"Why did you refuse?" Horikita asked as soon as we got out of the student council room.
"You heard my reason, right?" I replied with a question.
"But, I don't understand. You'll have a stable social standing in our year once you're elected as a member. You can also capitalize on your position whenever you or the class is in some sort of trouble," she elaborated. "The benefits outweigh the risks-"
"The trouble outweighs the benefits," I faced Horikita. "I refused because it's a pain. Maybe I'll consider it if there was really no other choice."
I don't have the energy to engage in this debate. Horikita Manabu already blew my cover for better or for worse, and based on Ryuuen's words, something big might happen soon. I don't really want to think about unnecessary stuff right now. And besides, I have somewhere to get to.
"I see..." she sighed in understanding. "But at least, you can focus on being Class B's leader."
"Yeah, I won't slack off on that part." I turned around and walked away. "I need to go meet up with Akito and the others. I'll see you next time, Horikita."
"Goodbye, Ayanokouji-kun. Thank you for today." Horikita thanked me with a stern but sincere expression.
————————————————————————
I went straight to Airi's room since according to Haruka, they were hanging out while still wearing their school uniforms. Airi opened up as soon as I rang the doorbell. She was wearing an amaranth shirt and periwinkle cotton shorts. She was the only one wearing casual clothes.
"Welcome, Kiyotaka-kun," she greeted.
"Kiyopon~!"
"Oh, Kiyotaka!"
"Oi, Kiyotaka, what took you so long?"
Apparently, they passed the time by playing cards. After the Ayanokouji Group was completed, we waited for Airi's mysterious announcement in anticipation.
"U-Uhm... Please don't expect anything too surreal... It's nothing serious, I promise. I... just wanted my friends to know this part of me..." Airi spoke anxiously.
"Ah... Sorry, if it feels like we're pressuring you, Airi. It's the first time you've acted like this so we can't help but get excited." Haruka responded with a smile.
"Don't lump me with you and Ken," Akito commented calmly with his usual cool expression.
"H-Hey!" hissed Ken.
"Well, whatever it is, don't be afraid to tell us," I said.
"Alright..." Airi grabbed something from a hanging shelf and showed us the cover. It was a young men's magazine featuring a girl that seemed to be a gravure model.
"D-Do you know who this is?" Airi asked nervously.
"Hmm... I don't really read this kinda stuff, but I feel like I've seen that girl before..." mused Akito.
"Ohh..." Haruka stared intently at the cover.
"Ah-! That's Shizuka-! Oh, wait, I'm wrong, it's Shizuku! Shizuku!" yelled Ken. "Ike and his group showed me a magazine that's similar to that one last month. They were talking about this gravure idol in particular."
Airi grew increasingly tense as our friends gave their answers.
"That's you, isn't it, Airi?" I said.
She flinched in shock and skittishly looked at me.
"Eh-?!" The three yelped in surprise.
Haruka and the two guys scrutinized Airi and the girl in the magazine by giving them alternating looks. To ease their struggle, Airi slowly removed her glasses while letting her hair flow freely.
"Ahh-! It's you!"
"Ehh... It really is you..."
"Holy shit, that's wild!"
This totally feels like one of those silly moments from superhero stories where the main character finally reveals his or her true identity.
"U-Uhm, I-I just really wanted to share this with you... I thought it would be fine." Airi was fidgeting all over. It was clear that it took a lot of courage to tell us her secret.
"This is awesome, Airi! I can't believe I'm friends with an idol~!"
"It's amazing how you're the main feature in a magazine issue, too," Akito nodded with a smile.
"Ugh... I can only imagine the ogling faces of Ike or Yamauchi when they find out about this."
"K-Ken-kun... Let's not talk about them! And I'm not planning on telling anyone other than you guys, anyway..." replied Airi.
"We're happy that you've decided to share this with us, Airi. We'll keep this to ourselves if you don't want others to find out," I said.
