The Heroines Want to Confess.

Inside the sealed storage room.

The air wasn't very good. Imagine it suddenly raining on a hot day, dust rushing up your nose — it felt just like that.

Sakurai Saki was allergic to pollen, but dust didn't bother him. His constitution was truly strange.

It was embarrassing, but not to the point of total humiliation.

Just like now — he could go out, but not completely just yet.

"Sakurai-san, don't you think it's utterly humiliating for us to be calling for help from President Shirogane right now?" Shinomiya Kaguya said seriously.

Shirogane was the rival she always wanted to surpass. She absolutely didn't want to show any weakness in front of him.

As for Sakurai Saki — this person was merely the boyfriend of her maid, so there was nothing to worry about, even if it was a little embarrassing.

"My relationship with Shirogane is great, and he's not the type to care about trivial things like this. Don't worry." Sakurai Saki had absolutely no understanding of a girl's sense of "shame."

This guy used to talk about childbirth in the student council without even trying to avoid the topic.

"Who cares about you!? I'm a member of the Shinomiya family! A noble Ojou-sama from the Shinomiya household got locked in the gym storage room because of a slip-up, and to make it worse, with a boy!!" Shinomiya Kaguya cried out in despair.

"'If word of this gets out, you'll destroy my reputation,' that's what you were going to say, right?" Sakurai Saki quickly interjected.

Rendering Shinomiya Kaguya speechless.

"Fine then, I'll call Miko here, how about that?"

"The underclassgirl Iino?" Shinomiya Kaguya nodded: "Good idea."

So Sakurai Saki texted Miko on his phone, telling her to come to the gym storage room.

He didn't explain why — just told her to come.

After closing the Line app, Sakurai Saki looked up and saw that Kaguya had already hidden behind a shelf, her entire body concealed by sports equipment.

"What are you doing?" The look Sakurai gave her was exactly like he was staring at some unevolved primitive human.

Sakurai: ( ಠ_ಠ )

"That look is seriously rude, you know!" Shinomiya Kaguya's voice echoed from the shadows: "Once you and Iino-san leave, I'll come out on my own."

'She's hiding because she's too embarrassed?'

Is she some kind of new species of ostrich?

Sakurai Saki rolled his eyes at her, then sat down on the mat to wait for Miko.

...

Ten minutes later.

Miko-chan had arrived at the gym storage room door.

This was the first time she'd ever been summoned by Sakurai Saki — as his number two toy, wait no, as the Kouhai he favored. Until now, Sakurai Saki had only teased her every morning before class, more specifically, when she was conducting uniform checks.

At all other times, Sakurai Saki never disturbed her daily life or studies.

"Senpai." Miko softly called as she pushed open the door, moving the stick that was blocking it.

Walking in, Miko froze.

The person she respected, the senpai she adored most, was sitting there dazed on a green mat, looking somewhat... not very intelligent.

"Miko-chan, you finally came." Sakurai Saki snapped back to his senses.

"Why did senpai call me here?" Iino Miko was still wearing her Disciplinary Committee armband. She must have left her patrol halfway to come here.

"Earlier I came to check the sports festival equipment, and accidentally got locked inside."

Sakurai Saki couldn't be bothered to come up with an excuse.

There was nothing to be embarrassed about.

Besides, telling Miko that he needed her help wasn't something to be ashamed of either.

Sakurai Saki wanted her to feel that her actions could help others — this was very important for building her self-confidence.

"Thank you." Sakurai Saki smiled at her, then walked over and patted her head.

Silently, Shinomiya Kaguya was spying on them.

If only she had her phone right now — she could capture this scene of Sakurai getting all cozy (patting the head) with his kouhai girl, and send it to Hayasaka Ai as a love rivalry weapon!

In cases of marital infidelity, during divorce asset division, the non-cheating party would have a huge advantage.

Always having leverage over your boyfriend is never a bad thing.

Shinomiya Kaguya, even now, still operated with an old-fashioned mindset — one that only thought about benefits.

Looks like the plan to reform Ojou-sama still had a long road ahead.

But the fact that she gave up her archery club training session to come to the equipment storage room to do this thankless, exhausting task — that actually surprised Sakurai quite a bit.

The Kaguya from last year would never have done something so pointless — when faced with a request from Shirogane, she likely would've ignored it and continued training.

This year was a little better, but not by much.

