Nagumo stayed silent for a mont after hearing Hikigaya's words, then suddenly clapped his hands and laughed.
"This year's first-years are really sothing!"
His face lit up, as if he had co across sothing amusing.
"You're right. A student representing our school in competitions needs both skill and good character. If other schools found out that soone with a bad record, soone who's been suspended, was allowed to play as an official mber, it would hurt our school's reputation in many ways."
"Exactly. The basketball team only cares about a player's skills, but the student council has to consider much more."
Hikigaya picked up where Nagumo left off.
"So I believe Coach will understand the school's concerns. But now that there's an open spot on the official roster, I wonder—what do you think, Vice President Nagumo?"
Hikigaya gave him a aningful look.
Nagumo chuckled.
"? What do I think? I trust the club's coach to make the right decision."
"I did hear that two second-years from Class A are quite skilled. Looks like this open spot will be a great opportunity for them."
Nagumo smiled but didn't say anything else. His expression, however, showed that he was in a good mood. He straightened his clothes and got up.
"Oh, by the way, here's so early info for you—during sumr break, the school is organizing an event. So kind of wilderness survival ga. Make sure you enjoy yourself."
Nagumo gave him a knowing smile.
"Oh, and let's just pretend I was never here tonight."
With that, he waved his hand and turned to leave.
As Hikigaya watched Nagumo's figure disappear, a cold smile crept onto his face.
Nagumo had just preached about "following the rules," but in reality, he was the one who loved breaking them the most.
Hikigaya had seen through the other person's intentions from the very start. On the surface, Nagumo kept bringing up the rules about the off-campus spots, making it seem like he was pressuring Hikigaya to "follow the rules" and give in. But if you thought carefully about what Nagumo had said, you'd notice so inconsistencies and contradictions.
To put it simply, Nagumo had co to demand a "benefit" from Hikigaya.
The hidden aning behind his words was clear—since Hikigaya had taken two off-campus spots that originally belonged to second-year students, shouldn't he offer so kind of compensation?
That's why the conversation played out the way it did. Nagumo's final words, "Just pretend I was never here tonight," were the best proof of his real intention.
He talked about following the rules, but as soon as benefits were involved, he imdiately changed his tune.
At the sa ti, as Hikigaya pointed out, he was just a small-ti errand boy in the student council. Even if he was the student council president, it wasn't like he could make a major sports team's head coach do whatever he wanted.
That's why Sudou's official team spot had always been a bargaining chip for Hikigaya. The reason he was able to get Komiya and Kondo those two off-campus spots was by trading Sudou's spot for them.
No matter how long Sudou's suspension lasted, as long as he was under disciplinary action, his official team spot would never be approved. Just as Hikigaya had just said, the school would never let a student with a suspension record represent them in the sumr IH tournant—it would be a huge embarrassnt to the school's reputation.
Besides, there had already been a lot of debate within the basketball club about Sudou making the official roster as a first-year student.
So Hikigaya proposed trading two off-campus spots for one official team spot. This way, first-years could gain experience while also giving second- and third-years a fair chance to compete for a spot.
It was a compromise that more or less satisfied everyone.
As for Sudou? Well, that's what happens when you make a mistake and give people sothing to use against you.
Head Coach from the basketball team also felt that, since Sudou's situation couldn't be changed, this was the best solution, so he agreed.
Of course, senior student Handa played a big role in this as well.
But during his conversation with Nagumo just now, Hikigaya had already noticed sothing strange—why did Nagumo co looking for him in the first place?
Nagumo, as the vice president, didn't have as much power as Horikita Manabu, but he still had a lot of authority. On the other hand, Hikigaya was just a low-level mber of the student council. There was no reason for Nagumo to personally et him in secret for sothing like this.
To put it simply, it was beneath him.
And from their conversation, Hikigaya could clearly sense Nagumo's arrogance and sense of superiority. That made it even stranger—why would soone like him suddenly co to discuss the off-campus spots with a first-year student?
With the power Nagumo had, he shouldn't have had any trouble handling those off-campus spots.
The only explanation was... he actually didn't have the ability to interfere!
Or rather, Nagumo had no control over matters related to the clubs, which led to this whole situation.
If you followed this line of thinking, everything started to make sense. As the vice president, Nagumo had a lot of power, but it was very limited. Horikita Manabu's influence must have been a major factor in keeping him in check.
Horikita Manabu had effectively cornered Nagumo, restricting his power to just second-year affairs.
This also ant that Nagumo had very little influence over students from other grades.
And when it ca to club-related matters, everything was handled by the third-year student Handa. Even Horikita Manabu rarely got involved in club affairs. Hikigaya had been curious about this before and once asked Tachibana Akane about it. Her response was that Handa treated everyone the sa and didn't do favors for anyone.
No wonder Tachibana Akane had described him as an independent person.
If even Horikita Manabu couldn't sway him, then Nagumo stood no chance.
Although Handa and Hikigaya technically held the sa student council rank, the reality was that even the vice president, Nagumo, couldn't order Handa around.
This was one of the downsides of having such a small student council—individual mbers had too much authority and independence, making it difficult for others to command them.
Nagumo's situation was ironic—he had the title of vice president, but in practice, he couldn't control or command students like Handa or Hikigaya.
That made it obvious why Nagumo had co to him privately.
Handa simply didn't acknowledge him, so Nagumo had no choice but to target a first-year student like Hikigaya.
"Heh... if that's not bullying the weak and fearing the strong, I don't know what is."
Hikigaya let out a cold laugh. Nagumo had clearly chosen him because he was a first-year and might not fully understand how the student council worked. On top of that, he was trying to use his "vice president" status to pressure him.
From the beginning, that "official team spot" had been an empty position, and Hikigaya had deliberately used that gap in knowledge to mislead Nagumo.
But in doing so, he had also unexpectedly gained a new lead from this so-called "vice president."
"Sumr vacation... island resort... wilderness survival ga?"
Hikigaya muttered to himself.
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