novelraw Chapter 432: Turns Out the Clown Was Myself
Chapter 432: Turns Out the Clown Was Myself
Outside the villa, next to the grill used for last night's BBQ.
Shirogane Miyuki was moving the leftover charcoal and other unused items into the wooden storage room beside it.
"Ishigami, why have you been making that serious face this whole time?"
"I'm thinking." Ishigami Yuu answered.
He was thinking about why Fujiwara Chika went to sleep overnight in Sakurai Saki's room, but no matter how he thought, he just couldn't understand!
Especially that line Chika said—— "She probably already knows," that only confused Ishigami Yuu even more.
Could it be that Hayasaka-senpai has some strange fetish, likes sharing her boyfriend to others for pleasure? "Cuckold"? This kind of thing only appears in doujinshi but now it's happening in real life…
No no no, no matter how he thought about it, it couldn't be that!
'Does Myuu-senpai know about this?'
Ishigami Yuu thought for a moment, then prepared to ask: "Myuu-senpai, let me ask you something, do you feel like Sakurai-senpai and Fujiwara-senpai are overly close? I don't think they look like normal friends at all."
"Really? I think they're normal… They've been like that since their first year, and they haven't changed in their second or third year either."
'Could it be that those two have been sleeping together since their first year until now? Then… Sakurai-senpai and Hayasaka-senpai are just casual flings?'
That confession during the sports festival back then was so sudden, Ishigami Yuu never really understood it.
Now he understood!
'Turns out everything was Fujiwara-senpai's mission!'
Whether it was the sudden confession or living together! Everything was simply a mission assigned by the "master"~
Damn it! Fujiwara-senpai is playing big!
Ishigami Yuu's head was filled with filthy thoughts that crazily connected together, then created an extremely absurd conclusion, one even more absurd than the real situation!
Shirogane Miyuki finished arranging the items, and when he saw Ishigami Yuu's face turning strange outside the storage room, he quickly spoke up to defend Sakurai Saki: "I don't know what you're thinking, but the relationship between Sakurai and Hayasaka has nothing to do with us. No matter how close they are, we're still just 'outsiders', so casually interfering in their love life isn't a good idea."
"Myuu-senpai, I know. It's just… I'm a little curious."
"Curious about what?"
This line… wasn't said by Shirogane Miyuki, but by Sakurai Saki, who had just walked over.
He felt that if he didn't speak immediately, his image in Ishigami's mind would distort into some kind of Lovecraftian form.
Ishigami Yuu still didn't realize the one who had spoken was Sakurai Saki, and excitedly continued: "Myuu-senpai, aren't you curious about their drama? A love-triangle drama!"
"…If you're interested in that kind of thing, you can go to the library and borrow the media club magazines, they're filled with those. Not only mine and Chika's, but even Kaguya's, what do you think?"
'Hold on! Something's wrong here!'
Ishigami Yuu stiffly turned around and found Sakurai Saki standing right behind him.
"...A-ahaha~ S-Sakurai-senpai w-what are you talking about?"
It's over. Talking behind someone's back and getting caught — this kind of situation… too embarrassing, so embarrassing he wanted to die.
'Would it be okay if I just jumped off the mountain right now?' Ishigami Yuu swallowed.
The loud 'gulp~' sound showed just how scared he was.
Normally, Sakurai Saki was gentle and approachable, but when he was angry… Ishigami Yuu didn't dare imagine. He had never seen Sakurai Saki angry, but he also didn't think someone like him would be easy to talk to when pissed off.
In fact, people like him were the scariest when they got angry!
'I'm dead!'
But contrary to his expectations, Sakurai Saki didn't get angry——
"It's fine if you gossip about me behind my back, I can pretend I didn't hear it. But it's better if you don't talk behind Kaguya. She doesn't like that."
Ishigami Yuu looked at his expression, confirmed he wasn't angry, then quietly said: "I'm sorry, Sakurai-senpai."
In front of Shinomiya Kaguya, Ishigami Yuu was extremely obedient, like a puppy tamed by its owner, but after talking to Sakurai Saki as equals for so long, he had gotten a bit "delusional about his own strength."
"I'm not using my senpai status to lecture you, but Ishigami, you should practice thinking from other people's perspectives."
"I understand." Ishigami Yuu nodded.
He tried imagining the situation: if someone spread rumors about him and some girl… even if the possibility was tiny, it would still be troublesome. Not to mention, spreading it in front of friends — that made the nature of it even worse.
"As long as you understand. Next year everyone graduates, and you'll be one of the senior students in this school. As a student council member…" Sakurai Saki said, then naturally shifted the topic toward the student council: "Oh right, Ishigami, have you thought about joining the next student council?"
