Silent Kohinata: Volume 1 Chapter 6

Chapter 6: A Spoiled Child Headbutts

[Illustration: m007.jpg]

The day after I spent time alone with Kohinata.

Unusually, Saejima came to the Class 2-C classroom together with Kohinata first thing in the morning.

Saejima briefly exchanged greetings with her classmates, then marched straight toward the back of the classroom where Keiichi and I were. Her expression was so transparent it might as well have had 'Curiosity' written across her face.

Kohinata, who was trailing closely behind Saejima while being greeted by our classmates, was a bit flustered. Our classmates looked back and forth between me and Kohinata, then directed warm gazes our way.

Hey! You guys over there! Wipe those 'getting awfully lovey-dovey first thing in the morning' looks off your faces right now! I'll make you treat me to the special lunch set!

"Good morning, Sugino-kun, Karakusa-kun. ──So, when I asked Asuka, she said nothing happened, but judging from her reaction, that's definitely not true, right! What actually happened!? Ah, of course, if it's something you don't want to talk about, you don't have to say anything!"

Saejima spoke in a hushed voice so no one around us could hear.

As I was getting fed up with her intense rapid-fire questioning, a hand suddenly came down between Saejima and me from above. It was Keiichi's.

"Alright, stop. I understand how you feel, but calm down a bit, Saejima. Even though Tomoki is gradually improving, it doesn't change the fact that he's still bad with girls."

"Ah! I'm sorry, Sugino-kun!"

Saejima pressed her palms together, closed her eyes, and apologized. Kohinata gave her a light smack on the back too.

"There's no need to apologize... but well, it would help if you didn't talk all at once."

When I answered with a wry smile, she placed a hand on her chest in relief.

"──So, Tomoki-kun. You told your best friend, 'We just played games and watched a movie.' Care to explain yourself?"

The good-guy act he'd put on to protect his friend a moment ago vanished completely. Keiichi was grinning now, his whole expression dedicated to teasing me.

Give me a break... I understood why people got curious about anything that smelled like romance, but it was a lot harder to sympathize when I was the one being interrogated.

I glanced at Kohinata. The moment she looked at me, she started shaking her head furiously from side to side. She was going at it so hard and so many times that I was starting to worry she'd make herself dizzy.

There was no mistaking what she meant: don't tell them about the time she fell sound asleep on my lap. Was her face red from all that head-shaking, or from embarrassment...? Either way, even if Kohinata hadn't objected, I had no intention of spreading the story around. It was painfully obvious we'd both get teased over it.

"Nothing happened. Right, Kohinata?"

As I answered Keiichi and tossed the question over to Kohinata, she nodded about twice as vigorously as usual. I was just as involved in this as she was, but seeing how desperately she tried to back me up, I couldn't help thinking she was cute.

"...Well, looking at Kohinata, it's safe to say that something definitely happened. Let's continue this during lunch break."

"Yeah. Maybe it's just hard to talk about in the classroom."

Keiichi and Saejima nodded to each other and carried on as if the matter were settled. I tried telling them again that nothing had happened, but they brushed me off with a dismissive "Sure, sure." It was apparently obvious that we were hiding something. If our positions were reversed, I probably would've been convinced something had happened too.

I watched Saejima head back to her classroom while Keiichi saw her off, then quietly sighed.

"...Good grief. Kohinata, aren't you way too bad at hiding things?"

Her expression alone might have been hard to read, but her body language was far too obvious.

Come to think of it, hadn't Shizuka-san once said that even though Kohinata used to be quiet, her emotions were easy to read? Did that mean she'd always been terrible at hiding things too?

Kohinata responded by lightly smacking my shoulder in protest. If I squinted, I could almost call that expression a pout.

"Well, maybe that's just like you, Kohinata."

For the time being, I settled on that convenient conclusion and brought the conversation to an end.

Why did I think being easy to read was 'just like her' when I'd originally seen Kohinata as quiet and expressionless...? I had no idea. Maybe the image of her in my head simply hadn't settled into one fixed shape yet.

My impression of Kohinata kept changing. Even so, there was one thing I was sure would never change, even if she regained more of her expressions and became more openly emotional.

"………………"

Maybe my words embarrassed her. Kohinata lowered her gaze and fidgeted with the hem of her uniform, then moved one foot just enough to tap lightly against my indoor shoe.

Each little thing she did felt slightly out of step with what you'd expect from an ordinary high schooler, but I didn't mind it at all.

Kohinata was cute──that, at least, was surely an unchanging fact.

☆　☆　☆　☆　☆

Lunch break arrived, and we gathered in the courtyard as usual.

There had been a few incidents on the way over, like classmates teasing me about Kohinata, but we weren't dating, and nobody knew she'd been to my house. At most, all they could talk about were our matching straps.

I thought I'd be bombarded with questions from Keiichi and the others during lunch, but...

"It's clearly weird."

The sheer number of gazes coming from around us felt wrong. I'd tried not to pay attention, but there were far too many to ignore.

They weren't the warm, teasing looks my classmates gave us, nor did they feel like simple curiosity from students in other classes. None of the people watching us were smiling. For some reason, they all looked deadly serious, and whenever I looked back, they immediately averted their eyes.

"It's not me or Saejima. I can't tell about Kohinata, but you're definitely the one they're watching, Tomoki. And those are third-years, you know? Girls, every last one of them."

