"So, this is the reason you weren't worried at all?"
Hugging a pillow, Utaha nestled halfway into the embrace of Miyahito, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor. She glanced at him helplessly as he rested his chin lightly on her shoulder.
"And here I was, worrying that the song you wrote for Miyuki-nii would go to waste. Turns out you already knew he was going to seek re-election..."
"How about it? I'm amazing, right?" Holding Utaha like a doll, Miyahito showed off to his girlfriend with a smug expression. "Miyuki-nii practically has his feelings for Kaguya-senpai written all over his face. How could he give up so easily?"
"Besides, Utaha, Miyuki-nii and Kaguya-senpai aren't in the same class. Without the Student Council as their intersection, given their tsundere personalities and that inexplicable, stubborn mindset of 'I can't confess first, the other person absolutely has to say "I like you" first'... How could Miyuki-nii give up the chance for re-election so easily?"
Looking at Miyahito's smug demeanor, Utaha felt a mix of helplessness and involuntary doting affection, speaking to him as if coaxing a child. "Yes, yes, yes, my Miyahito is the most amazing. You even figured all this out. Good boy, good boy~"
"...."
Staring speechlessly as Utaha treated him like a child, Miyahito faintly felt a toothache coming on.
Noticing the gloom and helplessness on her boyfriend's face, Utaha found it hilarious and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
Watching the girlfriend in his arms lightly cover her mouth, her wine-red eyes squinting as her whole body shook with laughter, Miyahito's expression grew even more gloomy. But as Utaha's endless laughter continued, gradually, Miyahito's mood seemed to be infected as well.
The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up, and suppressing his own laughter, Miyahito quickly raised his hand to support Utaha, who was laughing so hard she was about to collapse onto his thighs.
"Watch yourself, seriously, why are you laughing so exaggeratedly?"
"Hehe... Th-that's just... because Miyahito's expression... was too funny... gahahaha..."
Utaha, who was laughing inexplicably and endlessly, ended up laughing so hard she sounded like a honking goose.
At this point, Miyahito finally couldn't hold it in either. Just like that, the couple, who were laughing so hard they were staggering over something inexplicable and completely unfathomable, ended up hugging each other and rolling onto the carpet, laughing for quite a while.
"Hoo hoo hoo...."
"Haa... haa...."
Foreheads touching, Utaha, who was slightly curled up with her head resting on Miyahito's arm, and Miyahito, whose hand rested lightly on Utaha's waist. The two of them, wearing the same faint smile, let their gazes, radiating traces of scorching love, entwine, collide, and blend with each other.
"Hey, Miyahito."
Her cherry-pink lips parting slightly, her wine-red eyes reflecting her boyfriend's smiling face, Utaha suddenly stretched her neck, speaking as she gently buried her cheek in the hollow of Miyahito's collarbone and nuzzled it.
"Will Miyuki-nii and Kaguya-senpai be able to get together smoothly?"
"Yeah, they definitely will."
Gathering his hands, Miyahito hugged his girlfriend in his arms a little tighter, resting his cheek lightly against Utaha's hair, which carried a faint, refreshing scent of shampoo.
"Miyuki-nii isn't the type to give up easily, and neither is Kaguya-senpai."
Although their path to love might still have a few bumps caused by family, status, or even personal beliefs. Because they both harbored the same love and the same resolve not to give up easily.
"They will definitely end up together."
"And so will we, Utaha."
In the gradually warming, silent air, Utaha's hands unconsciously wrapped around Miyahito's waist, her plump, toned long legs slowly intertwining with her boyfriend's legs. Inhaling the reassuring, fresh scent lingering in the air, the corners of Utaha's lips, hidden against her lover's chest, slowly curved into a smile of reassurance and anticipation.
"Mhm."
I'm really looking forward to the future.
.....
Unknowingly, the final footsteps of summer had already faded away. Autumn, in the gradually cooling morning breeze, also smiled softly and called out to the world.
"Hello world, please take care of me."
And in this early autumn time.
"Still not giving up?"
Dressed in her Toyogasaki girls' uniform, having just returned home not long ago, Utaha crossed her arms, leaning halfway against the doorframe of Miyahito's personal music studio. With her eyes curved into crescents, she looked at her boyfriend, who was sitting in the center of the room looking utterly frustrated, her tone inevitably carrying a hint of schadenfreude.
"Give it up, Miyahito."
"Even Chika-senpai had to cry and grit her teeth just to teach Miyuki-nii how to sing their school anthem."
"You want to teach Miyuki-nii to sing the song you wrote? That's impossible (muri da yo)."
Holding his head, sitting on the floor with a deeply troubled expression, Miyahito heard his girlfriend not only failing to encourage him but also mocking him with a tone as if she were watching a comedy show. His mindset shifting slightly, he lowered his hands, looked up, and gazed at Utaha, who was standing at the door with a look of pure schadenfreude, his eyes filled with endless, unspeakable grievance.
"Utaha, I'm already like this, can you please stop discouraging me?"
"No·way·yo~"
The corners of her lips curling into a mischievous smile, Utaha raised her right index finger and wagged it, smiling with narrowed eyes.
"I advised you before, don't try to do so many fancy things. Just go on stage and sing the song properly."
"But Utaha."
Hearing this, remembering the situation a few days ago when Utaha advised him not to daydream, Miyahito still stubbornly retorted.
"That song is a male-female duet love song! Don't you think it would be hilarious to have Miyuki-nii and Kaguya-senpai sing it together!?"
"...It is funny, I guess."
Finding her own thoughts wavering just a tiny bit, Utaha guiltily averted her gaze, but then thought again. Yeah! It would be hilarious.
But do you have the confidence to teach Miyuki-nii, who is practically a musical black hole and goes off-key no matter what he sings, to sing a whole song properly? Even for the school anthem, which is sung in unison so you can barely hear any off-key notes, Chika-senpai, a musical genius, taught him until she was on the verge of death, crying and saying, "President, I'm not dealing with you anymore! Wuuwuu~" before running away.
Tsk, tsk.
"Well, do your best."
Turning around, her palm resting lightly on the doorframe, Utaha glanced back with a smile, her tone light and cheerful, as if expecting something, speaking to her boyfriend, whose gaze was gradually becoming speechless.
"My dear Miyani-sensei (Chu~)"
Receiving a blown kiss from his girlfriend with a deadpan expression, Miyahito let out a deep sigh.
"Alright, alright, I'll do my best! Fighting! Fighting! Ohhh!"
With a self-abandoning, decadent tone, Miyahito encouraged himself before turning around, silently preparing for the "New Song Study Plan" with Miyuki-nii, who would be coming over after school.
Just then, Utaha's voice drifted down from the stairs.
"Miyahito! What do you want for dinner?"
"Curry rice!"
Miyahito shouted back without even looking up.
"Chicken? Beef? Or pork?"
"Chicken!"
"Okay~"