CH 3

O-Oooooooooooooooooooooooooh! She smelled so nice! She smelled so niceee! I clicked on the desktop icon of a program, and wildly dragged it around the screen in front of me. That was the only method to quietly release all the stimulation and excitement that just burst inside of me. I tried my best to keep a straight working face, doing my hardest to keep calm and rational, but my brain cells are currently burning themselves up in joy. Like the dam is about to break? My excitement is reaching unprecedented levels. If I was a faucet , I probably would have exploded by now. Just staying calm is the best I could do.

—Natsukawa…Natsukawa…h-hugged me…! What kind of shonen manga-type lucky pervert moment was that?! Imagine the person you like suddenly hugging you out of the blue, this is going beyond perverted! I feel like I used up all my luck for the rest of the month! I was planning on trying my luck with a gacha at the end of the month, what am I supposed to do now?!

“Sajou. Hey, what are you doing?”

“Ah, Ken-senpai.”

“Again, my name isn’t Ken.”

“Right, Gou-senpai.”

“I swear…We got a message.”

I tried my hardest to not fall back to indulging in Natsukawa’s remaining scent glued to my uniform, and talked to Ishiguro Gou-senpai. No matter how many times I hear it, his name is so unrefined and rustic. Oddly enough, it perfectly fit his looks. Looking at his dense and refined facial features you could find in a TV drama, I managed to calm myself down.

“Renji-san contacted me via chat. As expected, they seem to be moving the team on that side . I bet we’ll run into them eventually, but it’s probably best to let Renji-san deal with that. After this, we’ll have an online meeting, too. Think you can join?”

With Hanawa-senpai moving in the shadows, the plan seems to be making great progress. If we keep going like this, we can leave most of the troublesome work to the outside supporters. It’s basically outsourcing at this point. Unlike us students, who only have time during lunch break and after classes, with some of us even unable to properly use PCs, we can save time by leaving the work to freelancers who can work on it all day. Even to the point we can achieve the extra bonus that Gou-senpai mentioned.

“Mhm, I do have my earphones with me, so it should work out. Here?”

“No, we’ll only get in the way of their work. We’ll use an open classroom. The wi-fi range should be wide enough.”

“Understood. I’ll go grab a key from the staff’s office.”

“Yeah, please do…Hm?”

“Ugh…?!”

I closed my laptop and stood up, only for the door behind me to shoot open. I turned around in shock, only to be greeted by a furious demon, the dear student council vice president. Um, Yuuki-senpai? You said that you’d do your best to ensure she wouldn’t barge in here and start trouble with Hasegawa-senpai…Seriously? She’s here already? Did I make it that obvious?

“—I knew it. So this is what’s going on…”

“Hey, why are you here? You shouldn’t—”

“Shut up, Ishiguro.”

“Urk…”

“Ah, hey!”

Big Sis appeared out of nowhere, immediately lashing out at Gou-senpai. With the pressure coming from her and the fact that she was a year above him, he was silenced in an instant. She then trotted towards me, grabbed my arm, and attempted to pull me out of the room. I thought I should at least explain myself, so I firmly stood on the ground. Big Sis evidently didn’t like that, as she turned around to glare at me.

“Big Sis.”

“…It’s my fault that you got involved with the student council, and it was me who tried to get you used to the work so you can join in and take over for me once I’m gone.”

“Err, slow down a bit.”

First time I heard of that, you know? I thought you were so busy you were just desperate to get any kind of help? You’re joking. I was actually about to join the student council as well, hot dang.

“However, things are different now that they have gotten involved. If it’s going to end up with you being dragged into this mess, then I’d rather keep you far away from it. Don’t get involved with this anymore.”

“Big Sis!”

I called out to her, but she showed no signs of giving me a moment. She didn’t stop, and I could tell how serious she was. She didn’t seem to even acknowledge the existence of Hasegawa-senpai. Rather than this whole executive committee, it felt like she was desperate to just drag me away from Yuuki-senpai and Gou-senpai. While still grabbing my arm, Big Sis didn’t bother to hide her fury as she glared at Gou-senpai.

