Presidential Elections and the Queen Chapter 2

One week had passed since the start of the new semester.

At last it was time to officially announce the Student Council President election, even among those who were not really involved (especially students in classes E to H). "Who will be a candidate?", "Who has influence?", and similar topics could be heard. As classmates exchanged morning greetings, Tatsuya, who was going to his assigned terminal, heard the voice of the previously arrived Mikihiko call out "Morning, Tatsuya".

"Morning. Mikihiko, you're always early."

"Ha ha, you're right. Because I've recently been given more Asa no Gongyou to do, I really wanted to take on things a little more slowly, but… tradition."

The word, Gongyou, originally indicated Buddhist religious services. But, probably due to the influence of the Shinto-Buddhist amalgamation, even people like Mikihiko, who came from a long line of Shintoists, used the word 'Gongyou'. In short, "Asa no Gongyou" was early morning religious rites. That the phrase "been given more" properly meant "I can participate again", Tatsuya grasped from the crumbs of information he got when talking to both Mikihiko himself and Erika.

His friend was not only steadily regaining his power, but increasing his power as well. He was happy for him, but he was also envious. Previously, Mari had tossed around a joke about him transferring into course one, but Tatsuya thought Mikihiko might really become the first person to transfer from course two into course one.

"By the way Tatsuya, I have to ask you about something you might think is weird, but…"

"Something weird?"

This blunt but muttered inquiry seemed to be coming from out of left field. His first response was to tell him to proceed. After all, the two of them were fellow students, but he withheld comment and slowed to keep in step with him.

"I don't think this is very weird, but Tatsuya, is it really true that you're a candidate for Student Council President?"

"…What did you say?"

There was no way Tatsuya was not listening to what Mikihiko said. Tatsuya responded this way because his astonishment was so great.

"No, well, I'm asking because there is this rumor that 'Tatsuya is a candidate for Student Council President' going around."

"Rumor…?" "I didn't do it!"

Tatsuya didn't consider himself especially good at reading people, but Mikihiko proclaimed innocence with every excited gesture.

"Yesterday, after school in the practice room, Tsuzura-sensei questioned me. 'Is it really true that Shiba Tatsuya is a candidate for Student Council President?' is what he said."

Instructor Tsuzura's specialty was magic geometry, and he was also well versed in magic engineering; currently he was teaching the second years. His principal occupation was a university professor.

In the academic world, he was known as an excellent young researcher. It was also proclaimed that he would soon receive the office of associate professor. However, not only his way of thinking—but also his speech and conduct were a little too loose and independent. For disciplinary reasons, he was transferred to a high school associated with his university. Nonetheless… he himself said he wasn't bothered by it; "I can do independent research," the troublesome fellow rejoiced.

Maybe because he had that kind of temperament, he was one of the teachers who made a special effort to look after the second course students. He didn't even limit himself to his assigned year. Tatsuya had also been called over for a chat countless times.

"This tall tale is being spread by them…?"

"Oh, so it is a tall tale? I thought it strange since you said you had no interest in being a candidate the other day."

Tatsuya had a flabbergasted expression as he nodded to the dejected looking Mikihiko.

"I don't think I could get any votes if I was a candidate, and as I said before I don't intend to run. How did this rumor get spread among the teachers?"

"Don't know…"

Mikihiko couldn't possibly know what was going on in the staff room. As expected, all he could do was tilt his head at him.

Even Tatsuya did not ask in the expectation of an answer; he asked it as a way of grumbling.

"It's not just the teachers."

However, contrary to his expectations, testimony that pointed in an unpleasant direction was extracted from a nearby listener.

"During club activities, I heard bits and pieces of the senpais gossiping about it. Surprisingly, everybody seemed receptive to the idea."

After Leo, who sat in front of him, said that, Erika, who was half sitting, half leaning on Mizuki's desk, also sang the same tune.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I overheard somebody talking about it yesterday. It was something about a first year who was a member of the Public Moral Committee taking part in the upcoming Student Council election. Now that I've considered it, that's got to be about Tatsuya-kun, right?"

Right? Tatsuya didn't want to nod his agreement with what she said, but after synthesizing Mikihiko's intelligence report as well as Leo's and Erika's, no other conclusion could possibly be made.

"Me, too…"

Oh no, not Mizuki as well. Tatsuya wanted take cover under his desk.

