I had finished reading the exchange diary that I received from Rikka on our way to school.

Because she had told me about it on our way to school, I was already aware that Rikka’s Devilish Truth Stare had yet to return. And although she had told me not to worry about it as she was feeling full of energy multiple times, I became even more worried.

It was probably because Rikka knew that I was worried that she told me that that she was fine many times over. And I know that it’s not good for me to be worrying so much.

Hmm… But even so, I still strongly felt as if I had to do something.

When I read her diary entry, I got the strong impression that Rikka was feeling quite bewildered as this was the first time something like this had happened to her. The fact that she was so baffled by the Devilish Truth Stare’s disappearance made the entire situation three times as confusing for me. Even so, as her boyfriend – no, as her contractee, there must be something I could do to help.

I came to a similar conclusion yesterday as well.

If it’s for Rikka, I’ll do anything.

Well, then again, that was the stance that I originally always had.

That being said – I had not been able to come up with any ideas on what to do. While I did state that it would be my homework to come up with something yesterday, and although I did keep thinking about it until I feel asleep, I was not able to come up with anything that could be called a good idea.

As a last resort – I continued on with the strategy from yesterday.

Betting on the possibility that Rikka will be become inspired and have her powers come back, the stupid idea (it seemed like a good idea at the time) to once again don the role of the Super Dark Flame Master was born.

And so, the plan was set in mention.

Although it made me uncomfortably warm while I walked to school, I utilised the new power I had received from Shichimiya yesterday – I wore a mantle over my uniform and spiked my hair.

I call it ‘Super Dark Flame Master Simple Mode’.

Since remodelling my uniform or wearing the costume that I had received in lieu of my uniform would likely tarnish the reputation of my friend in the disciplinary council, I decided against doing either of those things.

My outfit was at the very limits of what would be considered as appropriate schoolwear.

Then again, as I have a friend who challenges school regulations and continues to wear her scarf despite it being summer, and as do know an upperclassman who constantly draws the ire of the head of the discplinary council with her rainbow-coloured hair, I probably could get away with saying that what I have done to my schoolwear was no big deal.

Now that I think about it, it’s like the members of my club were trying to challenge the authority of the disciplinary committee.

Rikka and Dekomori’s uniforms both fell into the dubious category too.

However, as our principal had stated “Since freedom is a key part of the school ethos, it’s fine☆. In fact, go for it. Be bursting with individuality!” before, alterations to the school dress code did not seem to be a major issue. Our school was like the inverse version of a school were the student council held tremendous authority: individual students held all the power instead.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that bodies like the student council held no real power.

I mean, look – the given name of the president of the student council was Tsukinami[1]”. “Medicore-san”. Then again, unlike what her name would suggest, she was quite the beauty.

An upperclassman who was the polar opposite of Hideri-senpai. The rumours have it, however, that the two of them seem to have some sort of fated connection to one another.

Still, I’m glad that this was such a weird school. We wouldn’t be able to express ourselves like this at any other school.

But I digress.

Anyway, that “I’ll do anything” – as proof of this determination of mine, I had donned the role of the Super Dark Flame Master when I met up with Rikka this morning. While I did succeed in surprising Rikka, the shock therapy element of the strategy was a complete failure.

“So cool! You should stay like that forever!”

The only outcome of the strategy was being praised by Rikka.

To be frank, I don’t think I would be able to stick with wearing this like Shichimiya does given how hot wearing it makes me feel. I’ll seal this power up again once when the Devish Truth Stare is restored.

When I think about it, Shichimiya really is amazing. I really admire her.

But well, still – it’s seriously hot.

“Hah.”

I let out a deep sigh.

With this being the outcome, I couldn’t say that this operation was very successful, could I? I’m at a serious loss for what to do.

What now? I’m troubled.

“Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!”

Laughing to the extent where I started to wonder if she had gone mad, she appeared. As she laughed, she struck my back with enough force that it made a bang. This was different to back when we had that ‘are we friends?’ exchange from before. She really had struck me hard enough to the point where an audible ‘bang’ could be heard.

Still, she arrived at school later than expected.

Shouldn’t the class rep be the first one to arrive, I wanted to quip.

The class rep. No, the class king.

