Arc 2 – Episode 4: “Here Comes The Idiot”

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A week had passed since the second semester started.

At school, I spent most of my time with Ito and the usual group—now including Yoshida. After classes, we'd hang out, kill time, and if the schedules worked out, I'd slip away for dates with Ichigo or Aria-san. At home, I'd cook with Rina, help her study, or mess around with Ichigo. Same old routine.

Lately, though, Aria had been getting a little too close to Nagaoka Shuuji. I saw some rumors online about her giving him rides in her car.

Was she really getting friendly with Nagaoka?

“It's not like that, Kyoichi-san! That trash wouldn't stop bothering me—don't even start with the cheating crap.”

She practically jumped to explain herself the second I mentioned it. Apparently, Nagaoka wouldn't leave her alone.

Sounded like an excuse, but I probably believed her. If she'd actually lost interest, she would've dropped me already. We weren't even public with our relationship, so if things ended, no one would care. Honestly, part of me kind of wished she'd move on. It would've saved me from this whole twisted mess of a love triangle. A clean break sounded nice.

But that got me thinking.

The director wanted me to fix my reputation this year and make things official with Aria-san next year to keep other guys away. But what if I found someone else for her instead? Fix my image and hand her off to someone else. Two birds, one stone.

Technically, the director said I couldn't dump Aria-san, but he never said she couldn't leave me. If she fell for someone else and walked away, that wouldn't break the rules.

Ichigo pawned me off, so why not do the same with Aria-san? Childhood friends had to stick together, right? Maybe I picked up some of her bad habits.

The problem was figuring out who. Aria was popular, but she didn't have close guy friends. Every guy in our class had already been rejected, and the older guys in the student council either had girlfriends or were too scared of her. Useless.

Maybe someone from her extracurriculars, but I had no clue who.

Right now, Nagaoka seemed like the best option. He had some weird connection with her I didn't get.

Nagaoka hated me because of my reputation. Rina wasn't a fan of his either, but she never really complained. Considering how Rina grew up—tough life, strong morals—I figured Nagaoka couldn't be that bad.

Might be worth pushing Aria-san his way if the chance came up.

“By the way, thinking about joining the student council, Kuzuha-kun?”

It was lunchtime, and I was hanging out with the usual group when Ito brought it up.

Now that I thought about it, the student council term was ending this month, and they'd be picking new members soon. The next president was already decided by the school—or more like, the director. It was obviously going to be Aria-san.

I mean, the whole school practically existed for her.

There were a few people who weren't thrilled about it, but most of them got pressured into shutting up by the students and faculty. The selection process wasn't public, but it was clear Aria-san's opinion would decide most of it.

Joining the council meant getting closer to her, which was exactly what everyone was after. Even now, classmates were trying to get in her good graces, and students from other classes or grades kept dropping by just to see her.

Honestly, I'd just be making enemies. I didn't need that kind of headache.

“No, not interested. Why?”

“Oh, I just thought… you've helped Aria-san with council stuff before, so I figured you'd get roped in.”

“Fair enough.”

“But if you join, we can't hang out after school.”

“Yeah, and Kuzuha always pays for us. My wallet's gonna cry if he stops coming.”

Kobayashi jumped in, and Ito nodded along, but Yoshida and Suzuki didn't look too happy about the idea.

Before I could shut down Ito's assumption—

“About that…”

Aria-san had slipped up behind us at some point.

“I'm planning to invite Kyoichi-san to join the student council.”

The classroom immediately buzzed. Half the people were curious, and the other half? Jealous.

Great.

“Why me?”

I already knew the answer, but I played dumb.

“As Ito-san said, you've been helpful with council work. I think you'd be reliable.”

Of course.

“So, will you join?”

I couldn't think of a solid excuse to turn her down.

Besides, this could help with my reputation. The director had been on me about that lately. If I said no, it'd probably make me look shady.

“…Depends on who else is joining. I'll think about it.”

I wasn't about to jump in headfirst. Felt safer to hedge.

Aria-san nodded. “Alright. I'll let you know once the lineup's set.”

She walked back to her seat, and lunch wrapped up without any more issues.

At least, lunch did.

After school, once homeroom ended and the teacher left—

Just as I was packing up—

“Kuzuha Kyoichi! Get out here!”

…Nagaoka. I wasn't even thinking about him, but there he was, waiting by the door.

I sighed, slung my bag over my shoulder, and walked over.

Sure enough, he was glaring at me like I'd killed his dog.

“What do you want?”

“I heard you're joining the student council. You're bothering Kakyoin-san again, huh? I told you to stay away from her.”

He stared me down like I was some kind of criminal.

I never said I wanted to join, but I guess the lunchtime rumors had snowballed.

“And?”

“Withdraw your application. I'll let it slide if you back off now.”

Who did this guy think he was, giving me orders? Did he really think he could step in just because he was dealing with some “bad guy”?

Maybe I could use this.

“Alright then—why don’t you join in?”

I shot back at him, and for a second, Nagaoka's eyes flickered with surprise.

“Fine. As long as you back off.”

“Yeah, sure. Deal.”

I said it loud enough for Aria-san to hear from inside the classroom. With a lazy wave, I brushed past Nagaoka and stepped into the hallway.

“Wait up, Kuzuha-kun! Let's walk home together!”

“We’re coming too!”

Ito and the others scrambled after me. We hadn't planned anything, but whatever. I didn't have anything better to do.

“Sure. Want to stop somewhere?”

“How about the usual spot?”

“And Kyoichi-kun's paying!”

That sealed it. We were heading to the arcade.

A sharp slapping sound echoed behind me, followed by the weight of someone's glare drilling into my back.

I ignored it.