"I have a fleeting memory of something like that being said when I was in the Counseling room, yesterday."

However, upon hearing the identity of whom she heard the rumor from, a "with positivity, anything can be dealt with" kind of feeling was born.

Actually, it was the feeling of knowing that he was going to interrogate Haruka. I think there remain some objections over whether it was really okay to call something like that "positivity".

◊ ◊ ◊

The one who would protest the most about referring to Tatsuya's operational plan as "positivity" would probably be Haruka.

"It's still in the middle of first period!"

In a manner unbecoming of a counselor, Haruka scowled a grimace at Tatsuya, who was visiting the Counseling room.

Apparently, the sneaky way he got the No Head Dragon intelligence (!?) had left her feeling abused. —If you viewed it the way Tatsuya did, it was not like there was a contract that placed restraints on how he could use the bought information.

"The assigned work for first period is completed."

Naturally, Tatsuya felt no mental distress at being hated by Haruka. They shared the same secrets with each other, but not quite, because the cards Tatsuya held were the stronger of the two.

"…Quite the high achiever, aren't you."

"A low achiever. I barely made it in with all the red marks on my practical exams."

"…Somehow, when you say that, I can't hear any sarcasm."

—Between the two of them, they shared what might be called an intimacy that didn't require polite niceties.

"That's because it's true. Well, more importantly, there's something worrying me. I would like to consult you about it."

When Tatsuya made this conversational gambit, Haruka's eyes widened and she straightened her posture automatically.

"Please feel free to consult me about anything."

She was extremely conscious of her professional duties, but her quick switch made him feel slightly uneasy about his ability to pass his classes. Well, it was about time she learned that 'the worry' he had brought to the counselor was outside her official sphere.

"My worry, you'd call it, is the Student Council election at the end of the month."

"They certainly made a mess of recruiting candidates this time. So that's it? Has your younger sister been requested to run for Student Council President?"

"Oh yes, I'm certainly worried about that. However, what I wanted to consult you about today concerns a different 'rumor'."

"Rumor?"

"Yes, the rumor about me becoming a candidate that's started floating around the staff room; you wouldn't happen to know anything about that?"

As Tatsuya broached the subject he stood face to face with Haruka and looked directly into her eyes, for an instant and really for an instant only an 'oh, no' look showed on her face.

"You talked to Shibata-san about this yesterday. I would like the details fully explained to me."

But no matter how short the instant was, any change of expression that occurred under the steady gaze of his eyes would not be missed. There was no way that Tatsuya could have failed to notice it.

"I thought it is unthinkable, but, could Ono-sensei have scattered this rumor that couldn't have happened around on her own initiative?"

Haruka's facial muscles relaxed and contracted in a dizzying fashion. Eventually, her expression settled into her normal amiable smile.

"Yes, indeed that would be 'unthinkable'. There is no way I would do such an irresponsible thing."

There was no trace of strain in her lips.

Her facial control skills seemed to have made remarkable progress. "…How on earth did this tall tale start circulating?"

"What… so it is a tall tale. Well, that's the way it is… Shiba-kun's not the type to take the center stage; you're more the 'pull strings behind the curtain' type."

"I will not deny it."

Their eyes met, and the two of them exchanged evil grins. Perhaps this could be the influence of their shared master.

Nevertheless, a degree of commonality wasn't reason enough to collude with each other.

"Now then, how on earth did this tall tale about me becoming a candidate for Student Council President start circulating?"

"Sorry, I don't really know a lot about that?" "Really, the part you do know is sufficient." "…"

Tatsuya looked extremely at ease as he waited for Haruka's answer. Playing dumb would gain her nothing, Haruka realized.

To begin with there wasn't any reason to be silent about what she herself heard.

"…I'm not really sure who said what, but… is it alright to act as if it was one of those verbal message type games? 'Looks like Hattori-kun won't run.' 'Looks like Nakajou-san won't run.' 'It seems so troublesome to have to search for a presidential candidate.' 'Hey, wouldn't Shiba-san make an amusing one?'… somehow turned into 'Looks like Shiba-san will run.' 'Shiba-kun will run.' 'Eh, Shiba-kun?' 'Yeah, the Public Moral Committee's.' 'Oh, the one who took part in the newcomers' tournament?' 'Hmm, wouldn't that be interesting?' in no time."

After listening to Haruka, Tatsuya was so exhausted that he felt like he could fall off his chair.

