Side Story - The Dark Past of the Student Council President (1)

This was a story that happened a bit after the whole fiasco in Sakuya’s succession ceremony.

*****

I was walking home from school that day, just like any other day.

Ever since transferring to Sakurazaki Private Academy, I was relieved of my Student Council President duties and became one of the normal students. The current Sakurazaki Student Council did invite me to join them, but I turned them down. I wanted to enjoy my last year of high school in peace, considering that the previous years were full of chaos and ruckus—all thanks to Kagura Sakuya and her delinquents.

I automatically heaved a sigh when I recalled the petite, yet courageous girl. She was the only student daring enough to treat the Student Council President casually, even sometimes openly defying me. She’d given me many headaches, yet I couldn’t bring myself to truly hate her.

After the transfer student—Ryuuji came, I started to learn more about the other sides of Sakuya. I learned of her ridiculously overpowered side when she fended off 50 delinquents on her own, her vulnerable side when she got depressed after quarrelling with Ryuuji, and her complicated past that kept haunting her all this time. I found myself frequently wondering what happened to her after she disappeared from the school.

A chilly breeze swept past me and I shuddered from the cold. Maybe tomorrow I should start wearing mufflers, since winter was coming soon.

Suddenly, my eyes caught the sight of a familiar figure in the distance.

The petite girl was standing in front of my apartment’s building, like she was waiting for someone.

“Kagura Sakuya…?” I automatically stopped in my tracks and gaped at her.

As if she could hear my voice, Sakuya turned her gaze toward me. Her face lit up and she waved her hand. It was clear that she’d been waiting for me. Left with no other choice, I continued my stride until I stood right before her.

Sakuya was still as petite as before, but she was thinner than I remembered and I could sense exhaustion in her face. Despite so, I was glad that she was still fine after going back to her family.

“Well, speak of the devil. I didn’t expect you to be here, Kagura. To what do I owe this honor?” I crossed my arms and stared intently at her.

“Koyama Yuuki. There’s something important I need to ask of you.” Sakuya returned my stare with a strong gaze of her own. Her vivid red eyes gleamed brightly like a pair of rubies.

Usually, I would chide Sakuya for calling my name so audaciously. But right now, she seemed so serious that I opted to stay quiet and listen to what she had to say.

“And what is it?” I lowered my arms.

Sakuya paused for a bit before suddenly lowering her head.

“I want you to join my side in the Kagura Family, Koyama Yuuki—the Crimson Demon King.”

I stiffened the moment she called me with my old nickname—the nickname that I’d been trying to bury these past three years.

“How…” I tried to speak, but my throat was so dry that I couldn’t get any words out. “…how much do you know?” I finally spat out.

Sakuya raised her head.

“Pretty much everything.” She replied nonchalantly. “Besides, you also knew about my secret identity from Tachibana Marika the moment I enrolled, so this makes us even.”

I shut my mouth, unable to refute her. It was true that I’d already known about Sakuya’s family from the first time we met, since Marika warned me about her. I started wondering if she heard about it from Marika herself, then I came back to my senses when another chilly breeze blew past us.

“…it seems this is going to be a long talk. Why don’t we talk in my room?” I suggested.

I belatedly realized that I was inviting a girl to my bedroom and was about to retract it when Sakuya beat me to the punch.

“Sure, why not.” She nodded and turned toward the apartment’s entrance.

I facepalmed. “…you should hesitate a bit there.”

“Huh? Why?” Sakuya turned to look at me with a genuinely confused face.

I let out a long sigh and opened the building’s door for her. “This is why Shiba-kun keeps worrying that one day you’ll be snatched away. Pick up some common sense and stop worrying him.”

Sakuya quickly walked past me, as if trying to hide her expression, but I caught the sight of her reddened ears.

“What happened between Ryuu and me is none of your business, Koyama.” She snapped without looking at me, which cut down the intimidating effect to less than half and made her seem cuter instead.

I coughed awkwardly and took her to my room using the elevator. We didn’t say anything during the short trip, which only served to make the situation even more uncomfortable.

As I let Sakuya into my room, I idly wondered how Marika would react if she saw us together. Would she be jealous and interrogate me about it? Or would she let it slide, since we both knew how much I’d quarrelled with Sakuya these past couple of years?

Then I realized that I actually had no reason to think about Marika’s reaction and reflexively blushed. It seemed that my feelings for her had only grown stronger after I talked to Ryuuji about it.

“Koyama, don’t you have anything to drink other than mineral water?”