“The heck is up with that! Ahaha, why is your hair all spiked up!? Ahahaha, why are you wearing a cloak when it’s so hot!? Ahahahaha, it’s hilarious! As hilarious as the golden eraser you use!”

“Leave the golden eraser out of this!”

It was a treasure Rikka gave to me as a New Year’s Gift!

With an “Eww, yikes, no need to get so angry~” sort of smile, Nibutani Shinka sat in the seat adjacent to mine.

With no sign that she planned to stop laughing soon, Nibutani, in this classroom where no one made a comment about my attire (the fact that not a single soul said anything made me think, ‘Hmph, are you all scared of my appearance?’), did not hestitate to come and make fun of me.

Although it was to make fun of me, the fact that she came and got involved with me made me feel a little saved.

“So, why are you wearing that? Did the heat turn you into a complete idiot? Ahahaha, or did you get forced into it? Is it for a punishment game or something?”

“…S-shut up! I am the Super Dark Flame Master right now. If you draw too close to me, you’ll get burnt!”

“Ahahahaha! That’s so tacky!”

Nibutani continued to laugh.

Suprisingly, Nibutani was the type of person who laughs quite readily. She also laughed like this (or to be more accurate, she also laughed at me like this) back at the cultural festival afterparty.

Hmm, looks like it’s time to make good on my promise.

“You burned?”

“Hah? I’ll kill you.”

I was threatened. Scary!

Since I remembered that saying that line made you laugh, I thought that me saying it would make you laugh even more, but…

Or more importantly, what’s up with your foul-mouth nowadays? It’s gotten even worse than before. You’ve been openly badmouthing me ever since the cultural festival. If it wasn’t ‘drop dead, it was ‘I’ll kill you’.

Moreover, you only say those sorts of things to me.

Good boys and girls must never copy her. Words like that are hurtful.

Then again, since I haven’t seen her talk with other boys much (even when moving up a grade, she was still the centre of the class), I couldn’t definitively state that I was the only one that she treated that way. Still, from what I’ve heard, it seems that she’s quite kind to everyone else.

Well, whatever.

I’ve already grown accustomed to her foul-mouth by now. And besides, she was the only friend from my class last year who was in the same class as me this year. A friend whom I shared an eternal connection with. I should be big-hearted about this.

“So, Yuutan? Why are you wearing such a gross outfit?

Yuutan – it goes without saying, but I was Yuutan. I’m not sure why, but my nickname had been changed recently. The first to start calling me by that nickname was Sasa of the ‘Summers’.

As the two of us were in the same class again this year, Sasa and I started talking to each other a lot. As a result, Sasa started to call me Yuutan (honestly, I was very happy that she recognised me as ‘Togashi Yuuta’ and not just ‘Rikka-chan’s boyfriend’).  It seems that nickname caught on with Nibutani as well.

Whether it’s Geruzoni or Yuutan, I don’t really care what you call me, but I can’t leave you calling my outfit gross go unchallenged. This was my new power that I had received from Shichimiya.

You should be saying that it’s super cool.

However, since I’m pretty sure that NIbutani will never say something like that even if I begged her, I’ll give her a half-hearted sort of reply instead.

“You see, I don’t seem to have much of a presence at all. And so, I thought I’d do something that would make me stand out. Give myself a new look.”

To be frank, my lack of presence was something that I am pretty concerned about. In fact, I’ve been concerned about it ever since middle school.

Me too! Take a picture of me too! At this rate, photographs of me might not even be part of the yearbook!

No one else even commented when I came in wearing this! No one!

“Ahahahaha, it certainly is true that your presence is quite thin, isn’t it? Despite the fact that you have decent looks, decent grades, decent communication skills, and decent specialty.”

“A compliment from Nibutani…Eh…?”

Well, she was calling me ‘The Ordinary!’ through.

Nowadays, one’s not really anyone noteworthy unless they’re expectionally skilled at something, are they…

I mean… The people around me have quite the strong presence…

While the person who has the strongest presence would probably be one of the two upperclassmen, the person who has the least presence after me – surprisingly, that person might be Shichimiya. Deep down, she’s actually quite the serious person. Well, all this is just my opinion through.

