Chapter 1: Student council

Aoharu Island.

Interpreted, it means ‘Youth’ Island.

I don’t know if this island actually exists.

I’ve never heard of it, nor have I been there.

But this place, where I stand, was Aoharu Island.

This place is reality.

However, this world is not the one I used to live in.

I, ‘Hoshino Ryo’, am not from this world.

How did I know?

I found out as I lived.

It was around the end of my second year of middle school, I think.

I was able to recall memories of my past life.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I was possessed and naturally recalled them, or if I’d been living all along since birth and only just remembered now.

From what I feel, it’s the latter.

All the memories were as vivid as if I had experienced them myself.

Anyway, that didn’t matter.

The problem was simply that I had come to this world.

And as a student at Aoharu High School on Aoharu Island, no less.

What’s with this “double youth”?

Youth is fundamentally a positive word.

But for me, it seems to apply in the opposite way.

Normally, when two positives are multiplied, they remain positive, right?

Why does it feel like it’s applying as a negative for me?

“Haa.”

I sighed and walked down the hallway.

The sign visible at the end of the hall.

[Student Council Room]

My brow furrowed automatically.

Surprisingly, I attend school very diligently.

That’s because I’m part of the student council.

Of course, I was semi-forced to join.

If not for that, my school life would have already been a complete mess, and then some.

****

*Slide.*

When I opened the door, a large, wild-looking man was sitting there, bathed in a halo of light.

“President. You’re still alive and well.”

“Ryo…!!”

He shed large, chicken-dung-like tears, looking at me with a piteous gaze.

It was the student council president, Kaito Kenichi, whom I hadn’t seen since the winter break ended.

“Alright, alright. Stop crying.”

“Sniff… Thank you… Thank you so much…!!”

He’s surprisingly sensitive for his size.

Honestly, it’s understandable.

He became student council president by putting in immense effort, solely focused on one female student.

Originally, he wasn’t very well-known in his own grade, but thanks to all his efforts, he gathered votes from the other two grades.

That’s how he was able to be elected student council president.

The person he yearned for was none other than the vice president, who was elected alongside him.

About a month passed like that.

He worked up immense courage and confessed, but…

Well, the result was as plain as day.

At first, it seemed like they would just remain friends, but then the vice president suddenly transferred schools.

An unprecedented event occurred: the vice president left the student council.

Of course, the superficial reason was family circumstances.

This is an island.

It’s common for people to move to the city.

But given the timing, the student council’s atmosphere plummeted, and as a result, it’s just the president and me left.

“President, it’s fine. When I quit, I’ll submit my resignation at least two weeks in advance.”

“….Sniff.”

Tears welled up in the president’s eyes again.

From a boss’s perspective, watching their subordinate come to work day after day in a workplace with only two people.

Wouldn’t their heart drop if their subordinate didn’t show up for even one day without contact?

‘…President, hang in there. I was dragged into this too, so I don’t have many good feelings about it. If things go wrong, you’ll have to do it alone. Yes.’

“Anyway, President. It’s a new semester, and I don’t really have anything to do right now, do I?”

Student Council General Affairs.

My position is written as such, but it’s really just a handyman.

“Ah, about that…”

The senior, wiping his tears with a handkerchief that seemed too small for his large frame, returned to work mode.

“Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, isn’t it?”

“Th-that’s right?”

The new semester started on February 1st.

Normally, nothing much happens on the first day of school.

So, one day passed, and the next day was Friday.

I skipped that day too, riding the momentum.

Saturday and Sunday were obviously skipped, and I skipped the first two days of the following week as well, meaning to adapt to the class.

Therefore, today’s date is February 7th.

Valentine’s Day is February 14th.

Just one week.

‘Ah, it’s just a week, what could possibly happen?’

However, life doesn’t always go as one intends.

My ominous premonition came true.

“On that day, an idea came up to make chocolates during home economics class.”

“Huh?”

Immediately, the urge to say, ‘Ah, I have something to do,’ and leave the student council room filled me.

However, I held back, knowing that the senior left alone would probably cry bitterly.

Looking at this, ‘affection’ truly is a scary thing.

I sighed and said,

“Do we really have to do that? Buying them would be much tastier.”

“Even I, someone who can’t cook, agree with that point… but ‘making chocolates on Valentine’s Day’ has meaning.”

