May 1st had always been the closest day to a Urasaria holiday, for this was usually the only time all students gathered in one place.
Yuruko began to sit down in one of the indoor ampitheater's rows, noticed that they would be a few seats away from some other (likely normie) couple, and decided to move up one row with Serena. Matoi hadn't yet taken the stage, though she was expected to announce her squadron before her speech.
"Attention, Honnōji Academy..." whispered Yuruko, relevantly.
Serena giggled.
As more students drew in to the auditorium, Yuruko saw a woman stare at them as she walked in, sat down in another row, and continued to glare at them the entire time. This was a typical lesbian trait, Yuruko figured: many had no personality besides their sexuality and took offense to Yuruko's bisexuality & her relationship with Serena. She saw it in this woman here, and instinctually she hated her.
As Yuruko turned her eyes to the stage, Matoi entered through the curtain. She was wearing a new outfit: a long, black, designer women's trenchcoat, with a belted waist, high collar, and white gloves.
"That's new." muttered Serena.
"Is that a fucking katana?" mumbled Yuruko.
Unbeknownst to either, Kekkonshiki's sword hadn't been innate to its colony; Wedding allowed Matoi to imprint on it any weapon she possessed. This was Matoi's presidential outfit, and as you shall soon see, predisposed her cachet as one not to be fucked with.
Matoi glanced over the crowd and saw two someones missing from it -- three, counting Aimee, which explained the first. "As you've likely already heard, I shall announce my squadron first, and my acceptance speech after. Samuel Poundstone - Boar."
As Samuel was walking down to the stage, the door into the ampitheatre opened, and in came Mia & Aimee. Their faces were a little red, and they quickly sat down next to Serena & Yuruko. Mia said: "S-She hasn't called me yet, has she?"
"No." whispered Serena.
"Good. Very g-good."
Aimee wiped her mouth.
"Marisa Gwynvere - Lavender Menace."
Boudoir was tighter than usual, formed in such a way to ensure few lesbian eyes left Marisa's body. From here, she figured, maybe she could reel a lady in for herself.
"Mia Schultz - Swarm."
Mia smiled, and gave Aimee a kiss before she went down. As all three came on to the stage, Matoi stood ahead of them; she was slightly annoyed over Mia's better genetics in height, but no matter.
"Including myself, these are your Elite Four."
"No fucking way." muttered Yuruko. "There's no fucking way she's referencing Kill la Kill."
Serena frowned. "Mia said she hates anime, though."
"Yeah, so do half the people who watch it."
Matoi began her speech:
"Firstly, I'll begin by thanking the students who, over the year, expected I would become president and made some requests of me. As some of you are already aware, Urasaria's student body president meets with the academy staff in mid-August to discuss budget changes for the year, issues certain students are facing, and any other accomodations to ensure relations between students and staff continue to run smoothly.
Now, as students, I realize we have long had a strained relationship with the staff. Some of you have questioned their decisions over the past year, particularly regarding the non-expulsion of certain students. I realize this, and I understand why. However, some expect me to solve this as aggressively as I do enemy hosts, and this is simply not something I will do. The staff have the difficult work of ensuring Urasaria is smoothly administrated, and this is something I intend to be sympathetic towards, yet assertive.
My current plan is to work alongside the government in ensuring that we are not only treated fairly as students, but to find an equitable solution. As I said, earlier, I've listened to many of your complaints over the year -- some are not fulfillable, and some of your demands are beyond the purview of my position. I will listen to your more reasonable requests, of course -- salary increases, some discussion of travel expenses -- but some problems require a slower solution.
However, I shall be instituting a new policy. Each contract and investigation, along with who I have assigned it to, will become public knowledge to all students: both to disperse accusations of favoritism, and because I have no desire to see any of you discouraged by nepotism. The better you are, the better I must be to maintain my reputation. It's perfectly logi-"
The auditorium doors opened again, and Matoi was of two minds: firstly, pleased she had been correct in the missing third - secondly, annoyed that with the staff assuredly watching, she could not deal with it how she wished to currently.
