"Geh—"
Nicholas Darklight froze in the doorway of the student council room. There, seated with her usual frosty demeanor, was a very familiar face.
"…What are you doing here?" came the cold, sharp voice. A hint of both hostility and confusion laced her words.
"Relax, Serena. He's a volunteer," Sydney said casually as she gave Nicholas a light shove forward into the room. "Same as you."
The student council room was about a third the size of a regular classroom. A large table dominated the center, with laptops spaced out every few seats. Lining the walls were tall bookshelves, each stuffed to bursting with neatly labeled folders and binders.
We're still keeping physical documents even when nearly everything is done with computers? Nicholas mused, momentarily baffled. How quaint. But it wasn't worth dwelling on. There were more pressing matters at hand.
Namely, the fact that he — a guy — was now alone in a room with two girls.
Most boys might've entertained certain fantasies in such a situation. Nicholas, however, knew better. In reality, he was stuck in a cage with a lion and a tiger.
"Calling me a volunteer would be inaccurate," Serena said stiffly, eyes still fixed on Nicholas. "The guidance counselor forced me into this."
Her gaze wasn't exactly hostile — but it sure wasn't friendly, either.
If you're gonna keep staring at me like that, could you at least blink? Nicholas sighed inwardly, holding back a grimace.
Sydney snorted and plopped into a chair across from Serena. "What are you waiting for, Darklight? Take a seat—AND NOT LITERALLY!" she snapped as she caught sight of him reaching for a chair with a familiar mischievous glint in his eye.
"Ah," he pouted, hand frozen mid-grab. "I was just gonna sit, honest."
His tone made it very clear he was not being honest.
The room was stiff with tension — the kind that made Nicholas's skin itch. Naturally, he'd tried to defuse it with a joke, and as usual, Sydney had provided the perfect setup… But, alas, she'd seen right through him.
Fine. He exhaled. On to the next problem: where do I sit? Should he pick Sydney's side? Serena's side?
Ultimately, he decided not to tempt fate either way. He stayed standing.
"How about we start with you telling me what exactly I'm supposed to be doing here?" Nicholas asked, shifting his attention to Sydney. "And where are the others?"
She shot him a glare before letting out a sigh and relaxing her face. "They overworked themselves yesterday. They're taking a break today. It wouldn't have come to that if you had shown up like you were supposed to."
"Hey, I literally—"
"I don't want to hear your excuses, Darklight." She cut him off sharply, eyes already back on her laptop, fingers dancing across the keyboard.
She was a little unfair. Nicholas had, quite literally, passed out in class yesterday. Not that she knew — if she did, she probably wouldn't be snapping at him like this.
He returned her glare, just for a second. Calm down. Deep breaths. You've been dealing with this for months. You can handle it a little longer. He reminded himself.
"So… what should I do?" Nicholas asked again, more patiently this time.
"For now? We're sorting, filtering, and editing a bunch of documents," Sydney replied. "Oh, and there's also that..." Her voice trailed off into a mumble, clearly lamenting the mountain of work ahead.
Now that he had something to do, Nicholas faced a new dilemma: where to sit.
He didn't like the idea of sitting next to either of them, so he did what he always did — things his way.
Grabbing a chair from Sydney's side, he dragged it over to the shorter end of the table. Then he took a laptop and placed it in front of him.
Both girls stared at him like he was the biggest weirdo in the school.
"You're such a pain," Sydney muttered. "Just be sure to put it back when you're done, alright?"
Nicholas nodded. "Send me whatever I need."
"Yeah, yeah." She waved him off, still not looking at him.
That's when Serena, who'd been silently watching the whole exchange, finally spoke.
"You two… work well together?"
It came out more like a question than a statement, and it was met with silence.
Nicholas and Sydney both turned to look at her like she'd just said the most absurd thing in the world.
"…Where'd you get that from?" Nicholas asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "At best, we tolerate each other."