Sakuya’s complaint brought me back to my senses. I glared at the girl who was shamelessly rummaging through my refrigerator as if she owned the place.

“Can you stop acting like this is your house? Sit down and I’ll make you some drinks.” I scolded her.

“I want orange juice.” Sakuya immediately requested while sitting down on the cushion around the short table.

“I don’t have such a thing, so just be quiet and accept whatever I made you. Geez, you really don’t change at all.” I grumbled as I went to the kitchen and started making chocolate drinks for both of us.

I figured that since she liked juices so much, she must’ve had the palate of a child. I doubted coffee would suit her tastes.

“Here. I don’t want to hear any complaints from you.” I put down a cup in front of her before taking my seat across the short table.

“Thank you. You’re always so considerate, Koyama.” Sakuya flashed me a smile before drinking her chocolate. “Mm, this is really good as well. You’re so good at taking care of others that I almost believe you have younger siblings.”

My hand paused as I was about to drink my chocolate. I quickly put the cup down, mainly to hide my trembling hand, and stared at Sakuya.

“Before we talk about your request, let me ask you something. Do you really know everything about me?” I challenged her.

Sakuya calmly put down her drink before answering. “Yeah, I do. You’re the only child of the president of Koyama Group, and its sole heir. Your parents are all but divorced in the name only, and you used to live with your father before coming here.”

I wore a bitter smile. “That’s quite impressive of you.”

“But there’s one thing that I never quite understand.” Sakuya leaned forward, her ruby red eyes staring at me sharply as if it could reach the deepest part of my mind. “You grew up in a rich family, blessed with good looks and prodigious talents. So why did you become a delinquent?”

I sighed, having foreseen that Sakuya would eventually arrive to that question. “It’s a bit of a long story, if you won’t mind listening to it…”

*****

If there was such a lottery to pick which family you’d be born into, then undoubtedly, I’d pulled one of the lucky draws.

I was born into a rich, high-class family. Both of my parents were leaders of their respective business groups, so I grew up without lacking anything. A big house, a full set of butler, maids, chefs, and other servants, and expensive toys, I had everything I could ever want.

However, like everything in this world, there was always a catch to it.

My parents were in what you called as a contract marriage. My father was a leader of Koyama Group, while my mother was the eldest daughter of a rival business group. Those two groups agreed to join hands, and that agreement was sealed with a marriage contract.

Both of my parents didn’t love each other. They only agreed to live together until the day my mother bore her husband a son. And so, the moment I was born, my mother left me with a wet nurse and went back to her family.

As far as I could remember, my house was a cold, suffocating place to live. My father was indifferent to his heir and left everything to his butler. The servants were kind to me, but they drew a line to ensure that I wouldn’t grow dependent on them. In the end, I grew up without ever knowing affection.

The only silver lining was that I’d inherited both of my parents’ talents. Even my father’s harsh education standard didn’t faze me, as I learned everything quickly and flawlessly. My tutors praised me as the perfect heir, yet I soon grew bored of it. I wanted to play and run around like other kids my age. I wanted to hug my parents and be told that I did well. And yet, none of those were within my reach.

I finally found a ray of hope when I started school.

*****

“Hey, is your name Koyama?”

One of the kids in my class called out to me when I was about to go home. It was my first day in elementary school and I didn’t know anyone, so I was quite moved that someone actually talked to me.

“Yeah, what is it?” I asked back.

“I want to be your friend! Can I?” My classmate asked with sparkling eyes.

His words seemed to trigger the rest of the class, since they all immediately crowded around me.

“Me too, me too!”

“I want to be your friend too!”

“Koyama, be my friend!”

I was overwhelmed by my classmates’ attention, something that I never received from my own father. I nodded repeatedly with a big grin on my face.

“Yeah, sure! Let’s be friends!” I replied cheerfully.

Following that, my days in elementary school were absolutely blissful. My classmates always fawned over me, and they’d invite me whenever they went to play. I felt like I was being accepted by them, and I found the place where I could truly belong.

If that was all there was to it, then maybe I wouldn’t turn out as a delinquent later in life.

One day, I had to go back to school after forgetting my toy. I went to my classroom and saw two of my closest friends were still there, talking to each other.

“Hey—”

I was about to call out to them when their conversation reached my ears.

“…can’t take it anymore! This is so lame!” One of the boys stamped his feet on the ground.

“I know, right? He’s so boring and stuck-up! Why do we have to be friends with him?!” The other boy similarly complained.

I closed my mouth and peeked into the classroom. “Who are they talking about?” I wondered.

