3.3
“It’s so hot. It’s so hot, I feel like I could die…”
The next day, I parked myself at the crossroads connecting the paths to the various dorms, choosing a spot under the trees that lined the road. The crossroads were unavoidable if you wanted to meet up with a senior student. They also intersected with the path to the Keyaki Mall and the school building. No matter where Katsuragi decided to go, I wouldn’t miss him.
It would’ve been better to wait in the cool lobby, but unfortunately, some girls from another class had decided to get together and have tea there. Discovering that had felt like entering a restaurant and finding no spots readily available. I wasn’t confident enough to try to slip into the lobby, then sit down and relax when a seat opened up.
Of course, all the students were dressed casually. That made me think of Katsuragi yesterday, still wearing his uniform. No rule stated that you couldn’t wear your uniform over summer vacation, but even if you didn’t care much about fashion, the uniforms did get extremely hot. Katsuragi had even worn the long-sleeved uniform shirt, rather than the short-sleeved summer one.
Since I was typically low on points, I’d been unaware until recently that summer clothes were sold at rather high prices. There were girls in our class who wanted them, but had to do without. There were definitely reasons why people might purposely wear their school uniforms —and not just people like Katsuragi, though he was the first my mind went to. Quite a few people other than him seemed to prefer it, too.
A couple walked out of the upperclassmen’s dorms—a guy and a girl. When they saw me, they changed directions and walked toward me.
“Hey. It’s been a while.”
“I was just wondering who would wear their school uniform in this insane heat. I guess the answer is Horikita’s brother,” I muttered.
Unlike Katsuragi, these two wore summer uniforms. Still, I couldn’t help feeling like something was out of place.
“Whoa. President, this student really has a sour look on his face,” said the girl next to Student Council President Horikita Manabu. She spoke in a loud, exaggerated manner. She was a third-year student, Secretary Tachibana.
The girls’ uniforms looked as though they didn’t get as intensely hot as the boys’.
“The student council seems rather busy, even during summer vacation,” I said. Secretary Tachibana was holding a notebook. For a moment, I almost had the impression that the second semester had already begun.
“We decided to do some reorganizing work in the student council room,” explained Secretary Tachibana.
“I see.”
“You know, that was a really stupid response. You should be careful what you say, you know? Do you even know who you’re talking to?This is the fearsome student council president!”
Yeah, I knew that. I also knew Horikita Manabu probably wielded an incredible degree of influence. I’d considered using a more respectful tone, but discarded the idea. Horikita’s older brother didn’t seem to expect it of me, anyway.
Meanwhile, Secretary Tachibana was quite different from how I’d imagined her to be. I'd taken her for a more serious person, but she was actually rather soft.
“Do you want to penalize me? Because I’m really running low on points.” I shrugged off what Secretary Tachibana said.
I’d thought that Horikita’s older brother wouldn’t give someone like me the time of day. But the student council president narrowed his eyes and said, “Ayanokouji, if you have no prior engagements, I’d like you to accompany me.”
“P-President?” Secretary Tachibana was caught off guard by the invitation. So was I. But…
“I’ve got a packed schedule. Sorry.”
“Huh?! You’re turning him down?!” Secretary Tachibana sounded completely flabbergasted.
“Whenever you’re free is fine. I don’t mind finding a time that works for you, even if it’s after the semester begins,” Horikita said.
Apparently, he had no intention of giving up. Avoiding the problem would not help. I didn’t want to waste my time later on. It might be more convenient to get his request out of the way.
“All right. Let’s just do this now. I have time before my next engagement, anyway,” I replied.
“But didn’t you just say you had a packed schedule?”
I ignored Secretary Tachibana.
“Where were you planning to go? I don’t mind changing my schedule to accommodate yours,” Horikita said.
“Uh, I was waiting for someone. If at all possible, I’d prefer not to move.”
“But isn’t it really hot here? This spot isn’t suitable for a meeting.”
“I’m well aware of that.” I didn't mind a little suffering. If I might be allowed to toot my own horn a bit, I thought that was even kind of bad-ass.
“Well, I suppose we can just talk here. If you feel uncomfortable, you can head back to the dorms ahead of me,” the president told Tachibana.
“No. My instinct says not to leave you alone with this boy, President!” Secretary Tachibana gave him a salute, as if she were his bodyguard.
Horikita turned back to me. “The student council has received reports of the results from the island test, and the test on the ship. Were they difficult?” he asked.
“The student council really has a lot of pull, huh? I mean, to think you’d be able to get those results,” I replied.
“Well, I don’t know how detailed the reports really are. The individual actions taken during the tests remain unclear.”
“I’m glad.”
“You’re glad that the president hasn’t discovered your failure, I bet,” Tachibana muttered.
Secretary Tachibana really didn’t seem to like me. Perhaps that was understandable, given how casually I talked back to the student council president.
“One way or another, some information always ends up leaked. I know that you outsmarted the other classes on the island, and that Class D’s VIP in the Rabbit group successfully avoided detection,” said President Horikita.
He’d said that things were unclear, but it sounded as though he knew quite a bit. I suspected collusion.