"…Shinomiya-senpai and I promised each other that next year we'll get into the top 10 of our entire grade. If I take on student council work, it'll be difficult."
At that moment, Shirogane Miyuki exposed his lie: "Ishigami, you spend a huge amount of time playing games every day, you need to fix that habit."
Shirogane brushed the charcoal dust off his hands and prepared to wash them.
"I've tried cutting down recently." Ishigami Yuu said very seriously.
"How much did you cut down?"
"Games are too fun! I cut down thirty minutes! I am guilty!"
Ishigami Yuu bent forward and did a "sumimase" pose, making both of them cover their faces with their hands.
Thirty minutes… wasn't that basically "not reducing at all"?
"It's fine. I'm currently ranked 30th in the entire grade, improving 20 ranks in one year is easy."
Confidence overflowed from Ishigami Yuu's words.
Sakurai Saki and Shirogane Miyuki looked at each other.
'Ishigami probably has no idea about the gap between top 10 and top 30, huh?'
This is Shuchiin! Top 30 and top 10 are two completely different species, okay? If Sakurai Saki didn't have that "esper-like" mind, even though he didn't use that ability for studying, he still had to spend a whole year starting from zero to catch up with Shirogane Miyuki — that alone was enough to show how difficult it was!
'We can't let him keep self-destructing like this!'
Both of them thought the same thing.
But to avoid crushing the kid's confidence, they prepared to phrase it in a gentler way.
"Ishigami, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Without accumulating little by little, when the important moment comes, something big will go wrong." This was Shirogane Miyuki.
Sakurai Saki, however, was much more direct: "Ishigami, in the games you play, your rank is only a bit above average players, do you know why? Because you suck! Gaming skill isn't something that gets better just because you play longer! After a hundred matches you're Diamond, after a thousand matches… you're still Diamond! This kind of meaningless entertainment, just drop it."
Climb up then fall back down, and after recalculating points you end up losing dozens. That's the normal state of a casual gamer.
"Sakurai-senpai, you were still online last week, weren't you? You clearly went to Hokkaido, and you were still online. Are you really filming?" Ishigami Yuu absolutely would not give up gaming so easily!
"Our playtime is about the same, but our skill difference is huge, isn't it?"
"..."
Hmph, so what if your rank is high? With how you play, it's like you've turned on hacks — even game aimbots aren't as good as you.
"You just want me to join Iino's student council, right?" Ishigami Yuu rubbed his forehead, figuring out what they were up to.
Shirogane Miyuki immediately replied: "That has nothing to do with Iino. We're worried about your academics. You made a promise with Shinomiya, so you'd better fulfill it. And besides, haven't you always worked hard? …Top 10 in Shuchiin is terrifying, not as simple as you think. For the last finals, you already know Iino's score, right? She was 30 points above you, 481. And that was Shuchiin's internal exam — you know how hard those are."
Sakurai Saki also shook his head: "...No."
Hey, Sakurai-senpai, you hesitated, right? Hey! That was way too obvious, I understood every detail of that!!
And you only answered one word, where's the explanation? Where is it?? You…
Ishigami Yuu felt he was being treated unreasonably!
'If Sakurai-senpai asked that, it must be for Iino.'
No need to think much, guessing randomly would still hit eight out of ten times.
Ishigami Yuu had long noticed that although Sakurai Saki was gentle with both kouhai, he clearly treated Iino Miko better than he treated him.
'Then how am I supposed to refuse?'
If Sakurai Saki honestly said he wanted Ishigami Yuu to join the student council to support Iino Miko, he would definitely agree — that was obvious.
He still hadn't repaid his debt of gratitude to Sakurai Saki.
Sakurai Saki cared a lot about Miko on a daily basis, but he cared about him quite a bit too.
"If you really don't want to, we definitely won't force you." Shirogane Miyuki was never someone who forced others or imposed his will onto anyone.
He was the one in the student council who could understand other people's perspectives the most.
"Since you said that… if I refuse, it'd be a bit too much."
The two senpai who always cared about him had spoken, so Ishigami Yuu truly couldn't—and didn't want to—refuse.
"Alright. But don't go jumping in on your own. If Miko can handle things herself, that's still the best. What we mean is—wait until the day she can't bear the pressure anymore and comes to ask you for help. Then, for the sake of your shared bond as former Student Council members, at least consider helping her shoulder some of it."
Hearing the ambiguous tone in Sakurai Saki's voice, Ishigami Yuu felt that this guy genuinely cared a lot about Iino Miko.
