Since Nagano is still busy with her studies, I went to Kiseki all by myself. Kiseki High is in Tokyo, so I don’t have to ride the train. All I did was take a bus to get near the most famous school in Japan.

   I’ve seen the school on the internet, but the real thing still takes my breath away. I’m not even looking at an education institute, I could well be looking at a national monument that produces and nurtures the world leader of the future. Being such a place, the security is top-notched. They have tall gates and walls and even guards armed with machine guns. After I’m done admiring the place, I take out my phone to call Suzu.

   ‘Hello~.’ her laid back voice is heard from the other side from the phone.

   ‘Hey Suzu, I’m right in front of the gate. Could you come out and get me?’ I ask.

   ‘Sure thing. Just give me some time.’

   That some time she mentioned turned out to be thirty minutes. I eventually see her slowly shuffling her feet towards me. She’s wearing the same uniform I saw hanged on her wall last night: a silver long-sleeved blazer made of the finest silk, white long-sleeved white shirt, a silver short skirt also made of silk, a pair of black pantyhose and a pair of black shoes.

   ‘Seriously, what took you so long?’ I couldn’t help but ask after being made to wait so long.

   ‘My bad~. I had to walk here, so most of my stamina is already gone by the time I’m halfway on my journey.’ she explains.

   Now that she mentions it, she’s kind of panting.

   ‘Something tells me you skip PE all the time.’ I predict.

   ‘Wow, how did you know? Did you do your homework about me?’

   ‘It was just that obvious from the way you’re panting.’

   ‘Ehehe. I was that obvious, huh?’

   ‘So what’s next? Am I supposed to register myself with the guards?’

   ‘There’s no need for that. They won’t question you if they see you walking with me.’

   ‘Alright then. Let’s go inside.’

   ‘Okay~.’

   I walk for a few steps before I had to stop and turn around. Suzu barely walked a few steps.

   ‘Can’t you walk faster than that, Suzu?’

   ‘I told you~, I spent most of my stamina just to get here.’

   ‘Well do speed up a little. It’ll be nighttime by the time if you keep on that speed.’

   ‘I know, you could just give me a piggyback~.’ She suggests all of a sudden.

   ‘What?’

   ‘Come on. You want to get inside faster, right? This is the only way~.

   I let out a long sigh. I guess this is the only way. I walk towards her and turn around so that my back is facing her and squat down. She then climbs up my back while holding both our bags.

   ‘Wow, Takkun. You got a huge back~.’ she says to me.

   ‘Yes, thank you for that. Now grab hold of me tightly unless you want to fall.’

   ‘Okey dokey~.’

   I begin piggybacking her while trying to ignore the soft sensations on my back. As Suzu has told me, the guards didn’t stop me when they saw me carrying her. They did gave us weird looks though. And believe me, they’re not the only one. Some students are heading towards the gate as we’re going inside, and all of them are looking on with a surprised look on their face.

   ‘So, where are we supposed to go?’ I ask after walking for a while.

   Suzu points a finger at a huge building. ‘Just head there first.’

   ‘Alright.’

   But man, this school is so huge and spacious. I know it’s the combination of three to four institutes, but this is way beyond my imagination. I can’t ever imagine studying in a place like this while being surrounded by students as smart as or even smarter than a PhD holder despite being the same or similar age as they are.

   Once we got there, Suzu instructs me to head inside and go to the second floor. According to her, there’s a library there, and that’s where we’ll be meeting the boyfriend.

   ‘Hold on, a library you say? A place we’re not allowed to talk?’

   ‘Not on Kiseki High. We’re practically able to do anything there, talking, eating and even partying~.’

  ‘Then it defeats the purpose of being called a library, doesn’t it?’

   ‘Not true. It’s full of boring books everyone has read through at least once.’

   ‘Everyone? As in all the students?’

   ‘And the teachers and the principal.’ she adds.

   ‘And how many books are there in the library?’

