He is dead.

And I will soon follow.

I just, want him to realize.

The feelings hidden in my heart.

My soul will forever.

Wander in this academy.

「Last note of Girl A」

Retrieved from the Shuchin Academy Student Council Meeting Logs

Chapter 1: The Student Council wants to deceive

Shuchin Private Academy.

Founded as an education facility for children of nobles and samurai, it’s a prestigious school with an honorable and ancient history.

Even with the abolishment of the aristocratic system, many talented youths born to wealthy and distinguished families, who would shoulder the future of the country continued to be enrolled here.

And naturally, no mere mortal would be permitted to lead them.

「Hey! Everyone look, it’s those two from the Student Council!」

A girl said excitedly. The crowd followed her enthusiastic scream, and focus on one spot. The quiet corridor started getting rowdy.

A youth and a girl were basked in their gaze, as they continued walking with calm faces.

By some means of wizardry, only their footfalls could be heard clearly in this noisy passageway.

A youth with sharp eyes and a girl that gave off an air of elegance with her every move. The sight of them walking shoulder to shoulder looked like a match made in heaven, it was only natural that they grabbed the attention of the mob.

A girl lamented as she watched the two of them:

「Ohh, Kaguya-sama… why art thou such a beauty.」

It was no exaggeration to compare her to Lily, Peony, or any other flowers. And her name was——

Shuchin Academy Student Council Vice President, Kaguya Shinomiya.

With total assets of 200 trillion yen, and numerous subsidiaries across all sorts of industries such as railways, banks and car manufacturing—— the 『Shinomiya Group』 was one of the four top conglomerates in the nation.

As the eldest daughter of the head of the main family, Ganon Shinomiya, Kaguya was a lady of a prestigious family in the truest sense.

Befitting her superior lineage, Kaguya Shinomiya with outstanding achievements in various fields such as traditional performing arts, music and martial art. She was in every way a true 『genius』.

And the young man Shinomiya supports is——

「Ohh, President’s eyes… seems to be able to see through everything in this world…」

Shuchin Academy Student Council President, Miyuki Shirogane.

He’s strong and silent, smart and wise. He had the highest score in exams and was the undisputed number one in his grade.

Even amongst all the geniuses striving for the top score in the nation, he was a formidable candidate.

In contrast to the multi talented Kaguya, he gained the awe and respect of the entire academy through his grades alone. At the same time, he won the Student Council President election through his exemplary behaviour won him the model, and he was without a doubt, an outstanding youth.

The aiguillette he wore on his chest was passed down from president to president in Shuchin, and bears the weight of 200 years of history.

When one of the female student walked by Shirogane, just a glance from him was chilling enough to robbed her of all her body warmth. That couldn’t be helped.

In the Shuchin Academy that covered primary school up to university, an 「impure」 that joined mid way and becoming the Student Council President was definitely an exception, and there was only three such cases in the history of Shuchin Academy.

And on top of that, Shirogane won the election in autumn for a second term, which made him the exception of the exception.

He had a piercing glare, and they were few in the Shuchin Academy who dared look Shirogane in the eyes. Those who did either had an indomitable will, or had a clear conscience without any fear of their past being pried. That was the common consensus among the student body.

「Everyone look, Kaguya-sama and the President is chatting happily…」

「Hey, isn’t Kaguya-sama afraid of President Shirogane at all?」

「That’s Kaguya-sama, you know? Having a guilty conscience is probably the furthest thing from her nature. The only one who can stand beside the President is a maiden like Kaguya-sama.」

「Do you think they’re dating?」

「Who knows? I heard that the President confessed to Kaguya-sama before the election——」

In the close environment of the academy, such topics were brought up constantly.

Furthermore, this was love gossips about the two geniuses at the peak of Shuchin, so it naturally garnered the attention of the students.

However, the truth about their relationship——

♂♂♂

「The election did just ended, but they really don’t get tired of that topic.」

On the way to the Student Council room, Miyuki Shirogane chatted up the girl beside him.

However, his eyes didn’t leave the french phrase book he was holding in his hand. Shirogane aims to study for ten hours a day, and he didn’t even want to waste the short period of time he spent walking.

In modern society, people might get chided for playing with their phones while walking, but reading a book while moving were given a pass. That was because this action was a rare sight—— right now, Shirogane was just like a living Ninomiya Sontoku.

The girl smiled awkwardly at him, and didn’t intend to admonish him. This was already the norm for this girl.

「That’s normal for their age, you should ignore it.」

They chatted in a casual tone. Their calm demeanor felt like they were mocking the peasants who couldn’t hide their love problems and troubles.

「Hmm?」

Shirogane shift his gaze away from the phrase book, and saw Kaguya lifting her hand to the corner of her lips and smiling elegantly.

Shirogane remembered saying that exact line Kaguya just stated.

He couldn’t recall how that conversation started back then, but Shirogane was confident of his memory. He was certain that they talked about this topic before.

「Yes, you are right.」

It happened eight months ago.

Just like today, Shirogane and Kaguya heard the students around them gossiping on their way to the Student Council room.

『Do you think they’re dating?』

When Shirogane heard that, this was what he thought:

Hmmp, they think Shinomiya and I are dating? The fools certainly do enjoy talking about nonsensical love affairs.

This was an opinion that befitted the Student Council President who stood at the top of the academy.

… Although——

If Shinomiya demanded that I go out with her, I suppose I would mull it over!

Regrettably, Miyuki Shirogane was also a teen going through puberty.

He would feel inferior to friends who had lovers, and look forward to the love column in the weekly manga magazine that his junior brought to school, and would also read manga that was a little lewd.

And I’m certain she has feelings for me. Probably just a matter of time…

He stroked his chin, and showed a sharp gleam like a hunter that had cornered his prey.

She should just take off the mask of a perfect, pampered maiden and make her blushing appeal to me.

Shirogane snickered as he imagined Kaguya confessing him bashfully with a flushed face.

♀♀♀

On the other hand, Kaguya who didn’t know what Shirogane was thinking fiddled with her skirt that slightly longer than her knees, and thought:

Really now… The ignorant children with their common talk, who do they think I am? I’m a member of the Shinomiya family, the heart of this country. How did they reach the conclusion that I would be dating a commoner?

Kaguya maintained her refreshing smile, and sighed at that misunderstanding around them.

The ideal Japanese woman would walk three steps behind a man, but showing one’s back to this girl wouldn’t be a wise move.

Contrary to her pure and untainted appearance, she was dark on the inside—— no, it would be closer to reddish black, like clotted blood.

Well, I suppose there could be a very slight possibility.If he got on his knees and offered up his body, soul, and hometown, I suppose I could forge him into a man who measures up to me…

Kaguya imagined the the affection Shirogane could barely conceal under his sharp gaze, as he confessed to her shyly. She had to work really hard to suppress a smile.

Simply put, the situation was like this.

—— if the other party took the initiative, there would be a chance.

Certainly, there’s no man who doesn’t pine for me. It’s probably just a matter of time.

She laughed softly. It was a smile that befitted a girl her age who was in love.

Both of them felt mutual affection for each other.

If one of them confessed, then this love would bear fruit. A happy ending was right within their grasps.

And both of them gradually realized this point.

It was just a matter of time.

That was right, the other party would confess sooner or later.

They just needed to wait calmly without panicking——

While they were engaging in this kind of thoughts, eight months passed.

Nothing of note happened during that period—— no, something did change. The two of them went to school on a single bicycle, went home sharing one umbrella, went to watch fireworks together, joined the Student Council for a second term together, and drew portraits of each other in art class. Even the color of their underwear was asked—— thinking back, quite a lot did happen.

But the two of them still didn’t confess.

As for the cause, it was because they were half-assed and popular at the same time.

Humans were creature who would fall for them even when left alone, and would come confess on their own volition—— that was their views on love.

No matter how compatible, or how much they yearn for each other, the two of them just waited for the other to confess, and their relationship didn’t progress at all. The worst scenario would be for them to stay this way until they pass of old age.

In the end, while they waited for the other to confess, their thinking shifted from, 「I wouldn’t mind dating him/her」 to 「How do I make him/her confess」.

And recently, it even turned into 「Please, hurry up and confess to me!」, but it would be too insensitive to point that out.

And so, the two of them acted like usual as they schemed to make the other confess, and walked towards the Student Council room.

♂♂♂

After Shirogane and Kaguya entered the Student Council room, they found someone was already there.

「Ah, President. Shinomiya-sempai too… Hello.」

The youth sitting on the couch was Yu Ishigami.

He held the post of Treasurer in the Student Council, and was a data analyzing expert.

In Shuchin Academy, only the Student Council President was elected, the other members of the Student Council were appointed on the President’s digression.

Ishigami was an outstanding talent, and less than a year after he enrolled, he was scouted by the Shirogane to join the previous Student Council. And of course, he continued holding the post of treasurer in the current term too.

His long bangs covered half of his face, and his habit of keeping his headphones on him made it felt like he was trying to avoid contact with the people around him. In actual fact, when he first joined the Student Council, he often brought his work home.

Ishigami had grown since then. Recently, he had been able to perform his work in the Student Council room together with his colleagues. And now, when he saw Shirogane and the others, he would take off his headphones, and he even joined the Cheer Team to change himself.

