“I see. So we know for sure that the incidents in question were the work of our students, then. You’re beside yourself with fury not only because your own pride has been besmirched, but also because students causing trouble outside of the academy is sure to damage its reputation,” Ricuen said, summarizing the crux of the issue neatly.
Oh no, no, no… So the only reason why this problem hadn’t been mentioned before now is because it wasn’t certain one of our students was involved…? And now that we are certain of that fact, it’s painfully clear the order we thought had remained stable is anything but!
“That’s exactly correct, much as I hate to admit it,” Sadie said, head hung with shame.
“However, President Sadie, while the incidents may have occurred off school grounds, the victims were nevertheless all our students. We can take some small comfort in the fact that dragons unaffiliated with our school have yet to be impacted,” said Ricuen.
“I’m afraid you’re being far too optimistic, Ricuen,” said Sadie. “It doesn’t change the fact that sixth-year students have been repeatedly engaging in illicit activities. A member of our highest grade level is completely flouting the responsibility that comes with her position…”
It struck me that, in recent times, Sadie always seemed to be worrying about one thing or another. She’d been active and engaged back when she was the Vice President of the East, but ever since she took up the president’s office, it seemed she’d struggled to cope with its myriad responsibilities. The pressure of the president’s seat was not to be underestimated—or perhaps I should say the pressure of following in Leila’s footsteps was not to be underestimated.
Within a month of my sister enrolling at the academy, students had started calling her the “shadow student council president.” Not long afterward, she had been elected to the office proper as a mere first-year, establishing herself as a living legend. No one would ever want to be compared with her—not even I, her sister, was an exception to that rule. The clearer it became you didn’t want to be compared to someone, however, the more prone to doing so people became… To Sadie, my sister’s legacy was probably something akin to a curse.
“Well, if their pranks have gone too far, then our only choice is to show them some discipline. If anything, their being students here will make it easier for us to bring them in line. It works out in our favor,” Direwolf Etigra said as she scribbled away in a notebook. I assumed she was working on her homework. “Fortunately, it seems our culprits will be striking again today. I’m to understand they’ll be making an appearance on the northern side of Mount Rokko roughly thirty minutes from now.”
The question of how Etigra knew that was instantly raised, and as it turned out, it was just something her instincts had told her. Sensing an enemy’s bloodlust in battle was relatively believable, but how one could sense a battle that would occur in half an hour somewhere entirely different was a mystery…although considering every one of the council’s members possessed abilities that were equally extraordinary, it may have just been par for the course.
“Makes sense. We know how many of ’em there are, and we know where they’re from, too. Sounds like the student council heading out to teach ’em a lesson might be just what’s needed. I’m for it,” said Paulownia Tokinen, the student council’s treasurer, throwing her weight behind Etigra’s proposal.
Tokinen was a rather rare red dragon in the sense that her hair was so conspicuously darkly colored, it almost looked black. Although she stood out physically, Tokinen herself was very much not a contrarian—in fact, she was the sort of person who would regularly agree with the popular opinion, even when she didn’t agree at all deep down. As such, it was a little hard for me to take her vote at face value. She was almost my exact opposite in that respect. In any case, credible or not, a vote was a vote.
“It sounds like our treasurer is in favor of handling this ourselves,” said Etigra. “How about it? What say we—”
“Let’s do it!” I said, shooting to my feet and shouting out loud in spite of myself before Etigra had even finished. “If they believe there’s nothing wrong with disturbing the peace, then we have an obligation to teach them how foolish their actions truly are! That goes doubly given we’re dragons—when our kind messes around, we have the potential to cause earth-shaking disasters! We must never be allowed to misuse our power!”
Needless to say, that little speech drew the gazes of all the members of the student council toward me…and I found myself feeling extremely bashful. I shrank away from their stares in embarrassment…
“My intent was to convince our president, but if our secretary is that motivated, I think the matter is as good as settled. I, Etigra of General Affairs, shall depart to battle.”
“I, Subsecretary Ricuen, will do the same. Better to take action and wrap this up today than sit here and worry about it—not to mention my superior has already made her intentions clear.”
