𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"Ew. Just you, Ishigami?" Iino scoffed, rolling her eyes at the sight of Ishigami, not knowing that he is the person who saved her countless times.

"What do you mean, 'ew'? Are you upset that it's just me here?" Ishigami questioned.

"No, I didn't say anything like that." Iino said, taking a seat in front of him but at the opposite corner. She sat as far away as possible.

"It sure sounds like you did." Ishigami sighed.

"Anyway, what's going on? Where are the others today?" Iino inquired, noticing the absence of the four other student council members.

"The Second-years are at an assembly. L/n went out to buy some food for the student council members since the second-years might be tired from the assembly. She truly is thoughtful." Ishigami sighed as if he was in love. In which he was.

"You're in the Student Council. You should be on top of these kinds of things. I can barely even remember my own class's schedule, so how do you expect me to know that?" Ishigami stated.

"Urgh, listening to your voice makes my head hurt. Stop talking to me." Iino demanded, plugging in her ear phone buds.

"Yeah, yeah." Ishigami just ignored her and began to type away in his laptop.

𝙸𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚐𝚊𝚖𝚒'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

Plip plop

Pitter patter

Croak

Is that rain? No, these are ambient sounds, the kind you'd listen to while sleeping or studying.

Ah, I see. Iino's earphones are slightly unplugged, but I guess she hasn't noticed.

Classic. They think they're listening through their headphones, then it turns out everyone can hear too so they get embarrassed.

Should I tell her? But she'll bark at me lika an annoying little dog.

Well, I guess I'm in the mood for this sort of music too. So maybe I'll just leave it.

NYEHHHBWAAAAAAAAA

What is this?! Construction noises?! No, this overwhelming sense of life...Camel grunts!!

No, that's can't be right. It'd be way too weird to use this as study music. Obviously, it can't be random noise, right?

It's probably just a cat meowing or something. But it looks like she finds it soothing! I mean, whatever she's into, I guess.

So Iino has her Quirks after all. She's studious, but she has no tact. Once her mind is set on something, she refuses to budge. Even now, she's studying in her free time.

Well, I really should be following her example. I'm sure she goes through an awful amount of stress too. If listening to this soothes her I shouldn't judge her for it.

"Ah...you are amazing. You're working so hard. You're perfect just as you are. You're a good girl. It's all right...everything's all right..."

What the hell is this, brainwashing?! She listens to this to relax?!

"It's tough, isn't it? It's okay to cry, sometimes if you need to. Don't worry. I'm here for you."

Where the heck do they get something like this?! Not to mention the camel sounds from earlier!

"You're amazing. You're such a hard worker. You're wonderful. Believe in yourself."

There's no way. I bet it's just sound samples from some strange website that got mixed in somehow. There's no way she actually wants to lis-

That's when I saw her face. This is the most relaxed she's looked all day!

"You are kind. You are an honest and sincere girl."

Isn't this the kind of thing dying people use to ease themselves into the afterlife?! Just how close are you to the end of your rope?!

This is bad. At this point, there's no way I can tell her I can hear it. If someone heard me listening to this, I'd die.

"You're super cute. I just want to hug you."

If L/n heard me listening to something like this, I would immediately end my life right then and there.

"Hiii!" that booming voice of Fujiwara-senpai announced her presence in the room.

"AAAAHH!" I screamed in surprise. Being in deep thought and a person suddenly yelling is enough to make anyone jump.

"Fujiwara-senpai!!" Iino exclaimed, pausing the embarrassing audio she was listening to.

"Huh? I thought I heard a voice I didn't recognize, but it's just the two of you." Fujiwara-senpai remarked.

"Uh, oh, I...I've got a bit of a sore throat, so..." I made up an excuse. I hope she buys it.

"Oh, I understand!" she said before waltzing over to Iino. That was close!

"Wow, Miko-Chan is listening to music! What'cha listening to?" she inquired.

"Just some light, therapeutic music." Iino tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with a small blush.

Light?! No, that music was super intense!!

