Taking Him for Everything

On the way back to the dorm, Horikita Manabu wore a grave expression. He simply couldn't understand how things had ended up like this.

How had his innocent, sweet, clever, quick-witted, adorable, and lovable little sister become like this?!

And what was that about doing it all to catch up with him? What a load of crap!

"Horikita-senpai, I know you might be under a lot of pressure normally, but even so, using violence against your juniors is wrong, isn't it?"

Suddenly, a familiar, mocking voice came from behind Horikita Manabu.

He whipped around and saw Shintō aiming his phone at him.

Click! (Shutter sound)

"Shintō. When did you show up?"

"Who knows? Maybe just now, or maybe I was here from the very beginning..."

After only 0.05 seconds of thought, Horikita Manabu reached a conclusion: the other guy definitely had evidence that could be used against him.

In other words, he had to sign an unfair agreement to settle this.

"Looks like this year's Class D is full of hidden talent. Tell me, what do you want from me?"

Shintō snapped his fingers.

"Talking to a smart person is easy. Pretty much everything I want is on the list. If you agree to my demands and use your position as Student Council President to give my Yorozuya a little publicity... I can pretend I'm dreaming right now."

Horikita Manabu took the note Shintō was constantly adding to. When he saw the densely packed list of household appliances and furnishings, even his eternally expressionless face twitched.

Although the school allocated an astronomical budget to its clubs every year, the Yorozuya was a strange club that hadn't even been established yet and might very well disrupt the school.

"These things don't seem to have much to do with your Yorozuya. Even as Student Council President, I can't possibly..."

"Are you sure they have nothing to do with it? Anyone who comes to the Yorozuya for help might be dealing with psychological issues, like anxiety or stress. All the equipment I'm asking for is for our clients. Only when they're relaxed can I run the club activities properly."

At that, Shintō Katsuya deliberately changed his tone of voice.

"Well, you are the Student Council President, after all. The school strictly prohibits violence, but you must have some way to avoid the punishment for it, right?"

Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses without changing expression. It was true: setting aside the influence he'd built up over the years, the Student Council had the authority to intervene in school rules. There was no way he'd be expelled for hitting someone.

"You're not afraid... but what about your sister?"

"Heh. If your sister found out that her big brother was about to get skinned alive by the school for hitting her, she'd probably beg me to let her trade her life for yours, wouldn't she?"

"She'd say she deliberately walked into your fist, so getting hit was entirely her own fault, and ask to be expelled herself to protect you..."

By then, how could Horikita Manabu not know what the other guy was up to?

The bastard was using his stupid little sister to threaten him, and yet there was nothing he could do about it!

Horikita Suzune could choose to drop out; that was her right. But she couldn't drop out like this. Otherwise, how could he, as her big brother, face her?

And yet he cared about his sister but couldn't let her find out that he cared!

He was trapped in a deadlock.

Then Shintō poured another bucket of oil onto the blazing fire, speaking in a pitiful voice:

"Waaah, big brother... Suzune... this is all I can do for you... It's all my fault for holding you back..."

Before he could finish, Horikita Manabu's iron fist shot toward Shintō's face, stopping motionless barely half a centimeter away.

Shintō simply stared straight at him. If Horikita Manabu were so quick to lose his temper, then the Student Council President wouldn't be much of anything after all.

But clearly, although Horikita Manabu was furious, he was still clearheaded. He'd only made that move to test Shintō.

"I can accept your terms, and I can do my best to secure club funding for you. But I have one condition... If you don't accept, then do whatever you want."

"Let's hear it."

Shintō was here to shake him down, not to make an enemy of Horikita Manabu.

He knew when to quit while he was ahead.

"I'll use my position as Student Council President to promote your Yorozuya. In return, you'll complete one request for me every week, no questions asked."

"If it doesn't go against my work principles, no problem."

Shintō was being quite reasonable, given that the other guy had promised him so much.

"Principles?"

Horikita Manabu didn't think a despicable little man like him could have any principles. Still, perhaps it was precisely because he was that kind of person that he could set up the Yorozuya, a club that danced along the edge of the rules.

Shintō held up four fingers.

"There are four kinds of requests I won't take."

"First, I won't take requests I can't handle. Second, I won't take requests from people I dislike. Third, I won't do anything that violates humanity's most basic moral standards. Fourth... I won't do anything I don't feel like doing."

"You have to do it!!"

Horikita Manabu's tone turned firm. He could just barely accept the first three, but wasn't that fourth one just making a fool of him?

Then even he, a veteran of countless battles, had to take several deep breaths before he could calm down.

"I can agree to the first three, but you have to complete my requests. Otherwise, I'll consider you to have failed to run your club properly, and your funding will be frozen."

"Fine... all right, all right... You're impossible. I'll make an exception for you."

I'm the one making an exception for you!!! If you hadn't threatened me with Suzune, there's no way I'd have agreed to these ridiculous terms!

"You silver-tongued bastard. Don't let me down when the time comes."

"Heh, you don't need to worry about that. Huh? Funny, what did I come out for tonight? Oh... I think it was to buy a drink. Ah, Horikita-senpai, what a coincidence, running into you here."

Horikita Manabu stared coldly at the shameless Shintō pretending to have lost his mind. He had to admit, at least the troublesome Vice President he had to deal with now wasn't this guy.

An opponent more formidable than a true scoundrel or a hypocrite... a shameless, cunning man with no allegiance to anyone!