"But whether Shirogane only finished and handled these four volumes, or he read all of them and found the other 18 not worth marking—that's still unclear."
"But getting through four full logbooks at this level is already impressive."
Horikita Manabu continued.
"So, Kushida, I'm assigning you to work with Shirogane from now on. Can you handle that?"
Horikita turned to Kushida, who had just been quietly listening this whole time.
Huh?
If there's tension between the president and the vice president, don't drag a little fluff ball like her into it!
Kushida felt like she had just been pulled into a very complicated student council setup by Shirogane.
And the worst part—he brought her in and then just left.
So… is he actually going to guide her or not?
But now that the president is asking her to pick a side, what choice does she have?
"I'll try to talk more with Shirogane."
"I'll do my best to help the student council work more efficiently as soon as I can."
Kushida replied honestly.
"Alright. It's already getting late. Since you're new, you can head home for today."
Horikita Manabu said.
"Yes."
Kushida nodded, picked up her things, and left.
Meanwhile, Nagumo sat down on Shirogane's desk.
"President, I'd like to stay and work a bit more."
"Also, I'm allowed to look at the files from past secretaries, right?"
Nagumo Miyabi asked.
"Even though I'm the vice president, I still need to learn from my seniors."
"So I'd like to apply to read the logs from the secretaries, even the old general affairs logs and records from the past discipline committee heads."
"If I can understand the school's system and how things are run, I think I can help the student council work better too."
Nagumo made his request.
"Go ahead."
Horikita Manabu nodded. "You're the vice president, so you have that access. When I was vice president, I read through all the logs from the secretaries, general affairs, and the discipline heads too."
In other words, Horikita Manabu takes things more seriously than anyone else.
Nagumo silently nodded.
Then Horikita and Tachibana Akane checked the rest of their tasks and decided to get dinner before coming back to work overtime.
When they returned from dinner, they found Nagumo Miyabi still sitting at a desk.
This time, he was at his own desk, and on it were work logs from the 4th to 6th student council secretaries.
Basically, he had pulled out the logs Shirogane had borrowed earlier—the ones he had returned without issue.
It wasn't hard to guess what this meant.
Nagumo didn't really believe Horikita had managed to bring in a real genius, so he was trying to find flaws in Shirogane.
Reading through four volumes in just over two hours and spotting problems is something an elite can do.
But reading through twenty-two volumes in the same amount of time?
That's not something a normal person or even an elite can pull off. That's what you call a genius.
And Nagumo Miyabi himself is already an outstanding person.
He's been better than average since he was a kid. What most people can't even dream of reaching was his starting point. You could say everything has gone smoothly for him.
He's always seen himself as better than others.
When he joined the student council, he respected Horikita Manabu. After all, Horikita is excellent.
Even if they didn't share the same ideals, Nagumo didn't see Horikita as someone unbeatable.
He believed that if they ever had to face off seriously, he had more than a 50% chance of winning.
But now...
Where on earth did Horikita dig up this monster?
Was this really necessary?
For the first time in his life, Nagumo Miyabi felt powerless. All his past confidence was gone.
He had been focusing so hard for so long that he now felt drained. He glanced at the barbecue he brought with him.
"..."
The food was cold, and he didn't feel like eating at all. He had no appetite.
With that thought, Nagumo took out his phone and pulled up a number he had just saved earlier today.
He typed out a message and sent it.
No matter who he was up against, there was no way he was going to lose just like this.
Because he was Nagumo Miyabi.
The one who led his class from B to A—the one who broke the school's records.
Right now, a strong will to fight was building up inside him.
…
Meanwhile, Shirogane and Ichinose had arrived at the first-floor lounge of the dorm.
They'd just had dinner together in the cafeteria, and they also managed to arrange for some of the top students in Ichinose's class to help tutor theirs. So overall, it had been a productive day.
But then—
"Beep beep."
While waiting for the elevator, it seemed Ichinose got a message.
Shirogane heard the sound too, and Ichinose looked a bit nervous.
"You should check it," Shirogane said.
"Yeah…"
Ichinose gave a small nod and hesitated for a moment. Shirogane politely looked away to give her some space.
Still—
Shirogane had a feeling the message was something special.
Ichinose, like Kushida, was very social and had a lot of friends. Someone like her probably got messages all the time.
But—
Throughout the day, she hadn't shown any signs of getting any messages.
Now she got one—and there was a notification sound.
Clearly, whoever sent the message had a custom alert. She had a lot of friends, but she didn't set alerts for them, which meant she didn't want to miss messages from this person.
Maybe someone she needed to keep an eye on?
Shirogane looked away out of politeness, but ever since he ran into Ichinose after leaving the student council office, he couldn't shake the feeling that something about her seemed a little off.
Like something just wasn't right.
Even when they were eating, she seemed like she wanted to say something but kept stopping herself.
[It's a message from Nagumo.]
That's when the narration system filled Shirogane in.
Nagumo—meaning Nagumo Miyabi, the vice president of the student council. And Shirogane had been brought into the student council by President Horikita mainly to help balance out and counter Nagumo.
Now that three new members had joined the student council, things with Shirogane were going okay, but Nagumo would definitely see through Horikita-senpai's intentions and fight back.
And now, Nagumo had contacted Ichinose.
So, was Nagumo trying to win Ichinose over?
*Ding*
At that moment, the elevator doors opened, and inside stood a very cute girl with big eyes and a lovely face. She had a pretty golden ponytail. She was neither tall nor short, but her outfit was eye-catching.
Her student uniform was different from everyone else's—it was light blue.
From the experience of the senior secretary, Shirogane knew this was a new style started by the 12th generation of students.
