Having finished the morning flyer distribution, I walked into the classroom and let out a long breath.
"...Phew."
The mornings had been biting lately. While I was moving around to hand out the flyers, I hadn't really noticed, but by the time I returned to the classroom, I was chilled to the bone. Now that we were into November, it felt like the temperature had plummeted. I couldn't afford to catch a cold right now; I had to stay on top of my health.
"Tomonari-kun, good work!"
As I was pulling my stationery out of my bag, Asahi-san called out to me. We had already exchanged our morning greetings earlier—she had helped me with the flyer distribution again this morning.
"Asahi-san, thanks for all your help again today."
"Don't worry about it! So, Tomonari-kun, what are you doing for lunch break?"
"I'm planning to go listen to Joto-kun's speech."
I had a premonition that Joto would start doing something special from today. I wanted to see it for myself as soon as possible.
"However, I also want to go watch Tennoji-san and Narika's speeches if I can, just to confirm the fallout from the negative campaign... I'm a bit torn, honestly."
"In that case, should I go check on those two for you?"
"Is that okay?"
"Of course! After all, Tomonari-kun, you're my savior!"
Asahi-san said, thumping her chest with a grin.
"You really don't have to make it sound like such a grand thing."
"It's not an exaggeration!"
Asahi-san leaned forward, planting both hands on my desk. I blinked, taken aback by her intensity.
"Yesterday, Rintaro actually ate dinner with me at home. For the longest time, he’d always shift his schedule so he could eat all by himself, so I was just so happy. It feels like our family time is finally coming back....And it’s all thanks to you, Tomonari-kun."
Asahi-san's eyes grew slightly misty. I had heard that the siblings had been on bad terms, but it seemed Rintaro had been harboring a sense of rebellion toward the family as a whole.
"That's why! My gratitude is practically overflowing! At this point, I'll do pretty much anything you ask, Tomonari-kun!" she said excitedly.
I felt like she had just said something incredibly loaded. I hadn't expected her to be that grateful, but I was genuinely glad the siblings' relationship was being mended. Knowing Rintaro's personality, things might not go back to normal overnight, but now that they'd made this much progress, time would likely handle the rest.
While I was processing Asahi-san's update, Taisho approached us.
"Yo, good work today, you two."
"Ah, Taisho-kun."
Taisho had also lent a hand with the flyers this morning. He had disappeared at some point on the way back to the classroom, likely stopping to chat with students from other classes. He was every bit as well-connected as Asahi-san.
Taisho suddenly began looking back and forth between my face and Asahi-san's.
"Tomonari and Asahi have been getting along famously lately....Could it be you guys started dating?"
"Eheh!?"
A strange shriek escaped Asahi-san's throat. The comment was clearly the last thing she expected. Her face turned a deep crimson in an instant.
"Th-th-th-that's—it’s nothing like that!?"
"You're flustered in a very easy-to-read way. Makes it look even more suspicious, you know?"
"Jeez!! Taisho-kun, don't say such weird things!!"
Asahi-san started thumping Taisho's shoulder repeatedly. From my perspective, the two of them looked like they could be the ones dating...
Looking closely at Asahi-san as she hit Taisho, even the tips of her ears were dyed bright red. As I unconsciously stared at her profile, she noticed my gaze and looked my way. The moment our eyes met, I felt a surge of embarrassment and reflexively looked away.
As if in sync, Asahi-san also looked away, falling silent.
Th-this is awkward...
Taisho...!! This is your fault...!!
"..."
"!"
Suddenly, I felt a sharp, spine-chilling gaze. I turned around instinctively.
Standing a short distance away, watching us, was Hinako.
"Ko-Konohana-san?"
"Yes? Is something the matter?"
Maintaining her "perfect lady" persona, Hinako smiled at me brightly. While Taisho looked on with a relaxed, slightly dopey grin, a bead of cold sweat rolled down my cheek.
Wait... was that piercing gaze just now not her?
"But, well, it's a fact that I'm grateful to Tomonari-kun!" Asahi-san cleared her throat, trying to brush off the awkwardness. "Tomonari-kun, just tell me if you need anything! Right now, I'm at your beck and call!"
"Y-yes."
I nodded, even though Asahi-san's cheeks were still flushed.
"..."
"!"
There it was again! I felt the gaze!
But when I turned around once more, the only one there was...
"......Konohana-san?"
"Is there something?"
Hinako gave me a gentle, elegant smile.
Was it really just my imagination?
...Maybe I was actually catching a cold.
Lunch break.
After finishing my meal, I decided to take Asahi-san up on her offer and go listen to Joto's speech. However, as I transitioned from the Old Student Council Building back into the main school building, I stopped in my tracks.
"...Wait."
Come to think of it, where exactly was Joto giving his speech?
Now that I thought about it, I hadn't seen anyone from the Joto camp handing out flyers on the ground this morning. Since the speech locations changed every time, they were supposed to announce them via flyers. I had assumed they were distributing them elsewhere, but I hadn't run into them once.
(For now, I'll just have to look for him myself.)
The areas permitted for speeches were limited. I had already secured the most visible spots—the ground and the space in front of the gymnasium—for our side. By now, Tennoji-san and Narika should have started their speeches at those two locations.
There were other prime spots, but even after checking them all, Joto was nowhere to be found. I checked the cafeteria and the back of the school building at a brisk pace, but I couldn't hear his voice anywhere.
What was going on? Was he not giving a speech today?
Lunch break speeches were smaller in scale than those after school because of the time limit. I could understand the logic of skipping it, but... to me, it didn't seem like the current Joto would throw away even a small opportunity.
In fact, I had a bad feeling about it.