Compared to the stagnant relationship between Shirogane and Kaguya, Ishigami had made marked improvements.

「Hmm? Only Ishigami is here?」

Shirogane and Kaguya came here after a meeting with the other clubs, so Shirogane thought the other members were already here.

Aside from Ishigami, there were two other Student Council members. The two of them joined clubs or committees aside from the Student Council, and when Shirogane was wondering if they had gone over there, Ishigami shook his head to dismiss Shirogane’s thoughts:

「Actually, Fujiwara-sempai and Iino were here, but they ran off after seeing this…」

Ishigami then took out a white envelope timidly.

「What is this, an application form for the Student Council?」

「… Please read the contents first.」

Shirogane had an ominous feeling.

This was the smell of trouble.

Ishigami was an outstanding talent, and he wouldn’t let the busy Shirogane read work related documents, and would explained it to Shirogane after summarizing the key points. When he opt to hand the letter to Shirogane directly, it was a sign that he couldn’t decide on the situation.

Shirogane opened the letter inside the envelope cautiously.

『Why aren’t you replying to me? I know you are a solitary person. That’s right, that’s how well I know you, or rather, I’m the only one who understands you so much. Oh, how beautiful you are, the sight of you running on the track in preparation for the sports festival, and how you are glistening in sweat is so beautiful. Ohh, how I wish to turn your beauty into eternity. When that time comes, I will go with you. The two of us will turn into eternity together, and your beauty will be preserved. That is the most important thing—— but why are you turning me down? Why don’t you understand me? If you continue to ignore me, I will turn you into eternity by my own hands. Even if you don’t acknowledge me, I’m sure God will, because preserving your beauty forever is the right thing to do.』

「… Hmm.」

After reading its content, Shirogane carefully folded the letter and put it back into the envelope.

At this moment, Kaguya brought freshly brewed tea over, and Shirogane took the cup and proffered the envelope to her. As they exchanged the items in their hand, Kaguya asked nonchalantly:

「What does it say?」

「Hmmp, just your usual threatening letter.」

Shirogane sip on his tea and said calmly.

His face was like that of an elite that wouldn’t be wavered by such trivial matters.

Shirogane might look calm on the surface——

How scary! Sigh… This is a pain… saying 『I will turn you into eternity by my own hands』 already made this a criminal case, right? No no, this is beyond the jurisdiction of the Student Council! It’s too terrifying!

But his heart wasn’t calm at all, and was freezingly chilly.

Shirogane turned pale and the light was gone from his eyes, as he tried to hide his trembling hands. To stop the tea in his cup from spilling, Shirogane finish it all in one gulp, and burned his mouth.

But thanks to this pain, Shirogane regained a little of his spirit.

After coughing a little to check the condition of his throat, Shirogane asked Ishigami:

「But the culprit who wrote this threatening mail is kind of a klutz… and didn’t even write the name of the addressee. Just who is this meant for?」

「That’s right. To investigate, Fujiwara-sempai and Iino…」

「Oh, about that——」

Just as Ishigami and Kaguya who finished reading the letter was about to say something, the door was opened with a bang.

「Love sickness that even doctors can’t treat, shall be cured by this famous detective! Love detective Chika is here!」

Student Council Secretary Chika Fujiwara barged in with ragged breath.

On her head was a familiar hunting cap she borrowed from the drama club. For unknown reasons, she insisted on wearing this hunting cap whenever she talks about love related topics.

Even though the Student Council was short on manpower, Fujiwara and Kaguya would occasionally help out the drama club on their request. They were happy to help, and Kaguya would occasionally wear cosplay too, so Shirogane had no complaints about that.

Besides, there would be no one to this if he tried to interfere with Fujiwara’s actions—— However, Shirogane couldn’t help asking asking this time.

「Why are you wearing that? This isn’t a love topic.」

「Tchh. You are too naive, Watson-kun.」

Fujiwara waved a finger cockily. Before Shirogane could retort 「Who are you calling Watson-kun, don’t make me your assistant」, Fujiwara pointed strongly at him with her index finger.

「Mi-chan called this a threatening letter, but it can’t fool the eyes of this Love detective! I can tell that this is a love letter addressed to a girl. It just feels a little bit dangerous.」

「No, this is definitely a pure threatening mail.」

Shirogane retorted naturally, and Ishigami said hesitatingly.

「It might seem threatening at a glance, but I think… this should be a love letter. I don’t like to say it, but I agree with Fujiwara-sempai. But Iino strongly insist that this is a threatening letter, so there are two different opinions here.」

That explains it. When Ishigami let Shirogane read the letter without saying anything, this was to allow Shirogane to make his own judgement without any outside influence.

「I see, that is a plausible explanation.」

「Hmmp! The truth is always within the grasp of the love detective!」

Shirogane accepted their explanation, and dismiss his own thoughts. He didn’t think much of Fujiwara’s take on things, but since Ishigami says so, then there was a good chance that this was a love letter. Shirogane thinks Ishigami was more observant than himself, so he wouldn’t be so arrogant as to refute Ishigami’s view without any basis.

「Hmm? But Secretary Fujiwara, you mentioned 『this is a love letter addressed to a girl』, how did you know that? The gender wasn’t specified in the letter.」

「Hmmp, that’s because… that’s because……… Huh?」

Fujiwara tilted her head.

「Speaking of which, why did I think this is a love letter written by a boy to a girl? The handwriting looks like a boy, but that isn’t enough to determine that—— huh?」

The love detective put a hand on her forehead, and fell into deep thought.

Seeing her like this, Kaguya raised her hand:

「Fujiwara-san, about that——」

「Excuse me! Can someone please open the door for me?」

A call came from outside, and because the love addict had fallen into deep thought, Shirogane had no choice but to get up and open the door himself. He found Miko Iino standing outside.

Her petite figure was struggling with a heavy box, and there were sweat on her brows.

Shirogane was confused, as there wasn’t any arrangements to move something so heavy today.

「Hey, what are these?」

「Documents to verify handwriting. In order to find out who wrote the threatening letter, I borrowed these survey forms from the sports festival committee. We can match the handwriting against the entire student body.」

「Hey… then you can just ask Ishigami or me to go. The sports festival committee is pretty far, it must have been tough for you.」

「That won’t do, since no one has the same opinion as me—— Sigh, really now. Ishigami aside, even Fujiwara-sempai thinks this is a love letter… No matter how I see it, it’s a threatening mail!」

Iino said in a serious tone, and concluded without any room for negotiation. Regrettably, she was out of breath mid sentence. For Iino who was lacking in physical endurance, bringing the survey forms for the entire student body was strenuous work.

If it was for the sake of carrying out her conviction, she would do all that without any word of complaint—— that was the style of Miko Iino. She competed with Shirogane for the seat of Student Council President, and now held the post of auditor within the Student Council, and was everyone’s colleague.

「Do you plan to find the culprit by matching the handwritings one by one? Even if all the members of the Student Council did this together, who knows how many days it will take…」

「There is no need to trouble everyone, I can do this by myself. Matching handwritings isn’t something normal people can do, but the one who wrote this has a distinct handwriting style. For example the word 『go』 was written in one stroke, so I can find the culprit with efficiently with this clue. Don’t worry, I will also do my Student Council and Morals committee duties too.」

Iino said with determination. Her firm eyes didn’t show any sign of detest towards the hard work involved. She was really planning to find the culprit alone. Unfortunately, as if she was pouring cold water over Iino——

「Please listen——」

It was rare seeing Kaguya cut her off with a troubled face.

「This letter is addressed to me. I have an idea who wrote it.」

「Ehh?」

「Hah?」

Shirogane and Iino opened their eyes wide. Kaguya looked troubled, but chose to continue:

「In the past, I received a love letter, and discussed this with the President and Fujiwara-san. This is from the same person.」

「… Oh, that did happen.」

Shirogane started thinking back. That was before summer vacation, Kaguya said she received a love letter, and declared she would date that person. A lot of things happened, and in the end Fujiwara stopped Kaguya in tears.

Kaguya didn’t bring this up again, so Shirogane thought that was the end of this matter——

「Eh, ehh!?」

Shirogane’s train of thought was disrupted by a high pitch shout.

「Then, what about the handwriting verification? I brought these all the way here!!」

With her eyes on the pile of questionnaires, Iino’s scream echoed in the Student Council room.

♂♂♂

In the end, Ishigami sent the questionnaires back.

When the exhausted Iino went to the washroom, Ishigami got up from the couch and said 「Ah, I will return this.」 Before Shirogane could even offer to help, he had already left the Student Council room. Ishigami was actually very kind towards Iino, if only Iino could notice it, their relationship would definitely improve.

After some time, Iino returned to the Student Council room. This was a side topic, but Miko Iino visits the washroom frequently. With regards to that, Iino’s friend Osaragi Kobachi explained it as 「God made Miko small, especially her bladder」, and Ishigami commented 「It will get her into trouble one day」.

Because she made a wasted trip, Iino was so depressed that she didn’t notice the pile of questionnaires were gone.

