And so, it was morning on the following day.『Election campaigning』began imdiately.
「My reasons for endorsing Nanami-san for the post of Student Council President are! One, as a senior in the sa track and field club, she is always livening up club activities as a mood maker, and since she livens things up, um, I believe that similarly, she will enliven the entire school! That is why I endorse her! Also, as for her campaign pledges……」
「Hello! Good mooorning! Thank youuu！」
In front of the school gate, Mimimi and a girl who looked like her junior were standing side-by-side as they called out to the other students. The girl was giving a speech, while Mimimi engaged directly with the students. There was quite a crowd.
The junior giving the speech was, in a voice relatively loud for a girl, confidently standing upright, livening up the atmosphere in front of the school gate with her behaviour resembling a cheering squad[1]. At tis she seed to stumble over her words, which was likely due to nerves. Still, for a high school student, that level of confidence was probably more than enough. Had Mimimi accepted as her endorser, I would have been standing in that spot…… I shuddered at the thought.
「Ohー! If it isn't Tomozaki! Good morning!」
「Ohh, good morning.」
Mimimi turned to and gave a big wave, saying「Doesn't this suit ?」or sothing while showing off the sash. She's as full of energy as always.
「Ah, this girl here's my endorser! She's a junior from the track and field club!」
「I was watching her just now, and thought, yeah, that was the right choice……there's no way I could have done it.」
「Her voice is loud, dontcha think?! We've known each other since middle school!」
「Thank you very much!! The na's Yamashita Miyako!!」
「Ahaha……」
Having her voice praised, Mimimi's junior Yamashita-san replied in an even louder voice. However, it's certainly true that when giving speeches, things like the loudness and qualities of one's voice are important. No matter how good the content is, there's no aning to it if nobody is listening, after all. In that respect, one could consider Yamashita-san to be extrely suited to the post.
「But thank you too, Tomozaki! Because of how troubleso it seed, a lot of people turned down…… even by Nakamuu and the others.」
「Y-You asked Nakamura?」
It certainly seed like he would have turned her down……especially for sothing that seed as troubleso as this.
「I'll let you know if I need anything, okay!」
「Ah, yeah, if you're alright with .」
I took care to put on a natural smile as I spoke. Don't you think those words『If you're alright with 』were pretty riajuu-like? How about that! Such were my thoughts as I said「Bye then」and headed towards the school building. Nakamura had been asked by Mimimi, while in my case I had offered and been rejected. In other words, losing to Nakamura there was inevitable. Yeah.
I passed through the school gate, and after a bit of walking, caught sight of a crowd gathered in front of the school building.
As for what was being carried out there? Hinami's campaign speech.
「That is to say, we are striving for a school under Hinami Aoi, soone who just about anyone will agree is Sekitomo High's super main heroine. As for all of you gathered today! Even you over there pushing up your glasses! Yes, you! Even the one yawning over there! You are witnesses to a grand step forward, to history in the making! Hinami's intelligence! Popularity! And looks! Whoops, might her appearance be of no relevance here?」
Those gathered laughed at the slight slip-up in his overly exaggerated, old-fashioned elocution.
Different from Yamashita-san's booming, cheering squad-like voice from earlier, it was a voice that sounded like a normal one used in conversation, yet for so reason, it carried extrely well. It was clear, easy to comprehend, and not to ntion, fluent. In no way did any of it feel forced. I recognized that voice.
It was Mizusawa.
「Be that as it may, in no way are we taking this lightly. Have fun when it is ti to have fun, and be strict when it is ti to be strict. Such a balance is crucial. Ah, if it isn't Kobayakawa-sensei! The wobbly chairs in the science classroom haven't been fixed yet, have they? Starting with those kinds of minor complaints, using her ability to co up with pragmatic plans and put them into action, the one who will get everything done is Hinami Aoi, I say!」
「Oohhh～, that sounds greaaat!」
The science teacher Kobayakawa-sensei laughed happily.
Mizusawa's way of speaking, the way he projected his voice, and his use of intonation, they all had a tinge of enjoynt. It felt just like he was doing stand-up cody[2]. There was no ceremonious feel to it, and there was sothing about it that drew people in. Or rather, Hinami, so you chose Mizusawa as your endorser, huh. Well, whatever. Listening to this, it does feel like there'd be nobody else more suited for the job.
