On a certain evening at Café UNO-UNO in front of Toyohashi Station, Anna Yanami and Karen Himemiya sat side-by-side at the counter, gazing through the large glass windows at the bustling station plaza.

"Anna, are you done prepping for the election?" Karen asked, tilting her head. As she brought a cup of strawberry milk to her lips, her hair fluttered softly, scattering shimmering particles of light through the air around her.

"I finished the campaign speech draft. All that's left is the photoshoot for the posters," Yanami replied. "But Sakurai-kun's busy with the sports festival, so he probably won't have a lot of time to work on election stuff right now."

A waiter arrived, setting a brightly colored ice cream soda on the counter. Yanami's eyes sparkled with delight.

"Oh, right, the sports festival is the council's last big task, right? Sounds rough," Karen said.

"High schoolers are surprisingly busy, huh?" Yanami agreed, already scooping up a massive spoonful of ice cream. "Ooh, this is great."

Watching her friend happily shovel the ice cream into her mouth, Karen hesitantly spoke up.

"Um, so—Anna. What exactly is your relationship with Sakurai-kun?"

"What do you mean? We're just classmates. Same as you, Karen-chan," Yanami answered matter-of-factly, leaving Karen looking faintly disappointed.

"I just thought it was weird. If you're really just classmates, why'd you agree to be his nominator?"

"Because Nukumizu-kun's already doing it for Basori-san, obviously."

"Okay, but what does that have to do with—" Karen tilted her head, thoroughly puzzled, before a sudden realization hit her. Her sparkling aura flared to life once more. "Oh! So that's what you're doing, Anna!"

Yanami nodded in satisfaction. "Exactly. No matter who wins, the new Student Council will owe us a massive favor! Plus, having a hidden identity like 'Secret Vice President' sounds seriously cool. I'll totally have my pick of college recommendations with that!" Sluuuuurp. Abandoning her spoon, Yanami brought the glass straight to her lips and loudly slurped the melting ice cream and soda.

"…I see," Karen muttered. "But being on the Student Council's tough work, you know."

"Don't worry! If push comes to shove, I'll just get Nukumizu-kun to help. He never says no to me."

Would it really go that smoothly?

Honestly, Karen had more than a few doubts about it all, but she knew better than anyone that worrying about this particular friend of hers was going to be pointless either way. So, relaxing her shoulders, she let out a soft sigh and flashed a silly grin, poking her tongue out in a classic 'tee-hee' pose.

"Well, looks like everything's okay, then. For a second there, I thought you were just doing it to get back at Nukumizu-kun—" Karen clamped her hands over her mouth, realizing her slip-up a second too late.

Yanami paused. "Karen-chan. Are you talking about that school newspaper thing?"

"A-ah?! Um—" Karen stammered. "I, for one, really don't think you should take what they wrote in there seriously! Everyone already knows it's just a bunch of nonsense anyway!"

Yanami smiled cheekily. "Well, what can you do? I mean, I was kind of a big deal back when we first enrolled, you know?"

"Huh?"

Looking incredibly smug, Yanami proudly held up her phone. Displayed clearly on the screen was the premium, paid edition of the Tsuwabuki High School Newspaper.

"Anna, you actually bought that?!"

"Well, I am one of the parties involved, aren't I? Felt like I should read it at least once." Yanami's lips curled into a smirk as she scrolled through the article. "Seriously, they really just wrote whatever they wanted, huh? Like, what? I used to date Nukumizu-kun? And then he dumped me? If anything, I'm the one who dumped him, don't ya think?"

"Huh?!" Karen clapped her hands over her mouth in shock.

"Still, I gotta say, 'battlefield of love over popular beauty Ms. A.' has a nice ring to it," Yanami said cheerfully. "And calling Nukumizu-kun the 'enemy of women' isn't exactly wrong, either."

Watching her friend, who was in such high spirits that she'd even started to hum, Karen nervously raised a hand.

"Um, Anna? Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, Karen-chan."

"Just to clarify—right now, you and Nukumizu-kun… aren't actually dating, right?"

"No? We're not dating now, and we've never dated in the past either."

Karen nodded gravely. "Right, so in that case… Isn't there a good chance that Basori-san and Nukumizu-kun might suddenly get a lot closer, working together on the election?"

"Are you kidding? Our super-strict vice president? No way. She always gets mad whenever she sees him. Like, if anything, she hates him."

"Then why did she ask him specifically to be her nominator?"

"Oh, she said she doesn't have any other guy friends. She's the serious type, and she even told us she's bad with guys."

"Hmm, okay. So, I guess you really don't care that Nukumizu-kun went over to Basori-san's house either, then."

The phone in Yanami's hand gave a violent jerk.

"W-well, I mean, it's just Nukumizu-kun, you know? Even when I go over to his house, he treats me exactly the same as always, so…"

Suddenly, her entire body went stiff. She sat frozen, eyes glued to the screen.

"Anna, what's wrong?" Karen asked, peering at her with concern.

"…"

No response. The phone slipped right through Yanami's fingers and clattered to the floor. Puzzled, Karen reached down to pick it up—and a specific passage in the article caught her eye.

Since enrolling at Tsuwabuki, the popular Ms. A. enjoyed her status as the undisputed queen among the male student body. However, her reign came to a screeching halt after just one month when transfer student Ms. K. arrived—instantly stealing the spotlight and every admirer she once had. Now dethroned and relegated to a relic of the past, Ms. A. faces her biggest challenge yet. Can the fallen queen reclaim her former crown in this upcoming student council election?

Reading the text to the very end, Karen frantically hid the phone behind her back. "Hey, hey, Anna! You shouldn't be reading trashy gossip like this!"

"I-I'm not bothered… Really… It doesn't bother me at all…"

The lively, colorful aura surrounding Yanami drained away at an alarming rate, leaving her looking utterly hollow..

Oh no, this is really bad. Panicking, Karen snatched a menu from the counter and quickly spread it in front of Yanami's face.

"Look! I'll treat you to something to cheer you up! Pick whatever you want!"

"Wait, really? Anything?" Life instantly flooded back to Yanami's face.

"Of course! Don't hold back! The cakes here are absolutely amazing!"

"Oh geez, if I can pick anything, I'm totally torn," Yanami hummed, deeply engrossed in the menu. "Carbonara sounds amazing, but it's really hard to pass up the porcini cream sauce…"

"Anna… you're ordering pasta?"

"Hm? Did you say something, Karen-chan?"

Karen silently shook her head.

No—in the face of Yanami's smile, anything she said would just be uncalled for.

Watching Yanami happily hum to herself as she debated which pasta dish to gorge on, Karen sincerely, desperately prayed from the bottom of her heart for her best friend's future happiness.