You Thought the President Was Afraid to Fight? Wrong! He Was Recruiting Talent (6k Mega Chapter)

Plate Theme Cafe.

A beloved after-school spot for students to relax and chat, it had topped the hot-word rankings for campus life topics during the first week of school.

It was a garden for best friends to hold nothing back over tea, a routine check-in spot for the popular crowd who needed no explanation, and a dating paradise where little couples could build their relationship after school while casually showering everyone with PDA...

A pretty sign full of girlish design sensibilities hung over the entrance.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka took a rough glance at the chaotic scene inside, where everyone was showing off their own talents, and already felt like running away.

This had to be the demon realm, right?

Everywhere was filled with monsters utterly incompatible with his temperament. Once he went in, he felt as though he would be infected and assimilated.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could not help stopping at the entrance, his eyes gloomily sweeping over the surroundings.

Strange?

Why could he not see the president at all? Was this part of the operation?

Kushida had secured a spot early on and, as he had suggested, called over girls from their class to lend support.

Hopefully this could fool Horikita a little... Urgh, his stomach hurt.

"Is something wrong, Ayanokoji-kun?"

As he struggled to build up his resolve, Horikita Suzune pushed open the cafe door with one hand and cast a puzzled glance behind her.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly pulled back his scattered thoughts, hid his unnatural fidgeting, and stepped forward after her. "Nothing... I'm just a little unaccustomed to this."

"..."

A trace of sympathy surfaced on Horikita Suzune's face.

Poor fellow. He had barely started school before strange people had clouded his mind with words and stained his spirit. Perhaps his virginity had even been taken somewhere no one knew about, to the point that even entering such an ordinary social setting now made him timid and hesitant... Perhaps she bore some responsibility too. She should not have left him behind at the school gate just for the sake of winning an argument.

As Horikita Suzune analyzed the situation in her heart, condemning someone's misdeeds while reflecting on her own, she entered the cafe and was somewhat surprised herself. She stopped and instinctively said:

"There are a lot of people here."

Footsteps followed behind her, along with a remark that slipped right out. "Is this your first time here too, Horikita? Oh, right, I almost forgot you do not have any friends either."

Horikita calmly fired back, "Are you a kindergarten child? What an immature way to retaliate."

"There are open seats over there. Let's go there."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka stopped his counterattack there. He could not afford to gain a verbal advantage here and cause something to go wrong, or the president might pull some demonic stunt like sacrificing his own teammates for the greater good... No, he definitely would.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka pointed to a vacant table where someone had just gotten up to leave. There were also a few familiar classmates nearby.

Horikita Suzune had already begun to grow suspicious.

For the moment, she held it in and followed him to the table.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka asked, "Want something to drink?"

"Anything."

"..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt that she had begun circulating some kind of arctic energy, its technique slowly enveloping him as though he had been dropped into an icy mountain cave. Even the powerful demons around them did not dare to pry too closely, their gazes all severed by the icy sword intent.

He looked at the drink she had ordered—"anything"—as though it were the only campfire in that cave. After enduring the cold for a while, he decided to say something to ease the mood. "Do you think other people might see us as a pair of..."

He sensed a sharp, murderous gaze.

Some people only needed to sit there in silence to say a thousand words, every one of them cutting straight to the bone.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka immediately fell silent. "Ahem, never mind."

So this was the killing gaze that even the president gave a wide berth to.

Ugh, I really want to go home.

When was Kushida going to make her move?

Maybe now... No, this definitely was not a good time. My recommendation is to retreat immediately and make plans another day... Where was the president?

Save me.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's heart was gradually churning like a stormy sea, but he was at least a poker-faced person. Neither joy nor sorrow showed on his face, and even if he had lost his composure, he would not give himself away.

Horikita Suzune found the atmosphere extremely strange.

Especially the boy in front of her who had actively invited her out. One moment his eyes drifted around uneasily, the next his fingers tapped awkwardly against the tabletop. He looked both nervous and constrained...

She could not help questioning him. "Ayanokoji-kun, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"...Well... just having a normal experience... drinking something and chatting, that sort of thing..." Catching movement from a nearby table out of the corner of his eye, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally let out a sigh of relief. "Could you stay with me a little longer, Horikita? It really does not work when I'm alone."

"? I told you already, my time..." Horikita Suzune instinctively emphasized.

Then her gaze shifted aside, where she noticed a troublesome figure approaching. Her brows immediately furrowed.

"Oh my, what a coincidence, Horikita! And Ayanokoji-kun is here too!"

A cloyingly sweet, gentle voice arrived beside them along with light footsteps. Horikita Suzune immediately stared at the man before her with vigilance.

She instantly concluded that the two of them had conspired together.

She promptly rose to her feet and looked directly at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. "I'm leaving."

