An Outside Perspective

Takahashi Ayaka liked two things: shiny new clothes and handsome boys. As the secretary for the student council, she could enjoy the latter to her heart's content. Ayaka had set her eyes on Kouhei since she first laid eyes on him on the first day of school. She had ran here and there, churning the rumor mill and asking everyone she could see to figure out who that handsome and gentle looking senpai was. Ayaka could tell he was a second year from the color of his tie, but she had nothing more to go on besides a vague description. Medium length black hair, bangs parted to one side, slim and athletic build but average height. Sounded like half of the school, really. Oh, and handsome! That should narrow it down, Ayaka thought. 

On that day, Ayaka worked up her courage and ventured into the second years' area of the school. She would call out quietly to the students nearby until one eventually noticed her meek attempt at communication. Sometimes she resorted to pulling on other students' sleeves, as rude as it was. Eventually, after a whole day of between-class breaks and lunchtime information gathering, she found out that the boy's name was Sakamoto Kouhei, in Class 2-C.

Since that day, for a month Ayaka observed Kouhei from afar, her earlier bravery fading as quickly as it had been ignited. After all, starting conversations with strangers when you had to ask for directions (to your crush) was a far cry from walking up to your crush and starting a conversation with him out of the blue. Though she couldn't hear any conversations or see any details from her faraway vantage point, Ayaka could tell Kouhei was friendly and easy to get along wtih. He was always surrounded by a circle of friends, who would rotate in and out daily such that he was never with the same group. Yet even with this large pool of acquaintances he never seemed out of place or uncomfortable. In fact, it was quite the opposite; Kouhei seemed to always be the center of attention.

It then came as quite a shock to Ayaka when she heard that Kouhei was planning to run for student council president, and she discovered that on top of being well liked by his peers, he was also academically exceptional. Ayaka had internally reprimanded herself for assuming things about her crush without really even knowing him, but this reversal in her expectations had her falling even more for the boy who was still, as of then, unaware of her existence. For the next two weeks, Ayaka campaigned for the position of student council secretary, which she choose due to the relative lack of competition. It was mostly a ceremonial position which did not come with any measurable prestige, as the job description involved the recording of student council meeting minutes.

"How detailed could a high school student council's meeting minutes even be?" Ayaka had thought, and she was quite correct. In reality the position was more akin to a simple intern who helped with odd jobs as was needed, and as a result the other candidates for the position were either mostly apathetic or unremarkable. Though Ayaka knew she was average at best at most of the things in life, she was at least confident she could sway the voters with charisma. Within the short campaign period, she leveraged every friend and connection she had in all the different classes, and managed to be elected on largely name recognition.

Though she was now able to spend more time with the object of her admiration, truthfully Ayaka was unsure of how to approach him. In the end, it was Kouhei who approached her to make her feel more at home. Ayaka wasn't sure if it was just a polite gesture to be expected from an older student or if Kouhei could see through her less than pure intentions for joining the student council. After all, Ayaka was only a first year student barely acquainted with the school, with no attachment or school pride to speak of. She had not had a history of being on the student council in middle school nor had she been in any leadership position in any club or community organization. She was average in academics and her image was definitely not that of an overly eager goody-two-shoes. If anything, Ayaka was the last person you would've expected to put so much effort into being elected, with her dyed blonde hair, ever so slightly shorter than regulation skirt, and an arsenal of constantly changing accessories lining her hair and book bag.

Whatever the case, Ayaka could tell Kouhei was giving her special treatment in the student council, and in the span of a few short days the distance between the two was now rapidly closing. Ayaka was ecstatic, and tried very hard to not let it show. Sometimes she would hide her blush by covering her face with the drooping sleeves of her blazer or the strands of her hair which were tied into twin pigtails. That the gestures could also serve as an appeal to her innocence and cuteness was an extra bonus, and Ayaka hoped with enthusiasm that it would be effective. Everything was as close to perfect as she dared to wish for, but if there were one thing troubling Ayaka, it would no doubt be the student council vice president Ayatsuji Reika. She wasn't sure what it was, but she could sense the tension between Kouhei and Reika from a mile away. Although they rarely outright contradicted each other, Ayaka could see the two staring daggers at each other, and there was more than one time when Ayaka walked in on what appeared to be a recently ended argument, hastily reconciled in a ceasefire while the smell of gunpowder still lingered in the air. And then there was that incident with the printer the other day...

It was the first time Ayaka had seen Kouhei straight up accusing someone of wrongdoing, the first time she could even sense hostility from him in more than a month of observation. But with the situation as it was, one of the two must've been lying, or at least being not entirely truthful. Though Ayaka had been weary of Reika, she seemed by all appearances to be a model student, the exact opposite type of person as Ayaka herself and someone who was born to either be a hall monitor or on the student council. But as perfect as she seemed, Ayatsuji Reika must've had some grudge or other, Ayaka thought. After all, it was even more unthinkable that Kouhei would've been being deceptive.

