Chapter 172: Senpai, It's All Taken Care Of!
Yuto casually left the student council's broadcast room and headed back toward the office, while a thoroughly miserable Mizowaki left in the opposite direction for the club building.
On the way there, Mizowaki hesitated for quite a while before finally calling Nagumo.
"Mizowaki, why are you calling me now? Did you figure out how that bastard Shimizu Yuto plans to target me?"
Hearing the tension in Nagumo's voice, Mizowaki sighed helplessly. "Yeah. I figured out how Shimizu Yuto intends to deal with us, and..."
"What is he planning?!"
"Boss Nagumo, let me finish first."
"Fine. Keep talking."
Nagumo suppressed his impatience. Ever since Yuto had extorted a six-hundred-thousand-point Wagyu set meal from him that night and openly declared war, Nagumo had been restless, constantly wondering what Yuto intended to do next.
"I know what Shimizu Yuto's method is, and his plan has already succeeded."
"S-Succeeded? What do you mean, succeeded?!" Nagumo demanded with a deep frown.
"Simply put, Shimizu Yuto's plan worked. We all have to resign from the student council."
"You got kicked out too?!"
"Yeah."
The moment Mizowaki admitted it, anger and dissatisfaction surged inside Nagumo.
Did this idiot not understand that he was Nagumo's last real source of influence inside the student council? Yet he had still allowed Shimizu Yuto to drive him out?!
"Tell me everything that happened!"
Nagumo's expression darkened as he gave the order, his voice filled with obvious dissatisfaction.
Feeling wronged, Mizowaki explained Yuto's proposal concerning the clubs in full. After describing both the proposal itself and Yuto's conditions, he said bitterly, "That's how Shimizu Yuto forced us out. If I refuse to leave the student council, he'll definitely report everything about the clubs to the administration. At that point, none of us knows whether he'll manage to get us expelled!"
"..."
Nagumo fell silent.
Once he understood why Mizowaki had agreed to resign, his anger toward him gradually turned into guilt.
So something Nagumo had done in the past had ended up dragging Mizowaki down...
But after thinking about it again, Nagumo realized Mizowaki hadn't exactly been an innocent victim.
Both Mizowaki and Tonokawa had received shares of the points obtained through the clubs.
All three of them had been accomplices.
So Mizowaki being forced from the student council wasn't really Nagumo implicating him. Their scheme had simply been exposed.
Nagumo's brief guilt vanished immediately. He drew a deep breath and snarled, "Damn that Shimizu Yuto!"
"Exactly! Damn Shimizu Yuto!" Mizowaki immediately agreed.
Sitting beside Nagumo, Tonokawa could only shake his head and sigh.
They had absolutely no way to deal with Yuto. All they could do was curse him privately in helpless frustration.
"Boss Nagumo, do you have any other way to solve the problems we left behind in the clubs?" Mizowaki asked quietly.
"How the hell would I?!" Nagumo snapped.
Yuto's attack was an open move backed by real evidence, not some fabricated conspiracy or baseless accusation. There was simply no practical way for Nagumo to counter it.
"Then, Boss Nagumo... I can only do what Shimizu Yuto demanded, right?"
"...Yeah."
Nagumo answered dejectedly.
Inside the club room, Nagumo slumped with his head lowered.
Outside, Mizowaki nearly smiled in relief.
After his confrontation with Yuto earlier, he had genuinely experienced the fear of being completely controlled by that demon.
He didn't want to remain alone inside the student council and face such a terrifying enemy by himself anymore.
"Boss Nagumo, Shimizu Yuto also ordered me to dissolve the club you created and return the club room."
"What?! Damn that Shimizu Yuto!"
Mizowaki was confused by Nagumo's extreme reaction.
Wasn't their club basically just a place where they sat around chatting and bragging?
If it was dissolved, so what?
Even losing the room didn't matter. They could simply find somewhere else to meet.
But Nagumo didn't see it that way.
The club room had become the headquarters of his faction. It represented his influence and reputation.
Having Yuto take it away was practically the same as having Yuto slap him across the face.
"Haah..."
After ending the call, Nagumo collapsed into his chair with a deeply troubled expression.
Now that Yuto had also driven Mizowaki and the three general affairs members out, Nagumo's chances of ever returning to the student council had effectively disappeared.
"I never should've provoked Shimizu Yuto..."
Tonokawa looked at Nagumo in surprise.
He never expected the proud Nagumo Miyabi to say something like that.
It sounded almost like he was admitting defeat to Yuto.
...
Yuto returned to the student council office.
Only Tachibana and Manabu remained inside. Kiriyama and the general affairs staff had already left.
Tachibana looked at Yuto in surprise. "Shimizu, weren't you going to the broadcast room? Why are you back already?"
"Mizowaki-senpai was very considerate and volunteered to handle the ghost-member problem himself, so there's no need to make an announcement anymore," Yuto replied with a smile.
Manabu gave him a long look. "You finished what you wanted to do?"
He didn't specify what "it" meant, but Yuto and Tachibana both knew he was referring to forcing Mizowaki and the other three out of the student council.
"Mm. It's all taken care of, Senpai. Mizowaki told me his grades have been getting worse, so he wants to resign from the student council and focus on studying. You should prepare to train some new members."
Manabu glanced at him. "Whoever recruits the new members will be responsible for training them."
"No way... I'm a new member myself. I haven't even been in the student council for a week yet," Yuto replied with a helpless laugh.
