[Third-Person Pov]
[16th August, after the end of class]
After the PE lessons ended, Kurushima began to head towards the Student Council's Room.
As a new member, he couldn't afford to miss for a day, as long as there wasn't a reasonable reason for doing so, such as upcoming exams or being ill.
He was neither sick, nor had any upcoming exams within the week, so he couldn't excuse himself, even if it was his intention. Luckily, he showered in the Sport Hall, so he wasn't full of sweat anymore.
He intended to appear, to further strengthen his relationship with both Nagumo and Manabu, to become more influential.
But... being influential, wasn't quite as needed as he thought anymore.
He already had his hands on the two poisons on the island, and he also knew with which component he had to mix them, so one of his plans to get Chairman Sakayanagi to talk has drastically increased.
It's a common tactic, but threatening your loved ones, has always proven itself to be a successful strategy for most people.
The moment he heard of Chairman Sakayanagi's name in his father's notebook, as one of the perhaps responsible people for his family's death, he was prepared to use this method.
He didn't like this method in particular; however, if his other methods prove to be useless for getting information about him, he has to use this one.
"Don't make me use this," he murmured.
Kurushima was mentally shaken by what he might have to do in the future. And he didn't like the direction he was heading to. But, if this happened to be the only way, so be it.
Moments later, Kurushima entered the Student Council's Room.
"Welcome, Kurushima-kun."
Tachibana, Manabu Horikita's secretary, greeted him.
"Good Morning, Tachibana-senpai. It's been three weeks, since we've last seen each other. How have you been during that time?"
"Relatively good. Here at the school, there didn't happen much, unlike in the first year. Anyway, congratulations on the advancement of your class. You're now in Class A, which also means you have to act accordingly."
By acting accordingly, she meant to prevent other classes to take their new spot as Class A. A relatively obvious message.
"I know."
"Good luck," she said.
"Thanks."
Kurushima immediately opened the door, entering the room of the Student Council President. There, he saw, both Manabu and Nagumo.
Without hesitation, he greeted them.
"Hello, Manabu-senpai, Nagumo-senpai. We haven't seen each other for a while. How are you two?"
"Good."
Manabu's reply was short, his stare stern, and his expression looked as if he were satisfied.
Immediately, Nagumo answered too.
Whether it was due to the respect he had for Manabu to let him speak first or whether it was simply common courtesy, Kurushima couldn't tell.
"I'm also feeling quite good, I must say, Kurushima. I didn't expect this to happen, in all honesty. Within these two exams, your class— No, you were able to promote your class to Class A. You're quite a capable person. But that is to be expected of the heir of one of Japan's largest conglomerates, after all."
Immediately, the air became suspenseful. Manabu immediately looked sternly at Nagumo.
"President, I'm just complimenting Kurushima. So why the hostile glance?"
At the moment Manabu wanted to speak up, he was interrupted.
"Manabu-senpai, it's fine. I already expected other people to know about my past. It's not troubling me at all. I just hope that it can be a secret for a while, Nagumo-senpai. Until I feel ready..."
"Neither I nor anyone else who knows it intends to tell it further. Be at ease, Kurushima. I don't plan on provoking the heir of Japan's fourth-largest conglomerate. I'm not that stupid."
'So he really knows it. Then again, it's not an actual surprise. Given how many articles were published around me and my... dead family during that corner of time, it's astonishing that so many people don't know about it. I was quite in the focus of the publicity at that time,' he thought.
He did announce that he was the heir of a conglomerate, but he never told them it was one of the largest. He kept that information for himself. That was why he knew that Nagumo must have heard about this information.
Kurushima had initially made plans on spreading things about himself further for his own gain, such as that, but it was now futile, as he was nearly there, at his goal.
Unexpectedly he had gained at the Island Exam a method as to how to confront Chairman Sakayanagi. He didn't think he could get it. It was just one of many potential plans.
Before obtaining the poison on the Island, he thought about threatening the chairman by expelling many students in secret, thus creating an uncomfortable situation for him, as the school board was naturally going to be involved and question it.
In particular, with the third-year students. If he didn't tell him anything, he'd continue to expel third-years. That was his original plan, and for what he did, he spent quite a bit of time and resources.
He might even have lost his position, if the number of senior graduates was low.
But with the poison, he didn't need to follow that plan anymore. Although, he couldn't undo his past mistakes anymore. Kushida, his classmate, has gotten a precise schedule of what she has to do, three weeks prior, before he knew about the Island Exam.
Of course, once the Island Exam was announced, she couldn't act within that time, where she was not in school.
`Now that she's back, she had to act correspondingly to her role, preventing the video to be leaking, while she was also trying to... expel, the person I was framing of being the blackmailer. I have nothing against him, but right now, so near, the information of him being bullied, myself intervening, expelling the three people cannot come out at any cost.
It was... my mistake, to be that stupid, to release my stress on them. However, seeing that smile of his, at the entrance ceremony, of how happy he was, to introduce the new students, it made me hard not to be angry. I hated every ounce of seeing Chairman Sakayanagi for these ten minutes.
