Shirogane Miyuki in COTE

An hour later, Secretary Shirogane headed to the student council office.

The school had given the whole grade permission to self-study, so most students were treating this time like a break.

But the student council president and secretary were still working like normal.

That's the kind of student council you get when Horikita Manabu is running it.

As Shirogane made his way to the student council, his mind wandered to random thoughts.

Then—

He ran into a certain pair: a master and her servant.

The girl held a small cane in one hand. She had silver hair and wore casual clothes—a blue dress with a slightly curled hem.

She was still wearing her signature black stockings. She looked incredibly cute.

The servant still had that same look on her face, like everyone owed her millions.

"Are you heading to the student council, Shirogane?"

The silver-haired, super cute girl greeted Shirogane with a smile.

"Are you out for lunch, Sakayanagi?"

Shirogane asked in return.

"Yeah, I'm out for lunch. Not like you though—having a cute girl make lunch for you."

"If I'm not wrong, you just came out of Horikita's dorm, right?"

Sakayanagi Arisu said this.

She was basically saying she saw him going into Horikita's dorm around lunchtime—when Horikita usually makes her own meals.

So maybe he went there to mooch a free lunch?

"Heh."

Shirogane smiled a bit but didn't directly respond.

Besides…

Sakayanagi, that wasn't a guess. You obviously had someone follow him again.

Normally she has Hashimoto do the spying, but dorms are a sensitive area. Having a guy snooping around could easily cause trouble.

So if they were sure he went into or came out of Horikita's dorm, it must've been a girl watching him.

Which means Sakayanagi now has more people she can assign to follow others.

Anyway, Shirogane borrowed Shiina's phone earlier, so he'll need to bring her lunch later to thank her.

Running into Sakayanagi Arisu was just a small detour, and it didn't distract him. He wasn't influenced by the narrative system to do something dumb like staring at Sakayanagi's chest.

Because right now, Shirogane's mind was clear and focused.

Then—

*Knock knock—*

Shirogane knocked on the student council room door.

"Come in."

Tachibana Akane's voice came from inside.

"Huh?"

But when she saw who it was, Tachibana Akane blinked in surprise.

"Shirogane, if it's you, there's no need to knock when coming to the student council room."

After all, Shirogane was now the secretary of the student council.

And he worked fast—so fast that even Tachibana, the veteran secretary, felt a little pressure.

That's why she had a lot of respect for this younger student.

"He's here to get money from me."

Horikita Manabu said.

"So of course, he's not here as the secretary."

He had been writing something with a fountain pen but now set it down and looked up as he spoke.

"President, can we say the mission is mostly complete?"

Shirogane said.

He took out Shiina's phone.

That meant he had accepted Horikita Manabu's request to look into why Kushida was targeting Horikita Suzune. The actual reporting was done using Shiina's phone—he contacted President Horikita, called him, and let him hear everything.

So even though Kushida was careful enough to ask Shirogane and Horikita to hand over their phones, she never said they couldn't call someone using someone else's.

That's why Kushida's big confession, hwe black history from junior high school, is already known to Horikita.

"Your mission was to find out why Kushida is targeting Suzune, and how to deal with it."

Horikita Manabu said.

When Tachibana Akane heard the student council president talking about something like this, she quietly moved to stand outside the student council room.

Obviously—

She knew the door wasn't soundproof and leaked sound easily, so she stood guard.

"And now, I admit you've uncovered the reason why Kushida is going after Suzune."

"So what's your solution?"

Horikita Manabu asked.

"There's no need to do anything."

Shirogane replied.

"Now that Horikita knows about Kushida's dark past from middle school,"

"Normally, someone would drop out to protect that kind of secret. But it's clear Kushida doesn't want to do that."

"So if she chooses to stay, the only option is to make sure the people who know her past don't expose her."

"And the first way to do that would be to make that person drop out. But since Horikita Suzune is your sister, unless Kushida becomes student council president herself, she wouldn't dare try anything like that."

"I won't play favorites."

Horikita Manabu cut in.

