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

"President, I'm heading out."

"Me too."

"Mm, take care."

It happened to be Shirogane's birthday today. Chika Fujiwara and Yu Ishigami had already left. Shirogane remained at his seat, handling student council documents.

Kaguya glanced at the departing Ishigami and Fujiwara, deeply satisfied.

Good, they're gone. As long as I'm alone with the president, I can celebrate his birthday properly. But...

Her eyes shifted toward Rinji, who was still sitting on the sofa, playing on his phone.

There's still one troublesome obstacle.

To get time alone with Shirogane in the student council room, Rinji also had to go.

"Rinji-kun, school's over. Aren't you heading home?"

"Nothing to do there. Might as well chill here a bit," Rinji replied, not even lifting his head.

If you're just gonna be on your phone, go do it at home!

Though she was dying to kick Rinji out, Kaguya held back for the sake of maintaining her graceful image.

But how was she supposed to get him to leave?

With Fujiwara, she could easily distract her with something interesting. For Ishigami, a little scare might do. But with Rinji...

She knew nothing about him—his hobbies, likes, anything. And scaring him?

That would be suicide.

As she racked her brain for a way to get some alone time with Shirogane, Rinji suddenly stood up and walked toward him.

"President, happy birthday."

"Oh, thanks."

"Here's your gift."

Rinji handed over what looked like a boxed tablet device.

"It's a study machine. I figured you'd like something like this."

"Much appreciated."

Shirogane accepted the gift with a wide smile.

This was the present Rinji had finally settled on after much deliberation.

"I'll come by your place tonight. We'll celebrate your birthday—and your move."

"Sounds good." Shirogane smiled. "We'll get the ingredients. You just do the cooking."

"Of course..."

As Rinji replied, he noticed Kaguya's odd expression.

She kept glancing bashfully at Shirogane, then turning to sneak looks at the student council room's cabinet.

Curious, Rinji slowly approached the cabinet.

Kaguya's face immediately tensed. When he looked in her direction, she turned away like nothing happened.

...Something's definitely fishy.

Though the cabinet door was shut, Rinji caught a scent wafting from it.

Cream and strawberries… Not dangerous. Could it be cake?

Given how she'd been trying to get him to leave and her odd behavior now, Rinji could more or less guess what Kaguya was planning.

Not bad, president. Spring has come.

Rinji chuckled to himself, then grabbed his bag from the sofa.

"President, I'm heading home to get ready. See you later at your place."

"Sure. Thanks again for the gift."

"No problem."

Rinji opened the student council room door. Before stepping out, he gave Shirogane a thumbs-up, then closed the door behind him.

Now that the office was finally down to just her and Shirogane, Kaguya let out a long breath.

Lucky. The hardest one finally left. Now then...

She couldn't hide her smile as she sidled up to the cabinet, gently opening it to peek inside at the three-tier cake she'd brought and hidden there this morning.

She'd gone through great lengths to get it made—each strawberry on top was one of a select few, each with a sugar content of 17. The cream was a kind that wasn't even available on the market.

But just then, Kaguya recalled the strange look Hayasaka gave her when she'd left the house carrying the cake earlier.

Was Hayasaka silently trying to tell me I was being ridiculous? But I put a lot of thought into picking this cake. And it's just a typical design. When I went to celebrate Fujiwara's birthday...

She remembered Fujiwara's cake from that day—it was similar in design, but smaller...

Smaller...

Kaguya compared Fujiwara's old cake to the massive, three-tier wedding-style cake sitting in the cabinet now.

"It's completely different!!!"

She finally realized she'd made a huge mistake.

She quickly turned and leaned her back against the cabinet to block its contents from view. Fortunately, Shirogane wasn't paying attention to her at all.

Am I an idiot? Why did I order something that looks like a wedding cake!?

Kaguya could already imagine the shocked expression Shirogane would give when she brought it out.

Shame and regret surged through her, throwing her mind into chaos.

And that chaos triggered the internal battle inside her mind...

————————Scene: Inside Kaguya Shinomiya's Head————————

In a courtroom-like setting, four different versions of Kaguya Shinomiya stood on trial.

Kaguya herself stood at the defendant's stand, head lowered. At the defense bench stood Kaguya with a flower on her head and a blank, innocent expression. At the prosecution bench was Kaguya with her dark hair down, ribbon untied, wearing an icy expression.

On the judge's bench sat a younger version of Kaguya dressed in judicial robes.

"The court is now in session. Defendant, do you have anything to say?"

Little Kaguya tapped her gavel and looked at the shy, head-lowered Kaguya.

"I wanted to celebrate the president's birthday, but in the end I got too embarrassed and..."

Ice Kaguya (Prosecutor): "Recommendation: death penalty."

"Eh!? Eh!!?"

Idiot Kaguya (Defense): "Objection!"

"Hm?"

"Wanting to let the president eat cake isn't wrong at all. He's never had a birthday cake before."

"Foolish." Ice Kaguya spoke with a detached tone. "Now is the time to stay calm. You can still walk away from this."

Idiot Kaguya: "But... anyone would be happy if someone celebrated their birthday for them, right?"

Ice Kaguya: "Even if it means enduring the shame?"

Idiot Kaguya: "Just endure it for a little, and it'll pass."

Ice Kaguya: "Let's just drop it. You don't need to go this far to celebrate a birthday."

Two conflicting thoughts began to argue in Kaguya's mind.