"Wait... Didn't we just get here?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka cleverly played dumb, his lifeless eyes revealing utter ignorance.

But his teammate's acting was far from ideal.

Kikyo Kushida panicked a little, her voice wavering as she said, "N-No... Horikita, this really is just a coincidence..."

Kushida.

You are supposed to play dumb like me here, right?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was trying his best to signal her, but the dead-fish-eye talent had its limits. Even straining himself to make faces, he failed to get the message across.

The next second.

Horikita Suzune neatly slung her bag over her shoulder, her gaze flashing like blades as it cut the two of them down again and again.

The words that left her mouth could not exactly be called violent, yet they were full of deadly danger, like Dugu Qiubai competing against the heroes of Heshuo before he came of age.

They were fierce and powerful, capable of breaking through anything.

"Ayanokoji-kun. It was my mistake to assume you still had hope of being cured. It seems Bai-kun's influence on you is quite severe."

"I do not know what your intentions are here, but going against someone's wishes and using them without permission to achieve your own goal—in that regard, the two of you are disgustingly in sync."

Horikita Suzune cast a sidelong glance at the bewildered Kikyo Kushida. Recalling the girl's inexplicably deliberate approaches since that morning, and indeed since school had begun, her brow furrowed even more deeply.

She tightened her grip on her shoulder bag slightly, turned decisively to leave, and Kikyo Kushida called after her loudly with her thoughts laid bare. "I'm really sorry, Horikita, for causing you all this trouble... But please, try being friends with me!"

Horikita Suzune turned back and replied flatly, "Why are you so obsessed with me?"

"You should have plenty of friends. I hope you can leave me alone, and in return, I will not trouble anyone else."

"Please do not do this kind of thing again."

"Eh... But do you not feel lonely when you are alone?"

Kikyo Kushida spoke sincerely.

"Perhaps you should first show some concern for the Ayanokoji-kun beside you."

Horikita Suzune had gone on a rampage.

With one swipe of her sword aura, she swept away every living thing within a hundred miles.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had strong objections from the side, but for now, he showed weakness and kept quiet to avoid walking into the line of fire again.

"Besides, I have never considered myself lonely. Please stop bothering me. Your behavior is causing me a great deal of trouble."

"How could this be..."

Kikyo Kushida lowered her head in disappointment.

After giving it some thought, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka still spoke up on her behalf so he would not be executed as a deserter. "Hey, is this really okay? It means you will not have companions for the next three years."

"I spent the last nine years that way. If we count kindergarten, it has been even longer."

After saying that, the black-haired girl brushed her hair back. For a moment, the cafe fell solemnly silent.

Before long, under the crowd's watchful eyes, she walked out through the doors alone, her footsteps resolute and calm.

"Sorry. It looks like we failed after all..."

Kikyo Kushida emerged from her regretful mood and apologized to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.

"Well... You cannot be blamed for this. If anyone is guilty, it is definitely the president."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said as he jumped ship, his tone even more blunt than Kikyo Kushida's had been. The guy had not shown even a ghost of himself from beginning to end. Was he even human?

Even if he had stood nearby supervising the battle, Ayanokoji would not have had anything to complain about.

As Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently grumbled with frustration, he asked, "What are you going to do, Kushida?"

"Um..." Kikyo Kushida touched her cheek and put on a troubled look, staying silent for a while before raising her head brightly. "I still do not want to give up on Horikita just like that. I'll think of a way to ask her out again next time."

You really are persistent...

For a moment, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka actually understood Horikita.

? Did this count as defecting to the enemy?

As his thoughts wandered, the two decided to leave the cafe first. After all, if a lone boy and girl stayed in a place like this for too long, gossip was bound to spread.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was still rather unwilling to become the subject of gossip.

The two of them left the cafe together and lingered briefly at the entrance.

The sky was gradually darkening.

The sunset light shattered across them, turning into threads of delicate, flowing color that outlined an extra touch of softness and lightness around the young man and woman.

Kikyo Kushida was waiting to say goodbye, so Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply gave a brief review of what had happened.

He summarized the cause and outcome, which at least gave the other party an account of the request she had made.

"See you tomorrow, Ayanokoji-kun."

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

That lousy president had really washed his hands of the entire affair. And he himself had no idea what wire had crossed in his brain to make him try so hard to fulfill a club member's duty.

Had he really been infected by some kind of bug?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka watched the girl who had said goodbye to him walk with calm steps into the half of the setting sun stretching over the distant school road. For some reason, he felt a little bleak inside.

Perhaps this was a new kind of experience too.

But the one who had failed was not him. It was the jerk who had proposed such a straightforward battle strategy.

