Macho Man Doesn't want a Slice-of-Life

"Kaguya-sama, are you heading out today?"

"Yes, the president asked all student council members to gather in the office this afternoon for a pre-semester cleanup."

In the Shinomiya residence in Tokyo, Shinomiya Kaguya, assisted by Hayasaka Ai, changed into her school uniform and prepared to leave for Shuchiin Academy.

"The entire student council, huh…"

"Yes. Want to come too, Hayasaka?" Kaguya asked.

"I'm not a member of the student council."

"But Takamine Rinji will be there." Kaguya added, "And you seem to care about what he's up to—especially this new 'girlfriend' of his."

"..."

Hayasaka Ai was indeed bothered.

Just a few days after the fireworks festival, on the very first day of Rinji's vacation trip, he posted an update saying he had a girlfriend.

According to an Secretary Fujiwara, they met, fought, she confessed, and Rinji said yes. They became a couple just like that.

It was so absurd that both Fujiwara Chika and Hayasaka Ai suspected Rinji had been tricked.

But reality is stranger than fiction—no one had expected France to surrender in under forty days, and no one had expected Takamine Rinji to go from being confessed to dating in such a short time.

At this point, all she could do was sigh at fate's cruelty.

"I am curious, yes. But going there suddenly might not be a good idea." Hayasaka maintained her usual cool tone. "Besides, Kaguya-sama, you should be more worried about yourself. Aside from the fireworks festival, there's been no progress with the president."

"Ugh…"

It was true.

Though her relationship with Shirogane Miyuki had improved during the festival, from an outsider's perspective, they hadn't made any visible progress. And even if there had been, it was painfully slow.

"No... but still..."

"If you keep telling yourself your feelings for the president are just admiration, that's fine. But today's me might become tomorrow's you."

"..."

Kaguya sat in the car with a heavy heart and left for school. Meanwhile, Hayasaka stood at the window, watching her leave, then slowly took off her maid outfit.

"I'd better start making preparations too."

---

"Wow, it's huge~"

"Secretary Fujiwara."

"And so firm..."

"Secretary Fujiwara."

"I kinda want to bite it..."

"Fujiwara." Rinji, holding a broom, sighed. "Wait until after we finish cleaning before eating the watermelon."

"Oh."

Inside the student council office were Rinji, Ishigami, Shirogane, and Kaguya.

Shirogane had taken the afternoon off to be here.

Though in truth, he didn't need to take time off—being the president of a bank meant he could manage his own schedule. He didn't have a boss to report to.

After returning home, he changed into his uniform and biked to school.

He could've had his chauffeur take him, but even after all this time in a high position, he preferred not to inconvenience others if he could help it.

According to the original bank president Katahara Metsudo, the bank was entirely Shirogane's responsibility for these ten days. No matter what happened, he wouldn't interfere—total freedom.

Everyone was assigned tasks, and they each worked diligently.

In under an hour, the small student council office was thoroughly cleaned.

"Yay~ time for watermelon!"

"You were just waiting to eat, weren't you?"

Rinji smiled helplessly, moving the watermelon from the table onto some newspapers. Then he pulled a kitchen knife from his bag and sliced it neatly into ten pieces.

Everyone got two slices.

"Mm, this is really sweet!" Shirogane exclaimed after one bite. "Did you bring this, Rinji?"

"Yeah, my family runs a farm. Having watermelon in summer is just natural."

"Your folks brought it?"

"Yup. My old man dropped by my apartment yesterday, left a watermelon, and vanished."

Rinji said this while spitting out seeds into a tissue.

"Pretty impressive, growing one this big." Fujiwara smiled as she ate. "I've never had watermelon like this before."

"Of course you haven't. This one was grown on a space station." Rinji said. "It's not the old 'space breeding' from last century—this one was grown entirely in outer space."

"Eh?"

"My old man failed a few times, but this batch finally succeeded. What you're eating now is the result."

"...I feel like your family is even more outrageous than I imagined."

Among all the student council members, only Rinji's background remained completely mysterious.

"Oh right, oh right—"

With her mouth full of watermelon, Fujiwara finally brought up the topic she cared about most.

"Rinji-kun, how are things with your girlfriend?"

"You mean Karura? We just video-called this afternoon."

Ishigami added, "Yeah, halfway through homework he went out to the balcony and talked for three hours. Wrote, like, five words the whole day."

"So Takamine-kun already has a girlfriend, huh." Kaguya acted like she had just learned about it. "Congratulations. You're the first in the student council."

"You're absolutely right."

Rinji, in a rare moment of not arguing with her, leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and smiled smugly.

"As the only one here in a relationship, I should share a little life advice."

The others stared at him, speechless, as if his ego had inflated enough to fly away.

Ever since getting a girlfriend, this guy had clearly been floating.

"So, Rinji, what wisdom do you have to share?"

"Well, based on being rejected four years ago, and now being confessed to... I've come to this conclusion—"

Rinji grinned.

"As a guy, taking the initiative to confess always ends in disaster. Only by waiting for the girl to confess can you find happiness."

"..."

"That's my experience."

Miyuki found Rinji's seemingly nonsensical theory surprisingly convincing, and even glanced at Shinomiya Kaguya.

As for Kaguya…

She felt like she'd been played again.