Shuchiin Academy, the Student Council Room.
This place was no longer the Student Council Room it had once been.
It was no longer a sacred ground of student self-governance.
It was the sovereign's traveling palace.
In the afternoon, Seiji Fujiwara was lounging in that wide chair that had originally belonged to the Student Council President, his legs casually crossed and propped on the polished mahogany desk.
His eyes were closed, as though he were taking a brief nap.
Kaguya Shinomiya and Ai Hayasaka stood in attendance behind him, one on each side.
Kaguya was peeling a crystal pear for him with a small silver knife.
Her movements were somewhat stiff, her eyes still hollow, but one could already detect a kind of forcibly developed, practiced numbness.
Ai Hayasaka was preparing a pour-over coffee for him.
Her nimble fingers were precisely controlling the temperature and flow rate of the kettle, every step as flawless as out of a textbook, yet also as cold as a precision machine devoid of feeling.
The door of the Student Council Room was tightly shut.
But outside the door stood a trembling figure.
Kobachi Osaragi.
As a member of the Public Morals Committee, she held in her arms a stack of reports on the schedule of public morals patrols during the school festival, which had to be submitted to the board of directors for filing.
The school office had told her that the new chairman was currently only working out of the Student Council Room.
She had already been standing here for a full ten minutes.
Her hand rose and fell, fell and rose, but she could never quite muster the courage to knock on that door.
Sweat slid down her temples, sticking several strands of hair to her face, making her feel cold all over.
Kobachi Osaragi wanted desperately to flee.
Ever since that day's "coronation" ceremony in the auditorium, the very air of Shuchiin had changed.
Every face carried a cautious, fearful expression.
And this Student Council Room had become, even more so, a "forbidden zone" where all students were barred from setting foot, a demon king's lair more terrifying than the chairman's office itself.
But Kobachi Osaragi could not flee.
These reports had to receive the signature of the "new chairman" today, otherwise the public morals work for the school festival could not proceed.
More importantly, she wanted to see with her own eyes how Miko... and Senpai Kaguya were actually doing.
The dark rumors swirling everywhere made her heart ache like it was being cut with knives for her best friend Miko Iino.
"It's fine... Kobachi..."
She closed her eyes and gave herself a pep talk in her heart, her voice so faint even she could barely hear it.
"You're just going in to get a signature... Keep your head down, don't look, don't listen, pretend nothing is happening... Think of it... think of it as for Miko's sake... Just one glance, just confirm she's still safe... then leave immediately... It'll be fine..."
She took a deep breath.
As though heading to the execution ground, she raised her hand and lightly rapped on the door.
Three light knocks.
"Enter."
The man's languid, magnetic voice came from within.
A single word made Kobachi Osaragi feel as if her heart had been seized by a cold hand.
She steeled herself and pushed open that door, which felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Kobachi Osaragi kept her head down, her gaze fixed on the tips of her toes, and walked quickly to the desk, setting the documents in her arms gently down on the corner. Her movements were as light as a mouse stealing cheese, terrified of making the slightest extra sound that might disturb the master of the room.
"Chairman... these are... the public morals patrol arrangements for the school festival. They require... your review." Her voice had become dry and hoarse from extreme tension.
Seiji did not respond immediately.
He didn't even open his eyes, as though completely unaware of this intruder's existence.
But Kobachi Osaragi could feel a teasing gaze enveloping her, like an invisible spiderweb, making every hair on her body stand on end.
She didn't dare raise her head, only able to shrink her neck like a quail and wait for judgment.
Where she couldn't see, Seiji's gaze had long since swept across her fearful figure, and finally, like a cat toying with a mouse, settled on Kaguya behind him.
Kaguya's body had visibly stiffened the moment Kobachi Osaragi entered.
Her pear-peeling motion had a barely perceptible pause, and the blade left a thin, jarring mark across the pear flesh.
She could feel that gaze from an "acquaintance," filled with terror and pity, like countless red-hot steel needles stabbing into her back.
Kobachi Osaragi was Miko's friend, and in a certain sense, could be counted as "one of their own."
It was precisely because of this that the shame was magnified countless times over.
The intense emotion of "shame" stirred a violent ripple in her long-numbed heart.
Kaguya Shinomiya instinctively straightened her back, and her motions of peeling the pear became even more focused, as though trying through this means to maintain some shred of dignity.
This was, after all, a school. A "public setting."
As long as there were other students present, as long as she conducted herself as if she were "working," like a normal "assistant" to the chairman, that man... shouldn't go too far, right?
He would have to consider his "appearances" to some degree, surely?
This thought was Kaguya Shinomiya's current pillar of mental support.
Kobachi Osaragi's gaze, too, in her extreme terror, was drawn uncontrollably toward Senpai Kaguya.
She saw her senpai's perfectly straight back and those focused, graceful movements, and the worry in her heart over the rumors actually eased a little.
She even formed an illusion: perhaps things weren't as bad as the rumors claimed?
Senpai Kaguya was just... working?
Seiji activated [Emotional Insight].
Kaguya's wishful fantasy in her heart, and Kobachi Osaragi's nearly overflowing terror, worry, and the sliver of hopeful relief that had just sprouted, all appeared clearly in his mind, like the open pages of a book.
The corner of his mouth curled into a cruel smile.
Mere "possession" was no longer enough.
