I could only taste the cream. I’m serious.

"All right, that should be enough for today. First-year students are free to leave."

"Wait. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we second-year students still have to meet with a few teachers, and it could take

a while, so don't worry about us and go. Good work today!"

"See you tomorrow…"

Yuki was going to wait until her ride came to pick her up, so it was only Masachika and

Alisa who did as Touya said and retired from the student council room.

Now, then… How am I going to do this?

Masachika pondered how he was going to initiate the conversation as they strolled along

on their way home from school. It wasn't like he had anything especially important to discuss.

He simply wanted to talk about their campaign plansfor running forstudent council president

and vice president next year. Nevertheless, Masachika still felt a little uncomfortable after

what had happened that morning. It didn't help that Alisa had been acting sort of strange

ever since she got back from that meeting with Yuki, either. He was at a loss, anxious about

how she might reply.

Yeah… Yuki did something to her.

Yuki seemed to have taken a liking to Alisa (in a bad way) the other weekend when the

three of them had hung out. Teasing someone as serious and competitive as Alisa must have

been like a dream come true to her. She probably saw Alisa as the perfect friend (toy?), so it

was easy to imagine her employing her ladylike silver-tongue to mess with Alisa.

Sigh… There's no use wondering "what if."

He inwardly sighed as he walked alongside Alisa, who was completely silent and

frowning a bit, but before long, he saw a familiar restaurant and mustered up the courage

to break the silence.

"Hey, Alya?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to grab something to eat?"

"Huh…?"

Alisa looked stunned as Masachika pointed at the restaurant.

"Oh, uh… I thought we could discuss our strategy for student council elections next

year."

"…Oh."

She narrowed her eyes and half-heartedly nodded.

"Sure, that's fine."

"Great."

Masachika swiftly began heading over to the restaurant, relieved that she didn't turn him

down, but the moment he placed a hand on the door…

"<So it isn't a date…>"

…he was stabbed from behind by a Russian whisper.

Gwah! O-only a coward would attack from behind!

Internally, he shouted like a samurai being attacked by an assassin, but he latched on to

the door handle with wobbling knees and dragged himself inside the restaurant. After being

shown to their table, they sat across from each other and ordered drinks.

"Uh… I'll have the café au lait."

"I'll have the melon soda and the chocolate parfait."

"…?!"

"…What?"

"Nothing…"

He couldn't hide his astonishment. Ordering a sweet melon soda with an already

supersweet chocolate parfait was blasphemy. Alisa's expression twisted uncomfortably after

realizing how weirded out he was, so she added:

"I'm just really tired, mentally. I won't be able to think straight withoutsomething sweet.

You know?"

"Uh-huh… Anyway, that'll be all for us."

The sweet part wasn't the problem. The combination of foods was the problem.

Masachika, however, dropped it and told the waitress they were done ordering.

"So, uh…did something happen between you and Yuki?" he hesitantly asked, wanting

to clear up any doubts as they waited for their drinks.

"…Nothing, really."

Her reply was brief, but she swiftly averted her gaze, which made it obvious something

did happen.

Yukiii!! What did you do to her?!

Masachika turned his head while he shouted at Yuki in his mind, and Alisa briefly

glanced at him before looking away once more.

"…I just told her that I was going to run for student council president with you. That's

all," she mumbled.

"Oh…"

Although he knew that was clearly not the whole story, he hesitated about whether or

not he should pry.

"Hey."

But after stealing a few more glances at him, it was Alisa who spoke up first with a look

of grim determination.

"Hmm?"

"Are you and Yuki…dating?"

"No way," Masachika answered without delay and a dead serious expression on hisface.

Of course they weren't dating. While it may have seemed like a legitimate question to Alisa,

who didn't know they were siblings, the ridiculous question made him want to scream, "What

do you think this is, a dating sim?!"

"…You're not?"

"Absolutely not."

Her eyes wavered, so he continued with a sigh.

"I don't know what Yuki told you, but we're…like family. We don't have any romantic

feelings for each other."

"But Yuki said…"

"Sigh… Listen. Don't take everything she says so seriously. She may look like some

proper gentlewoman, but she's not. She's teasing you because she likes to see you get all

worked up."

"…"

Alisa stared at him as if she wasn't satisfied with his explanation, but it was too late. The

waitress returned with their order, so Masachika decided to get down to business.

"So…about next year's election…"

He took a sip of his café au lait as Alisa drank her melon soda, and they looked into

each other's eyes.

"I'm going to be honest with you. We're going to lose to Yuki at this rate."

"…!"

