Chapter 320: The Mischief Continues

"Sorry I'm late. The student council vice president suddenly fell ill, so I took her to the hospital."

"No worries. Since you're here, join us for training~"

The cheer squad was already practicing on the sports field. They weren't in uniform yet, just rehearsing some moves in gym clothes.

Everyone had changed into their training gear. Ishigami was already there.

Upon hearing that Ishigami was training, Rinji ran over. Koyasu Tsubame didn't blame him for being late and welcomed him with her usual cheerful smile.

Looking around, Rinji noticed that many of the cheer squad members weren't training but instead were sitting around chatting.

"Training's over?"

"Nope," Tsubame laughed. "We just finished one round. This is break time. We'll continue shortly."

"I see."

Rinji glanced around and quickly spotted Ishigami.

At that moment, Ishigami was sitting on the grass, chatting and laughing with several other boys. Rinji was genuinely surprised.

Normally, Ishigami always looked like he didn't care about anything. If he wasn't playing handheld games alone, he was hanging out with Rinji, never interacting with anyone else.

If he could remember five or six classmates' names, that was impressive.

But now, he was casually chatting with a group from another class.

'Ishigami has grown.'

At the start, Ishigami said he wanted to change his high school life by joining group activities. To think he actually pulled it off—he was no longer the reclusive loner he used to be.

Smiling proudly, Rinji walked toward him.

As a bro, he had to be happy about his friend's progress.

"Ishigami—"

"I'm telling you guys, Rinji's cross-dressing is amazing. I can't even describe it, but there's one word: drop-dead gorgeous."

"Ooohhh!!!" xN

Rinji: (╬ﾟДﾟ)

"Yesterday, he tried on the outfit with just a little makeup, and it completely stunned all of us. You guys didn't get to see it, but—"

Smack!

Just as Ishigami was getting into it, he felt a tight grip on his head.

Rinji had already grabbed him by the scalp.

Ishigami turned his head slowly, trembling, only to see Rinji with veins bulging on his neck and face, clearly on the verge of exploding.

"Ah... Rinji... you're here?"

"What were you just talking about?" Rinji's eyes were bloodshot. "You get one chance to explain."

"Uh... we were talking about the cheer uniforms, and the conversation just sort of shifted to you."

Sweat dripped down Ishigami's forehead.

He had been so caught up in talking, he hadn't even noticed Rinji arrive.

Here's what really happened:

During break, Ishigami had been sitting on the grass drinking from a bottle when he overheard some guys trash-talking Rinji—stuff like "Why's someone like that in the cheer squad?", "Are we gonna get beat up?", "Didn't he get suspended before for violence?", "Remember what he did during the election..."

Ishigami got pissed and started arguing with them.

One thing led to another, and the topic shifted to Rinji's cross-dressing.

Once that came up, and they imagined Rinji's face with makeup, all of them became curious and asked for more details.

Soon, what began as an argument turned into a cheerful conversation about Rinji in women's clothing.

And then Rinji showed up.

"Why did the conversation shift to cross-dressing?"

"Because I wanted to tell them more about your good points," Ishigami said in his defense.

"How the hell is cross-dressing a good point!? And even if it is, why lead with that!?"

"Well... I panicked, and it was the first thing I thought of."

"..."

---

"President!!!"

The student council office door burst open with a loud bang. Fujiwara Chika came rushing in, clutching her phone and panting.

"Fujiwara? You scared me."

Shirogane looked confused at her sudden entrance.

"Did something happen? Take a breath and have some water first."

But Fujiwara had no time for water. She ran right up to him and said, "I got it!!"

"You got what?"

"I got the cross-dressing manual for Rinji-kun from Sagara-Sensei!!"

"Eh!?"

Shirogane was shocked.

"How did you get that?"

"I told Sagara-Sensei it was to help Rinji-kun avoid triggering bad personalities during makeup."

"Can't believe you actually pulled it off..."

Shirogane's opinion of Fujiwara's capabilities went up a notch.

And he resolved to stay farther away from her.

"But forget that, President, look at this!"

Fujiwara shoved her phone screen in front of him.

"These are childhood photos of Rinji-kun. Aren't they adorable!?"

"Hm?"

Shirogane took the phone and looked.

The file had several photos attached—images of Rinji between the ages of nine and ten, dressed in all sorts of frilly dresses and children's outfits.

Though he was still young in those photos, there was a striking aura in his eyes. His delicate features, paired with well-chosen outfits, made him look like a porcelain doll.

"Isn't he cute?"

"He's too cute—wait, no, this is tragic. I can't believe Rinji was made to dress like this as a kid," Shirogane said.

"What's wrong with a boy wearing girls' clothes when he's little?" Fujiwara complained. "Japan has had this tradition for ages, you know."

"Huh?"

She wasn't wrong. Back in the Heian period over a thousand years ago, due to Japan's poor resources and lack of medical knowledge, many newborns died shortly after birth—especially boys, who had a higher mortality rate than girls.

Because of widespread superstition at the time, if a boy from a noble family was born weak or sickly, he'd often be raised as a girl until he turned thirteen, believing it would fool the spirits and keep him alive.

Even now in modern times, some families in Japan still have the custom of dressing their young sons in girls' clothes (though obviously not until thirteen anymore).

"So… what are you planning to do with this?"

"Of course I want to try out some of the methods listed here~"

"You're scheming again? Don't say I didn't warn you—there's no way Rinji would voluntarily crossdress," said Shirogane helplessly. "If you make him mad, I can't protect you."

"No worries. I've got my own ways~"

Fujiwara's confident smile brimmed with mischief.