"So, I was up all night last night and I've come to the conclusion that we should keep," Miko gestured between the two of them by waving her hand back and forth, "a secret."

"You stayed up all night for that?" Ishigami deadpanned.

"I'm not kidding," she reprimanded. "I'm the head of the Public Morals Committee. I pull couples apart when I see them behaving indecently on school grounds! I mean, what would people think if they found out that I had," she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "a boyfriend?"

Ishigami struggled to conceal a smile at his new title. "They'd probably be surprised to find out that you're just a normal high school girl after all."

She smacked his arm, half in jest. "I'm being serious!"

"I'm being serious," he said, setting a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at it before looking back up at Ishigami. "No one is going to care. Or think any less of you, for that matter."

Miko mulled over his words, but the door to the student council room flew open before she could respond. On instinct, the two sprang apart from each other and pretended to be greatly interested in a random object nearest to them: Ishigami, a manga that sat within his unzipped bag and Iino, a sheet of paper on the coffee table.

If Shirogane picked up on the strange atmosphere in the room, he didn't mention it. "Ishigami, Iino, good morning," a nod punctuated his greeting to the both of them respectively.

"Good morning," the pair sang in unison. Their eyes met briefly before looking back at Shirogane.

"I should get going, I'm supposed to meet Kobachi before class," Miko explained as she gathered her things. "I hope you'll consider and agree to what we were discussing, Ishigami-san," she said pointedly. With that, she gave the President a slight bow and left the room.

"What was that all about?"

"Ah, it was—uh, nothing really," he finished lamely.

Shirogane only raised a brow before dropping, and changing, the subject.

It took no longer than a week for Ishigami to seriously doubt Iino's secret keeping abilities. For starters, whenever she entered the student council room she would sit directly next to him. If that wasn't enough, she would nudge her hand against his whenever she felt that no one was looking.

He wasn't complaining. He liked when she sat near him, or sent shy smiles his way in the hall— but wasn't it her idea to keep their relationship under wraps?

Ishigami planned to discuss these little things with her in private, but on an otherwise uneventful afternoon, Fujiwara beat him to it.

"Hey, Miko-chan, there's something different about you lately."

Iino looked up from the pamphlet she'd been reading. Ishigami sat beside her, or more accurately she claimed the seat beside him . Across from them sat Fujiwara and Shinomiya, the latter of which continued reading a book without paying any mind to Fujiwara's antics.

"Hm? Really?" she asked, intrigued.

"Mm, mm," she nodded vigorously, leaning forward. She propped her elbows on the table and her chin on her knuckles, peering deep into Iino's eyes. Like most matters that concerned Fujiwara, Ishigami didn't like where this was heading.

Iino, naive as ever, indulged her beloved Fujiwara-senpai's curiosity with a smile. "Well, what is it?"

Fujiwara hummed and narrowed her eyes as if she were trying to decode the secrets of the universe. In an outburst that made those around her and even the President over at his desk flinch, she jumped up from her seat and clapped her hands.

"I got it! You're in love!"

Be cool, be cool, Ishigami willed Iino telepathically. Instead, the word "love" jolted Iino with such intensity that the pamphlet slipped from her fingers and onto the floor. Kaguya, still holding and looking at her book as if she were reading it, inwardly shifted her focus away from the words on the page and onto the event unfolding around her.

"Eh? L-love? I'm, I—"

"Aha!" Fujiwara pointed at Iino. "I knew it!"

"But it's not… Who told you that?" Iino demanded, aghast.

"Fufufu," she sat back down on the couch. She crossed her legs as an aura of smug satisfaction emanated from her entire being. "I'm a love detective, I don't need sources to know what I know."

Ishigami decided to intervene before Iino could dig herself into a hole. "You're still playing that love detective role? And shouldn't a good detective have sources?"

Fujiwara's pride faltered. She shot Ishigami an annoyed look before swiftly recovering, a smirk returning to her lips. "I'm the best in the business. I just know these things. You wouldn't understand much about a maiden in love anyway, Ishigami-kun."

"Alright then. What makes you think Iino's in love?"

The corners of Fujiwara's lips turned down ever so slightly. "Well, you know."

"By all means," Ishigami gestured with his hand, encouraging her to continue.

"Well," she uncrossed her legs. "It's, you know. She's glowing more."

"I am?" Iino asked merrily, as if forgetting the predicament she was in.

"She's glowing more? Seriously?" Ishigami scoffed, now confident in his tactic to dismantle Fujiwara's claim. "That's not proof at all."

Refusing to back down, Fujiwara now directed all of her ammunition at Ishigami. "She seems happier!"

