When Hinako Konohana was acting the part of the perfect lady, she often helped her classmates with their studies. This meant that she naturally possessed a remarkable talent for teaching others.
Indeed, she was capable enough to be relied upon even by the students of Kikou Academy, a school teeming with the elite.
"Itsuki... you're good at seeing what lies behind data, but you aren't able to look across the data as a whole."
Hinako spoke again, having finally finished verbalizing her thoughts.
"All data must first be abstracted and then categorized by its essence. For example, take these two rumors. Their essence is the same: they both attempt to cast doubt on Tennoji-san’s selflessness..."
"I see. If I analyze them to that extent, a single response will suffice for both."
Hinako nodded slightly.
"It’s just a feeling of mine, but... an instinct for sniffing out the essence is vital. If you only look at the surface-level problems, your responses will just go in circles. Besides, it’s a lot of work, and that's just a pain."
I knew that the final "it's a pain" was her true sentiment.
Still, an instinct for sniffing out the essence... I felt like I had gained a valuable insight.
Until now, I had been skilled at looking at the people behind the data, but the data itself possessed an essence of its own.
I could probably perceive that essence using my own methods as well. My negotiation with Ikuno during the Management Game was a perfect example. I had been able to proceed with the negotiation after seeing through to what Ikuno truly wanted—his essence. There was no doubt that by observing the person behind the data, I could eventually arrive at its core truth.
But to be blunt, that was inefficient. While it was a reliable way to process a single piece of information, it took far too much time to handle a massive influx like this. Observing the person behind every single data point would take an eternity.
Therefore, I had to learn to see the essence from the surface-level data alone.
The ability to process vast amounts of information. That was what I lacked right now.
If I became the Student Council Vice President, this kind of work would surely only increase. It was a good thing I had realized my shortcomings at this stage.
It made me happy, in a way. Knowing that I still had room to grow was a rewarding feeling.
"Thank you, Hinako. I'll give it a try."
Forgetting for a moment how close Hinako and I were sitting, I threw myself into the task at hand.
I re-examined the types of rumors circulating through the academy. Instead of stubbornly processing them one by one, I skimmed them first to get a sense of the whole. Then, I grouped the rumors with similar essences together and devised solutions for each group.
As Kagon-san and Takuma-san both acknowledged, Hinako’s practical abilities were nothing short of genius.
However, she didn't just leave everything to something as vague as "talent."
There was a clear logic to her work. she was well-versed in the patterns she needed to follow and thought with systematic precision. It was a grounded strategy that prioritized the fundamentals.
And it was something I could imitate.
After about an hour of work, my mind gradually adjusted to this systematic way of thinking. The rumors that had seemed like an insurmountable mess now presented a clear breakthrough point, and my motivation surged.
With this... I can take things a step further.
It looked like I could do more than just the corrections I had originally intended. A smile naturally spread across my face.
Once the bulk of the work was finished, I carried Hinako—who had fallen asleep at some point—to her room. I surreptitiously tucked a bag of potato chips into her desk drawer before stepping out.
Even at home, Rintaro Asahi spoke to no one except his mother.
Ignoring the greeting from the servants, Rintaro went straight to his room. After school, the only times he ever left his quarters were for dinner or to use the bath.
With his mother currently away on a business trip, he didn't speak to his family at all. His relationship with his sister was at its absolute worst, and he had unilaterally distanced himself from his father.
His father, a man who deserved only contempt, was more irritating than a total stranger. Every word and action that reached Rintaro's eyes or ears grated on his nerves. The man had supposedly once possessed dignity, but perhaps because he had failed to build relationships of trust within his company, he now presented the pathetic image of a man going nowhere.
When he was young, Rintaro had discarded such a father without hesitation.
By defining his father as a common enemy, he had seized the trust of the employees over his father's head. Currently, there were many talented individuals within Jays Holdings who were eagerly waiting for Rintaro to start his own business. The preparations to poach them were complete.
He had no regrets about his decision to abandon his father.
However, he found it difficult to understand why his father never blamed him for it.
...Whatever.
His father was an arrogant man who sat comfortably atop a pile of biased values. His sister was a traitor who, despite promising to walk a different path from their father, had suddenly chosen self-preservation and decided to inherit the company.
To Rintaro, this house was a den of fools.
This wasn't where he belonged. He didn't belong here at all.
"Ah."
On his way back to his room, he ran into his sister, Karen.
