Shuchiin Academy.
It was a prestigious school with an ancient and honorable origin, founded as a facility to educate upper-crust children.
The focus on nobility was gone, but many talented students born into wealthy, distinguished families and shouldering the nation's future still attended the school.
Naturally, ordinary people would not be permitted to lead and bring these people together.
"Everyone! Look!"
"It's the student council!"
Such amazement and overwhelming praise tended to be uttered in their presence. The presence of the student council of Shuchiin Academy. As people who were trusted with such prestigious positions, they were indeed elites among the elites.
The Vice-President, Shinomiya Kaguya.
With total assets owned at 200 Trillion yen, her family owned the Shinomiya group. A huge conglomerate company, with more than 1000 subsidiaries!
Befitting her superior lineage, she was a talented young woman who had attained splendid achievements in various fields. Such as traditional performing arts, music, and martial arts!
Blessed by grace only paralleled by the most charming traditional beauties of Japan, her lustrous silky black hair contrasted her ruby-like eyes. She was like a goddess in the mortal realm!
That was the Vice President, Shinomiya Kaguya.
And the young man Shinomiya supported was...
Shirogane Miyuki, the President of the Shuchiin Academy Student Council.
Wise and intelligent! Strong and silent! He scored in the first place in the practice exams!
In contrast to the talented Kaguya, his devotion to studying commanded awe and fear.
Due to his exemplary behavior, he was selected to be the student council president. The weight of a solid gold aiguillette on his chest had been passed down from one president to the next for the last 200 years!
"They always look perfect together!"
"Yes! When they're together, they seem to look even more noble and elegant! Kyah!"
"I wonder if they're dating?"
"No way! But... but they're so perfect for each other!"
"I wonder what they talk about in their lonesome..."
The Secretary, Fujiwara Chika!
Born and raised in a long line from a politician's family. Her grandfather had been a Prime Minister, and her father was the current Minister of the Left.
Her mother was a diplomat, which gave Chika the broadened horizons she very much needed!
Having mastered no less than five languages, her communication ability was matched by her sheer physical beauty and easily approachable nature. Naturally, she had been the friendly face of the student council thus far!
The Public Relations Officer, Hikigaya Hachiman!
Said to be the closest person to the President of the Student Council. Not many people knew who he was or what his origins were. Hikigaya Hachiman had entered Shuchiin through a scholarship, just like the President, and he even scored in the top seven in the periodic exams. Though not a part of any club, his athletic abilities were well known!
As head of Public Relations, Hachiman had ties with Shuchiin's top VIPs, acting as a liaison between the Student Council and the Clubs. His existence was surrounded by rumor and myth, to the point that not many people knew what one was true and what was false.
And starting this new school year, three more outstanding and talented people joined in!
"This might be the first time we see the student council in full." One girl commented. "I've heard they didn't get along with our senpai, and that's why we only saw part of them in the previous year."
"The new Council members are amazing too. Wait, don't you think President Shirogane and Kaguya-sama have gotten closer recently?! Not to mention their appearance!"
"Yes, his eyes are sharper than ever but far less menacing, like a mysterious prince! So handsome!"
"And Kaguya-sama's started wearing make-up, she's beyond perfection!"
"Its as if they're trying to be appealing to each other!"
"I wonder... what happens with them, behind closed doors?"
"I've heard they flirted all night under the sakura trees during the celebration party of a successful charity event!"
"No! No! It's not just that! I've seen them almost kissing."
"That has to be a lie!" One girl squeaked. "I want to see it with my own eyes!"
"I wish Shirogane-sama were mine!"
"Speaking of which, I've heard that PR Officer Hikigaya-san has a harem, too."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, the previous Treasurer Ryuju-sama, the current Secretary Fujiwara-san, and the new General Affairs, Hayasaka-san."
"Ehh, he's good looking and all but he's kind of, you know... scary? He even beats up Fujiwara-san and the VIPs daily."
"Naive girl! He's never hurt anyone seriously, and he's doing it to stop their foolishness, like a stern but loving teacher."
"Ahhh, I want Hikigaya-san to scold me in private too!"