One of Alisa's eyebrows twitched at his blunt statement. She immediately placed her

drink down and sent Masachika a piercing gaze.

"…You sound really sure of yourself."

"Because I'm right. Yuki has pretty much already established her position as the next

president."

Masachika shrugged, unfazed by Alisa's sharp glare.

"Don't you think it'sstrange that we don't have enough first-year membersin the student

council? Usually, we'd have at least three pairs wishing to run together for president and vice

president. During the first semester of middle school, there were six pairs including Yuki and

me. In other words, there were twelve members."

"Twelve?! That's a lot…"

"Sure is, but most of them dropped out during the preelection debate, so only three pairs

ended up actually running for president."

"Debate?"

"Yeah, a student conference. Oh, right. It's only been a year since you transferred, so I

guess I should explain what a student conference is first."

A student conference was essentially a debate held in the auditorium to solve problems

when the persons concerned weren't able to come to a conclusion themselves or when general

students had topics they wanted the student council to discuss. Each representative would

then express their opinion, and the audience would vote. Every student would be a witness to

what the student conference decided on, which gave the student council the power to execute

and enforce those decisions.

"For example, if we hadn't managed to solve the problem between the soccer team and

the baseball team yesterday, we probably would have ended up having a debate in the

auditorium. Making such a big deal out of it would have probably created a few grudges,

though, so we usually try to find a point of compromise between the parties involved instead.

We only hold student conferences as a last resort."

"Oh, wow… I knew they were doing something in the auditorium from time to time, but

I had no idea they were having debates."

"The student conferences are organized by the student council, but, well, the president

and vice president do most of the work, and we peasants mainly handle the application forms

and help out with little odds and ends."

"Interesting… But what do these debates have to do with the election?"

"Hmm? Oh… Student conferences are a little different when multiple presidential

candidates are involved."

In a lot of cases, they would hold a conference to address a clash of opinions about how

the student council was run. It was essentially a debate. They would argue until there was a

clear winner, so the debaters would be rated and judged by their performance.

"Once you've been judged for your magnetism, persuasiveness, and the like at a debate,

it's nearly impossible to change anyone's mind. You'd be defeated before the election begins.

I mean, think about how emotionally challenging it'd be to continue working with someone

who just owned you in a debate, right? So most of the time, the losers end up leaving the

student council on their own."

"Now it makes sense…"

"So usually, you knock one another out of the race like this until there are only three or

four pairs left. Not all people who run for president start as members of the student council,

but even then, things are clearly unusual this year."

Yuki and Alisa had been the only first-year students before Masachika joined. A few

other members had joined temporarily, but each and every one of them eventually quit. In

other words…

"Everyone has already given up because they know they won't able to beat Yuki in the

race. That's just how confident people are that she'll become the next president."

"…"

"I don't need to explain the merits of becoming the student council president at this

school, right? The value of the title alone is huge. There was apparently widespread ballot

manipulation a few years ago during the election…"

With mixed feelings, Alisa watched Masachika speak in an uncharacteristically earnest

tone about the election. She was so used to scolding him for loafing around all the time that

seeing him take his work in the student council so seriously threw her for a loop. It made

her feel…off. Plus, she didn't like the fact that Masachika seemed indifferent about being

in a restaurant alone together.

Tsk. Acting all smug like this is nothing to you…

Since Alisa never had many frie— Since Alisa always had her guard up, this was actually

the first time she had ever gone to a restaurant alone with someone of the opposite sex. She

was even willing to admit to herself that the Russian she'd whispered at the door came from

the heart. She'd assumed that being invited to a restaurant after school meant a date, thanks

to Maria filling her mind with romance-comic knowledge. She was restless. Should she sit

across from him? Next to him? What would they do if someone from school saw them?

Would someone just happen to walk by and see them if they sat by the window? Countless

worrisome scenariosran through her mind, and yet it waslike she wasthe only one who cared.

What's his problem? Is he used to taking girls out to restaurants like this? I mean, I

guess there are other girls he's close to besides Yuki.

Alisa recalled his promise when they shook hands on the way home the day before,

rekindling her fury. She tried to drink her melon soda and not think about it, but the frustration

still didn't go away. All of a sudden, she felt something sharp poke her tongue and opened

her mouth in shock, only to discover that she had unknowingly chewed on the straw so

much that it had completely flattened. No wonder I was hardly getting any soda, she thought,

embarrassed by her childlike behavior.

"…But, well, thanks to that, our elections are supposedly clean now."

Sitting across from Alisa, Masachika was still talking earnestly about the election, but

everything went in one ear and out the other. Despite feeling obligated to listen, she couldn't

concentrate. At all.

