Only the two girls remained beneath the canopy.
A subtle silence settled between them for a moment.
Horikita Suzune sat in the seat Kazehara Tetsu had just vacated, her posture proper and her back straight, as though preparing for a formal interview.
"Sorry for intruding."
"Not at all."
Sakayanagi Arisu shook her head lightly, lifted her Hot Cocoa, and took a small sip. "If anything, I'm the one intruding. You're about to take over the Student Council, Horikita, and yet an outsider like me asked you out at short notice when you're already so busy. If anyone's intruding, it's me, on the first day of your winter break."
The two politely worked through the opening courtesies.
Horikita Suzune was already rapidly drafting her responses in her head.
She knew what today's conversation meant.
Someone like Sakayanagi Arisu volunteering to join the Student Council was a powerful ally delivered right to her doorstep, but someone like her would also be the hardest to manage.
She had already figured that once the pleasantries were over, Sakayanagi would probably ask about the Student Council's current situation, her plans, and the specific duties she would be expected to take on... Horikita had prepared for all of that the night before, even anticipating several pointed questions.
She sat up straight, waiting for Sakayanagi to get down to business.
Yet Sakayanagi Arisu did not follow the script she had expected.
"Before you arrived,"
Sakayanagi Arisu set down her cup and began leisurely, "Tetsu-kun and I talked for a while. I told him that once you got here, I wanted to ask you a few questions first."
Horikita Suzune gave a slight nod, adopting an attentive expression.
Here it comes...
"For instance, what sort of mess President Nagumo left you with. What exactly you'd want me to