“I’ve told you a thousand times, Miss Ricuen, please stop calling me your superior!”
Etigra stowed her notebook in her bag, and Ricuen filed the papers she’d been approving away on a shelf. They moved with purpose, wasting not a hint of time or effort.
President Sadie heaved a sigh. “Very well, then. We will wipe them out! Our foes are five in number, and so we will dispatch five members to oppose them. I trust our remaining members will handle the office work in our absence!”
Being as we were already aware of where our foes would appear, thanks to Direwolf Etigra’s prediction, we proceeded in our human forms rather than turning into dragons. We didn’t need the mobility, and our dragon forms would have drawn far too much attention. If our foes noticed us and chose to cancel their plans, the entire endeavor would be rendered meaningless.
“By the way,” I said to Sadie as we walked, “what exactly is it the offenders have been doing wrong? In retrospect, that seems rather significant.”
“You’ll understand when we arrive,” said Sadie. “And while I’m at it, I would like you to serve as our bait, Miss Laika.”
“…Pardon?”
Not only is she not giving me an explanation, but she’s also assigning me decoy duty on top of it? Why does it feel like I’m being mistreated…?
“It’s a role you’re well suited for,” Ricuen explained. “Not only are you my superior, but you’re also the previous president’s little sister. A group of arrogant punks like them are all but guaranteed to try to pull something on you.”
Not that it matters in this particular moment, but I did just ask her to stop calling me her superior, and she’s certainly showing no sign of complying.
“D-do you think so…?” I replied. “I don’t mean to boast, but I have defeated my sister in single combat. If these ruffians are truly as cowardly as I’ve been led to believe, would they not be wary of me…?”
Ricuen was usually on point with her analysis, but in this one case, I felt she might have made a misjudgment. If I was used as bait, and the plan failed as a result, it certainly wouldn’t reflect well on me. Of course, then again, our bait would by necessity be a member of the student council. Ultimately, it might make very little difference who we sent…
“Yes, they are indeed likely to be a cowardly bunch,” said Ricuen. “That’s why we can expect them to take the chance to come at you—an individual of no small renown—in numbers. They’ll believe it’s their chance to engage you five-on-one rather than one-on-one.”
“Oh, I see now. From their perspective, being able to surround me would be desirable. Just how devious of a group are we dealing with…?”
“If they pull a stunt like that in the vicinity of the school, the risk of them being caught increases dramatically. They would earn no prestige from the story getting out—if anything, it would damage their reputation. Far from the school grounds, however, that would not be a concern in their eyes.”
The more I heard about the perpetrators, the lower my opinion of them sank. I knew, however, such fools had always existed, and always would. Dragons in particular were prone to such foolishness—we were mightier than the average race, but that meant we were more likely to be lulled into arrogance by our own power.
“Once we reach our destination, Miss Laika, I would like you to assume your dragon form and fly at a reasonable pace,” said Sadie. “I believe that will attract our perpetrators in short order. Once they arrive, we will move to assist you.”
“Understood,” I said. “I will not fail you!”
I shifted into my dragon form and slowly ascended into the sky. I knew if I flew too far, my compatriots on the ground would lose sight of me, so after flying a relatively short distance, I turned around and flew back the way I’d come.
A few minutes after I started flying my circuit, a number of other dragons flapped their way toward me—and flew so close to me, it seemed like they were deliberately trying to collide with me!
“What’s the fun in flying like that, slowpoke?!” “Better hurry up, or I might just rear-end you!” “Oh wait—guess you can’t, with me up ahead of you!” “You look young—bet’cher from the academy, right? In that case, you’re goin’ down!”
The dragons started heckling me relentlessly.
Is this what the culprits are guilty of?! Sky rage?!
I was being subjected to one of the many methods dragons used to harass each other mid-flight. The harassment was outrageous enough in and of itself, but when you took into account the danger of doing so in the air, it became a truly inexcusable act!
I see now what our rule breakers have been up to! They’ve been targeting students who fly home on their own!
