Hiiragi Shuichi’s lips, in the end, couldn’t hold the line at the edge of the cliff, and tumbled into the ravine below.
Kawasaki Yuki saw Hiiragi Shuichi’s expression darken and wanted to have his back, but when her eyes met Aoba Toshie’s, a wave of fear washed over her, and she dared not speak.
Meanwhile, Aoba Tomoyo, sitting beside Hiiragi Shuichi, was already doubled over, clutching her stomach and covering her mouth, laughing uncontrollably.
Only when the laughter finally subsided did she sit up from the table, dabbed the tears from her eyes, and start talking on her own:
“Oh my…… little Toshie, you’re too hasty, aren’t you?
I was still hoping to see more of Shuichi-kun’s little performance?
I just love seeing him like this—don’t ruin my fun, little Toshie?”
For a split second, Hiiragi Shuichi wondered if the notebook hadn’t worked at all, and this woman named Aoba Tomoyo was simply playing around—but then he reconsidered and sensed something was off.
His somewhat vacant mind, for no discernible reason, naturally began piecing together Aoba Tomoyo’s behavioral patterns:
When she encounters something she likes, she’ll keep over-interfering without end, until she tears apart the very thing she loves with her own hands.
If she’s not interested in something, she probably wouldn’t give it a second glance.
And if that’s really the case, then when it comes to something she hates……
She’d probably annihilate it completely.
Hiiragi Shuichi recalled the scene of Aoba Tomoyo going berserk in front of his house that day.
It was like watching the full process of a person splitting apart and then reassembling.
If that were truly the case, then in Aoba Tomoyo’s heart, he probably occupied an even split—half liking, half loathing.
Did that mean he was destined to be torn to shreds by her……
Aoba Toshie’s typically ice-cold expression took on a hint of “just as I expected.”
But when she heard her sister’s words and took one more look at Hiiragi Shuichi, she closed her eyes and said, displeased:
“Why?
I didn’t say anything wrong.”
“No, you did say something wrong.”
The one to refute her was Hiiragi Shuichi, and this reaction made Aoba Toshie freeze for a moment.
She swept the loose strands of hair hanging at her shoulders behind her back, and that porcelain-doll face of hers even managed to wear a mocking expression:
“Oh?
Do tell.”
She clearly didn’t think Hiiragi Shuichi could offer any real explanation.
A fleeting phrase—”Are you people even really high schoolers?”—drifted through Hiiragi Shuichi’s slightly heated mind, only to be swept away by the endless torrent of thoughts, converging at last into a new, still river:
“Every single action of mine comes from my genuine heart.
How can that be called pretense?”
“Genuine heart?
Using such a weighty word—are you even worthy of it?”
“Why not?
Maybe Aoba-san thinks I’m pretending, but let’s consider this: if the very intention behind the pretense is real, then is the pretense still pretense?”
Hiiragi Shuichi, of course, knew that he wore that likable face all day long—and that he didn’t like it himself.
But if, even despite not liking it, he still had a powerful desire compelling him to do it, how could that possibly be called wrong?
Aoba Toshie narrowed her eyes, pressed a finger to her lips in thought for a moment, then said:
“Go on.”
Aoba Toshie was always putting herself on a pedestal, looking down on everyone else—but right now, Hiiragi Shuichi didn’t care about any of that.
He sat up straight and spoke earnestly:
“Of course I understand that expectation is a heavy thing.
But the reason everyone places their expectations on me isn’t baseless—no, it’s precisely because they believe I can bear those expectations that they place them on me.
And so, I should do my best to meet those expectations, because not just anyone can be the object of everyone’s hopes.
I consider that a responsibility, and so……
I…… want to be the Hiiragi Shuichi who belongs to everyone!”
The air fell silent.
Kawasaki Yuki didn’t fully grasp the meaning behind Hiiragi Shuichi’s words, but she was glad he could voice what was in his heart.
She could finally understand “Hiiragi Shuichi” on a deeper level.
Inside Aoba Tomoyo, love and disgust tumbled and tangled with each other, finally dissolving into a featherlight “Shuichi-kun, you’re amazing!”
Aoba Toshie closed her eyes and pondered for a while, but in the end, she only let out a sigh, packed up her bento, and rose.
Her posture was ramrod straight, standing like a peony, and she strode on her own to the Student Council Room door, clearly intending to leave.
“Little Toshie, where are you off to?” Aoba Tomoyo called after her.
Aoba Toshie didn’t answer her question, muttering to herself:
“Why is it that everyone around me is so impossible to understand……”
“Wh-a-a-t?” Aoba Tomoyo had caught her quiet murmur and raised her voice.
“Nothing.”
Aoba Toshie’s volume rose in kind.
“Lunch break is almost over.
I just need to get to the Art Classroom.
Also……”
She turned to glance at Hiiragi Shuichi, her profile utterly still, yet somehow it looked like she was about to cry:
“Idiot……”
With that, Aoba Toshie shook her lustrous black hair and swept out of the room.
