Volume 1 | Chapter 2: April – Part 2
When the ceremony concluded, the new students were supposed to go to their classrooms. There we will be distributed textbooks of each subject, printouts of this and that, and so on. As first years, we tend to get a lot of paper.
The homeroom teacher of Year 1, Class B was Hibiya Kazuto.
Since I only knew Kazu-nii’s private face, just seeing him stand at the teacher’s platform being all teacher-like was laughable enough. Well, I felt bad for him if I laughed here, so I did my best to hold it back.
I wanted a seat at the back so that I can check on Maria-jou’s actions during class time too. But seats at the back were popular. If everyone got their own choices, they will probably choose the back. That’s why Kazu-nii gave directions and made us all sit in order of our student number.
Maria-jou was at the front of the row by the hallway side. It’s a spot where she’ll meet eyes with Kazu-nii before anyone else every morning when he comes into the classroom.
“I’m Class B’s homeroom teacher, Hibiya. I’ll be teaching Math. This is my first time being a homeroom teacher, so I want you all to go easy on me,” Kazu-nii said to us before smiling sweetly. I could tell how the girls here were getting excited. “My hobby is listening to music. Jazz, rock…… I listen to some of the recent music these days too. I’m good at karaoke, so make sure you invite your teacher to the wrap-up parties, okay? Also I’m an advisor for the student council. ……Do you have any questions?”
“Yes! Do you have a lover~?” One of the courageous girls asked.
“I wonder about that~” Kazu-nii easily eluded the question.
I didn’t know he was an advisor for the student council. Come to think of it, there were lots of times when Kazu-nii goes to school on the weekend. When I asked in the past, he said he was supervising supplementary lessons. He might have also worked with the student council. Maybe it’s cause he can’t go on dates on the weekends, Kazu-nii’s been single since he became a teacher.
Then again, he didn’t have a long-going girlfriend in his university years. I think there’s a problem on Kazu-nii’s side too.
“Is that all the questions? If there’s anything you want to ask, you can follow-up with me later. I’ll warmly welcome any questions on your lessons.”
There were girls who looked like they wanted to ask more, but Kazu-nii cut them down easily and continued on.
“Next, I’ll have you all introduce yourself. After that, I want to decide your class representative. Their job will be mostly doing odd tasks for me. Make sure you prepare yourself.”
To be blunt, a class rep is a troublesome position. Kazu-nii said he’ll make them do a lot odd tasks too. I wanted to avoid it if I can. Even if it’s a chance to get close to a cool, single teacher, there weren’t many people who’ll volunteer themselves to hassle out of their free will. The girls looked at one another. As for the guys, they were throwing ‘you do it’ auras at each other.
First things first, we all introduce ourselves. It goes without saying Maria-jou’s introduction got the most cheers from our class. Also, I properly confirmed the guy who sat beside me in the entrance ceremony was named ‘Tsuchiya Yousuke’.
Later Kazu-nii tried to recruit volunteers for the class rep, but not a single person raised their hand up.
“If there aren’t any volunteers, then I’ll pick from the student…… Ah, no,” Kazu-nii hesitated. I’m guessing he was planning to pick according to our student numbers. The problem is the first person according to our student numbers would be Maria-jou. I don’t think there would be a problem if he picks a different number.
Sadly, Kazu-nii isn’t flexible in weird places such as this. Come to think of it, how did it go in the game? I tried to see Maria-jou’s reaction. She was looking up at Kazu-nii with a bright smile.
Kazu-nii’s eyes shifted left and right.
“……Niimi, you turned your eyes from me just now. How does being a class rep sound?”
What the hell!?
This is a bit of a worrying situation. Personally, I wanted to stay away from a troublesome role of a class representative. However, I also didn’t want to make any moves that will put me in Maria-jou’s eyes. Still if I refuse right here, I feel like I’ll end up standing out anyways though.
“…….If it’s the vice class rep then…” I made the greatest compromise I could. Kazu-nii smiled wryly. I think he might have understand the conflict rolling inside me.
“I see. ……If I recall correctly, the student with the highest marks in the entrance exam in this class was Shibuya. How does it sound?”
The student Kazu-nii nominated was a docile-looking boy with glasses. His face was rather graceful and what stood out to me was how beautiful his posture was. He looked diligent for sure; I had a feeling like he wasn’t very friendly.
“I don’t mind,” his answer was also quiet. Judging by his reaction, he probably expected the teacher will call him. Maybe he was also a class representative back in middle school.
“Then Shibuya will be our class representative and Niimi will be our vice. Everyone, make sure to properly cooperate with these two. Oh, and the two of you, be sure to come to the staffroom afterwards to pick up the class materials.”
“Yes sir~” Everyone gave a well-behaved reply. Just like this the class rep election ended easily.
I sneak a glance at Maria-jou again. She looks like she was surprised, but it was just for a second. Maria-jou affirmed me and the new class rep’s face like the rest of the students before turning her eyes back to Kazu-nii.
No thanks to Kazu-nii, I got elected to a troublesome role. But what I need to do hasn’t changed one bit. I’m going to research on Maria-jou’s actions and behavior.
When Kazu-nii left the classroom, the class swarmed around Maria-jou who dropped her eyes to look at the printouts handed to everyone. It was only natural people wanted to get close to an extremely beautiful girl like Maria-jou. Both boys and girls greeted her; the one who stood out the most was a girl who had a good figure like a model. Maria-jou greeted the classmates back, but it was to this model-looking girl Maria-jou reacted differently.
