The Heroines Want to Confess.

Chika and Nino didn't stay long at Sakurai Saki's house.

After dinner, the two of them left right away. There was no scent of gunpowder, nor any "shurafield" scene—after all, Sakurai Saki was still sick, and both of them were quite sensible.

On Thursday, Shirogane Miyuki said he would go with Sakurai Saki to inspect the sports equipment storage room.

In the end, they barely made it halfway before he was dragged away by someone else. As the student council president, Shirogane was truly busy. Technically, the one responsible for coordination should have been Secretary Fujiwara, but for some reason, this time, it was Shirogane who ended up meeting class representatives more often than Fujiwara Chika did.

Being a workaholic, Shirogane hadn't changed at all compared to before—he was still putting in way too much effort.

"Sakurai-san, you should feel honored to accompany me to the sports equipment storage room." Shinomiya Kaguya walked beside Sakurai Saki, holding in her hand a checklist of the items to be verified this time.

Kaguya: ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡ )

Since Shirogane Miyuki was too busy, his task was naturally passed on to the vice president—Shinomiya Kaguya.

"Indeed, I—a commoner—getting to go to the sports equipment storage room with the Shinomiya family's Ojou-sama—the heart of Japan—I suppose I should get on my knees and thank you," Sakurai Saki said, full of sarcasm.

Sakurai: ( •̯́ ₃ •̯̀)

His sarcasm level was not bad at all.

Ojou-sama Kaguya's expression darkened, and she replied coldly, "Don't treat me like I'm an idiot!"

Kaguya: (╬ `益 ')

"Hey, Kaguya-san, could you be a bit more rational? The one who dragged you—from archery club practice—over here wasn't me, it was Shirogane." Sakurai Saki loudly protested his innocence.

Why is everything always blamed on me?

"Sakurai Saki's existence in this world is a mistake—an utterly one-of-a-kind mistake." Shinomiya Kaguya had once said this.

"I'll take that as a compliment, from the 'one-of-a-kind' perspective." Sakurai Saki replied gently.

Next to them, many students passed by along the corridor.

"Thick skin is a virtue, Sakurai-san. In that regard, you are also 'one-of-a-kind.'" Kaguya's ability to throw shade was also not weak.

But even if she hurled verbal attacks at Sakurai Saki, it still wasn't enough to provoke him. Just like her soft face, Kaguya currently gave off no sense of danger at all.

"In terms of irrationality, Kaguya-san is also 'one-of-a-kind.'"

"What a coincidence. That makes us a perfect pair." Kaguya Ojou-sama said sweetly.

Yet Sakurai looked at her face—so cold it couldn't get any colder.

The surrounding temperature seemed to drop drastically. Even though it was a 32-degree day, the air felt like they had just stepped into a freezer.

——

"The sports festival… I heard the president Shirogane's dad will be coming." Shinomiya Kaguya said as she and Sakurai walked toward the side of the school field.

"My mom's coming too." Sakurai Saki brought up the topic.

He felt completely unwell all over.

His mom lived all the way in Kyoto—please don't come just to join the chaos.

The last time Sakurai Saki saw her was during New Year's. He had gone back home for the holiday, and apart from one shrine visit on New Year's Day with his mother, he had spent the rest of the time in the wagashi shop.

And during that time, what had Sakurai Saki done?

The answer was: eat.

Other than that, nothing. He had enjoyed winter break living a pampered life where meals were brought to his mouth and clothes handed to him.

He didn't return to Tokyo until January 7th.

Just over the course of winter break, he gained a few kilos. Sakurai Saki felt like his mother was raising him like a piglet.

"…I'm curious." Kaguya muttered softly.

She was very curious about Shirogane Miyuki's father—how exactly had Shirogane been raised to turn out the way he did?

More than that, she was even more curious about Sakurai Saki's single mother.

