My love index is at its maximum.

"three!"

I stared intently at my watch, my breath stopped.

"two!"

His voice was quite calm, with a hint of coldness.

"one!"

In an instant, music blared from the loudspeakers around the playground, and the blonde girl slowly walked onto the stage.

A clean and tidy autumn long-sleeved uniform, a white shirt with a red cardigan over it. Underneath the black skirt are her usual white tights and matching white flat shoes.

She has a slender waist and long legs.

With her elegant and graceful demeanor, she is the most beautiful presence in the youth of countless boys.

When Yui Kikawa stepped onto the stage and stood in front of the microphone, a burst of loud cheers erupted from the audience.

This can be seen.

The golden retriever is quite popular.

As the chairperson of the committee, she once again took over the job of the student council president, and no one would object to that.

Under the gaze of thousands of eyes, Qichuan Wei spoke in a relaxed tone, her blue eyes like two pools of dyed spring water, so clear that no one dared to touch them.

Although the voice was neither loud nor soft, neither passionate nor low, it still subtly conveyed a superior aura—a harmless and non-aggressive aura, simply ruling the world with a neutral attitude, like looking down on insignificant ordinary people from the top of Tokyo Tower.

Tsukasa Tazaki couldn't hear a word she said.

At this moment, he was recalling Xiaowei's shy charm, the faint scent of cologne on her body, and her beautiful white silk legs with their wonderful feel.

Oh.

Oh, and her extremely clumsy kissing technique—she just couldn't learn it no matter how hard I tried.

The speech ended, and the audience erupted in prolonged applause.

The second speaker was the elderly headmaster. This time, the students' enthusiasm was noticeably lower, and the applause was sparse.

The contrast is very obvious.

"Do you all have to be so hypocritical?" Tsukasa Tazaki muttered through gritted teeth from behind the curtain. "They're all yelling louder and louder than the last. They're shameless. Don't they know my older brother has a boyfriend?!"

On the stool behind him, Yui Kikawa took a sip of hot tea from her thermos, her delicate white fingertips resting on her earphones: "Please watch your words during work hours, Tazaki-san."

"Did I say something wrong?" Tsukasa Tazaki didn't turn around, his eyes still fixed on the senior students who had shouted the loudest earlier. "Everyone in this school knows about your relationship with me!"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"I have nothing to do with you..."

"Then I'll go?"

"...I can't stand you anymore. Hurry up and get ready to go on stage, stop dawdling."

"Xiao Wei should also get ready to play the drums."

"Alright, stop being so wishy-washy."

"I'm your personal assistant, it's my job to remind you."

"It seems I may have intermittent blindness."

"Remove the possibility, otherwise how could you possibly like me, right?"

"...Nonsense, I don't like you!"

"You've been staring at my back for so long, are you planning to give me cupping therapy?"

The blonde girl, who had been watching his back, pouted unhappily: "You talk too much, hmph!"

"Uh, that..."

At that moment, a third person's voice came through the earphones.

"Chairman, and Tazaki-san, you two forgot to switch channels again..."

Done.

The headphones went silent, and only the hissing of static could be heard.

A few seconds later, Chiba Miho's angry roar rang out: "Which bastard reminded them just now? Come to the student council office right now and write a 10,000-word self-criticism!!! By the way, I'm a Yui fan, good luck, Kikawa-kun!"

Kikkawa Yui gritted her teeth and commanded, "All of you, shut up!"

"Xiaowei is angry, how scary! I'm leaving now, everyone take care."

Tazaki Tsukasa, in a particularly irritating manner, left a final message in the earpiece before fleeing towards the podium.

"Tsukuru Tazaki, don't run!" Yui Kikawa suddenly stood up and chased after him without caring about her image.

A burst of laughter came from the work tent behind me.

The blonde girl was both embarrassed and angry, her face flushed as she chased after Tsukasa Tazaki. All thoughts of being a perfect young lady were forgotten. All she wanted to do now was grab this annoying, childish brat and stomp on his foot.

On the podium, the principal had just finished his speech and stepped down the steps on the left when Tsukasa Tazaki was chased up from the right, with Yui Kikawa close behind.

The emcee, who was about to announce the program, paused for a moment, looking at Tsukasa Tazaki with a bit of a loss.

You've already come up here before we've even started talking. Are we even going to continue the introductions?

