CH#190

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10-12 minutes 22.07.2022

After the school was over, the campus was already in the midst of a festive atmosphere.

Especially, the enthusiasm of the second-year students was so intense that many of them headed for the speech location that Yuuto had prepared as soon as class ended.

I was walking alone toward the building where the first-year students were.
In my hands, I was carrying a large amount of printouts that I had received from Koizumi, leaving my bag with Shizuku and Kirasaka, who were waiting in the classroom.

I walked in the opposite direction from where the students were headed and met up with Shiraishi, whom I called, in the passageway connecting the freshman and sophomore buildings.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“…Did you talk to the class representatives?”

Through Shiraishi, I had one request for the first-year class representatives.
She asked them to remain in the classroom for just a few moments after homeroom ended.

She told them that the reason was to distribute the survey from the student council, so I checked the situation in the hallway and it appeared that the majority of the students had heeded my request and remained inside the room.

“I’m going to have to get Shiraishi to talk to them in advance about all of this, otherwise we won’t be able to gather the numbers we need.

“But, how do you want me to explain it to them?”

“Ad-lib on the spot…”

After knocking a few times, the door opened before Shiraishi was ready.
I moved up to the front of the teaching table without worrying about the eyes being drawn towards me from the students waiting inside.

Students who saw Shiraishi’s figure followed behind me all looked at me as if they realized that the explanation given by the class representative was true.

“…I’ll explain the main topic, so please start with something to make it easier for me to say a few words.”

“Eh, Ah… me!?”

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I whispered to Shiraishi in her ear, who was standing next to me with her usual calculated smile.

The freshman watched the overreacting Shiraishi as if watching a strange person.

“Ahhhh, right, that that …good morning!”

“After school.”

“H-h-h-h-hello!”

The atmosphere was softened as everyone looked at Shiraishi, who displayed her usual clunky behavior without fail, perhaps completely relaxed after the presidential election.
From their point of view, they probably just think that their usually reliable Shiraishi is acting weird.

Perhaps it’s just a trick to lighten the mood.
However, this definitely made it easier for me to talk to them.

Without delay, I bowed my head slightly and began to speak in a voice that could be heard by all.

“…I asked everyone to make time today to allow the student council to compile a preliminary survey about the member elections that will take place today onwards.”

I picked up the top sheet of paper from the teacher’s table and showed them the actual form.

“It’s really quite simple: …Column one is to put a 〇 in the box for the current senior you plan to vote for, and column two is for anything you would like the student council to do in the future.
Like …wanting more items in the cafeteria menu.”

When I gave one example and explained that it was a straightforward survey and that it was conducted by the student council, the freshmen filled out the printouts I handed out without any suspicion.

No names were needed, and it was completely anonymous, so there was no problem even if it was a personal opinion.

We were allowed to use this reassurance to get an idea of the bits and pieces of requests the first-year students had for the student council and their current image of the student council.

While class 1 is filling out the form, we will go around to the class 2, then 3, and so on, in that order, and finally collect them again from class 1.

This process took about 30 minutes for a total of five classes, and we were able to collect about 150 forms.

“Will it really be useful to collect all these?”

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After I finished collecting the forms for Class 5, I was walking toward Class 3 of the sophomore building when Shiraishi asked me a question.

“…I don’t know.”

I can’t really make a decision on this one until I actually go through it.
However, I managed to get the first-year students to get to know my face.

Moreover, we were also able to gather a rough outline of the first-year students’ votes and their opinions on the student council.

Yuuto may have already come up with a pledge, but I have to admit that I have a hard time understanding what a actually pledge is.

However, even if I gave the template speech that the students wanted, it would not be convincing enough with my achievements and abilities.

On the first day, I will collect and compile the surveys from the first-year students, and tomorrow I will collect and compile the surveys from the others.

Then, from the third day, the real fight will begin.
I will be trailing behind Yuuto until Thursday, but since it is difficult for me to continuously gather popularity and votes, I will need to make a powerful impression, though it cannot be a big one-shot.

“We’re back!”

Shiraishi entered the classroom of the class 3 of the second year first, followed by me.
In addition to Shiraishi and Kirasaka, President and Koizumi were also in the classroom.

