— — — — — —
Nine o'clock that night—
A new video was uploaded to the "365 Days of Good Books" account.
The content was much the same as before: animated characters chatting back and forth.
At first, readers were thrilled.
To their surprise, Copycat-sensei turned out to be kind of a funny guy.
"Copycat actually seems pretty entertaining. Unlike some authors who can't even string a sentence together in interviews."
"Healing story? Yeah right. Just listen to Copycat in reverse. Whatever he says, assume the opposite."
"Still, listening to Copycat talk is pretty fun. At least he's not as dark and twisted as I imagined, hahaha!"
The comment section was full of nicknames like "The Sadist Copycat," Evil Author, " and "Bastard Copycat." But overall, the atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious.
Everyone was joking around and having a great time.
That lasted right up until the final segment of the video.
When the interviewer asked Copycat why he had started writing in the first place, every smile froze solid.
{—Spent a month writing the opening of Your Lie in April. Didn't expect it to make me famous overnight.}
Good lord.
This dog was definitely mocking them.
The novel that had made countless readers cry their eyes out... had been written in a single month?
The comment section exploded.
"Copycat, YOU MONSTER!"
"One word: die. You're telling me Your Lie in April was something you threw together in a week?!"
"Holy crap, you really deserve to die!
"He's absolutely being sarcastic. I can't take this anymore. When I get the chance, I'm definitely stabbing him. I don't care about the law anymore."
"Already sharpening my knife. The day the signing event starts is the day you get hacked to death, Evil Author!"
...
..
Inside a luxury apartment—
Utaha watched the video on her phone and couldn't help smiling.
"Oikawa-senpai really is a huge liar. What 'upperclassman'? He totally made that up."
After a moment's thought, she opened LINE and sent Oikawa Toru a message, "Oikawa-senpai, why didn't you tell me beforehand that you were coming to Tokyo? Don't tell me you don't love me anymore?"
A reply from Oikawa came almost immediately. "Didn't I tell you yesterday? Today's schedule was probably going to run late, so I didn't ask you to come out. And now you're framing me?"
Lying on her bed, Utaha swung her legs happily in the air.
"Hmph. Oikawa-senpai, you haven't even won me over yet, and you're already treating me this coldly. If you ever do get me, won't you just ignore me completely?"
She eagerly waited to see how he would answer.
After all, a little sulking was perfectly normal for a girl.
Besides, she had genuinely wanted to see him today.
Then Oikawa's reply arrived. "Then give me my panda back. And return my first kiss while you're at it."
Utaha's face immediately flushed red. "Tch. You're acting like you were the one who suffered. I'm the one who got the short end of the stick here, okay?"
Oikawa replied, "If you're going to put it that way, then I'll have to accuse you of favoring women over men. It's the age of gender equality now. Clearly I'm the one who suffered."
"Heh. Oikawa-senpai really is shameless."
The two continued their playful back-and-forth.
But throughout it all, Utaha never stopped smiling.
...
..
The next day, in the school gymnasium...
Teachers and students filled the venue, and the noise was deafening.
Even though nobody particularly wanted the position of student council president, everyone was still curious about who would ultimately end up with it.
Near the entrance. The members of the Service Club and Ebina's group faced one another.
The tension was obvious.
Ebina's face was filled with nervousness. Clearly, she wasn't nearly as confident as she had claimed to be before.
At the front of the gym... Meguri Shiromeguri was introducing the candidates, mainly giving a brief overview of the two people running for office.
The first stage was the endorsement speeches.
Ebina's supporter was Hayama Hayato.
At the moment, Hayama stood quietly with his eyes closed, determination written all over his face.
Second by second, time passed. Then his name echoed through the gym.
"Good luck." Ebina looked toward Hayama as he opened his eyes.
"Don't worry."
His gaze was sharp and steady, like an eagle soaring through the sky.
He swept his eyes across the crowd before finally locking onto Oikawa.
Fighting spirit blazed in them.
Oikawa merely smiled faintly.
Hayama took a deep breath and walked toward the podium at the front of the hall.
Then his voice rang out through the gym.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Hayama Hayato, Ebina Hina's endorsement speaker."
"As everyone can see, Ebina is an incredibly upright and sincere person. She's thoughtful, pure-hearted, and more suited than anyone else to become student council president. She has a passionate heart, and when it comes to many matters, she can..."
...
"Please cast your fair and impartial vote for Ebina Hina."
