Chapter 116: Shiraizuka Yurika

After our weekend date, I thought I’d resolved my complicated feelings about Arisu. At least, I thought so until I entered the student council room.

Arisu gave me a strange look as soon as I walked in. But I was no longer swayed by her. Hiiragi-senpai, sensing the tension between us, cleared his throat and handed out some printouts.

“Alright, the sports festival is coming up soon. As you all know, our school is small, but we have a lot of clubs and activities, so it’s difficult to decide on the events.”

I pretended to listen attentively as I scanned the documents. Let’s see, what events were added and removed in the novel… I didn’t think there was horseback riding in the first year, but it was definitely there during the second-year sports festival.

“First, we’ll decide on the events. Soccer and basketball are a given, but the volleyball tournament wasn’t very popular last year, so I’d like to try something different this year.”

Aya raised her hand.

“If we have too many ball games, it’ll be confusing. How about we increase the number of team events, like jump rope or relay races?”

Hiiragi-senpai nodded.

“Good idea. Let’s do that. We had too many ball games last year. And then there’s the refereeing issue. Last year, the soccer clubs got into a fight because they didn’t trust each other’s referees.”

This school had only 300 students in the high school division, 600 including middle school, yet they had two soccer clubs.
Mizuki pointed this out.

“Yes, and in the end, the student council had to take over the refereeing.”
“Right. So this year, we’ll assign a club to be responsible for refereeing each event. We’ll decide this through a student council vote. There are other things we need to decide as well…”

Hiiragi-senpai efficiently listed the preparations for the sports festival.
The blond senpai (what was his name again?), the only other male member of the high school student council, added a few comments to Hiiragi-senpai’s explanation. And then we voted on the necessary items.

“Okay, so the Red Oni Club will referee the soccer matches, and we’ll replace volleyball with a shooting event…”

Hiiragi-senpai quickly summarized the voting results and continued with the task assignments.

“Asakura-san and Yukikawa-san will be in charge of planning and execution. Ren and I will handle conflict mediation. And Kirihara-san, as secretary, and Kurosawa-san, as treasurer, will be responsible for paperwork and schedule coordination.”

I stared blankly, trying to process his words.
Me, and Arisu… together?
Aya’s expression hardened for a moment.

“…Is that alright with you, Kurosawa-san?”
“Yeah, I… I think so? Hehe.”

I replied, scratching the back of my head.
Arisu glanced at me and replied calmly,

“It’s fine. I have no problem with it.”

Hiiragi-senpai clapped his hands with a smile.

“Great, then let’s start preparing.”

As the meeting ended and everyone returned to their desks, I was left alone with Arisu in the student council room, shuffling through documents in awkward silence.

“Kurosawa-san, shall we start by organizing the schedule?”
“…Yeah, let’s do that.”

Ugh…
Stuck with her after school…
Aya gave me a worried look but had to leave with Mizuki to take care of something.

Shiraizuka-senpai and Tachibana-senpai were also in the student council room, but they weren’t the type to notice or care about the awkwardness between Arisu and me.

“Kurosawa-san, could you bring me the records from last year’s sports festival? They’re in the storage room.”

Shiraizuka-senpai asked.

“Yes, of course.”

I replied and stood up.

“Senpai, I’ll help.”

Arisu suddenly raised her hand and stood up as well.

‘Arisu… You don’t have to follow me!’

But I couldn’t say that, so I forced a smile and headed for the door.
We walked side-by-side to the small storage room at the end of the hallway. Opening the old door, we were greeted by the smell of dust and stacks of files.

“…Last year’s sports festival records should be here somewhere.”

I rummaged through the files silently, eager to finish the task quickly. But I could feel Arisu’s gaze on me, and my hands fumbled awkwardly.
Then, Arisu’s hand brushed against mine.
A jolt went through me.

“Kurosawa-san.”

Did Arisu do that on purpose?

“…Yes?”