"Tch. Speak for yourself. I can't stand you," Sydney shot back, mood souring in an instant.
The Ice Queen just had to say something, huh?
"Well, hopefully that answers that," Nicholas muttered, unsure why Serena had asked in the first place.
Serena didn't respond. She simply turned her eyes to her laptop, her fingers unmoving.
Lazy, Nicholas thought as he finally turned back to his screen and got to work.
About half an hour passed. Nicholas had nearly finished everything he'd been assigned. He leaned back and let his eyes wander, eventually settling on Selene's fingers.
She was absently twirling a pen between them with effortless grace.
Eh? She can do that? Cool. Nicholas lamented his complete lack of useless-yet-somehow-impressive talents. Whistling, pen or coin tricks, juggling, Rubik's cubes, shadow puppets, magic tricks—he couldn't do any of it. Meanwhile, there she was, making absent-minded pen-twirling look like art.
He shook off the useless train of thought and refocused on Selene herself. She was oddly quiet today. Usually, when they were alone, she was far chattier. Maybe it was the presence of Sydney. Or maybe it was simply because of the work they had to do.
"Darklight!" Sydney's voice snapped him out of his thoughts like a whip crack.
Nicholas blinked and looked up at her, meeting her hostile stare with a blank one. "...What?"
"Don't zone out. Get back to work."
"I'm basically done," he said, tone somewhere between tired and annoyed. "Can't a guy take a five-minute break?"
Both girls stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Hey now, taking a break isn't a crime, right? I didn't break a taboo or something?" he added, chuckling nervously under their intense stares.
"No, not that," Sydney muttered as she stood up and made her way over. "Let me see… How are you already done...? I swear I gave you more work than I should've…"
"Oi." His voice was deadpan. "You just said something outlandish, didn't you?"
"Ahaha—of course not! You must have bad hearing or something." She laughed it off, turning away from him, cheeks lightly flushed.
Nicholas gave her a flat, judgmental look. "Sure. Whatever. I help my dad with stuff like this sometimes. It's pretty similar, so I guess I'm used to it. What's next?"
"Hm…" Sydney put a finger to her chin, pondering. "Actually, maybe we should take a break. Let's talk about the confession."
"Confession?" Selene's voice cut in, catching both of them off guard. She quickly looked between Nicholas and Sydney, head tilted slightly.
Is she a cat? Nicholas found the thought slipping in uninvited. The usually intimidating Ice Queen, tilting her head with curious eyes, looked like an inquisitive kitten.
He gave himself a light slap on the cheek.
"A boy in our class wants to confess to a girl in another class," Sydney explained, turning her attention to Selene.
"I see." Selene nodded solemnly, eyes closed. "Then I apologize for interrupting. Pretend I am not here."
She turned back to her laptop, expression serene.
If you say that, it just makes it harder to ignore you, Nicholas grumbled inwardly, suddenly more self-conscious—for reasons he couldn't quite explain.
"Before you say anything," he began, raising a hand slightly, "I'd like to clarify. I can help set the stage and maybe give the guy some pointers. That's probably the extent of it. I'm not confessing on his behalf."
"I'd slap you if you did something like that," Sydney said, brows furrowed.
Nicholas shrugged. "Anyway, does Lillie even care about him? You said she thinks he's a nice guy, sure, but does it go further than that? Does she even see him as a guy? Is she even into guys? I mean, she's always surrounded by girls—GACK!"
A book smacked him on the head.
Sydney glared at him. "Shut up! One question at a time! And what was that last part?!"
"Oi! Don't just throw stuff at people, you tyrant." Nicholas groaned, rubbing his head. "Fine, you wanted to say something. That's why you shut me up, right?"
Sydney, still red in the face, took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "Before anything, I think we should just get them to spend some time together. Alone. See how she acts around him."
Nicholas nodded thoughtfully. "Not a bad idea. But where and how? We can't just lock them in a closet and call it sevenminutes in heaven, right?" He chuckled but immediately froze as horror crept into his expression. "Oh no—"
Whack! Thud! Two more books flew at him—one from each girl, both visibly flustered.
