The Student Council President, basking in the freshness of having substituted the stress of work with sports commentary, proudly displayed her unscathed voice and brightened face after the match had ended.
She was full of energy, absorbing the game way more intensely than me, who had been left drained by the sheer fandom for Makoto ever since Saori and Azusa won the gold medal.
So being a “superhuman” meant having superhuman stamina, huh, Student Council President?
Well, if you can work all day long without breaking down, you must have a body of steel… But even so, after that much enthusiastic commentary, it’s only normal for your throat to hurt a bit. Are you really human?
Anyway, once the finals were done, the awards ceremony naturally followed.
Originally, it was agreed that if the Trinity team won a medal, a representative from Trinity would place it around their necks; if the Gehenna team won, a representative from Gehenna would do the honors.
But, that stubborn piece of work, Makoto…
Hmm, let’s just call him a fool who lives life as he pleases, shall we?
The kid who was supposed to hang the medals refused to do so, claiming that there were no medals to bestow upon the incompetent fools who didn’t even win a gold medal, and he slouched with his cap pulled down. How on earth can I turn this guy into a reliable person? It’s not an easy problem at all.
I couldn’t exactly ask the Student Council President to hang the medals on the Gehenna students. If she only hung them on the team from one academy, it could appear as if she had some sort of connection with Gehenna for political reasons.
If the Student Council President hung the medals around their necks, it would make sense to do it for everyone, but I wanted to personally hang the medals around the necks of those two proud children.
They had brought pride to our Trinity and proven that integrating Arius was indeed the right decision.
“Then, the T-party host will hang the medals on everyone. This is a good opportunity to show that we don’t discriminate against students from Gehenna, isn’t it?”
“…That’s true. It’s not like it mattered before, but now it might actually be better to do it. It could even be a good thing.”
I keep forgetting this once in a while. Even if I’ve declared that I’ve become friendly with Gehenna, there’s no way the extreme factions within Pater can do anything to me at this point.
The only thing Pater can do to me is impeachment and the removal of my head position; but even then, the host position would just go to the moderate faction’s Seiya, and I could just nestle back into Arius. So it’s not really a bad thing. Besides, since I’ve almost handled everything I needed to do, I don’t really need to join another faction.
In the end, I found myself standing in front of the podium for a variety of reasons. A T-party attendant next to me retrieved a pair of bronze medals from a box.
“Congratulations on the bronze medals, seniors! You both worked hard!”
Regardless of the match results or the academy affiliations, the two Gehenna students in front of me are third-years. Not treating them like seniors just because their academy is different felt a bit off, so I tried to show some politeness. But if they were to insist on treating me like an elder, that’s something I’d have to think about.
Next up were a pair of silver medals. I approached Akari, who wore a black bikini design reminiscent of something I had seen before, and Iori, who wore the school’s swimsuit instead of the one from Blue Archive.
“Haha! Iori-chan, acting like that at an event is going to be a bad reflection on the Student Council☆”
Iori, who was glaring at Akari with an annoyed expression, quickly corrected her posture upon hearing my words.
If Hina had seen her earlier, she might’ve gotten upset for no reason. Technically, I might have helped Iori avoid scolding.
With how serious Hina was about this tournament, pairing Akari with Iori means she wouldn’t be able to escape Hina’s icy glare just from getting a silver medal.
Still, if it’s the Hina I know, she’d probably think that doing her best is enough and let it slide without saying much. She’s a surprisingly soft-hearted kid.
“Then… Gehenna Academy’s second-year student Wanibuchi Akari and first-year student Shiroimi Iori! You both gave your all until the end, and it was really amazing. Congratulations on the silver medals!”
As I hung the medals around their necks, I didn’t forget to add a little something for Akari.
“Don’t bite off more than you can chew at the eating contest; or else you’ll get in trouble if you try to partake more than twice, okay?”
Honestly, I would rather she just asked me to treat her to a meal. I just hope she doesn’t cause a ruckus by trying to participate in an event with a rule against it.
“Well then, it’s time for the much-awaited gold medal☆”
I took in Azusa’s splendid two-piece swimsuit, which was slightly different yet just as dazzling as the one in the game. Our little squirrel looks adorable in cute outfits, after all.
Surprisingly, Saori was wearing a monochrome swimsuit divided evenly between black and white. It seems like her abs are her identity, as even in a monokini, her abdomen was clearly displayed, which I found quite appealing.
