After deciding to give up, I became popular

"If you want to refute, look me in the eyes."

"I, I want to... what I want to say is..."

"Okay, tell me," Shūichi Kanzaki put down the microphone, showing her a kind look.

"Speak your mind."

Visibly, her expression became firmer, and Shūichi Kanzaki understood that his goal had been achieved.

"..."

Yūko Iino picked up the microphone on the podium, took a deep breath, and said loudly, "This convention is not stupid at all!"

"Listen up..."

Confident and unwavering, this was the Yūko Iino of the moment. She could not only express her views in front of the crowd but even turn around and criticize some of Shūichi Kanzaki's policies.

Completely different from the timid and shy girl she was before, she was beginning to show her charm...

073. Too Much, Way Too Much!

The election was over.

The courageous Yūko Iino was indeed very charming, and her leadership qualities were enough to move people's hearts, but her overly strict enforcement policies still failed to gain the approval of most people.

The same was true for Iroha Isshiki. Her mediocre enforcement policies were not suitable for the vibrant Shūichi Academy. After more than 30 minutes of debate between Shūichi Kanzaki and her, her approval rating plummeted and she completely lost her chance to compete.

Thus, Shūichi Kanzaki unsurprisingly won the victory.

"But that was really close," Shūichi Kanzaki murmured.

The announcement on the wall was displaying the number of votes for each candidate. Yūko Iino, who was originally at the bottom, jumped to second place after expressing her views, chasing closely behind Shūichi Kanzaki, losing by only a few dozen votes.

It was unknown how much credit the pure academy party members deserved, but most people must have supported her because they recognized her efforts. In other words, if the student council led by him hadn't made enough achievements during this time, he probably would have lost to this first-year student.

Thinking about it this way, he suddenly felt quite disheartened—to some extent, Yūko Iino's two-person team was far better at winning people's hearts than their two-person team...

Okay, it's decided. Since that's the case, he would bring this first-year student into the student council, whether to utilize her abilities or to prevent her from pulling him down in the next re-election, this was a necessary strategy.

If she was unwilling, he would exchange it with the condition of "fully assisting you to become the student council president in the re-election at the beginning of your second year." At that time, it would just be supporting a junior he was familiar with after he stepped down, and he could also make her owe him a favor.

"Ishigami, what do you think... about inviting Yūko Iino to join the student council?"

"Eh? Seriously, President? Are you serious?"

"Of course. Judging from her ability alone, she is fully qualified, isn't she?"

"No, that's not the point..." Ishigami looked a little timid.

"Anyway, I hope you won't regret it, President..."

"?" Shūichi Kanzaki was a little puzzled, but he didn't really care.

In his opinion, she was just an inflexible and serious junior, so it should be easy to handle, right? As long as he appropriately showed the majesty of a senior and then supplemented it with targeted methods of controlling subordinates.

What could go wrong?

"Then I'll go find her first... Oh, right, Ishigami, remember to report to the student council tomorrow morning, don't be late," Shūichi Kanzaki reminded.

Although the necessary members had already been decided internally, the process still had to be followed, whether it was the selection of members or anything else.

"Yes."

...

When he found Yūko Iino, she and Kobachi Osaragi were surrounded by a group of people, chatting and laughing. Shūichi Kanzaki didn't bother them and waited patiently for a while.

After a while, when the irrelevant people had left, the two of them noticed him and trotted over to greet him.

"President, hello... Is there anything you need?"

Yūko Iino's tone seemed a little respectful, but Shūichi Kanzaki could still hear a hint of unwillingness in it. This was normal, after all, she had just lost the election, so it was impossible not to be disappointed at all.

"I wouldn't call it guidance," Shūichi Kanzaki shook his head and extended his hand to her. "I'll make it short, are you willing to join the student council?"

"..."

"If you still want to be the student council president, it would be better to learn on the job, right? If you still have that intention..."

A hint of excitement flashed across Yūko Iino's face, but Kobachi Osaragi shook her head.

"I'll pass. To be honest, I'm not interested in the student council. I just want to cheer for Yūko... What about you, Yūko?"

"I, until now... I haven't been invited to the student council... Please allow me to consider it for a moment."

"If you still have that intention, come to the student council room tomorrow morning. You are very welcome," Shūichi Kanzaki gave her a kind smile. "Of course, Osaragi too."

"President..."

"I have some things to do, so I won't disturb you. Goodbye." After greeting the two of them, Shūichi Kanzaki left this place.

The invitation has been sent, and now it depends on what they think. Instead of wasting time persuading them, it's better to do something more meaningful, such as—

Visiting the nurse's office to see the biggest contributor to this election—Kaguya Shinomiya.

From the message sent by Ai Hayasaka, he learned that she had a sudden "stomachache" because of his slightly reckless actions earlier and was now lying in bed in the nurse's office, unable to get up. He had to visit her out of both reason and emotion.

According to Ai Hayasaka, Kaguya Shinomiya was already asleep, so he gently pushed the door open, thinking of staying by her side and waiting for her to wake up. That's what he thought, but he heard such a conversation—

"Why hasn't the President come to visit me..."

"I've fallen ill, shouldn't he overcome all difficulties to visit me?"

"Could it be... that the President doesn't plan to let me stay in the student council?"

Hayasaka: "But didn't Master Shūichi invite you to continue serving as the vice president last time?"

"But that's because the President hasn't realized my true colors yet! Look at my personality, that's how it is. The President probably already knows about my secretly using underhanded tricks against other candidates..."

"Even though the President said it wasn't necessary, I took the liberty of soliciting several clubs and concentrating their votes..."

"Maybe it's also been exposed that the election management committee is actually under my control!"

Hayasaka: "That's really a lot of things you've done."

