The president is kind of cool.
Murakami Yuu gave her a thumbs up in his heart.
He had originally only planned to make life difficult for the news club from now on, but Anna Kinomiya wanted to directly and thoroughly wipe them out, erasing even the news club's existence.
So that's why you shouldn't easily offend women, especially smart women who hold power.
"Pre... President..."
Ono Miyuki, who had been sitting calmly, heard the unexpected recorded evidence and could no longer maintain her seated posture. She stood up, forcing a smile that looked extremely comical, trying to muddle through.
"It's not necessary to go that far, is it? It's just a news article..."
"This isn't just about the news article. It's also about the attitude you've displayed since entering - that confusing and unrepentant appearance really makes me angry."
Anna Kinomiya turned a blind eye to her ingratiating behavior. The approachable temperament she usually displayed outwardly completely disappeared. Like a fair enforcer, she showed no mercy.
Ono Miyuki stammered.
"I... I'll retract the news article and rewrite... so... so..."
"It's already too late, Ono-san. I gave you a chance from the start, but you stubbornly chose to turn a blind eye. Since you've already made your decision, you must properly bear the corresponding consequences."
Facing Ono Miyuki who was about to cry from anxiety, Anna Kinomiya remained unmoved as she delivered the final judgment.
"The student council will conduct an investigation shortly. All those who participated in writing this news article will receive appropriate punishment based on their response attitude afterward. Not one person will be missed.
As for you, Ono-san..."
Anna Kinomiya stood up and came to stand before Ono Miyuki.
The two were similar in height, their eyes meeting on the same horizontal line - panic versus calm, two extremes.
"Distorting factual information, refusing to admit mistakes or repent afterward, disrespecting the interviewee's own wishes, arbitrarily fabricating sensational attention-grabbing news headlines - unqualified and completely lacking professional literacy.
Based on all these established facts, you will lose your position as news club president."
Ono Miyuki stood dazed, taking a step back. The other's aura pressed down on her, making it hard to breathe. Her lips trembled slightly as she muttered softly.
"How can that be... I finally took over the news club from my seniors..."
"That's not all."
Anna Kinomiya took a step forward, bending down to meet Ono Miyuki's upward gaze. Her condescending posture cast a shadow over her face.
"Maliciously slandering fellow students, using your official position to publish statements smearing Murakami-kun, deliberately inciting hostile emotions among students - I define this behavior as incitement.
Given that Murakami-kun has felt troubled and distressed by your verbal attack, and may harbor feelings of pain and anger deep in his heart, this is an invisible psychological trauma. In summary, this is undoubtedly - bullying.
I will truthfully report these two points to the school. I don't yet know how they'll handle it specifically. Perhaps a written self-criticism will suffice, but there's also the possibility of suspension for home reflection.
But none of this matters, because it's not something I can decide.
The only thing I can guarantee to Ono-san is that your parents coming to school to apologize to Murakami-kun is inevitable. At the same time, this misconduct will be clearly written on the evaluation page of your graduation certificate, accompanying you for life."
Anna Kinomiya's voice was very soft, but to Ono Miyuki's ears it was like a bolt from the blue. The two big hats of incitement and bullying struck her, leaving her mind completely blank.
What should have been a confrontation between Murakami Yuu and Ono Miyuki was taken over by Anna Kinomiya. That clear, step-by-step pressure, like a deity descending, directly hammered Ono Miyuki until she lost the will to resist.
Anna Kinomiya returned to her seat. Murakami Yuu beside her handed her a water cup, smiling "Good work."
The face that had been tense all along melted like spring snow meeting sunlight.
Anna Kinomiya accepted the cup shyly, softly replying "Thank you," then turned to face Ono Miyuki.
"That's enough. You can go back now, Ono-san."
This sentence successfully brought Ono Miyuki back to her senses. Seeing Anna Kinomiya's expression had somewhat softened, a glimmer of hope surged in her heart.
She had to plead more. If those words were really written on her graduation certificate, when she entered society later, everyone would have prejudice against her and isolate her. This absolutely couldn't happen!
She took two steps to Anna Kinomiya and bent down straight.
"President, I was wrong. I accept all the punishments you mentioned, but only about the graduation evaluation... please... I beg you not to do that. Only this..."
"Raise your head, Ono-san. The person you should apologize to isn't me. The specific follow-up development still depends on Murakami-kun's degree of forgiveness toward you."
