“Sure, then why not come be my personal shoe-shining machine?”
Hearing that female voice, Hiiragi Shuichi immediately looked up.
What came into view was a beautiful, familiar oval face with blackish-gray shoulder-length hair, the ends dyed a wine red that currently looked fairly light and wasn’t too conspicuous.
What came into view was a beautiful, familiar oval face with blackish-gray shoulder-length hair, the ends dyed a wine red that currently looked fairly light and wasn’t too conspicuous.
She was the Student Council President of Metropolitan High School, Aoba Tomoyo, a third-year student in Special Class A, known by everyone in the school.
“When facing this senior, you must remember: no complaints, no backtalk, no refusing her requests…”
“In short, don’t provoke her, or the consequences will be dire.”
Those words automatically surfaced in Hiiragi Shuichi’s mind.
But that warning was only something he had heard from Asuka Ryunosuke. He had never personally witnessed what a “dire consequence” looked like.
‘But what is she doing here… This is indeed the time the landlady agreed upon.’
Unable to find an answer for the moment, Hiiragi Shuichi quickly switched gears, returning to his usual perfect honor student demeanor.
“Senpai Aoba… What brings you here? Is it something for school? Please, come in.”
Hiiragi Shuichi hurriedly invited her inside.
“No need, let’s just talk here… Oh, you’re… that second-year, Hiiragi Shuichi, Hiiragi-kun?”
Aoba Tomoyo narrowed her eyes and sized up Hiiragi Shuichi with keen interest, her gaze always carrying a hint of mischief that made him quite uncomfortable.
It was only natural that she knew who he was.
After all, Hiiragi Shuichi was a top student with a name on the school’s honor roll.
As Student Council President, she needed to understand the student body, and it was possible she had reviewed his student records.
Hiiragi Shuichi was about to respond to Aoba Tomoyo when the elderly woman living next door returned from grocery shopping and began chatting first, cutting him off.
“What’s the matter, Hiiragi-kun? Didn’t go to school today?”
“Good morning, Mrs. Naoko… I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather, so I took the day off. Have you and your husband been arguing lately?”
“Ugh, who’s arguing with that old man… Hiiragi-kun, if you’re not feeling well, make sure you rest plenty… So, who’s this new face beside you?”
Mrs. Naoko had lived here for a long time and had never seen Aoba Tomoyo, so she asked.
Hiiragi Shuichi was just about to introduce Aoba Tomoyo to Mrs. Naoko when she cheerfully waved her hand and stepped forward to greet her first.
“Grandma! I’m…”
She stopped mid-sentence, turned her head, and asked Hiiragi Shuichi in complete seriousness:
“That’s right, what am I to Hiiragi-kun?”
“Just a regular upperclassman and underclassman relationship.”
But she completely ignored his words and continued talking to herself:
“Saying senior is too distant, saying friend is too close, saying older sister is a bit strange too… Oh!”
As she spoke, she smiled and stepped closer.
The odd sense of proximity made Hiiragi Shuichi very uncomfortable, but her next words made him even more so:
“How about we sum it up simply and call me your girlfriend?”
“…Huh?”
That sudden statement caused Hiiragi Shuichi’s ability to form words to crash for a few seconds.
He had no idea how to properly respond to that.
“Haha, a girlfriend, huh… Hiiragi-kun has grown up too…”
Mrs. Naoko, satisfied with the answer, headed toward her own door.
“N-No, that’s not it! Mrs. Naoko… I…”
Mrs. Naoko seemed to be a bit hard of hearing.
She didn’t catch what Hiiragi Shuichi said, unlocked her door on her own, walked inside, and closed it, shutting down Hiiragi Shuichi’s throat along with it.
Hiiragi Shuichi turned around and saw Aoba Tomoyo giggling, which made him a little irritated, but he restrained himself.
A perfect young man must not get into heated conflicts with others. He had to maintain his composure.
Hiiragi Shuichi chose to wear the rare displeased expression a perfect young man would occasionally show and asked Aoba Tomoyo in a tone that mixed seriousness with disappointment:
“Senpai, why would you do that? Shouldn’t a Student Council President be thinking about the students?”
“My, are you upset? Is having a girlfriend a bad thing for Hiiragi-kun?”
But Aoba Tomoyo was unfazed and continued teasing him.
“Maybe not a bad thing… But I know full well that I have no connection with you, Senpai. I wouldn’t dare claim such a thing.”
“Alright, alright, stop using such polite speech. It doesn’t sound like a boyfriend and girlfriend at all! You can call me Tomoyo, you know?”
“Ugh…”
The perfect young man’s “rare moments” seemed to have no effect on her at all.
Hiiragi Shuichi had now witnessed firsthand what it meant to “best not provoke this senior.”
But what had he done to provoke her?