What he wanted was "display."
He wanted everyone, especially students like Kobachi Osaragi who still harbored fantasies about the "old order" and "friendship," to witness with their own eyes how the once unreachable "princess" in their hearts served the sovereign.
This small Student Council Room, this perfectly placed "audience," this pitiful sacrificial offering who had worked up the courage out of worry for her friend.
Truly... the most perfect stage.
...
A death-like silence spread through the Student Council Room.
Time seemed to have been stretched into thick syrup. Each second, to Kobachi Osaragi, was as long as a century.
She still kept her head down, cold sweat already soaking through her back, the shirt clinging to her skin, cold and damp.
Seiji seemed to enjoy this torturous silence, savoring the sight of his prey trembling beneath his aura.
A long while passed before he finally opened his eyes lazily and sat up straight.
He picked up the stack of documents from the desk and flipped through them carelessly, the rustle of paper sounding especially clear and jarring in the silence.
Then he tossed the documents back onto the desk, producing a soft thwack.
That soft sound made Kobachi Osaragi and Kaguya both flinch simultaneously, like two startled rabbits.
"Public morals patrol?"
"Does such tedious matter really need my personal review?"
Seiji's voice carried a teasing amusement, the condescending contempt of an adult regarding the boring games of a child.
He paid no further attention to Kobachi Osaragi, instead turning his gaze toward Kaguya behind him.
"Kaguya."
He called softly. The voice wasn't loud, yet it seemed to carry some kind of magic, making Kaguya's body react immediately.
"Yes."
Kaguya instantly stopped what she was doing and replied reflexively.
Her voice was steady, but only she knew the storm raging within her heart, an ominous premonition seizing it.
"Come here."
Kaguya's body stiffened.
She set down the fruit knife, walked around the desk, came to stand before Seiji, lowered her head, and awaited new instructions.
She could feel Kobachi Osaragi right beside her, that familiar yet now alien presence prickling at her back. She didn't even dare use her peripheral vision to look at the other girl.
Kobachi Osaragi still kept her head down, but with the corner of her eye, she could see Kaguya's straight calves in black long stockings, stopping less than a meter from her.
She had seen those legs countless times at joint sessions of the Student Council and Public Morals Committee, but never before had they made her feel a stinging pain mixed with terror and pity like she did today.
Then she heard the man speak, in a tone as bland as if discussing the weather:
"Look these documents over."
He paused, as though savoring the suddenly quickened breathing of both Kaguya and Kobachi Osaragi.
"Kneel right here, at my feet, organize the key points from them, and read them out to me."
"Kneel?"
Kaguya jerked her head up. In those hollow red eyes appeared a ripple of disbelief.
The command was like a red-hot brand, searing viciously into her dignity.
It completely crossed the blurred boundary between "work" and "humiliation."
Organizing documents was work.
But organizing them while kneeling on the ground, especially in front of an "outsider," in front of Miko Iino's best friend, kneeling at a man's feet to organize them...
This was naked, unconcealed... toying.
The atmosphere of the entire Student Council Room dropped to freezing in an instant.
Ai Hayasaka was still preparing coffee in the corner, as though she hadn't heard the conversation here.
The rasping sound of coffee beans being ground sounded unbearably jarring now, like an accompaniment to this humiliation ceremony.
Her profile remained that perfect, expressionless mask, like a precision instrument cut off from the outside world.
And Kobachi Osaragi, as though struck by an invisible bolt of lightning, was frozen in place.
She even forgot to breathe, her mind a blank.
She wanted to run, to flee this place at once, but fear was like countless nails pinning her feet to the floor.
She finally understood. The rumors... might all be true, perhaps even crueler than the rumors.
Kaguya's lips trembled violently.
As though seeking help, she turned her gaze toward Ai Hayasaka, not far off.
She hoped Ai would say something, even just a glance, a hint, to help her out of this. They had once been so in sync, a single look enough to convey everything.
However, Ai Hayasaka seemed to sense her gaze, but didn't even turn her head.
She simply continued her work in focused silence.
In that instant, Kaguya understood.
Ai was completely broken.
She was no longer the partner who could scheme alongside her, who could fight at her side.
She was just like herself, another collectible of this man.
A vast sense of helplessness and loneliness engulfed Kaguya like cold seawater.
"What, do you not understand my words?"
Seiji's voice rang out again.
Still gentle, yet carrying a sliver of ice. "Or do you need me to help you?"
Kaguya's body trembled violently.
In her mind, two tiny figures were fighting furiously.
One was screaming, "Resist! You absolutely cannot kneel! This is the last bottom line!"
The other reminded her in a cold voice, "What are the consequences of resisting? Have you forgotten? Do you want to drag your family down too? Do you think you still have any dignity left?"
Her fingernails dug deeply into her palms.
In the end, that cold voice, the voice representing fear and survival instinct, gained the upper hand.
Kaguya gritted her teeth and bent her knees with stiff motions.
The hem of her school uniform skirt spread across the carpet, producing a faint rustle like a sigh.
She knelt down.
Knelt at Seiji Fujiwara's feet.
Knelt before her former friend's friend.
Kobachi Osaragi heard the dull, soft sound of Senpai Kaguya's kneecaps making contact with the floor, and that sound seemed to strike not the floorboards, but to shatter certain things in her heart she had always believed in.