Maria-jou’s cheeks flushed as she smiled quite happily. The model-looking girl also replied back with a smile.
“My name is Matsuri Kyouko. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too! Can I call you Kyouko-chan? I’ll be happy if you call me by my name too.”
The two of them shook hands. I have to say, they do make a picture. They are way too beautiful. I want to put this picture in a frame and hang it.
I pricked up my ears to listen into their conversation. It seems Kyouko-jou proclaims to be informed about lots of things and plans to join the reporting club. This said club’s activities include broadcasting during lunch and hosting events. They also make and put up posters announcing events, so the reporting club is something like a broadcasting club and newspaper club mixed together.
Since Maria-jou hasn’t decided a club yet, the two of them decided to check out the clubs together later. Of course, the people around them who wanted to become friends didn’t keep quiet. In the end, ten people joined in the their tour to see what clubs were around.
And young man Tsuchiya’s reaction in this whole event was quite easy to read. How should I put this — he was in a bad mood. It seems like all the classmates who tried to get close to Maria-jou has now become his enemy. And Maria-jou, who may or may not have noticed, didn’t invite Tsuchiya-shounen with her. They looked close in their reunion scene though, but maybe there weren’t that close to each other.
“Niimi-san.”
Now then, I really wanted to join in that gang to research Maria-jou, but there were other things I had to do. I turned my eyes to our class rep who called out to me.
“We have to get the materials from where Sensei is soon.”
“Yes~ Jeez, if only Sensei brought all of the textbooks with him to begin with…” I sighed.
I got stuck with the job of heading to the staffroom with Shibuya-iinchou.
We were handed a huge pile of materials in the staffroom. I could see us working our butts off to carry them back. In a shoujo manga, the boys would carry all the things for the girl. However, there was no way I can do such a cruel thing like make Iinchou carry textbooks for the whole class by himself.
Which is why we went and borrowed a dolly and put all the materials on top of it. Us checking out the staffroom wasn’t in vain! There was a dolly cart after all.
“What’s this? It looks like I didn’t need the both of you then,” Kazu-nii said while laughing. That was definitely rude of him. There was a pretty crazy amount to carry if we didn’t have a dolly! There were four cardboard boxes of materials!
Also, the dolly could only be pushed by one person. When I did, Iinchou ended up with empty hands. He looked a little troubled before he timidly opened his mouth.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll push the cart.”
“I’m fine though? ……But, okay. Let’s take turns pushing it. Plus when you put this much weight on the cart, it gets really heavy. It’s hard to make sharp turns and you can’t open doors like this either. Let’s help each other out in situations like that. In fact, I think it’s better to have someone around,” I suggested to him.
Iinchou looked relieved when he heard me say that.
It seems like he was a good person after all. Maria-jou should capture targets like him, I thought to myself as we went down the hallway. Once we reached the end, we’ll have to climb up the stairs next. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have an elevator. We have no choice but to unload everything and carry it up. Still, there’s two of us. It’ll work out somehow, I bet.
While I was thinking that, we encountered a rather unexpected scene.
Seika Maria Secondary Academy was divided into three main buildings. The west building was where all the classrooms for the second and third years are. The east building was where the first years are, while the middle building was for the staffroom and special classrooms.
Otherwise, there were buildings such as the auditorium, gymnasium, the clubs building, and so on in the school grounds. But the main were the three above.
The main school buildings were built in a U-shape. Right in the center was a fountain and the front garden where the cherry blossoms were planted, which connects to the main entrance. Also, there were corridors connecting the west to the center and the east to the center in the buildings. They came complete with roofs to provide shelter from the rain.
Currently, Iinchou and I were walking in the corridor connecting the middle building to the east. From here, we could see the fountain and cherry blossoms quite well.
In that direction, there was a skirmish going on.
From what I can tell from this distance, there were two girls by the fountain and three guys surrounding them. The guys looked like our seniors, and they all seemed slackers to me. They dressed sloppily. With the way how boorish their smile were, I doubt they behaved well.
“Just sayin’, how ‘bout spending some time with us? Huh?”
“The both of ya are super cute. You’re new here, right?”
“We’ll teach ya all you need to know ‘bout this school.”
The three seniors looked like they were trying to hit on the two girls. The girls didn’t want to go with them no matter how you looked at it.
There was a frightened long-haired beauty and a tough-looking short-haired one. They were Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou. I wanted to talk to those two because they make a picture together, but where the heck did the classmates who went with them disappeared off to?
“Don’t touch Maria!” Kyouko-jou shouted, slapping away one of the guy’s hands who was about to grab Maria-jou’s arm.
But it looked like that ticked him off and the guy’s face contorted. “Hm~? You should have just be good and nodded your head while we’re still acting like gentlemen here.”
“I don’t hate tough girls though. But the little bunny girl is all scared, ya know? Isn’t she pitiful?”
They’re just like low-level thugs! How are they acting like gentlemen? And little bunny?! What age did people ever used that term?!
There were several things I wanted to question. In any case, even if I wasn’t involved in this, I couldn’t help but look around us anxiously. If someone doesn’t peacefully intervene, it might end badly.
That was when I realized the ‘scene’ was already arranged. I stopped myself halfway from running into the group.