"Sorry for interrupting your studies!" Fujiwara-senpai apologized.

"It's no problem." Iino chuckled, getting ready to play the music once again.

"Hold it right there!!" I stopped her before she did anything. Time to make up another excuse.

"What do you want?" Iino sweatdropped.

"Umm, how do I put it...I wanted to discuss something with you two." I stated.

"Discuss something?" Fujiwara-senpai repeated.

"Er, rather...something's been troubling me a lot lately. It's about L/n, I was planning to-" I got cut off.

"You're amazing"

Could you just listen for one goddamn second?!

"Just hear me out for the beginning at least! Do you have that little interest in me?!" I shouted.

"Yep." she bluntly replied. No kidding! Damn it...who do you think I'm going to such lengths for anyway?!

Er, rather. I suppose it wouldn't do too much harm if it's just Fujiwara-senpai that hears it.

She can be unexpectedly understanding. Plus, it's no big deal if a weird person calls you weird.

She'd die if Shinomiya-senpai or the President heard it. L/n would be considerate and say that everyone has their own opinion when it comes to music.

But if it's just Fujiwara-senpai...

"Sorry we're late." Shinomiya-senpai and the President both entered the student council too together.

"Oh, hello." Iino greeted. What's with this timing?! Why now of all times? The fallout will be huge if no-nonsense people like them find out.

What should I do? Should I just go and point out that the headphones are unplugged?

That would prevent the worst-case scenario of everyone but L/n finding out. Wait...but then I'd have to deal with the aftermath.

But Iino is suffering enough that she needs to listen to that, I have no idea what will happen.

The only one who can protect her now is me. That's what L/n would want me to do in this situation.

I grabbed my headphones and put it on, blasting some loud anime music.

"Moe mor kyun kyun! Moe moe kyu kyun! You're my moe kyuuunicorn! My love for you stretches to the ends of the kyu-niverse!"

"Ishigami! Ishigami! I think your headphones are unplugged!" Fujiwara-senpai pointed out.

"What a chaotic song." Shinomiya-san remarked.

"Classic." the President sweatdropped.

One should learn from the mistakes of others. If she sees me embarrass myself, Iino will instinctively plug her own headphones in.

This way, I'l be able to protect Iino's secret without her even noticing.

"You're really careless, Ishigami. Even I'm embarrassed for you." Iino scoffed. Say whatever you want.

I'm doing this of my free will. It's not because I want to be thanked. I'm fine with this.

"Well, I'm going back to studying. When you finish your work, pass it over to me." Iino announced, playing the 'therapeutic music'.

"Ahh, you're a real cutie! Everyone is madly in-"

"I'VE BECOME SO NUMB, I CAN'T FEEL YOU THERE! BECOME SO TIRED, SO MUCH MORE AWARE!"

L/n entered the room with music blasting from her phone in her left hand as she carried the cake in her right hand.

Her headphones were clearly unplugged as her head bopped to the music. She listens to heavy metal?

A shy and quiet girl like her listens to heavy metal?!

"L/n...your headphones are unplugged as well." Fujiwara-san pointed out, poking L/n's shoulder to get her attention.

"You have an interesting taste in music, Y/n." Shinomiya-senpai sweatdropped.

"I agree. I didn't know a silent girl like you listens to such thing..." the President agreed.

"Whoopsie." L/n sheepishly rubbed her nape. I noticed Iino plugging in her headphones properly. Took her long enough.

After all of us had cake and did our duties as members of the 68th student council, L/n and I walked together.

"You were trying to help Iino-chan, am I right?" she mentioned as she stopped walking, making me stop as well.

"Yeah...how'd you know?" I inquired.

"When you played your music, I got the idea that you were trying to help Iino. I didn't want your efforts to go to waste, so I decided to embarrass myself as well." she explained, staring at the sky.

The orange gold stretches far and wide, the colour of fire hearths and tangerines. The color of a volleyball player's hair is what reminded me of the sky above.

"I guess...you're just that kind of guy. The guy who tries to help others without needing to be thanked." she turned to face me with a smile that made my heart skip a beat.