Arrogant, shameless, sharp-tongued, socially oblivious… there were too many flaws to count. For someone like that to exist, just how spoiled must he have been to turn out this way?

Last time, Sakurai Saki's little brother also turned out to be a weirdo.

…She had a feeling that Sakurai's mother probably wasn't a normal person either.

"My mother is a beauty, and she's very gentle too. At the very least, she's prettier than you."

Sakurai Saki looked at Kaguya's expression and immediately knew she was trying to slander his foster mother.

His mother was the embodiment of beauty, her looks were the absolute peak of human aesthetics—there was no doubt about that.

"To a child, their mother is always beautiful." Shinomiya Kaguya dismissed it as nonsense.

No one could be more beautiful than her—at most, they could only be on the same level. Shinomiya Kaguya had absolute confidence in her own appearance.

And the truth was, in terms of charm, Kaguya ranked in the top 3 of Shuchiin.

Aside from her chest being flat as an iron board, there probably wasn't a single man who could reject Shinomiya Kaguya's body. Her face alone was enough to drive people insane.

"Could be." Sakurai Saki didn't have a clear memory of his biological mother. He met his foster mother when he was already fourteen, long after his sense of aesthetic had already developed normally.

"Even so, I'm really curious about Sakurai-san's mother."

"If you don't go meet her when the time comes, she'll probably come meet you instead." Sakurai Saki sighed.

"( - ⌓ - )

His mother paid a lot of attention to the relationships around him.

To the point that she almost wanted to install a camera to monitor him 24 hours a day.

Sakurai Saki still hadn't dared to tell her that he had a girlfriend, fearing she'd jump into a river and ask, "Will you save your girlfriend or your mom?" — don't doubt it, Sakurai's foster mother was fully capable of doing something like that.

"Is that so? Then I'll look forward to it a little." Shinomiya Kaguya decided she would leave a good impression on Sakurai's mother.

After all, that woman was the mother-in-law of her personal maid—maintaining a good relationship with her was crucial.

Otherwise, it could interfere with Hayasaka Ai's love life.

TV dramas often had those storylines about vicious mothers-in-law who wouldn't let their daughters-in-law step through the door.

In Kaguya mind, Sakurai's mom & Ai-chan: (╬ `益 ') (ó﹏ò｡)

Sakurai sighed inwardly, 'You'd better not look forward to anything.'

...

The two chatted as they walked, and eventually reached the sports storage room next to the schoolyard.

This place didn't get many visitors. The storage room looked pretty old—most years, people only came to check on the old gear during the sports festival to see if anything was still usable.

"Shuchiin isn't short on money, right? So why are we still using all this old stuff?" Sakurai Saki had been wondering about this for a long time.

Last year during the sports festival, the tug-of-war ropes were covered in dust.

The relay batons were ancient-looking too.

Only the sheets of paper for the scavenger hunt event were new. Then again, if even the paper was torn up, this school really would be beyond saving.

"It's a noble school, so maybe they're trying to train the students to be frugal… probably." Shinomiya Kaguya wasn't entirely sure.

"Whatever, let's go take a look. Not like I expect anything decent in there anyway." Sakurai Saki said as he pushed the door open.

Then he glanced to the side—why the hell was there such a ridiculously huge wooden stick here?

It was very straight, without any branches. Truly, it was a divine weapon that no man could refuse.

But unfortunately, standing in front of Shinomiya Kaguya right now, he couldn't afford to do any childish nonsense.

"Clack!"

After closing the door, the two of them looked inside the storage room.

High-jump mats, relay batons, and a few old, deflated balls.

"Kaguya-san, what do you think would happen if this storage room suddenly got locked and we couldn't get out?"

Kaguya gave him a scornful side-eye. "What kind of stupid shit are you talking about?"

...

"Clack."

Outside the door, that perfectly straight wooden stick had been wedged diagonally across the door. The angle was incredibly precise—jammed tight and completely unopenable.

However, the two people inside hadn't realized it yet.