The Student Council.
"Knock, knock, knock."
"Come in."
"Excuse me."
Shinjo pushed the door open. The Student Council office wasn't very large. Aside from a long conference table, there was a desk reserved for the Student Council President directly opposite the door.
Manabu Horikita was meticulously handling Student Council business.
Akane Tachibana stood quietly behind him, like the secretary of a publicly traded company's CEO.
"You? Are you here to pick up an application today?"
Tachibana remembered Shinjo quite well, especially after hearing that he was from Class D.
"Yes. I'd appreciate your help, Tachibana-senpai."
But Tachibana didn't move. Instead, Manabu Horikita set down his pen, a glint of wisdom shining behind his glasses.
"Katsuya Shinjo, right? I have a few questions about your club, so could you wait for me in the reception room?"
With that, he returned to his work.
Tachibana led Shinjo into the adjoining private room and began making coffee. Before long, Manabu Horikita came in as well.
"Sorry. I have quite a bit of work on my hands."
"No problem. You are the Student Council President, after all."
Manabu Horikita pushed up his glasses, looking even more mature and composed than his already intelligent, capable self.
"Tachibana told me you plan to start a club called the Odd Jobs Agency. Is that right?"
"That's right."
"May I ask why you want to start a club like that?"
What was he supposed to say in a situation like this?
Katsuya Shinjo could always come up with something on the spot.
He deliberately put on a pained expression.
"Ah, to be honest, the pressure on society in Sakura Island is growing, and young people are shouldering more and more responsibility. What's more, the competition at our school is unexpectedly fierce. In this kind of environment, it's obvious that everyone is neglecting such wonderful qualities as compassion and camaraderie."
"And although I don't have any lofty dreams, I want to help people with my own two hands and see them smile again. Do you understand how that feels?"
Manabu Horikita nodded, but the faint glint on his glasses made Shinjo, seated across from him, feel uneasy.
"So you started the Odd Jobs Agency because you want to help people, is that right?"
"Uh, more or less."
"If that's the case... why not apply to join the Student Council?"
There's no way this guy in glasses can see right through me, is there?!
Keep calm... He's the Student Council President, so it's perfectly reasonable for him to ask that.
"The Student Council is great, of course, but... since my superior doesn't seem very easy to get along with, I..."
Katsuya Shinjo tactfully made an excuse for himself.
As expected, Akane Tachibana, who had been listening in, indignantly retorted.
"You're so rude! Who's hard to get along with?!"
Shinjo spread his hands and looked innocently at Manabu Horikita.
"You see what I mean..."
"You!"
"Tachibana."
Tachibana was about to lash out, but the moment she heard Manabu Horikita's voice, she backed down. Still, she glared at Shinjo, clearly unconvinced.
"All right. Take the application with you. Fill in all the information and submit it to me for review. If it's approved, your Odd Jobs Agency will be officially established."
Manabu Horikita pushed the application across the table to Shinjo.
"Then, thank you both, senpai."
After Shinjo left, Manabu Horikita leaned back in his chair, lost in thought.
[The Odd Jobs Agency... A shrewd operator who exploits loopholes on the edge of the rules. He may be even more of a headache, though he seems to be in the same class as Suzune...]
Class 1-D had endured a hellish month of May. To improve things, students like Hirata and Kushida, who took the lead in the class, had proposed a plan to turn things around.
"There are three problems we absolutely have to fix: being late, slacking off in class, and making sure nobody fails the midterms!"
"The first two shouldn't be too hard to fix. The problem is the third one..."
According to Teacher Chabashira, the midterms would be about as difficult as the recent quiz. From Shinjo's perspective, most of the questions had been very easy.
Even so, seven students in the class had failed.
And that included uncontrollable factors like Sudo. If he refused to cooperate or didn't want to study, there wasn't much anyone could do about it.
But the two class leaders were determined not to give up on a single classmate. So they rallied everyone they could to help struggling students by organizing study sessions.
"So, Shinjo-kun, you're coming to the study session!"
Kikyo Kushida grabbed Shinjo, who had tried to make a quick escape as soon as class ended, her big, adorable eyes fixed on him.
"Me? I don't need to, do I?"
"You can't skip it! Your grades aren't that bad, but don't you want to get an even higher score?"
A higher score? Shinjo had never really thought about it.
The truth was, if he wanted to, he could definitely get a higher score.
But...
"Is that really a good idea, Kushida-san?"
"Hm?"
Kushida clearly didn't understand what Shinjo meant.
"Scoring less than half the class average counts as failing, right? In other words, if we keep the class average as low as possible, we can help the students with low scores as much as possible, too, can't we?"
"Huh?! Is... is that how it works?!"
Shinjo's theory clearly shocked more than just Kushida. It seemed most of them had never considered that approach.
According to Chabashira, midterm scores couldn't be lower than the quiz scores or less than half the average. So as long as they kept their performance under control, passing the exams shouldn't be a problem.
"If that's true, we should've turned in blank quizzes!"
"Tell me about it. If we did that, couldn't we turn in blank exams every time and get through them safely?"
As they talked, the students of Class D began cheering excitedly, though not everyone was happy.
Those who had given it their all on the last exam and scored unusually well couldn't help worrying that if they did worse next time, they might be expelled.
A different light appeared in Suzune Horikita's eyes as she looked at Shinjo. She was now absolutely convinced that he might be able to control his scores completely, just like Ayanokoji.
Unlike Ayanokoji, Katsuya Shinjo's disguise was clearly more effective. After all, his grades were much more ordinary than someone who scored exactly 50 in every subject.
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