In Hiyori's dormitory room.
Ryunosuke gently tucked the blanket around her and was preparing to leave, but Hiyori grabbed his hand immediately. She wrapped herself up in the blanket until only the top half of her head was visible, making it perfectly clear she had no intention of letting him go just yet.
He had no choice but to stay a while longer. When he finally did step out, the morning was already half gone.
Neither of them went to class that day. With so much of it already passed, going now would have been pointless. Ryunosuke decided to head to the student council room instead; working was better than sitting idle.
Before long, the end-of-school bell rang. Manabu arrived at the student council room and stopped short at the sight of Ryunosuke, who appeared to be in extraordinarily good spirits.
(This kid, why is he so full of energy today? He even got here before me.)
Manabu didn't think too deeply about it and walked in as usual. Ryunosuke set down the mop he had been using to clean and greeted him with a broad smile.
"Good afternoon, President."
"Good afternoon. What's gotten into you today? You seem in remarkable spirits." Manabu said as he settled into his chair.
Ryunosuke put away the mop and took his usual seat at the secretary's position, then got to work. "Nothing in particular. I just felt like coming in early today."
Akane and Katsuragi arrived shortly after. Seeing Ryunosuke so unusually energetic, both of them found it strange but said nothing. Since he was handling everything normally, Katsuragi, who was supposed to be covering for him, suddenly found himself without anything to do.
With nothing else for it, Katsuragi ended up making tea for everyone. He found he didn't mind the quietness of it.
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Elsewhere, in a secluded room, there was an enormous round table.
Ai presided over the meeting from the head seat. Airi sat to her left in the second chair, and Megumi in the third. Even Hiyori, the occupant of the fourth seat who had previously refused to participate in anything like this, was there.
She had been firmly opposed to all of it before, insisting she wanted Ryunosuke entirely to herself and refusing to cooperate with anyone else. But something had clearly changed. She was hugging her book to her chest and smiling with a contentment so deep she seemed like a completely different person.
Ai studied her with a sharp look, sensing that something had happened, but she let it go without pressing. She moved on to announce the addition of a new member: Hasebe Haruka, who would be taking the sixth seat.
Every person in the room began quietly forming their own thoughts. Arisu, seated in the fifth chair, was particularly unsettled. She had originally planned to recruit Masumi as the sixth member, only to find that Airi had already moved first. She had genuinely underestimated the girl. Quiet and shy as she was, Airi had turned out to be a step ahead of everyone.
Megumi was watching with equally careful eyes. It had been Airi, after all, who had slipped past her before, dropping her from second place to third. She was clearly not someone to be judged by appearances alone, and Megumi filed that away.
Airi herself was simply happy that she was no longer fighting this alone.
Seeing how naturally Haruka and Airi fell into step with each other, Megumi found her thoughts drifting to her own close friend.
(Should I bring Suzune in as well? I could use someone on my side.)
Since Ryunosuke had talked her around, Hiyori had stopped worrying about the group growing larger. She had become remarkably generous about the whole arrangement and no longer objected to him seeing other women. After all, the majority of his free time now belonged to her. She touched her lips without quite realizing she was doing it, as though revisiting something she was still thinking about.
Everyone in the room was curious about the same thing: what exactly had Ryunosuke said or done to bring Hiyori around so completely?
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Elsewhere, Ryunosuke, perhaps riding a certain confidence, went to find Karuizawa Kei. Before that, though, he sought out Matsushita Chiaki first.
He had already decided that if he was going to be the kind of man he was being, he would do it without reservation. Keeping the feelings between all of them from falling apart, that was his responsibility now.
Ryunosuke had finally been honest with himself. He was done running. The hesitation before had nearly cost him everything, and he wasn't going to waver again. He had always loved the kinds of women he admired in anime, and he cared about each of the girls in front of him now.
If that was the truth, then he would work for it, regardless of what the future held. He stood before a girl named Matsushita Chiaki, and the next round of the battle for love had officially begun.
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