I'm finally on my summer vacation, so hopefully updates will be more common. We'll see lol

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KHR


Dear diary,

A month into high school and of course it is nothing like what I expected. Everyone being split into different classes? That wasn't anything particularly surprising or upsetting.

Michiko recalled the first day of school, when she checked the board where the class lists were posted. Tsuna, Kyoko, and she were in class A while Gokudera and Yamamoto were in class B. Aside from Gokudera's threats to bomb the place and his terribly explicit cursing, everyone had accepted the separation. With much cajoling from Tsuna, Gokudera begrudgingly agreed to calm down as well. There wasn't anything anyone could do anyway, and there was still time during lunch, after school, and the weekends. Being in different classes wasn't going to change anything.

Being thrown into the class representative position once again? It was exactly what I had expected, so no complaints about that.

"Class representative will be the student who is ranked first on this test." announced the teacher, passing sheets of paper down the row. "This is all material you should have already covered from middle school, so if there is anything you don't understand, I suggest you begin reviewing."

Michiko stared at the problems with a smirk, hastily scribbling away. The next day she had received her 100 as well as the title of class rep.

No, the problem here was him and his incessant pestering.

"Kobayashi Michiko! There you are!"

A rowdy voice called out to her through a megaphone. He stood by the school entrance, waving his arms ecstatically to get her attention, as if she hadn't noticed and blatantly chosen to ignore him. She ducked down behind the crowd, covering her face with a hand. Even if he had seen her, there was no way she would acknowledge him.

Michiko's gaze was glued to the ground while she shuffled along with the crowd. She immediately felt an arm intertwine with her own and pull her to the side.

"Kobayashi Michiko! Now where did you think you were going? You're late for our morning meeting." he scolded.

She groaned. "I already told you I am not joining the student council."

"And I told you, you'll change your mind. Now let's get going to the council room. You know Kinoshita-kun is already ahead of you in the game. Keep this up and you'll never get to be president."

"I don't want to be president!" she protested while he dragged her away.


Michiko had no intentions of joining any clubs in high school. The main reason she went to Namimori High School was because she knew the workload would be light and leave her with extra time to pursue other interests. Yet somehow, she found herself involved with the student council within the first week of school.

Clubs had started promoting themselves and everyone had gone to visit the different booths that were set up in the school yard. Over the next few days all anyone in the classroom had talked about were the clubs they planned to join. She spoke to Tsuna, who had yet to sign up for any clubs.

"With all the training Reborn has been making me do I don't think I'd have any time for clubs." he reasoned.

"Well you also suck at sports." she teased. "Besides can you even imagine how much trouble you'd get into if Reborn decided to butt in?"

"I'd probably be kicked out in the first week." he laughed.

The classroom door slid open, drawing their attention to a tall, lean built boy. His black hair was slightly overgrown with the ends reaching to the back of his neck and his bangs messily falling in front of his face. He wore his uniform rather sloppily, the tie loosely wrapped around his neck and the top buttons of his shirt undone.

"Kobayashi Michiko?" he peered into the room, searching for a reaction.

She raised her hand and called out. "Yes?"

He softly smiled, before heading over. "I'm Sakamoto Yuuto, a third year. Nice to meet you!"

He stretched out his hand, which Michiko confusedly shook. He kept her hand clasped in his for an oddly inappropriate amount of time. She attempted to retract it, but to no avail. He continued to tightly clutch her hand in his own, trying to lead her out of the classroom with him. He pulled her along, causing her to stumble out of her chair.

"Hey, let go of me!" she protested, trying to shake off his hand.

Tsuna witnessing the debacle quickly intervened, firmly grasping the older male by the wrist. "Excuse me, but you're making her uncomfortable."

The boy blinked, glancing back and forth between Tsuna and Michiko's hand which was currently intertwined with his own. His eyes widened in realization and quickly dropped her hand.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realize your boyfriend was here nor that he would be so jealous." he bowed.

A blush spread on Tsuna's cheeks while he furiously waved his hands in denial. Michiko's face flushed and she furrowed her brows. "What? No. It's because you came in here and tried to drag me out of the room without explaining anything."

Sakamoto tilted his head, questioningly gazing at the two freshmen. "I didn't?"

