"Is there really no respect for your senpai?"
"Is he a first-year? Does anyone know him?"
"I think he's Asakusa Toru from Class B."
"Was the one who just laughed also from Class B?"
"He's amazing. I think I'm falling for him."
"Hmph, he's just a clown, right, Haruki?"
"Exactly, exactly. He's just making a spectacle of himself!"
The noisy chatter quickly swallowed the entire gymnasium. Amid the hubbub, a blue-purple-haired girl raised her hands to her mouth like a megaphone and shouted:
"Are--you--crazy?!"
She seemed to be shouting at the top of her lungs, but unfortunately, with over a hundred people talking, her voice couldn't reach Asakusa Toru onstage, let alone get a response from him.
Horikita Manabu: "..."
Asakusa Toru had casually disrupted the atmosphere Horikita Manabu had carefully prepared. Judging by the situation, it was safe to say the recruitment drive had already failed.
He wasn't particularly concerned about whether he'd lost face. It might slightly lower the school's opinion of him, but the results he'd accumulated so far wouldn't simply be erased.
What did concern him was what Asakusa Toru had said while repeatedly playing the Voice Recorder.
The absurd process of elimination and the equally absurd summary had nevertheless expressed what he'd intended to say himself.
He wouldn't have put it so bluntly, of course, but the general meaning was more or less the same.
Interesting.
Horikita Manabu lightly pushed up his glasses and took out his Personal Terminal.
"Name your price." In front of more than a hundred students, he spoke to Asakusa Toru in a cool voice.
Tachibana Akane, who was serving as the host, was stunned by his move.
"P-President?!"
Wait, what? Why was he taking out his terminal? Was he going to buy the Voice Recorder? Horikita Manabu, the Student Council President, was personally buying a first-year's Voice Recorder?
Tachibana Akane's mind was in turmoil, but as the Student Council secretary, she couldn't change Horikita Manabu's decision.
"That'll be 3,000 Private Points, dear." A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, and Asakusa Toru took out his Personal Terminal with a smile.
He'd given the Recorders to the pretty girls for free, but if some sucker was willing to pay, he might as well take the money.
Service with a smile, service with a smile.
With a chime, the Private Points arrived, and Asakusa Toru readily handed over the Voice Recorder. It was still repeatedly playing the words he'd recorded moments ago.
"Is this one good enough? Or do you want a brand-new one?"
"This one will do." Horikita Manabu took the Voice Recorder he handed over and promptly stopped the recording that was playing on repeat.
Then he turned the recording back on.
"For Student Council recruitment, candidates have no special requirements. However, anyone considering running for the Student Council should avoid joining other clubs. As a rule, applicants who wish to join both the Student Council and another club will not be accepted."
A Fair Price: 3,000 Private Points
"Our school's Student Council is entrusted by the school with the authority and responsibility to change its rules, and is therefore held to high expectations. We welcome only those who understand this."
Speaking directly into the Voice Recorder that had been recording him, Horikita Manabu calmly delivered those two statements, then pressed the button to stop recording.
He'd originally planned to say more, but since Asakusa Toru had already played the earlier recording over and over, there was no need to make things so complicated.
After recording his words, Horikita Manabu turned around and looked down at the noisy first-years below the stage.
After Asakusa Toru's stunt, they no longer had much respect for the Student Council.
After all, to most students, the Student Council was an organization with little real authority.
—If this weren't Advanced Nurturing High School.
However, Horikita Manabu wasn't too concerned about that now.
He was more interested in the first-year who had brazenly walked up to him and tried to sell him a Voice Recorder.
His abilities aside, at least in terms of Grit, he'd passed.
He casually opened the Voice Recorder's playback function, set it to the same loop mode Asakusa Toru had used, then gently placed it beside the microphone.
With the sound amplified even louder, his calm, clear voice began playing on repeat.
"Student Council recruitment..."
"Student Council recruitment..."
"Student Council recruitment..."
Once he'd finished, Horikita Manabu turned to Tachibana Akane and said:
"Turn it off in three minutes."
"Y-Yes, President!" Tachibana Akane nodded vigorously.
"Now, you. Would you be interested in coming with me to the Student Council Office?" After giving Tachibana Akane her instructions, Horikita Manabu turned to Asakusa Toru, who was standing nearby and looking out at the first-years below.
Asakusa Toru turned his gaze away from Horikita Suzune, whom he'd spotted in the crowd, and replied to Horikita Manabu's invitation with a flat tone.
"I'm not taking disciples."
Horikita Manabu: "...?"
"Heh." The corners of Asakusa Toru's mouth lifted.
Horikita Manabu's expression was remarkable. That unexpected answer had left him looking even more astonished than when the recording had played his words about giving away unwanted refrigerators and televisions.
