hate these kinds of things too." Kasumi turned her head towards Minami and winked.

During recess time Minami managed to avoid being the center of the usual crowd. However that was only because second period was a practical class and they couldn't do that while moving towards the classroom. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be that easy to dodge during lunch break. The number of classmates who thought this would be the best time to talk freely weren't just one or two.

More than half of Class-C stood up as soon as the bell rang to signal the end of the morning classes.

"Sakurai-san, you're going to the Student Council Room right? Let's go together."

However, the one who was the fastest in inviting her was Kasumi.

In a sense, it was a natural result since the seating arrangements for the First Year’s was the traditional gender-based syllabic order. Kasumi's family name was, of course, ‘Saegusa’ while Minami's was ‘Sakurai’. In other words, Kasumi's seat was just in front of Minami. So it was indeed natural that, given everyone reacted at the same time, Kasumi would be the first to reach her.

"Ah.. Yes."

Minami was slightly surprised at this sudden conversation. Her surprise was understandable, after all, despite the fact they had been classmates for nine months now, it was the very first time that Kasumi directly invited her somewhere.

Kasumi didn't have anything against Minami herself. Since she was a close acquaintance of Tatsuya's however, she kind of avoided her up until now. And suddenly, this happened. Minami wasn't the only one who was surprised.

"Come on, let's go."

Being urged on by Kasumi, Minami reached the bag that contained her bento-box in a bit of a panic and stood up from her seat.

"Well, Saegusa-san."

They were headed towards the stairs leading to the Student Council Room when Minami matched Kasumi's pace and started up a conversation, her expression was that of someone who had a few questions.

"Hmm, what is it?"

After stealing a glance at Minami, Kasumi replied with a curt question.

"Just like this morning, thank you very much for what you did. However, may I ask why you are helping me."

Up until now Kasumi never gave Minami any reason to think she disliked her, but it's not like she gave her any reason to think she liked her either. That certainly wasn't just an impression on Minami's part. It was a fact that there had never been any degree of conversation above the expected minimum between the two classmates. Minami herself never really tried to proactively talk to Kasumi, hence why she still couldn't understand the reason behind her actions.

"I told you before. That I hate these kinds of things."

The smile that Kasumi turned towards Minami seemed a little awkward. The reason was that being openly told by someone who you aren't well acquainted with to begin with, ‘you helped me’, was a little too much for Kasumi, in other words she was shy.

"I know how these sort of things feel like. They likely don't have any bad intentions, they’re just satisfying their curiosity, but they can get pretty insensitive sometimes."

"You're right."

Minami wasn't hurt because of the barrage of inconsiderate questions in itself but by the fact that there were a lot of questions she couldn't answer due to her position. Still, since she also wanted the other side to take her feelings into account, she couldn't help but nod at Kasumi's words.

"Sigh. I also have had quite a few bad experiences."

Minami understood that she was trying to cheer her up. Kasumi unintentionally referred to herself using ‘Boku’, something she had never done at school.

Kasumi didn't notice her blunder.

When it reached her ears, Minami was a bit taken aback, due to her training as a servant however she managed to keep a straight face.

? ? ?

Saturday, January 12th, it was the first weekend since the beginning of the new school semester.

Even though the classes on Saturday were only in the morning, the dining hall was still left open for the students with Club activities and members of the Committee. Erika, Leo and Mizuki had Club activities while Mikihiko had his duties as a member of the Disciplinary Committee, they all gathered in the dining room to prepare for the afternoon.

Compared to a month ago, the number of people present during their lunch break had been halved. Since Tatsuya, Miyuki, and Honoka were members of the Student Council they should be having lunch in the Student Council Room —— though in Tatsuya and Miyuki’s case, it seems that since the beginning of the new school semester until yesterday they had taken their lunch in secret in another classroom. This is what information Erika had heard from Shizuku.

The reason there wasn't much of a conversation at their table wasn't only because of their decreased number. The usual mood-maker, Erika, her expression and her every gesture were practically oozing of irritation.

Maybe Mikihiko thought it was best to quickly disperse, he finished his lunch in a hurry and was about to stand up from his seat.

