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Ch 20 Secret Garden (Kanae’s POV).
After school, I walked up to the student council room while thinking about Yuki-kun’s lack of energy.
Azaka-senpai, Rinka-chan and Chris-chan were already waiting for me in the student council room, and we started talking right away.
“I’m sorry to call you here unannounced, but I’ve just received a report that you were kissing Yukiya-kun in the school building during recess today.”
“Hmmm! Kissing?”
I didn’t do anything that good with Yuki-kun!
“I heard it was on the landing of the stairs
”
“Oh! Oh! That was not a kiss! It was just woofing
!”
Linka and Chris reacted to my panicked words.
“Woofing?”
“What is that?”
With three pairs of eyes staring at me, I confessed everything from Yuki-kun’s confession two days ago, to the Fufu incident and other approaches to him, to the regrets and honest feelings I have at the moment.
“What are you doing, Kanae senpai
?”
“Wow, that’s amazing, Kanae-san
”
“You’re a pretty
 daring type, aren’t you?”
All four of us blushed.
“But then again, there was no coercion from Yukiya, was there?”
“What? That’s not true! Yuki-kun would never do such a thing!”
I hurriedly denied it. Then, Rinka-chan smiled at me.
“That’s right, In fact, Kanae-senpai is the one who’s coming on to him.”
“Are you going to confess or something?”
Chris-chan asked me seriously. Of course, I really want to.
“I want to, but I don’t know what to do
 in my current situation.”
“Hmm, You’d certainly like to see some sort of trigger.”
“It’s either that or just keep pushing and let it fall apart.”
“Will he collapse, Yukiya?”
Chris nodded his head at Rinka-chan’s outrageous comment.
“I couldn’t do it, but I’m sure Kanae-senpai can!”
Hmm? I couldn’t do it-?
“To be honest, I was more interested in Yukiya-senpai at first
”
I peeled my eyes away from the embarrassed smile on Rinka-chan’s face.
“What, why
?”
“When I first entered the school, I was picked up by a group of yankees and surrounded by them, but it was yukiya-senpai who helped me out.”
“Huh? But when you confessed to your brother, you said he helped you out
?”
Chris-chan raised her voice in question.
“It’s not a lie, because Souta senior also threatened them with an unusual pose on the side. But it was actually Yukiya who scared the yankee group.”
It’s true that Yuki-kun is very powerful. He’s also called the “giant in armor” in class.
“Hey, hey, didn’t you say you passed out and didn’t remember when you confessed?”
She got a tsukkomi from Azaka-senpai.
“Hehe, I was actually conscious, otherwise I wouldn’t have known who saved me.”
“When you confessed to your brother, you also said that you would ask him later
”
“No, no, no, there’s no one who can conveniently watch the scene and tell me about it later. To be honest, it’s just a pretext for a confession! And besides, Souta-senpai is also giving off the vibe that he saved me, and if that makes you feel good, then why not? So we’re even!”
I don’t know what’s going on, but Rinka is amazing.
“In the beginning, I was more interested in Yukiya-senpai, but Yukiya-senpai likes Kanae-senpai too much.”
“Uhehe
”
My face is smiling. It’s a great feeling of superiority, isn’t it?
“Well, I wondered about the other guy, Souta-senpai, and found out that he was actually quite handsome, so I guess I fell in love with him.”
Rinka-chan says it plainly.
“The motive is impure, isn’t it? It is true that I also have a fondness for Souta-kun’s surprisingly good face, but now I’m also buying his abilities. So I guess I’m the winner of this war for Souta-kun!”
Azaka-senpai smiled fearlessly.
“Well, one reason is enough for me to like him, isn’t it? Even though Souta-senpai is always looking back and forth between my face and my chest, I’m sure my values are more in line with Souta’s than yours. Don’t you think so?”
Rinka-chan is younger than me, but maybe she’s pretty mature.
“And also, Azaka-senpai was also recruiting Yukiya-senpai to the student council at first, right?”
Yeah! What do you mean!?
“Well, I guess so. Yukiya, because of his club activities, had a wide range of acquaintances in my grade, and I was introduced to him by a former student council member who had graduated. So, I recruited him enthusiastically at the time.”
But in the end, Yuki refused to join the student council because of his soccer club. I want to stroke Yuki-kun.
“Oh, by the way, when you confessed your feelings to my brother, you said that you found out about him through a junior colleague, could it be
?”
Chris-chan asked.
“I asked him to introduce me to someone he would recommend if he couldn’t get in, and the result was Souta. I don’t think I would have gotten to know the lonely Souta-kun if he hadn’t been introduced by Yukiya-kun.”
It’s true that Souta-kun has always been a bit shy and didn’t have many friends, so I think the only people who would introduce him would be me or Yuki-kun.
In fact, this is one of the reasons why I was asked by many girls in elementary and middle school to consult with Souta-kun about their love lives and introduce him to them, as if I were a window

“But, you must have had a lot of trouble recruiting Souta-senpai, right?”
“No, Yukiya is the one who talked to him through me. Rather, Souta told me through Yukiya that the place to recruit him was the roof of the school building. I even came with the job title of “miscellaneous clerical work” and when I had said enough words of encouragement, he said yes.”
What was that designation, Azaka-senpai wondered? She tilted her head.
“To be honest, he had some difficulty with communication skills, but I think he was good at paperwork, which helps now.”
It’s kind of revealing a lot of things.
In the midst of all this, our eyes naturally fell on Chris-chan.
“Is it me? It’s not really a secret, but
 when I first came here, I once quoted a line from my brother’s favorite novel in order to get to know him, who was wary of me.”
Chris-chan is thinking while putting her finger on her head, “Um
 I’m sure
”
“Oh, yes, I think it was, ’cause I promised you a long time ago.”
How did you use such a line?
“As I recall, when I asked my brother to be friends with me, he asked me, “Okay, but why do you want to be friends with me?” So I quoted that line and used it to imitate the heroine in the movie, and that’s how I was able to get to know him.”
Chris-chan changed school, home, and country due to family reasons, and I guess she was that desperate

“By the way, what’s it like to imitate a heroine?”
Rinka-chan asks.
“It’s a dear word and an arm-in-arm ride to school. It’s the same thing that Rinka-san and Azaka-senpai do for my brother every morning.”
So that’s what it meant.
“I thought you were going after Souta-kun too
”
“Even though we’re step-siblings, we’re still brothers and sisters, and that’s not possible from my ethical or religious point of view.”
Chris-chan said crisply.
“I guess now everyone’s secrets are out.”
“Well, it turned out to be a revealing contest unexpectedly.”
“But I can’t let Kanae-san be the only one to say that.”
Everyone is such a good person
 I was a little impressed when the phone rang.
“Oh, it’s Yuki-kun!”
I was so happy to see his name displayed on the screen that I said it out loud.
Naturally, Azaka-senpai, Rinka-chan, and Chris-chan heard me, and they looked at me somewhat warmly.
I turned my back to the three people looking at me to hide my burning face.
“Oh, hello, Yuki-kun? Have you finished your club activities?”
Then, with a heart mark in full swing, I happily answered Yuki’s phone.
I didn’t know that the next moment I would experience a blood-curdling despair.