SECRET ; SHIRABU

一

It was always entertaining to see how Natsumi would fix her hair and clothes and then nod in his direction, so that he knew she was ready. He opened the door silently, so that if the boys weren't on a water break, they wouldn't get too distracted.

Seito however managed to find out around what time they have their water breaks, so that Natsumi could talk longer with Sugawara Kōshi, her one and only crush.

Seito himself also enjoyed talking with the team, especially the new first years, so he didn't mind tagging along with Natsumi, who would be too shy to talk with Kōshi without him around to rescue her from uncomfortable situations. They even had a code word for those situations. (

Today the Team invited the two friends to go with them to the convenience store, buy meat buns and eat them in the nearby park. Natsumi agreed right away, while Seito was thinking of a good excuse, as to why he couldn't join them.

If it was any other day in the week, he would have agreed, but it was Friday, and Fridays were special days for him. He would finally get to see Kenjirō after five days of only texting with him, both being uncomfortable with calling each other because of Kenjirō's roommate.

"Sorry, I can't join. I have to get the girls Tennis team off the court, they can be pretty stubborn when they want to practice", it was the best excuse he could think of and luckily they didn't question anything.

Seito stayed for a while, watching them practice after their break. And when they finally began to wrap up, Seito left Natsumi alone with them. He just hoped that she would actually talk with them - especially Kōshi - and not just stand around like an idiot, not knowing what to do or say.

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Convincing the girls that it would be better for them to relax the night before their tournament rather than practicing until they were too tired to lift their rackets, was easier than Seito thought. Usually they would try to ignore him; once they even attacked him with their rackets, only to get in trouble with a teacher who was on their way home, since then they were a bit friendlier with him.

Maybe he did something good in the last few days and this was his karma, or he was just a bit lucky, that was the only way he could explain why this Friday was such a good day for him, if you ignore the boring hours at the Student Council.

And the best thing: not even one girl tried to confess to him today!

Turns out, he spoke too soon.

Near the gates, he was stopped by a petite girl with brown hair. She held a white letter with pink decorations in her hand and bowed deep while giving the letter to him.

Seito had to hold back an annoyed sigh. Why couldn't the girls understand that he wasn't interested in them? After all those rejected confessions you would think that they gave up on trying to win his heart.

"Mizuno- senpai, I know that we haven't really talked with each other, but I really like you." For Seito it sounded like the girl, whose name was unknown to him, practiced this sentence over and over in front of her mirror. Props to her for putting so much effort into it and she didn't even stutter.

"I would really love to become friends with you", her eyes began to shine at that. "But if you're expecting a deeper relationship, I'm sorry. I have too much work to do for the Student Council to be in a relationship."

The girl began to tear up, maybe Seito should work a bit harder on his wording when he rejects someone.

Now she stuttered while speaking: "I-I understand, I'm sorry for bothering you." After finishing the sentence she quickly left, not giving Seito time to say anything else.

He watched her leave, just to be sure that she got safely away from the school grounds. Then with a look at his watch, Seito left the grounds in a hurry. Kenjirō doesn't really like waiting at the Bus stop for him.

What both the girl and Seito didn't notice were the two volleyball players who hid behind a wall to listen in on their conversation.

Tanaka Ryūnosuke and his best friend Nishinoya Yū never really liked the Student Council President, but after hearing this they sure as hell were fed up with him, and a bit jealous.

"What is wrong with him?" Ryūnosuke asked, upset. How could someone reject the confession of such a cute girl, just because he doesn't have enough time for her?

"Everything!" Yū responded in the same tone.

They were both upset.

It was right that Mizuno Seito was good-looking with his messy black hair and those blue eyes. He's smart too and has a good reputation in the school and was respected by his fellow students and also the teachers for becoming the Student Council President in his second-year. So of course some of the girls liked him for that.

But isn't it a thing that girls prefer athletes over some nerds who only think about school? And don't they like guys above 6 feet more?

Well, Ryūnosuke and Yū both weren't above 6 feet, it was just that they would prefer it to lose all the girls to someone who was at least above 5'9 and not smaller than Ryūnosuke.

"Maybe we would feel a bit better if we knew something embarrassing about him", Yū expressed his thoughts.

"That's it Noya! We're not even going to talk about it after we find something out" Ryūnosuke agreed.

"It's decided."

"We'll find out an embarrassing secret of the President."

"Ryu, we're geniuses", Yū was glad that Ryūnosuke agreed with him, no one ever really does.

Laughing loudly Tanaka replied: "Couldn't have said it better!"

With this they went to join their team and Natsumi, after all they didn't want to look suspicious by taking so long to get Yū's phone that he forgot in the changing room.