Aira Silvaren.
She was a sophomore when Sierra, the game's protagonist, enrolled.
In the first semester, she was the Vice President of the student council, with Damien as the President.
A full-fledged event with Sierra occurs in the second semester, if Sierra intervenes in the student council election.
When Sierra and Damien meet, and if the player aims to conquer Damien,
Aira, who had a crush on Damien since freshman year, becomes hostile towards Sierra.
Within that development,
During the second playthrough, I helped Aira with her presidential election, built a connection with her, and pursued her.
'Let's think carefully… there must be a way…'
I kept pondering, recalling Aira's official settings.
━If I pursue Aira like in the second playthrough, Aira will definitely kill Damien.
'Should I just pursue her and then stop it…?'
After Aira recalled the memories of the second playthrough,
She would feel guilty towards me, so if I ask her, she might not kill him.
'No, but that's just wishful thinking…'
The reason the three people I pursued killed the male protagonists wasn't solely revenge for the pain I experienced.
They themselves held resentment towards them and committed the acts.
There's a possibility Aira won't listen to me.
From the start, her personality itself is that of a proactive heroine.
A method of stopping her actions by blaming and making her feel guilty, like with Lia, might not work.
Most importantly,
'Indeed, pursuing her also… carries a risk.'
I recalled Sierra.
As long as she's with Aira as a campaign helper, there's a high chance she'll see the pursuit situation.
'Then I'd be complete trash…'
Trash who, while already approaching Sierra sincerely, quickly reaches out to other women.
…Sierra's expression of contempt towards me came to mind.
'I really don't want that, as expected…'
If that happened, the sixth playthrough was expected to end in a bad ending again.
'How on earth can I…'
Just as I was pondering about Aira,
"What are you thinking about?"
"Uh…?"
Sierra had approached beside me before I knew it.
"It's already lunchtime. Didn't you know?"
"...Oh, right."
Being lost in thought, I hadn't even noticed other students leaving the classroom.
"Or… are you not going to eat lunch today?"
"No, it's not that…"
"We're just friends, right? Well, it's fine if we don't eat together for a day or so. Because we're just friends."
"..."
I quickly packed my lunchbox and got up from my seat.
Then Sierra, smiling playfully, gently bumped her shoulder against mine.
"Oh my~? Aren't you busy? You don't have to mind me~, Heh."
"…Not busy. Just thinking a bit."
Fortunately, her feelings of disappointment from yesterday seemed to have faded considerably, and Sierra followed me, smiling as usual.
And coming out into the hallway, Sierra asked curiously.
"What were you thinking about that you were so engrossed?"
"Hmm…"
"Huh? What thoughts? What kind of thoughts were you having?"
"Th-thoughts are free, aren't they! It's a secret."
"Aww~, then I'm even more curious. …Could it be Senior Aira?"
"..."
"...What's wrong? Why are you silent?"
Sierra, who had been smiling playfully, instantly stiffened her expression.
Then, before I knew it, my spine tingled with dread, and cold sweat ran down.
Black and deep eyes that I had seen sometime before gazed at me.
"No way, really…"
"No, it's not that! It's not what you're thinking!"
"Then tell me straight. Because now you've lost the freedom to think."
"..."
Just my luck, I got caught because I closed my mouth in panic.
At that, I desperately racked my brain.
"W-well, actually…"
"..."
"Senior Aira…"
"...Senior?"
I managed to come up with the most plausible answer.
"She likes President Damien."
"Eh…, oh…?"
"Wouldn't that affect the election? H-haha, something like that?"
"..."
Did I get away with it safely?
I swallowed dryly and carefully looked into Sierra's deep, dark eyes.
"Really?! Seriously? Wow! Senior Aira likes the President?!"
"…Ah, yeah."
Sierra instantly her eyes sparkled, showing great interest.
'Indeed, even with Mari, she was very interested in other people's relationships.'
Even then, I recalled her prying, curious about the relationship between Mari and me.
As expected, this choice seems to be the right answer.
"But how did you know that? That Senior Aira likes the President."
"Ah…, I just heard it from a classmate. But it's quite credible."
"Emil, don't you have any friends?"
"...Anyway."
"Hehe."
Like that, I fortunately safely got past Sierra's terrifying interrogation.
Afterwards, we went up to the rooftop, ate lunch, and talked about Aira and Damien.
"Hmm~, definitely. Something's brewing. Is the Vice President crushing on the President~."
"You're really interested in other people's love lives."
"Hehe, it's fun."
Sierra was greatly interested in the story of Aira's unrequited love that I told her and found it amusing.
'With this, the reasons why I absolutely cannot pursue [Aira] in front of Sierra have increased.'
Aira likes Damien.
And me, knowing that fact.
…If I were to pursue Aira and charm her?
'She would definitely react with 'What the hell is this guy?'.'
My dilemma only deepened.
And then Sierra suddenly asked.
"So Emil, are you going to help Senior Aira?"
"Huh?"
"Wasn't that what you were thinking about? You said Senior Aira liking the President might hinder the election."
"That's true, but…"
"Then you're going to help her, right?!"
"Why is the conversation going in that direction…?"
"Well, if her love comes true, Senior Aira can focus on the election too!"
