Reiryuu Academy Student Council Chapter 10

Card Game Tournament Arc
10 Family and Tears

Meru sat on her bed in her room, gazing at a deck of cards. It was given to her by Hayate personally for practicing for the tournament.

"Become the champion, huh…"

Meru muttered with an awkward smile.

As she did, a knock sounded at her door. She gave permission for the person to enter and Kei opened it.

"Meru-nee, please help me study. I'm in trouble for the end of this term."

Meru couldn't help but chuckle when Kei said that with bags under his eyes as she accepted.
They spread out reference books and notebooks on the circular table in her room and, as she explained, Kei nodded, saying things like "Hoh" and "Ahh."

"…and so when you use the causative-pa.s.sive verb, it's like this. So '私はバッグを盗まれた' is…?"
"'I had my bag stolen.' right?"1
"Correct. Mm, it's really helpful that you understand quickly, Kei."

Meru finished up explaining the basics of English to Kei and expressed her thoughts, clapping. At Meru's smile, Kei acted embarra.s.sed and shrugged.

"It's because the way you teach is easy to understand, Meru-nee. You're really smart after all."
"Thanks."

Meru gathered the reference books and tapped them against the table, arranging them. Exhaling lightly, she caught a glimpse of the world history textbook in Kei's bag and unintentionally let a wry smile slip out.

"History is really more memorization than theory."
"For that, I wish from the bottom of my heart that I could borrow your head."

Kei picked up his world history textbook and flipped through it, then closed it.

"Even though it'd be nice if I could memorize it with just this, too… Ah, sorry."

Suddenly realizing what he had said, Kei cringed and cast his eyes down as he apologized. Seeing him like that, Meru's wry smile remained.

"It's certainly convenient, but only this is something I can't teach."

Meru briefly flipped through the world history textbook that Kei had closed in the same way he did.

"Meru-nee…"

Kei's expression began to cloud over and Meru clapped both hands together to drive that atmosphere away.

"Ok, break time! Do you want some barley tea?"
"Ah, sure."
"Ok. Then, I'll go grab some."

Meru grinned at the bewildered Kei and left the room.

"You're studying with Kei?"

As Meru was pouring barley tea into gla.s.ses, her father, Shigeharu, appeared from the living room.

"The other day, Kei brought back failing marks, but does it seem like he'll be ok? Meru-chan."

Mariko rubbed her forehead as she asked that from her position watching T.V. next to Shigeharu.

"Yeah, it's going well. Kei can do it if he tries. He only can't do it when he doesn't try."

When Meru pointed that out, Shigeharu said, "He's completely different from you, Meru," and guffawed. Meru laughed in response to Shigeharu's reaction.

"Well, I can't do it even if I try, so…"
"It's the opposite! You can do it even if you don't try, so you're amazing, Meru-chan!"

Mariko said that, but Meru got the nickname "Miss Average" from her grades because they were so normal. To Mariko's response, Meru laughed with a "hahaha."

"No, no. My results are normal. Do you actually look at my report card?"
"That you hold back every time is clearly transmitted."

Shigeharu and Mariko nodded to one another with helpless faces. Gazing at that, Meru also made a helpless face.

"It's a good thing that you're doting parents. I can't do what I can't do."

Meru intended to stop the conversation by saying that in that manner, but Mariko wagged her finger and refuted Meru's words again.

"It's not just your family who thinks that way, you know? Meru-chan."
"Huh?"
"Today, there was a call from your friend at school… The student council president, Kamishiro-kun, was it?"

When Mariko said that, Meru's eyes grew round before narrowing infinitely in the next moment.

"What did he say?"
"He asked if it was ok to pull you into the student council as an executive."
"Hah!?"

Mariko and Shigeharu were astonished by Meru's unusual outburst.

"Ah, sorry. I mean, that. I have to become the champion in tomorrow's card game tournament."
"Concentration, right? Then you're unrivalled, no?"

Meru sent a puzzled look at Shigeharu who looked like he was having fun when he said that.

"Dad. Reiryuu's student council is famous. You definitely know that, right?"

Looking at Meru's troubled face, it seemed Shigeharu guessed what Meru wanted to say.

"So I won't become the champion. That's all, this topic is done~"

Meru clapped her hands together to end the conversation this time for sure. However, Shigeharu called Meru to a stop as she made to pick up the tray.

"Meru, come here."

Shigeharu said with a serious face different from his usual one. Meru thought it was a rare sighting and, tilting her head to the side, headed to the living room and sat seizstyle in front of Shigeharu and Mariko.

