After that little interruption, the student council room settled back into something resembling normal.
All four of them gathered around the pushed-together desks, lunch boxes open, the smell of food spreading fast through the room.
“So after the school festival, it’s only a few more months before we graduate,” the secretary said, swallowing a mouthful of rice and looking over at Uchiha Ayato.
“Vice-president already has the school’s special recommendation slot, right?” “Straight into Hibiya High School as a scholarship student.” The treasurer pushed up her glasses, eyes full of barely concealed admiration.
“Hibiya is a top-tier escalator school.
With Ayato-kun’s ability, he’d definitely make waves there too — become student council president without breaking a sweat, right?” “By then, vice-president would be like a hundred times more popular than he is now!” The secretary traced a big circle in the air with her chopsticks.
“He’d have that many cute high school girls circling around him.” The treasurer nodded with total conviction.
“Exactly.
And then Ayato-kun would naturally breeze into Todai, graduate, waltz into some top conglomerate as an executive — or just get scouted as a live-in son-in-law by some major financial titan.
Peak life!” The two of them got more and more into it, as if Uchiha Ayato was already sinking into a leather sofa on a high floor somewhere in Chiyoda Ward.
“Just thinking about the fact that we once worked alongside the future Todai elite — I can already tell all my new high school classmates about it!” The secretary puffed out her chest, looking extremely pleased with herself.
Uchiha Ayato picked up a piece of takoyaki sausage, chewed it twice, swallowed, and only then smiled in his usual lazy way.
“What is this, some kind of third-rate shoujo manga plotline?” He propped his cheek on one hand, dark eyes catching the light from outside the window, relaxed and utterly unbothered.
“You two are way overselling it…” “Life doesn’t follow a script.
When does everything just go according to plan?” “For all you know, after graduation I’ll disappear off to some remote mountain to train and vanish from the world entirely.” He said it half-joking, half-meaning it — since a jujutsu technical college looked pretty much exactly like a remote mountain training ground to ordinary people anyway.
“Pfft, vice-president is being humble again.” The secretary waved it off, chalking it up to the modest self-deprecation of an excellent student.
Beside them, Chihaya Anon hadn’t managed to get a single word in.
Her chopsticks hovered in midair, her gaze fixed blankly on the rice in her lunch box, her head full of the secretary’s words — “a hundred times more popular” and “cute high school girls circling around him.” It felt like someone had stuffed a waterlogged sponge into her chest.
Heavy and suffocating.
Hibiya High School.
Tokyo University.
A perfect life trajectory.
And her?
She was about to leave for England.
A completely foreign country, with a language she might not understand and a social circle she might never break into.
What if she failed?
What if she really did crawl back to Japan with her tail between her legs, just like Ayato-kun had said?
By then, their worlds would have drifted completely apart.
He’d be standing at a podium in a sharply cut high school uniform, giving a speech at some ceremony.
He’d be surrounded by new, pretty faces, drowning in love letters every single day.
He’d meet smarter girls, more brilliant girls, girls from distinguished families…
“Ayato-kun…” Those girls would call his name in that cloying, breathy voice of theirs.
Chihaya Anon’s hand clenched suddenly.
Her lunch box gave a faint creak under her grip.
No.
Absolutely not.
Just picturing it made her stomach churn — a whirlpool of panic, resentment, and white-hot jealousy twisting tight around her heart.
“Anon?
Anon?” The secretary waved a hand in front of Anon’s face.
“What are you spacing out for?
You’re not eating.” Chihaya Anon snapped back to herself.
A flash of flustered panic crossed her eyes, but she buried it instantly under a flawless smile.
“Ah, nothing.” “I was just thinking…” Anon popped a rice ball into her mouth, letting her gaze drift casually across Ayato’s face for just a moment, voice breezy: “We’ve all got bright futures ahead of us~ Everything’s gonna be great~” Half an hour later, the warning bell cut abruptly across the school grounds.
“Oh, class is starting!” The secretary leapt out of her chair like she’d sat on something.
The treasurer quickly swept the papers on the desk into a stack and tucked them under her arm.
The two of them turned to the still-seated president and vice-president, waved, and headed out.
“Anon, vice-president, we’re heading back to class!
See you after school!” “See you~” Chihaya Anon raised a hand, smile perfect.
The door opened and closed.
The noise vanished along with those two retreating backs, and all that was left in the room was the quiet hum of the air conditioning.
Uchiha Ayato got up unhurriedly, grabbed the shoulder bag from the back of his chair, movements carrying his usual loose ease.
“Alright.
I should head back too.” The moment his hand touched the door handle, there was a sharp drag of a chair from behind him, followed by quick footsteps catching up — “Wait!” Chihaya Anon grabbed his sleeve from behind.
“Don’t go.” Uchiha Ayato turned his head.
His gaze dropped to the girl’s face — written all over with stubbornness and barely-leashed impatience.
The gap between them had closed a little.
He could catch the faint scent of her shampoo.
“What is it, Madam President?” He slid one hand into his pocket, one eyebrow going up.
“Is there some work that still hasn’t been handled?” “Who said anything about work!” Anon bit her lower lip, forcibly pushed down the irritation his attitude had sparked, and locked her gaze onto his eyes.
“Just now…” “Before they walked in — did you have something left to say?” “Did I?” Ayato tilted his head.
“Yes!” Anon turned up the volume.
“You said ‘since you want to know, listen up’ — and then what?
What were you going to say?” “You’re not allowed to leave things half-finished!” Uchiha Ayato looked at the girl’s dead-serious expression and felt a wave of exasperation wash over him.
This girl’s stubbornness could really be a pain sometimes.
She had to crack every puzzle until the pot broke.
But whatever impulsive thing had almost come out of him a moment ago — it was gone.
Completely extinguished.
Right now, the rational part of his brain was firmly back in charge.
Running away was cowardly.
But it worked.
“Oh, that.” Ayato shrugged.
“Nothing important.
I was just going to ask if you wanted to catch a live at the new RiNG this weekend — sort of a peace offering.
But since you’ve already got your band rehearsal, forget it.” “Anyway, President — overthinking things will give you wrinkles.
Though you’re the type who’d be cute even with wrinkles, so…” “Right, class is starting.
If we’re not back soon, that stiff math teacher’s going to start grumbling.” With that, Uchiha Ayato gently freed his sleeve from Anon’s grip and walked out of the student council room.
Chihaya Anon stood rooted to the spot, watching the black-haired boy’s back until it disappeared.
The afternoon wore away under the drone of lectures.
After school, Uchiha Ayato didn’t head for the student council room.
He walked straight for the school gate.
This was one of maybe a handful of times in three years he’d skipped the council, but it couldn’t be helped — there was a fairly troublesome someone waiting there, and Ayato, a certified coward who hadn’t figured out his own feelings yet, had chosen the path of temporary retreat.
Besides, he had a perfectly reasonable excuse to make his exit right now.
Among the wave of middle schoolers streaming out of the gates with their bags, discussing ice cream flavors and new mobile games, one black sedan sat parked at the curb, looking thoroughly out of place.
A middle-aged man in a tasteless black suit and black semi-rimmed glasses stood beside the car, radiating the specific, bone-deep exhaustion that only someone ground down by corporate life could produce.
The contrast with everything around him was stark enough to be jarring.
Even though he’d mentally prepared himself on the way here, the moment he actually saw Uchiha Ayato, a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
“Good afternoon, Uchiha-san.” The man gave Ayato a small bow.
“I’m Ijichi Kiyotaka, assistant manager.
From here on, I’ll be assisting you through the sorcerer assessment.” To be continued…