Tsubaki Yuki POV

Honestly, I can't say I understand everything Kiyotaka is thinking. Kiyotaka always acts after seeing many steps ahead, so he often gives instructions that are beyond my imagination.

One of those is joining the student council.

After the midterms ended, I joined the student council on Kiyotaka's orders, and he told me to eventually become student council president. He also instructed me to be careful of a second-year senior named Nagumo, the current vice president.

When I looked into it a bit, I found out that this senior Nagumo is a student in Class A of the second year and practically controls the second-years. Currently, the class point difference with Class B is over 500 points, and he's a person with all sorts of bad rumors circulating about him. It's understandable that Student Council President Horikita-senpai is wary of him.

As soon as I joined the student council, Nagumo started making advances towards me. But Horikita-senpai subtly protects me, so I haven't suffered any real damage.

Come to think of it, if I hadn't run for student council president this year, Nagumo probably would have run and been elected. As I thought, Kiyotaka seems intent on crushing this Nagumo character from the start.

In July, when Sudō-kun was framed with a false accusation by Class C, we ended up cooperating with Class B to work towards resolving the issue.

At the same time, I received a new command from Kiyotaka. He told me to use my influence with President Horikita to get Ichinose Honami-san from Class B into the student council.

I don't know the reason—but since it's Kiyotaka's order, all I had to do was do my utmost to get Ichinose-san into the student council.

One day. I got some time with the president and recommended Ichinose-san, and I gathered that he was worried she might come under Nagumo's influence. He seemed to think that without a certain level of ability, she would just be toyed with by him.

But Kiyotaka must already be aware of that. Despite that, he told me to use my influence with President Horikita to get Ichinose-san into the student council, probably because Nagumo has his sights set on her.

Ichinose-san is cute even from my perspective as a fellow woman. Nagumo, who has a reputation for being a womanizer, would surely use every trick to get her into the student council and make her his pawn.

Kiyotaka probably meant for me to use my influence with President Horikita to get Ichinose-san into the student council to protect her before Nagumo could make a move on her. And then, Kiyotaka is saying to use her as a pawn on our side, not Nagumo's.

When I conveyed Kiyotaki's intentions, President Horikita agreed to Ichinose-san joining the student council more easily than I expected.

Using Tachibana-senpai as an agent, they confirmed whether she still had the intention to join the student council before Nagumo could make a move. As a result, Ichinose-san joined the student council on President Horikita's side.

When I told Kiyotaka that Ichinose-san had joined the student council, he patted my head and said I did well.

When Kiyotaka pats my head, I feel like I can do anything—With this momentum, I'll secure a not-guilty verdict for Sudō-kun's false accusation incident too!

As I was getting fired up, the day before the hearing, the president told me that for this incident, I would participate in the hearing as a representative of the student council.

He said that with the remaining term for him and the others getting short, I need to learn how to handle situations like this when they occur.

I understand what he means, but I wish he'd told me earlier. When I reported this to Kiyotaka, it seemed even he hadn't anticipated it, and he immediately called Kushida-san over. Probably intending to have her participate in the hearing in my place.

Kushida-san's personality isn't really suited for this kind of hearing. Still, with no other options, she had no choice but to do her best.

Horikita-san would be fine in terms of ability alone, but unfortunately, her compatibility with Sudō-kun is poor. Besides, that lack of cooperativeness is a problem even from my perspective.

I, too, don't really care about anyone other than Kiyotaka deep down, but I can at least maintain appearances. However, she can't even do that. She probably thinks it's cool, but to me, she just looks foolish.

At first, I thought Kiyotaka might correct that and make her a pawn, but it seems he intends to break Horikita-san down completely, so either way, she probably won't have a role to play this time.

It suddenly occurred to me—maybe the president intended to keep me at a distance on purpose, to give his younger sister a chance? But if so, it was nothing but a wasted effort.

With things like that, we went into the hearing short on pawns, but in the end, we couldn't secure a not-guilty verdict for Sudō-kun, and since neither side would back down, it was decided to have a re-hearing the next day. But without a decisive blow, proving Sudō-kun's innocence seemed difficult no matter how I looked at it—just as I was thinking that, Kiyotaka finally made his move.

To get Sudō-kun acquitted, I think roughly three pieces of evidence are necessary.

First, testimony from a reliable third party who witnessed the scene.

Second, decisive, undeniable evidence.

Third, a confession from Class C—but with none of those obtainable, Kiyotaka resorted to a fourth option.

That was getting the complaint withdrawn.

Kiyotaka had surveillance cameras installed in the special building beforehand, and by skillfully maneuvering them into a corner with words, he got them to withdraw the complaint against Sudō-kun themselves.

Of course, there's no way they would normally withdraw the complaint just by being asked. However, three conditions—that I'm a member of the student council, that the testimony came from a reliable person like Kushida-san, and that the special building was humid and made it hard to think clearly—fit together perfectly, and they ended up accepting a situation that would normally seem strange.

Ishizaki-kun seemed to be the only one trying to stay calm, but as Kiyotaka pressured the other two, they eventually agreed to withdraw the complaint.

It was nothing short of miraculous.

What kind of thinking leads to the idea of making the other side withdraw their own complaint? What's especially amazing is that Kiyotaka had considered this method from the very beginning.

Probably, winning the case at the hearing would have been fine, but Kiyotaka acted while carefully considering even the worst-case possibilities. Honestly, I could never have thought of it. Kiyotaka told me, "You need to learn to embrace both the pure and the impure," and I still have a long way to go.

