He Who Stands Beside Me

"He Who Stands Beside Me" (隣に立つ彼は) is a short story from Melon Books' store privilege for volume 2 of 2nd Year arc of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with other three short stories.

Summary
When Horikita asked Nagumo that she wanted to join the student council, he looked surprised and said he personally didn't want to say yes but as he doesn't refuse anyone from entering, he would insist on a condition that he would only accept her after hearing her reason to join the student council. Knowing some stupid lie wouldn't work on him and she couldn't really mention it being related to Ayanokōji, she answered that she had a bad relationship with her brother and as long as her brother was here she couldn't really show him her growth and spent a whole year without even having a proper talk with him until the very last moments.

Then she thought that if she wouldn't be able to enter the council, Ayanokōji would surely be disappointed and she wanted to avoid that. Realizing how she wanted to avoid making Ayanokōji disappointed, she was interested in knowing how he saw her then. She wanted him, who she valued highly and knew was not a normal student, to acknowledge her.

Hearing her answer, Nagumo accepted her into the student council and held his hand out to her. Sharing the handshake, she thought she would grow besides Nagumo, who had stood beside her brother. By seeing her grow, Ayanokōji would surely acknowledge her and by that time they would definitely have come close to reaching Class A. It was a premonition she couldn't shake away.