Chapter 64: Ishigami Yuu Wants to Use the "Shine-Shine-Beam"
(Note" Shine-Shine-Beam = Die-Die-Beam.)
Is this plan really unworkable? Actually, not necessarily.
At first, Hayasaka Ai also felt that Kaguya's plan wasn't trustworthy at all.
But thinking it over carefully, if she wanted Sakurai Saki to accept her feelings, aside from throwing away her pride and once again kabendon him against the wall to force a kiss, Hayasaka Ai really couldn't think of any other method.
But doing that… her girlish dignity would be completely gone!
Hayasaka: (￣^￣ )ゞ hmph!!
Could she really pull that off? No way! It's too hard, no joke!
That last time she mustered all her courage, for a coward like Hayasaka Ai, had already been her absolute limit!
All the courage she had accumulated over the past year had been entirely spent on that Thursday evening last week.
Moreover, things like confessions depend heavily on atmosphere and setting.
Let's take a simple example.
If you choose a noisy, crowded ramen shop as your confession spot… Of course, no idiot would actually confess in a ramen shop — this is just a hypothetical.
But if it's a romantic fireworks festival — after the date ends, waiting until the last burst blooms in the sky, the girl softly whispers the burning feelings deep in her heart to the boy…
Between those two choices, obviously you'd pick the latter, right?
However, when it came to confessions, in the near future, Hayasaka Ai had decided she would no longer take the initiative. She had already taken the initiative many times without receiving any response, so now she decided to change tactics — she would make Sakurai Saki be the one to confess to her.
Therefore, in the end, Hayasaka Ai accepted Shinomiya Kaguya's suggestion. She would create a romantic rival for herself! And that rival… would be herself!
As someone in charge of intelligence, Hayasaka Ai was very confident in her disguise abilities.
She had countless faces: the gyaru image at school, the serious maid appearance at the Shinomiya residence, or her normal private-state self — all could be switched at will.
Transforming into a male student, or rather, looking like a male student, was extremely easy for Hayasaka Ai. Disguising herself was as natural as breathing.
———
The last P.E. class of the afternoon ended.
Sakurai Saki saw Hayasaka Ai hurriedly packing up her things and leaving the classroom, which struck him as a bit odd.
Normally at this time, Ai-chan should be happily chatting with her friends.
He unconsciously thought back to the love letter from this morning.
However, Sakurai Saki still had tutoring today, so he didn't dwell on it too much, though he still felt slightly uncomfortable.
Maybe because the girl he liked was being confessed to by another guy…
Is this… what they call possessiveness?
'If I get the chance later, I'll go check it out,' Sakurai Saki thought as he packed his bag.
He decided to first stop by the student council room.
On his way there, Sakurai Saki kept using his X-ray vision ability to monitor Hayasaka Ai.
Don't get the wrong idea, he wasn't jealous or anything — he was just… worried Ai-chan might trip and fall, dattebayo!! — at least, that's how Sakurai Saki convinced himself.
It wasn't until he saw Hayasaka Ai enter the locker room that Sakurai Saki finally breathed a sigh of relief. She probably just forgot something in there after P.E. earlier, right?
…
Entering the student council room.
"Huh? Sakurai-senpai? You're here early today~" The first person he encountered was Ishigami Yuu.
He didn't participate in any clubs, and he'd even said before that he wanted to narrow his social circle down to just the student council. Well, Ishigami didn't have many friends to begin with, so this change was probably a good thing?
"Want some coffee?" Sakurai Saki offered.
"Nah, I'll stick with this." Ishigami Yuu raised a can of soda from the tea table.
Sakurai Saki nodded and went to brew some coffee for himself.
"Oh right, Sakurai-senpai, you and Myuu-senpai get along so well — have you ever thought about calling him by name?" Ishigami Yuu had wanted to ask this for a while.
Like how he himself called Shirogane-senpai by the nickname "Myuu" — the "Gane" in "Shirogane" could be shortened to "Myuu."
"I've always called him that, actually," Sakurai Saki explained.
In Japan, people who are close usually call each other by their first names instead of their last names.
Even though Sakurai Saki and Shirogane Miyuki had a very good relationship, after half a year of calling each other by last names, switching to first names now just felt… weird.