“But there are people like you and me, President, for whom Valentine’s Day itself holds no meaning.”

‘What is Valentine’s Day?’

‘Is it a day to confess love while handing over chocolates and saying, ‘Th-this is my true feelings!’?’

‘No.’

‘Then, granting it a hundred times over.’

‘Is it a day to go to school just before being late, filled with the excitement that there might be chocolates under your desk?’

‘This is like, similar to the probability of winning the lottery.’

‘No, it might even be lower than that.’

‘Therefore, no.’

‘Then what exactly *is* Valentine’s Day?’

‘It’s the day for making bets on the topic of ‘who will receive the most chocolates?’’

‘Will you bet on the most popular person in the class as a safe pick?’

‘Or will you bet on a dark horse, just in case?’

‘Of course, I don’t have any friends, so I had to make this bet alone too.’

“…Ryo. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’ve hit on the key point.”

“Huh?”

“Ryo. How many chocolates have you received on Valentine’s Day in your life, excluding obligation chocolates?”

“Oh, that’s—”

“Excluding family, of course.”

“B-but…”

“Ah, relatives are excluded too.”

‘………………..’

As my answer was delayed, the senior, with a wistful smile, patted my shoulder.

“It’s okay. I’m the same, you see.”

‘Shit, that’s really depressing.’

“….So what about it? If you can’t receive them, you make them yourself! Is that it?”

“Well, that’s one reason, but it’s not the ultimate one.”

“Then what is it?”

“As I said before, there are people like you and me who don’t even get to see chocolates on Valentine’s Day. But if we all make chocolates together that day, it might alleviate some of the feelings of exclusion.”

“Uh… I don’t really care—”

“And! Won’t the chances increase!?”

“Huh?”

“The chance of receiving chocolates, that is! If everyone makes chocolates together, the number of available chocolates increases! Then, naturally, I… no, the excluded people might receive chocolates!”

‘He just said ‘I’.’

‘…President, even at your age, you still haven’t given up hope?’

“President. Whether you multiply 0 by 100 or 1000, it’s still 0.”

“Ryo. There’s no such thing as impossible in this world! You must never rule out even the slightest possibility!”

“At best, it’s like finding two grains of rice instead of one in a 40kg rice sack.”

‘………………..’

“More importantly, President. This proposal, you didn’t make it yourself, did you?”

“Th-that’s absolutely not it! Look at this!”

The president opened the suggestion box.

Inside, as the president said, there were quite a few suggestions to make chocolates on Valentine’s Day.

Of course, it was impossible for excluded people like the president and me to have submitted such suggestions.

It was probably the ‘insiders’ who enjoy Valentine’s Day who submitted these ideas.

“Haa, but even if we do it, won’t it just make things harder for the home economics teacher?”

“You’re right. That’s why I want to ask Ryo for help with that part.”

The president clasped his hands together and bowed his head.

“Could you possibly create a recipe!? Unlike me, who can’t cook, Ryo, you’re good at it! For the sake of the students who aren’t good at cooking, please create a recipe!”

“…I’m not exactly good at it myself.”

‘Recipe.’

Recipes for making chocolate are plentiful if you just look a little.

But the recipe the president was talking about was different.

He meant to understand the cooking tools available at school and create the optimal recipe.

Because there are quite a few people who can quickly turn a dish into charcoal if the shape of the cooking tool or the strength of the fire is even slightly off.

“I’m counting on you. I’ll take care of everything else.”

Despite appearances, President Kaito Kenichi has a meticulous side.

He didn’t become president for nothing.

He must have already anticipated all my answers.

“Haa, fine. Then I can leave things like preparing cooking tools, purchasing ingredients, and printing recipes all to you, President, right?”

“Of course! If the operating funds are insufficient, I’ll even use my own money to buy them, so don’t worry about that part.”

“…No, you don’t have to go that far.”

That statement isn’t a joke.

The president’s family is genuinely wealthy.

At one point, I visited his house, and I almost got lost in the yard.

After that, I never bring up money in front of the president.

“For now, let’s wrap things up here today. Since I need to make a prototype, please prepare the cooking tools to be used by two days from now at the latest.”

“Understood. Ryo, thank you.”

“No problem.”

I shrugged and left the student council room.

Only two student council members.

‘At this point, isn’t this just a black company?’