"What am I seeing?"
As soon as I stroll the hall, dozens of students come knocking on each door, trying to spread their name and make themselves popular. Every one of them holds a white banner with their name inscribed in bold texts and sizes. They are also screaming at the top of their lungs for the students to vote for them.
I can find Roxanne joining with the rest of them, yelling not their name but someone else's.
"Vote for Yuki! Vote for Yuki for President, and I assure you nothing wrong would come to happen!" Roxy repeats while she elevates herself on a chair and extends her arms.
"Get down there, you freaking ape!" I tug her clothes and draw her down from the platform.
"You're missing out on the fun, Yuki!" Roxy pulls my hands and twirls, singing the same chorus of the dissonant phrase.
After a while, her energy dries out as she goes back to me with a fatigued expression.
"I know. Let's go back inside."
We stride over bunches of advertisements in the corridor and shuffle into the stream of pupils. They are still campaigning energetically at the isle, leaving no room for the rest of us to walk. It is a good thing that nobody notices us racing, despite the overpopulated students swimming in the hallway.
Once inside, I discern my classmates telling stories to one another, entirely apart from the outside world. They are the only human beings that are noiseless and ignorant of what was happening out there.
It was not the case until this guy recently shakes his hips beside me.
"Vote for...me," He weakly croaks while rocking his short pad with his name. At first, I thought he was practising something like a play of some sorts. But, he is also a participant in the upcoming elections.
"Nickson, do you plan to take part on the student council?"
"I am aiming to become the president of our school, Yuki." Nick places the platform down before giving me his reply.
"Since when are we in close terms to use our first names?" I ponder to myself while shifting my gaze to the shy and desperate boy.
"Well, good luck with that!" I give him my reply while placing all of my books on top of my armchair.
I do not feel threatened about his crusade right now. It even feels ridiculous the more I watch him sway his legs around, trying to catch their attention. Luckily, our classmates find his gesture funny but never insulting him.
Our acquaintances are just there to laugh about his amusing stance while nodding their heads.
Immediately after, our general Science professor enters the room, with his eyes still painted in black from yesterday's party. A hint of cigarette smoke spills the room, mixed with alcohol and other beverages that I can think of available in the stores.
The aromatic scent continues to disrupt the class, but he continues to teach us with, ironically, corpses and the likes of humans and animals.
The professor announces our early break, succeeding half of his time since nobody in his class is attentive enough to listen. Whoever can stand this horrifying stench has the nose of steel.
And I have a nose made of aluminium.
Everyone rushes out for the gates and shuts it tight. We left the poor students who could not open or run behind.
"Thank goodness that lecture is over." I heave out a sigh while walking towards the yard, where we usually take our meals. On some occasions, we go up the stairs and stay on the balcony, where there are no students nearby.
As long as there is a place to stay without other humans, then that is the place we will go. Besides, the yard is much closer to our room compared to the rooftop.
"Yuki, aren't you going to campaign like the rest of them?" Roxanne asks, while her mouth is full of rice and pork and beans.
"Getting that popularity vote will not help me that much, Roxy." I counterfeit and eat my beef burger.
"What is your plan, then?"
A long pause envelopes our conversation. It is not an awkward adjournment, but a time for us to think through what each person is about to say.
Well, it is just us angrily munching our meal.
"I will do something," I affirm and gulp down my drink in one go. "It is a surprise."
"No fair! A surprise even to your best friend?"
"If I tell it now, then it would not be a surprise anymore, would it, now?"
She refuses to retaliate after my sound reasoning before giving me an intimidating pout. I do not know who could sublimely do that, but Roxy had mastered that expression since day one of our friendship.
"Fine."
Roxanne ends our talk and insists on returning to our classroom. We expect that the miasma of our professor has already flushed out of the windows by this time.
However, we see something that halts our journey to our room.
It is the two elite former student councils-the president and vice-president, strolling side by side in the doorway. Today is the event that they would go into each room and assemble all the participants they find worthy of the council.
