The student council trial run I agreed to after Miyuki kept clinging to my pant leg like a desperate barnacle.
I figured if I went for a week and then still refused, he’d stop bothering me. So in the end, I gave in.
When I agreed, his expression turned a little sinister for a second. That had to be my imagination, right?
He wouldn’t actually try anything weird... would he?
He told me the student council room was quiet and stocked with all kinds of snacks, so I could just come in and read without worrying about anything. I decided I’d do exactly that for a week.
And for the first and second day, that was exactly how it went. It was weirdly cozy, if I had to put it that way.
For one thing, the other student council members besides Miyuki were nice, so it didn’t feel uncomfortable at all. While I was reading, two girls happened to come in together.
"Oh my, you were here before us."
Shinomiya Kaguya, the student council vice president, greeted me as she entered the room.
The eldest daughter of the Shinomiya Group, whose total assets were said to be worth 200 trillion yen, she was a genius with dazzling achievements in everything from academics to entertainment, music, and martial arts, and the undisputed school beauty as well...
She was a woman with a terrifying number of titles. Somehow, Miyuki had her under him. Amazing.
When I’d seen her in first year, she’d been the very image of an ice princess, but now that I’d actually spent time around her, she was kinder than I’d expected. Over the past few days, I’d noticed her and Miyuki sneaking glances at each other now and then, so there was definitely something going on.
The pink-haired girl with the black ribbon who followed behind Kaguya also noticed me and greeted me brightly.
"Ah, Suzuki-kun! Hello~"
Fujiwara Chika, the student council secretary.
She was the daughter of a famous politician. Now that we were in second year, she’d ended up in the same Class B as me, and it was easy to tell she was cheerful and very sociable.
Judging from all the talk I kept hearing from the boys in class about how cute she was and how they wanted to date her, she seemed pretty popular too.
I wasn’t planning to get close to anyone since I was only supposed to be in the student council for a week, but while I was here, I should probably keep my distance in a proper way.
"Yeah, hello."
After a light greeting, I went right back to my book.
After I’d been focusing for a few minutes, Kaguya spoke to me.
"I’m about to make some black tea. Would you like some too, Suzuki-san?"
"...No, I’m fine. Don’t bother yourself over me."
I didn’t want to create any unnecessary obligations.
If I accepted stuff like that, I’d feel bad when I left later.
"Please don’t feel pressured. I’m only doing it because I want to."
"That’s right, the tea Kaguya-san makes is excellent! It’s good enough to brag about anywhere!"
"Fujiwara-san, please don’t praise me so extravagantly. Fufu."
It felt like refusing would be more rude to her than accepting. Well, I guess I only had one option.
"In that case..."
At my answer, Shinomiya smiled and went to the cabinet on the left to prepare the tea.
She’d asked what I liked, but how would I know if I hadn’t tried different things before? I asked for something standard.
"Here you go. It’s Darjeeling. I brought in the highest-quality leaves, so I’m sure it’ll suit your taste."
"...Thanks."
I took a sip without expecting much and was genuinely surprised.
"This is good..."
It went down smoothly, with a gentle sweetness and a delicate aroma.
"Oh? Is it?"
Shinomiya smiled as if she hadn’t expected the praise.
Not wanting to lose, Fujiwara soon brought over coffee, and that was just as impressive.
A wonderful balance of sweetness and bitterness.
Maybe the student council could open a café at the school festival and make a killing.
"Coffee alone would be boring, so have some snacks too!"
"...Thanks."
They kept handing me things at just the right times, so I kept accepting them.
And it wasn’t just lip service either; everything was genuinely delicious.
Maybe about an hour before dismissal, while I was reading, Miyuki suddenly spoke up carefully.
"Hotaro, I’ve got a ton of work to handle right now, so could you help sort these documents?"
"...Hmm."
"It’ll probably take about an hour, so I hate to ask, but if it’s too much, you can refuse."