Michiko squinted her eyes, already tired of the upperclassman's nonsense. She turned to glance at Tsuna, who had already placed his hand on her forearm, what she knew by now was his signal to remind herself to calm down. She deeply exhaled before sharply replying 'no'

"I'm the student council president and I'm here to relay a message from the student council. You, Kobayashi Michiko, are a candidate for recruit. I was planning on taking you to the council room to meet the other members."

"No thanks, I'm not interested."

"Are you sure because-"

"Nope." She cut him off. As Sakamoto began his rebuttal, the teacher walked in signaling the end of the break.

"You'll definitely change your mind. Don't worry though, I'll be back" he shouted, running off.

With a groan Michiko plopped into her seat, hoping he would not be back.


Before she could finish packing her bag, she noticed a small group of people peering into the classroom, one of whom she recognized from earlier. Unfortunately, he was back and had decided to bring company.

Sakamoto beamed at her from the doorway, excitedly waving. She grimaced, making an effort to not look in their direction. They stood by the doorway waiting for her to exit. How she wished she could leap out of the window instead. Tsuna stood by her desk, also noticing the crowd.

"Maybe you should just give it a try?" he suggested. "Just to get them to give you some space?"

"The second I agree, there's no way out. Have you seen how stubborn that president is?"

"Kobayashi~" sang out Sakamoto, attempting to catch her attention.

Michiko rolled her eyes, looking to Tsuna for a solution. "Don't you have any better ideas? Why not help me out? There's a window right there and it's a much shorter drop from here than it is from the roof."

"I can't just jump out of the window! I'm not in hyper dying will mode."

"You have your pills with you, don't you?" she countered. "Consider it a favor for all the times I've helped you."

Tsuna sighed, pushing her towards the door. "Jumping out of the window isn't going to solve your problem. Go talk to them."

"See if I ever help you again." she muttered.

"Hi Kobayashi!" Sakamoto smiled down at her. "I was wondering how much longer it would take you. If you always take this long, you'll end up missing our after school meetings you know."

"That's the plan." she mumbled.

"Now let's get going." he cheerfully hooked his arm with hers and walked down the hall.

She looked back at Tsuna, throwing one last pleading look for help only to get an awkward smile and thumbs up.


In the student council room, a group of six, including Michiko, was seated at a small round table reluctantly going through introductions.

Sakamoto Yuuto was the persistent and always cheerful president. Oddly enough he reminds me of Yamamoto, except instead of having a baseball obsession his obsession was the student council. He's a lot more persistent and a lot denser than Yamamoto though. Yamamoto at least eventually agreed to compromise. Sakamoto-senpai on the other hand couldn't stop pushing what he thought was best.

Following Sakamoto, was a petite black-haired girl wearing glasses. She shyly smiled at the members introducing herself as Fujimoto Ayako, the vice president.

Fujimoto-senpai may have appeared to be well mannered, but behind her sugarcoated voice she was very blunt with her words. I don't blame her considering how the president acts. Someone would have to be there to keep him in check.

Then there was the treasurer, second year Takagi Emi. From the way she restlessly tapped her fingers against the desk and the rapid pace her leg was shaking, Michiko could tell she was a hyperactive girl. As her turn came, she slammed all of her fingers down onto the wood and shrieked out her name. The rest of the room visibly flinched at the noise. She blushed red when Fujimoto politely suggested she "refrain from using such volume while indoors."

Takagi-senpai was always on the go. No matter when or where, she was always found moving. From shaking her shoulders, to pacing around the room, there was no possible way to make the girl still. She was an uncontainable force constantly emitting energy.

The boy seated across from Takagi was still scowling her way as he stood up. He curtly introduced himself as Sugiyama Reo, the secretary.

Sugiyama-senpai was the exact opposite of everyone else in the council, which makes me wonder why he was still working with them. There wasn't a day he didn't glare at the others or tell them to quiet down. He existed in a state of perpetual annoyance.

The only other person left was boy sitting to Michiko's right. He glanced over at her, wondering which of the two should go first. Seeing Michiko make no move to stand, he took the opportunity to introduce himself.

Kinoshita Riku, the other first year recruit of the student council. He looked like the average first year, his voice a little shaky and his lips pulled up in an anxious smile.

It was now her turn. Michiko didn't bother to stand up from her seat, instead opting for a concise one liner. "Kobayashi Michiko, I don't plan to come back."

