Yesterday at lunch, President Horikita had called Kiriyama for a meeting. When Kiriyama came back, he looked pretty happy.
It was obvious.
Horikita Manabu was probably planning to invite Kiriyama to join the student council. And for Kiriyama to look that excited, the position offered couldn't be a small one.
Most likely, it was vice president.
In other words, when Nagumo had gone to first-year Class A to try to build connections and gather votes at the start of the year, the president had noticed.
With that in mind, Nagumo realized something:
The president was someone who valued ability, and Kiriyama didn't really have what it took to join the council and become vice president.
So if the president was still recruiting him, it had to be for the sake of keeping Nagumo in check.
Just as he expected.
"Now, will Kiriyama from second-year Class B please come to the stage," Horikita Manabu said.
Some of Kiriyama's classmates looked at him warmly and with excitement.
"Kiriyama!"
"Congrats on becoming vice president!"
Kiriyama was their class's representative.
But in the special exam in the second half of last year, he didn't perform very well, and he had to watch as Nagumo's class pulled ahead.
And now, just at the start of their second year, things had gotten even worse.
The gap between them and Class A had gone from 300 points to 500, and by the end of last month, it had jumped to nearly 700.
It had gotten so bad that it felt like their single class was being forced to fight against three classes at once.
They had no way to turn things around.
Nagumo had strength, and on top of that, he was the student council vice president — he had way too many advantages.
Meanwhile, they had nothing.
But now, the situation had changed.
What Nagumo had, they were going to have too.
Maybe now, they could finally pick themselves up and start catching up.
"Nagumo."
The second-year Class B students started getting excited, while the second-year Class A students looked a bit worried.
Clearly, some people were already thinking about the possibility of Class B fighting back.
After all, they had only just settled into Class A a few months ago.
Students quickly turned their eyes to Nagumo.
"Don't panic."
But Nagumo Miyabi looked completely calm.
Though in truth, he wasn't really calm — he just had everything under control.
The student council president was a little surprised, because after Nagumo was pulled into the council, he started pushing ideas that were very different from the president's. The president believed in class competition, while Nagumo pushed for personal strength above all else. Their ideas clashed from the start.
The president must have noticed how Nagumo quickly took charge of connecting with the first-years as soon as they enrolled, which raised some alarms.
The president also surely noticed that Nagumo had leaked information to first-year Class A, which got him points deducted by the school.
And he must have realized there was something off about this month's second-year special exam results — Nagumo had manipulated the scores to rally his own Class A and the C and D classes to gang up on Class B, causing Kiriyama's side to score nothing.
At this point, Class B was weak and likely to be eaten away. If that happened, Nagumo could take full control over the second-year students.
This was definitely not the outcome the president wanted.
But.
President, even though you're excellent in every way — even praised as the best student council president in school history — you still have a weak spot.
The president was the serious and upright type. Even though he was sharp, he was only good at defending against dirty tricks, not using them himself.
So.
As long as Nagumo didn't break the rules directly, the righteous Horikita Manabu wouldn't kick him out of the council. He would just try to balance things some other way.
That "other way" would probably be to push Kiriyama up to stand against him.
Not only could that suppress Nagumo's rise, but it might also stop the second-year classes from getting completely taken over.
However, President, you have no idea — Kiriyama was already bought off a long time ago.
Even if Kiriyama was given power, he would only be able to put up a small fight. Whether he could actually graduate as an A-Class student was still up in the air.
But what Nagumo offered him was 20 million points — enough to switch classes or even avoid expulsion.
As long as Kiriyama had those points, he could guarantee his graduation from A-Class.
Faced with an uncertain future and a guaranteed one, Kiriyama made the smart choice.
So Kiriyama was already Nagumo's man.
Which means.
If you promote Kiriyama, President, it'll be your biggest mistake.
With both vice presidents under Nagumo's control, even if Horikita Manabu didn't want him to become the next student council president, he wouldn't be able to stop it.