"Miki, wait for a bit."

However, Erika who forced him to sit down again stopped his movement dead in its tracks.

"What is it."

In order to hide his trembling due to his escape attempt being found out, he answered with a strong voice.

"Wait until Mizuki finishes her lunch."

Of course, Erika wasn't the type to back down that easily. The one who tremblingly calmed down the two's arguing was Mizuki.

In the end, Mizuki put down her chopsticks on her plate which still had about a third of its original contents left.

Currently, the four of them were sitting in the following order, Erika and Mizuki were next to each other while Leo was in front of Erika.

Erika directed a sharp voice towards Mikihiko, who was sitting diagonally from her.

"Miki, just what are you doing exactly?”

"What do you mean."

Mikihiko once again answered in a strong tone however, his voice was unnaturally stiff.

"I see, so you won't understand unless I say it directly? In that case I will!”

Erika's swung her palm down on the table.

She paid no attention whatsoever to the numerous stares that turned towards her due to the loud sound she had just made.

"I’m asking you why the hell are you avoiding Tatsuya-kun!"

The dining room instantly became silent. Everyone's gazes were concentrated on Erika and Mikihiko. While Erika could ignore the others' stares, Mikihiko didn't have such composure.

"I'm not really.. avoiding him or anything."

"Huh? So you're gonna play dumb?"

Mikihiko faltered in the face of the fire that was in Erika's eyes.

"It's obvious that you're avoiding Tatsuya-kun, even to this idiot over here."

The person Erika was pointing to with her finger was Leo.

"Who are you calling an idiot! ..Putting that aside, Mikihiko. It's just as this tomboy is sayi--"

After having said that, Leo suddenly let out a scream. "Ouch! You..! You have something on your shoe!"

"Don't worry, it's not an iron tip or anything like that."

If you were to ask what just happened, it seems like Erika kicked Leo's leg under the table.

The atmosphere loosened a little. For Mizuki and Mikihiko, this wasn't that rare of an occurrence.

"Sigh.. Somehow I feel exhausted."

This allowed them to take a breather before going right back in, even for Erika, this had been convenient.

"Oh well. Miki, to be honest, I don't even want to hear why you're avoiding Tatsuya-kun. However, if it's just because Tatsuya-kun is from the Yotsuba Family, then it's not a reason to avoid him like you do. If you think it is, then there is no point in calling yourself his friend."

Erika quietly stared at Mikihiko in the eyes. It was because Erika had been so aggressive that Mikihiko had been obstinate a few moments before. However, with such sincere eyes turned towards him, the guilt that he felt deep inside didn't allow him to feign ignorance anymore.

"..It's not because he's a member of the Yotsuba Family. No, to be honest that is one of the reasons. Rather I resent Tatsuya for not telling any of us sooner.”

Despite saying that he was resenting him, the expression that Mikihiko wore was one of regret.

Erika and Leo instinctively looked at each other.

"Wait a second, Mikihiko. Don't you think it's a bit wrong?"

Leo kept on talking to a Mikihiko that couldn't look at him in the eyes.

"Don't you think Tatsuya felt bad being forced to hide this from us? You should understand better than anyone that this was some kind of tradition he had to abide to right?"

"Miki."

Erika sent a sharp voice flying towards a Mikihiko that still didn't show any reaction to Leo's words.

"Let's assume you had heard of this directly from Tatsuya-kun, what would've changed?"

Mikihiko was at a loss for words. No, even if he tried to answer back he was unable to form a coherent response. Using this opportunity, Erika pressed even further.

"If you had heard this from Tatsuya-kun directly, do you think it'd have ended with a simple “Oh, I see”? Do you think you'd have been able to hang out like before? Looking at the way you reacted to this affair, I really don't think that's the case."

Mikihiko couldn't answer back. He couldn't even come up with a makeshift lie.

"In other words, Miki, you're just afraid of the Yotsuba name."

"..What about you Erika."

Mikihiko finally abandoned the tough act he was putting on until now. Taking a defiant attitude, he answered back at Erika with a somewhat pouting voice.

