[“Even if they disappear… to me, they were still friends.”]
Shiranui’s words from earlier echoed in my mind.
……Honestly, that stung.
I knew better than anyone what it was like to be that idiot—the one who kept believing in people, only to be used over and over. But now that idiot had learned his lesson. He’d traded idealism for pragmatism.
Being honest, awkward, and blindly trusting others wasn’t justice.
If that path eventually led to ruin, I’d already learned it the hard way. And yet—
“—Hey. I was just thinking… Are we sure the student council actually decided this?”
A voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
It was Isago.
“What… do you mean?”
Apparently, she’d reached the same conclusion I had.
She pursed her lips and said,
“Well, first off, does the student council even have that kind of authority?”
“……Huh? They don’t?”
I blinked in surprise. Isago shook her head.
“No, sorry—they do, technically.”
“Which is it…?”
“They have the authority, but they can’t just wield it unilaterally.”
“……?”
I tilted my head, not quite following.
Surprisingly, I wasn’t the only one confused—Shiranui and Minase looked just as lost.
Only Isago spoke as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
“First, does the student council have the power to tell Shiranui, ‘You can’t form a group’? Yeah, they do. But if you ask whether that order holds much weight, it’s kinda flimsy.”
“……Really?”
“Yep. What’re they gonna do if she ignores it? At most, they could reject her requests to use the auditorium or gym, but there are ways around that.”
“…………”
*”Even if they tried to stop her, the affected party could just escalate it past the student council—straight to the faculty. At that point, the council would need solid justification. A teacher could easily say, ‘The student council was wrong.'”
“Well… when you put it that way…”
“Does this situation have that kind of justification? Doubtful. Actually, no way. The council wouldn’t have grounds to act alone. They wouldn’t go out of their way to do this.”
In other words,
if the student council tried to shut down student activities, they’d be taking on unnecessary risk.
“Our president isn’t the type to do that. The fact that they’re going out of their way to block this—it doesn’t feel like the council’s own decision to me.”
“……So you’re saying?”
“Yeah. The first thing that comes to mind is—an external complaint. That’d force the council to act, and even if the issue escalated, the blame would fall on the complainer.”
It did sound plausible—and it didn’t contradict the truth I’d pieced together.
It even supported it.
But the fact that Isago was the one who figured it out surprised me.
“……You’re pretty sharp, Isago…”
It might’ve sounded rude, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“Huh? Nah, not really. Minase’s way smarter than me, grades-wise.”
“Isa’s good at this kind of thing,”
Minase chimed in.
“This kind of thing…?”
“Reading people, figuring out motives, stuff like that. It’s not even her real strength, but… She’s good at leading, so she gets how people in power think.”
“……Why?”
My curiosity got the better of me.
Again, Minase answered.
“Isago’s family name is pretty rare, right?”
“Huh? Oh… I guess so?”
“Ever heard it somewhere else?”
“Dunno… A celebrity? Not that I can think of—”
“Nope. Like… a politician.”
I reflexively glanced at Isago.
She, meanwhile, glared at Minase instead of me.
“Agh! I wanted to keep that from Kage-kun!!”
“A sitting Diet member’s daughter? People would’ve found out eventually.”
“M-Maybe, but still…!”
Now that she mentioned it, the name did sound familiar.
I didn’t know her full name, but Isago’s father was apparently a cabinet-level minister…
“Hey, you’re like, super young lady…!”
And a politician’s daughter? That was way beyond what I’d expected.
As I stood there stunned, Minase continued.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
“Among first-years, Isago’s the only one who can go toe-to-toe with Kimiya-san in terms of ability.”
“S-Seriously…?”
“Well, she loses in grades, athleticism, social skills, manners, and mental toughness.”
“Minase! Minase! Was that necessary!?”
“Honestly, she’d lose to your average person in most of those too.”
“Hey, Kage-kun, she’s being mean!”
“But don’t worry. She wins in bust size.”
“Oh! Then it’s fine—wait, NO IT’S NOT!!”
Isago was her usual airheaded self, but…
Somehow, I couldn’t look at her the same way anymore.
(Though not that differently. She’s still hopeless when she opens her mouth.)
“—Ahem. Anyway, I get it now.”
I refocused.
Isago’s reasoning aligned with mine. That was a solid foundation.
“In that case, we’ve got options. —Assuming Isago’s ‘complainer’ exists.”
I took a breath.
Then named the culprit.
“It’s probably Kimiya. Can’t think of anyone else.”
I paused, but none of the three seemed surprised.
They’d all guessed the same name. Good.
“Well, I did only tell Kimiya about this in the first place.”
“Then it’s obvious,” Minase said.
Shiranui nodded.
“Yeah. I haven’t told anyone else—”
“You should’ve been recruiting people.”
“Not the time, idiot!!”
“—Anyway, knowing that’s enough.”
Honestly, I’d figured it was Kimiya from the start.
And if that was the case, there was no need to make an enemy of her.
This was a fight we’d already won.
All we had to do was offer the student council something more valuable than Kimiya’s complaint. With Isago and Minase’s help, we already had the cards to do that.
I could present our collaboration as proof of my work to the council.
At that point, the ban would be lifted. Three against one—simple math. Even a kid could see we had the numbers.
That’s what I’d thought,
at least…
“Fine. I’ll go talk to Kimiya.”
“……Can you?”
Shiranui asked,
as if she already knew the answer was no.
“I doubt she’d take back something she’s said. She already hates you—”
“Doesn’t matter. —I’ll do it.”
“Huh……?”
Truthfully, this was unnecessary.
We could ignore Kimiya and still achieve our goal.
From a purely pragmatic standpoint, there was no reason to bother convincing her.
And I’d chosen this school so I could live exactly like that—
But. This wasn’t just about me anymore. Shiranui was involved now.
(Though, really, that’s just an excuse.)
“Like you said earlier, Shiranui.”
“Me……?”
She tilted her head, confused.
So I repeated her own words back to her.
“You’re—a friend to me.”
“……………!”
“We’re putting on a play. I won’t be onstage, but I do want Kimiya to see it. We might not have a full cast yet, but we can fill the seats.”
“I like that,”
Minase said softly.
“It’s very… you, Kageyuki-san.”
“Oh? Thanks.”
She barely even knew me.
But being told it was “just like me” by Minase left me with no defense.
—I shouldn’t be saying things like this. Emotion over logic was a mistake.
“Is it okay? Like this?”
Isago asks in a small voice.
Her eyes are fixed straight on me, as if gazing at something strange.
I nod firmly.
“Yeah. This is fine.”
“I see. Well, if Kage-kun says it’s okay, then I guess it is.”
“Thanks for that.”
With that, I finally turn back to Shiranui.
“Leave it to me. I’ll bring one more guest.”
“…………”
Shiranui doesn’t respond.
Well, whatever. It’s not like I should be the one saying, “I want my friends to get along.” That’s the kind of wish you keep to yourself—something you digest quietly in your heart.
“Alright then. —Let’s begin the calculation.”
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
