Volume 6 - CH 1

‘…I’ll do it. Please, let me do it.’

—So that I can save Natsukawa.

After jumping on the request coming from the president of the student council, the cool hottie of the K4, Yuuki-senpai, I discussed our plan of action with my aide Ishiguro-senpai, and immediately jumped into the fray. In fact, our next point on the agenda was confronting the outside supporters in a meeting that Hanawa-senpai arranged. How well prepared is this guy…Where did the gentle hottie attitude of his wander off to?

Classes ended for the day, and I immediately headed over to the student council office. On the way there, all my head was filled with were scenes from my first time working part-time in middle school.

‘Props to you for doing this,’ is what the other employees told me. I did keep the fact of being in middle school a secret, and the ‘difference’ between us overwhelmed me, leaving me to mess up a lot of times. The same could be the case now…All I remember was making more trouble to the people around me. The only reason I continued until mid-way through my third year in middle school is that the team at the place that picked me up was new, and I didn’t have many new things to learn.

The first time I touched a computer, the structure of the system, the difference in goals and work I was used to from school, I was truly absorbed into something completely unrelated to Natsukawa. Since I received proper pay for it, I’m not sure if I should phrase things like this, but I feel like this period led to my growth more than joining a club just because I had nothing better to do.

The know-how from back then still pulses strongly in the back of my head. How should I bring that back to life, and use it to my advantage to save this culture festival? At the very least, in order to allow smoother progress, I felt like I was lacking the necessary information. I rushed to the student council office, only to catch on to loud noise close to me.

“—! …?!”

“—rry! —!”

“Big Sis…?”

I wouldn’t call it rare, but I haven’t heard Big Sis’ tense voice in a long time. I sped up a bit, when I spotted a blonde-haired girl arguing with Big Sis in front of the student council office.

“B-But I can…!”

“I don’t have time to bother with you! Leave me alone before you get in my way!”

“…!”

It’s Shinonome Whatsit Marika, a rich lady in the truest sense whose full name I still can’t remember. Her looks and figure definitely leave an impact on you, but I don’t remember ever having a worthwhile conversation with her. That being said, I can respect her for pulling out so many emotions from the usually listless Big Sis. Who knows, maybe she’ll join me in the ‘Group of Sajou Kaede Victims’ in the near future.

Unable to deal with the pressure coming from Big Sis, the lady showed an expression distorted in pain and frustration and ran away towards the West building.

“…Man, why do I feel so nostalgic now?” I commented while approaching Big Sis.

“…You.”

“I get you’re on edge, but did you really have to be this harsh?”

“Shut up…”

Meddling too much is dangerous, yes. Once she’s reached boiling point, the eruption’s one step away. Once I get bad vibes, it’s the signal for me to shut up. At times like these, it’s best to cut out all emotion and just move on.

“…What? You want something?” She asked.

“Need some info on stuff.”

“……”

Her eyes narrowed. I didn’t expect her to show me such a doubtful look. I’m just trynna help with your work, aight?

*

The work from the executive committee’s been stagnating for a while, and the other student council members are working mostly outside. Wait, do you call patrolling inside the school even working outside? What if it’s working outside the school? Expedition? I explained I was told to help by Yuuki-senpai to Big Sis. As expected, she crossed her legs and gave me a rather dubious gaze.

“…Why are you going to work with us?”

“Who was the person that forced me to help you in the first place?”

“That was just useless random crap…”

“I do feel like Yuuki-senpai handed me quite the number of confidential documents though…”

That was supposed to be random crap? It looked rather serious and important to me. I feel a bit disappointed, like a side character I thought was super important just got killed off after episode 2.

“…Why do you even seem so motivated, huh?” She asked me.

“My reward.”

“Haruto’s lunch box? Are you not fed up with that by now?”

“Hell no. Also, how dare you speak of his divine lunch box like that.”

How could I ever get fed up with that? At the very least, they’re 200x more delicious than your lame steamed buns. I guess it does seem like a luxury if you usually only eat food from the train station store…No, I’ll take that back. That’s my reward for my hard labor. The expected compensation, so to speak.

The reason I came here in the first place is to prepare for my inevitable involvement with the culture festival execution committee, and my job to support the system so that they get their work done. In other words, Ishiguro-senpai and I are supposed to be mediators. Ishiguro-senpai has gathered valuable information in regards to the situation inside the committee and is sharing that with me. So when I asked what exactly I had to do, I just received a blunt ‘Do whatever you can’ back from them. I really hate that kind of answer, you know?

I checked through the data I got, stored on my smartphone. It reflected all the tasks the executive committee still had to finish up. Which task requires the most work? Which job is the most confidential? With all of this information as a basis, I pondered how I could best fulfill my own role, grasping the situation as a whole, but even as I panicked while facing the facts, I realized that today was not a good day.

“I’m going home.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, with the whole chaos at the executive committee, you folks from the student council also ended up in a standstill, right? Guess I wasn’t needed here after all.”

“…Just do what you want. You’re an outsider anyway.”

“Oh, that is true.”

I once again analyzed my own position. When I was helping Big Sis in the student council, I was practically her errand boy. However, things are different now. I formed a contract with Yuuki-senpai—a promise. Big Sis has nothing to do with this. Yuuki-senpai said he’d probably get punched if Big Sis found out about everything, so I guess there’s no need to spill the beans.

