Noon the next day, the student council room.
Uchiha Ayato sat with his legs crossed, his back sinking into the cushioned padding of the swivel chair, earnestly reading a copy of “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion” in his hands.
His lashes were half-lowered, his breathing even—the very picture of someone utterly undisturbed by the outside world, single-mindedly absorbed in the words of the sages.
The “rustle” of turning pages was amplified to no end in the quiet room.
By comparison, Chihaya Anon, seated diagonally across from him, looked for all the world as though she were sitting on an ant’s nest.
With a sharp “clack,” Chihaya Anon pressed the ballpoint pen in her hand down hard onto the notepad on the desk.
Barely a few seconds later, she picked it up again, her thumb clicking the pen cap nonstop, the crisp “click-clack” strafing in every direction like a machine gun.
And yet, Uchiha Ayato didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.
This guy…
Chihaya Anon bit her lower lip, her gaze sweeping again and again across Ayato’s profile.
That LINE message Ayato had sent her had made Anon roll around in bed for half the night—she’d even agonized for a full twenty minutes this morning over whether or not to put on a touch of pale lip tint.
And the result?
After this guy showed up at school, not only did he not display the slightest trace of awkwardness, he didn’t even spare her a second glance—as if everything that had happened last night were nothing but a hallucination of hers alone.
Knowing Uchiha Ayato as well as she did, she could tell this guy was most likely playing dumb.
He was definitely doing it on purpose, just waiting for her to be the one to speak up first.
What a nasty piece of work—and only she would ever keep putting up with him.
Chihaya Anon drew a deep breath, grabbed a document off the desk, and deliberately shook it so it rattled noisily: “Hey, Ayarin…” She finally broke the silence.
“What is it, Madam President?” Uchiha Ayato kept his eyes fixed on the page, his tone languid.
Chihaya Anon cleared her throat, pushed the document forward, leaned her body slightly toward him, and fixed her eyes on him intently: “About the arrangements for the culture festival—isn’t there anything you’d like to…
uh, discuss with me?” “The culture festival?” Ayato’s gaze finally lifted from the book, coming to rest on Chihaya Anon’s noticeably flushed face.
He tapped the cover of the book and spoke: “As I recall, we already finished cross-checking the venue layout and the personnel assignments last week, didn’t we?” “Or is it that Madam President has come up with some dazzling new idea to wow the whole crowd?” Chihaya Anon was so choked by his all-business tone that her breath hitched.
“That’s not what I’m talking about!” Anon shot to her feet, staring at Ayato’s utterly unruffled handsome face, a nameless anger mixed with grievance surging straight up in her chest.
“Then what are you referring to?” Ayato closed the book, straightened up just a little, and put on a feigned look of puzzlement.
Chihaya Anon felt as if her face were about to burst into flames.
She could hardly just demand outright, “What exactly did you mean by those things you sent last night?
Do you like me or not?” Things had gone about far enough as it was—with matters like this, the other person absolutely had to be the one to speak up first.
“What I’m referring to is…” Chihaya Anon avoided Ayato’s gaze, pretending to tidy up the already-neat documents on the desk: “What I’m referring to is that a certain someone sent all those baffling messages on LINE last night and ate into my precious rest time.” “Don’t you think that kind of behavior seriously disrupted this president’s daily routine?” She deliberately bit down hard on those words, “baffling messages.” Ayato looked at her bright-red ears and her dodging movements that only gave the game away, and couldn’t help letting out a very faint laugh.
“Oh, that whole thing~” He propped his chin on one hand, his tone as punchable as ever: “I was merely reflecting and repenting over a mistake I’d made—how does that count as disrupting the president’s routine?” “Of course, if the president says it’s my fault, then it’s my fault.” “As a kind and merciful gentleman, I’ll defer to the president.” Chihaya Anon: ???
“Uchiha Ayato!” Chihaya Anon slapped a palm down on the desk: “Just what kind of person do you take me for?!” “You send a message like that—the kind that gives people the wrong idea—and then you want to act like nothing ever happened?” Chihaya Anon’s flat chest heaved with her ragged breathing, those grey eyes that usually sparkled with lively brilliance now brimming with vexation.
[Daily Mission (1/3): Bully Haruno Sakura once.] [Status: Completed] [Reward: Chakra +500] “…” Ayato looked at the furious girl before him and fell silent.
Should he say it?
Now?
Right here?
Normally, he’d probably just toss out a few flawlessly slick lines, lob the question lightly back at her, and then go on maintaining his role as “everyone’s confidant” from that safe distance—neither too far nor too close.
