Picking up where we left off…

After Satoru suggested going to the cafeteria with him since I forgot to bring my lunch today, Karasuma —who was supposed to be absent— appeared outside my class while looking for me to go to the Student Council with her.

Following a…complicated series of events, Satoru ultimately headed to the cafeteria saying he would be fine on his own, but even if I wanted to go with him, Karasuma’s tenaciousness contributed to changing my destination.

More importantly, I wonder what he’s doing right now. For him to go to the cafeteria just by himself…that means he must have something planned out; that’s the kind of guy he is after all.

Right now, Karasuma and I are walking upstairs to the 3rd floor, where the Student Council is.

Come to think of it, I still don’t know why she’s actually here. First she misses the bus, and then she suddenly appears here during lunch break… She’d better have a good explanation for this.

"Um… Karasuma, do you mind if I say that thing I wanted to ask earlier?"

"I’m all ears!" she replies in quite the loud voice.

That’s really a lot of unnecessary enthusiasm she’s got there…

To think that a few moments ago she was shedding tears… Honestly, I want to know what is going on in that girl’s mind…

"So…where were you until now?"

"At school."

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT!"

And after a dozen seconds of awkward silence…

"Oh, that!" she snaps her fingers. "I came just after the second period ended. The reason you didn’t see me at all was because I stayed in class during that and the next break to copy the notes for the classes I missed. You see, my sis kept me at home this morning, hehe…"

So this means that Eru-senpai is still sick, doesn’t it? Or at least she was by the time she left for school. If that’s the case, it all makes sense.

"Since you stayed home to look after her, her condition wasn’t any less different than yesterday, right?"

"Yeah, her fever wasn’t planning on dropping at all since we came back from school yesterday, but it went down a bit this morning. If it keeps dropping like that, she should be able to come to school tomorrow."

Then it wasn’t anything serious after all. It must have been indeed the result of overexertion.

Note to self: When I become a senior, I’m definitely taking it easy so that I don’t end up going through that…

"But was there any reason for you to miss these two periods? Couldn’t your parents have done that in your stead?"

"They were both out of town since yesterday morning. My dad usually goes out of town for his job. He makes deliveries and stuff for a company, and this time he had to meet his employer in Tokyo and also take care of some deliveries throughout it while he was there. He had to go to Shinjuku, Shibuya, Meguro, Shinagawa, Minato, Kiyoda—"

"It’s ‘Chiyoda’!" I immediately correct her, completely out of reflex.

It should go without saying by now that Karasuma will react in the most slapstick way to anything that would annoy a normal person even a little bit, and this time is no exception; her reaction to me correcting her tiny mistake was —funnily enough— a huge pout. So huge, in fact, that her cheeks actually got a bit red.

I know she does these for fun (PLEASE TELL ME I’M NOT WRONG ON THAT!), but her reactions are so over the top that I feel the urge to start laughing until my sides start hurting.

"What about your mother?"

"She is an elementary school teacher, and there was a seminar in Shinjuku yesterday that she was told to attend at the eleventh hour to represent her school. No room for cancellations or replacements either."

Talk about unlucky…

"Both of them wound up everything they had to take care of just after midnight yesterday, so they spent the night there."

"So they’re back now?"

"Yeah, they returned this morning."

I see now. Tokyo is a 3-hour trip by car from here, so I suppose they were too tired to come back at night, and hearing about Eru-senpai’s condition, they woke up as early in the morning as possible to not exhaust Karasuma from taking care of her sister all day yesterday.

‘My memory is flawless’ she said… 'I forgot Eru-nee was absent today and bought two melon breads on my way here out of habit,’ she said…

I’m honestly quite surprised that she can rumble for hours on end about something like this, but couldn’t remember that her sister wasn’t with her today!

MAKE UP YOUR MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIND!

We finally reach the 3rd floor —the floor for the seniors’ classes and the Student Council.

The senior classes there all seem to be to our left, while other classrooms are to our right.

When taking the right turn, the Student Council’s door is the first one to enter your field of vision. This is the place where the 4 people that were representing it yesterday make the decisions for the school’s future.