Who knew where that guy had run off to slack off? In the future, the commander-in-chief should make his own military pledge.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sighed and prepared to return to the dorms to heal the emotional damage from the entire afternoon. But the instant he turned around, he saw the man he had been thinking about the whole time... the president?

"Good afternoon, Ayanokoji. Hm? Why are you alone?"

Bai Yu came walking out of the sunset, bathed in its rosy light. He was leading a lady's bicycle with his left hand, while a girl with a remarkably gentle demeanor walked at his right. The two chatted and laughed as they approached him.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka greeted him politely. "President, if you tell me you mixed up the time this afternoon, I am going to stage a coup from below."

"What are you talking about, Ayanokoji-kun?"

Bai Yu wore an utterly relaxed expression as he said, "There was never any role for me this afternoon."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seemed both stunned and not stunned. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Was this not your plan? And as the future esteemed president of the Service Club, should you really be handling the first request so carelessly?"

The cheerful look on Bai Yu's face abruptly disappeared, replaced by a serious, solemn expression. He looked as though he had forgotten something important.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was already starting to want to curse, but more than that, he reflected on how he had actually believed this man's nonsense and allowed himself to be stirred up into becoming a cheap soldier working for him.

Just as he was reflecting, the other man's grave voice rang out.

"Oh, right, Ayanokoji-kun. Let me introduce you to a new companion."

Bai Yu revealed a broad, open smile and gestured toward the girl beside him. "Shiina Hiyori, Class 1-C. She is a fellow book lover I met in the library. Like you, she has already reserved a place in the future Service Club."

The sudden seriousness made Ayanokoji Kiyotaka straighten up as well. "Nice to meet you."

"Mm, nice to meet you too, Ayanokoji-kun." The girl responded politely, her voice soft and pleasant.

"Shiina got Ayanokoji-kun's name right on her first try?"

Bai Yu's attention always landed on the strangest things.

"Ayanokoji-kun's name is easy to remember. Bai-kun's is too; they both roll off the tongue nicely."

Shiina Hiyori said with a smile, her words especially proper.

"President, where did you trick such a normal girl into joining us from?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could not help asking in surprise.

Honestly, among the people connected to Bai Yu, including himself, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had not yet found a single person who was even slightly normal.

There was no need to mention Horikita. Kushida's obsession with Horikita felt excessively intense, which was not normal either. As for the president himself... Calling him an alien would not be an exaggeration.

"Hahaha, you really know how to joke." Bai Yu slapped Ayanokoji's shoulder hard and laughed. "There may be no one in this school more normal than me."

"President, please have at least a little self-awareness. As your club member, I am deeply embarrassed," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quipped.

Listening to their banter, which sounded like a comic double act, Shiina Hiyori could not help lowering one arm from around the books she held and covering her mouth as she laughed. "Bai-kun and Ayanokoji-kun are both very interesting people."

"Why does that sound familiar?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka froze slightly. It seemed someone had said something similar about the two of them a day ago, though the difference was quite subtle.

"I have never heard that one before. Thank you for the lovely compliment, Hiyori."

Bai Yu gladly accepted the praise and even called her by name with complete naturalness.

"You're welcome. Bai-kun has a very straightforward personality, which I find very interesting..." Shiina Hiyori lowered her head slightly in embarrassment, hiding her shyness as she changed the subject. "Bai-kun said earlier that you plan to establish a club in a month?"

"Yes." Bai Yu nodded with a smile. "To meet the school's requirements, we are still short two people. Having Shiina join us is a huge help."

"That is wonderful." The girl showed a sweet smile.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, standing beside them, roughly guessed how the two had met, because he noticed that the girl was holding something that filled him with dread, briefly stirring up some unpleasant memories.

Perhaps it had been an ordinary afternoon. After Bai Yu had given instructions to two cannon-fodder soldiers about to be sent to the front lines, he had turned and gone to a library to read books about drama. There, he happened upon a girl who wanted to borrow a book but was troubled because her height prevented her from reaching the novel she wanted on the shelf.

Bai Yu happened to pass by and effortlessly solved her problem. "Here. Height will never become an obstacle in your pursuit of truth!"

It was quite a dashing smile. For a moment, the quiet girl seemed to have her mind stolen away by this light-novel-like scene brought to life.

She stood stunned for a long time, only speaking after the weight of a book appeared in her hands. "May I ask who you are!?"

"My surname is Bai. I am a wandering man."

Bai Yu turned his head and smiled. He did not linger over that gentle, refined voice. He was merely a passerby who had come to borrow a book, then go to an empty classroom and sleep with it as a pillow, while also checking whether the classroom had the potential to become a club room.

Could a classroom that did not allow club members to sleep in peace even be called an activity room?