"Oh, really? Interesting."

"Right? So instead, candidates battle things out through a debate where—"

Alisa gave a half-assed reply without any thought before taking a bite of her parfait. The

sweetness of chocolate and vanilla ice cream spread through her mouth…when she suddenly

bit down on something hard. It was her spoon, which she swiftly pulled out of her mouth

in a panic.

"Alya? You listening?"

"…!"

She felt a warmth in her cheeks stemming from humiliation and embarrassment as the

person she usually scolded for not paying attention stared at her skeptically.

"I'm listening. I was just preoccupied with my parfait for a second. That's all."

"…Uh-huh. Well, it does look tasty."

He half-heartedly nodded as if he understood, yet his dubious gaze was saying, "But is

it really that tasty?" And her cheeks turned even redder.

What's your problem?! The only reason I'm so distracted today is because of you, you

know?!

Internally,she vented her extremely unreasonable anger and unjustified resentment, then

looked away from his skeptical gaze. That was when she saw the parfait out of the corner of

her eye and suddenly came up with a wonderful (?) idea.

Heh… Heh-heh-heh… Let's see how focused he still is after I make him feel the same

way I'm feeling!

Her own thoughts ignited her competitive side for some reason, and she grinned

mischievously.

"Would you like a bite?" she said with a devilish grin.

"…?! Oh, no. I'm fine…"

"But you said it looked tasty, right? Don't be shy," she casually added while scooping

up some whipped cream with chocolate syrup on top, then she shoved it right in his face,

leaving him no room to escape. "Here, have some."

The height at which she was holding the spoon made it obvious she wasn't handing it

to him, and while she didn't say, "Here comes the airplane," it was still obvious she was

trying to feed him.

Huh? What's going on? Am I locked in Alya's route now? Wait. No. It's not like we were

flirting or anything…right? When did I trigger this route's flag??

Masachika couldn't contain his uneasiness, just as Alisa expected. His shock wasn't as

interesting as she had been hoping for, though.

"Oh, uh… Let me ask the waitress if she can bring us another spoon."

"Don't waste her time with something like that. Plus, you'll just be giving them more

silverware to wash."

"But…"

What kind of humiliation fetish was this? Masachika unconsciously leaned back, but

that only made Alisa further extend her arm.

"Hurry up and take a bite… This is normal in Russia."

"Wait. Seriously?"

Most of what he knew about Russia came from movies and books instead of the

motherland itself, so he thought that perhaps "indirect kissing" wasn't a thing in Russia…

Okay, she's clearly lying.

He immediately came to that conclusion when he shifted his sight from the spoon to

Alisa, whose face was all types of mischievous at a glance…but after a closer look, he noticed

that the tips of her ears and even her fingers were red. Her fair skin made it all the more

visible.

What has gotten into her? Why would you do something like this if it embarrasses you?

After collecting himself, Masachika became more worried about her rather than being

self-conscious. His expression made that clear, too, so Alisa came to her senses as well.

What am I doing?

She was immediately overcome with embarrassment once reality set in. Her entire body

felt like it was on fire, feeling as if everyone in the restaurant was staring at her, and she

couldn't take it any longer. But she knew that backing down now would only embarrass her

even further, so she kept the spoon in position while somehow managing to maintain her

expression.

"Come on… The cream's going to melt."

"Oh, uh… All right…"

Masachika suspected she couldn't back down now, either, so he gave up trying to

convince her to stop.

I wasn't expecting to have an indirect kiss here…but it won't be a problem. I already

prepared myself and toyed with the idea with Masha once before!

He may have jumped to conclusions previously, but the situation wasn't that different.

Feeling embarrassed meant losing, and he wanted to be a winner—which meant remaining

calm and finishing this in style!

The only thing different this time is that the paper cup is now a spoon. That's it… That's

—that's a big deal! Thisis a spoon we're talking about. Something that wasjust inside Alya's

mouth, touching her tongue. Putting that in my mouth wouldn't be just any indirect kiss. It'd

be…an indirect French kiss?!

Calmly assessing the situation ended with him unable to remain calm anymore. Right

as his eyes drifted toward her lips, she said:

"Open wide. ♪"

There it was. As Alisa spoke, he caught a glimpse of her gorgeous white teeth and red

tongue.

Ahhh!! Don't show me your tongue! That's way too graphic! My body can't take any

more! Ahhhhhh! Thank you for letting me know that beautiful girls have beautiful mouths,

too!

On the inside, he writhed in agony. Perhaps it was his base instincts, but he obediently

opened his mouth like a hungry baby chick would for its mother.

