— — — — — —
{"A girl said she likes me. She wants to meet behind the school tonight... Honestly, being this handsome and talented is kind of a burden, Kawasaki. I'd rather stay low-key, but my face just doesn't let me. Sigh… if being this amazing is a sin, then I guess I'm so guilty. What can I even say?"}
After reading the note, Kawasaki couldn't help rolling her eyes at Oikawa.
Then she scribbled a response at lightning speed and passed it back.
{"Are you going?"}
The question mark at the end was pressed so hard into the paper that Oikawa could practically feel the threat behind it.
{"No. But I'll ask Iroha Isshiki to help me pass along my rejection. I'm not very good at dealing with situations like that. When someone gathers the courage to confess, they deserve a proper response."}
Every confession born from genuine courage was precious. At the very least, the other person's feelings shouldn't be trampled on.
"Mm."
Kawasaki turned her attention back to the blackboard.
Oikawa rested his head on his desk and quietly watched her profile.
Then he slowly closed his eyes.
The math teacher noticed everything and felt a headache coming on.
Damn it.
Sleeping in class was one thing.
Flirting openly, passing notes right under his nose, was another.
The teacher picked up a piece of chalk.
He considered throwing it.
Then decided against it.
Back when he was seventeen... Hadn't he done the same kinds of things?
More importantly, he was terrible at throwing. There was a 70% chance the piece of chalk would hit another student, and he'd just end up embarrassing himself instead.
Forget it. At least the boy got full marks in math.
...
..
At noon, in a quiet corner of the library study room, Oikawa sat reading as usual.
Across from him, Isshiki was memorizing the speech he had written for her.
"Senpai, what does this mean? 'One more drink before you go, beyond the pass there are no old friends left.'"
As she looked at Oikawa's side profile, she found herself staring for a moment.
No matter how many times she saw him, he was ridiculously good-looking. No wonder he was considered one of the two most handsome second-years alongside Hayama.
Though she still didn't understand where the nickname Lazy Genius had come from. When Oikawa read, he was completely focused. There wasn't a lazy bone in sight.
"In the context of this speech," Oikawa explained, turning a page, "it basically means that once this period of high school is gone, you may never meet some of these friends again. For many people, they'll only cross paths once in their entire lives. Meeting someone is difficult. Parting ways is easy."
Isshiki nodded thoughtfully. "Senpai, isn't your Literature Club mostly light novels? Why do you like reading classics instead? Aren't they... kind of boring? I read Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human once, but honestly it felt a little self-indulgent to me. I liked Keigo Higashino's Journey Under the Midnight Sun way more."
She looked unusually tired today. Resting her chin on the desk, she wore a rare expression of fatigue.
"Sometimes they are," Oikawa admitted. "But if even one-tenth of a book makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, then it's already an extraordinary book."
He turned another page and continued. "As for why I'm reading classics recently, it's because I talk with an old gentleman about it. We're pen pals."
"Pen pals?" Isshiki sat up immediately, eyes wide with surprise. "Senpai, you actually have a pen pal?"
"Wow, I want one too. Someone I could tell all my negative feelings to."
Then she froze. "Hehe... not that I really have any negative feelings."
Apparently realizing she'd accidentally revealed a darker side of herself, she hurriedly tried to cover it up.
Oikawa glanced at her.
'So she thinks a pen pal is an emotional dumping ground?'
That was surprisingly fitting for someone with her calculating, sweet-on-the-surface personality.
"Help me with something after school."
"Hm?"
"I got a love letter today—"
"WHAT?!" Isshiki shouted. "Senpai, you got a love letter?!"
"Damn it. Keep it down."
Oikawa looked at her as though she were making a fuss over nothing.
"It's not exactly shocking." He pulled an envelope from his pocket, placed it on the table, and held it down with one hand. "After school, take this to the woods behind the school for me."
"Senpai, you accepted?"
Oikawa gave her a look full of disdain. "If I accepted, why would I be sending you?"
"Then what's this?"
"My rejection letter."
Isshiki wasn't offended in the slightest.
Instead, she smiled. "Senpai, aren't you at least curious enough to go see her? What if the girl who confessed is super pretty?"
"There's no shortage of pretty girls."
At that moment, several faces flashed through Oikawa's mind.
Kawasaki.
Utaha.
Yui.
...
Isshiki stared at him for a moment. Then her eyes sparkled.
"Senpai... you suddenly look really cool right now!"
"Can I see the letter?" She stared at him expectantly.
