Increasing Popularity

This sudden outburst immediately drew the eyes that had been focused on Manabu Horikita, as everyone was dying to know who could possibly speak so loudly in such an atmosphere.

It was truly a display of commendable courage.

Even Suzune Horikita shifted her gaze toward Toru Hasegawa, unable to fathom what he was up to.

Seeing that his initial goal had been achieved, Toru Hasegawa smiled slightly, stood firmly beside Arisu Sakayanagi, and gestured with both hands for everyone to notice the silver-haired girl before continuing in a loud voice:

"I'd like to introduce everyone to this person. This is Arisu Sakayanagi, and she currently serves as the leader of Class A!"

"Leader? What the heck is that?"

"Are you an idiot? It's just the class representative, the class rep!"

Some people whispered, unaware that in the current quiet environment, such voices were incredibly obvious.

However, Arisu Sakayanagi, who had been introduced by Toru Hasegawa, still held the attention of everyone present firmly in her grasp.

"Hello everyone. Just as Hasegawa-kun said, I am indeed currently serving as the leader of Class A. I look forward to working with you all over the next three years."

Without a hint of stage fright, Arisu Sakayanagi introduced herself to the crowd with poise and grace.

Very good, that's exactly it!

Toru Hasegawa nodded inwardly; this was the effect he wanted.

And next... heh heh heh!

Seeing Toru Hasegawa's gaze turn toward him, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji felt a jolt in his heart. No way, right?

"And this person is Ayanokoji... classmate. He's from Class D and seems to have an indescribable, mysterious connection with Classmate Sakayanagi. In short, that's all I wanted to say. That is all!"

"That's it?"

"He's just wasting everyone's time!"

It was the same voice as before, but this time, Toru Hasegawa responded immediately. He turned his head toward the direction the voice came from and said:

"Then wasn't the person on stage just now also wasting everyone's time?"

"..."

The other party clearly hadn't expected their comment to be met with a retort, so they silently took a few steps back, hiding behind the backs of others.

Meanwhile, knowing he could no longer delay, Manabu Horikita finally began his speech:

"I am Manabu Horikita, the Student Council President."

The same surname?

Toru Hasegawa turned to look at Suzune Horikita, who had already shifted her gaze back, his mind already forming a guess.

After Manabu Horikita began speaking, everyone's eyes refocused on him.

However, the tense and silent atmosphere had already vanished following Toru Hasegawa's interlude.

"With the graduation of the upperclassmen, we will be recruiting candidates from the first-year students.

There are no special requirements for candidates, but if you truly wish to join us, please refrain from joining any other clubs.

In principle, those who wish to join both the student council and another club will not be accepted.

Furthermore, our student council does not welcome those who harbor naive ideas about running for office. Such people, let alone being elected, would likely leave a stain on the school.

Our school's student council is highly anticipated precisely because we are entrusted by the school with the right and mission to change regulations. We only welcome those who can understand this."

After finishing this series of statements, he stepped off the stage and walked straight out of the First Gymnasium.

As he left, he cast a glance toward Toru Hasegawa, but because Suzune Horikita was right next to him, Toru Hasegawa wasn't entirely sure if the man was looking at him or his younger sister.

That's right, combined with Suzune Horikita's unusual demeanor, Toru Hasegawa had roughly deduced the relationship between the Student Council President and Suzune Horikita.

However... the relationship between these two... was quite intriguing...

In any case, it definitely wasn't a normal sibling relationship.

"Thank you all for your hard work! Despite the small interlude just now, the orientation has concluded successfully." Secretary Tachibana winked playfully. "We are now accepting applications for club memberships. This application period will last until the end of April, so students who wish to join a club later should take their application forms directly to the club they wish to join."

Following this, the crowd began to disperse.

"How was that? It didn't feel like such a big deal after it was over, right?"

Toru Hasegawa winked, mimicking Secretary Tachibana's earlier gesture.

"Phew—I really have to thank you for that. You scared the life out of me back there."

Masumi Kamuro let out a long breath, as if she had been holding it in since that moment.

