Chapter Text
Shirogane: With so little time left here, I have little time to resolve this business. Still, that situation might also be of benefit, if I play my cards right...
Ishigami: Heh, Prez, although it's fun to be sharing a cafe meal with you, I have to ask, shouldn't you be spending more time with Shinomiya-senpai? These are your last days here…
Shirogane: Don't worry about it, we'll be fine. I just wanted to have more individual moments with each of my friends.
Ishigami : Well, even though it's delivery and we are not really at the cafe it still feels like a special moment..
Shirogane: You know, a chance to have a last serious talk...
Ishigami: Woah, what's with that sudden change in tone? You are making me nervous, haha.
Shirogane: I am concerned about the future of the student council and how things will go from now.
So I really have to ask, do you like Iino?
Ishigami: What?? Where is that even coming from?
President, the stress of leaving is causing you to see weird things. haha.
Shirogane: I'm being serious. So for example, recently you invited her to the dance. It was a busy night for me but even I noticed you guys didn’t even change partners the whole night.
Ishigami: well[...]
We went to the dance together because we needed a dance partner to get admitted there, and since we have to show up as part of the student council...
Shirogane: You know Fujiwara got there without a partner...
Ishigami: That's different , she had the excuse of playing the piano. People like the Principal really bend over their knees for a chance to listen to her play..
And don't misinterpret the rest, we just couldn't find other partners all night.
To be honest I don't even think that much about that dance, the only thing I remember is that Shinomiya-senpai left that day...
Shirogane: [...]
But still. You used to bicker so much. It's such a sudden change. And I also noticed you are much happier around her now. I remember when the atmosphere was so gloomy around you two.
Ishigami: President... I have to explain something to you.
Not wanting to be hated is not the same as wanting to be loved.
I used to think Iino hated me with a passion. And maybe she did. But I guess we both changed a lot this last year and thus things improved between us. I've noticed sides of her that used to be invisible to me because all I saw was her angry side. Turns out we even share a couple of hobbies. I'm just glad things got better between us. Especially when we have to work together. But it's just that.
Shirogane: It's not the same?
Ishigami: I mean, everyone wishes not to be hated, right? One less person who hates you is one less source of stress...
But I believe wanting to be loved is completely different. In the case of true love, you wouldn't even mind if that person hated you as long as you still had the chance to love them. When it's actually love you would even go out of your way to make her angry if that was the only way to taste her attention.
Narrator: Shirogane was a bit astounded, that was actually a fairly Rock-Solid explanation. But was it perhaps too good? For a minute Shirogane regretted not following Maki's plan. He remembered the way Ishigami can extract confessions from Maki, maybe it can work the other way around? But the only reason it works is because it takes a tsundere to take down a tsundere. Too bad there isn't one around at this moment…
However, as he was thinking this, he took a bite out of a muffin, the influx of sugar caused a huge synaptic explosion in his brain processes. "What if I am a tsundere too?" Shirogane's entire love life flashed to him in a second. Although this self-revelation was an embarrassing one, it was also a convenient one. Because Shirogane found in himself the ultimate method to get an answer.
Shirogane: Ah. Well, that makes sense.
You know, this is a relief. I was worried because it looks like Iino has feelings for me. She flirts with me all the time and the other day she even went as far to say that if Shinomiya wasn't around , she would probably be dating me....
Ishigami: WHAT THE FUCK? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!? I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS !!! ... wait . I mean, Shinomiya-senpai is a dear friend of mine, I won't allow you to hurt her like that!!
Shirogane: Gotcha... I was just kidding about that. Neither of us has any sort of feeling like that. I just can't stand her jokes, but that's all they are, jokes. And now I suspect you understand her true personality better than anyone.
Ishigami: [...]
Shirogane: How could you’ve kept this hidden for so long, man.
Ishigami: Hide what? I don't know what you are talking about.
But that was a very low taste joke. You know I look up to you and Shinomiya-senpai's relationship. To tell you the truth, I was getting ready to beat you up.
Narrator: Shirogane couldn't believe what was happening. For an instant, he was able to catch a glimpse of the truth, but it was immediately shut off. It was like Ishigami caused the reality to reset and his outburst was redacted into being about something else entirely.
Shirogane: Yeah... sorry about that. I kept having the feeling I was going out of line. But you can take this as a lesson that in the future, you won't need us to decide what's right, you can do it on your own. But you have to stay true to yourself. Don't hide from yourself.
Narrator: (Shirogane had no choice but to bullshit his way out of the situation).
Ishigami : Oh, I get it now. I can see how it was a necessary lesson.
Don't worry about the school, though. We'll take care of it.
Shirogane: I don't think it'll be possible for me to make him admit the truth to himself. Still, that was enough evidence for me. It's a relief to know that the feeling is mutual. But I can't really do much with this information. I can't meddle that much with their lives and tell them that I know it's mutual. I just hope they don't find out too late. I'll be cheering for them from far away, but it looks like this is going to be quite difficult for them.