Oikawa nodded.
Even if he refused, with Isshiki's personality she'd absolutely sneak a look at it later. Might as well let her do it openly.
"Hehe, then I'll take a look, Senpai."
Driven by pure curiosity, Isshiki opened the envelope.
The letter contained only a single short sentence: {"I'm sorry, but my heart already belongs to someone."}
Isshiki blinked.
"Senpai, I'm disappointed. I thought your rejection letter would be something much more dramatic."
With that, the corner of the library fell quiet again.
Every now and then, Isshiki would glance at Oikawa.
When she'd first met him, she'd thought she understood exactly what kind of person he was.
But the more she got to know him, the more mysterious he seemed.
It was a strange feeling. She found herself curious.
Curious about who Oikawa Tōru really was. Curious about how many secrets he was still hiding.
There was something oddly addictive about slowly unraveling the puzzle.
...
..
Meanwhile, on the school's bulletin board, Iroha Isshiki's student council president campaign platform had been posted.
Gone were the vague promises about helping everyone become genuine friends. This time, the proposals were concrete and practical.
①The Student Council Will Always Stand With the Students
The explanation was simple: The student council's doors would always remain open. No matter who you were or what troubles you faced, you could come for advice and support.
②Happiness Comes First in School Life
The proposal read: The student council would support an open and free campus environment. Studying was important. Rules were important.
But both should exist to serve the students, not the other way around.
If criticism is not free, then praise has no meaning.
③Helping Students Create Precious High School Memories
This proposal had been Oikawa's idea. The first two came from Yui and Yukino respectively.
The explanation was brief: Treasure every encounter. You only meet each person once. Don't leave behind regrets.
...
..
The campaign notice had gone up at noon and quickly attracted a crowd.
So far, the response seemed fairly positive.
After school, inside the Service Club room. Oikawa, Yukino, and Yui each sat with a cup of black tea, discussing the student council election.
Today's snack was cream puffs.
Oikawa thought they were a little too sweet. Yukino and Yui, however, seemed to love them.
"At this point, all we can do is wait for the speeches," Yukino said. "Isshiki-san still has the lead, but her advantage isn't nearly as large as it was before. Her support rating dropped another three points today. It's down to sixty-four percent. That doesn't feel like a good sign."
They were all drinking the same tea, yet somehow only Yukino managed to make it look elegant.
"Yeah," Yui agreed. "I keep seeing Ebina and the others handing out campaign flyers every day. Oka and Yamato are helping too."
"And Hayama's the star player of the soccer club. A lot of first-year girls support Ebina for him."
Concern showed plainly on her face. No matter how they looked at it, the situation wasn't exactly encouraging.
"We've already taken countermeasures, haven't we?" Oikawa picked up another cream puff and took a bite.
Yeah... definitely too sweet.
"We just haven't seen results yet. No need to panic. Let the bullet fly a little longer."
After finalizing everything, Oikawa left and met Kawasaki, who had been waiting for him, and they each headed back home.
Well, Kawasaki went back, while Oikawa decided to take a ten-kilometer run after reaching the fork in the road between them.
...
..
After an exhausting day, Oikawa collapsed onto the sofa after finishing his ten-kilometer run.
"Collapsed" might have been a slight exaggeration. Still, he was genuinely tired.
Five kilometers and ten kilometers felt like entirely different challenges. The gap between them was as wide as the distance between "easy" and "hard," with "ordinary" somewhere in the middle.
Not long after he got home, his phone rang.
It was Chris Yamada.
"Hello, Oikawa-sensei. This is your editor, Yamada."
As always, Chris got straight to the point.
"Oikawa-sensei, the marketing department at Full-Drive Bunko has come up with several promotional events. There are three campaigns we'd like your cooperation with."
He immediately began outlining them.
"The first is a signed-book promotion. Full-Drive Bunko has decided on an initial print run of two hundred thousand copies for the first volume of Clannad. We'd like one thousand of those copies to include your autograph."
Chris hesitated slightly before continuing. "Do you think... that number is acceptable?"
Even he knew it was asking a lot.
One thousand handwritten signatures. That would probably take at least half a day.
Oikawa rubbed his forehead, "...I can do it."
Honestly, he had wanted to refuse. But in the end, the words wouldn't come out.
This was the first promotional event Full-Drive Bunko had ever asked him to participate in.
And an initial print run of two hundred thousand copies was a very clear show of confidence in him. The first volume of Clannad was priced at 1,050 yen.
