Tomorrow arrives like an ordinary day at school, with nothing noteworthy happening inside the classroom. Despite what happened yesterday, there are no changes whatsoever within the class. It still functions as a typical class by its standards, as if what Frias did had no impact. Her classmates behave normally, like how a typical high school student should act. Moreover, those who intended to run for class officer positions showed a lack of passion, suggesting they were not taking the matter seriously.
Among those classmates who decided to run was Adrian, who unexpectedly volunteered for the peace officer position. And for what reason does he want to run? Jose asked the same question yesterday and got an answer from Adrian, who replied, "Oh, I just feel like it."
"What?" Jose was confused by what Adrian said by that. It could be interpreted that Adrian wanted to be a class officer just for the sake of it, which wasn't a great impression. However, compared to others who raised their hands like him, they seemed unmotivated—as if they made their decision on a whim, on the other hand, Adrian at least appeared somewhat committed to his choice. Despite his vague reason, he showed determination for whatever reason.
Returning to the situation, saying nothing happened isn't entirely accurate. Although today may seem similar to yesterday, there is one difference: the teacher for the first subject is absent. So Ma'am Miranda is nowhere to be found, leaving the class unattended. However, despite the absence of a teacher to keep them in check, the class still maintains good behavior. This is likely due to one person.
"Everyone, you're being noisy again," Frias stated her concern to her classmates.
This isn't the first time she has scolded them, since the beginning, she has frequently reminded them whenever they became too rowdy. Others might find her annoying already, but that doesn't bother her if that's the case. Although, she has no way of knowing what her classmates are thinking right now.
"Hey, am I being too annoying?" Frias asked, sensing the awkward atmosphere in the classroom. She was sitting in front of Adrian's seat when she asked the question.
"Well… I'm not sure," Adrian replied, pausing for a moment before adding, "They might be irritated already, but we can't be certain."
"Nonetheless, I believe I'm doing the right thing. Besides, this is supposed to be your job."
"W-what!? But it's not decided yet!"
"Oh, would you explain to me again why you volunteered?"
"Haha, well, that's…"
Adrian had nothing to say other than that as if the cat had got his tongue. But Frias hadn't said anything provocative; she simply asked a question, yet Adrian couldn't answer. Why? Perhaps Frias was being sarcastic because of what happened yesterday.
Yesterday after school, she overheard their conversation.
"What did you just say?" she asked after overhearing them.
"Eh?! Frias, what are you doing here?" Adrian was shocked to see her in a place like this. It's unlikely to be a coincidence, given that they were in an arcade called Timezone.
"Oh, I followed you guys here," she replied.
"Eh?? You what??? Why?"
"Well, I had something to talk to you about, but then, I overheard something funny. So... what did you mean by that?"
"I-it's nothing."
"Look, I acknowledge your resolve and respect it. I wanted to understand the source of your determination, but I guess I was wrong to expect more from you."
Frias turns around, visibly disappointed. She had hoped for more from him and believed his words, but in the end, it amounted to nothing but empty words.
"Wait!"
As she was about to leave, Adrian stopped her.
"I may have said something like that, but I'm serious about my intention to run," Adrian continued.
"Then what would be the reason behind that intention?"
"Ehem, like I mentioned earlier, I feel like going for it. It's not likely just a spur-of-the-moment decision; I'm genuinely interested in being part of the class officer because I want to try new things. Isn't that enough to be a reason?"
After hearing Adrian's explanation, Frias turned around to face him. She took a brief moment of silence to look at him before she responded.
"Trying new things isn't a bad idea, but in this case, it's not a sufficient reason. But still, it's not my place to judge your motive, so I acknowledge it instead."
"Really?"
"Yes, and I'm counting on you to do your best from now on."
After saying that, she finally left them. That's how their conversation unfolded and concluded. However, as Adrian reflected on their discussion, he was left baffled by a lingering question about Frias's final words.
"What did she mean 'from now on'?" Adrian pondered. But little did he know, that statement meant he was now involved in her matters starting today.
Cutting back to the present day, the first subject has just ended, and Ma'am Miranda is still nowhere to be found. It's already expected that she wouldn't show up. But what about the homeroom class later? That's a different story. As explained yesterday, homeroom is scheduled for just one day a week. So, technically, they were only supposed to have homeroom on Monday—two days ago. Yet, they had one yesterday, already breaking the norm of its schedule.
Then the next teacher finally arrived. As he entered the classroom, the first thing he noticed was the atmosphere. Looking around, he couldn't help but pose a question.
"Say, has Ms. Miranda already come here?" the teacher asked.
"No, sir. Ma'am Miranda hasn't come here yet."
