I am only one world away from Yukinoshita.

Kiyoyori frowned. "Then why...?"

"Speaking of which, the current student council president of Soubu High School..."

Kasumigaoka squinted slightly as she looked at Kiyori. "Your name is Yukinoshita Yukino, right?"

Chapter 31 Hidden agenda

Yukinoshita Yukino.

Kiyoyori hadn't heard this name in a while, but he never expected to hear it from Kasumigaoka's mouth at this moment.

"Does Utaha-senpai know Yukinoshita-senpai?"

"It's only natural that you know, isn't it?" Kasumigaoka put the notebook aside, crossed her legs, and glanced at Kiyori nonchalantly. "Besides, we've met before, haven't we?"

Kiyoyori seemed to have forgotten about it, but Kasumigaoka remembered it very clearly; she even remembered the pattern on the other person's yukata.

"The previous festival."

Kasumigaoka couldn't help but remind her, "Has Shimizu-kun been working too hard lately?"

She still couldn't help but care about the person in front of her. Even though the distance between them had grown recently, Kasumigaoka was still able to keenly sense Kiyoyori's unusual behavior lately. "Is the club very busy? Don't you get any rest after the National Tournament?"

Eriri recently mentioned Kiyoyori to Kasumigaoka, for example, how he would suddenly start spacing out.

"Ah, no..." Kiyoyori rubbed his nose with his finger, a little embarrassed. "The brass band's training will not stop unexpectedly after the National Competition, but we've just been busy with other things lately."

"Something else?"

“It’s a farewell party for the third-year seniors,” Kiyoyori said, bowing his head slightly and playing with his fingers. “After the third-year students retired this time, the overall performance of the brass band has become much weaker, and we always feel a bit uncomfortable when practicing.”

Kiyori smiled, but her smile seemed somewhat forced to Kasumigaoka at that moment.

"Isn't that the charm of school clubs?" Kasumigaoka looked at Kiyori's profile and smiled gently from an angle where the other couldn't see. "Although parting is inevitable, it is precisely because of this that we have even more anticipated reunions."

Kiyori turned to look at Kasumigaoka, a hint of surprise in his expression. "As expected of... Kasumi Utako-sensei."

"Let's look on the bright side," Kasumigaoka patted Kiyori's shoulder lightly. "The fact that Soubu High School's brass band made it to the national competition was already unexpected, and your dark horse performance will surely attract the attention of the next batch of freshmen. Even if the seniors leave, there will be even more high-quality fresh blood next year, right?"

"That's really something to look forward to."

"Are you still bothered by what happened with Tanaka-kun?"

When the brass band is mentioned and the third-year students who are about to retire, it's hard for Kasumigaoka not to connect Tanaka Asuka and Kiyori's current erratic behavior.

Kiyoyori seemed somewhat surprised by this, but then smiled and said, "It would be a lie to say I don't care about this, after all, she's Asuka..."

"However, I have already made a promise with Asuka, so I will no longer be confused about this matter."

"Then why...?"

“Utaha-senpai,” Kiyoyori interrupted Kasumigaoka, clearly not wanting the other to press for more information, “about the student council we were just talking about, and about Yukinoshita-senpai.”

Kasumigaoka paused for a moment, then didn't press further. "Judging from the emails sent by the student council, they probably want to put on a play this year, so they want me to help write the script and direct it."

She crossed her arms and a faint, almost imperceptible smile appeared on her face.

Kasumigaoka dislikes the student council; in fact, one could say she hates it.

Kiyoyori could sense this from the other person's words and expressions alone.

"Is Senior Shiyu planning to participate?"

Even though Kasumigaoka so clearly expressed her displeasure with the student council, her words subtly revealed her desire to join.

Kiyoshi didn't quite understand.

“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Kasumigaoka glanced at Kiyori indifferently, lightly fiddling with her fingertips. “My work at BLESSING SOFTWARE is finished, and I don’t have the pressure of further education, so it’s not bad to just pass the time.”

"Isn't there preparation work for a new work...?"

Kiyoyori only muttered a complaint, but was violently kicked by Kasumigaoka as a warning.

"Sorry……"

Kiyoshi clutched his shin, his handsome features contorted in pain.

Kasumigaoka glared at Kiyori with a hint of resentment, but Kiyori had his head down and didn't see her expression at all.

Is this person pretending not to understand, or do they really not understand?

For a moment, Kasumigaoka felt that she couldn't quite figure out the person in front of her. She was so sensitive to everything around her, yet she was as oblivious to her own feelings as a block of wood.

It's still a piece of rotten wood that can't bloom.

Kasumigaoka took a deep breath, suppressing the resentment in her heart.

"Isn't Shiwa-senpai a member of the student council? Since this kind of event is organized by the student council and the venue isn't on campus, shouldn't all the work be done by the student council?"

Whether it's writing a screenplay or directing.

Generally speaking, the Yamato people are not very willing to trouble others, because owing someone a favor means that you will have to repay it someday, and the favor you have to repay is something you can't control. At least Kiyori doesn't like things that are beyond his control.

Moreover, she is someone who hates trouble.

Upon hearing this, Kasumigaoka revealed an even more undisguised expression of disdain. "Didn't Sawamura-kun mention anything to you about our school's student council?"

Kiyoyori blinked. "It seems like he mentioned it before..."

