She Is Inside, He Is Outside

"President Kuromoto?"

Tan-Tan peeked up from behind the stack of papers she was struggling to carry. Her bright blue eyes shone with happiness as she glanced up at Nishi.

"You don't have to call me President, Tan-Tan."

Nishi looked up from his sketchbook at the eager, feminine face before him.

"Right, sorry! Um, Presid- I mean, Nishi-senpai."

"You don't need to add senpai either. Just Nishi is fine."

He sighed and his eyebrow twitched.

"Nishi... I have the monthly reports for the student council. It seems we stayed within budget these past few weeks." Tan-Tan's face bore a sweet, gentle smile. Her gaze flickered between Nishi and the window, unable to fully stare at her crush. She could feel her pale cheeks turning redder and redder every time she managed to sneak in some eye contact.

"Right, I forgot I appointed you as treasurer. Go ahead and hand them to Minami so she can get them to the student council."

Tan-Tan stood before Yamaguchi Minami, papers hugged tightly to her petite chest.

"Minami-chan?"

No response.

"Um, Minami-chan?"

Silence.

"M-Minami-chan!"

"Whoa! Tan-Tan-chan! Sorry, I didn't see you there. Come check out this new shoujo manga I found online. It's about a spoiled princess in a fantasy kingdom! The male protagonist is so cute!"

Tan-Tan's ears perked up at the mention of a fantasy shoujo. If her knowledge served her correctly, this series Minami was describing sounded a lot like her comfort series, Azurbön. Tan-Tan peeked over Minami's shoulder at the screen of her smartphone.

"Azurbön! Oh, I just adore that series! Who's your favorite character, Minami-chan?"
The two girls bounced up and down in an animated fashion.

"Oh! You know Azurbön?! My favorite is Griffin! He's so edgy and cool!"

Tan-Tan nodded frantically, her eyes shining with a dangerous glint. Enter, endless chatter.

"Griffin is such a well written character! The dynamic between Kip and Griffin is so refreshing and realistic! I love their constant banter!"

"Ahem!"

Tan-Tan tilted her head over her shoulder. Behind her sat an irritated Nishi. His eyes were accentuated by the dark circles beneath them. The pencil gripped between his fingers shook slightly from overconsumption of caffeine. She let out a soft gasp and quickly turned back to Minami, this time, whispering.

"President Kuromoto seems to be in a bad mood today."

"Nishi? Don't worry about him. He does this to himself, staying up late to work on his storyboards."
Minami let out a soft giggle and continued reading on her smartphone.

"Um, Minami-chan, I have the report papers for the student council."

Silence.

"Minami-chan?"

With a light sigh, she knew she would probably have to take this issue upon herself. Stepping into the school hallway, Tan-Tan looked around for the student council club room. The pinkish orange hue glaring through the windows painted a beautiful late-spring masterpiece against the faded wood paneling of the old school walls as she shifted her head side to side in search of her destination.

"Faculty office, nurse's office, art club. Ah, student council!"

Tan-Tan approached the faded, pastel painted door and took a long, deep breath. This is just official club business, she shouldn't be this nervous. She slid the door across the dusty wooden frame.

"Excuse me?"

A blackboard eraser landed perfectly level on top of Tan-Tan's head. With a confused whimper, she froze in place. Trickles of white chalk snowed down her face and soiled her uniform. Tears began welling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Gah! You're not President Souichi!"
A student with spiky, black hair darted up from his seat and stiffened from the shock. He could see the urge to fight back tears threatening to escape her eyelids. He rushed over and handed her a towel, bowing so low that his head was practically on the floor.

"S-sorry! I didn't expect a first-year student to enter before the president got back."

Tan-Tan gratefully accepted the towel, patting her uniform clean as to not smear the chalk particles too deeply. With shaky hands and wet eyes, she held out the manga club's budget papers towards the boy, her mind still in a daze.

"T-the m-manga club's m-monthly report."
Tan-Tan sniffled.

Without hesitation, the spiky haired student quickly grabbed the stack of stapled papers out of her hands, returning to his acute bow. He let out a slightly guilty groan as he raised himself back up to meet her gaze. Scanning her eyes for any signs of malice, he was relieved to see that she wasn't angered by the harmless prank. Just a bit saddened.

As Tan-Tan turned to exit, she was suddenly face to face with an odd character. Standing at around 5-feet-10-inches was a male third-year student with dead fish eyes; he resembled Kuromoto Nishi in his current state. He had slicked back brown hair and a pair of thick framed glasses hugging the sides of his well shaped face. His gentle, almost fatherly smile put Tan-Tan in a familiar state of comfort, but she couldn't quite pinpoint where this familiar feeling was coming from.

