An Unexpected Encounter with Shiina

"Hoshino, if there's anything you need help with, you can always ask me!"

At the Student Council, Hoshino was bent over last month's report when a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears. Thinking back over the past few days, he realized he seemed to hear that sort of thing from Nagumo all the time.

"Hm?"

He instinctively looked up. Vice President Nagumo stood beside him with a "warmhearted" smile. Seeing that Hoshino had noticed him, he leaned closer and slung an arm around Hoshino's shoulders.

"Want me to give you a hand?" Vice President Nagumo lowered his voice and gestured toward the report in front of Hoshino.

"...Uh... No, thanks! It's nothing difficult, and I'm almost finished anyway. Sorry, Nagumo-senpai." Hoshino thought it over briefly, then turned down Vice President Nagumo's offer with a regretful look.

"...All right! If you have any questions, just ask me anytime. I'm always happy to help my juniors!" Vice President Nagumo looked a little disappointed, but patted Hoshino on the shoulder as he said it.

"Okay, will do."

Watching Vice President Nagumo walk back to his seat, Hoshino found the whole thing a little strange, but went back to his work.

It wasn't that Hoshino particularly liked working. He just felt that Vice President Nagumo seemed a little too kind.

There were only three people in the Student Council Room: Hoshino, Vice President Nagumo, and Vice President Kiriyama. Vice President Kiriyama seemed to have heard Nagumo's voice too. He glared at Nagumo, who was sitting at his desk, with obvious displeasure. But Nagumo appeared not to notice and casually scrolled through his phone.

When Vice President Nagumo didn't react, Vice President Kiriyama turned and gave Hoshino a long, thoughtful look before lowering his head.

Hoshino noticed Vice President Kiriyama's gaze but didn't look up. He just felt that something was off. At first, he'd thought Kiriyama was simply annoyed that Nagumo was slacking off instead of working, but that didn't seem to be it. How to put it? It felt more like hostility, or perhaps wariness.

Vice President Nagumo was strange, too. He seemed excessively friendly toward Hoshino. Lately, whenever they ran into each other, even on the way somewhere, Nagumo would stop to "ask after him," leaving Hoshino both flattered and a little "afraid."

It seemed there were problems within the Student Council, too!

After finishing his report, Hoshino happened to see the Student Council President return to the office. Once President Horikita had checked the report and confirmed it was correct, Hoshino had finished his work for the day and took his leave of the Student Council Room.

His workload seemed to have eased up a lot lately, perhaps because things had settled down after the new students enrolled. It was a rare day when he could "clock out" this early!

Why had he felt so exhausted ever since he started at this school? There was still plenty of time, so Hoshino didn't hurry back. He wandered aimlessly along the path, thinking over everything that had happened since he started high school.

"Hey? Is that Hoshino-kun?" As Hoshino's thoughts drifted, a gentle voice reached him.

"Shiina?" He instinctively looked up.

"Where are you headed, Hoshino-kun?" Shiina stopped and looked at him in puzzlement.

"...Uh, I don't know. Just wandering around, I guess? What about you? Are you going to the library?" Hoshino hesitated, a little surprised. After all, he'd never seen Shiina anywhere but the library!

"I was, yes! But I've changed my mind now!" Shiina suddenly clapped her hands.

"Huh?"

"Why don't we go for a walk together, Hoshino-kun?" Shiina's suggestion left Hoshino rooted to the spot.

"Wait! Hold on! Maybe we shouldn't. I mean..." Hoshino's voice trailed off; for a moment, he couldn't think of a good excuse.

"Come on, you don't have anything else to do anyway!..."

There didn't seem to be any particular reason to say no. Though the suggestion had come out of nowhere, Hoshino reluctantly agreed.

After thinking it over briefly, they settled on going to a café!

They headed to a rather upscale café near the school. It was packed! Even though it was club activity time, they still had to wait a little before a table opened up.

"By the way, Hoshino-kun, you seem to have been really busy lately!" Shiina picked up the menu and studied it carefully.

"...Yeah. I've had a lot going on lately..."

Halfway through his sentence, Hoshino suddenly realized this had a lot to do with Class C. Shiina probably had to hand over twenty thousand personal points every month, too. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

"It's all right. After all, it was Ryuen-kun's mistake, and it's not as if Hoshino-kun did anything wrong." After ordering, Shiina passed him the menu. Her gentle smile never wavered, and she didn't seem surprised at all.

How should he put it? She suddenly reminded him of Sakayanagi. Hoshino felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down his back.

"Oh, by the way, that book you've been reading lately has a sequel out!" The next moment, Shiina was back to being the "bookworm" girl. "Want me to spoil it for you? It's really exciting!..."

"No, don't! Please!" Hoshino hurriedly stopped her.

Books were best when you didn't know what came next! If you already knew, there'd be no anticipation or surprise at all!

Though if Shiina really did make it sound exciting, he might consider it.

"Hehe... All right! I get how you feel, too!" Shiina gave him a playful smile.

Was she joking? Hoshino hadn't realized it at first. After all, once this girl started talking about books, she usually couldn't stop.

"...That's true." Hoshino breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"Hey? Isn't that Hoshino? And the girl next to him... Is that Shiina from Class C?"

"Hm? It really is!"

"..."

A few noisy voices suddenly rang out nearby. Everyone around them turned to look, making things awkward in an instant.

Hoshino turned around and recognized a few familiar figures: the Sudo trio? They were here, too! A bad feeling suddenly came over him.

When they saw Hoshino and Shiina looking their way, the three hurriedly turned around and started loudly discussing something, as though nothing had happened. If Yamauchi, sitting across from them, hadn't kept glancing over now and then, Hoshino might actually have believed them!

"Hoshino-kun, are those... your classmates?" Shiina asked hesitantly.

"...Yeah. More or less." Hoshino was at a loss. What were they even doing?

"Huh?"

"At a time like this, you pretend you don't know them! Look around!" Hoshino lowered his head helplessly and lifted the menu to shield his face.

"..." Shiina looked at Hoshino in confusion, then glanced around. Everyone was staring their way, and a few people seemed to be laughing as they said something.

In an instant, Shiina's movements grew stiff, too...