Yuu-2
At some point, I even forgot that my nose was dripping.
What pulled the trapped Andromeda out of the bottom of the sea was not the hero who fought Medusa or a prince on a white horse.
It was the traitor who stabbed the righteous student council president with his wicked fang. The despicable sneak who pretended to be a weakling. The scum of a man whose face, intelligence and personality roamed somewhere around rock bottom. I take back what I said. His intelligence and personality were passable depending on one’s perspective.
It was Kusaoka-san. Kusaoka Haruma-san.
One would think that people who unscrupulously extort money in order to gorge in excessive profits and handsome boys who unconsciously inspire love are in no way comparable. They are as different as a scalar wave and a sky tree, and yet both are forced to look down on the lower levels and make radio waves, so if anyone could compare the two, I’m sure it was him. He could do it because he was, well, you know.
When I thought about why he would go so far for my sake, the answer, of course, readily came to mind. Kusaoka-san had fallen for me in some way or another. Wasn’t he madly in love with me?
I was the perfect girl, adored by the world, so of course I could readily understand how someone could fall in love with me. I was a genius for whom every task is a piece of cake, but, well, how should I say it? Somehow, it was difficult to put my feelings into words.
…I-I was blushing. Just a teensy bit.
When I saw how Kusaoka-san desperately attempted to cover for me, my heart mysteriously flushed with warmth. Though my body was covered in the deep, dark ocean, the warmth was drying every inch of me. I could not fathom these emotions. I did not know what to call them. I wondered if perhaps Kusaoka-san always experienced these feelings. How wonderful they were. I was wonderful. Now all I had to do was charge a heating fee.
I wiped my face with my uniform sleeve.
“Excuse me? What are you trying to pull, Mr. Student Council President? Violence spells trouble, you know. You could end up in court.”
“Knock it off. If that’s how it’s gonna be, then anyone would know who’s really in real trouble here. You don’t have the luxury of making that choice.”
“Oh, so that’s how you’re gonna be…”
I might have been scooped out from the ocean, but far from lulling, a storm was steadily brewing in the ocean as it sought a sacrifice.
If there was one thing the newly rescued Andromeda could do…
I cleared my trembling throat forcefully. I fight for the sake of other people.
“Haruma-san. And you too, Suzaku-san. Please, just stop it already…”
Neither of them listened to me.
“I’m not really against it, but are you okay with it, Prez?”
“…What do you mean?”
“I’m just wondering what you’ll do about the fact that the student council president post takes precedence over the students. Won’t there be a problem when it comes to impartiality?”
They showed no inclination to look my way. My voice failed to reach either of them. I could sense my throat constricting.
“Haruma-san—”
Yet still, I tried calling out to him in my heart. Not to Kusaoka-san, but to Haruma-san. In doing so, I mustered what little courage I possessed. Haruma-san. He was not Perseus, nor did he ride a white horse; he was just a boy with a face that was… well, you know.
But on the other hand, to my eyes he was—
“Just stop it. Now!”
Weak-willed though I was, I mustered all my courage and spoke up as loudly as I could, spreading my arms as far as they could go and forcing my way between the two boys.
“This meaningless fight is over…!”
The student council president was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression. The girls experienced a cold shutdown. Silence filled the area. It was as if round moon flowers were blooming in the stormy ocean.
And Haruma-san was looking at me with his usual nonplussed expression. As for me, ah, it would have been nice if I didn’t still have unseemly tears on my face, but I smiled at him as brightly as I could.
“Who’s in the wrong, who started it… I find that sort of witch hunt tedious. Can we just stop it all already?”
On a beautiful, moonlit stage, I sang my song. Only the songs that I could sing could bring reconciliation and peace.
“Both sides are equally at fault. Haruma-san and Suzaku-san are both wrong. You’re both scum. Can’t we just leave it there? This is one world. It’s a beautiful world. You’re both fellow comrades on Spaceship Earth. And so I don’t take any sides. Your fight is over, is it not?”
Nobody said anything. Everyone held their silence with dumbfounded expressions. Their pleasant gazes fell upon me. They might finally realise that all their fighting was futile. The world is filled with love and peace. Imagine. Let’s imagine. A world without wars.
“Right then, I will become an ambassador for peace. Make up and shake hands, you two scum…”
I hugged Haruma-san’s arm tightly, as if to bring him closer to my heart. As I stretched his hand towards the student council president—
“—Don’t screw with me!”
Once again, my vision became blurry. Tears and whatever else drenched my face, and the droplets trickled down my hair and chin.
It was not as if my fickle heart had plunged back into the deep sea. This was a load of actual cold water. The water had been flung at me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the gatekeeper floundering near the flower bed. He should have been holding the hose, but the tip of it was in the hands of the girl who was standing next to the student council president. As her shoulders shook and trembled, she pointed the tip of the hose in our direction.
Oh dear. To respond with such an atrocity after the referee’s whistle… Just where did our Japanese sportsmanship go?
I blinked.
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