Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu:Volume1 Prologue

Prologue

My classmate Nogizaka Haruka is completely flawless.

It may seem a little, you know… to hear this stupid-sounding sentence as an opening, but this is indeed a fact. And an undeniable fact at that.

Nogizaka Haruka has beautiful soft hair that stretches to her back, obvious double eyelid and clear eyes that are slightly hanging down at the sides. Adding on to that, she emits an astonishing aura all over her, I believe any man that walks past her on the streets, a hundred out of a hundred of them would be charmed into turning back to look at her once more. Speaking of which, I am one of them. After all, she was crowned Miss Hakujō Academy as a mere first-year student last year with an amazingly high number of votes, ever since that beauty contest, everyone calls her “Nuit Étoile” (The Silver Star of the Night). As to the number of guys that confessed to her in that year has reached a three digit figure, and she has a secret fan club established specially for her, and there are sayings that even the principal is a member for that fan club, and it is likely that that is more than just a rumor.

Even with that, it is still not that special yet. Because there is always someone that is like a school idol in any school. Taking a stroll across the entire country, you will be sure to find tens, hundreds of people like this.

However, Nogizaka Haruka’s outstanding quality lies in that: her good quality that deserves a special mentioning, goes beyond her appearance that was mentioned above.

Firstly, she has a very good character.

Her personality is prudent and mature, shows a smile to whomever she meets, and treats others gently, giving off an atmosphere like lilies blossoming. Let’s not talk about others first, she is a precious example to defy the logic that all beauties have an ugly personality.

Besides that, she is very smart.

One year ago, during the ability test that was conducted at the start of school, all her subjects were above ninety marks, taking the place of first place for the entire grade leaving a big gap between her and the second placing. Ever since her astonishing feat, she has maintained at the first place up till now. Maybe it could be said that her brain structure is entirely different from normal people…… Compared to her, all our brain juices must be stuff that is like dried up bean dregs.

Furthermore, she is cultured.

Japanese folk dance with flower arrangement, the art of tea with calligraphy. The skills that she has learnt since young must add up to at least ten, and in each of the areas for these skills, she is able to show an unparalleled talent, making it all the more shocking. Among which, her best would be piano, her piano skills has been commented to be of professional standard, receiving a single-sided praise in the music realm. Now she is performing before the eyes of the entire class, just watching her two fingers dance elegantly on the piano keys would make one agree to those comments.

Further more, she is clever and deft, possessing a first-rate English qualification, a qualification for a certain ancient martial art style that allows her to take lessons in place of the master, the title of being a daughter of a renown business family…… etc. All in all, she is someone that takes on the phrase “Heaven does not bestow more than a single gift” (A phrase that is to say one person possesses no more than a single gift or talent [translation may not be too accurate to get the direct phrasing]) head-on and can obtain a total victory at it.

However……

Even Nogizaka Haruka that is so close to perfection, she has one single weakness, or that is to say, a secret.

But right now, the only person that knows this secret is me; and because of this, I have a closer relationship with her. In the end, I was half forced into stepping into a world I have never touched on before. Just that……

Then, her performance ended while I was thinking.

"What you've just heard was the third movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 23 in F minor, Appassionata, performed by Nogizaka Haruka. Thank you, Haruka."

Under the the music teacher's, Yukari (twenty-three years old, currently looking for a boyfriend), direction, every one of us started to clap warmly, while Nogizaka Haruka gave a shy smile that could melt the audience.

I feel bliss just by looking at her. She's just too cute to be true. And it wasn't only just the normal guys, even the class president, Morita, the one who kept a serious, no-nonsense face even when listening to jokes, was squinting with a slight, sinful look in his eyes. As for the girls, they all gave her looks of respect and admiration that were devoid of any traces of jealousy. I guess the smile of an angel would be what Haruka has on her face right now.

Suddenly, her eyes, with pupils as clear as the water from the Alps, locked onto mine. When she caught me looking, she smiled and waved discreetly at me. I could feel that at this moment, her smile was more affectionate than usual, different from the smile that she gave to her other classmates.

Mm, she's indeed a cute girl.

I couldn't help but show a smile.

Not too long ago, this kind of situation would have been like a red pig flying on a plane, something that would never have happened to us. The "not too long ago" in question, was the time before I knew of Nogizaka Haruka's secret.

Because before I found out about her secret, Nogizaka Haruka and I were just normal classmates--- And she was the school idol, while I was just an average student--- that never even had a single real conversation before.

I thought about how we began.

It was only three months ago, but looking back now, it feels as though it happened a very long time ago. Maybe it's because we've spent so much time together in the three months that we've known each other.

That's right.

Our relationship started from that incident in the school library during the after school hours.

That is, the incident that happened was the day I found out about Nogizaka Haruka's secret.

From that day onwards, I waved goodbye to my plain school life to begin the subtle and exquisite relationship between Haruka and I.

That is, Nogizaka Haruka's Secret!!

Back to Illustrations

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 1