   ‘438,593. Wait, if I remember correctly, there’s five more new books that arrived yesterday, that makes it 438,598. I haven’t read the newest ones though.’

   ‘You people seriously scare me.’

   ‘Come on, there’s no need to be afraid~. We’re normal humans on the outside too, you know.’

   ‘Yeah, I guess.’

   The library looks exactly like a place that can hold 438,598 books. It has two storeys and lots and lots of bookshelves. It’s like a maze in here. There’s no way you can find the book you want all by yourself.

   Three adult librarians work here. All of them gave us disapproving looks, but didn’t say anything when we pass by. There’s only a single male student sitting on one of the many seats here, so it’s obvious that he’s the client this time.

   ‘Thanks for waiting.’ Suzu tells him.

   His expression brightens up when he heard Suzu’s voice, but he looks a bit dumbfounded when he saw me piggybacking her. I put down Suzu at a seat opposite him and sit down next to her.

   ‘Allow me to introduce you two. This is Bandou Takuya, also known as Takkun. As for him, he’s Umeda Noburu, a student here.’ Suzu introduces us to each other.

   ‘Hello.’ he says to me.

   ‘Um, hi.’ I greet him back awkwardly.

   ‘Now then, Umeda-kun. Please tell us your love problem.’ Suzu suddenly acts all important and requests Umeda.

   ‘Right. I’m not trying to brag, but my family owns a huge hotel chain that kept us going for generations.’

   No wonder his family name sounds familiar. I’ve seen hotels owned by the Umeda group being advertised on the television and the internet for decades. They have hotels all over the country and some more at other countries like Taiwan and Hong Kong.

   ‘My girlfriend is Shinohara Chiyo-’

   I raise my eyebrow in surprise. ‘Shinohara? You mean the same family that owns Shinohara Construction?’

  ‘That’s right.’

   This is another family just as famous for their construction companies. They’re in charge of building just about everything in Japan: schools, housing areas, hospitals, you name it.

   ‘Our family had been business partners since our grandfather’s generation.’ Umeda continues. ‘When the two of us were born, our fathers decided to seal the partnership by making their kids go out with each other and eventually get married.’

   ‘And the two of you were fine with it?’ I ask him.

   ‘I mean, yeah. We did get along quite well with each other ever since we were kids. I’m not really sure about her, but one day I just stopped seeing her as just my friend, but someone I actually love. Chiyo didn’t protest to it, which means that she has feelings for me too. So we just went along with the flow and started to go out with each other.’

   Great. Another pair of childhood friends that eventually became couple.

   ‘Everything was working out until a few days ago. Suddenly, our families got into a huge fight and declared that they’re no longer partners. As such, we are told to break up.’

   ‘And the two of you do as you’re told obediently.’ I conclude.

   ‘Yup. It’s not like we have much of a choice.’

   ‘Right. I need to confirm some things first.’

   ‘What is it?’

   ‘Did one or two of you ever confessed to each other?’

   ‘No. We were sat down opposite each other one day and told to go out. Which we did not object.’

   ‘Which base were you at before you had to break up?’

   He frowns in confusion. ‘Base? Why are we talking about baseball all of a sudden?’

   Wow. This guy’s pure.

   ‘The base stands for the levels you progressed in your relationship.’ Suzu explains. ‘Level one is kissing, level two involves touching each other, level three means sausage licking, and doing it at level four.’

   He got more and more confused. ‘Sausage licking? Doing it?’

   Seriously? Is this guy a healthy high school boy?

   ‘To prevent things from getting awkward, allow me to give you a clue on the last two bases instead of telling you directly.’ I volunteer. ‘You see, those bases involve the human genitals’

   It still took him a few seconds to understand me.

   ‘Oh. Are you talking about…mating?’ he asks with a small voice and a red face.

   ‘Yes. But we don’t use that word, instead we use the one that starts with an s. We’re humans, not animals. Seriously. Doesn’t this school implement sex education? Why are you living under a rock when it comes to this kind of things?’

