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The president is on a first name basis with me all of the sudden. Hmm, did I do anything wrong this time?

「Wasn’t it a mistake that carelessly followed them in the first place?」
「Correct, Mr. Yamada! We have nothing but cushions here though.」

Can’t someone do anything about the president’s excitement? Why is he in such high spirits? He’s absolutely enjoying the situation.

「He’s actually troubled, despite how he looks.」
「You have to enjoy the troubles too, you know? Being too pessimistic doesn’t really result to a lot of good ideas.」

Without Kishita’s guarantee, I wouldn’t have believed it.

「To begin with, you shouldn’t have followed them obediently, you should’ve gone straight home. Your reputation is already at rock bottom, so there’s no point worrying about it, right?」
「I was thinking of apologizing if it was about something from last year.」
「Which resulted in this. It would’ve been dangerous for you if them had more people, no?」

As the president says, it would’ve been difficult to escape back then if there were more of them. Still, I just didn’t expect them to go that far. I guess I didn’t expect Udzuki to happen all over again.

「With that in mind, from now on don’t follow anyone alone. At the very least, have another person along.」
「And if there’s no one available?」
「Then obviously don’t go with them. I believe you don’t enjoy having strange rumors popup again and again every time, do you?」

That’s true, I’d really like to have a break from all the weird misunderstandings. Still, I can’t really imagine conveniently having someone to bring along all the time. In other words, just don’t follow anyone, huh.

「Now then, for our next topic. The Kisaragi Kotone Image Reinforcement Plan Discussion-!」

Exactly as I expected, it’s making my head hurt. Frankly, only the president seems to be on board with this, everyone is just either appalled or doing their own thing. Like Kozue is just sleeping.

「I don’t find it necessary to forcibly improve my image though.」
「It’ll be a problem if it doesn’t at least reach a normal person’s level. At this rate, we might actually get a no-confidence complaint against you.」
「I don’t particularly mind it though.」
「「「But we do!」」」

The others that hadn’t been listening to the discussion at all suddenly raised their voices. And Kozue, weren’t you asleep just now? It’s not like work would halt completely if I left the student council.

「You’re excellent with paperwork. Work ends early, which really helps.」

Treasurer Saiki. Your working pace is more than enough to finish work early.

「As for me, I don’t have to do the paperwork I’m so useless in general.」

General Affairs Officer Yamada. Try to do your work even just a bit.

「Please stay to help control the president.」

Vice-president Kishita. I fully understand the sincerity of your plea. I feel your suffering too, after all.

「Less work, less stress. I don’t want to go home late again.」

Secretary Kozue. Aren’t you a bit too honest to your desires? You’re pretty different from when I met you the first time around.

「Best to make use of anything I can, you know?」
「The fact that you’re actually saying that is awful, president.」

Why do they trust me so much? Perhaps because they’re the ones that know me the longest after my own class. And maybe because we’ve all suffered through the president’s antics.

「This isn’t getting anywhere with the president steering the conversation, so I’ll do it in his place. First, let’s assess the situation.」

Kishita is now the facilitator. The president looks dejected with this but it’s your fault to begin with, so reflect on yourself.

「Currently, the people that have a terrible impression of Kisaragi are the upperclassmen and the second years. The underclassmen are relatively favorable of you.」

Come to think of it, it’s mainly the underclassmen who greet me in the morning. I guess they don’t have a bad image of me since they haven’t experienced Kotone’s mayhem. And even with the stories of their upperclassmen, I’m completely different now.

「Still, Kisaragi has changed in this short two months, so most students’ on the neutral faction.」
「Neutral faction?」
「Yes. They are students who think that things are alright as long as you don’t cause any damage. The issue lies on the rejecting faction. These students refuse to believe that you’ve changed from before.」
「Even so, what was the objective this time?」
「I’d say plain jealousy. Being able to join the student council despite all the trouble-making last year, they probably suspect that there’s something behind the curtains.」
「Isn’t that the president’s fault then?」

This wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t in the student council. Rather, they were the ones that were causing me trouble when they were soliciting me. Still, jealousy, huh. I’ve had nothing but trouble after joining them though.

「Which is why I started this meeting, you see?」
「Then please take it seriously.」

Kishita’s retort was right on the mark. Why were you messing around so much at the start? It did keep the mood from getting gloomy, but still.

「What I think is important is how to win over the neutral faction. I think it would be alright as long as we can prove that Kisaragi isn’t a harmful being.」
「And if we can slowly win over the rejecting faction, it would be all perfect.」

They still consider me to be harmful, huh. True, the students of the same year as I did start avoiding me once they realized I was Kotone. It’s not like I’d bite them or anything though. Still, how do we go about the proving thing?

「And I believe the best way to show how harmless Kisaragi is, is to have her eat lunch at the cafeteria.」
「Wahat?¹」

Whoops, I just made a weird voice. Me eating lunch at the cafeteria is the best way? Like, what? And for some reason, the others seem convinced.

「Nice one, Kaoru!」

Don’t you give that thumbs up, president. And all of you, don’t just nod in agreement. Someone explain this to me.

「Listen closely, Kisaragi. What changed our opinion of you the most is the sight of your expression when eat your meal.」

「Okay…」

「You just look so happy that it takes people by surprise. It make people feel stupid for being too cautious against you.」

It’s that effective? On my part, I’m just eating normally. Having a full three meals is pretty important, you know.

「Fortunately, our academy cafeteria allows you to bring your own lunch. And so with that, please test this out starting tomorrow.」
「Ah, starting tomorrow?」
「Please don’t worry. Kozue and I will be joining you. This one, meanwhile, is not going to join us, so there’s no need to worry.」
「Then, sure, I guess.」
「You student council girls are really just rough with me.」

Well, if you could keep yourself in check, then you’d be allowed to join. It’s already pretty clear that any plan the president comes up with won’t do any good. And he’s definitely thinking of something weird. Considering all of this, maybe I was too hasty with joining the student council.

Still, will Kishita’s plan really improve things? Well,I guess I can try.

1. Silva: Not sure if intentional or typo but I’m keeping this