"Meru."
"What?"
"I'm saying that you don't have to take our family into consideration, right?"

Meru eyebrows drooped at Shigeharu's words.

"I'm not particularly taking the family into consideration. I'm just not interested."
"Then it's fine, but…"

Mariko absentmindedly muttered appearing as though she didn't agree.

"Meru. I'll just say one thing. If we were worried about you entering the student council, we wouldn't have given you permission to enter Reiryuu in the first place."

That's certainly true, Meru thought. If you wanted to prevent even the smallest chance of something happening, it was natural to make sure it couldn't happen from the start.

"If it's you, Meru-nee, you have enough ability to become a Reiryuu executive."

Unnoticed, Kei had come downstairs and jumped into the conversation saying that. When he did, Mariko nodded at his words and smiled carefreely.

"If you become an executive, Meru-chan, I would be proud. The things I can brag about to the neighbors would increase."
"Mom…"

When Meru spoke with a sigh mixed in, Shigeharu opened his mouth calmly.

"Meru. You're restraining yourself too much on various things. Maybe it's inevitable, but it makes us sad to watch you."

Meru clenched her fists at Shigeharu's words. Even though they were pleasant words, Meru was a.s.sailed by the feeling of her heart tightening.

"You've listened to plenty of my selfishness."

Meru said that and smiled. She knew it was a smile so stiff that she couldn't say it gracefully.2 But the reality of her heart was that she wanted to smile and that she couldn't smile.

"Meru-nee…"
"Meru-chan, you haven't said anything selfish."

Meru shook her head. She said, "Just being able to be here now is plenty selfish," and the room became silent.

"Meru. Don't say something so ridiculous."

At Shigeharu's low, roaring voice that was the next thing to shake the air, not just Meru, but Kei and Mariko's eyes also grew round.

"Shigeharu-san?"
"You're my daughter. You being here isn't selfishness or anything, it's just natural, right?"
"…"

When she heard those words, the inside of her nose p.r.i.c.kled and her vision blurred. With that pathetic face, she turned her gaze to Kei and Mariko and saw a lonesome smile on their faces. Making her family make that kind of face, Meru's heart tightened even more.

"I'm, sorry."

Meru covered her face. If she didn't, her tears would fall without resistance. Because she felt like her chest was blocked, even speaking became troublesome. But despite that, she had things she had to say.

She wanted to try entering the student council. That feeling in Meru's heart was not insignificant.

"But…my ability isn't something that I should, show to people."

So she couldn't show her ability to enter the student council, either. She was saying that without demonstrating her ability, she didn't have the qualification to enter. However, Shigeharu raised an objection to her opinion.

"This is just what I think, but that student council president undoubtedly noticed your real ability. Isn't that why he's inviting you?"

Meru recalled what Hayate had said before. "There's something that only you have," he had said.

"I don't know."

Meru averted her eyes. Shigeharu didn't fail to notice that slight movement.

"Meru."
"…"
"When I came to know about your ability, I thought it was amazing. And so at that time, I was happy from the bottom of my heart that you didn't choose another house, but instead chose this one."

Meru's shoulders twitched. She reflexively covered her face with one hand, but looking at her with eyes full of love, Shigeharu continued.

"I'm sure that he will come to feel the same way."
"This is you, Meru-chan. It's natural to recognize someone with that much ability."

Mariko puffed out her cheeks and threw out her chest. Kei sighed "Mom…" in exasperation and put his hand on Meru's head.

"If something happens, you should come to my high school."

When he said that, Shigeharu and Mariko teased him saying, "He's acting like an adult." He replied, "Shut up" and Meru could imagine him blushing.

"…Stupid family."

Because she was covering her face with one hand, Meru's voice was m.u.f.fled. Even so, the tone of her voice was softer than usual.

"…Thanks."

Saying that, a single line of light trailed down Meru's cheek.

1 She's teaching him English here, so I just flipped the language they were using.

2 This uses 'fuuga' in the same way the character's name is written, but it doesn't make sense for her to not be able to say how stiff her smile is to Fuuga. :') So either it's a mistake or the author using his name as a word even tho it's not really common (yuuga is more common) or I'm just not cool enough to grasp it perfectly, but this way makes more sense with the context.

My heart, y'all. I teared up translating this. Also it's not strictly clear if she's adopted or not cuz her dad could be talking about her "choosing" the family when she was born. Idk, we shall see! Enjoy and see you next week.