   ‘We have none at all. Our principal claimed it to be a complete waste of time when we can use the time to learn those lessons at actual useful researches.’

   I shake my head in disgust. That principal is exactly the type of person who’ll get the society in trouble one day. Anyway, I digress.

   ‘So which base did you go?’ I ask him again after the explanation.

   ‘Actually, we didn’t even go to the first base.’

   ‘What about the sinful hand-holding?’

   ‘Wait, holding hands are sinful?’

   ‘Just answer me.’

   ‘No. We didn’t even hold hands.’

   ‘How many dates did you went?’

   ‘Well, we went to a few social parties organized by one of our parents or their business partners.’

   ‘Hey man, didn’t you hear my question? I said dates. Those don’t count at all.’

   ‘Hmm, I guess we went to the aquarium once. My father’s the friend of the owner, so he gave us a pair of ticket. We didn’t want to waste them, so we just went there.’

   ‘One last question. How long have you been dating?’

   ‘Two years, close to three.’

   Wow. This is more serious than I thought.

   ‘So let me get this straight. You’re in love with Shonohara, but you never thought of confessing to her. The reason the two of you started going out is that your parents basically forced you to. Even when you’re in a relationship, the two of you didn’t even hold hands, much less do the more extreme and intimate things. When your parents told you to break up, you guys broke up without raising so much as a fuss.’ I summarize.

   ‘That sounds about right.’

   ‘Right. I give up. I don’t even know where to begin with you.’ I tell him bluntly.

   ‘What? Why?’

   ‘You’re actually asking me that? Try repeating your story to anyone you meet. It’ll be a miracle if they actually think you two are going out with the progress you made, if you can even call it that.’

   I get up from my seat to leave, but Umeda quickly stops me.

   ‘Please wait! I sought help because I know I’ve been a failure of a boyfriend! I really want you to advise me on how the make this right again!’

   I sigh and sit back down. This case is quite stupid, but I guess I can’t just leave it like this if he’s actually determined.

   ‘Right. Let’s do this one more time. Whenever Shinohara is with you, did she ever looked happy?’

   Umeda gave it a good thought before answering.

   ‘I don’t think so. I mean, she’s pretty much a person who’s honest about her feelings, so she’ll always show her emotion on her face.’

   ‘What kind of hairstyle does she has?’

   ‘She keep her hair long and curly at the end. Why do you ask?’

   ‘So she’s not a tsundere.’ I mutter to myself.

   ‘A what?’

   ‘You know, the type of person who’s all “I hate you so much!” when she’s all “No, don’t leave me! I love you!” on the inside.’

   ‘How does her hairstyle have anything to do with her being a tsundere or whatever?’

   ‘How dare you! It’s been decided by the law of the universe that all tsunderes have twin tails as their hairstyles!’

   ‘You’re not making any sense.’

   ‘Oh, whatever. It’s not like I’m expecting a non-otaku to understand. More importantly, how did she react when your parents announced that you two will be going out together? I don’t care that it’s already been close to three years, I need you to remember and confirm. This is very important.’

   Upon hearing that, he closes his eyes and concentrates just to try and recall the incident of that day. He eventually opens his eyes once more.

   ‘I remember very clearly. Chiyo didn’t have a single expression on her face.’

   ‘Did she say anything?’

   ‘Yes. She said “as father and mother wish”. She said it without any emotion too.’

   ‘It’s decided, then. If Shinohara ever has a say in the matter, there’s no way she would ever go out with you.’

   Umeda looks extremely shocked, but he recovered quickly.

   ‘H-How can you be so sure?’ he asks me.

   ‘Look, you said that she’s usually like an open book, right? And now that same girl has zero reaction when your parents told you two that you’re basically engaged. The reason’s simple. She’s not into you. If you want to be really optimistic, you could say that her affection level towards you is zero, not negative. There’s indeed some chance for you, but I don’t fancy the odds.’

   ‘But, we’ve known each other since forever! She must at least feel something towards me!’

