"Senpai, stop hiding."
In front of the laboratory building not far from the sports field, Sato suddenly stopped and turned toward the stairwell.
"Oh my, I got caught."
Yukinoshita Haruno walked down the stairs with a somewhat surprised expression. The way she looked at Sato was rather strange. From beginning to end, she had never exposed herself to his sight, so how had he noticed her?
"What are you watching here, Senpai? Disappointed you didn't get to tease your little sister?"
Sato turned and glanced into the distance. Far away, he could still see Yukinoshita Yukino sitting where he had just been sitting, silently staring into the distance with a juice box in hand.
"Huh? Why would I tease Yukino? That's my dearest imouto."
Yukinoshita Haruno glanced at Yukinoshita Yukino in the distance, then calmly took two steps inward, hiding herself deeper within the laboratory building entrance to ensure Yukinoshita Yukino couldn't see her from that angle.
Sato smiled faintly.
"Do you really need to be this cautious, Senpai?"
Yukinoshita Haruno rolled her eyes upon hearing that, then looked at him charmingly.
"Could it be that Nohara-kun didn't notice? Yukino doesn't really want to see me... Speaking of which, it really hurts my feelings! I'm her older sister, you know. Boo hoo hoo!"
Sato clicked his tongue.
"Your acting is way too fake, Senpai."
"Huh? Is it?"
"Of course. Though I'm only talking about the 'boo hoo hoo' part. If we're seriously talking about your acting skills, they're actually amazing. As expected of an elite raised by a political family."
The smile on Yukinoshita Haruno's face faded somewhat.
Still smiling softly, she gave Sato a deep look.
"I don't understand what Nohara-kun is talking about, but Nohara-kun also seems quite unusual himself."
Sato neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply curved his lips into a faint smile.
"So what exactly did you come here for this time, Senpai?"
She smiled gently.
"What if I said I came to see you? Would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Oh? You believed that just like that?"
"Half of what you say is true and half is false, Senpai. Naturally, I choose to believe the part I want to believe. So I think that probably was your purpose."
"Haha, Nohara-kun really is interesting."
"Likewise."
The two suddenly looked into each other's eyes.
...
Sato chatted with Yukinoshita Haruno for a long time.
If Yukinoshita Yukino was too naive, then Yukinoshita Haruno was absolutely the most calculating person Sato had ever met.
Even though she looked only slightly older than Yukinoshita Yukino, the difference between the two could be described as heaven and earth, like a massive chasm separating them. They seemed close at hand, yet in reality impossible to cross.
At the same time, he had to admit Hayama Hayato's evaluation was accurate.
Yukinoshita Haruno was unquestionably far more outstanding than her younger sister Yukinoshita Yukino, no matter from which angle one looked. At least, from every aspect he had seen, that was true...
"Haa..." Sitting in the clubroom, Sato let out a long breath, his eyes narrowing like Guan Yu contemplating a map of Jing Province.
"Another Haruno, huh? No wonder Yukinoshita wants to surpass her sister. It is the same bitter tea forced down the throats of the greatest second-generation heroes of the Han, degozaru!"
Right now, Sato was experiencing and reliving the moments of the Romance of the Three Kingdom's through Yukino's situation. His heart blazed like the tiger general, Zhang Fei.
Think of it! Two generals, both capable of shattering a thousand ranks, yet one is forever labeled as 'the son of the Tiger' or 'the brother of the Little Conqueror.' Even if their own merit reaches the heavens, the sun beside them is simply too blinding, degozaru!
Take the Sun Clan of Jiangdong, the very foundation of Eastern Wu! Among them, the name Sun Ce shook the earth, the 'Little Conqueror' who seized the Southlands before he was twenty! And then there is the Great Emperor, Sun Quan, who held the Yangtze against the tides of Cao Cao at Red Cliffs!
But what of Sun Yi? Or Sun Kuang? They were sons of the Tiger, Sun Jian! They were blood of the same heroic line! In any other era, they would be lords of their own domain, masters of the blade and scroll! Yet, when history speaks of them, the scholars merely tilt their heads in confusion.
"Sun Yi? Who is that, degozaru?"