“Niimi-san? What’s wrong?” Iinchou asked. It’s only now that he belatedly saw the scene at the fountain. His eyes widened and looked like he wondered what he should do. I went and stopped him.
“It’s alright,” I said to him with a hushed voice. Even now, the scene progressed.
One of the seniors tried to grab Maria-jou’s arm forcibly.
“Kya……!” Maria-jou tried to avoid him and ended up losing her balance, and fall down.
At that very moment, that guy’s wrist was twisted from behind. The culprit must have snuck up without them noticing. A new guy quietly approached from behind the others, and he was taller than anyone else there. On top of that, he used his height to his advantage to look down at the seniors.
“What are you doing?” His voice was flat and low. He sounded so calm to the point it felt out of place.
“Wha……” The three seniors flared up. I’m sure they were pissed off because their flirting didn’t go well. As such, they turn their anger to the newcomer.
In an instant. The newcomer moved smoothly. With the bare amount of movement necessary, he lightly hurled the three seniors away.
Amazing……. I’m guessing he used aikido or something.
The fight ended by the time Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou widened their eyes.
“We’ll remember this!” The three seniors shouted at the same time before running away at full speed.
“……Are you okay?” The girls’ savior asked after a long moment of silence. He took Maria-jou’s arm to help her get up.
The tall male student had almond eyes — he was a good-looking guy who’ll look good in traditional Japanese clothing. However, I thought he was also a little bit scary because of how emotionless he looked. The way he wore his shirt, school uniform jacket, and pants weren’t any different from the other students. Yet it strangely drew out his sternness.
He drew his face to Maria-jou’s until their noses almost touched. Maria-jou was still in shock from being harassed by those low-level thugs. She was surprised by the newcomer’s sudden appearance that she couldn’t react. Her large eyes were wide open, looking back at him. It feels like those two will kiss like this.
The two looked at each other for a while. Eventually, Maria-jou gasped and looked down, her cheeks dyed in pink.
“……? Did you get hit somewhere?” He asked, puzzled.
“Eh? Ah, n-no…….” She stuttered back in reply.
“I guess I have no choice,” he said before he wrapped his arms around Maria-jou……
…….What is this!? He’s doing a princess carryyyyyyy!?
You are amazing, male-student-I-don’t-know!!
He was strong, just like how I imagined with his tall stature. He lightly carried Maria-jou in his arms and walked off without a word. I’m assuming he’s taking her to the infirmary. Even though he was holding a person in his arms, he moved like he didn’t feel the weight at all.
Meanwhile, Maria-jou was in complete chaos. Her face was bright red. She was moving her arms and legs in panic. Frankly speaking, it was dangerous.
“Stop moving. You’ll fall,” he said bluntly.
“Y-Yessss…….!
Maria-jou curled up at the sound of his low voice.
Kyouko-jou watched this scene in mute amazement. Slowly, she took out her cell phone from her pocket and took a picture. Afterwards, she looked like she snapped back to reality and started to panic. It seems like she did that unconsciously.
“Wait! Why didn’t you bring a camera with you, Kyouko!? Ah! Wait a sec! Where are you taking Maria? If you’re going to the infirmary, I’m going to!” She shouted.
I don’t have a doubt Kyouko-jou will start walking around with a camera in hand starting tomorrow. Kyouko-jou clamored as she followed after the two. I saw their backs off and sighed.
Male-student-whose-name-I-do-not-know, I have seen through your true identity! You are a capture target!
That being said, I don’t know his name nor do I know what year he is. It’ll be hard to report properly to Kazu-nii. I’ll nonchalantly probe Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou for details later.
“That was amazing,” Iinchou muttered. He was beside me the whole time I stopped and watched the whole event. He seemed genuinely impressed.
“Yeah. I didn’t think I’ll see a princess carry like that.”
“No, not that. Before the princess carry. The three seniors didn’t look all that strong but he was really amazing to fight three people at once.”
“Ah.” Yeah, Iinchou has point. Saving a girl from low-level thugs isn’t something people can actually do in real life. The princess carry’s impact was so strong that I have forgotten about it though.
“That was probably Katsuragi,” Iinchou continued.
“Katsuragi?”
“Year 1, Class C’s Katsuragi Kyouya. Apparently his family manages a dojo. The girls in our class were talking about him and how they found a good-looking guy who is both tall and stands out……”
“Huh. He’s the same year as us!?” I was really shocked. He was tall and had this mature atmosphere to him. I was so sure he was older than us.
“Niimi-san, are you the type that doesn’t care about rumors?” Iinchou asked me. “……I thought girls are interested in good-looking guys and rumors about then. Like Katsuragi-kun or Tsuchiya-kun.”
“Hmm……” To be honest, it’s not like I’m not interested in rumors. “I don’t have any friends in our class yet, so I haven’t heard any rumors. That’s all, I think. It’s not like I’m not interested in good-looking people. I think appearances are important. I mean, I have fun looking at Aikawa-san and Matsuri-san.”
It’s true that I have a late start in making friends. It’s all because I got elected as vice class rep and ended up getting chased by odd tasks. I’m going to do my best tomorrow.
“By the way, how do you write Katsuragi?” I asked Iinchou.
“‘Katsura’ like ‘Katsura Kogoro’ from the Meiji Restoration and ‘Ki’ like a tree.”
I wonder if Iinchou likes history.
Putting that aside, it’s certain now. Katsuragi with tree. In other words, he is the Thursday target.
