When I read the heart of the never-smiling princess, for some reason she had already fallen head over heels in love for me. - v1 Chapter 27

Chapter 27 : A Clue to the Princess’s True Identity

*Zazaza

The blank answer sheets scatters across the hallway. Ah, now this is a problem.

Hoshino froze on spot, with her face pale white. Seems like she’s the type to shut down in moments like this.

I set the lab equipment I was carrying aside in the hallway and started picking up the sheets. Then, as if snapping out of it, Hoshino hurriedly joined me picking that up as well.

“S-sorry!”

“It’s fine. Let’s pick them up fast~.”

As I said this lightly, my index finger briefly brushed against her pinky.

“Hawawawa, I’m so sorry!”

Hoshino yanked her hand back and retreated to the hallway wall, reacting like a cat during an earthquake. At that moment I saw her face flashing between red and blue, and an ear-splitting voice echoed in my head.

‘Eeeeek, I touched him! I was so careless and rude to a person with a fear of contact! He definitely hates me now! What do I do? He’s definitely mad, he’s totally absolutely mad! If he tells on me to Mii-chan-san, I’ll lose my place in the student council now!’

“Umm, it was just a little touch. I don’t mind mind it at all.”

When I spoke, Hoshino flinched and nodded vigorously.

‘He says he doesn’t mind, but can I really trust him? Can I believe him? Saiga-kun seems honest… but sometimes the honest-looking ones are the secretly the most scary. Still, he’s super kind to Mii-chan-san, works hard for the student council, and is reliable as well. Plus, he’s kinda cool sometimes. Alright, I’ll trust—wait, no, I can’t let my guard down yet!’

What are you, a wild animal just taken in by humans?

Suppressing the urge to retort, I finished gathering the sheets and handed them to her.

“Here you go.”

“T-thanks.”

‘Ah… Maybe he really doesn’t mind? He’s not mad? Safe? Safe?’

I nodded, picked up the lab equipment, and started walking ahead. Staying close wouldn’t stop her inner voice. After repeatedly confirming to herself, Hoshino eventually followed me.

I made a wry smile in a way she couldn’t see.

(As always, it’s really something, Hoshino’s inner voice that is.)

Since joining the student council, I’ve already went through the inner voices of all the members. Hoshino’s, in particular, stands out in a different way from Minami-san’s.

In her mind, Hoshino is incredibly talkative. Given how little she speaks out loud, the contrast between her normal self made me shocked quite a lot. Plus, her delicate nature often comes through in overwhelmingly negative thoughts. Even now, she’s spiraling into anxiety, assuming she’s done something to offend me.

But that can just be said as a quirk to her personality. Compared to people with wildly different public and private faces, she’s quite cute and likeable instead.

‘Wait, somehow, he seems like ignoring me? Is he mad after all? Oh no, what should I do, it’s so awkward now.’

…Being likable and requiring extra care are two different things, though, yeap.

I only walked ahead to deactivate my ability, but she has started misunderstanding again unfortunately. I want to keep Ignoring her inner voice, however, that leaves a nagging feeling in my chest.

Welp, whatever.

“C–come to think of it,Minami-san’s really pretty amazing, right?”

I slowed my pace to walk beside Hoshino.

She flinched a little to that, but then responded, “Amazing?” to go along with me.

“She found student’s personal items in almost every club. No one else could pull that off that easily.”

“Y-yeah.”

‘Somehow, maybe he doesn’t look mad after all? Haaa.’

Her inner voice let out a sigh of relief alongside her verbal agreement. For now, that should do I guess. We’re about 30 centimeters apart, so my ability should wear off soon.

‘Ah, he took the pain to start a conversation, I should at least keep it going…!’

But in her panic, she continued with, “I-I’m always surprised by her.”

She’s kind yet such a worrywort. I get the feeling why Minami-san loves teasing her with “Myu-chan.”

“From the moment we met, Mii-chan-san was just incredible. She suddenly asked me to be the treasurer… even though we’d never talked before. I was just utterly shocked.”

“Eh? So Hoshino san was also the same?”