There was no denying that Hayama Hayato was a charismatic guy.
Unfortunately, that wasn't nearly as effective here as one might have expected.
In the end, it came down to a lack of experience. He failed to truly capture the audience's attention.
Almost half the students weren't even listening.
"Next is Isshiki Iroha's endorsement speech. Please welcome Yui Yuigahama."
Outside the entrance, Yui looked nervous beyond belief.
The moment she heard her name called, she seemed completely at a loss.
"You can do this. Believe in yourself." Oikawa looked at her steadily, without a hint of doubt in his eyes.
"Yui-senpai, you can do it." Isshiki Iroha chimed in with encouragement as well.
"Just do it the way we practiced. Don't worry." Even Yukino spoke up to reassure her.
"Yeah!"
The uncertainty in Yui's eyes disappeared.
Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the podium. Compared to Hayama, she was obviously a much less familiar face to the students below.
"Who is she?"
"I think she's from the Service Club. That weird club."
"I've never seen her before..."
...
Yui ignored the murmurs.
When she reached the podium, she followed Oikawa's instructions exactly and deliberately caused the microphone to emit a piercing screech.
SKREEEECH!
The sharp noise echoed throughout the entire gym.
Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to the stage. Even the people who hadn't planned on listening were now looking up.
Ebina frowned and glanced toward Oikawa.
"Oikawa-kun, that trick was your idea, wasn't it? That's really... underhanded."
"You can do it too."
Oikawa smiled, completely unconcerned.
Inside the gym, Yui began speaking. "My name is Yui Yuigahama, and I'm here to give an endorsement speech for Isshiki Iroha. It's nice to meet everyone."
"As you can see, I'm a member of the Service Club. The school festival and the all-school sports festival were both organized by our Service Club. This campaign speech for Isshiki-san is no exception."
...
"While reorganizing club budgets, we'll also increase the budget for the cultural festival. There will also be more vending machines installed around campus."
"Our goal is to create a more comfortable and enjoyable school environment for everyone. And finally, if Isshiki-san is elected student council president, we plan to reform the school trip once again."
"Students will take the lead through surveys and voting, instead of having everything arranged unilaterally by the school. That's all."
Yui bowed and stepped away from the podium.
Immediately, a wave of discussion erupted among the students.
"Wait, we can choose our own destination? I want to go overseas!"
"Seriously! I don't want to go to Kyoto again. That's so boring."
"Same here."
"I think I'm voting for Isshiki just for the school trip proposal. That alone won me over. Woohoo!"
"+1. I'm voting for Isshiki too."
...
Back near the entrance, the expressions on both Ebina and Hayama's faces had become extremely unpleasant.
The Service Club's preparation had far exceeded their expectations. And with the successful school festival and sports festival as proof of their capabilities, students had no reason to think Yui was making empty promises.
Things were turning out far worse than they had imagined.
Ebina spoke quietly, "Oikawa-kun, I didn't expect you to want victory this badly."
"It's not that I want to win..." Oikawa paused, "...I just don't want to lose."
There might be dark horses. There might be miracles.
But more often than not, victory belonged to those who prepared meticulously and worked hard for it.
Ebina had given an excellent personal speech. She had truly done her best. But in the end, she still lost the election by a crushing twenty-percent margin.
Isshiki Iroha became the new student council president.
Ebina looked deeply unwilling to accept the result. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
That left Oikawa genuinely puzzled. Wasn't she supposed to be an actress they had recruited for the role? How had she gotten this invested?
Then the election drama gradually faded away.
Time continued to pass.
Before long, there were only two weeks left until the end of the year.
The new student council slowly began operating. For Oikawa, however, this was hardly good news.
Isshiki had practically become his tail. No matter what happened, she came running to ask for his advice.
Honestly. It was exhausting.
The good news was that Shizuka Hiratsuka had kept her promise. For half a month, no new requests arrived at the Service Club.
As a result, Oikawa was finally able to return to his favorite routine of loafing around in the Literature Club every day.
...
..
Another school day came to an end as the dismissal bell rang.
As always, Oikawa bolted out of the classroom and headed straight for the Literature Club room. Today, he planned to try brewing black tea again.
Using the exact same ingredients. He refused to believe his tea could really taste that much worse than Yukino's.
It wasn't scientifically possible.
...
Evening was beginning to settle over Chiba.