“You should all be ashamed of yourselves!” I roared. “Perhaps we dragons would come out with a few light injuries if we collided midair, but if one of us fell on a village, we could inflict untold damage upon it and its inhabitants!”
“Who friggin’ cares?!” “Come on, we’re sixth-years! We deserve to have a little fun for once!” “And besides, you’re the last president’s little sis, right? We’ve got a score to settle with you!”
They’ve crossed far too many lines… This is misbehavior deserving of a harsh punishment indeed.
The delinquent dragons kept flying close enough to graze me and cutting in front of me without warning. One of them was flying right behind me as well, meaning I couldn’t slow down to escape. It was a textbook example of reckless flying if I’d ever seen it.
“Better pay attention, kid! Let yourself get rear-ended, and you might fall on something important!” “Are those people I see walking down there? Bet you don’t wanna give them a bad day, huh?” “We’ve been holding back ever since the last president took over! Now it’s time for us to cut loose, and we’re gonna have you make up for all the time we wasted!”
They’d finally said the words I wanted to hear the least. “What utter stupidity…,” I muttered. “You’re supposed to be upperclassmen! The least you could do is give me some small reason to respect you!”
I was under no illusions my scolding would prompt a change of heart. I said it because, frankly, being subjected to their sky rage was more than a little irritating… Had I been alone, I likely would have thrown caution to the wind and launched an attack at the dragon in front of me, spewing flame like no tomorrow. The only reason why I was able to hold myself back was I knew I was working as part of a team.
Now then—they should be along any minute, I’d think.
“Gah! Who the hell’re they?!” “Whoa! Watch it, pal!” “Hey, I’m above you, here! You’re gonna make me lose my balance!”
I heard the panicked and bewildered shouts of the delinquent dragons and looked downward. There I saw a number of other dragons launch themselves up from the ground, flying swiftly in our direction. The other members of the student council were here to help me!
The other members had no interest in letting the delinquents’ reckless flying go on for any longer than it already had. They went on the attack immediately, grabbing on to the delinquents’ tails, forcing them downward toward safe, empty patches of land, and generally attempting to ground them.
“What’s your problem?! Cut it out!” “I can’t fly like this, you jerk!”
It seemed for all their reckless and aggressive flying, the culprits were less than skilled when put on the defensive. They soon gave up on staying in the sky and clumsily touched down in an unpopulated area. At the absolute least, we had forced them to put an early end to today’s midair harassment campaign.
In the end, it only took about a minute for us to herd the troublemakers down onto the northern slope of Mount Rokko, where they returned to their human forms. Staying in dragon form while on the surface was, generally speaking, a hassle.
“We’re finally sixth-years, and some jerks are already trying to pull us down?!” “Who are those cretins, anyway?! Oh… It’s the student council…” “They’re onto us already…?”
We had transformed into our human forms as well, which made it rather easy for the delinquents to surmise our intentions. Being the president, Sadie stepped forward to speak for us as a group.
“I know you,” she said. “You’re the near-dropouts of the new sixth-year class. You’re an embarrassment to our entire academy, and I request you never pull a stunt like this again.”
“Shut’cher mouth! You’re only the president ’cause the job got handed to you on a silver platter—where do you get off talking down to us?!” “What she said! You’re the president in name only!” “Hurry up and retire already, you faker!”
Oof—that’s the worst argument they could have possibly chosen to make.
Sadie’s smile had grown noticeably strained. “Oh? I see you have some very fascinating ideas, don’t you…?” she muttered. They say sometimes when you’re truly upset, you find yourself smiling in spite of yourself, and I suspected the president was experiencing exactly that.
Suddenly, with a mighty thud, Sadie stomped the ground with all her strength. It felt like a minor earthquake, and I nearly lost my footing.
“Everyone? Crush these fools. On the double, please. We brought just as many members as their group numbers, conveniently enough, so I’d like each of you to claim one of them for yourself. Take them on one-on-one and slaughter—pardon me. Killing them is off the table, of course. Take them on one-on-one and destroy them, please.”