He can easily throw other guys away. His family also manages a dojo, so he probably knows his martial arts. He doesn’t look like he’s interested in romance, but personally, I’m interested in how the type of guys like him change after they fall in love.
“Niimi-san? Aikawa-san and Matsuri-san seemed like they are fine, so let’s head off too.”
Oh, I almost forgot. We need to carry the boxes.
“You’re right. Let’s get going,” I agreed.
The event in the game probably wrapped up like this too. For the time being, I need to complete my task at hand.
……I ended up letting down my guard like this, and I didn’t notice. The princess carrying event wasn’t the only event that will happen today.
It all started after we moved the textbooks.
We left the four boxes stacked upon each other in the corner of our empty classroom. To prevent any crime, we also locked the classroom. Iinchou was going to return the key to the staff room, so we said our goodbyes at the door.
I wanted to check out the clubs, but it was too late to start now. At any rate, I have to say, the school at sunset was really melancholic. I could faintly hear clamour from afar, but there was no one in the corridors. It was all so quiet and deserted. It was like the corridor here was cut away from the rest of the world.
Yet, I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t too bad either.
When I climbed down the stairs, I heard bustling voices.
It seems people were gathered in the direction I was heading. I wanted to enjoy the sentimental mood I had a little bit longer, so I changed my path. If I continued down the corridor further, I’ll eventually find another stairway, I thought.
And there was certainly another stairway. However, it was strangely old. It was an emergency stairway with a feeling like it’d lead to a back entrance. In any case, there wasn’t anyone around, so I used it to head back down to the first floor and went outside.
It seems I exited to the back of the school. In front of my eyes was the church. In the morning I went here to check this church, but I didn’t realize there was a route like this at all. As usual, there was a ‘No entry due to contractors’ sign on the door. The difference now was that the door was slightly opened.
Suddenly, I realized a beautiful melody was coming from inside the church. I strained my ears to hear the elegant tone, specific to string instruments.
I was driven by curiosity. Stepping closer to the door, I tried to peek into the church through the gap, focusing my eyes. The church was designed rather simple. Straight through the door was an altar and the walls were stained glasses. The setting sun shone through the stained glasses, making them glitter with light. It was quite beautiful.
Left and right to the road toward the altar were several benches lined one by one.
—In the middle of the church, there was a pretty boy. An angel was playing a violin.
I couldn’t help but be captivated by this beautiful sight.
A short moment later, I heard a sound behind me. I shot up, turning quickly to look around. My eyes caught the sight of a girl. She had silky chestnut-colored hair fluttering behind her in the air as she headed this way.
It’s Maria-jou, I paled. This is…… is an event about to happen right now!?
If that’s true then it’s bad if I’m here.
I didn’t have any choice, so I slid through the door into the church. Immediately, I scotched down between the benches in front of my eyes. Thankfully, neither Maria-jou nor the pretty boy noticed me. I held my breath as I observed the two.
“What a beautiful song……” Maria-jou muttered with a voice like bells ringing as she stepped into the church.
If I had it my way, I would have her wait until the pretty boy finished playing the song. Unfortunately, he stopped with Maria-jou’s appearance.
“Who the heck are you?” the pretty boy asked.
“My name is Aikawa Maria. A new student. Who are you?”
“Huh? Why the heck do I have to tell you my name?”
“Cause I told you mine. Don’t you think you should do the same?”
“……What a cheeky woman.”
“Fufufu. Really? People tell me that a lot.”
Their conversation reached my ears clearly. I bet they had no idea someone was listening in. Still, I have to say, the pretty boy looked like an angel but he was rather thorny.
“Hey, play a bit more,” Maria-jou asked.
“I don’t want to. Why the heck would I have to listen to you?” the pretty boy replied.
“Cause, it sounded really beautiful. You’re an amazing player. But…… I wonder why. This is the first time I heard a song that made me feel so sad.”
“…….Sad?” That was a comment the pretty boy didn’t expect. He looked bewildered.
“Huh……. I wonder why. Tears are……”
“W-What’s with you…… D-Don’t cry all of the sudden.”
“It’s your fault. Your song……. It was too beautiful. Your feelings in the song conveyed to me and I can’t help but feel sad…….”
“H-Hey……”
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry. I’ll go now,” Maria-jou said.
“………!”
“I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
“………Again.”
“Eh?”
“You can come again, if you want. I’ll make you cry.”
“You’re supposed to say I’ll play for you again here. But……. Yeah, then I’ll see you again. Next time, tell me your name.”
Maria-jou’s skirt fluttered lightly in the air before she left the church.
Her footsteps grew fainter and fainter. …….Actually, what did she even come here for? Was she lured by the pretty boy’s song?
As for the pretty boy who was left behind… He moved to play his violin once more before he muttered quietly, “I’m not in the mood anymore.”
“What the heck was up with her?” he said to himself as he prepared to leave. “……I went out of my way to find a place where Aniki couldn’t find me. Yet she went and bothered me instead.”
It looks like the church was his hiding place.
But you know you’re really conspicuous, right? I almost came into this church before Maria-jou. Won’t it be better if you ask the music teacher if you can borrow a soundproof room? I had such sarcastic retorts but I decided to tuck them away into my heart.
I continued to hide myself behind the church benches, waiting until the pretty boy was completely gone.