Recently, the rumors surrounding the Student Council got increasingly wilder, partly thanks to the reorganization of the council at the beginning of this school term.
The Principal, none other than Adolphe Pescarolo, couldn't help but be worried. In front of him, a bunch of girls held a risque teen magazine so openly, while gossiping.
So he grabbed it with a smile.
"It seems that your worldly desires made themselves apparent." He said. "So, I'm going to confiscate this."
"Umm, we apologize!" The girls simultaneously bowed. "We won't do that again."
"Desire and lust are necessary traits to have, but students of Shuchiin Academy must display self-control!" Adolphe told them as he pointed at the Student council members. "Just look at those people, they always carry themselves with dignity!"
"Shinomiya changed her lip gloss today, it looks pretty. I must take advantage of this." Miyuki thought.
"President trimmed his eyebrows, I don't like it, but it looks good on him." Kaguya thought. "How should I utilize this new information?"
"What are they planning this time? Hayasaka better say something." Hachiman thought. "These two are too transparent, yet dishonest."
...
"Hmm? What is this?" Chika asked when she saw a magazine named Teens Love Bible on the table.
"Principal confiscated it from some students and told us to dispose of it, following the school rules about inappropriate reading material..." Kaguya said.
"I wonder why he didn't dispose of it himself, though?" Miyuki muttered with a hint of disappointment.
"Inappropriate reading material? As a representative of the Disciplinary Committee, I shall check on that post-haste." Iino declared aloud.
"You just want to read it, don't you?" Ishigami commented from behind the sofa.
"Shut up."
Miko opened the book with Chika beside her, and they yelped at the same time when they arrived on one of the articles.
"EEEK!" Miko cried.
Chika also cried as she instinctively covered Miko's eyes with her hands. "This country is too lewd! Lewd!"
"What is it?!" Ishigami and Miyuki perked up at the same time, pretty much losing their cool for a split second. However, they realized this and immediately shut up.
Kaguya was curious for a moment and picked up the book that Miko dropped, and then proceeded to read the article. "Oh? Interesting. It was said that 34% of youth in Japan have their first time in high school."
"34%... that means in a class of thirty students, ten would have their first time. No, in a group of three means at least one..." Ishigami muttered creepily, "In other words, among seven of us..."
"Eight." Momo corrected him, after handing over a bunch of documents to Miyuki.
"Out of seven, at least two people have done it before?!" Ishigami went berserk in realization. "Who is it?! The secret normies!"
Ishigami looked at Hachiman, Chika, then at Hayasaka. Of all people in the council, they were the most likely to have done it. But looking at Momo or Miyuki, it wasn't that far-fetched either.
"No way! That's absolutely a lie! Lies!" Chika also became panicked when she realized Ishigami looked at her.
"Slipper..." Momo asked Hachiman, and he happily handed her one.
"Statistics don't work that way, you dumbass." Momo knocked Ishigami's head lightly, it seems that his virginal rage short-circuited his internal calculator. And as the previous treasurer, she must straighten him out.
She also pointed at Chika. "And you, what are you being flustered about, titty Secretary?"
"Well, the sample selection was obviously biased, to begin with..." Miyuki commented, trying to hide his restlessness. "After all, girls who read that kind of magazine would be the ones answering the survey, right?"
In other words, they were a lot more romantically inclined and sexually liberated than the average Shuchiin student.
"The data is way off!" Hachiman scoffed dismissively. "Even if we use the more realistic data, with 99% certainty, I can safely assume none of us have done it before."
"Is that so? I think you're mistaken, Hikigaya-san." Kaguya took a sip of her tea calmly. However, her expression irradiated smug superiority. "If anything, doesn't the number 34% sound too low?"
"Huh?!" Iino dropped her jaw after having finally thawed out from her initial shock. "HUH?!"
"Really? The wrong one will treat the winner a can of drinks from the school's vending machine." Hachiman goaded.
"Awawawa! No gambling!" Miko chastised him.
"Time out! time out!" Hayasaka interrupted loudly before her mistress could make a fool of herself again. "Kaguya-san, do you even know what first time is in this context?"
"Of course, it means kissing." Kaguya confidently told them. "I'm willing to bet everyone in this room has done that before at some point?"
