Yune Heats Up
Yune Heats Up
The Student Council. The academy's traditional autonomous student body.
Its president, by tradition, was always held by the child of the highest-ranking noble family—regardless of their year.
And per that tradition, this term's Student Council President was, naturally, the Crown Princess. No one would be displacing her for the next two years.
So I understood why the Crown Princess was trying to pull me into the Student Council. It was standard practice for council officers to fill the ranks with people from their own faction.
However.
"Let me be frank. I intend to appoint Lord Yunes as Student Council Vice President, and Lady Kirschblüte as Secretary."
The Crown Princess seemed intent on dragging Kir into the council as well—the heir to the Charlottenburg family, the head of the Noble Faction itself.
If this were just about me, I'd get it, but Kir too?
-Murmur murmur.
I wasn't the only one caught off guard. I felt the sharp intake of breath from our classmates watching us. The whole thing must have sounded just as shocking to them.
Kir's eyes narrowed, like she was trying to read the Crown Princess's true intentions.
"...Yune. You don't mind if I take you to the infirmary a bit later, right?"
"Ah, yeah."
Kir checked with me briefly.
When I nodded that it was fine, she rose to her feet, pulling me close with one arm.
"This doesn't seem like a conversation to have while walking around. Let's move elsewhere."
"Then let's go to the Student Council room. I'll treat you both to coffee, brewed by my own hand."
"Brewed personally by the Crown Princess? ...I'm honored."
The Crown Princess declared that the rest of this discussion would happen in the council room.
Realizing I had absolutely no way out of this, I sighed inwardly and raised my hand.
-Abruptly.
"Oh, Yunes. What is it? As I thought, your legs are still..."
"My legs are fine. It's just... I have a rather urgent matter to attend to. Would you and Kir mind going on ahead?"
I couldn't say what the whole thing was about, but it was obviously going to be a long conversation. So I made it known that I wanted to stop by the restroom first.
The Crown Princess looked at me with an odd expression.
"...I could wait for you, you know."
Good grief. You'd wait while I'm taking a piss? Then I can't exactly take my time.
"Who knows how long I might be? How could I make the Crown Princess wait without any certainty? Please, go on ahead."
"......Haa. Very well. Go and come back."
I dissuaded her from waiting and hurried off toward the restroom to relieve myself.
"Yune. Do you know where the Student Council room is? You won't get lost, will you?"
"Mark of a manly man. Never gets lost, ever."
"Fair enough. Your butler will get you there just fine. Take care~."
"......Got it."
...I felt deeply wronged by Kir treating me like a child.
* * * * *
After Yune left the lecture hall with Chloe, who had been waiting outside. Inside the Student Council room, the Crown Princess and Kir sat facing each other.
Kir took a sip of the coffee the Crown Princess had brewed, and her eyes went round.
"...The aroma is superb."
"I'm glad it's to your liking."
Kir offered an honest compliment about the coffee.
The Crown Princess smiled, lifting the corners of her lips, and got straight to the point.
"I'll speak directly. I want you to join the Student Council. Together with Yune."
The Crown Princess told Kir she wanted her on the Student Council.
Hearing that, Kir's mind began to spin internally.
Is this a signal to switch to the Pro-Imperial Faction? No. Or maybe she just thinks Yune won't join without me.
Becoming a member of the Student Council meant receiving the Student Council President's personal trust.
But who was Kir? The heir to the Charlottenburg family, the pillar of the Noble Faction.
For the Crown Princess, the Student Council President, to bring Kir—a Noble Faction member—into the council was a proposition that was rather difficult to make sense of.
Kir's eyes sank deep as she searched for a political meaning behind it all.
The Crown Princess, guessing what was on Kir's mind, let out a small laugh.
"There's no need to think about it like that. This isn't a bad deal for you either, is it?"
"...Are you perhaps making this offer because you're worried Yune will refuse to join the Student Council?"
"No. Even if you weren't Yunes's fiancée, I would have made the same offer. Let me explain why."
The Crown Princess then began to explain her reasoning.
"Up until now, the academy has been rotten. The very people who drew salaries from the imperial household were intimidating students and demanding bribes. Thanks to Her Majesty's reforms, all those leeches were driven out of the academy, but... there's no guarantee such things won't happen again."
"...."
"So, for the next two years, I intend to completely overhaul the Student Council. Not as an extension of politics, but as an organization that purely exists for the students. One that represents all students."
The Student Council had long been nothing more than a miniature version of the empire's political scene.
By playing politics while ignoring its original duty of representing the students, the council had remained blind to the sickness plaguing the academy. Even though, had they simply paid a little attention, they would have plainly seen that commoners and low-ranking nobles were suffering harassment, threats, and worse.
"...Leaving aside whether they truly didn't know or simply pretended not to—in any case, the Student Council as an organization hasn't been functioning properly. Because of that damned politics."
"Then, putting Yune and me on the Student Council is..."
"To demonstrate political neutrality and to establish a new tradition for the Student Council going forward. If the Crown Princess—me—stands together with two high nobles, we can certainly create a solid precedent."
After hearing the Crown Princess's full explanation, Kir took a sip of the still-warm coffee and organized her thoughts.
The conclusion Kir reached was simple.