With that she grabbed her bag, stood up, and walked out the door. However, she hadn't realized that her stunt and only made Sakamoto more determined to recruit her.


From the next morning onwards, Sakamoto continued to pester Michiko about joining the student council. Every morning he would wait for her by the gate and right after classes ended he would already be waiting outside of her classroom. Despite her best efforts to come at different times or try different entrances, Sakamoto would always manage to find her. That is why this morning once again she was stuck sitting at the round table in the student council room, watching as he enthusiastically described the weekly plan.

"Our school hasn't been heavily enforcing the recycling policy, so that is why you guys are going to help separate the trash and put up these new posters explaining what goes into each bin." he instructed.

Michiko let out an audible groan as he pointed to her and Kinoshita. For the past two weeks, they had both been subject to all the grunt work of the council. Insurmountable piles of paperwork, filing, volunteer work for other clubs, among other things. Apparently, this was the norm for first year student council recruits. By the time college entrance exams came around, the third years would leave the council to the second and first years, so by doing menial tasks they were being groomed to fill in the shoes of the departing upperclassmen. At this point she truly had to wonder why anyone would want to be a part of this club.


Kinoshita and Michiko went through the halls, lifting up the lids of the garbage cans. Thankfully it was still early so the bags were mostly empty aside from the occasional can or scrap of paper. Most of today's work would be hanging up posters which was the easiest task she had been assigned since she had met that damned Sakamoto.

"Are you okay?" asked Kinoshita, a smile small on his lips and an eyebrow quirked in her direction.

"I'm fine." Michiko responded, her voice flat. She pushed the piece of paper against the board, harshly jabbing the thumbtack into the corners.

"Oh, well you were muttering something really angrily underneath your breath so…" his voice trailed off. He walked down the hallway to the next pair of trash bins, lifting the lids off of them.

"If you've already come to a conclusion on your own, why ask me?" she snipped back, trudging behind him.

His rummaged through the bag with gloved hands, his smile unwavering as he quickly changed the topic. "I noticed you don't really enjoy being part of the council. Why don't you just quit?"

She scoffed, arms crossed. "You think I wouldn't if I could? Sakamoto-senpai is insane. He's been dragging me around no matter how many times I reject."

Kinoshita chuckled, pulling a plastic bottle and tossing it into the proper bin. "He's an interesting character. I thought you would've liked him."

"What do you mean by that?" she spat out her question rather distastefully. "What part of me looks like I like him? If anything, I just barely tolerate his antics."

"Ah well, we were in the same middle school. You used to hang around some colorful characters back then. Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Sawada. Yamamoto was pretty normal, but Gokudera was known for his temper and Sawada used to run around in his underwear for a while, so I just figured you got along well with interesting people."

Michiko chuckled thinking back to the days when Tsuna's clothes ripping apart was a daily occurrence. In retrospect it hadn't been that long ago, although she now felt like a different person. Those were the times she had disliked everyone and actively avoided socializing. It was funny to think that the same people she hated were now her closest friends. She had told herself to try new things, maybe she should be more accepting of Sakamoto's strangely fiery passion concerning student council?

Kinoshita reached over for the lid, placing it back onto the container. He gestured for her to attach the flyer to the wall. As she laid it flat against the wall and pulled out a piece of tape, he began speaking again.

"Sawada really was an odd one though. They had a nickname for him. It really stuck to him throughout middle school. What was it?" he pondered. His mouth twisted, and his eyes furrowed as he struggled to recall the nickname which Michiko still, to this day, could not stand. "Oh right! No good Tsuna." he laughed hysterically, as if he had never heard anything funnier.

She glared at him and could feel her body coursing with rage. "Seriously? It's not funny and it never was."

She dropped the stack of flyers and bag of supplies onto the ground, walking away. Kinoshita called after her, but she only sped up, hoping that he would prioritize the task instead of chasing after her. She had too much to say, but it wasn't worth mentioning to someone like that. It would make no difference to someone like him that even with a multitude of imperfections, Tsuna was a good person who genuinely cared for those around him. Or that even though he was much stronger than the people who had mocked him, he had learned to let it go because he now had friends to rely on. Or that if Tsuna heard anyone calling him no good now he would probably let it off with a small laugh, even though it was still painful to hear. People like Kinoshita just didn't care, so why waste her words on him?