To make things worse, I couldn't avoid on meeting Kanzaki and Arisu Sakayanagi, too, as they were there too. That was truly not my week. Although, I had gained many private points from expelling those three, I later learned that those three were the leading figures in their class. Two were representatives, and one was the official Class Leader.
Now, I have Manabu-senpai investigating on that case, alongside Nagumo, and a few other people. Manabu is suspecting Nagumo, as he has in fact been responsible for a couple of expulsions in his year already. As for Nagumo, he might suspect a possible by-stander to be the responsible one.
Although... luckily, he doesn't seem to know that those three transferred their private points to me. That aside, Kushida should have soon the necessarily paper's ready... I wonder, should I also tell her to get them done by the first and second year?´
"Kurushima, is everything alright?" Manabu asked, interrupting his current thoughts.
"Ah, sorry, I was absent. I apologize."
"I see."
"Kurushima, Manabu-senpai, I'll be leaving. Goodbye."
Once Nagumo left the room, Manabu spoke up. "Kurushima, are you perhaps interested in the position of Student Council President?"
"The Student Council President?! Are you serious, Manabu-senpai?"
He nodded. "I have no reason to joke about this. How about it? Are you interested?"
He looked slightly to the left, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Truth be told, I'm not actually sure."
'I plan on leaving the school, the moment I have gotten the information from Chairman Sakayanagi... The only additional thing for me here to do is to expel Kanzaki and Arisu Sakayanagi. Everything else doesn't matter. I know my abilities better than anyone else. If I were interested in studying at a World Top University, it'd be easy on doing so.
However, I have already completed several courses of study. Far more than I count. I had studied as much as possible. It didn't help that I finished the middle and high school curriculum within three months, after my family died. I spent the first three weeks grieving, though, so I hadn't studied at that time.
Although, my progress was only possible, because I told Aoki I wanted to take a break from school for one year. In the end, I took one and a half years off, after having solved the issue with governmental figures to temporarily take a break on the advice of a psychologist and doctor the day I got hospitalized. While that issue was immediately solved at that time, the issue with the inheritance was another difficulty.
In the end, with the help of many top lawyers, who were also in charge of advising Aoki and me regarding the inheritance, they advised us of the best way to pay, by selling countless stocks of the company my parents founded.
Far more than needed, because the worth of the stocks was judged when they precisely died, which didn't include the downfall of the Stocks after their deaths.
It was up to one and a half percent extra that was sold during the timespan of two days, where Aoki and I had to act fast.
In the end, since the banks didn't buy everything, I had to sell it to an investor—that damn bastard Amasawa, of whom I have no idea if he is responsible for their deaths.
He bought within these two days—up to four percent—and although he helped me at that time, it was definitely suspicious. Perhaps, he incinerated that incident, to use it as his opportunity, but I had no definitive clue, and I couldn't possibly offend him.
Since I was aiming to buy them back in the future, which he knew very well, he might decide not to sell them to me.
I will preserve my parents' legacy at all costs...
Hah... I shouldn't space out in a place like this. It's not the appropriate place.'
"I see... Do you need time to think?" Manabu exclaimed, interrupting his thoughts.
He nodded his head. "Yes."
"Kurushima, officially, you've for today a day off from the Student Council, so you can go. As usual, after the end of the lessons, you'll have to work. Tachibana and you have quite the amount of work to do, so appear punctual."
*Gurg*
Kurushima gulped his throat in fear. Knowing already what they had to do, he looked on the ground in utter pain.
"Paperwork... I really hate it."
"Goodbye, Senpai. See you tomorrow."
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[19th August, 16.24, Student Council]
"Hah, we are finally finished with all that paperwork, Tachibana-senpai," he expressed, sighing out of relief.
"Yes, we are. It was quite a lot. I don't think I would have finished it on my own that fast. I'm relieved that you're back, Kurushima."
"Me too. I'm happy to be here, too. Although, the time on the cruise ship was quite relaxing and refreshing."
"I see. It was the same for me, too."
"It's no wonder. It was quite a beautiful time. Watching the ocean, seeing the sun going down, and enjoying the wind made your hair a complete mess, while you simply could relax. If I had known that before, I wouldn't have refuted... Koenji at that one time."
The last part, Kurushuma muttered quietly. Although, he wondered, if Tachibana understood him.
"Tachibana, Kurushima, I have an immediate task for one of you. I have a document here that needs Chairman Sakayanagi's approval."
Manabu Horikita said, disrupting the conversation between the two.
"I can..."
"I can do it," Kurushima exclaimed.
"Tachibana-senpai, you should rest a bit. After all, you were here sooner than me here, and you did the paperwork longer than me. You must be quite exhausted. Besides, it's one of the rare occasions, where no one in the Student Council is present. It's only you and Manabu-senpai."
He muttered the last part in her ear.
She immediately blushed, and looked at the ground.
She took courage and wanted to refute him, but Kurushima was long gone, alongside the document.
'Chairman Sakayanagi, huh? I must know his room, before I decide to directly confront him, once the time is right. I waited for an opportunity like that, where I could finally enter his room, under a legitimate reason, without appearing suspicious when I'd let him have a taste of his own medicine.'
'Finally... I'm one step closer towards my revenge...'
'Let's hope that neither you nor Amasawa are responsible for this.'
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