「Chapter 4: Kazuki Kinoshita is an Eccentric Lover」

Author's Note: This is a shorter chapter, but I at least wanted to introduce Kinoshita and dive a bit into his personality. I will probably make adjustments to this chapter, later on, so for now, I hope you enjoy it. 

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"Welcome. I've been expecting you. Please, step into my office."

After having been confessed to by Suzukuma, I was at a loss for what to do. I was carving to get any advice I could and I doubted Sora and Yuma could help me in this instance. So I decided to get advice for one half of the so-called "power couple" of the school.

"So," Kinoshita sat down, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands together before eying me down inquisitively. "You said you had girl problems? How can I help?"

Kinoshita was the son of a wealthy businessman. Though he is well off now, the father was poor growing up. But through sheer luck and determination, he managed to make millions. Unlike other wealthy families, Kinoshita's father decided to send him to a regular high school. The father himself had attended a public high school, this was no surprise. He felt it necessary for his son to experience the real world. Regardless, it didn't stop Kinoshita from showing the same diligence that a private school student would.

At the end of last year, both he and his girlfriend ran for student council president. It was a fierce battle with both parties neck to neck, neither giving an inch. But a week before their campaigns came to a close, their fiery rivalry seemed to calm down a bit. Many rumors were tossed around but none were ever confirmed.

But eventually, the final debate came and during it, both were basically trying to concede the victory to the other using the most inconspicuous ways possible. They spent the whole debate basically complimenting each other and making the other person look better. They even resorted to degrading themselves in order to make the other look better. I’m guessing each was trying to throw the election without the public catching wind, but if so, they did a bad job at it.

In the end, Shinozaki won by a slim margin, 12 votes to be exact. And, as we all expected, she later appointed Kinoshita as vice president. But given their behavior throughout the final days of their campaigns, it was no surprise when they started dating two weeks later. And now they were considered the “power couple” of the school.

“Well, as you know, I happen to know a thing or two about relationships. Anie certainly seems to think I’ve gotten quite good at drawing her interest,” Kinoshita mentioned as he tried to suppress a weirdly proud smile.

The other half of the “power couple” is Anie Shinozaki. She has quite a similar history as Kinoshita. Her mother was a formal French model who went on to create her own clothing line of boutiques. Her father was on the board of directors of a big tech company. Shinozaki's grandmother petitioned her mother to send her to a public high school reasoning that it was important for her granddaughter to have a normal childhood. Her mother did concede, but even with her normal upbringing, Shinozaki is considered among one of the top students in the prefecture.

"Ahem." Getting back into his usual, grandiose character, he seemed ready to continue. "So, what exactly is your problem? Though I'm assuming it has something to do with Ichika Tachibana, am I right? "

Wait?! How did he know?! I thought only Yuma and Sora knew about it. And Tachibana said she wouldn't tell anyone. Who else could have witnessed u— Wait a second!

As my mind closely examined every painful second from yesterday's debacle, I came across the one memory that could possibly answer my concerns.

"It was that damn rando?!" I whispered under my breath.

"If you're concerned about Tanaka revealing your secret confession, you shouldn't be. I made sure to silence him."

What do you mean by "silence him?!" Did you kill him? And he said it without even a change in his expression.

"All the class presidents report directly to me and Shinozaki. We catch wind of everything that happens before anyone else knows. Of course, there are some who like to keep mum, but there are others who are quite loyal."

Geez. With such a firm grasp on the student, the "power couple" should be renamed to "the dictatorship."

"The point is, we like to keep things running smoothly. We wish to give the students here the best high school experience they can wish for. So using our network, we resolve any quarrel between students before they even begin."

Okay, that is terrifying! To think that not only do they have eyes and ears in almost every nook and cranny of the school, but they also prevent any incidents from happening before the idea even enters the minds of the ones involved. It was a bit incredible but it only made me question Kinoshita's morals. It was basically how the government tracks personal data.

So I was right! This is a dictatorship, like some "rule of two" or something.

"However," he began, sharpening his gaze, "matters of love are a far more delicate issue to handle. They require a bit of precision. But something like a love triangle requires insight, which I have plenty of."

"So, will you be able to help?"

"Well, yes. As I said, I don't want discourse between the students, so I will help since you came to me. Your request is to enchant Tachibana, right?"

"Well, 'enchant' isn't the word I'd use but yes."

Kinoshita crossed his legs in the other direction and looked at the wall as he thought and then nodded, signifying that he had come to a conclusion. With a serious stare, he asked something quite unexpected. "Have you tried proposing?"

"Proposing what?" I asked, not certain if he was going to say anything else.