"A-ahhh…"

The spoon glided into his mouth, and he reflexively wrapped his lips around it. The plan

to only use his front teeth to scrape the sweet dessert off the spoon completely left his mind.

Gwaaaaaaahhhhh?! I just had an indirect French kiss! We indirectly French-kissed!!

Is it just me, or are we moving too fast?! Way too fast?! …Moving too fast for what?! What

am I even talking about?!

Masachika imagined slamming his head against the concrete sidewalk outside and Yuki

staring at him with a sleazy grin. "Heh. How did Alya taste?" she would say in the sleaziest

of voices while patting him on the shoulder sleazily. Masachika would then stop hitting his

head and get up just so he could backhand her in the face. She was a pain in the ass even

in his imagination.

"…It's sweet," Masachika briefly commented, too flustered to say anything else.

"…Oh."

But Alisa didn't have it in her to criticize his reaction, so she simply pulled back her arm.

In fact, the entire mood is sweet! …This is all your fault, stupid sweet atmosphere!

How did it come to this? We were having a serious conversation up until a few moments

ago. Wait… Nobody saw us, right?

Masachika darted his eyes about…until he thought he saw someone he recognized

outside the window.

Is that…Taniyama?

He began to wonder if it really was her until Alisa cleared her throat, dragging him back

into reality. After he returned his gaze to Alisa, she stared right into his eyes with a dignified

expression.

"So how do you think we could beat Yuki in light of all that?"

Her eyes were firm as she continued to move forward in spite of the difficult situation.

That's what astounded him—the blinding glow of her soul as it lit up in the face of adversity.

You've gotta be kidding me! "How do you think we can beat Yuki?" Heh. Alya, you can't

just switch into serious mode and pretend like none of that just happened!

He may have been joking in his mind, but he kept all those thoughts locked away and

played along since he wanted to avoid any more awkwardness.

"Heh… We just need to take a different route."

"A different route?"

"We don't have a chance of winning if we try to fight her head-on…which is why we

need to change our method of attack and appeal to the students in a different way than Yuki

does."

"…Could you be more specific?"

"Hmm…"

Masachika's eyes wandered for a few moments.

"It's just like when people vote for their favorite idol in a pop group. You need everyone

cheering for you in order to beat the lead vocalist—to beat the best."

"…What are you talking about? Everyone already votes for who they like the most,

right?"

"Not necessarily. While the student council presidential election is a popularity contest

for the most part, fans don't need to go register for their right to vote, unlike when voting

for pop groups. Everyone in the entire school has to vote…which means people who don't

really care who becomes the next president will vote for the 'safest' option. In other words,

they'll vote for the former president in middle school, who already hasresults and issomeone

they trust. To tell the truth, I did the same thing during the last election. I chose the former

president…and I was honestly surprised when someone else won."

"Yeah… Now that you mention it, Kenzaki wasn't even a member of the student council

in middle school."

"Right? And if the same two people elected in middle school run together in high school,

there's apparently a seventy percent chance they'll be elected again, which makes it all the

more impressive that Touya won when you think about it. Anyway, he had a story that gained

the support of his peers and made people want to vote for him," Masachika commented as

he took a stack of papers out of his bag. It was a school newspaper from last year, which had

been published by the school newspaper club. He flipped to a certain page and pointed at an

article inside. "See the small featured segment here?"

"…Huh? 'Touya Kenzaki, Path to Victory: Episode Five'?"

"Yep. A member of the newspaper club at the time found it interesting that an

underachiever like Touya was trying to become the next president, so he interviewed him.

Touya apparently gave the guy the okay to use his real name in the feature story, too, in order

to keep himself motivated as well."

"Hmph… I suppose you can't let your guard down if you feel like you're constantly

being watched."

"Yeah, I'm sure the guy who interviewed him was half teasing him, but anyway, over

time, his appearance clearly started to change, and his grades improved. It began to actually

look like a real success story, which got all the readers on his side and eventually led to his

win."

"So that's what you meant when you said he had a story that made people want to vote

for him? In other words, he showed the other students his struggles and hard work?"

"You catch on quick. That's exactly what I'm saying."

Masachika smirked at his partner with evidentsatisfaction while lifting up his cup of café

au lait to take another sip…but his mind had been focusing on something else the entire time.

So…what is she going to do with that spoon?

The spoon she had just shoved in his mouth, that is. It was currently lying on a napkin

in front of Alisa, but she still had more than half of a parfait to go, and it was going to

melt if she didn't start getting to it soon. Did she not notice? Or was she pretending not to

notice? Meanwhile, Alisa was diligently running her eyes over the copy of the newspaper

that Masachika had brought…or at least, she was pretending to read while thinking about

something else.

