Kaguya: Step Down, Chika!

So they wanted to tidy up the pond a little.

But this was just a face-saving project.

Most students thought the same way. After taking part in the volunteer work, they could get proof of participation, which would be very helpful for credits and the like later on.

So, with that mindset, the participating students could clearly have brought a few carpentry tools with them and repaired the railings around the marsh, but none of them did.

They only had everyone bring those things that looked like they could be used for fishing: long bamboo poles with nets fitted to the ends, meant for scooping up trash.

And Ichinose, as a newcomer, had also joined in.

She was already a confirmed future member of the Student Council. As a representative of the Student Council, naturally she could not be absent.

It was just that this pond really was in pretty terrible shape.

Layer after layer of green spread across the pond, making it impossible to tell how long it had been since it was last cleaned.

Around it, a dozen or so boys and girls could be seen using those big lake-cleaning scoop nets to haul filthy things out of the water.

Lunch break was not very long, so they had to deal with it quickly.

Ichinose brought over a bamboo pole, but half her attention was on the pond, and the other half was on two other people.

One of them was Kaguya Shinomiya.

And the other was Oreki.

Oreki was staring blankly at Kaguya Shinomiya. He was thinking.

What kind of excuse would make it easier to fool her later?

Yes.

Although Kaguya Shinomiya was dignified and aloof, Oreki was thinking about how to fool her.

He was an energy-saving person. If he could save effort, he absolutely