It felt like Sadie was using her command, in part, to quell the roiling rage within her. Regardless of her intentions, the meaning of her command was clear: We had been granted permission to use force.
“Let us demonstrate what the members of our fair academy’s student council are truly capable of. It’s clear, after all, the only solution to this problem is a lesson in how far separated we are from them.”
The delinquents seemed rather less enthusiastic after Sadie’s speech than they’d been before.
“Sadie, what the hell are you—” one of them began, but she never got the chance to finish her sentence. Ricuen had, before anyone even realized it, circled around behind her and struck the back of her neck with a powerful barehanded chop.
“I believe my work here is done, then. Let me know when the rest of you are finished, please.”
Considering how Ricuen fought, there was simply no way she wouldn’t circle around behind her enemies if they gave her such a wide-open opportunity. Her unfortunate target fell face-first onto the ground, fully unconscious. One of our foes was down, and four remained.
As to the exact nature of Ricuen’s movements, describing them was unfortunately beyond me. She was capable of moving as quickly as it was physically possible for a dragon to move—in other words, they didn’t call her “Wyrmspeed Ricuen” for nothing.
The remaining delinquents, finally realizing the predicament they were in, fanned out at once.
“Oh, crap! The student council’s here!” “You just noticed?! Let’s do this—we’re taking them down!” “Yeah! We’re all dragons here! We can take ’em!”
If they’d stayed clumped up together, there was a chance we could have defeated them all in a single attack. In that sense, they had made the right call. As for our side of the equation, the fact that they’d spread out made it easier for us to follow up on Sadie’s rather eccentric order to battle them one-on-one.
“Well, then—I believe I’ll take on…you,” Direwolf Etigra said as she pointed toward one of our remaining foes.
To be clear: Her finger was pointed toward the delinquent. Her gaze, on the other hand, was directed straight up at the empty sky above. Whatever she was thinking about, it seemed very unlikely her chosen foe had anything to do with it.
Etigra would never look the people she spoke with in the eye. That habit was a touch rude of her, in my mind, but looking a conversational partner in the eye would have been meaningless for her. The rest of us made eye contact and observed people’s expressions in order to judge how they were feeling and better understand them. She, however, could understand people perfectly clearly without going to the trouble.
“I should inform you in advance: Seven seconds from now, you will be unconscious,” said Etigra.
Her unsettling, almost devilish proclamation seemed to send a chill down her opponent’s spine. “D-don’t you mess with us! We’re sixth-years, too! We’re on your level!” the delinquent shouted, succumbing to rage and charging forward blindly.
Etigra, on the other hand, began walking backward at a slight diagonal angle, still facing her foe. The delinquent closed the distance in an instant, of course, and began a ferocious onslaught, but each punch and kick she threw missed Etigra by a hair’s breadth.
The delinquent clicked her tongue with irritation. “I almost had you there—this time, I’ll knock you out for sure!”
She hadn’t “almost had her” at all, in truth, but I could hardly blame her for seeing it that way. Etigra simply knew exactly how she had to move in order to evade every strike. Woodland wolves were known for having senses so finely tuned they could tell when prey was moving through the trees far, far off in the distance, and Etigra’s senses were even keener than that—or so the rumors had it, anyway. That story was how she had earned the popular title “Direwolf Etigra.”
Etigra was entirely calm and composed, so anyone watching the fight would be forgiven for thinking her opponent was missing her, rather than that Etigra was dodging. All it took was a slight lean on her part to cause her opponent’s strikes to sail through the open air. From Etigra’s perspective, however, that wasn’t anything remarkable—it was simply a truth that had been set in stone since before the fight began. Her extraordinary senses bordered on a form of precognition, and I was certain she’d used them to set up some sort of trap for her foe, though I had yet to see through to its nature.
At long last, Etigra’s skirt fluttered as she lifted her right leg high into the air. Her opponent had chosen that exact moment to charge forward, and wound up plowing face-first into Etigra’s foot. It was almost like her foot was magnetic, and her opponent’s face had been drawn to it irresistibly.
