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“Alriiight, it’s time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for! ♪ Time to vote! ♪”

While the excitement from the live performance was still running high, Ms. Matilda and the other teachers handed out ballots to the students as they left the auditorium. At last, the decisive moment had arrived, and Estea looked extremely tense. Beads of sweat still glistened on her forehead, perhaps lingering from the live.

What was I supposed to say at a time like this? All we could do was trust Estea completely and wait for the result, so there was no way I could think of some clever thing to say. I wondered what Alfe would do, but she also seemed to be racking her brain over what she should say to Estea.

Well, come to think of it, Alfe was Melua’s disciple, so she probably couldn’t act as though she were completely on equal footing with Estea. As I was thinking that, Hom suddenly quickened her pace and approached Estea, who was surrounded by students still intoxicated by the excitement of the live.

“…This is it, Estea.”
“Yes. Thank you, Hom.”

They were only a few short words, but their bright, relieved expressions said everything.

Ah, so that was enough after all.

Somehow convinced, I let out a sigh of relief and met Alfe’s eyes. She nodded, took my hand, and followed the other students out of the auditorium.

In the plaza outside the auditorium, a voting area had been set up where there had been nothing when we arrived.

“Nyaha. Having the vice principal watch the ballot boxes is a little too blatant. Feels like we’re in for another big mess, huh?”
“Yeah. But it does seem like it’d be pretty difficult for him to pull anything openly.”

I nodded at Farah’s murmur. The vice principal and the other teachers entrusted with overseeing the election were each keeping watch over the ballot boxes, giving the whole area a somewhat intimidating atmosphere. As things stood, committing fraud here would surely be enough to bring about Ignis’s own downfall. Just how was he planning to make his move? The ballot boxes themselves were mounted on carts so they could be transported to the counting area afterward, though.

“Alright, everyone! Once you’ve written down the name of your chosen candidate, put your hopes for their election into it, then place your ballot in this box!”

Ms. Matilda explained how to vote. Perhaps that part about “putting your hopes for their election into it” was connected to the trick Professor had told us about in the laboratory the other day. Still, when I tried channeling aether into my ballot as a test, the color of the paper didn’t change. According to Professor’s explanation, it was supposed to turn blue. Was everything really working properly?

“…Leafa, aren’t you going to write yours?”

Alfe had finished writing Estea’s name and asked me. There was no way I could explain the trick behind the ballots to Alfe, who knew nothing about it, so I wrote Estea’s name as well while searching for Melua out of the corner of my eye. She must have already voted, because I couldn’t see her anywhere around the ballot boxes.

The six ballot boxes, numbered one through six, were naturally being used according to class, even though nobody had explicitly instructed the students to do so. Even among the third-years, who had no Class F, the demi-humans seemed to have somehow ended up using the ballot box at the far end. And the person watching that particular box was the vice principal.

I hoped I was just overthinking things, but it was an awfully convenient arrangement.

After finishing my ballot, I voted along with Alfe and Hom, followed by Farah. Once we had finished voting, Alfe lowered her voice and pointed toward the main gate.

“…Hey, Leafa. Do you think those might be the parents?”

I hadn’t noticed them until Alfe pointed them out, but there were about a dozen people standing near the main gate, as though keeping watch over the plaza. They were all dressed in uniformly formal black attire, and they certainly looked like they might have come to observe the election.

“This is my first Student Council election, but I suppose it attracts attention because there’s a certain amount of family prestige at stake.”
“Yeah. But there are only two candidates, so it seems kind of strange.”

Ah, so Alfe had noticed something was off, too. I nodded and watched the unfamiliar adults out of the corner of my eye.

“…Yeah. I doubt parents would still be monitoring their children’s behavior once they’re in high school.”

If that was the case, perhaps they were people brought in to assist with election fraud. The vice principal alone might have trouble pulling something off, but if this was an organized effort, the academy’s Election Committee might not be able to handle it.

“Someone must have found out abo—”
“Hey, Leafa!”