Still, although it is a bit late, those club activities of mine should have left quite the impression on people.

“Well, I don’t think what I said was a compliment. But I also don’t think what I said was negative either. Being normal. Even if it means having a weak presence, I think that mastering being normal does have its advantages.”

“How would you master something like that…”

Should I be studying the art of guiding gazes…?

I can’t think of a situation where mastering being normal would be useful…

“So? What’s the real reason?”

As she asked that, Nibutani had a huge smile on her face.

I felt like I could hear her thinking, “Tell me the truth. If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

But. 

Nibutani was also – well, how should I put it? Observant?

I felt like I could also hear her thinking, “Well, if you need someone to talk to, I’m more than happy to lend an ear” – that was the sort of expression she had. As expected of the person who’s our class’ most popular person and our class rep: she’s thoughtful and caring.

Well, it wasn’t like this was something I needed to hide, so it should be fine if I talked to Nibutani about it.

“Um, well, have you heard about what’s happened with Rikka?

“Takanashi-san? No, I haven’t heard anything. Did something happen? Ah, did she finally dump you? Oh, and so, the reason behind you dressing like that is because you gave in to despair? Ahahaha, how pitiful~! Do you need someone to comfort you?”

“You’re completely wrong! No, see, Rikka’s Devilish Truth Stare has disappeaered and her eye’s normal now, but…”

“Hah? You mean, so that’s the reason why you’re dressed like that?”

Nibutani looked completely dumbfounded.

The reason why I didn’t tell her the truth in the first place was because I thought she would react like that.

“It’s not just that! It’s a big incident, okay!”

“Ha… How stupid. Give me back the small bit of worry that I had.”

“Eh, you were worried!?”

“Err… obviously? I mean, what would you think if I suddenly started wearing cosplay and started looking like I was lost in my own thoughts?”

“There’s no need to be that worried about me!”

Besides, there’s no way that you’ll ever be in a situation like that.

Still, wearing cosplay? Am I a cosplayer now? Well, with how I’m dressed, I can’t really refute that.

Wait, hold on. If something like that did happen, it certainly would be true that I’d be worried, but –

“It’s true that I’d be worried, but I’d be okay with it! In fact, please dress like a cosplayer who looks lost in their own thoughts!”

“H-huh!?”

Nibutani was baffled by this sudden request of mine.

Mwahaha, don’t think that you can keep toying with me forever. For right now, I am the being who was willing to do anything for Rikka, the Super Dark Flame Master. This shall be my revision to my existing strategy.

Since things have become like this, I’ll involve Nibutani!

No, but honestly, this might actually be a good idea.

I’ve received help from Nibutani regarding Rikka so many times now. She was someone I wanted on my side.

“Look at it from another point of view. When someone with a faint presence like me dresses like this, you’re the only one who chided me. However, what if someone like you, the class’ most popular person by a longshot, started to dress in cosplay and appearing lost in your own thoughts? Rather than making anyone worried, wouldn’t everyone be delighted instead!?”

It did pain me to say that.

However.

“E-eh!? Ah, well, that is true, isn’t it!”

Nibutani fully agreed with me; it appeared that she was being swept up by how energetic I was. Alright, looks like there’s nothing but to keep pressing her here.

“Right? And so, to help Rikka – won’t you clad yourself in a new power together with me!?”

“No.”

An instant refusual.

Hmm, guess that didn’t work out.

Well, I mean, her refusing was to be expected. I thought I would able to get her to just go with the flow and agree with how energentic I was, but I guess not.

“Haa… Isn’t that stupid? I mean, with Takanashi-san – isn’t she just moving on from chuunibyou?”

Nibutani unexpectedly delved straight into the matter at the heart of this conversation.

Well, rather than saying that she had delved into the matter at the heart of this conversation, it would be more accurate to say that the conversation had progressed onto its main subject.

“You think so too, right?”

“I –”

To be frank, I had not been entertaining that idea in my mind much.

That Rikka’s moving on? Or rather, that she’s evolving?

I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but deep down, I was convinced that neither of those were the case.

No, that’s not quite correct.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I was trying to convince myself that neither of those were the case.

Did I not want for Rikka to move on from chuunibyou? However, I do think that moving on from chuunibyou is inevitable. That’s why –

“To be honest, I don’t quite know.”

