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Black strands of hair, silky as satin, draped over one shoulder, and her fair little face bore a look of pure innocence. With just a slight curve of her lips, she could soften hearts. Her large, clear eyes, transparent as a secret lake hidden deep in the mountains, exuded a mysterious allure that invited speculation.
Everyone in the world has different aesthetic preferences; some like round faces, others prefer oval faces, some like a bit of plumpness, others favor thinness.
Kagura Hikaru's sense of beauty was similar to that of the common East Asian, and from his perspective, Kiryu Hina's appearance could be described as the closest to 'perfect' that he had ever seen, in both reality and cyberspace.
Even though he knew that a truly perfect person did not exist in this world.
Based on Kagura Hikaru's past understanding of Kiryu Hina, she was far from perfect, simply a little girl haunted by mundane troubles, and her personality used to be more aggressive than it was now.
However, now, each time he saw her, she seemed to be distancing herself further from humanity, radiating an endless brilliance to the outside world.
Ever since she had entered, whether it was the customers or the waitstaff in the cafe, everyone couldn't help but fixate on her, to the extent that someone, mesmerized, even poured coffee onto their lap and yelped in pain from the scalding.
This kind of scene, which one would normally only see in comical comics, was actually playing out in real life, leaving one at a loss for words.
Despite Ayakoji Chiyoko's looks being no less attractive, they didn't elicit such an exaggerated reaction; this must be a difference in temperament.
It wasn't hard to imagine the extent of the students' fervor for her, seeing her every day.
"President Kiryu, good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, Classmate Kagura."
After exchanging greetings, they simply stared at each other in silence.
One wore an expressionless face, while the other wore a smile.
They seemed quite estranged.
"You know," Kiryu Hina said, smiling as she broke the silence, "you've met here before, right? Where did Ayakoji Chiyoko sit?"
Kagura Hikaru said nothing, but gestured to the seat beside him with his hand.
"Hmph... it seems there really has been some progress in your relationship with her, which is a good thing," Kiryu Hina's eyes twinkled with an inscrutable light.
"By the way, the seat you're sitting in now used to belong to Senior Ai Cheng."
"Senior Ai Cheng? Oh, that second-year student." Although Kiryu Hina was smiling, her smile seemed somehow colder, "You had a date and brought a third wheel, how generous of Ayakoji Chiyoko."
"It was just a meet-up to chat, and it was Senior Ai Cheng who arrived first."
"..."
"I don't wish to delve into the issue of your lifestyle any further; rather than that—" her smile had completely lost any trace of sunlight, turning as cold as a fox mask: "Has Ayakoji Chiyoko asked you to join the Society Discussion Meeting yet?"
A day earlier, Kiryu Hina had met privately with Kagura Hikaru.
Kagura Hikaru thought she wanted him to put a stop to the rumors being spread by the Society Discussion Meeting, but Kiryu Hina clearly had bigger plans than he had imagined.
"You're to join the Society Discussion Meeting, do your utmost to help Ayakoji Chiyoko attack me. Whether it's spreading rumors, smearing my name, or personal attacks, anything goes. If you can pressure me to step down from the Student Council, I'd be even happier~"
Seeing the sincere, benevolent, fake smile on her face, Kagura Hikaru could guess at Kiryu Hina's follow-up plan.
Daring to say such things, she most likely had a contingency in place for reversing public opinion.
And it was something that, once revealed, could turn the entire situation on its head.
The more intensely the Society Discussion Meeting targeted her, the greater the students' outrage upon realizing they had been fooled would be. Kiryu Hina could harness this volcanic fury to retaliate and annihilate the Society Discussion Meeting in one fell swoop.
```
If it were revealed that Ayakoji Chiyoko was the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, she wouldn't even be able to hold onto her position as Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.
As the Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, leading the charge in breaking the rules, neither the students nor the school authorities could ignore such behavior.
Violating the law while knowing it is far worse than simple dereliction of duty.
Therefore, Kagura Hikaru, who had no intention of joining the Society Discussion Meeting and becoming the victim of self-inflicted damage from public opinion, merely went through the motions with Ayakoji Chiyoko, getting her to reject him on her own accord.
At the same time, he prevented her from continuing to set the pace and provoke the Student Council by making her aware of the risks involved.
This way, it would be easier to explain things to Hina, and when the tide of public opinion turned, the Society Discussion Meeting wouldn't be dealt too severe a blow.
So rather than saying he had completed Kiryu Hina's request today, it would be more accurate to say he had skated by on the task.
Those who frequently play RPG games should understand, right? While playing, you suddenly receive a lengthy and bothersome side quest, which unfortunately is a prerequisite for the main quest. You can't advance the main story without it, and you have no choice but to reluctantly take on the quest while holding your nose.
And Kagura Hikaru's approach was to 'skip class' and bypass the side quest using a clever workaround.
Ayakoji Chiyoko and the Society Discussion Meeting both needed to be protected by any means. They couldn't be allowed to fall to ruin; otherwise, the school would truly become subject to Kiryu Hina's dictatorship, and naturally, the position of the Student Council President would remain unshaken.
So, in response to Kiryu Hina's probe, Kagura Hikaru lied with an expressionless face, "She refused. She must have noticed something amiss. She's very concerned about your actions."
"Oh? Her senses are quite sharp, aren't they?" Kiryu Hina feigned distress as she frowned, "I thought with her character, even if she realized something was off, she'd still keep pressing forward."
Even knowing it to be false, that smile and frown could easily sway one's emotions.
If she were an actress, she'd probably have won numerous awards by now.
"Nevermind, it doesn't matter," Kiryu Hina said with a smile, "Even without this step, I can still send her to hell."
Kagura Hikaru smiled bitterly in his heart.
He was mistaken in his thinking; to speak of 'sending someone to hell' so lightly, she truly was more suited to being a banker than an actress.
He just didn't know if he could successfully play the part of 'Hanzawa Naoki.'
"What do you plan to do next?" Kagura Hikaru asked.
"Eh~~ Are you asking for my thoughts again? How lazy. Can't you show a bit of initiative?"
Kiryu Hina let out a helpless laugh, her voice tender and unsettling, as though talking about a troublesome child, "Alright, alright. Given the circumstances, it's no wonder you're at a loss. Let me give you a little insight, but don't let it slip out, okay~"
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone.
Kagura Hikaru suddenly had a very bad premonition.
And then that premonition came true.
"If there's anything else you want to ask me about, you can't refuse... Then, the deal is set... President Kiriyu likes painting and romance fiction, her idol is Kawabata Yasunari, her weakness is..."
From the other's phone came his own voice and that of Ayakoji Chiyoko, recorded during the lunch break when they confirmed their cooperation.
So that's how it was, no wonder Hina appeared right after Ayakoji Chiyoko had left – she had been eavesdropping the whole time and even recorded their conversation!
The moment he realized this, Kagura Hikaru understood everything.
He sighed.
Ayakoji Chiyoko, now I'm going to have to go down with you.