I replied curtly and pulled my hand away reflexively, as if I’d touched something hot… or something unpleasant.
Arisu’s eyebrows furrowed, and she looked at me with a hurt expression.

“…Sorry. You didn’t have to pull away like that.”

Arisu’s voice trembled slightly. She bit her lip, seeming to regret her words. I didn’t know how to respond, so I just looked down and grabbed the files.

“No, it’s not like that, but…”

I trailed off, avoiding her gaze. Arisu fidgeted with her lips but didn’t say anything more. We returned to the student council room in uncomfortable silence.

Tachibana-senpai was gone, probably dealing with something urgent.
Shiraizuka-senpai was sitting at the table, shuffling through documents.

“I brought the files.”

I said quietly, placing them on the table. Shiraizuka-senpai looked up at us, a puzzled expression on her face, then picked up the files with a neutral expression.

“…Did something happen between you two?”

Shiraizuka-senpai was the perfect lady on the surface. Though she enjoyed gaming as much as Mizuki, she was also sharp and perceptive, as expected of someone from a prestigious family. She seemed to have grasped the situation, her gaze shifting between Arisu and me.

“No, nothing happened.”
“Really…? You seem like you just had a fight.”

Shiraizuka-senpai crossed her arms, leaned back in her chair, and nodded.

“If there’s nothing else, let’s get back to work.”

As soon as she said that, Arisu turned and returned to her desk.
I felt a pang of discomfort. If Arisu intended to make me uncomfortable, she’d succeeded.
Shiraizuka-senpai, noticing my troubled expression, quietly approached me.

“Kurosawa-san.”
“…Yes?”

She spoke in a low, cautious voice.

“I feel like I owe you one from the spring festival, so I want to help. What’s wrong?”

Shiraizuka-senpai’s serious tone surprised me. Owe me one…? Was she referring to the time she apologized to Aya, and I was there? I hadn’t thought of it as a debt, but she seemed to.

Seeing my hesitation, she spoke again gently,

“If it’s something you can’t handle alone, you can tell me.”

I glanced at the meeting room.
Shiraizuka-senpai, noticing my gaze, nodded.

“Okay, let’s talk in the meeting room.”

I followed her into the meeting room. As the door closed, she sat down gracefully and smiled.

“Now, tell me what happened.”

I took a deep breath and calmly explained the situation.

Aya and Arisu’s relationship in middle school, Arisu’s confession, the rumors, everything. How deeply Aya had been hurt, and how Arisu still harbored resentment.

“So, Aya is still cold towards Arisu, and I don’t know what to do.”

Shiraizuka-senpai nodded, sipping her tea.

“I see… So that’s what’s going on. Honestly, I sensed some tension between them, but I didn’t realize it was this deep.”

She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“I can understand Yukikawa-san. She’s kind, but she has boundaries. Kirihara-san crossed that line, got rejected, and was hurt…”

Shiraizuka-senpai took another sip of tea.

“That must be why you feel so uncomfortable, Kurosawa-san. You don’t want your relationship with Arisu to worsen, but because of your relationship with Aya, you’re subconsciously distancing yourself.”

“Yes, that’s exactly it. I don’t dislike Arisu-san, but… because of Aya, I feel…”
“That’s understandable. Yukikawa-san probably feels the same way.”

Shiraizuka-senpai smiled understandingly.
“I understand that you need help, but what do you think is the best course of action?”

I fell silent, lost in thought again. I hadn’t found the answer yet. I’d been trying to ignore the problem, and now it had blown up in my face.

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t even know if I should be the one mediating between them…”

“It’s not about mediating… It’s about creating an opportunity for them to clear up the misunderstandings. They’re both proud, so forcing them to reconcile might backfire.”
“An opportunity… How do we create one?”
“Well, let’s think about it. I’ll help you. Don’t worry about it too much, Rina.”

Shiraizuka-senpai grinned.

“I’ll talk to Mizuki about this. If they make up, I’ll consider my debt repaid.”

Hmm… Aya seemed to really dislike Arisu. Would this really be okay?