Chapter 258: Losing Money Feels Worse Than Earning Money
The whole day was spent hanging out with Fujiwara Chika—at noon they stopped by a café to have some sweets, and in the afternoon they went to the auditorium to watch performances.
The light music club and the choir club were excellent, and the wind instrument club's performance was also extremely impressive, with constant applause echoing from the audience.
Even though the spectators rotated one batch after another, the whole afternoon was always lively.
Only three days remained until the Devoted Hearts Festival.
The student council room welcomed an interview from the media club, said to be for releasing a special issue about the cultural festival.
"May I ask, do the two of you know the origin of the Devoted Hearts Festival?"
"Yes." Shinomiya Kaguya revealed an extremely bored expression.
A princess about to die and a foolish man willing to offer his heart to save her. What's so good about such a story? To be precise, it was more grotesque than anything else.
"It's extremely romantic~" Kino Karen held her chest, pretending to be bashful.
Karen: (⸝⸝ᵕᴗᵕ⸝⸝)ﾉ♡
Kaguya: (·•᷄ࡇ•᷅ )
"Romantic?"
"That's right, surely the princess would like that kind of man too, one willing to sacrifice his life to save her, just like a prince."
"… But that man died." Shinomiya Kaguya was dumbfounded.
In this era, shouldn't we be emphasizing gender equality?
To gain love and then have to sacrifice one's life—was that fair to men? Moreover, in that story, those in power forced the young man to give up his heart, threatening his parents' lives to compel him to die… That possibility wasn't impossible either.
In the end, it was nothing but a myth, used to consolidate the ruler's authority, utterly untrustworthy.
"But he received love!"
"… " Shinomiya Kaguya turned to look beside her—Sakurai Saki hadn't said a single word all this time.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" she asked.
"I decided today I'll only say two sentences per minute."
"What kind of idiot are you?"
Sakurai Saki smiled at her, "For a student ranked fourth like Kaguya-san, how could you call me an idiot?"
Sakurai & Kaguya: (˵ ¬ᴗ¬˵) （𝅒_𝅒ꐦ）
In the last midterm exams, Sakurai Saki was ranked first, Shijo Maki second, Shirogane Miyuki—because he was busy studying English and got distracted quite a lot—was ranked third, while Shinomiya Kaguya was ranked fourth.
"It's all your fault!" At that time, Shinomiya Kaguya was in her 'post-breakup' phase with Hayasaka Ai, spending her days thinking about Hayasaka Ai—wondering if she was eating well, sleeping enough—so much that she couldn't focus on studying.
Moreover, chatting with Hayasaka Ai before bed every night had become a habit. Suddenly losing her maid made Kaguya feel utterly restless.
Sakurai Saki stayed silent.
Seeing that he didn't answer, Shinomiya Kaguya glanced at him: "You really do what you say."
Kino Karen—the one in charge of this interview—asked again: "May I ask, have the two of you prepared gifts for the Devoted Hearts Festival?"
"Gifts?" That question hit her blind spot.
Kino Karen took a bag of heart-shaped cookies from the pocket of her uniform, "Kaguya-sama, this is it."
"Heart-shaped cookies? I remember last year there were also many similar goods." Shinomiya Kaguya recalled.
"Umu, in the Devoted Hearts Festival, giving a heart-shaped gift means offering your heart to the other person, which is exactly—'I like you'." Kino Karen spoke like a maiden in love: "Giving a heart-shaped gift during the Devoted Hearts Festival is a confession, isn't that very romantic?"
"It is romantic. But compared to a confession during the sports festival, if the rating scale was five stars, I could only give it one star." Shinomiya Kaguya smiled.
She glanced at Sakurai Saki, waiting for his answer.
Kaguya: ( ≖⩊≖)
Sakurai: ¯\_(- > -)_/¯
"I think so too." Sakurai Saki nodded, not the least bit embarrassed.
Truly shameless, Shinomiya Kaguya muttered inwardly.
How could there be someone so brazen in this world?
"Sakurai-san, aren't you planning something grand for this Devoted Hearts Festival?" Kino Karen asked.
"No. The teachers supervise very strictly, they don't give me any space for creativity." Sakurai Saki knew Hayasaka Ai liked romantic settings, he had originally planned to prepare something elaborate, but unfortunately was caught by a teacher.
The work of the festival executive committee was by no means light, Sakurai Saki simply didn't have the time to scheme anything.
"Then let's go back to the earlier topic—do either of you plan on giving a gift to anyone?"
Sakurai Saki only smiled, without answering.
"No. Right now I don't have anyone I like. Besides, confessions during cultural festivals are often 'buffed' by the atmosphere, sometimes people confess just because their heads heat up, and later they might regret it." Shinomiya Kaguya replied calmly.
A minute passed before Sakurai Saki spoke: "I'll probably give a gift to my girlfriend."
"Alright, next is the second question."
"Lately, many students are very curious about the daily work of the student council. Originally this question was meant for President Shirogane, but since he's not here, could the two of you answer instead?"
Shinomiya Kaguya: "Every day after school, the student council members come to the student council room, diligently handle daily documents, and absolutely never engage in frivolous games or unnecessary activities…"
Sakurai Saki glanced at the cabinet beside him, where several decks of cards and a few board games were stored.
He lifted a teacup and sipped black tea.
Shinomiya Kaguya went on from daily work all the way to the cultural festival, of course, more than half of what she said was fabricated.
In reality, the student council lazed around every day, with only Shirogane Miyuki being diligent. Well, not entirely—since this semester, Sakurai Saki had also begun helping Shirogane handle documents. As for Ishigami Yuu's treasurer duties, Sakurai Saki never needed to touch them, because Miko was always standing beside him, directing every tiny detail.
More than ten minutes later, Kino Karen left the student council room.
"The student council room usually isn't locked, honestly if any student is curious they can just walk in. We even accept requests from students." Sakurai Saki wondered aloud.
"Sakurai-san, have you ever suddenly walked into a room full of strangers?"
"So that's it. Suddenly pushing open the student council room door, and seeing Kaguya-san's cold face like she could kill someone—it really would scare people." Sakurai Saki rubbed his chin, nodding as though he had realized a profound truth.
Shinomiya Kaguya cast him a scornful look, not bothering to reply.
A few minutes later, as if remembering something, Shinomiya Kaguya suddenly spoke:
"Ah right, today Ai-san will be going home with me. Tomorrow you probably won't be able to go to school with her."
Her way of addressing Hayasaka Ai had changed from "Hayasaka" to "Ai-san," more intimate than before—after all, calling by given name instead of family name.
"Got it."
Tomorrow he wouldn't get to eat his girlfriend's "love breakfast," he would probably have to cook it himself.
Sakurai Saki didn't say anything else to Shinomiya Kaguya. He left the student council room, originally only intending to check some documents, unexpectedly running into the interview.
...
The December air had grown much colder, with gusts blowing through the half-open windows in the hallway.
A few girls were holding heart-shaped necklaces in their hands, seemingly fixed merchandise that would be sold during the festival, all with the same design.
When he stepped into the classroom—
Several familiar classmates were busy decorating the class café.
"Hey hey, Sakurai, come help out! The price list I asked you to check earlier, was it valid?"
"Valid. A few items could even be priced higher—we almost lost money!"
"Really? We set them that low?" a male student said in surprise.
"Nice! This is a perfect money-making opportunity! Even if it's one yen less, I'd still feel annoyed!" Toyosaki Saburou clenched his fist, cheering aloud.
Those words made the whole class burst into laughter.
The atmosphere in the classroom was filled with joy.