No wonder Iino Miko had sleepily wandered into his room this morning. Feelings don't appear overnight—they build up day by day.
"If Iino comes to beg me herself, of course I'll give her some face." Ishigami Yuu said with a hint of arrogance.
This sentence was meant to show that he actually didn't want to join Iino Miko's Student Council… and if, in the future, he accidentally did end up joining, it would only be because of the request of the two senpai he respected, not something he personally wished for.
One can only say—Ishigami Yuu really is a bit tsundere. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been fighting nonstop for nearly two years.
"...Ishigami, a man acting tsundere looks creepy as hell." Sakurai Saki commented.
Ishigami Yuu: "..."
Have I really been tsundere this whole time?
"...If you don't want to join my Student Council, then fine, I don't need you either."
At that moment, Iino Miko's voice sounded from the side.
She hadn't heard the whole conversation, but she could more or less guess the content—Sakurai Saki had mentioned this last night, but Iino Miko really hadn't expected him to lower himself to ask a mere Ishigami for help. It was honestly humiliating, since Ishigami Yuu was one year younger than Sakurai Saki.
"This was a request from both senpai. If you invite me in the future, I won't refuse." Ishigami Yuu turned back, his expression suddenly serious.
He had accepted the request, so of course he would see it through!
The effort of Shirogane Miyuki, the spirit of keeping promises from Shinomiya Kaguya and Sakurai Saki were all truly passed down into Ishigami Yuu's heart—this was the gift his senpai had left for him! ...As for Fujiwara Chika, sorry, this person didn't have many strong points—maybe only her carefree nature and optimism counted as her "good traits"?
"Is that so~ Since it's something the senpai asked of you, then I won't be mad about this." Iino Miko unusually didn't argue back, since this was Sakurai Saki's good intention.
Hearing the two of them.
A warm sense of relief rose in the hearts of Sakurai Saki and Shirogane Miyuki.
The two of them had once always fought like cats and dogs when they met, yet now they could actually talk normally... Um, it probably counted as normal, right? Still a bit tense, but compared to before, much better!
"By the way. Where's Kaguya? I haven't seen her." Sakurai Saki suddenly asked.
"Probably doing her summer homework?"
Shirogane Miyuki's answer almost made Sakurai Saki twist his waist.
It was just too plain and straightforward.
Well, true. They were students—summer homework was unavoidable.
"There are still more than twenty days left, she doesn't really need to rush."
"Did you forget Fujiwara the secretary last year? She ran to the school one day before the new term started and begged us for help."
"She didn't write a single word during the entire summer vacation, I honestly can't understand..."
In Sakurai Saki's eyes, summer homework should be finished at the start of the break—otherwise, if you're having fun and suddenly remember that mountain of work, it just kills the mood.
"..." On one side, Ishigami Yuu quietly averted his gaze.
Homework? There was that too?
Summer vacation had started in mid-July, and now it was already nearing mid-August, yet Ishigami Yuu still hadn't written a single word.
Games were too fun! Dating with Koyasu-senpai was too blissful! ...Homework? Sorry, he really wasn't in the mood to do it. Even a dog wouldn't want to do it!
"Alright, let's not talk about this. We already agreed to go hiking—are you two interested?"
Sakurai Saki asked.
Just now the topic had been dragged completely off track by Ishigami Yuu, and Saki had almost forgotten the reason he came here in the first place.
"Hiking?" Ishigami Yuu thought for a moment and felt that hiking didn't sound bad.
He also hadn't exercised yet this morning.
"I'm interested as well." Shirogane Miyuki gave his opinion.
Seeing that neither of them refused, Sakurai Saki nodded. He turned to Miko and said, "Tell those guys to bring less food, otherwise they won't even make it halfway."
"Sakurai-senpai, you said that too late, Shinomiya-senpai brought a lot..."
Perhaps because it was her first time hiking and going on an outdoor picnic, Shinomiya Kaguya was extremely excited.
"..."
Listening to the two talk, Ishigami Yuu felt a bit like laughing.
With Shinomiya-senpai bringing that much stuff, she'd definitely get exhausted halfway and be unable to continue, he was sure of it!
'Shinomiya-senpai, always so proud, panting and tired—just imagining it is entertaining.'
Ishigami Yuu began to look forward to it.
...
Ten minutes later.
Ishigami Yuu looked at Shinomiya Kaguya walking ahead while holding an umbrella, then looked at the extra lunch box that had appeared in his own hands, falling into silence.
'I really should've thought of it...'
Turns out the clown was actually himself!
...