Chapter 89: I’m starting to get fired up.

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Translator: Soafp

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After school, right after finishing his cleaning duties, Sora came running over to Ginji.

“Shall we go?”

“…Yeah.”

Nodding a bit nervously, the two of them began walking together. They stopped in front of the student council room at the far end of the first floor. Ginji gave the door a rough knock. Almost immediately, the door opened, and a second-year girl peeked out. One of her eyes was hidden behind her bangs. She seemed slightly startled when she saw Ginji.

“Ah, um…”

“I'm Ginji Momoi from Class 1. I'm here with Sora today.”

Sora also peeked out from behind Ginji's back.

“That's Oikawa-senpai from general affairs. Hello, Oikawa-senpai.”

“Oh, Takagi-kun… I mean, Takagi-san now. I'm not exactly in charge of general affairs—just helping out. Please, come in. The secretary should be here any moment. Shiki-san is inside, too.”

It was Ginji's first time entering the student council room. His first impression was that it was bigger than he'd expected.

Given how nice the prep room was, he had some idea, but even so, this room was spacious. It looked like each officer had their own desk, complete with a computer and printer. There were snacks and a kettle, and the cabinets with doors were crammed full of files. First-year student Yoshida and some other boys who'd been told to come here seemed to be working on something. Standing quietly behind Aika was Mio, her expression gloomy and silent.

In addition to the officers' desks, there were two sofas facing each other for guests. Aika was sitting on one of them.

“Aika-chan…”

“You're late. Sora, why don't you have a seat?”

“You two can sit here. I'll get some tea—oh, we're out at the moment.”

Oikawa guided them to the sofa across from Aika. Ginji and Sora sat down.

Aika, seated in front of them, narrowed her eyes as if tired, but she sat with perfect posture. The atmosphere of the room made her look almost like a painting.

“I thought we had tea being delivered regularly.”

When Sora said this, Oikawa looked apologetically toward Aika.

“I had them stop it. I wanted to try a different brand.”

“…I see.”

“Whatever. What's this all about?”

“We're waiting for the secretary… oh, looks like he's here.”

Just as Aika finished speaking, a commotion could be heard as the door opened. The male student from general affairs—who had previously asked Sora for help and been refused—walked in.

“Sorry I'm late. Hey, Shiki-san. Takagi-san too… wait, who's the guy?”

“You're the secretary who came to our classroom the other day, right? I'm Momoi from Class 1. I came with Sora.”

Ooi glanced nervously at Aika as he took a seat on the sofa. Now Aika and Ooi sat on one side, facing Ginji and Sora. Oikawa remained standing, listening in. Yoshida and the others helping out were clearly eavesdropping.

“Accompanying her… well, whatever. The president's busy today, so I'll explain. As I said before, we want Takagi-san to come back to the student council—more specifically, to join next year's officers.”

“…”

Aika didn't speak. She folded her hands and closed her eyes. Her displeasure was obvious, but Ooi didn't seem to notice and kept talking.

“Actually, the student council is in a pretty bad state. Did someone from first-year explain it to you on the way here? Like I said before, our work is piling up. We've even asked first-years to help, but it's not going well… Apparently, Takagi-san used to handle most of the work, right? Before, her appearance was a little… unconventional, but with this new image, she'd be a great fit for the student council. With Shiki-san and Takagi-san, we'd have a pair of beautiful officers—definitely good for our image.”

Ginji glanced at Sora, silently asking her thoughts. Sora returned his look with a nod, signaling that she wanted to hear more herself.

“I don't follow. I've already said I won't do miscellaneous tasks anymore. Besides, I was told to come here to hand over work. And honestly, I don't even understand why the student council is struggling in the first place.”

“As for that… well, it's kind of our fault… or, rather, we've got twice as much work as usual this year. We're also doing new projects, so we don't have any experience to rely on…”

Ooi kept glancing at Aika, clearly walking on eggshells despite being her Senpai. Aika opened her eyes.

“I'm going to be student council president next term, so I've started taking on more initiatives as vice president. We're working with other schools and the city to promote our school through the student council.”

“So basically, Shiki is the one who overloaded the council with her selfish whims. Took you long enough to realize it was Sora who made her crazy plans actually happen.”

With Ginji's sharp words, the atmosphere in the room froze.

“Momoi-kun… that was cruel. Do you hate me or something? You're ignoring my warnings too.”

“Oh, I'm grateful for that. Thanks to you, I was able to face Sora properly. …Anyway, this isn't about who likes or hates who. You brought Sora here because you're in real trouble, didn't you?”

“Hey, first-year. Don't talk to Shiki-san like that. Thanks to her, the student council's reputation has improved. I don't know how good Takagi-san is at the job, but why is Oikawa and everyone else pushing for her return… Well, I guess having a cute girl would boost our image.”

Ooi tilted his head as he looked at Aika and Sora. It seemed he didn't know the work Sora had been doing, probably because Aika had claimed the credit.

“…I'm not joining the student council. But I am interested in what the problems are. What exactly are you struggling with?”

“Uh, well, right now the main issue is the increased budget compared to last year—it's not balancing with the summer club budgets. Also, the teachers are saying the new tea snacks aren't as good as before… even though Shiki-san picked them out…”

“…”

Shiki bit her lip. She must have guessed what was about to happen.

“…Ginji, will you help me?”

“Sure.”

“Please give me the key to the records room. I'll find the mistakes and point them out today. If there are other issues, bring them too.”

Sora stood up, and the first-year students began handing over the documents they had been working on. Seeing this, Aika stood up and tried to leave the room ahead of Sora.

As they passed each other, she muttered:

“Monster.”

Then she left, taking Mio with her.

“Sora…”

“Don't worry, Ginji. Besides, I would've been scared before—but now…”

Sora turned back with a grin—one just as devilish as Ginji's.

“I'm really fired up.”

“Heh. Then let's show them—show them everything you've done up till now.”

With that, Ginji grabbed the documents from Sora's arms and led the way. Sora followed him into the prep room next to the student council office.