"Of course! If I didn't do that, there's no way to be sure how things would turn out!"

"But in the end, I'm just a terrible woman who can only use dirty tricks. Even if someone like that is really removed from the student council, there's nothing that can be done about it, right..."

"This is already beyond the point of nothing that can be done! It's ridiculous!!!"

"In the end, the voting rights that we finally gathered were so easily given away by the President! Is it because he thinks my efforts are completely meaningless that he made such a move? Right?!"

"This is just like a wife working part-time day and night to earn money little by little, and then a good-for-nothing husband squandering all the money on eating, drinking, and having fun!!!"

"Who exactly is the wife here!!!"

Hayasaka: "It's okay, after all, Master Shūichi even let you give a supporting speech, he will definitely come to invite you."

"What's the use of verbal promises! Anyway, the President will definitely use a woman like me when he can, and then abandon me when he's done with me, right!"

"Too much! The President is too much!!!"

Hayasaka: "Geez... Since you have so much to say, why not go and explain it to him in person?"

"Ah?"

Kaguya Shinomiya was stunned, and then looked in the direction Hayasaka Ai was pointing. Shūichi Kanzaki stood there with an embarrassed expression.

"Uh... sorry... I didn't mean to overhear..."

074. A Silly and Cute Young Lady Meets a Scheming Man

In his memory, Kaguya Shinomiya always had a cold and unapproachable appearance, but that wasn't a posture deliberately put on to avoid socializing, but a permanent outward image she had formed over time.

As the outstanding eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family, she had received a rigorous imperial education from the family since she was a child, which matched her innate personality. Thus, she had developed the idea of "naturally looking down on others and thinking about how to exploit them" since she was a child.

Shūichi Kanzaki had known this for a long time, whether from understanding her on the screen in the past or through their current interactions, which had also confirmed the facts. However, what he didn't expect was that Kaguya Shinomiya could actually make such... adorable actions in private.

Hugging a pillow and constantly hitting the bed; waving her hands up and down; constantly beating the bedding...

Rather than the aloof "Ice Princess Kaguya," perhaps the image of a little girl who likes to act spoiled and throw tantrums better described her current appearance.

This kind of Kaguya Shinomiya is really cute...

"Then, I won't disturb you." Hayasaka Ai glanced at Shūichi Kanzaki, then respectfully bowed. "Master Shūichi, I'll leave Miss in your care."

Perhaps she had another meaning, or perhaps she just wanted him to comfort the girl in front of him who had accidentally exposed her "embarrassing side." In any case, Shūichi Kanzaki nodded in agreement.

Thus, Hayasaka Ai obediently retreated outside the nurse's office, guarding the door, leaving the small space to the two of them.

"..."

"..."

Looking at Kaguya Shinomiya, who had completely wrapped herself in the blanket, Shūichi Kanzaki wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.

"Actually, I didn't hear very clearly?" "I didn't expect you to be like this in private, Shinomiya." "Don't worry, I don't care about your personal state at all" "..." None of the opening remarks he could think of were suitable for this situation.

Her appearance clearly showed that she cared very, very much about him hearing those words just now.

Blaming him for not visiting her; worrying that he would abandon her; fearing that he would find out about her secretly using tricks, and that strange analogy...

Honestly, he had never thought that the always rational Kaguya Shinomiya would think so much, but the direction was not at all on rational thinking that weighed the pros and cons, but only on worrying about a terrible imagined future for her.

That girlish melancholy was completely embodied in her.

"Shinomiya... I'm sorry."

He wanted to stand, as that would show more sincerity, but his heart would be further away from her, so he changed his position and sat on the edge of her bed.

He also reached out his hand, wanting to gently caress her raised back to comfort her, but it eventually landed on the bed sheet.

"I didn't expect you to care so much..." Shūichi Kanzaki lowered his head, feeling a sense of guilt.

Maybe he misunderstood, maybe Kaguya Shinomiya cared more about him seeing an unknown side of her, but at this moment he only wanted to smooth away her anxiety.

"I thought I had expressed myself clearly enough, but I didn't expect it to bring you misunderstandings."

"Of course I won't do anything to abandon you, even if you did those things... but after all, it was for me, right? I won't be ungrateful," Shūichi Kanzaki's voice became lighter.

Indeed, he did not advocate for those off-the-table tricks outside of the election, but he was not completely unable to accept them. Even if Kaguya Shinomiya did those actions behind his back, he would not hate her because of it. At most, he would feel that he was not capable enough to make her fully trust him.

"I know, my ability... is not enough to make you fully trust me, I am not worthy of your assistance..."

"That's not true!" A muffled buzzing sound came from under the blanket.

Immediately afterward, a slender hand reached out and covered his hand.

"President is the most outstanding! It's just that I'm dark and despicable, so I did those things behind President's back..."

Through the contact of skin, it was easy to feel the uneasiness in Kaguya's heart.

"No, that's not the case! On the contrary, isn't a network of connections a kind of resource?!" Shūichi Kanzaki shook his head firmly and grabbed the hand that was trying to escape.

Wanting to be recognized, not wanting to be disliked.

He was all too familiar with such feelings.

"Shinomiya didn't do anything wrong. On the contrary, I was the one who was overthinking things, wanting to prove myself in front of you and satisfy that boring vanity," Shūichi Kanzaki smiled self-deprecatingly.

"President..."

"But I understand now, compared to my insignificant vanity, the opportunity to continue getting along with you is what I should grasp the most!"

"I've done many wrong things, whether it was the previous avoidance of resignation or the unauthorized actions just now..."

"But that's because of you, with you here, I can muster the courage..."

"..."

"I can't do anything alone, but if you, Shinomiya, are here, I feel like I can do anything, no matter how boring! So..."

"Become my vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya!"