Because they were siblings, their rooms were adjacent. Even after the emotional distance between them grew, their rooms remained side-by-side.
In moments like this, Karen usually looked apologetic.
Today, however, after that familiar guilt seeped into her expression, she immediately recovered and met Rintaro's eyes.
Startled by this uncharacteristic behavior, Rintaro instinctively averted his gaze.
He hurried into his room, feeling a surge of irritation as he remembered their exchange.
"...Tch."
Had she finally stopped caring? After everything she’d done.
No, there was no point in thinking about it. Rintaro pulled the Election Bulletin he had obtained that morning from his bag and checked the approval ratings for each camp.
The trend in approval ratings is looking good. As we continue the negative campaign, I suppose it’s time to have Joto-senpai give a speech about part-time jobs.
The time had come to use the advice he had received from Itsuki Tomonari. Initially, he had only considered implementing work experience programs, but from the next speech onward, they would announce that they were considering permitting part-time employment as well.
But... Tomonari-senpai was strangely knowledgeable about part-time work.
It was one thing to suggest the idea, but Rintaro was surprised by how Itsuki had rattled off concrete examples like construction sites, cram school tutoring, and hotel hospitality.
He didn't know which high school Itsuki Tomonari had attended before transferring, but since he was of a social standing that allowed him into Kikou Academy, he had surely attended some refined private school. Or so he had thought, but now a strange sense of dissonance set in.
Rintaro had learned from his father's mistakes and, by extending his own reach, had realized how biased the values of Kikou Academy students were.
He had thought Itsuki Tomonari was a similar type of person... but was he different?
That strength of his, so uncharacteristic of a student of this academy—could it be—
...No way.
Having arrived at a single possibility, Rintaro picked up his smartphone with a grim expression.
Using the connections he had built independently after his sister's betrayal—associates of the Asahi family and the elite employees he planned to poach—Rintaro began to investigate the possibility he had considered.
The sixth day of the election period.
Arriving at school even earlier than usual, I used the academy's printer to produce the flyers I had designed at the manor.
As I stepped out into the schoolyard clutching the bundle of papers, I encountered a girl from my class.
"Oh, Asahi-san?"
"Ah... Tomonari-kun."
Asahi-san looked a bit awkward.
"Tomonari-kun, have you always been coming in this early during the election?"
"Yes. And you, Asahi-san...?"
"Um... I wanted to apologize to you, Tomonari-kun."
Asahi-san bit her lip and looked at me with deep regret.
"I'm sorry for crying yesterday....I'm sorry for causing so much trouble because of me."
She bowed deeply.
If I stayed silent, it felt like she would keep apologizing forever. I truly wanted Asahi-san to return to her usual, bright self.
With that thought in my heart, I decided to show her what I had worked so hard to create last night.
"Actually, I arrived even earlier than usual today."
To the bewildered Asahi-san, I showed the bundle of papers in my hand.
"I wanted to distribute these throughout the academy as soon as possible."
Usually, the flyers I handed out in the schoolyard were just to inform people of speech locations, but today's were different.
I handed a copy to Asahi-san.
She took it and immediately made a confused face.
The flyer was packed with text. The font size was about the same as a newspaper's; it wasn't unreadable, but it was certainly denser than anything we'd put out before.
However, for this specific flyer, the amount of information was the whole point.
"Could this be..."
I nodded as she began to grasp the content.
"The rumors about us currently circulating in the academy. This is a complete list of responses to all of them—"
I flipped the flyer over to show her the back.
"—and a list of responses anticipating rumors that are likely to be spread in the future."
Until Hinako taught me those tricks, I thought I could only prepare answers for rumors that were already out there. But thanks to her, I had time to spare, allowing me to prepare what I had originally envisioned.
I wanted something that would prevent Asahi-san from being hurt any further.
"I predicted every negative campaign rumor they might try to spread and prepared answers in advance. I crammed as much as I could onto the back, but there still wasn't enough space, so the rest can be found on a website."
I had printed the website address on the back of the flyer.
The negative campaigns Rintaro had orchestrated were, in essence, mere conjecture. He had taken parts of Tennoji-san and Narika's speeches that were slightly vague and intentionally twisted them.
In that case, if we explained everything perfectly from the start, there would be no room for his schemes to take root.
Explaining everything during a speech was unrealistic because it would take an enormous amount of time. That was why I had decided to present the explanations in document form.
"Because there’s so much information, most people might not read through it all. But this is Kikou Academy. In an academy full of such earnest people, I'm sure some will read every word. And those are the people who will end up denying the rumors for us."