‘Who’s in charge now, who’s in charge now~?’ Karasuma sings in her thoughts cheerfully as soon as we arrive in front of the Council’s door.

Allow me to explain what she means by that: When a person in the Student Council is ‘in charge’, it means that they are assigned to be in the Council room during breaks —not to be confused with prep times—, before, during, and after school.

The reasoning behind it is pretty simple actually: Most students visit the Council for whatever reason during breaks, so it should be a given that someone needs to be there to assist them.

But to think that she is also singing to herself in her thoughts…

Unlike poor me who is conquered by nervousness and anticipation for the unknown, she seems exceptionally calm and delighted about this.

Observation #6: Karasuma Yumeha is such a child, but that’s what’s unique and charming about her.

"Excuse us!" Karasuma says as she knocks the Council’s door twice.

A female voice responds with a soft "Come in." to our knocking, and as soon as we hear that, Karasuma slides the door open, slowly.

The first thing in the room that comes to my attention is a female figure reading a palm-sized book, sitting on the desk on the opposite side of the room (yup, literally on top of it). She has her left leg crossed over her right one, and wearing just black ankle-high socks to cover her legs, her bare left thigh is entirely visible, exposing her smooth looking skin. She was the one that responded as well.

If she wasn’t wearing the school’s uniform, with her long black silky hair and the captivating look of serenity on her mildly smiling face, I’d mistake her for an adult.

Her mature vibe and appearance immediately ring a bell in my mind; there’s only one person that fits this description: She’s none other than the famed queen of the school, the 3rd year Akiya Yukino.

Suddenly, my body gets pumped up just by her presence.

Is it fear? Is it excitement?

I can’t even tell what my expression is right now.

I can’t tell, since I’ve never felt like this before in my entire life.

I can tell that it’s definitely not my hormones acting up though!

"Yumeha-chan!" she says as she puts the book down gently on the desk and quickly approaches us.

"Yukino-sa—!" Karasuma rejoices at the sight of Akiya-senpai, but before she could finish her sentence, Akiya-senpai headchopped her, which made Karasuma react with a moe-ish "Ow!".

"It’s ‘Yukino-senpai’ here."

"So’y…"

Is this her version of ‘sorry’…?

"Make sure you get that right next time, okay?"

"Aye aye!"

Hearing that, Akiya-senpai rubs Karasuma’s head wearing a big-sister smile. "That’s my girl!"

Karasuma’s reaction to this really caught me off guard. Normally, one —and even I— would expect her to reply with ‘Geez, don’t treat me like a little kid! I’m in high-school now! Just because you’re my senpai doesn’t mean you should praise me that way!’, or something along those lines.

But noooooooooooooooooooooope, she almost purred!

It seems I forgot that I’m dealing with an irregular bunch in this school, and logical thinking like this should be defied at all costs…

"So…this guy that’s looking around the room like he’s about to narrate every single detail of it to someone who isn’t even here?" Akiya-senpai points her finger at me. "Is he the one!?"

I’m not! No matter what you have in mind, don't make this sound so dramatic!

"He is!"

DON’T JUST GO ALONG WITH IT!

At least let me in on what you’re talking about…

"You’re the ‘Taichi-san’ Yumeha-chan keeps talking talking about?" she asks.

"I-I guess so… I’m Yanagisawa Taichi from 1-B, nice to meet you."

Taking a closer look, a small golden badge is also pinned on her chest. It seems to verify one’s position in the Student Council, as ‘vice-president’ is inscribed on it.

"Nice to meet you too, Yanagisawa-kun. I’m the vice-president here, Aki—"

"Akiya Yukino-senpai, a senior this year, right?"

"Oh, so you already know who I am!" she claps her hands together.

I mean, who doesn’t… For someone who’s been given the title ‘Dark-Haired Queen’, popularity should be the least of her concerns…

"I never imagined I was this popular~"

"Please stop fidgeting over this…"

Aren’t senpais supposed to set an example for their kouhais…?

WHAT SHOULD I GET FROM THIS REACTION?! SO MUCH FOR THE MATURITY SHE GIVES OFF!