But the moment you say, "The younger brother of Sun Ce," or "The brother of the Great Emperor Sun Quan," the realization strikes like a lightning bolt!
"Oho! One of the Sun family! I see, I see!"
Yes, despite their own exceptional talents, their brilliance never seemed dazzling because they stood next to a Supernova of the Era! Their light was not dim, it was simply eclipsed, degozaru!
If you speak of Zhou Yu or Lu Xun, people shout their names in awe immediately! But for those born into the same house as a legend, they are stripped of their names and replaced with their 'relation.'
Yukinoshita Yukino has lived her life in that very shadow, hearing the whispers!
["As expected of Haruno's little sister."]
To the world, she is not a person, she is a footnote in Haruno's biography!
What she seeks is not the glory of the clan, but the right to stand under the sun as her own commander! She does not want the world to say, "As expected of the Tiger's kin," but rather, "Behold, the brilliance of Yukinoshita Yukino!"
It is a battle for the soul, a true War of the Three Kingdoms fought in the hallways of a high school, degozaru!!
So... To kinda summarize it up, Yukinoshita Yukino had grown up hearing voices like, "As expected of Haruno's little sister."
Naturally, her feelings toward Yukinoshita Haruno were complicated.
What she wanted was not for others to say, "As expected of Haruno's little sister," but rather, "As expected of Yukinoshita Yukino."
"So... when they were choosing the executive committee chairman before, did Shiromeguri Meguri-senpai basically step on every possible landmine?"
Sato suddenly thought of this with a strange expression.
He remembered that during the selection for committee chairman, Shiromeguri Meguri had repeatedly said things like, "Yukinoshita-san is Haruno-senpai's younger sister, right?" and "Since she's Haruno-senpai's younger sister..."
No wonder. No wonder Yukinoshita's personality changed so drastically afterward.
Unable to hold it in, Sato burst out laughing. Loud enough to shake the heavens.
Fortunately, there was nobody else in the clubroom right now. Otherwise, someone definitely would have thought there was something wrong with him.
It was obvious that Shiromeguri Meguri admired Yukinoshita Haruno quite a lot. Otherwise, she wouldn't have repeatedly stepped on those landmines.
Unfortunately, if Shiromeguri Meguri had known about this, none of the later trouble would have happened.
At this point, with Sagami Minami's displayed capabilities, the executive committee should already be a complete mess, right?
Sato couldn't help thinking that.
He glanced at the table.
Without the young lady around, there was no black tea. Otherwise, he could probably be leisurely sipping tea while watching the chaos unfold.
He wasn't worried the school festival would actually run into serious problems. Shiromeguri Meguri or the school itself definitely had contingency measures prepared.
Clatter!
Suddenly, the sliding door of the clubroom was pulled open.
Hikigaya Hachiman scratched his head as he looked at Sato.
"So you really are here..."
Sato raised a brow at him.
"You were looking for me? Something up?"
"Ah, yeah."
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at Sato with those dead fish eyes of his that always seemed completely rotten and said weakly:
"I figured you probably didn't know yet, so I came to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Yukinoshita got elected as executive committee chairman."
"What happened?"
Sato frowned.
"Sagami Minami resigned, saying she lacked the ability and also caught a severe cold, so she couldn't continue leading everyone."
A severe cold?
Are you kidding me?!
Sato's expression immediately turned stunned.
Sagami Minami had been perfectly energetic this morning, and by afternoon she had a severe cold?
This was the middle of a blazing hot summer. What kind of method would it even take to end up like that?
Hikigaya Hachiman shrugged and revealed a strange expression.
"Anyway, everyone knows what's really going on."
Sato smiled slightly.
"What about Yukinoshita then?"
"If the executive committee chairman can't continue, naturally the vice chairman steps up. Sagami Minami had already appointed Yukinoshita as vice chairman before. Shiromeguri Meguri-senpai asked for her opinion, and she agreed."
Hikigaya Hachiman sounded somewhat surprised as he said that.
Sato, however, wasn't very surprised.
It seemed Yukinoshita had decided to challenge Yukinoshita Haruno head-on this time.
...
(TL/N: I kinda changed it up, so it seems more fun. Like Gakuto-speak and a mix of majikoi.)