I was about to head home and decided to take a quick detour towards the executive committee’s office, seeing how things were looking over there. I stopped a bit further away, trying to take a glimpse through the window from the hallway, but I couldn’t see Natsukawa sitting anywhere. Well, as long as she’s fine—

‘Ahh, what a pain.’

‘I can’t deal with this anymore~’

“?!”

The door to the classroom suddenly swung open. Why would people leave at exactly this timing…?

“…Huh?”

My heart was racing painfully fast when I looked at the female student who stepped out of the classroom, only to spot familiar faces behind her. Now that I get a good look at them, it’s the same match-up from last time when I helped Natsukawa. As expected, Sasaki immediately spotted me, and his expression changed instantly.

“Sajou, what are you doing here…?”

“…Err, I was just on my way home?”

“Oh what? Is this one of your classmates, Taka?” One of the girls said.

“Huh? Weren’t you here before?” The other girl commented.

“Ahh, back then I was…well, sent around by the student council.”

She was talking about the time I came to pick up data from the executive committee president Hasegawa-senpai. If some boring and unrefined guy came over, sent by the student council filled with handsome folks, it’d surely leave a lasting impression. Interestingly enough, these two are calling Sasaki ‘Taka’ like it’s nothing, huh?

“Are you taking a break? I bet you must have a lot of work.”

“Break? Nah, just avoiding the heavy work.”

“Right, right. Can’t expect us to work under those ridiculous conditions.”

“Huh…Really now?” I listened to the two girls and responded while looking at Sasaki.

He must have understood what I was commenting on, as he returned a sharp gaze. Maybe because I’ve been around all those hotties from the student council, Sasaki’s average hottie face isn’t even that special anymore. I doubt he’d be happy to see his expression right now.

“I mean, we’re part of the soccer club. I already have our hands full with manager work, can’t be bothered with this slavery. I barely have any time to meet Taito either. Oh right, Taito’s the captain of the soccer club, by the way.”

“Stop bragging about your boyfriend already…Man, I really thought this would be a lot more fun.”

“Haha.” Sasaki showed a meek laugh at the girls’ comments.

“………”

Natsukawa said that these two aren’t bad people. She said they helped her a lot in the beginning. I get the circumstances and all, and I wouldn’t just throw complaints at them that this still isn’t good enough of a reason to leave all the work to others. However…

“Well, that’ll probably change starting next week, so could I ask you to stop skipping work like this?”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“The student council will start getting involved and is most likely going to smoothen things up a bit. You won’t have any complaints then, yes?”

“S-Sajou, you…”

I was just trying to advise them, but I guess I didn’t look as polite as I’d liked to, according to Sasaki’s reaction. Right as he opened his mouth and closed it like a fish waiting to be fed, he suddenly stepped in front of the two, as if to protect them, and grabbed my shoulder.

“What’s your problem? You’re not a committee member, and this isn’t the kind of tone you should have towards your seniors—”

“The hell is your problem, Sasaki?”

“Wha…”

A leader who can’t do her job, an endless list of unfinished tasks, I wholeheartedly understand being annoyed at that. It’s not a proper reason to slack off. However, considering what Natsukawa told me, I’m willing to give that a pass, and I already said everything I could. However…Sasaki’s a tad bit different.

“Sasaki, you’re an executive committee member, right? What right do you have to tell me what to do?”

“B-But, you’re unrelated to this! Don’t do anything unnecessary!”

“Unnecessary?”

Is there any problem with me telling these people how to do their work? Or would he be troubled if things worked out, and the committee managed to finish their work a lot quicker?

“Hey, Sasaki. By something unnecessary, do you mean helping Natsukawa?”

“!”

“She’s got it rough, I bet. It looked like she got a lot of work pushed onto her. It was far too much for her to handle, I just happened to help her out last time. When you didn’t, that is.”

“Y-You…”

I get the idea that he can’t go against his seniors. But things are different if these feelings he supposedly has for Natsukawa can’t even win against something as trivial as that. Just because of that meaningless pressure, he chose to abandon Natsukawa? I’m not buying that. I’m done trying to support him, and in my eyes, he’s nothing but a failure now.

“Sasaki…Why did you even become a committee member in the first place?”

“…!”

I still remember the look he gave me when he offered to become a member of the culture festival executive committee. Where did all of this diligence wander off to? If you really did it with an ulterior motive, then at least stick to that and clearly show your favoritism. Does he not want to be closest to Natsukawa to the point nobody else could even lay a finger on her? No, I guess in that regard…I’m the exception.

“Anyway, I got stuff to do.”

“……”

I brushed away Sasaki’s hand and passed him by. The two seniors seemingly felt awkward, and didn’t even try to look at me. They also didn’t attempt to say anything either.

“…Phew.”

Haha. I’m such a bastard. Bullying a hottie like him was just so much fun. All of the frustration and jealousy I’ve built up is all gone—Yeah, I guess I was jealous after all? Why does it feel like I’ve lost for some reason? Erk, whatever. I’ve got more important stuff to do than this. I don’t care about hottie or average guy anymore. Faced with Big Sis’ fist, your looks don’t save you. Once she bashes your eyes in, you can’t even look at your own face anymore.

“Welp…Good luck with your soccer practice.”

“……”

Now piss off, and get back to work.