"Well then, take a seat. There’s still a lot of time till classes start, so make yourselves at home!"

The time now is 12:47 PM, and the bell for lunch break to end rings at 1:15 PM. Then, there’s a 10-minute prep for the next class, so that leaves us with a little less than 40 more minutes of free time.

Following Akiya-senpai’s hospitality, me and Karasuma sit on the couch in front of the desk she was sitting on before. She tries to offer us a cup of tea along with some snacks, but as soon as I attempt to kindly turn down her offer, Karasuma sits bolt upright to wholeheartedly accept it. It’s as if she already knew this was coming up.

Of course, it would be rude to not accept at least one cup now that Karasuma already has done so herself.

From this two-seated couch that has its back to the wall, I catch an almost panoramic view of the room.

This room is considerably smaller than a regular classroom. If I were to calculate how much smaller it seems to me, I’d say by about one third. Still, it’s spacey enough to take a dozen of people in here to sit comfortambly.

In front of the couch me and Karasuma are sitting there is short table and two armchairs to our sides; one to our left and one to our right. (I’m guessing all these are for guests, mostly.)

Next to the door, there’s a huge bookshelf with a couple drawers and a glass cupboard below it, and in front of it, a wide wooden table that gives off the feeling of ‘higher status’ with its dark brown coloring. With 7 seats assigned to it, I can only assume that there are a couple of extras for people visiting the council.

Nothing else in the room is particularly standing out to describe. Only the walls being relatively empty for the most part piqued my curiosity, with some framed photos opposite of us being side by side to decorate it.

All of these pictures have one thing in common: there are exactly 5 people in each and every single one, so they probably are mementos of each year’s Student Council or something? If so, my suspicion that the Council has 5 members instead of 4 has been cleared. Akiya-senpai is in none of the pictures, by the way, so she must be a new member to it.

Oh man, all this thinking gave me a small appetite… If I recall correctly, there were some bite-sized sweets on the table—

Wait, they’re gone already?! I know us Japanese are big on formalities and Akiya-senpai said ‘Make yourselves at home!’, but Karasuma is taking this a bit too literally!

Just how hungry was she…? She should have eaten the bread she gave me if she was the one that was going to starve to death first…

"So, what brings you here?" Akiya-senpai asks with that same serene look from before as she sits in the chair behind the desk —and fortunately, not on the desk.

"Well, I did want you to meet Taichi-san, but I wanted to hang around here a bit as well!"

"I was right then. You wouldn’t have come here just to introduce your boyfriend to me. Even though he has quite the good looks."

She’s totally gotten the wrong idea!

"Good choice, Yumeha-chan! I’m proud of you!"

WHY ARE YOU SHEDDING TEARS?!

In the meantime, Karasuma is struggling to get a word out of her mouth —more accurately, she’s stuttering incomprehensible sounds. Much like me, she is probably convinced that no matter what we say won’t change Akiya-senpai’s impression that we’re a couple, but she’s giving it a shot nevertheless.

I’m just going to try for reason’s sake and see if I can manage to change anything.

"Akiya-senpai, this isn’t what you think it is!"

"Don’t take it to heart, Yanagisawa-kun. I was just joking," she replies with a slightly confused look. Maybe she took it for granted that I'd immediately get that it was a joke; in that case, guess I got worried over nothing...

"But you know…" Akiya-senpai continues, "I just happened to bring this marriage registration form with me! NO NEED TO LET IT GO TO WASTE!"

"WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND BRINGS SUCH A FORM TO SCHOOL?!"

Karasuma couldn’t even take any more of that. After letting out a single "Bwah!" before fainting from all the embarrassment, she almost fell down from the couch, but I managed to catch her before she did.

Holding her from the shoulders, I shake her a bit, but there’s no response.

"Don’t worry, Yanagisawa-kun, she’s still breathing!"

"I can tell this much!"

"YOU CAN?!"

It doesn’t take a genius to realize when someone has a pulse, you know…

Akiya-senpai suddenly stands up and approaches me, asking if I would mind handing Karasuma over to her (Yep, that’s the exact wording she used) and move to one of the armchairs so that she can handle things from here.