Tachibana smiled. "Even if you've only been here a short time, you're already fully capable of handling the vice president's work. That means you're capable of training new members too. The president and I both trust you."
"...Well, thank you very much for that trust."
Manabu had no interest in training newcomers himself.
Besides, one of the students Yuto intended to bring in was his younger sister.
It wasn't that Manabu disliked the idea of teaching Suzune. He simply worried that doing so would encourage her old habit of blindly imitating him.
Of course, that was no longer likely to happen.
Yuto had already played a trick on Manabu by secretly recording their earlier conversation and letting Suzune hear it.
After learning her brother's genuine thoughts and how he truly viewed her, Suzune had finally stopped clumsily trying to imitate him.
...
Yuto worked at the student council until five in the afternoon.
When he finally left the building, Kei was waiting across the street.
The late-afternoon sunlight had turned a warm golden hue, bathing her slender figure in soft light and making her honey-colored hair appear even deeper and more beautiful.
She held a plastic bag containing two honey lattes.
Ever since Kei learned that Yuto usually stayed at the student council until around five, she had begun coming over at roughly that time every day to wait for him.
Of course, she always checked with Yuto through Line beforehand.
Student council members didn't remain inside the office all day. Sometimes they had to leave to handle various tasks, so their departure time wasn't exactly the same every day.
That was why Yuto had specifically told Kei to message him first before coming over, so she wouldn't arrive only to discover he wasn't there.
The moment Kei spotted him, a sweet smile blossomed across her face. Carrying the bag, she hurried toward him with light, cheerful steps, her honey-colored ponytail swaying behind her and gleaming beneath the evening sun.
"Yuto~ I bought the drink you like!"
"Thanks."
Yuto affectionately pinched her soft cheek before taking the bag from her.
He pulled out one honey latte and handed it to Kei.
She accepted it, inserted the straw, and immediately offered the drink back to him.
"Kei, I handed that to you because I wanted you to drink first, not so you could put the straw in for me..." Yuto said with an amused smile.
"It's the same thing~ Come on, take it."
"Give me a second."
Yuto pulled out the second drink, inserted its straw, and handed it to Kei. "Here."
"Okay~"
Kei accepted the honey latte he had prepared for her with a radiant smile, while Yuto took the one she had prepared for him.
Kei knew it was probably just her imagination, but somehow the honey latte in her hands tasted a little sweeter than usual.
"Let's go. What do you want for dinner tonight? My treat."
Kei naturally wrapped herself around his arm and smiled. "Anything is fine~"
As long as she was eating with Yuto, anything would taste wonderful.
There was a reason people said good company made a meal better.
Yuto and Kei headed toward the student cafeteria.
Along the way, Yuto tossed the empty plastic bag into a nearby trash can, took out his phone, and called Chabashira.
...
At that moment, Chabashira was sitting on the sofa in the living room of Yuto's detached apartment.
She and Airi had only recently returned after buying ingredients from a nearby market.
"Hm?"
Chabashira took the ringing phone from her pocket and raised an eyebrow when she saw Yuto's name.
Why was that troublesome brat calling her now?
Was he planning to come home for dinner tonight and calling in advance so she would prepare a portion for him?
Chabashira crossed her long legs comfortably and answered.
"Chabashira-sensei."
"What is it? Are you calling to tell me how you swindled someone out of six hundred seventy thousand points today?" Chabashira's amused voice came through the phone.
"That little thing isn't worth talking about. I'm calling because I want to add enough points to turn that six hundred seventy thousand into a two-million-point scholarship fund. That should give everyone a lot more motivation to study."
Both Chabashira and Kei clicked their tongues in amazement at Yuto's casual statement.
Turning six hundred seventy thousand points into two million meant Yuto would personally contribute another 1.33 million.
One million three hundred thirty thousand points.
Not thirteen thousand three hundred.
That was an enormous amount that most students could never accumulate even after three full years at this school, yet Yuto was offering it without hesitation.
"Shimizu, why did you suddenly decide to create a scholarship fund?" Chabashira asked.
"Well, I'm more or less the class leader. I have some responsibility to encourage everyone to study harder, so I thought a scholarship fund would help," Yuto answered casually.
Chabashira was very satisfied with that response.
It meant Yuto was increasingly behaving like a genuine class leader.
Of course...
The main reason was simply that Yuto had far too many points.
He had already accumulated the twenty million needed to transfer classes, so he was free to spend the surplus however he liked.
Using those points to motivate his classmates had two benefits: it would encourage them to study harder and earn more class points, while also making them grateful to Yuto.
Creating a scholarship fund was a perfect two-for-one investment.
"I understand. The first day after the weekend will be June 1st. I'll announce the scholarship fund during homeroom then. That should be the best time," Chabashira said.
"Mm. That really is perfect."
June 1st marked the beginning of a new month, which meant the school would distribute personal points according to each class's current class-point total.
Yuto's Class C only had 122 class points, so every student would receive just 12,200 personal points.
That amount was far too low.
The students were bound to be disappointed.
And precisely when everyone was dissatisfied with their monthly allowance, Chabashira and Yuto would reveal the two-million-point scholarship fund.
Such an enormous reward would undoubtedly ignite Class C's motivation to study.
…
(Don't forget to vote, review, and leave a comment below! :D The more you vote, the more chapters I upload.)
...
Read more chapters(25+):
patréon.com/U22
(Note: Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.)