I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

Page 23

"Click—" The door lock opened, and a hand immediately reached out from inside and pulled him inside, then "snap!" locked the door again.

Did you hear that?

Kazusa, clearly holding her breath, pointed to the first music classroom next door where guitars were played.

"Of course I heard you... Yes, it would be better if you closed the window. There is air conditioning in this room, so you don't need to save the school electricity."

“Playing the piano with the window open makes me feel better. Okay, enough of that. Let’s go sit over there and get together. I’ve already tuned it. Don’t look at me like that… I just didn’t want you to come over and waste my time tuning it again.”

Kazusa pointed coldly at the empty piano in the concert hall.

"But you'll have to wait about ten more minutes."

Himekoji gave a wry smile.

"What is it this time?"

She frowned this time, and her right hand seemed to be gripping something tightly.

"There's something I need to discuss with that guy in the first music room, it'll probably take about ten minutes... so..."

"Phew—so that's how it is," she pursed her lips slightly, stepped forward and said to Ji Xiaolu, who was blocking the doorway, "Move aside." Ji Xiaolu stepped aside, grabbed the doorknob, turned it, and opened the door, saying, "Go ahead."

"I will be back as soon as possible."

Himekoji took a step forward, turned around, and said.

"Actually, I'd like you to drag this out a bit longer. He can't practice his guitar while you're talking to him, right? That way, I can play the guitar in peace."

Kazusa waved at him expressionlessly and closed the door behind her.

"Uh..."

Himekoji, standing in front of the second music classroom, felt a pang of sadness.

Unlike the second music room, the first music room wasn't always locked, so Himeko knocked on the door and then pushed it open. The guitar music stopped abruptly, and Kitahara Haruki placed one hand on the guitar string, stopping the subsequent vibrato.

"Student council president... is there anything I can help you with?"

Kitahara Haruki placed the guitar on the shelf beside him, stood up, took a few steps forward, and said.

"Whoosh—" Ji Xiaolu closed the door and walked over to face him, saying, "I'll get straight to the point, I want to ask you for a favor."

"Well... if you're asking me to play guitar, that's really not an option. My current skill level would be too embarrassing, and it would only cause you trouble, President."

Kitahara Haruki scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. He had thought Himekoji had come to invite him to some kind of performance or event.

"No, it's not to ask you to play the guitar, so don't worry. Um, you know Seaside Comprehensive High School, right? Our student council is planning to co-host a soccer tournament with them this year, and maybe some students from Biyang Academy will participate too. The Seaside High School student council invited us to a meeting at the community center next Monday to discuss this matter. I've seen your file; it says that before you transferred, you were an executive member of the student council, and that position happens to be vacant right now, so—"

"If you are asking me to take on the position of executive committee member, please forgive me for declining."

Kitahara bowed his head to Himekoji.

In fact, Himekoji did not intend to make him an executive committee member. The reason she said this was to leave room for lowering the conditions in future negotiations.

"What's the reason?"

“I’m a senior in high school now, so I hope to have more time to study rather than work. My friends and I have decided to run this light music club, so I also hope to have some free time to practice guitar here. So please forgive me for refusing, because student council work will take up a lot of my time.” Kitahara said neither humbly nor arrogantly. Seeing that Himekoji did not respond for the time being, he turned around and said firmly, “If the president has nothing else to say, please leave.”

"Since you're unwilling to serve as an executive committee member... then help out as a member of the school. After the results of this meeting, you won't need to worry about these things anymore."

Himekoji adjusted his glasses; he knew Kitahara would accept the request.

Even so... I still have one question.

Kitahara turned around again, facing Himekoji with his physique and appearance. To be honest, he felt quite pressured. Moreover, there were so many rumors about this student council president at school that everyone had several copies. Despite causing such a situation, Himekoji still firmly held onto the student council president's position. In fact, he had some respect for Himekoji.

