Her Secret Past
Cooking Club Room.
Despite it being daytime, the windows are completely covered with blackout curtains, giving the room a gloomy atmosphere.
Tap.
Under the flickering light that’s unsteadily turned on, a crayon banner is visible on the wall.
[1st Seira’s Sports Festival Strategy Meeting]
Under the banner, the heroines gather, having lost Kim Deok-Sung’s three-legged race partner spot to Seira.
Makoto picks up a potato chip piled high on the desk.
Crunch.
Just as Makoto chews on the snack…
Bang!
Olivia slams the desk.
Flinch.
Makoto’s body trembles.
“I can’t believe it! That fool’s personal maid, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, lost in the lottery competition!”
Olivia’s fist shakes with rage.
She thought of the three-legged race partner position as her rightful claim, of course.
But to have it snatched away by none other than the unexpected transfer student, the Chairman, is beyond belief.
It was an utter shock since it was so unexpected.
“Your Highness, calm down.” “Ugh…”
At Eri’s urging, Olivia groans and sits down.
“… It still seems suspicious. Why did they transfer here?”
Seeing this, Rin tilts her head.
No matter how strange things get at Shuo Hero Academy, the Chairman’s special transfer is unprecedented.
There’s something going on.
“I don’t know…”
At Rin’s words, Makoto timidly replies.
Crunch.
Haru munches on her snack.
“Nyahaha.”
Haru grins, exposing her teeth.
Jingle jingle.
The bracelets on her wrist clash together, making a metallic sound.
Her carefree demeanor is completely out of sync with the tense situation.
Seeing this, Olivia stands up.
Touch.
She places her hand on her chest.
“What’s going on, Kurosawa Haru? Is this really the time to be smiling leisurely? This Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte has specially invited you to this strategy meeting, and instead of being grateful for the special invitation, you’re just eating and playing! I can’t believe it!”
Haru laughs at Olivia’s words.
“Olive-nee. I’m not just eating and playing.”
“Then right now…”
“Because the super smart honor student elite JK gyaru, Haru, already knows why the Chairman has made a special entrance as a transfer student. Nyahaha.”
Jingle jingle.
Haru playfully shakes her hands and laughs.
Her slightly protruding canine teeth catch the bulb’s light and sparkle.
“What is that?”
“What’s that?!”
“What is it?”
“Giiiiiiiii…”
As soon as Haru finishes her sentence, Rin, Olivia, Eri, and Makoto’s gazes intensify upon her.
Receiving the four girls’ attention, Haru smiles and unwraps a Umaibo to take a bite.
Peeling off the packaging, I take a bite.
“That’s precisely…”
Gulp.
Your heroine swallows hard.
Haru’s red eyes glint as she smiles cheekily.
“…Seira-chan’s grandma, no, the headmaster grandma has set her sights on Deok-Sung oppa.”
At Haru’s words, the mood in the clubroom turns icy.
Seira is after him.
In truth, everyone had some inkling, but no one dared to mention it outright, and Haru just blurted it out.
A reality no one wanted to believe.
Therefore, Olivia asked Haru, her voice trembling.
“…Is that really true?”
“She came to our class as a special transfer student because she’s targeting Deok-Sung oppa, and she’s openly taken the role of his triangle partner! Hehe. Olivia-nee, can’t you believe that? All the circumstantial evidence points to grandma wanting Deok-Sung oppa!”
Haru rummages through her things and puts on round glasses, a beret, a pipe, and a scarf, completing her detective cosplay.
Bloop.
Bubbles rise from the pipe in Haru’s mouth.
Unlike everyone else, Haru, who shares the knowledge of the original story along with Kim Deok-Sung’s memories and experiences, already knew.
Yoshizaki Seira.
She liked Kim Deok-Sung.
So, when the special transfer student arrived, Haru wasn’t surprised like the other heroines.
“Kurosawa-san. But that’s just a gut feeling, right? Do we have any concrete proof that the headmaster is after our master?”
Zing.
