The Seeds of Doubt Have Been Sown

After leaving, Toru Hasegawa immediately sent a message to Honami Ichinose.

[Toru Hasegawa: Where are you right now? I have something I need to talk to you about.]

[Honami Ichinose: It's not a confession, is it?]

Although it might seem like she was being overly self-conscious, Honami Ichinose actually felt very flustered by these kinds of things.

[Toru Hasegawa: Of course not. It's about the Student Council; I'm sure you'll be interested.]

A short while later.

[Honami Ichinose: I'm at Keyaki Mall. There are very few people here right now, so you should be able to see me once you arrive.]

Toru Hasegawa took a deep breath, trying to calm the thumping of his heart.

Honami Ichinose... what kind of person was she, really?

Arriving at Keyaki Mall, because it was still quite early, only a scattering of students were there looking for breakfast with their friends.

Toru Hasegawa spotted Honami Ichinose standing under a tree at a glance. She looked a bit nervous, her right hand resting on her chest as if she were checking her own heartbeat.

"Ichinose-san!" Toru Hasegawa called out. Honami Ichinose noticed him, a gentle smile appearing on her face.

"Hasegawa-kun."

The two gradually closed the distance between them—well, it was Toru Hasegawa unilaterally approaching Honami Ichinose.

"I know the reason why President Horikita refused your entry into the Student Council." Toru Hasegawa went straight to the point, tossing out the topic Honami Ichinose was currently most interested in.

That was precisely why she had told him her current location.

Honami Ichinose had indeed come for this reason, and she asked with a nervous expression, "Why?"

"But I don't want to tell you this unconditionally." Toru Hasegawa's words hit Honami Ichinose like a bucket of cold water.

"In exchange, I want to know the real reason you rejected me before. Can I? I know what you said later was a lie."

His eyes were fixed tightly on Honami Ichinose, not wanting to miss a single detail.

This was the reason he had to speak to her face-to-face; compared to chatting online, this was the only way he could gather enough information.

Faced with Toru Hasegawa's question, Honami Ichinose couldn't hide her agitation.

She hadn't expected to encounter such a question at all, but it was clear that this was exactly why he had come. Otherwise, there would have been no need for Toru Hasegawa to request a meeting.

However...

"I'm sorry, but I really am not ready to be in a relationship yet."

Honami Ichinose quickly calmed down and gave an answer she considered to be not a lie.

It was true that she wasn't ready for a relationship, but as for the deeper reasons behind why she wasn't ready, Honami Ichinose didn't want to tell anyone.

"...Fair enough." Toru Hasegawa gave a carefree smile; in truth, he had just been trying his luck. "The real reason President Horikita rejected you is..."

"Wait, hold on. I just rejected you, you know."

Honami Ichinose hurriedly interrupted Toru Hasegawa's speech. She didn't understand what benefit he could possibly get from doing this.

"I know, but honestly, whether you told me the real reason or not, I was planning on telling you about the Student Council anyway."

"...Thank you."

Honami Ichinose clearly hadn't encountered someone like Toru Hasegawa before; he was somewhat similar to her own situation.

After a moment of silence, she thought it over, and the only way she could repay him was with a dry "thank you."

Seeing that she had accepted his goodwill, Toru Hasegawa continued, "It's because, from the very beginning, President Horikita didn't intend to let any first-years into the Student Council."

Like a bolt of lightning, this sentence stirred up a storm in Honami Ichinose's already restless heart.

"Why?"

It wasn't just a question about the statement itself, but also a question of how Toru Hasegawa could possibly know this.

Logically speaking, if that was truly what President Horikita thought, he shouldn't have told anyone at all.

Toru Hasegawa continued, "Because the Student Council has a vice president. He is a second-year student named Miyabi Nagumo."

Honami Ichinose didn't quite understand the significance of these words, her face full of confusion.

"Because he is someone who has already unified the entire second-year grade, and President Horikita doesn't want any newcomers to be influenced by him."

"Unified the second-year...?"

Honami Ichinose murmured. She still couldn't grasp it—to unify an entire grade, was that really something that could be done?

And why would one even want to unify a grade? That was another question entirely.

"Um... why do you..." Honami Ichinose couldn't help but ask the question weighing on her mind, though she already had a vague answer.

Toru Hasegawa smiled. "You want to ask how I know all this, right?"

Honami Ichinose nodded gently. Beneath her slightly taut blazer uniform, there was something hard for anyone to ignore.

"It's simple. Because I joined the Student Council."

The answer in her heart aligned with the facts, and Honami Ichinose pursed her lips, unsure of what exactly she should say.

It was only moments ago that he had personally stated President Horikita would not allow any first-year students to join the Student Council, yet in the blink of an eye, Toru Hasegawa had joined as a first-year.

What exactly lay behind this seemingly contradictory reality?

Honami Ichinose wanted, very, very much, to seek out the answer to that.

But...

She had already rejected him, after all. If she were to accept him even a little... no, no, she couldn't think like that!

It was already kind enough of Toru Hasegawa to tell her the reason he had been rejected; she couldn't keep digging any deeper.

Thinking this, Honami Ichinose put on a smile once again: "Thank you for being willing to tell me all of this."

"You're welcome. I haven't had breakfast yet; would you like to join me?" Toru Hasegawa tossed out the invitation as if it were a casual afterthought.

"Eh? But I've already eaten, and I have plans with someone else in a little while."

Honami Ichinose felt embarrassed as she declined Toru Hasegawa's invitation, feeling relieved that she actually did have plans with a classmate today.

She did not want to lie at a time like this.

"Alright then, do you have any recommended breakfast spots around here? The Student Cafeteria is a bit far, and I'm not really in the mood to go all the way over there."

"About that... I'm not really sure either. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"It's fine. Just being able to become friends with Ichinose-san today is already a great development. I'm very happy about it."

Interacting with a beautiful girl like Honami Ichinose made Toru Hasegawa feel quite pleased, so this was the absolute, unvarnished truth.

Moreover, she was his ideal type in every single way.

Honami Ichinose really hadn't expected Toru Hasegawa to launch an offensive even as they were parting ways, and she couldn't help but feel her cheeks flush slightly.

"Also... what I said before still stands."

Before leaving, Toru Hasegawa added one final sentence.

The other party's favorability rating finally rose from 90 to 91.

"...'Feel free to ask him for help with anything'?" Honami Ichinose murmured.

The way he said it sounded as if she were bound to run into trouble, and for some reason, Honami Ichinose felt a bad premonition.

The impossibly high number of surveillance cameras in the school, the free supplies available everywhere from the Student Cafeteria to the convenience stores, and what Toru Hasegawa had just said...

All of these things made Honami Ichinose feel that this school was far from simple.

Yet, due to a lack of key information, she was still unable to reach a definitive conclusion.

"I should have Chihiro and Asako keep an eye on their point spending... no, I need to notify the whole class about this."

That was the only thing she could confirm.

Private points would absolutely play an indispensable role in their future school life.

Just as she was thinking this, Honami Ichinose saw some familiar figures.

"Good morning, Shiranami! Amikura!"

At the very least, for now, she would continue to enjoy her school life to the fullest.