But if he kept this up, the joke might go too far. He'd better stop before he ruined everything.
He reined in his expression a little and said, "Had your fun? Let's go."
"Whether you want to talk about life, ideals, the future, or your little sister, I'm game."
The first three topics were unimportant. It was the last one that mattered.
Getting Horikita Manabu on his side meant getting Horikita Suzune on his side. That was how easy it was to handle an obsessed sister-brother type.
Asakusa Toru was sure she'd follow them on her own.
"You..." Horikita Manabu seemed at a loss for words.
Why had he suddenly brought up his little sister?
"Don't overthink it. You'll get a headache." Asakusa Toru patted Horikita Manabu on the shoulder as he spoke.
Horikita Manabu furrowed his brow slightly, but didn't say anything. He simply turned and walked out of the gymnasium.
His work for the day was done. Nobody would say anything even if he left now.
He might as well leave the time to the other clubs.
Seeing Horikita Manabu finally set off, Asakusa Toru glanced back toward the spot where he'd seen Horikita Suzune earlier, then leisurely followed after him.
She might only be a low-spec Yukino, but surely she wasn't so timid that she couldn't face even her own brother?
"Whoosh, whoosh—"
The April wind rustled the fallen leaves.
It was a vocational school, but the grounds really were well landscaped.
Asakusa Toru walked at an unhurried pace, silently counting down in his mind.
Three.
Two.
One.
"—Wait!" Right on cue, a voice came from behind them.
Asakusa Toru's lips curled slightly. He and Horikita Manabu stopped together and turned around.
There was no doubt about it. The person following them was Horikita Suzune.
"..." Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but her gaze kept drifting to Asakusa Toru.
Clearly, she was still a little uncomfortable with him standing there.
Horikita Manabu had obviously noticed her discomfort too. A clear flicker of disappointment crossed his eyes.
Horikita Suzune, whose gaze had been moving between Asakusa Toru and Horikita Manabu, quickly caught that flicker of disappointment.
"Here you go, Horikita." Before that disappointment could make Horikita Suzune panic, Asakusa Toru broke the silence. He pulled a Voice Recorder from his pocket, took her hand, and placed it in her palm. "A little something to welcome you. Take good care of it."
Horikita Suzune instinctively tried to refuse. "I don't need—"
"Your brother just bought one." Asakusa Toru cut off her rejection with that one sentence.
Horikita Suzune's hand, which had been about to push away the Voice Recorder, stopped.
"That'll be 3,000 Private Points." With practiced ease, Asakusa Toru opened his Personal Terminal and held it out to her.
As if she were in a daze, almost under his control, Horikita Suzune took out her phone without realizing it and transferred 3,000 Private Points to Asakusa Toru's account.
"Ding."
As the Private Points changed hands, ownership of the Voice Recorder passed to Horikita Suzune. Asakusa Toru thoughtfully tucked it away for her, then patted her on the shoulder. "Good luck!"
"Today's not a good time, but I'll visit the Student Council Office myself next time." After encouraging Horikita Suzune, Asakusa Toru raised a hand to Horikita Manabu, who'd silently watched the whole thing. "Anyway, I'll leave you two to enjoy your talk!"
With that, he disappeared around the corner.
"..." Horikita Manabu fell silent.
He wouldn't comment on the fact that Asakusa Toru had charged her for a welcome gift.
It wasn't that he couldn't have stopped Asakusa Toru from using his name to fool his little sister, or called after him and made him stay.
But...
Never mind. Suzune was his little sister, after all.
He'd remind her later. If she learned her lesson, then 3,000 Private Points was an incredibly good price to pay.
"Go on, then. What did you want to talk about?" Horikita Manabu sighed and asked his younger sister softly.
After looking around to make sure no one else was on the road leading to the Student Council Office, Horikita Suzune took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm not the useless person you knew back then anymore, Big Brother."
"I've found the answer to the Trial." The name of the Pseudo-human she'd settled on slipped out. "It's Yamauchi Haruki, right?"
Would that be enough to earn her brother's approval?
Win!
"Yamauchi Haruki, right?"
Right? Right? Right?
Horikita Suzune's voice echoed in Horikita Manabu's ears, but he couldn't understand what his little sister was talking about at all.
"...Who?" He knitted his brows and slowly voiced his confusion.
Almost as soon as the answer left her mouth, Horikita Suzune saw her older brother's expression.
And in that moment, she understood.
She'd been tricked.
Tricked, tricked, tricked!
Her brother couldn't possibly have written anything in that diary, nor could he have set her any Trial.
She should have known that from the start, yet she'd still fallen for it.
Before you continue