"Didn't expect the president to be in another eting."
"He's always busy. Secretary Fujiwara went to a board ga club event, and Ishigami usually just goes ho once there's no work left in the council."
"So that ans… this situation again."
"Seems like it."
Kaguya Shinomiya calmly sipped her tea and shook her head.
After school, during club ti, the student council office was once again left with just Takamine Rinji and Kaguya Shinomiya.
Since Momo's mobile ga activities had ended early today, he finished his already nonexistent club duties even earlier than usual. With ti to kill, he ca to the office—only to find Kaguya alone.
"When was the last ti it was just the two of us in the student council office?" Rinji sprawled out on the sofa, thinking. "Wasn't it that ti a second-year girl ca to ask for a breakup?"
"That was Nagisa Kashiwagi. She's officially dating that guy Tanuma Tsubasa now."
"Good for them. So when are they breaking up?"
"They just started dating, and you're already hoping for a breakup? How dark is your mind?"
"Bound to happen eventually."
"..."
"Speaking of which, Shinomiya Heiress."
Rinji tilted his head and looked at her. "As the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family head, you'll have to return to the main estate over sumr break, right?"
"Yes," Kaguya replied.
But her expression was clearly gloomy.
She didn't want to go back to that loveless place, but every year, she was summoned without fail.
"It's fine if you go, but pass along a ssage to the Shinomiya family for ."
"A ssage?"
"I'm starting a company. It's called 'Amano Pharmaceuticals.'"
"You're bringing this up just to ask for investnt?"
"Who wants your family's money? I just want you to tell your people not to interfere with my business. Otherwise…"
"Otherwise what?"
"Nothing much," Rinji said lazily. "Their whole family dies, that's all."
"…I'll pass along your ssage."
"Good. Make sure they understand how serious this is. Next ti, it won't just be a few subsidiary employees dying."
Rinji stood up and walked toward the student council office door.
Since only Kaguya was here, staying any longer would just be awkward.
Currently, Takamine Rinji had exchanged his 23 million US dollars into 2.3 billion yen. 1 billion yen went toward registering the company, and the rest would be invested gradually.
For staff, he'd pull from IW's research division first. If that wasn't enough, he'd just poach from other pharmaceutical companies.
Such companies usually didn't handle money well, so he was planning to make a bit of cash through Kengan matches via betting.
He hoped that by the ti he handed the company over to Uncle Amano's children, it would already be sizable. However…
"Co to think of it, Uncle Amano's eldest daughter should only be in middle school now. It'll be a while before she's of age..."
Just as he was deep in thought, a female voice called out to him.
"Are you Takamine-kun?"
"Hm?"
He turned and found a cute girl with long light-purple hair standing there. He had no recollection of her.
"And you are…?"
"You've seen before, I think. I'm Karen Kino from the Mass dia Club."
"Oh, Kino-san."
Rinji nodded, though he still didn't rember her.
He had visited the Mass dia Club while auditing the clubs' quarterly budgets. Back then, he was greeted by a girl nad Kyose Erika. As for this one...
He might've seen her, but had no mory of it.
"What do you need, Kino-san?"
"Since you're the student council's treasurer, I thought you'd be familiar with what's going on inside, right?" Karen asked excitedly.
"Oh… an interview?"
"Is President Shirogane dating Vice President Shinomiya!?"
"..."
Seeing Karen Kino's eager, sparkly eyes, Rinji fell silent.
"Is this information accurate?"
"Where did you hear that?" His eyes narrowed.
Miyuki had specifically told him not to let this get out. Which ant…
He'd have to start 'handling' the source.
"I saw it with my own eyes!"
"Eh?"
"Just last month, I went to the cinema. I happened to see the president and vice president go into the sa theater. When I snuck in out of curiosity, I saw them sitting together…"
"You must've been mistaken."
"Impossible!" Karen said, annoyed. "They're the two brightest stars in Shuchiin! I wouldn't mistake them for anyone!"
"Oho."
Still giddy, Karen failed to notice that Rinji's gaze had turned sharp.
"Such a romantic story~"
"No proof, though. Did you take a photo of their date?"
"Ah… my phone battery was almost dead, so I couldn't take a picture. Damn it! I should've captured such an epic mont forever—what a blunder!"
"That's unfortunate."
Rinji smiled, but in his mind: No evidence. That ans the rumor can still be contained. The key now is how to deal with her...
"Kino-san, give a mont. I need to make a quick call. Then I'll tell you everything about the president."
"Please do!"
"..."
Leaving Karen Kino and her sparkly gaze behind, Rinji turned the corner and dialed Miyuki's number.
"Hello?"
"Hey President, finished with the eting?"
"Just finished. What's going on?"
"About that… soone seems to have found out you watched a movie with Shinomiya."
"What!?"
"A girl from the Mass dia Club nad Karen Kino."
"How… how could this happen?"
Though Rinji couldn't see Miyuki's face, he could tell from the tone that he was panicking.
"What do you want to do? Bury her in Tokyo Bay? Or send her to Africa?"
"Stop talking like that!"
Even Miyuki was flustered.
He had been very cautious during the movie date—no schoolmates around, and Fujiwara had been dealt with by Rinji. By all logic, there should've been no witnesses.
"Um… is there a way to make her lose her mory?"
Miyuki regretted it as soon as he said it.
What kind of nonsense was that? There's no such thing! He had let panic get the better of him.
But to his surprise, Rinji's eyes suddenly sharpened.
"President, are you sure that mory loss will solve the issue?"
"Huh?"
"Got it. Leave it to ."
And with that, Rinji hung up, pulled a pair of black gloves from his pocket, and put them on.
He adjusted his disguise, put on a gentle smile, and walked back toward Karen.
"Kino-san, I've finished the call."
"So can you tell about them now?"
"You really want to hear about the president and Miss Shinomiya?"
"Of course!"
Karen said loudly, "I've been shipping that couple since before I was born!"
Takamine Rinji didn't understand what shipping or cp ant, so he interpreted it as Central Processor.
"This isn't the right place to talk. Let's find an empty room."
"Sure, sure!"
Completely unaware, Karen followed him into a vacant clubroom.
She sat eagerly on a chair, eyes sparkling. "Do you know any juicy details? Like when they started dating?"
"No rush."
Takamine walked behind her and said softly, "Kino-san, try to rember clearly—which movie theater did you see them in? Think back to every detail."
"Huh? Let think…"
She touched her chin in a dreamy daze. "President Shirogane and Vice President Shinomiya were like the perfect couple… sitting side by side, leaning on each other, and then—gururururururu!!!"
Before she could finish, she felt sothing press against her neck. A sharp shock surged through her body, and she collapsed unconscious, foaming slightly at the mouth.
Standing behind her, Takamine wore a cold expression, holding a crackling stun gun.
Electroshock therapy—also called "shock therapy"—is a thod using electric currents to stimulate the brain, often to treat certain ntal conditions. Though controversial for its harshness, so researchers found that shocks during mory recall can erase the mory altogether.
Takamine had tested this two years ago—successfully.
Watching Karen unconscious, he picked up his phone.
"Rinji… was that…?"
"Relax, President. The mory's wiped."
"Eh!? Is Kino-san okay?"
Miyuki sounded panicked.
"She's fine. Just lost so mories," Takamine replied with a smile.
"Oh, good."
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