"Oi! I was joking! It was just a joke!" Nicholas protested, covering his head. "I blame Dick and Haru for their terrible influence! Also, stop throwing books at me! Books deserve respect!"
He glared at Sydney, then turned to Selene. "And didn't you say we should pretend you're not here?! Kind of hard to do that when you're participating!"
Selene quickly averted her gaze, cheeks slightly flushed. Most likely out of embarrassment or unwillingness to admit the truth in his words.
"Seriously…" Nicholas muttered as he bent down to retrieve the books. One of them seemed to spark a thought. "…Huh? Oh." A slow grin spread across his face. "I just got an idea."
"If it's another perv—"
"It's not. I swear." He waved his hands in surrender. "Just thought—don't we need help setting up in the gymnasium? Moving tables and all that? We could ask them to help out. Let Average-kun and Lillie spend some time together, and see how they vibe."
Sydney folded her arms but seemed to mull it over. "That's… actually not a bad idea."
"Right?" He flashed her a shit-eating grin. "Though I don't know if Lillie would be down. She's popular and probably has better things to do. But since she is popular, maybe she's nice too?"
"No, it's fine." Sydney nodded, a soft smile spreading on her lips—gentler than usual. "Since you came up with the plan, I'll handle getting them both on board. But I'm not sure what to do about her friends… They're always clinging to her."
Nicholas waved a hand, already on it. "Just give them different times. Have Lillie and Average-kun come help before school and her friends after. Though honestly, once they realize they got tricked, they might not even bother showing up."
"You're awful," Sydney said with a light laugh. There was no malice in her words. She was still smiling. That might've been the longest Nicholas had seen the class prez smile, and… he had to admit, it was kind of beautiful.
"I'll do that, then," she said as she got up. "I'm going to the bathroom. Be right back."
Nicholas leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes close.
"So you're playing matchmaker now?" a familiar voice teased.
Selene leaned forward across the table, elbows resting on its surface, chin propped up in her hands. Her eyes were half-lidded in thought, lips slightly curled upwards in an amused smile.
"Hah," Nicholas chuckled. "What can I say? I'm a jack of all trades."
"Mhm. And you know the saying—'A jack of all trades is a master of none-'"
"'But still better than a master of one,'" he cut in with a smug grin.
"Yes, that is how the full phrase goes," Selene said, clearly amused. "But I wonder if that can apply to this situation?"
"Well, I've got some experience," he said casually. "I've confessed to a girl before."
"…Eh? You did?" Her eyes widened slightly. "And what was… the response?"
Nicholas didn't answer right away. "I think the answer's pretty obvious." His voice was flat—devoid of joy, sadness, or bitterness. Just indifferent.
He reached across the table blindly, fumbling. A frown appeared when his hand met empty space. "Oh. I left my bottle in my bag. Whoops."
Selene hummed thoughtfully. "Are you two still friends?"
Nicholas paused at that. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Hmm… the Ice Queen's being kind of suspicious. This might be the longest conversation we've had without her roasting me. Is she trying to dig up some dirt on me for later? His mood dipped at the thought.
"Yeah. We're still pretty close," he said, keeping his tone casual as he took a sip of water.
"What's she like?"
Nicholas gave her a sidelong look. Her expression was neutral, but… he swore her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"Why the questions, Ms. Evernight? You know what they say—curiosity killed the cat." He grinned lazily, leaning into the back of his chair.
"Yet, satisfaction brought it back," she fired back with a smirk.
Geh. Right. Forgot that part. Nicholas slumped forward, resting his chin on the table. "Mischievous," he finally answered. "That'd probably describe her best. And don't ask for more. We're getting a little too personal here."
"I see," Selene replied, backing off. Her expression flickered briefly—was that… surprise? Maybe even a hint of apology?