“Bwa— Ugh…” Etigra’s opponent grunted. I wasn’t sure if she’d tried to say something, or if it had just been a painful exhalation, but one way or another she collapsed to the ground in a heap.
“As predicted: seven seconds, on the dot,” Etigra said, punctuating her victory with an extended yawn. “I must say, when you know the exact timing with which you’re going to win a battle, it’s terribly tedious to actually go through the motions.”
Etigra pulled some sort of sweet out from her pocket and popped it into her mouth. It seemed that was her personal reward for a job well done.
“There really is no greater pleasure in life than eating. You can never experience a food’s flavor at any time other, after all.”
That, I suspected, was a sentiment only Etigra herself would ever understand…though I was in firm agreement that eating was one of life’s greatest pleasures. I, for one, rarely felt more alive than when I was sinking my teeth into a slab of meat.
It felt as if the overall outcome of the battle had already been decided. The disparity in ability between us and our opponents was simply too great. No matter what they did, there was no plausible means by which they could make a comeback, and they were well aware of that fact. That being said, they also seemed to know running away would be hopeless, and so they stood against us for lack of any better option.
Paulownia Tokinen took to the front next, choosing a target and squaring off against her. She held in both hands an enormous sword made from the wood of a paulownia tree. However, she wasn’t standing in any sort of fighting stance. At a glance, she looked to be perfectly relaxed and unguarded.
“I’m Tokinen, the treasurer. Nice duelin’ with you,” said Tokinen. Her mother was a color of dragon other than red, and she spoke in a distinctive manner I assumed came from that side of the family. Her blackish hair was likely on account of her ancestry as well.
“What, coming at me with a weapon?! You coward! If you want a duel, then duel me with your fists!” Tokinen’s opponent shouted. She seemed terrified to take on an armed member of the student council.
It occurred to me that red dragons very rarely used weapons on the whole. Direct attacks using our own bodies were generally faster, which probably played a factor in that preference, of course.
“Coward, am I? Well, I happen to be pretty weak, so usin’ this is the best choice I’ve got. Never been good at breathin’ fire, either, so how ’bout you think of that as a fair trade, eh?”
“You can’t breathe fire? What sorta sorry excuse for a dragon are you? Maybe I can beat you after all,” Tokinen’s opponent spat.
When faced with a moment of crisis, people tend to leap to reassuring conclusions in order to stabilize their state of mind. Tokinen’s opponent seemed to have done just that, and chose to open the battle by breathing a burst of flame in Tokinen’s direction. It was a rather impressive fireball—as one would expect from one of the eldest upperclassmen at the academy—with heat to spare, and enough reach that one could easily call it a long-ranged attack.
Those flames, however, were split in half. Tokinen had cleaved them in two with a single thrust of her blade, splitting the stream to either side of her. That, it seemed, was her way of dodging the flames, and by the time her opponent realized something was wrong, Tokinen’s sword had slammed straight into her gut.
“Aaaaaaaaaugh! I can’t stoooooooooooop!!!”
The delinquent dragon was sent flying into the distance at an incredible speed, and didn’t return. Tokinen’s thrust had been powerful enough to bash through even the thickest of castle gates in a single strike, so that wasn’t much of a surprise.
“Went a bit hard on that one, huh? I’m weak ’n frail, so I’m s’pposed to carry a battering ram ’round with me for self-defense. Can’t exactly walk ’round with one of those every day, though, so I made it into a sword instead,” Tokinen said as she returned her blade to its sheath—or rather, to the tube-like case she carried it in.
Her sword hadn’t been made to cut, or even to bludgeon. It had been made to destroy anything she swung it at. The fact she’d sent her opponent flying was, in a sense, her way of showing mercy. If Tokinen had gone for the knees instead, they—and the bones surrounding them—would have been completely pulverized, dragon or not.
“Well, that was even easier than winning the treasurer spot in the election,” said Tokinen. “Gotten better at holding back since then, too, so her bones’re probably mostly in one piece. Couple fractures, maybe. Can’t win ’em all,” Tokinen said with a faint chuckle as she gazed out in the direction her foe had disappeared in.
