Are you okay?
Looking at the girl, who seemed to have social anxiety syndrome, Ayanokoji couldn't help worrying about her.
A few seconds later, perhaps feeling she'd been rude, the pink-haired girl tucked her bangs behind her ear and slowly took off her mask.
As the white fabric came away, her soft pink lips were revealed, followed by skin as smooth and fair as jade and a delicate, high nose bridge.
Her cheeks were flushed. Even the slightly outdated, rimless glasses couldn't completely hide her dazzling beauty, and her clear, bright eyes held a hint of timidity.
Huh? Wasn't she gorgeous?
Ayanokoji had assumed she wore a mask and glasses to hide some flaw. After all, at a school where the average student was handsome or beautiful, anyone below average might develop an inferiority complex and start doubting themselves.
As it turned out, he'd been overthinking it.
As expected, there were no ugly people in anime!
One glance was enough to tell: she was a pretty girl with cripplingly low self-esteem and social anxiety.
After a while, the girl's pink lips trembled slightly before she slowly spoke. "S-sorry for causing you trouble..."
"It's fine. I was just helping out."
Ayanokoji looked at her indifferently. She really was too reserved.
And he couldn't shake the feeling that she looked familiar.
As if he'd seen her somewhere before.
But he didn't dwell on it. In his previous life, he'd been bad with faces, and the Ayanokoji of this life was indifferent to the people around him, so he didn't feel like asking who she was.
After a moment of silence, Ayanokoji took out his phone and said calmly, "Give me your contact information. When the camera gets shipped to me, I'll bring it to you."
"Huh?"
At the words "contact information," the girl's slender body gave a reflexive shudder. She froze for two seconds before taking the phone Ayanokoji held out to her.
She entered her number, then handed the phone back.
"Okay, thank—"
"No need to thank me. I helped because I wanted to."
Ayanokoji looked at her indifferently, his expression still calm.
"I'll contact you when it arrives. Just pick a time when you're free, and we can meet to exchange it."
As he spoke, Ayanokoji turned around, raised one hand, and waved goodbye to her.
They'd only just met, after all. It wasn't as if he should expect her to treat him to afternoon tea.
He preferred to do a good deed, leave without fanfare, and keep his good work to himself.
Behind him, the pink-haired girl stood rooted in place, gazing at his retreating figure. She felt an inexplicable sense of safety and trust.
On closer examination, that sense of safety seemed to come from the way the boy looked at her. Unlike everyone else's, his gaze wasn't strange or curious, and it didn't make her uncomfortable.
Perhaps he was a very kind person.
"Thank you, Ayanokoji-kun."
Watching the boy's back, the pink-haired girl murmured softly.
However, the truth wasn't what the girl imagined.
Ayanokoji simply had a pair of dead-fish eyes that had been unfocused for years.
At that moment, he was using those dead-fish eyes to browse the club recruitment flyers on a wall.
Soccer Club... Basketball Club... Light Music Club... Art Club...
None of them interested him!
Come to think of it, joining a club could also earn you some special points to spend on club activities. He remembered the Student Council members explaining that at the start of the school year.
Hirata was in the Soccer Club. He'd ask him about the details sometime.
As he pondered this, his gaze accidentally fell on a girl coming out of the clubhouse.
She held a stack of papers that looked like brochures to her chest, her brow furrowed and her eyes lowered. She looked rather downcast.
After pausing briefly, the girl walked toward him, apparently intending to put the brochures up on the noticeboard.
When she reached his side, Ayanokoji quietly moved one place to the left, giving her room to choose wherever she wanted to post them.
He also caught sight of the ribbon on her chest, different from his own, and figured she was an upperclassman.
Noticing Ayanokoji's small gesture, the girl smiled and nodded, then picked a spot and began putting up the flyers.
"Student Council recruitment. Interested students with strong mental fortitude can come to the Student Council Room for an interview at four every Wednesday afternoon..."
Reading the flyer, Ayanokoji murmured unconsciously.
"If you have time and enough confidence, you can give it a try."
The girl, who had her hair tied up in a bun, seemed to hear Ayanokoji's almost self-directed comment. As she put up the poster, she casually struck up a conversation.
"However..."
She suddenly stopped and looked him over. "It's best not to get your hopes up too much."
"..."
That was blatant contempt.
Who was she looking down on?
But he didn't take it to heart. After all, he did look like an ordinary student, completely unremarkable, with a strangely low presence.
What caught his attention was the wording on the flyer: "Interested students with strong mental fortitude..." What kind of demonic recruitment pitch was that?
"Senpai, the Student Council has pretty high standards, doesn't it?"
Ayanokoji knew it was an obvious question.
The girl with the bun sighed softly before speaking. "They weren't so high in the past, but..."
"The current president is pretty picky when choosing people. Unless you have the kind of ability he recognizes, you basically have no chance of getting in."
Ayanokoji raised an eyebrow. The current president was Horikita Manabu, wasn't he? The older brother of that expressionless girl.
Ayanokoji remembered that Horikita was exceptionally capable, excelling in both academics and athletics. He also had excellent leadership and social skills—a bona fide all-rounder.
A person like that probably strove for perfection in everything. It was only natural that he'd demand a lot from those who worked under him, given his own abilities.
"I really wish he'd loosen the requirements a little. If things go on like this, the Student Council will have no one to take over. He's already rejected several interviewees I liked~"
"Katsuragi-kun... Ichinose-chan..."
Coming back to her senses, the girl with the bun seemed to have forgotten what she was doing. She pressed her forehead against the flyer she'd just put up, her free hand clenched into a little fist and pounding the wall beside her, looking as if she'd lost something precious.
Was this the part where he was supposed to pat her on the head?
A dangerous thought occurred to Ayanokoji.
Fortunately, the girl straightened up her heavy bun the next second and smiled at him. "If you're interested, you can give it a try too, junior. The Student Council welcomes your challenge~"
Perhaps her worry had made her desperate enough to recruit anyone she could. The girl who'd seemed to doubt his chances a moment ago had suddenly changed her tune and was encouraging him to boldly take on the challenge.
Could it be that the president has a thing for young men?
Watching the girl's crescent-shaped eyes, Ayanokoji tried to guess the subtext behind her smile.
Maybe she thought things had gotten so dire that they had to rely on luck now...
After a while, only one flyer remained in the girl's hands, and only one empty spot was left on the entire noticeboard, right at the very top.
Ayanokoji took a look. She probably couldn't reach it, given her height.
Sure enough, the girl's expression the next second gave him his answer.
"This is a bit of a problem."
Ayanokoji didn't know why he'd suddenly made a sarcastic remark. For a moment, he'd felt that teasing this cute girl might be fun.
But, contrary to his expectations, she didn't seem to mind. Instead, the corners of her mouth curved into a perfectly timed smile.
The next second, she handed the last flyer to Ayanokoji.
"Junior, you wouldn't refuse to help a cute senpai, would you?"
Before you continue