go for it anyway. He uses one of the couch cushions to bolster the armrest, carefully moves the auditor into a lying position, and tucks her in. Those actions cause him to muster his girlfriend more closely. The disciplinary committee member's face is cute as it is, but with her eyes closed, her chest moving up and down in an almost hypnotising manner, and her mouth slightly open, the blue-eyed boy has a hard time holding back his desires. 'You're a real troublemaker even when you're not awake.' He decides on petting her head, resulting in a smile on both sides.

"You really did good today, Iino. I'm proud of you."

The female student's cheeks begin to glow, right after the younger one leaves her to sleep in peace and heads for the kitchen behind her. 'I should invigorate her by cooking something. She loves golden rice, doesn't she? But that's only a side dish… what to do about the main one?' He checks the cabinets and fridge for ingredients.


About half an hour passes before the short girl regains consciousness, being woken by a lovely smell filling the room, accompanied by pans, pots, and tableware clanging.

"Hnnngh…"

She rises, stretches, and rubs her eyes. The only child of this household needs a moment to fully come back to her senses. 'Where am I?' While looking at the general direction of smell and sounds, she realises her crush standing in the kitchen, cooking a meal.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead. Dinner is ready soon."

Grinning, the auditor replies with a cheeky line.

"Yeah, as if that would happen."

Her answer confuses her boyfriend, but he's too caught up with the final touches to serve them salmon and rice. Meanwhile, the chair of the morals committee takes a fork from the neatly placed cutlery and waves it around.

"As if Ishigami would go so far as cooking for me. After I fell asleep, he probably just felt up my body or didn't do a thing at all. So, either you're an imposter or all of this is a dream."

With a grain of salt the young cook serves all the food he prepared for her. He feels insulted. Does she really think this badly of him? The annoyed male takes a place on the opposing side. His voice becomes more serious.

"Neither of those assumptions are true, so just shut up and enjoy your meal. Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu!"

Realising that this must be the reality, the unruly brat does as she's commanded. Being rightfully reprimanded by Ishigami is a new feeling for her. After taking a first bite, her mood changes again. The auditor smiles brightly and begins to dig in the meal. This doesn't go unnoticed by her boyfriend, who feels like he acquired an accomplishment for some reason.

"Sho… good…!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full."

Taking a moment for himself, Ishigami becomes aware that this is a side of Iino he hasn't seen before. Her letting her guard down completely, not being so serious, just being a childish girl who's thankful for food, a good nap, and company. 'You're honestly cuter than you think…'

This thought results in red cheeks, which his opponent notices. The gourmet also notices a different aura around her boyfriend. He's humble, caring, kind, and not even as perverted as she imagined the opposite sex to be. She swallows her food, wanting to give him an apology for her behaviour after she woke up. Since she knows that he has some kind of fetish for smiles, she gives him a bright one.

"Thanks for sticking around, Ishigami."

This awakens something within the addressed. He gets all flustered, avoiding her gaze.

"W-well, it's all fine, you know? It's not like I'm not glad to be with you, or something."

'His demeanour is just reflects the one he admonishes when I'm like this.' Continuing to eat, both of them become self-conscious, with the will to finish this meal as soon as possible, but also never wanting it to end. But as all things, their food follows the laws of causality. Iino puts her chopsticks next to her plate.

"Gouchisousama!"

Ishigami follows her example.

"Yeah, even though it wasn't a lot of work to make it."

The eyes of the polite girl narrow, before turning her head away from him.

"It's easy for me to show my gratitude for a meal if it's as tasty as this."

'The tsundere again? Or was this actually my fault. Basically, she was complimenting me…' Not knowing how to handle this situation, he tries his best to control the damage.

"It's also simple for me to make food for a person I lo-… I li-… for a person I really feel connected too."

Even if he failed to say the magic word, his girlfriend stares at him, flushed, unable to have clear thoughts anymore. She wiggles around.

