065 Yokohama Prelude

“Hah… I’m exhausted…” Tatsuya collapsed onto his desk, looking completely drained, like all the energy had been sucked right out of him.

Honoka quickly walked over with a worried look on her face.

“E-Etto, Tatsuya-san… are you okay?”

Tatsuya slowly lifted his head and looked at her.

“Yeah. Thanks for asking, Honoka.”

Doki!

“H-Hehe, you’re welcome! I’m just happy I could help!”

“No, Honoka. You didn’t help at all.” Shizuku cut in flatly, clearly trying to bring her best friend back to reality.

Honoka only grinned wider, way too happy to even process what Shizuku had just said.

“Oiii… snap out of it already, Honoka…” Shizuku sighed, trying once again to wake her up from her little fantasy world, but it was useless. Honoka was floating somewhere far above the clouds at this point.

Tatsuya let out a small amused chuckle.

“Just leave her alone. She looks kinda cute like this.”

Shizuku silently nodded.

But for a brief moment, her usually expressionless face showed the faintest trace of dissatisfaction.

“Tatsuya…”

“Hm? What is it?”

It looked like Shizuku wanted to say something important, but in the end, she swallowed the words before they could leave her mouth.

“…Never mind.”

“Hm?” Tatsuya tilted his head, even more curious now.

But before he could ask further, Shizuku had already turned away from him.

“Onii-sama…”

Miyuki called out softly.

Tatsuya immediately turned toward her.

“What is it?”

“The Student Council is calling for you.”

“…”

……

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to refuse.”

“Ehhhh!? Why!?” Mayumi shot up from her chair, staring at Tatsuya in complete disbelief. “Being Student Council President is amazing, you know!?”

Miyuki sat quietly beside Tatsuya, her eyes filled with hesitation as she looked at him.

Personally, she wanted Tatsuya to become the next Student Council President.

More than anyone.

Still, she knew better than to force her own wishes onto him.

Tatsuya let out a quiet sigh before calmly explaining his reasons.

Even after hearing him out, Mayumi still looked extremely dissatisfied, though she reluctantly gave up trying to push him further.

“Compared to me, Nakajou-senpai would be a hundred times better for the role.”

Mayumi slumped back into her seat and rubbed her temples helplessly.

“A-chan refused too… I already tried convincing her over and over, but she still won’t accept it.”

Tatsuya fell silent for a moment.

If he remembered correctly, Nakajou Azusa had indeed refused the position in the original story as well, until Miyuki and Tatsuya eventually persuaded her.

“Well, if that’s the case… I’ll talk to Nakajou-senpai myself.”

“Eh? I don’t think you’ll be able to convince A-chan…”

One hour later…

“Kaichou! I’ll run in the Student Council President election!”

“Eh?” Mayumi froze on the spot and blinked repeatedly, as if trying to confirm she wasn’t hallucinating. “A-chan… are you serious?”

“Yes! Kaichou has helped me so much all this time. I just want to repay everything you’ve done for me!”

Naturally, Mayumi didn’t buy it immediately.

Especially after Azusa had rejected her so stubbornly before.

Slowly, Mayumi turned toward Tatsuya.

Tatsuya responded with a bright smile, giving her a thumbs-up along with a playful wink.

“A-chan… if someone threatened or forced you, just say so.”

“No, Kaichou. I wasn’t forced… I was simply persuaded with something I couldn’t refuse.”

“That’s basically the same thing…”

“It’s fine! I’m still going to run for Student Council President!”

Mayumi let out another exhausted sigh and rubbed her temples again before glancing at Tatsuya one more time.

“You’ll take responsibility if something happens, right?”

Tatsuya only gave a faint smile, looking unbelievably calm, as though this entire matter had absolutely nothing to do with him.

“Nakajou-senpai as Student Council President, with Miyuki as Vice President. Isn’t that basically the perfect combination?”

Mayumi couldn’t even argue with that.

Even though she still had some concerns, she ultimately had no choice but to accept it.

“…Fine. I’ll handle the rest.”

“Then I’ll be leaving now.”

Tatsuya turned around, intending to head back—

—but Mayumi immediately stopped him.

“And where exactly do you think you’re going?” she asked with a sweet smile.

A very dangerous sweet smile.

“Etto… back to class?”

“Nope. I want to have a serious discussion with you.”

“Eh? But I’m kinda in a hurry.”

“It’s fine. The teachers will overlook it if you’re with me.”

“…”

Tatsuya stared at her for a moment before finally giving up.

“…Alright. I get it.”

In the end, even Tatsuya couldn’t resist Mayumi once she got serious.

……

The Student Council election proceeded smoothly.

Nakajou Azusa became the new Student Council President, officially succeeding Mayumi.

And just like that, time continued to move forward.

Before anyone realized it, the Yokohama Competition was already right around the corner.

Just like in the original story, Ichihara Suzune selected Tatsuya as an additional member for the competition.

Tatsuya didn’t particularly mind and simply carried out his duties as assigned.

Several incidents still occurred leading up to the competition, but every single problem was quietly resolved by Tatsuya before things could spiral out of control.

The troublemakers didn’t even get the chance to make their move.

Tatsuya had already dealt with them beforehand.

“The Great Asian Alliance… Zhou Gongjin… should I erase him before things get worse?”

As Tatsuya seriously considered that possibility, new information suddenly reached his ears.

The Yotsuba Family magicians who had been dispatched to investigate couldn’t find anyone named Zhou Gongjin.

Not only that—

They also failed to uncover anything suspicious anywhere around Yokohama.

“…What does this mean?”

To be continued…