So enrapt was she that she barely felt Mia's movement at her side, which was then paused by Samuel, who knew she needed no help for this. Kirihara's mouth was moving as she stomped down the auditorium and closer to the stage, and reminded Matoi when she had first moved in to her three-star mansion. The staff had recently redone the floors, and she had seen a fly affixed underneath the top layer of wax & dying. She considered killing it, but she cogitated it was better to let things ripen as needed, and by the beginning of next semester, she could easily murder Kirihara if she wished: not that she would need to.
She wondered if Kirihara actually believed any of the rigged bullshit she was currently spouting, or if she was like some politician with no real beliefs besides whatever shit their voters liked & what kept them in power. It made her wonder who was worse: those who exploited power or those who abided it. What she was to do next semester would solidify her as the former: albeit not solely for herself. The difference was that a mind like Matoi's operated on several layers & levels of consequences, whereas one like Kirihara's -- it would be like explaining infrared vision to a monochromat.
Kirihara was nearing the stage, so Matoi sneered in the middle of her shouting and told her back: "Take another step and you'll be a bleeding sack of meat."
Kirihara laughed. "You wouldn't fucking dare."
Kekkonshiki's katana reformed in her grip. "Have you ever wondered what the cow feels when the butcher hangs it by its feet and slashes its gut?"
In a rare moment of intelligence from such a putrid creature, Kirihara stopped, considered *really* what she was thinking of doing, and what this would mean for her health or any possible future at Urasaria, and then, to the surprise of everyone in the auditorium, backed away without another sound.
+++
The Elite Four sat around their new office, waiting for Aimee to finish her speech and deliver their fanmail. Thinking about the fanmail Marisa had received last year -- the type with half of the pages stuck together -- Mia asked Samuel: "Samuel, do men get the same kind of fanmail as women?"
Samuel remembered the fanmail Matoi had received last year -- the type with half of the pages stuck together -- and nodded to Mia. "Actually, I'd argue men get it worse, which I know is sacrilege to President Matoi."
Matoi steepled her fingers. "I'll allow it."
Samuel nodded. "I'm not saying y'all don't get sexually harassed, either, but there's something about us having legal immunity, where... well, some women already don't think cruelty's a female domain, and to some extent, if they harass us, I don't know any male student who would feel comfortable knocking that notion out of them. Civilian men, at least, if they bother a female student, they're more likely to be left hobbling away clutching a bloody spot between their legs. That's not just with Urasaria, either -- I knew a girl in middle-school who always bullied this kid to show she 'liked him', or she'd throw trash at me and say I couldn't do anything back. They don't change when they get older, either, they just get older.
That's what I thought of a few months back, when some woman came up to me and asked me if I was a student. Stupidly, I tell her yes, and after some talking with her, she starts trying to seduce me. She tells me I can either take her back to my hotel or to the next alleyway."
"She sounds like a skank." said Marisa.
"No, she was beautiful." said Samuel. "Gorgeous, really. But I've known since I was a teenager that I'm not interested in empty sex. I was dating somebody where the most talk we did was asking when her parents would be coming home, and that was a tar-pit: there was never anything to develop a real relationship."
"Samuel, no one needs to hear your sexual history." said Matoi. "Not yet, at least."
Samuel laughed. "Well, anyway.
By now, she's starting to get aggressive with me. I could tell by now she wasn't a host, and I think what got her wasn't just that *I* was rejecting her, but that she was being rejected by all. Given what she said, I suspect I was the only male student who had done that to her. She'd set up her confidence around being desirable - didn't matter who - and I suppose I was threatening that.
Male students have a nickname for these types of women, one I'm not gonna repeat, but it's a two-way relationship, anyhow. I'm not sure who gets more out of it. But many of them know we can't - or won't - arrest them, and they don't see any issue taunting us over it. Obviously, President Matoi knows I don't hesitate killing female hosts, like some of the men do, but I don't respond when I'm taunted, on campus or off it. I know myself well enough that I don't need anybody grabbing my emotions for me. And that also makes me pretty impervious to other people's opinions, as President Matoi would tell you.