All right, then. I believe that makes it my turn…though of course, it looks like our remaining enemies have long since lost the will to fight.
“Oh no… Why do I have to go up against the girl who beat the ultimate student council president, of all people…?”
She was, of course, referring to the former student council president—my sister—rather than the current one. It seemed her absence was just as grave of an issue for the academy as I’d feared. The majority of our students simply couldn’t conceptualize anyone being the president other than Leila. Even I associated the word “president” with her so strongly, I referred to the current president as “Miss Sadie” rather than invoking her title.
Sadie seemed less than pleased to hear the word applied to herself, as well. She didn’t wish to be compared to her predecessor, but the fact was Leila’s face sprang to mind the moment the word was spoken. There was no helping it. It would take time—a lot of it—before she could be freed from that curse, and until then, pointless bouts with feckless troublemakers like these would simply be a fact of life.
It struck me Sadie couldn’t bring herself to take pride in her position as president, and if everyone else perceived that, it was no surprise they would take the president’s instability as a sign her subordinates—and thus, the whole organization—would be petty and weak. That would damage Sadie’s self-confidence in turn, forming the beginnings of a vicious cycle…but that, at least, was a problem we could solve. It was a trial our new student council was capable of overcoming so long as I did my part to help.
“I’m afraid to say you had already lost the moment you chose to engage in reckless flying,” I said to the delinquent I’d been paired up with. “No one who truly believed in their own strength would ever do such a thing. They wouldn’t need to. Your acts have declared to the world that you have succumbed to your own inferiority complex. Speaking as one who has been the subject of your harassment, I found myself more inclined to pity you than be irritated by you. There is nothing for me to gain through fighting you.”
“S-so then…you’ll let me off the hook…?” said the delinquent. She thought she was saved, and the tension began to drain from her expression ever so slightly.
“No, I will not! Regardless of whether or not I’ll gain anything from this battle, it is my duty as the student council’s secretary to see it through! I will forge your weak and frail spirit into something stronger with my own two fists! Now—come at me!”
Unfortunately for you, it’s very important I teach you a lesson you won’t forget about your own powerlessness! You’ll only be able to grow after learning and acknowledging who you are right now!
“Oh, to hell with this! If I’m going down, I’m getting one good hit in first!” the delinquent yelled. She transformed into her draconic form and launched herself forward, seeking to crush me under her massive bulk.
“An admirable mindset!” I shouted in reply.
I could have assumed my full form as well, but chose not to, instead leaping into the air with all my might—and slamming my fist directly into her enormous, draconic face. It was a simple, perfectly straightforward attack, and a method of fighting I had learned through my battle with my sister.
I had no need for cheap tricks or strategies. Frankly, I wasn’t suited for them. When I fought, I would throw all my strength into a head-on clash with my opponent. If I proved mightier, I would win, and if my opponent was mightier, they would defeat me. Whatever the outcome, I would be satisfied.
“How’re you…this…strong…?” the delinquent muttered in disbelief before slowly collapsing to the ground.
“It was a pleasure to spar with you,” I said, giving my fallen foe a polite bow.
At long last, only one enemy remained. The final delinquent and Sadie faced each other down, glaring at one another with unconcealed animosity.
“You don’t have what it takes to be the president, Sadie,” said the delinquent. “Hell, you don’t even have what it takes to be on the council! You were already lucky to be the vice president, and now you think you can just step on up and take the president’s seat? What a joke!”
Her barbed words flowed freely. I could tell her grudge against Sadie had by no means started today.
“That’s why we’ll never bow down to you and your cronies! We’re gonna do whatever we want to! We played nice while the last president was in office, but she’s gone, and we’re done!”
“I can’t disagree. The fact that people like you have begun to crop up proves my unworthiness for my position in and of itself. Hence the first step I must take in rising to my station is defeating you,” said Sadie.
