Chapter 214: The Main Heroine Summit
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 214: The Main Heroine Summit
The sports festival, one of autumn's big three events, was finally over.
And just as the students were letting their guard down after the string of school events, the second-semester midterms descended upon them.
With the second semester packed with various events, it was true that we had relatively less time to study compared to the first semester.
However, since the students had participated in the events knowing this, no one complained about the tight academic schedule.
After a frantic week of studying, the midterms finally began.
The subjects on the first day were language arts and history.
As someone who was originally a STEM student, these were the subjects I considered my weakest, so I'd boldly invested my entire weekend in them.
Fortunately, perhaps because the teachers made the questions easier to account for the short study period, I was able to solve them more easily than I'd expected.
Of course, if the midterms were this easy, the finals would be incredibly difficult, but that was a problem for future me to deal with.
"So close! I knew I should've picked number 3!"
After the first day of exams ended, Satoru, who was provisionally scoring his history test against my answer sheet, lamented dramatically over a question he'd narrowly missed.
"Be quiet, Momochi."
But at a single word from the class president, who was checking her answers next to us, Satoru shut his mouth with a wince.
Yeah, I get it. Ayase is scary during exam periods.
After we finished cross-checking our answers, my final history score came out to 97.
It could have been a perfect score, but I'd unfortunately missed one question.
"See? This guy really isn't what he looks like."
I raised an eyebrow at Satoru's rude comment as he peered at my test paper, but I didn't bother to retaliate.
The fact that I'm good at studying, contrary to my appearance, isn't some baseless rumor but a hard fact.
Meanwhile, the class president, who had gotten a perfect score, quietly clenched her fist.
As ambitious about her studies as she is about broadcasting, Ayase seemed thrilled to have beaten me, the top student in our year, in terms of score.
Just then, Rika, who seemed a million light-years away from this studious atmosphere, slung her bag over her shoulder and spoke, simply happy that school was ending early.
"Ryu-chan! I have plans, so I'm heading out! See you tomorrow!"
"Oh, okay. See you."
Rika left the classroom, waving energetically at us.
Watching her leave, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth.
After the sports festival, when we all went to karaoke with our classmates, Rika had asked me to treat her the same as before.
Since hearing that request, I've been consciously trying to act like I used to.
As a result, the distance between Rika and me has closed, just like it was before. As if nothing had ever happened between us.
But knowing that this fragile friendship was a sandcastle that could collapse at any moment, I couldn't help but feel anxious.
It was only natural. Rika is one of the most important people to me. She's one of the key elements that make up my identity—not as 'Kim Yoo-Sung,' the Zainichi Korean, but as 'me'.
Ayase, who had been quietly watching Rika and me talk, asked.
"Did you two fight or something? You haven't been hanging out together lately."
"A fight? No way. Rika's just been a little busy."
"Hmm~ Is that so?"
Her voice trailed off as she narrowed her eyes and stared at me intently.
It was clearly an interrogation, but I feigned ignorance and looked away.
"Well, I'll take your word for it."
Shrugging, Ayase patted my head and picked up the schoolbag she'd placed beside her desk.
"Well, I'm heading out too. Make sure you're ready for tomorrow's exam."
"Yeah, see you."
After seeing Ayase off, I was about to get up from my desk to head home myself when I remembered something my mother had asked me to do this morning.
'Right, she said there was a time sale today.'
I'll have to stop by the supermarket on my way home.
*
Meanwhile.
At a traditional teahouse in downtown Tokyo.
In a tatami room, thoroughly separated from the outside to ensure customer privacy, Student Council President Saionji Kumiko was sitting in seiza.
"My lady, your guest has arrived."
"Show them in."
At her word, the shoji screen slid open cautiously.
Revealed beyond it was Kishimoto Rika, who had taken a taxi to the teahouse right after her exams.
"It's been a while."
Saionji greeted her with a gentle smile, but Rika, her expression stern unlike her usual cheerful self, simply gave a slight nod in place of a proper greeting.
"Please, come inside."
At Saionji Kumiko's gesture, Rika took off her shoes and entered the room, only to stop in surprise.
