The Council Recruitment (1)

After looking around for 15 minutes, Hana had almost given up because she still couldn't find the council president anywhere. But fortunately when she tried to check the library as a last resort, she finally found him. The boy who has the darkest aura in the whole school.

On one of the long couches near the window, a boy looked so relaxed playing a game on his handphone. Though the opposite of the shooter game he was playing, his tired eyes seemed to radiate such an acutely bored expression. Accompanied by the sunlight that filtered through the window, he looked like a tree that was photosynthesizing.

"Rei." Hana called. He had his earphone, but there was no way he didn't hear that. "Rei!" She called again, but he still didn't glance at her.

If she wanted to, Hana could just grab his handphone to get his attention. But since they just had a fight last week, Hana decided to speak carefully today. "You haven't had lunch yet, have you? I brought some bread." Hana said while placing the plastic bag on his lap.

And after a moment of silence, the boy finally took off one of his earphones. "You need something? You're speaking nicely today." He said.

"...No, I'm not."

"Sure." He sneered, and Hana could only purse her lips sullenly. Hana was actually one of a handful of people who are brave enough to talk back to the council president. But again, she's not here to fight today, so she tried to hold it in.

"What's that in your hand?" Rei asked again while taking out one of the breads.

"This… is the list of the new recruits for the council." She said while handing out a piece of paper. "I just think it's better if you take a look at it first."

"Why?"

"Hello? You're the president."

"Fine. Just send it to me. I'll read it later."

"I already did!"

"..." But while chewing his bread, Rei still didn't take the paper. "I mean, it's not like I know those names. And they're not even distributed to the divisions, right?"

"But still… Just take a little look now, will you?" Hana pressed again, pushing the paper even more towards Rei's face.

"No." Rei replied. But because Hana kept pushing the paper in front of her face, Rei started to spark a little fire on his finger to burn it.

"You! I haven't copied this, you know!" She protested as she pulled the paper back.

"Then stop rubbing it on my face!" Rei complained wryly.

Cursing her lips even more, Hana finally gave up trying to make him read the paper and put it back. "Fine. But you can come to the briefing, right?"

Looking displeased, this time Rei furrowed his brows in confusion. "That kinda sounds worse, you know."

"Just come and sit down. Please?"

"Then it makes no difference whether I come or not."

"Ah, then you want to give a briefing too?"

"Obviously not." He cut it quickly. But because Hana curved her lips even more sadly, he added. "Why are you like this, seriously? It was never my job and you will just scold me after being bad at it." He said.

"I won't--"

"God knows you will."

Silent for a moment, Rei looked at Hana more with a suspicious look. And then he thought of something. "You... You're not asking me to recruit new VIP members again, are you?"

"..."

"That again?" Said Rei with an annoyed tone. "You know I don't want new VIP members! I've had enough troublemakers. And I already said that 6 times! Now 7."

"...B-But we're in our last year, you know. Don't you think we have to…"

"Hh." But even just saying that Hana was already feeling exhausted. They've fought too much about this topic. And it was just this week.

"The briefing is in the afternoon at auditorium 4, in case you change your mind..." Hana ended up just saying that.

Rei almost sneered 'that was quick' or something. But he also didn't want to make things worse. So he just leaned back to the sofa again. "Rather than me, shouldn't you worry about Fio? Ruining the briefing is like one of his hobbies."

"Urgh, and you have to remind me of that."

===============================

"..." Alisa was actually almost bored because Mary was unusually quiet today, busy staring at her phone. But when she tried feeding her lunch, somehow she found it cute when Mary just opened her mouth happily.

"What?" Asked Mary when she noticed that Alisa was smiling by herself.

"Nothing." She answered with a chuckle.

"But why haven't they sent the message yet?" Complained Mary back at her phone. "I definitely heard the briefing will take place today. So they should send the invitations by now, right?"

"Yeah. But it seems like the others haven't got it too though." Alisa added while looking around her class. Because if anybody already got the council invitation, there's no way they wouldn't know.

"But actually I'm a bit surprised you want to be a member of the council, you know." Said Alisa to Mary again. "You always tell me that the Council is like a dictator and all. So I thought you don't like them that much."

"That's, well, different things." Mary forcedly replied. "Also, I need the handkerchief. So at least I have to become a member first. I will, right?"

"If you really want to, I hope so." Alisa replied.

As someone who is a beta--and never got called to the punishment building, Mary actually has a good chance of getting the invitation. But in their class, people who are also beta are relatively higher than other classes. So maybe that's why she became wary of it. Since the council only picked like 2-3 people per class.

Tring Tring. And finally the message came.

Hi, with this you are one of the students who will become a member of the Student Council. So please come to auditorium no. 4 after school.

"YES!" Mary exclaimed and immediately stood up. "I'll buy you pizza tonight."

"Sure. Congratulations." Alisa replied while laughing to see Mary looked so happy. But after that she started looking towards her other classmates as well. "By the way, who else got it?" She muttered.

"Him. Hal also got the invitation!" Gino replied while pointing at the boy behind his desk. Even though the said person quickly brushed Gino's hand away because he wanted to sleep again. Since the first time Alisa and Mary knew him, the boy with the rumpled hair just always looks sleepy.

"So that's me and Hal. Are there more?" Mary said. "Do we only have 2?" She continued, but everyone just stayed silent and looked at each other.

But then somebody poked Alisa's back. "Your phone's screen also blipped earlier, you know." Said the girl. Since Alisa put it in her desk drawer, she was able to see it from behind.

"Me?" Alisa confusedly replied. "Eyy, there's no way I get it though. I heard they only pick students with more than 3…"

"..."

"Look! She got it too!" The girl immediately shrieked when she peeked Alisa's phone.

"Really?!" Shouted Mary who immediately snatched Alisa's handphone.

"Wait, b-but…"