Reiryuu Academy Student Council Chapter 9

Card Game Tournament Arc
09 Pinky Promise and Conviction

It was after school on the day before the card game tournament. Meru was in the student council room because Matsuda-sensei had asked her to get some doc.u.ments from it.

"Hm? Just you, Laila-chan?"

Only Laila was in the student council room.

"Yeah. Hayate and Yuu-chan are busy with preparations for the card game tournament… Fuu-chan is always busy with other things, though."

"Ahh, yeah."

When school ended, Fuuga would be surrounded by girls. He was always surrounded, but girls from other school years would also come and the crowd would swell larger than at any other point during the day. Even with that, he would come to visit Meru, and she sometimes wondered just what excuses he gave at those times.

"What about Katsuragi-kun?"

"Ah, Shou-chan… See, he stopped that Yuu-chan, so he's in a period of only having a half workload."

"Oh yeah, Hayate mentioned that. That's right, can I borrow those doc.u.ments? Matsuda-sensei says he wants them."

"Sure, go ahead. But, I'm sorry. I'm working on some calculations right now and can't pull myself away, so…"

"I'll get them on my own!"

Meru walked up to the shelves behind Laila. As she pa.s.sed by his side, she caught a glimpse of the calculator by Laila's hand and noticed that he was doing some incredibly large-scale calculations.

"Umph…"

"AhhhhHHH!"

Laila shrieked loudly from behind Meru who had grabbed the doc.u.ments she needed. Meru nearly had a heart-attack as she swung her shoulders around with a start.

"What's wrong?"

"I accidentally erased it. Even though I hadn't copied the last number yet. Haa. I'll have to recalculate it…"

Laila prostrated himself on the desk with a sob. Even though it was an imprudent position, Meru thought that Laila was cute like that, too.

"If you mean the number that was on the calculator a second ago, it's 20746581."

"Eh?"

Meru quickly wrote the number on a nearby memo pad with a mechanical pencil. Laila was astonished by her actions.

"Why do you know it?"

"I saw it when I pa.s.sed by earlier."

"In that instant!?"

Meru finally realized that what she had done was a little unusual from someone else's point of view when she heard Laila's voice rise in pitch.

"Ahh, yeah. It was somehow an easy line of numbers to remember."

Meru said while scratching her cheek. Laila's face lit up.

"…What?"

"Mmm, it's nothing."

With a relaxed face, Laila picked up the memo pad and said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Meru headed toward the door with both of her hands full of doc.u.ments. Laila called out to her once more.

"Let's both do our best tomorrow!"

"…I'll do the best that I can."

Meru smiled wryly and left the student council room.

"As expected, it'll be Ruu-chan."

When the door closed, she had a feeling that Laila had muttered that.

Walking with the doc.u.ments in her arms, Meru saw a familiar back and called out.

"It's you, Aidou-kun. It's been a while, huh?"

Meru looked at Yuuri, who looked over his shoulder, and smiled with some embarra.s.sment. She hadn't seen him since watching the Yuuri on the other side of the screen ran rampant. Although it was unusual for him, Yuuri seemed surprised by Meru's smile.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"You…saw that me, too, didn't you?"

Yuuri asked evasively. Meru replied, "Yeah," with a wry smile.

"I was really surprised."

"…You aren't going to avoid me?"

"Huh? Why?"

Meru didn't understand why she would have to avoid him, but Yuuri was surprised. When she tilted her head, a slight shadow of loneliness fell across his usually expressionless face.

"Well. Lately, the students who saw that me have been acting distant…"

Meru thought, "I see." Indeed, it might be difficult to approach Yuuri after seeing him like that. However, the original Yuuri was, after all, the Yuuri Meru knew.

"Well, it was definitely amazing."

Meru recalled it and burst into laughter.

"To become a personality the complete opposite of your usual one is actually interesting. I might want to see it sometimes. Well, everyday would be impossible, as expected."

"Kusuhara-san…"

Yuuri was expressionless as usual, but his previously lonely air had disappeared. Rather, it felt that he had become cheerful.

"…I'll take half of it."

Yuuri, who was taking a breather, held his hand out to Meru, but she rejected him with a shake of her head.

"You're busy with your work, right? If you're going to help out, help Kamishiro-kun or Laila-chan."

"But…"

"That's right. Aidou. You aren't free enough to idle around in a place like this."

What interrupted Yuuri as he raised his voice in objection was Shoutarou's voice.

"Oh, Katsuragi-kun."

"I'll take over helping Kusuhara instead."

"No, you should help with the student council work, too."

When Meru looked at Shoutarou with narrowed eyes, he pushed his gla.s.ses up and suddenly laughed.