At this moment, Kasumigaoka's expression overlapped with Eriri's expression in his memory. Putting aside Kasumigaoka, in Kiyoyori's memory, Eriri rarely showed such a pure and undisguised expression of disgust.

Even when confronting Kasumigaoka, it wasn't just simple dislike.

“I just said it,” Kasumigaoka continued, “Even if you use the word ‘idiot’ to describe our school’s student council, that’s being kind enough. To put it bluntly, if you talk to that student council president for more than an hour, even a dying patient would be so angry that their blood vessels would burst.”

While there are inevitably subjective and exaggerated elements involved, Kasumigaoka believes that her description is very accurate.

"That really is..."

Qinglai couldn't help but start to worry.

“Last year, the student council successfully organized that event by ‘relying on’ the power of clubs, and it received rave reviews,” Kasumigaoka sneered. “So they’ve probably gotten too cocky this year.”

They even dared to suggest holding the event at another school; it's like showing off their limited skills in front of an expert.

Regarding what happened last year, Kiyoyori vaguely recalled Eriri's complaints at the time.

That's strange...

It is clearly my own memory, yet it is so blurry.

"If that's the case, then why did you do it, Shiyu-senpai...?"

"Just assume I have ulterior motives, Shimizu-kun."

Kasumigaoka gave a mysterious smile.

Of course, she had ulterior motives.

Chapter 32 A Shattered Picture

Yukinoshita had never felt this way about avoiding anything before. It wasn't that she lacked confidence in organizing the event, but rather that she had very little confidence in her partner. Accustomed to working alone or having people around her who could quickly understand her, she couldn't help but feel dissatisfied when faced with a partner like this again.

But that's not a reason for me to run away.

With that in mind, Yukinoshita arrived at the meeting room on time.

These days, the Toyonosaki student council is still the same as always, only making empty promises. They seem very busy coming up with ideas, but in reality, they can't implement them at all. They say they want to cooperate with Soubu High, but this cooperation is more like finding a subordinate. Soubu High has taken care of almost all the behind-the-scenes work. The continuous hard work has also made the Soubu High student council members, who were already dissatisfied with Toyonosaki, quite resentful.

It wasn't that they hadn't considered proposing separate plans and then a collaborative exhibition, but Toyosaki's side insisted on cooperation. As the party that was originally invited and represented Soubu High School, Yukinoshita naturally had reservations and couldn't act as freely as before.

What's more, Toyosaki's attitude towards her was even more infuriating.

"Ha, I'm going to have another meeting with those incompetent fools today!"

The speaker was a student council member whose resentment towards the Toyonosaki student council had recently reached a breaking point. "I say, president, let's just quit! How can we possibly do anything interesting with people like that?!"

"Please watch your words and actions."

We're almost at the meeting room. It's fine to say this when you're with your own people, but in a place where you might run into other people at any time, it's best not to give them any ammunition.

"They don't take President Yukinoshita seriously at all! And—!"

"Amano!"

It was another girl who stopped the boy from speaking further, saying, "That's enough."

The boy named Amano turned his head away unwillingly.

“However, President,” the girl who had stopped him was clearly more composed than Amano, “Continuing like this is not a solution. We still need to find a way to resolve this. I understand that you don’t want to break ties with them right now, but the failure of this event could have a more serious consequence for us than making enemies.”

"It's not a big deal that they've dumped all the logistics work on us, but with only half a month left before the event, they haven't even decided on the main theme yet. It's hard to imagine what kind of results we can achieve this time."

It seems that after this incident, the Soubu High School student council will no longer cooperate with Toyonosaki's side. It's not worth ruining their reputation because of such a partner.

Moreover, this comes at a time when many people have opinions about Yukinoshita, and perhaps those people are waiting to see her make a fool of herself.

"I understand, I'll consider it."

Yukino sighed softly, rubbing her temples with her fingers, her face full of helplessness.

Before entering the meeting room, Yukinoshita was still thinking about this matter, until she saw a familiar figure in the meeting room who should not be there at this time.

This person...

I met him during the festival...

Is she also a member of Toyonosaki's student council?

Yukino didn't deliberately hide her gaze. In fact, the eyes of the Soubu High School student council members who had just entered the meeting room were almost all focused on the extra figure. Putting aside the question of the other person's identity, her captivatingly delicate face and exquisite figure were enough to attract attention.

The person being stared at also sensed this and raised their gaze from the paperback in their hand, accurately capturing Yukinoshita's eyes, a cryptic smile appearing on their lips.

Yukinoshita knew her; aside from their brief encounter at the festival last year, her name alone was memorable.

That talented girl who could remain at the top of her grade even while sleeping through class—Kasumigaoka Utaha.

More famous than her academic achievements is her outstanding appearance. As a beautiful girl with long, straight black hair, Yukinoshita often hears people comparing her to Kasumigaoka.

However, if we're talking about someone even more impressive than Kasumigaoka, it would be Tanaka Asuka, who was also ranked first in the entire grade.

As two adjacent schools, this kind of comparison is simply endless.

“President Yukinoshita,” Sakura stood up at the opportune moment, “that’s Kasumigaoka Utaha, an outstanding student from our school. You, being from other schools, might not know this, but Kasumigaoka’s literary talent far surpasses that of her peers. She has written numerous scripts for our school’s drama club, receiving considerable acclaim. This time, I will also be inviting her to—”