Thinking that, he stylishly bid the girl farewell. Who would have known that she had already lost all interest in reading? She chased after the man and called out loudly, "Bai-kun, can we meet here again this afternoon? I... I want to get to know you!"

"Oh? Then can you appreciate the books I admire?"

The ronin actually whispered like a demon.

"Eh, wh-what kind of book is that?" The girl was prepared to sacrifice sleep if that was what it took to get closer to him.

"Hmph." Bai Yu chuckled, raised a hand toward the shelf of classic literature, and declared, "That is... the World Famous Drama Awards!"

The World Famous Drama Awards ran to more than 9,000 pages and contained over 300 outstanding plays. Even Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had spent an entire night reading it and only made it halfway through.

It was truly terrifying spiritual opium.

Perhaps he was half responsible for today's defeat too. Put that way, the club president was practically the root of all evil...

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka pulled himself out of the little scene he had imagined in his head about the two meeting.

Perhaps it was precisely because he had read that book, coupled with his lack of sleep, that he was so prone to fantasizing.

At that moment, the book was being held in the hands of the smiling girl.

Hopefully she can still smile tomorrow... Ayanokoji Kiyotaka reeled in his thoughts before they could wander off again and looked at the two people still talking in front of him, speaking up at the appropriate moment to report:

"President, this afternoon's strategy was a complete failure. Horikita is about to put out a wanted notice for Kushida."

"A failure?" Bai Yu paused his conversation with Shiina Hiyori and turned to look at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka beside him in surprise. "Wasn't this a huge success? Ayanokoji, are you in your right mind?"

"Thanks to you, I'm only clear-headed now... But are you sure this was a success?" Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was beginning to realize that Bai Yu might never have intended to put much effort into fulfilling Kushida's request.

He recalled the rather subtle smile on this man's face when he had encouraged Kikyo Kushida at noon to keep up the good work.

"Ayanokoji..."

Bai Yu took a deep breath, his expression somewhat regretful as he placed a hand on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's shoulder. "I thought you were the only one who understood me."

Me? Understand my ass.

"Please don't place such high expectations on me without permission," Ayanokoji Kiyotaka said weakly.

"Ayanokoji, what is our current objective?" Bai Yu suddenly asked with great interest.

"To fulfill Kushida's..."

"If you continue, I'll confess to you in front of the whole class."

"Eh?" Shiina Hiyori, standing nearby, showed an incredulous expression.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka remained entirely focused. After pausing for a moment, he suddenly understood. "It's to get Kushida to join the Service Club..."

"Correct!"

Bai Yu finally heard the answer he wanted, revealing a delighted smile as he continued from his earlier question. "The request itself doesn't matter at all. From the first day of school, when Kushida came looking for me, I could tell her motives weren't pure. I happened to learn then that starting a club required five people. Including you and me, we were still three short."

"So I casually made joining the club a condition for accepting her request."

"And even if I had divine foresight and counted Shiina, who later agreed to join, that only made four people. It still wasn't enough, so what should we do?"

Bai Yu smiled and glanced at Shiina. She was listening to him with rapt attention, her gentle eyes brimming with tenderness.

"So you want to..."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gradually caught up with Bai Yu's train of thought.

"Get Horikita Suzune to join the Service Club!"

Bai Yu snapped his fingers crisply. "From the very beginning, my goal was to have Kikyo Kushida annoy Horikita, then take the opportunity to recruit Horikita into the club."

"As long as Horikita joins the Service Club, would Kushida still refuse to come? This move is called using Horikita's wits to win Kushida! Hahahahaha!"

Bai Yu laughed heartily, prompting Shiina Hiyori beside him to laugh along for no apparent reason.

Recalling the fixation Kikyo Kushida had displayed toward Horikita that afternoon, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka judged that this method could indeed work.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was briefly stunned, though he still had doubts. He asked curiously, "But President, I saw you try to recruit Horikita this morning. Her attitude was extremely firm. What can you do to make her willing to join the club?"

"Hahahahaha!" Bai Yu was still laughing loudly.

Shiina Hiyori looked at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with smiling eyes, curious how he could manage not to laugh along.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka tried to pull up the corners of his mouth, making an extremely strange expression. Fortunately, Bai Yu finally stopped laughing.

He stepped up beside Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and faced the same direction as him, toward the burning sunset.

"My soldiers! In the first half, you have already done everything required of you and exceeded the mission I bestowed upon you."

"In the second half, I shall personally take the field and claim the empire's final two missing pieces!"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka got caught up in the act. "Your Majesty, at least make me a centurion!"

Bai Yu: "No problem!"

Shiina Hiyori: "Then may I seek a position as a strategist?"

"Do not overstep yourself. Finish reading the national bible first, then we'll talk!"

The king issued a Sigma male declaration with unyielding resolve, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt as if the worldline was shifting...