Reasons for Change

"What, our student council president actually remembers her position as student council president?" Tsukashi Tsurumaru said with a touch of ethereal sarcasm.

"Haha, stop joking around," Aoko said, casually ignoring the vice president's resentment. She walked over to the president's seat and plopped down. "I still have to come to school for classes, after all, I'm aiming for Tokyo University."

"Then you need to finish your own work too!" Tsukashi Tsurumaru immediately slammed a large stack of documents onto Aozaki Aoko's desk, saying with dissatisfaction.

"While you were gone, students kept submitting these bizarre applications," Tsukashi Tsurumaru complained. "Like for some weird club called the 'Wild Bird Enthusiast Club.' There's no need for them to exist because they just waste school club funds!"

"Then why don't you just reject these applications?" Aoko retorted as she scanned the documents at lightning speed. "There's no reason to get bogged down with them, right?"

"Good question!" Tsukashi Tsurumaru said indignantly. "But I, as vice president, don't have that authority! If you find it so annoying, why don't you just give me the president's position?"

"That won't do," Aoko replied, glancing at Tsukashi Tsurumaru as she picked up her pen and began processing the documents at a speed imperceptible to others. "I'm not the type of person to hand over the power I hold."

"I knew it..."

Hearing this, Tsukashi Tsurumaru mumbled and dejectedly returned to his seat, flipping through the remaining documents.

"Speaking of which, have we recruited new members for our student council?" Aoko asked, looking down at the papers she was reviewing.

"Soujuurou Shizuki," Tsukashi Tsurumaru explained. "He's a freshman who just enrolled this semester. He's very down-to-earth and diligent, so I brought him into the student council as the general affairs officer."

"Oh."

Aoko didn't ask for more details. For her, in this current timeline, this young man's role was pretty much over. Even if he joined the student council, it wouldn't have much of an impact on her.

"Phew!"

Soujuurou Shizuki stopped his cleaning work and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Focused on his task, he only now noticed that a girl with long red hair was sitting in the president's seat, working diligently.

Was that the student council president, Aozaki? He hadn't paid attention to the conversation between Tsukashi and the girl earlier. Thinking about how the student council president had been absent since he joined, her appearance now made things a bit strange.

However, he wasn't the type to be overly curious. After all, in the mountains, curiosity could kill a person.

"Good work, Shizuki-kun." Kumari Kanroku handed Soujuurou Shizuki a cup of freshly brewed oolong tea. After seeing him take the tea, she immediately went to pour a cup for Tsukashi Tsurumaru, and finally, for the red-haired girl who was suspected to be the student council president.

"Thank you."

Sojuro didn't mind that Kumari Kanroku had already walked away. He was simply acting according to the rules in his heart.

His grandfather had told him that accepting someone's kindness meant returning the favor with gratitude; that was the secret to human coexistence.

After finishing his work, Soujuurou Shizuki sat at the student council's general affairs desk and took out his study materials and notebook from his bag, starting his day of catching up.

Time flew by. It had been over two months since he left the deep mountains. Since enrolling, Soujuurou Shizuki had been living a tough life, both with his part-time job and his studies.

Fortunately, he had met wonderful people at school and at his workplace, which prevented him from falling behind due to his lack of experience.

He was very content with this, because Soujuurou Shizuki understood that those people weren't helping him because they owed him anything, but purely out of kindness. Soujuurou Shizuki was deeply grateful for this.

At that moment, the only sounds in the student council office were the rustling of pages and the scratching of pen nibs on paper.

---Divider---

About half an hour later, Aoko let out a sigh and dropped her fountain pen into the pen holder beside her.

"All done," Aoko said, interlocking her fingers and leaning back against her office chair. "These ones are approved, and those are rejected."

"So fast?!" Tsukashi Tsurumaru couldn't quite believe it. He quickly stood up to check Aoko's work, just in case the student council president had been slacking off.

But as he checked each document, he found that every single application had received detailed annotations. The rejected applications were accompanied by very reasonable grounds for rejection, leaving no room for complaint.

Tsukashi Tsurumaru couldn't help but admire her in his heart. He was truly impressed by this Aozaki Aoko.

Despite her frequent absences, she consistently maintained exam scores that crushed the entire school. And now, it seemed her academic achievements were definitely not a result of luck or shortcuts. The efficiency with which Aozaki Aoko handled these applications was a testament to that.

What was even more admirable was that this person, who possessed such enviable talent, was also incredibly beautiful. Heaven was truly unfair.

This was what Tsukashi Tsurumaru thought.

If Aoko knew what Tsukashi Tsurumaru was thinking, she would have laughed at him for being so out of touch.

After all, Tsukashi Tsurumaru himself was from a wealthy family, a typical "beneficiary of heaven's favor." Although the Tsukashi family's influence in Misaki wasn't as great as the Kuonji family's, they were still a top-tier conglomerate.

However, Tsukashi Tsurumaru himself was an illegitimate child, a so-called bastard. His childhood within the family was not very good; he was often bullied and ostracized by his siblings.

But because Tsukashi Tsurumaru was indeed a formidable individual, through continuous effort and the advantage of his innate talents, he was eventually recognized by the head of the Tsukashi family as the next heir to the family's conglomerate.

From then on, the attitude of the siblings who had previously ostracized Tsukashi Tsurumaru turned into fear and avoidance. This caused Tsukashi Tsurumaru's personality to become very aloof when he first entered high school, and he was also one of the most famous "cold handsome" guys in school.

Now, Tsukashi Tsurumaru had become more approachable, at least not someone who looked down on people with his nose in the air anymore. He could even empathize with kids like Soujuurou Shizuki who came from the mountains (seriously), and would go out of his way to help them as much as possible, which was truly touching!

So, who was it that made Tsukashi Tsurumaru capable of understanding the circumstances of ordinary people?

Aoko blinked her eyes, completely unable to recall the tearful accusations of the boys who had confessed to her and were ruthlessly rejected, followed by severe public humiliation. This had left an unparalleled shock on Tsukashi, who witnessed the tragic fates of his seniors upon entering high school.

Whatever, it couldn't have been me, haha.