Shirogane wasn’t sure how to console Iino, so faked a cough and continued the topic:

「So to summarized what Shinomiya said—— before summer vacation, after discussing with us, she turned the other party down clearly by saying 『Sorry, I can’t date you.』 However, that person started sending letters to her recently again.」

「That’s right. The letters were placed directly in my shoebox in the past, but recently, I started throwing them out without even reading. That’s why he changed tact and sent them directly to the Student Council.」

Shinomiya was saying that it was troubling, but her face didn’t look that way at all.

「Hmm.」

Shirogane nodded to concur that it was indeed troubling, but he seemed completely unfazed.

What he was thinking didn’t match his appearance at all.

Oh god! Receiving these scary mails frequently is terrifying, why is Shinomiya so calm!? Is she confident of subduing her opponent in an emergency!?

Shirogane who had experienced being thrown by Kaguya onto the floor desperately hid the wavering in his heart.

When Kaguya leaned forth to pour tea for Shirogane, she pretended to mention casually:

「But what should I do? Now that it have come to this, I will have to get help from others. But the other party is a fellow schoolmate, so it’s not too convenient to bring this up to the teachers or police——」

「Hmm……」

Shirogane realized that Kaguya’s tone sounded strange, which made him wary.

So it’s the usual, Shirogane’s mind started churning.

「I already told the other party that I’m troubled by these actions. Since he isn’t backing down, then I will need a more convincing explanation.」

Her tone sounded like she was discussing something, but Kaguya had a chilling smile on her face. She then glanced at Shirogane.

「Is there anyone who can convince that person completely?」

「Hmm.」

Shirogane brought the tea cup to his mouth, and surveyed the room discreetly.

Ishigami was away, Iino looked depressed, and Fujiwara was unreliable.

Kaguya used the vague term 「who」, but Shirogane noticed that he was the best candidate.

Shirogane started imagining how he could convince the person he sent that letter.

♂♂♂

Assume the sender was called Mr. X.

Shirogane imagined him standing face to face with 『X』 on the chilly rooftop.

With the white envelope in hand, Shirogane asked:

「You wrote this, right? You are troubling Shinomiya with your constant mail to her. Please desist at once.」

『X』 was shaken, and he yelled at Shirogane: 「This is none of your business!」

「Hmmp, but it is. I’m the Student Council President, and Shinomiya is the Vice President. As fellow members of the Student Council I have the rights to be involved in her affairs.」

『X』 snarled, ready to pounced on Shirogane and beat him off. He roared: 「Love is a private matter!」

Shirogane sighed again. Matters of the heart was private. It seemed that the Student Council President helping his Vice President was not compelling enough of a reason to convince 『X』.

Then Shirogane could only answer him this way:

「I do have another reason.」

Shirogane’s hair was messy from the wind, and he flicked it back. Flower petals seemed to be scattering behind him as he declared:

「Shinomiya is my woman.」

『X』 fell into despair because of how absolute that declaration was, and collapsed onto his knees.

And the incident was resolved perfectly.

Kaguya got liberated from the stalker and his undesired love letters, and officially started dating Shirogane——

No, this won’t work! I will lose!

Shirogane shook his head and refuted his delusion.

——「My woman」 declaration!

Since ancient times, this was a classic line in love stories that would win the hearts of the ladies.

From the male perspective, this was an action that declared to everyone that this woman was his lover; from the female perspective, this would resolve her own problems, and allow her to get the man she had an ambigious relationship with. Killing two birds with one stone.

Indeed, the 「My woman」 declaration favors the woman more.

In a relationship between lovers, 『the one who falls in love first loses』 was the absolute rule. Which means to say, the one who confess first was the loser. For Shirogane and Kaguya who had more pride than normal people, they would never permit themselves to confess before the other.

Assuming Shirogane did the 「My woman」 declaration, what would happen——

『Ara, President, so you are that possessive of me… How cute.』

Kaguya would definitely say that.

A 「My woman」 declaration was similar to a confession in a sense—— No, considering the effect on the surroundings, it is more intense than a confession. This was unacceptable for Shirogane!

「Cough cough—— Ahem!」

Shirogane snapped out of his delusions and faked two coughs to clear his mind.

It was just his delusion, but yelling 「Kaguya is my woman」 in his mind was enough to make Shirogane blush a little.

Even without the problem of the girl standing to gain more, Shirogane realized that he couldn’t yell out loudly that Kaguya was his woman.

If he could say such an embarrassing line, then he would have already confessed.

「Cough cough cough! Hack!」

「President, did you catch a cold?」

「N-No, I’m fine. Sorry, you don’t have to mind me.」

Shirogane turned his face away from Fujiwara who was checking on him, and rubbed his throat.

Whenever he remember doing something embarrassing or his past failures, he would want to roll on the ground and scream.

But this wasn’t his own room. As the Student Council President, Shirogane could never behave like that on campus.

And in return, Shirogane coughed dryly for some time before finally calming down.

♀♀♀

On the other hand, while Shirogane was suppressing the urge to twist his body in shame, Kaguya was also lost in her own delusion.

President’s 「my woman」 declaration——

Kaguya started imagining the scene of Shirogane negotiating with the sender on her behalf. And after Shirogane made his 「Kaguya is my woman」 declaration, the two of them officially become lovers.

Kaguya life her tea cup to her lips to hide her face.

Fufu. The President won’t say something like 「my woman」, that’s like saying I’m his possession—— really now! I don’t like that! Really now! Really!

When Kaguya return her cup to the saucer, her expression was completely different from before, with an unconcealable glee.

She didn’t even notice that when she imagined her relationship with Shirogane becoming deeper, her body would squirm softly.

If Kaguya’s personal assistant Ai Hayasaka saw this, she would show a speechless face.

Hayasaka knew about Kaguya’s side she never show to the members of the Student Council. In her eyes, Kaguya who had turned all soft and fluffy would look like she had a flower growing on her head.

If the usual dignified Kaguya was like a photorealistic portrait drawing, then this Kaguya would be like a child’s scribbling in crayons. That was how different she was now.

If the observant Yu Ishigami was present, he would probably suspect from the change in Kaguya’s facial expression that the tea was drugged. Kaguya would go so far as to use illegal means to put herself into an excited state—— and Ishigami would probably imagine something that would scare himself out of his wits.

Fortunately, Hayasaka and Ishigami weren’t here.

Fujiwara was still lost in her thoughts, and Iino was still depressed. Shirogane kept coughing as if he was trying to expel his delusion. Kaguya was lucky that no one noticed her unsightly side.

In the end, it was Shirogane’s coughing that pulled Kaguya back from the flower field in her mind.

「Cough, cough! Hack!」

「President, did you catch a cold?」

「N-No, I’m fine. Sorry, you don’t have to mind me.」

Shirogane said he was fine, but Kaguya was already thinking back to earlier moments.

A few minutes ago, when Shirogane handed the letter to Kaguya, and when she served her tea, Kaguya noticed Shirogane was shivering.

And since just now, Shirogane had been coughing unnaturally.

Shivering and unnatural coughing, there was only one conclusion.

After sacrificing many lives and blood, the dragon was sealed. The people declared that the era of peace was finally upon us. But they were wrong. The dragon still lives, and was building up its strength for its reckoning! The side of sacred holiness and the faction of evil darkness; the alliance that protects the Kingdom and those who seeked its destruction. If you wish to live with pride, then you must never lose. This is the era of war! The ones who fall first lose. Shuchin Private Academy Founded as a Magic education facility to seal the dragon tyrannizing the world, it’s a prestigious Magic school with an honorable and ancient history. With the abolishment of the old magic practices, the seal had grown weaker, and the powerful dragon stirred from its slumber. —— And naturally, no mere mortals would be strong enough to defeat the dragon.

After reading this far, Shirogane asked bafflingly:

「Erm, do I really need to read all this?」

Fujiwara was wearing decorative spectacles and held a pointer in hand. Dressed like a teacher, she refuted:

「What are you saying!? If you don’t remember the setting, you can’t participate in the TRPG. I won’t ask you to memorize all the nitty gritty details, but buying the official rule book is basic courtesy. Since this is made by the TG club, so you don’t have to pay. But at the very least, read through the player’s guide.」

「But, the seal weakening because of old magic being abolished is too abstract, I have no idea what it means…」

「Hold on, President. In that case, here is the terminology guide. It has pictures and detailed explanations too. Oh, Fujiwara-sempai must have drawn this. The style is similar to the graffiti on the whiteboard of the Student Council room.」

Besides Shirogane, when he heard his complaints, Ishigami handed him over a few dozen page thick booklets.

「Ughh—— That looks like a pain to read.」

「Don’t say it’s a pain without even reading it! Besides, you were the one who said you were interested in a TRPG, President!」

「That’s true, but this is going too far…」

Shirogane retorted Fujiwara, but someone stepped in and supported her.

「Don’t say that, Shirogane-kun. Setting the mood is important for things like this. Just read the guide made by Fujiwara-san.」

「That’s right, President. How much you can self insert into your role before the game starts is also a test of the player’s ability.」

The ones soothing Shirogane were Nagisa Kashiwagi and her boyfriend. The two sat closely together, and they were reading a single book together for some reason. Their faces were almost touching.

