Chapter 243: Club President's Diligence

"I'm not scared! Who do I suppose to fear?"

Kenji shouted again as a response to Ishida-senpai's somewhat taunting question.

"Then tell me why you are not coming to the club."

After everything, for Ishida-senpai, the club is really her top priority. She's too diligent for her own good.

"Kana is more important than this!"

"Kana is here in the club, don't make that an excuse. What are you doing?"

"… Doing what she wanted from me."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to redo everything and court her again."

This guy… He's really persistent, I see. That's why Kana ended up giving him an ultimatum to date her. His perseverance is admirable at least.

However, that will not work anymore.

"Like I said. That will be useless now. Learn to move on."

"That's why help me just one time. I need her to talk to me. How will she know how devoted I am to her if she doesn't want to talk to me?"

"You're hopeless. You're asking the wrong person."

With a sigh, Ishida-senpai's voice was filled with helplessness. No matter what words she said to him, he would just ignore it and persist in what he wanted to do.

"Ishida-senpai is right. Why don't you ask me, Goto-senpai?"

Choosing this time to come in, I made sure to give him quite a shock.

Well, I also feel sorry for Ishida-senpai to endure this guy with a one-track mind for this long. I guess she'll start rethinking how she liked that Kenji.

The look on his face turned from hopeful to utter disbelief upon seeing me. His arms rose as he pointed at me with no words coming out of his mouth.

"What? Speechless?"

"Onoda-kun…"

Ishida-senpai who was still seated shook her head. There's now a helpless expression on her face.

With my appearance, things just got complicated.

"Sorry, senpai. I'm a good junior. I want to help a senior in need."

Just like how I help Kana get on with me in bed.

Ah. My habit is leaking out. Though it will not work now since he already knew, confronting their guy or hinting at their cluelessness was always a great part of my unstoppable conquest back then.

Like meeting the Vice President every day at the Student Council in middle school, he even asked me to look out for Haruko when I inadvertently hinted that the coldness she was giving him might be the cause of another guy.

His obliviousness was quite amusing to look at.

"You dare say that to me?! You… you're the reason why Kana won't talk to me!"

"Huh? Not talking to you is her choice, senpai. But you see. If I ask her, there's a good chance that she will agree."

As if I'll let him talk to her alone. I will be there of course.

If he can't accept words for him to give up then we'll show it to him.

Ah. Of course, I will not decide this by myself. I'll talk to her if she's fine with talking to this guy. If she accepts then I'll help her think of what to do. This guy also needs a wake-up call.

Even if Kana didn't tell me, she's surely feeling conflicted about what to do to him. On one side, she's guilty of how they ended. Even if I told her that it was my entire fault, she will just repeat what we talked about before and take half the blame. Just like with Satsuki. Aside from guilt, she's also uncomfortable from his persistence that it's probably making her embarrassed every time he approached her in class.

Through this chance to talk that we will give him, we will aim for his persistence to put down. That way, he'll ultimately stop bugging her during their class.

"F*ck you! I don't need your help! I will take Kana back from you!"

Kenji pointed and screamed at me.

Ah. He's really hopeless.

"You see, senpai…"

I stepped forward and patted his shoulder before resting it there as my grip slowly tightened.

"… If you keep making my Kana uncomfortable, I don't know what I can do to you. So, can we be civilized here? First, stop your shouting."

Along with the last word I uttered, Kenji dropped on his knees from the pain he was feeling from my grip.

Of course, he tried to get my grip off his shoulders but how can I let him shake me off like that?

"I-I get it so take your hand off me. It hurts! Argh!"

Though he said he got it, he's still shouting. This guy is really hopeless.

I can't blame him though. It really hurts after all.

After a while, Ishida-senpai who was watching everything unfold couldn't stay silent anymore as she called out to me.

"Onoda-kun, stop now, please?"

"I'm sorry, senpai. If I don't do this, he will not stop shouting."

"I know. But please, let him off now."

I looked straight into her eyes and as I thought, she's also scared of what I'm doing but she's bravely stepping up like this to help this guy.

"Alright. Since it's you who requested, I'll listen to you, senpai."

I looked down at the kneeling Kenji who's still squirming and trying to take my hand off his shoulder. His face was already red, I don't know if that was from pain or anger.

"I'm sorry Goto-senpai. You know I had to do this. Thank Ishida-senpai for talking for you."

As soon as I released him from my grip, he crawled backward and only stopped when he hit the wall. There was even a hint of tear and snot on his face as he looked at me in terror while holding his shoulder that was surely still throbbing from the pain.

"Look at him, ungrateful."

"That's still too much, Onoda-kun. You didn't have to do that."

"I know and I'm showing my remorse here, senpai. I just couldn't stand it when he openly declared about taking Kana back."