However, that was a silly question.

"What do you think, of course I'm terrified."

For Erika, bluffing about her own weaknesses was something she simply couldn't do.

"He's a member of that Yotsuba Family. If we ever found someone who wasn't afraid after hearing that, he'd just be a gigantic fool. We're way past the limits of the things you can just hear about for the first time and be done with it."

"Then how can you just keep going on like nothing happened!?"

"Isn't it obvious, it’s because we're friends."

Erika answered his question wearing the exact same expression that she had when she admitted that she was afraid earlier.

"The Yotsuba Family is scary. No one knows what they do and it makes me uneasy. But still, Tatsuya-kun is my friend. Even if I don't trust the Yotsuba Family, I trust Tatsuya-kun. And that holds true even if there are a lot of things he needs to hide."

Erika was stared at Mikihiko in the eyes and delivered the finishing blow.

"To begin with, there are things Miki hides from us as well, and they're not limited to a mere 10 or 20 things either."

"That's.."

"I won't let you say that it's not the case. We've been hanging out for a long time after all."

"...."

"It goes for me as well. Things I don't want you guys to know, things that I absolutely don't plan on sharing with you, there are a lot."

Mikihiko looked away awkwardly. The reason was, he actually had an idea as to what her ‘things she doesn’t want known’ was referring to.

"There were things he couldn't share with us? Well of course, we're not married or anything, so isn't it actually normal."

Mikihiko looked away dejectedly. As he was right now, he didn't have any excuses left.

"How come.. Erika and Leo were able to find so quickly the correct way to deal with all of this?"

Outside of Mikihiko's field of view, Erika stole a glance at Leo.

"I guess that's because I’ve never faced a Yotsuba. I don't even know how dangerous Yotsuba Magicians are. However, I know Tatsuya. Despite knowing how dangerous Tatsuya can be, I also know that I can trust him to the end."

Leo felt embarrassed at his own speech and forced a clumsy smile before continuing.

"Well, it might be a misunderstanding. Though I figured it out on my own. I understand why he was keeping silent about it and above all, I trust Tatsuya because he's my friend. Letting this ‘possibility’ ruin our relationship would be stupid."

"Leo.. you're an amazing guy."

Mikihiko wasn't the only one watching Leo with an amazed expression. Erika was the same. When she caught Mikihiko's eyes turning towards her she hurriedly regained her composure.

"Was it the same for you Erika?"

"Not exactly.. Even I wasn't able to immediately come out with the appropriate reaction. However, I didn't need to dwell on it for three or four days."

Erika learned about Tatsuya's lineage in February of last year. Even if she was aware of that fact, the shock she received was exactly the same as the others. However, even if their situations were different, Erika managed to recover from the mental damage in less than a day.

If Erika hadn't suffered the same kind of shock then it would have been impossible for her to understand Mikihiko's dilemma to this extent, that's what he thought. However, he couldn't come to terms with the fact that while he had been indecisive, she had overcome the trauma.

"..I see."

Mikihiko shut his eyes and ceased all movement. His posture didn't have the serenity of someone meditating, but the suffering of an internal conflict.

"..I understand."

After opening his eyes, Mikihiko reported so to Erika.

"I also think of Tatsuya as a friend. I will do my best. On Monday of next week, everything will be settled."

Mikihiko's expression seemed a little refreshed.

Erika smiled with satisfaction, she then turned her eyes towards the nearby Mizuki.

"Mizuki, this goes for you as well."

"Eh!?"

Mizuki's reaction wasn't that of someone who had just been suddenly greeted, rather, it was as if she had just dodged a spear by a hair's breadth.

"You must stop treating Miyuki and Tatsuya-kun so coldly. Even Miki said he'd do his best, so you should be able to do it as well, right?"

"Hmm.."

"You-can-do-it-too, right?"

"Y-Yes.. Understood! I will do something about it!"

Erika forcefully pressed the indecisive-looking Mizuki. "Shibata-san, I will do my best as well. Let's do it together." To answer Mikihiko's words of encouragement,

"..Yes! Let's do our best."