According to Keiichi, the people watching me were third-year girls. Even he apparently found the situation strange enough that he didn't try to drag yesterday's topic back up.

If not for everything that had happened in the past, maybe I could've gotten carried away and thought, "Has my popular phase finally arrived!?" Unfortunately, reality wasn't that kind. I'd only just been called out by a group of girls recently.

"What a pain... Did a rumor spread from somewhere again?"

I'd heard that Keiichi and Saejima had been correcting the false rumors about me, but only among the second-years. Naturally, that didn't cover the other grades.

"We can only pray that you don't get called out like last time... You really can't ignore third-year seniors, after all."

How much easier would this have been if those upperclassmen were guys instead of girls? Did I really need to go get an exorcism? Or was it time to seriously reevaluate the way I lived?

"If that happens, we'll go with you!"

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea too. I mean, it's not like it's been decided that it'll come to that yet, though."

Keiichi said that cheerfully, but I couldn't convince myself this would end so neatly. There were way too many of them, and more than anything, some sixth-sense-like part of me kept insisting something was up.

I swept my gaze around us one more time, grimaced at just how many eyes were still pointed our way, and let out a huge sigh.

Then, I spoke to Kohinata, who was looking at my face with an anxious expression.

"...Well, don't worry about it, Kohinata."

However, in response to my words, she neither nodded nor shook her head.

I returned home, finished taking a bath, ate a meal, and recalled today's events.

More than ten hours had passed since lunch, yet the only thing that kept resurfacing in my mind was the sheer number of gazes I'd felt in the courtyard. Plenty of people had looked at us when the four of us walked home before, but this time almost every stare had been aimed at me. I couldn't treat the two situations as the same.

While I was walking home with Keiichi, while I was eating after getting home, and while I was in the bath—that was all I could think about.

Lying face up on my bed, I let out a big, long sigh.

"What should I do..."

I'd finally made peace with the girls from Class E and become friends with Kohinata and Saejima. The latter especially was progress that would've seemed impossible if I compared myself to who I'd been in middle school.

And right on the heels of that, this happens.

Those stares were probably connected to my bad reputation. They could've been jealousy over me hanging around Kohinata, but the people watching me had seemed almost entirely female. If jealousy were the reason, there should've been just as many guys staring too.

So according to my theory, they were the same type as the Class E girls who'd called me out before──people trying to protect Kohinata from me.

"Good things really don't last forever. I don't need that kind of balance adjustment."

Not addressing anyone in particular, I muttered toward the ceiling.

I mean, if the world really had some kind of balancing system, then after how suffocating middle school had been, I deserved to spend at least a little of high school being happy. Was that really asking too much?

"If I want to avoid trouble, I should run away, shouldn't I. I don't want a repeat of elementary school, and I don't want to cause trouble for Kohinata and the others."

I thought of several ways to deal with the rapidly increasing gazes from the upperclassmen.

First, completely ignore them.

The upside was that I could keep living my school life freely without changing anything. The downside was having to endure all those inexplicable stares, along with the chance that ugly rumors might spread about the three people who hung around with someone like me. On top of that, I had to consider the possibility that the other side might resort to something more forceful.

Second, charge straight at the owners of the gazes.

It was a rough plan, but definitely the most straightforward. If those stares were about my bad reputation, clearing up the misunderstanding might solve everything quickly. Unfortunately, with almost all of them being girls, my condition made that option pretty brutal. I'd need a barf bag just to attempt it.

So both options carried risks, which made either one hard to choose.

For that reason, I decided to proceed with a third compromise plan.

The day after I was exposed to the massive amount of gazes—Wednesday.

"I get how you feel, but you really don't have to worry that much about us. Hell, Tomoki, you can stay put and I'll go confront them for you if you want."

Keiichi and I had come to the school cafeteria for the first time in ages.

Lately I'd only been in the cafeteria for cleaning duty, so it had been a long time since I'd actually eaten lunch there. A decent number of students from every grade filled the room with chatter as they ate.

"It's fine. This is a good chance to cash in one of those special lunch sets you owe me. Besides... I hate the idea of someone getting hurt because of me."

"Don't you think this action is actually hurting a certain someone?"

Keiichi gave an exasperated shrug. I knew that without him telling me.

Especially Kohinata. When I told her, "Let's stop hanging out and eating lunch together for a while," she'd looked incredibly sad. She seemed attached to me, so of course being told we should keep our distance wouldn't feel good.

I'd rather keep spending time together like normal too.

But if doing that ended with Kohinata or the others getting hurt, I couldn't stand it.

"It's not like we're going to act separately forever. Let's see how the other party changes because of this, and figure out our next move. If possible, I want to do something about this before Golden Week."

It was April 27th.

Golden Week was right around the corner, beginning with Showa Day on the 29th and running through Children's Day on May 5th.

Apparently my old man would be busy with work over the holidays, so I hoped I could hang out with Keiichi and the others again. If everyone's schedules lined up, I wanted Saejima and Kohinata there too.

It was also a busy season at work, so I planned to take a few shifts, but I was still going to give myself a few days off. I only got to be a second-year high schooler once. It'd be a waste not to enjoy it.

"Will we really get results that quickly? Before Golden Week means you'll have to do something about it today and tomorrow, right? It's not a proactive strategy, so won't it be pretty difficult?"

