Council President
"I already know about Shirogane's situation."
Horikita Manabu looked at him. "You're allowed to join the student council."
"I'm assigning you to handle errands."
The errands role wasn't an important position in the council.
Usually, the student council is made up of the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, general staff, and discipline committee members.
Among them, the lowest rank is the discipline committee. There are several members, but only the head of the discipline committee gets a desk in the office. The rest don't have their own desks.
General staff is also considered a lower position, but they have a wide range of duties. Basically, wherever help is needed, they step in to assist.
When Horikita Manabu spoke, Katsuragi and Yahiko, who were following behind Shirogane, didn't show much reaction.
To them, a general staff position wasn't important, so it didn't seem strange that Shirogane was allowed to join. After all, his class had gone up from Class C to Class B—that was still progress.
But Ichinose looked at Shirogane with a hint of envy.
Clearly, unlike them, Shirogane had already secured a spot.
"And you three," Horikita Manabu looked at Ichinose, Katsuragi, and Totsuka.
"So, all three of you want to join the student council too?"
The three of them nodded, but Horikita Manabu coldly said, "Then I'm sorry. The student council isn't lacking members right now. Or rather, your abilities aren't strong enough yet. You're not someone we can't do without."
"..."
That was basically a flat-out rejection.
Yahiko looked completely stunned.
Just a few seconds ago, Shirogane—who wasn't even from Class A—got accepted into the student council. But now, students from Class A were being turned down?
Yet Horikita Manabu didn't hold back in his comments.
"Katsuragi. The fact that Class A has two leaders means you're not strong enough," he said while looking straight at Katsuragi. Katsuragi's face stayed firm.
He looked serious but also like he had no choice but to accept it.
"And Ichinose, you got the second-highest score in the entrance exam, but that just means you're outstanding among average students. You're still not someone we can't replace. I haven't seen enough of your ability yet, so you're not qualified to join the student council."
"Not to mention, your class dropped from Class B to Class C in the first month."
"I think instead of trying to get into the student council, you should be focusing on other things." Horikita Manabu said calmly.
"I understand," Ichinose replied, accepting the judgment.
She had already heard from Shirogane before this that the president had strict standards for choosing members.
And now, she was even more sure that Shirogane had been right.
This Horikita truly judged everything based on ability.
And it was also true that her class had dropped from B to C, so the president's words were fair.
"If you accept that you can't join the student council, then please leave,"
"I still have other work to do," Horikita Manabu added.
Everyone noticed the stack of papers on the president's desk.
Being the student council president clearly wasn't easy.
But the people who came here weren't afraid of hard work. They understood the rules of this school, and that made them realize even more how important it was to be part of the student council.
Katsuragi had wanted to join the student council for a while, but last month he wasn't in a rush. He had hoped to prove himself first before applying.
He wanted to build up his resume a bit.
The achievement he wanted to use was Class A—how Class A ended the first month with the highest class points in history. That was supposed to be his record.
But while Class A helped him, it also hurt him. Even though he was a Class A student, he couldn't stop the class from splitting.
So in the end, Katsuragi accepted the evaluation.
Also, the president didn't completely shut down his path. He said that Class A is currently divided, which shows that Katsuragi isn't strong enough. But doesn't that mean if he can gain Sakayanagi's approval and bring the class back together as one, then his ability would be recognized?
That's something he can work toward.
And when Sakayanagi was mentioned, Katsuragi couldn't help but glance at Ayanokoji.
That morning, he had gone to talk to Sakayanagi, trying to confirm whether his strategy was solid. His idea was simple: as long as Class A stayed ahead, everything would be fine. But Sakayanagi had laughed at him back then.
And looking at the results now, she wasn't wrong.
Class A: 924 points
But Class B, which used to be Class C, got 735 points.
You could say that Katsuragi's plan to stay more than 400 points ahead of Ichinose's Class B did work—but another class caught up.
The new Class B, with Ayanokoji in it, had climbed up.
