I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

"I think we should talk about this."

Kiyoshi raised the paper and flicked it at the snow.

"You've taken it upon yourself again—"

The snow seemed to be holding a grudge.

So this is what it looks like when you're angry. Kiyoyori thought somewhat nonsensically, "Yes, just like how my senpai was angry that I changed his decision, I'm also angry that my senpai didn't tell us before making the decision."

"Isn't this what Tachibana-san wanted to see?"

Seeing your own face looking at you with a mocking expression was indeed an indescribable sense of eeriness.

Fortunately, there were only the two of them in the corridor at that moment.

Let's talk somewhere else.

………………

After leaving the teaching building, the two walked one after the other to a corner where almost no one would pass by. This was originally a place where members of the wind instrument club would come to practice individually, but since everyone was practicing together now, of course no one would visit here.

There was a moment of silence; neither of them knew how to begin this somewhat heavy topic.

"Do Hikigaya-senpai and Yuigahama-senpai know about this?"

This was a terrible start; even without being asked, Kiyoyori already knew the answer.

Yukino pursed her lips. "You probably guessed it..."

With all the members of the Service Club present that day, it was hard not to guess Yukinoshita's next move. In fact, it would be even stranger if Yukinoshita didn't consider running for office herself.

I just didn't expect it to happen so suddenly.

"Don't the two seniors have anything to say?"

Kiyoyori couldn't believe that Yuihama and Hikigaya would just watch all of this happen.

"I do not know."

Or perhaps they pretend not to know.

Kiyoshi took a deep breath and looked at her face from different angles. Suddenly, she seemed to understand why Reina was sometimes so angry.

That's really infuriating.

“They care about their seniors,” Kiyoyori paused, then added with a slightly trembling voice, “We all care about our seniors.”

Even if you say that, doesn't the other party understand?

"But isn't this the result Tachibana-san wanted to see?"

"What……?"

"Leaving aside Yuihama-san and Hikigaya-kun for now," Yukinoshita said, putting her hands behind her back and tilting her head slightly, "Isn't Tachibana-san hoping that I will run for student council president?"

Kiyoyori frowned in confusion, "When did I...?"

She never expressed such a thought; rather, her thoughts were the complete opposite.

The desire to keep the other person is screaming in my heart, but I can't seem to convey it to them.

They were standing not far away from me.

"Then why did you choose the older sister at that time?"

Those deep blue eyes that originally belonged to him pierced his heart like sharp blades. Kiyoyori suddenly had the illusion that he was talking to himself, but it was clearly Yukinoshita.

"What……?"

Kiyoshi felt that the other person was not just talking about what happened that noon.

"The reason why Tachibana met her older sister was because, in that kind of situation, she wanted to find someone who could make her 'happier'?"

She knows, she knows!

"No—I..."

Kiyoyori realized that he seemed to have nothing to argue about.

"So that's why you were standing next to your sister that noon, right?" Yukinoshita seemed calm, but there was a barely perceptible tremor in her voice. "Because you've always been on your sister's side."

Kiyotomi opened her mouth as if to speak, unsure where to begin her explanation. After a moment of silence, she gave a self-deprecating laugh:

"Even so, even if I've always stood on Haruno's side, did my existence influence your choice, senpai? Or did you choose to run for office because of me?"

Even without looking, Kiyoyori could imagine how terrible his expression must be. "Then I am truly honored!"

Yukinoshita was angry, and Kiyori was angry too. Like two wounded little animals that refused to admit defeat, they glared fiercely at each other, at the body that should have belonged to them.

It's like confronting yourself.

Giving up on explaining the entanglements between herself and Yang Nai that she herself couldn't understand was like giving up on continuing to dwell on those old stories that Yang Nai had long since abandoned.

Shouldn't we have let it go long ago? No matter what others bring it up.

Looking at the expression on "himself" in front of him, Kiyoshi felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

The person she was facing at this moment no longer seemed to be Yukinoshita, who had taken over her body, but rather another person hidden in Kiyoyori's heart, the one who always wanted to drag her into the abyss.

She would transform into the teacher's image, into Haruno's image, into herself, stretching out countless hands to stop herself from moving forward.

“If you chose to run for student council president because of me,” Kiyoshi said, clutching the application form in both hands, “I’ll tear this up right now in front of you.”