「Oh. Nagisa, look here. It says 『the ones who defeat the dragon would be entitled to any reward』. What should we do? What would you want after we defeat the dragon?」

「Ehh? Well, what should I get——」

The Kashiwagi couple who had made their relationship public were still soothing Shirogane two seconds earlier, but they were completely in their own world now.

When he saw them like this, Ishigami’s eyes turned gloomy. A moment later, Ishigami took out toilet paper from somewhere, holding it to the side of his face in a Hassō-ni-kamae stance. It was a well rounded stance great for offence and defence, and also the stance adopted by the assistant of someone performing Seppuku. 

「Ishigami! The game, focus on the game! alright!? We are on the same team!」

Shirogane felt Ishigami’s killing intent, and restraint his underclassman desperately. —— That was correct. Shirogane, Ishigami, and the Kashiwagi couples were now teammates with bonds thicker than blood.

Their goal was to defeat the ancient dragon slumbering in the old campus building.

If the four of them failed, the powerful dragon would wake from its thousand year slumber, and plunge the world into a sea of flame.

Their mission was to defeat the dragon before the seal was undone.

The fate of the world was now in the hands of these four brave heroes. ♂♂♂ It all started from a casual comment by Shirogane. This happened on the third day after Ishigami and Kaguya started pretending to be dating.

They failed to propagate the fake news of them dating. It wasn’t because their acting was bad.

According to what Fujiwara learned from others, in the eyes of the student body, this just looked like Kaguya educating and instructing Ishigami.

The plan failed, but it was unexpectedly effective too. Maybe the sender was spooked by how Kaguya was dragging the reluctant Ishigami all over the place. The mails stopped.

Although the plan didn’t perform as intended, everything worked out fine.

Ishigami was safely liberated from these terrifying times, and was playing games happily in the Student Council room. He didn’t have to be fake lovers with Kaguya anymore. Shirogane looked at Ishigami who was the same as ever, and suddenly remembered a game where the players roleplayed as specific characters.

「Ishigami, have you ever played a TRPG before?」

「I have, if you mean the sort done through internet chat rooms.」

「It seems to be getting popular again.」

「I see. Oh, President, if you are interested——」

The moment Ishigami said that, someone made a strong appearance as usual.

「I heard everything you said! If you are interested in TRPG, then you should try it for yourself. I just happen to have a script that uses the Shuchin Academy as the stage.」

And of course, that person was Chika Fujiwara.

Fujiwara was holding a stack of copy paper, and wore a white sash diagonally across her shoulder. Ishigami pointed at the words on the sash, and said in surprise:

「Oh! 『TG Club』! It says TG Club! Fujiwara-sempai is actually wearing a sash that’s truthful. Or maybe, the person itself is fake?」

「Hmmp… If you want to know if I’m a fake, then use your wits and knowledge to determine that!」

Fujiwara showed a fearless smile, and handed a stack of copy paper to Shirogane and Ishigami each.

Shirogane took it on reflex, and asked:

「I am interested, but are we going to play right now? Shinomiya  and Iino are tied up with their clubs, so they won’t be coming. Can we play this game with three people?」

「Yesterday, our three members in the TG Club already play tested this game, so don’t worry. But it will be more fun with more people. Then I don’t have to be a player, and can concentrate on my role as a GM. I will find more people, so use this time to read the guide.」 

Fujiwara then ran out of the Student Council room. After 16 minutes, she brought the Kashiwagi couple who were walking along the corridor back to the Student Council room.

Shirogane, Ishigami and the Kashiwagi couple started creating their characters.

「Please select a job from this list.」

Fujiwara showed the character list with a smile. However, Shirogane didn’t know what to pick.

He could understand 【Swordsman】 and 【Mage】 . But 【Hanging Corpse】 and 【The MC’s friends who can share how much the heroines like him】 were enigmas. Those couldn’t really be called jobs.

As Shirogane felt troubled over the large variety of jobs,

「Then I will choose, 【Witch Doctor】.」

「In that case, I choose 【Spacetime Navigator】.」

The heir to a hospital and the daughter of a ship building company gave their answers.

Seeing them decide on a job so easily, Ishigami who was at a lost raised his head as if he had figured it out.

「If we are choosing jobs that way, since my father is in the toy manufacturing industry, the closest job would be 【Playing around bum】…」

「Well, my Dad doesn’t have a stable job… I shall pick 【Playing around bum】…」 

The moment they said that, the atmosphere around Ishigami and Shirogane turned gloomy. On the other hand the Kashiwagi couple were rolling dice to determine their stats, and their laughter echoed in the room.

Shirogane’s mood turned dark, and it was showing on his face.

Seeing Shirogane like this, Fujiwara shot him a fierce gaze.

「Hey, this is just a game. Don’t get depressed over strange things. Let me give you some advice. Witch Doctor is a healer, while Spacetime Navigator has a large number of maneuvering skills. I think both of you should pick combat type jobs to balance the party.」

「Fujiwara, aren’t you going to choose?」

「Right now, I’m not a player, but the GM who will facilitate the game. So you four please work hard to defeat the evil dragon.」

Shirogane chose 【Paladin】, Ishigami picked 【Dark Mage】.

They needed to determine their stats next. The dice were rolled to determine abilities like intelligence.

「There’s no need to keep rolling the dice, we can just generate random stats on the internet with a touch of a button.」

When she heard what Ishigami said, Fujiwara put her hands on her hips and sighed.

「You don’t get it. Rolling the dice is the fun part of playing TRPG. I will even go as far to say that the point of playing TRPG is to roll the dice. Isn’t it stupid to replace the dice with mouse clicks?」

Fujiwara was adamant about that, so the sound of dice rolling echoed in the Student Council room for quite some time.

After the four of them determined their stats, Fujiwara showed an expression that said 「It’s finally time」, and took something out.

「Uwah!? It’s big!」

Four giant six sided dice that had to be picked up with two hands. They were occasionally featured on a variety of television shows, where celebrities would roll them. But normally, people wouldn’t really buy them.

「Since this is a game that is played while moving around the school, it will be inconvenient if they aren’t this big. Alright, let’s go into the movement phase. Everyone please roll one die each.」

「Wait, GM Fujiwara. Sorry, but I’m a fresh beginner, and don’t really understand what the stats we determined earlier ared used for in the game. Can you explain?」

「Ah—— President, you are the type that will read the manual carefully after buying a game. Personally, I think that’s great, but for this game, I think it’s easier to explain as you play it. Relax, you can only go on an adventure without knowing once in your life, so please cherish this experience.」

「But… never mind, I get it.」

Shirogane could only nod at Fujiwara who was all smiles, but he wasn’t actually convinced.

So far, Shirogane had just been forced to read through a weird world setting, rolling dice repeatedly, and recording his stats onto his character sheet.

Shirogane didn’t understand what was so fun about that. The Kashiwagi were lost in their own world, and Ishigami was staring silently at his character sheet with a rare serious face. Shirogane found it hard to speak in such a mood.

Shirogane understood what Fujiwara was saying, but he still felt that this was too unfriendly for a total beginner like him.

It looks like I won’t be able to ask...

Feeling really alienated, Shirogane picked up a large die.

「Let’s begin… One— Two!」

On Fujiwara’s cue, Shirogane tossed out the die in his hand.

However, contrary to his expectations, the other three flung their dice up high.

Shirogane followed the rising dice with his eyes, and as he watched them fall, he noticed the sparkling in Fujiwara’s eyes.

Her face was that of someone who had tossed aside everything and was completely engrossed in something.

The dice bounced under the child-like gaze of Fujiwara, and slowly rolled to a stop——

At that moment, the gate to another world opened. ◇◇◇ Tabletop Role Playing Game, commonly known as TRPG.

Where RPG video games, a heavy hitter in the computer entertainment industry, originated from.

Basically, unlike video games where the computer would generate and calculate the results of dice rolls, all these were done manually in TRPG.

For example, when they encountered an enemy, they would roll the number of dice equivalent to the enemy’s dexterity, then roll the same number of dice as their own dexterity. If the sum of their dice roll was bigger than that of the enemy, then they would have the right to make the first move.

And the most interesting part of this game, was that the player was free to decide on anything else.

After rolling the dice when you encountered the enemy—— you could choose to set fire to the surrounding to give you the advantage in terrain; or you could scatter gold coins to distract the enemy. Just like reality, the player had an infinite number of choices.

The GM facilitating the game would then judge if these actions were logical by running it through the rule book. The rule book wouldn’t be able to list everything out in detail, so the GM would need to improvise, such as, 「Please roll a die according to your luck stats—— Unfortunately, due to a sudden change in wind direction, the fire burned around you. The enemy took one damage, and you took three damage.」 「The enemies are goblins. They don’t understand the value of gold coins, and they launched a preemptive attack against you instead.」

Unlike video games, this analog game had all sorts of restrictions. It couldn’t be played without enough players, and you couldn’t save at any moment you liked, and if one of the team members was self centered, then the game couldn’t even progress.

However, it was these constraints that brought out the charm and freedom of the game.

In this era when the gaming industry is booming, those who have never tried analog games might think it isn’t fun.

Roleplaying is also a form of acting.

