My name is Himeko Yamamoto. My family kept me from magical girls, charming guys, and a responsibility to protect countless lives at a young age. Luckily, my doctor promised that at 17 I'd be too old to save the world, and I'd finally be a normal per...
Alessa Zhang stormed into the Student Council room and shoved her cellphone up Feng's face.
I've never seen our vice president so rattled.
He offered to pour some chamomile tea for her, but it was no use. She continued with her tantrum, to the point where Adam and Paris had to hold her back from clawing the velvet curtains. Her fury turned into a mental breakdown, and she fell on the floor, sobbing about how she despised arranged marriages. "I went here to make my own music, to build my own fanbase, to have my own freedom!"
Adam demanded Feng to tell him the truth, and he did. His father grew up as a fan of the Zhangs, a family line of esteemed entertainers. "If I secure her hand, Father promised me assets surpassing what my siblings have," he confessed, shifting his gaze towards Alessa. "I'm also against this...forced pairing. They wouldn't give our engagement the same respect as a business partnership."
As the two of them exchanged frustrated Mandarin, Paris pulled me aside to ask if I knew Feng's background. I nodded, and he sighed a breath of relief. "He's just so independent, I'm worried he forgets to open up and rely on other people. I thought he hated me at first!" I thought so too.
They continued bickering for another five minutes until Alessa got sick of it all and left.
We used the rest of the time discussing the best way for Feng to deal with the potential arranged marriage, though the first few minutes threw the conversation down a hole. Every time Adam suggested he confronted his family, Feng retaliated like a threatened snake. If anything, they looked like lawyers in a courtroom or politicians in a heated debate.
I wanted to step in, but Paris pulled me back. "Let them duke it out," he whispered into my ear. "They've always been at each other's throats when the big issues come up, but once they get it out of their systems, I come in and find their common ground."
Now that I thought about it, I've never seen the two of them fight. I thought the Student Council members always got along with each other, since they had such perfect lives and all.
And then it hit me:
Why was I so dumb? So...ignorant?
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"Miss Yamamoto."
A pair of green-haired siblings emerged from nowhere and tapped on my shoulder. I nearly shrieked!
"Eugene, Elliana," I breathed a sigh of relief, "Why'd you scare me like that?"
Elliana stepped in front of me, and her snake-like smirk froze my steps. "So you know how we, the Wongs, served Feng's family since long, long ago?"
I scoffed. How was I supposed to know that? I lived a sheltered life!
"But we don't have to here, since Feng lost his family name and all."
Alright, they're ex-servants. What was her point?
"But now you have to give us his schedule."
What. Did I have to help them stalk one of my closest friends?
Fortunately, Eugene shoved his sister away and apologized. "The Li family ordered us to play cupid for Feng and Alessa, and we'd like to know when he's available for a date with her."
To be honest, I didn't know either. After I started official work as the school's Star Child, Feng's freetime became so unpredictable. Level 7+ beasts could appear at any time, and it was our duty to protect students from such harm, no matter what time of the day it was.
After explaining that to the twins, I bid them farewell and ran off. How was I supposed to handle that situation? Would I have been better off with the Student Council at my side? Was Elliana a demon, and Eugene an angel? Or were they just playing Good Cop, Bad Cop?
I stopped to catch a break behind a vending machine, thumped myself in the chest, and broke into tears. Was I really that dependent, to think that if another Student Council member had been at my side then, that I would've had more courage to stand my ground? And like them, did I lean on the Kimura twins too much?
To the eyes of the fangirls, being the Star Child is a blessing. The three most eligible bachelors of our school, all powerful in their own respects, were at my command.
Yet, to me, it felt like a curse. Every step I took in these halls, every victory I secured for the students, every pair of eyes that watched me...all of these things pulled me away from who I was: an invisible girl who never gave a damn about the world.
Was this the right path, to stray away from my two best friends, to replace them with three new ones?