What am I going to do with this spoon?

…They were thinking the exact same thing. Now that she had calmed down, Alisa was

dying from embarrassment. Not even she knew why she'd been acting so competitive earlier.

I should have started eating the parfait right after feeding him, she thought. She could have

casually gone back to using the spoon after teasing Masachika, and that would have been

it. But after putting it down for whatever reason, it was getting harder by the second for her

to pick it back up.

It's Kuze's fault for sticking the entire thing in his mouth like that… Have some tact,

you creep!

Alisa glanced down at the spoon and was quick to blame Masachika for what had

happened…when she suddenly noticed some markings on the spoon made from leftover

cream, and she swiftly looked away.

H-his lips left a mark… I—I can see where his lips touched! His liiiips!

She got a little dizzy as she panicked. That was when Masachika hesitantly spoke up:

"Hey, uh… Sorry, but do you mind if I order something?"

"Huh?"

As Alisa blinked in confusion, Masachika looked around, then smiled somewhat

bashfully and somewhat bitterly as well.

"The smell of food started to make me hungry again… I guess I shouldn't be skipping

breakfast, huh?"

"Oh… Knock yourself out."

He opened the menu and flipped through a few pages until something caught his eye. A

few moments went by after pressing the call button, then the waitress finally showed up.

"How may I help you?"

"Oh, I wanted to order something else. Is that okay?"

"Go ahead."

"Uh… Could I get the sautéed spinach with bacon, the Szechuan mapo tofu, a side of

rice…and two waters, please?"

"Sautéed spinach with bacon, Szechuan mapo tofu, a side of rice, and two waters.

Correct? Anything else I can get for you?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you could make this mapo tofu…extra hot?"

"Of course."

"W-wait. Are you serious?" Alisa commented as she shrunk back. The waitress smiled

cheerfully at her, then looked back to Masachika.

"You can get it double spicy, triple spicy, five times spicier, or even ten times spicier.

What will it be?"

"Exactly how hot is ten times spicier?"

"Well, uh…"

After glancing to her left then right, the waitress lowered her voice and continued:

"…it's honestly extremely spicy. I've tried it once, and I could only take one bite of it.

It will destroy your stomach."

"It will, huh? Nice."

"What sounds nice about that?" Alisa interrupted with a straight face, but Masachika

ignored her.

"Let's go with ten times the spice, then."

"Sure. Will that be all?"

"Oh, uh… Do you think we could get another spoon, too?" Masachika asked, pointing

at the spoon in front of Alisa with his eyes.

"Of course. I'll be right back," the waitress replied without prying. After making sure

she was gone, Alisa looked at Masachika, who was placing the menu down on the table.

"That wasn't necessary," she complained.

"You talking about the spoon? I'm embarrassed. That's all. It might be normal in Russia,

but Japanese guys can't handle stuff like that."

"Uh-huh…"

She seemed hesitant at first, but then her lips twitched up provocatively.

"I just can't believe something like this bothers you, Kuze. You must be a lot more

inexperienced than I imagined. I thought you were used to doing stuff like that with girls."

One of Masachika's eyebrows twitched in frustration, since he'd only been looking out

for her.

"If you ask me, I'm more surprised that you don't care. Indirect kisses must be rampant

in Russia," he hissed with a tense smile, causing Alisa to frown with her brow knit in silence.

After a few moments went by, she complained:

"<I wouldn't do it with anyone else but you, you jerk.>"

Achievement unlocked: You just scored Alya's first indirect kiss! Congratulations,

Masachika!

Thanks… Am I going to die today?

Masachika gazed out the window as he listened to the sudden announcement in his mind,

but he was brought back to reality when the waitress suddenly returned with a new spoon.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. May I take your old spoon?"

"Oh… Thanks."

After Alisa accepted the new spoon, Masachika turned his distant stare toward her and

urged:

"Come on. It's going to melt if you don't hurry up and eat it."

"…You're right."

She righted her awkwardly tilting parfait and began to stir everything from the whipped

cream on top to the cornflakes at the bottom before taking a bite. She continued to eat like

that for the next few minutes in silence, then clasped her hands together to express her thanks

for the food before wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"By the way, I couldn't help but notice how much you eat," Alisa mentioned.

"Huh? …Oh."

Masachika realized she must have thought he was snacking in between meals, so he

decided to clear up the misunderstanding.

"This is actually my dinner."

"…I've been wondering this for a while now, but don't you need to call home to tell

them you're eating out? They aren't surprised when you go back already full?"

"My parents aren't there right now."