"But regular students won't see it that way."

Shirogane said.

"From a normal point of view, if someone messes with the student council president's sister, especially after learning how this school really works, who would dare lay a hand on her?"

"Wouldn't they be afraid of getting punished for it?"

"At least, that's what the newer students who don't know you well would think."

"And clearly, Kushida is one of them."

"That's why she backed off."

"And the reason she gave up her secret so quickly today is because of that."

"Actually, the moment Kushida realized Horikita Suzune was your sister, she got scared."

"So her telling the truth now is also her way of testing if she'll get punished. After all, Horikita can get in touch with you."

Shirogane said.

How sad.

Tachibana Akane, standing at the door and listening, thought to herself.

"She's pretty smart though."

Horikita Manabu said after thinking it over.

"But this is already my third year here, and I'll be graduating soon."

"And didn't you originally just want Horikita to stay here for one year?"

Shirogane added.

"If Horikita couldn't get used to this place, she would've left with you and dropped out."

"That's why I said there's no need to do anything now."

"Of course, there's a chance Horikita Suzune might decide to stay."

"But—"

Shirogane said.

"By then, I'll be the student council president. I already know her secret too, and simply targeting Horikita won't help Kushida anymore."

In other words—

Kushida wants to go after Horikita Suzune, but right now Horikita Manabu is the student council president.

And trying to go after Shirogane doesn't help either, because he'll probably become president next year.

Unless she wants to end up kicked out of school, she has no choice but to keep acting harmless.

"Ha..."

Listening to Shirogane Miyuki's analysis, Horikita Manabu gave a small laugh.

He lightly pushed up his glasses.

"If what you said is really true, then I guess there's no need to take any action against Kushida."

"But... there are still some holes in your argument."

Horikita Manabu spoke.

"It's about Nagumo-senpai taking the position, right? If he becomes student council president, Kushida won't be afraid to go after me or Horikita Suzune. She might even get his support."

Shirogane replied.

"But Nagumo-senpai is trying to control all of the second years, and if he actually gets the position, I don't think the school will approve of the way he does things."

In other words, Shirogane believed that even if Nagumo became president, he'd be removed within six months.

"Besides, I don't think Nagumo-senpai will even make it that far."

Shirogane said.

"We'll know for sure by the first of next month."

The first of next month.

That day usually marks the start of a new special exam—or the results of the previous month's exam.

Which also means that Shirogane is planning to make a move on Nagumo soon.

"You're still just the secretary. Your main goal should be to surpass Class A."

Horikita Manabu said.

"Step by step is the right way. But if someone suddenly shows up and steals everything, slow and steady won't get you anywhere."

Shirogane replied.

That sentence was a little vague, a bit hard to grasp—but Horikita Manabu understood it quickly.

Shirogane was saying that he had been trying to move forward carefully, but Nagumo had now interfered in their exam.

Manabu didn't respond, since interfering with another year's exam at any time was clearly wrong.

And he could also feel how serious Shirogane was.

If Nagumo took control of the second years, that would mean securing all their votes.

So, to fight back, Shirogane needed to secure votes from the first years.

"Well then, I'll be watching your rivalry closely."

With that, Horikita Manabu stopped speaking in Nagumo's defense.

He pulled a point card out of the drawer.

"This is your reward for completing the task."

He scanned the point card with his phone.

*Beep!* "Balance: 1,000,000 private points."

But even after the scan, Shirogane didn't take the card.

"President, can I ask you for a favor?"

Shirogane said.

"What is it?"

"When the third years graduate, could you help me cash out this point card and send the money to my family?"

Shirogane said.

In other words, Shirogane wasn't planning to wait for his own graduation. He wanted to turn the points into money when this year's third years cashed out their points and left school.

"Alright."

Horikita Manabu didn't turn him down. He put the point card back into the drawer.

Even though it was just a quick glance, Shirogane could still see there were seven or eight more cards in there.

The student council president had casually pulled one out earlier, so it was clear they were probably all around the same value—likely one million points each.