Chapter 46

After school as I was walking to the Pivoine salon, I spotted Kaburagi and Enjou up ahead with a gaggle of girls. Kaburagi used to outright ignore them, but recently he’s been replying at least. Some incredibly vague replies though. He really has matured, hasn’t he. But unlike his overbearing self, his manga equivalent was just strong of will, so I wonder how close he’ll get to his manga version in these next three years.

The two of them reached the entrance, and then headed into the salon without hesitation. Because the salon is forbidden to anybody who isn’t a member, the girls around them were forced to stop before the door. They stayed there looking reluctant for a while, but giving up, they turned to head back down the hallway and noticed me coming from behind. I’m not close to these girls, so I was going to just pa.s.s by them and head into the salon.

Ah. I’m being glared at.

One of the girls was definitely glaring at me as I pa.s.sed. I’m surprised. I may be saying this myself, but as a Pivoine member, I’m shocked that there’s a girl who would so daringly glare at me. The Pivoine is a privileged cla.s.s here at school, so there aren’t many people who would pick a fight from up front. I suppose just the Student Council, really. My group and this girl’s group haven’t been getting along for a while now, but does this mean they’re finally declaring war on us? Hmmm&h.e.l.lip; I’ve definitely never thought of getting close to flashy girls like that, but I don’t like troublesome stuff eitherrr.

*imouto*

While I was s.p.a.cing out in the salon and thinking about the earlier events over some tea, Aira-sama and Yurie-sama called out to me.

“You had some fantastic results for the earlier test didn’t you, Reika-san. Congratulations.”

“It looks like you’ve been trying hard for your English cla.s.ses too, Reika-chan.”

Uwahh, the Princess and the Knight appeared together. So dazzling-!

“Thank you very much. But it was merely a fluke.”

I’m very glad that I’m close to Aira-sama, but unfortunately I’m not as close to Yurie-sama. And that’s completely because of the idiot that’s always next to her&h.e.l.lip;

“Yurie.”

Geh-! He appeared.

As expected, Kaburagi appeared right behind Yurie-sama. And Enjou too. I look up to Yurie-sama and definitely wanna get closer to her, but because Kaburagi is always close-by, I keep my distance. Even just now he ruined a perfectly good chance!

Apparently she could somewhat tell that I was bad with Kaburagi because Aira-sama gave me a worried look. I feel bad for making her worry about me. I’d better take a harmless and inoffensive stance here&h.e.l.lip;

“Ah, that reminds me. Reika-sama, it must have been dreadful experiencing that deer attack. The photos gave me a shock. You must have been terrified.”

&h.e.l.lip;Yurie-sama, why are you bringing that up now. A certain Mr. Eternally Unrequited Love is desperately stifling his laughter next to you, but&h.e.l.lip;?

“&h.e.l.lip;Yes, well. I was not injured, so it is no matter.”

Just how long is this idiot going to laugh for. Urghhhh, I’ll get him for this!

“Speaking of which, I heard from a friend of mine, but apparently the name ‘Emperor’ is well known even at Yurinomiya.”

The shock showed on his face. KE KE KE!

“Goodness. It looks like it’ll be impossible to extinguish the flames now, Masaya.”

Yurie-sama laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt.

“&h.e.l.lip;That’s fine. I’ve already given up anyway.”

Kaburagi sighed. Oh ho?

“It’s not like I came up with the name on my own after all. Also, I guess this is still better than being straight-out called ‘Napoleon’&h.e.l.lip;”

He looked incredibly fed up with it.

“That’s true. If I walked around town and somebody called out ‘Ah! It’s Napoleon!’ I don’t think I’d ever live down the shame after all. But you being called ‘Emperor’ in the middle of town is pretty bad too, huh. If I was with you at the time, I might even back away and pretend not to know you.”

“Shuusuke, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d&h.e.l.lip;”

Kaburagi glared so hard it was like he was trying to shoot Enjou down with laser beams, but Enjou just laughed it off without a care.

“Who knows how long Masaya is going to be called Emperor. Since n.o.body is calling you Deer Girl, aren’t you much better off, Reika-san?”

That doesn’t console me at all. Or rather, I bet you aren’t even trying. Your eyes are laughing after all. What ‘Deer Girl’. That’s even worse than ‘Drill Hair’ isn’t it. If somebody called me that, I’d cry, you know.

“One day I’ll give you a dumb nickname too,” exclaimed Kaburagi in frustration.

A line like that isn’t going to scare him at all, Kaburagi. Look, Enjou is laughing even harder now. Aahh, but I also wanna find out Enjou’s weak point. I want to find it, and then rub salt all over it. It’s unfair that he’s the only one that can be calm like this. What ‘Deer Girl’.

As I was seething inside, my eyes met with Kaburagi. After staring at me for a while, Kaburagi gave a small shake of his head. Mn? What was that just now? Why did he look at me like some pitiful disappointment? I’ll let you know, but in terms of ‘disappointment level’, right now you’re basically my level, okay!

“Speaking of which, Okishima-senpai and the Student Council President were going at it again.”

“Goodness, what was it this time?”

“Who knows. Those two *always go at it, after all.”

I was relieved that the conversation moved away from deers, but more importantly,

“Is the Pivoine on such bad terms with the Student Council?”

Okishima-senpai is the former President of the Pivoine. If somebody like that often argues with the StuCo, it might be really serious.

“No, it isn’t like that. Of course we aren’t on good terms, but those two are special. They’ve always been on bad terms, on a personal level. After they became the Pivoine and StuCo Presidents respectively, they’ve b.u.t.ted heads in their positions quite a bit. I suppose how the Pivoine and Student Council interact depends quite a bit on whether the presidents are aggressive or moderate that year.”

Hmmm&h.e.l.lip; I haven’t heard of the middle school section’s Student Council getting into fights with the Pivoine, so I’ve never really paid it much mind. Are the high schoolers this year just particularly belligerent? Must be rough.

“But you know? The current Student Council President is trying his best to improve the school, so he isn’t a bad person, you know? As long as you spend your time normally, he won’t really say anything about you. Once I met him by coincidence in the music room, and he opened the door to let me go first. Just because the presidents are like cats and dogs, doesn’t mean that they’ll extend that att.i.tude towards us.”

Isn’t that just because Yurie-sama is beautiful? The eyebrows on Mr. Eternally Unrequited Love have been twitching, you know?

“It would be terrible if Okishima heard you just now.”

Mmmn? Could it be that Okishima-Kaichou is aiming for Yurie-sama!? Oohh, Mr. E.U.P.’s mouth has turned into an へ.

*imouto*

*imouto*

But still, the Student Council huhh. I wonder what kind of people they are. I’m a little curious now.

And hey, me, what the heck are you getting all familiar with Kaburagi for&h.e.l.lip;