"To be honest, if Ike and his gang weren't idiots, they would've already found it out."
Haruka leaned forward to cuddle with Airi like she usually does.
"Well, that means Airi's disguise was just too perfect!" she said. "The disconnect between your fashion choice and fashion knowledge makes sense now!"
"Amazing... To think that you're an idol, Airi..." Ken continued observing the pages with Airi's photos. "It just seemed weird how you're very cheerful-looking in these shots..."
Akito engaged with him and scanned the pages curiously.
"You're right... That's probably the main reason why the thought of Shizuku being Airi didn't cross our minds immediately," he said.
She increasingly became more anxious as they continued.
"You should've told me about your Shizuku persona much sooner. I could use some cheerfulness lessons from a professional," I joked.
If my guess is right, Airi was worried about our image of her suddenly changing for the worse. After all, revealing a completely different personality would make you seem dishonest and fake.
I preemptively turned that stigma around and prefaced her shy personality as the genuine one. It should lessen her anxiety a bit.
"Ehh?! I'm a cheerful person too, right? I can teach you!" complained Haruka.
"I want help from a professional. You're just a cheerful idiot, Haruka," I replied.
"That's true." Akito instantly agreed.
"Heh, idiot." Ken snickered with a smug grin.
"Wha-?! I'm just trying to be nice!" Haruka hugged Airi as she shed some crocodile tears. "Waah! Airi, they're bullying me!"
"K-Kiyotaka-kun, you didn't have to be so mean." Airi calmly scolded me.
Meanwhile, Haruka turned to us and stuck her tongue out.
That whole skit probably eased Airi's tense nerves.
After some more teasing and banters, Airi finally opened up and decided to share some of her stories with us. Apparently, one of the things that she desired the most was to be as jovial as her Shizuku persona, like how Kikyou is to everyone or how Haruka is to us.
"I was never really cheerful if you can even call it that. I just acted like how I thought I should... Whenever I talk to someone while looking them in the eye, I just hide how scared I am and continue smiling. During the photoshoots... I just make myself empty until everything ends," Airi sighed. "I don't think I can act like that outside of work, to be honest."
"Well, you can slowly work towards it. You're already used to how I'm acting, right? You'll be fine," Haruka said while waving her hand.
"You can practice with us if you want. Ken's pretty good at intimidating people, so if you get used to him, you won't be afraid of anyone anymore." Akito suggested with a smile.
"Wha-?! Tch... I hate to admit it, but Akito's probably right..." Ken reluctantly agreed.
"There's nothing wrong with the current you, but if you want to change, then there's no need to rush. Take things slowly if you need to," I said.
Those words came from the bottom of my heart. Airi and I were in the same boat. I wish to change as well, but like I said, taking things slowly is probably the best approach. She wore a warm smile the whole time, but she suddenly looked very nervous.
"U-Uhm..." Airi muttered as if there was something else bothering her mind.
"Is there a problem, Airi?" I asked.
"Ah, n-nothing... It's just that... I'm really thankful to have friends like you, Kiyotaka-kun, Akito-kun, Ken-kun, and Haruka-chan..." she replied with a simper.
"I'm sure everyone's glad to be your friend, too, Airi," said Akito.
"That's right! I've never even had female friends that are as nice as you and Haruka. So I'm the one who should be really thankful." Ken grinned happily.
"I love you, Airi~!" Haruka continued snuggling up to Airi.
Friendship, huh? It's quite a pleasant thing...
"Eh-?" Airi had a surprised expression.
"What's wrong, Airi?" asked Haruka.
"A-Ah... It's nothing. I just thought I saw Kiyotaka-kun smile..." said Airi.
"Eh?! He smiled?!" Of course, Ken's overreaction was top-notch.
"Did I?" I asked with a genuinely curious expression.
"Seriously?! Isn't that, like, the first time?!" If Ken wasn't here, Haruka's exaggerated response would've taken the prize.
