Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Student Council Works Diligently
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Student Council Room.
The dust-covered interior had been cleaned and organized, turning it into a place fit for living.
Here, Ellie sat with a calm posture, moving her quill. With each motion of the demon girl's quill, festival-related documents were completed one by one.
Meeting minutes, expenditure reports, outcome reports. External official documents, student satisfaction surveys.
The Student Council's administrative tasks proceeded neatly under the demon girl's careful touch.
If this black-and-white girl hadn't been in the Student Council, would they have been able to pull off such a grand festival?
Someone had to handle the paperwork, after all.
"Ellie! Ellie! Look at this!"
Pastel ran around the room.
In her hand was a folded paper airplane. It performed acrobatic flights with her hand movements.
"Zwoooom!"
The airplane traced a flashy trajectory through the air before heading straight for Ellie.
"Pewk!"
The paper airplane stabbed into Ellie's head. Her black hair became disheveled.
"Uw aaaah!"
Pastel exaggerated her surprise.
"The airplane crashed!"
The airplane shook with her hand motions.
"Help! It's a super ultra airplane, so it didn't explode, but it's stuck in my head!"
Uw aaaah.
Pastel feigned shock before shifting half a step to the side and putting on a serious face.
"Don't worry! Rescue team's here! Just hang on! Rescue team, deploy~!"
She controlled a new paper airplane with her other hand.
"Zwoooom!"
Acrobatic flight incoming.
Zwoom.
Suddenly, Ellie's hand grabbed the airplane stuck in her own head.
Eh?
Her hand moved swiftly, and the paper airplane was flung away.
The airplane sped through the room in a clean arc, passing through the open window and riding the outdoor breeze far into the distance.
Zwoooom.
"Wowww!"
Pastel's eyes went wide.
She turned to Ellie.
"Ellie! Ellie! You've got talent! I'll fold more planes for you! Let's hone our skills!"
For the paper airplane contest championship!
With just me and Ellie as participants, it's straight to the finals!
This Pastel won't lose!
Ellie indifferently organized the documents. They stacked neatly on the table with crisp taps before being handed to Pastel.
"Review and approve them."
Pastel froze.
"Oh, all done?"
She looked over the documents.
"Wow, as expected of Ellie. So systematic and elegant."
Ellie gazed at her with tense eyes, like she was looking at a superior.
Pastel skimmed through, then pulled out the expenditure report and handed it back to Ellie.
"This one's rejected. Numbers are wrong."
Her finger pointed to the miscalculated total.
Ellie's eyes trembled as she checked it.
"H-how do you catch stuff like this?"
Pastel stamped approval on the rest.
Then she pointed to herself proudly and shouted.
"Pastel, top of the written exams!"
A kid who's great at theory but got zero on combat practicals.
Hehe.
Ellie gave her a puzzled look before taking the rejected document.
"I'll redo it."
"Sure."
Yay, work's done.
That was too hard.
Pastel put away the paper airplanes and flopped onto the sofa humming.
"I'm the top of the written exams~."
My brain's so smart.
"But I'm bad at fighting~."
A knock echoed through the song.
Knock knock.
Eh?
Ellie, who had been twirling her quill, stood and opened the door.
The visitor was a petite first-year. The first-year's lips trembled, face pale.
Ellie greeted the guest.
"What brings you here?"
"Th-there's a gh-gh-ghost in the d-d-dorm."
Oing.
The first-year paled further mid-sentence. Ellie soothed the guest and brought warm tea.
"Maybe you misheard? People don't become ghosts when they die. They return to nature."
"B-but I definitely heard something at night. Something was wandering the halls."
Ellie calmly countered.
"Then maybe it was a person? That's more likely than a ghost."
"That..."
The first-year gradually calmed.
"R-right? Yeah, that makes sense. It was probably a person."
Eh?
Pastel shot up from the sofa.
She strode confidently toward them.
Step step step.
All eyes turned to her.
Pastel opened her mouth with a serious face.
"Ghosts exist."
Dun dun duuun.
Pastel declared firmly.
"Eek!"
#
Pastel took the first-year to the old dorm.
Dorms weren't uniformly assigned.
Pastel Love Craft, the Marquess herself, got a private room.