"I see…" The teacher rubbed his forehead and muttered, "Really, this woman is doing whatever she likes again," before letting out a sigh.
Even though he said it quietly, everyone's eyes turned toward him as if they had heard it. Noticing this, he cleared his throat and began the lecture as if nothing had happened.
With that, the class went back to normal.
Remembering what the teacher said a while ago, it's clear that Ma'am Miranda seems to be a headache even for them. It shows just how free-spirited she is. What could she have done to leave such an impression on her peers?
Is she a good teacher or not? No one knows except for those teachers and higher grade levels than them. It makes one wonder if they are unfortunate to have Ma'am Miranda as their teacher, and especially as their adviser. But, well, it's hard for them to determine that since they're new to the school.
Moving on to their second period, nothing worth mentioning occurred since the second subject began, and the class hours continued normally even for the rest of the subjects. So easily fast-forward to break time.
"Hey, don't you want to join Frias with her 'gaining support' back then?" Jose asked.
This question was referred to during the classroom when break time had just started. Adrian had been asked—or rather, ordered by Frias—to gather support who would support him with being a class officer. However, Adrian was reluctant to comply and ended up in the canteen to avoid Frias, leaving her in the classroom as she approached their classmates to gain followers.
"Nah, I don't want to trouble myself with that," he said; clearly showing his unwillingness.
"Dude, where's your resolve from back then?"
"It's still here. It's just that I have my way, you know. And I don't want to discuss things that I'm unsure whether I can handle something like a corrupt politician, you know."
"Whoa, how did you go from class officers to that? You're overvaluing being a class officer to something big. It's not the same, you know."
"Yes, I know. But what I'm getting at is that I'm reluctant to make any promises."
"Then don't make big promises."
"Yeah, right, but, there are still expectations that fall upon being part of a class officer."
"You're just exaggerating. No one cares whether someone is part of the class officer, except for the commonly well-known positions like President and Vice-President; or perhaps the Muse and Escort. My point is that other positions besides those I mentioned are undervalued or ignored."
Despite having a special role within the class, in the end, it's just a title with little authority. Others won't care about someone having an important role when they know the person is the same age as them. Worse, they might just want to benefit from them.
"I can't deny that, however, the teachers also expect the officers to do their job."
"Are they?"
"I don't know, but I expect they're probably observing us to see how we handle our responsibilities. Or maybe they will try challenging us to how we will solve some classroom problem on our own."
"Hey, that's too exaggerating it. The teachers might observe, but not to that extent."
"It might not be the case, but there's a chance it could be."
"Seeing you're this determined, you must truly want to be a class officer."
"Not really."
"Hey. You guys talking about something interesting over there. Fill me in."
As Adrian and Jose were having a conversation, suddenly someone butted in. The conversation was unusual, so the person became interested in what they were saying.
"May I join the two of you at your table?" the person politely asked.
Adrian and Jose exchanged a glance before agreeing.
"Go ahead," Jose replied.
"Thank you for letting me join."
"No problem. We can't just shoo away our classmates like that, right?"
"Right, haha."
Just as they said, this person was one of their classmates. What's more surprising is that he was the guy who raised his hand to run for president, likely to be Frias's rival for the position.
"Anyway, back to your conversation. You guys were talking about class officers, right? And interestingly, your friend here had this idea that the teachers might be challenging us."
"Oh, it's just one of Adrian's delusions. Don't take it seriously."
"I know it's a wild guess. But what if that were the case?"
"So you're saying the teachers might test us on something like that?"
"Some might, some might not, but there's a possibility they will. And even if they did, they wouldn't tell us."
"Although, wouldn't that be a hassle?"
"It probably would. However, I could see it as a behavior evaluation."
"I get what you mean by evaluation. Since the teacher also grades our attitude, it could be similar."
"Maybe, but in this case, it's likely to be something different."
"By that, you mean what?"
"Remember what your friend said a while ago? He mentioned something about a 'teacher challenge.' Now, let's say the challenge is a situational test. The teacher could test us with a real-life scenario."
"Do you think the test will be written or something like tackling a live situation?"
"Hmm, either of those could work."
"The written test makes sense, but the second option seems far-fetched."
"It might be, but some teachers possibly would do it."
"That's too much for an evaluation."
"You think so? What about you? What do you think?" Kaldres asked, looking at Adrian.
"Hmm? Why are you being so quiet there, Adrian?" Jose asked.
Since Kaldres joined them at the table, Adrian remained silent for the rest of the conversation. He just sat there, listening as they talked about the challenge, even though he was the one who started the topic. Rather than joining the conversation, he just observed them, especially focusing on Kaldres.
