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This corner has become a full-fledged 12 families rest space. While we’re repeatedly talking about things that would be bad for people to overhear, there’s no one daring enough to approach us, so it shouldn’t be a problem. If someone does overhear though, it’d probably break the 12 family’s public image.

「W-would you mind if I rest here for a bit?」
「You finally came.」

The last member of the after-party is finally here. It took him a while, I guess he was conflicted about coming here. Mainly about approaching me.

「You’re pretty late, Nagatsuki. Do you hate acknowledging Kisaragi that much? You’re so narrow-minded.」

Even against a senior, Minadzuki really doesn’t hold back. I agree with you, though. Seriously, take a good look at reality already.

「Shut up, Minadzuki. Even I acknowledge that she changed a bit for the better.」
「Oh? In what ways?」
「…… In a lot of ways.」

Don’t push yourself. We barely interact with each other, so it must be tough to think of anything to praise me about.

「With this, do we have everyone from the academy assembled?」
「I still haven’t seen Nagatsuki’s little brother, though.」
「Eh? He’s already here, you know.」

When did he…? Following Hadzuki’s gaze, there was an unfamiliar boy. Maybe noticing my stare, he waved at me with a smile but seriously, when did he arrive?

「You really should’ve come here earlier, Nagatsuki. Since as long as boys like us are at an event like this, you’ll never hear the end of the same old thing.」
「That seriously exhausts me, too. Why do I have to be pressed about marriage at this age?」

I guess they’re talking about marriage offers. The famous event where people advertise their own daughters and, if you’re not careful, you might get trapped into a commitment. More than a few inexperienced fellows fall victim to it.

「So I suppose you couldn’t take it anymore and ran away?」
「I didn’t run away!」
「Then please head back after a moment’s rest.」
「I mean, let me think about it for a while.」
「There she goes, bullying Nagatsuki now.」

It’s only natural. He’s been a nuisance to me at the academy many times, so there’s no problem in me getting payback, is there? And true, I did cause trouble in the past, but I’m still pretty pissed at him.

「Still, it seems like you were unsuccessful with your personnel scouting, Nagatsuki. While you have assembled some excellent student council members, they’re not as good as their predecessors.」
「Personally, I think he already failed when he tried scouting us 12 families.」
「Isn’t it obvious that the 12 families would make the best choice? In what way was that a failure?」

He approached Minadzuki sounding upset, but it certainly was a failure, no doubt. And I can guess the reason why.

「There isn’t any merit to joining.」
「That’s right. Most people wouldn’t do something so bothersome when there’s no merit to it. For regular students, though, they’ll join for better evaluation.」
「For us, a good evaluation doesn’t really matter at all. And the “for the betterment of the academy and the students” doesn’t really pull on the heartstrings either.」

That’s right. Employment? Being a part of the 12 families, you’ll either succeed the family or have a place in the family business. And for college, as long as you have decent grades, there’s no issue.

「You need to present a merit, you see? That’s why I didn’t invite any of the 12 families. There’s nothing I can present them, after all.」
「What about me, though?」
「It seemed easy to find a merit for you, you see. Specifically, cafeteria coupons.」

Well, sure, I was mainly lured by that. Besides, thanks to my student council membership, my reputation did manage to improve by a lot. As a consequence, I had to babysit Hadzuki.

「Hmmm, presenting merits. I can easily imagine merits for Kotori and Rin, though.」
「Oh? Don’t you sound confident? Then, Kisaragi, why don’t we hear about your ideas to check if they’re viable?」

No, seriously, it’s nothing complicated. Anyone who’s interacted with them can think these up easily, Hadzuki likely already anticipates my ideas. Mindzuki probably knows my idea for Rin.

「Kotori, you’ll join the student council if I join, right?」
「Yes!」

Good to hear you so full of energy. So if anyone wants to invite Kotori, they’ll have to capture me first. In Nagatsuki’s case, it’s impossible from the get go. For that, there’s no choice but to give up on Kotori.

「For Rin, I think she’ll join as long as you promise to help her out when Aya goes wild.」
「If you help me then I’ll help you as well. It’s a give and take.」

Though as a demerit, you’ll have zero student council work done whenever that happens. After all, it’ll obviously take the whole day to settle things. To begin with, does Nagatsuki even know Aya’s true nature?

「There’s no way Shimotsuki would ever go wild.」

Thanks for the expected reaction. Well, that explains why he failed. Does he even notice Rin’s chilling glare? She definitely won’t be joining.

「What if I invite them to join in the middle of the term as a special personnel like Kisaragi-」
「Nope.」

Hadzuki instantly cut down his wishful thinking. He doesn’t realize just how unique my position was. The special personnel’s position is, in a sense, lower than that of the general affairs officer. Having one of the 12 families take that position is terrible when considering the public eye.

「While it might not sound convincing from me, it would be better if you don’t treat the 12 families so lightly.」
「We’re just from famous families, it’s not like we ourselves are that important.」

Everyone of us thinks the same. But the others, mainly the adults, don’t think the same way. From how he doesn’t understand that, Nagatsuki still has a lot to work on.

「Let’s put our hopes in the vice president for this term. Good luck, Kotone.」
「I don’t even want to think of just how many times Kirigamine will come crying to me.」

As a friend who knows of the situation at the student council, she’ll definitely be relying on me. It’s bothersome, but I’m sure that I don’t have the heart to refuse her. Hadzuki brought that up to me knowing this.