Chapter One: “The Princess Wants to Win Over the Prince” — Part Two

“So? How was she? The real Iori-senpai, in the flesh?”

When I got back to the classroom, Yuuri — who had already started on her lunch — asked me straight away. Yuuri is my childhood friend and the only person who knows about my feelings for Iori-senpai.

“Devastating. Way too cool.”
“Good for you.”

She’d been the one to ask, but Yuuri looked thoroughly indifferent as she brought a piece of tamagoyaki to her lips.

“Oh, and I made one important discovery.”
“What?”
“Iori-senpai has little fangs. It was kind of insanely attractive.”

Yuuri let out a sigh and glanced toward the corridor, where a mob of boys had crowded around trying to catch even a glimpse of me. Only two days into the school year, and I’d already secured my position as the school princess.

“If they ever found out what you’re really like, they’d be devastated.”

I didn’t let Yuuri’s rude remark bother me today. My heart was too full of the happiness of actually getting to talk to Iori-senpai.

“Hey, Yuuri. A princess is the perfect match for a prince, right?”
“…”
“Which means I’m the only one who could possibly be right for Iori-senpai, right?”

She was trying to ignore me, so I swiped her chopsticks. Right? She snatched them back with an exasperated look and said, with a sigh:

“If this is what a princess looks like, the kingdom’s finished.”
“Oh, be quiet. My love story with Senpai started today. It’s our founding day.”

The days of pure daydreaming were over. My real love story with Senpai was beginning now.
I was going to get closer and closer to Senpai, and she was going to fall for me too, and we’d become the most head-over-heels couple imaginable.
And once we were together, all kinds of things would happen between us, like this, and like that, and—

“Himena. Your face is doing something alarming.”

A hard flick on the forehead snapped me back to reality. I needed to be winning Senpai over in the real world now, not drifting off into fantasies — but that particular habit of mine showed no signs of improving.

“…Well. Good luck. Consoling a mopey Himena sounds exhausting.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll be giving you daily lovey-dovey updates before you know it.”
“That sounds equally exhausting.”

I left selfish Yuuri to her complaints and mentally ran through my plan for what came next.
I’d gotten Senpai to recognise me, and I’d managed to exchange contact details. To make Iori-senpai fall for me, I was going to need to keep closing the distance — fast.

My first move: the school committee.

Sixth period today, our class was selecting committee assignments. I was going to claim a spot on the same committee as Iori-senpai and create a natural, built-in connection with her.

It was a flawless, perfectly organic strategy. There was no way it could fail.

“Yuuri. I am absolutely going to be on the environmental beautification committee.”
“I really don’t think that suits you.”
“It’ll be fine. Love conquers all.”

I nodded with full confidence, and Yuuri responded with what must have been her fifth or sixth sigh of the day.

☆★☆★☆★☆★

“Yes! I’d like to be on the environmental beautification committee!”

When I raised my hand, both my classmates and the teacher looked startled. The environmental beautification committee was one of the least popular choices — it almost never filled up willingly.
Apparently Iori-senpai had ended up on it after losing at rock-paper-scissors.

The reason no one wanted it was the morning watering duty. Having to come in early once a week to water the flower beds in the courtyard was a genuine hassle.
I certainly wouldn’t be doing it if Iori-senpai weren’t going to be there.

“Hanasaki-san, are you sure?” asked the person in the next seat, looking worried. A ripple of concern spread through the room — maybe she didn’t know about the watering duty?

“Mm-hm. I like flowers.”

I said something vague, and a chorus of as expected of our princess… swept through the classroom. Only Yuuri, with her utterly unimpressed eyes, sat with her cheek propped up on her hand and looking done with everything.

And so, without a hitch, I secured my place on the same committee as Iori-senpai.

☆★☆★☆★☆★

I joined the environmental beautification committee. Which committee are you on, Iori-senpai?

The moment homeroom ended, I sent Senpai a LINE message. She must have had her phone out, because a reply came back almost immediately.

What a coincidence. I’m on the environmental beautification committee too. Did you lose at rock-paper-scissors, Himena-chan?

Oh my god. I’m LINEing Iori-senpai right now.

The excitement of that fact hit me all at once, but I steadied myself and thought carefully about how to reply.

Probably best to let her think it was a coincidence. If I admitted I’d known in advance, that might come across as a little… stalker-ish.
But I still needed to get some appeal in there.

Yes. I was thinking the watering duty sounded like a lot of effort, but I’m so happy we’ll be on it together, Senpai!

Her reply came not as a message but as a sticker. Getting to learn which stickers Senpai used made me happy, but the conversation ending there made me sad.

No, no — I couldn’t let that get me down. If I kept at it, a blissfully happy love life with Iori-senpai was waiting for me. I was sure of it.