Chapter 189 – Children

Double chapters this week.

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It could be said that it was another bustling day. The big news of Nagumo's withdrawal was discussed from the morning until after school, with students still eagerly speculating and commenting continuously.

Because of this big news, the previously quieted down and less popular "Nagumo with Bread in Mouth" PS parody post became viral again, climbing to the top of the homepage.

If Nagumo, who was far away, knew that he was still being ridiculed even after dropping out, who knows if he would be so angry as to cough up blood.

Yukio, meanwhile, met up with Ichinose, and together they headed to the student council room. This was because in the afternoon, Horikita Manabu had sent a text saying that the school had approved their student council's application, agreeing to the three-grade joint workplace special examination.

So, they needed to have a meeting in the afternoon.

On the way to the student council room, Ichinose couldn't wait to ask about her suspicion, finding it unbearable to keep it inside.

It was as if a small mischievous kitten had slipped into her heart, scratching at it constantly: "Yukio-kun, about Nagumo-senpai's withdrawal, is it related to you?"

She was the type to speak her mind directly, asking her doubts without holding back.

"I don't know," Yukio neither took credit nor admitted it was done for Ichinose, simply playing dumb and giving an unexpected answer.

Getting rid of Nagumo was half because of the anger over him spreading Ichinose's past and the other half simply because Yukio found Nagumo unpleasant.

He had told Nagumo before that he welcomed his retaliation and could continue to play along, but Nagumo going around him was quite displeasing.

Since half the reason was that Yukio wanted to do it himself, there was no need to take credit with Ichinose.

Moreover, in Yukio's understanding, Ichinose was kind to an unreasonable degree. If she found out that Nagumo dropped out because of her, she would probably feel guilty for a few days, which would be quite disgusting.

Rather than that, it was better to keep it from Ichinose.

"Eh?" Ichinose was also a bit dumbfounded. She asked if it was related, and Yukio responded with "I don't know," which carried a lot of implied meaning.

Ichinose felt like a cat was scratching at her heart, filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Why did Yukio-kun say that? If he did it for her, he could have just said so.

If it wasn't for her, the thought made Ichinose feel a bit disappointed.

This disappointment wasn't huge. To find a comparison, it was like being drenched in sweat in the midsummer heat, desperately hoping for relief, only to speed up towards a convenience store, sweat even more, and then discover that the air conditioning was broken and the ice cream was sold out.

While Ichinose was very straightforward and always asked directly when she had questions, she was also emotionally intelligent. Seeing that Yukio didn't want to answer directly, she didn't press further.

Although she felt disappointed, she could only keep it to herself. But her little emotional swings came and went quickly, and she soon cheered up again.

Her lips curled into a slight smile, her cute little head tilted, with a gentle and playful glimmer in her eyes that made those around her want to smile along: "Speaking of which, it's surprising that the school agreed to your proposal."

"Three-grade joint exams, right after the sports festival, now another major event."

Yukio, hiding the details about Nagumo, was happy to chat about this: "It just shows the student council has significant influence, enough to affect the school's decisions."

"According to President Horikita's original plan, the school wanted to hold separate grade exams. Speaking of the student council, don't think you can escape the vice president position."

"Do you really want me to be the vice president?" Ichinose certainly hadn't forgotten about it. She thought it was just a joke during their pool play, but when Yukio reaffirmed it while saying he had a "delicate heart" the other day, she had kept it firmly in mind.

However, bringing it up again made her somewhat nervous, worrying about whether she could handle the vice president's responsibilities.

As they chatted, they exited the elevator and arrived at the student council room door. Before pushing the door open, Yukio gave her an encouraging smile: "I believe in you."

The sound of her heartbeat made Ichinose momentarily forget to follow Yukio into the student council room, and her thoughts drifted back to the previous night.

At that time, Yukio-kun had given her such an encouraging look that she had gathered the courage to call her mother and sister.

Sure enough, on her own, she wasn't that strong and found herself wanting to continue relying on Yukio...

No, no! What was she thinking? Ichinose snapped out of it, hurriedly raised her hands, and patted her cheeks. She slapped her face so hard that both cheeks turned rosy before she finally rushed into the student council room as the last one.

The six-member student council had now become five. Horikita Manabu still looked the same, while Tachibana was even more wary of Yukio than before.

Only Kiriyama across the table was beaming with joy, so much that his exuberance could be felt even across the meeting table.

It was quite amusing, and Yukio couldn't help but tease, "Kiriyama, with that expression, did your wife just give birth to a child?"

"Yeah, yeah," Kiriyama nodded cheerfully, then realized something was off, "Cough, no, no, I just remembered something happy today. Where would a high school student get a wife, let alone a child?"

Yukio leaned his elbow on the meeting table, resting his chin on his hand, "Who says high school students can't have children?"

He said it casually, but it struck a chord with the listeners.

Ichinose and Tachibana seemed to think of something. The former glanced at Yukio, and the latter glanced at Horikita Manabu, making the atmosphere a bit awkward.

"Let's get down to business since everyone is here." Unfortunately, Horikita Manabu, ever the efficient one, started the meeting as soon as everyone arrived.

But whether Horikita Manabu simply wanted to efficiently handle all the student council matters or deliberately change the subject was a mystery.

As Horikita Manabu brought up the special exam, everyone turned their attention to him. Without keeping them in suspense, he continued, "The school has agreed to our student council's proposal."

"It has been officially decided that the workplace assessment, originally arranged only for us third-year students, will be extended to include all three grades."

"However, because of the mixture of grades, and considering fairness, like the sports festival, it will be biased in favor of first-year students, while being more rigorous for second and third-year students."

"Given the complexity of this special exam, the school has decided to allow us very few modifications, only two to be exact."

"First, the grouping for the tasks; second, the penalties for classes with poor performance."

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