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 - Qualification Exam - High-End Lounge Assessor
When I woke up in the morning, my phone was vibrating.
Still half-asleep, I tapped the screen. The sunlight slipping through the gap in the curtains was painfully bright.
*"Please come to the Hotel Hakurou lounge today at 2 PM."*
The sender was an unknown ID. That was the entire message. Someone's prank, or maybe—
"…What is this?"
Sitting on my bed, I stared hard at the phone screen.
The next moment, a second notification chimed.
*"If you refuse, I will formally report your contact with the young lady to the Shinomiya family. Hayasaka."*
A cold knot tightened deep in my chest.
Hayasaka Ai. Kaguya's valet, that gyaru who declared she would evaluate me. The one who delivered that cold ultimatum at the school gate last week.
(*Report…*)
In other words, I had no right to refuse. If the Shinomiya family found out officially, it would cause trouble for Kaguya. That, more than anything, I absolutely had to avoid.
I took a deep breath and stood up.
I glanced at the clock. 9:30 AM. Four and a half hours until the meeting.
◆
I opened my closet and let out a sigh.
Inside were my school uniform, a few T-shirts, and jeans. I barely owned any decent casual clothes.
"[sad]…What am I gonna do?"
Buried at the back of a drawer, I found a folded jacket. My dad had bought it for me back when I had my high school entrance interview. Black, simple—my one and only good outfit.
I slipped it on.
…It was a little short.
My wrists were just barely visible. It had fit perfectly until last year, but apparently I'd grown a bit more.
"[sad]…Well, whatever."
At times like this, I really wished I had money. But there was no point getting frustrated. All I had was this jacket, and my feelings for Kaguya.
"[serious]Let's go."
I shoved my phone into my pocket and left the house.
11 AM. Rocking on the train, I stared absently at the scenery flowing past the window. The high-rises grew more frequent, the cityscape steadily more polished. As we approached Minato Ward, my heart grew louder and louder.
◆
Hotel Hakurou was a five-minute walk from the academy.
A marble entrance. A doorman in a uniform-like outfit bowed deeply.
"[surprised]…Whoa."
The sound escaped me before I could stop it.
Inside, it was even more overwhelming. The ceiling soared open, a massive chandelier glittering brilliantly. The floor was polished stone, and the soft patter of my sneakers was mortifying.
The lounge was at the back of the first floor.
I pushed open the heavy glass door and stepped inside, and a man who seemed to be the manager approached immediately.
"[cold]Welcome. May I have your name?"
"[nervous]Sh-Shirogane."
"Mr. Shirogane. Your companion is waiting. This way, please."
At a table in the back, she was seated.
Hayasaka Ai.
She looked completely different from the gyaru style she wore at school. Her blonde hair, usually a little past her shoulders in a side-tail, was loosely curled and worn down today. Five piercings glinted in her ears, but aside from that, she was strikingly simple. A navy dress, a small pearl necklace.
More than anything, her expression was different.
The gyaru mask was gone, replaced by a quiet face. She usually spoke so flippantly, but now, like a completely different person, she wore a cold, composed aura.
"[cold]Good afternoon, President. Please, have a seat."
She spoke in a voice devoid of emotion.
I did as I was told and sat down in the chair across from her. The leather seat creaked under me.
On the table sat a thick clear file folder.
"[cold]Do you like coffee?"
"…Uh, yeah, I guess."
Hayasaka called a waiter and placed the order.
A short while later, what arrived was pitch-black coffee in a small white cup. The aroma was incredible. But after one sip, I nearly choked.
(*So bitter…!*)
It was nothing like the drip-pack coffee I always drank at home.
"[cold]Not to your liking? This shop's blend is 1,800 yen a cup."
1,800 yen.
That's what I spend on food for an entire week.
"[lying]N-No, it's delicious."
Desperately feigning composure, I took another sip. Still bitter.
Hayasaka watched me intently the whole time.
"[cold]Then, let's get to the main topic."
She opened the file.
She pulled out the first sheet of paper and laid it on the table. It was a document with my photo attached.
"[cold]Shirogane Miyuki. Resident of Itabashi Ward, Tokyo. Second-year special scholarship student at Shuchiin Academy. Father, Shirogane Tadashi, currently living away for work, estimated annual income 4.5 million yen. Mother divorced ten years ago. Lives with younger sister, Shirogane Kei. Residence is a 28-year-old rental apartment, 2DK layout, rent 85,000 yen. Household monthly income approximately 280,000 yen. Savings—120,000 yen."
Her cold voice laid my privacy bare, piece by piece.
One sheet after another, the pages turned.
