49. The late rival
Upon finishing my business at the toilet and returning to the classroom, I saw a weird group of three standing in front of the door.
Ah, they’re the group of three from before.
The door of class C was slightly opened, and they were crouching down to take a peek inside. On their uniform, I could see the neckties belonging to the first years. Perhaps they weren’t doing anything bad, but it was the group of people with that blonde-haired girl, so it couldn’t be more suspicious.
Sure, this might be different from the hallway in front of the student council room. There were usually normal people passing by here. Only coincidentally, this time, the hallway was empty, with only me and those three here.
Yuuki-senpai ain’t here, you know? Even if you are acting like stalkers, bending over like tha──Wait, bend over?
…H-hooo? Now that I get a closer look at them, their position right now sure seems quite suggestive… Shit, my legs are frozen. Why though? Oh right, lately I’ve been exhausted mentally, and I’m sure my instinct has been whispering my body to focus on healing it.
Can’t help it…… I’ll use my secret technique───Snail pace…!!
“So that woman is “Aika Natsukawa” huh…”
“What’s your business with Natsukawa?”
“Hyaaaaaaa!!?”
“Kyaaaaaaa!!?”
“……!!?”
What did that woman just say? Aika Natsukawa? Since she has a grudge towards my Sis, I’ve put her on my watch list, and now she even put her eyes on Natsukawa? Want me to tie you to the back of a bicycle, and do some circles on the sports grounds? Haah? Want me to turn that blonde hair back to black? Haah?
“Ah, uh, emm… COUGH!!.. Could you not suddenly call out to us like that!?”
“…..Ah”
Being asked that question, I came to my sense. Why did I even call out to them…? I knew that this would only bring more trouble for me… Why did I react this much just because I heard the word ‘Natsukawa’ from her mouth? Oh my, perhaps did I still like Natsukawa that much…? Oh yeah, I sure did.
Let’s calm down a bit. Now that I’ve returned to my senses, it’s an attack chance to breakthrough through this situation. No, I probably shouldn’t attack.
That’s right, be normal. Let’s react as normally as possible. I already met Blondie in front of the student council room. Since she doesn’t seem to be like my Sis, I should take off my name-plate from my uniform, and be calm, yes, calmly… Wait, did I jokingly use some sketchy polite language before?
“It has been a while, my lady.”
“E-Eeeh…? Ara… have we met bef…?”
“We have met once in front of the student council office before. At that time, you had a troubled face and were peek──”
“Wah! Waaah! Waaah!”
“You were peeking inside. It left a deep impression on me!!”
“Why did you still say it!?”
Any stalker actions are. bad. For sure. I won’t back down… the world has to know about these evil deeds…! And then, the embarrassed face of beauties like them will be revealed to the world!! Fuhihihihi!
“Marika-san was… peeking inside the student council room? Didn’t she meet Yuuki-sama…?”
“Right… Well, apparently they’re fiancés…”
“T-That’s right! As the fianceé, This I, need to be next to Hayato-sama’s side at all times! B-Back then, I was going to spend the lunch break with him…”
“Despite that, you sure have something against the student council vice pre───”
“Waahh! Waahh!”
JUMP!! JUMP!!
Blondie jumped up and down in front of me, trying to silence me. Now you’re not that suspicious anymore… I’ve never imagined that you’re such an interesting person.
So, is her grudge towards my Sis something like a secret? At times like these, as a rival, wouldn’t you just broadly announce it, blaming her, then pull the mass to support you? That’s unexpected.
Now that I think about it, my Sis must have met the K4 way before I even enrolled at this school. Perhaps, it’s already too late for a rival to appear here. Not to mention that my Sis is a Senpai, moreover two years above her.
“G-Grrrr… As expected of the ‘east’ side. Unlike the ‘west’ side, you don’t show a single shed of consideration towards a lady… That’s why I hate those from plebeian families, who don’t even know how to spell society!”
“Hah?”
Leaving aside the whole blabbering about plebeian families… East side? West side? What’s is that? Did we have that kind of differentiation at this school? For sure this school has a courtyard in the middle, so the school seems like being split into an east and west part, but… are you not allowed to set foot on the other side?
As I was pondering on Blondie’s words, the door the three were peeking inside at suddenly opened.
“Hyaaaaa!?”
“── What are you doing…”
“What happened, Sajo-chi?”
“Eh? Natsukawa? And also, Ashida?”
“Aren’t you easy to understand〜, Sajo-chi. Haah?”
