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From a very young age, Shiro Mizunuma always had big shoes to fill. His mother was a doctor, his father a lawyer, and his older sister had come out of the womb with her mind set on becoming an astrophysicist. What did he want to do? Well, all Shiro wanted was to make his family proud. At the age of eight, he decided he wanted to become student council president in upper secondary school after learning his sister lost her campaign when she ran.
Getting good grades came easily to him, mostly due to his ability to retain information quickly. What was not as easy was making friends. And popularity was a large part of becoming student council president.
It wasn't that Shiro was overtly rude to his peers, nor was he bullied in his formative years. He was polite and kept his head down, reading books or studying. He'd have a friend or two during the school year, but they'd rarely be in his class the next year and they'd drift away. Later, Shun would tell him that he came off as standoffish—like he acted as if he was better than everybody else. Shiro blamed his resting face for looking so contrary.
Shiro met Shun when they were placed in the same sixth grade class. Instantly, they clicked in a way his previous friendships hadn't. Shiro found Shun to be exciting and magnetic, and he didn't seem to mind when Shiro went through quiet spells where he didn't talk for long periods of time. For the first time, Shiro actively worked to keep their friendship going rather than letting it go by the wayside.
They spent time together over the summer, and created a hand-made pamphlet full of their observations from various places in the city. The headlines were mostly mundane things—"Kiyomi Buys a New Outfit" or "New Stray Cat Spotted in Neighbourhood"—and empty space was filled with clumsy haikus written by Shun. They planned to copy multiples to hand out to their families, but ended up getting tired just creating the original and simply shared that single pamphlet with everyone.
By some kind of miracle, they were placed in the same grade seven and eight class where Shiro helped Shun with his schoolwork and, in return, Shun coached him on how to be more charismatic for when he'd run for student council president. It took some effort to shake the reputation he had been given in elementary school, but Shiro finally managed it by grade nine.
It was a new feeling, having people talk to him. Before, he was the invisible kid who could overhear things he definitely shouldn't have, but now kids turned around to include him in their conversations; whether it was to ask him what he thought of the newest movie, or pepper him with questions about their schoolwork. It was kind of nice, to be honest.
Girls became interested in him too. It was probably due to a mix of hitting puberty and his new self. In private, Shiro always told Shun that the girls were most likely only pretending to be interested to get closer to Shun, who was objectively better looking. Besides, Shun was making a name for himself by doing a bunch of stunts, and girls were drawn to bad boys like moths to a flame, despite the strict no-dating rules in their school. Of course, Shun adamantly disagreed that girls liked him better and tried to get Shiro to break the rules and agree to go on a date with any of the girls (and some boys who asked), to which Shiro never did. And Shun never did, either.
In their first year of upper secondary school, things became very real. Student council president was no longer a distant thought—it was now looming right out of reach. He joined a bunch of clubs to broaden his horizons and meet new people. At first, Shun was hesitant to take part in any of them but, with some cajoling, Shun joined the journalism club with him.
On a day after school where they were searching for their first story to legitimize their place in the club, Shun broached the topic of girls once again. He spoke a little bashfully, and Shiro curiously asked him if he was interested in someone specific.
It didn't take long for Shun to tell Shiro about his long-standing crush on a girl a year below them named Umi Matsuzaki. When Shun started going to elementary school and rode his dad's tugboat to school, they passed a neighbourhood where Umi rose signal flags praying for safe voyages. At first, Shun didn't know who raised the flags, but the act intrigued him so much that he asked a school mate that lived close by who told him it was Umi.
Shiro was skeptical at first, although he knew better than to say anything. Shun hadn't spoken or even interacted with this Umi before, and Shiro only had a vague idea who she was from having acquaintances spanning different grades. He did have to admit, though, that there was something romantic about having a crush on someone for that long without the feelings fading away.
Shiro suggested doing an article on Umi's flag raising, to which Shun adamantly refused to do, his face going an interesting shade of pink. Eventually, they decided to pitch an idea rather than write a story—what if they republished old tests from previous years so the current students could practice with them? The editor in chief and senior editors loved the idea and Shiro and Shun got to work right away.
Their second year got a little more interesting for two different reasons. For one, he started to plan his campaign for student council president. Secondly, Umi Matsuzaki arrived at Konan and Shiro knew exactly what Shun's feelings for her were.