"Oh…"

Plus, Masachika was usually the one who ended up cooking most of the meals at the

Kuze residence, where he and his father lived. He normally cooked for himself while his

father was out for work, too.

"Yeah, it's just me tonight, and I don't feel like cooking."

Technically, he did have a little sister who would stop by unannounced and demand food

from time to time as well, but she wouldn't visit his place two days in a row…so he decided

not to even think about it.

"…Wait. You can cook?"

Alisa was genuinely surprised. Masachika shrugged.

"I can only make easy things, though. You know, 'hassle-free cooking' or meals you

can prepare in a few minutes, so I can't make anything complicated."

"I'm still surprised. I didn't think you had the patience to cook."

"Well, I won't deny that."

It wasn't like he actually enjoyed cooking. He simply felt it was his easiest option. When

he first started middle school, he'd have some type of savory bread he bought the day before,

he'd have lunch at the school cafeteria, and at night, he'd have some sort of premade dinner

that was sold at the convenience store. It only took a month until he got sick of bread, and

shopping every day got old fast as well, so one day, he randomly decided to make a small

meal he saw on TV. That was when he realized that the time he spent going to the store every

day took no longer than it did for him to cook and wash dishes. Plus, his dad would give

him two thousand yen per day for food on days he wasn't going to be home, and whatever

money was leftover would be money in his pocket to do whatever he'd wanted, so cooking

for himself was a good way to save money. Put simply, he'd decided to cook for himself

after weighing the pros and cons.

"What about you, Alya? Can you cook?" Masachika innocently asked, figuring someone

as perfect as her would be able to cook at least the basics.

"…"

Alisa silently looked away.

"Eh. Most first-year high school students can't cook anyway," he added, taking the hint.

"It's not that I can't cook… It just takes too much time."

"Oh… Are you the kind of person who has to cut vegetables and whatnot perfectly and

all the same size?"

"I suppose you could say that. I like to make sure the food gets equally cooked, the

seasoning is tasty, and it's consistent…"

"And then you end up burning it, right?"

"…"

She took a sip of her melon soda, and he guessed that he'd hit the nail on the head.

Masachika smirked but understood, since she was a perfectionist. Precise calculations were

important when it came to cooking, but skill was even more important. To Masachika, not

being exact while still not necessarily being careless was the trick to cooking, but a

perfectionist like Alisa had to be exact with everything.

"…I can't help that it bothers me. Just watching Masha cook based on 'feeling' makes

my skin crawl…"

"Ha-ha. I can easily see her doing that."

He imagined Maria throwing ingredients into the pan and sprinkling seasoning on top

at random with her usual cheerful smile. That would be her style, he thought while smiling.

He did feel that she was a little too nonchalant about it, though…

"But whatever she makes always turns out really good…"

"I guess she's a natural, huh?"

Maria was apparently an excellent cook.

Seriously? Does she really have no faults?

One could hypothesize that she may be an even "better catch" than her little sister.

Masachika placed a hand on his forehead, but Alisa waved her hand and changed the subject

as if his gesture bothered her.

"Anyway, forget about that. What kind of story did you have in mind?"

"Oh, uh… Right. Where was I again?"

"You told me that we needed a story where everyone wanted to see us succeed like

Kenzaki had."

"Ah, yeah."

Masachika changed his expression and switched his gears back into thinking mode.

"It's just like you said, Alya. First, we need to show everyone how hard you work…at

the first semester's closing ceremony, more specifically."

"At the closing ceremony? You mean when the student council members give a speech?"

Masachika nodded, confirming her suspicions.

"Yep. The speech is just an excuse to introduce the student council's members for next

semester."

"I vaguely remember hearing the student council doesn't get any new members after

that. Is that accurate?"

"Yeah, a lot of people join and drop out during the first semester, but after the speech,

no new members can join. People can still quit, though. In addition, this speech also acts as

a platform for us first-year students to announce our candidacy."

"That was kind of how it seemed last year, now that you mention it…"

Alisa thought back to her third year of middle school.

"It'll be your first policy speech in front of the entire school, and I'm sure I don't have

to tell you how important that is," Masachika stated with a serious expression.

"Yeah…"

Lowering her gaze, she pondered with a serious expression as well until she suddenly

glanced at Masachika with a worried look in her eyes.

"…What exactly should I talk about?" she asked in a soft voice.

"Whatever you want to. Just be honest and speak your mind. People will listen," he

promptly replied.

"Really? You don't have any actual specific advice?"

She looked displeased. After all, she'd gone to him for help for a change, and he was

giving her nothing in return. Masachika, however, only shrugged.