At the side of the crowd Mizusawa had gathered, Hinami herself was gathering a crowd of supporters. She was shaking hands with a student who looked like a first-year of the not-so-cool type.
「Thank you for cheering on!」
「Y, y-yes!!」
「You're from the tennis club……am I right?」
「Eh, ah, y-yes! How, how did you……?」
「I thought I had seen you hitting those volleys during track and field practice! So I was right!」
「Ah……ah……」
「I'll be counting on you!」
Then, Hinami released her grip. His eyes agitated, the male student stared at his hand that had done the handshake, then after a small nod, closed it tightly. He's had his heart completely snatched away. Well, just standard fare for when a not-so-cool person gets told sothing like that by Hinami.
Still, how is she doing that? As one would expect, she wasn't noting the club activities of each and every student, but it seed like she was doing sothing similar. Taking a look, I could see several people waiting their turn for a handshake with Hinami. What's is this? She's practically an idol, isn't she?
While observing that scene out of the corner of my eye, I passed through the crowd and entered the school building. I then thought of sothing.
──Certainly, nobody could win against Hinami in sothing like this.
I arrived at the classroom. In line with the self-study task, I started up a conversation with Izumi.
「Have you seen what's going on at the front? Hinami's thing.」
Izumi spiritedly turned to face .
「Yeah, I saw it, I saw it! That was such a big crowd.」
「That's what you call being too strong.」
I gave her my honest impression.
「Yeah……」
Even as she expressed agreent, her expression seed to indicate her mind was on sothing else. For a mont I wondered what it could be, but it was probably……how at nearby location, in a similar fashion, Mimimi too was working on her election campaign.
To be perfectly honest, anyone seeing that would have given up all hope of victory. That wasn't to say that Mimimi was no good, but that Hinami was way too competent. Though based only on my limited interaction with her, I knew Mimimi's communication skills, her popularity, and her personality. To , if not for Hinami's existence at our school, they were of a high enough calibre for her to be elected with ease. However, her opponent was on another level.
「Ah, more importantly, here!」
Perhaps out of consideration, Izumi changed the subject, handing sothing. It was the broken stopwatch I had passed to her the other day.
「Ohh! So that must an……!」
「I've mastered the mini-jumps!」
Izumi sharply saluted as she spoke. For whatever reason, she was making a slightly strange face, probably due to bashfulness.
I wonder what I should say in this situation. Pondering, I thought back to the conversation with Mizusawa.
──At a ti like this, shouldn't wouldn't it be very riajuu-like to say sothing like this?
「You're making a weird face.」
「So cruel!」
It kind of feels like we're having super friendly conversation now! Amazing! Mizusawa's amazing!
It feels like if I continue in this way, self-studying while trying several things little by little, my self-study period could turn out to be quite useful. Incidentally, after that conversation, when Izumi told 「I'll hang in there!」, I tried for another playful「You talk too much!」courtesy of Mizusawa, but was t by a despondent「Ah, sorry」. Uh, yeah. How diligent of you. I'm the sorry one.
And so I did this and that, then went here and there and keeping at it, the school day drew to a close.
There was no after-school eting today, and it wasn't like there was any conversation or tone of voice practice for to do either, so thinking to myself, 'Right then, how about I head straight ho? It's been a while. Might be able to practice so facial expression control', I made my way out. But just as I was leaving the school building, I caught sight of Mimimi. She was campaigning, alone. Why is she doing it alone, I wonder?
Dear oh dear, looks like a self-study task has popped up. My thoughts resolute, I called out to Mimimi.
「What are you doing?」
「Oh, if it isn't Tomozaki! By all ans, take one!」
Mimimi handed a small sheet of paper.
「……Pledges.」
Upon receiving the sheet, I saw various election pledges printed on it. They went sothing like this.
１、To conduct greeting exercises, and aim for a feel-good
school.
２．To establish a suggestion box, and by accepting the opinions of students,
aim to build a better school.
３．To commit to expanding the selection of goods at the school store
４．To work towards enlarging the scale of the athletic festival.
