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「Still, if anything ever happens, it’s probably our place that’ll have to take responsibility.」
「No, it’s more likely to end up as the collective responsibility of Fumidzuki and mine. Though if anything ever happens, there’s a lot of ways to save it. After all, it’ll be bad if several companies just disappear all at once.」

Several famous companies going out of business simultaneously would cause a big societal issue. It could deal a heavy blow to the economy, after all. It’s something that has to be avoided at all costs. After all, it’d be awful if the reason for all of this is our stupid little gathering.

「The twelve families influence is seriously dangerous.」
「But it’s not really convincing coming from our mouths, though.」
「「Ahahaha!」」
「That’s not a laughing matter, you two.」

It’s pretty unusual to see Kishita being the straight man. Though it is also rare for me to be a fool. It’s tiring being the straight man all the time, honestly. So it’s nice to fool around every once in a while.

「Also, I’m about to lose now, but are we still continuing this?」
「Half of the board is still empty, so isn’t it too early to surrender?」
「I can’t imagine winning regardless of where I put my pieces, you see.」

It’s been the case from the start, though. Seeing Hadzuki grinning while playing with his disks is annoying me. Is there anyone that can even win against him in a strategic battle? Aya could probably defeat him at anything, though.

「Let’s continue up to the end. For me, it’s a contest of how much I can paint the board white now, you see.」
「Then, let’s have that be a factor deciding the victor.」
「 I can’t imagine how that could be used as a deciding factor, though.」

I guess it’s a loss for Hadzuki if he’s frustrated by the end result. In the end, my winning condition will be to make as many black disks survive. Yeah, this isn’t othello anymore, isn’t it?

「Still, what did I actually even come here for?」
「To be my playmate, isn’t it? Kgh! The corner’s taken.」
「My objective is to keep them alive, so I’ll naturally take it.」

The corner guarantees safety, after all. For every opening, I take it regardless of the sacrifice needed. Still, since the president noticed it, he’s preventing this at all costs, so it’s not an easy match. I want to take at least half of the board, though.

「That’s not othello anymore.」
「Kozue, are you finished too?」
「I don’t have much to handover, you see. More importantly, this looks more interesting.」
「I personally find it interesting to observe as well.」

I’m glad to hear the audience enjoying themselves. We’re enjoying the game as well, so it’s fine. Let’s just ignore that we’ve modified the othello rules.

「Umm, is the previous student council always like this?」
「Well pretty much. These files go inside this folder and…」

Sounds like the treasurer is going to take some more time. The general affairs officer Yamada-san is still making his rounds, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be here any time soon. I’m pretty confident that he’ll be alright, but is the person succeeding him doing alright?

「So, were you actually serious about inviting Nagatsuki to the afterparty?」
「It’d be best for him to have a good look at reality, you see. Regarding the twelve families’ true nature.」
「Uwah, that’s a nasty way to do it.」

A twelve family gathering with everyone showing their true colours, that’s seriously awful. There’ll be no decent guy around. I’m honestly also curious how Kotori will react to coming to my apartment.

「You’re probably the only one who’s decently normal with the mask off, Kotone.」
「Using me as a standard for how awful things could go, you’re overreacting…… or I suppose not.」

Sorry, I can’t deny it. Though if I have to say, Nagatsuki should also be on the decent end. I’ve met with all the twelve families that are in the academy, so I know their issues but the others are a mystery, which is scary.

「We need someone as a stopper, don’t we? Alright, let’s invite him.」
「Preparing a meat shield to mitigate the damage to yourself, as expected of Kotone.」
「I don’t think he’ll come if I invited him, so please do me a favor, Hadzuki. Rather, I surrender.」

In the end, only seven of my pieces managed to survive. And I honestly tried everything I could. Still, Hadzuki looks frustrated. I guess he was aiming for a complete victory.

「Can’t be helped. Nagatsuki, we’re going to have an afterparty after the coming parting, would you like to join?」
「Sorry, Hadzuki. I could overhear your whole conversation up until now.」

Well yeah, we’re all in the same room, so of course he could. Both of us were talking with this in consideration, though.

「Now I just learned that these two teaming up gives the worst results.」
「Yup, they’re awful.」

We both know each other well, after all. Now how can we get Nagatsuki to come? I know we invited him and all, but we actually aren’t that serious about it.

「Let me ask just in case, but who’s joining and where will it be held?」
「The members that are sure to join are me, Kotone, Fumidzuki, and the Shimotsuki sisters. It’ll be held at Kotone’s room.」
「Sorry, I didn’t know what to expect, it’s making my head hurt.」

Ah, it’s the normal reaction. Like I thought, Nagatsuki is decent. He’s a straight-laced guy, so his reactions are pretty straightforward.

「If you come, Nagatsuki, it could help widen your connections. You’ve never had any proper mingling with Fumidzuki and Shimotsuki, right?」
「No. I think the first time I’ve communicated with Fumidzuki was when I invited her for the student council.」

I’m impressed you even invited her with that. Of course Kotori would decline. Her father probably told her not to mingle with people she doesn’t know too well. Besides, with the current composition, Kotori’s likely going to be vice-president. If her father ever sees the student council’s situation, he’s definitely going to riot.

「They likely had their guard up because of the lack of acquaintanceship. If you can have fun or just do something with them, they’re sure to find you more amicable.」
「I-is that so. It would be great if that were the case. Still, the venue being Kotone’s room… Will it really be alright to do it at their home?」
「Eh, it won’t be at my family home, but at the apartment where I live by myself. My parents won’t be around, so it’ll be fine regardless of the ruckus.」
「Ha?」
「Huh? Nagatsuki, you didn’t hear about me living alone?」

That’s weird, it should be a pretty well-known fact. I guess he didn’t believe this as well. He’s hard-headed as usual.

「Probably thought it wasn’t true. If you don’t develop a more flexible mindset, you’ll have a hard time going from here.」
「Cross-checking information is highly valuable, after all. Taking in everything as fact isn’t always good, but you still have ways to go if you can’t even believe true facts.」
「Are you even trying to invite me?」
「「Meh, we’re just seeing if you would.」」
「These two really are the worst.」

Kozue and Kishita have chilling glares. To begin with, Hadzuki and I are still pretty soft with our words. I know it’s weird that we’re using Minadzuki as a standard, though. Hadzuki could probably invite him.

「At this point, let’s invite Minadzuki too. Like a de facto twelve family student gathering.」
「That sounds like it’ll be really chaotic. I’m already fully on board at this point, so let’s do it.」
「Kishita. Kotone’s acting really weird, she’s broken.」
「So it seems.」

Shooting a glance at Kirigamine, she adamantly shakes her head. I’m no demon, so I don’t plan on forcibly inviting someone that reluctant. And I think what’s about to happen might be a bit traumatic to some people.

「I’m really looking forward to it.」
「Seeing you ignore reality is pretty funny, Kotone.」

I know that I’ve basically given up. Because I really don’t want to attend that party. Hadzuki is probably the only one who understands how I’m feeling. It’s the reason I’m broken too. I wonder how much I’ll break at the afterparty.