Chapter 30: Are You Sure About This?
Student Council Room.
Shirogane Miyuki finished his work and stood up.
"If there's nothing else, Sakurai, let's go home."
Ishigami Yuu had just left.
Hearing that, Sakurai Saki also stood up.
"Oh right, Sakurai, about that tutoring thing—I'll take care of it." Shirogane Miyuki spoke up casually, bringing up the topic unexpectedly.
"Actually, I…" Sakurai Saki instinctively started to speak.
Shirogane shook his head. "Sakurai, you don't have to do these things for me. You don't have to copy how I do things, and especially, you don't have to help others against your own will."
( ︶︿︶)_
Last year, from striking up a conversation with Sakurai Saki to inviting him to join the student council for the experience—it was all initiated by Shirogane. But that didn't mean he wanted Sakurai to become his clone.
It wasn't like he was passing down the "Will of Fire" or anything—he didn't need to pull in a successor.
His own way of doing things was tactful, non-confrontational. Sure, it helped reduce conflict. But Shirogane didn't want Sakurai to become just like him, bottling everything up—because that wouldn't be healthy.
"If you hate it, then give it up. If you like it, then go for it. You messaged me last night, and I could tell you hadn't fully given up yet. That's why I chose to support you."
Shirogane Miyuki picked up his bag.
"And now, if you don't want to do it anymore, I'll give it up with you. That's all there is to it."
After saying that, he chuckled a little and walked over to the motionless Sakurai Saki, gently patting him on the shoulder, then added:
"Don't think about complicated stuff anymore. Do you want to come over for dinner tonight? You haven't seen Kei-chan in a while, right?"
"She even asked me last night—said, 'Why doesn't Saki-nii come over anymore?'" Shirogane scratched his nose awkwardly. "She's my little sister, and yet now she's closer to you than to me. I'm seriously jealous."
(ᴗ_ ᴗ.)
He followed that up with a joke that wasn't particularly funny, but Sakurai still didn't say anything.
"It's just a half-hearted task from the principal—it doesn't affect my eligibility to be nominated. Doing tutoring after school isn't going to lower my grades either." Shirogane Miyuki picked up Sakurai's bag.
He said confidently, "After all, I am a genius!"
( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ
"A genius who studies 10 hours a day?" Sakurai Saki teased.
(¬`‸´¬)
"I also work part-time 2 hours a day." Shirogane Miyuki added.
"A hardworking kind of genius—that's me."
ᕙ( ˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ )ᕗ ✧
Tch. He says something cringe without even flinching.
"At least take care of the dark circles under your eyes first, Shirogane." Sakurai Saki snatched the bag back from him.
"And from now on, start splitting the student council duties with Shinomiya-san. Return the General Affairs work to me, and give Fujiwara-san her secretary responsibilities back too. If it weren't for trying to help Ishigami fit in with the council, you'd probably have taken over the treasurer's job too, am I wrong?" Sakurai spoke flatly.
Shirogane Miyuki: (,,¬﹏¬,,)
"I've known for a while now. With this little work to do each day, no wonder Fujiwara-san's always off doing her own thing. Every time I come here, all I do is double-check your paperwork and confirm Ishigami's numbers. Honestly, the workload doesn't justify the so-called 'benefits' of being in the student council."
"You've known all along?" Shirogane Miyuki asked awkwardly.
"Hoarding all the work like that—do you think you're Dark Knight? You think that makes you cool or something?" Sakurai Saki shot back.
( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
"Not cool?" Shirogane Miyuki was stunned.
( ˶°ㅁ°) !!
"Idiot. No one's going to thank you. They'll just think it's normal." Sakurai Saki said with a scowl.
Those who silently give and sacrifice in the shadows are simply forgotten. Meanwhile, the show-offs get all the attention.
That's just how society is.
"I give up. Hearing you talk like that—whatever. You're not afraid of getting pissed off by those brats, so I won't bother trying to talk you out of it anymore." Sakurai walked ahead.
