After breaking up, my ex asked me to win her back

They shook off a Mr. Policeman who intruded on behalf of some elementary school students and stopped in front of a convenience store.

The goal was to take shelter from the rain.

Kagura Hikaru had a premonition when he saw the overcast sky earlier, and sure enough, it started to rain.

Fortunately, the rain wasn't heavy, and when they arrived at the convenience store, neither Kagura Hikaru nor Komori Ai's clothes were very wet.

But if the rain didn't stop and they didn't have an umbrella, the two of them couldn't leave.

To buy an umbrella, they entered the convenience store.

Komori Ai unexpectedly behaved, took the initiative to hold Kagura Hikaru's hand, covered her mouth with her sleeve, widened her eyes, and followed him wherever he went.

"Would you like to buy some snacks?" Kagura Hikaru couldn't help but treat her like a relative's child, and whispered while looking for umbrellas.

Seeing Komori Ai nod, Kagura Hikaru let her push the cart to the snack section to pick out snacks on her own.

Watching her walk away, Kagura Hikaru pulled out the largest black umbrella from the umbrella section.

Although it was the largest, it wasn't very big and could at most accommodate two people.

The Island Nation is a small place with narrow roads in urban planning, which makes everyone in big cities with heavy crowds consider each other.

It's what's called a "read-the-air" society.

Buying too large an umbrella might obstruct others and attract disapproval.

Perhaps considering this, and worrying about receiving negative reviews, no convenience store sells large umbrellas.

That was the simple reason.

Being attacked over minor issues is commonplace in the Island Nation.

Conversely, it is because of this social atmosphere that many people in the Island Nation develop a cautious and careful character.

Good or bad, it's hard to judge.

Perhaps this can be called the national character of the people of the Island Nation.

Rather than that, Kagura Hikaru found himself lucky to see an unusual person here.

Unusual, or rather, it was a coincidence to meet twice in one day.

"Senior Saijo."

Kagura Hikaru greeted Saijo Mari, who appeared in front of him with a shopping basket.

"Ah, you are... Classmate Kagura," Saijo Mari said with slight surprise, "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," Kagura Hikaru glanced at the items in her shopping basket, and said, "Senior Saijo, are you shopping for groceries for your family?"

In the basket were onions, radishes, scallions, and other common ingredients for home cooking.

"Yes, after finishing club activities every day, I have to go home and cook," Saijo Mari explained while taking a bottle of white pepper off the shelf, "Parents are often late coming home from work, but I still have two younger sisters at home, so I can't just ignore them."
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"I see, balancing your work in the Sports Committee and taking care of your sisters at home must be quite tough," Kagura Hikaru commented.

"Not really, it's just something I should do as the eldest daughter in the family. Compared to me, Classmate Kagura and Classmate Ayakoji probably have it tougher since you've been targeted by the Student Council President."

"I didn't expect even Senior Saijo to have heard about it."

Saijo Mari laughed, "I mean, who in the school doesn't know about your feud with him?"

Senior Saijo seemed unusually talkative that evening, whereas when they had met before, she had been quite reticent, especially to him who was neither a friend nor a close acquaintance.

Maybe, she was the type who was more open in private?

Or perhaps, she was in a good mood today.

Not sure, but it felt like an opportunity.

He tried making conversation.

"After the sports festival, it's summer vacation, isn't it? Do you have plans to go on a trip with your family, Senior Saijo?"

"Eh? Yes, my father mentioned taking a family trip to America."

"America, huh? Is it a free trip?"

"Yes, we've already made the arrangements in advance."

"Speaking of which, after the summer vacation, it will almost be time for the Student Council elections to start," Kagura Hikaru remarked casually as he observed Saijo Mari's expression, "you're quite popular in the sports clubs. If you were to run, you might be successful."

"Run for election?" Saijo Mari shook her head, puzzled, "Sorry, I'm not really interested in Student Council affairs. Besides, I couldn't possibly win against President Kiriyu."

[Why bring up the election all of a sudden? It's unrelated to the Sports Committee.]

[Oh, I see. Perhaps Classmate Kagura wants me to help Classmate Ayakoji gather votes?]

[But President Kiriyu is too strong, so beautiful and academically excellent; I almost became mesmerized and turned into a fan. Can those two really win.....]

[You have acquired through peering into the heart: Baseball +3]

[Baseball lv4 (58/100)]

Ah....

It's this kind of development again.

For some reason, probably because he had been deceived too many times, Kagura Hikaru was no longer surprised.

[Why bring up the election all of a sudden? It's unrelated to the Sports Committee.]

[But President Kiriyu is too strong, so beautiful and academically excellent; I almost became mesmerized and turned into a fan. Can those two really win.....]

It was those two lines.

The problems were blatantly exposed.

The ability to read minds only reveals the most genuine thoughts of the person involved, and of course, any change in mood subsequently alters the thoughts as well.

But at least for the moment, this was Saijo Mari's true inner feeling.

"Saijo Mari plans on running for the Student Council and is also a strong candidate." "Saijo Mari is my enemy." "I don't consider her an enemy, she unilaterally sees me as an enemy, so I have no choice but to regard her as one."

—These were all things Hina had said to him before.

Now, it seemed none of it was true.

This woman, she must be made of lies, right?

Saijo Mari had no intention of running for the Student Council election, nor was she antagonistic towards Kiryu Hina; in fact, she quite admired her.

She was just an ordinary president of the Sports Committee who got along well with everyone in the sports clubs.

This was the truth.

If it weren't for his mind-reading ability, even if Saijo Mari told him the truth to his face, Kagura Hikaru wouldn't dare believe it.

People are biased by previous impressions, and after Hina's implantation of impressions, it was hard for Kagura to see Saijo Mari as someone without ambition, with a pure heart.

Naturally, he couldn't fully trust her, and it was the same for Ayakoji Chiyoko.

This was probably one of Hina's intended goals.

If Kagura Hikaru hadn't bumped into her at the convenience store today, he might have discovered the lies much later.

There was only one thing left unconfirmed, which was whether Saijo Mari truly had a secret crush on the former Vice President, Ando Naoto, who had already graduated.

But Kagura Hikaru wasn't interested in that part; whether it was true or not didn't matter, so there was no need to probe further.

The really important information was just one thing: that Saijo Mari had no intention of running for the Student Council election.

This meant that it was possible to win her over.

She could become a crucial ally in defeating Kiryu Hina during the elections.