My answer is positive, of course, but what does she have in mind?

But just before I do ‘hand Karasuma over to her’, I can only be amazed at what I’m seeing.

Using both of her hands to gently touch Karasuma’s face, Akiya-senpai gets her forehead to touch her own.

The very same Akiya-senpai who was all happy-go-lucky with her joking a few minutes ago seems like a completely different person right now. For some reason, the way she’s touching Karasuma seems affectionate just by looking at how her fingers lightly make contact with her face. Their position, their movements, even how much force she puts in them…

This expression of affection is so widely known that it’s completely unknown. Quite the oxymoronic and deep statement coming from someone like me, I know, but what I mean is that it’s a small detail that makes it different than other forms of affection, but we tend to ignore that detail just because it’s small.

After a few seconds, it all becomes clear to me.

That’s right: Akiya-senpai is treating Karasuma the same way a mother would.

You may have lost me there with all that ‘affection nonsense’ as one might call it, but I have a mother that treats me the same way when I’m tired or sick, and even though I never really paid attention to what she did in precise detail, I can tell that it’s not your everyday affection. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy with a little sister that loves being spoiled to the core that I’m way too familiar with Akiya-senpai’s action, who knows.

As she finally distances her forehead from Karasuma’s, with a maternal expression of relief on her face, she mutters, "Just as I imagined, she doesn’t have a fever. All’s good then."

After adjusting her skirt to sit on the couch in a straight posture, Akiya-senpai takes Karasuma from me. As I move to the armchair that has its back to the window, my eyes fall upon Akiya-senpai placing Karasuma’s head on her laps, stroking her brown hair from the side with slow and gentle movements.

"She’s just napping. You can even tell from her breathing that she is just exhausted."

"Exhausted? Why?"

"When you caught her, you did hear her breathing, right?"

"I did, but…"

There’s no doubt that she might be right on that. Karasuma’s breathing is soft, but not slow enough to be called mere resting, which means that she is indeed exhausted.

But why?

"But…a lap pillow…?" I accidentally let out with my murmuring.

"You wouldn’t want to rest your head somewhere hard, would you?" she replies in a soft, quiet tone. "That is a rhetorical question, by the way, please don’t bother answering."

"…okay."

THEN DON’T ASK IT IN THE FIRST PLACE!

"The reason she fainted wasn’t because of embarrassment or something. She’s just not the type to overexert herself and last long after that."

Overexert? Is it a sisterly thing or something…?

"She came to meet you when lunch break started, right? She was already at her limit at that moment."

"From what? And how did you know she would meet me?"

"I met her at the ground floor when she arrived a couple hours ago. Long story short, she did her best copying the notes from the classes she missed as quickly as possible to pay the Council a visit. But in the end, it proved to be too much for her to take."

"And how am I relevant to all this?"

"My my, Yanagisawa-kun, have you forgotten the marriage form?"

"I DOUBT SHE HAD ANYTHING LIKE IN MIND WHEN SHE CAME HERE!"

"See? That is the problem! If I can’t ensure someone will spoil her in my place, then my plan to spoil her has to kick in!"

And there I thought she was actually a rational person…!

"You just wanted to say this all along, didn’t you…?"

"Yep! That’s why it was on my ‘To-Do’ list!"

THIS SCHOOL NEVER RUNS OUT OF THESE PEOPLE, DOES IT?!

The door suddenly opens a few moments after Akiya-senpai finishes her sentence.

This time, a tall, male student enters the room. Like Akiya-senpai, he’s also wearing a golden badge on his chest, so he’s also part of the Council.

Excluding the mandatory Sakudai males’ uniform, his appearance is quite simple; straight and very short navy-blue hair, the typical poker face, and a straight posture that makes him seem kind of...intimidating...

Combined with his neutral expression, that impression can’t be cast aside even for a bit, for some reason… (Is this even simple anymore?)

Like Akiya-senpai, he’s also wearing a golden badge on his chest, so he’s also part of the Council.

I remember him from the entrance ceremony as well. His name must be Higashiguchi Jin, a 2nd year, if I’m not mistaken.

"Oh, you’re already here, Yukino-senpai!"

