“Not bad at all, 95 points.”
Jinguji Amane’s voice brought Suzuki Yu back to his senses. He stood up and faced her beaming smile.
“Really? I’m glad to get your praise~” Suzuki Yu replied with his usual nonsense, but Jinguji Amane just played along.
At once, the two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries.
“President, I haven’t seen you since that day. Have you been busy?”
“Sort of. After all, during the school trip, there are a lot of things the student council has to arrange.”
“That really sounds tough.”
“Suzuki, you’re a member of the student council too, aren’t you? Haven’t you been slacking off these days?”
Jinguji Amane said this, her smiling eyes staring intently at the boy before her. Before he could answer, she continued:
Suzuki Yu was caught off guard, words stuck in his throat.
He wondered in his mind if he should tell her about the renewed contract with Chisa.
Would that count as a betrayal?
But it didn’t seem like they’d ever really been on the same side anyway. The contract had been forced on him by her, after all.
No matter how he looked at it, Jinguji Amane wasn’t like Chisa. She wouldn’t see him in any special way.
So there shouldn’t be a problem telling her. Besides, with her abilities, even if he didn’t say anything, she’d probably sense it anyway.
So, Suzuki Yu told Jinguji Amane about the new contract he’d made with Chisa, but didn’t mention the confession that night.
The worst he expected was for Jinguji Amane to get angry—though honestly, he’d never seen her angry before.
No matter the situation, she was always composed.
And if she did get mad over this kind of thing, even if she broke off the contract, Suzuki Yu would have to find a way to escape.
Dealing with one ojou-sama was already exhausting—another one would be terrifying.
But thankfully, Jinguji Amane didn’t react much at all. She just blinked, as if a little surprised.
Then, the student council president put on a deliberately exaggerated look of grievance, covering her mouth with her hand, her eyes brimming with emotion, as if she might cry:
“Suzuki, are you saying that while you’re already my ‘boyfriend,’ you went and signed a contract with another woman?”
“Uh…” Suzuki Yu twitched at her performance.
“And on top of that, you signed it with your ‘ex-girlfriend.’ What does that make me, the pitiful rebound?”
“As if that weren’t enough, you even told me about it. Am I just another part of your game?”
The conversation was veering off into strange territory, so Suzuki Yu quickly tried to stop her:
“Jinguji-senpai, there’s really no need to joke about this. We both know what our relationship actually is, right?”
He said, and upon hearing it, Jinguji Amane instantly reverted to her earlier smile and tone:
“Hehe~ Isn’t it fun to mess around like this?”
At first, Suzuki Yu might have felt flustered and awkward at her sudden act, but by now, he was used to it.
Seeing her as nonchalant as ever, Suzuki Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief, meeting her gaze as he asked:
“Then, Senpai, are we still going to maintain our contract?”
That was what mattered most to him at the moment. If he kept the contract with Jinguji Amane, the system would offer him a lot of help.
At the same time, if she broke the contract, then his plan to get Hasegawa-senpai to participate in the chamber music competition might fall through.
He knew very well that without the system’s support, he could never keep up with Hasegawa Aoi.
He understood all too well just how terrifying those geniuses could be.
Jinguji Amane blinked at his question, this time seeming a bit puzzled:
“Why wouldn’t I continue? Suzuki, are you trying to dump me?”
“I won’t allow that, you know.”
Her answer was exactly what Suzuki Yu hoped for, but for some reason, it put him on alert.
Whenever she used that kind of tone, nothing good ever followed.
Sure enough, Jinguji Amane stepped forward, suddenly circling around him as she spoke in a gentle rhythm:
“I originally made the contract with you just to observe Chisa-chan, you know. I don’t care at all about your private situation.”
“Rather, the way things are now might even be closer to what I wanted.”
Finishing, she stopped in front of Suzuki Yu again.
So open about her motives, it left Suzuki Yu a bit stunned.
But Jinguji Amane was always like that, so he wasn’t too surprised:
“Jinguji-senpai, you really are invested in Chisa.”
“Well, I want to see what it looks like when someone like her gives their all for something. It’ll be spectacular, right?”
No doubt, those words made Suzuki Yu deeply uncomfortable.
If Jinguji Amane’s purpose was that, then he definitely didn’t want to become an accomplice.
Looking back, it had definitely been a mistake to call her name that time he’d been tied up.
But what was done was done; all he could do now was deal with the consequences.
After a moment’s hesitation, Suzuki Yu finally spoke his mind:
“That really is… just like you, President. But let me say this up front: No matter what you want to do, if it involves hurting someone, I absolutely won’t help.”
Finishing, he carefully watched Jinguji Amane’s reaction. To be honest, saying that made him a little nervous.
But some lines just shouldn’t be crossed.
Fortunately, Jinguji Amane didn’t seem surprised at all. She replied as if she didn’t care in the slightest:
“Don’t worry. I never liked hurting people anyway.”
At that moment, someone in the distance started calling out Suzuki Yu’s name.
He turned to look and saw that his rowdy friends had somehow spotted him, shovels in hand, running toward him.
Seeing this, he didn’t even have time to say goodbye to Jinguji Amane before he bolted.
Once Suzuki Yu and the others had run off, Jinguji Amane stood alone, her smile slowly fading.
She was deep in thought.
Especially about the matter of Shiina Chisa and Suzuki Yu renewing their contract.
Everything she’d just said had been improvised, and now things were moving beyond her expectations.
Did Chisa do something to make them sign again? Or had Suzuki Yu had a change of heart?
No, if it were either of those things, there’d be no need to sign another rental contract.
It seemed that Chisa was still pining alone—she’d just done something to soften Suzuki Yu’s heart.
Thinking of that, she recalled Suzuki Yu’s state while they were talking.
He seemed very worried she’d mind him ‘signing another contract’ with someone.
“Moreover, the thing he’s worried about… It’s not so much that his ‘contract partner’ would get mad, but more like… he’s afraid I’d fall for him the way Chisa did.”
And yet he still chose to maintain the contract—there must be something he needs, but also a reason he wants to keep me at a distance.
She hadn’t found that reason yet, but she could confirm it definitely wasn’t about romance, and it probably wasn’t about money either.
“Could it be something long-term, something that would affect the course of his life?”
That thought suddenly popped into her mind, and it felt like she’d grasped a clue.
“I’ll just investigate more when I get back.”