“Don’t you dare approach him again, you’re nothing more than the Yuuki Family’s man-servant. The problems of the culture festival executive committee are to be dealt with by the student council…And what does my younger brother have to do with any of this? I may be part of the student council, but he isn’t. He has no obligation or reason to just act as our pawn…!”

“……”

Yeah, Yuuki-senpai said that I could prove useful when he explained the circumstances to me. In fact, it’s pretty clear that Yuuki-senpai chose me as his pawn. But even so, it felt like me Sajou Kaede’s younger brother wasn’t the only reason, and I think Big Sis has the wrong idea about that. Gou-senpai had his arms crossed, not uttering a word. It doesn’t seem like he plans on arguing with Big Sis. In a way, he probably knew that this was an unwinnable battle. Only aggravating her further than this would blow up in his face, and he understood. That being said, he also realized that things just went south really quickly. In fact, he was just following orders from Yuuki-senpai, so he shouldn’t receive any of the blame currently thrown at him.

“Big Sis, the people around us are staring.”

“You shut up.”

“Eeep…!”

I gently placed my hand on her shoulder, but she brushed that off with utter disgust. Even as my own shoulder bumped into the doorframe, it all felt so nostalgic. I leaned forwards, grabbing my shoulder to suppress the pain. Oddly enough, Ishiguro-senpai seemed a lot more worried about this than I was.

Though I have to say…she’s a lot more pissed than I expected her to be. I bet Yuuki-senpai must have done something to aggravate her this much. He tends to take it a bit too much with his sophistic blabber after all, and Big Sis hates that. He has the power to turn black into white, and he was trying to do that. Because of his handsome looks, it all just feels even worse on top of that.

“W-Wataru…”

“Ah, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

Right as I fixed my posture, Natsukawa came rushing towards me. I’m happy and thankful she cares this much, but I really don’t want her to get any closer to this ticking time bomb. I was terrified when I looked back at Big Sis, who stared at me in disbelief, her eyes wide open…Only for her expression to change into something resembling pain. Not sure where to direct this emotion, she glared at Ishiguro-senpai again. E-Erm…Am I the only one who can defuse this situation anymore?

“Big Sis.”

“Shut up.”

“You shut up, and come with me.”

“Eh, wha, hey—”

I forcefully held her shoulders in my arms and pulled her out of the classroom. As expected, she was too surprised to react in time. It’s not like I wasn’t feeling awkward at doing that in front of so many people, but I can’t let things continue like this. Not to mention that this isn’t exactly the behavior you’d like to see from the student council…

Once we stepped out onto the hallway, a bit away from the classroom, I let go of Big Sis, and turned towards her. Gou-senpai was following after us with a complicated expression. That’s right, now just close the door behind—Um, Natsukawa-san, why are you tagging along? Why are you closing the door behind you? Well, I guess this isn’t the time to worry about that.

“……”

“S-So…Err, you have the wrong idea about this, Big Sis.”

“…What? The wrong idea?”

“I heard about what happened that led up to this point. I don’t want to get involved with all of this nonsense either, nor do I want to join the student council. Sounds like a pain.”

“Huh? Do you even understand who you’re talking to?”

“My sincerest apologies.”

Yeah, I sure was picking a fight there. Of course she’d get pissed. Also, why is the vice president of the student council so terrifying?

“I’m fully aware that Yuuki-senpai is using me as a pawn. And I still decided to help despite that.”

“I don’t care! I’m sure he told you something unnecessary and forced you to help out!”

“Probably, but I’m still thankful. If I was unable to do anything, I’d probably go out of this culture festival with nothing but regret.”

“Regret…Don’t tell me, are you…?”

“Hm…?”

“You developed feelings for someone in the student council, or maybe he used me as a bargaining chip.”

