"So you made your girlfriend mad, huh? Then let the 'Love Detective' help you~"
"I really don't think you're reliable for this kind of thing, Secretary Fujiwara."
Seeing Fujiwara light up at the mention of love talk, clearly about to get carried away again, Rinji didn't have much hope.
He turned to Iino Miko.
"Hey, someone's openly talking about romance here. As the morals officer, aren't you supposed to stop this?"
"Uh… but Fujiwara-senpai didn't do anything wrong…"
"I'm not asking you to stop the secretary. I'm telling you to bring this guy, Tanuma, to justice."
"No… as morals officers we need evidence. He hasn't done anything overly intimate with his girlfriend, so I can't punish him."
"That's really inconvenient."
Rinji shifted his gaze back from Iino to Tanuma Tsubasa.
The first time he met Tanuma was last semester. Back then, Tanuma was shy and timid. Ever since he started dating, he'd gotten full of himself.
Thankfully, even his girlfriend had gotten mad at him today.
"So what exactly made her mad?"
"A lot of things…" Tanuma looked troubled. "Like how she always asks me, 'Do you know why I'm mad?'"
"..."
That line was probably every boyfriend's worst nightmare—only second to "Let's break up."
And usually, when a guy hears it, he has no idea what he did wrong.
How the hell is anyone supposed to know? If you don't say it clearly, how can anyone guess? You'd need to be a psychic.
"Have you ever encountered this, Rinji—ah, right, your girlfriend never gets mad at you."
"Calm down, isn't Secretary Fujiwara helping you? Just ask her instead," Rinji said. "Right, Fujiwara?"
"Hmm… this kind of situation…"
Fujiwara fell into deep thought.
Never mind that she wasn't your typical girl—even regular girls would find it hard to diagnose based on so little information.
When a girl asks that question, it's usually because she wants her frustration at the time to be understood and empathized with.
"I haven't been in that situation myself, but we can look for examples—other couples or married people," Rinji suggested.
"But I don't know any other couples…"
"Then look to your own parents. Think back—has your mom ever asked your dad something like that?"
Rinji leaned on his hand, looking bored.
"Like my mom and dad, they… hmm…"
"What is it?"
"Nothing, it's just… now that I think about it, they've never fought—not once. Weird, considering my dumbass dad's face should piss anyone off."
"You really have no hesitation dissing your dad, huh…" Fujiwara sighed.
"Honestly, rather than asking the student council, you should go to the people who know you two best," Rinji said.
"People who know us best…?"
Tanuma thought for a moment.
"Yeah, especially girls who tend to see things from a girl's perspective."
"Girls… who know us… Oh! I got it!"
Tanuma clapped his hands.
"Shijo-san, right?"
"Exactly. Shijo Maki is a perfect choice. She hangs out with you all the time and knows both of you really well. Plus, she's apparently best friends with your girlfriend, Kashiwagi Nagisa. She likely knows what's going on."
"Right! Why didn't I think of that?"
Tanuma jumped up in excitement.
"Coming to the student council was the right move. Rinji, you always give such solid advice!"
"You're welcome. The student council is here to solve student problems. But try solving your relationship stuff yourself next time."
"Thank you so much!" Tanuma said gratefully. "I'm gonna go ask Maki now!"
"Go on."
Watching Tanuma's retreating figure, Rinji nodded with satisfaction, unaware he'd just thrown someone else under the bus again.
"Looks like that's resolved."
"Huh… Rinji, you don't really look like someone good at handling love problems," Fujiwara commented.
"I'm not. But I'm still the only one in the council with a girlfriend, so my rank is clearly higher than yours."
Click.
The door to the student council opened and Ishigami Yu walked in.
"What's up? I just saw Tanuma-senpai rush out in a hurry," Ishigami said, glancing out the door.
"He came for relationship advice."
"Tch, showing off again?"
Since the beginning of the semester, after Tanuma came to show off his summer love life, Ishigami had been annoyed with him.
"Oh no, apparently he had a fight with his girlfriend."
"Serves him right!"
"I thought so too."
"By the way, where's the president? Haven't seen him."
"I think he's dealing with stuff for the sports festival. It's coming up soon."
"Ah, right, the sports festival."
Ishigami seemed to remember something. He pulled out a neatly folded A4 sheet from his pocket and handed it to Rinji.
"This is the application for the cheer squad I filled out earlier. Just write your name and it's done."
"Oh."
Rinji grabbed a pen from Shirogane's usual desk and quickly scribbled his name.
"Hey Ishigami, why're you suddenly joining this kind of thing? You usually avoid group events."
"Part of it is to fix your image. Wouldn't make sense if I dragged you in but didn't participate myself."
Ishigami sat down on the couch.
"Besides, it's time for me to change. I used to think the people who screamed their lungs out for athletes were just hyper idiots with nothing better to do. But now… I realize I was naive. If I'm not willing to try, what right do I have to mock those who do?"
"Well said."
Rinji patted Ishigami's shoulder.
"Let's work hard together."