Two hundred thousand copies meant: 200,000 × 1,050 × 13%.
That came out to roughly 27.3 million yen in royalties.
Even after taxes, he'd still be taking home over twenty million yen.
And since Japan offered certain tax benefits to minors, the final amount would likely be even better.
Without question, it would be the largest royalty payment he had ever received.
"Really? You can do that...?"
The surprise on Chris's face was obvious even through the phone. A moment later, it turned into delight.
"Thank you so much, Oikawa-sensei."
He quickly moved on. "The second promotional event is an interview and Q&A with a video creator. Do you have any objections to that, Oikawa-sensei?"
"None," Oikawa replied without hesitation. "Just tell me about the third one."
"Alright." Chris acknowledged him and continued. "The third event is a signing session. Quite a few bookstores in Tokyo are interested in partnering with Full-Drive Bunko. Is there a bookstore you'd particularly like us to work with? We can use that as our starting point."
Oikawa immediately thought of the elderly professor he'd been exchanging letters with.
After a moment, though, he shook his head.
Not appropriate.
Besides, the professor probably wouldn't enjoy such a noisy environment.
"No. You can decide yourselves."
Then he added jokingly, "I don't have any particular opinions about bookstores. Just make sure the security is good. I'd rather not get stabbed, haha."
"Don't worry, Oikawa-sensei. That won't happen." Chris sounded completely serious.
Which was normal. He was always serious.
"Then would Saturday work for you, or Sunday?"
"Hmm... Sunday." Oikawa thought for a moment before answering.
"Perfect. We'll look forward to seeing you then, Oikawa-sensei."
"Got it."
The call ended.
...
..
December in Chiba wasn't actually much colder than November.
That wasn't to say it was warm. Just that the temperature hadn't dropped nearly as dramatically as it had between October and November.
Perhaps that was one of the advantages of living near the coast.
Early the next morning, before Oikawa had even fully woken up, his phone began vibrating nonstop.
[Yui: Oikawa-kun, Sable is so excited to hear you're coming to see him! Afterward, let's go to that café we talked about. Yukino, Isshiki-san, and Haruno-senpai will be there too.]
[Yui: Oh, right! It's colder today, so don't forget to wear an extra layer.]
[Yui: Oikawa-kun, why aren't you replying?]
[Yui: Unread messages? Are you still sleeping? Wake up already! The sun's practically shining on your butt!]
[Yui: Oikawa-kun, Oikawa-kun... Wake up! Sable can't wait anymore!]
...
Dozens of messages. And after that came the usual barrage of stickers and emojis.
Still covered in sleep creases, Oikawa sat up in bed and yawned.
Then he picked up his phone and finally replied.
[Oikawa: I'm up. I'll head out soon. I bought Sable a dog toy. We can play with it together. Should I bring some dog food too?]
Yui's response arrived instantly.
[Yui: No, no! That's not necessary!]
[Oikawa: Alright then. I'm going to get cleaned up first.]
Setting down his phone, he headed toward the bathroom.
Meanwhile... the moment Yui saw his reply, she excitedly scooped Sable into her arms.
"Sable! Oikawa-kun's coming to see you soon! You're happy too, right?"
"Woof! Woof!" Sable barked enthusiastically.
"See? I knew it! You really like Oikawa-kun too. Just like m..."
She froze.
"No, no, no. I was going to say like classmates."
As if she'd suddenly remembered something, her cheeks turned bright red.
Climbing out of bed, she began inspecting her room.
For some reason, nothing looked quite right.
"Maybe I should clean a little more."
She grabbed her cleaning supplies and started tidying up all over again.
Originally, she'd planned to invite Oikawa over the previous week to see Sable. Unfortunately, her mother had been home that day, forcing her to cancel the whole thing.
"If Mom were here, she'd definitely start asking a million questions. Oikawa-kun and I aren't that kind of relationship. We're just classmates. It's not like what she keeps saying. We're not boyfriend and girlfriend or anything."
After awkwardly defending herself to absolutely nobody, Yui began humming as she cleaned.
Once she had finished cleaning the room for what felt like the third time, she stood in front of her mirror and started trying on different outfits.
"This one shows way too much. No way. He'll think I'm trying too hard."
"This one's nice... but maybe it's a little too gloomy."
"The skirt is cute, but isn't it too cold for that now?"
"What about this sweater?"
Yui stared at her reflection, deep in thought.
Choosing what to wear seemed to be something every girl struggled with.
.
.
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