"[cold]Your current grades are straight 10s, but that is the result of cutting back on sleep to study in order to maintain your special scholarship status. You hope to attend university, but plan to rely on scholarships for tuition. Even if you were admitted to the University of Tokyo, your post-graduation annual income at a major corporation would likely be five to seven million yen in your first year."
"…You did your research."
I forced the words out.
"[cold]Naturally. This is my job."
She raised her head and looked me straight in the eye. Her blue eyes were cold as ice.
"[cold]The condition for a marriage partner of a Shinomiya family daughter is a lineage with assets exceeding ten billion yen, or equivalent social influence. As you are now, even if you worked yourself to death, you could never meet that condition."
It felt like my heart had been seized by a freezing hand.
Ten billion.
Even I understood just how impossibly distant that number was.
"[cold]You are a person of effort. Becoming a special scholarship student is surely the result of that effort. But—in this world, there are gaps that effort alone cannot bridge. Birth, lineage, financial power. Continuing this game of romance while ignoring those things will only bring the young lady unhappiness."
"…Make Kaguya unhappy?"
"[cold]Yes. What kind of position do you think the young lady will hold within the Shinomiya family if she is with you? She will be looked at with contempt by her relatives, and it may even affect her inheritance rights in the future. Because of you, the young lady could lose everything."
Blades of words stabbed mercilessly into my chest.
It was all true. A poor guy like me, just being with Kaguya, would cause her trouble. I knew that.
But—
"…Even so."
I clenched my fists tight.
"Even so, I don't want to give up."
I raised my head. I looked straight into Hayasaka's blue eyes.
"It's true, I don't have money or family status. I don't even know how I could possibly earn ten billion. But my desire to make Kaguya happy—that's one thing I won't lose to anyone."
"[cold]So this is emotional reasoning."
Her brow furrowed slightly.
"Emotions cannot protect the young lady's future. That is precisely—"
"[cutting in]Hayasaka-san."
I cut her off.
"Are you really okay with that? Kaguya, suppressing her own feelings for the sake of the Shinomiya family, marrying some stranger she doesn't even know. Can Kaguya really be happy like that?"
For an instant, her fingers stopped.
Just for a fleeting moment, something seemed to waver deep within those cold eyes.
"…That is."
"I'm asking if you're okay with it, even if Kaguya isn't happy."
I pressed on.
"You're Kaguya's valet. Protecting her is your job, right? Then isn't protecting her heart the most important thing of all?"
Silence.
Somewhere in the lounge, I heard the sound of someone setting down a teacup. In the distance, live piano music played.
Hayasaka stared at me intently.
As if searching for something, as if trying to confirm something.
"[sad]…You really are a troublesome person."
She let out a small sigh.
But her voice was just a little softer than before.
"[serious]One week."
"…Huh?"
"[serious]I'll give you one week's grace. In that time, show me something—anything is fine. Something that can convince me. Something that proves you are qualified to stand beside the young lady."
She stood up.
"[cold]If you cannot, then I will truly submit my report at that time. Everything, to the Shinomiya family."
With just those words, she turned her back.
The sound of her heels faded away.
I was left alone in the lounge.
Before me, the thick file she had left behind. And the 1,800-yen coffee, cold after just one sip.
"…One week."
My heart was still pounding. My palms were damp with sweat.
But strangely, I didn't feel despair.
One week's grace. That was a chance.
I moved to close the file, then stopped.
On the very last page, there was a single sheet of paper with a different feel from the other documents.
I pulled it out.
It was a past record from the school's piano competition.
*"The 42nd Shuchiin Academy Piano Competition"*
A list of participants and results was written there.
And, third from the top, I found her name.
*"Shinomiya Kaguya — Withdrew"*
Next to the other participants' names were rankings and critiques. But next to her name, only the single word: *Withdrew*.
"…Why?"
I'd never even seen Kaguya play the piano. But the fact that Hayasaka had deliberately slipped this document into the file meant it had to mean something.
The reason she withdrew.
I didn't know what it was. But Hayasaka wanted me to notice.
This might be her way of giving me a hint.
I carefully tucked the paper into my chest pocket.
Then, I picked up the check from the table.
1,800 yen.
My wallet held only 2,000 yen.
"[sad]…Hah."
A sigh escaped me. But, thinking of it as punishment for reaching beyond my means, I headed for the register.
On the way home, the bitter taste of the coffee still lingered at the back of my throat.
But it wasn't a bad kind of bitterness.
One week.
I still didn't know specifically what I should do. But I had taken a step forward. At the very least, I hadn't been completely rejected.
In my pocket, a single sheet of paper.
The record of the piano competition Kaguya had withdrawn from.
Why had Hayasaka shown this to me?
I still didn't know the answer. But I felt like something was beginning.
Exhaling white breath, I started walking through the winter city.
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