"That depends on the changes today. If nothing happens, I'll think of something else."

"If you're going to do something, at least talk to us first, okay? You look like the type to shoulder everything by yourself, Tomoki."

"Yes, yes. I'll rely on you."

With that, I looked around the cafeteria.

Maybe because we'd only just arrived, I couldn't feel any of those familiar stares on me yet. A few girls glanced our way from time to time, but their eyes were fixed on Keiichi.

Popular guys have it rough, I thought idly while keeping an eye on the room and continuing to eat, when...

"...Hm?"

A girl entered the cafeteria, looking around as though she were searching for someone. I didn't recognize her, and judging by the way she wore her uniform, she was probably a third-year. The instant she saw my face, her expression jolted in shock.

The third-year covered her mouth as if holding back a gasp. Her face went pale, and then she hurried straight back out of the cafeteria.

...No, I honestly have no idea what that means. Did I look like a ghost to her or something?

"What's wrong, Tomoki?"

Keiichi asked while quietly working through his cheap bowl of champon, but I understood the situation no better than he did. What was I supposed to tell him? That some girl had looked at my face, gone pale, and fled? It made no sense, which only made it sadder that it was true.

"No idea... I seriously don't know. But I guess something changed."

I answered haltingly, and Keiichi tilted his head.

So this was the change I was supposed to use to plan my next move──wait, what was I even supposed to do with this?

☆　☆　☆　☆　☆

"I see... Yeah, this definitely counts as a change, just like you said."

Lunch break ended, and it was the break between the fifth and sixth periods.

Keiichi glanced toward the hallway and put a hand to his chin in thought. It was unfair how every little gesture he made looked cool. Couldn't he spare some of that for me?

"Those third-years who've been wandering around in front of our classroom for no reason are all student council officers. Even if you don't care about that stuff, you at least know the president's face, right, Tomoki?"

"At least that much, yeah. Though I don't know the vice president or secretary."

For some reason, a group of third-years kept pacing back and forth in front of Class 2-C. Among them was one face I recognized──the student council president. I'd never spoken to her, but I'd seen her election speech and still remembered her inauguration address. More recently, I'd seen her at the opening ceremony.

The current student council president was a beauty nine out of ten people would probably agree on, and she'd won the election by a landslide. I'd forgotten her name, though.

She seemed like the kind of person who normally drew looks of admiration and envy. Right now, however, almost everyone in Class 2-C was staring at her like she was the strange one. She was also catastrophically bad at sneaking glances. Why did her mouth turn toward us along with her eyes every single time?

As I watched the hallway, I remembered that the girls from Class 2-E had been called to the student council room for some reason. Then I noticed another familiar girl mixed in with the president's group.

"That girl who just passed by, I feel like she was in the lane next to us at the bowling alley."

"Seriously? ...Well, it's not like there are any other bowling alleys around here besides that one, so it's not exactly astronomical odds. That's gotta be a coincidence, right?"

"I guess... Maybe I'm just being too paranoid."

If that encounter had actually been arranged, then what they were doing was basically stalking. Whether the motive was hostility or goodwill, neither would make me feel any better. If they'd merely spotted us by chance at the bowling alley and taken the lane beside ours, I could probably let that slide.

"They're definitely interested in you and Kohinata, but they look seriously rattled. I don't get it."

Just as Keiichi said, every third-year acting strangely out there, including the student council president, looked flustered. I had no idea why. Judging by where they kept looking, though, it definitely had something to do with me and Kohinata.

Seeing how panicked they were, I was starting to think they might come talk to me before I ever had to approach them myself.

And that hunch came true almost immediately.

【Class 2-C, Sugino Tomoki-kun. Please come to the student council room after school. Repeating──Class 2-C, Sugino Tomoki-kun. Please come to the student council room after school.】

Sixth period ended, and it was time for cleaning.

The announcement summoning me echoed throughout the school.

The moment the announcement told me to report to the student council room, my classmates started murmuring and wondering what was going on.

Of course, I wasn't especially popular or the class mood-maker, so most people didn't seem to care. Well, I guess my bad reputation made me famous in a way. Sad.

A few guys openly rubbernecked and teasingly asked, "Did you do something?" But I didn't know the answer either, so all I could do was shrug and say, "Who knows."

Kohinata had been leaning out the window to beat the chalk erasers clean, but she stopped and stared straight at me. I'd have been happy if she was worried about me, though unfortunately I still couldn't really tell. Fundamentally, she was expressionless.

Naturally, a few girls were standing beside Kohinata as she cleaned the erasers, supporting her so she wouldn't lose her balance.

...Unlike me, she really is loved.

With me next to a girl like that, I wonder if people really do think I'm out of place.

Cleaning ended, right before the end-of-day homeroom.

Less than ten minutes later, my classmates had already lost interest in the announcement. The only ones still worrying over it were the people directly involved. If stress made me go bald, who exactly was I supposed to bill for damages?

"Maybe it's actually about something completely unrelated."

I rested my chin on the desk and muttered that wish while slouching. Ahh, I wanted to forget everything and play games.

"That's probably not it... They seemed to be looking at both you and her over there, after all."

By 'her over there,' Keiichi obviously meant Kohinata. So it really was going to be about her. I'd have felt a little better if this were only my problem, but I had a bad feeling somebody was about to start meddling in my relationships.