After all, there was a student council president in the school before who caused a great uproar because of cheating and other things. In the end, he had no choice but to resign amidst the protests. But look at the students of Soubu High School. Although they are all spreading rumors about Himekoji, no one says that there is anything wrong with the student council’s work. The presidents and managers of various clubs have also expressed their support for Himekoji’s work. Kitahara has always been puzzled as to why this is.

"please say."

"As far as I know, the student council is full of talented people, and there are many students from other classes who have served as executive committee members before. Why did the president choose me?"

Kitahara Haruki is actually a busybody and a kind-hearted person. If it weren't for the fact that being an executive committee member would take up too much time, he would have agreed immediately.

"Everyone in the student council is indeed quite capable, but only the vice president, the accountant, and I are attending this meeting. The rest of us are responsible for liaising with the Hekiyo Academy student council. As for the other people who have served as executive committee members, well—I don't think they can be serious and focused on their work instead of flirting with Ogiso Setsuna. If we bring female executive committee members along, the meeting will be all girls except for me, which is quite strange."

A hint of disdain flashed across Ji Xiaolu's face.

"Setsuna Ogiso?!"

The name clearly piqued Kitahara's interest, but he was merely surprised and didn't have much admiration for the girl who was popular despite having barely met her.

"Yes, right now, Secretary Kasumigaoka-senpai is in charge of discussing the meeting with her. She will probably be going with us as a public relations representative, if Kasumigaoka-senpai's negotiations go smoothly."

Chapter 047 went too fast; [Touma Kazusa] said she hadn't even felt it yet.

"That Kasumigaoka-san... I understand. I'm willing to contribute to this event. Just let me know if you need anything."

"I won't give you any orders. After all, you're a senior, so you just need to perform normally. I need your experience."

Himeko smiled kindly and extended her hand to Kitahara Haruki. Kitahara immediately stepped forward, shook hands with her, and nodded, saying, "I will definitely do my best."

“Very good, the student council thanks you for your assistance.” Himeko turned to leave, but before leaving, she called back Kitahara, who was about to go back to play the guitar, and pointed to the wide-open window and said, “Also, I’m sorry, could you please close the windows when you play the guitar? I’ve received many complaints about this recently, but I can’t just stop you from playing the guitar, so at least I have to do something to prevent the sound from spreading, right?”

"Hahaha..." Kitahara said with a disappointed smile, "Okay, I understand. It must be because a lot of people said that my guitar playing is just noise that you came to warn me, right, Chairman?"

Haha... What do you think?

Ji Xiaolu waved her hand and watched him close several large windows before walking out the door.

Since Kazusa doesn't want to close the window, then we'll just have to close it here.

When Ji Xiaolu arrived at the door of the second music classroom again, he knocked for a long time but no one answered. Just as he was about to call Kazusa, the piano music suddenly stopped with a "bang!" A few seconds later, the door opened and Kazusa showed half of her body, saying with a dark face, "Why are you back so soon?"

"Should I go and talk to him about something else?"

Himekoji turned to leave, but Kazusa grabbed her sleeve.

"No need, it's too annoying to open the door for you every time," Kazusa said coldly, pulling Himekoji directly inside. She raised her right fist and placed it flat in front of Himekoji's chest, saying succinctly, "Hand."

"Oh." Himekoji stretched out her hand under her fist, and as she let go, a flat key fell into Himekoji's hand, still warm from Kazusa's hand.

"But the guitar sound over there is much quieter now, how did you do that?"

"Tell him to close all the windows tightly."

“…Never mind.” Kazusa pointed to the Himekoji family’s piano, which was placed next to the one she usually played, and said, “Don’t waste time, go quickly.”

And so, Himekoji sat down at the piano once again.

The two of them, Himeko and Kazusa, played the piano alternately when Himeko was in her third year of junior high school and Kazusa had just started high school. Because her mother wanted to visit Kazusa, the two of them went to her house for a surprise visit. In the end, the two of them could not escape the fate of playing the piano alternately in Kazusa's house basement music room.

My mom was dancing there as usual, but she didn't bother to style her hair.