But, as I was saying, that's why I didn't throw her off. She's pulling on me, now, trying to get me to go with her. She reminded me of this mother in my neighborhood growing up, where the father was in prison for beating her & a few other crimes, and she retaliates by trying to seduce every man she meets. Instead of thinking how she can raise her kids without an abusive father, be a good example and all of that, she's wanting to get back at somebody two states away from her. Her son ended up hating her more than his dad."
"There's a lot of people like that, sadly. The mother." said Mia and he nodded.
"Right, exactly."
"What happened with the skank?" said Marisa.
"Now she starts telling me I'm not a real man, calling me a pussy. I don't like that word -- a pussy is a powerful thing and all -- but she starts calling me that, and the odd thing is, every time she insults me, she starts losing her attraction to me. Well, like I said, who knows how attracted she was to *me*. But what stuck with me was that she, at one point, looked scared. And it wasn't because she thought I might kill her." Someone knocked at the door. "But that's the type of fans male students have, usually."
Aimee & Serena & Yuruko stepped inside, carrying boxes of fanmail. They passed them out and sat next to their girlfriends.
"Alright, who wants to go first?" said Aimee.
"I will." Marisa pulled a letter out of her box and recognized the address. She read over it. "…huh. She couldn't have just like, sent this regular?"
"What is it?" said Mia.
"It's from my sister Penelope. She's moving into a new apartment, so she like, told me where I can drop my presents off for her. The stolen ones. Didn't even congratulate me on getting 3-star, either, I noticed."
"That's not right." Mia frowned.
"No, she's just -- it's my fault, too, since I forgot to... Um, go ahead, Serena."
Serena dug in to her box, pulled a letter out. "Oh, this is a family letter, um." She set it aside and looked to Mia. "…um, it's personal, so..."
Mia nodded. "We should take the family letters out first."
Excepting Aimee, everyone else went through their boxes & set a letter aside.
"There we go." muttered Marisa. "'You're our 3-star Lavender Menace. (But why isn't it Rainbow Menace?)' God, I've told them so many..."
"Well, all things considered, I thought it went terrible with Kirihara." said Samuel.
"So do I." Matoi smirked. "And I almost needed to delay my speech because someone was enjoying Rider-time."
Aimee began to blush, then disappeared: Mia shouted out the door- "-YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!"
As the room started laughing, she turned, mumbled to herself, then barked at Serena to read something out.
"O-Okay." snickered Serena. "Um, 'Dear Miasma, thank you for proving-- lesbians, can be anime, too. And you and your girlfriend are so cute together. She looks just like this one anime character.'
Yuruko smiled.
'Rem, from Re:Zero!'
Yuruko grimaced.
As Mia took a letter out of her box, she heard more snickering and grumbled: "At least I'm having sex -- unlike some of you."
Marisa slumped like it was lethal.
Mia read: '"My husband and I are big fans. We love those little scarabs you have, and so, we have decided to name our first-born after you.'" She full-body shuddered.
Serena said: "They're naming their baby Swarm?"
"G-Goddamnit, S-Serena." muttered Mia, smiling a little. "Samuel."
Samuel opened a letter and a dozen photographs fell out; Outcast's ghastly hands appeared and set them aside before any could see.
Matoi glanced to him. "If those aren't destroyed by the time you leave this room, you're never entering it again."
"Then excuse me for a moment." he muttered. To himself, he glanced over one, then immediately passed all 12 over to Mia, who disintegrated them. "Matoi."
As Matoi cut into one of her boxes of fanmail, Mia thought it would be a good time to ask this. "…er, Matoi. You weren't serious in your speech, were you?"
Matoi laughed. "Aside from the transparency, no."
Mia began to ask why she had lied, then realized that Matoi always had reason for what she did, even if ones only understandable to herself. There was no need to question why she took certain actions, for it would become apparent soon. So too as Mia realized this did Matoi see her presence grow in Mia's eyes, and its first flicker of recognition.
[END OF URASARIA ACADEMY: YEAR TWO]