Volume 1 | Chapter 2: April – Part 2
When the ceremony concluded, the new students were supposed to go to their classrooms. There we will be distributed textbooks of each subject, printouts of this and that, and so on. As first years, we tend to get a lot of paper.
The homeroom teacher of Year 1, Class B was Hibiya Kazuto.
Since I only knew Kazu-nii’s private face, just seeing him stand at the teacher’s platform being all teacher-like was laughable enough. Well, I felt bad for him if I laughed here, so I did my best to hold it back.
I wanted a seat at the back so that I can check on Maria-jou’s actions during class time too. But seats at the back were popular. If everyone got their own choices, they will probably choose the back. That’s why Kazu-nii gave directions and made us all sit in order of our student number.
Maria-jou was at the front of the row by the hallway side. It’s a spot where she’ll meet eyes with Kazu-nii before anyone else every morning when he comes into the classroom.
“I’m Class B’s homeroom teacher, Hibiya. I’ll be teaching Math. This is my first time being a homeroom teacher, so I want you all to go easy on me,” Kazu-nii said to us before smiling sweetly. I could tell how the girls here were getting excited. “My hobby is listening to music. Jazz, rock…… I listen to some of the recent music these days too. I’m good at karaoke, so make sure you invite your teacher to the wrap-up parties, okay? Also I’m an advisor for the student council. ……Do you have any questions?”
“Yes! Do you have a lover~?” One of the courageous girls asked.
“I wonder about that~” Kazu-nii easily eluded the question.
I didn’t know he was an advisor for the student council. Come to think of it, there were lots of times when Kazu-nii goes to school on the weekend. When I asked in the past, he said he was supervising supplementary lessons. He might have also worked with the student council. Maybe it’s cause he can’t go on dates on the weekends, Kazu-nii’s been single since he became a teacher.
Then again, he didn’t have a long-going girlfriend in his university years. I think there’s a problem on Kazu-nii’s side too.
“Is that all the questions? If there’s anything you want to ask, you can follow-up with me later. I’ll warmly welcome any questions on your lessons.”
There were girls who looked like they wanted to ask more, but Kazu-nii cut them down easily and continued on.
“Next, I’ll have you all introduce yourself. After that, I want to decide your class representative. Their job will be mostly doing odd tasks for me. Make sure you prepare yourself.”
To be blunt, a class rep is a troublesome position. Kazu-nii said he’ll make them do a lot odd tasks too. I wanted to avoid it if I can. Even if it’s a chance to get close to a cool, single teacher, there weren’t many people who’ll volunteer themselves to hassle out of their free will. The girls looked at one another. As for the guys, they were throwing ‘you do it’ auras at each other.
First things first, we all introduce ourselves. It goes without saying Maria-jou’s introduction got the most cheers from our class. Also, I properly confirmed the guy who sat beside me in the entrance ceremony was named ‘Tsuchiya Yousuke’.
Later Kazu-nii tried to recruit volunteers for the class rep, but not a single person raised their hand up.
“If there aren’t any volunteers, then I’ll pick from the student…… Ah, no,” Kazu-nii hesitated. I’m guessing he was planning to pick according to our student numbers. The problem is the first person according to our student numbers would be Maria-jou. I don’t think there would be a problem if he picks a different number.
Sadly, Kazu-nii isn’t flexible in weird places such as this. Come to think of it, how did it go in the game? I tried to see Maria-jou’s reaction. She was looking up at Kazu-nii with a bright smile.
Kazu-nii’s eyes shifted left and right.
“……Niimi, you turned your eyes from me just now. How does being a class rep sound?”
What the hell!?
This is a bit of a worrying situation. Personally, I wanted to stay away from a troublesome role of a class representative. However, I also didn’t want to make any moves that will put me in Maria-jou’s eyes. Still if I refuse right here, I feel like I’ll end up standing out anyways though.
“…….If it’s the vice class rep then…” I made the greatest compromise I could. Kazu-nii smiled wryly. I think he might have understand the conflict rolling inside me.
“I see. ……If I recall correctly, the student with the highest marks in the entrance exam in this class was Shibuya. How does it sound?”
The student Kazu-nii nominated was a docile-looking boy with glasses. His face was rather graceful and what stood out to me was how beautiful his posture was. He looked diligent for sure; I had a feeling like he wasn’t very friendly.
“I don’t mind,” his answer was also quiet. Judging by his reaction, he probably expected the teacher will call him. Maybe he was also a class representative back in middle school.
“Then Shibuya will be our class representative and Niimi will be our vice. Everyone, make sure to properly cooperate with these two. Oh, and the two of you, be sure to come to the staffroom afterwards to pick up the class materials.”
“Yes sir~” Everyone gave a well-behaved reply. Just like this the class rep election ended easily.
I sneak a glance at Maria-jou again. She looks like she was surprised, but it was just for a second. Maria-jou affirmed me and the new class rep’s face like the rest of the students before turning her eyes back to Kazu-nii.
No thanks to Kazu-nii, I got elected to a troublesome role. But what I need to do hasn’t changed one bit. I’m going to research on Maria-jou’s actions and behavior.
When Kazu-nii left the classroom, the class swarmed around Maria-jou who dropped her eyes to look at the printouts handed to everyone. It was only natural people wanted to get close to an extremely beautiful girl like Maria-jou. Both boys and girls greeted her; the one who stood out the most was a girl who had a good figure like a model. Maria-jou greeted the classmates back, but it was to this model-looking girl Maria-jou reacted differently.