Nicholas narrowed his eyes. That look didn't suit her at all.
"Why the sad face? Don't tell me you're actually feeling sorry for me?" he teased.
"Hah?" she snapped, voice sharpening. "For you? Don't flatter yourself. I'm glad she saw through you and saved herself. I pity whatever poor soul you one day trick into marrying you. Gods help her, truly."
Ouch. "Aha, there it is. The insults. For a second, I thought someone had replaced you. That might've been our longest conversation without one."
Selene furrowed her eyebrows, clearly unsure how to respond to that.
Before she could say anything, the door opened.
"I'm back!" Sydney called out as she stepped inside.
"And I'm Nicholas…" he muttered under his breath.
She gave him a glare that lasted half a second. "Shut up. Anyway, I was able to sort everything out. Our potential couple will be showing up tomorrow morning before school."
Nicholas stared at her. "That was fast! I thought you were going to the bathroom!"
"It just sorta happened, okay? It was a coincidence," she said casually, though the small puff in her chest suggested pride.
Uh-huh. He didn't believe it for a second but decided not to push it. "So what now? Are we done for the day?"
"Mhm~! Thanks to you, we're more or less 99% done with the paperwork," Sydney said with a bright smile.
"That's nice—wait. 99%?! How much work did you give me?!"
"...Tee-hee?" she replied with an awkward smile.
"...Whatever. I guess that means we're done for the day? I can go home now, right?"
"Hmm, sure you could. But how about we go for a drink? My treat," she said, puffing out her chest again.
Nicholas averted his eyes, slightly flushed, before his gaze drifted to Selene—who was, amusingly enough, staring at her own chest.
Ah… Don't worry, you've still got time, he thought, offering her a silent condolence.
"What do you mean by drink?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow. "You do know minors can't drink alcohol, class prez. Unless…" His eyes widened in faux shock. "I didn't know you were such a delinquent! Drinking underage?! Tsk, tsk." He stifled a laugh as Sydney's face turned red. Even Selene giggled.
"Obviously not alcohol, you dunce!" Sydney shouted. "I meant like coffee or something!"
Nicholas's expression twisted in disgust. "Uh, no thanks. I don't like coffee." Both girls stared at him.
"What?"
"It's just… You seem like someone who'd like coffee. Black coffee, specifically," Sydney said, motioning vaguely at his outfit.
Nicholas looked down. Black shoes, dark grey pants, blue shirt, and a thin black jacket.
"Are you making fun of me?" he asked, deadpan.
"No?" She tilted her head in confusion, but Selene seemed to get the joke, stifling another giggle behind her hand.
"Well, sure, let's go somewhere. A free drink is the best kind of drink, or something like that."
"Ah." Sydney sighed. "You're so annoying, you know? Sometimes you act so mature, and then you say something ridiculously childish."
"Rather than saying I act mature and say childish things, can't you just say that's my character? I've always been like that, far as I remember."
Sydney narrowed her eyes. "Like that."
"Like what?"
"Nothing. Anyway, why do you hate coffee? Have you even tried it?"
"I have. It's bitter. My life's already bitter—why should the things I drink be bitter too?"
"Ahahahaha~!" Sydney laughed, wiping a tear from her eye.
I don't think I said anything funny…
"See? Just now, you sounded kind of childish. It was kind of cute," she said, smiling.
Both Nicholas and Selene stared at her. "Ah." Sydney froze. "Aha—I didn't mean—"
"Uh, class prez. If that was your attempt at a compliment, please don't do it again. Also, I don't think guys like being called 'cute.'" Her response was a swift, flying book.
"Shut up! Just let Selene and me finish our part, and then all three of us can go."
"No, it's fine. You two go ahead—I've got plans after this," Selene said.
"Ah, bummer. I'll be stuck all alone with him," Sydney groaned with a smile.
"I apologize. Be ready to call the police if he tries anything," Selene added with a smirk.
"OI! What do you take me for?!"