When I stood up and glanced over, there was a pretty huge stack of paperwork.
I’d tried to avoid student council work because I hated tasks like this, so by my energy-saving philosophy I should refuse, but—
"Yeah, sure."
I’d gotten a lot of good food and drinks today, and I was in a decent mood. Besides, if you receive something, it’s only proper to give something back.
And honestly, it was kind of pitiful how much work this guy with the bad eyes had been buried under lately. His dark circles had gotten even worse.
"Thanks."
Miyuki thanked me plainly and went back to work. I took the documents, sat down on the sofa, and got started.
At first I had no idea what I was doing, so I asked a few questions, but I caught on quickly.
"Why would anyone even submit garbage like this...?"
The anonymous suggestion box submissions were part of the sorting too, and there were plenty of useless ones like, "How can I get closer to Kaguya-sama?" and "Please install gaming PC booths at the school."
Once I saw stuff like that, I understood a little why the student council had so much work.
After tossing out the obviously trivial stuff and roughly sorting the important items, about thirty minutes had passed.
"Hey, Miyuki. I should probably head out soon. I’m done sorting, so check it over."
"Already? Let me see."
He flipped through it for review, and those tired-looking eyes suddenly widened.
"...Hmm. I can’t find a single flaw. I’m glad I trusted you with it. Good work."
"Yeah, you too. Keep at it."
After packing up my bag, I left Miyuki behind with the remaining work and headed home first.
Honestly, it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected. It really wasn’t that burdensome.
Yeah. I had no idea something like that was about to happen...
-
The next day, and the day after that, the pattern was the same.
"Today it’s Earl Grey. What do you think?"
"...This is impressive too."
"Fufu, I’m glad."
I drank the black tea and coffee Kaguya and Fujiwara made, and—
"Ugh, Hotaro. Can you help me with just this one thing for a bit?"
"Let me see."
"Suzuki-san, we’re short on hands, so if you could just for a moment..."
"What do you need help with?"
Since they looked busy, I helped with the work.
The flow was so natural that before I knew it...
"Hotaro—"
"Suzuki-san?"
"Suzuki-kun~"
I was getting so many requests for help that even I started to feel like I was part of the student council.
That was when I finally realized it.
"Damn it, I’ve been had!"
I’d fallen into a trap, a slowly tightening antlion pit.
They’d told me, "You can just come and watch for a bit, you don’t have to do anything~," then distracted me with delicious snacks and tea, and before I knew it, they’d worked me in like a light rain soaking into the ground and made my membership a foregone conclusion.
There was no doubt Miyuki had come up with the plan, but what a meticulous, terrifying bunch.
If I dragged this out any longer, escaping would be impossible.
Miyuki knew me too well. If I tried to run, he’d notice instantly.
Leaving without saying goodbye would be rude, so I at least had to say farewell.
And right now, with Kaguya the only one here while the others were out, this was the perfect time to escape. Fujiwara was in my class, so I could tell her tomorrow.
I cleared my throat and spoke to Shinomiya right away.
"Um, Shinomiya...?"
"Did you need something, Suzuki-san?"
Kaguya responded politely. Time to lay the groundwork.
"...Thanks for everything over the past week."
"Huh? What’s this all of a sudden...?"
Shinomiya tilted her head at that.
"The tea was really delicious, and thank you for being so kind to me."
"..............."
"I’ve got some personal circumstances, so I don’t think I can keep doing student council work. I’m sorry, but..."
"...sniff..."
I couldn’t finish my sentence.
Because Shinomiya had suddenly started tearing up.
"Huh?"
My brain froze for a second. A woman was crying because of me. I’d never even imagined something like that.
What? What was this?
What had I done wrong?
"...sob, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you didn’t like the tea, and I was so inconsiderate, forcing it on you..."
"No, it was delicious—"
"Please don’t lie for my sake... You must have hated it, and I kept asking you to help with work too, so you were uncomfortable, right...? sniff I’m sorry. I’m really sorry..."