Maria-jou’s cheeks flushed as she smiled quite happily. The model-looking girl also replied back with a smile.
“My name is Matsuri Kyouko. It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too! Can I call you Kyouko-chan? I’ll be happy if you call me by my name too.”
The two of them shook hands. I have to say, they do make a picture. They are way too beautiful. I want to put this picture in a frame and hang it.
I pricked up my ears to listen into their conversation. It seems Kyouko-jou proclaims to be informed about lots of things and plans to join the reporting club. This said club’s activities include broadcasting during lunch and hosting events. They also make and put up posters announcing events, so the reporting club is something like a broadcasting club and newspaper club mixed together.
Since Maria-jou hasn’t decided a club yet, the two of them decided to check out the clubs together later. Of course, the people around them who wanted to become friends didn’t keep quiet. In the end, ten people joined in the their tour to see what clubs were around.
And young man Tsuchiya’s reaction in this whole event was quite easy to read. How should I put this — he was in a bad mood. It seems like all the classmates who tried to get close to Maria-jou has now become his enemy. And Maria-jou, who may or may not have noticed, didn’t invite Tsuchiya-shounen with her. They looked close in their reunion scene though, but maybe there weren’t that close to each other.
“Niimi-san.”
Now then, I really wanted to join in that gang to research Maria-jou, but there were other things I had to do. I turned my eyes to our class rep who called out to me.
“We have to get the materials from where Sensei is soon.”
“Yes~ Jeez, if only Sensei brought all of the textbooks with him to begin with…” I sighed.
I got stuck with the job of heading to the staffroom with Shibuya-iinchou.
We were handed a huge pile of materials in the staffroom. I could see us working our butts off to carry them back. In a shoujo manga, the boys would carry all the things for the girl. However, there was no way I can do such a cruel thing like make Iinchou carry textbooks for the whole class by himself.
Which is why we went and borrowed a dolly and put all the materials on top of it. Us checking out the staffroom wasn’t in vain! There was a dolly cart after all.
“What’s this? It looks like I didn’t need the both of you then,” Kazu-nii said while laughing. That was definitely rude of him. There was a pretty crazy amount to carry if we didn’t have a dolly! There were four cardboard boxes of materials!
Also, the dolly could only be pushed by one person. When I did, Iinchou ended up with empty hands. He looked a little troubled before he timidly opened his mouth.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll push the cart.”
“I’m fine though? ……But, okay. Let’s take turns pushing it. Plus when you put this much weight on the cart, it gets really heavy. It’s hard to make sharp turns and you can’t open doors like this either. Let’s help each other out in situations like that. In fact, I think it’s better to have someone around,” I suggested to him.
Iinchou looked relieved when he heard me say that.
It seems like he was a good person after all. Maria-jou should capture targets like him, I thought to myself as we went down the hallway. Once we reached the end, we’ll have to climb up the stairs next. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have an elevator. We have no choice but to unload everything and carry it up. Still, there’s two of us. It’ll work out somehow, I bet.
While I was thinking that, we encountered a rather unexpected scene.
Seika Maria Secondary Academy was divided into three main buildings. The west building was where all the classrooms for the second and third years are. The east building was where the first years are, while the middle building was for the staffroom and special classrooms.
Otherwise, there were buildings such as the auditorium, gymnasium, the clubs building, and so on in the school grounds. But the main were the three above.
The main school buildings were built in a U-shape. Right in the center was a fountain and the front garden where the cherry blossoms were planted, which connects to the main entrance. Also, there were corridors connecting the west to the center and the east to the center in the buildings. They came complete with roofs to provide shelter from the rain.
Currently, Iinchou and I were walking in the corridor connecting the middle building to the east. From here, we could see the fountain and cherry blossoms quite well.
In that direction, there was a skirmish going on.
From what I can tell from this distance, there were two girls by the fountain and three guys surrounding them. The guys looked like our seniors, and they all seemed slackers to me. They dressed sloppily. With the way how boorish their smile were, I doubt they behaved well.
“Just sayin’, how ‘bout spending some time with us? Huh?”
“The both of ya are super cute. You’re new here, right?”
“We’ll teach ya all you need to know ‘bout this school.”
The three seniors looked like they were trying to hit on the two girls. The girls didn’t want to go with them no matter how you looked at it.
There was a frightened long-haired beauty and a tough-looking short-haired one. They were Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou. I wanted to talk to those two because they make a picture together, but where the heck did the classmates who went with them disappeared off to?
“Don’t touch Maria!” Kyouko-jou shouted, slapping away one of the guy’s hands who was about to grab Maria-jou’s arm.
But it looked like that ticked him off and the guy’s face contorted. “Hm~? You should have just be good and nodded your head while we’re still acting like gentlemen here.”
“I don’t hate tough girls though. But the little bunny girl is all scared, ya know? Isn’t she pitiful?”
They’re just like low-level thugs! How are they acting like gentlemen? And little bunny?! What age did people ever used that term?!
There were several things I wanted to question. In any case, even if I wasn’t involved in this, I couldn’t help but look around us anxiously. If someone doesn’t peacefully intervene, it might end badly.
That was when I realized the ‘scene’ was already arranged. I stopped myself halfway from running into the group.
