Chapter 193: Yuto: You Three, We're Friends, Right?
Katsuragi needed to break away from Yuto's influence if he wanted to preserve his reputation and position within Class A.
Otherwise, the Sakayanagi faction would continue using the fact that he worked under Yuto as ammunition against him.
Besides, Katsuragi believed he only needed to hold out until October.
That was when Horikita Manabu would step down as student council president.
Kiriyama Ikuto had told Katsuragi that although Yuto was vice president, he had only recently joined the student council. Kiriyama, on the other hand, had nearly two years of experience and was already a second-year student.
Because of that, Kiriyama believed he had a very good chance of becoming the next student council president.
His confidence mainly came from his cooperation with Nagumo Miyabi.
When the student council president election began, Nagumo intended to use all of his influence and reputation to support Kiriyama and help him gather votes.
The next student council president wasn't directly appointed by Manabu or chosen internally by the council.
The position was decided through a general election.
Student council members who wanted the presidency would give speeches to the school's students and campaign for their votes. Whoever received the most votes would become the next student council president.
Since the position depended on an election rather than Manabu simply naming his successor, Kiriyama had chosen to cooperate with Nagumo and rely on his help during the campaign.
Because of Yuto, Nagumo and his allies had all been driven out of the student council, weakening his control over the second-years.
Even so, Nagumo still possessed considerable influence among them.
That was why Kiriyama remained confident that he could become the next president.
And Katsuragi believed that if Kiriyama succeeded, he would no longer need to fear Shimizu Yuto merely because Yuto was vice president.
Protecting his reputation in Class A, believing Yuto would never promote him, and thinking Kiriyama had a strong chance of becoming the next president...
Those were the three main reasons Katsuragi had chosen to align himself with Kiriyama.
"As long as I don't make any mistakes before the presidential election in October, even Shimizu Yuto shouldn't have a reason or excuse to kick me out of the student council, right?" Katsuragi murmured.
He was quite confident about avoiding mistakes.
Katsuragi had always been calm and conservative. He might not be particularly aggressive or adventurous, but that also made him extremely unlikely to make serious mistakes.
In reality, he could relax.
Yuto wasn't particularly focused on Katsuragi at all.
As long as Katsuragi quietly performed his duties as general affairs staff, Yuto wouldn't deliberately target him or remove him from the student council.
At least, not before Yuto became student council president and Kei and the others joined the council.
Until then, Katsuragi could continue working there peacefully.
...
After leaving the cafe, Yuto sent a Line message to Kikyo, the person around him who was best at gathering information.
[Kikyo, could you help me get the contact information for Tokito Hiroya, Komiya Kyogo, and Yamawaki from Class D?]
Kikyo seemed to be watching her phone constantly because she replied almost immediately.
[Sure. I think I exchanged contact information with all three of them before. Give me a moment, Yuto. I'll look.]
Seeing her response, Yuto couldn't help smiling.
As expected of the little angel who intended to become friends with everyone. Having Kikyo around saved him a great deal of tedious work.
Around 2 or 3 minutes later, Kikyo forwarded the contact information for all three students.
[Yuto, weren't you planning to make only Tokito Hiroya the discipline committee member? Why do you need the other two as well?]
[Besides Tokito, Komiya and Yamawaki have both offended and betrayed Ryuen before, so they're also candidates. I'm going to meet all three and see who best fits what I'm looking for.]
[I see.]
When Ryuen had previously plotted against Yuto, Yuto turned the scheme back against him.
Komiya and Yamawaki had ultimately abandoned Ryuen and testified against him.
Yuto hadn't heard about Ryuen retaliating against either of them afterward, but there was undoubtedly already a rift between them.
Komiya in particular had not only betrayed Ryuen, but was also a reserve member of the basketball club.
Earlier that day, he had even come to Yuto personally and begged to be allowed to remain in the club.
So if Yuto gave Komiya the discipline committee member position and asked him to keep watch on Ryuen, he would probably be more than willing.
With an official student council position behind him, Komiya wouldn't have to constantly worry about Ryuen casually beating him up.
...
Before long, evening arrived.
Manabu was walking back toward the student dormitory when he ended his call with Ichinose.
As student council president, he had wanted to know the results of the club qualification tests, so he contacted Ichinose to ask how everything had gone.
After hearing the results and what Yuto had done afterward, Manabu was quite satisfied.
It wasn't because Yuto and Suzune had defeated the Class D students.
What pleased him was how Yuto handled things after winning.
Yuto hadn't immediately forced the defeated Class D students to leave their clubs. Instead, he gave them the evaluation of "remain in club under observation" and allowed them to continue participating.
The fact that Yuto hadn't actually deprived anyone of their club activities satisfied Manabu greatly.
"Shimizu's methods may be decisive and ruthless, but he still has boundaries. Even when dealing with an enemy, he doesn't deliberately drag innocent people into it," Manabu murmured.
"Still, if he wants to become student council president, he'll have to win the general election... He should be able to win, though."
The election wasn't even until October.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, Manabu already felt that Yuto would smoothly win the most votes and become the next student council president.
...
At that very moment, the person Manabu had already imagined as his successor was sitting in Cafe Dia with a cheerful smile.
Across from Yuto sat three visibly nervous boys.
Tokito Hiroya, Komiya Kyogo, and Yamawaki.
About 20 minutes earlier, each of them had received a call from an unfamiliar number.
The moment they realized the caller was Yuto, cold sweat appeared on their foreheads and a terrible feeling settled in their stomachs.
