Chapter 395: Prejudice
In the student council room.
With the sound of the door opening, the conversation between kouhai-chan and kouhai-kun, who had been talking in perfect sync, immediately came to a halt.
"Senpai, you're finally back."
Miko's face was as red as the evening clouds outside the window. She was afraid that someone had overheard what they were saying just now.
It was already getting late.
But since Sakurai Saki no longer had tutoring work now, it didn't matter if he stayed a bit longer.
"Is anyone in the clubs still giving Myuu-senpai a hard time?" Ishigami Yuu cared more about this matter.
Those second-year underclassmen actually dared to exclude and ignore Shirogane Miyuki—this was something Ishigami hadn't expected.
So this time, Shirogane Miyuki had no choice but to bring Sakurai Saki and Shinomiya Kaguya as bodyguards.
"No."
Sakurai Saki sat down on the sofa.
Shirogane Miyuki walked to the president's seat; he still had documents to handle.
Shinomiya Kaguya brewed tea as usual.
The student council room returned to its previous calm.
No, wait—someone seemed to be missing. That woman whose presence was strong chaostic.
"Where's Chika?" Sakurai Saki asked.
"Fujiwara-senpai came by earlier. When she saw none of you were here, she went back to the board game club," Ishigami Yuu replied.
Sakurai Saki nodded.
Exactly the kind of thing she would do.
...
In the first semester, Shuchiin didn't have many activities.
After the marathon festival, everything returned to normal.
The interactions between the Shinomiya and Shijo families gradually came to a halt, and no more news about these two conglomerate families appeared in the media.
After Shinomiya Oko was taken down, relying only on his own personal influence, Shinomiya Gan'an restored the chaotic situation of the Shinomiya family back to its original state. As the man who built the Shinomiya family from nothing, his capability needed no questioning.
"I'm gonna die! I'm seriously gonna die!"
On a certain Tuesday in June, in the library.
Fujiwara Chika frantically shook her head, desperately resisting Sakurai Saki's tutoring.
The two had promised to spend as much time as possible studying together to avoid the situation where, after graduation, they wouldn't get into the same university.
"Chika, we've only been studying for half an hour, you know?" Sakurai Saki sighed.
Her reaction made it seem like he had forced her into a brutal Sparta training session lasting several hours...
Sakurai Saki felt that his teaching ability wasn't bad.
Therefore—
Chika's recent reactions made him feel a little sad.
"I…"
If it were just the two of them studying alone, Fujiwara Chika definitely wouldn't be complaining like this.
But!
What the hell was that thing sitting next to them?
"What's wrong, Chika-chan?" Shijo Maki asked while flipping through her materials, her signature twin-tail hairstyle gently swaying, looking extremely cute.
"...Why is Maki-chan even here?" Fujiwara Chika said helplessly.
"I know you're sick of me already. After all, this is supposed to be your private time together. But this is the only place in school where I can study. Otherwise, I'll have to go home to study…" Shijo Maki said ambiguously.
"What will happen if you study at home?"
From her tone, Fujiwara Chika picked up a very strange implication.
"My little brother is living with me right now! He's been heartbroken recently, and he complains every single day. I can't take it anymore!"
Shijo Maki rested her chin on her hand, her voice full of grievance:
"When I was heartbroken, I didn't act this dramatic at all, so what's he complaining about? And when he was comforting me, he looked all wise and experienced. But now he's the one—"
Sakurai Saki also had no idea what she was feeling upset about.
Was she upset because she hadn't let her brother comfort her more back then? And now that she's comforting him, she feels like she's losing out?
Oh no—she really might be thinking that.
Sakurai Saki felt that he was understanding this girl more and more.
"Being heartbroken is normal, anyway I never thought he could be liked by Shinomiya Kaguya."
"Kaguya is… that thing." Shijo Maki stammered.
"What thing?"
"Tsundere, you idiot! Kaguya is a tsundere! How could she easily show her feelings?"
Shijo • Loser Tsundere Heroine • Maki saying this made Sakurai Saki widen his eyes.
She dared to say something like that?!
Maki used her small hands to make gestures for illustration and seriously said: "I feel like when they were little, Kaguya used to have feelings for my little brother. It's just that now she's grown up, so she's too embarrassed to admit it."
"How did your little brother know he got heartbroken?"
"Kaguya updated it on ins, didn't you know?"
"I don't play those apps girls use."
"Uwa, Saki-chan you're really biased, you know? There are boys who use ins too. And they're all handsome idols..."
Sakurai Saki cut her off: "That's only because they're idols and need traffic from apps with lots of female users, right?"
"...Guu." Shijo Maki puffed up her fair, cute face: "I can't refute that."
"Alright, alright. Put that aside first, let's continue talking about Kaguya." Shijo Maki remembered the content of that ins post, and every time she thought about it, it gave her chills: "Kaguya's blog—it was a photo of her holding hands with some boy while strolling around town!"
At this moment, before Sakurai Saki could even say anything—
Fujiwara Chika was faster, exclaiming in shock: "A BOY?!"
Her exaggerated reaction startled the other two.
Sakurai Saki was still fine, but Shijo Maki jolted so hard she almost fell off her chair.
"Ayo, what are you doing?!"
"Sorry, I was just shocked, okay? I didn't think Kaguya-san would willingly go on a walk alone with a boy."
"Hmph hmph, you don't know anything, do you??"
Shijo Maki happily took out her phone, opened ins, and scrolled to Kaguya's blog post from not long ago. "Kaguya has been taking photos for a while. At first she was terrible, but recently she's gotten really good. Last time she even asked me how to take cute selfies."
"Since when did the two of you get along so well? The Shijo family and the Shinomiya family are supposed to be at each other's throats..."
"What do adults' problems have to do with us?" Shijo Maki said, then frowned: "Saki-chan stop bothering me!"
She scrolled for half a minute before finding the photo.
"Look, the boy she's holding hands with is even wearing a couple ring." Shijo Maki explained in detail.
"You really look at people's photos that closely?"
"It wasn't me! It was my little brother!"
Shijo Maki did not want to be misunderstood as a creep.
"He cried horribly that day."
Having his engagement rejected was already miserable enough, and then getting hit with a fatal blow right after—anyone could imagine how Shijo Mikado felt.
"…I really hope he gets over it soon."
Sakurai Saki turned his face away.
Then he quietly slipped off the couple ring he had with Ai-chan.
Kaguya had really been way too careless with her photography.
"He's been getting addicted to games lately. Every day he shuts himself at home and won't go hang out with friends. If this keeps going, he might turn into a disgusting otaku like Yuu-kun. I'm scared."
"Good thing Ishigami isn't here. If he heard you say that, he'd probably cry."
Ishigami Yuu and Shijo Maki were on pretty good terms.
Since last year—starting from the cultural festival, or more accurately from the sports festival—the two had begun interacting.
"Ahaha~" Shijo Maki gave an awkward laugh.
Recently, Ishigami Yuu kept bragging to her about his love life, to the point where Shijo Maki almost wanted to beat him up.
'Weren't we supposed to be single dogs together? How come he ran ahead first?'
Maki felt that he was truly lacking in loyalty.
...