– was the only sort of answer I was able to give.

However, I did have something to add to my answer.

“As her boyfriend – I don’t think quite that is what has happened. I’m confident that – no, to tell the truth, I’m still not certain of it myself. Still, even though I’m not quite clear as to what had happened, there must be something that I’m able to do, and so…”

  “Hmm. Well, if I may be frank – no, it’s not like I didn’t want to say this, but – I can’t really say that I dislike where you’re coming from, Yuutan. The only thing you have on your mind is your girlfriend. I think that it’s a good thing that you’re so devoted. Things like affairs are unforgivable no matter what!”

“Seconded!”

I never expected Nibutani to be a kindred spirit.

Actually, more than just being kindred spirits – Nibutani and I seem to resemble each other quite a lot in terms of personality… Not only were we both former chuunibyou patients, we also share the same views on such a weird topic. Were our similarities the result of our eternal connection?

Could our relationship now really be a continuation of one that we had in a previous life?

“However, that the only thing you have on your mind is your girlfriend – I detest that sort of dullish thinking.”

“Huh?”

The abrupt addition of her disapproval made me think about the meaning behind her words.

Was there a double meaning behind her words – was she telling me to look at things from a broader perspective?

Nibutani let out a long sigh.

“Like I stated earlier, my position is that Takanashi-san is returning to how she was before is good. Moving on from chuunibyou – is that not a good thing? Or are you saying that she’s not allowed to move on?”

“No, er…”

This was the part that I was stuck on.

Naturally, I didn’t think that she couldn’t move on. I was in no position to tell her that moving on from chuunibyou was not allowed. I too had moved on from chuunibyou after all.

Moreover, it’s not like Rikka moving on from chuunibyou will change our relationship with each other.

While I may not be her contractee anymore (I can’t really say for certain this until I hear back from the Devilish Truth Stare), Rikka and I will still be girlfriend and boyfriend.

On the flip side, however, it wasn’t like my position was ‘come on, move on from chuunibyou already’ either.

Regardless of my position on Rikka moving on from chuunibyou, I guess when it comes down to it, the reason why I’m still uncertain about it boils down to my belief that there must have been some sort of cause that lead to the Devilish Truth Stare’s disappearance.

From my point of view as her contractee – er, I mean, boyfriend – who had spent the not inconsequential time of a year together with her, I did not think that she would move on from chuunibyou without a reason.

Although I stated that I wasn’t confident in this conclusion a little while ago – I believe that this belief of mine was what laid at the heart of my uncertainty.

It is impossible for Rikka to move on from chuunibyou without there being a reason behind her moving on.

That’s why.

If I was able to understand the cause –

“Good morning~. What’s the occasion, Yuutan? You’re looking super cool today~.”

“Good mooorning. Ahaha, there’s always something interesting going on with you, Togayu, isn’t there?”

I heard two voices call out to me.

Turning towards those voices, Sasa and Miyoshi-san came into my view. They had arrived just before the bell.

By the way, ‘Togayu’ was another one of my nicknames that they had for me. It appeared that Miyoshi-san was also able to recognise me as more than just ‘Rikka-chan’s boyfriend’. That honestly made me super happy.

“Mori-sama too, good morning~.”

“Mori-sama, good mooorning.”

With Sasa in the seat in front of me and Miyoshi-san in the seat to the left of me, the two of them exchanged morning greetings with Nibutani.

Summer Triangle – Completed. I was completely encircled!

And we were at the very back of the classroom too, so there was no escape!

For two months, from the start of my first term as a second-year student until now, I had been a victim of this encirclement.

And so, today as well – at the same time she sits down in her chair and places her school bag on her desk (she’s showing no sign of even preparing for the first period!), Sasa turns back towards my direction and –

“So? What’s the occasion? What with the super cool outfit~?”

– complimented me.

 That she unironically stressed that she thought my outfit was cool made me super happy…

That’s right. Sasa’s a good person who, one way or another, agrees with me on things (or at the very least, does not disagree with me on things). As such, I started to talk with Sasa a bit more recently.

Considering the context of our relationship, she was surprisingly easy to talk to.