There was no way this demon would contact them for no reason.
Then Yuto invited all three to Cafe Dia because he wanted to discuss something.
None of them wanted to accept.
Unfortunately, none of them dared refuse either.
So all three had arrived feeling deeply uneasy.
The meeting place only made things worse for Komiya and Yamawaki.
They had extremely unpleasant memories of Cafe Dia.
About a month earlier, this was exactly where Yuto had pressured the two of them into betraying Ryuen.
The moment they realized he had chosen Cafe Dia again, both suspected the demon intended to threaten them a second time.
"Relax. I'm not some monster that's going to eat you," Yuto said with a smile.
The three silently disagreed.
He might not eat people, but as far as they were concerned, a demon like him was even more terrifying.
"We're not nervous..."
"Right, right! We're totally calm!"
"Good. What do you want to drink? It's my treat."
Yuto generously handed them the menu.
All three felt their hearts skip a beat.
Now the demon was even offering to buy them drinks.
What exactly was he planning to do to them?!
Tokito carefully said, "Shimizu-san, I don't really like drinking anything... so I'll just have a glass of water."
"Mm?"
Yuto merely made a questioning sound, and Tokito immediately straightened.
"Water is perfect!"
"Me too."
"I'll have the same!"
"Why are all 3 of you ordering water? I already said I'm paying. You don't need to be polite."
"Um... I'm dieting recently, so I can't drink anything sugary!"
"Right! Me too!"
Yuto looked at their nervous expressions and helplessly shook his head.
Weren't these three fairly arrogant before?
Why were they so terrified of him now?
Of course, the reason was obvious.
Komiya and Yamawaki had already suffered badly at Yuto's hands, nearly reaching the point of expulsion because of him.
How could they possibly not fear him?
Tokito hadn't personally been pushed that far, but he was still afraid.
Not even a full day had passed since part of Class D learned what happened during the club qualification tests.
And when Tokito heard that Yuto had punched the 200-plus-pound Albert straight out of a ring...
He came to a very simple conclusion.
Shimizu Yuto was terrifying.
Yuto had no intention of wasting time by beating around the bush.
"I called the three of you here because I want to hear what you think about Ryuen Kakeru."
The instant they heard that, the three finally understood.
Yuto wasn't here to cause trouble for them.
He wanted to cause trouble for Ryuen.
In that case, there was nothing to be afraid of!
"Shimizu-san, let me tell you, Ryuen is a complete bastard! He used violence to force us to hand over more than 20,000 personal points. If anyone refused, he'd beat them up!"
"Exactly! He even threatened us into harassing other students. That guy is seriously awful!"
The three suddenly started cursing Ryuen as though he were their mortal enemy.
Complaints, insults, resentment, frustration...
It all came pouring out.
Yuto watched them rant with an amused smile.
For a moment, he was tempted to record the entire conversation and send it directly to Ryuen.
If the three boys knew what Yuto was thinking, they would undoubtedly call him a black-hearted demon.
Only in their heads, of course.
None of them had the courage to say it to his face.
Yuto made no attempt to stop them. He simply sat there smiling until the three had complained so much that their mouths went dry.
By then, the Cafe Dia server had arrived with Yuto's honey latte and 3 glasses of water.
The timing was perfect.
"I think I understand now. All three of you seriously resent Ryuen."
"Of course!"
"Everyone in Class D knows the three of us can't stand him!"
"Since all of you hate Ryuen, and I happen to hate Ryuen too, that means we're friends," Yuto said with a smile.
"..."
The three boys' mouths twitched.
They honestly didn't dare become Yuto's friends.
If Ryuen found out they had become friends with Shimizu Yuto, they might not be able to survive in Class D.
Yuto raised an eyebrow.
"Those expressions are pretty strange. Don't tell me you think I'm not good enough to be your friend?"
"Of course not!" Komiya immediately exclaimed. "Being friends with you would be our honor, Shimizu-san! Right, Tokito? Yamawaki?"
There was no way he was becoming this demon's friend alone.
The other two were coming with him.
"...Yeah. I feel the same way."
"Me too..."
Yuto nodded in satisfaction.
"Since we're all friends who dislike Ryuen, let me introduce you to a very good opportunity."
"What kind of opportunity...?"
"The student council will probably restore the discipline committee member position soon. The job is to assist teachers and help maintain school discipline and campus order."
Yuto looked at the three of them.
"I intend to choose one of you to become the discipline committee member. That would make you a member of the student council and give you an official reason to keep watch on Ryuen so he can't keep coercing everyone however he wants."
The three boys' eyes immediately lit up.
That really was a great opportunity.
If one of them became a discipline committee member and gained the backing of the student council, then even a delinquent like Ryuen probably wouldn't dare casually attack them anymore.
And since all three held varying degrees of resentment toward Ryuen, every one of them wanted the position.
"Shimizu-san, please let me become the discipline committee member!" Komiya said eagerly.
"No, I should be the one!" Yamawaki immediately argued.
Tokito raised his arm in its cast.
"I'm more suitable than either Komiya or Yamawaki. My conflict with Ryuen is the worst, and I hate him the most!"
Tokito had previously tried to sell the midterm exam papers Ryuen obtained, which showed that he possessed at least some cunning.
And with that bit of cleverness, he had already understood Yuto's real reason for creating the discipline committee member position.
It existed to restrain Ryuen.
So among the three of them, Tokito believed he had the deepest grudge and the strongest conflict with Ryuen.
That made him the most suitable candidate.
…
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