I rested my cheek on the desk, then turned to face Keiichi. He seemed to be in the middle of packing his textbooks into his bag, but I spoke to him regardless.

"The worst-case scenario is that they swallow the rumors whole and go, 'You villain! Stay away from Kohinata!' The other possibility is that they just hate seeing Kohinata and me together."

If it was the first one, I'd have to work to prove the rumors false. If it was the second, things would probably go a lot faster if Kohinata could tell them how she felt herself.

Honestly, I didn't care whether they were older than me or not──they had no business sticking their noses into someone else's relationships. And using the school PA system on top of that? Talk about abusing their authority.

"What did I even do...? Sigh."

As I started getting irritated, I noticed Keiichi looking behind me with a wry smile. I sat up and turned around to find the familiar expressionless girl standing there stock-still. The moment our eyes met, she started shaking her head furiously with what looked like an angry expression.

"Uh... you heard that?"

Kohinata nodded. When I'd explained my plan to her, I'd kept things vague and only said it was "because I felt like people were staring at me." Crap. I needed to explain myself somehow.

"What I just said was only one possibility──or really, it was just me imagining things, so don't worry about it, okay? You're popular with both guys and girls, Kohinata, so..."

I tried complimenting Kohinata with a perfectly factual statement, but the dark aura around her showed no sign of fading.

"Uh... right. They're the student council, so maybe they heard the bad rumors about me and wanted to check whether they're true. If there were some suspicious student around, they'd probably want to warn him, right?"

That guess conveniently ignored the fact that the student council members had also been watching Kohinata. Somehow, her dark aura only grew stronger.

I felt like a husband who'd just been caught cheating... Of course, I was a high school boy who'd been single his entire life, so I had absolutely no experience with anything like that.

"We won't know for sure until you go, so Kohinata, why don't you stay here with Saejima and me? If they accuse Tomoki of something he didn't do or say anything weird to him, we'll go complain to the student council together."

Keiichi threw me a lifeline. Hearing those words, Kohinata gave a large nod.

Did that count as settling things peacefully?

☆　☆　☆　☆　☆

Aside from Saejima charging in during homeroom demanding, "What's going on!?" we made it to after school without incident. I left the three of them waiting in the classroom with worried expressions and headed alone to the student council room on the first floor.

"Okay... this is making me nervous."

Apparently every member of the student council was a girl, and with my history around girls, every instinct in me wanted to turn around and leave. But if I wanted to start Golden Week with a clear head, I needed to settle this mess today.

After a few deep breaths, I knocked on the door marked 'Student Council Room.' When I called through it, "I'm Sugino, a second-year," a dignified voice answered, "Come in."

I timidly turned the knob and opened the door. Only two girls were inside. There were fewer people than I'd expected, and I quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

A window filled the wall directly opposite the entrance. In front of it stood a wooden work desk, where one girl sat in a president-like seat with her hands clasped in front of her mouth. Another girl stood by the whiteboard along the right wall.

The girl in the imposing seat had to be the student council president. I'd seen her a few times before.

The intellectual-looking girl with glasses on the right had also been pacing in front of Class 2-C earlier. Nine times out of ten, she was another student council member.

"Second-year Sugino, please have a seat first."

"Understood."

I did as the student council president instructed. I was still calm enough to think, She has a weird way of addressing people.

A long table was set up in the center of the room, and three folding chairs were lined up facing each other. I sat down in the middle chair on the left side.

"Let's start with introductions. I'm Ikaruga Iroha──I've been serving as student council president since the start of this school year."

Once I'd taken my seat, the student council president──President Ikaruga──spoke in a grave tone without changing her clasped-hands posture.

Long black hair, narrow eyes, refined features──her appearance was probably part of what made the atmosphere feel so heavy. To me, she looked so mature that it was hard to believe she was only a year older. Without the uniform, I could've easily believed she was a university student or even a working adult.

It felt like a high-pressure interview. Just hearing her introduce herself was enough to make me unconsciously straighten my posture.

I'd never thought much of her speeches during the student council election or school assemblies, but... was what she wanted to discuss really that serious? If so, was this actually about my bad reputation after all?

As my heartbeat pounded louder than usual and cold sweat ran down my cheek, President Ikaruga continued, "And──just like last year, I'm also serving this term as president of the KCC──the 'Kohinata-tan Chukichuki Club.'"

"…………Huh?"

I felt dizzy.

Setting aside the headache-inducing name 'Kohinata-tan Chukichuki Club' and banishing it to the far reaches of oblivion for a moment, the real problem was what the club actually did.

There was no need to infer anything from the name──it was exactly what it sounded like. These people obviously adored Kohinata. If anything, it wouldn't have surprised me if their affection for her was dangerous enough to cross into stalker territory.

And since I'd only recently started spending time with Kohinata, it wouldn't have been strange for people from a club with a name that ridiculous to resent me for it.

"...Are you seniors displeased because I've been hanging out with Kohinata recently?"

For a moment I thought the ridiculous club name might break the tension, but it didn't. President Ikaruga and the other student council officer were both completely serious.

And because I assumed they'd called me here to force me away from Kohinata, a hint of irritation crept into my voice.

