Sensei told me to collect the notes we made in class for her.101Please respect copyright.PENANA7mt1vM5E1U
Together with Class Pres, I brought them to the staff room just as Sensei had created some documents to hand over to the Student Council.101Please respect copyright.PENANAgIjqq7RN03
I immediately declared that I would deliver them.101Please respect copyright.PENANAcJIacUALsl
The committee chairman was giving me an ambivalent gaze again. I don’t care!101Please respect copyright.PENANAoFxRLClmJG
When I entered the student council room, Romeo-senpai was eating a high class Ginza rusk.101Please respect copyright.PENANA5n6yflADj7
When I handed him the documents, he gaze me a dazzling smile. Uu, his gaze is shooting through mee!
“You’re such a hard worker, Kisshouin-san. How about entering the Student Council next year? Should I recommend you?”
“No…! I would not be suitable at alll…”
There’s no meaning in a Student Council with no Romeo-senpai. The only reason I’m so hard-working is because I have another motive.
“I don’t think I’d agree, but, well, you are still a Pivoine huh. I guess it’d be impossible for you to join. I personally think it’d be great if you acted as a bridge for us, though.”
“That is… But if there is something I can do, I will do my very best to assist.”
“Really? Then if anything happens, I’ll count on you, okay?”
“Yess…!”
My wonderful senpai saw me out with a smile.101Please respect copyright.PENANA6mo9OJBbne
Man, he’s cool as everr.101Please respect copyright.PENANAzj6q6gMXp0
But…101Please respect copyright.PENANAtky1GBd5Ob
…A high class Ginza rusk?
After that, I headed straight for the Pivoine Salon.101Please respect copyright.PENANA2hWlDWnYfL
A few people were in, and drinking tea gracefully while chatting.101Please respect copyright.PENANApEfjZmaoPh
An oneesama from the high school section was playing chopin on the piano.101Please respect copyright.PENANAW0fDhLGcOs
I looked at the various things on the platter on the table.101Please respect copyright.PENANAy5oQmmiOyR
There’s no mistake.101Please respect copyright.PENANAC4DlldWppY
A Pivoine member other than me has been smuggling sweets to Senpai.101Please respect copyright.PENANAPj9pPOjXVD
When I first met Senpai, what he said at the time made me go, “Huh?”101Please respect copyright.PENANAQDPkILzPxb
“I nicked it from the Pivoine though!”101Please respect copyright.PENANAvKFc8c6oBC
How, I wondered. Only Pivoine members were allowed in the salon, so sneaking in to steal them would make you an amazing thief. And since it was the Pivoine you were stealing from, it would turn into a huge issue too.101Please respect copyright.PENANAaKodZfli12
But I never heard anything about a person charging in to steal things. Of course, neither did I hear anything about Senpai getting permission to enter.101Please respect copyright.PENANAg5mHtPdq5y
But despite that, Senpai occasionally eats sweets. In Zui’ran, you aren’t allowed to bring sweets. Although, for events like Valentine’s, they’ll turn a blind eye.101Please respect copyright.PENANAdbkD8APj2J
Anyway, the only ones who can eat snacks at Zui’ran are the Pivoine, inside the salon. Of course, the Student Council, who are supposed to act as models for the ordinary students, are definitely not allowed.101Please respect copyright.PENANAiLoJXg4ycZ
Then that means one of the Pivoine members supplies him with the sweets.101Please respect copyright.PENANAMNRTShFJY4
Who?101Please respect copyright.PENANACQq2ct2iI9
It’s time to make a comeback as a spy.101Please respect copyright.PENANA9NOx2KsVSJ
Starting the next day, I began keeping a lookout in the Pivoine Salon, and started to check who was bringing snacks home with them.101Please respect copyright.PENANAxDV95IgLrR
Normally, you wouldn’t expect anybody to regularly do this.101Please respect copyright.PENANATswjFEpdOH
Even I worry about what people think, so I’ve only procured offerings for Senpai a few times.101Please respect copyright.PENANAEx4YD24i2y
Anyway, while I was watching, I noticed a senpai get the concierge to separate a few snacks for her.101Please respect copyright.PENANAJUosGA4NIe
She left the salon, so I followed.101Please respect copyright.PENANAEM6fMNQTvV
If I remember correctly, that’s Fukakusa Kasumi-sama from the middle school’s third year.101Please respect copyright.PENANAdXhNWRfve3
She isn’t as gorgeous as Yurie-sama’s group in the Pivoine’s main faction, but she’s tidy, clean-looking and peaceful.101Please respect copyright.PENANAgBdWmwaBd3
Fukakusa-senpai went as far as a small flowerbed behind the school building.101Please respect copyright.PENANAQUpJBlJ64W
She started looking left and right, as though to check for any onlookers, before a voice called out,
“Kasumi.”
