The Student Council presidential election ended.
Alisa, who had failed, was silently distraught.
"I'm sorry, I'll have to trouble you again, Tenya-kun." Maria informed Tenya of the situation.
"No problem. Don't be polite with me. From now on, whether it's Maria-senpai's business or Alisa's business, it's my business." Tenya gave an affirmative answer.
He switched to the chat interface.
[Alisa, are you there?]
Read, but no reply.
[Alisa, whatever you do, don't look back.]
"???"
On the balcony, Alisa was sulking alone.
When she saw the message from Tenya, she initially didn't want to reply. But what did that last sentence, "Whatever you do, don't look back," mean?
However, in the next second, she understood. Her eyes were covered by a gentle hand.
"Guess who I am?"
Tenya used Kamui, instantly arriving on the balcony of Alisa's house.
"Tenya..."
"I don't want you to see me like this, defeated." Alisa's voice was slightly choked.
"No. Whether I want to see you is for me to decide." Tenya's words were forceful.
"You're a tyrant. No wonder Isshiki-san lost." Alisa's mood improved slightly.
"Of course, don't underestimate my influence at school." Tenya said proudly.
"I wasn't even praising you." Alisa pouted.
The simple conversation eased the heavy atmosphere.
"Thank you for comforting me, Tenya-kun." Alisa leaned her head on Tenya's chest.
"No thanks needed, I'm just taking advantage of the situation."
Tenya held her tightly with both hands, resting his chin on her silver-white hair, greedily sniffing the refreshing scent of the young girl.
"Хитрость." (Cunning)
Alisa hummed softly but did not resist.
There were no excessive sweet words, the two simply leaned against each other quietly, feeling each other's heartbeats.
After a long while, Maria's voice came from inside the room.
"Um..."
"You two aren't planning to stay on the balcony until dawn tonight, are you?"
Hearing her sister's teasing, Alisa belatedly realized, and frantically broke free from Tenya's embrace.
"Just now, that... doesn't count!" Alisa said softly with her head down, then turned and ran into the room.
"Oh dear. Alya ran away shyly, what a pity. Tonight, Tenya-kun , please go home by yourself." Maria said with a smile, resting her chin on her hand.
"You use me and then discard me, that's not right, Maria-senpai?" Tenya feigned grievance.
"Ehh! What a pure and innocent young man's remark, that's not like Tenya-kun's style." Maria scrunched up her nose, looking disgusted.
"As long as Maria-senpai likes it, I can also be pure and innocent, though it's a limited-time version." Tenya raised an eyebrow, his words hinting at something.
"Ah... Tenya-kun, isn't your hint a bit too obvious?" Maria sighed.
Then, she walked into the bathroom alone. Tenya followed her in closely.
...
A sunny morning with gentle breezes.
As Tenya walked out of Alisa's house, he ran into Yuki.
"Yo! Isn't this President Yuki? Congratulations!"
"Good morning, Yoshida-san. Is your congratulation staying overnight at Alisa's house?" Yuki said with a smile.
"Is Yuki feeling lonely? Don't cling to your brother too much." Tenya stepped forward and reached out to remove a fallen leaf from her head.
"You are not my real brother." Yuki's eyes flickered slightly.
"Isn't that just perfect? It also avoids harmony." Tenya intimately placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Shamelessly making a move on a friend's sister. Yoshida-san is shameless."
Yuki gave him an annoyed look. If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she would have found it hard to imagine that her slow-witted brother would have such a cunning friend as Tenya.
"It's alright, my friend Masachika's spirit in heaven will also agree to me being with Yuki." Tenya spoke nonsense with his eyes open.
"Forget it, I won't talk nonsense with you anymore. After school today, can you come to the Student Council with me?" Yuki got straight to the point.
"What's wrong? Just became the Student Council president and already need external help?" Tenya teased.
"Rationally utilizing the school's resources is also an essential talent for a Student Council president." Yuki, on the other hand, acted as if it were only natural.
"Alright, I hope it's nothing troublesome." Tenya didn't think much of it and casually agreed.
Sobu High School.
After school.
Tenya arrived at the Student Council as agreed. Meguru's former president's seat was now occupied by Yuki. The original members, Alisa, Maria, and Ayano, were all there. It seemed like the group was getting along quite well.
"As expected of Yuki, you've successfully taken over the Student Council." Tenya offered praise.
"This minor skill is not worth Yoshida-san's praise." Yuki smiled.
The group exchanged a few pleasantries and then, Yuki began to explain the day's main topic.
"Christmas event? And it's even a joint event with an outside school?" Alisa was very surprised by this.
Yuki just took office and is already planning such a big event, isn't that a bit too aggressive?
"The proposal was first put forward by the other party. The partner is Advanced Nurturing High School from Kyoto." Yuki explained.
"Huh? It's actually a school from Kyoto? Advanced Nurturing... That name sounds a bit familiar." Maria pondered.
"Yes. It's the school known as the Meritocracy School. A model high school with a background from the Ministry of Education."
Yuki opened the foldable screen in her hand, projecting the document information onto the projection screen with aerial gestures.
It was a school built on an artificial island in Kyoto Bay.
The school had a large number of sports, entertainment, and living facilities, and its construction cost alone was incomparable to other ordinary high schools.
"I heard that it's a completely closed-off high school. Why did they suddenly suggest holding this joint event?" Alisa asked, puzzled.
"It's said that some unknown strange incidents have occurred within the school. The specific situation is not very clear." Yuki shook her head.
"Strange incidents? That sounds very scary. Do we really have to do a Christmas event with them?" Maria raised a question.
"Sobu High School put pressure on the Student Council, hoping we could accept." Yuki sighed.
The Student Council was nominally an independent organization from the school, but in reality, how could it completely escape the influence of the school authorities?
"So, how do you need me to help with this?" Tenya was completely uninterested in Christmas events.
But he had some curiosity about Advanced Nurturing, a school that upheld meritocracy above all else.
"Because Advanced Nurturing High School is a completely closed-off school, they require us to send people over for activity negotiations and the accompanying personnel are limited to two people." Yuki explained.
"Only two people? Why?!" Alisa expressed strong dissatisfaction.
You, Advanced Nurturing High School, have a deep background, so it's understandable for them to go for negotiations. But to also specify how many people to send, that's completely unreasonable.
"In return, Advanced Nurturing High School is willing to bear all expenses for the event." Yuki spoke the key point in one sentence.
"I see. No wonder Sobu High School responded so enthusiastically to their request." Ayano nodded expressionlessly.
Not having to spend money and being able to organize a joint event with a prestigious school was simply a win-win situation for Sobu High School.
"It's just that, in that case, our Student Council's work might be very difficult." Maria frowned, expressing concern.
As the saying goes, economic foundation determines the superstructure.
Advanced Nurturing High School being fully responsible for the expenses meant that they would have absolute dominance in the cooperation.
"Then, President Yuki, who do you plan to send to Advanced Nurturing High School?" Alisa asked.
"As the president, I must personally go to discuss the details of the event. Also, I hope Yoshida-san can assist me on this trip." Yuki's words greatly surprised the members of the Student Council.
"Why Tenya-kun?" Alisa expressed her confusion.
Was Yuki trying to use her position to secretly date Tenya?