...The justification is nice, but I have no reason to do it. I'll be busy enough spending quality time with Yune for the next two years.
In summary, her reaction was Do I really have to?.
Righting the wrongs of the academy wouldn't bring Kir any particular benefit, after all.
Unaware of Kir's feelings, the Crown Princess smiled confidently and extended her hand.
"How about it? Won't you work with me, here in the Student Council, toward a better empire?"
"I..."
Just as Kir was about to refuse the Crown Princess's offer.
-Knock knock.
-Crown Princess-niim~ may I come in~? Kiir~ open the door for me~.
The sound of a small knock on the door rang out, and so did Yune's voice, which sounded oddly cheerful.
Yune's voice sounds a little weird?
Yunes, using that kind of sweet voice toward me? What in the world happened?
They had been in the middle of a serious conversation just moments ago.
But both of them had their attention snatched away toward the door, completely distracted by Yune's voice, which carried more cuteness than usual.
And then.
"...Enter, Yunes."
-Yeees~!
-Creeeak.
The door opened immediately after the Crown Princess gave her dazed permission.
And what appeared from beyond that door was, naturally, Yune.
"Kiiir! I'm baaack! Hahaha."
...His face was oddly flushed, his tongue was strangely tangled, and his steps staggered this way and that.
At the sight of him, looking for all the world like he had been drinking, the serious atmosphere from moments before went flying out the window.
The two of them shouted as if on cue.
"...Yunes!?"
"Yune!?"
* * * * * *
A short while earlier. I had excused myself to go to the restroom.
But despite the massage earlier, my still-unhealed legs kept crying out in pain.
I'd managed to hold on until I got out of the lecture hall, but honestly, walking all the way to the restroom with my legs like this was a struggle.
I had no choice but to ask Chloe to support me.
"Chloe, just help me get to the restroom. Ugh, my legs are cramping."
"Understood."
Chloe had been waiting outside during my class.
I headed toward the restroom, supported by Chloe—or rather, half-draped over her.
"...Young master. Are you still in a lot of pain?"
"Yeah. It really hurts."
"Then I shall take you to the infirmary..."
"No. I just need to hit the restroom, then go straight to the Student Council room."
"Then, like Lady Kirschblüte, I will simply carry you there outright."
"Appreciate the thought, but no. What do you think the other nobles would say about you and me if they saw that?"
"...Understood."
"Ah. We've reached the restroom. I'll take care of business and be right back."
* * * * * *
Inside the restroom, I took care of my business, shuffling awkwardly, which delayed me quite a bit.
Even meticulously washing my hands afterward ended up taking more time than I had expected.
And then.
Huh? I don't see Chloe... Ah. There she comes.
The moment I stepped out, I spotted Chloe racing toward me at super-speed from a distance.
"Hahh. Hahh. ...My apologies, young master. Did you wait long?"
"Huh? No. I literally just came out."
Chloe asked if I had been waiting, her breath coming out in ragged gasps.
Seeing her disheveled hair and her rumpled maid outfit—no, her suit—I tilted my head.
"What's going on? Where did you rush off to in such a hurry? And I see you've even undone that choker."
"...I visited the infirmary briefly. Young master, here."
Chloe, having mentioned out of the blue that she'd stopped by the infirmary, promptly held out a glass bottle filled with a yellow liquid.
Maybe because I had just taken a piss in the restroom, the liquid looked exactly like urine.
My expression instinctively scrunched up.
"...What is this?"
"Holy Water. I obtained it from the person serving as the health teacher in the infirmary. She said that drinking it would heal your legs."
"...Holy Water!? Ohhh. Chloe! Thank you!! You're the only one I can count on!"
But as soon as I heard its true identity was Holy Water, I lit up and yanked out the cork stopper.
Even if it looks like piss, Holy Water is a whole different story.
-Glug glug glug.
"Ah. Young master. I was told a single sip would be more than sufficient..."
"Pwahah! This stuff actually tastes pretty great, contrary to its looks, you know? Even though it looks just like piss... hic."
"...You've already finished the whole thing. Nothing to be done, I suppose."
And so, I downed the Holy Water in one shot.
The pain in my legs vanished on the spot, as if washed clean, so I smiled happily and turned my steps toward the Student Council room.
But I still didn't know at this point.
That the health teacher Chloe got the Holy Water from was the same Temple Head my mother had brought in during the Solar Fire Carp inner core incident.
And that, knowing I would be the one drinking it, she had poured every last ounce of her strength into producing that Holy Water.
That the divine power the Temple Head had infused into the Holy Water—enough to send her into a state of near-collapse exhaustion—was so potent it could instantly regenerate a whole missing leg, never mind simple leg muscle pain.
And finally.
"...Young master? Are you still in pain?"
"Nope~? Doesn't hurt at aaaall? My steps aren't wobbling at aaaall?"
"......Are you perhaps... intoxicated?"
"What're you talking abouuut~ Chloe, you dummy. Hehe."
I still didn't know that my body had a constitution where exposure to too much divine power would make me feel hot and hazy, as if I were drunk.
And so, when I drank Holy Water... I got drunk.
I was still completely unaware.
Is it because my legs are healed? I feel ridiculously good! But why is it so hot?