Not-so Photo Finish

A day after the speeches were held, all of the votes were tallied up. Now it was the time for the teachers to announce the winners of the race, along with Arata making an announcement of his own.

"So, have you decided on who's going to take one of your positions?" Misei asked. "It would be interesting to see who you believe to be the best option." This was her testing the waters on what his thoughts were going to be. A part of her was aware that he would take this seriously. He was always a studious boy. However, she also couldn't let go that he could show his hand in picking a rather cute girl as well.

"Honestly, I haven't decided yet." He answered. There were plenty of solid choices given the candidates that ran this race. They were all fairly qualify in his eyes, but his current relationships to all of them did cast doubt within his mind about potential bias. "Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? What if you lose?"

"I'm fully confident that I will be the one to come out on top." She responded. "But if I did not, would you take that against me?"

"I'm not one to base my feelings from the feelings of others." He answered her honestly. While he was more hands-off on this election, it appeared that the girls had their concerns about the results beyond the power and responsibility. Misei had on a small smile showing her pleasure in the boy she liked. To her, the more they talked, the more she was falling falling for him.

Meanwhile in his head, Arata was still racking his brain on who to choose. They all seemed to be good candidates, but obviously some would be upset if he didn't pick them. Ichiri was the biggest example, where that girl was already saddened about him missing out on her speech. To be fair, he could pick her since she was one of the smartest girls he knew. This girl didn't skip a grade for nothing, and treasurer would be a fine role for her to play.

Or perhaps Yuki would be a better option, as a secretary that is. She was always so supportive to everyone that a position like that fit her better than one would expect. Plus, it wasn't a role that required her to be confident in conversing. It was a simple task of aiding others with what they needed.

Of course, he was free to choose pretty much anyone for this role. Arata could even decide that Yogi was a good options, which certainly was on his mind in the sense that none of the girl's crushing on him could complain. Unless they took that to mean he was after boys, which would be ridiculous. Then again, with how indecisive he had been, he might as well be viewed as such.

As he was thinking, a teacher got up in the middle of the crowd of students. Which was located right outside in front of the school. After a few attempts to grab the attention of the teens, it was time to make the important announcement.

"Thank you everyone who ran for our student council positions." They said, paying respects to the candidates. "And thank you to everyone cast your votes. We've tallied up the results and will now announce the winners to our vice president and president positions, in those orders." The entire audience waiting with bated breath as they pulled out the envelopes containing the answer to the million yen question. "Vice president for the next year will be our current incumbent Misao Shitara."

There was general applause as she went up to accept the honor. This was a rather simple result that everyone expected. "Then our presidential award will be given to the suddenly popular write-in, Arata Kashimura..."

"What?" Misei was in shock at hearing the result.

"…Is what we would say if it wasn't for the fact that he already told us not to accept him." They continued on. "So it will be going to the runner-up Misei Jingu." There were many sighs of disappointment from the students mixed into the applause.

"I… Lost?" She was still in disbelief about the earlier statement. What was even the point of saying it if he wasn't going to take it? Was it just for confirmation to the voters?

"I had a feeling that was going to happen." Arata explained to her that he had his suspicions from the way their classmates were talking. So he went and nipped it in the bud with the staff just in case. This wasn't the first time he had unexpectedly won something.

Stunned into silence, Misei left him to go up and accept her honor. Which did lose some prestige with news like that. Meanwhile, someone else approached him. It was Syari, but this time, she wasn't so cold to him.

"Hello." She greeted him.

"Uh?" He was worried that she might do something bad to him after what happened yesterday. Fortunately, that wasn't the case. "Hello?"

"I wanted to apologize for what happened at the speeches." She had come to try and make peace with him. Though he was more than fine with not having to see her again, it was nice to have this. "It was wrong of me to put your personal business out like that."

"Apology accepted." He said to her. "I know you might've heard me say this before, but it turned out to be a positive for me." Winning the election for himself wasn't something he wanted, but at least it wasn't a bad thing.

"Seems to be a common theme with you." She responded. "You really do find a way to get the best results for yourself. Makes me feel bad for anyone else who decides to cross you next."

"I wouldn't say that." It felt a little weird to be having such a casual conversation with a girl who tried to destroy his friends. "Last time I checked, I've never looked for any revenge."

"Lucky for me." She chuckled. "Anyway, I guess I'll just go back to being my nobody self." Syari left him, as he watched her walking towards the back of the crowd. He felt bad as this girl appeared to not be so different than himself from almost a year ago. A loner who thought they didn't want friends.

"Congrats you two." Arata reunited with his friends as they celebrated the victory of their current leaders to becoming their future leaders. "I didn't really doubt it, but the two of you did amazing."

"Did we?" Misei was still a little hurt about the second place deal she was struck with. "Was I really not as good as I thought I was?"

"Ahh, don't worry about it." Erina took this affair much less seriously than everyone else. However, she didn't want any of them to be downtrodden about it, especially not the winners. "You got the role anyway, we should all celebrate."

"She's right." Yogi agreed with the idea of a party. Though he was for it regardless of the results. "We should all go out for dinner." They all showed their support to the plan with a hearty cheer. "Oh, wait a second." He remembered something important. "Arata, weren't you gonna pick your replacement."

"About that…"

"Did someone say he was going to pick the new secretary?"

"No obviously it's going to be the new treasurer." The people around them heard him, and their mutters eventually garnered the attention of all the students.

"…I was really hoping that you weren't going to say anything." This was like when the teacher forgets about the homework, but right as class ends someone reminds them of it.

Now the boy was swarmed with people pestering him about what his decision was going to be. This was terrible, if this boy couldn't choose which girl he wanted to date, how could he ever possibly pick someone to be a partial replacement to him in the student council?

There had to be someone in his heart that knew who the right girl was. Someone that he knew would do a job regardless of him, or the other two already a part of the team. That was when his eyes landed on the perfect person.

"I choose…" He spoke up, mobbed up by the crowd. "Syari Gun to be our new secretary." Now that was the biggest bomb to drop on the school in a long while. Everyone fell into silence after he gave them his answer. Moments after that, he was bombarded with questions on why he would pick someone who tried to ruin him. "The truth is, she was right."

This was not him agreeing or condoning her actions about the blackmail reveal. However he couldn't deny the point she raised about his connection to all the candidates. It was unfair to the school if the entire leadership had such a tight prior bond. This could lead to the possibility of corruption that she was arguably correct when it came to the blackmail ordeal.

"We've all seen her talk. And I also believe she is more than capable to handle the position… I mean, if she wants to accept that is." The sea of people parted when it was revealed where she was standing when he made this announcement. While the girl was by no means why, it was a little tense having all these eyes on her considering the circumstances.

"Should… Should I really be accepting this?" She asked.

"I already told you there's no hard feelings between us." He replied. "So this is all up to you." She paused to ponder on the suggestion. The entire place fell silent and you could hear a pin drop from a mile away.

"Then… I'll accept." She answered. "And I promise that I'll work my hardest to make this school a better place." Everyone erupted into applause at hearing her statement. It seemed that despite past mistakes, they were willing to accept her as their secretary.

"Great." Arata felt that was a job well done, but when he returned his attention back to his friends, they didn't seem to agree. "What? I really do think she's the best one for the job." He defended his choices.

"I think you did a good job." Yogi was the only one on his side. "Because I think you understand second chances better than anyone else."