An Accidental Encounter with Shiina

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

In the Student Council room, Hoshino was buried in writing last month's report when a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears. Recalling the past few days, it seemed Hoshino had been hearing these kinds of remarks quite often.

"Hm?"

He looked up instinctively to find Vice President Nagumo standing nearby with a "warm-hearted" smile. Seeing Hoshino react, he leaned in and draped an arm over Hoshino's shoulder.

"Do you want me to help you out?" Vice President Nagumo lowered his voice, gesturing toward the report in front of Hoshino.

"...Uh... no thanks! This is just a small matter, it's nothing. Besides, I'm almost finished anyway. Sorry about that, Nagumo-senpai." After a brief moment of thought, Hoshino declined Vice President Nagumo's offer with a regretful expression.

"...Alright then! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me anytime. I'm always happy to help a junior!" Vice President Nagumo looked a bit disappointed, patting Hoshino on the shoulder as he gave his instruction.

"Yes, thank you."

Watching Vice President Nagumo walk away, Hoshino felt a bit strange, but he went back to his work nonetheless.

It wasn't that Hoshino liked working so much; it was just that he felt Vice President Nagumo seemed a bit too kind.

There were only three people in the Student Council room at the moment. Besides Hoshino and Vice President Nagumo, Vice President Kiriyama was also there. Vice President Kiriyama seemed to have heard Vice President Nagumo's voice and was staring at him with a look of dissatisfaction, but the latter didn't seem to notice, continuing to scroll through his phone.

Seeing that Vice President Nagumo didn't react, Vice President Kiriyama turned his head to give Hoshino a deep, thoughtful look before lowering his head in contemplation.

Noticing Vice President Kiriyama's gaze, Hoshino didn't look up, but he suddenly felt a bit strange. He had originally thought Vice President Kiriyama was just annoyed that Vice President Nagumo was slacking off and not working seriously, but that didn't seem to be the case! How should he put it? It felt more like hostility, or perhaps wariness.

Vice President Nagumo was also strange; he seemed excessively enthusiastic toward him. Recently, even when they met in the hallway, he would insist on "checking in" on him, which left Hoshino feeling flattered but also, subsequently, a bit "afraid."

It seemed there were some issues within the Student Council as well!

After finishing the report, the Student Council President returned to the office. Once President Horikita checked the report and confirmed it was error-free, Hoshino considered his work for the day done and took his leave from the Student Council room.

The workload seemed to have decreased significantly lately, perhaps because things had basically stabilized after the new students enrolled. It was rare to get off work this early today!

Why did he always feel so tired after entering this school? Since it was still early, Hoshino didn't rush back. He wandered aimlessly along a small path, his mind replaying the events that had occurred since he started high school.

"Eh? Isn't that Hoshino-kun?" Just as Hoshino was lost in thought, a soft voice drifted over.

"Shiina?" He looked up instinctively.

"Where are you headed, Hoshino-kun?" Shiina stopped in her tracks, looking at Hoshino with a puzzled expression.

"...Uh, I'm not sure, just wandering? What about you? Are you heading to the library?" Hoshino hesitated, feeling surprised, as he had never seen Shiina outside of the library before!

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

"Eh?"

"How about we go for a walk somewhere together, Hoshino-kun?" Shiina's words left Hoshino frozen in place.

"Wait! Wait! Maybe we should skip it! After all..." Hoshino's voice trailed off, unable to come up with a good reason on the spot.

"See? You don't have anything to do anyway!..."

There didn't seem to be any particular reason to refuse, and although it was all a bit inexplicable, Hoshino helplessly agreed.

After a brief moment of consideration, the two reached a consensus and decided to head to a cafe!

Arriving at a rather luxurious cafe near the school, they saw that it was quite crowded at a glance! Even though it was during club activity hours, the two had to wait a little while before they could get a seat.

"Come to think of it, Hoshino-kun, you seem very busy lately!" Shiina picked up the menu in front of her and began to look through it carefully.

"...Yeah—things have been a bit..."

Halfway through his sentence, Hoshino suddenly realized that this matter had quite a lot to do with Class C, and it seemed Shiina also had to give up 20,000 personal points every month. For a moment, Hoshino didn't know how to continue.

"It's fine. After all, this can be considered Ryuen-kun's miscalculation, and it doesn't seem like Hoshino-kun did anything wrong." After ordering her meal, Shiina handed over the menu, a gentle smile still on her face; she didn't seem surprised at all.

How should he put it? He suddenly had a sense of déjà vu, like Sakayanagi! Hoshino felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down.

"By the way, the book you've been reading lately has a sequel out!" The next second, Shiina returned to her image as a "bookworm" girl. "Do you want me to spoil it for you? It's very exciting!..."

"Don't, please don't!" Hoshino hurriedly stopped her.

Of course, reading a book is best when you don't know what happens next! If he knew, there wouldn't be any anticipation or surprise left, would there!

If what Shiina was going to tell him was truly exciting, it wasn't as if he couldn't consider it, though.

"Hehe... alright! I understand that feeling too!" Shiina gave a playful smile.

Was she joking? Hoshino hadn't realized it at first, as this girl usually couldn't stop talking once she started on topics related to books.

"...That's true." Hoshino let out a sigh of relief, relaxing as a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Eh? Isn't that Hoshino? And the person next to him is... Shiina from Class C, right?"

"Hm? It really is!"

"..."

Suddenly, several noisy voices erupted not far away. The gazes of everyone in the vicinity converged on them at once, and the scene became awkward for a moment.

Turning his head, several familiar silhouettes came into view. The Sudo trio? They were actually here too! Hoshino suddenly had a bad premonition.

Seeing Hoshino and Shiina turn their way, the three hurriedly looked away, pretending to be deep in discussion as they spoke loudly, acting as if nothing had happened. If it weren't for Yamauchi, who was sitting across from them, glancing over from time to time, Hoshino might have actually believed them!

"Hoshino-kun, are these... your classmates?" Shiina asked with some hesitation.

"...Yes, I suppose so." Hoshino was speechless; what on earth were they doing?

"Eh?"

"At times like this, even if you know them, pretend you don't! Look around you!" Hoshino lowered his head, feeling speechless, and held the menu up to block his face.

"..." Shiina looked at Hoshino with some confusion, then turned to look around. There were gazes directed toward them from everywhere, and it seemed some people were even laughing and whispering.

In an instant, Shiina's movements also began to stiffen...