“Huh? Why are you…”

The student council? Ahh, I see. Any trouble of the executive committee will eventually fall back on the student council. As a result of that, they’ll receive bad press from all sides, not only the West, and it’s very plausible that Big Sis will get under fire. I see…even without Natsukawa in the picture, Yuuki-senpai found another possible reason to get me into helping him. I hadn’t even realized.

“—Nah, that ain’t it. I’m not doing this for the sake of the student council, or for you.”

“Huuuuuh?”

“Why are you in such a bad mood, seriously…It’s related to my personal circumstances. I know things might turn out okay if I say no and ignore all of this, but I didn’t want to just stay an outsider in this situation.”

“You didn’t want to…”

I know that this isn’t good enough of clear reasoning. I get why she’s looking at me with such disbelief in her eyes. I was just betting on the fact that she’d calm down a bit through that. In fact, we’ve already mostly succeeded with Yuuki-senpai’s plan. He acted like I was a crucial player in this entire thing, but I’m not the protagonist here. Some first-year brat like me couldn’t hope to suddenly become the guiding post to resolve a problem of such a level. Yuuki-senpai probably had several other methods in mind in the event that I declined. Even without me as part of the plan, everything would work out.

Then, what if someone who isn’t a key figure attempted to move like one? No need to even think about that. My job is to act as the bridge—the assistant of the assistant. I truly believe what I said back during my self-introduction. By doing all the busy work that would have been Ishiguro-senpai’s job, I can create some space for him. If he was busy explaining everything on his own, he probably wouldn’t have been able to make room for the meeting. In that way, my being here is clear merit. Someone like me is perfect to do the miscellaneous work and create time for others.

—More than anything, this allows me to save Natsukawa.

“Anyway! I don’t plan on getting evolved with whoever those people are, and I’m not going to stay Yuuki-senpai’s pawn forever. I’m doing this because I want to, so could you just pull back this once?”

“……”

Big Sis averted her face, showing a complicated expression, clearly lost in thought. At the very least, it seems like she’s not fully accepting of this. I can see the hesitation on her face. Come on, I’m really at my limit here…

“………Okay.”

Big Sis closed her eyes, let out a sigh, and quite literally pulled back. She still seemed hesitant, but turned towards Gou-senpai, and glared up at him.

“You.”

“What?”

“You better look after him. If something happens, I won’t ever forgive you.”

“…That was my plan from the start.”

After Big Sis gave out this order with her power as the senior, she immediately turned around and headed towards the student council office, almost as if that’s all she wanted to talk about. Also, Gou-senpai isn’t sounding as polite towards Big Sis as I expected him to. He even called her ‘that woman’ before. I wonder what kind of relationship those two have.

“—Same goes for you, Wataru’s…”

“Err, ah, yes!”

N-Now hold on a damn second! Why are you calling Natsukawa like that? She’s not mine, first of all, and this is a very delicate topic, so I wish you wouldn’t just poke around there. If you’re going to use an attribute to describe possession, then don’t abbreviate it. Or rather, what did you even cut out? What do you think she is to me? Don’t trouble Natsukawa like that.

“Can’t ask for much, but please take care of him.”

“Y-Yes!” Natsukawa frantically responded.

Whatever she may be thinking, I can’t read it from her expression. Grrr…is she happy, feeling awkward, or plain embarrassed…?! I can’t tell. I feel like I’d only receive more damage if I mustered up the courage to ask her. Don’t just ‘Please take care of him’ her, okay? Don’t act like my Mom now all of a sudden.

Once Big Sis was done saying that, she let out a sigh, and stomped away. What a storm she can be. I can’t deal with such a senior for much longer.

“…Let’s get back to work. We have a meeting.”

“Right.”

Gou-senpai showed no further emotions, simply returning back to the room. What a strong mentality he has. He’s showing nothing at all on his face. You could at least throw out a complaint or two, you know? I was left baffled at all these peculiar seniors around me when I heard Natsukawa’s worried voice directed at me.

