Even though he was always bowing and humbling to Hime.
As soon as she was gone, the principal pompously said:
"She is a treasure to our school. By coincidence, by some truly miraculous reason, she is attending this school... Do you understand what this means? You don't, do you?"
"...Well, yes."
"--From now on, whenever she accomplishes something great, her alma mater will be listed on her resume, and our school's name will remain in historical documents. I'm sure that in the future, our school will be recognized as the great school that produced her. If she manages to graduate without any whims--the benefits to our school will be immeasurable."
Even though no one was listening, the principal began to speak at length.
I wish it would end soon. I was going to be late for lunch with Hime.
However, even if I interjected, it would only drag on for longer. It wasn't a pleasant story to listen to, so I decided to listen in silence without saying anything.
"She is of a completely different status to an ordinary student like you. So, if you have become friends with her… you must maintain that status. Be careful not to upset her. If you do so, I won't hesitate to give you some leeway in terms of your school marks and grades."
"Um, I don't really care about that."
"...You don't get it. To put it another way, if she were to get carried away and leave our school - and if you were involved, we could dispose of you however we wanted. That's how it is."
Wow. That's it.
If you can improve your school report cards and grades, you can also make them worse.
So this may be akin to blackmail.
"That's why I'm warning you. Be very careful."
It's so dirty. I wonder if this is normal for adults... Even if it is, it makes me truly feel that I don't want to become an adult like that.
And if Hime was tired of being around adults like this all the time, then I felt like I somehow understood why she had taken a liking to me.
I have no intention of using Hime or trying to curry favor with her. Of course, I understand that she is a special and amazing girl, but I still treat her as a classmate and a younger child.
Maybe she was happy about that.
If that was the case, then of course—no matter what the principal said, I had no intention of changing my attitude.
"Ah, I see... Well, I don't want to keep her waiting, so can I go now?"
"Oh, that's a good idea. Go and do well."
Pretending not to hear the unwelcome words, he quickly turned his back on the principal.
I wanted to get away from the dirty adults as soon as possible.
I opened the door to the principal's office. Inside, Hime was sitting quietly in the corner of the sofa, waiting for me.
"Sorry, it's a bit of a long story."
"...I'm sorry. Did you say something strange because of me?"
Hime had a somewhat apologetic look on her face.
He's a smart kid, so he might have a vague idea of what the principal said.
So I gently stroked her head.
"That was a strange thing to say, but Hime did nothing wrong."
Hime hasn't done anything wrong.
So I wanted to tell you not to worry.
"Don't worry. I told you before, right? ...I'll never hate you."
When I told her that, Hime's gloomy expression suddenly changed and she smiled with such joy.
"...Hehehe ♪ Youhei-kun is a wonderful person after all."
"Really? It makes me happy to hear you say that."
"Yes, that's right! ...As my big brother, he's the perfect guy."
"Well, I wonder what that is...?"
Although she is still confused when he says he wants her to be his big brother.
That aside.
Also, seeing her with the same bright expression as she did yesterday, I felt happy too.