The Neighboring Aarya-san who Sometimes Acts Affectionate and Murmuring in Russian - Volume 5 - Chapter 6.1

CHAPTER 6

I’m innocent! I swear!

“Whoa…,” muttered Masachika dispassionately as if he was witnessing something that had nothing to do with him.

It was September 1st, the first day of the second semester, and both the opening ceremony and homeroom had already ended, so Masachika was looking out the classroom window, down at the schoolyard, where a huge line was extending outside the gymnasium entrance. A group of students were even sprinting over to join the line as if there were somebody famous waiting for them inside. Obviously, there weren’t any celebrities, though. They were selling new school uniforms inside the gymnasium today—the summer uniforms, which Touya Kenzaki, the student council president, had been fighting to improve.

Of course, that didn’t mean everyone had to wear one. The new summer uniforms were only being sold to those who wanted one. At the very least, for the next three years, students could choose whichever summer uniform they wanted to wear, whether it be the old uniform or the new one. The student council had predicted that there would be a ton of students who wanted one, so they arranged a staff meeting, voted on it, and ended up putting together a temporary shop in the gymnasium just for that day. The absurdly long line alone made it obvious they had made the right decision. If they had decided to sell the uniforms at the school store, then the line for the uniforms would have blocked people trying to go home, which would have made for one chaotic hallway.

“Everyone must be sick of these long-sleeved blazers,” muttered Alisa. Her facial expression made it seem like she had mixed feelings while she watched her classmates dash down the hallway.

There were students who were against the idea of changing the school uniform, so they decided on a rule that allowed the student to choose. As it turned out, however, most students seemed to have opted for the new summer uniform. Perhaps some threw in the towel when they realized how hot it still was when the new semester started, or maybe some people simply didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb after seeing how many of their peers went with the new uniform, so they followed the crowd. Either way, Touya’s proposal to improve the summer uniform seemed to be accepted by most.

“I bet everyone’s gonna end up going with the new uniform. Today’s crazy hot, too.”

Takeshi fanned himself with his hand.

“I’m so grateful that we don’t have to wear these blazers to school tomorrow, especially since school rules said we had to wear them even on our way to school,” exclaimed Hikaru, nodding in agreement with his friend.

“I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but the new collared shirt is apparently a little hot.”

“What? Why?”

Takeshi and Hikaru stared at Masachika as if he were speaking in tongues.

“They’re apparently using some sort of slightly thicker material that’s not see-through, since they wanted to make sure students still looked proper in public, no matter what happens.” Masachika shrugged.

“W-wait. Hold up… Are you telling me—…?”

After Takeshi paused, appearing stunned, he glanced at Alisa, then lowered his voice so that she couldn’t hear him and asked:

“Does that mean we’re not gonna be able to see their bras through their shirts…?”

Despite his friend having the most ridiculously serious look on his face, Masachika gravely nodded back.

“That’s exactly what this means.”

“No… Nooo!”

Grief-stricken, Takeshi leaned weakly against the window as his eyes darted around, surveying the outside world.

“What have we done…? Hopes and dreams are but a thing of the past now…”

“You say as you live in Japan during a time of peace.”

“It’s a new semester, and not even one beautiful girl transferred to our school and told me she was my fiancée…”

“Yeah, like that’d ever happen in real life. By the way, that trope is already outdated. Popular tropes for transfer students nowadays are former heroes or former soldiers who dream about living normal lives.”

“Maybe if they’re the protagonist! But I’m going to be a side character!”

“…Oh.”

“Why did you just hesitate there for a second?”

“No reason…”

Masachika swiftly averted his gaze while Hikaru and Alisa both frowned uncomfortably. The awkward silence continued for the next few seconds until Hikaru decided to speak up with a cheerful note in his voice and added:

“Anyway, I’m impressed. I always assumed that it’d be impossible to get rid of an outdated tradition like this, since I didn’t think there was any way to convince the First Light Committee.”