「What do you think!?」
「What I think? Even if you ask , well……」
Frankly, there were parts that bothered . Or rather, they such that I found myself questioning why she wasn't bothered by them. However, it didn't have very good implications, so I was conflicted over whether or not it would be a good idea to speak out.
「What say you of these pledges, Tomozaki!? Appealing!?」
I wonder what I should do.
Suppose I don't say it. I probably won't be able to co up with a good excuse, and likely won't be able to smooth over the matter either. So it would probably feel suspicious. However, if I simply speak my current thoughts as they are, I should be up to the task. After all, that is sothing that has been my specialty from the start, and now I can even throw in a tone or facial expression.
「Hmmm.」Though hesitant, I decided to say it.「For a pledge……the format is……」
「Format?」
Mimimi looked at with an expression that indicated she had absolutely no idea what I ant. Ah, as I thought.
「Um……for example, this bit here.」
I calmly pointed at the part marked with a「４」.
「Look at this.」
Mimimi stared hard at it, but with an「Eh? There's nothing odd there, right?」, she turned to examine my expression. Whoa, that is close. That's a sense of distance only this riajuu would have. For an instant, I froze.
「Umm……so yeah, this is the only one that uses a half-width character……you can see the size is different, right? It's kind of narrow.」
「……Ah! You're right! That's amazing, Tomozaki! Are you a detective!?」
Not at all, I just know a little about computers.
「Also……this too, I guess.」
I pointed at the『、』after the『１』.
「Hm?」
「Look at the others. They've got…… full-width periods, I think they're called? But this is the only one with a comma. I think it was probably a conversion error or a typo……」[3]
「No kidding! They're all Japanese dots!」
「Things like that, well, those familiar with it will see it right away. You could say that it looks ssy to them, or that it doesn't really give a good impression. Though this might just be what I think.」
It wasn't like my knowledge of such things was good enough to be a backseat driver here, so I downplayed the matter. There were other small things that had caught my eye, but I decided to leave them unsaid.
Once I finished my explanation, with her expression sparkling, Mimimi opened her mouth.
「……Tomozaki, might you actually be an unexpectedly capable person?」
「Eh, umm……」
Rather than that, as a gaming otaku I use computers a lot, so I just pay attention to things like that……
But when I really think about it, Mimimi feels like the sort to live her life by going with the flow, and that endorser girl also didn't seem like the type to pay much attention to detail. Hmm, doesn't that an that this trait of mine might be of a little use? Thinking that, an idea flashed into my mind.
Hinami's assignnt to『Get your suggestion accepted twice』. As well as, the best-case『Beco Mimimi's endorser』plan. If I were to bring them into overti of my own accord, then……
「Mimimi.」
「Hn?」
After a mont's hesitation, I opened my mouth.
「If it's for brain-like things like this, I think I can help out……」
For an instant, Mimimi was left open-mouthed by my words. And then.
「……B, BRAIN!」
Her expression lit up to an astonishing degree. Is that a positive response?
「Thinking about the minor details like this isn't a specialty of yours, right Mimimi? I think I'd be able to handle those instead, see. Particularly the computer-related things, stuff like that.」
At those persuasive words conscious of my stake in the matter, Mimimi silently nodded.
「Yeah, not bad at all. It's true I'm not very good at those things……and……」
「And?」
When I prompted her, Mimimi's eyes lit up, and she burst out with the following.
「── 'Brain', I like the sound of that!!」
I reflexively replied with a「Haah?」.
「Good! It's really good!『I have the Brain, you know』……I wanna say it! I really really wanna say it! Tomozaki, don't you want to say『I'm the Brain, you know』as well!? You do, don't you!?」
The comical way in which she changed her voice when saying those lines sowhat reminded of Hinami.
Did the sound of that have to take priority over the other things, though? Well, it's not like I don't get what she ans.
「S, seriously?」
「Half-serious! Half-joking!」
What's up with that?
「Umm, so is what we just talked about……」
「It's an OK! But, really, I'm grateful for your help. Actually, after school Yumi-chan isn't around, you see～」
「Yumi-chan?」
「Ah, she's the girl from this morning! Since she's my junior from the track and field club, I want her to attend after-school club activities. That's why I told her I'd handle things on my own after school! Well, I was the one who told her, so don't mind it!