The shocked three girls, The annoyed Natsukawa, The pissed while still smiling Ashida and sometimes me too.
Oh right, things got pretty noisy, huh.
Natsukawa somewhat looked me in the eyes, somewhat didn’t, somewhat disturbed, but also suspicious at the same times.
That eyes, it’s been a while huh… Thank you very much!
“What kind of situation is this?”
“These three said they had some business with you, Natsukawa. So, I interrogated them.”
“Don’t talk like a gangster, can’t you….”
How rude. Ah, perhaps, you think that I picked a fight with them? Even though I interrogated them because my instinct always told me to protect you, Natsukawa… Though, I doubt you really need any protection from small fry like me.
“Ugh… A-aika Natsukawa-san! I have some business with you, you hear me?!”
“Umm… what could that be?”
“Just because you have excellent grades, being on the 2nd rank of the student year, and a bit cute──…Actually, you really are cute…”
“Eh? T-Thanks…”
Nice!
That’s a bit of a confusing development, but I still gave a thumbs-up. Perhaps, because I got to see daily flirting between Natsukawa and Ashida, I felt like a new taste starting to develop within me.
Being able to observe this up so close is an honor for me. I can’t wait to see more pushing and being pushed… yes.
“S-Since you’re a bit cute and have sufficient grades, I shall grant you the right to support the first rank of the student year, which is me ─── Marika Claudine Shinonome!”
“E, Eh?”
“Why don’t you cheer her?”
“Eh? Umm… Do your best!”
“Nooo! That’s not what I meant!!”
SLAP!!
“Ouch, sorry. I’m sorry!”
For some reason, I was the one being hit.
Well, I was playing around a bit after all. But, Clau…Claumaty? You are wrong about one thing! Natsukawa isn’t just ‘a bit cute’, she is ‘Super cute’!! F**king Cute!
COUGH!!
Claumaty cleared her throat, and faced Natsukawa again. Following that, she pointed at her.
“I want you to support me! So that this I, become the next student council president!”
“Eh, student council president…? Can you even become the student council president as a first-year?”
“── Let me explain it!”
“Woaah!?”
Another girl of Claumaty’s group, a girl with straight black hair, stepped in front. But, Claumaty’s attitude that looked like a boss saying, “Tell her”, had me a bit annoyed. And yet, I felt like even without me doing anything, she would just self-destruct.
“All official positions of the student council can be recommended and applied for, no matter whether you’re a first or second year. This school also gives freedom for the election campaign. Anyway, one with the most votes will be elected in the end.”
“Hoo, a walking student handbook.”
“Fufumph.”
“Ka-Kaoruko-san…? I don’t think he was praising you, you know?”
Hearing my words that I just so happened to blurt out, Kaoruko-san showed a satisfied expression. Well, I could understand her feeling, she must be happy getting such an honest response back after delivering such an elaborate explanation. I had a similar experience after all.
“Even so, a first-year student is generally at a disadvantage. After all, the school’s ins and outs are something that you understand as you spend more time at this school. That’s why, most of the time, the candidates would be someone from the second year, well, it’s the trend set by the students themselves. So, a first-year student is having a hard time to even be a candidate.”
“Trend huh…”
Basically, those who don’t follow the trend will be excluded, that’s how the world works… I get that, but is there even someone else who would be willing to put up with the pain of becoming student council president? Ah, I can think of one person.
“Wait, Isn’t Kai-senpai will be the one…?”
“He mentioned that he has no plans of becoming the student council president. If that is true, then nobody else amongst our senpais who is popular and has good achievements, who want to attempt to become the student council president.”
“I see.”
So, Kai-senpai, doesn’t want to be the student council president huh? If so, then I don’t know who would become the next student council president. In the first place, I don’t know any of the 2nd-year Senpais either.
“Even so, there are about 240 students in the second year at this school… so once the election period arrives, there will surely be someone else applying for this position. That’s why I need to gather as many followers as possible until then… So that I become the next student council president.”
I see, her plans make sense. Most students at high school, usually don’t take stuff about the school too seriously, even if you make a really good speech and pledge at the election, the majority won’t suddenly show interest in choosing you. Even so, the easiest way to gather votes ── is to be known by others, I guess? Anyway, you need to sell your name, and have the students remember you, after all, most students will give votes to someone they recognized.
That’s why, the person who becomes everyone’s idol can grasp victory all too easily. That’s how a normal election at school works.
TN: Join my discord channel if you want.
Thank you for the chapter !