"With Fujiwara-senpai, is it for the same reason?" Ishigami Yuu asked curiously.
"No, it's just that calling her 'Chika'… feels a bit embarrassing." Sakurai Saki trusted Ishigami Yuu's discretion — he wasn't the type to go spreading things around.
"True, calling boys by their first name is fine, but calling girls by their first name gives this weird feeling of shyness. …Though honestly, I don't even have any girl friends to call by name," Ishigami Yuu added, sounding a bit sad by the end.
"These days at Shuchiin, there really are a lot of couples, don't you think, Sakurai-senpai?" Ishigami Yuu grumbled. "Every time I see one, I just want to hit them with a 'Shine-Shine-Beam'!"
<(ꐦㅍ _ㅍ)>======o)) (ﾉ´ᗒoᗕ)ﾉ
Sakurai Saki brought out the coffee he'd just brewed and set it down on the tea table.
"'Shine-Shine-Beam'??"
What a bizarre name…
"It's a beam of light that makes couples drop dead on the spot when you hit them with it!"
Expressionless, Ishigami Yuu said, "Sakurai-senpai, don't you find all those couples annoying? Always clinging and flirting without any sense of shame. Even during lunch break at the cafeteria, they're everywhere."
You're way too gloomy, Ishigami-kun!
Sakurai Saki felt that even if he didn't like it, he wasn't as extreme as Ishigami.
At most, Sakurai Saki would quietly curse them in his heart while maintaining a friendly outward appearance. He definitely wouldn't say stuff like "Riajuu should just explode."
"Holding hands, saying things like 'Ah~ your hands are so warm~,' but Sakurai-senpai, it's almost summer already…"
Ishigami Yuu muttered resentfully, listing off all the annoying things couples did.
Lately, he was getting stuffed with 'dog food' to the point of nausea! Everywhere he went, people were flaunting their love!
Ishigami: (ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻
Sakurai Saki lifted his cup and took a sip of coffee.
"Seems like the Disciplinary Committee isn't doing its job properly."
That girl Iino Miko — was she even working seriously or what?
The Disciplinary Committee was supposed to patrol the school every lunch break and after school, checking if any students were violating the rules or engaging in inappropriate romantic relationships!
That's what they said, but honestly, no one cared.
The only one who actually put her heart into the job was probably just Miko-chan, right?
She was so serious to the point of being stubborn~ But that trait was also really cute. Since the start of the school year, among all the underclassmen he'd met, the one Sakurai Saki liked the most was probably Iino Miko. Yep, in the "favorite toy" ranking, Miko-chan was just barely edging past Fujiwara Chika now.
"Disciplinary Committee, huh~" In Ishigami Yuu's mind, a face popped up.
Iino Miko — his classmate, extremely serious, had been a disciplinary officer since middle school and continued the role into now.
Though, her ideas were a bit old-fashioned. She once proposed making all the male students shave their heads and all the female students wear braids and skirts at least 10 cm below the knee.
You'd think she time-traveled here straight from the Showa era or something.
…
Meanwhile, in Class 2-A.
Shinomiya Kaguya had finished packing her things, getting ready to head to the student council room to "guide" Sakurai Saki.
At lunch today, she had carefully discussed the plan with Hayasaka Ai and confirmed the setup for the fake confession.
Of course, Hayasaka Ai didn't actually need to appear — just letting General Affairs Officer Sakurai know someone was pursuing her was enough!
'Heh heh~ everything just according to keikaku.'
(≖⩊≖)
...
At the same time.
First floor, inside the girls' locker room.
Hayasaka Ai had finished changing into a male uniform, and after making sure no one was around, she put on the wig and left the girls' locker room.
Coincidentally, at that very moment, a small figure emerged from around the hallway corner…
"Hey! You there!!" the girl shouted loudly, "Why are you coming out of the girls' locker room, huh!! Stop right there! You're breaking the rules!!"
Iino Miko never imagined she'd one day personally witness a pervert coming out of the girls' locker room during her patrol!!
Oh my god! It's Hentai-san! This is terrifying!!
( ˶°ㅁ°) !!