"Those who make their choices for this reason are not qualified to run for office at all."

Kiyoyori was perfectly aware of what she was doing and saying, because she had already made her choice.

"If you're only running for office because you want to solve the requests, then you might as well go back to the Service Department sooner."

At this moment, Kiyoshiro understood the reason why Haruno did this. She was not trying to force Yukinoshita to run for student council president, nor was she simply trying to stop Yukinoshita from running away.

"Or we could just abandon this commission."

Instead, it's about teaching Yukino to make choices based on her own will.

It wasn't because of the commission, nor because of Yang Nai.

Simply because she wanted to do it.

P.S.: I mentioned before that I would be drastically altering the original plot, and you should be able to guess by now. I was on duty yesterday, and I'm exhausted. I worked for several hours straight and didn't sleep well all night. I still can't sleep during the day today and feel a bit unwell, constantly groggy. I have to go to work again tomorrow, and I really can't take it anymore.

Chapter 23 A New Beginning (Section 362)

Kiyoshiro's words shocked Yukinoshita.

Giving up a commission was never an option for her; one such humiliating experience was enough, as if she were admitting defeat to someone.

Who is that?

Even Yukina didn't know.

She stared at the thin paper that had been torn open, but she felt no anger. Her anger seemed to have been wiped away as if a cancel button had been pressed. She couldn't deny that what the other person said was wrong. The reason she was so conflicted, and the reason she went to find Hiratsuka Shizuka without saying a word instead of sitting down to discuss it with the members of the Service Club, was because she was afraid that she would waver in her original decision.

That shouldn't have been Yukino Yukinoshita.

Why did you choose to run for office?

It cannot be denied that there are reasons for her actions, such as wanting to resolve the request and being provoked by her older sister, Haruno. These reasons may even be the main reason for her actions.

She didn't want to give up the commission, didn't want to be looked at with that kind of gaze by Yang Nai, and didn't want to admit defeat, so she chose to participate in the election.

"Is it about sacrificing yourself to please others? Helping others by hurting yourself?"

Yukinoshita heard the voice that should have been hers say, "Senpai, didn't you dislike Hachiman-senpai's methods? But why did you still follow his example?"

It was as if she were having a conversation with another version of herself, and Yukinoshita was unable to answer the question for a moment.

"Shouldn't the seniors be the ones who understand this best? Can this kind of success really be considered success?"

Just as Yukinoshita reprimanded Hikigaya back then, Kiyoyori can now reprimand Yukinoshita in the same way.

“You say ‘we’ shouldn’t get anything from the commission, but I don’t think so. We should get something from it, otherwise nothing will change.”

What should she do?

Yukinoshita silently asked herself this question.

She wouldn't give up the commission, and she was even less willing to let it become a handle for Yang Nai to mock her.

"Do what you want to do."

She wants to resolve the case and wants to do better than Yang Nai. Is this "wanting" wrong?

“It’s you who wants it,” the person with the same face as her stabbed hard in the heart, “not because of those ridiculous competitive desires, but because of what you, Yukino Yukinoshita, want to gain from it.”

"You are not a saint."

What does she want to do?

Yukinoshita believes that she used to know exactly what she wanted, but now she is confused. If she puts aside the Service Club and Haruno, what does she really want?

It seems that everything about her originates from Haruno, but she is Yukino.

Even if she keeps chasing after Haruno's shadow, she can never become Haruno.

She so envied those things that Yang Nai possessed, but she could not have.

and--

"senior?"

Yukinoshita remained silent for a long time. Kiyoyori wondered if he had spoken too harshly. After all, comparing Yukinoshita Yukino, who was the most popular girl in Soubu High School, with Hachiman Hikigaya, who was almost excluded from everyone else, seemed rather impolite to both of them.

Kiyoshiro wanted to reach out and pat Yukinoshita's shoulder, but suddenly the perspective in front of him changed.

At this moment, she was facing Yukinoshita, not Yukinoshita who had Tachibana Kiyori's face.

“I…” Yukinoshita put down her hand, stopping the tearing of the paper. “I want to accomplish what I couldn’t do at the cultural festival, and I don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the cultural festival.”

Kiyoshi paused for a moment, then involuntarily tightened his grip on the other person's shoulder.

"But I also don't want the Service Department to be disbanded."