My blush burned through my cheeks and my face felt like a hot oven. I could've been able to cook an egg on my face.

L/n suddenly felt awkward as she attempted to hide her round, rosy cheeks.

"The kind of guy that I..." she mumbled something. She turned her head to the side to avert her gaze, but the sudden rosiness of her cheeks gave her away.

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𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅

"Let's all play a party game together!" Chika-san burst into the student council room with a yen in her hand.

"Huh? Another one of your games?" the President sweatdropped.

"A party game?" Ishigami-kun repeated.

"Kaguya-san says she wants to know what mixers are like." Chika-san explained.

"So, what game are we going to play?" I questioned, closing the book that I was reading a moment ago.

"I think we should try the 10 yen game." Chika-san suggested.

"The 10 yen game?" Ishigami-kun repeated.

"Oh! I know that one! You use one of these for it, right?" Iino-chan pulled out a board for Kokkuri-san out of no where.

"That's not what she meant, Iino-chan..." I sweatdropped. She quickly put it away.

A board for Kokkuri-san is the Japanese version of an Ouija Board.

The 10 yen game.

First, someone asks a question. Each played answers using a 10 yen coin, either flipping it to heads for 'yes' or tails for 'no'.

The key is to make it so that no one can tell whose coin is who.

Essentially, the game is an anonymous questionnaire. At least that's what I understood from Chika-san's explanation.

"Everyone got it? And just so you know, lying is out of the question!" Chika-san informed.

"Tension and mystery are the heart of this game! It'll be lame if even one person doesn't take it seriously!" she exclaimed.

"I brought a lie detector just in case. This way we can catch any suspicious people on the spot!" she dumped a big lie detector on the table.

"Is this really necessary?"

"Anyone who brings a polygraph to a mixer is definitely not getting invited back."

And then, the '10 Yen Game of Absolute Truth' begins!

"I'll ask the first question, 'kay? Let's get right to the point, if you're in love right now, heads! If you aren't, tails!" Chika-san squealed.

"Isn't that question kind of?!"

"Well, I guess that does feel like something you'd ask at a mixer."

This question...what do I do?!

I can easily lie right now but she brought a lie detector. I'm not sure if it's real or not but I am not willing to find out.

I guess I'll just say yes...

"Put your coins under this handkerchief so that no one can see, okay?" Chika-san ushered. We placed our coins.

"And the results are...four people!" she announced.

"Wow, so many!"

"Four people!"

"Who?!"

"That many?!"

"There's more than I expected..."

"Who are they?! Who?! Seriously, who chose yes?!" the romantic loving girl exclaimed, wanting to know who's in love.

"Oh, but you're not allowed to reveal your answer! What makes the 10 yen game run is the uncertainty and excitement of not knowing!" Chika-san reminded herself.

"I see..." I mumbled.

"Well, I'll ask the next question then. What do you all think of me? If you hate me, heads. If you don't, tails." Ishigami-kun said.

"That's such a heavy question! Why are you looking to get hurt, Ishigami?!"

"Actually, I've been concerned for a long time now. I feel like I'm the kind of person that's really easy to hate. So I've been wondering what you all truly think of me." Ishigami-kun elaborated.

"You're so unnecessarily self-deprecating." I commented, placing a no as my answer.

"Everyone's put in their answers. The number of people who hate Ishigami is...one person!" Chika-san announced.

"Just one person? I'm so relieved. You don't all hate me. You're all so kind." Ishigami-kun chuckled. Cute...

"You're up next, Y/n-chan! Go ahead and ask a question." Chika-san ushered.

"Can two friends stay as 'just friends'? If yes, heads. If no, tails." I asked. Chika-san told everyone to put their coins in.

"The number of people who think that two friends can stay as 'just friends' is...zero people!" she exclaimed.

"I mean, there has to at least been one point where one has fallen for the other, right?" Iino-chan remarked.

So...two friends can never stay as 'just friends', huh?

I hope that's true...

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