"You are out."
"We do not want you."
"You are unqualified."
"Nope. Nothing in this room."
The two of them respectively shake their heads as they go room to room and check every student. They are meticulous in choosing nominee students as they have picked no one yet from the thirty-five classrooms.
Each year level has ten sections ranging from Class 1-A to Class 1-J. The upper levels have the same numerals and alphabets in their class to avoid confusion.
Finally, after roaming around the upper storeys, they have six students they think suitable to run for the student council positions. Four of them are second years, and two students come from the third year. The fourth-year scholars are not eligible to partake in the election since they are already graduating in the next five months.
The remaining two classrooms that they have yet inspected are the five first years, including our rooms.
Unfortunately for the adjacent classroom, the two late leaders walk outside and jerk their head with an exhale, bringing nobody by their side. It only means that they have chosen no one in that room that meets the criteria for being in the student council.
"Do you think we can still find our last three members?"
"I sure hope so,"
The two of them eventually walk inside our room, only to find Nickson standing gingerly in an unpleasant stance. He also spots us from behind, staring senselessly at Nickson.
"Who are you?" Byakko marks Nickson with her finger while gazing at his nerdy, uncharismatic face.
Nickson replies with his name while bowing his head formally despite the image he showed us a while ago.
"Can I ask for your names?" Washi mimics her questions and inquiries for our appellative. But instead of pointing his finger at us, he fixes his glasses and soon crosses his arms. It is as if he is watching every movement that we do with his eagle eyes.
"I am Yuki, and this is my friend, Roxanne,"
The both of them gesture their hands for us to walk outside. They guide us together with the rest of the candidates they selected from before and form a line.
Soon, the nine of us align ourselves and wait for their speech despite the bell already ringing through our ears.
"I want each of you to submit your resume, achievements, and your presence inside my office."
"The office is right around the corner, the farthest room of the schoolyard. You would not miss it!"
"When do we need it?" The unfamiliar second-year student voices her thoughts whilst raising her hand at the former elite students.
"Right now."
All of us tilt our heads in unison, uncertain if we have heard it right. We wait for a full minute and spot the girl who had asked earlier steps up, wanting to ask again.
Before she can even express her thoughts, Washi interjects and repeats his sentence. "Today. Before school ends, or you will miss the chance."
"But, Nakamura, we have school works?" I raise a question, thinking to have an answer behind my question.
"If we did it, you can do it too."
The two of them conclude our discussion and leave the hall. To make matters worse, our general Science professor-who had this weird stink from morning enters the classroom.
He first glances at the three of us and motions his finger to enter the chamber, while the rest of the students return upstairs. The six pupils dash straight at the steps, fearing for their lives as the man glares at their backs.
I can slightly feel my back shuddering in fright from an unknown source coming from the teacher "Maybe it is just my imagination?" I wonder as I go to my seat and listen to what he has to say.
Four hours pass by with the exact theme that has happened since morning. Nothing has changed, except for getting a slot that we can take in the council, chiefly for the presidential seat.
Roxanne and I go back and forth from our houses and school to gather every document that the former board members told beforehand. The complete process took us two-and-a-half hours to assemble what we needed as we presently stood before the office.
Everyone shares the exhausting face of a madman that has been running since afternoon. Our sweats and tears can even form a puddle beside our feet if we still need to continue to work hard for this position.
Everyone, excluding Nickson, has not shed a tear or sweat from his body.
"All of you were late, apart from him," Washi mentions and rummages through the sheets we have given her.
"Why does everyone want to be the president of the student council?" Roxanne walks up to me and asks a question.
"Let me answer your query, sweetie." Byakko slides herself beside my friend, with her lips curling upwards as if beaming us a smile. But I do not let myself deceive me and immediately know the feelings behind her face.
"You control everything once you become the president."
"What do you mean by everything?"
Byakko sits on the statue and crosses her legs before giving her a reply.
"Academic grades, events, and even the lives of the students. And all of which has their limitations, if you know what I mean."