Whether it was intentional or unintentional, after Meguri said those words, the situation on the scene became confusing again.
It could be seen that this Student Council President hoped very much that Yukino could inherit her sister's legacy and lead everyone to charge forward in the school festival again. As a result, her gaze stayed on Yukino and never wavered.
However, gaze brings pressure. Being stared at for a long time inevitably makes one feel uneasy, especially when being looked at with hopeful eyes. Even Yukino found it hard to resist.
Shinra felt the girl beside him take a deep breath, seeming to have the intention to compromise.
Although Yukino didn't want to be her sister's shadow, for a long time, she had indeed been chasing Haruno's footsteps. Like a cat walking in the snow, following the places her sister had stepped on step by step, never leaving her own footprints in the snow of life.
"With Yukinoshita's grades, she shouldn't need this recommendation slot, right?" Shinra suddenly spoke up.
"Why don't we leave this opportunity to someone who needs it? Besides, among the executive committee members present, it's not that no one wants to be the chairman. More of them are actually worried about not doing well and failing everyone's expectations."
Shinra didn't say these words casually; he came prepared.
There were two intentions. First, to tell everyone present that Yukino's grades didn't need the extra points from being the chairman to get into her ideal university. Even if she eventually became the chairman, it wouldn't be for this reason.
Second, to help Yukino decline the request to become chairman, while also pointing out the hidden thoughts of those present. If they didn't act now, they couldn't blame Yukino for snatching their opportunity later.
Yukino was a smart person. Naturally, she saw through Shinra's intentions. She stared unblinkingly at the person beside her with her beautiful eyes, her expression unreadable.
"Is that so?" Meguri's gaze finally left Yukino, then looked around at everyone, and finally landed on Shinra.
She said, "Do you want to become the chairman?"
Shinra shook his head and smiled, "No, my grades are even better than Yukinoshita's, so I won't compete with everyone."
Moreover, the school's recommendation letter held little appeal for Shinra. With his background, he could get as many things like this as he wanted, and each one would carry more weight than a recommendation letter from Sobu High School.
To put it bluntly, Sobu High School wasn't qualified to recommend him.
Hearing Shinra say this, Yukino, who was originally quite happy, immediately stopped smiling due to her competitive nature.
But unfortunately, what Shinra said was the truth. Her current grades were indeed not as good as Shinra's. In the first regular exam of the last semester, they could tie, but in the end-of-semester regular exam, she was left behind by him.
Although five points didn't seem like much, in their grade range, five points was actually a considerable watershed.
Yukino thought she had to put some effort into science subjects this semester. The gap between her and Shinra was basically opened up in science.
As for liberal arts... although Yukino didn't want to admit it, Shinra was already on par with her. Even in fields like essay writing that relied heavily on talent, Shinra was not inferior to her at all.
What was more terrifying was that this guy seemed to be still improving, as if he couldn't see a bottleneck.
Heaven rewards the diligent, kid.
Meguri looked seriously at Shinra's handsome face. After confirming that he wasn't playing with her, she looked at the others with a bitter face.
"So, is there anyone else willing to volunteer as chairman? Don't worry about not doing well. If there's anything you don't understand or are unfamiliar with, whether it's me or other Student Council members, we will do our best to help." Meguri's gentle tone spread throughout the conference room.
Seemingly moved by her words, there was movement in the audience. Many people showed signs of wavering on their faces, as if weighing the pros and cons.
Sagami Minami keenly sensed the change in the atmosphere. She knew that if she didn't strike now, she would face a lot of competitors.
Moreover, Meguri-senpai just said not to worry about not doing well, and Student Council members would provide help. This cleared the last shred of worry for Sagami Minami.
So, Sagami Minami raised her hand.
"Um..."
"If no one is willing to take the position, I can do it."
Hearing that someone finally volunteered to be the chairman, Meguri clapped her hands happily.
"Really? That's great! Then, can you introduce yourself first?"