She walked to the classroom and sat at her desk. She crossed her arms on the desk, laying her head down and closing her eyes. She took in the sounds of people slowly entering the room, shuffling through to their desks and pulling out chairs.

"Good morning Kobayashi." greeted Tsuna, peering down at her.

Michiko turned her head to face him, eying him up and down. His brown hair was still an untamable mess, his orange eyes still soft yet bright. The only thing that had changed since she had first met him was the way he carried himself. He stood more confidently, his shoulders no longer hunched over in the hopes of hiding himself. Instead they were pulled back while he kept his head held up high. A smile fell on her lips, reaching up to her eyes as she stared at him fondly. "Morning."

"You're here a lot earlier than usual. Student council didn't take too long?" he asked.

If there was anyone she didn't want to talk about student council with right now it was Tsuna. Not after the issue with Kinoshita. "I ditched." she answered half-truthfully, shrugging her shoulders.

"You've been exhausted recently. Maybe you should talk to the president about quitting?" he suggested.

She let out a small snort. The tables had turned since middle school and now Tsuna was giving her advice. For every day she had been involuntarily working with the student council, Tsuna would make it a point to suggest she tell the president she wants to quit. He insisted that if she properly sit down and talk to Sakamoto there isn't any way he would be able to disagree, not with her persuasive prowess. Ironically enough it sounded like advice she had given him in the past.

Her lips turned upwards. "You know what? I'll do it today after school."


After classes ended, Michiko packed her bag, filled with determination to do what she set out to do. She knew Sakamoto would be waiting outside those doors, ready to drag her to the student council room. Instead of letting him do as he pleased, she would reject him then and there, finally putting an end to it all. To her surprise, vice president Fujimoto was waiting by the classroom door. Although it wasn't expected, Michiko was still prepared to make her argument. She was confident that Fujimoto was more likely to give into logical reasoning than Sakamoto who seemed to turn a blind eye to anything that didn't follow his plans. However, before she could speak, Fujimoto informed her that she didn't have to attend today because Sakamoto wouldn't be there. She bowed, leaving Michiko standing at the doorway.

She blinked, mouth agape and eyebrows furrowed. That had not gone at all how she had expected. Michiko walked back to Tsuna's desk, still perturbed, informing him of the news. She supposed that she would just wait until tomorrow morning to tell Sakamoto. However, when she came to school Sakamoto wasn't waiting by the gate. Sugiyama leaned against the brick wall, letting out a large yawn. His eyes darted through the crowds of students, stomping towards Michiko when he spotted her. His eyes were narrowed down at her and he gave only the bare minimum of information.

"Fujimoto-senpai council room now." He pointed at the school building, eyes still squinting at her.

She got the message and scurried into the student council room. Inside stood Fujimoto and Kinoshita. Kinoshita lifted a hand up in a feeble attempt to wave at Michiko which she decidedly brushed off with a disgusted look.

"Where's Sakamoto-senpai?" she questioned.

"He's a bit busy, so I'm going to be taking over with briefing you two today." she replied.

As she distributed the tasks, Michiko was grateful to not have to work with Kinoshita. Instead she was to stay inside and help Fujimoto with the paperwork, while he was sent to the faculty office to help them organize files. She watched Fujimoto, directly seated across from her scribble away, and figured now would be the best time to tell her.

"Fujimoto-senpai, I don't want to be part of student council."

She didn't bother to look up, her pen still scratching against the paper. She hummed in acknowledgment of the statement.

"I want to quit. In fact, you all know I never wanted to join in the first place."

"Then why are you still here?" she asked.

"Sakamoto-senpai keeps dragging me along into everything. I wanted to talk to him and formally reject his offer."

She finally looked up, placing her pen to the side. She folded her hands and smiled. "I know Yuuto-kun is very obstinate about having his way. Honestly even I have to agree he's very immature and childish, but there's a reason he's so insistent on you joining Kobayashi-san. You don't have very many friends do you?"

