It comes as a shock, when the campaign announcements are made, that the current junior class president will not be running for her senior year.
During the spring, the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes will have their elections for the next year's student council. There is a campus for junior high students, but Byleth remembers Caspar telling her at the beginning of the school year- which seems like it happened a lifetime ago- that the incoming freshmen class doesn't have officers, so there won't be any elections or campaigning going on there.
For the past two years, Edelgard has been class president, and there has never been any question that she would be the senior class president as well, with Ferdinand right behind her, serving as her vice president. There were likely those excited to see how differently that campaign would go, now that everyone seems to know they're going to prom together, which has managed to convince the last few doubters that he and Edelgard are going out.
When the list of candidates is announced and campaign season has begun, nobody expects to see Edelgard's name absent from the list. Ferdinand is there, just like he always is, and Dimitri, after sitting it out for the past two years, has decided to try his hand at it, but the long-reigning class president seems to have abandoned the idea entirely. Though she is asked directly, the only answer anyone can get out of Edelgard is, "I'm just tired of it all. I thought I would enjoy my senior year without worrying about any extracurriculars."
After the amount of work she has put into the school, and how much she must have put into building an impressive college application, it seems strange that she would back down from it all at the very end. Though some speculate that she somehow managed to secretly be accepted to her dream school already, thus eliminating the need to care so much her senior year, there are others who think Ferdinand has something to do with it.
"He's softened her up to it. Maybe convinced her that he deserves a turn before they graduate, but since he always loses to her, they figured his only chance was if she dropped out entirely."
Even as they say it, most realize that this doesn't sound like something Edelgard would do, but if all the explanations they can think of sound unrealistic, and if her own explanation doesn't sound like her either, then what else could it be?
Naturally, when Ferdinand hears about this, he insists that the two of them aren't dating, even if they are going to prom together, and that even if they were, Edelgard is a fierce rival that would never back down over something like that. He insists that everything she says is true, and that she just does not have time for student council work like she used to.
~X~
While others are concerned with what the junior president is thinking, the senior president doesn't seem to have any worries on his mind. With the year nearly at an end, most of the senior class has relaxed entirely, thinking only of the prom and graduation and the summer that awaits them. Beyond that, there is college, but since acceptance letters have already come, there is nothing worth thinking about there, at least, not until the summer is nearly over.
Byleth and Claude have maintained the same relationship throughout the school year. They aren't exactly friends, but they sit close to each other in their final class and he will talk to her from time to time, seeming to enjoy getting her reactions to the various things that he says. Ever since she and Hubert have become better friends, his presence has been off-putting enough that even Claude talks to her less, but he is still an acquaintance and she thinks nothing of it when he starts discussing the prom with her.
"You're not going with anyone, are you?" he asks, and she hesitates before she answers. It's not a secret that she is going with Hubert, but it feels weird to say it when Hubert is sitting right there, and so, she hesitates long enough that Claude continues. "Well, in that case, I think it's probably my duty and obligation as class president to escort you. After all, as a new student, you haven't had as much of a chance to-"
"Not a chance, Claude," Hubert interrupts. "Byleth has already asked me , and besides, what would Hilda think if you told her she had to settle for being one of two dates?"
Claude laughs and says, "Come on, I was just joking around. I already knew about the two of you, believe me."
Ordinarily this would be the point where one of them would interject and say that they were only going as friends, that there isn't really a "two of" anything, but just this once, they don't.
~X~
Byleth is used to the tension when she gets to school on certain days. After an entire school year of it, she knows exactly what it means, and, after knowing the truth for so long, she usually knows ahead of time when she will be met with that tension upon arriving at school. So, when she arrives one morning to the quiet tension in the air, she knows what it means, or at least, what it should mean.
She is more than used to it, but it comes as a surprise, for the first time in a long time, because there should not be a reason for it. At least, she knows that there should not have been a body recently found. They've already discovered the body from the last time Edelgard fed, so there must be another reason for the tension. Byleth can tell that the Hubert, Edelgard, and Ferdinand seem just as perplexed as she is, and she looks forward to study hall, if only because she knows that Caspar will have answers.
But what he says isn't what she expects. What he says is, "I mean, it's the same as ever, mostly. Another victim was found early this morning, but honestly? This one was way more brutal. I think that has everyone pretty shaken up."
But Byleth was with Edelgard all night, and she knows that Edelgard isn't responsible. What's more, she knows that Edelgard isn't responsible for the dozens of attacks that come before the week is over.