"..."
Painful silence filled the room as they finally digested the level of comprehension Kaguya had for the situation. Hayasaka put a palm to her face in response. While both Hachiman and Momo broke into mad laughter.
"Umm, Kaguya-san, the thing is-"
Hachiman clamped his hand on Chika's mouth before she could say anything, and Hachiman looked at Miyuki. "Miyuki... if you can still call yourself a man, it's your job to educate this ignorant Vice President."
"Huh? Of course, but..."
"Want me to do it instead?" Hachiman teased him.
"Like hell I'd let you, you bastard!" Miyuki howled in anger and then stomped the floor as he immediately sat in front of Kaguya.
"Listen, Shinomiya." Miyuki looked at her seriously, with absolutely no hint of hesitation or perversion. "When people talk about their first time, it refers not to kissing, but something far, far more intimate."
"Far more intimate?" Kaguya raised her eyebrow. "More intimate than kissing?"
Unfortunately, her home education never went past that stage. Like a black box, Kaguya was protected from all things sexual in nature, and even the head maid who taught her simply told her to leave her future husband in charge.
What is it?
Hayasaka and Hachiman briefly exchanged a glance as he released Chika, who was about to turn blue from the hold. Chika finally regained her breath, then pulled a paper fan out of nowhere to smash Hachiman in the face.
"It's the act of copulation." Shirogane entered maximum science mode as he bit his lip, holding his embarrassment inside. "The act of procreation, the conception of a baby, SEX. You're keeping with me so far?"
Kaguya dropped her cup, and it clattered on the table, though the contents had already been emptied beforehand.
"But that's..." Kaguya turned bright red. "That's something you shouldn't do before marriage!"
"But people do it anyway because they love each other so much." Miyuki started to panic and flop sweat. "And that's why they're willing to risk everything, and premarital sex at high school is just one such display of affection."
"More like it's fueled by lust." Momo commented, "After all, when I was in Chiba Village-"
Hachiman shoved a meat bun in her mouth to stop her from talking. "Anyone want meat buns?" He asked the others.
"Umm, can I have some?" Iino was trying hard to cope with the stress, shock, and unnerving revelations that her stomach was starting to tighten before it should.
"I'll have some too." Ishigami smiled so brightly it creeped Chika out. Ishigami was extremely satisfied by the revelation that someone here had an even worse level of knowledge than him on sexual matters.
"But Hikigaya-san, how can you be so sure about it, hmm?" Hayasaka practically hung on him seductively as she put her hands on his shoulder. However, his amused expression didn't change.
Momo practically slid backward, as she bounced Hayasaka off him with her butt. Hachiman wondered if Momo did it out of jealousy, but her mischievous grin told him that wasn't the case. Especially when Miko made a sign of approval to her.
No displays of debauchery in the office!
"While we're at it, let's just make this a little more educational." Hachiman connected his laptop with the big TV on the wall of the Student Council office, showing a graph divided by gender and age.
"This graph was made in 2013 by a famous Japanese reporter on the New York Times, based on her extensive research and interviews rather than a survey..." Hachiman explained. "As you can see here, The percentage of people who have sex-"
"Please don't say se-!" Kaguya chastised him.
"-divided by age and gender, so from here, we can make more accurate assumptions. If we split the age range into a one-year interval, you see a steady increase. 7.5% among 15 year olds, 12.5% among 16 year olds, and 17.5% among 17 year olds."
"In other words, the likelihood of at least one of us having sex before or even recently." Momo finalized. "Not that high."
"None of us have girlfriends or boyfriends at the moment, and we're all busy in the council and with other activities. The likelihood of that happening is even lower." Miyuki confidently pointed out. "A lot of premarital sex also happens out of peer pressure."
In all honestly, if not for Hachiman babbling his mouth about statistics, Miyuki would have been far too embarrassed to admit that he was a virgin. However, the train of conversation managed to make it so that being a virgin was a virtue.
"Losing your purity out of peer pressure, just how desperate one can be?" Kaguya picked up her cup and then wiped its lid before she poured another serving of tea to calm herself. "Pathetic."