“‘Also the same’… does that mean, even you were asked out of the blue, Saiga-kun?”

“Yeah, exactly. I’d never spoken to her previously either. When she suddenly asked me to be the secretary, I was seriously surprised.”

Not to mention, she hit me with her romantic feelings for me right after—talk about earth-shattering revelations one after another.

“Didn’t she recruit you because you had a knack for accounting?”

“Y-yeah. She said I had just the right skills for accounting…”

“Haha, knew it.”

“But, um, that wasn’t the thing that surprised me the most.”

Her words carried a hint of something deeper. Hoshino hesitated at first, but then leaned in like she was sharing a secret.

“The reason she gave for recruiting me… it was so unexpected. Almost… strange.”

“Strange?”

Now, what was it about her accounting talent again? Come to think of it, I think it came up in a conversation with Saeki as well.

“Uh, something about having a knack for math and being persistent, right?”

“Yeah. She could’ve known about my math skills from test scores, but the persistence part… she mentioned how I completed a domino setup. Just how did Mii-chan-san know about that at all?”

I wasn’t quite following her conversation still. When I furrowed my brow, Hoshino looked down.

“…I lived in Kyoto during junior high school. I moved here because of my parents, so I only met Minami-san in high school.”

“Heh. I thought you might be from Kansai because of your accent, but you now live in Kyoto? Then…”

A question suddenly surged to the forefront, stirring unease in my chest.

“Hold on right there. Then how did she know about that, the feats of your junior high school days?”

That time, Minami-san had explained us all about it back then: That Hoshino completed a domino setup alone at her middle school culture festival, and her persistence made her perfect for treasurer. But that was when Hoshino was still in Kyoto in her junior high school. I know Minami-san went to a nearby junior high school, considering the physical distance, the two were just far too separated for her, Minami-san, to have heard about it at all.

It’s not like the information could’ve just reached her through someone.

“Did you tell anyone about it, Hoshino?”

“Nope. I don’t brag about stuff like that… and I don’t really want to talk about it as well.”

Her voice suddenly trailed off, tinged with gloom. There seemed to be some kind of a backstory as well, but right now my ability had worn off, so I couldn’t read her thoughts at all.

But right now, confirming the facts was the priority.

“So, then how did Minami-san know about your junior high school?”

“I don’t know. That’s why it’s strange.”

“Don’t you think it’s… suspicious?”

“Of course it’s suspicious. It was really scary and creepy knowing someone knew about my Kyoto days, you know.”

Hoshino gave a wry smile, but it didn’t carry the fear her words suggested.

“But Mii-chan-san is just such an incredible person. Like she just sees through everything. Maybe she also found out about me somehow.”

“Somehow…just how…?”

Sure enough, Minami-san has an image which seems that she was capable of pulling it off. But just how, exactly? Did she hire a private investigator? For something as trivial as the student council?

“I don’t know how she found out about it, but being around her, I realized her intentions were pure—not to do something to hurt me. So no matter what method she used, I don’t think about it anymore.”

“Even still, it did scare you didn’t it, Hoshino san? Why did you decide to join the student council after that?”

“…Mii-chan-san told me, that she would never abandon me like that. That made me kind of happy… or like, maybe like bound me with a string of fate.”

As Hoshino’s wry smile turned into a shy one, she wrapped up with, “Anyway, she’s really an amazing person.”

But I just couldn’t smile back at her.

Recalling her feats of finding hidden items in clubs, even the thing about knowing about Hoshino’s junior high school incidents, also the fact of knowing about my part-time job—all of it just connects down to one theory, the fact that she just ‘knew’ about it.

She just seems to know about anything. No, maybe she has a way to just know about everything.

Is it possible to do that through normal means?

Or rather, isn’t it impossible without abnormal means?

(Like, say, the ability to read their hearts, or something.)

If she had a similar power as me, everything would be possible.

And furthermore, just assuming it…

Who decided that there is only one person in the world with such ability?

(That’s just ridiculous… However…)

I just couldn’t completely dismiss that.

If that were the case, there’s only one thing to do next.

Confirm whether it’s the truth or not.