March slipped into the past, and before anyone noticed, time quietly moved on to April 1st.
Back when Manabu left, the branches still held only a faint blush of cherry pink. Yet it felt like just a single night had passed, and now those same branches were in full bloom.
The campus of ANHS was suddenly drowned in the scent of cherry blossoms, spring practically overflowing from every corner.
And in this vibrant season of drifting petals, Ishizaki brought the worst possible news:
"Yukio-aniki! This is bad, really bad! Ryuen—Ryuen-san's been expelled by the school!"
…The hell? Ryuen got expelled?
Standing in the first-year dorm lobby in front of the vending machines, just about to buy himself a drink, Yukio heard the news and nearly blue-screened on the spot.
Ishizaki came charging over with Nomura and Albert in tow, the three of them looking like the world was ending.
What the hell did Ryuen even do to get himself expelled?
That shouldn't be possible. A guy as sharp as Ryuen wouldn't leave the school an opening to grab him by the tail. Did some other class manage to frame him? And it'd have to be someone even stronger than Ryuen to make him actually eat dirt.
Still, Yukio had plenty of points on hand. He could easily cough up the twenty million needed to cancel an expulsion.
With that in mind, his expression hardened as he turned fully toward Ishizaki.
"What exactly happened? And where is Ryuen right now?"
"I can use my private points to wipe his expulsion, but I need to know everything that led up to it."
"Ah, ah? Cancel the expulsion…?"
Contrary to Yukio's expectations, Ishizaki just blinked a few times, then gave a small, super-guilty laugh, like he'd been scared by how serious Yukio looked.
"Um, um, so, about that…"
"Yukio-aniki, actually, actually, what I wanted to say was—happy April Fools'…"
The air went dead still.
Albert looked over at Ishizaki and, for some reason, felt a surge of respect for this absolute clown's courage.
Ishizaki was really brave. How did he dare do that?
Nomura had already taken two steps back in fear.
Bro, why would you pull something that big?!
You stupid idiot, you seriously aren't afraid this is going to end in disaster?
"Uh, well, I… Yukio-aniki."
Ishizaki seemed to finally realize just how bad this was. His eyes were blinking at high speed, fat beads of sweat rolling down his forehead as he scrambled for an explanation.
"It's just, it's just… you know, it's the holiday."
Yukio's cheek muscles twitched. He had nearly forgotten that things weren't quite the same here as back home.
Where he was from, nobody made a big deal out of April Fools' in high school. At most, it was used as an excuse to confess.
Tons of boys and girls too shy or too scared to fail would only dare confess on April Fools' Day.
That way, if they got rejected, they could just hide behind a "hehe, April Fools', you didn't take that seriously, right?" and pretend nothing had happened.
But over here, it seemed like high schoolers took April Fools' very seriously.
Yukio had almost forgotten that and ended up taking Ishizaki's words at face value. With that in mind, he jabbed a finger at the vending machine, already in a foul mood.
"Go buy me a can of coffee."
"Yessir! Y-yessir! I'll go right now, right now! Yukio-aniki, please wait just a second!"
The terrified Ishizaki rushed to pay with his phone, then retrieved the coffee and handed it over to Yukio with both hands.
Yukio cracked it open and took a sip, exhaling a long breath of stale air before glancing at Albert and Nomura.
"You two, haul Ishizaki outside and find a random tree. Slam him."
"Yes, sir!" x2
At this point, Albert and Nomura couldn't care less about brotherhood. They sold Ishizaki out in a heartbeat, desperate not to get dragged into this.
"Eh? Aruba? No, wait, I get it, I'm sorry, Yukio-aniki, I was wrong!"
Ishizaki seemed especially terrified of that word and begged for mercy on the spot.
But no matter how much he cried, it was useless. The towering Albert grabbed him in one arm, and with Nomura's help on the other side, the two of them lifted him clean off the ground and carried him out.
On the way, Ishizaki howled non-stop, enough to make anyone listening tear up in second-hand pain. The commotion even drew attention from other first-year students.
"Hey, isn't that the Yukio class?"
"What happened to them? Civil war?"
