CH 85

Chapter 11 – Proposals and compromises (4)

Translator – Vodka

Although I said boxes, it didn’t mean that there was anything special about them.

They were just your normal boxes.

At Sakuranogaoka School, opinion boxes had been installed at various places in the school building to respect the opinions of students.

The student council officers collected the papers that were submitted and proceeded to discuss the matters that came up in those papers. Mine was a similar idea.

When these three received a request for confession, there would always be some fixed pattern.

The majority of the students would leave a letter under their desk, or in their locker.

Then, there was the other one, where, albeit only a few could pull off, they would come face to face with the person in question, and boldly convey it to them.

And even those people were mostly handing out letters……in short, my plan was to install boxes that accepted only those love letters, or letters asking their presence for confession.

As simple as that.

There wasn’t anything interesting or surprising about it.

It was an idea that anybody could have come up with, but it was unlikely for it to be carried out in practice, uncorroborated by anything else.

But it made you wonder if this would really change anything, right?

It wasn’t like any big visible changes were going to take place.

Although this seemed simple at a glance, but rather than having to put the letter under their desks or inside their lockers, since the boxes were going to be available throughout the school, it would solve the problem of not being able to request their presence for confession.

That is good enough, for starters.

It was important to start with small changes.

“But that does not solve the problem, right?”

“……However, we are doing something about it.”

How many of these students who wrote these requests, were truly hoping that the student council would solve it all?

Maybe, not a single one of them.

It was the same for any organisation.

Even if they said that they were looking for the employees’ opinions, there was only so much that would ultimately be implemented.

With some compromise, if the employees could be made to think that their voices had been heard, that would be good enough.

The issue before us was something of that sort too.

The students didn’t think that everything will be solved, but if the student council could show that they were trying to come up with countermeasures of some sort, it would be the most satisfactory outcome for them.

It could even be said that they had adopted such excessive writing styles precisely because they didn’t want to be ignored.

‘Confession’ was a tough subject to tread on. One would feel embarrassed to talk about it to even their friends. It wasn’t a topic that one could easily talk about in public.

Consequently, most of them were carrying out their plans for confessing in secrecy by themselves.

Even a small change would be a blessing for them, right?

Therefore, we would respond to this with a simple plan that could be carried out swiftly.

“There will be no need for us to prepare a time and place. Neither will they directly confront you guys. Having them put their requests inside a box will afford you guys with more choices too.”

It was difficult to turn down someone’s request when they were speaking to you directly, right?

Besides, most of them would designate a time after school.

However, if we made it a rule that they couldn’t ask for the presence of the person they wanted to confess to, on the day of their submitting their request, it should provide these three with some leeway.

So, if they had some plans after school, they could do it on another day.

“And finally, you’ll entertain only those students whose letters you decide to reply to.”

Only hand-picked people will be given the chance.

If we said that, it would make them feel self-important.

However, this way, these three could choose to hear from only those students they felt like they wanted to.

With this, we could prevent a situation where they had to be faced with too many requests.

If they entertained every one of their requesters, they wouldn’t be left with any time for themselves.

Half of these students were playing around, or simply trying out their luck.

It would be fine if after reading a letter, Yuuto or Shizuku felt that the person was serious about the confession and that they wanted to hear them out and give them their answers.

Well, since they would be the ones making the final calls, the student council wouldn’t have to be too involved either.

By following this plan, both sides should be able to reap a considerable amount of benefits.

On the students’ side, it would allow them an opportunity to confess, albeit in writing, whereas for those on the receiving end, not only would it afford them more choices, but it would also let them avoid sudden calls.

The plan that I had come up with was something like this.

The rest was up to the three before me.

I silently looked at them. Shizuku gave me a few nods.

It would seem that she didn’t have any objection in particular.

Up next was Kirasaka. She didn’t have much of a reaction.

She never responded to students’ requests anyways.

Even the president had said, “Ren could do that”.

In other words, she wasn’t particularly interested or curious about this issue. Irrespective of the outcome, it might not change anything for her.

The fact that she seemed bored was prima facie proof of that.

Finally, I shifted my attention to Yuuto.

Only he seemed to be still in his thoughts, his eyes cast downward.

After a while, Yuuto raised his face. He smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“I will refrain from that.”

“……Why?”

What reason laid behind his denial?

Was it because he was feeling guilty towards the people who had confessed to him?

Was it that he hated this very idea which didn’t require preparing a place, or consume any time?

As I was wondering, devoid of any sarcasm, what his reason for denying my idea was, he began answering my question.