Mizuki cheerfully nodded.

Admonishing Mikihiko in front of Mizuki had been Erika's plan. Erika expected Mizuki to be difficult to persuade if she had tried to do it alone, that's why she first made Mikihiko promise to amend his relationship with Tatsuya, to get her to do the same.

The result was just as she had predicted.

However, as she had planned, faced with the two people who (mentally) held their hands in encouragement, Erika showed an “I can’t stand this” expression and turned her head away.

? ? ?

Due to Erika's (and Leo, a little) persuasiveness, Mikihiko and Mizuki decided to abandon their current attitude towards Tatsuya and Miyuki.

However, fighting her feelings wasn't that easy for Honoka.

She had already decided how she would act towards Tatsuya in the future. However, she had yet to muster the courage to actually do it, not to mention how she should act towards Miyuki.

Honoka honestly thought of Miyuki as a friend.

However, at the same time, she was a strong rival in love. Moreover, she was leading by two or three steps already.

After being admonished by Shizuku, she no longer cared about the fact Tatsuya and Miyuki had deceived her. After all, it seemed like Tatsuya and Miyuki themselves had been deceived.

Still, it wasn't possible for Honoka to smile at them like before. Due to Honoka's behavior, Miyuki herself didn't know how to act and the atmosphere had become awkward between them, it was a vicious cycle.

Even now, Honoka was running away from the Student Council Room and was heading towards the Club Management's Headquarters. Honoka was the Student Council Treasurer. Allowing a supplementary budget to the various Clubs was part of her job. As such, there wasn't anything strange in her visiting the Club Management's Headquarters. However even if the people in her surroundings didn't think it was strange —— she herself knew that she was just avoiding Miyuki. The fact she was actually aware of that fact depressed her even more.

The current head of the Club Management Group was in the same club as Honoka, an acquaintance of hers since their first year, his name was Igarashi. A boy whose temperament was a subtle balance of gentleness and timidity. There was a saying that went “He's neither sugar nor salt” though in Igarashi's case, you could definitely say that he was sugar.

He wasn't to Honoka's taste but in her current emotional state, he was an agreeable partner. He had become a suitable person to speak to when she wanted a change of mood.

"Excuse me. It's Mitsui from the Student Council."

"Please, you may enter."

After she reported her visit through the interphone, the answer didn't come from the speakers, the door opened and she was directly invited in.

The student who had come out was the first year Shippou Takuma.

Even though, at first, there had been a lot of bad rumors about him from his classmates, his attitude greatly changed near the end of April.

His self-assertiveness was just as strong as usual, however he did not feel the need to push it anymore.

His ambitions and desire of taking over leadership was still present, however taking a good look at him, you could notice that his former complacent attitude had for the most part, totally vanished.

Well, to begin with, his hot-blooded nature couldn't be easily changed but he had come to a point where he could honestly apologize and reflect if you pointed out his mistakes.

Above all, anyone could tell that he was putting in the effort to ‘change’ and ‘grow up’, he thus garnered the sympathy and even trust from his classmates.

It had accumulated to a point where during the Nine Schools Competition, he had spontaneously become the manager of the nine first years registered on First High's team.

Without any arrogance, he steadily increased his abilities. As of today, not only his classmates but also various seniors openly recognized his efforts.

Honoka as well bore ill will towards Takuma at first, after the incident with Tatsuya. However, right now, she didn't have a bad impression of him. She could humbly recognize that he was a promising junior.

"Excuse me, I had an appointment with President Igarashi."

"With the President? There was a call just a few moments ago and he had to go out."

Honoka reported that she would be coming over just before going out of the Student Council Room. However, it seems like some sort of trouble had risen. Even though the former President Hattori's efforts had been concentrated on abolishing the stigma that only top students could attain important posts, Igarashi seemed to have had a negative effect on peoples’ attitudes.

Honoka thought it would be great if that was just a coincidence. Even though she shouldn't be one to worry about others' situation considering her own mental state, this was undeniably her good nature speaking. In that respect, Honoka couldn't really complain about Igarashi.