The difference between TRPG and other games is the feeling of immersion it entails.

Once you have experienced the charm of this sort of games once, the dice will become the key to another world.

Choose! Whether you open the door with this key or not, it’s up to you—— ♂♂♂ 「Alright then, let me explain the game again. This is a TRPG that spans the entire campus. The final goal is to defeat the ancient dragon sleeping in the old school building. The first half of the game is the adventuring phase to collect secret treasures, and the second half is the final battle against the dragon.」

Fujiwara lifts up a finger and started explaining after they made the dice roll.

She confirmed the numbers on the dice scattered around the Student Council room, opened the paper in her hand, and then said: 「Four, four, two, one. Please use this map when you are moving. Going alone is prohibited, so everyone please decide on where to go before moving.」

It was a hand drawn map that divided Shuchin into squares. Shirogane rested his chin on his hand, nodded and then asked:

「It adds up to 11. So that means we can move 11 spaces, right?」

That was what he thought, but Fujiwara made a large cross with her arms, signalling that was wrong.

「In—— correct. It has nothing to do with the sum of the dice. When moving in the campus, each zone is assigned different difficulties. The corridor is two, the field is three, they are distributed like this carefully. There are three dice greater than two, so you can move three spaces in the corridor.」

「How troublesome.」

Ishigami said immediately after Shirogane complained,

「Don’t worry, there are many games with similar rules. I will tell you where we can go in the beginning. I’m sure you will get the hang of it in no time, President.」

「I see, I hope you’re right——」

Shirogane sighed in relief, and Fujiwara suddenly leaned in from the side and said:

「Oh by the way, according to the setting, when a six is rolled, one of Japan’s prefectures would be swallowed into a temporal rift and vanish, so please be careful. As the dragon’s seal is undone gradually, the Scale Maiden won’t be able to use her energy to stabilize the timespace spectrum. The prefectures might also disappear if the players take specific actions too, so please keep that in mind. Also, if the 46 prefectures other than Tokyo disappear, then the dragon will be revived before all the secret treasures are collected. Your team will then be forced to fight at a disadvantage. So take care to leave at least one other prefecture during your adventures.」 

「—— My apologies, President, I retract my earlier statement. The rules set by Fujiwara-sempai is more chaotic than I expected. I’m sure that we will encounter many unreasonable things.」

As the cheerful Fujiwara introduced seemingly random rules, Ishigami looked at her with a face of a daughter in puberty listening to her own father telling lewd jokes.

「I-In any case, let’s start moving. How about the 【Library】, isn’t that the closest from here?」

Kashiwagi said in a chirpy voice to sooth the atmosphere.

「That’s true. I can’t think of any good answer, so I agree with the 【Library】.」

「If this is a normal game, then the zones nearby will normally be set to a lower difficulty to accommodate beginners. I think we can go to the 【Library】, assuming that this is a normal game, of course.」

「Since Nagisa already said so, I don’t have any objections either.」

The other three concurred, so everyone headed for the Library. They followed the spaces drawn out on the map and moved three squares, then rolled the dice again. After repeating this for a few times, they walked pass a male and female student walking shoulder to shoulder.

「Oh, it’s the President. Hello——」

「Yes… Hello.」

The two of them smiled and nodded at Shirogane as they passed by, and Shirogane returned the greeting as he hid the dice behind him unconsciously.

He was breaking out in cold sweat, afraid of being treated as a suspicious person for playing some strange game on campus. In that moment, Fujiwara suddenly shouted:

「Okay—— encountered a couple! Everyone, please roll your dice!」

「Ehh? But why… whatever, here.」

Fujiwara counted the dice rolled by Shirogane and the others, then shouted:

「The sum of the dice rolls is ten. If you roll less than twelve, one of the prefecture will vanish because of the lovers’ taunt. Tokushima Prefecture is lost in the temporal rift this time.」

「The lovers’ taunt is too powerful!?」

4,000 km2 of land and its 750,000 residents vanished because of the couple’s taunt. It might just be a game, but that still sounds unpleasant.

「There’s probably an encounter whenever we pass by anyone. It might be a better strategy to pick routes with lesser people, instead of heading straight for the destination.」

Ishigami analyzed the game calmly. He picked up Shirogane’s and his dice, handed one to him and said:

「But we are just two spaces away from the Library, so we should continue. Let’s think about the next destination and route after getting the first secret treasure.」

「Yes, that makes sense. There might be a specific order and condition to gather the secret treasures, we have too little information. In any case, let’s carry on without changing course.」

「I think so too.」

The three of them accepted the sudden change readily, and Shirogane felt alienated again.

「O-Okay…」

The game continued without any regards for his thoughts.

「Oh, we can get a recovery item in the nurse’s office, shall we go there?」

「Nurse's office!?」

Ishigami’s shoulders shook violently.

「What’s the matter, Ishigami?」

「No, it’s nothing, but can we not go to the nurse's office…?」

「Considering the final battle at hand, shouldn’t we get that recovery item?」

Kashiwagi stated her opinion readily.

「Well, actually——」

Ishigami told them what happened on that day.

He had a strange dream, and when he woke up, he found someone tending to him. On closer look, the face of that person was——

「Oh I see. You are saying that the one tending to you is a set of bones, huh.」

「I definitely heard Shinomiya-sempai’s voice. But when I opened the curtains…」

A set of bones were standing there.

Shirogane felt a shiver just from recalling that scene.

「That sounds like the 【Visiting Skeleton】.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said. Shirogane asked after hearing that:

「Visiting Skeleton?」

「Haven’t you heard of the seven mysteries of this school?」

The moment Kashiwagi said that, Fujiwara raised her hand and answered happily.

「I know that too〜【Moving Painting】, 【Invisible Piano Sonata】 and stuff like that.」

「There’s also the 【13 stairs】, 【Suicide Tree】, and the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】, I think.」

The two girls counted the mysteries with their fingers cheerfully.

It seemed that most schools would have seven mysteries, but Shirogane had not heard of them before.

「Hmm—— so there are such things too. I never heard of it.」

When she heard Shirogane’s mumbling, Kashiwagi smoothed the atmosphere for him:

「President joined from outside after all.」

「I didn’t know about it too…」

Ishigami said in a lonely tone. He probably didn’t learn about such rumours in school since he doesn’t have friends, and he was getting depressed over it.

Shirogane asked the girls in order to divert Ishigami’s attention:

「By the way, I counted only six, what’s the last one?」

「Hmm hmm, do you want to know?」

Fujiwara snickered with her hand over her mouth.

She was teasing him instead of telling them the last mystery.

Sensing that Shirogane was getting irritated, Kashiwagi said:

「Those who encounter the six mysteries will fall from the roof and die… something like that.」

「Be careful, Ishigami-kun, you have five left♪」

「Give me a break…」

The pale Ishigami answered gloomily.

Shirogane wanted to divert Ishigami’s attention, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In any case, it would be bad to continue talking about these spooky mysteries.

「Well… since there’s a skeleton in the nurse's office, we will be drawn into an unnecessary battle, which makes taking the recovery item a moot point. Let’s skip it this time.」

Shirogane suggested a little forcefully to stay away from the nurse's office, and there were no objections. ♂♂♂ After successfully getting the secret treasure in the Library, Shirogane’s group headed for the rooftop.

As for the key to the rooftop, there’s one in the staff office, the principal's all access key counts as one, and the head of the astronomy club probably made a spare one too… so there were three keys.

The game zone extends to the roof, but without a key, they had to use the platform at the staircase leading to the roof as a substitute instead.

The rules at a staircase were: everyone rolls a die, and the sum of the rolls was equal to the number of steps they could climb.

「Let’s roll, one—— two.」

Everyone rolled the dice on Shirogane’s cue, and the sum was twelve.

「Ch—o—co—la—t —e—」 

Despite being the GM, Fujiwara was walking in front as she skipped up the stairs.

Followed by Shirogane and the Kashiwagi couple.

「Okay, this is the second checkpoint. There’s an item called the 【Small stool】 on the rooftop—— hmm?」

Fujiwara turned back in surprise.

「…Ishigami-kun, what are you still doing there?」

The others were already on the platform, but Ishigami stopped one step lower for some reason.

「Huh? Because the dice roll was twelve, so we can only advance twelve steps, right?」

「……」

Fujiwara was quiet for a moment, then said to Ishigami with a smile:

「Really now, Ishigami-kun, don’t crack such bad jokes.」

「No, it’s you who counted wrong, right? I basically can’t mess up when I deal with numbers.」

Ishigami refuted with a stiff smile.

However, Fujiwara made a serious face:

「Yes, it’s hard to imagine Ishigami-kun making a mistake in counting… so I thought you were joking.」

「Like I said, you are the ones who counted wrong…」

「That’s impossible.」

Fujiwara denied firmly.

「Because, there are only eleven steps in this stairs.」

「Huh?」

「The dice roll was twelve, so you can climb up even if you miscount by one. But Ishigami-kun, you are standing on the tenth step. If you miscounted, that means… you are off by two?」

Ishigami and Fujiwara stood face to face.

Because they were one step apart, their height was the same.

「Let me ask you again.」

Fujiwara looked straight at Ishigami.