Those who read, would read.
Those who investigated, would investigate.
And once they realized the rumors were false, they would surely take it upon themselves to correct others.
I believed that Kikou Academy was the kind of environment where one could hold such hopes.
Even if there were people here who wouldn't hesitate to use any means for the sake of their ambition, as Takuma-san had said, it didn't change the fact that they were diligent.
I believed in the earnestness with which the students here lived their lives.
"I think this takes care of the negative campaign," I told the stunned Asahi-san. "There's no need for an apology. We won't lose over something like this."
We would win.
I thought that telling her so clearly was the best way to erase her guilt.
Asahi-san's eyes widened, and she bit her lip hard.
"...Give me half of those."
She reached out her hand.
"It’s late, I know, but I’ll help too....Honestly, I wanted to help from the start, but I was afraid Rintaro might do something if I got involved, so I couldn't bring myself to move."
So that was it...
For Asahi-san, who knew how much Rintaro hated her, that was a natural concern.
But she seemed to have found faith in our victory. That must have been why she was able to decide to help without any lingering worries.
"Good morning!"
Asahi-san took the flyers and immediately approached the arriving students.
"The rumors going around the academy are all lies! You'll see if you read this! Please, take a copy!"
She moved about with a fervor that suggested she was making up for all the time she hadn't been able to help.
I couldn't let myself be outdone. I braced myself and began handing out flyers as well.
"Yo, you two."
After I had handed out about fifty flyers, Taisho-kun called out to us.
"Is Asahi helping today too?"
"Yeah! I'm going to help until the very last day!" she said with a smile as bright as the sun.
Seeing her back to her usual energetic self, Taisho-kun laughed happily.
"In that case, I'll help too."
He approached me to take some flyers. I was about to thank him when he leaned in to whisper in my ear.
"Sorry, Tomonari. I didn't help until now because Asahi wasn't helping."
"It's fine, but you could have helped us on your own, Taisho-kun."
"Idiot. Under normal circumstances, there's no way that Asahi wouldn't be out here helping you guys, right? I knew there had to be a reason. If I had jumped in, she would have been left all alone."
Taisho-kun glanced at Asahi-san, who was happily distributing flyers.
It seemed he had stayed on the sidelines of our campaign until now specifically because he didn't want her to be isolated.
"You're surprisingly kind, Taisho-kun."
"Am I?" He looked genuinely puzzled.
Both Taisho-kun and Asahi-san were incredibly attentive to the people around them. That was likely why they were the first friends I had made at this academy.
I didn't know where I would be now if I hadn't met them.
Looking back, it was thanks to them that I had been able to fit into Kikou Academy... and I felt certain now that meeting them had been inevitable.
It wasn't that I had found them.
Taisho-kun and Asahi-san had found me.
I want to become Vice President.
The thought struck me with renewed force.
I wanted to prove that their decision to speak to me that day was the right one. I wanted to make the fact that they were my friends a source of pride for them. I felt that achieving this would be the greatest way to repay them.
I was too embarrassed to say "Thank you for being my friends" out loud.
So, I would show my gratitude through the results I achieved.
"Good morning!"
"Please take one if you'd like!"
Their voices echoed across the schoolyard.
Many students noticed them and accepted the flyers. I realized once again just how much influence the two of them had, given how many people they knew.
With this... we can finally move forward.
This would be the end of Rintaro’s schemes. If these flyers were effective, there would be no more room for him to exploit Tennoji-san and Narika's platforms.
I thought everything would go smoothly from here on, but—
During lunch break, after eating with Hinako and watching Tennoji-san and Narika's speeches, I headed back to the classroom as the next period was about to start.
However, immediately after I entered the room, Kita noticed me and approached.
"Tomonari-kun. There's a strange rumor going around..."
Kita spoke with a troubled expression.
A rumor... I had been eavesdropping on the students around me during lunch, but as planned, the rumors Rintaro had spread were being shut down by the students themselves once they read the material.
I thought we didn't have to worry so much anymore, but...
"A strange rumor?"
"Yeah. It’s a bit different from the ones before..."
I felt like all the rumors until now had been plenty strange.
Kita, clearly unsure of how serious the matter was, explained the situation.
"There's a rumor going around... that Tomonari-kun is misrepresenting his social standing."
My mind went blank.
That...
That of all things...
Was the one rumor that absolutely must not be allowed to spread.