Chapter 54: Shinjou Saya 3
After Yuuki-kun said he’d take care of it, several weeks passed.
To put it simply, the bullying against me stopped.
Apparently, Yuuki-kun had been recording the moments when I was being bullied, and he’d also gathered evidence of the girls tampering with my gym clothes. Using that evidence, he went to talk things out with the teachers and with the girls themselves.
He even showed a great deal of consideration toward someone as petty and prideful as me, making sure it didn’t turn into a major incident. Only a very small number of people knew about it, just the girls who did the bullying, several teachers, me, and Yuuki-kun.
At the time, I hated the idea of people thinking that the perfect, reliable student council president was actually being bullied behind the scenes. Because of that, I truly believed this was the best possible outcome, and I was deeply grateful to Yuuki-kun.
With that, things reached a temporary resolution, and thanks to Yuuki-kun, I was able to regain my peaceful daily life.
But just because things were settled didn’t mean my relationship with Yuuki-kun ended there.
After this incident, we started talking much more often. Or rather, I was the one who began going out of my way to talk to Yuuki-kun.
At the time, I still hadn’t realized my feelings were romantic. Since Yuuki-kun was my first love, I couldn’t recognize those feelings as love.
“Calling you Mikage-kun feels kind of distant. Would it be okay if I called you Yuuki-kun?”
“That’s fine. Then should I stop calling you Student Council President and call you Shinjou-senpai instead?”
Being called Shinjou-senpai felt oddly distant, and it made me sulk a little.
“Not Shinjou-senpai. Saya-senpai is fine.”
“Understood, Saya-senpai.”
I still remember how my heart raced when he smiled warmly, like the sun, and called me by my name.
From then on, we started calling each other by name, and our relationship grew much closer.
But because we were in different grades, we didn’t have much time together, and that left me feeling restless. After thinking it over, I decided to make one proposal to him.
“H-hey, Yuuki-kun.”
“What is it, Saya-senpai?”
When he looked at me with those pure eyes and called me Saya-senpai, my heart pounding, I finally spoke up.
“Would you like to join the student council?”
“The student council?”
I usually didn’t get nervous speaking in front of people, but inviting Yuuki-kun to join the student council made me extremely nervous, and my voice was probably shaking.
While waiting for his answer, my heart was racing. I kept thinking about what I’d do if he turned me down, running through all kinds of possibilities in my head. But Yuuki-kun, as always, said,
“Sure. Or rather, is it really okay for me to become a student council member?”
“Yeah. Of course it is, Yuuki-kun. I’ll talk to the teachers.”
I couldn’t decide student council members entirely on my own, but hardly anyone wanted to do it anyway, and there just happened to be an open spot for a secretary. The previous secretary had to leave the school due to family circumstances, so the timing worked out perfectly.
My conduct was good, and I had the teachers’ trust. On top of that, the person I was recommending was Yuuki-kun, the one who’d helped me. They’d probably be willing to be somewhat flexible.
Another month passed, and Yuuki-kun officially became a student council member. We started running events together and creating the school newspaper together, and the time I spent with Yuuki-kun kept increasing.
My relationship with Yuuki-kun had grown very close. Before I knew it, there wasn’t a moment when I wasn’t watching him, and the time I spent thinking about Yuuki-kun made me happy.
But that happy time was gradually taken away from me.
Because I didn’t believe. Because I didn’t help.