"See? After a brief commotion, everyone just went back to doing what they were doing. We weren't affected at all." Toru Hasegawa attempted to convey a noble life lesson to her, namely that not that many people actually care about you.

Although even he couldn't really live by that himself; the whole thing was just him wanting to tease Arisu Sakayanagi using the atmosphere, and it turned out she had taken it completely in stride.

"No, there is still one difference, and that is that everyone now knows me and Classmate Sakayanagi... and you, who were introduced by Classmate Sakayanagi," Kiyotaka Ayanokoji said quietly.

"It's not a bad thing to let everyone get to know us, haha..."

Toru Hasegawa tried to laugh it off to gloss over the situation.

At this moment, another voice suddenly intruded, but it sounded somewhat familiar to Toru Hasegawa.

It seemed that was the very voice that had been mocking him in the crowd just now...

"Ayanokoji-kun, you really stole the show just now."

Three people approached them, and Toru Hasegawa recognized one of them as Sudo, whom he had encountered at the convenience store yesterday.

"Ah, it's you. No wonder that voice sounded a bit familiar just now," Sudo said, scratching his head after seeing Toru Hasegawa.

Although Toru Hasegawa's voice had been quite loud just a moment ago, he hadn't seen him with his own eyes; after all, the other party hadn't been standing on the stage.

Kanji Ike chuckled from the side, "Huh? So you know him, Sudo?"

"Yeah, I forgot my student ID yesterday, and he helped me pay," Ken Sudo nodded, then added, "Come to think of it, I still haven't paid you back."

It's great that you brought that up yourself.

Toru Hasegawa felt a strange urge to shed tears, and the two exchanged contact information.

"How exactly do I go about transferring the points?" Ken Sudo looked troubled for a moment.

Seeing this, Toru Hasegawa quickly said, "I'll help you with that."

Even if he hadn't seen a pig run, he had certainly eaten pork; he had already memorized the steps Arisu Sakayanagi and the upperclassmen used for transfers yesterday.

Soon, Toru Hasegawa received a notification on his phone that 300 private points had been transferred to him.

"Thanks again for yesterday. Let me introduce you—this is Ike, and that one over there is Yamauchi," Ken Sudo said, introducing the two classmates beside him.

"I'm so envious of you. You already have two friends?" Toru Hasegawa expressed his genuine feelings, as he still didn't have anyone he could call a friend to this day.

"Hey, hey, hey! I should be the one who's envious! You've got an excessive amount of girls around you!" Kanji Ike shouted.

Toru Hasegawa was speechless. Was that something you could just say out loud?

Sure enough, it was visibly apparent that Kanji Ike's reputation among the three girls present was plummeting, and Suzune Horikita even gave him a look as if he were trash.

"The relationship between them and me isn't what you think it is."

Toru Hasegawa glanced at Masumi Kamuro, who already wanted to leave but was only staying because Arisu Sakayanagi showed no signs of moving.

"Are you all here to join a club?"

He threw out the question, which was also a good opportunity to scout information on Class D, especially since Arisu Sakayanagi was present and should probably show some interest.

"Yeah, I've been passionate about basketball since elementary school, so I want to play here too," Ken Sudo replied.

"And what about you two?"

Toru Hasegawa felt like a villain prying into someone's personal life, but fortunately, Yamauchi and Ike didn't sense anything amiss.

"We're just here to join the fun. Or rather, we came because it seemed like a blast. I really hope for a fated encounter!"

"A fated encounter?" x2

Kiyotaka Ayanokoji and Toru Hasegawa asked simultaneously.

Toru Hasegawa, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji: "..."

Why were their reactions synchronized? It wasn't like they were taught by the same master...

"My goal is to be the first person in Class D to get a girlfriend! That's why I'm looking for an encounter."

No, people who usually say that don't get girlfriends, especially after hearing what you just said.

Toru Hasegawa muttered to himself.

"Oh, right! I created a chat group for guys yesterday. Do you guys want to join?"

"You guys?"

"We're all guys, it's no big deal!" Ike gave him a "you know what I mean" grin.