"And love is the only possible reason that could be?"

"I heard some first years talking about it!" she erupted, eyes shut and fists shaking in mid air.

Ishigami sat back contentedly. "So the love detective did have outside sources."

Fujiwara opened her eyes to everyone else's on her. She looked at Kaguya, over at Miyuki, and once she realized no one was going to offer her support, back to Ishigami.

"So what? You said it yourself, a good detective has sources!" she defended. "God, Ishigami-kun, you're so mean! I was just trying to be happy and congratulate Miko-chan!"

"Over some rumors?"

"Well…" she pouted and twirled her thumbs.

"Who was talking about it?" Iino piped up. "What were they saying?"

Fujiwara looked at Iino apologetically and shrugged. "I just overhear things from people. Like, how you've been nicer and more lenient to couples lately, and that maybe it's because you've got a boyfriend of your own and...stuff," she trailed off.

"I see," said Iino, revealing nothing in her expression.

"Oh, I'm sorry for buying into rumors, Miko-chan. But everything I said was true! You are glowing, and you do seem happier!"

Iino grinned, brushing the whole thing off. "It's okay, Fujiwara-senpai. Thank you."

A moment of silence ensued. Breaking it, Fujiwara asked with a small voice, "so it's not true then?"

"It's not true," Iino confirmed after a tiny bout of hesitation.

Discreetly, Shinomiya glanced at the pairing seated across from her and allowed herself a small smirk.

One by one the room cleared until only Ishigami and Shinomiya remained. Ishigami might have found this to be accidental, but in reality, Shinomiya had something she wanted to ask her underclassman.

Shutting her book, she cast it aside and rested her steepled hands atop her thighs.

"Fujiwara-san is something, isn't she?"

Ishigami regarded Shinomiya with both a healthy dose of caution and curiosity. "Tell me about it," he huffed, running a hand through his hair out of habit.

"But there was some truth to her words, I think," Shinomiya said casually. "I've noticed those things about Iino-san as well."

"Is that so?"

"Mm," she nodded. "Actually, I've noticed those things about Iino, and a certain someone else."

He knew at that moment that he'd been exposed, but for good measure, he laughed it off. "I'm not sure I follow."

"It's just that, well, I notice things. And sometimes, in a room full of people, I seem to be the only one that notices when two of my underclassmen hold hands, even if only for half a second."

Ishigami threw his hands up in the air. "You got me," he conceded.

In an instant, a huge smile consumed Kaguya's face and her eyes glittered like rubies. "That's wonderful! For how long?" she inquired with a childlike wonder.

Ishigami, bewildered by the side of Shinomiya that he rarely got to see, gaped at her.

"Well?" she prodded.

"Oh, right. It's been just about two weeks now," he admitted with some degree of relief. He'd have to apologize to Iino later, but it felt good to open up to someone about the situation.

"Who confessed to who?" she gushed further.

Bashful, Ishigami ducked his head in hopes that his hair might hide his reddening cheeks.

"It was kind of mutual. I mean, I guess she let it slip that she liked me, but I was the one to officially ask her out."

He raised his head and saw that a subdued smile replaced Kaguya's excited grin.

"I'm happy for you, Ishigami," she told him. Kaguya knew all too well the burden of being in a secret relationship. She toyed with the idea of spilling it all to Ishigami now, but restrained herself. Was it hypocritical to seek details about him and Iino while being so reserved herself? Perhaps, but she had already crafted an excuse in her mind. If word of her and Shirogane's relationship got out, it could find its way into her father's ears. Meanwhile, Iino was likely just shy. As much as Kaguya wanted to sing off the rooftops about how in love and happy she was, she couldn't. Not even to Ishigami, who she'd come to see as a little brother of sorts.

Ishigami felt the sincerity in her words and smiled. He could hardly believe that the Shinomiya in front of him now was the very same that once struck so much fear into his heart.

"Thank you, Shinomya-san."

Evening found Ishigami seated at the booth of a family restaurant, waiting for Iino to join him. A family restaurant was inconspicuous enough that even if anyone from Shuchi'in saw them, they could write it off as a student council engagement rather than a date.

He caught a glimpse of her through the window before she entered the restaurant and slipped his gaming device into his bag. At the sight of Ishigami, she visibly perked up and made a beeline toward the booth.

"Hey," she greeted, sitting across from him and setting her bag down by her feet. "Sorry if I'm a little late."

Ishigami shook his head. "No, I was early."

"I see," she smiled.

