*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!*
The Student Council office door was suddenly struck with startling force. The sound jolted Izuru from his daydream and instantly snagged the attention of Kaguya, who had been watching him intently. Two pairs of curious eyes swung toward the entrance.
"Come in..."
Izuru raised an eyebrow as he called out.
The door creaked open to reveal a high school boy who looked hesitant, his posture lacking any shred of confidence. He wore standard, formal-looking glasses that screamed "bookworm"—the quiet type who probably hadn't touched a sports ball in years. His name was Hikawa Okita.
Neither Izuru nor Kaguya had a single memory of this background character; his presence was so thin it was practically transparent. That meant...
{Is he here to ask the Council for a favor?}
Izuru and Kaguya reached the same conclusion simultaneously. However, Izuru chose to remain silent, leaving Kaguya to address the boy in her signature icy tone.
"Excuse me, and you are? What business do you have with the Student Council?"
At the sound of Kaguya's cold voice, Okita flinched. His already hunched shoulders slumped further, as if he were trying to phase out of existence or find a crack in the floor to hide in. After a moment, however, he seemed to dredge up a spark of courage.
"My... my name is Hikawa Okita! I've come to ask the President... for his help!"
Hikawa Okita? Now that was a name. Izuru felt that in his previous life, anyone bearing a name that bold must have had a legendary history behind them.
But instead of asking the Student Council in general, this boy had specifically requested the President's personal intervention. It felt... off.
The corner of Izuru's mouth twitched. He studied Okita with an unreadable gaze before finally speaking softly. "Help from me? What kind of assistance do you need?"
Kaguya knit her brows, clearly unimpressed by this "Hikawa Okita." She didn't speak again, choosing instead to remain like a silent sentinel at Izuru's side.
"Well... it's actually like this..." Okita looked incredibly stiff, as if what he was about to say was far too embarrassing to utter in public.
{Please don't tell me he's about to ask for something weird...}
Izuru felt a facial tic coming on, but he maintained his calm, friendly smile. He rose from his plush executive chair and stepped toward Okita.
"This sounds like a private matter. In that case, let's step outside to talk, Hikawa-kun. We might as well resolve it on the spot. Yashoku, I'll leave the rest of these documents to you..."
Having dropped that on Kaguya, Izuru gestured for the boy to follow him. He swung the door open and stepped out into the hallway without a second glance.
"It's Kaguya, not Yashoku! And honestly, President, are you just acting diligent because you want to dodge the paperwork?"
Kaguya corrected her name by reflex, her voice tinged with annoyance. Izuru, however, offered no reply and simply quickened his pace.
"In that case... excuse me..." Okita gave Kaguya a clumsy, respectful bow before scurrying after Izuru.
Kaguya merely spared the boy a fleeting glance, her eyes anchored to Izuru's retreating form. She didn't even acknowledge Okita's farewell.
Only after the two of them had completely vanished did Kaguya let out a resigned sigh. She sank lazily into the chair Izuru had just vacated, finding it still warm from his presence. With a slightly petulant pout, she began to sift through the papers on the desk—specifically the files on the Nakano quintuplets' tutor position and the dossier on Yukino from the Service Club, both of which Izuru had been scrutinizing earlier.
"The Nakano quintuplets...? And the second daughter of the Yukinoshita family?"
Kaguya didn't know them personally and possessed only scraps of information. But she did know one thing...
Rumor had it that all six were extraordinary beauties, girls whose looks rivaled her own. Furthermore, she had heard that the Nakano sisters each had their own distinct charms, yet all five possessed remarkably curvaceous figures—especially in the chest area, which people described as looking like "large meat buns"...
{They must be implants. There's no way they're that big naturally!}
Kaguya huffed inwardly, her eyes sharpening with envy.
If it were just about looks, Kaguya wouldn't have spared them a second thought. This school wasn't exactly short on attractive people. Since they hadn't even met yet, she would have contented herself with a few internal sneers and moved on. But...
There was a much more pressing reason for Kaguya to be on high alert regarding these quintuplets.
And that reason was, of course, Izuru Kamukura.
The news of Izuru having lunch with one of the transfers, Itsuki Nakano, in the cafeteria had already spread like wildfire through the student grapevine. Since Kaguya monitored Izuru's every move, she had known almost instantly.
And then there was that.
Kaguya glared at a bottle of matcha soda sitting on the desk.
She knew for a fact that Izuru considered the taste of matcha soda to be an absolute abomination. To him, it felt like being mid-passion on a romantic night only to have someone suddenly pour medicinal liniment on your sensitive parts—a chill that pierced straight to the bone.
The proof was right there: the seal on the bottle was still perfectly intact.
Izuru would never have bought it for himself unless he'd hit the wrong button or the machine had malfunctioned. But if that were the case, why wouldn't he just buy another drink he actually liked? Why bring back the one drink he loathed?
Most importantly, Kaguya knew the real story.
Through secret information channels she wasn't about to disclose, she knew exactly how Izuru had ended up with that bottle and the nature of his interaction with Miku Nakano.
Thinking of this, Kaguya's gaze hardened with resolve. Her pale hands clenched into tight fists as she whispered under her breath...
"I don't care who you are. This time, I am never letting him go again!"