"…How could the teachers believe such a half-baked rumor?"

Well, rumors are naturally irresponsible and half-baked things. His fellow first years and the upperclassmen seem to have fished it out from the water cooler talk, so even if Tatsuya wanted to track the rumor piece by piece, there is no way to track down the pieces.

But, superior people like Tsuzura—at least they're intellectually superior— people serious enough to become professor, the staff shouldn't be as easy to fool.

Tatsuya wasn't quite ready to throw away the possibility that someone might be intentionally manipulating the rumor mill.

"There are more serious people among the students than among the teachers. The details of what happened in April were kept from the students, but since the staff knows the facts…"

"…The Blanche incident?"

"That's right. There are many teachers who rate Shiba-kun quite highly for being central to getting that matter settled."

Unfortunately, he hadn't foreseen this. That that matter would stand out so much… Tatsuya thought he wasn't self aware enough.

"They don't know the exact details because Juumonji-kun kept a lid on those, but they do know that you drove the terrorists off with your own power, and that point causes them to regard you quite highly. Because they want the Student Council President of a magic high school to be extremely powerful, quite a lot of the teachers think it would be amusing to have a first year president if he possessed that kind of supreme power."

…This is getting to be really bad, Tatsuya thought.

With Haruka's words ringing through his head, Tatsuya considered how to handle the matter.

—Before exiting the counseling room, he made certain that he had not made any inquiries into the methods she used to acquire information.

◊ ◊ ◊

However, there were a limited number of methods that could be used to squash a baseless rumor. Furthermore none of them were available to him.

Therefore he had to destroy the base that the rumors were springing from; you could call the results of meeting with Haruka quite effective.

Thinking like that might comfort himself, but the weight of his burdens had not lessened.

A class of 25 people was not a lot of people. You could grasp who was doing what with one glance. In addition to him, there were only four people not chit- chatting before instruction started, so twenty people were. He didn't like it, but he could tell that not one of those twenty wasn't whispering the gossip about him.

The fragmentary conversations he could overhear all used words like 'just like I thought', 'President' and 'Election'.

It was well beyond being merely uncomfortable. "Tatsuya, please. May I have a moment of your time?"

Mayumi made her Royal Entrance (though that is a rather grand description to apply to an upperclassman, these days) into the first year's classroom, stopped directly in front of the desk he was sitting at, and with what could only be called cuteness(!), clasped both hands together and blurted out those words.

Behind her back, Suzune looked at the scene with a disgusted look on her face.

Tatsuya made a fleeting glance at the digital clock running at the corner of his display. Five minutes remained of the break between first and second period. If they were thinking of returning to the third year classroom, that left only a minute to talk.

"If we say it's for official Student Council business, none of us receive red marks."

Mayumi, with her clasped hands, answered the unspoken question she read in Tatsuya's eyes. Still, the location of those hands was subtly lower. It was a bad omen; she might change her hands into full on prayer mode and imitate a "Virgin Mary" statue.

Both hands together, tearful eyes; if any one could pull off a stunt like that, it was Mayumi.

Second period followed first period and classroom instruction took place via computer terminal. About twenty to thirty minutes passed by without more trouble landing on Tatsuya.

Tatsuya stood up from his seat and, under the gazes of his friends, lightly bowed towards Mayumi.

As if he were exchanging places with Mayumi, he stood in front of his desk and held out his own ID card so the Student Council permit could be entered.

◊ ◊ ◊

He was escorted to the Student Council room.

Tatsuya understood why they came and got him now when they knew he was probably going to spend his lunch hour there with them.

"Sorry for interrupting your class, but we only have one more day."

Upon being offered an apology by Suzune, Tatsuya shook his head and said "No, I don't mind."

"Thank you, I am relieved that you say so."

Phew. Taking an exaggerated breath, Mayumi broached the main topic. "To be frank, this concerns the upcoming election…"

It met his expectations, exactly.

Tatsuya had already decided on his reply. "I think it's too soon for Miyuki." "Miyuki-san… How did you know?"

To wide-eyed Mayumi who was obviously thinking "It can't be, a mind reading technique", Tatsuya gave a reluctant smile and explained the trick.

"You didn't wait for the noon break and deliberately came for me during class; therefore, you probably wanted to consult me at a time when Miyuki wouldn't be there. Also, when you consider the time constraints, I understood that we would be discussing making Miyuki a candidate for Student Council President."