"And who might you be?"
The student clasped his hands behind his back, casually leaning forward a bit to close the gap created by their height differences.

"Tanaka Shina. I'm a member of the manga club. I was here to drop off our monthly report papers."
She bowed her head toward her senpai with respect.

The senpai's eyes seemed to widen for just a fraction of a second before returning to their usual, tired gaze.
"The manga club, you say? I suppose you must be quite close to Nishi?"

Tan-Tan quickly raised herself from her bow, inspecting the dead fish eyes before her.
"You know President Nishi-senpai?"

The man let out an almost whisper-like chuckle. He strode past the tiny girl and took his seat at the student council president's throne of a chair at the end of the club room. Crossing his legs and cupping his chin with his palm, he gestured like a king toward the door.
"Just make sure he isn't overexerting himself with his sketches, will you? He's got to be in his best shape for summer camp."

Tan-Tan nodded and exited the club room. Still covered in the remnants of chalk, she positioned her fingers beneath her chin, lightly tapping her bottom lip. As she walked and pondered, she couldn't quite understand the feeling of familiarity she had upon seeing the student council president up close. Perhaps she had a previous encounter with him before. Maybe she caught his eye in the cafeteria? Regardless of what it was, she couldn't shake the feeling. Her best bet was to ask Nishi directly.

"What did the spiky-haired student call him again? President Souichi? But that's not a surname, right?"
Tan-Tan slid the door of the manga club open and plopped down onto the desk beside Nishi, who was still deep in concentration working on his storyboards.

"Nishi-senpai?"

"Hm?"
Nishi groaned without looking up from his pencil strokes.

"The student council president told me to relay a message."

"Sou-chan?"
His pencil froze as he met Tan-Tan's gaze. She had his full attention.

"Sou-chan?"
Tan-Tan tilted her head to the side, giving Nishi a perplexed once over.

"Yeah, Sou-chan. Ah, I guess you would know him as Kuromoto Souichi."

"Kuromoto?"
Tan-Tan quickly put the pieces together in her head. The brown hair, the glasses, even the tired glint in his eyes. Kuromoto Souichi, the student council president, was none other than-
"Nishi-senpai?! You have an older brother?!"

With a hearty chuckle, Nishi set his pencil down. He positioned his body to face Tan-Tan's. With a fatigued smile, he nodded.
"Yup. Souichi is my big bro. I hope he didn't say anything too embarrassing about me."

Tan-Tan let out an excited breath. She giggled and shook her head, her eyes shining through her half lidded smile.
"He said not to work too hard on your sketches. Something about a summer camp?"

He nodded. Gazing toward the cardboard cutout of a popular Chinese apothecary character resting in the corner of the club room, Nishi's eyes held a reminiscent stare. His lips curled into a half smirk.
"That idiot brother. Always looking out for me despite his own never-ending workload."

Tan-Tan bent herself into his view, a curious twinkle in her eyes.
"What's this about a summer camp?"

"I didn't tell you? Every year the manga club goes to a summer camp for aspiring illustrators. I was sure Minami would have filled you in about it, she's always so eager to attend."

Yamaguchi Minami's ears perked up as she heard her name. She hopped over to Nishi's side and extended her arms outward like a child playing.
"Whatcha talkin' about?!"

Tan-Tan smiled and scooted closer to Minami.
"Nishi-senpai was telling me about the club's summer camp."

"Summer camp?! Oh, hell yeah! Tan-Tan-chan, you're going to love it! We make curry and spend time playing on the beach! All you can eat yakisoba and endless ghost stories til lights out!"
Minami swayed side to side, her eyes closed in remembrance of the fun times she had shared with Nishi and Akinari.

Tan-Tan squealed with excitement, her fingers interlocking with Minami's. The two girls bounced up and down as they cheered.

"Ahem!"
Nishi didn't so much as glance up from his paper.

"Nishi-senpai! I'm looking forward to summer camp!"
Tan-Tan sat extra close to him, her fists curled into little balls by her chin.

"That's good to hear, Tan-Tan, but please keep it down."

With a new goal on the horizon, Tan-Tan began planning for the upcoming summer season. If there were ever a time and place for romantic love confessions, it was the beach on a summer night. Her excitement just couldn't be contained, her body practically vibrating from the adrenaline.

"Summer, please come soon"