Hiiragi Shuichi watched her retreating figure, his heart a tangle of complicated feelings.
Though he was always second in his grade, and had even managed to beat Aoba Toshie once, she had never once shown him any respect.
There were always people who held no “expectations” for Hiiragi Shuichi.
But then why had her expression just now been so pained……
Was it because he had refuted her……
Kawasaki Yuki gently tugged at the hem of Hiiragi Shuichi’s shirt:
“Shuichi…… are you okay?”
Hiiragi Shuichi turned back, forced a smile, and told her:
“I’m fine.
Aoba-san has her own convictions, her own principles, and I think that’s a good thing……
Maybe it’s just as she said—perhaps we really are lacking a bit of ‘self’……”
Hearing Hiiragi Shuichi’s words, Aoba Tomoyo shot him a playful glance, stretched her arms lazily with no care in the world, pulled a Student Council Application Form out of the drawer of her large rosewood desk, grabbed a sign pen from the pen holder, and held them out to Hiiragi Shuichi:
“Fill it out, then come straight to the Student Council Room to start working after school.
No need to go through the whole process.”
Hiiragi Shuichi looked at the form, then exchanged glances with Kawasaki Yuki.
Kawasaki Yuki puffed out her cheeks in thought.
Though she had many questions to ask—like what exactly was going on with Shuichi joining the Student Council—she chose to ask this one instead:
“U-um…… Aoba-senpai, I heard that joining the council requires submitting three documents, and then going through…… a selection process?”
Hiiragi Shuichi wanted to ask the same question.
But Aoba Tomoyo simply smiled and said:
“Hmm?
Oh, that doesn’t matter.
Even if Shuichi-kun submitted three documents and went through the selection…… oh my, has the Student Council been without an accountant this whole time?
Haha, as if that could be!”
Though her words were vague and she hadn’t outright said anything, Hiiragi Shuichi understood her meaning.
Aoba Tomoyo was saying that she ran the Student Council.
That line about “has the Student Council been without an accountant” was probably her way of saying she’d kicked the previous accountant out herself.
In other words, whether she wanted someone in the council or out of it was simply a matter of one word, so all Hiiragi Shuichi needed to do was submit the form as a formality……
Hiiragi Shuichi uncapped the sign pen and began filling in his personal information and club activity experience.
Hiiragi Shuichi did belong to a club—a place called the Classical Literature Club—but he was a ghost member, because he didn’t have time to attend club activities.
He’d chosen the Classical Literature Club for two reasons: first, the club didn’t hold any particular activities, so the schedule was very relaxed, and it didn’t matter if he never showed up; and second, he couldn’t let people think, “Huh?
That Hiiragi Shuichi doesn’t belong to any club?!”
But now, if he was joining the Student Council, his status as a Classical Literature Club member would prove useful.
Hiiragi Shuichi reasoned that when he didn’t want to go to the Student Council, he could use club activities as a cover—this way, he could reasonably dodge the risks of the Student Council, and at the same time, make others think he was so diligent for juggling the Student Council and his club commitments……
Perhaps because he was a little distracted while filling out the form, Hiiragi Shuichi accidentally wrote a wrong character.
“Ah…… um, senpai, could I get a new application form?
I made a mistake.”
“What, what?
Let me see…… oh, it’s fine.”
With that, Aoba Tomoyo took the form, pulled an eraser out of her pocket, and with that eraser, wiped the wrongly written character—which had been made with a sign pen—completely clean……
“Huh?
How is that possible?
Can an eraser wipe away ink?” Kawasaki Yuki tilted her head and asked.
Aoba Tomoyo held up the eraser and replied smugly:
“It can, you know?
This eraser is pretty special.
I’ve tried it before—no matter what pen wrote it, this eraser can wipe it away, and it does a clean job too, leaving no shavings behind.
I love it!”
“Is that so…… where did you buy it, senpai?” Kawasaki Yuki marveled at the eraser’s incredible properties.
Ever since she’d realized she might not truly understand Hiiragi Shuichi, she had drawn in her claws a bit.
She couldn’t even muster the energy to clash with Aoba Tomoyo anymore, and had instead turned into a well-behaved underclassman.
“Where did I buy it?
Oh, I found it downstairs at Shuichi-kun’s house, you know?”
“Oh…… wait, you’ve—you’ve been to Shuichi’s house……?”
“More than that, isn’t that right, Shuichi-kun?” Aoba Tomoyo deliberately wore the look of a cat that got the cream, clearly steering things in a strange direction with her loaded words.
Hiiragi Shuichi felt deeply uncomfortable.
His face went cold, and he cut the topic off directly, then started rewriting the content he’d intended to fill in on the form.
This reaction left both Kawasaki Yuki and Aoba Tomoyo momentarily stunned.
Hiiragi Shuichi had made his decision—he’d make his move this very afternoon.
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