"As a thank-you, let me treat you to a can of something." Sakurai Saki withdrew his hand from Kouhai-chan's head, then walked out of the gym storage room ahead of her.

Miko followed behind him.

Then they closed the door.

Sakurai Saki turned back once more and looked at the stick lying on the floor. A bold idea suddenly flashed through his mind...

'Meh, forget it.'

Locking Kaguya inside would be too much — she didn't even have her phone on her.

This year, his relationship with her had eased quite a bit. At the very least, they could be considered friends now, so doing something like that wouldn't be right.

With people you can get along with, there's no need to make things tense.

...

The two of them headed toward the vending machine next to the gymnasium.

"Miko-chan, what do you want to drink?" Sakurai Saki asked.

He still didn't know this girl's preferences since they hadn't talked much before.

"Black tea, please." Miko said with hopeful eyes.

(˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶)

This was the first time she'd ever received a physical reward from Sakurai-senpai! Before, it had only ever been verbal praise!

On the nearby sports field, the cheer squad for the upcoming sports festival was practicing——

"Let's go! Let's go!!! Go Red Team!!" The cheer captain was leading everyone through their drills.

"Let's go! Let's go!!! Go Red Team!!"

Very rhythmic, and very lively.

Sakurai Saki's attention was drawn to them.

"Burning hearts!! Flames of passion!!"

The slogan rang out with powerful spirit.

"Ishigami is in the cheer squad for the sports festival this time," Sakurai Saki suddenly said.

Miko used to know Ishigami.

And they had a very bad relationship — Sakurai wanted to hear her thoughts.

"Up to him." Iino Miko sipped her black tea in small gulps.

If Ishigami Yuu could get fired up, study hard, and live positively, then Iino Miko would be happy for him.

She didn't want people who had been treated unfairly to be punished undeservedly, and even more so, she didn't want those who had never been understood to fall into darkness.

The two of them walked closer to the cheer squad.

By the fence of the sports field, Sakurai Saki looked over and said——

"He's trying. Honestly, just the fact that someone wants to change — that alone is already amazing."

Being conservative and acting out of habit is human nature.

The fact that Ishigami Yuu was able to step out of his comfort zone this time was something neither Sakurai Saki nor Shirogane Miyuki had expected — it was truly a miracle.

Maybe it was to respond to the expectations of the student council members, or maybe it was that he himself wanted to change, but whatever the reason, it was admirable.

"That senpai girl... she's really pretty." Miko held the bottle in both hands, her cute little face filled with amazement.

"Oh, her? Her name is Koyasu Tsubame. She's the most popular beauty among the third-years," Sakurai Saki said casually while taking a sip of his coffee.

He hadn't interacted with her much.

"..." Miko stared at Koyasu Tsubame, a little dazed.

"Miko-chan, do you want to be liked like she is?" Sakurai Saki guessed.

"I couldn't possibly, I'm just an introvert, completely the opposite of that kind of sunny personality." Miko said with a discouraged tone.

Miko: (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

"Stand proud, you're very charming too." Sakurai Saki said seriously.

After speaking, he patted Miko's head again.

"You don't have to become someone else. Just be yourself."

Miko looked up at him.

As expected, senpai was so gentle — just like a white horse prince.

...

Beside the sports field, Ishigami Yuu wiped sweat from his forehead.

Next to him, the blonde girl Onodera Rei made a sarcastic remark: "With stamina that bad, and you still joined the cheer squad."

"If I can even show my face at school after everything, why wouldn't I dare to join the cheer squad?" Ishigami Yuu panted as he spoke.

In the past, he had been misunderstood as a stalker, as scum who assaulted a romantic rival to steal someone's girlfriend.

But hadn't he still come to school as usual?

Not far away, a loud shout rang out——

"Ishigami!!!!!!! You got this!!"

Ishigami Yuu turned to look — it was Sakurai Saki.

Sakurai smiled at him, and Ishigami Yuu returned the smile.

Just living up to the expectations of the people who matter to him — that was enough. The reason he joined the cheer squad, wasn't it to live up to the expectations of Sakurai-senpai, Myuu-senpai, and Shinomiya-senpai?

Ishigami Yuu turned back, and in his eyes, flames seemed to flicker to life.

A few seconds later——

"Fever!! Fever!! Aim for victory!! Red Team!!"

The cheer rang out once again, and Ishigami Yuu's voice echoed especially loud in the crowd.