"What do you want?" Adrian finally said something.
"W-what?" Kaldres responded, confused by Adrian's question.
"Hey, Adrian, you're being rude," Jose interjected.
However, Adrian ignores him and just continues.
"What is your intention in joining us?"
"Didn't I already mention that I overheard your conversation, got interested, and decided to join you?"
"Is that truly all?... Because since leaving the classroom, you've been following us."
"Eh??? Aren't we all heading to the same place during break time?"
"That's right, it's normal for him to be here," Jose interjected again.
"That's not all. A while ago, right after we got our food, he's been staring at us all this time from that table before coming over," he continued, pointing to the table.
Adrian suspected that Kaldres had been spying on them from a nearby table, with his eyes fixed on them since entering the canteen. Under normal circumstances, this would be considered highly suspicious.
"So, what do you want?" Adrian asked firmly.
"Am I that obvious? Well, I guess there's no point in lying," Kaldres said as if he had been caught. "I'll get straight to the point. Adrian Cabanas, I request that you give up running for class officer, specifically the peace officer role."
"That's it, huh? I want to ask, I'm running for a peace officer, and you're running for president, right? Then, so why are you concerned about a position like peace officer?"
"It is that there's someone I know who's also running for a peace officer, therefore I just want to reduce the competition for my friend."
"And so you're going to bribe me?"
"..." Kaldres was speechless at Adrian's suggestion. "Hah, I was planning to beg until you gave in, but you surprised me with that conclusion. Let's see… money is out of the question, so…" He paused as if considering his options. It didn't take long for him to respond, "Here's the deal: give up running for peace officer and run for vice president instead. I'll help you in return. What do you think?"
Adrian didn't reply immediately, he simply just stared directly at Kaldres without flinching or changing his expression. With Kaldres returning it, an intense atmosphere formed between them.
"W-w-wait! Wait just a minute!! This is moving too fast. What's even going on?!" Amid silence and a staring contest, Jose confusedly butted in. "Adrian, what's happening? Earlier we were just talking about teachers' tests, and now it's about class officers, giving up, bribery—what's the deal? Can you guys explain this properly?"
Jose's demand for an explanation was ignored. Meanwhile, Adrian and Kaldres continued their intense stare-down.
"That's a tempting offer, but the prospect of me becoming vice president is far from achievable," Adrian finally spoke after their silent stares.
"What's the problem? Is it the supporters? That wouldn't be an issue, as you could use my supporters too."
"Do you already have supporters?"
"N…none yet, but I'll sort that out later."
"So you have nothing to offer at all?"
"I do, you just have to believe in me."
"Even if you have the capabilities, I still can't accept your offer."
"And why's that?"
"I'm already under to someone."
"What?"
"You could say I'm teamed up with someone, similar to being on a party list in an election."
"With whom?"
"Oh, you know who it is."
"You don't mean…"
After realizing something, Kaldres stood up, eager to leave. But when he turned around, Adrian said something that made him stop.
"Why don't you ask Frias about the matter of peace officer?" Adrian suggested.
"No need," Kaldres replied without looking back.
"I see. You've probably already asked her and received the same answer."
After that remark, Kaldres neither confirmed nor denied it and remained silent. He just simply left them behind.
Confirming that Kaldres was already far away, Jose spoke.
"What's with that?"
"I guess that, just like he tried to secure the position of a peace officer for his friend, he probably also tried to secure the position for president."
"So he also tried bribing her?"
"Based on his reaction, that seems to be the case."
They interpreted the silence as confirmation of Adrian's hypothesis. Given the context of the earlier conversation, which had provided clear indications, it seemed highly probable that Adrian was right.
"Doing something like that—what an ambitious person he is," Jose said. "But hold on a second, you mentioned earlier that you're under Frias. When did that happen?"
"Oh, that? Last night, I got a message from her, and we talked about helping each other with the election. She invited me to join her party."
"So, did you join?"
"If you ask me, I wouldn't accept it. But she forced me, so there's nothing I could do."
"Seriously? You just let her push you around?"
"I mean. Even though it's against my will, I think it's beneficial to team up with her and support each other."
"So you do want to be a peace officer."
"Not really."
"Wha—…" Jose was confused about whether Adrian was serious or not.
"Right. Before I forget, I should inform Frias about today's interaction."
"Wait, why would you do that?"
"Why not? It is to inform her that Kaldres is trying to manipulate the vote, so I'll let her know. Although she's probably aware of it already since they've interacted before," Adrian explained as he typed a message to Frias.
"...despite showing no determination or passion, you're surprisingly cooperative."
"Hmm… not at all. I'm just doing what I think is best. That's all."