The tomboyish beauty that loved to wear male clothing, Chiaki Wakaba, was the ace member of the drama club. Therefore, she was quite famous in certain circles.
With pressure coming from her, the chattering girls reluctantly left until only Chiaki, Mika, and Seiji remained.
"Seigo Harano… not bad for a fake name, but I still think your original name sounds better." Chiaki said in a low voice and smiled at him. She knew about Seiji’s real name and situation through her best friend, Mika Uehara.
Seiji scratched his face.
After personally meeting this best friend of hers that Mika had told him about beforehand, he finally understood some of the things that Mika had previously said.
Why did blondie have his eyes on Mika? Other than her outstanding appearance and attractiveness, there was also the fact that blondie had seemed to have heard some rumors and had come to a misunderstanding.
Then the next problem was the origin of these rumors. And why did they spread in the first place?
Mika believed that it was because she had an excellent friend with high charisma. As this friend of hers was quite popular with certain female student cliques, it caused Mika to become the target of jealousy as she was quite close to Chiaki.
"It just can’t be helped. As Chiaki’s truly beautiful and has her own unique charm, many girls are secretly in love with her…" That was what Mika told him at the time with a wry smile.
As one of the best friends of this famous, charismatic tomboy prince, Mika became the target of vicious rumors fueled by jealousy.
School was a bit simpler than adult society, but some nastiness was still unavoidable.
"Harano-kun, can you drink alcohol?"
"Huh?" Seiji blinked. "I’m still underage, and I believe you are as well."
"Don’t be such a drag—as Mika’s best friend, I’d really like to have a drink with the hero that saved her!" Chiaki smiled and licked her lips: "There’s plenty of alcohol at my place—you should come on over!"
Her tiny action in tandem with her words made her seem quite devilish.
Seiji raised his eyebrows and was just about to retort, when he was suddenly interrupted.
"No! Sei… Er, Seigo can’t drink alcohol!" Mika interrupted the conversation, "You as well, Chiaki. I’ve said it many times—you should stop secretly drinking!"
"Alcohol is one of the greatest joys in life. You won’t miss out if you try it a bit earlier!" Chiaki smiled seductively, "And if you get drunk, you can do some even more interesting things…"
"What interesting things are you talking about!?" Mika forcefully denied her. "No is no. Alcohol is something that’s not good for you."
"Ugh, fine." Chiaki had a regretful expression.
"Drinking juice will be fine." Seiji smiled, "If you have free time, you can come to the shop I work at—the sweets there taste delicious."
With him leading the conversation skillfully, they began talking about everything.
The pigtailed beauty, the tomboyish prince, and the idol-like handsome boy… the three of them chatting happily seemed like it was a scene out of an idol drama.
However, such a beautiful scene was unappreciated, even hurtful, to certain people.
Such as Kazufuru Ooike.
Witnessing this scene, the clogged feeling in his heart increased even further. Mika Uehara wasn’t anyone special, but Chiaki Wakaba was a well-renowned and popular girl at school, and even Natsuya Yoruhana appreciated her talent.
He had tried his best to make friends with Chiaki Wakaba before as well, but she used skillful methods to reject him politely.
And now, that Seigo Harano was having a conversation with her as if they were old buddies.
He absolutely couldn’t stand it!
But what could he possibly do?
Although some dark ideas popped into Kazufuru Ooike’s mind, he firmly pushed them away.
In every instance, he always defeated his opponents directly from the front. Regardless of whether it was looks, elegance, grades, or sports, he would always defeat them fairly, and he never cheated or used any dirty tricks whatsoever.
He believed in his own excellence—apart from his family background, every quality of his was upper-class!
Judging by his appearance, Seigo Harano seemed like a strong opponent.
But so what? He, Kazufuru Ooike, could defeat him as well, just like all the others!
...
During all the classes in the morning, other than chatting with Mika and Chiaki, Seiji had become acquainted with some other classmates.
But he could only smile wryly at the fact that the only ones who treated him warmly were the girls. In fact, none of the boys proactively came to talk to him, and if he tried talking to any boy, any response he received was either indifferent or clearly distant.
It seemed that there were downsides to having such a good appearance as well.
What should he do about this?
It was already time for the lunch break, and as Seiji considered his problem and stood up from his seat, he noticed a male student with short brown hair, glasses, and a delicate face walking over.
"Hello, Harano-san."
"Hello."
"I’m the student council secretary, Kazufuru Ooike, and President Yoruhana specially ordered me to take good care of you after you transferred here." Kazufuru nudged his glasses upwards, "After a morning of classes, do you feel like you are having any troubles? If you feel like you can’t understand the classes or if there’s some other problems, I would be glad to assist you."
Seiji took a good look at this above-average handsome guy who embodied the very image of an excellent student.
"W… what is it?" Kazufuru felt uncomfortable being stared at like this.
"Can you help me with any trouble?" Seiji’s mouth arced upward.
"Er… yes, if I’m able to be of help." Kazufuru nodded. Since the president had made a request, he had to at least look good on the surface.
Seiji suddenly stepped forward and suddenly grabbed his hand.
"Please become my friend!"
This one sentence resounded clearly throughout the whole classroom.
