Card Game Tournament Arc
06 Attention and Problems

Recently, Meru"s problems had increased by one.

"That"s her, "Kusuhara Meru"…"

"Ehh, she"s so ordinary. Not really anything special…"

"That"s the rumored girl, huh."

"Isn"t Hiiragi-san way cuter?"

What entered Meru"s ears as she walked through the halls was a storm of evaluation.

That said, there"s no way there would be any positive evaluations in regard to "Miss Average" Meru.

"You became an instant celebrity, huh, Meru?"

When Maiko said that while walking next to Meru, Meru"s head drooped.

"I don"t want to be one!"

To understand the reason why Meru was drawing all this attention, it"s necessary to go back to the Cla.s.s F of a few hours ago.

ーーA few hours ago, Cla.s.s Fーー

"Meru."

While preparing for the next cla.s.s, her name was called.

In this academy, there were only two people who addressed Meru without any honorifics. However, one of them, Maiko, did not have such a low voice. If we take that into consideration, it becomes unnecessary to wonder who was calling Meru"s name from behind her.

Meru pretended not to hear and went to lay down on her desk but before she could do so, her shoulder was caught.

"…Meru."

When her name was called once more in a lower voice than before, Meru didn"t have any way out.

What was reflected in Meru"s eyes as she slowly looked over her shoulder was Hayate"s full-faced smile.

"Kamishiro-kun. h.e.l.lo, good night, excuse me."

Giving a broad greeting that covered all bases, Meru once again tried to lay down on her desk, but as expected with Hayate, there was no way she"d be able to get away with that.

"Is it just my imagination that our interactions are getting worse every day?"

Just like Hayate said, he had often come to Meru"s cla.s.sroom ever since the day she had borrowed the umbrella. Thanks to him, even if Fuuga came, he wouldn"t cling to Meru. But since it drew even more attention, the pros and cons balanced out, no, Meru thought the cons outweighed the pros.

"What business do you have today?"

"Right. I would like you to help finish up some doc.u.ments."

When Hayate said that, Meru"s eyes narrowed.

"Isn"t it better if the executives do that?"

Meru pursed her lips and said, to which Hayate made a hopeless face and shrugged.

"Which is why I"m requesting that you become an executive, isn"t it?"

"Which is why I"m saying no."

Whether it was because of what Hayate said or because of Meru"s answer, an unbelievable scream from the students echoed throughout Cla.s.s F.

And so, before anyone knew it, the rumor had been circulated among the entire second year. Judging by the current situation, it was almost certainly well-known among the other grades as well.

"The emperor himself giving the invitation was a surprise, but your instant refusal of a position on the peerless student council was also a surprise. Something like that will pa.s.s through the pipeline at the speed of light."

When Maiko told her that, Meru sighed heavily.

"From around when did you get on good terms with the emperor?"

"Hmm. Ahh, I couldn"t go easy on him playing Oth.e.l.lo."

"Huh?"

"I"m saying that Kamishiro-kun is amazing."

Meru grinned to which Maiko replied by raising her hands and saying "You aren"t making sense."

Meru"s problem–That was that her quiet, ordinary everyday life was being destroyed by the student council executives.

Wow, this one was really short. Guess that means I need to do a second release today, huh?