Sara Satsukawa-senpai...
Our school’s Student Council vice president, famously known as The Aloof Goddess.
There was me, a guy forced into isolation by circumstance, and then there was the Goddess, who maintained her solitude by choice.
The relationship between us, which had persisted at a strange, indefinable distance, was now approaching a major turning point.
In the first place, how did things suddenly end up like this?
Senpai had never been conscious of romantic feelings before, so her bewilderment was only natural. But if I was going to tell her how I felt anyway, I wanted to do it more slowly, more carefully.
Not with everything moving this fast...
Having unintentionally overheard my true feelings, Senpai stood there with a flushed, embarrassed face, yet she kept her eyes fixed firmly on mine.
"Takanashi-san, I do not know if this feeling I have is love. However, if this is indeed what it means to love, then I want it to be with you... and no one else. That is why..."
As she said those words, Sara-senpai offered me a dazzling smile and...
"Teach me... how to love..."
And then...
She gave me her absolute best answer.
"Gyahahaha!"
"The idiot actually came!"
"Aw, sorry. Did we get your hopes up?"
"How pathetic."
Surrounded by their mockery, I clenched my fists tight.
...No. Don't lash out. Don't let history repeat itself.
"He went through the trouble of showing up, so give it to him straight."
"I guess I have to... 'I've liked you for a long time!'"
"Whoa, a shocking confession!"
"Well? Give her an answer."
These bastards really thought I was just going to stand here and take it.
As if that was going to happen.
"Cut the crap—"
"You really are engaged in something quite pathetic, aren't you?"
Startled by the voice suddenly coming from behind me, I reflexively turned around.
A lone female student was standing near the rooftop entrance.
Who was she?
"I wonder why there are elementary school students at this school?"
I had noticed her from a distance, but as she slowly approached, I found myself even more stunned.
It was the first time in my life I had ever seen someone so beautiful.
The idols on TV or the models in magazines couldn't even compare. She was breathtaking.
But more than her looks, it was her eyes that caught my attention. They were incredibly cold, looking down on the others as if they were nothing more than filth. She directed that freezing gaze toward those idiots.
Even without knowing her, it was clear she had a razor-sharp personality.
Wait... I'd seen her somewhere before. Right, I remembered now. I had caught a glimpse of her at the last school assembly. She was the vice president of the Student Council.
"Whoa, I'm lucky to get to talk to her from this close!"
"Huh? Elementary schoolers?"
"Wait, what are you talking about, Satsukawa-senpai?"
"...How tiresome. Enough. Unless you have a specific reason, the rooftop is off-limits to students. Return to your classrooms at once."
"Yessir, we'll be careful!"
"Hey, let's get out of here."
"Ehh, I wanted to talk to her a bit more—"
"Just shut up and move!"
Faced with a warning from the vice president, the idiots retreated without any real resistance. They shuffled off together, heading straight through the rooftop door.
Now, only she and I remained.
"You should return as well."
"Right... Sorry."
Her voice sounded slightly less harsh when she spoke to me than it had with those guys. I gave my apology and quickly hurried away.
...That was the very first meeting between the "Aloof Goddess" of the Student Council, Sara Satsukawa, and the lonely boy, Kazunari Takanashi.