"Woohoo!" Akira pulled out the party popper he had prepared for today and popped it with a bang.
Shiki, Murakami Kouki, and Wakana all held identical party poppers with wry smiles, pointing them skyward and pulling the strings.
"Pop!"
With a few pops of the party poppers, the once tidy classroom was filled with sparkling confetti.
"As of today, our club is officially established!"
Akira said proudly, "Because as of today, I've received our club's first mission!"
"Eh?! We have something to do so soon? I thought we'd have a long period of free time." Shiki adjusted his glasses and asked, "Is it a request from Teacher Nakamura?"
Akira turned to look at Murakami Kouki, who had a wry smile on his face, and a mischievous grin appeared on his own.
"No, it's a request that came to us proactively."
Akira seemed to be deliberately building suspense, not revealing Murakami Kouki's name.
"A male student wants to ask us to help him confess to a girl!"
"Eh! It's actually something like that!"
Shiki also perked up, adjusted his glasses again, straightened his collar, and adopted the air of a professional.
"Then it's definitely our bounden duty!"
He looked as if it was only natural and he was full of confidence.
Wakana, looking puzzled, asked, "But, in our club, besides Akira-kun who has a girlfriend, none of us have any experience with dating."
"Gojo, don't say things like that!"
Shiki rebuked Gojo, asking why he would say something that would ruin the mood.
He felt like his spirit was already dwindling.
Just as Shiki felt a bit disheartened, he turned to ask Murakami Kouki next to him, "Murakami, don't you have any thoughts?"
Murakami Kouki touched his neck, smiled without speaking.
Feeling a bit awkward again, he opened his mouth, but in the end, only a short "Ha" sound came out.
"Eh?"
Kashiwagi was puzzled. What was wrong with Murakami?
"Ahem."
Akira drew their attention and explained the doubts in their minds.
"Actually, the student who requested my help is a member of our club, Murakami-san!"
"Eh, it was Murakami who requested it?"
Strangely, Shiki wasn't very surprised; instead, he turned his head and asked, "Is Murakami going after Sugaya-san?"
"Eh?! Kashiwagi, how do you know that?!"
This truly shocked Murakami Kouki; he had clearly not told anyone before.
How did Shiki figure it out?
"When I was with Sugaya-san before, Osora said she always felt that Murakami-kun looked like he really wanted to hang out with us."
"『You guys are often together, but Murakami has never joined our gatherings.』"
"『I'm a little curious what kind of person Murakami is; I always feel he's very gentle in class.』"
"『But sometimes I feel like he rushes off after school.』"
"These were all things they three talked about at the time," Shiki said. "Although it's not good to talk about people behind their backs, Osora and the others didn't say anything bad."
"Morita and I were afraid you'd overthink it, so we didn't tell you."
"Eh! I was actually discussed by them?" Murakami Kouki's heart grew even more flustered; he had thought before that he had no interaction with Sugaya-san.
"Mm." Shiki nodded, thinking for a moment.
"Sugaya-san has also talked about you."
Then he hesitated before saying.
"『Murakami, we all call him Tetsuya.』"
Sugaya Naho, hearing her good friends talk about Murakami Kouki, stopped eating the lollipop in her mouth.
Rion, beside her, looked curious.
"『Is Naho very familiar with Murakami-kun?』"
"『We went to the same high school, but Tetsuya wasn't in our class.』"
"『Tetsuya was a really good person in high school; he spoke very gently and was very serious and reliable in his work.』"
"『Girls in class often discussed him, but I never heard any news about him dating anyone.』"
Sugaya Naho looked puzzled, licking the lollipop in her hand.
"『But it disappointed my high school girlfriends for a long time.』"
Listening, Murakami Kouki clearly showed an excited expression. So Sugaya-san thought of him that way?
His hand involuntarily went to his chest, feeling his heart start to race.
"Murakami!"
Kashiwagi looked at Murakami, who was looking down beside him.
"Oh."
Murakami looked up in a panic, overreacting a bit; it shouldn't be like this.
"You must have liked Sugaya-san for a long time, right?"
A smile appeared on Shiki's face, and he pushed up his glasses again, as if completing a ritual.
"After all, even with how popular Murakami was in high school, there were no rumors of him dating any girls."
Murakami Kouki lowered his head and nodded.
Akira, seeing that the two had pretty much finished exchanging information, patted Wakana, who was taking in the details, on the shoulder.
"Alright, now that everyone is clear on the situation, let's talk about the battle plan."
"He's actually using the phrase 'battle plan'!"
Wakana inexplicably felt it sounded very imposing.
"First of all, this matter cannot be told to anyone outside the club!"
"Keeping secrets for the students who entrust us is our fundamental principle."
"What are our club's other principles then?"
Shiki asked.
"Uh, I haven't thought about it yet, Kashiwagi, don't interrupt."
"In short, this matter must be known only to our club members."
Wakana nodded, promising to keep it absolutely secret, not even telling Kitagawa.
Of course, Kitagawa-san wouldn't ask him out of the blue either.
After all, he didn't have as many friends as them.
Even now, only Akira-kun and Kitagawa-san were his friends.
If he expanded the scope, it would be Kashiwagi and Murakami-san from the club.
Murakami-san was also going to confess to Sugaya-san.
She was that equally lively girl next to Kitagawa-san.
He used to always feel like he wasn't in the same world as them.
Now, it felt like he was a bit luckier than Murakami-san.
After all, he could still be with Kitagawa-san...
Shiki, meanwhile, glanced sideways at the shy Murakami, sighing softly.
Akira-kun knew about their relationship with Morita, and under these circumstances, he specifically emphasized twice that the confession shouldn't be told to Morita-san. He was indeed being cautious.
Analyzing it carefully, he, who had a good relationship with Sugaya-san, was not kept in the dark and was informed about Murakami's desire to confess to Sugaya-san.
However, Morita, who was also a good friend to both Sugaya-san and Murakami-san, was kept in the dark. It seemed Morita was the reason for Murakami's situation.
Shiki sighed silently in his heart.
Based on his understanding of Morita, he probably really didn't have any other intentions towards Sugaya-san.