The Heroines Want to Confess

The round ping-pong ball soared high.

"Bang!"

The fast-moving ball seemed to leave a streak of light behind it.

Its target—

A corner shot!

Facing his attack, Kaguya gripped her paddle firmly and returned the ball to Sakurai's backhand with a quick counterstroke.

["Oh! Observer-chan predicted it! Ehehe~ Actually, I didn't predict it—I already knew~ Kaguya-san's such a little fool, huh?"]

Return shot.

Sakurai crouched slightly, drawing his hand back, and met the ball with his paddle.

A straight, piercing shot cut through Kaguya's defenses.

["Nice! What a shot!"]

After P.E., Sakurai changed out of his gym clothes.

He was headed to the student council room.

The documents he'd reviewed yesterday still needed confirmation with Shirogane Miyuki.

…

Meanwhile, in the locker room.

"Ugh~ Hayasaka, I was bullied~ I didn't win a single point against him!"

Kaguya had mentally broken down.

In just a few minutes, the composed "Ice Kaguya" had melted into a rare, soft and sulky version of herself.

Even as her personal maid, Hayasaka Ai had only seen this side of her a handful of times.

The Kaguya she usually saw wore a cold, stoic mask.

"There, there~" Hayasaka cooed, pulling Kaguya into a comforting hug.

Two beautiful girls hugging—a blessing for the soul.

"I want… I want you to go beat him up for me! You're close to him, right?" Kaguya whined, still clinging to Hayasaka.

"Sure~" Hayasaka agreed without hesitation.

Kaguya wiped her eyes on Hayasaka's sleeve and, after releasing the hug, immediately reverted to her icy, dignified self.

"Next time, I won't lose!"

This was just a tactical adjustment!

Next time, she'd definitely beat him!

Thank goodness Sakurai had only played a few rounds before walking away.

If the match had gone on any longer, she would've embarrassed the entire Shinomiya family!

'Sakurai-kun, you should be grateful you walked away. Otherwise, for the honor of the Shinomiya family, I'd have had no choice but to throw you into Tokyo Bay!'

Kaguya thought with a blank expression.

Hayasaka patted Kaguya's head affectionately.

I'll have Sakurai go easy on her next time.

Still… the spoiled version of Kaguya was way too cute.

…

On the other side of the school…

After changing clothes, Sakurai pushed open the door to the student council room.

"Hm? Ishigami, you're here too?"

Sakurai had thought Ishigami would be preparing for the upcoming club recruitment event.

It was set to start on Tuesday.

"Yo, Shirogane! Afternoon."

Sakurai greeted the student council president, set his bag on the sofa, and walked over.

"Did you check the annotations I made yesterday?"

"Oh, Sakurai. Afternoon. I haven't finished reading them yet," Shirogane replied, glancing up from his work.

"For popular sports clubs, there's no need to give them the best spots. Even without promotion, people will join them anyway. That's what you noted, right?"

"Yeah." Sakurai nodded.

"But upperclassmen will pressure us. When it comes to club positioning, they don't care about a club's merit—they care about the members' family backgrounds," Shirogane said seriously. "That's just how this school is. But I want to try adjusting things for the cultural clubs this year."

["Sigh~ Why can't humans just understand each other~?"]

Because humans are self-righteous idiots.

"Cultural clubs aren't popular at Shuchiin. You want to change that?" Sakurai asked.

["Sports clubs are full of muscleheads! Pfft~ Just like gorillas. So dumb~"]

Hey! You can't say that!

This crappy superpower just kept spouting terrible hot takes.

"Yeah," Shirogane rubbed his temples.

Sakurai didn't push further.

He walked to the storage cabinet, pulling out coffee supplies—cups and beans he'd brought from home a few days ago.

His coffee-making skills came from a part-time job.

Bartender, barista—if it paid, Sakurai did it.

["Bartenders are so cool! Shake-shake-shake, and bam—cocktail done!"]

God, you really are a romance-obsessed fool.

He considered grinding the coffee manually…

But, nah.

Too much effort.

So, Sakurai opted for the automatic coffee machine instead.

["No craftsmanship at all! Hand-brewing is the essence! Sakura-chan, you totally don't understand coffee culture!"]

Submit.

You have to submit, Sakurai.

She's a one-day superpower—like a mayfly, here today, dead tomorrow.

Yes. Dead. Please die.

["Whoa! Your inner thoughts are so dark! But boys are like this, aren't they? Always exposing their dark sides now and then."]

Clang!

The door burst open.

A pink-haired demon had arrived.

"Ah-la~ Everyone working hard, huh?"

Silence.

Fujiwara Chika pouted.

They ignored me?!

The president, Ishigami, even Sakurai—none of them acknowledged her.

"Ehehe~ Everyone's been working so hard! Let's play a game to relax!"

Fujiwara pulled a strange board game out of her bag.

"Tada~ It's aeroplane chess!"

["Aahhh I'm dead~ So cute~"]

Stop getting horny in my head!

Sakurai glanced over at Fujiwara.

"Everyone's working hard for club recruitment. Fujiwara-san, please be quiet."

"Jeez, Sakurai-kun! You always say that, but deep down, you really wanna play, right?"

["Right? Right?"]

I swear to god—

Sakurai maintained his blank expression.

"Let's finish one quick game, then."

"Hey, Shirogane, you playing? Figuring out how to deal with upperclassmen isn't your job—it's the secretary's job."

Sakurai's voice dropped into a devilish whisper as he turned to Fujiwara.

"That's your job, Fujiwara-san."

Fujiwara's joyful expression fell flat.

Her gaze dropped to the floor.

"I get it… I'll go… No game, then…"

"Don't worry. We've got time. A quick game of aeroplane chess won't hurt."

Fujiwara's eyes sparkled again.

"Sakurai-kun, you're the best!"

["…Completely under your control, huh? Sakura-chan, don't tell me… you know Fujiwara likes you, and you mess with her every day just to see her like this? No way… right?"]

Heh. Who knows?