“Niimi-san? What’s wrong?” Iinchou asked. It’s only now that he belatedly saw the scene at the fountain. His eyes widened and looked like he wondered what he should do. I went and stopped him.
“It’s alright,” I said to him with a hushed voice. Even now, the scene progressed.
One of the seniors tried to grab Maria-jou’s arm forcibly.
“Kya……!” Maria-jou tried to avoid him and ended up losing her balance, and fall down.
At that very moment, that guy’s wrist was twisted from behind. The culprit must have snuck up without them noticing. A new guy quietly approached from behind the others, and he was taller than anyone else there. On top of that, he used his height to his advantage to look down at the seniors.
“What are you doing?” His voice was flat and low. He sounded so calm to the point it felt out of place.
“Wha……” The three seniors flared up. I’m sure they were pissed off because their flirting didn’t go well. As such, they turn their anger to the newcomer.
In an instant. The newcomer moved smoothly. With the bare amount of movement necessary, he lightly hurled the three seniors away.
Amazing……. I’m guessing he used aikido or something.
The fight ended by the time Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou widened their eyes.
“We’ll remember this!” The three seniors shouted at the same time before running away at full speed.
“……Are you okay?” The girls’ savior asked after a long moment of silence. He took Maria-jou’s arm to help her get up.
The tall male student had almond eyes — he was a good-looking guy who’ll look good in traditional Japanese clothing. However, I thought he was also a little bit scary because of how emotionless he looked. The way he wore his shirt, school uniform jacket, and pants weren’t any different from the other students. Yet it strangely drew out his sternness.
He drew his face to Maria-jou’s until their noses almost touched. Maria-jou was still in shock from being harassed by those low-level thugs. She was surprised by the newcomer’s sudden appearance that she couldn’t react. Her large eyes were wide open, looking back at him. It feels like those two will kiss like this.
The two looked at each other for a while. Eventually, Maria-jou gasped and looked down, her cheeks dyed in pink.
“……? Did you get hit somewhere?” He asked, puzzled.
“Eh? Ah, n-no…….” She stuttered back in reply.
“I guess I have no choice,” he said before he wrapped his arms around Maria-jou……
…….What is this!? He’s doing a princess carryyyyyyy!?
You are amazing, male-student-I-don’t-know!!
He was strong, just like how I imagined with his tall stature. He lightly carried Maria-jou in his arms and walked off without a word. I’m assuming he’s taking her to the infirmary. Even though he was holding a person in his arms, he moved like he didn’t feel the weight at all.
Meanwhile, Maria-jou was in complete chaos. Her face was bright red. She was moving her arms and legs in panic. Frankly speaking, it was dangerous.
“Stop moving. You’ll fall,” he said bluntly.
“Y-Yessss…….!
Maria-jou curled up at the sound of his low voice.
Kyouko-jou watched this scene in mute amazement. Slowly, she took out her cell phone from her pocket and took a picture. Afterwards, she looked like she snapped back to reality and started to panic. It seems like she did that unconsciously.
“Wait! Why didn’t you bring a camera with you, Kyouko!? Ah! Wait a sec! Where are you taking Maria? If you’re going to the infirmary, I’m going to!” She shouted.
I don’t have a doubt Kyouko-jou will start walking around with a camera in hand starting tomorrow. Kyouko-jou clamored as she followed after the two. I saw their backs off and sighed.
Male-student-whose-name-I-do-not-know, I have seen through your true identity! You are a capture target!
That being said, I don’t know his name nor do I know what year he is. It’ll be hard to report properly to Kazu-nii. I’ll nonchalantly probe Maria-jou and Kyouko-jou for details later.
“That was amazing,” Iinchou muttered. He was beside me the whole time I stopped and watched the whole event. He seemed genuinely impressed.
“Yeah. I didn’t think I’ll see a princess carry like that.”
“No, not that. Before the princess carry. The three seniors didn’t look all that strong but he was really amazing to fight three people at once.”
“Ah.” Yeah, Iinchou has point. Saving a girl from low-level thugs isn’t something people can actually do in real life. The princess carry’s impact was so strong that I have forgotten about it though.
“That was probably Katsuragi,” Iinchou continued.
“Katsuragi?”
“Year 1, Class C’s Katsuragi Kyouya. Apparently his family manages a dojo. The girls in our class were talking about him and how they found a good-looking guy who is both tall and stands out……”
“Huh. He’s the same year as us!?” I was really shocked. He was tall and had this mature atmosphere to him. I was so sure he was older than us.
“Niimi-san, are you the type that doesn’t care about rumors?” Iinchou asked me. “……I thought girls are interested in good-looking guys and rumors about then. Like Katsuragi-kun or Tsuchiya-kun.”
“Hmm……” To be honest, it’s not like I’m not interested in rumors. “I don’t have any friends in our class yet, so I haven’t heard any rumors. That’s all, I think. It’s not like I’m not interested in good-looking people. I think appearances are important. I mean, I have fun looking at Aikawa-san and Matsuri-san.”
It’s true that I have a late start in making friends. It’s all because I got elected as vice class rep and ended up getting chased by odd tasks. I’m going to do my best tomorrow.
“By the way, how do you write Katsuragi?” I asked Iinchou.
“‘Katsura’ like ‘Katsura Kogoro’ from the Meiji Restoration and ‘Ki’ like a tree.”
I wonder if Iinchou likes history.
Putting that aside, it’s certain now. Katsuragi with tree. In other words, he is the Thursday target.