"Like a marriage proposal. It worked wonders for me. Just when I thought our love was waning, I took her to a fancy restaurant. I told the waiter to place the ring in our champagne, and then popped the question when our drinks arrived at our table." His expression did not change the entire time.

Is he serious?!

Also, I thought the drinking age was 20. What were they doing ordering champagne at a restaurant?

"You seem like you have doubts but I can truly attest that it works. Women love a heartfelt marriage proposal. Do something like that with Tachibana and she'll fall head over heels for you. I can even loan you money for the ring with no added interest if you'd like."

"Please don't."

Not only did this guy claim to have proposed to his girlfriend, but he also was offering to pay for my ring? This guy was crazier than I could have imagined.

"So if you are engaged, where is your ring?” Never once have I noticed a ring on his hand nor has there ever been a scandal about it.

“Naturally, we’d like to keep it a secret, so we usually leave them at home. We only wear them on special occasions.

So he says.

"But back to the problem at hand. You want to make Tachibana fall in love with you but she is in love with Suzukuma. That is a real problem. It is not the easiest thing to change a person's heart. But you knew all of this. Something has happened or else you would have never come to me for advice, am I right?”

Wow. Who knew the vice president was this perceptive. But with that intellect, combined with his power from the student council. He seemed almost omnipotent. If Kinoshita was like this, I shuttered to imagine president Shinozaki.

“Yes, you’re right. The reason that I asked for your advice is that… Suzukuma ended up confessing to me.”

Kinoshita remained silent, not giving a single reaction nor even looking like he was breathing. I was about to cut through the silence when he smirked.

“What?”

“You’re turning out to be quite the ladies’ man. First, it's just one girl, but eventually, you’ll be swarming with confessions.”

“Who are you, my dad?”

“Hahaha, regardless, this is very unexpected. I didn’t even know about it.”

Of course, you didn’t!

“So, let me guess. You haven’t rejected Suzukuma yet.”

This guy is reading my mind and it’s terrifying.

“No, I just ran away,” I confessed, trying to avert my gaze.

“There’s no shame in that. It’s clear why you avoided the act. You know how it feels to be rejected. When you saw her valiant eyes, you didn’t want to break her heart. And so you left her without an answer.”

“Yes, exactly. And I will tutor her in two days. I don’t want stuff to get weird during that time.”

“Hmm, I see,” he thought before giving his answer. “As I said, I don’t like there to be problems within the student body. Suzukuma is a shy and reserved person. Being rejected could very much upset her dramatically. Even that act of turning her down could make Tachibana upset with you, like if you were hurting the love of her life, though, I doubt that.”

“So what do I do?”

“Well, it’ll be tough but you are going to have to reject her, there is no way around it. Things will be a lot worse if you try to lie or prolong your decision. If you tell her that you love someone else, she will understand. She’s not insane or something, so just tell her at the end of your study session.”

“A straightforward answer. I really thought that there would be more to this.”

“Well, though it seems like an obvious solution to come to, it wouldn’t have been like that for your heart. You would have been bogged down by indecision and things would have gone downhill. That’s why I’m glad you came to me first.”

“Well, who better to ask for relationship advice than the famous Kinoshita. Everyone knows you and Shinozaki are inseparable and extravagant when it comes to love.”

“Please. We express our love just like any other.”

“Oh, I didn’t know you were in a meeting.”

Speak of the devil. The door to the council room slowly opened and Shinozaki popped out from behind carrying with her a stack of handouts.

“Should I come back later?”

“No no,” Kinoshita answered adamantly. “We were just finishing up here.”

“Oh, good,” she said, closing the door and approaching the vice president.

She sat down next to him leaving no space between them. She even leaned into him and grabbed his hand.

“How was your day?” Kinoshita asked.

They looked into each other's eyes, their faces getting ever so slightly closer. I could even see both of them blush a bit as if no one else was in the room. They just seemed ecstatic to be together.

I could see both of them becoming fidgety, and each of the voices yearned for each other. Their faces got closer and…that was when I decided to leave the room. They really just got intimate while I was there. They completely forgot about me. I was terrified to think of what might have transpired if I had stayed in there any longer. Best to leave them to their impulses.

But anyway, though it might have been an obvious answer like Kinoshita said, I definitely would have screwed it up. I’m sure that Suzukuma had expected an answer yesterday but I still wish I could hold off on it as long as possible. But that wouldn’t be fair to Suzukuma. So it’s decided then. I’ll tell her the day after tomorrow when we are studying in the library. I just hope that I don't have to talk to her until then.

Character Trivia: Though it seems like a complete lie, Kinoshita and Shinozaki are actually engaged. Haru is the only one who knows about the engagement with not even their parents knowing. That’s why Kinoshita is thinking about making Haru his best man.