Miyuki and Ishigami felt that they just got harpooned, right through their hearts from Kaguya's blunt statement.
"Well, if that happened to me, I might get home-schooled for the remainder of my youth." Chika winced. "Even if I was somehow allowed to have a boyfriend in the first place."
Enforced purity via concerned parents, Hachiman, of course, would know. Thanks to Minister Fujiwara bothering him about it. Not that he can empathize since his parents were the opposite...
"Agreed!" Miko nodded furiously. "It is unacceptable for Shuchiin students, to indulge in such debauchery!"
"Oh, you don't want to know what the President of the Fortune Telling club does in her spare time." Momo carelessly remarked.
"Shut up, you want us to be cursed?" Miyuki and Hachiman reminded her.
Just because you're a member of the VIPs doesn't mean you can carelessly say something that risky about each other. Hachiman and Miyuki had been working hard to maintain a balance of power and peace within the school since last year.
Momo stuck out her tongue and two middle fingers as she left by somersaulting out the window.
"Well... if you think about it, it makes sense..." Ishigami commented. "If there's someone who is no longer chaste in the group, they're treated as a god. That person becomes a source of both admiration and envy."
"Unforgivable!" Miko chewed on the meat bun and munched it angrily. "I'll make sure no illicit affairs are happening at school, no matter what."
"Agreed! I'll help you out, and rat out on these lucky - I mean shameless bastards." Ishigami said in agreement, though he was simply being angsty and envious.
Ishigami Yuu was a pretty transparent guy, indeed.
"Good luck in today's patrol, too." Miyuki gave her the magazine. "Leave the paperwork to me. And please dispose of this in the school incinerator."
"Alright, then. Since I have nothing to do..."
Ishigami sat down and pulled a PSP out of his bag, but Miko didn't let him slide and yanked him off the couch. She dragged him outside before he could even turn it on.
"I leave you for a second, and you're already violating the school rulers." Miko huffed. "This is why everyone looks down on you."
"Technically, the student council office is outside the school jurisdiction as it's owned by the Alumni association!" Ishigami argued. "You have no power here!"
"I have just enough power to drag you outside, so the school rules will apply to you!"
"That's fucking illegal!"
"Watch over them, won't you?" Miyuki asked Hachiman, of which he happily obliged.
Watching these two was fun.
やはり, 彼らが望む告白は間違っている.
As expected, the Confession they want is wrong
Original Story by: Watari Wataru and Akasaka Aka
Written by: ZeroXSEED, Co-Writer/Editor: GoukaRyuu
Chapter 23 - Ishigami wants to make it clear...
"I think I'll have to say this once, Iino..." Hachiman warned. "Being overzealous will reduce faith and respect in the institution."
Hachiman threw the magazine inside the incinerator and then closed the door after he lit and threw in a match. "Don't tell me you don't understand what you've experienced in the past and how it happened?"
To put it simply, Iino Miko had always been a laughingstock and the source of disdain due to her prudishness and stubbornness.
"I have a good reason though..." Iino said. "Don't you know, Hikigaya-senpai? The approval rating for Shuchiin student's among the neighboring community is at an all-time low."
"I'm aware..." Hachiman said. "But public perception isn't always the same as reality."
"Public perception won't hold well if no facts are backing them up." Iino shook her head. "Three years ago was the last Shuchiin cultural festival to have a bonfire. It was because Shuchiin students weren't responsible enough with late-night activities, causing public disturbances and also littering."
"Hmm... you have a point. But you know, just reprimanding people out of the blue accomplishes nothing." Hachiman patted her head affectionately and left, causing her to recoil away in surprise. "Work hard."
"EH?" Miko rubbed her hair in confusion, she had never met a boy who would dare to do something like that before.
"Hikigaya-senpai might have taken a liking to you, Iino." Ishigami scoffed.
"EHHHH?!"
"No, not that way... I think." Ishigami clarified, "President Shirogane said that Hikigaya-senpai had an affinity with younger girls. Treating them like his little sister and spoiling them every chance he gets."
"Ah." Miko blushed, finally understanding. Still, Miko was born as the sole daughter of a working couple. If she had had a brother or sister, she might have been a different person by now.