"Was it urgent business?"

While Honoka thought it couldn't be helped and started to go back, she was stopped by Takuma's voice.

"Yes but since he's not present I thought I would come back later."

"Wait a moment please."

Was Takuma in charge of the communications, rather he took the wireless headset that had a microphone attached. It was a device that had integrated brain wave assistance. He put on the headset and turned towards the desktop terminal.

"This is Headquarters, Shippou speaking. ..Mitsui-san from the Student Council is here. ..Yes, understood. I will transmit the message."

Takuma took off the headset and stood up, he then turned towards Honoka.

"Mitsui-senpai, the President asked me to tell you to wait, if possible, as he is on his way."

"On his way.. How long will it take?"

"He wasn't that precise but if we take past examples into account, I would say about five minutes."

Five minutes was roughly the amount of time it would take her to go back to the Student Council Room. Since she didn't really want to go back there yet, Honoka decided to go along with Takuma's recommendation and wait.

(Still, these days, I did nothing but out of office work, the desk work must have been accumulating..)

However, it was especially when she wasn't doing anything that Honoka unintentionally cornered herself the most. This too, was because of her nature.

(It would probably end in the blink of an eye if Tatsuya-san were to help.. Though I can't ask him, it would definitely be awkward..)

(But, Miyuki is sure to handle the task.. Even without me saying anything, and if she was to ask for Tatsuya-san's help.. Then, won't they think that I am unneeded!?)

Honoka made her face go pale by herself. "Um.. Mitsui-senpai, are you feeling unwell?"

If you were to look at her from the outside, then eight or nine times out of ten you'd reach that conclusion. Even if you were someone as self- centered as Takuma.

"Eh!?"

However, in her current state, of course the meaning of that question would fly over Honoka's head. In the first place, she wasn't so much thinking as she was being caught up in intense delusions, she wasn't the type to be able to shelve these sort of thoughts instantly when someone interrupted her.

"Really, it's nothing."

Still, this reaction, no matter how you looked at it was just a bluff.

Takuma thought so as well.

And in his mind, he even added his own explanation.

"Mitsui-senpai, how should I say this.."

"Yes?"

"Um.. I fully understand that this is none of my business but, about the matter with Shiba-senpai.."

"Wait a moment, Shippou-kun? Just what are you talking about?"

A flustered Honoka tried to stop the words coming out of Takuma's mouth.

However, even if Takuma was wrong about Honoka's condition, he certainly wouldn't misunderstand the reason for her depressed attitude.

It was precisely because he was right that Honoka was flustered. What Takuma was about to say, Honoka didn't want to hear it.

"I think you should give up on Shiba-senpai." Despite that, Takuma had said it.

"Stop!"

"But at this rate, Senpai will suffer from it!"

Takuma had changed his attitude these days, his behavior had greatly improved. Still, he hadn't given up on his ambition just yet. He still had hope that as a promising Magician, by making Honoka his ally, he could get close to Shizuku eventually.

But above all, Takuma was attracted to Honoka.

It happened the day Takuma and Kasumi had gone overboard, which ended up with a fight between the Saegusa twins and himself. A lot of people had rebuked him, Honoka however had stretched a helping hand towards him. Speaking objectively, the only thing she did at the time was lean on him and ask “Can you stand?”, it wasn't as if she had lent him her hand or anything.

What started with the one-sided embellishment of that memory hadn't yet bloomed into fully romantic feelings. They didn't really have many occasions to talk to each other either so that description was appropriate.

Though today, by chance, the two of them were all alone, and coincidentally, he also witnessed Honoka's distress due to her unanswered feelings. You could say that Takuma short-circuited, he was running wild.

"Senpai! I’m-!”

Honoka closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands. Takuma stretched his arm towards Honoka's hands.

"Shippou, what are you doing..?"

However, that was as far as he would go. The voice of President Igarashi, who had just arrived at the Headquarters, stopped Takuma's rampage.

Igarashi was not alone. Shizuku walked out abruptly from behind him and stopped in front of Honoka, she buried Honoka's head in her chest.