Still deep in thought about the incident the other day, Ayaka walked down the hallway to her own classroom. "I'll ask the treasurer Ono-san about it the next time we meet." She thought. Ono Misaki seemed to know something about the two that Ayaka wasn't privy to. As she approached the classroom, a familiar silhouette came into Ayaka's field of view.

"Sakamoto-senpai!" Ayaka exclaimed. "What are you doing here!?"

"Takahashi." Kouhei turned his head to acknowledge the girl while he stood beside the doorway. "I'm collecting some forms."

"For the cultural festival?" Ayaka queried.

Kouhei nodded. He opened his mouth to elaborate, but before he could began he was interrupted by the appearance of another student.

"Here you go, Prez!" An energetic voice projected from the tuft of curly brown hair that appeared in the doorstep. It was Fujimoto Taichi, one of Ayaka's classmates. He was a friendly boy who had boundless energy, and his eyes were nearly permanently obscured by that absolute mane of a haircut. An odd fellow, Ayaka thought, but she got along with him well enough.

"Taichi! You didn't tell me you were the class representative!" Kouhei's eyes gleamed in recognition.

"'Taichi'...?" Ayaka mused. "You know each other?"

"We're both on the track and field team." Taichi explained. "Actually, it's been like that since middle school."

"Really?" Ayaka gasped, astounded. If she had known there was someone who had such a connection with Kouhei right under her nose all along, then she wouldn't have had to go to all that trouble!

Standing beside her, Kouhei leafed through the papers he was handed. "Alright, these look good to me." Turning to leave, he waved goodbye to the two first year students. "Gotta go, I have five more classes to hit up. See you at the next meeting, Takahashi."

"Okay, see you later!" Ayaka waved her arm in the air, her oversized sleeve flapping about. Turning to Taichi who was still standing in the doorway looking on, Ayaka suddenly realized that she could ask Taichi whether he knew anything about whatever Kouhei and Reika's conflict was about. 

"Student council president. He's doing pretty well for himself." Taichi remarked. "Just unfortunate he got stuck with her again."

"Her?"

"Hmm? He didn't tell you?" Taichi looked at Ayaka, confused. "I guess you wouldn't know since you weren't at the same middle school, but I thought he would've told you. Prez used to be a couple with your vice president Ayatsuji Reika."

"WHAT!?" This was news to Ayaka. In her entire month of not-quite-stalking, she hadn't once seen Kouhei interact with Ayaka until they were all on the student council.

"Really? Neither of them told you?" Taichi asked, incredulous.

"No, I really didn't know!"

"Well, they were pretty famous in our middle school."

Ayaka's head was spinning at this new revelation, her brain was already making up elaborate what ifs and could've beens between the two. Ayaka cradled her forehead in one palm and tried to calm herself. What she really needed now was information.

"Hey, uh... is there any chance you can tell me more about what they were like in middle school?"

"Of course. I'm honestly really surprised they haven't told you anything themselves, how are you supposed to get any work done in that atmosphere?" Taichi tilted his head, his hair falling to one side. "Anyway, they were really close in middle school. I wasn't even at the school when they started dating, but they were famous by the time I got there. Longest lasting couple at the school, too. Pretty much all three years they were together."

"Really? I couldn't tell at all with how they treat each other now. What the heck happened?"

"Yeah, for real. People would tell them to get a room and get really annoyed when they were around, that's how close they were. When I first met him, Prez was more like, laid back, I guess. Didn't have that aura of perfection he has now. He was still amazing, of course, we all looked up to him. Fast, real fast on the track team, and had the grades to match it too. And honestly, my first impression of Ayatsuji-senpai wasn't that great. She was a little mean, I guess. But they both really mellowed out by their third year."

"Uh huh." Ayaka nodded and signaled Taichi to continue.

"I don't know, you'd think it was a good thing for both of them, objectively speaking. But their relationship didn't go the same way, oh no." Taichi shook his head, remembering the details. "If the breakup was disastrous, then the fallout afterwards was absolutely nuclear. They would keep it civil during class and in the common areas, but we would hear them yelling at each other in the courtyard during lunch breaks. Like, every lunch break. When I came to this school, I heard rumors about them."

"What kind of rumors?"

"Oh, the same stuff you'd normally hear about, I guess. Cheating accusations and whatnot, but I don't think that's what happened. Weeks of hearing them yelling at each other in middle school and I've never heard either of them accuse the other of something like that. It's just the rumor mill making stuff up, I guess. But what really surprised me was that they weren't really openly fighting anymore. My theory is that not many people from our middle school choose to come here, so they both probably wanted to start fresh. Didn't really work though, still tons of rumors flying around."

"Well, I didn't hear anything about it." Ayaka muttered, more confused than ever.

"Well, now you know." Taichi shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, class is about to start."

"Yeah..." Ayaka replied weakly, following Taichi into the classroom. Her first love had just gotten a lot more complicated.