The First Light Committee was the official title of the committee made up of former student council presidents and vice presidents who had graduated from Seirei Academy High School. The academy may have been a private school for the elite, but the tuition was relatively inexpensive. If anything, the tuition was rather cheap when considering all the facilities and systems that had been put into place. The reason for this was because the school was receiving tremendously generous donations from its alumni. The First Light Committee’s donations were extraordinary, which proportionally gave them a lot of say in regard to school policy.

Needless to say, a not-small portion of their donation was used to make the new summer uniforms, so this plan would have never come to fruition without their approval.

“From what I heard, it was actually the relatively younger members of the group who were against the idea.” Masachika shrugged again, causing Takeshi to curiously raise an eyebrow.

“Wait. For real? You’d think some stubborn old man would have been the one who was against the idea.”

“The geezers on the First Light Committee are all leading figures in the business world and in politics, so maybe they just don’t let little things like school uniforms bother them.”

“…Yeah, I guess I can’t really imagine Niikura complaining about school uniforms, since he used to go here.”

“Right?”

“…? Niikura?”

Alisa appeared confused.

“Prime Minister Niikura,” clarified Masachika, surprised that she wasn’t aware.

“…?! What?!”

“Oh, ya didn’t know?” asked Takeshi, since she seemed to be genuinely taken aback.

“It makes sense, though. It’s not like the First Light Committee goes on TV to talk or anything, so there’s no way you would know unless someone told you.”

Nevertheless, this was a relatively well-known fact among the students at Seirei Academy, and it wasn’t something even worth gossiping about, so it made sense that Alisa, who didn’t have a lot of close friends, wouldn’t know. At least, that was what Masachika figured when he tried to make her feel better about being out of the loop.

Incidentally, the only reason it wasn’t worth gossiping about was because it wasn’t anything unusual. After all, four members within the committee had been the prime minister at some point in their life, and the number was most likely even higher than that if they included former members of the committee who had already passed away. Although most schools would probably use the fact that a former student of theirs became the prime minister as a selling point, it was so common at Seirei Academy that nobody really batted an eye.

“By the way, the minister of finance, Onuma, and the governor of Tokyo, Nanase, also graduated from our school—just to name a few. You’ve also got Sayaka’s dad, who’s the CEO of Taniyama Heavy Industries; the CEO of Gilkes; the head of Eimei Bank; the CEO of Clarique—the list is endless.”

Masachika started to list off members of the committee on his fingers until it started to bore him, and he stopped.

“Also, I believe Yuki Suou’s grandfather used to be an ambassador to the United States,” Hikaru casually added.

“…Oh, right.”

Masachika realized that his enthusiasm had plummeted to the point that he was worried the others would pick up on it. While Takeshi didn’t seem to notice, both Alisa and Hikaru glanced at him quizzically, making Masachika want to click his tongue.

“Yo.”

That was when the person they had been waiting for suddenly arrived, which allowed Masachika to nonchalantly shift his focus to her.

“Oh, hey…”

The new visitor stepping into the room was none other than Nonoa, her hair tied in a ponytail. However, the instant everyone saw how she was dressed, they froze because she had already changed into the new summer uniform that they’d just started selling at the gymnasium. Did she somehow manage to buy it in advance? But as far as Masachika knew, there was no way anyone could have gotten their hands on the new uniform in advance, and he would know, since he was in the student council.

“…How are you already dressed in the new school uniform?” asked Masachika on behalf of all the inquiring minds, making Nonoa curiously tilt her head with her usual heavy-lidded eyes.

“Eh, you know. One thing led to another.”

“…Uh-huh.”

He couldn’t press her for answers anymore after hearing that. Although it was highly likely that she just didn’t feel like explaining, Masachika felt that asking for details wouldn’t lead to anything good, so he dropped it. If Nonoa said that one thing led to another, then that was what happened.

“Not on your phone for once, huh?” commented Masachika, changing the subject. Nonoa sluggishly sat in a nearby seat.

“Yeah,” she grunted with a shrug.

“My mom got mad at me for being on my phone all the time, so I’m trying to cut back or whatever.”