Tatsuya wasn't making these comments to make a show of his deductive skills.

Mayumi alone he could probably handle; with Suzune acting as her tag team partner, however, he was afraid that they could persuade him if he didn't disrupt their strategy at the outset.

His preemptive strike had hit his target, just now.

Before his opponents—especially Suzune—could regroup, Tatsuya had to seize the upper hand to make victory inevitable.

"There is nothing official that bars a first year from becoming Student Council President, right. However, it is too soon for Miyuki. She is not yet able to act as head of this organization."

"…When she was in middle school, she didn't undertake a similar duty to Student Council President?"

"I stopped her."

Suzune's question received an immediate negative reply. "When I look at her, all I see is level headedness…"

"Miyuki is still a child. I might be over protective, but she still can't completely control herself. At least, wait until she can keep her magic from running wild."

In answer to Mayumi's inquiry, words of rebuttal seemed to fall to the floor.

Mayumi and Suzune both had faces that looked full of words they wished to speak—mainly, about being "over protective". There is no "might be" about it —it is a "fact" that you are—however, a tendency to let magic to run wild could not be overlooked in a Student Council President. They could not refute that point.

"—But, we're stumped. Tomorrow, the public announcement of the election will be made, but we don't have any candidates."

"I thought the deadline to announce candidates was one week."

To Tatsuya's implied 'Don't we have a week to find a candidate?', Mayumi shook her head with a dark look on her face.

"Narrowing down the choices for the next student body president is the Student Council's duty. Otherwise, we get overwhelmed by a flood of candidates."

"…Isn't having a lot of different candidates running for office considered more respectable?"

"Even compared to an eruption of fights with magic? With everyone battling it out to see who will become Student Council President?"

Certainly, if that happened, the turmoil would be even greater than that of the new student invitation week.

"…Wouldn't whatever happened…involve only the students who wanted to become Student Council President?"

However, if it was just over who would become Student Council President, they could guard against the uproar.

"Tatsuya-kun, you are being naïve."

Mayumi crushed Tatsuya's theory in one blow.

"The Student Council of this school has tremendous privileges, and even after graduation are appraised as being elite. Actually, four years ago, the Student Council at the time advocated a "Democratic Free Election". On that occasion, the number of seriously wounded people went into the double digits. The "Democratic Free Election" signs were taken down, and the Student Council President strongly recommended the vice president become the next president to get the situation finally under control, according to our records."

Tatsuya's doubts were vanquished by Suzune's astonishingly violent tale. "…Is this a school or a third world country?"

A groan leaked out of Tatsuya.

"A great talent for magic can destroy the bonds of self-restraint. High school students aren't adults after all."

Mayumi was once again before his eyes, entreating him with her hands.

"Can't you see? Tatsuya-kun might only be able to see her as a mere child, but Miyuki-san would surely be fine. As they say, the person rises to the position."

It has come to this, Tatsuya thought.

I can still make a show of stringently clinging to the impression that I believe a first year shouldn't become Student Council President.

So then—

"How about we put Miyuki aside for the moment, and think about the matter of Nakajou-senpai's refusal of candidacy? Both in terms of proper order and actual ability, isn't Nakajou-senpai the most suitable person to become the next Student Council President?"

As Tatsuya made his point, Mayumi's face turned grim and she sunk into silence.

"…That is certainly true, but…"

Suzune, too, had no words to refute that argument.

Yes, this was so obvious to all of them that no one had to say anything.

If Azusa hadn't so selfishly backed out, Tatsuya wouldn't have to debate this issue; that was so clear that no explanation was needed.

Nonetheless, Tatsuya's next comment was unexpected by both Mayumi and Suzune.

"—If you like, I can go and try to persuade Nakajou-senpai?"

"Eh?… Tatsuya-kun will try to persuade A-chan for us?" "Yes."

For Mayumi, this was all so unexpected that she was unsure what face to make for a while, but as the meaning of Tatsuya's word slowly started to sink in, she unconsciously seized his hand in a tight grip.

"You'll really do it? You couldn't possibly fail! You absolutely must do it! Of course, I can rely on you, Tatsuya-kun!"

Tatsuya's seized hand seemed as if it was about to buzz, so enthusiastically did Mayumi shake it up and down. Glancing at each other's faces, Suzune and Tatsuya flashed wry smiles.