Student Council Run (Part 1)

◆ Tsukasa

If someone asked me a few months ago what was my greatest wish, I’d say it was to fall in love. But now, the answer would be to keep it.

We’ve returned to school recently, and every day to me feels like a run for my soul. I keep watch, now, not only over Miko-senpai and her friends, but my own friends as well. Through every conversation, my ears are on their limits, trying to catch every mention of Senpai on the words spoken with ignorant joyfulness.

Until it happens.

One day, at home, my phone buzzes with a message from Senpai.

It says:

Aishi-san, can we talk tomorrow, at school? There’s something I want to ask you.

***

The next day, after the bell rings for lunch and everyone scatters, I see Senpai standing on the hall almost in front of my classroom door. It looks like he’s been waiting for a while.

“Hi, Senpai,” I say.

He looks up and seems relieved. “Aishi-san,” he says. “So you saw it, then.”

By ‘it’, he most likely means the message, but saying that word out loud would be embarrassing.

“Of course I did. Do you think I would ignore something like that, Senpai?” I make my best pout at him and he chuckles.

“No, I didn’t mean that. Anyhow… there is something I mean to ask you. But not here.” He glances around. “Let’s go to the courtyard.”

I smile. “Okay.”

At the courtyard, after he checks no one is hearing, Senpai takes a deep breath.

“Aishi-san, you must be aware that the student council recently disbanded, after summer vacation,” he starts. “Right now, I want to run for president again, but Hakanagi-senpai doesn’t want to be vice-president a second time. So, I’m looking for someone to get that post, and to make my campaign speech.” He inhales sharply again, smoothes out his blazer, and finally blurts out:

“Aishi-san, do you want to be my vice-president?”

It’s like a dream come true. In the student council, I will have Senpai’s nearly undivided attention, and I will have a position to monitor all the insects that might eat away at our story.

Of course, not in a creepy way, right? I just want to keep Senpai safe from those depraved girls who want to claw at this innocent angel. That’s all.

“Of course!” I exclaim, joy flooding my features. “I would be more than happy to!”

He smiles in relief. “Good.” Then he looks around and heaves a sigh. “Well, Aishi-san, it looks like we’ve got some company.”

I follow his eyes’ path to a nearby bush, where a familiar head of hair sticks out.

“Oh, gods…” I sigh as well. “She never learns, huh?” Then I open my mouth again to yell. “Tae, get out of that bush or else!”

She pops out immediately. “Sorry, Rainbow-chan,” she says. Then she smirks. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

“What do you mean?” I ask her.

“Your ‘thing’, duh!” She exclaims, before running off and vanishing.

“What thing?” I shout at her, but she’s already out of my field of view. Heaving a sigh, I turn to look at Senpai.

“Sorry about Tae,” I say. “She just loves some gossip. But about me, she’s going to keep quiet. That’s the pact we made when we were young.”

“That’s good.” He smiles, though his smile seems oddly harsh. “Now, shall we get going? Or else people will start making up rumors.”

“True.” Then I think about something. “Senpai, is there someone else running for president?”

“Um, yes,” he says, after a moment. “There’s Hakanagi-senpai, Bōzuki-san from class 1-B, Nozomigawa-kun from my class, and Setsuki-senpai from class 3-A. Their vice-presidents are, respectively, Tachibana-san from my class, Hayashi-san from class 1-B, Osaragi-kun from class 2-B and Iino-senpai from class 3-A. Why do you want to know?”

I cough to hide the noise of snapping graphite behind my back. God, I need a new mechanical pencil. This one snaps too easy. “Nothing, just wanted to know. There are really a lot of people running for president this year, right, Senpai?”

“Yes. For Hakanagi-senpai, Setsuki-senpai and Iino-senpai, this is the last chance for them to be in the student council. So they’ll be running really hard this year.” He smiles tiredly. “I guess that’s how it is, to be a third-year.”

Suddenly it comes to my mind that Senpai will no longer be here when I graduate from high school. It’s a horrifying thought, one I shake off my mind with a smile as I finish writing down the names and classes behind my back. “Yes. It must be hard, since they’ll be spending the rest of the year preparing for college exams.”

Just then, Senpai stops. I hear a faint crunch under his shoe. As I look down, expecting a twig, I see the remains of a listening device, freshly crushed against the concrete.

“Well now that’s crossing a line,” I say, out of my mind. “Who would go so far to listen to our innocent conversation! Some people have no respect.” I frown. Senpai sighs as he pulls the electronic mess out of his shoe.

“That’s just how life is, Aishi-san,” he replies. “But I’ll report this to the principal. Electronic devices with a camera or recorder are forbidden within the grounds of Shinkō Academy.”

“I wish I could just know who’s trying to record this… Ugh, I get so mad when I think about this!” I exclaim with a angry huff. “Don’t you get mad, Senpai?”

“Sometimes. But most of the time, it’s not exactly worth it.” Suddenly his features morph into an expression that would belong better on the face of a wolf going for a kill than on Senpai’s beautiful features. “But if someone was trying to do something to you, Aishi-san… then my purple belt in karate would find some use.”

“Karate isn’t for fighting, Senpai… That’s something the Jackie Chan movies made up. You watch those?”

“I do, sometimes. On the days I’m so angry I would beat up the first person in sight, I go to my TV room and watch Jackie Chan until my eyes are bulging out of my head. And you, Aishi-san? What do you do when you’re angry?”

“Tae forces me to watch Oshi no Ko.”

“…And why would that help with your anger?”

“She says staring at pretty guys for a while makes you feel better. But, unfortunately for her, Aqua’s not my type, and for the rest of the reasonably attractive characters, well, I’m not lesbian…”

I trail off when I notice the look on Senpai’s face. It’s like the wolf face from before, but worse. It’s more like Aqua’s face from when he was playing Touki on the Tokyo Blade arc and he triggered himself remembering Ai on the Saya-hime death scene.