「You are joking, right?」

Time seemed to freeze right then.

A short while later——

「O-O-Of course——! I was just thinking about toki soba and didn’t count p-p-properly!」 

Ishigami who was obviously getting distraught climbed the last step—— the thirteenth step.

Kashiwagi muttered quietly: 「That’s the second mystery.」 ♂♂♂ 「Ahh—— a wild monster appeared!」

Fujiwara said and pointed to the maths teacher.

The maths teacher said 「Who's a monster!? I’m the one being harrassed by monsters, that’s me!」 and left.

It seems that meeting teachers would be treated as encountering monsters. The battle couldn’t be avoided even if the teacher left. Fujiwara furrowed her brows, and explained loudly to stir up the fighting spirits of Shirogane and the others:

「Since the dexterity of Zama-sensei is one, the players can make the first move. Please move in the order of highest to lowest dexterity within your team. First will be the Spacetime Navigator.」

「Oh, I’m up.」

Kashiwagi who got named by Fujiwara checked the guide a little panicky.

「In battle, roll the number of dice equivalent to our own combat stat, right… Let’s see, my combat stat is two, so lend me your die.」

「Do your best, Nagisa——」

Kashiwagi borrowed a die from her boyfriend, then tossed the dice with all her might. However, the results were one, one.

「Oh, it’s a fumble… but this game doesn’t have such a setting, so this is just a normal failure. Zama-sensei defended the Spacetime Navigator’s attack with his set square, and took no damage.」 

「Ahh… I’m sorry, everyone.」

Kashiwagi put her hands together and apologized cutely.

「Don’t worry, Nagisa. The Paladin will be up next, he will definitely cut the monster down in one hit.」

「Ehh, by Paladin, you meant me right? So I just have to roll the dice? The same number as my combat stat…」

Shirogane wanted to check his character sheet, but it took a lot of effort. There were too many pages in the guide, which obfuscated his search. Fujiwara couldn’t stand it anymore and said:

「President’s combat stat is five.」

「Five… I can’t hold five, the dice are too big!」

「Then roll them two times. Roll three of them first.」

Shirogane followed Fujiwara’s instructions, and borrowed the dice from the Kashiwagi couple. Including the one he had, that was three. Shirogane’s hands were full with just that.

Ishigami couldn’t hand his die to Shirogane, and fidgeted with his die and muttered:

「It’s too hard to play 5D6 with such big dices. If you want to retain the flexibility of setting a character’s combat potential, wouldn’t it be better to set the smallest unit to 1D3 or 1D2, instead of 1D6??」 

「That’s unnecessary! If we use 1D3, that means the result is the same whether you roll 3 or 4! The idea of simplifying the gameplay is good, but if we do that, then what’s the point of the six sided design of the dice? And in this sort of game, it’s more fun to roll more dice!」

「… I don’t get what you are arguing about, but I’m going to roll.」

Fujiwara and Ishigami squabbled as usual, and Shirogane who couldn’t follow their pace let go of the dice and allowed them to drop. Even with that, the dice pumped full of air still bounced all over the place.

「Ah!」

Fujiwara’s eyes that had turned triangular from being mad at Ishigami, reverted back to a smile when she saw the result of the roll.

「Six, six, four! That’s a double critical hit, President!」

「Erm, won’t the prefecture disappear?」

「A temporal rift will only happen during movements. When you roll a six during combat and evasion, it will be counted as a critical hit, giving you one more dice roll. So President, you can roll four more dice.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said:

「Oh, Shirogane-kun, you are amazing!」

Including Ishigami’s die, Shirogane picked up four dice this time.

「Uwah, that’s too many, I can’t carry all of them!」

「Just roll with it. Rolling dice is a matter of guts!」

Cheered on by Fujiwara, Shirogane rolled the dice. Some female students who just happened to be passing by were surprised by this scene. Shirogane nodded at them and apologized, and heard Fujiwara yell: 「Another six!」

「President, you can roll one more.」

The grumpy looking Ishigami, smiled when he saw Shirogane’s dice roll. It was a rare cheerful smile, not an expression that Ishigami would normally make. The lanky Ishigami had a face that looked younger and gentler than his actual age.

Chapter 3: Yu Ishigami is cursed

「I think I have been cursed.」

「Cursed!?」

Shirogane was very surprised by Ishigami’s sudden declaration.

They were walking slowly towards the Student Council room. After finishing some work related to the clubs, the sun was already setting as its rays illuminate the corridor through the window.

When he heard Ishigami said something weird out of the blue, Shirogane suspected that he was still immersed in yesterday’s TRPG roleplay, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

「Why do you think you have been cursed? Did you receive some strange mail too?」

「If that is so, I will just think my classmates are finding trouble with me.」

Shirogane felt a hint of lunacy from Ishigami’s calm tone, and kept quiet.

Ishigami then recounted the entire incident from the start. ♂♂♂ There were many art pieces in the Shuchin art storage room.

Most of them were award winning works, but our academy had a seriously long history that goes back for centuries. Well, because of its long history, it had an astonishing number of art pieces, which was a pain to manage.

「Really now, my luck is really bad.」

I entered the storage room and sighed after seeing the number of paintings. Anyone would think that tidying up the piles of art pieces was a job for two.

However, the number of people cleaning the art rooms were separated by room sizes. So for a group of 6, 3 would take the art room, 2 would handle the corridor and the last one would clean the storage room.

The other places just needed some sweeping and mopping… But for the storage room, the place needs to be 「excavated」 before work could be done.

「… Well, it couldn’t be helped. It would be awkward to be stuck in this cramped place with someone else.」

My classmates all treats me coldly, so it would be more relaxing for me to be alone, and I didn’t mind. Considering the fact that I might be able to slack off if I’m by myself, I volunteer to clean the storage room.

「My predictions have always been off… But this number is too much…」

I picked up the painting close by with a sigh.

I didn’t plan to work seriously, but if I didn’t clean it to a somewhat acceptable standard, I would get told off. As I was planning on slacking off and clean just well enough to not get scolded, that thing happened.

「Ehh? This painting…」

As I moved the paintings to the wall and cleared a path, One of the paintings felt off.

Before I saw the painting, I already sensed that it was different from the others.

First of all, the canvas felt different. Most of the paintings were coarse, and the painting on it had a smooth and soft feeling, which felt comfortable. That painting was the only one that felt different. How should I put it, it was painful? Yes, it hurts to touch it.

I wasn’t interested in paintings, and wouldn’t go out of my way to confirm it when I was cleaning. But this strange sensation made me want to check it out.

I knocked off the dust and looked at it.

「Uwah.」 I felt a chill on my back.

I shouldn’t have looked—— With that in mind, I turned that painting towards the wall, and felt the urge to finish up quickly. It wasn’t because the contents of that painting made me uncomfortable or irritated. Instead, it was a beautiful picture. Amazingly so. I couldn’t really appreciate paintings, but I could tell the intense passion of this painting, and was sincerely impressed. Then why didn’t I want to see that painting?

The reason was simple. It was a painting of Shinomiya-sempai.

With that painting by the side, it would feel like someone was supervising me while I cleaned the room, making it hard to relax. So I turned it around to face the wall.

After that, I chanted 「I love you 3000, I love you 3000」 as I started cleaning again. Well, 「I love you 3000」 is a spell to ward off iron deficiency, but back then, I thought it was better than nothing. 

It would be great if the story ended here, but what happened next was the main story.

The previous person who tied the place seemed to have arranged the work by chronological order, so I did the same.

In the corner was from the Showa 40s. Not all the paintings were dated and signed, so I could only gauge their age from how worned out and discolored the frame was. But that was strange. Why was painting of Shinomiya-sempai mixed in there? 

Shinomiya-sempai was part of the Heisei’s Enlightened Generation, so her painting shouldn’t be there 

Well, it might have been mixed in by mistake. Maybe the frame was reused, and the previous sorter differentiate the years by the decoloration of the frames like I did. Or maybe that frame was signed and dated, so it wouldn’t be strange for this to happen.

I wonder what was the reason?

I turned to check on that painting.

If my speculations were correct, there should be some clue on the frame. I turned the painting around, so I could see the answer with a glance.

However, I didn’t find out why.

Because the painting of Shinomiya-sempai was facing towards me.

I froze on the spot.

I definitely turned it towards the wall. Because Shinomiya-sempai staring at me was scary, so I turned it. No matter what, I wouldn’t make the mistake of putting down the painting with it facing my way. That was how much I feared Shinomiya-sempai.

I thought someone was pulling my leg. However, the door to the art room was still shut. I could hear the faint laughter of my classmates cleaning the art room. That door was very worn out, and would make creaking sounds when opened. I would definitely notice when it opens, even if I was in the middle of cleaning.

「……」

Despite the chill I felt, I still placed the painting back onto the easel. I then wrapped a cloth around it to cover it tightly.

I then cleaned the place promptly, since I didn’t want to spend even a second more in that place.

I couldn’t shake the looming feeling out of my mind, but I endured it and finished cleaning up. In the end, I was done ahead of the scheduled time.

I then turned off the lights and closed the door.

