Rejecting Our Club Approval? Taste This!
Rejecting Our Club Approval? Taste This!
There's an old saying: strike while the iron is hot.
"Let's go get the club approved."
Staying alone with Rina any longer felt like a recipe for disaster. I led her toward the academy's Student Council building.
"... Ian? What's he doing here?"
"Here to turn himself in?"
I ignored the bewildered looks from a few council members and strode right in.
For a dedicated building, the interior was surprisingly opulent.
Lichten Academy guarantees a significant degree of student self-governance, so the Student Council's authority is considerable.
My gaze drifted to the notices pinned on the board.
—【 Notice 】—
• Swordsmanship Professor Recruitment (Aether Class)
• Student Council — Always Recruiting
• For general administrative matters, please visit the Student Affairs Office in the Main Building!
——
A swordsmanship professor recruitment, huh.
Come to think of it, they should be contacting me about that soon.
I pulled my eyes away from the board and kept walking.
【 Reception 】
The Student Council's service window was bigger than I expected. Nearly the size of a small government office.
"Whoa, look at all this paperwork."
Rina still had a flair for overreacting to the most mundane things.
Isn't that exhausting? The world of the socially gifted is a mystery to me.
"The club registration forms should be around here somewhere."
"Found them!"
Filling them out wasn't the hard part.
The difficulty in founding a club was never the paperwork in the first place. It's the start-up fees and the approval review that are brutal.
'Knowing the Vice President's personality, though, it's best to make sure the forms are perfect.'
As I jotted down the club's nature and activity plans, Rina leaned in.
"Hey, Ian. It says we need at least three members to start a club? Who else is there?"
I simply added Danya's name.
'Have to make her earn those tomatoes.'
Society is a harsh place.
"Hmm. I figured it'd be Danya. More importantly, what are we naming the club?"
Huh. I hadn't actually given it any thought.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I tapped my pen, and Rina fell into contemplation with me.
She looked like she was trying to come up with something impressive.
As a Spirit Mage, she might have a knack for things like naming spirits. Maybe she'd have a talent for this, too.
She drummed her lips for a moment, then spoke up.
"Ian and Rina's..."
"Just put down 'Dessert Research Society'."
"Ehehe. I was just kidding. But I like it. Dessert Research Society. It sounds sweet."
After that, it was smooth sailing.
I'd had plenty of experience with paperwork back in the modern world.
"S-So fast."
I placed the completed forms into the hands of a still-impressed Rina.
"?"
I nudged her toward the reception window and took a step back. She tilted her head, so I gave her a brief explanation.
"From here on out, you're in charge, Rina."
"Huh?"
"My reputation with the Student Council isn't exactly stellar."
I didn't even have to dig deep into my memories.
The days when Pongpongi went around hitting on every girl and confessing to them weren't that far in the past.
The Student Council bears part of the responsibility for managing the student body.
So just how many complaints about Pongpongi do you think they've been flooded with?
If I were a new recruit at the bottom of the council, I'd be grinding my teeth at the sight of him.
"Ah, right! That did happen."
Seeing Rina connect the dots so easily only stung more.
A line stretched out ahead of her as she clutched the forms.
There were five reception windows, and four of them were packed.
At the one remaining window, a girl with soft sky-blue hair was nodding off.
Rina hesitated for a moment, then headed straight for the drowsy girl.
The student looked young and sleepy-eyed.
A large black ribbon perched atop her very pale blue hair left a strong impression.
Her name was Sya.
She's something of a mascot for the Student Council, a character you run into often when you play the game.
As Rina approached with a bright smile, Sya let out a long yawn.
"Hwaaahm. Cadet Rina Rosewell? What brings you here?"
"Hello! I'm here to create a club, but..."
"Hwaaam. I'm sorry, but it's not possible right now."
"Excuse me?"
"The Chancellor says there are, hmm, too many clubs being approved. Says there are too many similar ones. So it's a no."
Rina looked troubled but kept trying to charm Sya.
But Sya was firm.
"A no is a no. I don't want the Vice President yelling at me... Mnyah."
With that, she started dozing off again.
"E-Excuse me."
Rina was visibly flustered.
Well, no matter how maxed-out her social skills are, it's tough to hold a conversation with someone who's falling asleep.
I sighed and stepped forward.
The reaction was immediate.
"Hwaam, welcome... H-Hyik! I-I-Ian Blackangus!"
All traces of sleep vanished from Sya's face as she flapped her hands frantically.
This pattern of violent rejection looked familiar.
After a moment's thought, I realized who she reminded me of.
It was an unexpected comparison.
The librarian.
Their gestures were complete opposites, but the underlying sentiment was the same. A pure aversion to Pongpongi's confession-spamming ways.
Any second now, she'd say it.
"No confessions allowed!" That's what she'd say.
But my prediction was way off.
"I don't taste good!"
That's what Sya shouted at me.
...Just what kind of monster do you think I am?
◆
Always rejecting requests with drowsy eyes—that was 'Sya the Petition Rejector.'
But despite that infamous nickname, she's a sort of hidden Easter egg within the Student Council.
If you only knew how to handle her, she could help you breeze through all sorts of paperwork.
I spoke in a calm, measured tone.
"What you just said sounded rather insulting."
"B-But the senior councilors told me to always be careful around Ian, or he might eat me!"
"Just what do you people take me for? Is it acceptable for the Student Council to make such discriminatory remarks?"
"Th-That's...!"