The face of someone who could actually jump on you and rip out your throat.

It’s so scary, I nearly jump. This isn’t Senpai. No, no, no. Not my Senpai. My Senpai wouldn’t make a scary face like this one. He’d smile warmly and return my stolen things and ask with his gentle voice if I was okay. No, this is not Senpai.

“S-senpai?” I choke out.

Immediately his face returns to normal. “Sorry, Aishi-san,” he says, apologetically, looking grim. “It’s just… I remembered something not very nice. And I… didn’t react very well.” He stares at his shoes. “I’m sorry. This wasn’t nice of me as a senpai.”

I smile. “It’s okay, Senpai,” I say. “If you need anything, I’ll be here for you.”

He looks up and smiles that gut-melting smile. “Thank you, Aishi-san. You’re too kind.”

The bell rings, indicating we’ll have to be back in our classes and in our seats in two minutes. I wave goodbye and am about to walk away when he calls:

“Aishi-san!”

I turn around. “What is it?”

He smiles at me again. “I’m glad I picked you to be my vice-president.”

I have to use all the energy in my body to not faint and not explode in giddiness. “And I’m glad to have decided to enroll here,” I reply, and run off.

My heart is beating out of my chest, because now I have a mission.

Senpai will win the election. No matter what it takes. The other candidates... Hakanagi-senpai, Setsuki-senpai... they're just obstacles. There are ways to make obstacles disappear. People drop out of elections all the time for all sorts of reasons. I just need to make sure they find their reasons. Whatever it takes.

***

The days fly by and I study as hard as I can to make the best speech possible for the election. After all, it will be my best shot at spending almost 100% of my spare time with Senpai.

And I study the other candidates. The other students who are competing with Senpai for the position of student council president. For a long time, I study their personalities, tastes, and fears, so that I can know how to get them out of Senpai’s way. Quietly, and totally okay. Like the shoujo heroine’s rivals, who slowly disappear, one by one, in a way the author never fully explains. So it’s up to interpretation.

I’ve started talking to the close friends of the other candidates, and, since most of them are guys, they’ve welcomed the possibility of talking to cute girls with open arms. With their help, I single-handedly devised the ultimate strategy for Senpai to win.

But then, the worst thing possible happened.

I got sick.

***

“A-achoo!” The 100th sneeze escapes me as I attempt to sit in bed again. Next to me, Tae sighs.

“Jeez, what an inconvenient illness,” she says. “Right on the day of the campaign speeches… Guess Haibara-senpai will have to find someone to replace you today.”

“But I want… to make the speech!” I exclaim, before sneezing again and falling right back into the pillow. “Owww… this hurts.”

“Kacchan, don’t force yourself,” Chiho says gently. “You’re sick, with a fever, a sore throat, and you still want to go to school and make a speech. We’ve already had to explain ourselves that we’re skipping class to take care of you. So please, rest for a while.” She hesitates for a moment. “I think the throat medicine has arrived. Wait just a moment.” Then she runs down the stairs, disappearing from the room.

“Tae, I want to make the speech,” I croak, turning to look at my friend. “Please…”

“No can do, Rainbow-chan,” Tae replies. “Haibara-senpai will have to find someone else to make the speech in your place. Sorry, Rainbow-chan. You’ll have to rest today.”

I bite my lip, trying not to cry. I can’t go? I have to. I can’t not go. If I don’t go, Senpai might lose the election. I made the perfect speech. I have to go… or else, he might pick another girl to make the speech. He might start liking her instead of me if she makes her win the election.

No! I have to go! If I don’t go, something will happen! I want to go… and help Senpai. Even if I die of pneumonia, I’ll make Senpai win.

Chiho comes back with the throat medicine. She drips a few drops into a cup of water and gestures me to drink it. I drink thirstily.

“Good. It should take effect in a while.” She smiles tiredly. “Kacchan, I know you really want to go to school today, but you’re sick. You have to stay here.”

As I open my mouth to reply, the phone rings. My phone. Where is it?

Tae answers instead of me. “Hi, this is Tae Takemoto speaking. The owner of this phone is sick right now, what do you want?”

Her eyes widen. “You again? Why are you calling her right now? She’s sick.”

A lot of unintelligible chatter on the other side later, Tae heaves a sigh. “Sorry, she can’t answer the phone right now, senpai. Someone else should be doing the speech, you can’t call a sick person to do something. I hope you understand.”

Wait. Is that… Senpai?!

No. Tae can’t shrug him off.

She can’t stop me!

“TAE, GIVE ME THE GODDAMN PHONE!” I shout. As she does not answer, somewhat shocked, I reach out, grab my phone from her hand, and start talking rapidly:

“Senpai, are you there?” I exclaim.

“Aishi-san?!” Senpai seems stunned.

“Senpai, you don’t need to call anyone else in! I’ll make the speech for your campaign!” My throat is hurting but I don’t actually care. My health can wait, Senpai comes first. “Even if I have to crawl to school, even if I fall to the ground coughing blood, even if I actually DIE, I’ll make you win this election, Senpai! I promise you, you WILL be the president again!”

“Aishi-san…”

I take a deep breath. “Senpai, when does your speech start?”

“In… ten minutes. But you couldn’t possibly—”

“Okay, I will be there!” I exclaim. “Bye, Senpai!”

And I end the call, freeing myself from the covers of my bed and scrambling for my uniform. Before Chiho and Tae can recover from their shock, I’m already running out of the house, shouting in a voice no one else can hear.

No matter what happens to me… I will ensure you keep smiling, Senpai. I will ensure that you keep smiling at me, and only at me, forever.

Because we belong to each other.

Because we’re soulmates, after all.