Hitori collapsed to the ground after we reached the ground from the path that we had taken to the hidden place.

I immediately call sensei using my phone and send her my current location,

“Hitori-kun, what happened to you?”

As I reached to touch his body, I was shocked that the temperature was unbelievably high, he has a fever, no doubt that this is a very bad fever I’d say, it’s like the fever was given no attention at all for it to be this bad.

Sensei arrived with another teacher and brought Hitori to a nearby hospital, I was told to stay behind as I watch they took him away.

A small piece of folded paper caught my attention where Hitori had collapsed. I curiously picked it up thinking it must be his.

As I opened the piece of paper…..the contents….made me feel very bad, but somehow happy too.

Before I knew it, tears filled with mixed feelings that I just realized at that time began flowing down my cheek….

I thought all these visits to unsung places were mere coincidences….

“Why would you go so far?…”

“Plans to give Kaichou the best school trip ever!”

This is what was written in the note as the title along with the plans written below it.

Seems like it was well planned, quite impressive I thought in my mind when I read them. All the places we had gone to is here written in the note.

…

Uh….what’s this…where am I?

“Oh, you finally woke up, good,”

It appears a doctor whose standing next to me said that.

“Hospital?”

I can’t seem to recall why and how I got here.

“Yes, you collapsed because your fever was too high, but that’s not the actual case…I’m sure you already know the reason”.

The reason, yeah, I know it well.

“Yes…did you told them?”

“Rest assured, they were only informed about your fever”.

“Your body is stable now but you still need to rest to fully recover”.

After listening to the doctor, I wondered for a bit and recalled something.

School trip…

“The trip! Ah, it’s night time already…”

As I came to a realization, I panicked a bit and take a look outside the window, but it was nighttime already.

I guess I miss my chance to give Kaichou the best trip, some kind of friend I am…

Frustrated with it, I decided to leave the hospital.

“Can I go now?”

“Yes, but make sure to get plenty of rest”.

“Thanks for the help!”

I walked out of the hospital looking at the night view of Kyoto, a thought came into my mind

“It’s the same as yesterday, haha”

“Of course, why would the view change every day?”

A voice suddenly appeared not too far from my position, this cold, almost soothing voice is none other than that person,

“Fancy meeting you here, Kaichou”.

“It was a mere coincidence that I happen to pass through this area to get some souvenirs”.

“I thought it was forbidden to go out after 8?”

“Well, since this is the last night we’re going to be here, the teachers let the students go out until 10”.

“Eh, how thoughtful of them, that’s pretty nice don’t you think”.

“Is-is there anywhere you want to go?”

She asked me with a little shaky voice.

“Anywhere I want to go? If it’s anywhere then I wanna go inside your heart hehe,”

“That’s not physically possible, are you dumb or what?”

“Fufufu, it’s just a joke……then let’s go buy some souvenirs, you said you’re on your way to buy some right?”

“Ye-yes, but I don’t know the place…”

I forgot she got a sense of direction close to that green-haired pirate in an anime I watch.

Looking around, I spotted a row of stalls that seems to sell souvenirs.

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“How about we just walk around those stalls, might found some nice things, come let’s go”.

I walked first but noticed that she was still standing there, I turned around and look at her.

“What are you waiting for? Want me to carry you like last time?”

“I’d rather die than be in that situation again”.

“Ehh…..you hated it that much?…. so-sorry then..”

She proceeded to the stalls passing me and proceed to walk in front of me.

A faint smile appeared as she walked.

I followed her this time.

Arriving at one of the stalls, something caught my attention.

“Oh look at this, this toy’s just like you Kaichou,”

I grabbed the toy that appears to be like a mini human figure with eyes that show no interest in anything, or simply said, cold, just like Kaichou’s beautiful eyes.

“That thing does not resemble me in any way at all”.

“You think? Well I’m gonna buy it just cause I think it looks like you, hahaha”.

“.…….”

“What kind of souvenir are you looking for exactly?”

“Nothing in particular, just something to remember my trip here”

“How about this?”

I showed Kaichou a miniature replica of a katana.

“Why would I get this?”

“Hmm, because samurais usually use katanas, and samurais are cool, they protected and fought for japan, ready to kill and be killed, such brave warriors”.

The look on her face doesn’t change a bit, must be uninterested.

“Well if you don’t prefer it then let’s carry on our search,”

I said and went to another nearby stall leaving Kaichou holding the sword.

Kaichou thought for a second and decided to buy the katana.

“I’ll take this”.

We searched for quite some time and nothing seems to be of interest to her.

