Chapter 170 – Club inspection

After the sports festival, Yukio and Sakayanagi haven't had any contact in the special teaching building, sharing only an unspoken understanding as clever people.

Sakayanagi declared war on Ayanokouji, who accepted, setting the stage for a contest. The special exams at Kodo Ikusei provided the perfect venue for their competition.

Although Sakayanagi is the daughter of the chairman, she couldn't make unilateral decisions about school-wide special exams.

At that time, Sakayanagi's invitation for Yukio to meet Ayanokouji in the special teaching building wasn't just to clarify that her core goals didn't conflict with his; it was also a subtle hint that she hoped Yukio could facilitate the special exam through the student council.

Sakayanagi didn't explicitly request this, and Yukio seemed not to ask anything. After parting at the special teaching building, Sakayanagi didn't follow up or contact him; she just silently waited.

Confident in Yukio, she believed he could easily understand her intentions, so everything naturally fell into place.

The student council could intervene in special exams, so Yukio was certainly capable in this regard.

Minor schemes wouldn't satisfy their competition; they were set on something bigger, fueled by Yukio's curiosity about the true strength of Horikita Manabu's class, leading to this special exam.

"Just a moment~" As Yukio sent the message, Ichinose, carrying the documents, hurried out of the student council room.

Conveniently located at the top of the club building, they could inspect the cultural clubs on their way down, a responsibility of the student council.

Previously, schools in Japan lacked student councils, established later to protect student interests.

Over the years, the student council became an indispensable part of the school culture in Japan, with responsibilities including managing student affairs, organizing large events, and overseeing club funding or approvals for establishing or disbanding clubs.

Today, Yukio and Ichinose were tasked with inspecting these clubs, as the school allocates annual funding for club activities.

Kodo Ikusei has simple requirements for this fund: it can only be used for club activities, not for class competition or other purposes.

However, with so many clubs and a fixed amount of money allocated by the school, every club wants a bit more funding, inevitably leading to troublesome disputes and even conflicts.

For instance, sports clubs think that cultural clubs have no activities and shouldn't get so much money every year. On the other hand, cultural clubs argue that the school provides fields, gymnasiums, and sports equipment, so sports clubs don't need to spend much.

Such arguments are common, and that's when the student council needs to step in to inspect the clubs. They decide which club has performed well and should get more money, and which hasn't and should get less—all based on the student council's judgment.

So, the two went downstairs and knocked on the door of the first club, the Tea Ceremony Club. After explaining their purpose, Yukio and Ichinose barely got a word in before two enthusiastic senior girls pulled them inside: "From the student council? Come in, come in!"

Their demeanor, rather than being merely hospitable, was reminiscent of the old days when hair salons on the streets would aggressively pull in customers.

Ichinose was momentarily stunned, quickly grasping the seniors' intentions. She smiled warmly, greeted the senior sisters, and pulled out a document: "Let me see, the Tea Ceremony Club's annual expenses, huh, surprisingly a bit high."

"How could that be? We've been very frugal," one senior sister greeted them to sit down, nudging another senior sister.

The other senior sister, understanding the hint, brought out water yokan and other wagashi, and brewed a pot of good tea, serving them diligently—their earnestness almost screaming, "Please give us more funding."

"Just to clarify, where would we have extra expenses? Even the tea snacks are paid for by our club members, so please, don't accuse us wrongly. Oh, and do eat more!"

Despite being upperclassmen, neither Yukio nor Ichinose had the mindset of juniors. Yukio quietly drank his tea, unimpressed by such trivial matters.

It was better for someone like Ichinose, who could maintain a bright smile, to handle the official response.

Prompted by the senior sisters, Ichinose politely finished a snack before reading from the document: "But according to the data for the whole year, your Tea Ceremony Club..."

"During the club activities every day, it's listed as training club members in tea brewing techniques, but what I see is just you all simply drinking tea and having snacks every day."

"Moreover, in the corresponding niche high school tea ceremony competitions, there are no records of your participation. Logically and reasonably, your funding is going to be cut."

Faced with Ichinose's well-reasoned and clear approach, the club senior became unhappy: "Hey! What do you mean 'just drinking tea and having snacks every day'? We are also serious about it!"

"What you saw today isn't our daily routine. When we usually practice tea ceremony, the student council doesn't come to watch. Today, just because we didn't practice, you showed up—it's our bad luck, not that we don't practice!"

Ichinose was not swayed by the senior's sophistry. Instead, she remained clear-eyed and resolute: "If that's the case, I'll apologize to the senior. It was my mistake for misunderstanding you, but if the club has no achievements..."

"You said you misunderstood! Why bring up something else..." Not letting Ichinose finish, the senior launched into a tirade, trying to be unreasonable.

Seeing Ichinose about to argue back, Yukio quickly intervened: "If you keep this up, it'll take half a day just for one tea ceremony club, and we still have so many other clubs to visit."

"I don't want to spend too much time on this." Better to have spare time to go back for a meal than to argue with these clubs.

After calming Ichinose, Yukio then turned a cold gaze to the senior: "This is settled then. Your tea ceremony club's funding is cut in half. Any more complaints, and it goes to zero."

One of the seniors was silenced by the fright, recognizing Yukio as the first-year student who humiliated Nagumo at the sports festival. Knowing who he was, she was even more aware that this first-year was not to be messed with.

The other senior felt aggrieved but didn't dare to confront Yukio head-on, somewhat intimidated by his stare: "But, you can't be unreasonable... cutting it by half and such."

"Well, that's too bad." Yukio finished his tea, stood up to leave, and as he turned away from them, he left them with one last remark: "As long as I'm in the student council, this is how unreasonable it will be."

"Got a problem? If you have a problem, you can repeat a year, stay until I graduate, then there might be a chance the student council will be reasonable."

"Ichinose, let's go."

"Oh, right, right." Ichinose, as if awakening from a dream, hurriedly followed.

***

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