Himesaki slowly pulled a single photo from her skirt pocket and held it out toward me.
(A photo...? What is she thinking... wait.)
The photo, captured in strikingly high resolution, showed me and Rui... No, wait. I remember this.
It depicted me bowing with all my might, as if pleading for something, while Rui accepted with a gentle smile.
This was from when I’d asked her to let me be the Vice President...
"This captures the moment you confessed during the Inter-High, Ryouta-senpai, and Rui-senpai accepted it."
"C-Confession?! It’s nothing like that! Talk about taking things out of context!"
"Well, that might be how you see it, Ryouta-senpai, but how does it look objectively? To me, at least... it looks like you're confessing and she’s smiling as she accepts. Am I wrong?"
I wanted to deny it, of course.
But looking at it that way, anyone who didn't know what we were actually saying at the time would certainly see it that way.
"There are already rumors about you and Rui-senpai dating. If I were to 'lose' this photo in the middle of all that..."
"Are you... threatening me?"
"I have no intention of doing anything so crude. However..."
"However?"
"There is just one thing I’d like to ask of you. If you do this for me, I promise to destroy the photo, delete all the data, and bury this entire incident in the abyss of oblivion."
Himesaki’s heavy-lidded eyes suddenly narrowed, her gaze sharpening as she stared me down.
She was dead serious.
There was no guarantee she’d actually delete it in a blackmail situation like this... but I knew one thing for sure: if I handled this poorly and resisted now, Rui would be the one to suffer.
I’d volunteered to be Vice President because I wanted to support Rui’s perfection. I couldn’t let her hard-earned image crumble just because I’d been careless! I had to prevent that at all costs!
For now, I had no choice but to hear her out.
"F-Fine. If all it takes is for me to do you a favor, I'll do it. So, what is it? What's your request, Himesaki?"
"Please become my dog! ♡"
"Huh? ...Sorry, I didn't catch that over the wind. Could you say that again?"
"Please become my dog! ♡"
"............"
A... d-dog...?
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!"