My tone was confrontational enough that I expected some pushback, but to my surprise, President Ikaruga heard my guess, muttered bitterly, "Just as I thought," and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Looks like our hunch was right."

She sighed and looked toward the student council officer standing by the whiteboard. What hunch?

"Yes. It was right to approach him."

The female officer answered crisply, ignoring my baffled frown.

The student council officer standing ramrod-straight in front of the whiteboard was short, though nowhere near Kohinata's height. Her black hair reached her shoulders, and her bangs were pinned and swept to one side. She had an unmistakably serious air about her.

After replying to President Ikaruga, she turned her body toward me.

"I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? I'm Shiraki, the Student Council Vice President. A pleasure to meet you."

"Uh... nice to meet you too."

Even though I was thinking I'd rather not get to know her at all, I answered out of basic politeness.

Nodding at my reply, the Vice President──Shiraki-senpai──bowed her head to me with a polite demeanor.

Did this seemingly normal girl really belong to a crazy club like the KCC along with President Ikaruga...? Maybe she was only going along with the president because she had no choice?

"Sugino Tomoki-kun, we are aware that you have difficulty speaking with several girls at once. Naturally, we have also investigated the rumors about you and confirmed that they are all false."

Investigated...? These people had gone that far?

Was that because I was involved with Kohinata? Or simply because I was a student at Ousei High School? I had no idea.

"The reason only Vice President Shiraki and I are present is also out of consideration for you. As for why we called you here, I intend to let Vice President Shiraki explain it alone so that you can listen more comfortably. She ranks first in our year academically, after all. I'm sure she'll explain it more clearly than I could."

"You were also second in our grade on the previous test, weren't you, President?"

"There is a vast difference between first and second place, you know."

Heh heh heh. President Ikaruga laughed in amusement. There didn't seem to be even a trace of frustration on her face.

I couldn't care less about their test rankings, so I wished they'd just get to the point. Besides, being smart didn't automatically make someone good at explaining things.

As though she'd heard my thoughts, Shiraki-senpai cleared her throat and began with, "Well then."

"Sugino Tomoki-kun. Do you know the number of students who collapsed from anemia in April?"

"Huh? ...N-No, I don't."

The conversation veered so abruptly that an odd sound slipped out of me.

Me, Kohinata, and anemia──yeah, no matter how you look at it, they're unrelated.

"Including myself and the President──a total of thirty people. The number of visits to the infirmary easily exceeds a hundred."

All I could manage was a bewildered "Uh-huh" as Shiraki-senpai somehow delivered the numbers with pride. None of this made sense, and those numbers were absurdly high.

Was our school really packed with that many anemic people? What a bizarre concentration.

"Our angel──Kohinata-tan, who has now become a god, imparts a narcotic-like effect on our brains just by being in our field of vision for a single second."

[Illustration: p255.jpg]

Nope. This woman really was a member of the 'Kohinata-tan Chukichuki Club.' She wasn't some normal person reluctantly humoring the President. They were exactly the same breed.

"That amount of energy even surpasses the Big Bang that birthed the universe."

"Like hell it surpasses it! The Earth would be annihilated! You'd have universes being born all over the place!"

I forgot she was an upperclassman and fired back with a sharp retort.

Vice President Shiraki heard me perfectly well, but she didn't pause for even a second.

"Please rest assured, Sugino Tomoki-kun. We members of the KCC avoid disaster by venting that heat energy outside our bodies in the form of a 'nosebleed.'"

You couldn't exactly call collapsing from anemia avoiding disaster. And this woman was supposedly the top student in her year...? Was Ousei High School going to be okay? This was supposed to be a college-prep school.

After that, I was too dumbfounded to interrupt and could only listen blankly to Shiraki-senpai's explanation.

She was even using the whiteboard to explain things like "We are freed from the laws of physics" and "At that moment, I was unquestionably faster than light." What was I supposed to say to any of that?

Shiraki-senpai appeared completely serious, but I couldn't take any of it seriously. The whole thing was a gag. I'd come in here feeling like I was heading onto a battlefield, and now I just felt stupid.

"There were students who collapsed from anemia last year as well, but the number per month was about ten percent of this month's──in other words, it rapidly ballooned to ten times the amount in this past month. The cause of that is you, Sugino Tomoki-kun."

Shiraki-senpai suddenly said something alarming. Somehow I'd just been blamed for their anemia. Go eat some spinach yourselves.

"I haven't done anything, though."

When I answered with a sigh, Shiraki-senpai shook her head with a solemn look.

"Our angel──Kohinata-tan──became a god by spending time with a wonderful person like you. She used to be a silent angel, but when she's with you, Sugino Tomoki-kun, that precious way she acts──that shy little smack at your waist──excuse me, President, could you pass me a tissue?"

At Shiraki-senpai's request, President Ikaruga handed over the tissue box with an understanding nod. Shiraki-senpai took several tissues and stuffed them into both nostrils. She looked unbelievably ridiculous.

By the way, the President also eagerly started stuffing tissues into her nose.

"We in the KCC want to keep watching over that divine sight forever──in other words, Sugino Tomoki-kun, we do not want you to distance yourself from Kohinata-tan. Surely you understand why we called you here now?"

Shiraki-senpai's voice was muffled by the tissues in her nose. Ah, they were starting to turn red.

