Confession After School, On the Rooftop: Kurami Kagura's Harem Student Council
Spring, and the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. Kurami Kagura, a new student at Iris Private Academy, decides to run for student council president for the simplest of reasons: to have the authority to call his crush out to the school rooftop and confess his love. His oddball election speech unexpectedly goes viral, catching the attention of the school's three most beautiful girls.
The first to approach him is Shion Amakawa, the school's untouchable queen. She is perfect in every way... excep
Confession After School, On the Rooftop: Kurami Kagura's Harem Student Council - I want to become the student council president so I can confess to the girl I like!
Cherry blossoms were dancing.
A path stretched straight from the school gate. On both sides, twelve cherry trees fluttered their petals down in waves.
"Whoa…"
Kurou Kagura stopped in his tracks.
His black hair, slightly tousled, swayed gently in the breeze. His bright brown eyes sparkled as he gazed up at the cherry-blossom-tinted sky.
He had already taken off his school-issued navy blazer and held it tucked under his arm. His arms, with the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, felt a little cool in the spring sunlight.
"Amazing. Iris Academy really does have a cherry blossom avenue like this."
Hanamizaka City, Hanaoka District.
This was the prefectural Iris Academy, where Kagura would be attending starting today.
Founded forty-two years ago. Built on a large plot of land that was once an agricultural testing ground, it was a fairly large high school with seven hundred and twenty students.
The school building was four stories tall. The grounds were still empty.
The morning of the entrance ceremony.
Kagura walked alone through the tunnel of cherry blossoms stretching from the main gate.
The air was faintly sweet.
Somewhere, a bush warbler was singing.
(This school is nice.)
Kagura took a deep breath, as if inhaling spring with his whole body.
Whenever something good happens, it shows on his face immediately. Even now, the corners of his mouth were loose, and the tips of his ears were faintly red.
As he kept walking, his eyes suddenly drifted to the very top of the school building.
The rooftop.
"I wonder if we're allowed on the rooftop."
The moment the thought struck him, Kagura dashed into the school building.
After climbing the stairs to the fourth floor, he found a door leading to the rooftop.
"Huh?"
Whether he pushed or pulled, it wouldn't budge.
It was locked.
"What, it won't open?"
Just as his shoulders slumped, a voice came from behind him.
"Ah, a new student. The rooftop is off-limits."
Turning around, he saw a gentle-looking male student standing there. He wore a green tie, the color for his grade. A third-year.
"Wait, really?"
"That's right. Only the student council president has the key to the rooftop garden."
Kagura tilted his head.
"Only the president?"
"Yeah. It's a tradition at Iris Academy. The rooftop key is the president's privilege. Along with priority for school broadcasts and decision-making authority for the cultural festival. Well, they don't get used much."
The upperclassman said that and then headed down the stairs.
Kagura looked at the closed door once more.
(I really wanted to go up to the rooftop.)
Why was that?
It shouldn't have been something worth going out of his way for, but it bothered him intensely.
As if something was there.
That night.
Hanamizaka City, Higashigaoka District.
In his six-tatami-mat room at home, Kagura collapsed onto his futon, still in his uniform.
He stared at the ceiling.
In the corner of the room were two game consoles. The bookshelf was packed with shounen manga.
He had been in the kendo club in middle school, but his body had grown sluggish since retiring. He was still slender, but Kagura himself paid no mind to the fact that he had a surprising amount of muscle under his shirt.
"I'm tired today."
He closed his eyes.
Behind his eyelids, cherry blossoms flickered.
Just like that, his consciousness quietly sank away.
He had a dream.
Second year of middle school. Autumn.
Kagura was visiting another school. It was an inter-school club match.
After losing his match, he was wandering aimlessly through the school when he found a staircase.
He climbed it.
He came out onto the rooftop.
And there, she was.
A single girl in a school uniform.
Leaning against the railing, her shoulders trembling.
She was crying.
Her long black hair seemed translucent in the sunset.
He couldn't see her face clearly.
But he could tell she was crying.
Kagura was at a loss.
What should he do?
Should he call out to her? But what was he supposed to say?
(Hmm.)
After agonizing over it, Kagura pulled a can of coffee from his pocket.
He had just bought it from a vending machine; it was still warm.
"Hey."
The girl flinched and turned around.
Large eyes, wet with tears.
Looking into those eyes, somehow, instinctively.
"Here, want some? It's warm."
Kagura held out the can of coffee.
The girl looked puzzled.
Then, she gave a small laugh.
"…You were planning to drink that yourself, weren't you?"
"Huh? How could you tell?"
"Because you're holding it like it's really precious."
Saying that, she laughed again.
Even though she had been crying just moments before.
Bathed in the sunset, the traces of her tears glowed gold.
"Thank you."
A small voice.
But incredibly clear.
"…Thank you."
Kagura felt a spreading warmth in his chest.
(Huh.)
What was this feeling?
The following week, she had transferred schools.
He hadn't even gotten her name.
He didn't know where she had gone.
All that remained in Kagura's hands was an empty can of coffee.
He had meant to say thank you properly.
He should have asked her name.
"…Ngh."
Kagura woke up.
The room was dark.
He looked at the clock: 3 AM.
"That dream again."
He had been having it occasionally ever since his second year of middle school.
That sunset. The rooftop. The tear stains and the smile.
And the can of coffee.
Kagura picked up the empty can he kept by his pillow.
He had washed it and kept it all this time.
The label was already faded.
"I wonder if she's doing well."
