Does This Love Suit Your Taste? - Volume 1 Chapter 3.2

Life Isn’t Sweet 2

The preparation work ended up being a close call because I remembered things from the past that can’t be changed.

After that, I somehow managed to cover it up thanks to the late hour, but the problems are still piling up.

And now, after one night, I was at school.

I wanted to skip as usual… but I don’t know what would happen if I did.

“Look~! Look at this! I bought it~”

“Oh, it’s Mimi? Rira-chan is featured this month, right?”

The ones getting excited over a magazine are a pair of girls a little away from my seat.

The familiar name involuntarily made me prick up my ears.

“It’s also a reference for clothes coordination, and above all, our Rira-chan is just so cute.”

“Hey, good morning, what are you all looking at?”

“Ah, Kazama-kun, good morning.”

Then Kazama appears in front of the girls with a group of boys following him.

“Oh! Isn’t that S-Hime featured in the magazine? Let me see!”

“Eh? Ah, wait! Geez…”

I frowned from the sidelines at their brazenness.

The boys crowded around the magazine they had snatched.

“It’s before she cut her hair! I definitely prefer her this way… Oh, this knitwear is kinda sexy…”

“Well, she’s an unattainable flower that’s totally out of our league anyway…”

“Among the boys, the only one who’s particularly close to Shirahime-san is probably Kazama, right?”

“Me? It’s because I became classmates with Rira last year, and we’ve been friends since then. She’s a nice girl.”

Surrounded by his entourage, Kazama seemed to enjoy himself as he casually brushed back his bangs.

“How nice… I wish I could get closer to S-Hime too…”

Such were the thoughts of the girls who admired her and the boys who breathed heavily through their noses at the thought of the notorious S-Hime.

Who would have thought that S-Hime, the model student at school, could actually be that kind of person——

Talking about having a servant so dangerously and yet, she doesn’t show a hint of that at school and in magazines, laughing elegantly with an ‘ahaha’ and ‘ufufu’.

—it makes me feel like it’s almost a form of clownery.

Just as I shivered and turned my gaze out the window, the classroom door opened, and someone came—

“Oh, speak of the devil! Good morning, Rira-chan!”

“Yep, good morning!”

It was everyone’s idol, Shirahime Rira.

She’s spreading her likable smile as usual today. Surrounded by friends and capturing the gazes of the boys, she was indeed making an appearance with her public face.

Kazama makes room in the circle that had formed in the class for Shirahime to enter.

“Good morning, Rira. We were just talking about the magazine you’re featured in.”

“Oh?! Mimi? How embarrassing, don’t look…”

“There’s no need to be shy, you’re as beautiful as ever.”

“Stop it~! That’s not true…”

“Haha, Rira, are you blushing?”

“I’m not blushing!”

“Hey you two~? Stop flirting~”

” “We’re not!” “

Shirahime was humbly fanning her face with her hand in response to compliments from Kazama and everyone else.

What’s with her acting all cute in class… It’s so disgusting…

Also, she talks nonsense to me all the time, and yet she’s fine with doing things like kissing without any hesitation…

Wait, this isn’t the time to reminisce about weird stuff.

I’ve got to resolve everything quickly——the marriage, the company presidency, and Maison being in danger.

The reason why the other party is so fixated on Maison, the connection with Maison, and various other unsolved mysteries are there, but the fact that they are my enemy doesn’t change.

I check for the existence of the earring in my ear.

…I won’t hand it over to you. Absolutely not.

The deadline is the end of this year when that old man intends to close the shop. I’ve got to somehow deal with this situation by then.

As I’m holding my troubled head——I suddenly felt a spark.

In the middle of the conversation, Shirahime’s eyes turn towards where I am.

Then, with her bag still in hand, she makes her way through the other seats as if parting them…

Huh, she’s heading towards me——

I break out into a torrential sweat. My danger premonition was right.

Shirahime places both hands on my desk and looks at me with an innocent smile.

“Good morning, Toui-kun.”

“You… why are you talking to me at school…?”

“Hmm? Is that bad?”

“Not that it’s bad, but… why?”

“You know, Toui-kun. There’s something about last night that I want to talk to you about!”

” ….. “

” ” ” ” “Whaaaaaaat~~!!!!!!” ” ” ” “

It was a resonating sound of shock, loud enough to burst eardrums.

Then, as if running away, Shirahime said ‘Let’s go!’ and forcefully pulled me from my seat by my hand.

“Last night…?”

“No way… S-Hime with that Kiminami…?”

For the time being, I let myself being pulled by Shirahime into the hallway to escape the suspicious gazes upon us, and in an instant, our grade’s floor was thrown into complete chaos.

“Wait what!? What happened!”

“Look at those two! They seem to have something going on!”

“Shirahime and Kiminami Toui!? No way! Of all people, those two!?”

We dashed through it as if in a scene from a romance movie as words spread like wildfire through the hallway.

I called out to Shirahime.

“Where are you planning to go?”

“Just shut up and run for now!”

Shirahime pulled my hand and led me into the old school building, which was usually only entered by janitors and occasionally teachers.

It used to be the main school building a long time ago, but at some point, it was replaced by the current main building and now remains unused.

It was left as a storage, resembling a detached two-story building.

At the back of the second floor, I could see a nameplate that read ‘Multipurpose Room E’, and Shirahime entered without hesitation.