Melissa, daughter of the border count in charge of the Great Forest, got a pretty nice private room too, though not as good as Pastel's.
But most students weren't so lucky.
Sky Island real estate was expensive. There wasn't enough budget to give private rooms to side-branch kids, illegitimate children, and commoners who made up the majority.
Fortunately, since it was a former officer training facility, there were plenty of group dorms.
This was one of those group dorms. A multi-story building with private rooms lined along corridors.
"Whoa, so this is what it's like."
Pastel looked around curiously.
Pretty rundown, but clean.
The trembling first-year followed, eyes darting fearfully down the empty hall.
"Gh-ghosts really exist?"
Pastel beamed.
"Of course! I guarantee it!"
Total confidence.
"Eeeek!"
The first-year paled.
Pastel cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted.
"Mr. Ghost! Are you there?!"
"Eeeeek!"
"Mr. Ghost! Mr. Ghost! Wanna be friends?!"
The first-year shuddered.
"I-I don't wanna be friends."
Pastel beamed.
"I do, so it's fine!"
The first-year went pale. His face looked like he might faint.
Eh.
"You okay? That scary? You can go back if you're scared. I'll let you know the results later."
"Y-yeah! Got it!"
The first-year brightened and bolted away.
Eh, Mr. Ghost's gonna be sad.
"Mr. Ghost! Don't be sad! I've got you! Friends, friends!"
Footsteps echoed.
Oh? Mr. Ghost?
A sturdy upperclassman-like guy walked from the end of the hall.
Leonard Tyler.
A swarm of first-years trailed behind him.
Whoa, playing big boss.
Leonard spotted Pastel. He flinched, approached, and stopped.
"What are you doing here."
"Hi, you live here?"
Leonard scowled.
"You think I'd live in this crappy old dump? Only losers stay here."
Ooh.
It's your friends' dorm, but you trash it like that?
A quick glance back showed a few looking uncomfortable. But cowed by his presence, they looked more dejected than angry.
Oops.
"Don't talk like that to friends."
Leonard glanced at his followers and snorted.
"What friends."
He shook his head.
"Whatever. Can't talk sense with a kid like you. Let's go, punks!"
Leonard quickened his pace and walked off. The first-years followed.
Tsk tsk.
There's always that one guy.
Pastel sighed deeply.
Then she caught a sweet scent and paused.
Mana stone smell?
But mana stones don't usually smell this strong. It's some processed fragrance.
The sweet scent dispersed like perfume.
Pastel turned to Leonard, the likely source.
Gut feeling tingling.
You guys up to no good?
Was the nighttime ghost the work of you lot too?
Pastel chased after them. She yanked the arm of a first-year following Leonard and dashed back the other way.
"Borrowing one minion!"
"What?!"
Ignoring the robbed Leonard, she ran.
"Friend, let's go!"
They rounded the corner to a shadowy nook. Once there, she released the arm.
The dragged Dustin panted heavily.
Pastel beamed as their eyes met.
"Hi, friend. We meet again."
"Uh, yeah."
He looked dazed.
"Hey."
She leaned in and whispered.
"Is Leonard up to something bad?"
Dustin flinched at the soft voice and averted his gaze, stepping back.
Nailed it! Nailed it!
"N-no idea."
Dustin blushed and shrank.
"C'mon, don't be like that."
Pastel closed in two steps. The distance shrank dramatically. Their shadows overlapped.
Startled Dustin backed up until his back hit the wall. Shadows fell between them.
Pastel pressed close, almost touching, and tilted her head.
"We're not friends? Strangers? We were strangers? Really...?"
The girl's whisper formed warm breath. Faint heat lingered in the air before reaching the boy.
Dustin's ears burned red.
The boy huddled against the wall like he wanted to flee. His eyes fled the girl, staring off into the distance.
"Fr-friends..."
His lips trembled as he mumbled.
"Yeah..."
Pastel beamed.
"Yay!"
Still my friend!
Yay.
#
Mana stone awakening agent.
After the festival, an unknown awakening agent was circulating.
It spread among upperclassmen with frequent combat requests, but centered on Leonard, it was reaching first-years too.
Drug abuse?
Uwaaaah, serious issue.
"That's bad!"
Pastel awkwardly mustered outrage with mixed feelings.
"You can't rely on mana stone awakening agents for power! Hone your pure, natural strength!"
