Earlier that morning, inside a brightly colored living room full of flashy, expensive decorations, an elegant looking lady is taking her time enjoying her breakfast on a shiny table while watching the president making his speech about the ongoing pandemic in a giant flat-screen tv.
Minutes later, the mobile phone lying next to her extravagant plate opens up and begins to vibrate. The mobile device was set on silent mode, so the only that can be heard were the vibration that sounded like the table was being grinded with a drill.
She extends her right hand with her fingers adorned with a beautiful emerald-green fingernails to pick up the phone that continues to vibrate to the table. After picking it up, she opened up a message that was sent by the sender named "Secretary Lagara."
She then wordlessly reads the message she received.
"Today's the start of the new SK council's term. All the 10 new members seems to be quite capable and ready to take on their work. Especially the four of them."
Below the line of texts lies four seperate images of the four people the sender mentioned.
the 4 new SK members were the carefree Adrian Bajkal. The stern Lisa Samson. The elegant Kyouka Amagi, and the man named Sano Sadako.
After scrolling down the message to see a close up photo of Sano, her pair of round turquoise-green eyes were so glued on the image of the young man, it looked as though the time froze and everything, including her, stopped moving.
"Eh... So these are the new SK council body." The woman spoke to herself, breaking the silence inside the living room while giving Sano's image a sultry gaze. "They do look very special. But they are still kids. And kids can never talk back to an adult. There is nothing to worry."
Before long, the president's speech in the giant tv screen that was muted were finished, and the morning went along by the wind.
...
Back to the present, Sano was greeted by his Mother's cousin, Agario Rene. A barangay council member.
He was reminded by the councilor about the news he himself watched from the televisiom this early morning.
"I'm sure you've heard the news about the pandemic in our country this morning."
'Right. I almost forgot about that one.' Sano murmured inside his mind. 'I came here not only because I'm the SK chairman, but because I want to know what the Barangay council's thoughts about the news.'
"Later, at 12:00PM, there will be a Barangay council meeting regarding the Corona Virus. You will be joining me and the entire Barangay council in that meeting."
"A meeting?"
"Yes. One of the councilors made a call for an emergency meeting."
Sano was under the impression that the barangay wouldn't even bother talking about the pandemic, since it's still in the mainland and there are no evidence of the virus spreading outside the city yet. But after learning that the meeting is going to be held specifically about the Corona Virus, Sano was astounded to learn that at the very least, there are ones that acknowledges the danger of the deadly disease instead of being ignorant about it.
"At 12:00PM, was it? All right, I'm going."
Not only does Sano feel positive about this meeting. He also find it convenient that he'll be able to meet the entire Barangay council. And, the Barangay captain herself.
Just a few minutes earlier, they were all talking about what they need to do about the suspected collusion between the former SK council and the Barangay captain. Unless they gathered enough evidence to prove their suspicion, nothing will go forward.
What else do you need to do to gather information other than facing the suspect herself face to face? Sano thought he couldn't be any more luckier.
"Now that's settled, there's something-"
"Mr. Rene."
Sano quickly interjected the councilor, cutting off his sentence midway. Agario Rene is his Mother's cousin, and they've known him ever since Sano and everyone else were kids. He knows that from the bottom of his heart, Rene is a kind and trustworthy individual. And so he wanted him to be filled in about what they had discussed earlier before Rene arrived. But...
"Mr. Rene, there's something I want to tell you. It's about the Barangay captain..."
"The Barangay captain...?"
Even if Sano's assured that he can trust Rene. It won't leave the fact that Agario Rene was in the same party as the Barangay captain that won the election and started another term today. What if the suspicion against the Barangay captain were true, and that Rene is actually on her side? Again, they have no information against her, and if Rene really is complying with the Barangay captain, he'll surely alarm the captain and do everything to keep their mouths sealed.
Out of a sudden, the tension can be felt inside the SK room as Kyouka and the others wordlessly stared at Sano, while Sano and Rene remained quiet for about 30 seconds and longer.
After thinking hard about that risk, eventually, Sano gathered up the courage to speak to the middle-aged man about the captain. Until...
"We believe, the Barangay captain is-"
"Comitting theft along with the ex-SK officials."
"Eh?"
The tension disappeared as swiftly as it filled the entire room not long ago.
Rene beats Sano into it, and told him what he has to say. Then he pulled out a sheet of paper with the list of events that is completely identical to the one that was thrown away by Lisa. It's even identical to how conspicuous it was written just like the other.
"I'm sure Lisa had shown you the same paper to you earlier. That one was a hand-written copy by Lisa, this one I'm holding is the original copy."
Sano almost couldn't believe that the one that was thrown was a hand-written copy by Lisa, seeing that it completely mirrored every single letter and format of the list. But more than that...
"Why are you guys doing things without me?"
His gloom expression quickly transformed his serious and tensed face. Then Adrian suddenly approached Sano from behind, wrapping his left arm from Sano's left shoulder to his neck.
"What is this? What is this?." Adrian begins to poke fun at Sano. "Are you feeling left out? You are, eh? You're feeling left out. That can't be helped, of course you'll feel left out!"
"Actually, I am not against the idea of being just a laid-back SK chairman while letting the other members do the work for me." Said, Sano, in response to Adrian's teasing.
"Hey bruh, you're not supposed to be goofing around while I'm doing work together with everyone."
"I'm looking forward seeing you as our hardworking secretary."
"Wha?! You can't just go and change the person in charge of one spot!"
"I am not against that idea." Lisa interjected, which made Adrian worked up even more. Then Sano sees it and added: "Then as the chairman of the SK council, I hereby appoint Adrian Bajkal as our SK treasurer."
All of a sudden, Adrian is the one being teased by Sano and Lisa.
"No!!"
And then, the others eventually joined Sano and Lisa into teasing Adrian.
"Looking forward working with you, treasurer."
"No more anime and manga for three years for you."
"Remember that you're overseeing the SK general budget, not images of some hot actresses hidden in your phone."
"Norman?! I knew you hacked my phone and peeked into my gallery, you programming and hacking bastard!"
"Don't worry, only the two of us know which actresses you're fantasizing every night."
"...!!"
While the others are focused onto shaming Adrian about the images of actresses he has saved on his mobile phone, Kyouka approached Sano from behind.
"As the SK chairman, we knew you're bound to do a lot more work than us."
Hearing the ever so sweet and gentle voice of Kyouka from his side, he turned right, only to see her more so angelic face that looks more refined when she's up close.
"We figured that we should do things that we know we could do by ourselves. That way there won't be too much burden piling up on your shoulder."
Sano averted his gaze from Kyouka and looked back into Adrian and others, followed with a content smile. He felt at ease, knowing that he has considerate friends that will accompany him as they spend their first term of their work as the SK council.
"Thank you."
Kyouka took a quick glance into Sano from the corner of her eyes before turning back to the direction they were looking at side by side. Afterwards, a small smile can be seen forming on her face.
As the group continue to poke fun at Adrian, terrorizing his emotions, Agario Rene who's quietly watching them near the door of the SK room remembered something he wanted to speak with Sano about.
"Ah, Sano." As if trying to make Sano turn around, Rene extends his arm towards him.
Sano hears him from behind and turns around along with Kyouka.
"Mr. Rene?"
"Forgive me for not saying it earlier, but there's something I want you and the others to do."