Kaguya-sama: Love is War IF - If Shirogane Had Embraced Her Behind the Gym
Shuchiin Academy. Student council president Miyuki Shirogane and vice president Kaguya Shinomiya are both secretly in love with each other. But due to their ridiculous pride—believing that 'whoever confesses first loses'—they continue their daily battles of wit.
Then one summer day, during sports festival practice, Kaguya feels dizzy from mild heatstroke and heads toward the infirmary. Worried, Shirogane follows her and calls out behind the gym where no one is around.
'Shinomiya, are you okay?
Kaguya-sama: Love is War IF - If Shirogane Had Embraced Her Behind the Gym - Confession Behind the Gym - The Scholarship Student and the Ice Princess
The sound of footsteps echoed strangely in the distance.
Thud, thud, thud—.
The sound of countless sneakers kicking up dirt on the sports ground. Someone's voice was carried away by the wind. The sports festival was just around the corner. The sky was so blue it was almost offensive, so dazzling, and yet it all felt strangely unreal.
I was just watching her back.
Her long black hair swayed softly. Her small shoulders, held with perfect posture. They tilted ever so slightly.
—Ah.
My heart gave a loud thump.
"...Shinomiya?"
By the time I called out to her, she had already stopped walking unsteadily. Heatstroke. I knew it instinctively. The temperatures had been high these past few days. Today's sports festival practice was honestly brutal.
Without caring about the eyes around us, I broke into a run.
She said she was heading to the nurse's office, so I should have just left it to the teacher. That was the right thing to do. I knew that in my head, but I just couldn't stay still.
I—Shirogane Miyuki, the student council president of Shuchiin Academy—should have understood that better than anyone.
This academy is a somewhat special place. Located in the heart of Minato Ward, Tokyo, on a hill surrounded by embassies and massive mansions, it's an ultra-prestigious school with over 130 years of history. Most of the students are the sons of company presidents, the daughters of politicians—people like that.
A scholarship student like me clearly stands out.
Even though tuition is free, in exchange, I have to maintain the top grades at all times. If I slip even once, I won't be able to stay at this academy from the next day onward. The water we use is different—me, commuting two hours round-trip from a run-down apartment, versus the rich kids.
She—Shinomiya Kaguya—was someone who stood at the very pinnacle of that world.
The Shinomiya Group. A colossal financial conglomerate with total assets exceeding 2 trillion yen, known to everyone in Japan. She was their only daughter, and even at this academy, she was the "Ice Princess" whom everyone held in awe. Silky black hair that reached her waist, and deep crimson eyes filled with intelligence and grace. So delicate she seemed like she might break at a touch, yet her bearing was more noble than anyone else's.
She's not someone I have any right to approach.
I thought that countless times.
Even so, I fell in love with her, so there was nothing I could do about it.
It was when I followed after her and went around to the back of the school building.
I saw a shadow walking along the wall of the gymnasium, avoiding the strong summer sunlight. It was a narrow passage, less than three meters wide, hidden from view. A quiet place with just one old vending machine standing there.
"Shinomiya!"
Before I knew it, I had grabbed her arm.
It was thin. Delicate, yet an arm that conveyed a strong will.
Kaguya slowly turned around. Her face was slightly flushed, and a faint sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead. She was putting on her usual cool expression, but her breathing was a little ragged.
"[cold]...President. What about your practice?"
"Forget that, what about you?"
My voice, I think, was terribly shaky, even to my own ears.
"Are you okay?"
"[serious]I-It's nothing. It's no big deal. You should be practicing for your own event, President."
She was putting on a brave front.
She was always like that. As the daughter of the Shinomiya family, as the student council vice president, she never showed any weakness. I understood that painfully well. If I let go of her hand here with an "I see," she would surely go to the nurse's office alone, recover alone, and return to the sports ground with a face that showed nothing had happened.
I hated that, irrationally.
—Don't push yourself.
I heard someone's voice in my head. No, it was my own voice.
Before I knew it, I was holding her in my arms.
She was in my arms. Small, slender, with a faint scent of sweat. Her hands, her back, were trembling slightly.
"E-E-E-Embarrassing!? What are you doing, President!?"
Kaguya raised her voice in a fluster. Her hands tried to push against my chest. But I didn't let go.
I brought my face close to her ear. I could see that even her ears had turned bright red.
"[whispers]I..."
My voice was hoarse. My heart was pounding wildly, and my mind went completely blank.
I hadn't meant to say this. There must have been a better place, a smarter way to convey it. But I couldn't hold back anymore.
"[whispers]I... like you."
I said it.
It was the first confession of my life.
Her body jolted with a start.
I sensed her lifting her face from within my arms. Her crimson eyes, looking up at me, were wavering unsteadily. Surprise, and bewilderment. And deep within them, just a faint glimmer—like hope.
"...Are you serious?"
Her voice was trembling. It wasn't her usual confident tone. It sounded anxious, like a lost child.
"[serious]I'm serious."
I answered without averting my gaze either.
Kaguya bit her lip tightly. Then, as if holding something back, she abruptly turned her face away.