"Hey, even I can smile," I replied.
"Well, I can imagine you smiling bitterly, but it's hard to picture the Ayanokouji Kiyotaka smiling warmly like how Hirata does..." Akito pondered.
At that time, I saw Haruka absentmindedly staring at me with a slightly flushed face.
————————————————————————
We hung out a bit more before finally saying goodbye to Airi. She seemed really happy about being able to share something with us. Well, while the other three were very vocal about themselves, I haven't really told anything about myself. Maybe I'll do that one day.
When I got to my room, I got a call from Akito.
"Hello, Kiyotaka?"
"Akito? What's up?"
"You've noticed it too, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Airi, of course. It seemed like she wanted to tell us one more thing but held back in the end."
"Oh... That's true. I noticed that, too."
"I'm pretty sure Ken's the only one who didn't notice, but that's fine, I guess."
"What do you think about it?"
"Hmm... Well, we can't really force her to say anything, right?"
"Yeah. She'll probably tell us when the time comes."
After my talk Akito, I called Kikyou to check on something.
"Kiyotaka-kun? Good evening!"
"Did I interrupt anything?"
"No, no, not at all. Is there anything you need?"
"I'm just curious about a gravure idol called Shizuku...?"
Oh, I didn't consider my phrasing at all.
"Kiyotaka-kun... Are you perhaps... into that?"
"My bad, I just found something out about the said person, so I got more curious. That's all."
"Hmmmm...?"
"..."
"Well, whatever. But I know who Shizuku is. She became a well-known gravure idol right from her debut a couple of years back and was really popular afterward."
"I see..."
"She has a blog, too. You can check that if you'd like to see her activities. I'll send you the link if you want."
"That would help. Thanks a bunch."
"Wait, my computer is already open so I'll just send it to you now."
I heard some light thuds and clattering indicating Kikyou's movements. She was probably sitting on her bed. At that time, I also proceeded to boot up my computer. When the link arrived, I immediately opened it and saw a very personal yet professional blog site that was clearly made for a career. In the early days of the site's operation, Shizuku posted almost every day and replied to almost every reply from her fans. A lot of them were asking about her future prospects like T.V. appearances. She also amassed more than 5000 followers on Twitter. I also checked other idol blog sites for reference, but they all seemed pretty similar. However, her activities stopped after enrolling here, abiding by the "No Outside Contact" rule of the school which was to be expected.
"Kiyotaka-kun, I just checked her latest posts, and it seems like she stopped in early April."
"Yeah, I saw it too."
"Is she... a student here?"
Oh... I didn't expect Kikyou to arrive at that conclusion immediately.
"You think so?"
"Well, it's not just the date of her sudden break... Look at this picture. She posted it a few days before the day of the entrance ceremony."
Kikyou sent me an image of Shizuku wearing a casual outfit. Nothing seemed strange about it... until I looked at the background.
————————————————————————
"We were given the option to move here a few weeks earlier if we wanted, right? Her room looks exactly like a typical girls' room on the upper floors."
So that's why it looked familiar.
"You're right. Good job catching on to that."
"Based on her data, she should be in our year, too... Kiyotaka-kun, figured out who she is, didn't you?"
"You're overestimating me, Kikyou. I didn't figure out her identity. She, herself, told me about it."
At this point, I had no choice but to tell her the truth.
"Ohh, popular as always, huh? Even an idol was willing to reveal her true identity to you. Isn't that romantic?" she teased. "Well, I'm sure she also asked you to keep it a secret, so I won't pry... That said, it's quite amazing, isn't it? There's an idol in our year..."
"Yeah... Sorry if I can't share anything significant with you."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm already glad that you asked me for help."
"Thanks again."
"You're welcome!"
When our call ended, I continued checking out the comment section on Shizuku's more recent posts. A certain user caught my attention...
"I see... This is quite troublesome..." I muttered softly after piecing everything together.