Eri’s eyes dart to Haru.
“Concrete proof? Hehehe. We don’t have that… yet.”
Haru’s gaze shifts to Rin.
“If Rin-chan calls the Association President and asks, he’ll likely give the same answer as I did. Isn’t that good enough? Hehehe. Haru’s a super genius JK, after all.”
Haru points at Rin.
Rin, suddenly called out, widens her eyes.
“Haru, how can you be so sure? What if it’s not true?”
Rin’s eyes narrow.
“Or… I’ll yield to you all just this once, no matter what happens. Hehehe.”
Haru crosses her arms.
“Really? Haru.”
“Really, really?!”
“Kurosawa, you can’t take back those words later.”
“Ziiiing.”
Rin, Olivia, Eri, and Makoto respond immediately to Haru’s words.
Enjoying the gazes from her four older sisters, Haru nods.
“Of course, the super cute JK Haru doesn’t lie. Hehehe.”
Haru beams with pride.
Her shoulders and nose lift in triumph.
Seeing this, Olivia’s gaze turns to Rin.
“Hey. Shinozaki-san. What are you waiting for? Call your dad right now!”
“…Alright.”
Prompted by Olivia, Rin takes out her phone and switches it to speaker mode before dialing Ichiro.
Tring tring, click.
As soon as the call connects, it drops, and Ichiro’s voice echoes in the quiet clubroom.
[Oh dear. My daughter. What’s up?]
Gone is his usual cool demeanor, replaced with an overly sweet tone.
Rin’s face turns beet red at hearing the Association President’s voice, sounding like anyone else.
‘What’s up with the Association President? This is shocking.’
‘I’m a bit shocked too…’
Whispering.
Olivia and Eri silently mouth their words.
Noticing this, Rin furrows her brows.
“I have something to ask.”
[Why are you so stiff today?]
“…Well, never mind that. Let’s get to the point.”
Ignoring the President’s comment, Rin speaks with a flushed face.
With a flushed face, she spoke.
“Could it be that the Association President has feelings for Deok-Sung…?”
The moment the question spilled from Rin’s lips, silence fell in the clubroom.
[…Yes.]
After a brief pause, the Association President’s answer flowed from the speaker.
The moment Haru’s words were confirmed as true, the clubroom froze cold.
‘Nishishishi…’
Haru shaped her lips into a smile and began to blow bubbles from her pipe tobacco.
“Understood. Thank you for the answer. Father, then…”
[Wait a moment. Rin. My daughter. Can you not lower your voice just a bit…?]
It was Rin who broke the silence.
As she attempted to hang up, the urgent voice of the Association President leaked out from the speaker.
“If anything inappropriate is going on, such scandalous behavior is unacceptable as the Student Council President!”
Bang!
With a loud noise, the clubroom door burst open.
Startled by the sudden noise, Rin quickly ended the call.
Everyone’s gaze shifted towards the entrance.
There she was.
A beautiful girl with shining silver hair cascading down her slim figure.
It was Student Council President Saionji Aris.
An awkward silence lingered between Aris and the heroines.
Thud.
The door behind Aris closed.
“What… on earth is going on here?”
The first to speak was Aris, glancing at the banner with a puzzled expression.
“The 1st Seira’s… Sports Festival Countermeasure Meeting…?”
As Aris read the banner aloud, her gaze shifted to the heroines.
“Eek!”
Makoto let out a hiccup as their eyes met.
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like it’s some scandalous behavior… But to be having a countermeasure meeting with the Association President, what exactly is going on here?”
Just as everyone was flustered by Aris’ powerful question…
“Nishishishi. A-chan Onee-san. You know, A-chan Onee-san is the special transfer student to our class because Seira Grandma has a crush on Deok-Sung Onii-chan. Did you know? That’s why we’re having this meeting. Nishishi.”
Haru spoke with an ever-calm smile.
At Haru’s words, Aris’s pupils darkened heavily.
“…I was already aware of all this in advance. Everything happening within Shuo Hero Academy falls under my jurisdiction as Student Council President Saionji Aris.”