"You're someone people want to cheer for, and I'll be there to back you up if you ever

have trouble communicating your ideas, so just be yourself and say what's on your mind."

The words he said so casually… Those words…

"Oh… Okay…"

Alisa blushed. Her pout instantly turned into something more bashful as her eyes

wandered restlessly. She fidgeted, tapping her fingers and opening her mouth as if to say

something before thinking for a moment and whispering in Russian:

"<…What makes people want to cheer for me?>"

Her darting eyes said, "Compliment me," as she spoke.

You'd know if you could see yourself now. You're so cute, dammit.

He stared off into the distance with a sigh when suddenly, the waitress returned with

the rest of his food.

"Will that be all for you?"

"Yep."

"Enjoy."

After watching the waitress walk away, he shifted his gaze back to Alisa, who

sympathetically told him to go ahead and eat.

"Thanks… Sorry about this."

After placing his hands together as if to say a prayer, he went straight for the sautéed

spinach with bacon covering the white plate. It wasn't long before he cleared the dish like

an appetizer, then moved on to the main dish: bubbling hot mapo tofu in a thin cast-iron

pan. The perfectly crumbling snow-like tofu was covered in just the right amount of dark

red magma-esque fermented bean paste. He dug his spoon into the meal and briefly cooled

it off with a blow before taking a bite.

"Wow… This is pretty intense for a restaurant that's not even Chinese." Masachika

nodded with evident satisfaction as the spiciness prickled his gums.

"…Is that good?"

"Huh? It's all right. Want to try some?"

Ah, crap, he immediately thought. It was a mix between how uncomfortable he felt for

being the only one eating and how he'd just offered to share some of his food even though

it had only been a few minutes since the spoon incident. After giving it some more thought,

he decided this was way too hot for her to eat, but he was hesitant to take back his offer,

and rightfully so. Alisa was hesitant as well. Of course, she didn't want to eat the seemingly

hazardous waste, but she was worried that Masachika would realize she really didn't like

spicy food if she refused.

I have water. I have some melon soda left. I can survive a bite.

After making sure she had enough healing potions (drinks) left…

"All right, I'll have a bite," she declared with resolve.

"Oh… Uh. Okay."

Despite knowing how she really felt, Masachika pretended like he didn't notice and

reached for a small plate. He then thrust his spoon into the mapo tofu to hopefully scoop

up more tofu than spicy sauce, at the very least. But what he excavated was…a red stick of

dynamite.

"Oh, wow. Check it out. An entire cayenne pepper."

"…?!"

Masachika lifted the crimson weapon of mass destruction with his spoon and glanced in

Alisa's direction… She gave him puppy-dog eyes. "Don't even think about giving me that,"

she pleaded with her moist blue eyes. An angel and a devil instantly appeared on Masachika's

shoulders. The angel, who looked like a tiny Maria for some reason, gently spoke in a

discouraging manner.

"You can't. Only bad boys would do something like that to Alya."

Meanwhile, the devil on his other shoulder, who looked like Yuki for some reason,

sleazily tried to talk him into it.

"Heh. Do it, bro! You don't need to hide it from me. I know ya'd get off on seeing Alya

cry."

The angel's pleas and the devil's temptation—the contradicting emotions clashed as he

grinded his teeth.

Tsk! I…I…?!

His hands trembled as he struggled, wavering between deploying or putting aside that

dangerous weapon. In his mind, he was like a man in a war zone clutching his gun, conflicted

on whether or not he should shoot, but in reality, it was nothing more than a little cayenne

pepper. Anyone watching would probably get secondhand embarrassment. That was the kind

of situation this was.

"I don't think it's right to make girls suffer for your amusement, Kuze. I—"

"Get outta here!"

"Eep?!"

The tiny Yuki slammed her imaginary body into the tiny Maria, sending her flying away

to the stars. The battle had ended in under a second. There was just too much of a power

difference between angels and demons.

Forgive me, Alya.

Masachika apologized to Alisa in his heart while selling his soul to his inner demon.

"Here, you can have the most delicious part."

"…Thank you."

A monster. That's what I am.

Masachika criticized himself on the inside but smiled on the outside as he handed Alisa

the modest plate. After that, she drew a pair of chopsticks out of the chopstick container

sitting at the corner of the table, then scooped the entire piece of tofu into her mouth without

another second of hesitation. Once the hard part was over, she laid her small plate back down

on the table…and closed her eyes.

"You like it?"

"…Not bad," Alisa replied without changing her expression. Masachika knew, though.