So Class A's lead wasn't that big after all, and Katsuragi's steady and careful approach didn't really help much.
"Well then, we'll be leaving now." Katsuragi didn't stay any longer. Since the president had already told them to go, he was ready to leave.
Even though he wasn't able to join the student council now, he still wanted to leave a good impression.
"Alright," Horikita Manabu nodded, and Katsuragi left with Yahiko.
At the entrance, Yahiko seemed like he wanted to say something, but Katsuragi shook his head, signaling him to stay quiet.
So Yahiko just quietly followed behind him.
"Even though Class A has split, and Katsuragi couldn't get into the student council, he's already found people who are willing to follow him."
"All in all, that's not bad." And for once, Horikita Manabu actually gave him a bit of praise.
However—
The two students still in the room knew what he really meant.
Horikita Manabu was talking to *them* now.
That's right.
Even though Horikita Manabu had basically told them to leave earlier, neither Ayanokoji nor Ichinose had actually left yet.
"What's going on?" Tachibana Akane, holding a folder in her arms, looked at them confused.
"Ayanokoji, you've been approved by the president to join the student council, but you officially start tomorrow."
"So you can head back now."
"And as for you, Ichinose…" Tachibana Akane looked at Ichinose Honami with a puzzled expression.
Ichinose's friendly personality did have some effect on her.
This younger student had met with the third-years last month and even visited Class A. It seemed like she had been trying to gather information from them.
Back then, Tachibana had thought this girl was pretty sharp.
But it was a shame that her class had it rough, becoming the first one in school history to drop down a class in their very first month.
"Um, even though the president just turned me down…"
"But the student council chooses people based on ability, right? I believe I'm qualified to join," Ichinose Honami said.
"Heh." Horikita Manabu had already picked up his pen, but after hearing her, he put it back down. "And what do you have to offer?"
"This is about what I've noticed regarding the third-years—specifically, your class," Ichinose said.
"Among all the third-year classes, only the one led by President Horikita still has a full 40 students."
"Most of the other classes have had at least a few students drop out."
"From what I heard from the upperclassmen, even though the third-year Class A hasn't had any dropouts, they've been through several close calls. Each time, they spent a huge number of points to keep people from being expelled."
"And before, we couldn't find out any of this."
"The seniors never talked about it. But now that the teachers have finally explained the school rules to us first-years, I think we're allowed to talk about this stuff."
"So in the past 30 minutes, I've been gathering this information from older students," Ichinose said.
"Even though my class has fallen behind, I believe the bond we share is just as strong—if not stronger—than the one in Horikita-senpai's third-year Class A."
"And to make sure our class still has all 40 students by third year, I think joining the student council now is more important than ever," Ichinose said.
Even though she looked cheerful, there was something unusually firm and serious in her tone.
Just standing next to her, you could feel how strongly she wanted to protect her classmates.
"..."
"..."
The room went silent almost instantly.
Tachibana Akane looked at Ichinose Honami with a surprised expression.
Horikita Manabu didn't say anything right away. He took off his glasses and wiped them with a cloth before putting them back on.
"You're quite interesting," Horikita Manabu said. "It's true your class has fallen behind, but I've heard stories about how close you all are."
"When I go to the cafeteria and line up at window 12, I see a lot of students from your class there."
"Even in the first month, when you still didn't fully understand how the tests work, your class already started saving points on your own," Horikita said.
Window 12—Shirogane knew about that one. It was where they gave out the bland, free meals.
So...
Wait, you're the student council president. Your class gets over 200,000 points a month in living expenses, and you're telling me you actually eat from that window?
So the price for keeping all 40 students in the class must've been paying off one or more 20-million-point penalties.
That's when Shirogane realized—ever since he noticed how poorly soundproofed the student council room was—that Horikita's third-year Class A was actually broke.
"Ah… sorry if that embarrassed you, President," Ichinose said, scratching her head a little awkwardly, even though she had looked so confident earlier.