Sya's defining trait was her vulnerability to being chided in a reasonable tone.
She was the girl who applied a cutely(?) brutal survival-of-the-fittest logic right there at the Student Council's reception desk.
"I-I'm sorry."
"In that case, could you take a look at our club registration forms?"
"N-No, I can't! The Vice President will yell at me! Plus, Ian, you've missed a lot of class days... You're at the bottom of the Student Council's priority list."
"That was unavoidable because I had to visit the North..."
"Hyik!"
I wondered why she suddenly flinched, but it seemed she'd heard about the news from the north.
"Th-That's right! Y-You ate the Grand Duke of the North... Sya had forgotten about that."
"Could you maybe stop using the phrase 'ate'? It's giving me a weird feeling."
And besides, I was the one who almost got eaten.
Either she didn't hear me, or she didn't care, as Sya just shook like a leaf on her own.
"If you threaten me by bringing up the N-Northern Grand Duke, Sya has nowhere left to retreat... Ian might be scarier than the Vice President... His danger rank just went up."
"?"
Still trembling, Sya pulled out a seal and stamped the documents.
Thump!
"T-Take them and go!"
Well, if things worked out, that's all that matters.
I bowed my head to her.
"Thank you for the approval."
"This isn't club certification! It just means you can get an approval review...! Please don't misunderstand. Sya doesn't have that kind of authority."
"Ah. About that part, there's one small issue I'm having."
"D-Don't tell me... you're saying if I don't give you something more, you'll eat Sya? Hyiik!"
"No, that's not it."
"You're demanding the club support package too...?! They were right about you! If a special subsidy hadn't just come in, our Student Council would've been ruined because of Ian!"
Thump!
Sya began doing things I hadn't even thought to ask for.
She might look like she's napping all day, but this was only possible because she had a thorough understanding of the council's overall operations.
The documents were being stamped one after another.
We definitely only submitted one form, yet Sya had produced about five different documents.
"As you requested, Ian, I've processed the club establishment application, the special support package, the club room usage permit... And so on. There's nothing more I can do!"
"Thanks."
"H-Hyik!"
She flinched violently when I reached out to take the papers.
"P-Please don't eat me..."
... This kid, seriously.
"N-Now all you have to do is proceed with the review hearing. Did you arrange a meeting with the three review committee members, including the Student Council executives...?"
"No. That's actually what I wanted to ask you about earlier."
"You admit it so shamelessly..."
Sya rose from her seat, her voice trembling as if on the verge of tears.
"S-So you were going to make Sya handle this too? This is painful for Sya."
Muttering to herself, the girl walked over to a door at the back.
A moment later.
"The review hearing will now commence. Please come in, Cadet Ian Blackangus."
A cold voice rang out from within.
◆
What awaited Rina and me inside were three members of the Student Council.
The Vice President. The council's general representative and head of accounts.
And the last one was probably a first-year.
It was my first time meeting them, but aside from the newbie, I recognized them from the game screen.
And they'd definitely recognize me, too, given the mountain of complaints they must have handled.
'This won't be easy.'
The atmosphere was tense the moment I took a seat.
There was no way they had any goodwill toward Pongpongi, their biggest headache.
And sure enough.
"You've got some nerve walking into the Student Council on your own."
The Vice President's opening remark was razor-sharp.
Utterly haughty—as if you took Sylvia, stripped away the cuteness, and layered on arrogance: Vice President Iris, a young noble lady.
"It's truly an honor to meet you in person like this, Vice President."
"Don't think you can just weasel your way out of this with that greasy smile. The Student Council has suffered for weeks because of you."
Hmm.
She was sharp, just as anticipated.
At this rate, she might just reject the application after taking one look at my face.
"Of course, the disciplinary committee decided to hold your punishment in abeyance, so that matter won't factor into this decision."
She was sharp, as befitted a vice president, expertly dissecting my mental state.
"However."
She added coldly.
"Your past record can be reflected in the club evaluation. It would be problematic for us if a Student Council-approved club roamed around as a group to stalk people, or secretly brewed some kind of shady drug. The club's nature, its purpose, and its expected output will all be meticulously evaluated."
She held out her pale hand toward the first-year.
"?"
"Take them. The documents."
"Ah."
The newbie, clearly intimidated, scampered over to take the forms and hand them to Vice President Iris.
Swish.
With a confident look, Iris crossed her legs.
"Well, I'm sure it's just some superficially academic club, like a 'language exchange society.' The reality will be a social club rotting away with lust. You'd best not think you can fool my eyes."
Flutter—.
She began flipping through the documents one page at a time.
And as she read each line, the confidence brimming in the corners of her eyes gave way to surprise.
"... Cadet Rina Rosewell, you've joined this club as well?"
"Yes. I'm a founding member."
Rina nodded proudly.
"I thought you had come here for a different matter..."
Iris hurriedly scanned the documents for something else.
"... D-Dessert Research Society?"
She uttered the name with a voice full of shock.
"I-Ian Blackangus, y-you mean to tell me you're starting a club to study desserts?"
"Yes. The plan, the goals, and the expected results are all written out perfectly."
Her eyes darted around rapidly.
"That can't be... W-Well, the paperwork does seem flawless, but... Ahem!"
Gone was her initial confidence, replaced by a face full of bewilderment and fluster.
I didn't miss that opening and placed the icebox on the table.
— Thud.
A plume of pure white mist seeped out.
I offered a Snow Blossom Fruit to the wide-eyed executive council members.
"Please, have a taste."