When she heard my response, Ishida-senpai could only sigh and shook her head again.

Of course, my reason was only half the truth. I have to instill some kind of fear in him.

This way, he will know that if he uses violence, he'll be in trouble with me.

It's also preparation for the fallout. He wouldn't think of doing it again and would stay away from Kana in fear of my retaliation if he did something.

There's a lot more consequences that might come up from this. That's why I will stitch it up one by one starting today.

I'm guessing that once he recovered from the pain, he'll shot something about Guidance Counselor.

"I'll report you to the Guidance Counselor! You delinquent!"

After recovering from the pain, Kenji once again shouted.

Haa. I don't need to guess, he already did.

Upon hearing his words, the helpless Ishida-senpai finally flared up as she stood up and walked to him.

She raised her hand and…

Slap!

"Kenji! When will you stop? Do you want to embarrass yourself further?"

"Huh? Y-you slapped me?"

"Yes. I did. Wake up, will you? Nothing will change if you keep shouting and act like a child. Aren't you a man? Then man up!"

"B-but he starte—"

Before he could finish pointing the blame to me, Ishida-senpai cut him off.

"I'm not taking anyone's side here. Onoda-kun. You're also in the wrong for doing that. Apologize to your senior. As much as I don't want to care about your personal affairs but all of you are members of this club. As the Club President, you're all my responsibility. So talk it out without using any violence. Am I clear?"

The way she said all those, my admiration towards her reached a new level.

She easily solved most of the problems that will crop up because of what I did with her words. She's truly a diligent one.

I guess I should stop trying to intimidate him further and play along with what Ishida-senpai proposed. It will reach the same conclusion anyway. Let's do it her way then. For now.

But the problem here is that Kenji. Will he listen to her?

Ah. I have to apologize first, right?

"I'm sorry, Goto-senpai. I know I'm in the wrong here so here… I hope you can take it to your heart to forgive me for gripping your shoulder like that. Also I'm sorry for making things worse, Ishida-senpai."

I bowed in front of him and also to Ishida-senpai next to him who was watching my apology with a complicated expression.

Well, I don't know. The way I worded it sounded insincere by pointing out what I did to him. In any case, I did what she wanted. Now it's his turn.

"He already apologized, Kenji. What about you?"

"H-he sounded insincere."

"If you want, you can also do the same. I deserve that."

I stood up and tried to walk over to where they are but Ishida-senpai put a hand out to signal me to stop.

"Stop Onoda-kun. Just sit there and wait. Kenji, problems won't be solved if you keep being stubborn. Do you remember what he proposed? He can let you talk to Kana. That's what you wanted, right?"

"What if he already corrupted her mind?"

Haa… This guy… In any case, if seen in another perspective, I really corrupted her mind, eh?

"Look, if you keep assuming like that then I can't help you anymore. Kana is still the same Kana as before. The only difference is, she can now decide for herself. And that's the Kana who will talk to you."

Letting her take over is really a great decision. She can form logical conclusions and that Kenji is listening to her.

Well, they've known each other for two years. I guess that helped.

"…"

"You're still not convinced?"

"… You're not colluding with him, are you?"

And that's how you will anger someone sincerely wanting to help you. You're hopeless Kenji.

"Kenji. Is that how low you see me? If that's the case get out and don't come back to the club anymore."

With coldness in her voice, she pointed at the door.

Upon hearing that, panic instantly appeared from his face as he held onto her arm.

"Wait. I accept. But you have to be there as well."

Sighing in resignation once again, Ishida-senpai nodded.

"Alright. I will be the witness."

"Can I say something senpai?"

Of course, it shouldn't just be decided like this. I have to chime in for Kana.

She's the center of this but she's not here. That's doing her wrong,

"What is it, Onoda-kun?"

"This is about Kana, we have to hear her thoughts first. I will tell her about this but, Ishida-senpai, I ask you to tell her as well and let her decide what to do. That way, Goto-senpai can have his mind at ease that I will not influence any of her decisions."

I calmly answered, laying out what's on my mind.

"I see. I agree. What do you think, Kenji?"

Ishida-senpai nodded before turning to him.

"T-that's fair…"

After deliberating for a while, he finally nodded.

I'm already thinking what I will do if he rejected but with this, this issue with this guy will finally reach a conclusion.

The problem is, will he accept the result when that time comes?

Well, I'll still prepare for the worst case scenarios anyway. After seeing how he acted today, he can be a pain in the ass if not dealt with thoroughly.

"Good. See? We can talk it out without shouting and acting with violence, right?"

Upon hearing Kenji's acceptance, a smile finally landed on Ishida-senpai's lips as she tried to get my acknowledgement from her sentence.

"Yes, senpai. Thank you for doing this,"