“Okay, let’s go clockwise for introductions and greetings. That would be helpful,”
“Hey, don’t forget about me!!”
“Ah, sorry, sorry,”
A student, probably from Yudai’s class,
the female student was protesting against Yudai because he left out her self-introduction.
Grumbling with dissatisfaction, the female student introduced herself.
“I’m from the same class as this guy. Kawata Sayuki. I think it’d be awesome if we could all have fun together, so let’s do our best!”
Intense.
In a word, Sayuki’s characteristic was that she was the very image of a tough-looking gyaru.
Even without seeing her face, her strong personality seeped through her voice.
An otaku guy would probably tremble and run away from this. Is the idea of a world kind to otaku really just an illusion?
While thinking about this,
“Alright, next person, your turn~” Sayuki said, crossing her legs as she sat down.
The student next to her, from a different class, began their introduction.
Haruya spent the entire time until his turn running simulations in his head about how to get through this.
Soon enough, it was time for the introductions to reach Haruya’s class.
“Um… I’m Kohinata Rin. Our class decided on… uh, a play! Nice to meet you all,” Rin said, moving before Haruya.
However, her voice lacked energy somehow.
Where had her usual classroom demeanor gone? The brightness and unique aura that usually brought everyone together couldn’t be felt from her now.
Come to think of it, Rin’s presence had disappeared since entering this conference room.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she had been completely overwhelmed by her surroundings.
Suddenly, Rin’s eyes widened for a moment, and she shook her head vigorously before saying,
“L-Let’s all do our best! Let’s make it exciting! Oh!”
She tried to raise morale with this rallying cry.
Yudai was the only one who responded with an “Oh!” of his own.
From his refreshing smile, everyone could probably guess that he was quite a nice guy.
After confirming that Rin had taken her seat, Haruya timidly stood up.
“…I’m Akasaki Haruya, from the same class as Kohinata-san. Nice to meet you.”
Although he had run various simulations in his head, in the end, his greeting turned out to be simple and monotonous.
Only the sound of applause echoed. It felt empty.
Although he had zoned out during most of the self-introductions, Haruya felt that the committee members seemed to be unique individuals.
They had strong personalities and were quite distinctive.
The girls seemed to have a higher ratio of gyaru types, while the boys tended to be more cheerful.
In fact, one of the male students there – Akai… Akaiwa, was it? – stood out so much that Haruya clearly remembered him,
partly because of the shared character for “red” in their surnames and partly because of his impactful self-introduction.
Haruya had prejudged the glasses guy to be similar to himself based on appearance, but when he opened with “I’m looking for a girlfriend!” it was clear he was more of a joking mood-maker.
In other words, what Haruya wanted to say was,
(I’m really out of place here, character-wise…)
and then…
“Is there anyone who wants to be the leader? If so, please don’t hesitate to let me know,”
Yudai asked after all the introductions were finished.
“Honestly, you’re already the best choice, Yudai,”
Sayuki answered, roughly ruffling her hair.
“Um…”
A female student sitting next to Haruya stood up.
“Kohinata-san, do you want to be the leader?”
Rin stood up and looked around at everyone.
The gazes of the gyaru twirling her hair and the cheerful boys with strong personalities all focused on her.
“Uh, well… I’d like to be the vice-leader, if that’s okay,”
“Okay, got it. Thanks,”
Yudai replied with a refreshing smile, and Rin sat back down.
Looking over at Rin, Haruya could see her making a small fist on top of her skirt.
Did she actually want to be the leader? It didn’t seem that way at all…
While sensing this strange feeling about Rin, the leader and vice-leader positions were decided without much fuss.
“Alright, let’s wrap up by going over the committee’s tasks in general, and then we’ll end for today,”
Yudai said, taking out some documents from a file and distributing them.
“Well, I think it’s easier to understand by looking at the paper than explaining verbally. What’s written there is pretty much our job. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me later.”
As expected of someone in the student council,
he had prepared materials in advance.
Haruya began to look over the distributed documents as instructed.
Accounting, advertising, creating pamphlets, hygiene management, deciding on committee events, security patrols on the day of the festival, deciding on a slogan, sharing information between classes, and so on.
Just looking at it made him feel dizzy.
(Isn’t this way more work than in middle school…?)
However, it was still just a cultural festival after all.
And it was a high school cultural festival at that.
They probably weren’t expected to achieve such high quality or do such a large amount of work.
As Haruya was trying to encourage himself internally, Rin poked him in the arm.
“We have to do our best, Akasaki-kun.”
It seemed like a message she was telling herself as well, but Haruya nodded slightly.
**
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
That night, after finishing dinner, Haruya changed into comfortable clothes suitable for movement and left the house.
He ran outside, feeling the summer insects’ sounds and the tepid, humid wind with his entire body.
This kind of running had already become second nature to him.
Since the end of Yuuna’s basketball incident, Haruya had been rekindling his passion for track and field.
Thinking that this was all thanks to Nayu-san, he increased his pace.
Training by imagining running behind someone imaginary ahead of him was quite challenging.
Today, in particular, was especially tough.
Being appointed to the executive committee and immediately starting meetings…
Despite the fatigue hitting him all at once, he continued his running routine not just because it was habitual.
(Kohinata-san was in the same class. What on earth is going on?)
After returning home and calming down, he had become restless.
The moment he learned that the “Kohinata-san” he had been friendly with at the cafe was an S-class beauty, he felt somewhat relieved due to a sense of familiarity. But upon calmly considering the situation, it was impossible not to panic.
When interacting with her at the cafe… he had built a relationship based on the premise of not invading each other’s privacy, just like with Nayu-san.
In short, if he learned about her privacy, their relationship would crumble.
Although they had become closer as executive committee members, Haruya must not let Rin know him as the “regular customer oniisan.”
Moreover, if it became a topic of conversation in class again, his stomach wouldn’t be able to handle it…
As he started to consider the unseen fears ahead… Haruya thought he wanted to distract himself by moving his body.
Without even feeling the fatigue in his legs, he continued running until he eventually reached an open park.
Guided by the insects’ voices and the moonlit playground equipment, Haruya entered the park.
This is the park where Nayu-san had been waiting alone.
Thinking back to that time, Haruya feel quite embarrassed by his own actions, and his face turns bright red with shame… Suddenly, he hear the sound of a ball bouncing.
— Dun, dun, dun, dun.
— Swish.
The sound of the ball bouncing, and the satisfying sound of it going through the net.
The basketball hoop is illuminated by the streetlight, and a long ponytail sways gently.
Haruya was momentarily captivated by her sharp movements.
Perhaps noticing his gaze, she suddenly turns around while bouncing the ball.
“… Oh, Haru-san?”
Yuna looked at Haruya with a puzzled expression, as if she hadn’t expected to meet him here.
“Good evening, Nayu-san.”
Haruya continued while fanning himself by pulling at his clothes.
“I was just out for a run…”
“Oh~ At this hour? You must really like running.”
Yuna smiles gently while wiping her sweat with a towel.
“The same could be said for you, Nayu-san. Looks like you’ve fully gotten back into basketball.”
“… Yeah, thanks.”
She asks while bouncing the ball, “Hey…”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Um… Haru-san, would you mind joining me for a bit?”
Haruya didn’t ask “For what?” in response.
He could tell what she wanted from her challenging smile as she lowered her stance.
“… I’m a complete amateur, you know,” H
“I was getting a bit bored playing alone. Let’s have a few one-on-ones,”
“Don’t complain if I’m bad, okay, Nayu-san?”
And so the one-on-one began, but the result was obvious.
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