After their talk, Hayashi Sakura was somehow comforted to know that Ms. Cookie had allowed her to take the leave after all just to avoid getting conflicts with her friends in school.
As what her boss said earlier on the phone, "We can't take risks here, and either allowing you to work with them hanging around the cafe or having you to work after they're gone is not a good option for you here."
Sakura almost wept at her boss' kindness. In her mind, she was already wondering what good she has done in her previous life that made her deserving to have such a nice superior as Ms. Cookie! She promised to work harder as compensation for her kind and understanding boss.
Now that the problem is solved, thanks to Ms. Cookie, Sakura can sigh in relief and go back to her classroom with a clear mind. She was secretly humming happily to herself as she walked back inside the classroom.
In the distance from there, Sakura crossed paths with a girl that is a lot shorter than her with dark brown hair that reaches her waist with some curly locks on its edges and carrying a box full of papers.
When you look a bit closer, you will eventually tell that this girl is having trouble carrying these all by herself.
Given this kind of situation, Sakura took a glance at her wristwatch and realized that she still has a few minutes left until her first-period class in the afternoon. Therefore, she wasted no time and approached the girl with a friendly grin on her face.
"Uhm, excuse me…" Sakura said in a subtle way, making the girl stop in her tracks and looked at her with curiosity. "It seems that you're having trouble with what you're carrying today. Let me help you with it, if that's okay with you."
The girl's orange, marble-like eyes sparkled with delight as she heard Sakura saying this.
Beaming, she replied, "Why, of course, I won't mind."
Sakura smiled back at the girl and offered an extra hand in carrying the box along with her.
On their way to the girl's destination, Sakura finally introduced herself to her, which encouraged the other girl to introduce herself as well.
"I'm Miyazaki Nana. Nice to meet you, Hayashi-san."
Later on after their brief introduction, Nana told Sakura willingly why she is in this kind of situation in the first place. She's a junior year student and the current secretary of the Student Council.
Due to that reason, she was asked by the student council president earlier to collect the papers from the faculty office to transport to their Student Council office.
Sakura can't help but ask, "But why are you asked to do this task? This is supposed to be done by a guy, don't you think?"
Nana simply chuckled and replied, "I know, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to be a part of the group."
"Huh? I thought you said that you're already a part of the Student Council?"
"No, I mean a part of their group as their friend."
"Oh…"
A few minutes passed, Sakura and Nana had already arrived at the Student Council office with the box still in their hands. Nana was the one who twisted the doorknob then afterward both of them entered the office and safely landed the box on top of a rectangular wooden table.
Their entrance brought attention to the other members of the Student Council, making them temporarily stop from talking to one another and spared a glance on both the female students who entered the office just now.
"Nana, you're back already!" says the girl with the silky smooth black hair that is within her neck. Sakura didn't miss to see the hint of mockery in her words. "Have you done what I've asked you to do?"
Nana, on the other hand, seemed to be gullible with this girl's intentions and beamed at her in response, "Yes, Tomoya-san! Here it is." and she even happily pointed out the box that she and Sakura had brought in here.
"I couldn't have done it without Hayashi-san's help here," Nana added.
By the mention of Sakura's name, that's when the girl shifted her intense gaze from Nana towards her and began eyeing her from head to toe with a distasteful expression slowly forming on her face.
"Isn't this the girl from the underground post the other day?"Tomoya pointed out, making Sakura flinch by the mention of that post that Rin posted before. "So what brings you here?"
As Nana had already pointed out, Sakura started to explain herself, already becoming annoyed with her. "I'm just here to help her carry the box. In fact, I think this type of job should be performed by a man, don't you think so?"
Then Sakura looked around and saw two guys merely relaxing their asses off on a couch placed in a corner and added, "Like them, for instance."
Tomoya narrowed her eyes a little and looked at Sakura with displeasure in her eyes as her tone changed.
"Are you actually questioning how I run things inside the Student Council office?"
With her defensive tone, Sakura was able to tell that this ill-mannered girl, now already standing from her seat across her table, is none other than the president that Nana had mentioned to her a while ago.
The growing tension inside the room immediately caught the other Student Council members' attention and intently looked at both of them.
Sakura didn't back out and replied, "Maybe?"
"Oh, I can't believe this girl," The Student Council president puffed some air in annoyance, causing some of her hair strands to rise along with it. "Just because you are Mori and Yamaguchi-san's friend doesn't actually give you the right to order things around here, do you understand?"
That's it. Sakura's patience snapped and she was more than ready to counter her when a hand grabbed her arm, making her turn to face Nana, who is currently begging for her to stop what she is doing and leave just by staring at her.
Because of that, Sakura cleared out her mind and returned her gaze to Tomoya.
"Just… be a role model to your delegates."
After that, Sakura didn't wait for her to respond and walked away. She thought she was just going to help Nana carry that box from earlier, how did things turn out to be like this?
Sakura was about to shut the door behind her when she heard the president snickered and it seemed like Tomoya returned her attention back to Nana, whom she is clearly treating like their servant.
"Nana-chan, we are all hungry at this point. Go to the canteen and buy us some snacks."