I had explained my candidacy to Hino-kun and Miura, but as they had other matters to attend to today so they couldn’t attend, so this is my current team.

To be honest, this is a splendid lineup.

The current student council president, the next student council president, the vice president, the second-year princess Shizuku, and Kirasaka, who is called the queen.

If I fully rely on all of them and ask them to help me with everything from speeches to anything else, even Yuuto might struggle against them.

But, that would be meaningless.
If I don’t win over Yuuto with my words, my actions, and my methods, it will be meaningless.

“Have you collected the forms?”

“Surprisingly, Shiraishi’s ability to speak up was effective for freshmen, …and most  of the students responded.”

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I put the large stack of questionnaires on the desk and was amazed at the number of responses.

“Everyone gave Ogiwara-kun a 〇…”

“Of course they did, …this is simply the difference in popularity.”

On the one hand, we have the prince of the school, and on the other, a student who is as invisible as the background.
The freshmen’s response was obvious, with a similar outcome which would come from other grades too.

“Roughly calculated it’s about 130 to 20 …If we calculated the same for the second year, the difference in votes would be overwhelming.”

The president put her hand on her chin and said while thinking.
President, who has been watching the student elections the longest out of all of them, probably understands how big a difference this result makes.

Koizumi, too, looked sullen at this.

“It can’t be helped you’re up against Ogiwara-kun, if I were in your shoes, I’d be in tears….”

“If it were me, I would totally be crying right now.”

Koizumi’s opinion was followed by a similar comment from the Shiraishi.
However, this isn’t the time to care about that.

“But, you ran for position knowing that there would be similar difference in the number of votes, didn’t you?”

In the quiet classroom, president firmly asked.
Without pausing, I nodded and replied to her words.

“Of course …on the contrary, I probably expected it to be a bit more.”

Looking back at the survey forms, I said to all of them without discouragement.

Shizuku, Kirasaka, and president smiled reassuringly, while Koizumi and Shiraishi looked at me with their mouths open in surprise.

After a quick check of the second section of the survey from the first-year students, not the first, but the one with their wishes for the student council, I can be sure of one thing from the freshmen’s response towards the election.

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Perhaps this is something that is shared by the second year students as well, but the wish list includes the elimination of blank and conventional uniforms, opening the rooftops of all buildings, and increasing the items in the cafeteria menu…

There were very few responses that were truly pressing or specific.

When time is short and a limit to answers is presented to you, if there was something you truly want, you would write it down.

Student-centered, easy to spend time with, and interaction with the local community, as Koizumi listed.

If language is overly vague, such as the selection of students with individuality mentioned by Shiraishi, it indicates one’s lack of interest in that matter.

If it is simply a situation of comparing me and Yuuto, and Yuuto’s popularity vote being overwhelmingly higher, I can still fight.

“…I’d like Koizumi to put together a list of the minimum requirements for the election, Shiraishi to identify the high caste students in each of the first year classes, and president to list the teachers in order of their likelihood to vote on our side.”

I asked the three of them, and they nodded in unison and walked out of the classroom.
President waved goodbye to us just before she left, and we returned it appropriately waving our hands.

The remaining, Shizuku and Kirasaka, waited patiently for me to say something.

“Even if I don’t challenge him head-on, I’d like to see what Yuuto is on about and have the countermeasures ready…”

“Then it’s an enemy surveillance! Right, we can do it in the courtyard right now, but there are a lot of people there …so let’s go to the rooftop, shall we?”

…Enemy surveillance, is it? That means that Yuuto is already recognized as an enemy in Shizuku’s eyes, isn’t it?

Well, it might be limited to during the student council elections, but it is still reassuring that her resolve isn’t wavering.

It is because Shizuku is overly kind that I was worried, but it seems my fears were unfounded.
Finally, when I looked at Kirasaka for consent, she opened her mouth with her eyes closed.

“I’m not interested in his speech, but Shinra-kun’s reaction when he hears it sounds interesting, …so let’s go.”

With a wicked smile on her face, Kirasaka stood up.
Be interested, please.

After stuffing the survey forms into my bag, which did not contain any study materials whatsoever, I got up from my seat and left the classroom, followed by the two waiting at the entrance of the classroom.