“Oh…”

Masachika was genuinely surprised that Nonoa was respecting her mother’s wishes, and he didn’t seem to be the only one.

“Wow… You do what your parents tell you to do,” mentioned Takeshi a bit hesitantly.

“Uh…? Yeah? Of course I do. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna start listening to my teachers or anything, though. Ha-ha.”

It was hard to gauge whether she was serious or joking, and her bored expression wasn’t helping. Takeshi and Hikaru fake-laughed as well, since they didn’t know how else to react.

Mmm… What have I gotten myself into? This isn’t going to be easy.

Takeshi was uncomfortable around girls his age despite how he usually acted, and Hikaru simply wasn’t a fan of them. And to make matters worse, Alisa was terrible at making new friends. Meanwhile, Nonoa did things at her own pace, and Sayaka didn’t really trouble herself over how others felt. In other words, though he was the one who had brought these people together, Masachika had a hard time imagining a future where they really hit it off and had great chemistry as a band.

And that’s why I need to act as a sort of mediator to bring them together.

But the instant he renewed his resolve, Sayaka came walking through the door and almost immediately began to run the show.

“All right, how about we start off by choosing a band name? Does anyone have any ideas?”

She stood at the lectern like a teacher, since the six of them were the only people in the room. A few moments went by after she made eye contact with each of them individually. Hikaru suddenly raised a hand.

“I do.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.”

“Uh… How about Colorful? Our band’s pretty diverse when you think about it. Plus, it’s simple, which I like.”

“That’s not a bad idea at all,” admitted Sayaka as she wrote Colorful on the chalkboard. After she asked if there were any other ideas, Takeshi enthusiastically raised his hand.

“Yes, Takeshi?”

He smirked as if he had the greatest idea in the whole world.

“Shan’t,” he slowly exclaimed, his breath oozing with confidence; however, the other five were clearly unimpressed.

Sayaka’s brow furrowed slightly, and she pushed up her glasses by the bridge.

“You mean like as an abbreviation for ‘shall not’?”

It was a reasonable question, so Takeshi promptly raised an index finger to explain further.

“The easiest way to come up with team names is to take the first letter of everyone’s name. In our case, we have T, H, A, S, and N, so after thinking about it for a while, I came up with Shan’t! What do ya think?!”

“Lame.”

Nonoa used “Relentless Strike”! Takeshi “Fainted”!

“…Anybody have any better ideas?”

Even the disciplinary committee member was relentless, rubbing salt into his wounds. After clearing her throat, Sayaka set her eyes on the girl who had absolutely crushed Takeshi.

“What about you, Nonoa?”

“Me? For real?”

When Masachika glanced at Nonoa, who was twirling her hair as her eyes wandered, the first thought that came to his mind was, There’s no point in even asking her, since it’s probably going to be something flashy or trashy. It’s just going to be something ridiculously long about being “lit” or having “rizz” or something stupid.

“Oh,” Nonoa suddenly muttered before Masachika’s speculating gaze. “How about God of Grilled Chicken Meatballs?”

“Are you okay?”

“What? It’s a legit good name.”

“It sounds like the name of a pub,” interjected Masachika with a straight face.

“How did you come up with that name anyway?” asked Sayaka, frowning.

“Hmm? It just came to me,” replied Nonoa.

“…”

Even though Sayaka placed a hand on her forehead in exasperation, she still wrote God of Grilled Chicken Meatballs on the chalkboard.

“What about you, Saya?” asked Nonoa while Sayaka was still facing the board.

“My idea for a band name? Well…”

After Sayaka slightly turned around with a raised eyebrow, she faced the blackboard once more, allowing the chalk to effortlessly glide across its enamel. Dark—

“Sayaka, wait.”

“What?”

“Just come over here for a second.”

The instant Masachika saw what she had begun to write, he tried to lead her to the hallway, but she only stared back at him, knitting her brow in utter confusion.

“…Can it wait until I finish writing my idea?”

“Saya? Like, I think you should probably hear Kuze out first.”

“Nonoa…”