That girl, whose name he didn't even know.
They had only exchanged a few words, just once.
Why did he remember her so vividly?
Even Kagura himself didn't quite understand.
A few days later.
Kagura was walking absentmindedly down the hallway.
He still wasn't used to classes, and he hadn't memorized all his classmates' faces yet.
When he was in the classroom, he could see the schoolyard from the window.
The cherry blossoms were already starting to fall.
"Oh."
His feet stopped in front of the bulletin board.
'Student Council President Election — Candidates Wanted'
That's what the poster said.
"Student council president, huh."
"Interested?"
Before he knew it, a classmate was standing next to him.
He still didn't remember his name.
"Hmm, I dunno. But I heard only the president has the key to the rooftop."
"Ah, the rooftop one."
The classmate grinned.
"Did you know? They say if you confess on the rooftop, your love will come true. A school legend."
"What!?"
Kagura's eyes widened.
"For real?"
"Totally for real. Ever since the president couple got together on the rooftop fifteen years ago, that's what everyone says."
"If I become president… I can get the rooftop key, right?"
"Well, yeah, obviously."
Kagura pulled the empty can of coffee from his pocket.
It was cold now.
But he carried it with him everywhere.
"I'm going to become president."
"Whaaat!?"
The classmate shouted.
"Are you serious!? I've never heard of a first-year running for office!"
"But I want to do it."
Kagura's eyes were dead serious.
Seeing that look, the classmate stopped laughing.
"…Why do you want it so badly?"
"I want to confess to the girl I like. On the rooftop."
There was no lie in those words.
That girl from that day, whose name he never got to ask.
If someday, he could meet her again.
This time, he wanted to tell her properly.
That's why he wanted to go to the rooftop.
"I'll root for you."
The classmate clapped Kagura on the shoulder.
"Something about you, you're stupidly honest, but it just makes me want to cheer you on."
All-school assembly.
Kagura stood on the stage in the gymnasium.
In the audience were roughly seven hundred students from the entire school.
A buzz of chattering voices echoed.
(Whoa, this is bad.)
His legs were shaking.
Just as his mind was about to go completely blank.
Kagura reached for the can of coffee in his pocket.
A cold sensation.
(Right. I couldn't give this to her.)
Kagura lifted his head.
"I'm Kurou Kagura! A first-year!"
His voice rang through the gymnasium.
The murmuring quieted down a little.
"The reason I want to become president is just one thing."
He took a deep breath.
"I want to become president because I want to confess to the girl I like!"
A moment of silence.
Then, snickers of laughter leaked out.
What is this first-year brat saying?
That kind of atmosphere was definitely there.
But.
Kagura continued.
"Back in middle school, I met a girl. She was crying on the rooftop. So I thought I'd give her a coffee. But I didn't even get her name. She transferred the next week, and I never saw her again."
The laughter vanished.
"If I can meet her again. This time, I want to talk to her properly. So I'm going to become president and get the key to the rooftop. And someday, I'll invite that girl to the rooftop."
Kagura gripped the can of coffee tightly.
"That's all. I haven't thought about anything else."
Silence.
Everyone was holding their breath.
What stood there wasn't just some stupidly honest first-year brat.
It was a single human being, utterly true to his own feelings.
Someone started clapping.
One person, then another.
Before anyone knew it, the entire gymnasium was wrapped in thunderous applause.
"Amazing."
"I've never heard a speech like that."
"I almost started crying."
On the stage, Kagura looked dumbfounded.
(Huh, what's this? Did I do something?)
He didn't really understand it himself.
But a video of this moment, taken by a student, was uploaded to the school's social network, "HanaTalk."
Within twenty-four hours, it had 3,200 views.
A number more than four times the entire student body.
The day of the election results.
With a vote share of fifty-seven percent, Kagura defeated his opponent, upperclassman Mizukami Ren.
Mizukami Ren.
A second-year honor student who had given a very proper speech.
But it was no match for Kagura's painfully honest words.
"Wait, me?"
In front of the bulletin board, Kagura's eyes went round.
The classmate watching next to him slapped him on the back repeatedly.
"You did it, President!"
"No way…"
Main building, third floor.
The student council room.
A room about twenty-five square meters, with two long desks and eight folding chairs.
One old sofa.
From the window, you could see the school grounds.
"Here, this is the key to the rooftop."
The former president, a third-year male student, held out a silver key.
"Will you accept it, new president?"
Kagura received it with both hands.
A small key that fit in his palm.
It felt surprisingly heavy.
"…Thank you very much."
After the former president left the room.
Kagura stared at the key alone.
Its silver surface reflected the sunlight from the window.
(With this, I can go to the rooftop.)
Behind his eyelids, that girl's smile surfaced.
In the sunset, the traces of her tears had glowed gold.
"Thank you."
That voice still lingered in his ears.
"I'll definitely call you here someday."
A small voice that no one else could hear.
Kagura gripped the key tightly.
Outside the window, the cherry blossoms had almost all fallen.
But beneath them, something was beginning to sprout.
A new wind was about to blow through the academy.
Kagura didn't know yet.
That by holding this key, he would catch the eyes of all the beautiful girls in the school.
That he was about to be swept up in a storm of romance.
Right now, there was just a gentle warmth deep in his chest.
That girl from that day, whose name he never got to ask.
He just wanted to see her again.
That single feeling had brought him this far.
"Wait for me."
Kagura put the empty can of coffee back in his pocket.
It was still cold.
But somehow, it also felt like it had been warm all along.
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