"That’s really not it..."
While I was panicking and feeling like human trash, the door opened and someone came in.
"Ah! K-Kaguya? Why are you crying!?"
It was Fujiwara, the secretary.
I’m done for. This was one problem after another.
"sniff, I made a terrible mistake with Suzuki-san, so I can’t stay in the student council anymore, sob...!"
"Eeeh, eeeh...?"
After hearing Shinomiya’s words and looking back and forth between us several times, Fujiwara finally—
"Waaahhh...!"
—started crying too and latched onto me.
"Suzuki-kun, please don’t go-! It’s all my fault...! I’ll make the coffee even better too...! Waaah...!"
"sob, I’m really sorry... hic..."
Having achieved the great feat of making two girls cry in a single day, I—
"......Ah, I want to die."
—froze completely, my brain function stopping dead.
After that, my memory is fuzzy. I think I may have put my seal on some paper or another...
Goodbye, my days of energy conservation.
*
[It worked.
- Shinomiya Kaguya]
"...Just as planned."
Left alone in the classroom, the boy checked the message and sent back, "Good work. You must have had a rough time," then smiled darkly.
His name was Shirogane Miyuki.
He was the mastermind behind all of this.
The story goes back about a week.
Shirogane Miyuki had called Kaguya to a place where the two of them could be alone, and Kaguya, whose heart had been pounding because the boy she’d recently become interested in had suddenly summoned her, was flustered.
Shirogane asked her bluntly.
"Shinomiya, there’s something I want you to help me with."
"Huh? Me?"
"Yes. It has to be you."
At Shirogane’s direct words, Kaguya’s face heated up.
She barely managed to calm her racing heart and asked,
"...What kind of favor?"
"There’s someone I want to bring into the student council—"
After hearing the whole story, it turned out he wanted to bring in a friend he’d known since middle school, but the guy kept refusing because he hated troublesome work.
He seemed like he’d be highly capable as a student council member, and once he started something, he’d see it through responsibly, so Shirogane wanted to lock him in for the student council.
Since the student council was supposed to have six members but only three people were actually doing the work, adding even one more person would be welcome to Kaguya too. And the talent her trusted president was so strongly determined to recruit had to be no ordinary person.
"If I can help, I’ll do everything I can. Do you already have a plan in mind, President?"
"He’s agreed to come for a one-week trial, so I want to make it as low-pressure as possible..."
The two of them schemed out the best possible way to create a situation he couldn’t possibly wriggle out of.
The biggest issue was Fujiwara.
"Hmm, should we ask Secretary Fujiwara for help too?"
"Do you think the president can control Fujiwara-san?"
"...Well, that’s true."
They’d had some differences of opinion on earlier points, but on Fujiwara, their views matched perfectly.
She was like a dodgeball that could fly off in any direction, and both of them just hoped she wouldn’t interfere.
In the end, the broad outline was handled by Shirogane, while Kaguya took care of the details, and the result was the great success above.
It was ironic that Fujiwara had actually turned out to be such a big help, but the one smiling at how smoothly the scenario had gone was none other than Shirogane Miyuki.
But that smile lasted only a moment.
"Hm? Is that Shinomiya?"
When his phone vibrated, Shirogane checked it and—
[Hey.
- Hotaro]
Chills!
He got goosebumps instantly.
That chilling feeling coming through the text!
The message that arrived about ten seconds later drove the point home.
[Come up to the rooftop.
- Hotaro]
"..............."
Shirogane quietly closed his phone and—
"...Heh."
—smirked. Then he looked out at the sky for a moment before opening his phone again and sending a message somewhere.
[Dinner might be late tonight.
No, maybe I won’t make it at all...
To: Father, Kei]
After sending the message, Shirogane stared up at the now-darkening sky and thought,
"No way he’d actually kill me..."
It was a day when the stars in the sky looked especially beautiful.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register