“Nothing…you sure you’re okay with nothing?”

“Yes, we must head back, it’s getting late already”.

“I guess…”

We proceeded to head back to the hotel with me leaving with a mini human figure resembling Kaichou.

As I entered my room,

“Are you okay Hitori-kun??!!”

“I thought you were gone forever!!!”

They’re too loud…

“Whoa, stop being so loud, it’s already late, I’m fine and why would I die from a normal fever?”

“Whew… so you’re fine…care for another match?”

Narukami suggested a card match while holding them in his hand.

“You’re on! The last time was a fluke! Not happening again,”

I gallantly accepted the challenge.

We fought cards for quite a while until we exhausted ourselves falling asleep on the floor.

The next morning,

“Is everyone here? Okay then, it’s been a few days here and a lot of things happened, this is your last school trip as you are already third-year students, I hope you all enjoyed your trip,”

Said a teacher substituting Ishizaki-sensei, she appeared to be sleeping on a bench nearby.

“Yeah! It was fun!" ”Kyoto rocks!” ”Wooo it’s the best!” the voices of those who are happy can be heard cheering.

“Well I’m glad you all had fun, as for yesterday’s case, Hitori-kun who had a fever, was taken care of without any further casualties, but we will need you to issue an apology later as you did not inform us of your condition”.

“I’m so sorry for the trouble!”

I bowed my head apologizing for my actions.

“Well then, the train will arrive shortly, take this time to enjoy this area while waiting, dismiss”.

I’m exhausted, last night’s game was too intense I ended up using my brain a little too much….well, it was fun so I have no complaints.

They all seem to be taking pictures together. Pictures are taken to serve as proof of the occurrence of something, in this context, as a memory to look back on as we grow older to reminisce the past.

Yes, photos are merely events of the past, unless you’re some kind of time traveler.

It does look kinda fun, maybe I should-

*ka-cha!*

“Uh, what’s this?”

After I was blinded by a light from an unknown source, my vision slowly became normal as I saw the face of a girl in front of me.

“Ka-Kaichou! Are you trying to make me blind?”

“What are you talking about, look at this picture of an idiot attempting the action of ‘thinking’”.

“Hey….that’s a bit cruel don’t you think?”

“Nope, not at all”.

“.…..”

“You know it’s a crime to take photos of others without their consent right?”

“That law does not apply to a being that is not considered a human though”.

Am I an animal?

“Are you saying I’m an animal?”

“You’re the one who said it, not me”.

“What! So I’m an animal now?…….”

Refusing to lose in this argument, I attempted a comeback

“Then I shall be the guard dog to this pitiful girl”.

“Pitiful? Is that the best you can do?”

“I’m being awfully considerate here young lady….”

That somehow annoyed me a bit…

The train arrived while they were in the middle of a small argument.

“The train, let’s get going Kaichou,”

I said while leaving her behind.

…

“Wai-”

Why is it so hard to ask for a picture?…..

Then, I boarded the train.

Looking for a seat, I found an empty row and proceed to sit there alone.

Being alone often gives me some kind of peace, but until recently, it has changed…

Two boys suddenly approached the seat,

“Err, these are our seats, look, our bags are there”.

Looking around, how could I not notice those bags.

“Oh, I’m sorry for not noticing, please take your seat back”, while moving away from the seat.

Can’t see any empty seats, ah there’s another empty row at the very back.

I then moved to the seat after checking for any signs of other people marking their spot.

“Nothing, meaning that it’s empty, I’m so sleepy…”

I immediately dozed off in the outer seat.

…

Hmm…what kind of situation is this…I guess it’s my fault I didn’t leave anything to mark my spot here when I went to the washroom….then how am I going to get in there, this sleeping ice queen is getting in the way, wouldn’t wanna interrupt her slumber though..hmm might as well take a picture together hi hi hi…

Wanna see the look on her face when I send her this picture, pfft…

“.……”

“Well, at least the floor is still available I guess…”

I went to sleep leaning on the wall and sitting on the floor right behind her seat.

The sleeping pair continued to be in their dreams as the train set off.

After arriving at their stop, Hitori immediately woke up because he had banged his head on the wall behind him.

“Ouch….are we home?”

I wondered as I look at the students packing their stuff.

They’re packing, which means we’re home. Is Kaichou awake?

I attempted to slowly stand up because I think my legs are numb sitting for too long on the floor.

As I stood up, I found a sleeping beauty in the seat where I slept behind.

Haven’t woken up eh?

*snap*

I snapped my finger close to her ear which immediately woke her.

