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Chapter 20 Part 2: Student Council President
Translated and Edited by: ynlucca.
Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you’re close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it’s cutesy and childlike.
It was my first time ever visiting the student council office. My activities at school consisted of normal classes, PE, and the occasional rooftop visit to eat alone with Yuki. As an ordinary student, I never had any business with the student council, the crème de la crème of the whole school. From my point of view, the council as a whole was a distant existence.
For all the reasons above, it was natural for me to be nervous in front of their door, the gateway to a place where the elite gathered. My palms were sweaty, but my heart didn’t burst out of my chest due to Yuki and Akina being here with me.
“Well then… Here we go.”
Before opening the door, I checked the two right behind me. As soon as they nodded, I knocked and reached for the door handle to the office.
“Excuse me.”
The “other side” was much bleaker than what I’d imagined. A long table and office chairs were positioned glued to each other, and a blank whiteboard loomed over it all. Shelves filled to the brim with material dotted the corners of the room. The only decoration in that rather small room was a dainty vase of flowers.
Only one member of the council was there, the president herself. Her lustrous golden hair was tied into a ponytail, and her gorgeous green eyes were almost jewels among the gold. Her nose was different, tiny as a foreigner’s, and her face was neat. Apparently, her mother was the daughter of a foreigner and a Japanese, so the president was what they call a “Quarter.”
Her appearance was so well-developed and graceful, that anyone whose eyes befell her would describe the word beauty in her image. An art piece of a human being, and the top student at this school: Shigure Tsurugamine. Thinking back, I remember she played the guitar well in the council’s event at the festival.
When she noticed us, a smile rose on her face. “I’m glad you came, Hinakura-kun. I’m sorry for using your precious lunch break, though.”
“Nah, don’t worry. You went out of your way to call me. Besides, both Yuki and Akina wanted me to come, too.”
“Thank you for the help, Yuki-san, Akina-san.”
“You also helped me a lot during the festival,” Yuki said.
“That’s my line. I asked you to be the vocalist on such short notice, but even so, you accepted gracefully. The success of the concert was also on you, Yuki, so thank you once again.”
“Rikka and I are also indebted to you, so if need be, call me again,” Akina added.
“I’m the one indebted to Rikka. She works fast and diligently for the council.”
As soon as the thanking stopped, the president looked back at me.
“I’ll get right to the point then. You heard the reason you were called here from the two, right?”
“Um, I heard you were interested in me. Why me though, to be honest?”
I really don’t know why she called me out of nowhere. Thanks to Yuki and Akina’s grace, my grades are average. I’m not even athletically gifted. I’m just your average high school boy, and there’s nothing special about me.
“I called you because of the two standing right there.”
“Yuki and Akina?”
“Precisely. When preparing for the event, the two would just open their mouths and talk about you. They didn’t stop mentioning your good points, and that interested me.”
“Huh? Were the two talking about me mid-prep…?”
News to me. Honestly, I’m baffled I was the subject of their conversation when I wasn’t even there. I couldn’t think of one good thing about me, yet they kept praising me repeatedly. I looked behind me with this in mind, but they looked down, cheeks red in embarrassment. After a brief moment, Yuki hesitantly opened her mouth.
“U–um, president… The contents of that story are confidential…”
“Same here, president,” Akina said. “The things we talked about there, um, were only said because he wasn’t there…”
“I know it’s embarrassing to talk about it face to face. I’ll keep the details to myself, don’t worry.”
Yuki and Akina sighed in relief.
“Well, in any case, I’m interested in you, Hinakura-kun. A guy so praised by two of the most popular girls in school. I wonder if you’d be a good friend to me, also?”
“I’m honored to do so. I don’t know if I can live to the expectations, though.”
“Glad to hear it. I’m looking forward to being with you from now on, Hinakura-kun.”
While I’m thankful I was able to make such a connection with the president, I was also concerned about just what both Yuki and Akina were praising me for in my absence. What were they even talking about that caught the attention of the president?