「Ahh, I get it.」
What a good senpai.
「That's why I might appreciate it if, for after-school, you could help out, Tomozaki. Though I did already refuse your help once! Tehe!」
While sticking out her tongue, Mimimi distinctly said「tehe」out loud.
Still, this is great. With this, my self-study period should beco even more aningful. Though it is a little scary.
「Okay. Well then, I wonder what I should do for today.」
「You get to it right away, don't you Tomozaki! As expected of a guy who can work!」
Saying this, Mimimi struck my shoulder with a little more force than was necessary. Ow.
However, this is looking good! I might have let the position of endorser get away from , but I managed to beco the『Brain』.
Additionally, though I may have delayed it, I got a suggestion accepted! With this it should be objective completed. No complaints, right Hinami?!
「Ah, but Tomozaki. Can I ask a question?」
「What is it?」
Mimimi peered into my eyes as she spoke.
「Why are you so eager to help out?」
After which I ca to a realization. That's right, of course.
I had previously volunteered to be her endorser and been turned down. After which, now I was saying I wanted to beco the brains. Of course she would question why I wanted to get involved so much. This is bad, what should I do? If I were to answer honestly, then『Because Hinami told to』 ── wait no, 『To learn the art of conversation』, but there's no way I can say that. Just as I my thoughts reached that point, I had a flash of inspiration.
「It's Hinami, I──」
「Eh?」
Here, yet again, I ca up with an excuse so readily that even I was surprised.
「──I want to try taking down Hinami.」
As I spoke, I realized that I was saying it with the aning『in Life too, as nanashi against NO NA』.
「Eh?」
Mimimi, blinking those large eyes of hers, watched intently. I continued speaking.
「Look, she never ever loses. Don't you think she's too much of a kyou-chara? That's why it'd be nice if she could lose just once……I like gas, see, and the stronger my opponent is, the more fired up I get, no doubt about it. That's why I want to compete against her, and if I can take her down, that'd be super fun for , basically.」
Mimimi listened with a serious look on her face. And then.
「……Tomozaki.」
「Hm?」
She put a hand on my shoulder. Then, with a sympathetic look on her face, she laughed.
「Tomozaki, might you be a super don't-know-your-own-place person?」
「L-Leave alone!」
Certainly, as things currently stand, there's too much of a difference and it wouldn't even be a contest. Mimimi opened her mouth wide and laughed cheerfully.
「But I think that's good! Don't tell anyone else, but actually I too am soone who doesn't know their place, you see!」
「Eh? You too, Mimimi?」
「Yep. That's right!」Then, she grinned slightly.「Since, I too want to win against Aoi.」
Seeing those eyes that were difficult to judge if serious or an act gaze far into the distance, I was bewildered.
「Is, is that so.」
「Still, I'm glad! To tell the truth, you know, I was thinking that if I just tried really hard it might all work out sohow. But well, Aoi and Takahiro's gig this morning, did you see that?」
「Yeah, I saw.」
That had been incredible.
「Looking at that, you see…… honestly, I couldn't stop myself from thinking『Ah, there's no way I can do this』.」
Mimimi smiled sowhat frustratedly as she spoke.
「……Ahh.」
It's true that the way it went, anyone who saw that would have to regard it as a perfect election campaign they couldn't possibly win against.
「And so, I thought to myself『If I keep doing the sa thing, it's not gonna work!』, see. If I don't change sothing, I can't win. That's why this is exactly what I need! Please change sothing! I have high expectations, Tomozaki!」
Then she hit my shoulder again.
「Ow! Eh, umm, I'll do my best……」
Though I had the feeling way too much was being expected of .
「And so, it's ti for a eting! Ohhー!」
「Oh, ohhhー!」
So in the end, in spite of being the one to extend the invitation, I got carried away by the montum.
Translator Notes:
[1] An Ouendan is, roughly speaking, a cheering squad, but not quite the sa. Look it up if you're interested.
[2] Original is Mandan (漫談)
[3] When typing Japanese, there's a process of converting what you've typed to the kanji/symbols you want, as so things might be written the sa in hiragana/romaji but have different kanji and thus different anings. You basically select from a list as you type.
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