He tried his best to set them up—mainly spending more time campaigning with the year below them when Shun was helping him—but Umi stayed oblivious and Shun was too scared to make the first move.
The break before their third and final year at Konan was a whirlwind. He had won student council president, so he was preparing and planning things for that, and he started feeling a little stressed.
All he had ever wanted in life was to become student body president. So, now that he had achieved that specific goal, what did he want to do for the rest of his life? All of his effort and time had gone into doing one thing, he hadn't really put much thought into prospective jobs.
Shun asked if he wanted to become a principal for a school—maybe even principal of Konan—but Shiro wasn't actually sure. His initial reason for wanting to be student council president was to make his parents proud (and spite his sister), not because he was especially passionate about organizing and planning events for his peers.
The only other interesting thing that happened over the break was Shiro accidentally finding Shun's notebook of poetry. He hadn't meant to snoop; he was only helping Shun organize all of his school notes.
He opened a notebook that looked fancier than the rest, peeked inside to see what subject it was, and found a poem about Umi's flag raising.
To be fair, Shun was less embarrassed about the find than Shiro expected. Shun simply explained he'd been exploring poetry and gestured for him to read a couple more. Not all of them were about Umi. In fact, most of them were about ships in water, descriptions of the sky, or the organized chaos inside the Latin Quarter.
Shiro told Shun that his work was nearly professional level, and that he should try publishing them. Furthermore, because they were going to be the only senior members in the journalism club and therefore have free range over Latin Quarters Weekly, all Shun had to do was consent to his poems being published.
Shun was hesitant, and he told Shiro he didn't think his poems were that well done, but he'd think about it. That was all Shiro needed to hear—just a sliver of a chance that Shun would agree to it.
The beginning of third year did not get off to the best start. The administration was planning to knock down the Latin Quarter, intending to put some shiny, new, building with absolutely no character in its place. Everyone with a space inside the clubhouse became indigent, but nobody outside of it seemed to care.
The newspaper he and Shun contributed to was slowly dying, along with the Latin Quarter. Shun finally agreed to publish his poems in the newspaper, deciding on the one about Umi, dryly stating that no one would read it anyways.
Then, like a goddess of good luck coming down from the heavens, help came from an unexpected place. Umi Matsuzaki. Not that Shiro was complaining. In fact, he was ecstatic when Umi and Shun began working together on the newspaper and then in keeping the Latin Quarter on its foundation. He couldn't say the same for Shun himself, who went pink in the face almost every time Umi was in the same vicinity as him.
Things began looking up. Shiro's immaculate planning to restore the clubhouse was as solid as ever, the Latin Quarter was saved from demolition, and Shun and Umi (after a handful of road bumps that Shiro only became privy to after the fact) became official.
The end of the year started closing in, and the future became a rapidly approaching train. Umi had her future sorted, and so did Shun. Only Shiro seemed unsure and, whenever either of them brought up the topic, he'd quickly divert the conversation to something else.
Of course, time didn't stop. In fact, it seemed to almost speed up. Days and weeks whirled by and, on an especially rough day when graduation preparation became too overwhelming, Shun pulled him aside.
They made their way to the front of the school where they had a nice view of the Latin Quarter—no longer an eye sore. The new paint job really made a difference to the overall landscape.
Shun asked if he was feeling alright and, after a moment, Shiro finally relented and divulged all of his apprehension that had been slowly eating him up since the start of the school year. It was strange to finally talk about it, and it was difficult finding the words to explain what exactly he was feeling. By the end of it, though, he was feeling much lighter.
Shun, who had been quiet all through Shiro's talking, finally told him that it wasn't really until this year that he decided what he wanted to do. It was Umi wanting to become a doctor that really caused Shun to realize that he wanted to go into journalism. That evening in Tokyo when Shiro left him and Umi to visit his "uncle" was the turning point for him. Before that moment, he had had no clue who he wanted to be, and echoed many of the same worries Shiro was now. Furthermore, Shun told Shiro, a gap year was always acceptable and, even if he did get accepted to a university, students changed what they wanted to do all the time.
It was nice, being on Konan's grounds, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Shun as they discussed the future. A gap year did sound appealing, especially after the hectic year he had. His worries about the future weren't gone altogether because of a single conversation with his friend but, when Shun asked if he was ready to go back inside, Shiro simply nodded and said, "ready as I'll ever be."