Amidst the stumbling self-introduction, this election for the chairman finally came to a difficult end.
After confirming the chairman, the next step was to subdivide the executive committee members into working groups.
These things were written on the meeting materials distributed before the meeting started.
Although it was just a school festival activity, the divided working groups were quite cumbersome.
Media Publicity, Personnel Coordination, Item Management, Health and Hygiene, Accounting Audit, Record and Miscellaneous...
The degree of subdivision was almost catching up with a large-scale commercial event. Wait, could it be directly referenced from the organizing mode of large-scale commercial events?
Shinra could be sure that the personnel arrangement for the school festival definitely didn't need to be divided so finely. It seemed that the Student Council officers responsible for preparing materials in previous years had directly copied the personnel division arrangement of large-scale commercial events.
The subsequent Student Councils simply followed the path paved by their predecessors, so there wouldn't be any major problems.
And it could be seen that although these working groups seemed complicated, they actually had their merits.
What merits?
Naturally, it allowed those who wanted to do real work to do real work, and those who wanted to slack off to slack off, greatly avoiding a mixed bag situation where 'three monks have no water to drink'.
After all, a job like Record and Miscellaneous was obviously for people to slack off. They only needed to take photos on the day of the event.
Unlike jobs like Media Publicity, Personnel Coordination, and Item Management, which either involved dealing with people or wrestling with tables and chairs—the former was mentally exhausting, the latter physically exhausting.
In short, very tiring.
Shinra was very considerate of Hachiman and directly chose Record and Miscellaneous, greatly reducing Hachiman's burden. It also gave him something to do during the school festival activity, so he wouldn't be wandering around the event site alone like a lonely ghost.
As for what Shinra himself would do... of course, enjoy the wonderful school festival time.
Unlike Hachiman, he had things to do. Whether accompanying Yukino or Miura Yumiko, he would be very busy!
It was only because Hachiman didn't know Shinra's plan; otherwise, he would definitely call him a beast.
Meguri estimated the time. Seeing that most people had put down the materials, she spoke again: "Have you all finished reading?"
"Everyone should have made a decision in their hearts. Then, Sagami-san, I'll leave the rest to you to host."
"Eh? Me host?"
Sagami Minami obviously didn't expect the work to come so suddenly. She thought she would wait until all the work was assigned before standing up to do some dispatching for show?
Why do I have to do real work right away?
"Mm, next is the chairman's job."
Meguri didn't consider herself a power-hungry person. Therefore, she wouldn't snatch the power of work allocation that originally belonged to the School Festival Chairman just because of her identity as the Student Council President.
Thinking of this, Meguri-senpai looked encouragingly at the somewhat bewildered Sagami Minami.
She wouldn't enjoy this glory alone!
"Yes..."
Hearing this, Sagami Minami had to brace herself and walk to the podium, sitting in the middle of the Student Council members.
"Th-Then, now start deciding on positions..."
"First is... those who want to join... the Media Publicity Group..."
Unlike her performance offstage, Sagami Minami on stage was now like a quail. Her voice became smaller and smaller, and the last few words were almost inaudible.
It could be said that she was a completely different person.
In fact, people who can talk freely without nervousness when standing on stage for the first time are ultimately a minority. People like Sagami Minami are the majority.
And this situation is not unchangeable. Just experiencing it a few more times and accumulating enough experience will allow one to cope calmly.
Meguri obviously knew this, so she didn't feel disappointed or disdainful towards Sagami Minami.
Instead, she took the initiative to stand up and liven up the atmosphere for her.
"Okay, it's Media Publicity! Media Publicity! You can run to many places, maybe even appear on radio and TV programs!"
Whether they had decided to join the Media Publicity Group long ago or Meguri-senpai's recommendation worked, in short, after she finished speaking, several people immediately raised their hands to express their willingness.
Counting people, confirming names, and then the next group.
With a good start, the rest was much simpler. Sagami Minami followed the pattern and barely managed to push the work forward.