Nagumo stayed calm.
Meanwhile, Student Council President Horikita Manabu continued speaking from the stage.
"This time, three new students are joining the student council."
"First is Ichinose Honami from first-year Class C," said Horikita Manabu.
Ichinose, who was already standing at the front of her class lineup, stepped forward.
"I appoint her as a Public Morals Committee member."
Oh.
The Public Morals Committee, huh.
Even though the position is low, 99% of students aren't even qualified to join the student council.
So nobody really had much of a problem with it. Actually, a lot of people were thinking, "If even Ichinose could only become a Public Morals Committee member, this student council must be super strict."
For the older students, it made perfect sense that the president would only let first-years into small roles.
After all, the freshmen hadn't shown much yet since they had just entered the school.
"And next—"
Horikita Manabu looked over at Shirogane Miyuki and Kiriyama, who were already standing behind him.
"Shirogane Miyuki from Class 1-B. In the first month, he led his class from Class C up to Class B, breaking the school's record," Horikita Manabu said.
Down below, Katsuragi was already starting to think.
Even though the president said that, it still sounded like he was just giving Shirogane a minor job.
This student council has really strict standards.
Or maybe...
Why was Ichinose able to join the student council too?
As Katsuragi thought about it, he got even more confused.
Back then, he, Yahiko, and Ichinose had all been rejected by Horikita Manabu. But now, he and Yahiko were still out, while Ichinose had been accepted.
Maybe Ichinose didn't leave right away and stuck around a bit longer, and that's how she got permission to join?
Or maybe getting rejected at first was just a way for President Horikita to test them?
If that's true, then if Katsuragi had stayed, would he have gotten a chance too?
Obviously.
The more he thought about it, the messier it got.
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed.
Katsuragi wasn't as calm as he looked. Deep down, he really did want to join the student council.
"Well, it looks like the student council president does have a good eye," Sakayanagi Arisu suddenly said.
She was the first person outside Shirogane's own class to congratulate him.
"It's just a minor job though—only a little better than Ichinose's Public Morals Committee spot," Totsuka started to say but then stopped himself.
Because he actually liked Ichinose and felt like saying that would be putting her down.
Then Yahiko heard Horikita Manabu continue, "He will be specially given the position of Secretary."
The position given was Secretary.
And Secretary wasn't like the small jobs; it was already a major role.
Only a little lower than Vice President.
"..."
Down below, Nagumo's expression started to get serious.
Shirogane Miyuki.
Of course Nagumo knew his name. But Shirogane had come from Class C, always had dark circles under his eyes, looked rough and wild—he had always thought Shirogane was just a low-level student, not worth dealing with.
But now.
Shirogane had gotten the president's approval.
In other words, Nagumo had been wrong about him this whole time.
But.
Nagumo quickly found a way to convince himself again.
Maybe the president felt he needed someone to keep Nagumo in check, and just having Kiriyama wasn't enough, so he also brought in a first-year to help Kiriyama. In other words, the president was dead set on using Kiriyama to balance Nagumo's power, even if it meant bringing in new blood.
Thinking about it like that, the president really had put in a lot of effort.
Nagumo even felt a little sorry for him.
Nagumo suddenly relaxed a little.
"And next is Kiriyama from Class 2-B," Horikita Manabu said. "I also recognize his ability."
"That's why I'm inviting him to join the student council," Horikita Manabu continued.
Kiriyama, standing on the stage, straightened up.
Nagumo, sitting below, kept his serious face, but inside he was just waiting for the president to hurry up and announce Kiriyama as the new vice president.
Once the president said it, it would mean he lost.
While Nagumo was thinking that—
"I have decided to appoint Kiriyama as the student council treasurer," Horikita Manabu announced.
The room fell strangely quiet.
The students from Class 2-B, who had been ready to cheer, suddenly stopped themselves.
It's over.