“Senpai Aoba… If I may ask, what exactly did you come all the way here for?”
“What for? Isn’t it obvious? The rent, of course?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, don’t tell me… you haven’t noticed?”
“Noticed what… I’m slow-witted, so please be direct, Senpai.”
“Haha, you really don’t cooperate, do you? This apartment is called… Aoba Apartment? And my name happens to be ‘Aoba’ too?”
Aoba Tomoyo took some time to calculate for Hiiragi Shuichi that he was still short 50,000 yen on rent and also had him add her contact information for future communication.
But given how long Hiiragi Shuichi had been delinquent, Aoba Tomoyo said tomorrow was the final deadline, and he had to find a way to raise the money today.
“But, Senpai, look at my current situation… Can’t you really grant me a few more days?”
“Whether to grant an extension isn’t up to me, you know? Mother is too busy. I’m just here to do her a favor.”
When it came to serious matters, Aoba Tomoyo showed a different side of herself entirely.
She was no longer giggling like before, but serious and completely in control.
But if, according to her words, she was only relaying the landlady’s message, she should have completed her task of delivering the news.
Why didn’t she leave and instead kept standing there?
It was as if she was waiting for Hiiragi Shuichi to proactively do something.
Seeing her stand before him smiling silently, Hiiragi Shuichi was a bit baffled.
‘Playing the sympathy card hadn’t earned me any pity, so this is… her way of telling me to negotiate?’
Hiiragi Shuichi guessed that possibility and immediately spoke up:
“Senpai, I’m, for what it’s worth, an outstanding student in my second year. Although I missed out on this term’s scholarship, I’ve had a share of it before. Surely that says something about my abilities, right?”
“Hmm? Why bring that up all of a sudden?”
Hiiragi Shuichi carefully organized his words, then bowed.
“Senpai, if you could help me resolve the rent issue, or help me get a few more days of extension, I could join the Student Council… and be at your disposal…”
After he finished speaking, Aoba Tomoyo narrowed her eyes and let out a note of praise:
“…Not bad intuition. You can read my expression. You’re more interesting than I thought, and I’ll admit you’ve got a bit of cleverness. But…”
“No.”
With those final two words, the knot in Hiiragi Shuichi’s chest tightened even further, as if it were crushing his breath.
“Hiiragi-kun, I only help people close to me, you know?”
“Earlier when I said ‘girlfriend,’ you wouldn’t agree, and instead said we had ‘no connection’? That was your own words, you know.”
“I gave you a chance. Since you didn’t take it, you’re on your own~”
Aoba Tomoyo stared at him with sharp eyes.
Seeing Hiiragi Shuichi’s strained smile, she laughed, patted him on the shoulder, said “See you tomorrow!” and then left Hiiragi Shuichi standing there alone in his disappointment.
‘I’ve been played by her… So this is why they said not to provoke her…’
A wave of bitterness welled up inside Hiiragi Shuichi.
He had no energy to go back to his room, so he just leaned against the corridor railing, staring at the patch of bare lawn below and the cherry blossom trees on the street that had already withered completely.
“What am I supposed to do…”
Those words began repeating over and over in Hiiragi Shuichi’s mind.
Would he really have to swallow his pride and ask his parents for help?
He had left home and come to Tokyo in the first place because he refused to back down.
Suddenly, the wind began to pick up, rustling the leaves with a sound like paper flipping through the air and making faint snapping sounds.
“Ow!”
Something struck Hiiragi Shuichi on the head, and he let out a yelp.
He rubbed his head and looked up urgently, only to see clear blue skies.
Then he remembered he lived on the top floor. There were no residents above him, only the rooftop.
What was that, then?
It couldn’t be that Aoba Tomoyo had deliberately gone up to the roof just to hit him, could it?
He wanted to go up to the rooftop to see what was going on, so he turned around.
There, lying in the hallway, was the weapon that had struck his head.
Could it really be a book?
Hiiragi Shuichi picked it up and realized it wasn’t a book, just a notebook, common B5 size.
Flipping through it casually, the pages were completely clean, nothing but line after line of ruled paper, not a trace of writing, as if it had just come fresh from the factory.
Closing the notebook, it had a dark red hardcover shell, with a design full of classical charm and a hint of ancient Greek style.
Translating the bold Greek lettering on the front cover:
Hiiragi Shuichi knew this name.
Aphrodite was the goddess of love in Greek mythology, so this notebook was essentially…
“Whose notebook is this… And come to think of it, is this kind of notebook decoration trendy on the market right now? It looks just like a book…”
Hiiragi Shuichi muttered to himself, wanting to open the flyleaf to see if there was an owner’s name, but found nothing.
On the inside of the flyleaf, there were lines upon lines of English text.
Hiiragi Shuichi tried to translate them:
[Usage Rules]
[Anyone whose name is written in this notebook will fall in love]