“A-Are you…okay…?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, totally. I just had to go get my opinion across for once.”

“I see…”

“Yeah…”

I once again understand the importance of proper communication. Any wrong move would have ended with a fist in my face. Adults are scary.

“Um…”

“Hm? What’s up?”

Right as I made my way back to the classroom, Natsukawa spoke up, making it sound like there was something else she wanted to say. I don’t blame her, it’s impressive she even managed to keep standing in the face of such abnormal pressure. Come on, throw me a complaint or two.

“…No, it’s nothing.”

However, she immediately shook her head and went back to the classroom. I guess she still isn’t open enough towards me. It does hurt a bit, but that’s the kind of relationship we have, after all. For now, I should just get back to work. That’s about the best I can do to help Natsukawa.

*

“I guess this is all we had to report on. Your team probably has the most work, Hanawa-senpai.”

‘Don’t worry about it, I’m partial to be blamed for this, after all.’

“That reminds me…Yuuki-senpai said something like that.”

It still is a mystery how Hanawa-senpai can just say ‘Don’t worry about it’ like it’s nothing, but…It’s clear that he’s got influence, all right. Also, he’s really not at fault. He didn’t choose for Hasegawa-senpai to develop feelings for him. What is this ‘responsibility for being the target of someone’s feelings’, even? And he’s fine having an astonishing amount of adults acting for that sake alone. I guess the K4 and its individual members are on a different level from your average person.

I think it was called…’Hanawa System Solutions’? I feel bad to force their employees to help problems that we childish students caused. Then again, they all agreed because of the reward, so it’s partially their fault for being so easy…they do get paid, right? I don’t know much about Hanawa-senpai’s family and their business, actually. If this was all non-paid overtime, even I would boycott them.

‘I’m counting on you for things over there, Sajou-kun.’

“Well, Gou-senpai is doing the most work here, so we should be fine. And Hasegawa-senpai is helping us out as well.”

“In reality, I believe Renji-san should be with us right now…After all, if you can easily convey everything to the support members on your end through calls like this, you have no need to stay there.”

‘Hahaha…I have no rebuttal for that. However, now that I know how President Hasegawa feels, it’s a bit hard to act oblivious whenever I was to run into her.’

“Huh?”

Now hold on, President Hasegawa doesn’t know that her feelings had been revealed to Hanawa-senpai? That sounds like absolute hell. How did they even learn of her feelings in the first place? This sure sounds shady as well…Now that I think about it, Gou-senpai also never touched it during the explanation he gave today. I guess it makes sense, it’d just be more torture for President Hasegawa.

‘Anyway, I’ll leave the rest to you. If Hayato’s still around, then give him a few words. As for Kaede…She still seems in the dark in regards to President Hasegawa’s feelings, so be careful.’

“I’ll make sure to let Hayato-san know. I’ll have to visit him later either way.”

“Well, I doubt Big Sis would go out of her way to ask me in regards to that.”

With that, our meeting ended. Confirming that Hanawa-senpai’s icon disappeared from the screen, Gou-senpai and I leaned against the chairs and cut the call.

“…Man, I was so nervous. Although it’s Hanawa-senpai’s close followers, I never expected the day would come when I would participate in a meeting like that. I think I would have been less nervous talking to them directly.”

“To me, Renji-san is something like a superior, so…Either way, let’s talk to Hayato-san.”

“…I’ve never really put much attention to it, but I feel like I finally understand your position, Gou-senpai.”

I’m not fully clear on everything, but Gou-senpai and Yuuki-senpai aren’t just senior and junior on friendly terms, but they’re also closely related because of their families. From what I’ve heard, the student council has similar relationships as well. For example, the person who managed to draw out the information about Hasegawa-senpai.

“This will be your duty from here on out. Since you have to help your class prepare for the culture festival, I don’t plan on pushing everything onto you…but I have high hopes, Wataru.”