"...Isn't it just that you want to watch a love story?"
"Hehe."
"..."
But.
'Wait, ...how was it in the original game?'
At Sierra's words, I carefully recalled the settings from the game.
'If Sierra fails to conquer Damien, then… a bad ending where Aira and Damien end up together would occur…'
And after that,
The story of Aira and Damien, who graduated from the academy, would have been told.
'That's right, now that I think about it, definitely…'
Then, while living my sixth life, a forgotten backstory vaguely came to mind.
'Due to Damien's frequent infidelities, Aira falls into depression, and lives a life alienated even within the Clozet family…'
I heard such a bleak future was set as a way to motivate the player when Sierra failed to conquer the male protagonist.
"Hmm…, it might not be bad."
"Huh? Really? Then are you going to help her?"
At my mumbling, Sierra smiled brightly and leaned her head towards me.
Her beautiful face and sparkling eyes suddenly approached close to my eyes.
Feeling embarrassed, I subtly leaned my body back and replied.
"U-uh, yeah. As you said, that way, Senior Aira will also be able to focus more on her campaign activities."
"Yay! This will be fun!"
"...As expected, you're doing this for fun."
Anyway, I thought of a pretty good method.
'If possible, pursuing her and making her recall the memories of the second playthrough would be satisfying, but…'
Even so, I'll have to be satisfied with just that.
If I proceeded with the pursuit as my resentment guided me,
My relationship with Sierra would go awry, and I'd also be framed as the culprit in the male student disappearance case.
"Then let's go right now!"
"What?"
But then,
Sierra, who had closed the lid of her finished lunchbox, abruptly stood up from her seat.
"Go? Where?"
"Where else?! There's still a lot of lunch break left!"
"No way…, are you going to Senior Aira?"
"Of course!"
She seems to have become quite interested in Aira's unrequited love story.
'No, even so, suddenly going to visit without even time to think…'
To stop her impulsive behavior, overcoming my embarrassment, I cautiously said.
"I-I want to spend lunch break… just the two of us."
"Uh, uh-oh?"
Then Sierra's smiling expression stiffened, and her face flushed.
"U-uh, w-well, of course, I feel that way too, but…"
Fortunately, Sierra stopped her immediate attempt to rush out and fidgeted with her fingers, seemingly deep in thought.
But.
"Still, I really want to go! Let's go!"
"Eh."
My statement, made despite my embarrassment, was defeated by her curiosity.
…Isn't that too much?
***
"Hmm? Oh, Emil and Sierra. What's up?"
Lunch break was now about halfway over, and most students were relaxing in their respective classrooms.
And the same went for Aira.
As we went to her classroom, Aira closed the book she was reading and welcomed us.
"Did you come up with some good ideas for the campaign? Heh heh, it's reassuring to have the top-ranked and second-ranked students from first year on my side."
Apparently, she seemed to be under a bit of a big misunderstanding.
And then, a statement that shattered Aira's expectations.
Sierra quietly whispered.
"Senior."
"Huh? Is this something difficult to talk about here?"
"No, it's not that…"
Sierra looked around, conscious of people's ears.
I avoided Aira's gaze and turned my head.
And then Sierra abruptly blurted out the reason for coming here.
"Senior, you like the President, don't you?"
A jolt!
"Hmm?"
"What was that?"
"Aira and… a first-year?"
At Sierra's words, Aira suddenly sprang up from her seat.
To the point where there was no need to answer, her cheeks flushed, and she was visibly flustered.
"W-wh-what are you talking ab-b-b-bout so suddenly…?"
"Huh? Is it not?"
"How can you think it's not, after seeing that reaction?"
"As expected, right?"
"Grrr…!"
With an expression that seemed to say, 'How do you brats know that?!', Aira glared at us.
And then, feeling the gazes of those around them concentrating on her,
"Y-you two…! Come out for a moment!"
Leading us, she left the classroom.
And she only stopped when she reached the end of the deserted hallway, where few people passed.
Glancing around, checking if anyone was there,
"W-where on earth did you hear that?! I definitely didn't tell anyone!"
With a thoroughly flushed face, she blurted out the truth.
At that moment, Sierra, with an innocent expression, tried to answer her question.
"Oh, about that, Emil's friend…"
"No, that's not what's important, Senior."
I hastily stopped Sierra's words and changed the subject.
Then Aira, with a wary expression, asked us.
"Grrr…! What do you brats want?! What on earth do you want from me?!"
Apparently, she seemed to think we would demand something, using her unrequited love as an excuse.
At her misguided speculation, I smiled faintly and answered instead of Sierra.
"No, we intend to help Senior Aira."
"...What?"
Following that, Sierra also, with an excited expression, her eyes sparkling, continued speaking.
"That's right! We'll help! For Senior and the President to get together!"
"H-huh…?"
At our sudden declaration of help,
Aira, uncharacteristically, with a blank expression, let out a silly sound.
And I, feeling relieved inside, grinned.
'If it's this, revenge is possible even without Aira recalling the memories of the second playthrough…'
At least, this is the best option.
I settled my mind with the thought of 'chicken instead of pheasant' [meaning settling for a less ideal but acceptable substitute].
However.
At that time, I didn't know.
That eventually, Aira would confess to me.