All the surrounding students turned their heads around to look, surprise evident on their faces.
Mika, who was on her way over towards them, froze in her tracks, and even Chiaki was stunned.
The entire classroom fell into an eerie silence.
After an indeterminate length of time, he foolishly responded with a confused, "Huh?"
...
The school courtyard.
Kazufuru adjusted his glasses again and tried to organize his thoughts, but he found that his brain still wasn’t working properly yet.
In front of him was the cheerful Seigo Harano, the still-shocked Mika Uehara, and Chiaki Wakaba who was smiling ambiguously.
All four of them had brought their own lunches, so to the others, they looked like a perfect scene of two boys and two girls eating lunch together.
"Harano-san…"
"You can just call me Harano, or even just call me Seigo. I’ll just call you Kazufuru as well, bro."
‘Who wants to be your bro!?’ Kazufuru Ooike’s face twitched, and he almost said that out loud, but he barely managed to restrain himself.
"Man, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make any male friends. I’m glad that I met someone as welcoming as you, Kazufuru bro. Here, as a sign of our friendship, I’ll give you this green pepper from my lunch."
"I hate these!" Kazufuru wasn’t a picky eater, but he considered green peppers to be the green work of the devil, so he unconsciously rejected it.
Wait a moment, that didn’t seem like the most important thing right now?
"Don’t worry, it tastes really good. After all, this green pepper is specially made; it was cooked by my gentle and beautiful landlord." Seiji remained smiling.
"Seigo!" Mika couldn’t bear watching it anymore, "Stop being picky!"
"Is that the only part you want to comment on?" Chiaki took a sideways glance at her friend.
Kazufuru suddenly felt tired of it all.
"Harano-san, just what are you up to?" He sighed and looked straight into Seiji’s eyes.
"Nothing at all." Seiji retracted his mischievous smile that he was faking and said lightly, "Just as I previously stated, I’d like for you to be my friend."
"…Why?"
"Isn’t it obvious—it’s quite hard for me to talk to the other boys." Seiji forthrightly stated the root of the problem. "They’re jealous or can’t stand the sight of me—at any rate, I’m having trouble getting along with them. So I need a sufficiently strong enough stepping stone. And you, Student Council Secretary, are obviously a popular and excellent student. You’re the best choice, Kazufuru Ooike-san."
Seiji’s revelation was far too direct, and the other three students were completely shocked.
It took quite a while for Kazufuru Ooike to regain his senses.
"So you’re saying… you’re taking advantage of me?"
"You’re partially correct. Yes, I want to be friends with you—that wasn’t fake at all." Seiji smiled again and gave him an omelet from his own lunchbox, "You’ll accept a new friend, won’t you, Student Council Secretary Ooike-san?"
"What if I refuse?" Kazufuru stared directly at Seiji.
"Well, it won’t be a big deal. At the very most, I’ll just act disappointed in front of all our classmates, and I’ll also tell President Yoruhana about my disappointment as well." Seiji shrugged nonchalantly.
Kazufuru Ooike’s face kept twitching uncontrollably.
He could already imagine what a commotion the scene from earlier must have caused, and if he refused Harano, and Harano exaggerated it in front of the class, this would become a huge problem, and in the end, it would damage his status.
Not to mention, there was also President Yoruhana…
As he kept thinking it over, Kazufuru found that he had no other choices.
"You… you’re quite something." In the end, he looked at Seiji and stated coldly, "As you wish—I shall become your friend, but we still aren’t friends."
His statement was obviously self-contradictory, but it was understandable as well, and Seiji definitely understood what he meant.
"I’ll treat you as my friend, and I’m confident that you’ll change your opinion of me." He reached his hand out with a smile.
Kazufuru Ooike looked at his hand for several seconds before he slowly extended his own hand out and shook Seiji’s hand lightly.
Mika Uehara, who was a spectator for this entire scene, was still in shock, while Chiaki Wakaba’s eyes glittered with an indescribable light.
As Kazufuru ate his lunch, he couldn’t help but feel like he had been pulled into some sort of strange trap… but it was still acceptable.
Just let me see who you truly are, Seigo Harano.
After lunch, Kazufuru used the excuse of being occupied with student council matters and left them.
After she watched the student council secretary leave, Mika Uehara turned her gaze towards Seiji, with an expression begging for an explanation.
"It’s quite simple, really—I didn’t want to be left out of everything by all the boys in class, so I forcefully took advantage of the student council secretary." Seiji truthfully told her his intentions.
The personal relationships in school could become a big or a small issue. He came to school in order to enjoy daily life, not to become a lone wolf, so even if his method was a little overbearing, he had to ensure own place in school first.
Mika Uehara nodded half-knowingly.
"That was… brilliant." Chiaki Wakaba smiled as she assessed him, "I thought that you’d find yourself in great difficulty… if it became like that, Mika and I would still stay by your side. But you were able to break through it on your own—nice."
Even though the method was slightly underhanded.
But to be able to see the true nature of that excellent student who always wore a mask and to successfully take advantage of him, Seiji was definitely gifted.
Seigo Harano… no, Seiji Haruta, wasn’t a simple person at all.