Setting her nosebleed aside, I finally understood. Because I hadn't eaten lunch with Kohinata today, the KCC had panicked over 'not being able to see cute Kohinata.' And apparently they understood that they themselves were the reason.

Shizuka-san had said the same thing, so hearing that I was having a positive effect on Kohinata made me genuinely happy. But seriously, KCC, you people were the whole reason this happened in the first place.

"If you're going to stare at us like you're monitoring us, of course we can't eat together. Why were you doing that?"

"Regarding that... we apologize. A discussion arose within the organization over 'how we could put ourselves in Sugino Tomoki-kun's position,' and that was the result. After this incident, however, reckless observation has been declared taboo, so please feel free to flirt in peace from now on. And for the record, our being at the bowling alley and family restaurant really was a coincidence, so please don't be angry."

"You were at the family restaurant too!? And we aren't trying to flirt in the first place!"

"We wish to climax when we are lucky enough to witness that sight."

"Could you stop putting it that way!? Even if it's a metaphor, pick a more decent one!"

"Excuse me? It is not a metaphor, though."

"It's too late! She might be beyond saving!"

Run, Kohinata! And I wanted out of this den of evil right now too!

Actually, couldn't I just leave now!? I could, right!? The conversation was over, wasn't it!?

While the President and Vice President were busy agreeing with each other──"That's normal, right?" "Perfectly normal."──I gripped the chair and slowly stood up.

I'd toss out a quick farewell and slip out before either of them could answer──that was the plan as I looked toward the entrance, just as the door clicked open.

I panicked, wondering if perhaps another student council officer had arrived, but...

"──Kohinata?"

The person who entered was the last person I'd expected.

Ignoring the three of us staring in shock, Kohinata trotted straight into the student council room as though none of us had any say in the matter.

For some reason, tears were pooled at the corners of her eyes, ready to spill. Her usual blank expression was gone; she was glaring openly and angrily at the President and the other officer.

~ Keiichi side ~

"Well then, I'm off. If I take too long to come back, don't worry about me and feel free to go on ahead."

Saying that in a light tone, Tomoki left the classroom.

The three of us answered in our own ways: I told him, "Don't you forget about us and go home without us, Tomoki," Saejima said, "Good luck!" and Kohinata shook her head to indicate 'I'm not leaving.'

At a glance, Tomoki looked perfectly calm, but I'd known him for years. I could tell he was putting on a brave face immediately. He was probably thinking something like, "I don't want them to worry," but it was obvious.

He was fine around Kohinata because she barely spoke, and Saejima knew how to be considerate, so she was probably manageable too. But an all-girls student council had to be rough on Tomoki.

Whether answering this summons would turn out well or badly... no matter how hard I thought about it, there was no way for me to know.

About twenty minutes had passed since Tomoki left the classroom.

I let out a sigh while gazing at the time displayed on my smartphone.

"...He's late."

A few classmates were still scattered around the room, but most had already gone to club activities or headed home. Through the windows came the voices of students throwing themselves into practice outside.

"But really, I wonder why the student council called Sugino-kun out."

Saejima said it with the troubled look of someone facing an impossible problem. Like I knew either. Kohinata was the most likely reason, but whether this had anything to do with Tomoki's rumors was impossible to tell.

"Shall we go check on him soon?"

A fair amount of time had passed, and I couldn't calm down staying in the classroom, so I suggested that to the two girls.

The routes from this second-floor classroom to the first-floor student council room are limited, so it's highly unlikely we'd pass each other without noticing.

"…………(Nod, nod)"

Kohinata, who had been staring at the floor the entire time, finally lifted her head and nodded. She was expressionless as ever, but there was a gloomier air around her than usual. She had to be worried about Tomoki too.

In this past month──a major change occurred in Tomoki's relationships with women.

And just as that month had changed Tomoki's relationships with girls, it must have changed Kohinata's relationships just as much. Of course, the person at the center of that change was my best friend.

"Yeah, let's go! If the student council people are bullying Sugino-kun, we have to save him!"

Saejima clenched her fists and spoke of justice.

The blade of justice swung in good faith could certainly be terrifying, but as long as I kept a firm grip on Saejima's reins, it shouldn't become a problem. My best friend would be in trouble if her rapid-fire talking went out of control.

I have to properly repay the debt I owe Tomoki, who stood up to save us when we were weak back then.

And if Tomoki ever got over his weakness around girls enough to have a normal romance, then maybe someday I could──

☆　☆　☆　☆　☆

With Kohinata in between us, the three of us lined up and headed for the student council room.

Perhaps because everyone, including me, was nervous, there was no conversation. Though one person just doesn't talk to begin with.

When we got close, Saejima seemed to have reached the limit of her nervousness, and she spoke in an anxious voice.

"If it was a misunderstanding about the rumors, we can just cooperate and explain. If they say they don't like him hanging out with Asuka, then we'll fight the student council too. I don't care if upperclassmen hate us."

Saejima paused her story there, caught her breath, and turned this way.

"But what if... just what if? What if the student council tells Sugino-kun something like, 'If you stay with Asuka, you'll only cause trouble for her'? Wouldn't he back off? You know how kind Sugino-kun is, and how much he worries about causing us trouble..."

Her voice gradually became smaller, and towards the end, it was practically a whisper.