"[whispers]...Me too."
In a voice far too small, she said that.
"I... like you too, President."
A warmth spread behind my eyes. A single tear traced its way down her cheek.
Ah, my feelings were returned. But before that thought—I wanted to protect her from everything that made her sad.
—That was all there was to it.
◆
The next day was hell.
The atmosphere throughout the academy had changed overnight. Everywhere I looked, people I didn't even know were whispering to each other when they saw me.
When I passed through the school gate in the morning, several upperclassmen immediately approached me with smirks on their faces.
"Yo, Shirogane."
The one who called out was a third-year senior whose name I didn't even know. A typical rich brat, with hair stiffened by wax and flashy accessories.
"I heard you confessed to Shinomiya-san yesterday? That's insane, man."
"I seriously laughed my ass off. A scholarship student, knowing his place, really went and did it."
Another one clutched his stomach laughing.
"Know your place. You think a poor guy like you is a match for Shinomiya-san?"
A sharp pain pierced my chest. It was the truth, so I couldn't say anything back. My father lives away for work, and I live with my younger sister in a 28-year-old, 2DK apartment in Itabashi Ward. Even the number of digits in our monthly allowance is different from the people here.
"Well, you'll probably get dumped by the end of today. Enjoy what little school life you have left."
Laughing raucously, they left.
I bit my lip, just clenched my fists, and looked down.
There was no way I could argue back. I understood it all better than anyone. That there was probably someone more suitable for Kaguya. Someone with the family background, the future prospects, everything.
"...Tch."
Damn it. It hadn't even started yet, and I already felt like my heart was breaking.
After school. The usual student council room.
A room in the corner of the main building's third floor, with south-facing windows that offered a good view of the cherry tree-lined courtyard. A mahogany desk and leather sofa. And the high-end tea set she had bought with her own money.
On that sofa, Kaguya was sitting next to me.
It was awkward.
We both knew about today's rumors. She must have been whispered about by groups of girls too. "Shinomiya-san and that scholarship student?" "Is it some kind of punishment game?" They might have said things like that.
It was no wonder. We were that mismatched.
"...President."
It was Kaguya who broke the silence.
"You don't need to worry about what happened today."
"Huh?"
"The words of those around us. There's no need to pay them any mind. That's what I think."
She said that, but her fingers, clasped on her lap, were trembling slightly.
—Don't worry about it? That's impossible.
I muttered in my heart.
Even so, if I showed weakness here, it would be over.
I awkwardly reached out my hand and touched her fingertips. White, slender, flawless, beautiful fingers. My hand, with its calluses from exam studies and knobby knuckles, was so different.
Even so, I gently held her hand.
It was a cold hand. But Kaguya squeezed my hand back.
"[gentle]I'll do my best."
Even I wasn't quite sure what I was saying.
"I'll become a man worthy of you, Kaguya. I'll study harder than anyone in the world, become someone respectable—"
"...That's already enough."
Kaguya lifted her face. In her eyes, a light wavered as if a thin film had formed over them. She shook her head slightly, as if to cut off my words.
"[sad]You're already more than respectable enough. It's me who needs to become a better person, to be worthy of you. So, um..."
She paused for a moment and took a breath.
"I look forward to your continued support from now on."
Those words marked the official start of our relationship.
We awkwardly held hands, and without knowing who started it, we laughed. The awkward smiles of a mismatched couple.
—But that was okay.
I will probably never forget this day.
◆
That night, I returned to my home in Itabashi Ward.
Changing trains and buses, a total of 55 minutes. I climbed the stairs of the old apartment building and opened the heavy door that rattled noisily. There was no voice to greet me with "Welcome back." My younger sister Kei wasn't home yet. My father only came home once a month.
In my six-tatami-mat room, I collapsed into the chair in front of my desk.
Reference books piled up against the wall. A small fluorescent light. Through the thin walls, I could hear the TV from the next room.
I opened my smartphone and looked at my chat with Kaguya.
*Thank you for today. Good night.*
The last message from her. I traced the words with my finger as if caressing them.
She is the daughter of the Shinomiya Group. Our spending money, the clothes we wear, the worlds we live in—they're all too different.
I had heard there was an unofficial rule for marriage into the Shinomiya family. The partner must be from a family with assets exceeding 10 billion yen, or possess power equivalent to that.
10 billion.
I didn't even fully grasp how many digits that was.
"—Can I really protect her?"
When I said it out loud, my heart shrank with a cold feeling.
The sensation of her small hand still lingered here. I, who had sworn to protect her, was already on the verge of being crushed by this reality.
I opened my desk drawer and took out a tattered vocabulary book. This was all I had. To study, get into a good university, and become an adult no one could complain about. A poor person has no other weapons.
I looked outside the window. In a view where countless power lines ran and only the wall of the opposite apartment building was visible, I remembered the photo of Tokyo Tower that Kaguya had shown me.
I've come a remarkably long way, I thought.
Too far to think I could stand beside her.
But I had no intention of letting go of her hand.
Because I loved her.
For that reason alone, I have to fight.
Against the insurmountable wall that is the Shinomiya family.
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