Michiko stared in confusion at her statement. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You don't. You have the same small group of friends and don't talk to anyone outside of that group correct? When Yuuto-kun first entered this school, he didn't know anyone. Despite how he acts now, he was terribly shy and didn't know how to properly socialize. He's had sickly health since he was young, always moving from one hospital to the next, so he had never been around kids his own age. In our first year Yuuto-kun and I were chosen to be members of the student council. Of course, he didn't change right away, but the president at the time was someone Yuuto-kun looked up to. The president was outgoing, sociable, involved, and respected by most of the students. For Yuuto-kun, student council was what allowed him to connect to others, so he wants to do the same for you."

She blankly blinked at Fujimoto as if to ask why she thought a sob story of all things would convince Michiko to stay with the council. Before she could respond, Fujimoto sighed.

"It's such a shame if you quit. I don't know how I'll break the news to Yuuto-kun. I didn't want to have to tell anyone this because I didn't want you all to worry, but he left early yesterday because he wasn't feeling well. This morning too, he sent me a message saying he stayed in the hospital overnight."

Michiko clicked her tongue. "Fujimoto-senpai are you really trying to convince me to stay through guilt? Besides how do I know you're not lying about his supposed condition?"

Fujimoto's smile did not falter, as she stood up and walked to the cabinets. Skimming through folders, she pulled out a file and slid it over the desk to Michiko. She plopped back into her chair and folded her hands together. Michiko rolled her eyes, flipping the folder open. The contents were years of detailed medical records. She flipped through the sheets, eyes growing as she found out that Fujimoto was indeed telling the truth. She closed the folder shut, only able to whisper out a hushed apology.

"Sakamoto-senpai isn't going to die right?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

Fujimoto merely shrugged. "We'll have to see how his health maintains itself. If you still want to quit though I can just cross your name off of our club register right now. I don't have to submit it until the end of the day anyway."

Michiko shook her head. "Um, no it's fine. I think I'll just stay."

"Perfect." She replied, picking her pen up and going back to work.


Now back in the classroom, Michiko stared out the window. The sky was beautifully blue and the sun was shining. Her eyes focused on the subtle white wisps of the clouds scattered throughout, a tiny sigh leaving her lips.

"Hey Kobayashi?" Tsuna waved a hand in front of her face, attempting to catch he attention. "Are you okay?"

"Do you ever think about how life is just so fleeting Sawada?" she asked, melancholily looking back at him.

"What?!" he shouted out. She had briefed him on her morning talk with Fujimoto-senpai including the truth about Sakamoto-senpai's recent absence. "You're telling me that he will die if you tell him about quitting?"

"It seems more like it'll stress him out which will worsen his condition and then he'll die. I just don't want me to be the trigger."

"Kobayashi, I understand that you're worried, but isn't this a bit much? Are you really that important?"

"That's definitely something you say to someone in a crisis Sawada. You have such a way with words." she sarcastically retorted. "It's fine, Fujimoto-senpai has to submit the list of club members today anyway. I'll manage."


For the first time since Michiko had been introduced to the student council, no one was waiting by the classroom door after the day's lessons had ended. She assumed they only did so previously due to her reluctance in joining, but now that she was no longer fighting it there was no need to monitor her. And so, today was the first day she walked into the student council room unaccompanied, out of her own volition. Standing outside of the room, Michiko released a giant breath and slid open the door. Waiting to greet her inside was Sakamoto-senpai appearing, if even possible, more cheerful than he had been before his absence. She gulped, bowing her head to him in acknowledgment.

"I heard you finally agreed to join the student council Kobayashi!" he smiled, flashing his teeth. "You won't regret it. Just wait until you find out about all the new tasks we have planned out. It'll be our best year here."

She uncomfortably smiled back, nodding her head. Was he really okay or was he overcompensating as a cover?

"Come now! Take a seat." he said, gesturing her towards the chair he pulled out. "We have to go over today's game plan."

Michiko nodded, slipping into the seat. Knowing that Sakamoto-senpai was deathly ill made her observe his actions more closely. It was uncomfortable knowing something so big, especially since he didn't know she knew. She knew she was supposed to act natural, but her mind was racing.

"So any questions?" he asked, finishing the briefing while she had been daydreaming.

"Um…" she hesitated. Michiko had no clue what he had just gone over, but she knew it would do no good for him to repeat himself. "No, I think I'll be fine."

He squinted his eyes at her, inspecting her expression. "Is something wrong Kobayashi? You seem distracted. If there's anything you need to talk about, feel free to discuss with me."