Even Ishigami could see it, the conviction that was born out of the loneliness in her heart.
"Hey! Let's go~!"
"Which hotel do you think we should go to today?"
Ah, here we go again! Ishigami looked at the couple passing by. They looked like they were about to eat each other, behind the corner of the school building.
Iino fumed, and about to shout at them, but Ishigami clamped his hand over her mouth. "Listen!"
"Mph?!"
Ishigami sneaked out on the nearby wall as he kept Miko with him. And then, he slammed his hand to the wall, which stunned her. The so-called super effective flirting technique, Kabe-don!
"Shhh!"
Even if it was done by the likes of Ishigami, Miko couldn't help but feel somewhat hot and bothered.
"Wha... what are you doing, Ishiga-"
"Hye, don't you know? Yesterday, I saw a photo of Musashi and his girlfriend entering a hotel in uniform. His parents found out, and he got grounded." Ishigami said aloud as he let go of his hand.
"What?!" Miko shrieked, purely on instinct. "What kind of idiot would do that, going to a hotel in uniform?"
The couple, not knowing they'd been found out but nonetheless scared by the possibility, immediately sneaked out of their hiding.
Miko heard them whispering to each other in passing. "Let's go home first, and then meet again near the station."
Ishigami pulled his arm away and then sighed. "See? That works too!"
"Tch!" Miko clicked her tongue, her heart calmed down again. "That doesn't solve anything, at all."
"Oh, yes. It does." Ishigami scoffed. "By changing their clothes before they go to a love hotel, they're protecting our school's reputation."
Miko knew that Ishigami had a point. But she couldn't accept it. His methods were too twisted. Hiding the problem wasn't the same as making the problem go away, let alone solving it.
"To be honest, I'd like it better if they just split. The fucking normies." Ishigami seethed and cried of all sudden, a total departure from his brief display of confidence and twisted maturity. "Laser death beam, you bastards!"
"Wha, you're just jealous of them?!" Miko asked in disbelief. It was clear that Ishigami only thought of enforcing the rules as an afterthought, and mostly wanted to hinder the couple. "I can't believe it!"
And to think that, grudgingly, Miko had just started having a little respect for him...
"Come on! Don't slow me down!" Miko chastised him.
"Why?"
"Why, you ask? Like I said, I'll have to watch over you because you always break school rules."
Ishigami's face, briefly, showed a sign of grief and tiredness. "If you're getting too close to me, people will give you a problem as well. I'm not even a member of the disciplinary committee, and I have neither the power of President nor the influence of Hikigaya-senpai. Why should I go on a patrol?"
"I don't care about rumors." Miko sighed. "I only care about the facts in front of my eyes. If you start to show yourself as a proper Shuchiin student, people will change their opinion of you in the end!"
That statement was pretty ironic coming from someone who misunderstood and got influenced easily, but Ishigami had no energy to argue. He was doubtful that, even if he changed himself into a better student, people would start liking him.
Considering how they treated Miko, the #1 Model student of the first years. Indeed, Ishigami's fears were not unfounded.
...
The next day, they came to class to find someone had doodled an umbrella on the blackboard, with Ishigami and Miko's names under it.
[They belong to each other!]
The umbrella of love doodle generally accepted as an innocent, if childish, display of affection. With two people who like each other putting their names under an umbrella. If the feeling was one-sided, then it's drawn as a prayer for love to succeed.
On any other occasion, doodling the names of two people without a relationship would be nothing more than friendly teasing at best and a minor prank at worst. However, knowing the history of Ishigami Yuu and Iino Miko... this doodle carried an even more insidious undertone.
Especially the sentence [They belong to each other], considering that both Ishigami and Miko are the class pariahs. The only person that Ishigami considered a speaking acquaintance was Miko's childhood friend, Osaragi.
And Osaragi was the only friend Miko had.
An umbrella of love? More like an umbrella of quarantine and exile.
"Unforgivable." Miko hissed in pure anger and disgust.
"Indeed, it is unforgivable." Ishigami picked up the board eraser and was about to wipe it out. "I'm very sure you're disgusted by it."
