CH 23

It might be sudden, but don’t you wonder what sort of person, is the most famous during middle and high school?

In Sakuranogaoka I go to, from the girls’ side the highly popular “Prince”, concerning guys, the unattainable flower or a cool girl who is beautiful as well as rich; such kind of people can’t be just found anywhere.

However, even within a school without such people, certainly there is one person, who is known by the whole student body. That is the student council president.

A student, who is selected by the student population via elections. Someone, who is supposed to be representing the school and must be a model student for their peers. My school is also not an exception. Our student council president is also one of the famous students, for a different reason than Shizuku and others.

The current president during their first year, had assumed the post of vice president of the student council. When we had joined the school last year, they had already been inaugurated as the president.

The president excelled in studies, club activities as well as off-campus competitions and had earned many achievements. The current president is proclaimed as the best student council president ever, by the teachers.

They are also relied upon heavily by the both teachers and students alike. It won’t even be an exaggeration to call them perfect; such person is present in our school.

Someone as ordinary as me, should not have any kind of relation with such kind of student council president. I had always thought until now, that till their graduation in third year, I will be only looking at them on stage, while thinking “Such an amazing person”.

However, currently I am standing in front of that student council president. To explain the reason, we have to go back to this morning.

A day had passed since the ball game tournament. For students, it was returning back to a normal weekday, Wednesday. Since it was my turn for day duty today, I started heading towards school, earlier than usual.

Since it was earlier than usual, the number of students walking, were also few. Most of them were people, going for the morning training of their respective clubs. Mixed among them, I was walking towards the school alone.

The weather was nice and the route to school, was also quiet. I, who was feeling more refreshed than usual, heard a big voice coming from behind me, in this quiet scenery.

“G..Good morning, senpai!”

Is it a kouhai of some club member…? The strong voice filled with fighting spirit, that could be heard from behind, indeed felt like coming from a kouhai of some male sports club.

“Senpai! I have a story to tell today. I came here to receive you!”

Ho… Since there was something he wanted to report, he even went till the house. Some people might find it rude, doing this early morning, but I have a favourable impression since his earnestness was being conveyed.

If there is a kouhai like this in club, there would probably be very few problems regarding hierarchical relationship.

Without turning, I muttered “You have a pretty good kouhai” in a low voice, cheering on the kouhai-kun secretly, to have a good conversation.

“No way…. A good kouhai… these words are more than I deserve.”

“…Huh?”

Here I felt the sense of discomfort, for the first time.

The schoolgirl walking ahead, is looking towards here. There is no doubt, it is because of the voice of kouhai-kun from behind.

However, that gaze is looking towards me. To be more accurate, it is looking behind me.

And then, the voice that seemed to be at a distance earlier, sounded just behind me, this time. Furthermore, why did I get a response for my low murmur…

I turned around slowly to confirm the circumstances behind me. There was a single male student right behind me, standing with a good posture and straight back.

“Good morning, Shinra-senpai!”

“Good morning… The unknown kouhai-kun.”

Kouhai-kun, who was bowing at a perfect 90 degree, upon hearing my reply, smiled and fixed his posture.

He was a bit taller than me. He had a firm body build and hair with a slight reddish tinge. His sharp expression bore close resemblance to Kirasaka’s displeased look.

Getting called out by such person, I kept looking at his face motionlessly and tried to remember where I had met him. But I was not able to remember, especially.

While I was wondering if I had just forgotten, the guy started introducing himself in a loud voice.

“First year, Class 2. I am Hino Daiki. Hobby is cooking and special skill is full body workout.”

“…I see.”

“I came to receive Shinra-senpai today, in order to greet and introduce myself!”

“Well… Why?”

Nonetheless, the kouhai, Hino-kun took out a piece of photograph from his pocket. The photographed object was, the figure of Kaede, carrying a shopping bag on her hand.

“I see…. I will listen if you have any last requests.”

Quickly confiscating the photograph, I grabbed his chest. Bringing my face closer, I glared at him with full power.

“I..It’s different! This is a photograph gained through illegal channels, I didn’t do any sneak photography!”

Testifying this, Hino-kun shook his head trying to deny the suspicion of voyeurism.

“Then what is it? Are you a stalker of Kaede?”

“Something like a stalker is too amazing…. I simply worship your sister!”

“No good… This guy is dangerous.”

Grabbing the hand of Hino-kun, I started walking towards police station for the purpose of handing him over.

1. So, first of all, I will be using ‘Senpai’ and ‘Kouhai’ during the story. I don’t think I need to explain the meanings behind them. Originally, I had ‘junior’ during monologues and ‘kouhai’ during conversations, but it creates a sense of imbalance, so I stuck to using ‘kouhai’. .

2. If you notice, I have used ‘they’ or ‘them’, when referring to the student council president. The reason is because, the president mentioned in the text until now has been gender-neutral. We might be able to guess what the gender is, but till now, it has not been mentioned specifically. ‘They’,’Them’ are normally used for gender-neutral characters, anyway.