CH 194

We used video as a medium to advertise.

And I spoke, albeit briefly, in an unannounced campus-wide broadcast.

All the big cards that could be used by the middle of the elections have been used up now.

The only other way to get the attention of the entire school was to make a speech on the day of the vote.

When people are faced with choices, what do they choose based on?

It is individual ability, friendship, reputation, and public image.

If everything is inferior, one has no choice but to look for other alternatives.

Never give up the search for something in which you excel.

If you can’t beat them in ability, looks, or popularity, just try to squeeze out enough of just one thing which you are better at.

This isn’t the SNS roast wars, but it is the time to create something explosive and noteworthy.

The only way to show the result is through media and activities that would not normally be used.

“I’ll return the key to the broadcast room myself…”

I said to President, who was locking the room, and asked for the keys.

President raised her eyebrows slightly as she asked.

“Avoid any behavior that would make you stand out.”

“…I’m just going to see how the staff would react.”

President is a little concerned about me, who boasts of his immense trustworthiness when it comes to seeing the negative side of things.

She held out her hand which was hesitant as I accepted the keys quietly.

Although I have received permission to broadcast, not all faculty members are aware of the situation.

If I go now, I might be able to see some strange reactions in the staff room.

The best way is to go there for myself and force out a reaction.

All this would be meaningless unless I went there by myself.

“We will go to Ogiwara-kun’s place and check on him.”

“I’m sure we’ll enjoy it more if we hurry there.”

With a grin on her face, Shizuku walked toward the courtyard with Kirasaka in tow.

President went up the stairs leading to the upper floor where her classroom was located.

“Then I’ll be waiting for you in the student council office after school.”

“…Roger that.”

I stood there until the three of them were out of sight, then I proceeded to the staff room.

A little further past the broadcast room was the staff room. I knocked on it appropriately and then opened it.

Inside, several faculty members were looking at me, but I bowed and went to the teacher I was looking for.

“…Sudo, Sudo-sensei, here is the key to the broadcast room we borrowed.”

“Shinra, thanks for bringing it back.”

I headed to the seat where Sudo, who was in charge of the student council, was sitting, called out to him and handed over the key. I also didn’t forget to take a sideways glance towards the other teaches present there.

At first glance, the room looked no different from a normal staff room, but I could still see a few faculty members looking here.

“Did you get a satisfactory outcome?”

Sudo-sensei asked while looking over the printouts at his desk.

I had never spoken to him before, so I wasn’t sure what the appropriate response would be, but I chose words that seemed to fit the situation.

“…It was, at least for me.

“I see.”

Sudo-sensei muttered briefly, and silence fell between us.

No, what the hell am I supposed to do about this atmosphere?

I’m not the only one, but when I’m having a conversation with a teacher, I don’t move until they tell me I’m good to go.

Not being tense or stiff, but also not relaxed, I waited for his next words, when he finally opened his mouth.

“I was a little worried when …Hiiragi was elected as the student body president.”

“…”

Without any prelude, he began to talk.

What is this, could it be that he is going to tell me a story about himself?

Although I was listening to it even though I wasn’t interested, …he said something that was unexpected.

“High school students are still young from my point of view, and it’s a story in the future when their talents will bloom …In such a situation, a charismatic person was elected as the student council president even though she was in the first grade. At the time, I thought it was going to be a bad thing.”

Certainly, if I were in the position of a teacher, I would have been worried.

Even more, if I were the teacher in charge of the student council.

As I listened to the interesting content of the teacher, who normally doesn’t engage in much conversation with his students, our gazes finally met.

“If you look at it in terms of results, that girl was perfect. She had awareness of her surroundings, position, abilities, and her actions and thoughts were based on that, so I trusted her to make decisions and act on her own in many of the cases. …But he’s not the same.”

I didn’t immediately understand who those words were referring to.

For a moment, I thought he was referring to Koizumi, the next student body president, but that guy must have a certain amount of trust in his teacher.

When he said ‘he’, Shiraishi’s was eliminated from the list.

So the last one left was Yuuto.

“But we’re running for the position of president’s assistant, not …the president.”

“Only you who serve in the council think so, but from a student’s point of view, it doesn’t matter what position you hold, you’re all the same, the student council.”

Sudo-sensei, who immediately rejected my words, seemed persuasive due to his experience perhaps.

The student council led by Koizumi might be less competent than the current student council.

However, we still have enough people who have both the ability and the trust of the students.

I thought there wouldn’t be any problems, but then I thought about why Yuuto was brought up in the discussion.

The resulting answer was the face of the student body.

“…Do you see what I’m getting at?”

“Are you trying to say that even if Koizumi is the student body president, it is a different student who would be the face of the student council?”

“…He’s brilliant, but a little too careful around others, …and it’s natural to think so when a student like Ogiwara joins such a place.”

After letting out a breath as though exhaling the gravity of his feelings, Sudo-sensei drank the coffee kept on his desk.

With his clean, short, well-groomed hair and the depth of his expression due to his age, the atmosphere felt different from that of a student drinking coffee in a cafe.

In fact, I even felt a bit scared of him because his expression looked grim.

“Including the surrounding environment, just a popular student can easily break the shape of the organization. It’s a matter to consider …but this is something we adults have to think about. …You go out there and work hard on your elections.”

“…”

I bowed to him and then left his vicinity.

As a teacher in charge, it is only natural that he would be aware of the concerns that I felt.

But the fact that there are teachers who actually have concerns is important in itself.

If Sudo-sensei, who is in charge of all of this seemed to be against this, there is a possibility that the teachers’ votes will come to my side more than I had imagined.