"Oh. I'm fine, I'm just a little tired. You should look after yourself. You did miss the last two meetings."

Michiko knew it wasn't appropriate to probe, but she couldn't help herself. He noticed something was off. If she was going to lie, she might as well try to gain some information out of it.

"It was nothing too serious." he smiled back, now seated next to her, while resting his cheek on his palm. "Thank you for your concern."

"Fujimoto-senpai told me about what happened though, so it would be best not to exert yourself."

He blinked in confusion, his eyebrows furrowed. "Ayako-chan told you? I didn't tell her to hide it, but I don't think you have to worry too much."

It was now Michiko's turn to be confused. She mimicked his expression before blurting out, "Aren't you dying?"

His expression was one of genuine confusion as he responded. "Even if I was sick I don't think the flu would kill me."

"The flu?" she exclaimed. "Fujimoto-senpai told me you were terminally ill with a heart defect, she even had documents!"

Michiko was flabbergasted. The older girl had not only lied about the disease, but created false evidence to support it. If it weren't bad enough she basically said he would physically die from news of Michiko's departure. What kind of twisted human would go to such lengths?

"There isn't anything of that sort going on with me. My mom caught the flu, so I had to leave early to pick up my younger sister from school. She still wasn't feeling well so I dropped my sister off at school this morning before coming into class." he explained.

"Then what about all those thing Fujimoto-senpai told me? Does she just like to lie to people?"

On cue Fujimoto-senpai entered the room, her lips curved into her usual small smile. "Nice to see you back Yuuto-kun. Good evening to you too Kobayashi-san."

Sakamoto-senpai casually greeted her, directly questioning her about the story Michiko was told. Fujimoto-senpai blinked back, before raising a hand to her mouth feigning shock.

"Oh, Kobayashi-san I didn't think you would take me seriously. It was a small joke."

Michiko stared at her, completely bewildered. "You think lying about being sick is a joke?"

Sakamoto-senpai put a hand to his chin, contemplating the situation. "Ayako-chan is a bit of a trickster, but this is going a little too far."

"A little?" Michiko screamed out. "I thought you were dying!"

"Now, now Kobayashi-san." Fujimoto spoke, putting a hand out to her. "I didn't expect to play this trick so early. I was saving it for later to use on the rest of the members too. Besides Yuuto-kun was the one who gave me the idea."

"I did?" he asked, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling, trying to recollect his memories.

"Yes, you did." she confirmed. She headed towards the cabinet, pulling out the files and spreading them out on the table for him to see.

His eyes widened upon the sight of the documents, laughing out in disbelief. "I can't believe I forgot about this. You see Kobayashi, the president from when I was a freshman pulled a similar prank on us. I told Ayako-chan that we should do the same to the freshman when we're in charge."

He fondly smiled at the papers and began to gather them. He passed them back to Fujimoto-senpai while Michiko sat at the table dumbfounded. How was she supposed to react in this situation? What is the appropriate protocol in situations like this?

"So, everything you told me this morning was a lie?" she sputtered out.

Fujimoto shook her head. "Not completely. It's true that you don't have many friends." Her statement earning a sharp glare from Michiko.

"We chose you because we look at the class representative for each class. They're the ones with the highest grades in the class, so if they join student council there's less of a chance of their grades being affected with the workload. All the other representatives had the intention of joining a club, so they couldn't be a part of student council. From what our records show, you have never been involved in club activities, thus you were the only other choice."

Michiko's eye twitched in annoyance. "You're telling me, the only reason I'm here is because you couldn't find anyone else?"

Fujimoto nodded. "More or less. It's too late for you to join another club anyway. The member registries were due today. It'll be nice working with you for the next year Kobayashi-san." She smiled.

I thought Sakamoto-senpai was bad, Fujimoto-senpai is insane. Every single one of them are out of their minds. I am so screwed.


I wanted to post this chapter up with another one, but with how long this one was getting I figured I might as well post it now and post the next chapter within the next few days (hopefully). Here you can finally see the soft spot Kobayashi has for Sawada. All I can really say is expect more for them in the upcoming chapter. I probably plan on finishing up the past in 2 more chapters? Could change depending on the word count. As always thanks for everyone who read, followed, favorited, and liked!