The two were already incredibly skilled with their fingers. At first, they seemed a little unaccustomed to it because they hadn't done it in a long time, but after a few pieces, they naturally looked at each other and began to play. Himekoji always maintained an appropriate smile, while Kazusa, after being stared at by him for a while, first glared at him, then closed her eyes and poured all her emotions into the piano.

Her slender figure swayed gracefully back and forth to the beautiful melody, her hair dancing freely in the slightly cool evening breeze. Time seemed to stand still between the piano keys, which were neither too long nor too short. The flowing time went from the end of La back to the end of Do, and then back to La again, repeating endlessly.

As expected, when the two of them play together, Kazusa is basically unaffected by Kitahara's influence. (Kitahara Haruki: Hey, hey, hey, there's no air conditioning in the first music room!!)

After several pieces, Himekoji noticed that Kazusa still refused to open her eyes to face him, so he stopped caring. He chuckled and closed his eyes as well. Their duet was remarkably consistent most of the time. However, neither Himekoji nor Kazusa would occasionally playfully add a slight pitch change to a section. They maintained this unspoken understanding; language was no longer a means of communication, only the piano keys, the piano keys, the piano keys.

However, what Himekoji didn't notice was that Kazusa secretly opened her eyes again after he closed them. Seeing his serious expression, she almost burst out laughing. If her hand movements hadn't given her away, she definitely would have been exposed.

Suddenly, the sky outside the window darkened, the sunset disappeared, and dark clouds gathered from all directions over this plain where the sea and land meet. A light rain began to fall without warning, the raindrops making a soft sound as they fell on the glass, and then dripped in through the open window, landing on He Sha's hair and back.

"Would you like to move to a different spot? Or perhaps close the window?"

The windows on Himekoji's side are closed; only Kazusa's side gets wet in the rain.

"Ah, that... You don't need to worry about it at all. Just focus on playing your piano."

Kazusa, who was getting wet in the drizzle, couldn't help but laugh. In the end, she laughed out loud and her fingers worked even harder.

"I rarely see you smile, Kazusa."

"Shut up, whether I laugh or not is my own business."

Kazusa rolled her eyes at Himekoji and gradually suppressed her smile. Himekoji regretted saying that.

It was almost seven o'clock. School started at one o'clock in the afternoon and ended at four o'clock. Kazusa would usually stay in the classroom with her head on the table until about five o'clock before getting up to go to the music room to play the piano. However, there were exceptions. Himekoji usually finished her work in the student council around four-thirty, but occasionally it would drag on until five o'clock. Kitahara Haruki would also usually start playing the guitar by himself around four-thirty. The three of them were basically in sync.

"Kazusa, it's time to go back."

Himekoji's melody slowed down, and Kazusa slowed down along with him.

"...Then you should go back by yourself first."

For a moment she looked quite surprised, but she quickly regained her composure.

"You usually leave even earlier than this, aren't you hungry?"

"That's my own business."

Kazusa used the same phrase to shut him up again. Himeko stopped playing the piano, got up and went behind Kazusa, closing the window that hadn't been closed. He leaned against the window and watched her playing the piano in a huff. Her left arm and skirt were half wet, and her rain-soaked hair had lost its liveliness and lay obediently on her back.

After another piece, when Himekoji Kazumi still showed no intention of continuing to play, she turned to him and asked, "Aren't you going to play?"

Chapter 048 So willful, [Touma Kazusa] doesn't want to go home.

"It's time to go back."

"Then you should leave. Since you don't play the piano, you're just getting in the way."

"Wasa..."

"Go back! Go back! Didn't you hear what I said?!"

She pressed both hands heavily onto the piano keys, producing a loud, buzzing sound.

"You'll catch a cold like this; look, half of your body is soaked by the rain."

"That has nothing to do with you."

"How can it be unrelated? You are..."

“I know I’m that woman’s daughter; you don’t need to remind me of that.”

"Does Kazusa mean that I only care about you because of Aunt Yoko?"