Among the Summers, she was the nicest person out of the three.

And.

“Hmm, whether you think Togayu’s outfit is cool is really dependent on your tastes, isn’t it? Is this the sort of thing you like, Mori-sama?”

Grin.

As she said that, Chi-sama – aka Miyoshi-san – deliberately flashed a huge smile at Nibutani.

As an aside, the reason why Nibutani was being addressed as Mori-sama was because in the previous year, Miyoshi-san had declared, “Since my name’s Chinatsu, I’m ‘Chi-sama’[2], right? And since I’d like for everyone to call me ‘Chi-sama’, it’s only fair that I call Shinka ‘Mori-sama’ too.”

If it were someone like me declaring that, Nibutani would probably say something like, “Don’t call me Mori-sama!” However, with Miyoshi-san being the one who declared that, it appeared that Nibutani was unable to raise any sort of objection. Interestingly, there appeared to be some sort of hidden hierarchy among the Summers. While I don’t know whether Sasa is higher up in the hierarchy than Miyoshi-san, Sasa usually uses Chinatsu when addressing Miyoshi-san.

Natually, with me being at the very bottom of the hierarchy, I use Chii-sama when addressing her. I do call her Miyoshi-san in my heart, however.

Among the Summers, she was the most influential of the three.

“No no, there’s absolutely no way that I would like an outfit like this! This isn’t the sort of thing I like!”

As she said that, she, the person who was toyed with the most among the three Summers, waved her hands vigourously in denial as if to say that the very idea that she liked my outfit was unthinkable. One could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

I too more or less nodded in agreement. Although we were both former chuunibyou patients, Nibutani and I were not part of the same faction.

If I had to compare her to someone else, Hideri-senpai seems to be closest to Nibutani in terms of views on special abilities.

“Ahaha, again with you saying that sort of thing. While your acting as if you find it ridiculous on the outside, deep down you’re thinking something like, ‘That outfit works, doesn’t it? Even though it looks sweltering wearing it, that outfit – it’s oozing in manliness.’”

“No~, you don’t get it~. It certainly does look hot to be in – that’s exactly why it oozes with manliness~.  So? Is today this school’s Halloween or something~?”

“……”

It’s amazing how one could say the words ‘this school’s Halloween’ without it feeling out of place.

‘It certainly would not be out of place for this school to hold a Halloween event in June.’ While thinking that, I looked at my attire.

I certainly was dressed quite Halloween-like. It’s a prelude to Halloween – while I certainly could have said something like that to gloss over the way I was dressed today, I did also want to hear what other people’s opinion were about the situation with Rikka. Especially Sasa’s opinion. She was a good person, after all.

And so, with all that in mind, I earnestly went through everything that had happened with Sasa and Miyoshi-san.

“You see…”

Unlike Nibutani, Sasa and Miyoshi did not look repulsed as I spoke: rather, they appeared to listen to me in earnest.

“Hmmm~, so it was for Rikka-chan’s sake~. Well, while I do think that your costume is cool, I also think that your reason for wearing it is also cool~.”

“I see. So that’s what Mori-sama loves about you.”

“I’m not in love with him!”

“Eh? Mori-sama’s in love with Yuutan~? For real~?”

“Seeing how worked up you’re getting about this is making me quite suspicious.”

“Who are you saying is worked up!”

Still enclosed, the conversation continued flowing on around me.

Then again, this was how things usually went.

“Well, I understand the situation now!”

As if to interrupt the flow of the previous conversation, Miyoshi-san nodded strongly as she abruptly interjected.

Moreover, it appeared that Miyoshi-san couldn’t completely hide the mischievous scheme she had in mind as – no, judging from how wide her grin was, it was probably more accurate to say that she had no intention of hiding what her true intentions were.

“Mori-sama is good with these sorts of stories. After all, Mori-sama has been sought after for love advice so often to the point where one could plausibly say that Mori-sama is running a love consultation service.”

“Eh!?”

Nibutani’s eyes sprang wide open in surprise.

It seemed like she was the only one surprised to hear that, however.

“Ah~, it certainly is true, isn’t it~? Mori-sama is quite good with these sorts of things~. Everyone does keep looking for Mori-sama for consultations after all~.”