“Morning sunshine, we’ve arrived, let’s go home”.

Kaichou who had been woken by my finger-snapping got annoyed.

“Perhaps you’re angry with me? Eheh”.

“There are proper ways to wake people from their sleep”.

Damn, she looks very annoyed….

“Ah, sorry bout that, I was afraid people would notice your beautiful sleeping face, my bad”

I said sincerely apologizing.

“Non-nonsense!”

“Enough, let’s head home”.

I can clearly see her face blushing after hearing what I said.

“Roger that ma'am!”

We continued to walk home from the station.

“Wh-why are you following me?”

She seems to be more annoyed than earlier.

“Well, I am a guard dog aren’t I? Bark! Bark!”

“And from what are you guarding me against?”

“I dunno? Thieves? Maybe another molester?…….I’m joking, I’m joking”.

*SLAP*

Kaichou seemed to had stopped and landed a slap on my face.

A pain felt through my left cheek.

“.…..”

“So-sorry, I guess I went too far….sorry”.

Kaichou then walked away from me as I stand there a bit confused while touching the slapped cheek.

I didn’t know she would get mad…

Either way, I can’t let it be like this, gotta find a way to cheer her up….

Maybe if I give her a strawberry parfait she would forgive me? It’s worth a try…

From that day onwards, I spent every day trying to apologize to Kaichou by offering her strawberry parfait in the council room.

Somehow this feels like an offering to a shrine God.

Ah….it’s no use, she won’t accept my apology….

“Psst-”

A whisper?

“Hm?”

“It’s us, the shadow vigilantes, a meeting will be held at our usual place after school, please attend to hear our reports, shuu~”

Damn, that’s cool, those guys, what report do they want to hand me? Hmm...

When I arrived there,

“So what do you guys wanna tell me?”

“First of all! We’re so glad Aniki’s fine! Huuuuuu,”

Why are they crying?

“We heard about your fever and thought you would leave us!! Sob sob”

“I’m not gonna die from a fever….come on….not you guys too…well, anything else? I got some things to do”.

“Ahem, next! We know what you were doing this past week after coming back from the trip”.

“You guys knew?!”

“Yeah we stalked you every day”

“That’s too straightforward!”

“Well that aside, you were trying to get the president’s attention, isn’t that right Aniki?”

“But it’s strange, I thought you two were already dating though…”

“Dating? Surely not….”I said.

“The thing is that I did something that made her mad, I didn’t know why she got mad though....”

“Care to tell us?”

“I’ll just give an example of the situation, I can’t expose the true events otherwise I’ll kill myself for betraying her”.

“Fair enough, we don’t want you dead too, carry on Aniki, tell us the story”.

“As an example, one day, person A went to the supermarket to buy some groceries, little did he know that he was being followed by person B, as the two of them walk around the supermarket, person B suddenly got lost but person A had long noticed he was being followed by person B until she got lost, person A then continued to observe person B standing alone until he noticed person F approached person B, from person A’s perspective, person F was going to do something bad but person A continued to wait and watch until person B shouted person A’s name and made it clear that she needed help, person A then appeared to help person B get rid of person F, and on their way home person A teased person B about what just happened and got slapped in the face, the end”.

He got slapped by the president.

“So? Why do you think Kaic- I mean person B is mad?”

“I think the thing that triggered her anger was person A teasing about what happened in the supermarket”.

“I knew that at least, give me something else”.

“I think the true events that happened might have made her traumatic, I guess”.

“Yeah, that makes sense! She must be so scared after getting approached by person F, and when you- I mean person A teased her, she got very insecure and mad!”

“Whoa, that seems highly possible, amazing you guys,”

“Hehe, this is nothing~~” Genji and company flattered by the praise.

“Worry not as we shall lend you some advice!”

“Whoa, you guys can help me?!”

“Anything for our Aniki, give us a few days to find some ways, but it won’t directly involve us”.

“Why not?”

“We might get slaughtered by the president”

“That might be true….”

“I’m counting on you guys, for now, I’ll just do what I’ve done this past week,”

I said that and walked away from the place.

…

Aniki is putting his trust in us, we must fulfill this duty with complete excellency. Guys! Search for something that cheers up an ice queen! For Aniki!!

“Our task! Project Cheer Up The Ice Queen For Aniki! In this project, we will find a way for the president to forgive Aniki, the question is what makes a girl’s heart open up? If we can find something for Aniki to open up her heart, she will surely forgive him!”

“Yeah!!”

“Well then, let the search, begin!”