Shiina Hiyori

"Congratulations to Amasawa Yuto for joining the Student Council—and for becoming its first-ever first-year Vice President!"

Teacher Mashima was especially cheerful today as she announced the good news to everyone in Class A.

Meanwhile, Hoshinomiya-sensei was probably telling everyone in Class B that Ichinose had joined the Student Council, too.

One after another, the students cast astonished looks at Amasawa Yuto.

After seeing him show off in swimming class and get a perfect score on the quiz, most of the students had guessed that Amasawa Yuto was probably very capable. He was also close to Sakayanagi, one of the class leaders.

Amasawa Yuto stood and addressed everyone. "I'll do my best. Thank you."

Amasawa Yuto noticed Katsuragi Kohei looking at him with a somewhat complicated expression.

The Student Council Room was unusually lively today.

"Since everyone's here, I'd like to introduce our two new first-year members," Horikita Manabu began.

All the current members of the Student Council were present:

Three third-years:

Student Council President Horikita Manabu, Class 3-A

Secretary Akane Tachibana, Class 3-A

Executive Committee Member Fujimaki, Class 3-A

Two second-years:

Vice President Miyabi Nagumo, Class 2-A

Secretary Kiriyama Ikuto, Class 2-B

Two first-years:

Vice President Amasawa Yuto, Class 1-A

Secretary Ichinose Honami, Class 1-B

"Welcome to our new members~" Akane Tachibana said with a radiant smile, livening up the atmosphere.

But Horikita Manabu, Fujimaki, and Kiriyama Ikuto were all the serious, unsmiling type.

Miyabi Nagumo looked even more displeased.

He'd originally planned to use his privileges as Vice President to bring Ichinose Honami into the Student Council, making the girl grow dependent on him.

It looked like he'd failed at the first step. Ichinose Honami had joined the Student Council on her own.

But that was all right. He was still a senior member of the Student Council, and he'd have plenty of chances to interact with Ichinose.

The only thing that bothered him was that Amasawa had made Ichinose his secretary.

Seeing Ichinose chatting and laughing beside Amasawa, then looking at the unsmiling Kiriyama Ikuto at his own side, Nagumo couldn't help sighing inwardly.

If only his childhood friend, Asahina Nazuna, had been willing to join the Student Council. Then she could have been his secretary. Wouldn't she have been much nicer to look at than a big guy like Kiriyama?

"Thank you for the president's kind support. We'll do our best from here on," Amasawa Yuto said briefly, then left the rest to Ichinose.

Ichinose was every bit the social butterfly of their year. Working together with Akane Tachibana, she soon filled the entire Student Council Room with cheerful chatter.

The Student Council's daily duties involved resolving disputes between students. As exams approached, they also helped set the rules for the tests.

Joining the Student Council came with extra personal points. Members received an additional ten thousand points each month, Vice Presidents received fifteen thousand, and the president received twenty thousand.

And so Amasawa Yuto and Ichinose Honami officially joined the Student Council.

After school, Amasawa Yuto went to the library again.

Yesterday, he'd read too late and arrived just as the librarian was finishing her shift, so he hadn't been able to borrow The Da Vinci Code.

Today, he planned to borrow the book.

He went to the borrowing area on the second floor.

In front of a bookshelf full of mystery novels, a petite girl stood on tiptoe, trying to reach a book on the fourth shelf.

But she was too short. Even as she wobbled and stretched, she could only touch the bottom of the book's spine and couldn't pull it out.

It was the little bookworm from yesterday.

Amasawa Yuto stepped forward and reached to help her get the book.

The absorbed girl hadn't noticed him beside her. She kept reaching for the book, and their fingers touched in front of its spine.

She didn't pull her hand back. Instead, she stared at Amasawa Yuto with a slightly goofy expression. "Oh, it's Mr. 'Da Vinci' from yesterday."

"Sorry, I'm not very good at painting."

Amasawa Yuto took the book down and handed it to her. "Here you go. Is this the one you wanted to read?"

Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights told the story of Heathcliff, whose mad love unleashed a storm of revenge that engulfed two generations.

The girl accepted the book with both hands and stared blankly at its title. Then she shook her head. "It's not that I wanted to read it. It's just in the wrong section, and I wanted to put it on the correct shelf."

"I see. Wuthering Heights is a romance, so the mystery section isn't really the right place for it."

"Did you come to borrow the book you were looking for yesterday?" she asked Amasawa Yuto.

"Yeah. I didn't finish it yesterday, and it was too late—the librarian had finished her shift, so I couldn't borrow it. I wanted to take it home today."

"I see." She nodded. "Thank you again for getting that book down for me."

Amasawa Yuto soon found The Da Vinci Code in the same spot as yesterday and took it downstairs to check it out with the librarian.

But when he reached the first floor, the librarian, who'd been there when he came in, was nowhere to be seen.

There was still some time before closing.

While he waited, Amasawa Yuto leaned against the counter and started reading.

"Is something wrong?"

Someone asked softly. Amasawa Yuto lowered his book. The blue-haired girl from earlier had somehow come to stand beside him, meeting his gaze.

Her eyes were large and the color of amethysts.

"It looks like the librarian stepped away, so I can't borrow the book yet," Amasawa Yuto replied.

"The librarian had something to take care of, so she asked me to watch the counter and handle any borrowing requests." As she spoke, the girl went behind the counter, sat down, and started working on the computer.

So that was why she'd come down from the second floor to the counter.

"I come to the library a lot, so I know the librarian well. I can check the book out for you." The girl held out both hands to Amasawa Yuto.

Amasawa Yuto handed her his student ID and the book.

She was very practiced. In no time, she'd finished checking out the book for him.

Looking at Amasawa Yuto's student ID, she entered his information. "Amasawa... Yuto... So I finally know your name," she murmured.

What was that last part supposed to mean?

"Here you go." The smiling girl handed him back his student ID and the book.

"Why are you suddenly so happy? Did something good happen just now?"

"Huh? Oh... I suppose you could say that, Amasawa-kun. Oh, right, would you like a bookmark?"

Amasawa wondered what the girl was called. Had she never told him?

The girl took a paper bookmark from inside the counter and handed it to him.

"I don't think I know your name yet."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm Shiina Hiyori from Class 1-C."

The girl gave him a gentle smile. She took out a pen and wrote two strings of characters on the back of the bookmark, then grabbed another one and handed both to him.

Amasawa Yuto looked at the characters on the bookmarks. The top line was made of numbers, and the bottom line was made of letters.

"23·13·34·11·58·21"

"ii"

(A little puzzle. It's just arranged according to the Fibonacci Sequence.)