The Heroines Want to Confess

Chapter 434: The Student Council Inherited by Bloodline

While Sakurai Saki and the others were climbing the mountain.

Iino Miko was at the villa, sitting with Shirogane Kei doing homework.

It was Kei-chan who invited her, and the purpose actually had very little to do with homework — she was mainly curious about Iino Miko's romantic feelings.

Last time, Iino Miko confessed to Sakurai Saki, and that completely shocked Kei-chan!

"Iino-senpai, last time senpai said you liked Saki-nii, was that true?" Kei-chan, dressed in cool white clothes, sat at the study desk in the room, while Iino Miko sat on the edge of the bed beside her, holding her phone, not knowing who she was texting.

"Umu, I like him."

Miko-chan had barely finished saying that when she blinked, suddenly realizing what she had just said.

She was busy playing on her phone just now, all her attention sucked into the screen, completely ignoring the question from her underclassman!

Oh no, she accidentally said her true thoughts out loud!

She did like him, but this was something she should only tell Sakurai-senpai. Iino Miko was the type of girl who embarrassed easily. Last night, when she confessed, she still had to speak indirectly. Although part of that was thanks to Fujiwara Chika's interference, Miko herself was never good at speaking straightforwardly — she was best at "taking the long way around."

"... I mean, like a kouhai liking her senpai." Iino Miko added.

"I see." Shirogane Kei didn't believe it.

She had read an article before.

When people are distracted — like when they're playing on their phone — they basically can't lie, and only their true feelings come out.

Just like when someone hands you something while you're on a phone call, people will unconsciously take it.

Humans are mostly single-taskers; multitasking is very rare.

Even if Iino Miko is an elite student of Shuchiin, she is no exception.

"Kei-chan~ I really only like Sakurai-senpai in a normal way, a very normal way." Iino Miko emphasized again.

"I also like Saki-nii a lot, in the way a little sister likes an older brother." Shirogane Kei said casually.

But that sentence caused a fierce storm inside Iino Miko's heart.

Kei-chan isn't lying, right?

Is it really just the way a little sister likes an older brother? But she and Sakurai-senpai are very close too.

At that moment, a chain of suspicion began to form.

Love is a dark forest — Does she like him? Does he like her? Do you like that person? Once doubt sprouts, the chain wraps around everyone.

... But sorry, for now that entire chain of suspicion is meaningless.

The reason——

"Because Saki-nii doesn't see me as a girl, I feel very comfortable around him, and I think that kind of relationship is the best."

Shirogane Kei was reminding Iino Miko, telling her not to jump into the fire.

Saki-nii already has a girlfriend, so if Miko-chan really likes him — in the romantic sense — she would be doomed!

That's right, in Shirogane Kei's eyes, Sakurai Saki is still the pure, innocent type who only likes Hayasaka Ai.

In such a situation, if Miko-chan's love-addled brain made her go confess, it would only make their relationship awkward, and even staying as kouhai would become difficult.

"... I also really like the atmosphere when I'm with Sakurai-senpai."

Miko-chan was referring only to the senpai–kouhai feeling.

But right now, she was a bit scared — if Sakurai Saki didn't accept her feelings, what should she do?

She had heard that many boys and girls don't confess to the one they like not because they don't want to advance, but because they're scared of being rejected and having the relationship regress.

Not advancing but instead retreating — no one wants that outcome.

But Sakurai-senpai had already been entangled romantically with three girls, adding her wouldn't be unusual, right?

Miko-chan thought about the girls in the student council — Chika and Kaguya — and felt it actually wasn't that terrible.

Sakurai-senpai might also like her — that possibility was actually quite high.

"Right, next year Kei-chan will be entering Shuchiin's high school division, right?"

Iino Miko suddenly remembered this matter.

"Right, why?"

Shirogane Kei was currently a third-year middle school student with excellent grades, and she would definitely pass the entrance exam with ease.

Unlike her brother Shirogane Miyuki — the type who only knows how to study and works extremely hard — Shirogane Kei belonged to the genius type, someone who had stood out among her peers since childhood.

No wonder their terrible mother chose to take Kei away and leave Miyuki behind…

"Kei-chan, have you thought about joining the student council? If you're interested, you can get some experience starting next year, and later on if you want to run for president, you'll already have the background, and students will accept you more easily."

It seemed Iino Miko was preparing to turn Shuchiin Academy's student council into a… hereditary system.

Shirogane Miyuki passing to Miko, and Miko then passing to Kei…

If Sakurai Saki overheard this scene and conversation, he would definitely laugh to himself.

Very interesting indeed.

"Chika-nee's younger sister, Moeha, wants to be the president. I'm not that interested."

Shirogane Kei had been Treasurer in middle school for two years, and she wasn't used to nor fond of presidential work.

"The student council president gets a special recommendation slot, and it saves a lot of effort... Also, as the younger sister of President Shirogane, many people will definitely have high expectations of you."

