Katsuragi's Troubles

"Speaking of which, shouldn't... Tachibana-senpai be on duty at the Student Council today?" Sawahara noticed the increasingly icy look on the President's face and quickly corrected his address.

"Ah, right. You weren't at school before, so you wouldn't know about this." Manabu Horikita remembered he had forgotten to mention something to Sawahara. "The Student Council room is undergoing renovations, so our usual shifts have been changed to patrols."

"Eh? We have to patrol in this heat?" Sawahara couldn't help but complain. It was August, after all; patrolling the school in such sweltering weather was brutal.

"You aren't required to patrol all day. Just remember to walk around the campus from eight to nine in the morning and five to six in the evening on your assigned days. That will be enough." Manabu Horikita explained; he wasn't some cold-blooded person who would demand that Student Council members wander around outside at noon.

"By the way, you must wear your uniform when entering the campus. You know that, right?"

"It's precisely because I know that I find this so troublesome." Compared to the school uniform, casual clothes were much cooler.

"Then stop complaining and get to work."

Maintaining order at the swimming pool could be considered a fairly relaxed job. Because Manabu Horikita was there, the authority he had accumulated among the upperclassmen over the past two years was enough to keep these seniors in line.

"Does the school actually allow this kind of thing?" Sawahara looked at the stalls set up by some of the upperclassmen near the pool, most of which sold snacks.

"It's only allowed here for these few days. It is summer, after all," Manabu Horikita said.

"?" Sawahara didn't quite understand the implication. Why was it only okay because it was summer?

"The reason the school allows students to set up stalls here on these days is out of consideration for them," Manabu Horikita explained. "After all, if they weren't at this school, most students would be attending fireworks festivals with friends or family. This is a way to make up for that."

"I see. What about the fireworks, then?" Sawahara realized; a fireworks festival should naturally have fireworks.

"..." Manabu Horikita suddenly fell silent. "Due to certain reasons, there won't be any fireworks this year."

However, Manabu Horikita didn't reveal the specific reason, which only made Sawahara more curious.

"Oh, fireworks? They did talk about holding a fireworks festival last year," a senior said, beaming after Sawahara made a generous purchase, and began to recount what happened the previous year.

"But later, I heard that the fireworks they had prepared couldn't be set off, so it just fizzled out. At least they let us keep the right to set up stalls."

"Couldn't be set off?" Sawahara was puzzled. How could prepared fireworks not be set off?

"Yeah, I heard it was because the fireworks got damp. No idea how they were stored to let that happen. I was planning to confess to Minako back then. If the festival had gone smoothly, I wouldn't be single right now."

"..." I don't think your single status has anything to do with the fireworks. After all, your face doesn't look like the type that easily finds a girlfriend.

Because the truth was too hurtful, Sawahara decided not to say it out loud.

"That's a real shame." You lost a chance to see yourself for who you really are.

In the afternoon, before the swimming pool was set to close, Sawahara asked the President a question.

"President, is the renovation of the Student Council room because of a fire?"

"Yes."

On Friday, according to the Student Council duty roster, it was Sawahara's turn to patrol.

Recently, there had been a hot topic circulating in school about a fortune teller arriving at Keyaki Mall who was rumored to be incredibly accurate. The girls in Class C had mentioned it during their study session.

Sawahara's take on this was:

"If you have that many extra points, you can just give them to me. I guarantee I can predict things more accurately than he can."

After all, as long as you tell everyone that they will suffer a financial loss soon, you can never be wrong.

Come to think of it, is there really any point in patrolling the school? What students would even be at school at this time?

"I didn't expect to actually run into a student here." Sawahara was surprised to encounter Katsuragi. "Judging by your appearance, you just came from the club building? Do you have business with the Student Council?"

"How did you know I was coming to the Student Council?"

"First of all, it's the holidays. There are basically only two types of people who come to the club building: those seeking help from the Student Council, or those participating in club activities. You applied for the Student Council before, which means you shouldn't be in a club, so it must be the former," Sawahara explained his deductive process.

"So, what business do you have with the Student Council?"

"..." Katsuragi hesitated, not speaking.

"Are you worried I'll trip you up?" Sawahara raised an eyebrow. Was he really seen as the type of person who enjoyed kicking others while they were down?

"If that's what you're thinking, then you guessed right. If you don't tell me what you're trying to do, I guarantee I will trip you up."

"..." Such an overt threat made Katsuragi's expression look incredibly grim, but he had no choice but to compromise. "I want to send a package outside."

"Oh, is that all?" Sawahara had wondered what Katsuragi was up to. Why would he need to be so secretive about something like this? "The school's rules definitely won't allow you to send things out."

"I just want to send a birthday gift to my younger sister. I absolutely won't leak any school information." Katsuragi promised.

"It's useless, Katsuragi. The school doesn't care if you actually leak information; it only cares about the possibility of it happening." Sawahara shook his head. What good was a promise? Even Sima Yi once swore an oath pointing at the Luo River.

"It should be possible using points, right? When school started, the school said you could buy anything with points." Katsuragi remained calm, though he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"It is possible, but not for you." Sawahara dismantled every bit of Katsuragi's hope, one by one. "First, to change school rules, you need sufficient authority—that is, becoming the Student Council President. Second, the points required to change rules are not a small number. Even for me, wanting to get the school to allow sending packages would cost more points than I have."

To change the school's rules, the greater the change, the more points required. For underlying rules involving the school's confidential nature, the cost to modify them would be an astronomical figure.

Sawahara looked at Katsuragi's increasingly grim face and suddenly smiled.

"Do you want to hear another way of thinking about this, Katsuragi?"