“Trinity General Academy… first-year student Jomae Saori and Shirase Azusa!”
Saori had insisted on graduating along with other squad members, so she matched her school year when transferring to Trinity. When I asked about the leftover Atsuko, the answer was a spectacle: wouldn’t it be fine if they all just repeated the year?
I vaguely remember scolding the other four not to say such weird things and just graduate nicely. Atsuko would have plenty of friends and have a fun school life anyway, so there’s no reason for her to be hanging around with kids after becoming an adult. Especially since Saori is supposed to graduate with me but reduced her year by one…
“Both of you were absolutely incredible in today’s match. Seriously, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time watching you… When Saori-chan hit Akari-chan with that bullet at the end, I couldn’t help but leap up in surprise! And Azusa-chan dodging all her shots! That was simply breathtaking——”
“Ahem… Mika, the Student Council President is signaling that you should wrap it up…”
“Huh? The Student Council President’s timing is lacking… Well, then, she’s saying to keep work and play separate. Got it.”
To complain about the President right amid a televised awards ceremony is, in many ways, a funny thing to do.
“I’ll just say one more thing. You guys are truly the best! Congratulations on your gold medals!”
After hanging the medals around their necks, I suddenly pulled both of them into a tight hug before letting go again. It’s broadcasted, my image, and all that— who cares! These two are the true MVPs of this tournament who singed off the very tip of my ticket to slavery!
Go, Arius Squad! Now, can we expect more from the other guys, too? Right?
*
Unfortunately, my schedule for the first day didn’t end there. I had to spend additional time as a judge for the surfing competition.
If it were up to me, I’d want to stroll around the festival scene with Saori or Azusa, but considering that I have Nagisa paired up with Hina, doing that would be a bit silly.
So, I decided to carve out some time for those two tomorrow.
Additionally, even though this is a week-long festival, I didn’t have enough free time to just spend every day lounging at the beach. With the workload of T-party gradually increasing, Seiya alone was struggling to handle three people’s worth of tasks.
Even after sorting through which tasks needed immediate attention and which could wait until the next day, the work continued to pile up. If I didn’t show my face every couple of days to help Seiya, she’d be flat on her back.
Hence, the plan was to finish my work as quickly as possible tomorrow and then spend time with these two.
Hmm… And since Seiya, claiming she’s not well, doesn’t care much for the beach festival, I think I should also set aside a day to let her catch some sea breeze. Even if she sounds like she’s already seen it all and conquered the world, Seiya is technically just a student of this age, after all.
While I find it annoying that she hasn’t yet handed the host position over to me, that’s that, and this is this.
…Or so I hope.
Thus, I had to watch the surfing competition all the way to the finals as one of five judges, including Makoto and two instructors teaching students from each academy. Honestly, the surfing tournament doesn’t really fit my tastes.
If I had to choose, I’d prefer to partake in the surfing myself? I should bring up relaxing the participant limit rule we agreed on with Hina for some events next year.
In the surfing division, the mob students from both academies surprisingly achieved gold and silver medals! It was a clear demonstration that anyone could win a medal in events unrelated to combat, even if they weren’t notable students.
The bronze medal went to the vigilante group’s Morizuki Suzumi. To be honest, I haven’t been paying much attention to their activities, so I only vaguely remember the name. Other than that, I think they have some nickname related to flashbangs or something.
What really matters here is which academy grabbed the gold and silver medals. The disappointing result was that Gehenna was the victor.
“Hehe… I gave everyone five points for fair judging, which naturally leads to the gold medal going to Gehenna. So, now it’s a tie in points, eh? What a shame, Misono Mika…! But there’s no need to be so heartbroken over something like this. It was a stretch for you to think you could ever surpass this Gehenna, under the leadership of Makoto, from the get-go.”
“Wait, we’ve only just now tied…”
“Nyah-nyah-nyah–! Your haughty demeanor disappearing without a trace as you pout and scowl only indicates one thing— you’ve already come to terms with your defeat! No amount of denial will change the truth; accept it already!”
“Wha——”
The world is cruel. How can this make sense?
How did those points that Saori and Azusa worked so hard for just get overridden like that?
It’s clear that something went horribly wrong during this festival.
If it weren’t, then there’s no way I would be feeling this chill down my spine…!