Horikita continued, “The name Horikita Suzune came up after the island test. I heard that she became her class’s true leader and outsmarted everyone. However, I think that you were responsible.”
“Aren’t you overestimating me?” I muttered.
“In the end, the leader’s name was changed to yours. How do you explain that?”
“You even know about all that, huh?”
“The special examination committee and I are the only ones who know this. Well, and now Secretary Tachibana. The homeroom teachers don’t have this information, so you can relax.”
Just how much pull did this guy have? Student organizations were usually decorative. They had no real authority. For them to have access to information the teachers didn’t? Unthinkable.
“What exactly is the student council?” I asked.
“The student council itself has no power. The abilities of the person seated at the top are paramount.”
“Wow, that’s an impressive statement. You really are in Class A, aren’t you?”
“Isn’t that obvious?!” snapped Tachibana.
“But there’s something I still don’t understand. I mean, the difference between Horikita and me is vast. If you examine the data, Horikita is far superior. Why would you bother with some Class D loser like me?”
“You misunderstand. I don’t consider the people in Class D stupid. This school doesn’t just shove all the students with superior abilities into Class A,” he replied.
“Um, President? You might have said too much,” Tachibana said. “Aren’t you going a little too far?”
“There’s no problem. I’m sure this young man understands that already.”
The student council president had seemed hyper-focused on me ever since our first encounter. Just how long did he plan to keep this up?
“In that case, why do you reject Horikita? Isn’t it because she’s in Class D?” I asked.
“I know everything there is to know about my little sister’s capabilities. She’s a failure who belongs in Class D. Nothing more, nothing less,” he replied.
He clearly viewed his younger sister in an incredibly harsh light.
“Everything was Horikita’s idea. Your sister doesn’t have any friends except for me, so she had to employ me to play the necessary parts,” I answered.
“That’s not true. She’d never think of something like that.”
It seemed as though he had a perfect understanding of Horikita, perhaps because they grew up together. Even so, I now understood something. This guy probably had his eye on me for the same reason as Chabashira-sensei.
If the president had noticed that I scored exactly 50% on all my entrance examinations, he might also have noticed the difference between my resume and my student report.
“Stop fishing for information about my personal life. I just want to spend my days here quietly,” I said.
In response, the student council president pushed up his glasses and said something completely astounding.
“I asked you once before. Will you join the student council?”
Secretary Tachibana’s eyes widened in shock.
“Wow, that sounds super easy. What, there are still positions that haven’t been filled or something?” I asked.
“P-President?” Secretary Tachibana stammered. “Didn’t we just accept a first-year girl onto the student council the other day? We’ve also gotten new appointments from the second-year classes. All the seats should be filled.”
“There’s still one open position, isn’t there?” he asked.
“One? Y-you can’t mean—?!”
“Ayanokouji, if you wish, I’ll appoint you vice president,” the president said.
“W-wait a minute!” Secretary Tachibana seemed to recover her resolve in an instant. An interesting person. “This is completely unprecedented! He’s a first year, and from Class D to boot! We can’t suddenly appoint this rude boy to the vice presidency!”
“I’ve said this already, but I refuse any position,” I said.
“And on top of that, he just refuses!” Tachibana wailed.
This was all rather odd. I couldn’t imagine that the president was joking; his evaluation of me seemed honest. Horikita’s older brother certainly did have access to information, and I could understand why he’d choose me, rather than people like Ike and Yamauchi (no offense to those guys). But he should’ve started with people like Katsuragi and Ichinose, or even Hirata. There were also other candidates with strong latent abilities, like Kouenji.
The president had no motive to fixate on me. There had to be a reason why.
“I don’t know that this is for me to say, but starting next year, the school will change dramatically. Not for the better. When the time comes, I’ll need the power to combat that change. It might already be too late. The need grows stronger every day.”
“President, you’re talking about what’ll happen when Nagumo-kun is elected president, right? I can’t imagine he’d change the school that much for the worse,” Tachibana said.
I’d never heard the name “Nagumo” from any first-year students. If the president said that the change was coming next year, that probably meant Nagumo was a second-year student.
“There can be two student council vice presidents. There is typically only one in any given year, but if you wanted the position, it wouldn’t be impossible,” he told me.
“N-no, no no no, President! That’s impossible…! There’s no way Nagumo-kun would permit something like that,” Secretary Tachibana interjected.
“Look, I don’t know about vice presidents, or this Nagumo guy, or whatever. I’m not doing it. Besides, you’re going to graduate, right? There’s no need for you to worry about the students left behind. Or is there?” I paused for a moment, using that brief silence to stress the importance of what came next. “Well, if you want me to help you because you’re worried about your sister, I might be able to squeeze you in for a consultation.”
“I see.”
Horikita Manabu seemed to have given up on me.
“Sorry for taking up your time. Please feel free to stop by the student council whenever you like. I would be happy to offer you tea,” he said.
Even someone like the student council president was wrestling with his own anxieties, I mused. I wanted to go back to the dorms, but I couldn’t. I had to wait for Katsuragi.
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