Even though Shirogane Miyuki held no real status in the eyes of VIPs, to ordinary students he was an extremely capable student council president with very high approval ratings.

Though, if not for the "behind-the-scenes interference" of Shinomiya Kaguya during the previous election, he might not have been re-elected.

And now, as Shirogane Miyuki's younger sister, Shirogane Kei was 100% guaranteed to be labeled.

"Um... alright. But I want to start as Treasurer first."

In the end, Shirogane Kei didn't refuse.

She also wanted to follow in her brother's footsteps, to see whether she could achieve the same accomplishments — ranking first in the year, while also being a respected student council president.

"Great! That means my new student council has one less empty seat!"

Iino Miko was planning to recruit Ishigami Yuu as vice president. The Treasurer position had originally been left empty, but now it was filled!

Wait, Kei-chan mentioned Fujiwara-senpai's little sister earlier…

"Moeha-chan is also in the student council? What position does she hold in middle school?"

"Vice president. Iino-senpai, are you planning to bring her into the high school student council too?"

Hearing that, a thought briefly flashed through Iino Miko's mind about switching out the vice president candidate, but she didn't even need to guess to know that Fujiwara Chika's sister probably wasn't reliable. Compared to the steady Ishigami Yuu, she wasn't a better choice.

"Umu, but I need to think it over. Right, Kei-chan, you can call me Miko-nee, calling me by my family name sounds distant." Miko wanted to experience the feeling of being an older sister.

In the student council, she was always the kouhai and had no sense of having moved up to second year.

"Miko-nee… running for president is really hard, isn't it?"

Shirogane Kei knew very well that her brother had once practiced speeches in front of a mirror for the election… terrifyingly so.

And back then, the Shirogane family couldn't even afford lights at night, so Shirogane Miyuki talking to a mirror in the dark looked like something straight out of a horror movie.

"It's manageable."

"Yeah. I remember aniki almost lost to you last time." Kei recalled.

"... That's because President Shirogane intentionally went easy on me."

There was also the reason that Sakurai-senpai had encouraged her; otherwise, Iino Miko felt that when she went up on stage, she wouldn't even have been able to breathe.

At that time, her fear of speaking in front of crowds still hadn't been cured.

The two chatted for a while until noon. Since Hayasaka Ai had cooked in the morning, they only needed to heat up the food, no need to cook again.

...

Afternoon.

Around nearly three o'clock, the mountain-climbing group finally returned.

"I really saw it, a Tsuchinoko!! And it was huge!!"

Fujiwara Chika loudly told everyone about the mysterious creature she saw on the mountain.

"Secretary Fujiwara, you've been saying that the entire way back." Shinomiya Kaguya felt like her ears were about to sprout calluses.

Even if she really saw it, does that mean we had to risk our lives with you in this stupidly hot weather?

"That's a mysterious creature worth 200 million yen! If I catch it, I could make a huge fortune!"

Fujiwara Chika's dream turned out to be… nothing lofty at all…

Kaguya truly did not expect this to be about money.

But before she could complain further, Chika continued: "And I could also gain fame! If I ever want to enter politics someday, that kind of background would be really interesting and might get me a massive amount of support!"

What to say… as expected of the daughter of a political family.

"This isn't good…" Shirogane Miyuki muttered.

He was starting to worry for the future of the country.

If—just if, okay—if Secretary Fujiwara ever becomes a politician, this country might not be far from destruction?

"This is just an excuse, right? All this is just to prove that the treasure detector you bought wasn't a waste of money…"

Hayasaka Ai saw straight through her.

Something that only cost 10,000 yen… just consider it a life lesson.

Did she really need to prove its usefulness so desperately?

"But I really used the detector to find the Tsuchinoko… it definitely works!" Fujiwara Chika insisted.

She really did see something strange earlier.

...

"Kei-chan and Miko-chan ate properly, right?" Sakurai Saki began worrying about his little sister and kouhai-chan.

"They're not little kids." Shirogane Miyuki complained.

Are you treating Iino and Kei like babies?

"The fireworks tonight — should we start preparing them now?" Shinomiya Kaguya asked.

If they waited until after dinner, wouldn't it be too late?

Sakurai Saki nodded: "More or less. But no need to rush, we can rest a bit first."

He wanted to go take a shower.

Ishigami Yuu, who had been silent until now, asked, "Isn't it a bit dangerous to set off large fireworks in the mountains?"

"No, I already prepared a clearing. And the big fireworks are only one launch; the rest are handheld." Sakurai Saki explained.

Ishigami Yuu nodded to show he understood. Actually, the risk of forest fires in summer wasn't high — it was mainly autumn and winter — but precautions were still important.

Then, everyone went to shower one after another.

They finished setting up all the fireworks.

Time quickly passed into the evening.

...

Before the fireworks started, Iino Miko approached Sakurai Saki.

"Sakurai-senpai, can we watch the fireworks together? Just the two of us."

Sakurai Saki thought for a few seconds, and he didn't refuse:

"Umu."