'Thoughts' ← thoughts / "" ← speech
** ← actions / ~~ ← phone calls/texts
[ ] ← Narrator / ( ) ← Daydreams
"Oh crap! I'm going to be late!" Ryo shot out of his room in his school uniform.
"Aiguillette?" Goro said whilst reading the newspaper.
["For those of you who don't remember Goro Shimada he's a local dentist and Ryo's elder sister's boyfriend"]
"Aw crap!" Ryo ran back into his room and grabbed the aiguillette and put it on upside down in a hurry.
"Did you brush your teeth?" Goro said.
"God damnit!" Ryo rushed to the bathroom and back out in 1 minute.
"That was only 1 minute you're meant to brush for 2" Goro said.
"I'm going to be late at this rate!" Ryo went to put on his shoes.
*Sigh~* Goro looked at his watch. "Classes start in 7 minutes, I'll drive you". Goro put the newspaper down, picked up his keys and put his coat on before walking out the door.
Not too long after they were on the road in Goro's car.
"Thanks, I was worried about wearing myself out before I got to school". Ryo said.
"Not a problem, all of my patients decided to cancel today anyway". Goro said.
"Really? All of them?"
"Unfortunately yes."
The car fell quiet and Ryo stared out of the window.
Goro glanced over at Ryo and pushed up his glasses. "So why are you so late today?"
"Whilst Noriko was home from work she made me study a lot more than usual, so I guess my body needed the extra bit of rest and well… I overslept".
["Noriko is Ryo's older sister"]
"It's okay to make a mistake every once in a while but remember you are the president of the student council, so you have to set an example for the rest of the students there." Goro said.
"Yeah~" Ryo blankly stared out of the window.
Goro glanced over to Ryo. "Do you at least have any ideas as to what you want to be when you're older?".
Ryo turned his head slightly more away.
"So that's a no." *Sigh…* "I understand you're still a teenager and you want to have fun but this kind of stuff is important too".
'Even in this world these questions get thrown at me.' Ryo thought to himself.
["Goro's just trying to make sure you're stable for the future, he's worried that's it"]
'I understand that but even in my old world my parents would ask me every day. It's become a reaction to just ignore the conversation every time it comes up'.
["Look I get it but it's what parents do with their children, you'll be doing it someday to your kids"]
'I hope not, I can tell by the look on his face that this isn't enjoyable for him either'.
["It's a hurdle all parents must jump when the time comes."]
'Plus I'd need to have a girlfriend if I want kids and I'm too busy trying to make the only girl that does love me have feelings for another guy'.
["Sorry about that…"]
'Why are you apologising? None of this is your fault.'
["Oh Ryo you're such a nice person"]
'Yeah~ Yeah~'
"Hey Ryo, can I say something personal?" Goro glanced over at Ryo.
"Hm? Sure." Ryo looked over to Goro.
"When you became the student president you well… changed." Goro tried to sound as kind as possible.
'Is he onto us…'
["Stay calm… I doubt his first thought would be that your memories came from a different world"]
Ryo nodded to the narrator before giving Goro a fake smile. "In what way?"
"I can hear you talking to yourself from the other room a lot, you sometimes seem entirely lost in thought and finally you've come out of your punk phase." Goro said.
Ryo looked forward with a slightly disturbed smile on his face. 'What does my punk phase have to do with this?'
"I was talking to Noriko about it and we came up with a possible answer."
"Okay…?"
"Ryo, would you… happen to have a girlfriend?"
"A girlfriend?" Ryo was caught slightly off guard. "No I don't".
The narrator took a sigh of relief that this wasn't anything that would change the story.
"Really? Because it would make sense". Goro said.
"It would?" Ryo asked.
"You coming out of your punk phase could be due to love, reminiscing on the moments you shared with your girlfriend could be why you space out and smile at times and if you were talking on the phone with her…" Goro listed more reasons but I won't bore you. "you get the point."
"I do but the answer is that I am unfortunately still single." Ryo wanted the subject to change.
"I won't pry but you don't have to hide her from us."
"Her? Who said anything about a girl?" Ryo said with a straight face.
"Wait are you…" Goro was caught off guard.
"Joking? yes the mood was getting too serious". Ryo looked out of the window again.
Goro slightly smiled. "I see your humour's barely changed."
Ryo looked out the window and saw 2 familiar faces. 'Is that Kaguya on the back of Myuki's bike?'
["Yes, I do believe it is."]
'Didn't think I'd see that today.'
["Yep. Though it is nice that they seem to be steadily growing closer"]
'They almost look like they're dating already.'
["It's far far to early for that"]
'Yeah we're somewhere between the gap between the 1st and 2nd episode.'
["Steady progress."]
'It took them 3 seasons to confess, let alone start actually dating.'
["I see we still have a long way to go."]
'Wait a second…' Ryo seemed to have realised something important.
["What?"]
'I missed it.'
["Missed what?"]
'The movie.'
["What movie? I don't remember you getting tickets to anything."]
'I missed the Love is War movie!'
["It was getting a movie?"]
'Yes! It was coming out the month after I got sent here! I was looking forward to it!'
["That… sucks."]
Ryo had a frustrated look in his eyes.
["The way I see it you have the best seat"]
'What do you mean?'