It was Romeo-senpai.101Please respect copyright.PENANAmBR1nEht9L
Fukakusa-senpai ran over in delight. Then, the two sat down by the flowerbed, and enjoyed a happy chat together.101Please respect copyright.PENANAoMLf077hh5
They were talking quietly so I couldn’t hear the contents, but from stuff like how Fukakusa-senpai happily watched him eat the sweets, or how Romeo-senpai stroked her head, I could more or less guess.101Please respect copyright.PENANAZy9xdsxGh3
I left.
After a while, Fukakusa-senpai emerged from behind the school building. She seemed like she was about to leave for home, so before she reached the car park, I called out to her.
“Fukakusa-senpai.”
“Kyaa-!”
When I did, she let out an adorable scream.
“Eh-, Kisshouin-san? What’s the matter?”
“Senpai, I shall go straight to the point. Are you in a relationship with the Student Council President?”
Her face immediately stiffened.
“Why?”
“Earlier, I spotted the two of you by chance. And occasionally, the Student Council President will eat sweets from the Pivoine. And thus I wondered whether he was close to somebody on the inside, you see.”
“…”
After that, I found out various things from her.101Please respect copyright.PENANAhpjXbKaCND
About how they were in the same class last year, and gradually grew closer.101Please respect copyright.PENANAtyKsZXIhTK
About how after they changed classes in third year, Romeo-senpai confessed to her.101Please respect copyright.PENANAZW4lGhKZnp
About how Romeo-senpai was the StuCo President, so they had to keep things a secret from everyone else.101Please respect copyright.PENANAVfIX5hAbvU
About how Romeo-senpai got hungry a lot, she would occasionally bring sweets from the Pivoine to him.101Please respect copyright.PENANAaoJQfA0J6u
About how so that she wouldn’t be found out, he claimed that he “nicked” them etc. etc.
“Must you go so far to hide it?”
“Because the Pivoine and Student Council have always opposed each other. And this year’s Pivoine President, Okishima-senpai, really loathes the Student Council. Senju said that we should just be open about it, but I’m afraid. The Pivoine might give me the cold shoulder.”
Ah-, she just called him Senju like nothing.101Please respect copyright.PENANAPfEZPWW0hL
“Kasumi” and “Senju”. Hehh~ Hohh~ Hmmm~
“Please, Reika-sama. Don’t tell anybody about this.”
“I shall not. I do not know if I can help you in any way, but I hope that you will be happy together.”
“Really!? Thank you! You know, Senju said that you might be able to become a bridge between the Pivoine and Student Council. I think so too!”
“You overestimate me. I have no intentions of entering the Student Council, either.”
Did he recommend me out of self-interest?101Please respect copyright.PENANAusUTT63jFY
After all, at this rate the two of them won’t be able to openly date in high school either.101Please respect copyright.PENANAVOeebWBRiJ
But with him openly eating Pivoine sweets like that, I think they’ll be caught eventually.101Please respect copyright.PENANAHTSBpDwQXj
Could that also be part of his plans?
“You’re strong, Reika-sama. Even though you’re younger than me, I admire you a little bit, you know? Umm, I was thinking that it would be great if we could become closer. Is that no good?”
“No, I would be honoured.”
Fukakusa-senpai smiled happily at me. She seems unreliable, and cute. I wonder if this is what drew Romeo-senpai’s attention. She’s the complete opposite of me.101Please respect copyright.PENANARqXTmpvWZW
After that, I started calling her by name, and I agreed to occasionally hear her out about love.101Please respect copyright.PENANAC8auLjW3pq
I rode the car home, and then collapsed onto my bed.
Tomoe-senpai was Romeo, but his Juliet was Fukakusa-senpai.101Please respect copyright.PENANAoVLQi9fuR0
Somebody like me was just a mob character, or Juliet’s wet nurse at best.
…I wanted to get all excited about love as well. Everybody always talks so happily about love, but only I’m the one living a dull life.101Please respect copyright.PENANAywI02I7TsA
What the hell. Couldn’t they have let me dream a little longer?101Please respect copyright.PENANAwWlt2UKZBu
I shouldn’t have investigated. All it did was needlessly show me reality.
UOHHH! What the heck am I going to do if I’m single for the rest of my life?101Please respect copyright.PENANAqhyrN6P1KP
For some reason I can’t even picture myself in a proper relationship.101Please respect copyright.PENANAxZXv1Qh8zK
I mean, I got ‘curse’!101Please respect copyright.PENANAsboHEWfyNq
I bet in both lives, I’ve been stuck with the fate of being forever unpopular.
UOHHHH! I don’t want to spend life being a stalking horse! UOHHHH!101Please respect copyright.PENANAQqPNVevOFI
UOHHHHHH! …101Please respect copyright.PENANA4Q2vPpHkJV
The next free day I had, Oniisama brought me to a zoo in Hokkaido. I’ve been wanting to go for a while now, so I’m super happy!101Please respect copyright.PENANAuh8XgHkwAe
A polar bear! A seal! A penguin!
“Oniisama, please bring me again, okay!?”
“Yeah. I really wonder when the next time will be.”
?? Does that mean Oniisama will be busy?101Please respect copyright.PENANAGKTlrtVvgD
But he promised that he would definitely bring me here again someday, so I decided not to think about it.