At the same time, the applause from the audience, which had been perfunctory, suddenly grew louder, with some of the more lively individuals even whistling.

Right.

Listening to an old man's long, tedious speech is nowhere near as interesting as watching a talented young boy or girl.

The instantly heated atmosphere startled Yui Kikkawa awake.

Her fair cheeks flushed red in an instant, and she was at a loss for what to do, so she instinctively shrank behind Tsukasa Tazaki.

The emcee finally remembered his job and quickly raised the microphone: "...Now, let's welcome Tazaki from Class 1-F with a speech."

Thunderous applause erupted from below. Although no one knew why Tsukasa Tazaki, a first-year student, had the right to give a speech, everyone applauded with a sense of schadenfreude, since the blond class president was standing obediently behind him.

The emcee stepped aside, and Yui Kichikawa was thinking of taking the opportunity to slip away. Suddenly, Tsukasa Tazaki grabbed her hand and pulled her in front of the standing microphone.

"……open!"

"Come on, wait until I've finished speaking before you step down."

I was talking about your hand...

"I was just afraid you'd run away." Tsukasa Tazaki adjusted the microphone height with one hand, looked down at the audience, and slowly smiled.

A very formal, absolutely perfect smile.

Seeing this smile will make your heart flutter, as if you have been chosen by him at first glance, and you will experience a wonderful spiritual tremor that you have never experienced before. It is as if the world has lost its gravity and your body has lifted five or six centimeters off the ground.

"Hello everyone."

"I am Tsukasa Tazaki, a scumbag from Class 1-F who plays with girls' feelings."

Laughter erupted from the audience.

To control her laughter, Hoshino Hanami bit her left index finger, looking at her boyfriend on stage with a mixture of helplessness and amusement, her eyes sparkling.

"Before my speech, I'd like to ask you a question. What is the one thing our school has in abundance?"

"Children from wealthy families!" The answer given by thousands of students was unanimous.

"Yes, a rich kid with straight teeth and boring talk. Actually, I was originally from a rich family too. You can ask my friend Qichuan if you don't believe me."

With his hand in hers, Qichuan Yui stared intently at the surface of her shoes.

"Later, a little accident happened."

"But it doesn't matter. Even when I was living in a dark and damp rented room, I firmly believed that I, like everyone here, had a bright future."

"Now it seems I did it."

"He has the best grades in the whole school, has extraordinary athletic ability, and is an excellent cook."

"You all probably think I came here to show off, right?"

"So clever!"

A burst of laughter and curses erupted from the audience.

Several of the more lively boys shouted, "Shameless!"

Tazaki Tsukasa raised one hand and pressed it down. After the noise subsided, he continued, "Originally, there was no part of the opening ceremony where I was supposed to give a speech, but I still stood here. Do you know what I'm relying on?"

"I relied on my classmate, Kikawa, who was right next to me."

"This shows that when you're still a ways from success, you can try finding a reliable back door... Ouch, that hurts!"

As if she could no longer bear it, Qichuan raised her foot and stomped on him hard: "Be serious!"

The atmosphere in the audience became even more boisterous.

Many people laughed so hard they were doubled over, and even Kana Shimamoto couldn't help but bend over laughing.

Behind the curtain backstage, Hoshino Shikami grabbed Ninomiya Shiori's arm and shook it repeatedly: "Serves him right, serves him right! He brought other girls on stage but not Shikami, he deserves to be trampled on!"

“It’s time to explain why I’m here,” Tsukasa Tazaki said, straightening his posture and glancing around the playground. “But before that, I have one more question to ask. Gentlemen, what kind of person am I in your impression?”

Amidst the chattering discussions, the word "aloof" was mentioned most frequently.

"Is she aloof?"

"That's true, but it's not the whole story, or rather, it's just the surface."

"For example, everyone probably thinks that Kikawa is aloof. Let's have her talk about what she thinks best." Tazaki Tsukasa stepped aside and pulled the blonde girl over.

"...?" Qichuan looked at the microphone in front of him, completely bewildered.

What's going on here?

That wasn't in the script! Why did you change the disc halfway through, Tsukasa Tazaki?

The sudden turn of events caused Yui Kichikawa to be momentarily stunned, but she quickly recovered, cleared her throat, and stood on tiptoe, just about to speak.

Because it was a standing microphone, the height was level with Tsukasa Tazaki's lips.