Winter wasn't particularly harsh, but the sky remained blanketed by thick gray clouds. Just looking at it was enough to dampen anyone's mood.
After entering the activities building, Oikawa quickly noticed students constantly coming and going from the student council office.
Isshiki Iroha was among them.
The moment he spotted her, Oikawa immediately picked up his pace.
Like someone trying to avoid a walking disaster, he attempted to slip away before she noticed him.
Unfortunately. That was nothing more than wishful thinking.
"Senpai, fancy seeing you again~"
Isshiki's sweet, coquettish voice came from behind him.
Pretending not to hear her, Oikawa walked even faster, determined to shake off this persistent little stalker.
Isshiki immediately sounded aggrieved. "Senpai, why are you ignoring me? Did I do something wrong?"
"Ahem." Realizing escape was impossible, Oikawa stopped and turned around with an awkward smile. "I thought I heard wrong."
His gaze landed on the girl, who was once again speaking in that deceptively innocent tone of hers.
"Isshiki-san, shouldn't you be busy right now? How do you have time to chat with me?"
"It's all thanks to you, Senpai." Isshiki proudly puffed out her chest, though there wasn't much there to puff out.
"If it weren't for you, I never would've become student council president. I'm still getting used to it, but I really love this job. Hehe."
It was obvious that she was genuinely happy.
Though she'd made plenty of mistakes during her first week as president, she was still doing a decent job overall.
At the very least, the faint dark circles under her eyes suggested she'd spent many late nights thinking about how to become a good student council president.
"You're doing great. I hope you keep it up. I have high expectations for you." Oikawa offered sincere praise.
Isshiki froze for a moment before a bright smile spread across her face. "Senpai... do you really believe I can become a good student council president?"
"Of course." There wasn't a trace of hesitation in Oikawa's answer. "Reaching Meguri-senpai's level might be difficult. But I'm one hundred percent certain you'll become a good student council president. No effort goes unrewarded. Keep smiling and keep your eyes open. That's how you'll see more of the beautiful scenery around you."
Naturally, Oikawa wasn't about to discourage her.
If Isshiki quit halfway through, the task of finding and electing another student council president would probably end up dumped on the Service Club.
Right now, his priority was making sure she had confidence.
Even if she couldn't do an amazing job, surely she couldn't completely ruin things either.
Besides, the students of Sobu High hadn't exactly expected much from her in the first place.
"..."
Isshiki stared at him blankly.
Actually, she stared for quite a long time. Her mouth hung open as she struggled to find words.
Finally, she blinked rapidly and fired off a response at lightning speed. "What does that mean? Are you trying to pursue me, Senpai?"
"..."
"Sorry, but you're way too clingy. You're making me uncomfortable, so please give up." Oikawa rolled his eyes and continued walking toward the Literature Club room. "You should save that routine for Hayama. I'm not interested in you."
"Senpai, that's so hurtful!"
Isshiki wasn't offended in the slightest.
She simply continued following him like a loyal tail.
With a helpless sigh, Oikawa asked, "Why are you following me again?"
"Who's following you? I'm just walking this way too. Senpai, aren't you being a little full of yourself? And besides, I'm the student council president now. Please show respect." Isshiki grinned mischievously as she continued trailing behind him.
All the way into the Literature Club room.
"Wow, Senpai! There are so many light novels and manga in here! I think you're violating club regulations. Um... If you don't bribe me, then hehe~"
Like a curious child, Isshiki wandered around the room.
Picking up a light novel here. A manga there.
Looking at everything she could find.
Oikawa stared at her with growing resentment. "I'm suddenly starting to think you won't become a good student council president after all."
"Hehe. It's too late to take that back now, Senpai." Isshiki plopped down in Kawasaki's seat, grabbed a light novel, and leaned against the desk beside Oikawa as she started reading.
"Senpai, don't you think the Literature Club is the perfect place for a nap? I'm sleepy. I'm going to sleep for a bit."
She closed her eyes. Soon, her breathing settled into a slow, steady rhythm.
Oikawa couldn't tell whether she was actually asleep or just pretending.
Her acting was so convincing that it was impossible to know.
After thinking about it for a moment, however, he removed his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. With weather this cold, if she really fell asleep in the clubroom, she'd probably wake up sick.
After that, Oikawa picked up a light novel of his own and began reading.
A tiny slit opened between Isshiki's eyelids. She quietly watched Oikawa's profile for a while. Then a faint smile appeared on her lips.
.
.
.