But through this hearing, I was able to grow a bit. From now on, I have to work even harder for Kiyotaka's sake.

Well, for now, since the number of girls close to Kiyotaka increased during this hearing, I'll start by communicating with them. But even Airi-chan is one thing, but Ichinose-san from another class too... Kiyotaka is way too fast.

◇◆

Chabashira Sae POV

I chose the wrong means. I should have been more honest, opened my heart, and asked for cooperation—I regretted this on the day of the closing ceremony. The day I tried to threaten Ayanokōji for my own goals.

Ayanokōji had already made significant contributions to Class D. I naturally knew he was behind the midterms and the Sudo incident. However, I couldn't tell if it was a temporary whim or if he was seriously aiming for Class A.

The fact that he made the school cough up a large amount of points over the Sakura matter also contributed to my hesitation. Ayanokōji could have resolved the issue more quietly, but he exploited the school's negligence to take points.

Partly because of that, that guy already has enough points to coast through until graduation. I thought maybe he wouldn't consider aiming for Class A anymore. Thinking that, I became restless.

I absolutely wanted to reach Class A.

I still haven't forgotten. Once upon a time, just like them, I was placed in Class D at this school, and we spent three years competing fiercely. Until the third term of the third year, the point difference between A and D was less than 100—a close fight where any class could have become Class A.

But that balance was shattered by a mistake I made. Class D was cast into hell, and the dream of reaching Class A crumbled—yet even now, I cannot give up on the dream of reaching Class A.

I threatened Ayanokōji, telling him to cooperate with me if he didn't want to be expelled. I had heard a little about his circumstances from the chairman, and I knew that no matter what, he couldn't afford to be expelled.

Of course, I understand that this would touch his most sensitive nerve. Honestly, it was painful to resort to such means. Still, I couldn't let this perfect opportunity slip away.

However, I underestimated him.

The man Ayanokōji Kiyotaka was far more tenacious than I thought. He had even anticipated that I might use such tactics and had prepared a pen-shaped video camera and IC recorder, and he threatened me back, saying if I didn't want our conversation leaked, I should obey him.

What I was doing constitutes power harassment. I dangled the threat of expulsion over a student to coerce them into aiming for a higher class. There's no excuse. And using information from outside the school to threaten him. If this got out, I'd be dismissed for disciplinary reasons for sure.

On top of that, he dangled a carrot in front of me. He said that depending on my attitude, he might aim for Class A.

At first, I considered forcibly taking the video camera and IC recorder. But there's no way someone with my level of strength could match his physical abilities. At that point, there was nothing I could do but submit.

He flashed a triumphant smile and lowered his zipper. I knew he was already having physical relationships with multiple girls. Naturally, he would make the same demand of me.

But even so, I couldn't oppose him. All I could do now was follow his orders and hope for mercy.

It's embarrassing at my age, but unlike Chie, I had no experience in that area. My first love was also lost due to my own failure, and since then, I hadn't had that kind of relationship with any man.

He seemed to realize from my reactions that I was inexperienced, and he toyed with me using every trick in the book. Hearing sounds I'd never made before escape from my own mouth, I wanted to cover my ears.

I felt humiliated.

But at the same time, I also accepted it as inevitable.

I tried to threaten him. So if I got threatened in return, I couldn't complain. It was my fault for showing a weakness that could be exploited. The loser follows the winner—that's the iron rule of this world.

And so, in the humiliating state of having my first time taken by a high school student, I was made into Ayanokōji Kiyotaka's slave.

And then—

The night of the day I became his slave. In my room, there was a male student who shouldn't have been there.

Both the faculty dorm and the student dorm are basically soundproofed. As long as you don't make too much noise, your voice won't be heard outside.

But he tormented me relentlessly, as if to render even that soundproofing useless. With almost no experience, I had no way to defend against this; I could only cry out as he desired.

My pride was soon shattered into pieces.

Looking at the mirror in my room, I saw a pathetic woman, yielding to a student, her face slack with an expression I'd never seen before. Looking at that, I realized—ah, I can no longer aim for Class A without clinging to this man.

After that, I stopped holding back.

Once I gave in and accepted the pleasure, I realized it wasn't as bad as I thought.

After all, there was nothing left for me to do. So, the only option was to use this body to try and curry favor with my master, hoping to receive his mercy.

Ayanokōji seemed to notice immediately that I had submitted even mentally, and then he completely changed, becoming gentle. His movements showed he completely understood what pleases a woman.

His skill made me doubt whether he was really a first-year high schooler, ten years younger than me. And here I was, approaching thirty, being toyed with by such a kid—the sheer patheticness of it brought tears to my eyes.

He licked away those tears with his tongue. The fact that I felt pleasure from that shows just how pathetic I am. I haven't grown at all in ten years. I suppose this is all I am, after all.

But precisely because of that, I never gave up on reaching Class A. That was the only hope left to me.

I took the initiative to curry favor with Ayanokōji. By now, I was selling my body to reach Class A. That was all I could do. Accepting the misery, the shame, the patheticness—I just kept moving my hips mindlessly.

* * *

This chapter features Yuki and Chabashira.

For Yuki, it's about the student council and secretly recruiting Ichinose behind the scenes.

For Chabashira, it's a monologue similar to the original and the full story up to her submission. Kiyotaka might have tried a little too hard with this illicit student-teacher relationship.