   ‘Buddy, if there’s such a thing as love at first sight, then there’s also a thing called having zero affection towards someone that you spent an eternity with. Her expression told you as much.’

   ‘Then why did she agreed to go out with me?’

   ‘Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s because she wants to be a good girl who listens to her parents so that they don’t disown her and chase her out?’

   He slumps his shoulders and lowers his head in defeat. Looks like my words are finally getting to him.

   ‘But, I don’t want to give up on her.’ he whispers. ‘I can’t stand the thought of Chiyo ever going out with anyone other than me.’

   ‘Let me ask you a question then. Are you prepared to sacrifice literally everything so that you can be her boyfriend again?’

   ‘Everything?’

   ‘That’s right. Your Umeda name, your inheritance, your prestigious position as a student of this Kiseki High, everything.’

   He looks at me with a determined look. Finally, he’s starting to look like a real man.

   ‘Yes. I don’t care about my family and its money. I want to be with Chiyo. That’s the only thing that matters to me.’

   ‘What if she rejects you?’

   ‘I’ll keep on wooing her until she says yes!’

   I nod, satisfied. ‘Good. You know what to do then.’

   ‘Yes! Thank you so much!’

   Umeda gets up, and then he hesitates.

   ‘Am I supposed to pay you for your advise?’

   ‘Um, no. This is like voluntary service, really.’

   ‘You’re going around solving people’s love problems for free?’

   ‘Well, let’s just say that this is some sort of atonement.’

   He doesn’t get a single thing I’m saying but didn’t push it any further. He takes out his purse and gets out two pieces of papers.

   ‘Well, I can’t have you leave without taking a single thing. Here, take this.’

   I accept the papers. They turned out to be tickets to some kind of high-class dessert buffet.

   ‘I received those from my parents so that I could bring Chiyo there a few days before we broke up. You can have it instead. If we got back together, I want to choose where we go for dates together with her.’

   With that, Umeda leaves the library, probably to look for Shinohara. Meanwhile, I’m staring at the tickets like I’m looking at toilet papers when I don’t have to go.

   ‘Say Suzu. Do you want these?’ I ask the rich girl who’s been mostly quiet the entire time Umeda and I were talking.

   ‘Not really. I could go there anytime I want since my parents are members there. Why don’t you go with Aiai instead?’

   ‘Her? You must be kidding. Why should I, anyway? She didn’t do a single thing this time. Well, not that she ever contributed.’

   Suzu reaches out her hand and takes one of the tickets. ‘In that case, the equally useless me shall accompany you~.’

   ‘What? You could have just go with Nagano, right?’

   ‘You actually want her to have it?’

   I put away the ticket in a flash. ‘Absolutely not.’

   ‘There you go~. We’ll be meeting up this Sunday, okay?’

   ‘Sure. At 9am?’

   ‘At 9am.’ she confirms.

   ‘Now that the case is sort of closed, I guess I’m leaving too. You aside, an outsider like me shouldn’t linger around here too much.’

   ‘Hold on, let me call Seriseri so he could come and pick me up with his car.’

   I assume she meant Serizawa-san when she said Seriseri.

   ‘Why are you talking like I’ll be giving you another piggyback?’

   She looks at me in shock. ‘You mean you aren’t going to give me one?’

   ‘Nope.’

   ‘Oh, come on~! Don’t you have any mercy for poor old me?’

   In the end, I let her talked me into giving her another piggyback so that we could leave the school grounds together. I even wait until Serizawa-san is here before leaving.

   ‘Thank you for accompanying ojou-sama, Bandou-sama.’ Serizawa-san thanks me while bowing at an 90 degree angle.

   ‘It’s fine. Really. Now that you’re here, I’ll be taking my leave.’

   ‘Yes. Please have a good evening.’

   ‘Bye Takkun~. See you next time~.’

   I wave at them before heading to the bus station. I did told Suzu that this case is sort of closed now, but I did not imagine at the time that it was just the beginning.