I shouldn’t let this good opportunity slip away and do something about it.

It’s better to stand out as much as possible while my impression is still strong.

As I was walking out of the staff room to return to my classroom after going through the courtyard, a familiar figure came running up in front of me.

“Don’t run on campus, …you’re the next vice president in case you’ve forgotten.”

“This, there is a reason for this, no, no, no, it doesn’t matter! Senpai hurry up and do something about it”

Forcefully and without any proper explanation, Shiraishi grabbed my hand and led me back the way she came from.

Since she was going towards the courtyard, which wasn’t different from where I was headed, I followed her with a short jog.

I knew there would be a lot of students there because Yuuto was supposed to be giving a speech, but even so, I felt there were way too many students as I approached.

From a distance, from the hallway windows, from the gymnasium, from everywhere, it seemed as if students were showing their faces and looking at something.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“That’s- …No, it’s quicker if you take a look at it for yourself!”

Following Shiraishi, who weaved her way through the crowd, I pushed my way through it.

The actual number of students in the courtyard was getting even more and more difficult to advance, but thanks to the students who saw Shiraishi and gave way to her, we were able to enter the center of the cyclone without bumping into others.

“Please take it back!”

“Kanazaki-san…”

When I entered the group in the courtyard, I saw Shizuku and Kirasaka packed up against Yuuto, who was on the platform.

With a look of rage that even I had never seen before, Shizuku said in a loud voice.

Kirasaka’s expression itself was calm, but her gaze was colder than usual.

“Hey, what’s going on here…?”

Unable to sort out the situation, I asked Shiraishi next to me to explain the situation.

Shiraishi then began to explain, although the details were from the time of her own arrival.

“It started to be like this while Ogiwara-senpai was giving his speech after your broadcast, but it seems like he said something that offended them both…”

“Yuuto? …What did he say?”

“…That’s what I don’t know. I thought that they were talking a little after being approached by Ogiwara-senpai, but the content of …the speech itself was normal in itself, I think?”

I shifted my gaze from Shiraishi, who tilted her head and said curiously, to the situation in front of me.

Did he say something that offended them again?

Or, was this a different problem?

But still, I was able to understand the situation a little better after hearing Shiraishi’s words.

Even an ordinary speech might have sounded different to the two people who knew my situation.

Although the students looked at me, I was sure that none of them, including myself, understood what was going on.

I could still solve the problem without any problems if I got in between and mediated the situation.

Besides, there would be no problem if I told Yuuto about my way of doing things.

He wouldn’t have anything to say about it either.

It’s a hassle, but I’m responsible for this.

“Shiraishi, please guide the students to go back to …and I’ll go mediate.”

“Ah, yes!”

I went to the front and Shiraishi went to the place where most of the students were gathered.

As I approached the center where the three of them were standing, I could hear their conversation.

“I’m not saying anything bad about Minato, …it’s just that people around me see it as a private use of the student council.”

“What private use is that? …It sounds like you’re just backbiting someone who came up with an idea that you couldn’t come up with yourself.”

“Calm down, Kanazaki-san, what they’re talking about is an equal election campaign, and I also want to fight Minato equally.”

Yuuto pointed his hand in the direction of where some of the students were standing, but the crowd of students made it impossible to figure out who they were.

A little more, I’ve come to a place where I could reach them, but the wall of the students don’t want to budge as I expected.

As I was about to make a slight detour to approach them from the back, Yuuto spoke up.

“I can’t accept that he is using you guys, even though he denied Shiraishi-san’s idea.”

“His view and Shiraishi’s are different on that as well. It’s pure cooperation, not exploitation to achieve a goal. …I hope you won’t interfere with what he wants to do.”

Kirasaka made an immediate response to Yuuto’s words with a sharp and cold tone of voice.

However, Yuuto showed no signs of backing down, and both remained silent.

Finally, I was able to slip out of the crowd, and I moved up to where I could see the three of them.

“Hey …what are you all doing?”

“Minato-kun…”

After calling out to them, I interrupted them to get between them and nodded to Shizuku, urging her to calm down.

I gave Kirasaka a look to make sure she was okay, and then turned around to make sure they had separated a bit.

Yuuto had gotten off the podium and had even moved to the back.

“I have something to do with this, don’t I? …Now, let’s start the fight.”

“Minato…”

When I turned to and confronted him in an obnoxious manner, he looked a little apologetic.

When I told Yuuto so, he lowered his gaze slightly.

He was staring at a point on the ground and seemed to be thinking about something.

“Can you stop complaining like it’s Ogiwara-kun’s fault?”

The conversation was resumed by a person that was not me, not Yuuto, or not even Shizuku.

That voice was a that I didn’t recognize.

The location of the voice came from within the support group behind Yuuto, which was predictable since the students around him were all looking at one person.

Standing in the center, there was THE gal, who had her skin tanned a bit and her hair dyed with a bright color.

With accessories all over her body, that’s totally paid-for equipment if it were an RPG.

I’d rather pay bills with that money in the real world.

“Who?”

When I unintentionally revealed what I was thinking, Yuuto said in a subdued voice.

“It’s terrible, you don’t even remember your classmates from last year.”

Even as he said this, there was not the slightest hint of discomfort on his face.

This could be a completely bad move.

He can’t say no when asked, so he won’t turn down anyone who offers to support him, but there must be many people who would like to take advantage of this situation.

From the girls’ perspective, this is a great chance to get to know Yuuto.

A good example is a female student who would have her arms crossed and would act irreverently behind his back in the future.

“…You’re the one who’s making unnecessary interventions.”

When I told her so with a cold stare, she sneered in affirmation.

What a troublesome interruption indeed.