"Isn't there a pretty girl living next door who wants to walk with me?"
Izuru, having already opened his front door to head to school, let out a weary, resigned sigh.
One of the things he envied most about teen romance protagonists was their inevitable supporting cast: the beautiful childhood friend, the attentive girl next door, or the stunning housemate who accompanied them on the commute. It made a dull school life feel like it had been injected with growth hormones and ethylene—fast-tracked to a sweet, ripe maturity.
After all, for a bachelor like him, school life was nothing but the bitter sting of loneliness!
The more he thought about it, the more exhausted his heart felt. His normally upright shoulders slumped. With a face of pure defeat, he pulled his door shut, bracing himself to face another irritating day...
*CREEEAK!*
However, the very second the latch clicked, Izuru heard the door of the unit diagonally across from his swing open. It was so perfectly timed it felt as if someone had been lurking behind the wood, eyes glued to the peephole, waiting for him to step out just so they could "coincidentally" emerge at the same time.
But Izuru instantly crushed that ridiculous notion.
{Yeah, right. Have I been single so long that I'm falling for life's three great delusions? This kind of narcissistic, know-it-all imagination is enough to make a guy blush. There's no way this happens in the real world. Even if it did, it wouldn't be the kind of beautiful stroke of luck reserved for an otaku like me.}
Just as Izuru was mentally scoffing at his own weird thoughts, a beautiful girl with long black hair stepped through the open door, leaving him utterly flabbergasted.
"Hiranoshita Hirano? Why is it you of all people?"
Sure enough, the person who had "coincidentally" opened her door right after Izuru was the Ice Queen who sat directly behind him in class—Yukino!
"Eh?"
Hearing a name that sounded somewhat familiar yet strangely distorted, Yukino knit her brows in confusion. She locked eyes with Izuru and let out a cry of equal shock.
"Kamukura-kun? What are you doing here?"
A moment later, however, her surprise vanished, replaced by an expression of cold, weary disgust. Leveling a gaze at him as if she were warding off a pervert or a creep, she crossed her slender arms to shield her "Siberian plains" and spoke with a biting, cynical chill.
"To hear such an impolite greeting first thing in the morning... I should have known it would be you, Kamukura-kun. I've told you countless times: call me Yukinoshita-san. Furthermore... what are you doing in front of my door at this ungodly hour? Don't tell me... Have you finally succumbed to the wicked, unforgivable urges in your heart and planned to ambush me here to...?"
At this point, Yukino actually shifted into an Aikido stance. It was clear that if Izuru made one wrong move, she would end him on the spot. Izuru's heart grew even heavier.
"You're overthinking it. With a chest that offers absolutely zero friction, I would never succumb to 'beastly urges' toward you..."
At those words, Yukino's beautiful face turned even stonier—truly as cold as ice.
"Kamukura-kun, may I ask you to repeat what you just said?"
"I'm saying, if I really wanted to be a 'beast,' I would have picked your lock last night while you were sleeping. I would have forced my way in and done 'hehehe' things to you while you screamed in shame and anger. I wouldn't be standing here talking to you face-to-face only to be called worse than an animal..."
Seeing Yukino's expression mirror the temperature of a frozen tundra, Izuru instantly cringed—or rather, followed his survival instincts. He tried to backtrack, but it was useless. The frost radiating from her only intensified. He cursed inwardly but continued to play the submissive role.
"Look, if I really wanted to pull something, you wouldn't be able to fight back. With your pathetic stamina, you wouldn't last a few minutes against me anyway. I'd just have to toy with your moves for a bit before you'd be lying there helpless for me to finish off... I mean, for me to help. So please, believe me—I'm clean! I just happen to live here..."
The chill surrounding Yukino, which had almost become a physical force, vanished in an instant of pure shock. She asked, bewildered:
"You... you live around here?"
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
At the lavish Shinomiya estate.
"Kaguya-sama, my deepest apologies. The car has broken down. It will take some time to repair..."
A middle-aged man, looking every bit the experienced chauffeur, spoke with an awkward bow.
"It's fine. I shall walk."
Faced with such an accident, Kaguya responded with a void of expression. She gripped her school bag and began taking small, elegant steps toward the exit of the "new money" mansion that drew the envy and spite of so many.
"Wait a moment, Kaguya-sama!"
Just as she was about to leave, Kaguya heard a melodic yet flat feminine voice. Turning, she saw a beautiful high school girl in fashionable clothes approaching, holding a bottle of nail polish. The girl held it out and said:
"Kaguya-sama, allow me to apply this polish to your nails before you depart."
Kaguya narrowed her eyes and replied coldly, "Do you expect me to seduce the President with this? Do you think I, Yashoku, am such a shallow woman? I would rather be hit by a truck or die of fright from a passing tractor than wear such shameless polish..."
"This is the President's favorite color... Kaguya-sama," the girl replied calmly.
{How wonderful! You, Yashoku, don't want it? Well, what's that got to do with me, Kaguya?!}
Without a shred of hesitation, Kaguya snatched the polish and gave a stealthy hand signal.
{Excellent work! With this, I can walk to school with the President!}
The girl with the flat voice gave a subtle thumbs-up in return, a silent message: 'I did the work, leave the rest to me; credibility guaranteed.'
"Oh, that's right, Kaguya-sama. Would you like me to help you apply it?" the girl asked softly, as if suddenly remembering.
"No need. I can handle a trivial task like this myself. I'm off, then. I must leave early to ambush—I mean, to wait for the President."
Kaguya waved and walked away with dainty steps. What she didn't see, however, was the girl watching her retreating back with a deeply meaningful gaze, her mind already racing with new thoughts.