"Of course I'm disgusted! How could they make fun of the sacred umbrella of love like this?" Miko screamed. "Tarnishing the innocent prayers of love with fake news, unforgivable!"
Ishigami dropped the eraser in pure, unadulterated shock. THAT was Miko's problem?!
"Huh?"
Just how much of a dreamer is this girl?!
"Don't 'huh' me! Destroy it before other people show up!" Miko grabbed the dropped eraser, and managed to clean half the giant doodle, but unfortunately too short to clean the rest. "Ugh, I need a stool."
Ishigami just yanked the eraser from her and wiped out the rest. "Your welcome."
"Eugh..." Miko flinched again. "...Thanks."
So even Iino can say thanks, huh.
"Told you, it would be a problem hanging out with me, right?" Ishigami reminded. "And it's only going to get worse."
"I don't care."
"I promise I'll follow the school rules, so just leave me alone."
In all honesty, Ishigami had always been a rebel at heart. To live his life on the edge, and freely breaking the school rules was his current aspiration. However, he couldn't drag Iino, a model student, into his world of the condemned.
"Really? Would you?" She asked in disbelief.
"As long as we're on SCHOOL GROUNDS." Ishigami raised a hand as an oath. "It's a man's promise."
Even if he had to make compromises and hold himself back, that was a cost he was willing to pay for other people's safety.
As long as he contained his vices to the student council room, he would technically be compliant with school regulations. And there was very little Iino could do about it, short of petitioning the school to acquire the land under the student council's office.
She already had it bad enough being herself, without his involvement.
"Fine." Miko relented. "But I'm still going to watch over you."
"Suit yourself." Ishigami smiled as he returned to his desk.
Unknown to them, some other students of the class had already arrived and well aware of what transpired.
Miko eagerly waited for Ishigami to mess up and break the rules again, but he never did. And before Miko knew it, it was already at the end of school.
"Hey, Ishigami, someone is asking for you!" Onodera suddenly called out to him.
"HUH?"
Ishigami remembered that he talked with this girl earlier in the semester a few weeks ago. She was a bit nosy, but thankfully, she accepted his explanations wholesale.
Ishigami didn't want to say he was indebted, since Onodera never talked to him after that conversation. But just knowing that someone outside the student council actually listened, it made him feel a bit more at ease.
"So... sorry, I'll be there." Ishigami hurriedly walked past the drill-haired girl. "Who was it?"
Purely in curiosity, Miko and Osaragi followed suit and peeked from behind the doorway, with Onodera's head on top. If it was someone from the student council, they wouldn't have been this reserved.
Much to Miko's shock, it was a certain boy. Ishigami's nemesis and the one who was involved in the tragedy that started everything.
"Ogino." Ishigami's voice muttered in contempt.
It was none other than Ogino Kou.
The thick-skinned, fake friendly smile plastered his handsome face, though he was visibly concerned.
"Long time no see, Ishigami."
"What is it?" Ishigami asked with an increasingly lower voice. All the pent up emotion he had buried inside began welling up like a brewing volcano.
Just seeing this smug fuck had already made Ishigami mad.
"No... I... I want to apologize." Ogino cringed a bit, though his charade didn't break. In fact, it looked rather genuine to the onlookers. "I want to end the misunderstanding between us that happened in middle school."
"Why now of all times?" Ishigami sighed heavily. This nagging feeling of uneasiness was overwhelming.
"Because I'm leaving Shuchiin and don't want to leave bad memories behind." Ogino smiled. "I wanted to end things fairly."
Ishigami's increasing paranoia... suddenly stopped. He wondered if his guess was right.
Someone made Ogino do it, in public. And Ogino was that great of an actor to pull it off.
A little ding on his ego was an acceptable price to look like the better person. That was just the kind of person Ogino was, fake to the end.
Even approaching like this, Ogino once again put Ishigami in a bad light. But Ishigami had no intentions of backing down.
Is there a way to tell people the truth without hurting anyone? Of course, there is.
"I'm not going to apologize..." Ishigami told him loudly. "But it was true that I overreacted to your stupid spiel, that was on me."
Ogino scratched his chin and laughed. "No hard feelings then. Both of us learned our lesson, that's for sure."