"Civil what? Don't talk nonsense. Under Yukio's leadership their cohesion isn't any worse than Ichinose's class. Why would they fight among themselves?"
"Then what are they doing?"
"Looks like… punishment. I just barely caught a bit of it. Something about Ryuen getting expelled and an April Fools' joke, and then Ishizaki got punished by Yukio."
"Holy crap, he dared to joke about that? This is April Fools', not freaking Easter!"
Yukio followed them out and calmly watched as Albert and Nomura stood on either side of Ishizaki—each man with one arm wrapped around his upper body and the other under his legs—carrying him straight toward a tree.
"Don't! Don't slam me into the tree! It really hurts!"
As the trunk drew closer, Ishizaki grew more and more panicked, his wails heart-wrenching enough to move the gods.
Thankfully, both Albert and Nomura knew their limits and didn't slam him too hard, but it was still enough to make Ishizaki bend over for ages, shrieking the whole time.
"Does it really hurt that much?"
Yukio frowned, puzzled.
"It's not like Albert and Nomura put their backs into it."
"Ahem."
Even the usually-silent Albert couldn't help coughing. Nomura scratched his head awkwardly and explained.
"Well, Ishizaki, uh… let's say this is injury on top of injury? Before he came to you, Yukio-aniki, he went to Ryuen-nii first."
"And he told Ryuen-san the same thing… that you'd been expelled. Then Ryuen-san and Komiya double-teamed him and slammed him once already. Yukio-aniki, this is his second tree of the day."
"…"
Yukio's cheek muscles twitched for the second time.
Damn, Ishizaki, you're really built different. Just as he was about to say something, a bright, lively call rang out.
"Yukio-kun~!"
Only two people called his name that cheerfully: Ichinose or Kushida. Judging by the tone, this one was definitely Ichinose.
He looked back and, sure enough, saw Ichinose waving happily at him as she walked over with Matsushita at her side.
Maybe because of the last Project Selection Special Exam, the two girls—who'd been opponents—had actually ended up getting along better.
That was just how strong Ichinose's natural charm was.
"Eh? What happened to Ishizaki-kun?"
Once they got close, Matsushita nodded with a smile toward Yukio, while Ichinose focused on Ishizaki.
He was still hunched over, face covered in bruises. Yukio had no choice but to help cover for him.
"He ate something bad."
And silently in his heart he added: Happy April Fools', Ishizaki.
"Ah, I see. Should we take him to the infirmary?"
Ichinose was always kind to her classmates; even when they weren't from the same class, if she happened to see someone in trouble, she'd want to help.
Ishizaki had no strength to speak, so he just shook his head to say he'd pass.
"Hona—"
Matsushita gently tugged on Ichinose's sleeve before she could ask more and turned to Yukio.
"Actually, it's like this. Honami and I saw the cherry blossoms in full bloom on campus and thought it'd be nice to go flower-viewing together."
"Honami said the more people the livelier, so we came to invite you and your class, Yukio-kun."
With Ishizaki's brilliant performance still fresh in his mind, Yukio wasn't about to be careless today. Instead of accepting right away, he asked:
"April Fools?"
"Eh? No."
Matsushita looked like she wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She also seemed to understand a little better why poor Ishizaki was in such a miserable state.
"It's really just a simple Group Hanami. Want to come with us, Yukio-kun?" [T/N: Group Hanami: the traditional Japanese custom of gathering in groups (friends, family, or colleagues) for outdoor parties and picnics underneath sakura trees]
"That's fine by me."
When he agreed, Matsushita happily pressed her hands together. "Great! The more the merrier. Honami, could you go invite Sakayanagi-san? I'll go find a good spot with Yukio-kun."
"After all, I'm not very close with Sakayanagi-san…"
"Eh?" Ichinose froze for a moment, flustered as she looked at Matsushita.
Huh? That wasn't how she imagined this going.
She'd been hoping she could go with Yukio to scout locations, and Matsushita could go call Sakayanagi…
But Matsushita was right—she really wasn't close with Sakayanagi. So in the end, Ichinose had no choice.
"Th-then okay. Once you find a spot, make sure you tell me where it is, okay?"
....
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