"I would be extremely foolish to do student council work even when my work is reduced by half. If I compare things like your tasks to the student council work, it's a piece of cake."

"Uwahh, could it be you're making fun of me? Saying that."

Meru narrowed her eyes further and Yuuri sighed. However, Shoutarou's reduction of work by half was his own fault, so he couldn't say anything. Yuuri nodded to Shoutarou and turned around to face Meru.

"Tomorrow will be busy too and I might not be able to say this, so…"

"Hm? Say what?"

"I will definitely become the champion."

"Yeah. Good luck."

Meru smiled and Yuuri held out his pinky.

"Eh"

"Please become the champion as well, Kusuhara-san."

Yuuri's eyes were serious. Meru was perplexed, but Yuuri probably wouldn't go back to his work until she pinky promised him. She pa.s.sed the doc.u.ments to Shoutarou with a thud and entwined her own pinky around Yuuri's.

"This pinky promise, even if I mess up, I won't take responsibilityyy. It's a promise!"

"…Kusuhara-san."

Exchanging a pinky promise he wasn't sure had any meaning, Yuuri smiled bitterly. However, even with that he seemed satisfied as he said "Goodbye" with a bow and went back. Looking at Yuuri's retreating figure, Meru thought "As expected of someone born in a famous martial arts family."

"Kusuhara. Hurry up and take half."

"Ehh, you won't carry it all, I guess."

"I'll help you to the end. You should at least be grateful that I'm taking even half of it."

"Ok, ok."

Meru stuck her tongue out and took half of the doc.u.ments from Shoutarou's arms.

"Hmm…"

"What?"

Shoutarou suspiciously looked down at Meru at her hum.

"I wonder, you don't recognize me as a female, do you, Katsuragi-kun?"

"…Why do you think that?"

"I mean, you seem like a woman hater, but look."

Meru alternatively looked at Shoutarou and at the doc.u.ments he was holding. "Despite being a woman hater, aren't you actually helping a woman?" is what Meru wanted to say.

"It's because my hypnotism didn't affect you."

"Eh, just that?"

When Meru made a surprised face, Shoutarou sighed deeply.

"Weak-willed people, people who rely on others fall into my induction easily, and they want to use my power. That you don't fall into my hypnotism means that you possess an unshakeable will. In other words, you won't use me. Even if we take away you being female, that deserves recognition, right?"

Shoutarou explained simply, but Meru said "It's complicated so I don't really understand," and laughed.

"But you know, there may be a lot of girls like me who aren't affected by your hypnotism all around the world if you look for them. If you hold a prejudice against girls, with just that you'll miss important encounters."

Meru jestingly knocked her elbow against Shoutarou's.

"…How stupid."

"Well, if there's a cute kid like Laila-chan near you, most girls probably won't attract your eyes, right?"

"That's a male."

When Shoutarou said that, Meru replied, "You just destroyed a lot of young men's dreams."

"The point is is that it's your own feeling."

Meru stuck out one hand and poked Shoutarou's chest.

"…Kusuhara."

"Ahh… Katsuragi-kun, here is fine. Thanks."

Meru put the doc.u.ments she was carrying on top of Shoutarou's, then s.n.a.t.c.hed all of them out of his arms.

"I'll carry them to the staff room."

"It's fine, it's fine. Since Matsuda-sensei is bad at dealing with you."

When Meru said that as though she was poking fun at him, Shoutarou glared at her. Even so, Meru said "Bye bye" with her usual apathetic smile and, holding the doc.u.ments, waved her arm.

"Hmph, you'll fall over."

"That's not your concern~"

Turning her back on Shoutarou's grumbling, Meru continued down the hallway. When she had gone just a little bit, several girls came into view. They weren't the showy girls who were around Fuuga, but they looked strong-willed1. They were in the second year's building, so they were probably in the same year.

"Katsuragi-kun's voice came from over there! He's probably still close, so let's go!"

"Let's get a good luck charm for us to win the card game tournament tomorrow!"

"But is it true that Katsuragi-kun specializes in good luck charms?"

"It's a rumor! But it can't hurt, right?"

Seeing those girls making a racket in that manner, Meru muttered as she pa.s.sed them.

"Ah! Katsuragi-kun is at the school gate!"

"Eh!? No way! We have to hurry!"

Meru stared at the girls galloping down the stairs with a hurried appearance and their feet flapping against the ground, then turned her gaze toward a different direction.

"FuaaA…"

While yawning, Meru headed toward the staff room. In the hallway a ways behind her, the sound of gla.s.ses being pushed up resounded.

1 This can also mean unwilling to lose. But strong-willed was easier to English loooool.

There's number 2. Thankfully also not too long.