“No, well, that’s…. Or rather, isn’t love consultations irrelevant to the topic at hand!?”

“No, it’s related alright. It’s likely that Rikka-chan is worried about something, right? If you hear Togayu out, Mori-sama, you’ll be able to find out what caused Rikka-chan to become like this, wouldn’t you?”

“Ah~, I see~. That certainly is true~.”

“No, but…”

“Moreover, don’t you always say, “I-I can’t just abandon a person in trouble!” while giving off a really prickly sort of feeling? Right now, Togayu is in trouble.”

I believe it’s commonly said that whenever three women gather, it becomes quite noisy[3].

For a while now, there had been no room for me to enter this conversation at all!

Still, I do admire how Nibutani is always so Nibutani-like: how she always looks after others much like a mother. I was a little bit like that too. Woah, that’s another personality trait that I’m unexpectedly similar to Nibutani on.

Perhaps the reason why I don’t have much of a presence is because of Nibutani.

When I think about it, I sort of am the shadow to her light.

I’m guessing that she’d prefer dying over having others think that the two of us were linked in that sort of way, however.

“Moreover, this is an opportunity, isn’t it? An opportunity to ensnare Togayu.”

“Ensnare!?”

This time, I was the one who cried out in surprise.

Eh? No way. I’m scared. Although it felt like it was probably too late, I did not want to at Nibutani’s mercy.

“Ah, you’re wrong, you’re wrong. See, for the student council elections being held in September, Mori-sama was –”

“Ch-chi-sama, that’s –”

“– thinking of running for the position of the Student Council President. That’s why, even if it’s just by one, she would want to gather as many supporters as she could, right?”

Completely ignoring Nibutani’s objections, Miyoshi-san finished what she wanted to say while a smile.

How pitiful, she was being toyed with. That being said, I understood the logic behind it.

It certainly is true that even if it’s just by one, it’s good to increase the number of people voting for you. For someone as popular as Nibutani, I don’t think she needed my vote in particular. However, since I had no idea how people from the other classes – not to mention the other voting blocks such as the underclassmen – were going to vote, I could see why she would want to secure my vote. Assuming that Nibutani too was as much in the dark as I am regarding the voting intentions of others, even a single extra vote would make her feel more confident in her chances of winning.

That being said, I would have voted Nibutani even without her ensnaring me.

“If Rikka-chan ran as a candidate, Togayu, you would vote for Rikka-chan, wouldn’t you?”

“Urgh. That’s correct.”

Miyoshi-san’s words hit a sore point.

In such a situation, I would vote for Rikka without question. Although I didn’t think Rikka was interested in running for something like the Student Council President, I couldn’t say that she wouldn’t run for presidency for certain.

“That’s why you should make Togayu be in your debt. Right? Mo. Ri. Sa. Ma?”   

“Ah… Ugh…”

Nibutani-san hung her head. She had been completely toyed with.  

They do say that everyone has people that their compatible and incompatible with…

Still, Miyoshi-san’s ability to forcefully but skilfully push a matter through – I hope to be able to learn how to do that from her.

Although Nibutani Shinka-san had been in low spirits this morning, it appeared that she somehow was able to recover. She suddenly raised her head up with vigour.

 “Oi, Geruzoni. You absolutely cannot mention a word to anyone about this.”

“Could you not use that nickname when threatening me? Since it’s been so long since I’ve last heard anyone call me that, it’s a bit embarrassing!”

Habituation is scary.

Although I didn’t particularly mind it when I was called Geruzoni in the past, hearing that name now makes me feel super embarrassed!

“Okay okay.”

Nibutani sounded quite resigned as she said that.

“I will not abandon anyone. That is why, I will say it once more: I will become the student council president. I’ve changed from how I was before, haven’t I? And so, let this be my first step towards achieving that goal.”

“Oh~, Mori-sama is so cool~. I’ll support you too~.”

Sasa applauded Nibutani.

I too gave my applause to Nibutani along with Sasa.

“I too will give you my absolute support. Even if Rikka runs, my vote will definitely still go to you, Nibutani.”

“That’s obviously, isn’t it? So? What will you have me do?”

Beyond her line of sight.

That person – it was faint, but she had an evil smile on her face.