“This is all Koyama’s fault!” The first boy stomped to my seat and kicked on my chair. “If it weren’t for his dad, I wouldn’t even bother talking to a boring guy like him!”

“…!” I was so surprised that I couldn’t even utter a sound.

“Well, that’s what our parents want, so there’s no helping it.” The other boy placated his friend. “Besides, if we ask nicely, he’ll do everything we want, so isn’t it a good thing?”

I couldn’t bear to stand there any longer and ran away from that place.

From that day onward, I completely changed my attitude toward my so-called friends. I reacted hostilely every time they approached me, ignored their confused questions, and pushed them away completely. In no time at all, I was ostracized by the whole class.

The situation didn’t change throughout the elementary school years. In fact, my classmates’ treatment toward me worsened into bullying instead. At first I ignored their petty harassments, since they were afraid of the teachers finding out. But the harassment gradually escalated, to the point that when I was in sixth grade, the students tried ganging together and beating me up.

However, I wasn’t so kind that I’d stand down and let them do whatever they like.

Unbeknownst to those ignorant elementary students, I’d been taking lessons for martial arts since I was young, to ensure that I could defend myself if I was ever kidnapped or assaulted. I easily turned the tables on them and soundly beat them up in retaliation.

That day, the school called my father.

*****

“Yuuki.”

I raised my face in surprise. I was sitting on the couch of waiting room while my father was talking inside the principal’s office. When my father came out, he called out my name.

“We’re going home.” My father said curtly.

Without waiting for me, he strode toward the school entrance. I quickly leapt to my feet and bounded after him. My heart pounded in excitement as it was the first time that my father called my name. At some point, I even doubted that he remembered my name.

We both got into the waiting car, which promptly headed home. I stole a glance toward my father, who sat next to me. He kept his eyes trained on the documents he was reading, but he seemed to sense my gaze, since he eventually looked at me.

“Oh…so that’s how Father’s face looks like.” I mused to myself.

Our schedule was completely different, and my father tended to work until late at night in his company, so I rarely—no, I didn’t think I’ve ever seen him at home. If I were to be presented with multiple middle-aged men and told to pick which one was my real father, I doubted I could choose correctly.

“Don’t make more troubles for me.”

My father’s voice brought me back to reality.

“I don’t have any time to waste on you.”

With those brutal, heartless words, he returned his attention to the papers.

A normal child would burst into tears from being treated like that by their father, but for me, it was the greatest form of attention that I’d ever received from my father. I lowered my gaze, silently deciding that I’d do whatever it takes to get more attention from him—even if it meant becoming the biggest troublemaker in the school.

After that day, I started earnestly rampaging around.

I’d pick a fight with anyone—even the older kids. I’d beat them up within an inch of their lives and got the school to call my father.

At first, my strategy worked quite well. My father would show up, despite his annoyance, and lectured me about wasting his time. But after the third and fourth times, he saw through my ploy and delegated all of the problems I caused to his trusted butler.

Even if the school tried calling him, only the butler would appear to smooth things over and take me home.

Convinced that I wasn’t causing enough trouble to summon my father, I proceeded to subjugate nearly all of the delinquents in my neighborhood during my first year of middle school, earning me my shameful nickname of ‘Crimson Demon King’. The look on my butler’s face was quite amusing when he saw the numerous delinquents sprawled on the ground, but my father was unmoved by my actions.

“Young Master.”

The butler addressed me once we got home. He knelt down to match my gaze and stared at me earnestly.

“My apologies, but won’t you stop already? Your father will not care anymore for the troubles you’ve made.” The butler said gently. “This will only serve to worsen his indifference of you. At worst, he might eventually abandon you and search for another child to be his heir.”

At that moment, I felt like my world was collapsing around me.

Was I that easily replaced? Did he not need me? Did he not feel anything toward me?

Was I really my father’s child?

Those kinds of thoughts haunted my mind, to the point that I even fell sick from the shock and stress.

Once I recovered from my illness and went back to school, I’d completely lost the spirits to do anything. I ignored my studies, my teachers, and even my bullies. I felt like there was no more meaning to my existence, since even my own father didn’t need me.

However, the other delinquents that I’ve beaten up weren’t going to leave me alone so easily.

They’d come at me nearly every day, demanding a rematch, getting trashed by me, and then came back again just to taste another defeat. They were so hopelessly stupid that I’d grown exasperated at their foolishness. How come did they never learn that they weren’t going to defeat me just by relying on brute force?

By the time I reached second year of middle school, however, they’d gotten a bit smarter.