Interrupted and hearing this, after understanding its meaning, Ono Miyuki quickly looked up at Murakami Yuu beside her who had a half-smile. She made another ninety-degree bow.
"I'm very sorry, Murakami-kun. Please forgive my rash actions. I'll rewrite a news article to clarify and apologize, and put up the real interview transcript. Please forgive me."
"It would have been so much better to do this from the start. None of these things would have happened."
Murakami Yuu sighed and turned to look out the window.
This attitude of not looking directly at her made Ono Miyuki clench her fists, then slowly release them. She took a step back, knelt down on both knees, placed both hands forward on the ground in an inward figure-eight shape, leaned her body forward and pressed her forehead to the floor.
Anna Kinomiya didn't stop this behavior.
"Please forgive me..."
The standard dogeza apology posture. One had to say, being apologized to with such a prostrate gesture brought extreme spiritual pleasure.
Murakami Yuu looked at Anna Kinomiya and nodded, then crouched before her and lifted her upper body.
"Just as you said, rewrite a news article with an apology and clarification, and write the real situation. Understand?"
"Yes!"
"That's enough. Go back. Also, your pen is very nice. Can you tell me where you bought it?"
Murakami Yuu pointed to her chest.
Ono Miyuki froze, then smiled bitterly. This feeling of being completely seen through made her lose any will to resist. She took the pen from her breast pocket.
"If Murakami-kun likes it, I'll give you this pen as an apology gift."
"Well, thank you very much. I'll accept it without reservation."
Murakami Yuu accepted the pen from her hand, looking very pleased.
Ono Miyuki slowly stood up, all her words and actions cautious.
"Then I'll..."
"Ah, go on, go on."
Murakami Yuu waved his hand casually.
From the corner of her eye, Ono Miyuki glimpsed that Anna Kinomiya no longer had that stern expression from before. Not daring to linger, she slowly backed out of the student council room.
Murakami Yuu sat back in his position. Only now did he finally have a chance to talk one-on-one with Anna Kinomiya.
"President, thank you for speaking up for me."
This incident had started because of him. Although Anna Kinomiya and he were both student council members and it was normal for her to react, no matter what, today's reaction was somewhat too extreme - almost as if she was unilaterally venting for him. Such behavior might seem somewhat inappropriate to unrelated observers.
But honestly, in Murakami Yuu's eyes, this couldn't be more satisfying.
"It's okay. This is what I should do for Murakami-kun."
The environment of being alone together made Anna Kinomiya's heartbeat start to accelerate. Her state of mind was running off in strange directions again. But she knew the important business wasn't finished yet, so she just pressed her legs together and asked:
"Murakami-kun, how do you want to handle Ono-san?"
"Whatever the president decides is fine. I don't mind. But there's one thing I want to explain - this pen I just got from Ono-san is a recording pen."
Murakami Yuu placed the pen on the table and pushed it toward her.
"What follows is just my personal guess.
When Ono-san published that absurd news article, she had already guessed we would come to her. After coming to the student council, everything she said stood on the side of absolute justice, and her words constantly tried to provoke us.
After you, President, said you would take action against the news club, her face showed no fear, but rather a sense of joy at achieving her goal.
If the president didn't have yesterday's interview recording, the result might not have been certain.
Perhaps today's conversation would have been edited and spliced by her into another meaning. The news headline might have been something like [Tyrannical Student Council vs. Weak News Club]."
After listening to Murakami Yuu's words, Anna Kinomiya picked up the pen. After pressing the hidden button, their previous conversation came through.
She understood.
"I know what to do."
Murakami Yuu nodded.
"All in all, today was thanks to the president's foresight. Without that interview recording from before, things might have been more troublesome."
"Mm..."
Anna Kinomiya's face was somewhat red.
At this point, it wasn't good to confess that she had recorded it just because she wanted to hear Murakami Yuu's voice. Last night she had even fallen asleep in her bed listening to his voice.
Especially those few sentences during the interview specifically describing and praising her - they made her produce fantasies in her excitement.
As if the voice's owner was lying with her, holding her in his arms, leaning close to her ear, surrounded by the scent and warmth of that person she thought about day and night.
"Praise... me..."
I can't... hold back anymore.
"Eh?"
"I did very well, didn't I? So... Murakami-kun, please praise me..."
Anna Kinomiya grasped Murakami Yuu's hand resting on the table.
"President?"
Murakami Yuu broke free in shock and stood up.
Anna Kinomiya also stood up and went to the student council room door. "Click" - the sound of locking.
Again... again?!
...