Thanks to the school's hired part-timers, the election results were tallied immediately, with the outcome posted the following day. As a vote of confidence, Azusa needed only a majority of valid votes to secure her presidency, and she did so without issue.
"Congratulations, Nakajo-san," Tatsuya said.
"Well-deserved, even if it was a given," Mori added.
Azusa was officially recognized as the new student council president. But…
"Miyuki-san, don't let it bother you. They're just invalid votes," Mayumi reassured.
"Tatsuya-kun's quite the popular guy, huh?" Mori teased.
The election saw 554 total votes, with only 130 deemed valid.
"Siba with 220 votes and Tatsuya-kun with 204," Mayumi noted, reading the breakdown.
"Don't feel bad, A-chan," she added. "They're invalid votes, after all."
"But if they'd officially run, I would've lost…" Azusa mumbled, deflated.
"Senpai, I wasn't even eligible to run," Tatsuya pointed out.
"And neither Onii-sama nor I actually campaigned," Miyuki added.
Miyuki had been subdued while comforting Azusa, but as soon as Azusa perked up, her mood soured dramatically.
"I'll concede some voted for me by mistake," Miyuki said, her voice tight. "But why are votes like 'Queen Miyuki,' 'Her Majesty Miyuki,' or 'Snow Queen' counted toward me?!"
"Well… they wrote 'Queen Miyuki-sama,' 'Her Majesty Siba Miyuki,' or 'Snow Queen Miyuki-sama,'" Mori explained. "There was nowhere else to put them."
"What?!" Miyuki snapped. "Do people think I'm some kind of perverse fetishist?!"
"No one thinks that, I'm sure," Mayumi said, trying to soothe her.
After the spectacle Miyuki had caused, Mayumi and Mori doubted anyone would dare joke about it, even in passing.
"Show me those ballots!" Miyuki demanded. "I'll find out who voted like that!"
"That's not allowed," Mori said. "Besides, how would you even—"
Mori's appeal to common sense held no sway in that moment. Miyuki, her face red with fury seconds ago, suddenly turned teary-eyed and clung to Tatsuya. "Onii-sama!"
"Don't be unreasonable," Tatsuya said calmly. "It's an anonymous vote. Tracking down who wrote what would break the rules."
"But I need to find those shameless girls fawning over you, Onii-sama, and punish the ones who think of me like that…" Miyuki trailed off, her voice a mix of indignation and distress.
Tatsuya's votes were no less colorful. "It was impressive," Mori said, grinning. "'His Majesty Siba,' 'Beastly Tatsuya-sama,' and the like."
"There was even 'Steel Prince Siba Tatsuya,'" Mayumi added, chuckling.
"Seniors, please stop egging Miyuki on," Tatsuya said, his sharp gaze silencing their teasing. "Unless you're volunteering to deal with her yourselves."
Mori and Mayumi froze under his stare, half-convinced Tatsuya could kill with a look alone. Their joking ceased immediately.
"Besides," Tatsuya continued, softening, "no matter what the rabble thinks of Miyuki, to me, she's my adorable princess."
"Onii-sama!" Miyuki's eyes lit up.
The student council room's atmosphere shifted in an instant. Moments ago, it felt like a magical battlefield; now, it was cloyingly sweet, enough to give everyone heartburn.
Some time after Tatsuya and Miyuki left, Juumonji visited the student council room.
"Rare to see you here, Juumonji," Mori said, offering him tea with the casual air of someone who didn't care she was technically an outsider herself.
Juumonji nodded lightly, accepting the tea without commenting on her status. He took a sip.
"So, what's up?" Mayumi asked.
"It's your last day as president," Juumonji said. "Thought I'd drop by to see you in action one last time."
"Thanks," Mayumi said, smiling.
"Ever the serious one, Juumonji," Mori teased.
Juumonji brushed off their playful jabs with ease. "Speaking of… I realized who Tatsuya-kun reminds me of. You, Juumonji."
"Siba?" Juumonji raised an eyebrow.
Mori shrugged. They were alike in how they deflected verbal sparring—Mori thought Tatsuya did it deliberately, while Juumonji's was natural. She kept that to herself, shifting the topic. "Speaking of Siba, yesterday was something else."
"Definitely," Mayumi agreed.
"From below, it was hard to tell," Juumonji said, "but was Siba restraining his sister?"
"It looked like Tatsuya-kun caught the psion storm Miyuki unleashed in a net and pushed it back into her," Mori said. "What did you see, Mayumi?"
"Same as you," Mayumi replied. "But even if it was unconscious, can siblings really manipulate each other's psions that easily?"
"Siba's skilled in ancient magic," Juumonji offered. "Maybe it's one of those techniques."
All three knew Tatsuya was a disciple of Yakumo Kuzuhara, so Juumonji's theory earned nods of agreement.
"But that amount of psions…" Mori said. "Can a normal magician account for it?"
"Didn't Tatsuya-kun say he's not from the Ten Master Clans?" Juumonji asked.
"Yeah, and he didn't seem to be lying," Mori confirmed, recalling Juumonji's direct question to Tatsuya at the Nine Schools Competition afterparty.
"The sister's an enigma, but the brother's just as hard to explain…" Juumonji mused.
"Let's drop it," Mayumi interjected. "Prying into someone's lineage is against the rules."
"Mayumi?" Mori said, surprised. "But aren't you curious?"
Mayumi's quick retreat puzzled Mori and Juumonji. Normally, she'd be the most eager to dig, yet here she was, shutting it down.
"Saegusa, do you know something?" Juumonji pressed.
"I don't know anything," Mayumi said, a bit too quickly. "If I did, I'd tell you."
"Right…" Mori said, unconvinced.
No one at the school would have imagined that, on the eve of their retirement, First High's top three—Mori, Mayumi, and Juumonji—were gathered, discussing a second-year Second Course student. Only the three of them knew, and the secret stayed within those walls.
As the new regime began, an odd pattern emerged: whenever Mori, Mayumi, or Juumonji spotted Tatsuya, they'd frown in thought. This sparked rumors that Tatsuya was secretly pulling the school's strings. The gossip only added to his headaches and Miyuki's foul moods, but as those events had no bearing on what followed, they're omitted here.
Next up is the Turmoil Arc, with a few original episodes to follow.
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