I understood what she meant, and of course I'd considered that possibility too. The student council president and vice president were rumored to be top students, and if they were clever, they might think of steering him that way. Then again, academic ability and that kind of cunning weren't necessarily the same thing.

"Ah... That's not the kind of speculation you should voice so lightly."

But the reason I hadn't spoken of that possibility was that it seemed like it would deal massive damage to a certain someone present here.

Exactly as I'd expected, Kohinata stopped walking toward the student council room and lowered her head. Her small hands clenched the fabric of her skirt. Some emotion inside her must have grown too strong to hold back.

The moment Saejima noticed, she rushed to Kohinata's side. She bent down to meet her eyes and said, "I-It's okay!" in a trembling voice that wasn't reassuring in the slightest. What was she doing?

"I'm sure Sugino-kun was called out for a completely different matter! When we get close to the student council room, we might surprisingly hear laughter, you know?"

Taking Kohinata's hands, Saejima spoke to her in a cheerful voice.

With an all-girls student council, hearing Tomoki laugh in there seemed pretty unlikely. Still, Kohinata gave a tiny nod without lifting her eyes from the floor, so maybe Saejima's reassurance had worked.

But in hindsight, it was a complete disaster.

"────! ──────!"

Because just as we got within a few steps of the student council room, Tomoki's shout rang out from beyond the door. I couldn't make out the words, but it definitely wasn't laughter.

Tomoki got about that loud when he really committed to a retort, but considering he was dealing with upperclassmen on the student council, that possibility seemed almost nonexistent. The image of him arguing with girls back in elementary school flashed through my mind.

At Tomoki's sudden loud voice, Saejima and I unconsciously stopped in our tracks.

But the one walking between us, almost as though Saejima and I were guarding her, reacted differently.

Far from stopping, she accelerated her steps forward, heading straight for the student council room door. Then, without hesitation, she grabbed the doorknob and turned it.

It was Kohinata──the person I'd thought was the weakest of us and the least emotionally expressive.

"──A-Asuka!?"

"Kohinata!?"

Our voices probably didn't reach her at all. Even if they did, she might not have had room to think about anything else. Maybe she simply had no intention of stopping.

Because Kohinata's mind was probably completely filled with thoughts of my best friend right now.

~ Tomoki side ~

"──Kohinata?"

Kohinata, who had suddenly barged into the student council room, clenched her small fists as though holding back tears on the verge of spilling. Her sharp glare was fixed on the two student council members.

As for the two perverts being glared at by the goddess they worshipped, they were flustered to an almost pitiful degree. Their eyes darted all over the room, and their bodies kept making pointless, suspicious little movements.

And yet, every so often, their faces melted into blissful grins. Absolutely perverted.

They were probably happy to be able to see Kohinata up close, but you guys are currently being glared at, you know.

"…………Hay fever?"

Saejima, who entered the room after her, looked at the two student council members and tilted her head. Both of them had tissues stuffed in their noses, so it's a natural reaction.

But I want you to look closely, those tissues weren't originally red, you know.

Keiichi apparently couldn't make sense of the situation and could only stare at the room with a strained expression. Hard to blame him when the student council president and vice president were standing there looking like complete idiots.

Or rather, to think the three of them would charge into the student council room... Well, I guess it's fine. I was just thinking of taking my leave soon anyway. You could say it was the best timing.

I lightly patted Kohinata's shoulder. For some reason she was teary-eyed and glaring at the two student council members, so I lowered my voice and spoke so only she could hear.

"Kohinata, it's best if you don't get involved any further. It will only be a bad influence."

Kohinata shouldn't have to know a dangerous group like the 'Kohinata-tan Chukichuki Club' even existed. This den of evil──the student council room──should be the last place she ever came into contact with them.

Vice President Shiraki also said earlier that they would avoid careless contact, so as long as we don't get involved with them, it shouldn't become a problem. It's still fine since the other party is female, but one wrong step and they're no different from stalkers.

Be that as it may, it's better to be cautious.

I'll tell Keiichi and Saejima the truth later, and we'll stop these idiots ourselves.

I spoke those words to Kohinata while thinking such things, but for some reason, she vigorously turned this way and began shedding large drops of tears.

Her expression was barely different from usual, yet the sadness in it was unmistakable. She bit her lower lip and stared straight into my eyes as if desperately trying to tell me something.

"W-What's wrong, Kohinata!? Why are you crying!?"

Looking back on it later, I think the words I said to her at this time were missing the most crucial part.

I'd only told her she was better off not getting involved with the KCC──'the student council.' I hadn't told her not to get involved with 'me.' Apparently, though, that was how she'd heard it.

Unable to realize that fact in this agitated situation, I could only look around restlessly, seeking help.

What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!? The two student council members were frozen there with blood dripping from the tissues in their noses, and Saejima and Keiichi were just as panicked as I was! There wasn't a single person here who looked capable of helping me!

I had to fix this myself. With that thought, I looked back at Kohinata standing right in front of me... looked at her, and──?

"Eh?"

For some reason, the back of her head was suddenly moving toward me. Her pale, silky hair──smooth enough to make me want to run my fingers through it──filled my vision.

Then something bumped lightly against my chest. Bop. It didn't hurt or even sting; the impact was just enough to make me feel Kohinata's weight against me.

...Huh? What was this? A headbutt?