"Sure, we did. Stupid." Ishigami snarked. "Is that all?"
"Yeah, I guess this will be the last time we talk." Ogino laughed as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. And this time, Ishigami legitimately felt that it was real.
It seems that someone threatened Ogino to do this. And the key to let him off the hook was Ishigami's acceptance.
To be honest, Ishigami was unhappy. However, it wasn't as if he had made things this way. The powers that be had done this.
"Bye then, Ishigami." Ogino waved and then left.
"Good luck." Ishigami scoffed and went in the opposite direction.
Ishigami wondered if Ogino would be stupid enough to repeat his douchebaggery in his new school. If he did, then Ishigami sincerely hoped that karma would catch up to him somehow.
Ishigami couldn't really define the feelings that resided in his chest at the moment. Something like... a hollow victory?
Honestly, he didn't care anymore.
This farce of reconciliation meant nothing to him. But for Ogino, it could have been a matter of life and death. He probably pissed off the wrong student, Ishigami had heard of similar stories. One of the previous Student Council Presidents had even gotten deported.
On the rooftop, Hachiman stood at the very edge of the safety fence, with Kaguya and Miyuki slightly behind, in a safer spot.
"Is this really fine? Letting him get away like that so easily?" Kaguya asked.
"Who cares, he's going away either way." Hachiman yawned. "Might as well milk the occasion for all it's worth."
"Hmm, personally... I'm not against it, but won't Ishigami be suspicious?" Miyuki hummed.
"Even if he is, it doesn't really matter. Remember, it's not his own smile that he was trying to protect." Hachiman smiled himself. "Human relationships are fickle, today's enemies can be tomorrow's allies, and today's friends can be tomorrow's strangers."
"By making this theatrical closure to their conflict, Ogino-kun and Ishigami-kun both come out in a better position than before, and Ootomo Kyoko-san remains oblivious." Kaguya sighed. "All according to plan, right, Hikigaya-san?"
"No, it was actually Miyuki's plan." Hachiman shrugged. "I just happened to hear the VIPs talking about it, and couldn't help but intervene."
"No. This is OUR plan." Miyuki corrected them. "The three of us contributed in our own ways."
The VIPs were fully intent on making Ogino suffer, condemning him to oblivion. However, ultimately, it was Miyuki's kindness that allowed this outcome to happen.
As long as Ootomo Kyoko could smile, then Ishigami could remain content.
"Well, then, I'm leaving!" Hachiman said. "Have some part-time work to do."
And so, Hachiman disappeared past the door to the stairs.
"President, do you think I meddled too much?" Kaguya leaned on the railing and asked him. "I apologize for not informing you."
Kaguya was the one who had leaked the information to the Shuchiin VIPs. However, she should have known that the VIPs had Hachiman by the ears. And of course, Hachiman would tell Miyuki about it.
Why wouldn't he?
"No." Miyuki smiled. "The Shinomiya who went that far, for the sake of a kouhai you're not even close with... is beautiful."
Hook, line, and sinker. Let's see if Kaguya would respond to such a brutal offense!
"Is... is that so?" Kaguya looked a bit shaken, but she persevered. "For me, the President who can let go of such a scumbag freely is even more handsome. You're so kind and nice."
Push back, push back!
Kaguya had intended to send back such a strong compliment to cover her own embarrassment, it wasn't like she wanted to please Miyuki or something!
Indeed, just look at his pale, disturbed face.
Eh?
"I see." Miyuki squirmed. "I guess I'm just that nice, huh?"
"Yes, you're really nice, President!" Kaguya said.
And I...
"I see!" Miyuki said, looking like he was about to cry. "I don't feel so good today, so I'm going home as well."
"Eh? Eh?"
Hayasaka showed up behind Kaguya like a kunoichi approaching her master. "Way to go, Kaguya-sama. You sure kicked that pride of his harder than a soccer ace does a ball in a penalty game."
"EH? I WAS HONESTLY TRYING TO COMPLIMENT HIM!"
Both in romance and sex, this Shinomiya young lady still had a lot to learn.
The result of Today's battle: Ishigami's (Hollow) victory