"No need to feel embarrassed," Horikita Manabu replied, shaking his head.
"My class really is walking a long and difficult path," he said. "A path no class has ever taken before."
"And if you want to walk that same path, you're going to face even bigger risks and tougher challenges."
"During my time as president, I can offer you a position as a Public Morals Officer."
"There's no desk for you in the office, and you'll only be called in when needed."
"Your job will mostly be patrolling around campus."
"Since this is a boarding school, you won't need to stand by the school gate or anything like that—just do three patrols per week."
"Once you join the student council, you'll receive a monthly stipend of 20,000 points. Report your details to Tachibana Akane later. The stipend is paid on the first of each month. Since you're joining today, once everything is processed, you'll get this month's payment right away."
Horikita Manabu explained.
"Thank you, President," Ichinose said with a nod, clearly satisfied.
After all, Horikita had even rejected someone like Katsuragi from Class A. And compared to him, her own class had already fallen behind badly. So being allowed to join under these circumstances was already more than she had hoped for.
Finally, she could breathe a little easier.
Even if Class A tried any dirty tricks again, she now had a little power to fight back.
That's right—what Ichinose had in mind was that their class suffered a loss last month. They were on the receiving end and couldn't really fight back using the same shady methods, so they chose a different path.
They decided to join the student council.
It could work as a kind of warning to others.
But still—
[This Horikita president is pretty interesting.]
[He's nothing like his little sister.]
Shirogane's inner narrator kicked in again.
And this time, Shirogane agreed.
The Horikita president in front of him really was interesting. He always spoke in a cold, serious tone, but he was actually quite thoughtful.
For example, he let Ichinose join the student council and immediately told Tachibana Akane to help her get started with the student support allowance.
But when it came to Shirogane—he was told, "Why are you still here? You officially join the council tomorrow."
Which meant Shirogane wouldn't start getting his allowance until next month.
Meanwhile, Ichinose was already getting special treatment.
Probably because she was about to follow in Horikita Manabu's footsteps—spending 20 million points to protect her classmates. That path wasn't easy, so he offered her a small bit of support.
Still—
What bugged Shirogane was—did the narrator system really think Horikita was cold and uncaring?
From his own experience, as long as you didn't see her through the lens of someone like Kushida, Horikita wasn't that cold at all.
"So, Shirogane, what exactly are you trying to prove?" Horikita Manabu turned his attention to him.
"Do you think being in charge of small tasks is too low for you?" he asked.
Actually, judging by Ichinose's performance earlier, she handled things well. She was quick to react, had guts, and showed great communication skills.
On top of that, she had the second-best test score among all 160 first-year students. That was already a big plus.
Shirogane's current position—handling general affairs—was ranked above the public morals officer role. So was he still not satisfied?
"My goal is to join the student council," Shirogane said. "But I've realized that President Horikita values strength and ability above all else."
"So if I'm good enough, I should be able to move up too, right?" Shirogane said.
"?…" Tachibana Akane looked over in surprise.
"..." Horikita Manabu
He looked at Shirogane and said, "If your ability really meets my standards, I don't mind giving you a higher position."
"Tachibana Akane, the secretary position—is it still open?"
There were only a few student council positions, but more than one person could hold the same title.
Right now, there was only one secretary in the student council, and that was Tachibana Akane.
So yes, they could add another.
But it seemed they had underestimated Shirogane's ambition.
After seeing Ichinose successfully join the council,
Shirogane started thinking maybe it was time to go all in.
And also—
From the narrator system, it was revealed that Nagumo-senpai had big ambitions. And once President Horikita steps down or graduates, there might not be anyone strong enough to stand against someone like Nagumo, who controls an entire grade.
So—
Shirogane decided to go all in.
"My goal isn't to be secretary," Shirogane said.
?
"What are you trying to say?" Horikita Manabu asked again.
"I want to join the student council," Shirogane said. "And then, become the student council president."