Akiya-senpai, realizing that Higashiguchi-senpai’s voice could disturb Karasuma’s nap, slowly placed her index finger in front of her closed lips after pointing at the sleeping Karasuma for him to understand that he should be quieter than that.

As Higashiguchi-senpai makes his compliance to this obvious enough with his hand signatures, Akiya-senpai tilts her head slightly to the right and shows him a bright smile. ‘‘Thank you," is what she says to him in response as her lips faintly move.

‘You’re spoiling her again, aren’t you… As if you'd ever miss that chance...’ Higashiguchi-senpai thinks in a rather I-knew-this-was-coming tone.

With light steps, Higashiguchi-senpai stands next to me, placing his palm on my shoulder.

"We have our first guests for the year, don’t we?" he asks Akiya-senpai, to which she nods positively twice. As he shifts his attention to me, he says in a low voice, "I’m the Council’s secretary, Higashiguchi Jin, from 2-D. Nice to meet you."

Huh, he’s actually pretty kind. His voice and expressions are anything but intimidating as well. Guess I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

"Yanagisawa Taichi, from 1-B. The pleasure is mine," I bow my head a little.

"Yanagisawa-kun, huh? Ah, you must be a freshman like Yumeha-chan. But you’re in different classes, aren’t you… Yumeha-chan would have mentioned something about you if she knew you from middle school or something…"

Why do I have a bad feeling about this…?

"So you two kiddos are dating, right?"

Kiddos…

He called us kiddos…

"EVEN THOUGH WE ARE A YEAR YOUNGER THAN YOU?!"

"So you are dating!?"

"We’re not!"

"THEN WHY DID THE AGE THING BOTHER YOU?!"

My little banter with Higashiguchi-senpai made Akiya-senpai crack a small laugh. "You two sure would make a fun duo!"

Of course, we both felt like letting out a small laugh ourselves hearing that.

When we all stop laughing, Akiya-senpai says, "She’s sleeping deeper now, you can raise your voices a bit if you want to."

"Out of curiosity, Yukino-senpai, did you eat anything for lunch?" he heads to the armchair on the other side.

"You airhead!" she scolds him. "Eru isn’t here! Who was supposed to share their lunch with me today?! I never bring my own, you know!"

FORGET THE MATURITY VIBE AND ALL THAT, SHE’S LITERALLY A CHILD FROM HEAD TO TOE!

AND WHY IS HIGASHIGUCHI-SENPAI SO PERFECTLY CALM ABOUT THIS?!

I’ve given up trying to comprehend what’s going on in this room anymore...

"As you told me this morning, Yukino-senpai, she’s out with a fever, there’s nothing we can do about her condition. Please bear with it for the time being," Higashiguchi-senpai calmly replies, in contrast to Akiya-senpai’s childish reaction. "Besides, it’s not like you don’t have anyone else to hang out with while Eru-senpai is bedridden."

But you said so yourself, she’s just got a fever, she’s not dying…

"Your class is by far the most bonded one the school had in years. I’m sure you could spend time with literally everyone in that class and have the same amount of fun. There’s Honoka-senpai, Yuu-senpai—"

"I already know that…but…Eru is different. Something about her makes our time together… I don’t know how to describe it, to be honest…"

Higashiguchi-senpai has had a really tranquil smile on his face ever since this topic was brought up. My gut tells me that he wants Akiya-senpai to express herself more on this topic.

"But I had to wander around the maze of hallways to get to the cafeteria! I thought I’d never get out!"

Much to my surprise, tears are glittering on her face.

"Akiya-senpai, the cafeteria is literally to your right as you reach the ground floor…"

"FOR REALS?! I had to go outside the school and then back inside to find it! This school is so complicated…"

"B-But there’s a huge map of the school at the main entrance…"

"SINCE WHEN DO WE HAVE THAT?!"

‘SHE’S BEEN IN THIS SCHOOL FOR 3 YEARS, HOW COULD SHE MISS THAT?! IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE?!’ Higashiguchi-senpai thinks in such a depressing and hopeless voice that I thought Nashimoto-sensei was sitting on the other side instead of him. His speaking isn’t any less different. "Kudos, Yanagisawa-kun, you already know the school inside-out."

