The Heroines Want to Confess.

Inside the equipment storage room.

Above their heads were a few small windows, with harsh sunlight pouring in through the glass.

"Let's start the inventory." Shinomiya Kaguya held the checklist that Shirogane Miyuki had given her.

As the student council vice president, she wasn't all that different from Chika—essentially just a mascot. After all, the official duty of the vice president was to support the president.

If it were any other president, Shinomiya Kaguya might actually have room to display her abilities.

But unfortunately, Shirogane Miyuki was a monster with an excessive love for competition. He even stole a bunch of Sakurai Saki's responsibilities.

If he hadn't truly been overwhelmed—and if he hadn't needed an excuse to rope Ishigami Yuu into the student council—Shirogane probably would've taken over Ishigami's tasks too.

What a terrifying man. Was he trying to make everyone else into useless deadweights who couldn't do a thing without him?

——

"Basketball." Kaguya called out.

Sakurai Saki was in charge of checking.

He picked up the basketball at his feet and gave it a few squeezes.

It was squishy.

"Deflated."

"You should say it ran out of air, not 'deflated.'" Shinomiya Kaguya corrected him, marking a √ at the end of the list—indicating that it was present but damaged.

An × meant it was missing, while a ○ meant it was still usable.

"Why are we even checking the balls? Our sports clubs don't use these." Sakurai asked.

Last time at the sports festival, plenty of balls were used—but those were all provided by the clubs themselves and had nothing to do with the storage room. That's why this place was full of broken, abandoned gear.

"We're comparing with last year's inventory." Kaguya glanced at a nearby soccer ball—also defl—

Ahem, ran out of air.

She almost let him trap her again.

"You mean, last year's student council also did an inventory around this time, but didn't bother filing a request to get new stuff?"

"Exactly."

Sakurai Saki rubbed his chin and guessed, "Were they brain-damaged or something?"

"Some of the former student council members still haven't graduated yet, you know." Shinomiya Kaguya reminded him to mind his words.

Although… Kaguya herself also thought those people clearly had some issues.

"Let's hand this off to Shirogane. He's good at this kind of thing, and very reliable."

Shirogane Miyuki handled his work with calm and composure—dozens of times more composed than Sakurai Saki. The fact that he could earn the respect of the club union VIPs said it all.

Kaguya nodded. "That's right. He's a good president, and he really takes responsibility—as a man."

The two of them reached a mutual agreement on that point.

"Shirogane's such a great guy, yet he doesn't have a girlfriend… I always find that weird." Sakurai Saki walked toward the corner of the room and checked the high-jump mat.

He pressed down a few times—the bounce still felt normal.

"High-jump mat's usable."

Hearing that, Kaguya marked it with a ○.

"Maybe it's because of his eyes. Didn't the president say he's slightly nearsighted? It's not serious—he can still see the board—but when he's far away, he tends to squint a lot."

"Now it's become a habit. Combined with those dark circles under his eyes, it makes him look kind of scary." Kaguya speculated.

"No, I think it's because of the pressure from his family. That's why he doesn't dare date anyone." Sakurai Saki said, then added a shocking remark: "Girlfriends are money-eating beasts."

"Why would dating make him spend money? Aren't all the girls here rich heiresses?"

Shinomiya Kaguya tilted her head in confusion.

Sakurai Saki fell silent.

"Let me ask you seriously—do you even see Shirogane as a normal guy?"

"You mean… his pride as a man? If I were his girlfriend, of course I'd maintain his dignity in public. And in private, I'd secretly give him lots of money so he could do whatever he wanted." Kaguya answered calmly, as if that was the most natural thing in the world.

"And what about in private?" Sakurai Saki blurted out.

He was really curious—how would the Shinomiya Ojou-sama treat her boyfriend in private?

"Of course, he'd have to obey everything I say." Shinomiya Kaguya answered matter-of-factly.

"Kaguya-san, does your family keep a dog?"

"No, why?"

Sakurai Saki didn't respond—he just gave her a mysterious smile.

Was this finding a boyfriend? No, clearly she was looking for a pet dog.

————

"The tug-of-war rope should still be usable this year." Kaguya crouched down and gave it a few tugs.

The rope was covered in dust. When Kaguya stood up, her uniform had a white patch on it.

She brushed the dust off.

"This year's sports festival will probably be the same as last year, huh?" Sakurai Saki had only signed up for the tug-of-war this year—he didn't participate in any other events.

"If you want to make the front page of the school paper tomorrow, you could try signing up for something else."

Or… maybe not.

"Two teams, divided by class." Shinomiya Kaguya bowed her head and continued checking equipment.

"Kaguya-san, what event did you sign up for?"

Sakurai Saki was idly standing nearby, not doing anything.

He looked at Shinomiya Kaguya's diligent figure and felt oddly at peace.

"Relay race…" Kaguya turned her head to glance at him, then said irritably, "If your legs aren't broken, maybe you could help out, huh?"

"They weren't earlier, but after hearing you say that, now they suddenly hurt." Sakurai Saki walked to the door.

He tried opening it.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he pushed, the door didn't budge.

"Kaguya-san, I've got some good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Kaguya was still bowing her head and jotting down notes, responding indifferently, "The bad news."

"The door's jammed. Probably because of that stick outside earlier."

"(·•᷄‎ࡇ•᷅ )" Shinomiya Kaguya suspected he was making it up.

There's no way it was such a coincidence.

"And the good news?"

Kaguya's beautiful face showed no signs of panic.

Even though she didn't have her phone on her right now.

Her old flip phone was so outdated that when she switched to a new one yesterday, it needed time to transfer data, so she had left it at the phone shop.

After school today, Hayasaka Ai was going to pick up the new smartphone. Kaguya was really looking forward to it.

"The good news is… you'll get to spend the next little while waiting in a closed space with a handsome guy like me."

"Being locked up with a beautiful girl like me—you should be the one feeling lucky."

Both of them were extremely narcissistic.

O' Kawaii koto.

Sakurai Saki didn't respond. He just stared intently at Kaguya.

Shinomiya Kaguya finally started looking a little flustered.

"Really?"

"Wait a second—Kaguya-san, you think I'm lying?"

"You hardly ever lie, right?"

"I admit I lie occasionally, but the number of times is still within a reasonable range." Sakurai Saki rubbed his chin. "No more than three lies a day—I think that's still normal. I mean, can people really live in this world without ever lying?"

Not everyone was Yukinoshita Yukino.

That character was from My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected. You could often see images of Yukinon in advertising campaigns around town—cakes, souvenirs, whatever. As for the light novel itself, Ishigami Yuu had introduced it to Sakurai Saki.

['I really relate to Hikigaya Hachiman. Truly gentle girls are terrifying!'] — words from Ishigami Yuu.

Sakurai Saki thought he was totally joking.