Once the little episode had passed, the atmosphere in the student council room finally returned to normal.
The four of them sat clustered around the desks that had been pushed together, each opening their own lunchbox, the aroma of food quickly spreading through the room.
“Come to think of it, just a few months after the culture festival wraps up, everyone’s going to graduate, huh.” The secretary swallowed a mouthful of rice and looked up at Uchiha Ayato: “The vice president’s already secured the school’s special recommendation slot, right?” “Going straight up to Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya High School on a special-scholarship-student qualification.” The treasurer beside her pushed up her glasses, her eyes full of admiration: “Hibiya High is a top-tier elite prep school, you know—with Uchiha-kun’s abilities, he’s bound to make a splash there too, easily snagging the student council president seat, right?” “By then, the vice president will definitely be a hundred times more popular than he is now!” The secretary used her chopsticks to draw a big circle in the air: “There’ll be sooo—many cute high school girls flocking around you.” The treasurer nodded with great solemnity: “That’s right, and then Ayato-kun will naturally stride right through the Red Gate, and after graduating join a top conglomerate as an executive—or get scouted straight off by some major financial clan to be married in as an adopted son-in-law, ascending to the very pinnacle of life!” The more the two of them talked, the more excited they got, as if Uchiha Ayato were already seated on the leather sofa of a high-rise office building in Chiyoda Ward.
“Just thinking that we once worked alongside a future ‘Todai elite’ makes me feel like I can brag about it to my future high school classmates!” The secretary puffed out her chest, her face brimming with pride.
Uchiha Ayato picked up a piece of octopus sausage and put it in his mouth, chewed a couple of times and swallowed, then finally let out a lazy laugh: “What’s with this script straight out of a third-rate shoujo manga?” He propped his cheek on one hand, the sunlight outside the window reflected in his black eyes, looking relaxed and easygoing: “It’s nowhere near as exaggerated as you two make it sound…” “Life is unpredictable—where in the world are there ever so many things that go exactly as one wishes?” “Who knows, maybe after graduation I’ll run off to train in some remote mountain wilderness and vanish from the mortal world entirely?” He said this half in jest and half in earnest—after all, in the eyes of ordinary people, the “jujutsu tech college” wasn’t much different from a remote mountain wilderness either.
“Tch, the vice president’s joking around again.” The secretary curled her lip, taking it as the modesty of an outstanding student.
Chihaya Anon, sitting off to the side, couldn’t get a single word in at this moment.
Her chopsticks hovered in midair, her gaze fixed on the rice in her lunchbox, while her mind was wholly occupied by what the secretary had just said—”a hundred times more popular than now” and “high school girls flocking around you.” Her chest felt as if a water-soaked sponge had been stuffed into it, heavy and stifling.
Hibiya High School.
The University of Tokyo.
A perfect life trajectory.
And her?
She was about to go to England, to a completely unfamiliar country, where she might face a language she couldn’t understand and circles she’d struggle to fit into.
And what if she failed?
What if she really did, just like Ayato-kun had said, slink back to Neon in disgrace?
By that point, her world and Ayato-kun’s would be completely separated.
He’d be wearing a sharply tailored high school uniform, giving a speech up on the awards podium.
He’d be surrounded by countless pretty girls with fresh new faces, receiving uncountable love letters every day.
He’d meet young ladies who were smarter, more dazzling—even from illustrious family backgrounds…
“Ayato-kun…” Those girls would call out to him in those sweet, simpering voices that could squeeze a person to death.
Chihaya Anon’s hand suddenly clenched tight, her lunchbox crackling under the force of her grip.
No.
Absolutely not.
The moment she pictured that scene, her stomach began to churn and roil, a whirlpool of emotions mixing panic, indignation, and intense jealousy clamping down hard on Chihaya Anon’s heart.
“Anon?
Anon?” The secretary waved a hand in front of Anon: “Why are you spacing out?
You’re not even eating.” Chihaya Anon snapped back to herself, a flicker of panic darting through her eyes for an instant, but she quickly covered it up with a perfect smile: “Ah, it’s nothing.” “I was just thinking…” Anon picked up a rice ball and stuffed it into her mouth, her gaze sweeping faintly, almost imperceptibly, across Ayato’s face, her voice light and breezy: “Everyone’s got such a bright future, huh~ Yagada~” …
Half an hour later, the warning bell echoed abruptly over the school grounds.