"Ehehe… hehe…"

'It's happening again.' Ishigami collects the stained dishes while his girlfriend is living through her 'seizure'. For whatever reason, seeing her like this makes him happy. It's far better to experience her 'freak-out 'than the dead eyes he had to look in during the last six months.

"Should I fill the tub up with warm water, so you can relax for a bit, Iino?"

This sentence just formed in the male student's head without much thinking. For him it was just normal to unwind in the bathtub after a hard week of school. The circumstance to basically ask his girlfriend to strip while being alone with her don't come to his mind. The short person's body becomes so red that one could see steam rising from her. The public morals defender jumps from her seat.

"Wha... whaaat are you scheming, you pervert? Do you want to peek on me so desperately? Isn't this the typical dating sim stable? Eating, bathing, and then have se-… be with your partner for the night?"

Iino seems really upset over this. Even though her boyfriend didn't plan any of this, he must admit that she's not wrong. Becoming depressed, since it appears like he can't do anything right, he dismisses the thought, and concentrates on washing the dishes.

"Forget what I was saying. You're right, that sounds fishy. Sorry for bringing it up."

No fighting. No bad intentions. No further protests from him. 'Usually Ishigami would be arguing, telling me how dirty my mind is or something. Then why is he so nice to me?' Falling back in her seat again, she tries to look at this situation more neutrally, as he probably did. 'During the entire day Ishigami did nothing but help me, and I got all his intentions wrong. Scaring away a stalker, bringing me home, making it comfortable for me to rest, cooking, taking care of the dishes… all this for something that will happen sooner or later anyhow? No. I must be wrong.' She nods to herself, rises from her chair, closing in on her lover, hugging him from behind.

"I wouldn't mind."

"Huh?"

"Since you insisted, I going to take a relaxing bath now, and you do whatever you want until then, okay?"

Letting go of him, she turns around as quickly as her boyfriend does, escaping his gaze. She's flushed, and hurries towards the bathroom. Ishigami can only watch her back, since his hands are drenched in rinse water. 'I feel so close to her, yet she's so far away…'


The journey of reflecting sides

"It seems like I'm not the only one showing their sweeter side, huh?"

Sitting in the tub, sliding in deeper, Iino blows into the water, which creates bubbles. 'And he's not the only one with troubles showing his true intentions. I can't be passive all the time, but I never thought that having a relationship can be this complicated. All these movies, books, fics make it seem so easy.'

"Then how do you think he is feeling, after all his misfortune in love, being mocked on, while you were only blaming him for the lack of progression?"

'I got it, all right? I need to be a teeny, tiny bit more assertive.' The troubled young woman talks to herself, feeling like there is another incarnation of her sitting at the other end of the bathtub.

"Only a small push, and everything will work out fine, right?"

Her brown eyes shine with anticipation.

"Just as always?"

She slumps down into depression.

"You should be aware of what you want from him and what you want Ishigami to see in you."

Sighing, the brunette looks up at the ceiling. 'I want him to be my boyfriend. I don't know why, but I want him to be around me… and I want special attention from him.'

"What do you mean by special?"

'His words should let me know how much he loves me, his presence should make me feel safe, his eyes should only be directed at me, whenever we're together, I want him to have a positive image of me, and he should think of me as pretty, because then he wants to touch me, and then my head gets fuzzy…'

A sudden knock on the door rips her out of her fantasy.

"Is everything all right in there, Iino?"

Shocked, she stiffens, trying to speak while her mouth is still under water. She's about as nervous as one can be. In order to rectify her mistake, she jolts up, now standing in the tub.

"It's all fine in here! Don't worry too much! Geez!"

"Well, you passed out sooner today, so I'm just-"

Remembering what she just told herself, the short girl calms herself.

"I know, I know, Ishigami… sorry for being so touchy. But if you really want to make sure, just come in, the door isn't locked."

Being proud of herself for being so cunning, the auditor suddenly realises that if he actually took on her offer, he'd come in seeing her butt naked. She immediately lets herself fall into the water and covers up her intimate spots.