Now that Joto was actually taking this seriously, he would likely exceed my expectations. That was exactly why I wanted to see him now—to see what he was planning. If I let him plot something outside of my sight like this, I might find myself unable to counter it when it truly mattered.
As my anxiety grew, I spotted a familiar face ahead of me.
"Ikuno-kun."
Ikuno, who was walking down the hallway, turned around immediately when I called out.
"Tomonari-kun, is something wrong?"
"Have you seen Joto-kun? I don't know where he's holding his speech today..."
I had searched all the usual spots, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Joto-kun is on the third floor."
"The third floor?"
Does that mean he's at his own classroom?
The second-year classrooms for Class A through Class C were on the second floor, while Class D through Class F were on the third. Since Hinako, Tennoji-san, and Narika were all on the second floor, I didn't know the third-floor students very well. However, I did know that Joto was in Class E.
"Would you like to go there with me?"
"...Yes."
Ikuno, whom I had connected with through the Management Game, was a student in Class F. We weren't the type to see each other every day, but I would never forget that he had allowed a partnership with Tomonari Gift, the e-commerce company I had founded, and eventually took over the business. Personally, he was someone I hoped to meet as a friend outside the academy context someday.
When I followed Ikuno up to the third floor, I found a massive crowd. Joto was giving his speech right there in the hallway.
"In front of the classrooms...?"
It was true that hallway speeches weren't explicitly prohibited. However, the hallways during lunch break were usually packed with people, and I had assumed that speaking there would be seen as a nuisance. I had even shared that conclusion with Tennoji-san and Narika.
Yet, right now, there was no foot traffic at all in the third-floor hallway. Everyone was inside their classrooms, quietly listening to Joto's speech. The only people standing in the hallway were Ikuno and me.
"Joto-kun spent all morning preparing for this," Ikuno explained. "He made the rounds, visiting every classroom to personally request permission to give a speech in the hallway during today's lunch break."
"...He did that?"
That explained why I hadn't seen his camp on the ground this morning. He had sacrificed his flyer distribution time to set the stage for this specific speech.
But why...? Would I understand if I listened?
I entered the Class F classroom with Ikuno and listened to Joto's words.
"There must be those among you who feel the pain caused by the disparity in family backgrounds!"
Joto's passionate voice reached my ears and resonated deep in my chest.
"There must be those here who spend their days suppressing their own opinions! I want to eliminate that suffering!"
His voice, his gaze—everything was different from the Joto of before. With his hair slicked back into a sharp style, he looked imposing as he delivered his speech with conviction. He directed a piercing gaze at the students in the room. Even being caught in that gaze for a split second was enough to pull one into his rhythm.
"As you say, I am a member of the Reformist faction! I have the conviction to reform this academy in a better direction! I may not offer the 'steady' and 'safe' promises of the Conservative faction, but if you desire change for Kikou Academy, then please, lend me your support!"
Cheers erupted from the three classrooms simultaneously. I almost forgot my own position and found myself wanting to applaud.
(He's good...)
If I were just an ordinary student who wasn't involved in the election, I might have been swayed. That was how good Joto was at working a crowd.
By branding himself as the Reformist faction and labeling all other candidates as the Conservative faction, he had instantly won over the students of Kikou Academy, who were naturally brimming with frontier spirit. When words like "conservative" and "steady" are used, our camp inevitably sounds plain and dull by comparison.
Joto's speech was exquisitely guiding the audience's thoughts. And he possessed a level of charisma that made it impossible to notice the manipulation.
"I swear to you! I will not make you regret your choice!!"
Even without a microphone, Joto's voice carried clearly. Despite the volume, it wasn't raspy; it was perfectly controlled and easy to listen to, like a professional singer's.
It was hard to put into words. This was simply an elite-level speech. His intonation, his posture, the way he distributed his eye contact—everything was first-class and efficient. It was engaging to watch and exhilarating to hear. He made you feel like you wanted to fight alongside him. He made the audience believe that they were the ones on the right side of history.
In the middle of his speech, Joto felt more charismatic than anyone—even Hinako.
"That concludes my speech. Thank you."
A thunderous round of applause followed. If I strained my ears, I could even hear high-pitched squeals of excitement....It wasn't surprising. Joto’s features were naturally striking, and now that he had ditched his plain look, the sudden transformation was likely enough to charm many of the students.
Accepting the applause, Joto spoke again with a confident smile.
"Please, be sure to come listen to my after-school speech as well. I have a major announcement to make today."
A major announcement...?
As I tilted my head in confusion, my eyes met Rintaro's, who was standing beside Joto. Rintaro lightly tapped Joto's shoulder and whispered that I was there.
"Tomonari-kun, I see you came."
Joto said, approaching me. The impression he gave was completely different from yesterday. Right now, he was as fierce as a burning flame. And yet, he still maintained the intellectual air of a Kikou Academy student.
"Give me a second. I need to take care of my throat."
Rintaro pulled a thermos out of his bag and poured liquid into a cup. Joto took the cup and drained it in one go.
"Is that...?"
"A honey-based drink. It handles temperature maintenance, sterilization, and prevents dryness all at once," Joto explained as he handed the cup back to Rintaro.
The level of preparation was almost like that of a professional athlete. In a normal school, people might laugh and say he was taking it too far. But this was Kikou Academy, and Joto was approaching this with absolute, unwavering seriousness.
It was chilling. We were on entirely different levels when it came to how we approached these speeches.
"So, is this a scouting mission?"
"...Something like that," I admitted, careful not to let any sense of defeat show in my voice. "Why did you choose to give your speech here?"
"You should be able to guess that much just by looking at this scene."
Joto was right. I hadn't understood at first, but listening to the speech had made his intent clear. Or rather, I understood not by the content of his words, but by watching the reaction of the students who were listening to them.