Shirogane Miyuki followed behind. "Honestly, I'm not even that confident myself. When it comes to dealing with girls… I'm clueless."
"High school aside, you mean you didn't interact with any girls even in middle school?" Sakurai glanced back at his face.
"But your eyes really are intense. Normal girls probably can't handle them. Maybe only the M-type ones would take notice of you."
Shirogane Miyuki rubbed his eyes. "That reminds me of something Kei-chan said. Last time, she told me to try wearing contact lenses. Honestly, I do want to make my gaze a little softer… Every time I walk down the hallway, the girls all lower their heads and avoid me. It really hurts."
૮(˶ ╥﹏╥) ა
Sakurai Saki didn't respond right away, instead turning his gaze to the window looking out over the hallway.
It was already five o'clock.
Over an hour had passed since school ended.
If Nakano Itsuki wasn't at the library right now, then maybe Sakurai would have had a bit more respect for her.
At the very least, she knew when to let go—wasn't the clingy type who just wouldn't quit.
The hallway was very quiet. By this time, the students on cleaning duty had finished, and those involved in club activities had already left. Almost no one lingered in the school building anymore.
Sakurai picked up the earlier conversation again. "For your next birthday, I'll get you a pair of glasses."
"If you keep squinting all the time when you look at things, your eyesight's only going to get worse."
Shirogane Miyuki didn't refuse. "Speaking of which, are you getting Secretary Fujiwara a present this year?"
He remembered her birthday was on March 3rd.
Last year, the three of them were in the same class, but the relationship between Shirogane Miyuki and Fujiwara Chika was just so-so—not close enough to be giving birthday presents.
Even so, he'd probably still get a "friendship chocolate" on Valentine's—at best, their relationship was at that level.
"She already ate it before I even got the chance to wish her happy birthday." Sakurai Saki sighed.
"( – ⌓ – )
Birthdays were always tricky when it came to picking a gift—especially for the opposite sex. Jewelry or accessories could easily be misunderstood, while snow globes or music boxes just felt outdated and cheesy. In the end, Sakurai decided to hand-make some wagashi (Japanese sweets), and the result… she ate them before he could even give them as a gift.
'UWU! Sakurai-kun! These sweets are so good! Where did you buy them!?'
(っ˘ڡ˘ς)
He vaguely remembered her saying that. Sakurai Saki's eyes drifted to nowhere in particular.
Thankfully, her birthday only came once a year. If it were more frequent, he'd probably spiral into depression.
"What about Hayasaka? You two get along pretty well too."
"Gave her a game." Sakurai replied casually this time.
Ai-chan was way easier to deal with. Just give her a couple of co-op games for two players and she'd be completely satisfied.
"A game?" Shirogane Miyuki was starting to lose grasp of how girls thought.
What kind of girl gets happy about receiving a game?
…But if it were Secretary Fujiwara, she'd probably be thrilled to get a board game.
Umu, now that he thought about it, that actually made some sense.
"Yup. And along with the game, I included twenty hours of playtime service," Sakurai Saki added.
Shirogane Miyuki: (¬_¬")
You sure the gift was just a game, huh?
The two continued chatting as they passed by the second year classrooms.
Suddenly, Shirogane Miyuki stopped walking.
Sakurai Saki stopped as well.
"Shirogane, let's go." Sakurai gently patted his shoulder.
In front of them, a girl sat curled up by the classroom door.
Nakano Nino looked up when she heard footsteps, her face full of sadness. But when she saw the two of them, she lowered her head again.
Shirogane didn't move forward right away.
"Shirogane, you planning to take in every stray cat you find on the street or something?" Sakurai said.
Shirogane understood what that meant.
Meaning: Don't get involved in other people's business.
The two walked past Nakano Nino.
"Stop!!"
They halted.
Sakurai Saki turned back, an annoyed look on his face.
"You sure about this?"