Aris spoke in a composed voice.
She had already known about Seira’s special transfer.
“Then why didn’t you intervene? A-chan Onee-san is close with Seira Grandma, right? Honestly, even for super kawaii JK Haru, it seems like this is just super unreasonable…”
“I have no right to stop the Association President.”
Aris cut off Haru’s words with a firm voice.
No right.
Hearing that, question marks appeared in everyone’s eyes.
“What do you mean? A-chan Onee-san.”
“You may not know, but I do, having been the one closest to him. Up until now, the Association President has… lived a life as mechanical as a robot.”
Vrrr.
Aris sat down in the empty seat.
She had known for a long time that the Association President liked him.
She wasn’t dull enough to miss that.
Rather, she simply felt she had no right to be jealous or to stop it, as she was aware of the hidden truth behind Seira’s seemingly glamorous facade.
For Aris, Seira was a benefactor and someone to be respected.
That’s why, now that her juniors had realized Seira’s feelings, she felt the need to reveal the truth to them.
He felt a need.
“Five Crowns, the five EX-rank heroes who saved humanity. The saviors of the world. The White Empress. Behind her glamorous title lies a tragic life of endless self-sacrifice for the greater good of humanity’s civilization.”
Thus began Seira’s past, recounted by Aris, and it was devastating.
Before becoming the principal of Shuo Hero Academy, Seira lived a life that was practically mechanical during her time with the Five Crowns.
During the great disaster, the Earth was on the brink of destruction due to an invasion from another world through a gate.
At that moment, she appeared like a comet, spending every moment in battles against the otherworldly beings, except for the time spent sleeping alongside her comrades in the Five Crowns.
The world naturally relied on Seira, and she fought against enemies to protect humanity’s civilization.
For her, everyday life was synonymous with war.
Seira had no personal life to speak of.
Even after the disaster ended, she stood against newly appeared villain threats, safeguarding the world and training successors.
Thus, Seira and the Five Crowns created a hero system and association to protect humanity and the world from threats posed by otherworldly beings and villains.
After that, it was decided that Seira and the Five Crowns would retire.
The day she was finally liberated from a life dedicated to the world like a mechanical part without any personal life for 20 years had come, a day when she could live not as a hero but as a woman.
“That was when it happened.”
Misfortune arrived on her happiest day.
Ten years ago, on that day.
The disciple, Professor, whom she had cherished and raised like a son betrayed her.
The man she loved, the swordsman Kurosawa Akira, and his family were murdered and exterminated by Messiah.
Coincidentally, on the same day, the Black Prince Raul Napoleon Bonaparte, Desperado Damian Heisenberg, and Red Star Nikolai Kasatkin also met their demise.
Wounded, she could never return to her original self.
It was all a series of events that unfolded simultaneously.
Seira’s dream of living as an ordinary woman after retirement shattered on that day.
It was a moment when Seira, who had devoted her life to protecting the world and humanity, saw her sky collapse.
“After that day, the Principal dedicated her life to vengeance. But the scars from losing her comrades left deep marks and emptiness in her heart.”
Aris remembered.
“So, the Principal’s face was always shadowed, and she secretly wept every night, missing her comrades.”
In her first year, when they first met, Aris recalled Seira’s perpetually shadowed face.
The face of Seira who never truly smiled.
The sight of her secretly calling out her comrades’ names and crying, getting caught by Aris, who lived in the same house.
“······On that day, however, the Principal smiled sincerely for the first time.”
It was the day she had her first meeting with Kim Deok-Sung.
That day, Aris saw the Principal’s face free from shadows, genuinely happy.
“It was the first personal happiness she had found in 30 years as Yoshizaki Seira, not the White Empress.”
Aris’s gaze turned towards the Heroines.
“But what right do I have to hinder her happiness?”
I have no right to obstruct her happiness.
With that thought, Aris closed her mouth.
With her words, the atmosphere in the clubroom grew heavy.
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