But at this moment, looking at Anon flushed with embarrassment to the point of nearly crying, he found himself oddly reluctant to be cruel.
What a pain.
Not just the girl in front of him—even his own current dawdling, wishy-washy indecision was a pain.
Still, since he’d been pushed by this girl to such a point, the Uchiha blood within him began to stir restlessly as well.
Ayato’s gaze sank, the languor and nonchalance fading away, replaced by earnestness and focus.
He took a deep breath and slowly rose to his feet: “Haah, you really are hopeless.” “Since you want to know, then listen carefully.” Chihaya Anon froze on the spot.
Her eyes slowly widened, the grievance and vexation that had been swirling in them just moments ago instantly vanishing without a trace, as a light called “disbelief” gradually kindled in their depths.
He…
What did he just say?
Hopeless?
Could—could this possibly be…
Here, of all places?!
At a time like this, when it’s just the two of us?!
Do I say yes right away?
Or play a little coy before saying yes?
Right away, of course!
This guy taking the initiative to speak up is as rare as winning the jackpot in the lottery—if I miss this chance, who knows how long until the next one comes around?
Maybe I shouldn’t go to England after all?
Come to think of it, Tokyo seems pretty nice too…
Anon held her breath, her whole heart and gaze filled with wildly pounding anticipation.
She instinctively smoothed down her hair, trying to greet the coming confession in a perfect state.
“Anon, I…” “BANG——!” The door of the student council room was shoved open from the outside, accompanied by the chattering voices of two girls discussing something.
“So like I said, we absolutely can’t put off this weekend’s rehearsal any longer—before Anon goes to England we’ve got to…” The short-haired secretary and the bespectacled treasurer barged in carrying lunchboxes, their voices cutting off abruptly the moment they took in the postures of the two people inside the room.
The air fell into a deathly silence.
The short-haired secretary’s gaze darted back and forth between Uchiha Ayato—leaning forward with an intensely overpowering presence—and Chihaya Anon, whose face was flushed red all the way down to the base of her neck.
“Uh…” The secretary swallowed and spoke stiffly: “Did we…
come at a bad time?” The treasurer beside her nodded frantically, her feet already beginning to retreat toward the door.
Chihaya Anon’s expression froze on her face.
The atmosphere that had been bubbling with pink froth just now shattered in an instant into shards of glass, jabbing painfully at her heart.
Uchiha Ayato leaned back with the flow, settling once more against the back of the swivel chair.
The earnest, intensely overpowering aura from before dissipated without a trace in an instant, and he turned back into that breezy, refreshing “everyone’s Uchiha.” He raised a hand to smooth the stray hairs at his temple and spoke in a relaxed tone: “How could that be?
You came at exactly the right time.” “We were just discussing the last few budget confirmations for the culture festival—the discussion simply got a little heated, that’s all.” “After all, this is just how the president and I get along; everyone’s used to it by now, right?” The secretary and treasurer exchanged a glance, the flames of gossip in their eyes forcibly doused by half thanks to his frank, aboveboard explanation.
“I see…” The secretary scratched her head, walked in, and set her lunchbox down on the nearby table: “And here we thought we’d interrupted you two…” “Oh right, Anon!” The secretary turned to look at the pink-haired girl still locked in her rigid state: “About going to the practice room for a group rehearsal this weekend—how’s your thinking on that coming along?” “Didn’t you say you wanted to shine brilliantly at the culture festival and leave everyone a perfect memory before you go to England?” The treasurer also leaned in, pushing up her glasses: “Yeah, there’s not much time left—we’ve really got to buckle down and practice.” Chihaya Anon slowly, inch by inch, turned her head.
She looked at the two of them, the stiff corners of her mouth tugging upward little by little, rising into a smile with a flawless arc that nonetheless sent the surrounding temperature plummeting: “A group rehearsal, huh…” “Sure, of course~ This weekend, it’s a date—don’t be late♪” The secretary and treasurer shuddered in unison.
Anon is terrifying!
And over on the other side, Uchiha Ayato quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Uchiha Ayato: That was close, that was close—I almost let my little head do the thinking for my big head.
Good thing these two girls interrupted, otherwise Lord Ayato’s life might have taken quite the detour.
[Daily Mission (2/3): Bully Haruno Sakura once.] [Status: Overachieved] [Reward: Chakra +1000] Bully your freaking head!
Uncle Ayato was being serious just now!