He Was Famous

"Hey, have you heard? A first-year student from Class D joined the Student Council, and President Horikita personally chose him."

"Can students from Class D even join the Student Council? Did he pull strings to get in?"

"Are you questioning President Horikita's character? As if!"

"True. He must have something going for him. Still, why is he in Class D?"

In just two days, news that Bai Ye had joined the Student Council had spread throughout the school.

The combination of Class D and the president's personal pick was enough to make people curious, and soon everyone knew about it.

Meanwhile, in the Class B group chat.

(So Jingu-kun is that amazing? He's not only handsome, but talented too... What should I do? I think I'm falling for him.)

(I went to the Student Council hallway yesterday and waited for a while. It seems like the rumor's true—he was chatting with Tachibana-senpai.)

"Do you think he has a girlfriend? Should we try confessing to him?"

(Give it up, you guys. Even if someone confesses, Ichinose has the best chance. What makes you think you'd have a shot?)

(No way! Ichinose belongs to Class B. We won't allow even Jingu-kun to take her away!)

When Ichinose Honami opened the group chat, she saw a flood of miscellaneous messages.

Then someone posted a photo.

Her eyes widened slightly.

It was quite a shocking picture.

In it, a boy and a girl were kissing passionately. The girl had her hand on the boy's shoulder, looking as if she wanted to resist but couldn't.

Although the photo was a little blurry, Ichinose could still tell that the boy was Bai Ye. But the girl...

She wasn't the girl she'd seen with Bai Ye last time.

Could this girl be his real girlfriend?

As she pondered, another wave of messages flooded the group chat.

(So he has a girlfriend after all. Who's this girl? She looks really pretty.)

(We should go check out their class next time. Maybe we can find out more.)

(Aaaah! My Jingu-kun's been stolen by that wicked woman!)

Lost in thought, she put away her phone and looked up, only to see a little face watching her closely.

She smiled. "Chihiro, what's wrong?"

"Honami, you don't like that Jingu guy, do you?" Shironami Chihiro asked mournfully.

"Of course not. I'm happy for him. The president thinks so highly of him. He's so much better than someone like me..."

"How can you think that, Honami? You're way better than him! The whole class knows it!"

"Thanks... I'm happy to hear that. Oh, right—could I see the hair clip you bought yesterday?"

Watching Ichinose awkwardly change the subject, Shironami Chihiro puffed out her cheeks, but still replied,

"I'll show it to you when we get back to the dorm."

"Okay, thanks."

The Class D group chat was just as lively.

The girls were amazed that Bai Ye was so impressive, while the boys said he'd just gotten lucky.

Karuizawa Kei idly scrolled through her phone and scoffed at the comments.

Seeing everyone's admiration, she could already imagine Bai Ye surpassing Hirata in popularity in the class.

That left her with even less reason to pretend to be Hirata's girlfriend.

"Just my luck!"

She'd chosen Hirata not only because he was popular, but also because he was so gentle. She'd figured that if she asked him, he'd definitely agree.

But now...

"Do I really have to go beg that guy?"

Without a doubt, dating Bai Ye was the right choice for her now.

She just didn't know what kind of person Bai Ye was. What if he made unreasonable demands...

That aside, the key problem was that he already had a girlfriend. How could she get between them?

Was she supposed to steal him away now?

That would be so embarrassing.

Maybe she should wait for them to break up first...

After all, as far as she was concerned, she was the cutest girl in the class after Horikita, and Kushida had said she wasn't interested in having a boyfriend.

So Bai Ye would probably choose her.

"..."

After thinking it over all night, she decided to take action.

She couldn't stand living like this any longer. She had to give it everything she had.

No matter what it cost her... she didn't care.

Early the next morning, Bai Ye watched a pile of love letters spill out of his shoe locker and instinctively glanced at Horikita beside him.

"What, are you feeling pretty pleased with yourself?" Horikita said coldly.

"Not at all. I just think these people are so fickle. They didn't confess before, but now that I've joined the Student Council, suddenly they're confessing."

He casually glanced through the letters. Most were from upperclasswomen in their second or third year.

Only a few were from first-years.

He picked up all the letters from the floor and put them in a bag.

Horikita teased him again. "Planning to take them back to your dorm and admire them?"

"No. If you want them, you can have them."

"What would I do with those? Make myself miserable? Just throw them away already. Are you planning to cheat on me?"

"Uh... I think I'd better take them back. I just bought a potted plant, and it needs fertilizer."

Only then did Horikita's expression soften.

Just then...

"Jingu-kun is so kind~" said a sweet, adorable voice from behind him. Bai Ye knew who it was without even looking.

"What do you mean?" Horikita asked, puzzled, as the cute girl skipped up to them.

Kushida pointed to the bag of love letters.

"Think about it, Horikita. If he just threw the letters away, someone might find them, and the people who wrote them would be so embarrassed. Jingu-kun chose to deal with them secretly so no one would see them. Someone who wasn't kind wouldn't do that."

"I see." Horikita shifted her gaze to Bai Ye. "I didn't think of that just now. Sorry."

"It's fine."

"Ehh? Horikita, you can apologize?" Kushida covered her mouth with an exaggerated gasp. "I thought..."

"Shut up!" Horikita said coldly. "Don't make comments about people when you don't understand them."

"Ah, I'm terribly sorry!"

Kushida gave a slight bow.

After changing her shoes, Kushida said, "Jingu-kun, one of those letters is from me, too. I suggest you read it carefully."

"Hm?" Horikita looked at Kushida in confusion. The latter smiled at her, then left the shoe lockers in high spirits.

Horikita's gaze returned to Bai Ye.

"Don't believe her. She's probably just trying to annoy you because you keep rejecting her."

Horikita's suspicions eased.

The two of them walked side by side toward their classroom.

That night, when Bai Ye looked through the letters, he really did find one from Kushida.

In cute handwriting, it read:

Bai Ye-kun, can I be your wife? I can even warm your bed every night~

His face went blank.

So he opened his phone and sent Kushida a message, his tone icy:

I accept. Come over.

Kushida: Huh—?