Although there were many interludes, with Meguri-senpai's help, the work still proceeded methodically.
While everyone in the conference room was busy assigning work, Shinra took the time to ask Yukino about her preferred group.
"Which group do you plan to go to?"
"Whatever. Which group do you plan to go to?" Yukino asked back.
"Record and Miscellaneous. Less trouble, less worry."
Shinra stated his goal directly and attached the reason.
Hearing this, Yukino tilted her head cutely and added helpfully: "Convenient for slacking off?"
Shinra pointed a 'husky' finger at her. "Don't say it out loud."
Yukino smiled and then said, "Then I'll go to Record and Miscellaneous too."
Hearing this, Shinra tilted his head not so cutely and judged others by himself: "You also want to slack off?"
"Also?"
Yukino keenly grasped the keyword.
"Don't mind these details."
Of course, Yukino didn't go to the Miscellaneous Group to slack off; she had her own considerations.
After all, jobs like Personnel Coordination and Media Publicity that required dealing with people were obviously not suitable for her. Item Management required helping to move tables and chairs, which she obviously couldn't handle with her physical strength.
As for Health and Hygiene and Accounting Audit, Yukino could do them, but the problem was she didn't know anyone in these groups, so carrying out the work would be troublesome.
Therefore, the Record and Miscellaneous Group with Shinra was her best choice. At least with Shinra there, she didn't have to worry about being affected by the external environment while carrying out her work.
Shinra would help her solve external problems.
Of course, after saying so much, there was actually only one reason why Yukino chose the Record and Miscellaneous Group, and that was because Shinra was there.
Unsurprisingly, Shinra and Yukino were assigned to the Record and Miscellaneous Group.
Rather than being assigned, it was more like they were categorized into this group after there were no other choices left.
Because the personnel allocation for the Record and Miscellaneous Group was ranked last. Those who wanted to do things basically got their groups early, and the rest were naturally those who wanted to slack off.
It could be seen that the previous seniors also put effort into the order of group allocation.
Just as members of other groups had finished introducing themselves and started assigning work, their Record and Miscellaneous Group hadn't even started self-introductions.
Perhaps feeling that dragging on like this wasn't an option, a third-year senior mustered up the courage to speak:
"Let's... introduce ourselves first?"
"Okay."
"Mm."
"Oh."
...
...
"Who's first?"
Everyone looked at the third-year senior who spoke first.
"Then... I'll go first?"
"Okay."
"Mm."
"Oh."
Third-year senior: ...
After everyone briefly introduced their names and classes, they began to decide who would be the leader of the Record and Miscellaneous Group.
According to the original plan, it should have been decided by rock-paper-scissors; whoever lost would be the leader.
But because the third-year senior took the initiative to speak earlier, everyone in the group felt he had great leadership skills. Ignoring his expression that looked like he was about to cry, they unanimously decided to recommend him as the leader.
It could be considered trading one moment of extroversion for a lifetime of introversion.
Remember, the bird that sticks out gets shot!
After recommending the leader, their group's work allocation was completed.
After all, unlike others that needed some detailed arrangements, what their Record and Miscellaneous Group had to do was written clearly on the materials: take photos on the day of the event.
No detailed arrangement was needed at all.
Precisely because of this, they became the group that disbanded the meeting earliest among all groups.
"Good work."
Based on basic social etiquette, after bidding farewell to each other, the members immediately scattered like birds and beasts, walked out of the conference room, and vanished without a trace.
Yukino also packed her things, ready to return to the Service Club.
Because of the school festival, many clubs were suspended, but the Service Club was an exception. Probably because from the president to the members, everyone in this club was 'idle personnel' in their respective classes?
Shinra naturally followed. He had nothing else to do. Besides, when he left home this morning, he noticed Yukino carrying an extra bag.
If he guessed
correctly, it should be the cookies she made last night. Mm, the classic combination of cookies and black tea—a must-try!