"It's okay, I trust you. I'll just wait in the living room. Scream if you need something."

Hiding his embarrassment as good as he can, the male student walks back. 'Was she serious about that? What happened to my mentality to never miss a chance again?' Ishigami knows that answer himself. 'You don't want to pressure her after what happened today…'

"Why has love to be so complicated?"

Riiiiiing! Riiiiiiiing!

It's Iino's phone, she left on the dinner table before heading to the bathroom. Observant as ever, Ishigami puts one and one together to deduce who it might be.

"Her father told Iino to give me a call later this day, was it? So, it has to be her dad."

He picks it up, and rushes to the door he just left again.

"Iino, your father is calling."

"Then hand me the phone."

Not being aware of what this implies, his girlfriend looks at the direction of the piece of wood, separating the two. It slowly opens, but only the ringing phone and his arm are visible. Finally noticing the elephant in the room, she discovers another problem. The tub and the door too far away from another to just reach out and take the call.

"Y-you have to come in, to h-hand it to me, Ishigami."

The rest of the door slowly opens, with his back turned to the female teenager. The conflicted boy walks backwards in a moderate pace, wanting her to get the call, but also not to hurt himself, or worst-case scenario falling in the bathtub.

"A bit more to the left… About two more steps. Got it, thank you!"

Snatching her mobile phone, she doesn't waste time on talking to her father. That's the cue for her henchman to leave, even if she said that he could stay if he wanted, and she never explicitly told him to avoid his eyes, or anything. 'Would she really not mind?' Shaking his head repeatedly, he thinks of the situation form another angle, and concludes that she only wanted to speak asap with her dad. 'But still…' While leaving the bathroom, the tempted boy turns his head slightly. The only thing he sees is her face, graced with a wide smile, probably deriving from the conversation she has right now. Not what he secretly hoped for but maybe even better. He closes the door, goes back to the living room, yet again, and sits down on the place his girlfriend slept on a few hours ago. Taking the entire atmosphere in for a moment, Ishigami Yuu closes his eyes.

"Just now I was in the same room with a naked girl! A-and she wanted to have me around!"

This realisation took a moment, but the secret protagonist eventually understood the graveness of the entire evening.

"We're living like a couple! Iino seems to like this, I-I do too… and we can do this every weekend?"

'I only need to get my PC and consoles over, so we could play coop games together. Since she will probably be persistent about our studies that would mean I've got a lot of learning to do as well, but at least I'm taught by the best.' The treasurer senses a warm feeling around his heart. He can't help but smile. 'Am I actually happy with Iino around me?' Ishigami thinks deeply but his rarely shown emotional side seems to take over. 'I really want Iino to hug me like she did in the kitchen… and I want to hold her while we're cuddling… but I'd need to refresh myself for, and put on PJ's… I'm soaked in sweat… Good thing I have an entire night with her.' After coming up with a plan, the usually gloomy student stands up, and knocks on the door to the bathroom.

"Is it okay for me to speak?"

"Uh-huh."

"I'm heading out to get some clothes for the evening. I also would like to use the shower when I'm back. Would that be fine?"

"Yeah, just…"

An uncomfortable emotion expands in Ishigami's stomach. Did her talk with her father turn sour? Does he come home this evening. That wouldn't be bad per se, but it would obviously crush his newly found self-confidence. Letting his head hang, he's already prepared for the 'good' news.

"Just don't be gone for too long, you hear?"

Bouncing back to his former happiness, he gets his gears moving.

"I'll be back in a flash."

His unusual demeanour leaves the auditor baffled.

"Did something good happen to him?"

Today's battle result:
Pending


Thanks for reading.

I'd really like to write a one-shot about a less popular ship of Kaguya-sama (so no shipping between the student council characters) to expand my writing expertise. If you have any ideas, scenarios, or recommendations I'd be glad to hear them.

I don't know what to say besides that I really love writing this stuff, so if you want to help me improve my work, don't hold back on constructive criticism. Thanks!

Have a nice day!