Ignoring my bewilderment, Kohinata began rubbing her head against my chest, keeping it pressed there. It was like a cat rubbing its scent on something, a movement even more like a small animal than usual.

Wait, why was I calmly studying the back of my classmate's head!?

"U-Umm, Kohinata-san? What might you be doing?"

I asked Kohinata, who was still rubbing her head against me.

From where I stood, all I could see was the back of her head, so I had no idea what expression she was making. But remembering the tears she'd been holding back only moments ago, I couldn't bring myself to stop her.

Still, what was this supposed to mean? What exactly was Kohinata trying to do?

While I was still flustered by all those questions, Saejima let out a delighted "Wow" that sounded completely out of place and continued, "That's something Asuka used to do to her papa all the time!"

She used to do that to her papa all the time──was that what Shizuka-san had told me about before? I vaguely remembered one of those stories about how clingy Kohinata used to be.

So that meant she was being clingy with me right now... but why?

I was still tilting my head at the sight of Kohinata rubbing her head against my chest when Keiichi came closer.

"It's a completely chaotic situation, but what exactly happened? What business did the student council people have with you, Tomoki?"

Keiichi asked me with a slightly bewildered expression.

Business──business, huh...

To put it bluntly, the student council──the KCC──had called me here to ask me 'to keep spending time with Kohinata.' But I had no intention of doing it because they wanted me to.

As I told Shizuka-san, I want to become good friends with Kohinata not because someone asked me to, but of my own volition.

"Simply put, it was an apology from them. They were sorry for directing weird gazes at us. They said it was heartwarming to see us getting along so well."

I couldn't tell the whole truth with Kohinata standing there, so I explained it to Keiichi while mixing in a convenient lie. He answered, "Well, that's good," though his expression said he wasn't completely convinced. I'd have to tell him the truth later.

As for Kohinata, who had been rubbing her head against my chest, she raised her face vigorously after hearing my words. Because she was looking down, I almost took a headbutt to the chin, but I successfully dodged at the last second. That was close.

Kohinata looked up at me with red-rimmed, tearful eyes. Her expression practically said, "Really?" Maybe Kohinata had awakened psychic powers in me. Extremely limited psychic powers, but still.

"It's true. Starting tomorrow, we'll eat lunch in the courtyard again. Want to make some teru teru bozu together so it'll be sunny?"

When I said that half-jokingly, Kohinata vigorously nodded her head up and down over and over again.

I felt like I understood why Takada had worked so hard making teru teru bozu for his little sister. If she hugged him here while saying 'I love you,' of course he'd fall for it. Even if Kohinata ever said those words to me, though, her 'love' would probably be affection rather than romance.

"Alright, then let's make a lot of them."

"…………(Nod, nod!)"

With an energetic nod, Kohinata gave my chest another bop with her head and started rubbing against me again.

As if to fill the gaping hole in her heart, as if to make up for lost time,

──Rubbing and rubbing.

Kohinata kept rubbing her head against my chest for a while. Eventually, perhaps because she'd calmed down, the movement quietly came to a stop.

"…………Kohinata?"

Stopping was one thing, but perhaps because she didn't want me to see her face, Kohinata stayed almost completely pressed against my chest. The tip of her nose was still touching me, in fact.

[Illustration: p273.jpg]

If she wanted to hide her face, she could just cover it with her hands or turn around... Ah, I guess turning around is no good since Keiichi and the others are behind her.

From the outside, the distance between us probably looked like we were hugging──but both of us were simply standing there stiffly. Neither of us had our arms around the other, and the only points of contact were Kohinata's nose against my chest and the faint brush of our uniforms.

One step backward would have ended the situation immediately, but if Kohinata was content like this, I figured there was no harm in staying put a little longer.

I feel like my heart rate is nearing its limit from embarrassment and nervousness, but let's try to hold out a little longer. I don't feel a single shred of disgust, after all.

"Are you two free today? If you are, come hang out at my place. We can make some teru teru bozu while we're at it."

I asked Keiichi and Saejima with a wry smile. It was probably an unusual invitation coming from a high school sophomore, but both of them agreed without hesitation. Saejima even got excited and said, "Let's buy materials on the way home!" Weren't tissues and string enough?

"So that's how it is, I'm heading home."

I turned toward the two student council members. Kohinata, meanwhile, shuffled along with me to preserve her nose-poke position. Cute.

Before I knew it, President Ikaruga had returned to the same pose she'd been in when I first entered the room, arms folded with one hand hiding her mouth and a sharp look on her face. She gave me a magnanimous nod, then looked to Shiraki-senpai.

"I'll leave the rest to you, Vice President Shiraki. I'll go¹ first."

After saying that, the student council president──no, the KCC President collapsed face-down on the desk like a robot that had lost its power source.

Blood was currently trickling across the desk like a murder scene, leaving me unsure whether to panic or just be exasperated. She'd probably only gotten another nosebleed from being overwhelmed by Kohinata's cuteness anyway.

"Leave it to me, President... Well then, Sugino Tomoki-kun. The rest is up to you. I'll go too."

With that, Vice President Shiraki collapsed to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.

"You haven't handled anything at all! You massive perverts really are beyond saving!"

This school's student council was seriously rotten!

Translator's Notes

¹ “Go” (イく / イきます, iku / ikimasu): Both forms are written in katakana, creating a sexual double entendre with “come/climax.”