"Shizuku..?"

"Yeah."

Shizuku gently patted Honoka's back several times to tell her that everything was alright now.

The stiffness left Honoka's body.

Shizuku turned cold eyes towards Takuma while still holding Honoka. "What were you saying?"

The tone of her voice was fitting for the look she was giving him.

"Well, that's.."

Takuma had intended to finish his sentence that started with "I’m-" by saying "I’m worried about you!".

“Trying to seduce someone when they're feeling down, you're the worst."

Shizuku had accused him. Still, it wasn't entirely wrong.

The reason Takuma wasn't able to answer was certainly because he himself was conscious of that.

"Let’s go, Honoka?"

Shizuku took Honoka out of the Club Management's Headquarters. No word of protest came out of Takuma's mouth.

Igarashi, who had come to fulfill his promise, could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded.

? ? ?

That day, Honoka didn't return to her house. As usual they were coming home from school separately from Tatsuya and Miyuki, when they arrived at the station Honoka was ordered by Shizuku to stay at her house.

She didn't even ask if she was okay with it. It was a unilateral decision.

It's not like staying at Shizuku's house was unpleasant or anything. She was aware of her own current indecisiveness and if she was left alone she would probably feel depressed very quickly, that is why Shizuku's invitation was welcomed.

She had dinner with Shizuku's parents, who had hurried back home, and as usual they stepped in the bath together. However, once there, the usual chattering didn't come out.

What differed from usual was the fact that Shizuku took Honoka to her room afterwards.

Honoka had her own room in the Kitayama Family's house. Although it was just a guest room on paper, the reality was that this was a room for her use only. The interior matched Honoka's tastes and you could even find her underwear in the closet.

Though aside from that, there wasn't much Honoka herself used in this room. When Honoka stayed overnight, she would usually hang around in Shizuku's room, and even sleep there in fact. Today however, Shizuku took her towards ‘Honoka's Room’.

Honoka obediently sat on her bed, compared to just a few moments ago however, while she had been wearing a happy expression during dinner, a grim, painful one now floated on her face.

Shizuku sat in front of her.

She kneeled on the floor seiza-style.

Of course, sitting on the bed, Honoka's face was higher. Shizuku looked at the downcast, pained face of Honoka directly.

"Honoka."

"I know.."

Honoka tried to escape Shizuku's look by looking even more downwards.

"You're probably pitying me right now.."

With a trembling voice that threatened to turn into sobbing any minute, Honoka said so.

"Even though I'm completely fine."

"But, you’re making such a face."

"Eh..?"

Honoka lifted her head.

Shizuku's stare hadn't changed from the time she sat on the floor, it was still fixed on Honoka.

"Honoka, this entire week you wore such an expression."

"What kind of expression..?”

"A crestfallen one."

Honoka couldn't help but gape in shock. "It can't be.."

"Even worse than Shippou's."

Without holding anything back, Shizuku pointed that out.

"Everyone in your surroundings who’s looked at you has said the same."

"I don't want that! I don't want others to take pity on me!"

"It doesn't matter what Honoka thinks. They're thinking like that for their own good."

Shizuku, firmly grasped both of Honoka’s hands away from covering her eyes, and she stared straight into her eyes.

"They're showing sympathy because they pity you, but doing so, they can reassure themselves that they're not miserable."

"I'm.. I'm not miserable!"

"Hmm."

Shizuku nodded at the words Honoka managed to squeeze out. Honoka matched Shizuku's gaze by her own volition.

"I know that Honoka isn't miserable. It's just that everyone else doesn't know that."

Shizuku had been looking at nothing but Honoka this entire time.

"They don't know about Honoka's determination. They don't know that Honoka is strong."

Honoka nodded with her eyes.

"That's because Honoka didn't show them that she wasn't miserable."

Shizuku released her hands and stood up. "Honoka."

This time, it was Shizuku who was looking from above. "Monday."

Honoka inhaled with a serious expression on her face. "Show me that there's no reason for anyone to pity you."

Without waiting for either a 'Yes' or a 'No' from Honoka,-->>

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