He can easily throw other guys away. His family also manages a dojo, so he probably knows his martial arts. He doesn’t look like he’s interested in romance, but personally, I’m interested in how the type of guys like him change after they fall in love.
“Niimi-san? Aikawa-san and Matsuri-san seemed like they are fine, so let’s head off too.”
Oh, I almost forgot. We need to carry the boxes.
“You’re right. Let’s get going,” I agreed.
The event in the game probably wrapped up like this too. For the time being, I need to complete my task at hand.
……I ended up letting down my guard like this, and I didn’t notice. The princess carrying event wasn’t the only event that will happen today.
It all started after we moved the textbooks.
We left the four boxes stacked upon each other in the corner of our empty classroom. To prevent any crime, we also locked the classroom. Iinchou was going to return the key to the staff room, so we said our goodbyes at the door.
I wanted to check out the clubs, but it was too late to start now. At any rate, I have to say, the school at sunset was really melancholic. I could faintly hear clamour from afar, but there was no one in the corridors. It was all so quiet and deserted. It was like the corridor here was cut away from the rest of the world.
Yet, I couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t too bad either.
When I climbed down the stairs, I heard bustling voices.
It seems people were gathered in the direction I was heading. I wanted to enjoy the sentimental mood I had a little bit longer, so I changed my path. If I continued down the corridor further, I’ll eventually find another stairway, I thought.
And there was certainly another stairway. However, it was strangely old. It was an emergency stairway with a feeling like it’d lead to a back entrance. In any case, there wasn’t anyone around, so I used it to head back down to the first floor and went outside.
It seems I exited to the back of the school. In front of my eyes was the church. In the morning I went here to check this church, but I didn’t realize there was a route like this at all. As usual, there was a ‘No entry due to contractors’ sign on the door. The difference now was that the door was slightly opened.
Suddenly, I realized a beautiful melody was coming from inside the church. I strained my ears to hear the elegant tone, specific to string instruments.
I was driven by curiosity. Stepping closer to the door, I tried to peek into the church through the gap, focusing my eyes. The church was designed rather simple. Straight through the door was an altar and the walls were stained glasses. The setting sun shone through the stained glasses, making them glitter with light. It was quite beautiful.
Left and right to the road toward the altar were several benches lined one by one.
—In the middle of the church, there was a pretty boy. An angel was playing a violin.
I couldn’t help but be captivated by this beautiful sight.
A short moment later, I heard a sound behind me. I shot up, turning quickly to look around. My eyes caught the sight of a girl. She had silky chestnut-colored hair fluttering behind her in the air as she headed this way.
It’s Maria-jou, I paled. This is…… is an event about to happen right now!?
If that’s true then it’s bad if I’m here.
I didn’t have any choice, so I slid through the door into the church. Immediately, I scotched down between the benches in front of my eyes. Thankfully, neither Maria-jou nor the pretty boy noticed me. I held my breath as I observed the two.
“What a beautiful song……” Maria-jou muttered with a voice like bells ringing as she stepped into the church.
If I had it my way, I would have her wait until the pretty boy finished playing the song. Unfortunately, he stopped with Maria-jou’s appearance.
“Who the heck are you?” the pretty boy asked.
“My name is Aikawa Maria. A new student. Who are you?”
“Huh? Why the heck do I have to tell you my name?”
“Cause I told you mine. Don’t you think you should do the same?”
“……What a cheeky woman.”
“Fufufu. Really? People tell me that a lot.”
Their conversation reached my ears clearly. I bet they had no idea someone was listening in. Still, I have to say, the pretty boy looked like an angel but he was rather thorny.
“Hey, play a bit more,” Maria-jou asked.
“I don’t want to. Why the heck would I have to listen to you?” the pretty boy replied.
“Cause, it sounded really beautiful. You’re an amazing player. But…… I wonder why. This is the first time I heard a song that made me feel so sad.”
“…….Sad?” That was a comment the pretty boy didn’t expect. He looked bewildered.
“Huh……. I wonder why. Tears are……”
“W-What’s with you…… D-Don’t cry all of the sudden.”
“It’s your fault. Your song……. It was too beautiful. Your feelings in the song conveyed to me and I can’t help but feel sad…….”
“H-Hey……”
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cry. I’ll go now,” Maria-jou said.
“………!”
“I’m sorry for disturbing you.”
“………Again.”
“Eh?”
“You can come again, if you want. I’ll make you cry.”
“You’re supposed to say I’ll play for you again here. But……. Yeah, then I’ll see you again. Next time, tell me your name.”
Maria-jou’s skirt fluttered lightly in the air before she left the church.
Her footsteps grew fainter and fainter. …….Actually, what did she even come here for? Was she lured by the pretty boy’s song?
As for the pretty boy who was left behind… He moved to play his violin once more before he muttered quietly, “I’m not in the mood anymore.”
“What the heck was up with her?” he said to himself as he prepared to leave. “……I went out of my way to find a place where Aniki couldn’t find me. Yet she went and bothered me instead.”
It looks like the church was his hiding place.
But you know you’re really conspicuous, right? I almost came into this church before Maria-jou. Won’t it be better if you ask the music teacher if you can borrow a soundproof room? I had such sarcastic retorts but I decided to tuck them away into my heart.
I continued to hide myself behind the church benches, waiting until the pretty boy was completely gone.