Just as Alfe murmured anxiously, Vannabelle suddenly rushed up from behind and threw her arms around both me and Alfe.

“H-Hey, Vannabelle!”
“Vannabelle!?”

Almost simultaneously with our startled cries, Numelin came running up and hugged us as well.

“Nume’s here too~! The live was sooo good! Farah’s drumming was really powerful~”
“Right!?”

Farah puffed out her chest proudly after being praised by Numelin. Hom, who had also received such unreserved praise, looked rather pleased herself.

“Man, I got chills from the very first note! Oh, and Alfe!!”
“Huh? What?”

Alfe’s eyes widened in surprise when Vannabelle suddenly called her name.

“How the heck did you manage to sing a solo right there on the spot!? And those lyrics—you changed them from the original song, didn’t you!?”
“Ah… Yeah… How did you know?”

Alfe looked genuinely surprised by Vannabelle’s observation and asked somewhat hesitantly.

“I mean, I didn’t just know. You said you wanted to help hype everyone up, so I had Nume get me some recordings of Nike’s live performances and studied them. I’ve got good ears, so I memorized them. That’s why I was freaking blown away! And even more than that, it gave me chills!!”

Ah, that was just like Vannabelle, taking the time to seriously study the music for the sake of helping out.

“It was so cool, Alfe~”
“Thank you, Vannabelle. Numelin.”

Alfe’s cheeks turned rosy at Vannabelle and Numelin’s words. Seeing Alfe this happy made me happy, too.

“It really was amazing, Alfe.”
“Thank you. …But, you know, I could only do that because of you, Leafa.”

Alfe’s sparkling Pure Eye made me smile, feeling genuinely happy.

“…I’m glad you feel that way. I managed to see it through because of you, too, Alfe.”

Even now, everyone’s feelings were still coursing through my body. The exhilaration of feeling and connecting with one another through aether and music didn’t seem like it would fade anytime soon.

“You guys really are close, huh? All right! Now all that’s left is the election results. I bet Estea’s gonna win by a landslide!”
“How can you tell?”

At my question, Vannabelle pointed to her rabbit ears and flashed me a grin.

“Told ya, didn’t I? I’ve got good ears.”

Apparently, Vannabelle had been able to hear what people were saying about the candidates before the voting. If that was the case, maybe we could relax a little.

“If Vannabelle says so, I’m sure she’s right. But we still can’t let our guard down.”
“Let our guard down? Haven’t we done everything we can already?”
“Nyaha! We have, but I’ve got a feeling Ignis is still gonna make one last desperate attempt.”

Vannabelle blinked at me in confusion, while Farah glanced toward the voting area with a sigh. The voting had just finished, and the locked ballot boxes were being transported to the counting area.

Come to think of it, what had happened to those mysterious adults by the main gate? I looked around, but there was no one there anymore. Alfe, who had been wondering about those mysterious adults as well, suddenly went pale and tugged at my sleeve.

“…Leafa, there’s a problem…”
“What is it, Alfe?”
“Your ballot is moving away from the counting area.”
“…What?”

From what I could see, there were six carts carrying ballot boxes toward the counting area. All six were there, just as they should be. So what did Alfe mean? I looked around, but I couldn’t think of any reason for her to say that unless she had seen something with her Pure Eye.

“Ah, Senior Melua!”

Melua came running toward us, her face pale with alarm, and Alfe waved to her vigorously.

“Master~! It happened after all! The ballot box containing the ballots from Class F and the demi-human students might be getting thrown away!”

Ah, so that was it. I’d suspected that if they were going to commit election fraud, this was the only way they could do it. But I hadn’t expected them to actually go through with it.

Even now that we knew what was happening, though, it was better for us not to make any rash moves.

“…What should we do, Master?”
“Nothing for now. Let’s trust the Professor and the students of this academy.”

If Ignis’s fraud could overturn the election results, then it would be difficult for this academy to move in the direction of equality and peace that Estea wished for.

But it was precisely because that wasn’t the case that Estea had put everything on being reelected as Student Council President.