“Ah, class is about to start!” The secretary scrambled up from her chair in a flurry.
The treasurer also swiftly gathered the documents on the desk into a stack and tucked them under her arm.
The two of them turned to look at the president and vice president still seated there, and waved: “Anon, vice president, we’re heading back to the classroom first!
See you after school!” “See you after school~” Chihaya Anon raised a hand, her smile flawless.
The door of the student council room opened and closed again, and as those two figures vanished, the clamor was instantly drained away, leaving only the hum of the air conditioner running in the air.
Uchiha Ayato rose unhurriedly to his feet, grabbing the shoulder bag draped over the back of his chair, his movements carrying their usual looseness.
“Alright, I should head back to class too.” Just as his hand landed on the door handle, the sound of a chair being yanked back hard came from behind him, followed immediately by quick footsteps catching up—— “Wait!” Chihaya Anon grabbed his sleeve from behind: “You’re not allowed to leave.” Uchiha Ayato turned his head, his gaze dropping down to land on the girl’s face, written all over with stubbornness and agitation.
The distance between the two of them was a little close—he could smell the faint scent of shampoo on her.
“What is it, Madam President?” He slid one hand into his pocket, raising an eyebrow: “Is there some piece of work left unfinished?” “Who wants to talk to you about work!” Anon bit her lower lip, forcibly suppressing the flare of temper his attitude had stirred up from the bottom of her heart, her eyes locking tightly onto his: “Just now you…” “Before they came in—weren’t you in the middle of saying something you didn’t finish?” “Was I?” Ayato tilted his head.
“You were!” Anon raised her voice: “You said, ‘Since you want to hear it, then listen carefully,’ and then?
Then what were you going to say?” “You’re not allowed to leave it half-finished!” Uchiha Ayato looked at the girl’s earnest expression, and a wave of helplessness rose from the bottom of his heart.
This girl’s fixations were sometimes an absolute pain in the neck—she wouldn’t rest until she’d cracked the pot to get to the bottom of it.
But the impulse from that one moment earlier had already been thoroughly snuffed out.
The him of right now was the big head in control of the body!
Running away may be shameful, but it’s useful!
“Oh, that.” Ayato shrugged: “It was nothing, I just wanted to ask whether you’d want to go check out a live at the newly opened ring this weekend—consider it my apology.” “But since you’re going to be doing a band group rehearsal, then never mind, let’s drop it.” “Madam President, sometimes overthinking things will give the president wrinkles—though you’re the type who’d still be cute even with wrinkles…” “Alright, class is about to start; if we don’t get to the classroom soon, that stuffy old math teacher is going to start grumbling again.” With that, Uchiha Ayato gently pried Anon’s hand loose and walked out of the student council room.
Chihaya Anon stood rooted in place, watching helplessly as the black-haired boy’s retreating figure receded into the distance.
……
The afternoon hours slipped by swiftly amid the drowsy drone of lectures.
After school, Uchiha Ayato did not head to the student council room, but instead walked straight toward the school gate.
This was one of the extremely rare occasions in three years that he didn’t go to the student council, but there was no helping it—there was a rather troublesome someone over there right now, and Ayato, the coward who hadn’t come to terms with his own true feelings, could only choose to play deserter for the time being.
Besides, he happened to have a perfectly reasonable excuse to run away right now.
Among this crowd of middle schoolers with backpacks slung over their shoulders, chattering about ice cream flavors and the newest mobile games, the black sedan parked at the school gate looked especially out of place.
A middle-aged man wearing an utterly tasteless black suit and black half-rim glasses stood beside the car, the dispirited aura unique to a corporate drone seeming a world apart from the vitality all around him.
Even though he’d steeled himself on the way over, the moment he laid eyes on Uchiha Ayato, a flicker of surprise still flashed through his eyes.
“Good afternoon, Mr.
Uchiha.” The man gave Ayato a slight bow: “I’m Assistant Manager Ijichi Kiyotaka, and I’ll be assisting you in completing your sorcerer assessment from here on.”