You’re praising me because Akiya-senpai’s situation is just hopeless, am I wrong?!

"Anyways, why is Yumeha-chan sleeping on your lap this time, Yukino-senpai?"

"I’m rewarding her. It's a reward for trying so hard."

"You just found a chance to spoil her and didn’t let it go. I’ve known you for a year, Yukino-senpai, you can’t possibly deny that in any way."

After doing a bit of obvious thinking on how to reply to that, Akiya-senpai, now full of confidence on her response, replies to Higashiguchi-senpai like this: "I live to spoil!"

"YOU SHOULD AT LEAST TRY TO SOUND A BIT HUMBLE!"

Seems to me Higashiguchi-senpai expected a much more…how to say it…levelheaded reply.

Well, I’m on the same boat as him, but each to their own, I guess…

"Are you jealous, Jin? I have a second lap for this kind of situation."

"Please show some diligence, Yukino-senpai. You must set a good example for the 1st years, you know. Acting like that would make you seem irresponsible, and I doubt you would want them to have such an impression of you."

VERY WELL SAID, HIGASHIGUCHI-SENPAI!

I have finally found a person in this school I can look up to, haven’t I!

"It’s your loss, Jin. Yumeha-chan already knows what it means to be right here," she replies to him with shrugged shoulders and, of course, a smug look. "But you do want it, don’t you?"

"Can't you take me seriously for once, Yukino-senpai...?" he sighs very deeply. "I don’t know why or what happened that made her want to rest a bit, but..." he pats Karasuma’s head rather carefully to not wake her up, and the smile she had since Akiya-senpai put her on her lap becomes even wider: "...if that’s what she wants, then we should let her have it. That’s what I want as well."

Does everyone here spoil her like that…? They’re both acting like she’s their little sister or something…

And why is Karasuma’s ahoge suddenly waving like crazy?!

A thought of hers gets transmitted to me, even though she’s asleep: ‘Not that I’m sleeping deeply or anything, but having two people pat my head feels like heaven~~!’

So the reason is because she enjoys that…

Observation #7: I think I just discovered another part of Karasuma’s that makes her similar to Saki: she enjoys being spoiled even if there’s no reason for her to be spoiled, and she’ll do anything just for that…

The fact that these 2 are almost clones of each other in terms of personality honestly terrifies me!

And scratch the asleep part, she’s pretending big time! I’ve never heard any thoughts from a sleeping person before, and I probably never will!

You might be a bit confused right now: How did I reach that conclusion? To put it another way, how can I know that?

As I already mentioned, my ability focuses on the consciousness and will of a person; in other words, their cognition. That means that while Karasuma was sleeping, she —or rather, her body— was acting instinctually, therefore she could not have any thoughts for me to hear.

Now that you know that, you can understand how I realized she wasn’t sleeping. I mean, she passed out for a minute or two indeed, yes, but when she did wake up, she found herself lying on Akiya-senpai’s lap. Given how she reacts to spoiling, it’s no wonder why she would want to rest on it a bit more.

Slowly moving Karasuma away from her lap, Akiya-senpai places a cushion that was right next to her below Karasuma’s head, and then turns to Higashiguchi-senpai as she stands up from the couch. "Jin, get Yumeha-chan a blanket. I want to go for a walk to get some fresh air for a bit."

"Are you allowed to have blankets here?" I ask out of curiosity.

"We are, but they’re reserved for Council members," replies Higashiguchi-senpai with a rather disappointed look on his face, heaving then a huge sigh that changes his frown into a faint smile. ‘‘But Yukino-senpai’s character couldn’t care less about that."

" ‘Students who visit the Student Council are in the care of it for whatever happens.' Isn’t that what the Student Council Tenets say, Jin?" she comments on Higashiguchi-senpai’s statement, before quietly closing the door behind her.

"And there you have it, Yanagisawa-kun…"

Student Council Tenets? So these are like beliefs or ideals or something for Council members?