["You get to experience it with your own eyes and not through screens or pictures"]
'That's true!' Ryo's eyes lit up again.
As Ryo drove by Kaguya and Shirogane their eyes met.
"President?" Kaguya said as she watched the car drive by.
"Did you *Huff* say something Shinomiya?" Shirogane was out of breath from how fast he was pedaling trying to get to school on time.
"The president was in the car that just drove by." Kaguya said.
"Huh?" Shirogane glanced at the car. "Oh yeah *Huff* it's weird that all of us *Huff* are late to school today."
Back in the car was an awkward silence as neither Ryo nor Goro could think of anything to say. Luckily the school wasn't too far away.
"Thanks for the ride Goro." Ryo unbuckled his belt.
"Anytime. Just make sure you're on time from now on."
"Will do". Ryo got out of the car and watched it drive away before turning around towards Shuchi'in academy.
"HAA!" An incoming shout got closer and closer.
"There they are". Ryo turned his head to the scream and saw Shirogane going full speed on his bike.
["You'll be happy to know there won't be a battle today".]
'Nice I get to rest.'
["For now…"]
Ryo watched Shirogane get closer and closer at full speed. "Morning Myu-"
"HAA!" Shirogane rode right past Ryo at high speed and straight through the gates of the academy.
"Good talk..." Ryo turned around and walked through the gates. He walked over to the bike racks on the premises and saw Shirogane completely out of breath and Kaguya watching Ryo approach. "Not like you two to be late."
"I could say the same to you president". Kaguya said.
Shirogane tried to form words but it came out as "Arvbvetolahtetoclahs?"
Kaguya had a confused look on her face. 'I don't think anyone understood that'.
["Narrator to the rescue! *Ahem* He was asking if he was late to class."]
'Oh…' Ryo pulled his phone out and checked the time. "We still have 2 minutes till classes actually start."
'He understood that!?' Kaguya shouted in her head. "We should get going then".
"Sounds good." Ryo and Kaguya started taking steps towards the building.
Shirogane nodded and followed after him, still out of breath and struggling to walk straight.
"So why were you late president?" Kaguya asked.
"I slept through my alarm. What about you? Don't you have a personal driver or something?" Ryo asked.
"There was a kitten in the engine so I walked."
["For context… the way this chapter was meant to go was that Shinomiya was responsible for the kitten in the engine all so she could walk to school instead and hope to 'accidentally' meet with the president which should have been shirogane but she got side tracked with helping a small child cross some roads and eventually ended up late and would end up meeting with the also late Shirogane who was riding his bike as fast as he could so he didn't mess up his record of getting to school on time and Shirogane offered to let Shinomiya hop on the back of his bike so she could arrive on time as well."] The narrator spoke with a single breath and then deeply inhaled to catch his breath.
"A kitten in the engine? I didn't think that was a thing that happened." Ryo acted like he didn't hear what the narrator just said.
"Hoo~ I think I'm good now." Shirogane started to get his breath back.
They got to their shoe lockers. "At least we're here on time". Ryo opened his locker and something fell out and went unnoticed by Ryo.
But Shirogane did notice it. "Itsuki something fell out."
"Hm?" Ryo looked at his feet and saw a pink letter with a heart sticker on the front. "A lett-!" Ryo and Shirogane both froze up and they stared at the letter, it could only be one thing.
'A love letter?!' Shirogane and Ryo thought in sync.
'Did she see?!' Ryo looked up at Kaguya who was oblivious to the situation, he quickly picked the letter up and carelessly stuffed it in his bag to block it from Kaguya's view. 'I don't know how she'd react if she saw this! She might even put a hit on the person's head!'
["It's probably not the most outrageous scenario when it comes to Kaguya."]
"Let's get to class." Ryo started to walk away very suspiciously.
"Y-yeah…" Shirogane quickly caught up with Ryo and started whispering. "Itsuki…"
"We'll discuss it later". Ryo whispered back.
Kaguya was walking behind them and overheard them. "Discuss what later?"
"Eh! It's a…" Ryo looked to Shirogane for an excuse.
"A… boy thing." Shirogane couldn't sound any more suspicious.
"Yeah a… boy thing." 'This can't seem any more suspicious!'
["time to have some fun hehe "]
The letter fell out of Ryo's bag due to narrator interference, Kaguya noticed it and picked it up. "A letter?" She may have been sheltered but even Kaguya could tell a love letter from a regular one.
Ryo suddenly stopped in place and froze as a sudden deathly aura emanated from behind him and after a few seconds he slowly turned around.
"President, you dropped your letter." Kaguya held the letter out with an innocent looking smile.
"T-thanks…" Ryo held out his hand and slowly took the letter back.
"What's wrong, president?" Kaguya's smile never left.
"Nothing…" Ryo gave a slight smile back. "We should really head to class, right Shirogane?" Ryo turned his head to where Shirogane was standing only to see that he disappeared. 'H-he left!'
"Yes we should, president." Kaguya walked past Ryo and slowly walked down the hall still with the innocent smile across her face.
"I should have just stayed home." Ryo thought to himself as Kaguya walked away. "But maybe this might help us… I need to clear my head before thinking stratagies."
"Hey you, get to your class!" A teacher yelled out of a classroom door.
"Y-yes sir!"
[Today's battle result: Ryo lost due to Kaguya seeing the letter]