He saw her hands clutched together and trembling on the table. He watched her right hand

desperately holding on to her left, which looked as if it was going to grab the glass of water

by its side any moment now.

I'm sorry, Alya.

Although cheerfully smiling, he muttered those words in his mind like a man who had

actually very compelling reasons for betraying his friend.

"Alya… You forgot to eat the best part."

"…"

For a very brief moment, the look in Alisa's eyes wasn't very ladylike, but Masachika

pretended not to notice. Pressured by his smile, she plucked the cayenne pepper off the tiny

plate and tossed it into her mouth as if to say, "Fire in the hole!" She then covered her mouth

with her right hand and lowered her head as low as it could go.

"…Alya?"

"<You idiot.>"

Those pitiful Russian whispers.

"<Stupid idiot.>"

She repeatedly muttered <idiot > in a tearful voice, keeping her expression hidden. It

wasn't clear whether she was saying that to Masachika or herself for being stubborn, but…

"You should probably drink some water. Here."

"<Stupid… >"

Even Masachika started to feel guilty for his stupid prank, but Alisa only continued to

repeat those words. They didn't discuss the election any more after that. Masachika finished

his meal in silence as quickly as he could and waited for Alisa to recover before they left

the restaurant.

"…We talked a lot longer than I thought," she commented outside under the night sky.

"Yeah…"

You were basically half dead the entire time, though, he thought while looking away

guiltily. Nevertheless, he didn't regret his actions because there was something touching

about hearing Alisa's tearful voice, since she always acted so tough.

If you want to call me a scumbag, then do it.

"What is Yuki going to do, by the way?"

"Huh?"

He suddenly lifted his head after hearing the unexpected name and noticed Alisa was

glancing in his direction with a slightly uncomfortable expression.

"You know… Since we're going to be running together, Yuki needs a new partne—a

new running mate, right?"

"Ohhh."

He pretended like he didn't notice what she'd almost said. After shooting him a dirty

look, Alisa continued with a somewhat dissatisfied tone.

"You mentioned earlier that new members couldn't join the student council after the

first semester's closing ceremony, didn't you? She doesn't have that much time to find a vice

president to run with her."

"Well, she is really popular, so I feel like she could run with anyone and be okay… I

mean, I ran with her and barely did anything, and she still won," he added with a shrug.

Alisa shot him a wistful look, and he uncomfortably began to scratch his head.

"Like… She has a wide circle of friends, so she'll have someone to run with her. I'm

sure of it."

Masachika imagined who the partner could be for a few moments.

"It'd probably be someone who used to be a member of the student council… But who?"

The brief glimpse of a person outside the window came to mind.

"Huh… We'd have a really tough road ahead of us if she got Taniyama on board."

"Taniyama? Who's that?"

"Sayaka Taniyama. She was Yuki's last standing opponent in the presidential race in

middle school… Wait. You don't know her?"

"No."

As Alisa shook her head, Masachika curiously furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

He had figured Sayaka was one of the girls who had joined the student council before almost

immediately quitting this year.

Did she give up trying to become the president?

His heart swelled with bitter memories of the past as he recalled the young girl whom

he had worked diligently with in the student council until she lost the election.

"Kuze?"

"Oh, it's nothing… At any rate, I guess we'll find out who she's running with before

long. We can plan for how we'll deal with them after that."

"Yeah…" Alisa nodded a little skeptically. Masachika reminisced about the previous

student council members, wondering whom Yuki would choose, but the answer was

eventually revealed to him far quicker than he could ever have imagined. It happened the

next day after school when Yuki brought a student with her…who wasn't a previous member

of the student council.

"Ayano."

"Very well, Yuki."

A female student, who wasstanding diagonally behind Yuki, took a silentstep forward in

response to Yuki'ssummons. With both handstouching in front of her,she bowed gracefully,

then made eye contact with each of the five seated members of the student council before

introducing herself in a monotone voice.

"Nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Ayano Kimishima. I am a first-year student in

Class C, and from today, I will be working as a general member in the student council with

you all. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Her expression didn't change even once during her entire introduction. She gracefully

bowed again. Each member of the council greeted her, puzzled in their own way by her robotlike demeanor.

"Kuze?"

"…"

Masachika grimaced. While he was completely taken by surprise by Yuki's decision,

this made it more than clear how serious she was. He knit his brow, staring so hard at Ayano

that he didn't have any energy left to respond to Alisa. All of a sudden, Ayano turned her

head, and she began to stare Masachika straight in the eye, showing faint emotion as if for

the first time.

"I look forward to working together, Masachika," she quietly stated.

Ayano Kimishima. A maid of Yuki's…who used to be Masachika's maid as well