However, the door wouldn’t close. Wondering if the door was caught onto something, I looked in through the gap——

And the painting of Shinomiya-sempai was looking right at me. ♂♂♂

The staircase was completely silent.

Ishigami who was talking turned quiet. His bangs flickered with the wind blowing through the window.

Shirogane thought about it for a moment.

When he heard it was a painting of Kaguya, Shirogane thought it was the drawing he did of her during class, but the date didn’t match. He wasn’t part of this story, and was just a bystander being asked for his opinion.

In that case, he only had one thing he wanted to say.

However, saying that would be too inconsiderate.

Or rather, it would be too mean spirited.

As he was considering what to say, he realized what Ishigami was worried about, and stated slowly:

「… This is just like one of those seven mysteries Fujiwara and the others talked about last time.」

「Yes, the 【Moving Painting】.」

Shirogane thought back to Fujiwara’s conversation back when they played a TRPG.

「That sounds like the 【Visiting Skeleton】.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said. Shirogane asked after hearing that:

「Visiting Skeleton?」

「Haven’t you heard of the seven mysteries of this school?」

The moment Kashiwagi said that, Fujiwara raised her hand and answered happily.

「I know that too〜【Moving Painting】, 【Invisible Piano Sonata】 and stuff like that.」

「There’s also the 【13 stairs】, 【Suicide Tree】, and the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】, I think.」

The 【Moving Painting】 was often found to be part of a seven mysteries in schools.

Usually, it would be a painting of a person in the music room. Like the eyes of Beethoven or Bach moving or glowing.

Another type was a person or part of the scenery in the painting disappearing, or a student trapped in a painting.

And last of all, the painting moving physically even though no one else was there. The 【Moving Painting】 in this academy belonged to this category.

And so, Ishigami experienced another one of the seven mysteries.

「That’s three now… this is bad…」

Ishigami held his head, and his gloomy expression turned even darker.

The third one.

The most awful thing about this seven mysteries, was that the seventh one stated 【Those who experienced six of the mysteries will fall from the roof and die】.

So when you encounter six mysteries, the seventh one would be fulfilled automatically. The countdown to death was not at three.

The 【Invisible Piano Sonata】, 【Suicide Tree】 and 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】 were left… Ishigami had progressed to the halfway mark.

Shirogane was timid, but instead of being afraid, he felt more bewildered instead.

「I’m not sure how to feel about Shinomiya’s painting being part of the seven mysteries.」

「I think we can’t dismiss the possibility that Shinomiya-sempai is actually a monster close to her sixties.」

Ishigami said with a serious face.

「No, I hope you can dismiss that notion.」

Ishigami continued:

「Well, leaving that aside, encountering three of the seven mysteries in such a short period of time is pretty spooky. At this pace, I will breeze through the seven mysteries by the end of the week, right?」

「No, I think you are overthinking it.」

If these were isolated incidents, and Ishigami wouldn’t be too bothered about encountering several seven mysteries, or even knew he encountered them. But he grew conscious about it after learning the existence of the seven mysteries—— that should be the logic behind his thinking.

「But this is too much of an coincidence.」

「What else could it be? Like that 【Invisible Piano Sonata】, that’s just the person who heard the piano failing to meet the one who played it. I think that happens quite often.」

「Yes, indeed, they just happen to miss each other…」

At that instant.

「!?」

Shirogane and Ishigami turned back at the same time.

Their gazes were on the music room ahead. A playing piano could be heard from there.

「… The timing seems impeccable.」

「… You got that right.」

They looked at each other and laughed awkwardly.

When they were chatting about how it wasn’t scary to hear the piano, they heard the piano playing—— like some kind of joke.

「But it’s already past the time for club activities. Let’s greet them.」

「Yes, ghost don’t exist in reality.」

Shirogane stood before the music room and placed his hand on the door.

He just need to open the door and greet the student inside. Shirogane didn’t plan to nag too much, and just tell them: 「Remember to go home before it gets dark.」

He can then prove that the piano playing wasn’t some paranormal activity. However——

「President… don’t tell me the door won’t open?」

Shirogane felt sweat forming on his brows. No matter how hard he tried, the door to the music room wouldn’t budge.

「Hey, who’s there?」

Shirogane gave up on opening the door, and shouted instead.

However, after a long wait, the piano didn’t stop playing, and the door didn’t open either.

「Who is it? Club activities time is over. Unlock the door.」

Unfortunately, there wasn’t a glass panel on the door to peek in, so there was no way to tell what was happening inside.

Shirogane’s patience was at its end, and he started knocking loudly on the door.

「I won’t get mad, so come on out. Please. Just let me see your face. I mean it, no lie.」

「P- President…」

Ishigami was freaked out.

The music room door was thick, but the student definitely noticed after such intense knocking. And after they heard what the Shuchin Student Council President said, they would definitely answer. Shirogane was respected by the student body, and wouldn’t be ignored without reason.

That’s right, normal students wouldn’t ignore him.

Shirogane suddenly stopped.

「…President?」

Ishigami looked up, his eyes seeking salvation from Shirogane.

「The student inside must be too engrossed with practice, and didn’t hear me. The door is locked to stop others from disturbing. Let’s go, Ishigami, let’s leave it be.」

Shirogane seemed to be saying that to himself, then turned away.

「No, this is definitely someone’s prank… Please wait. I can look inside from the windows of the next block. I will be right back, President, please see if anyone comes out.」

「… Are you serious?」

Ishigami started running, leaving Shirogane standing there alone. ♂♂♂ For the forthright Ishigami, doing something that makes him think of the seven mysteries was unforgivable.

He wants to find out who the culprit was and tell him off, so he could get the matter off his chest. Ishigami ran angrily with his shoulders heaving.

When he reached the block, he looked through the window in the corridor into the music room.

—— However.

No one was there. It was empty.

Maybe the angle wasn’t good, so he moved on to get a better angle to check. But he still couldn’t see anyone.

Did the piano player left? If that was so, Shirogane should be teaching him a lesson.

He sighed and took out his phone, then called Shirogane.

「Hello, President? Who is the fella that played such a malicious prank?」

There wasn’t any answer? Maybe the signal wasn’t good, Shirogane didn’t reply.

「Hello? Hello?」

After asking a few times, he finally got a response.

『… The piano is still being played.』

Ishigami was at a loss for words.

There wasn’t anyone sitting in front of the piano. None. No one could be playing the piano. There shouldn’t be any sound from the piano.

Ishigami opened the window, and could hear the faint sound of the piano from the next block.

He was sure that was the unique sound of a real musical instrument. Which means that this wasn’t a recording played back through speakers or the broadcast system in the music room.

Suddenly, he realized that he recognize this tune.

He heard Iino played this in the past. If he was right, it was called... ——「Funeral」.

Chopin’s 「Funeral March」.

At that moment, all the rage disappeared from Ishigami’s face, leaving only pure terror.

【Those who experienced six of the mysteries will fall from the roof and die 】

After encountering another seven mysteries, Ishigami was one step closer to death, and this sounded like a song dedicated to his interment.

Ishigami said between sobs:

「President, I have enough… This is already the fourth one. I don’t think it’s a coincidence anymore…」

『… Thinking about it seriously, when you encountered the 【13 stairs】, I was also there. That means I also encountered my second one.』

Shirogane said in a trembling voice.

『Let’s get out of here for now, I will meet you in the courtyard.』

「G-Got it.」

Ishigami ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket, then sprinted out of there at full speed. ♀♀♀ Going back in time for a little.

About 30 minutes before Shirogane and Ishigami ran away in panic.

After Kaguya finished some administrative work in the Student Council room, Fujiwara declared out of the blue.

「Operation Romantic!」

「「Operation Romantic!?」」

When they heard Fujiwara’s sudden announcement, Kaguya and Iino repeated that line at the same time.

This was after the three female Student Council members gathered in the room. Iino said 「Nice weather today.」, and Kaguya answered 「The chance of precipitation in the evening is 30%, but it don’t look like it will rain.」, and Fujiwara made that declaration.

It was futile to ask the Student Council Secretary to speak logically.

「Previously, didn’t we let Kaguya-san to pretend dating the President or Ishigami-kun in order to ward off the guy who sent that letter. We expressed our opinions back then, but don’t you think the boys’ reactions were too mean?」

「I remember when it was my turn, Secretary Fujiwara reaction was the most mean…」

Kaguya muttered with gloomy eyes, but she was ignored.

Fujiwara was wearing a hunting cap and chewing on a toy pipe.

She had transformed into a love detective, and pointed at Iino forcefully before saying:

「Mi-chan, isn’t that right? When you shared your idea of the encounter and confession scene, didn’t they mocked it thoroughly?」

「Ehh? Y-Yes… it’s as you say.」

Miko Iino was in mesmerized by Chika Fujiwara mode. Kaguya didn’t understand what Iino did wrong to end up like this. Kaguya prayed quietly for Iino, hoping she wouldn’t get conned by a suspicious cult or salesmen.

Anyway, Iino was convinced by Fujiwara immediately, as usual.