Her words were calm, but her eyes were glazed over with fury. It was written all over her face: No matter what happened, her opponent would pay for what she’d done. There are moments in everyone’s lives when they’re faced with something or someone they must overcome to move onward, and this was one of Sadie’s. This was her trial, and hers alone.
“As the president of the student council, I will set an example for you—and everyone like you—to follow, demonstrating it to you one by one if I have to. Now it’s time for me to open your eyes to the truth!”
“The hell you will! I’ll burn you to ashes!”
The final delinquent spewed a full-powered gout of flames in Sadie’s direction. It was quite a display—a crimson blaze one could easily have described as an inferno. It was by no means an attack one could dismiss out of hand, and it proved that in spite of her wrongdoing, she had been through her fair share of battles and hardship to obtain genuine strength. That knowledge made it all the more tragic to know she had lost her way, and I knew Sadie, a student in the same level as her, was the best possible candidate to set her back on the right path.
Sadie opened her mouth wide…
…and breathed out not a burst of flame—but a beam of light!
The ruby-red flash of searing hot light engulfed the delinquent’s fire breath, swallowing it—and the delinquent herself—up in an instant!
“Aaaaaaaaargh! This is way too hot, even for a red dragoooooon!” the delinquent screamed, but even the sound of her voice was blotted out by the roar of Sadie’s breath! My eardrums shook so violently, I almost thought a full-sized dragon had just barged its way directly past me.
Eventually, the light of Sadie’s breath faded. The delinquent was left standing stock-still, steam gently wafting from her body, until she finally collapsed on the spot. She’d fallen victim to a technique only Sadie was capable of using: A beam of red-hot light that was the result of her quest to perfect her fire breath. It was powerful enough to have earned her the name “Rubiaflash Sadie”!
“Your battle was exceptional. I’m truly impressed,” I said, speaking on behalf of the council’s other members.
“I’ve done nothing worthy of such praise. As I said before, this battle would never have occurred were it not for me. And so,” Sadie said, clenching her fists, “I will continue to fight until every one of the fools who look down on us are defeated and the academy is cleansed of their influence!”
“Understood! I will help in any way I can!” I said. “Though then again, considering this incident was the student council’s responsibility to solve from the start, I suppose it’s a given I’d assist you.”
If the academy’s standards for behavior had grown slack on account of the students’ disdain for the current student council, then I bore some responsibility for the way things had turned out.
“I’m in full agreement with everything my superior just said. We will wipe them out together,” Ricuen said, stepping up beside me.
Tokinen smiled and joined us as well. “We’d better be getting back and telling everyone who didn’t come along ’bout how this turned out,” she said.
Etigra, it seemed, was already prepared to leave. She’d turned to face the academy, ready to set off at any moment.
As I gazed at my fellow members of the council, a thought struck me: Even if the order my sister had brought about collapsed, all we had to do was bring peace to the academy once again. All I had to do was devote myself more wholeheartedly than ever to constant self-improvement!
I would build a new student council with my own two hands!
My newfound resolve, however…
“By the way, Miss Laika, I’d think it’s time you were given some sort of title.”
…would soon be dashed by Etigra’s words.
“Huh…? What brought this on…?” I asked. I hadn’t at all anticipated I would become the subject of this conversation.
“Now that you mention it, it’s weird for only one of us not to have one. Seems like a good chance to think one up, eh?” said Tokinen. She was just as enthusiastic as Etigra, at a glance, though knowing her, there was every chance she was only saying that and really didn’t think it was a good idea at all. It was quite hard to tell what she truly thought about anything.
“But I don’t have any special abilities in particular that would earn me that sort of name,” I protested.
“It seems to me you always pick the simple, straightforward way of doing things. Why don’t we call you ‘Simple Laika’?” said Ricuen. It was perhaps the single worst possible suggestion I could have received.
“Absolutely not! That makes it sound like I’m incapable of doing anything other than the most simple and straightforward option!”
“I believe that reflects your personality quite nicely, actually.”
“Not in a positive light, it doesn’t!”
I wonder if there’s any chance I could convince everyone to do away with these horrible titles altogether…?
The End
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