“Aye. Well, I’ve watched something similar to this from the sidelines before, so I should be fine.”

“You absorbed what you’ve seen, and ended up making it your own. That’s what you would call ‘experience’, but…Well, if you are okay with things being like this, then I won’t complain. That’ll be all for today.”

The work at the executive committee had already come to an end, and most students already left. I could barely hear any sound coming from their room next to this, so I would guess that we were the only students left at school. We’re getting close to closing time after all. I cleaned up the laptop I used in the committee office when I saw Gou-senpai hurrying to pack his things.

“Sorry about this, but I’m still not done with ‘Today’s work’. Could I leave you to lock up the room?”

“Yeah, sure. Still…what kind of daily mission is it now? You’re working like a company employee would.”

“It’s Hayato-san, rather. I’m just his assistant.”

Rich families, influential people, since I couldn’t be further away from Yuuki-senpai and Hanawa-senpai, I don’t understand the world they live in. In that way, I can respect my father’s lifestyle a lot more. I heard he rejected a lot of promotions and recommendations in his days. I was thinking that it was such a waste, but I can sort of understand him now. You might get higher pay and more money flowing into your bank account, but the troubles and hardships rise in number at the same time. Can’t forget about all the overtime…Wait hold on, Gou-senpai is still in high school, right?

“See you tomorrow.”

“Aye.”

And with that, Gou-senpai rushed out of the room. Once my surroundings had gone silent, I turned off the working mode switch in my head. Immediately after, severe exhaustion assaulted me. Since all I have to do is go home, I can relax a bit…

Although we slowly moved into fall, the days are still quite long. The sky outside was colored in a bright orange, illuminating the inside of the classroom. Observing the scenery from the third floor was definitely a sight to behold, but the cramped cityscape beyond the school gate stole all my emotional feelings. The sight of the classroom itself had a lot more appeal. If you don’t stay until late like I am right now, you don’t get to enjoy this.

Counting grade school and middle school, I’ve been attending school for ten years now. Yet, this youthful scenery felt so fresh and unfamiliar to me. Obviously, that is. I’m in the go-home club, so if I don’t have anything particular to do or take care of, I wouldn’t stay this late. Maybe it’d be more familiar to me if I had joined a club?

“……”

I start thinking back to middle school. I started realizing that I had to be a bit more mindful of what to say and when, and learned how to read the mood. The people I hng out with all happened to be part of the go-home club as well, so I didn’t register at any club. With so much time in the afternoon, I could focus on games, manga, or working part-time.

—What if these people happened to be part of a club?

—What if I never met Natsukawa?

I probably would have adjusted to them, joined a club, got interested in something, and continued that up to high school. I’d probably be a bit more athletic than now, and the trigger for me to meet Natsukawa may never have happened. I wouldn’t have gotten any part-time work experience, and I probably would be a lot more childish and impolite towards adults. Naturally, I wouldn’t have chosen this kind of high-level high school, but one that would have rather fit the amount of effort I give for things, and I may even have a girlfriend that is the exact opposite of Natsukawa.

I probably wouldn’t have gotten involved with the work of the student council either. I’m aware that I can easily be shaken, so maybe my entire personality could be different compared to now. I bet talking with myself from a different world line would be an interesting experiment. I know I’m just wasting my time thinking about this, of course.

“……”

I grabbed my smartphone, only to stop myself. Taking a picture of the scenery to upload it on social networks sounds like a good idea, but I don’t think I would feel much more satisfied just by hearing everyone’s opinions.

“…Time to go home.”

It’s still too early to think about all of that on my own. My work just started, and I can always relax and consider things once everything is done. I can’t lower my motivation now during the most crucial of times. However, once that time comes…it might not hurt to reminisce about things, the good and the bad.

I saw myself reflected in the glass of the hallway windows, and let out a faint snicker because of how lame I looked.