She's not as upset as I thought she'd be, Ishigami thought to himself. He heard a god laughing in the distance as her smile flipped upside down instantaneously. "Hey, can you believe those rumors Fujiwara heard about?" she cried out, earning a few glances from strangers. Aware of the attention she had garnered, she cleared her throat as if unaffected and continued at a normal volume. "I mean, isn't it just crazy? We've been hiding it so well!"

Laughter escaped from Ishigami's lips before he could stop it.

"What?" she crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry," he said without an ounce of sincerity.

"What?" she demanded once more, now uncrossing her arms and laying her palms flat on the table, leaning slightly forward.

"Iino, don't take this the wrong way, but you have not been hiding it 'so well' at all."

"Of course I have," she insisted.

"Ah, I see now. Holding my hand in the student council room is pretty discreet. My mistake."

A bloom of red flourished across her face. "I never held your hand! They just happen to touch sometimes, and completely by accident. In any case, Fujiwara never mentioned that, so it's a moot point."

"Maybe not Fujiwara…"

"What does that mean?"

After a moment of internal debate, Ishigami decided to tell Iino about his chat with Kaguya that afternoon. He expected her to get angry, but instead she processed the story in silence.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Ishigami set his hands on top of her's. The butterflies in his stomach flew with wild abandon, and he was sure that if he pulled up his sleeves his arms might resemble chicken flesh, but he pushed through the nerves. Iino was his girlfriend—had been for almost three weeks now. He wanted to feel comfortable enough to hold her hand whenever he wanted to, and for her to feel the same.

Iino's blush deepened as she looked down at their hands, but she made no motion to move.

"Look, Iino, there's something I've been thinking about lately."

"What is it?"

"Us keeping this a secret… It's only because of the whole public morals thing, right?"

Her face screwed up in confusion. "Yes?"

"And not because you're embarrassed to be with, well, me… right?"

A look of harsh realization dawned on her. Was this how Ishigami had been feeling all along without her noticing? She turned her hands underneath his so that her palms faced up and clutched his tighter.

"That's not it!" she burst out, creating another scene but taking no notice of the rubberneckers this time.

Shocked by her earnestness, Ishigami's eyes became two perfect circles. Before he could allow himself to feel happy about her answer, he felt that there was another issue he had to address.

"I know that you know, Iino," his thumbs drew spirals along the base of her's. "About what happened to me in middle school—"

She opened her mouth to interject, but he implored her to let him finish. Reluctantly, she nodded.

"My image has improved a little since the sports festival, but I know there are still people who probably hate me. I guess a tiny bit of me thought that maybe you were worried about what people might think about you, you know, by being with me."

"I don't care about that," she declared. She almost began to tell him about her plea to the guidance counselor, and subsequently the principal, to alleviate him of his harsh punishment, but bit her tongue at the last minute. Eventually she would share that with him, but it felt too early still. "I'm sorry that I might have given you that impression, but I truly was just thinking about it as a member of the Public Morals Committee. You believe me, right?"

A concoction of relief and joy washed over him. "I do. Thank you, Iino."

The two smiled at each other in a daze. Ishigami was the first to snap out of it.

"Oh, I guess we should probably order something," he remarked.

The shift in mood was so sudden that Iino couldn't help but giggle. "Yeah, I guess we should."

"You sure about this? I can go on ahead of you," Ishigami said, walking alongside Iino.

She resolutely shook her head in a manner that prohibited him from making any further arguments. "No, it's okay. This was my idea, anyway."

He snorted without meaning to, an action which Iino immediately interrogated him over.

"What?"

"All we're doing is walking to school together and you're acting as if we're on our way to rob a bank or something."

"Well this is a big deal! I've never walked to school with a boy before. I never thought I would, either."

She had a point; it was his first time walking to school with a girl himself. Still, he maintained that she was taking it too seriously.

Ishigami inched his hand over to her's and captured it within his, threading their fingers together.

"Hey!" Iino objected, making an attempt to separate their hands. Ishigami, not letting her escape so easily, squeezed tighter.

"Don't worry, I'll let go once we get a little closer to Shuchi'in."

Her hand remained tense for another few seconds before relaxing entirely.

"Fine," she relented, turning her head to the side. She pretended to be fascinated with the trees that lined the sidewalk, but in actuality she was trying to hide the intense blush that surely painted her face. Ishigami kept his gaze locked forward and smiled a knowing smile.

So what if someone sees? Iino thought. She felt too blissful to even care.

A/N: I didn't really have any plan for this fic. Fujiwara being Fujiwara and Kaguya being a cool older sister happened completely by accident but I just went with it lol. I actually wrote those scenes first until I realized that an Iino/Ishigami fanfiction should probably have some cute Iino/Ishigami moments. :p