ACT II - Harmony

A few days later, I stood in front of the student council door, with my heart pounding loudly from nervousness. I had carefully made my plan, and successfully came to the last step. And now, the most difficult part awaited me behind this door: actually talking with Ria!

All my confidence ran away from me as a million thoughts ran inside my mind.

What am I doing? What if that day was just a hallucination? There's no way that was real, what am I on? Seriously Yuujin Seira, what are you doing? You aren't even friends with her. What business do you have with her? What are you even going to interrupt her council duties for—

The door opened and my eyes met the student council vice president. He blinked a few times.

"Umm…? Did you need something?"

"A-ah..! Yeah!! I had something to consult about… Umm…"

I hid what was in my hand behind my back. His sharp eyes noticed but he didn't question me about it, thankfully.

"What, is it with the president? Well, she's kind of busy but if it's short I'm sure she can manage it. Hey, Azuma-saaaaan."

The student council president's voice came from inside the room, clearly annoyed. It became louder as she walked closer to the door.

"What is it?! I'm drowning in paper work, this better not be something stupid—"

Her voice cut off seeing me. I did a sheepish smile and greeted her with a shaky hi.

"Umm, I'll just be taking my leave now."

The vice president had sensed the awkwardness in the air and just wanted to get out of the scene, which I couldn't blame him for… As I also wanted to put all of my life's track training into running away, right that moment.

But I didn't. I swallowed my nervousness down and showed her what was inside my hand.

"H-harmony-chan…?"

Her eyes widened and her eyebrows came closer together to form a rather soft expression on her face. That's it! She had recognized the plushie in my hand, which gave me courage to continue.

"Oooh, you seem knowledgeable about this fella! You see, one of our relatives had this toy but she got bored of it so she gave it to me, but obviously I don't really need it so I thought why not give it to the president, maybe you can hand it to a student's sibling in need, or something…?"

She took the plushie into her hands, carefully examining the lavender colored bunny mascot. Her expression had turned back to her usual cross one, so I felt cold sweat running down my spine. As she turned it around, a dire fact almost made my soul leave my body.

I had left the tag on!!!

"So your relative had it? But the tag is still attached, and it looks brand new…?"

"Aaaah, yeah! It was a new gift, she just gets sick of things really quickly haha, she didn't even remove the tag… What a spoiled child she is, truly… Hahaha…"

My intention was to gift this plushie to her without making it seem like it was meant for her… And I had even endured the embarrassment of buying it under the toy shop clerk's judging gaze, but I figured it'd be all worth it as long as Ria was happy, but…

Happy?! She looked like she was about to attack me any second!

"I have no idea what's your deal interrupting my duties with this crap, don't you have your club activities to attend?! Get going, Seira."

"Ah… Um… I did get permission to hand over this bunny to you, but…"

I just thought it'd be better to reveal the truth, now that she was accusing me of wasting her time. However, just as I was about to begin, her expression softened as she locked eyes with the plushie.

"I don't know just how you got your hands on the exact same model but… I had Harmony-chan as my dear plushie for many years."

She sighed sadly.

"Until the day my mom decided to throw it away without my consent, telling me that I'm way too old to be into plushies and the like. Not that she's wrong but… She…"

She stopped a bit and closed her eyes, seemingly recalling many painful memories.

"Harmony-chan haunted my nightmares for so many nights, I just felt so guilty about not being able to say a final goodbye to her. Now I have a copy in my hands… How miraculous."

The 'demonic school president' lifted the cute plushie to her chest and nuzzled it, hugging it tightly. For anyone who didn't know of her past, surely this would be a most shocking view. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone in the corridors at that moment. I wanted her to have her reunion in peace.

That being said…

"Woah, I didn't know you had such a thing happen to you. I just wanted to drop off the plush to the student council so it can find a warm new home but…"

I tilted my head and gazed upon the happy pair warmly.

"I think Harmony-chan has already found it? How lucky~"

She must have realized how different she was acting from her usual self, so she cleaned her throat and regained her composure—all the while still holding the plush in her embrace.

She tried to put on a disinterested front and scowl at me. It was extremely adorable.

"...you're awful at lying, by the way."

Oops, guess as much as she sucked at pretending she wasn't happy, my lying skills were about on the same level.

I chuckled softly, scratching my neck.

"Well then, let's just say I wanted to gift our hardworking school president a cute, healing friend. Me and Harmony-chan are always cheering you on!!"

I raised my arms encouragingly and shook them as if I had pompoms on. She sneered at my dorkish behavior and then closed her eyes.

"I accept this gift. Thank you, Seira Yuujin. I'm…"

She smiled and opened her eyes back. Her eyes were glimmering.

"I'm really happy."

And that was all I needed to hear.

'Bring Harmony back to Ria's Heart' Mission; success!