Epilogue

The day before the culture festival.

Just like before, we gathered at the cafe during lunch for a tea party.

“So, Konohana Hinako.”

Tennouji-san took a sip of her tea and stared intently at Hinako, who was sitting across from her.

“Have you finished with your acting practice?”

“Yes.”

Hinako gave a firm nod.

“I apologize for all the trouble I’ve caused.”

Her perfectly straight back bent into a deep, profound bow.

Her gentle voice, her refined table manners… the flawless ojou-sama that everyone knew so well was right there before them.

“It wasn’t any trouble at all!”

“We were surprised, sure, but the rest of the class was having fun with it, y’know?”

Asahi-san and Taishou chimed in with smiles.

It was clear they both genuinely meant it.

“Seriously, yesterday’s full rehearsal was incredible, wasn’t it?”

“Right?! Konohana-san, your acting felt so real! It was even better than last year’s!”

When Hinako smiled and said, “Thank you,” Asahi-san and the others were momentarily captivated. Seeing their reaction, I couldn’t help but chuckle.

The everyday life we knew was back.

Now that Hinako had overcome her acting-induced fatigue, I was reminded once again just how much I liked this side of her, too. Hinako had been forced to be the perfect ojou-sama up until now, so I hesitated to affirm that performance. But deep down, I’d always found this Hinako to be charming as well. …Thinking back, maybe she’d tried switching her personality because she’d picked up on my feelings.

The full rehearsal apparently took place after school yesterday—I couldn’t watch it because of student council work, but our classmates were raving about it. At this rate, the quality of the play will surely live up to Kagen-san’s expectations.

Everything’s resolved. …No, everything is starting to work out even better than before.

As I savored the Konohana family’s homemade bento with a sense of relief, Narika hesitantly spoke up.

“But… was all of that really just an act?”

Everyone stopped eating and turned their gazes toward Hinako.

I guess they must have all been wondering about it. That’s just how drastic the difference was between the two Hinakos.

As a faint tension filled the air, Hinako announced,

“Actually, that’s not quite right.”

As everyone’s eyes widened, Hinako confessed.

“The truth is… I love potato chips.”

◆

The tea party ended peacefully, and Hinako and I headed back to the classroom together.

Asahi-san and Taishou had apparently been asked by a classmate to run some errands for the play, so they hurried off to the staff room. We offered to help, but they insisted the two of them were enough.

“Phew… I’m exhausted.”

As soon as we were alone, Hinako let her true self show.

“Tomorrow’s the big day, huh?”

“Ngh… such a hassle…”

Even as she called it a hassle, she had still attended every single rehearsal, and apparently, her acting had steadily improved.

She wants to laze around, but she doesn’t want to be a bother to others.

I loved that all-too-human side of her.

“The whole potato chip thing… went over surprisingly well, huh?”

“Mhm. I finally get what you were talking about before, Izuki…”

What could she be referring to?

“You know… how when you finally showed your true self, you were accepted so easily…”

Oh…

She was talking about when I started using my usual, more casual way of speaking.

Well… I feel like the potato chips were accepted a lot more readily, though. After that, everyone immediately started looking up potato chips on their phones, and it ended with them all deciding, “Let’s all bring some to the next tea party!” …Is Kiou Academy going to be alright? The Joutou in my head is letting out a heavy sigh.

But thanks to her confession, it seemed like everyone grew to like Hinako even more.

“Everyone seemed happy about it, too. Like they felt they’d gotten a little closer to you.”

“Hmm… I think I’ll try telling the rest of the class after school today.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Your true self has plenty of likable qualities too, you know.”

That said, if she were to reveal her true self completely, it would undoubtedly cause problems for the Konohana family’s reputation. But that’s where I, her caretaker, can step in and help manage things.

Hinako doesn’t want to make an enemy of her family. In that case, it’s my job to support her decision.

The “perfect” in “perfect ojou-sama” might just include a bit of imperfection. After all, there’s no such thing as a flawless human being.

Thanks to this whole incident, the distance between Hinako and her classmates seems to have shrunk considerably. So much so that it makes me wonder if she’s been lonely all this time.

“But Izuki, you got all flustered by the ‘perfect ojou-sama’ me, didn’t you…?”

“N-No, that’s, I mean, it’s the same as always…”

“The same as always…?”

“Gah—”

Crap, I let that slip.

As I instinctively covered my mouth, Hinako let out a soft, knowing smile.

“You like this me too, don’t you, Tomonari-kun?”

Having transformed back into the perfect ojou-sama, Hinako was looking at me with a sly grin.

Her long eyelashes, her crystal-clear eyes… Features I’d managed to stop noticing lately suddenly became impossible to ignore, throwing my heart into turmoil.

I see… so if she doesn’t get tired from acting anymore…

That means she can switch between them whenever she wants, doesn’t it…?!

“You’d better be careful.”

Hinako brought her face in close.

“This version of me is quite assertive, after all.”