Many students had complained that the school uniform hadn't changed in three years, and wearing white shirts could sometimes be inconvenient. So the school finally allowed students to choose their own inner shirts, and even if they wore different colored shirts, it wouldn't count as breaking the rules.
Of course, since the school was strictly controlled, they didn't really enforce rules about what students wore underneath.
This girl had tied her uniform jacket around her waist and was wearing bubble socks.
She looked full of energy.
This style was common in Ryuen's class but rare in Class D.
Because this was a gyaru (girly, trendy) style.
"Karuizawa, are you going out at this hour?"
As the girl with the ponytail stepped out of the elevator, Shirogane suddenly spoke up.
"Huh? Uh…"
The girl whose name was called was surprised for a moment and nodded instinctively.
Shirogane said,
"Since I joined the student council, I've memorized the entire grade's roster."
"Oh."
Only then did Karuizawa understand why Shirogane had called her.
It was because he had memorized the whole grade's names.
"…"
But she probably found it a bit weird—being suddenly approached by Shirogane Miyuki.
Still, it was impressive that he could memorize so many names. He must be really motivated.
So Karuizawa left.
Meanwhile, Shirogane and Ichinose stepped into the elevator.
Ichinose had just finished checking a text message. She put her phone in her pocket, and her hands relaxed naturally, but she still looked a little nervous.
"Ichinose, is something wrong?"
Shirogane asked casually.
"Hmm."
Ichinose seemed a bit uneasy.
"Well, um, do you know any way to get through the written exam safely this time?"
Ichinose asked.
So it was about preparing for the makeup exam.
But—
"Our class already has a plan."
Shirogane said.
"We can make sure everyone passes."
"And Ichinose, you probably know about controlling scores, right?"
Shirogane asked.
"Controlling scores?"
Ichinose blinked slowly.
"That means the whole class gets about the same scores. Like, for multiple-choice questions, everyone picks A. You won't get high scores, but nobody will fail and drop out."
Shirogane explained.
Ichinose understood.
That is a pretty good way to handle things.
If everyone works together, they can avoid anyone failing.
But obviously, Ichinose gets along well with her classmates.
Because—
This way of controlling scores sounds simple, but some might worry about being betrayed by classmates. Or when the test is handed out and the questions are easy, some might break the deal and try to get higher scores.
If that happens, some might still fail and have to leave.
So—
Everyone needs to be on the same page, fully trust each other, and have no sneaky plans.
Right now, probably only classes BC have that kind of unity.
"But this method can't be used too often."
Shirogane added.
"Right now, the passing score is just half the class's average."
"If next time the school sets a fixed passing score, like anyone below 40 fails, our class could be in big trouble."
In other words, we still have to study seriously.
Ichinose nodded.
She thought Shirogane had it tough but was thinking ahead.
Just then—
Ding.
The elevator reached the fourth floor, where Shirogane's dorm was.
The elevator doors opened, and Shirogane seemed ready to leave without hesitation.
Ichinose stayed in the elevator, watching him go.
The doors were about to close.
[This feels kind of urgent.]
Shirogane stepped out but inside, his mind was clear and focused.
The narrator's voice echoed in his head.
Yeah.
It's a bit urgent.
They already knew outside the elevator that Ichinose had gotten a message from Nagumo.
But since Shirogane had already teamed up with Ichinose before heading to the student council room—joining Horikita Manabu's side to hold back Nagumo—that meant Ichinose was supposed to be on their side.
And now—
Ichinose got a message from Nagumo and didn't say anything. Did she betray their alliance?
Still, her expression was easy to read. The whole way there, she looked like she wanted to say something but kept holding back. She was clearly torn.
That meant the message from Nagumo probably wasn't something like "betray your allies."
It was more like regular social stuff. Maybe he was trying to be friendly. And honestly, it's not like you can control who your allies become friends with.
Shirogane picked up on that, which is probably why he didn't pressure her to speak up.
At the same time, this might've been a way to test whether Ichinose was really a trustworthy ally against Nagumo.
And then—
"Shirogane!"
Right before the elevator doors closed, Ichinose hit the button and ran out.
"Is something wrong?"
Shirogane asked, acting casual.
"Um…"
Ichinose said,
"I actually got a message from Nagumo-senpai."
"When I was waiting for you outside the student council room, he passed by and told me he used to be a B-class student too. He said since my class dropped down, he'd be willing to support me and share some tips on how to move up."
In other words, he was trying to win her over with kindness and logic. And since they were both from B-class, they did have some things in common.
Maybe he felt a connection.
But—
Ichinose also knew she had already taken Shirogane's side in standing up to Nagumo.
So now she was unsure whether she should get closer to Nagumo.
Getting advice from someone who made it to the top of B-class would definitely help.
But that person is also now her opponent.
So Ichinose was stuck in the middle and didn't know what to do.
Also—
Nagumo hadn't broken any rules yet, so she didn't want to rush into a decision.
But now—
Ichinose felt it was better to just be honest.
After all, she and Shirogane were on the same team.
"So, what was the message you just got?"
Shirogane asked, turning to her.
"He said he could send five students to help our class with academics and make sure we get a good score on this exam."
Ichinose said this.
Nagumo had his class members come help Ichinose's class.
It was tutoring.
But overall, Ichinose's class isn't weak academically. While there are a few students who struggle, the class is more than capable of managing on their own.
Still, this was help offered by a senior.
"Did he ask for anything in return?"
Shirogane asked.
"No."
Ichinose replied.
So he just wants to support Ichinose's class? To help out a lower-year class?
But—
The things that seem free often come with the biggest price.
For some reason, Shirogane suddenly remembered what Sakayanagi said to him on the first day of school.
Ps: First update!