Oh dear.
Why does saying that prick my conscience more?
Oing.
Flashback to munching meat pudding.
Then memories of munching mana stones.
Was it just imagination that someone whose body strengthens every time they eat mana stones thanks to Demon King heritage came to mind?
Oiiing.
What's the difference between mana stones and mana stone awakening agents?
Top-of-written-exams Pastel has no idea.
Pastel awkwardly whistled.
"A-anyway, drug abuse is unacceptable as Student Council! Time for a raid!"
Aja aja.
Time flew by swiftly.
As night fell, Pastel lay in ambush in the garden near the dorm.
She broke off leafy branches and held them in both hands for perfect camouflage.
『...Eh, whatever, kids being kids.』
Pastel flinched.
"I-I know it's a silly disguise. But how's a pink girl supposed to hide perfectly in a garden?"
She wasn't about to dirty her clothes and body for something non-life-threatening.
『Hmph.』
"Keep that up and I'll roll in the dirt to make a huge laundry pile."
Oh?
Thinking about it, sounds fun?
Pastel's face brightened.
『No way.』
The demon hurriedly straightened up.
Eh.
Soon, a first-year who looked like a customer entered the moonlit garden.
Looking around nervously.
Leon's group appeared from the other side and approached.
The customer handed over a heavy pouch with a tense face. One of Leon's minions took it, inspected, and nodded.
Leonard grinned and jerked his chin. Another minion pulled out a small box and handed it to the customer.
Caw caw.
Perfect crime scene even the mafia would cry over.
Pastel jumped up.
"Caught red-handed!"
All eyes snapped to her. Faces filled with panic.
Pastel charged and stopped.
"Righteous Student Council, arriving on scene!"
Leafy branches aimed at the criminals.
"I'm judging you!"
Leonard stared blankly.
"What."
"Student Council!"
"No way."
Leonard gawked before shaking his head. Then he scowled fiercely.
His glare fixed on Pastel.
"Hey, what makes you butt in? Can't you see how many we are? Pretend you didn't see and scram?"
His thumb jabbed at his minions. The first-years stared dumbly at their boss.
Meow.
Gasp.
Totally intimidating.
Is this the feeling of a cop facing the mafia?
But it's fine.
"What do I trust?"
Pastel flung the branches aside.
Pointed at herself with her hand.
"Talent."
Hehe.
No way I'd lose to these guys?
Leon's mouth dropped open. Utterly baffled, he turned to his minions.
"What nonsense is that? Why'd you buy it?"
The convinced minions hurriedly averted their eyes from the boss.
"Hey, you idiots! Change your faces! Damn it, whatever! Gimme the awakening agent!"
Leonard snatched the box. He pulled out pills and dumped them in his mouth.
Eh.
Pastel's eyes widened.
Can you just pop those like that?
Leonard groaned in pain. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing bulging, pulsing veins on his forearms.
O, ooh?
His gleaming eyes glared at Pastel.
"Last time, your shield was too old-school, crumpled from one punch."
Leonard crushed the awakening agent box in both hands.
Crunching noises followed.
He shook out his hands, and wooden debris rained down.
"Not this time."
His minions cheered. They looked at Pastel with newfound confidence.
Oing.
Pastel thought, then scanned the garden floor. She picked up a discarded metal fork.
Raised the fork high.
"Fork!"
She crushed it vigorously with both hands. Grotesque noises rang out. The contents balled into a sphere.
She held up the completed metal ball.
"Not fork anymore!"
The metal ball gleamed in the moonlight.
Leonard and his gang's mouths gaped.
Confidence faded from the minions' eyes, turning dumb again.
Leonard alternated looks between the box he'd crushed and the ex-fork.
He gauged with his own hand, then muttered.
"No way, that's cheating..."
His aggrieved voice echoed in the garden.
Caw caw.
Soon after, Pastel received the boxes.
"The righteous Student Council confiscates all of it!"
Her firm gaze pierced the criminal gang.
"No more relying on drugs next time, friends! Real skill comes from honest effort!"
Got it?
Ahem.
She gathered the boxes and skipped back.
Mana stone awakening agent?
Isn't it basically mana stones at the core?
Hehe, jackpot.
I'll eat them all.
Yay.