「The President did reject my proposal.」

「He did! He was so mean, and acted as if we didn’t have any love cells at all. However, even though the boys put on such a front, I’m sure they will want to fall into heart pounding love if that scenario happened to them.」

「I see.」

Iino nodded repeatedly, showing no doubts toward what Fujiwara said. Fujiwara seemed to be encouraged by Iino in return, and spread her arms open with a smile:

「So, let’s put our earlier theory into practice. Let the boys experience the ideal encounter and confession we came up with, and make them want to fall in love. That’s Operation Romantic.」

「I understood now!」

You understood nothing.

Iino was nodding repeatedly, but to Kaguya, Fujiwara’s explanation was too vague for her to understand what she was saying.

And so, Kaguya asked Fujiwara:

「You want them to experience the ideal encounter and confession scene, but don’t we already know them? It’s physically impossible. Or do you want to scout for an actor or something?」

「Well, that is one way, but that would be the actor who made them fall in love instead, right? That’s not my idea, the key of this operation is to make their heart race with just the Romantic scenes, so we have to hide.」

「Hide… Which means, we have to make their heart race without showing ourselves, correct?」

「That’s right!」

Kaguya thought for a moment. Even though Fujiwara always bring up random topics, but there were many instances where Kaguya could make use of it. It was the same this time too.

Indeed, this operation had no downsides for Kaguya. This was a chance for a battle of love and brain against the President. Even if they were found out, she could use Fujiwara as a shield, by saying 「Fujiwara-san insisted…」

If the plan worked and Shirogane’s heart skipped a beat, they just need to reveal themselves to increase his affection for Kaguya. Maybe he would be so moved that he would confess.

Even if it fails, she could push all the responsibility to Fujiwara. It was a great plan.

Kaguya smiled brilliantly.

「… Okay then. Today’s work is done, so I will accompany you for a bit.」

「Awesome!」

Fujiwara raised both hands in the air and waved them like she just don’t care. When someone plays along with her, she would show a sincere smile.

Even though Fujiwara was always saying nonsensical things and was unfathomable, Kaguya felt that was exactly the cute part about Fujiwara.

♀♀♀

The piano’s melody faded away slowly.

When the performer—— Miko Iino turned back, Fujiwara clapped silently.

Iino jogged over and gestured 「Was my playing okay?」 Fujiwara raised a hand to stop Iino, then exhaled loudly a few seconds later.

「The President left, we can talk now.」

「How did President Shirogane and company react?」

「Hmm… Mi-chan, want to take a look?」

When she heard Iino’s question, Fujiwara showed Iino her phone. On it was the Shirogane from a few minutes ago.

They set a phone into video recording mode, then hid it behind a fire extinguisher. The angle was a bit off and their voices sounded muffled, but it was good enough to observe the boy’s reaction.

Iino stared at the phone nervously, watching Shirogane and the other’s faces when they heard the performance. When she didn’t see them showing the reaction she expected, Iino turned gloomy.

「I shouldn’t have played after all. President Shirogane seemed to have left in anger. Instead of me, Fujiwara-sempai should——」

「That’s not true! Mi-chan played well, I can feel your heart and soul in your performance!」

On Fujiwara’s encouragement, Iino smiled happily.

「Really? Thank you very much. It’s my honor to hear Fujiwara-sempai say that.」

Iino was very moved, and her mood turned for the better. The plan to make Shirogane and Ishigami’s heart race didn’t work, but she looked happy.

『If Fujiwara-san plays, we will get exposed because your performance is too good.』—— Kaguya stopped herself from saying that. She knew that Iino was an outstanding piano player among high schoolers, but comparing her to Fujiwara would be too harsh.

「Anyway, the boys don’t have any artistic sense at all. I think Mi-chan’s idea of 【the boys being mesmerized by the beautiful piano melody and imagining who is playing it】 is great. But for the President who will answer 【the tune played during the supermarket’s limited time sale】 when asked what songs he likes, this level might be too high.」

「（Angry tsundere noises）」

Kaguya felt angry when Shirogane was being treated like a fool, but she stopped herself forcefully.

【The boys being mesmerized by the beautiful piano melody and imagining who is playing it】

The person who can play such beautiful piano must be an amazing person—— that one impression would influence the overall opinion of someone else, and was known as the 「halo effect」.

Their goal was to make Shirogane and the others imagine the 「girl playing the piano」, and make them squirm from their expectations.

If they found out that the performer was Iino, they would just think 「so it’s Iino」, and the story ends.

If they wanted to create a mysterious girl, they couldn’t expose her identity.

So their plan was the 『Performance in the music preparation room』.

Iino’s 「Funeral March」 wasn’t played with the Grand Piano in the music room, but the piano in the music preparation room next door. In Italian, it’s called a pianino, which means little piano. It was commonly called an Upright Piano. 

They just need to leave the door to the music preparation room slightly ajar, then the music would fill the empty music room.

The Grand Piano and Upright Piano had similar designs, so the boys wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. They could even play back a recording without any problems—— That was Fujiwara’s idea.

However, Fujiwara felt it was too risky to play back a recording, so she chose to use the Upright Piano instead. Her judgement was on point, and she succeeded in letting Shirogane and Ishigami encounter the spirit of the 「piano playing girl」. ♂♂♂

After meeting up with Ishigami in the courtyard, the first thing Shirogane did was apologize.

「Ishigami… I’m sorry for doubting you all this time… You really are cursed.」

「Eh, President—— d-don’t be like this, there’s no need to apologize.」

The sight of Shirogane bowing in apology made Ishigami squeeze out a stiff smile.

「I actually couldn’t believe it myself. It’s just a topic for idle chatting, or seeking advice to make my daily life more interesting, that’s all. So… please, say something like 『the seven mysteries is just some dumb fad』 and laugh it off.」

「Haha, haha」—— intermittent dry laughter came out of Ishigami’s throat.

He either wanted to escape reality because he was too afraid, or was acting cheery in an attempt to laugh off the seven mysteries.

It pained Shirogane to see him like this, and Shirogane felt the urge to look away.

「And President, even if we assume that the seven mysteries are true, then this should be the end. Aside from the last one, the other two will never happen.」

Ishigami was a little agitated because of fear, and continued without waiting for Shirogane to respond.

「For example, the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】. I heard that ring is hidden somewhere on campus, but it’s impossible for it to exist. If the person who finds it gets to will be granted one wish, then I just to make this wish—— 【Please don’t let me die to the curse of the seven mysteries】. Everything will be resolved. If the ring can’t grant wishes, then it won’t be the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】 stated in the seven mysteries, which will contradict the logic.」

After saying that, Ishigami looked up at a tree in the courtyard.

「And this 【Suicide Tree】 is one of the seven mysteries too. This used to be a lucky tree, where you will succeed if you confess under it. But after a student hang herself there, the rumor turns into 『whoever gets confessed here will experience a sad and twisted love』.」

Shirogane was shivering from fear.

「You sure are well informed…」

「It was bothering me, so I investigated it a little… Maybe I’m better off not knowing…」

「Hey, since this is one of the seven mysteries, we should get out of here quicker. Your body seemed to have the constitution of attracting the seven mysteries after all.」

Ishigami suddenly turned serious at that.

「Constitution of attracting the seven mysteries…」

Ishigami realized something.

「So if I stay here, I will receive a confession!?」

「Of all the things you can say…」

「But it’s true. It’s no exaggeration to say that I have the power to attract the seven mysteries. So I can trigger the confession event tied to this tree’s 『whoever gets confessed here will experience a sad and twisted love』, correct?」

「Don’t you mind the sad and twisted part?」

「I’m fine as long as there is love.」

Ishigami laughed out loud.

He then turned towards the 【Suicide Tree】 with a smirk on his face.

「Ohh, seven mysteries-san, try it if you can. Go on, show me how will I receive a confession?」

This boy is seriously taunting it… Shirogane felt fear from the mysteries all this while, but at this moment, he felt a different kind of fear.

「Let’s have a match then, my ****** power against your powers of the seven mysteries, the dream match of the century.」

A monsters had to be defeated by another monster. The sight of Ishigami saying that with a smile made Shirogane break out in cold sweat.

「Ishigami… You do know that you will be in deep trouble if you encounter two more of the seven mysteries…?」 ♀♀♀ 「Hmm—— Next will be 【Operation Love Letter】.」

Fujiwara announced gleefully.

「I think in modern times when email and phonecalls are prevalent, a hand written letter will be more touching. We can’t sign off on the letter because of the rule this time, but even if they receive a letter without knowing who it is from, they will still be moved.」

Kaguya was shocked beyond words.

After flapping her mouth like a fish out of the water, she finally squeeze out her words:

「…Fujiwara-san, do you remember why we are doing this operation?」

「I wonder why?」

With a brilliant smile on her face, Fujiwara tilted her head.

Kaguya was troubled because of the love letter she received from someone she didn’t like. In order to help Kaguya, everyone decided to let Kaguya pretend to date someone—— that was how it all started. In order to choose that person, everyone started sharing their ideal encounter and confession scene.

And the purpose of this Operation Romantic was to put that theory into practice, correct?

Kaguya was troubled because of that love letter, and Fujiwara still proposed a 【Operation Love Letter】.

「Let’s divide our tasks. Mi-chan will think up the heart racing content, and Kaguya-san will write the letter!」