It was no wonder, as there were already other guests inside.
"…Rika."
"So you were the last one."
They were all familiar faces. One of her best friends, Tojo Karen, and her classmate with whom she had a semi-hostile relationship, Sasha.
With a composed expression, Rika asked Kumiko, who was seated in the seat of honor.
"Why are these two here?"
Kumiko brought a dark brown teacup to her lips and said.
"I am here to make them the same offer I made to you, Miss Kishimoto."
"…Don't tell me."
Sasha, who had been listening quietly to their conversation, spoke up.
"An offer? What kind of offer? What is the reason you've gathered us all here?"
"I was just about to explain."
Tak—
As a suffocating tension filled the small room, Kumiko dropped a bombshell out of nowhere.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Saionji Kumiko—the 78th Student Council President of the long and proud Ichijo Academy, and Kim Yoo-Sung's current girlfriend."
Kim Yoo-Sung's girlfriend.
The fallout from that one statement was immense.
"W-W-W-What?!"
"…Did you call me here just to mock me?"
Karen looked as if her soul was about to leave her body, while Sasha glared with a cold expression, seething with anger.
Although she was from a chaebol family deeply connected to the country's underworld, Kumiko was, at her core, a civilian. Her face paled involuntarily under Sasha's icy killing intent.
It was Minami, standing silently in a corner of the room with her presence erased, who spoke up for Kumiko.
"My lady did not gather you here with such intentions. Please, restrain your anger."
Seeing Minami take the full force of her killing intent, Sasha clicked her tongue with a 'Tch' and shifted into a more comfortable position.
"I have no idea what nonsense you're about to spout, but I'll hear you out."
"…Thank you."
As Minami gave a slight bow and stepped aside, Kumiko, having composed herself, puffed out her chest and spoke confidently.
"First, the reason I've gathered you all here is not simply to announce the fact that I have become Yoo-Sung's girlfriend."
"Then?"
"Rather, I called you here to offer a fair opportunity to those of you who have fallen behind in the competition."
With that, Kumiko clapped her hands calmly.
At the signal, Minami brought out a whiteboard from behind a folding screen that had seemed like part of the decor.
Dozens of photos were attached to the whiteboard, with dense black annotations written beneath them.
It was the final legacy left by Shinji before he was suspended by his family and left the school.
Just before speaking again, Kumiko thought of Shinji's face, steadied her wavering heart, and finally said,
"Everyone, would you not join me in creating a harem for Yoo-Sung?"
*
Harem.
There was no one in this room who didn't know what that word meant.
"A harem? What's that?"
No, scratch that. Everyone except for the surprisingly innocent Karen.
"Look it up yourself, idiot."
Sasha, chiding Karen for not knowing something that even she, a foreigner, knew, let out a small sigh and spoke.
"A harem in modern Japan? That's a rather tasteless joke, Student Council President."
"Why do you think it's a joke?"
Sasha stared directly at Kumiko with cold eyes and said.
"In modern Japan, polygamy is illegal. Even if I'm a foreigner who doesn't know much about the world, I at least have that much common sense."
"What?! Wait! A harem is when one man has multiple wives and concubines?!"
"Seriously..."
Thinking that Karen, who was blushing after belatedly checking the search results, was ruining the serious atmosphere, Sasha grumbled quietly before asking Kumiko point-blank.
"So what's your real intention behind bringing up a harem? There's no benefit for you in doing something like that. Don't tell me you have that kind of kink."
"How rude!"
"Stay back, Minami."
Minami, standing behind her, was about to step forward indignantly, but Kumiko stopped her with a hand and answered with her eyes gently closed.
"First, it is true that I am trying to recruit you for sexual reasons."
"What?"
At Kumiko's unexpected answer, Sasha couldn't help but make a dumbfounded expression.
She had just heard that Kumiko had become his girlfriend, but she hadn't thought the inexperienced Kim Yoo-Sung would have progressed that far already.
In that state, Kumiko candidly confessed her own weakness.
"It's embarrassing, but I can't handle Yoo-Sung's sexual appetite on my own. That is why I need your cooperation."
Please, won't you join me and become Yoo-Sung's brides?