For something like a student representative body, I have to admit that I find them quite dedicated to their duty. Anyone could say that they are taking this way too seriously, but you can’t really blame them if their goals require that.

The sound of a wooden door closing disturbs and stops my thinking. Turning to where it came from, a squatted Higashiguchi-senpai behind the desk Akiya-senpai was sitting on before, facing the wall. As he gets up, I notice a thin blanket on his hands, with which he’s now covering Karasuma’s sleeping body. (They store these blankets in a small cabinet behind the desk or something, huh...)

"Shall we go then?" asks Higashiguchi-senpai, and I nod in agreement.

With him taking the first step, I follow from behind.

But that’s when it occurred to me.

The breeze blowing through the leaves outside, my breathing, Higashiguchi-senpai’s walking… All of them echo around the room.

Just a few minutes ago, it was filled with laughter, compassion, tenderness. Compare it with the present situation, and what you get would be a blue, unsettlingly quiet atmosphere; no different than a robotic Student Council that only thinks about getting the job done.

Why am I thinking all of this? Why is something as pessimistic as this crossing my mind all of a sudden?

I went around the table so that I wouldn’t accidentally hit or fall on Karasuma in case I stumbled, unlikely as it may sound. No matter which way I had chosen though, this small white card on the table would eventually have managed to catch my attention.

"What is this?" I pick it up, stopping all my other movements. It appears something is written on it: ‘We didn’t want to disturb your nap, so come find us in the hallway when you wake up. You gave it your all today to come here, so it’s the least we can do to thank you. Sweet dreams, Yumeha-chan.'

The handwriting is detailed and beautiful. The rounded letters give the impression of softness and care in the message, further supporting my theory that a girl is the one behind this.

But there is one thing I want to confirm right now: KARASUMA DIDN’T JUST WRITE A CARD BEFOREHAND AND PLACED IT THERE WHEN WE WEREN’T LOOKING, DID SHE?!

After turning the card around a dozen times to check for a name, I notice some tiny bits of blank ink on the top left corner; ‘Jin-senpai ❤’ is what it’s written in that very same handwriting.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!

Because I’m holding the card with my right thumb and index finger, I didn’t notice that there’s something else written on the bottom right corner, just as tiny as that…other thing: ‘Just kidding, it’s your dear Yukino-SENPAI! 😉’ it reads, which was what my thumb was covering.

But I’ve realized it now: This is the reason. The reason why Karasuma brought me here, or even why she decided to come here in the first place, was because she wouldn’t want them to start thinking like I did a few moments ago.

They all enjoy having fun together, so it would be better to keep things this way.

Despite the huge differences in their personalities —at least from what I’ve come to understand from Akiya-senpai and Higashiguchi-senpai, as well as Eru-senpai’s from Karasuma’s thoughts—, the Student Council can’t escape from its fate to pile up a ton of work. With great power comes great responsibility, as they say.

What Karasuma probably wants to avoid is the Council getting too absorbed into that work that they eventually forget to have fun. So, she decided to come here to help them forget the pressure of their position even if it lasted for a few minutes. She knows that she enjoys being around them, and that they enjoy being around her.

"Yanagisawa-kun, what’s keeping you?" asks Higashiguchi-senpai, with his hand ready to open the door.

"It’s nothing. I’m coming," I reply as I approach the door as well.

"Don’t you want to pat her head too? You didn’t take your turn."

"EEEEEEEHHHHH?!"

"Are you embarrassed?"

"O-Of course I am! I can’t go around patting any girl’s head like it’s nothing!"

"Don’t worry, Yumeha-chan won’t hold a grudge."

"I already have my little sister wanting to be spoiled, I’d rather keep the number stable."

For some reason, he laughs to my previous words: "Sounds tough having a little sister like that!"

Spoiling Saki has become more of a routine rather than an actual burden. Anyone with younger siblings can understand the value of that.

‘He’ll become a great and precious friend to Yumeha-chan. I’m really happy for her,' he thinks.

Now, closing the door behind us, we let Karasuma sleep peacefully.

However, after leaving the room, Akiya-senpai was never heard from again.

Oh who am I kidding, she did just go outside, I just wanted to spice things up a bit.