"Alright, everyone! Operation: President X Ishigami-sama part 2 is almost ready!"
The first years of the student council had convened in the StuCo room, though some of them were more enthusiastic than others. Kogane nodded along with Mitama while Takeno clicked his tongue, leaning back into the couch he and Kogane were sat on.
"Why exactly is this 'part 2' of the operation?"
Mitama narrowed her eyes crossing her arms at this display.
"If your brain were actually functional at anything but studying, then you'd remember that part 1 was the movie ticket. Or did you block out that memory because of how you almost screwed everything up?"
Takeno crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, matching Mitama's darkened expression.
"I don't have to take that from an idiot like you- Ow!"
Before he could finish, though, he felt a sharp impact on the back of his head and when he turned to the side, he saw Kogane staring at him with a deadly smile and her hand in the air.
"Now, what did we say about calling people idiots, Tai-chan?"
Takeno rubbed the back of his head, shrinking on the spot.
"Yeah, but-"
"No buts. And don't even think of bringing up her grades. Remember who scored higher last time?"
While this seemed to quiet Takeno, this also seemed to utterly perplex Mitama whose gaze began to flit between Kogane and Takeno at hypersonic speeds.
"Wait… You scored lower than her?!"
In this moment, Takeno wanted nothing more than to disappear on the spot. Kogane, meanwhile, ignored the vaguely Takeno-coloured blob spreading next to her, explaining as if talking about the weather.
"Mhm! I got exactly 10 more points than him!"
Mitama took a moment to process this information, clutching her head as she began to chuckle to herself.
"Seriously… Instead of the one-upping jackass scoring first, it was the RL doujin president. I'd bet no one was happy about that."
Kogane began to pout at the mention of 'RL doujin'.
"I told you not to bring that up, didn't I? And anyways, I'm shocked that you didn't know until now. Didn't you see when you were checking your rank?"
Mitama shrugged, walking off to the side as she searched the room for some tea.
"I didn't bother. I already know my rank anyways."
Mitama Tono: First year. Her rank: 152nd out of 156.
She finished brewing the tea, pouring a cup for herself and Kogane before setting the pot in front of Takeno who poured one for himself.
"In any case, it's not good for a member of the student council to be failing. Shouldn't you put in more work?"
Mitama gave Takeno a shrug, sipping her tea.
"I try to study, but whenever I do, I either get distracted or its so mind-numbing that I forget everything by the time the test starts. Besides, it's not like I need good grades to be a good botanist."
Takeno smirked at this.
"Not everyone has world-famous gardener parents as free tutors."
Mitama rolled her eyes.
"It's called botany. In any case, back to Operation: Scavenger-"
"I thought it was Operation: President X Ishigami-sama?"
"Back to Operation: Scavenger, my part's all done."
Kogane gave a surprised smile, putting down her tea.
"Really? I'm surprised that they let you alter the contents of the scavenger hunt like that."
Scavenger hunts! A classic trope in the modern romcom is for a member of a potential couple to participate in one of these events in a sports day! Because Iino already signed up for this, that part has been fulfilled! However, the next part of the plan is slightly harder to fulfill. Naturally, what typically happens is that the participant draws a card saying 'the person you like' from the pile, but this is impossible! The student council president herself forbid anything like this from happening saying things such as 'Shuchiin Academy is already disrespected as it is!' and 'If we allowed something like this, then that would basically be a member of the disciplinary committee encouraging illicit relationships!'
"But despite that, you managed to fulfill your goal?"
Mitama responded to Takeno's skeptical tone with a smirk, wagging her finger at him.
"See, what you don't understand is how much the president cares about her fellow students."
Kogane didn't appear to be following.
"Sure, but what does that do with this? The president doesn't seem like the type to be lenient in terms of this kind of stuff."
Mitama simply gave a light laugh as she leaned forward, setting her elbows on the table as she interlocked her fingers in front of her.
"Well, you see, it's all just a matter of reframing."
She once again leaned back, taking another sip of tea before continuing.
"People really aren't kind enough to each other these days, don't you think?"
Takeno raised an eyebrow.
"What does that have to do with-"
"Just answer the question, Tai-chan."
"Don't call me that."
Takeno and Kogane both thought to themselves for a few moments before nodding along.
"Yeah. I'd agree with that."
"As much as I hate to admit it, you're mostly right there. Anyways, what does this have to do with anything?"
Mitama continued, the grin on her face growing wider.
"You know how a lot of the times, people are too scared to compliment each other out of fear of sounding creepy or because of embarrassment?"
A slight sense of indignation stirred within Kogane at these words as she stood up, placing her her hands on the table as she leaned forward.
"Ishigami-sama would never hesitate to-"
"Remember the whole thing with cats and dogs? Even Ishigami-sama was hesitant to outright compliment the President in front of us."
Kogane reluctantly sat back down.
"I guess…"
"So, where are you going with this?"
"I'm getting to that, Tai-chan. So, the system that I worked out with the president and the sports fest committee was that the contestants in the scavenger hunt would each draw once from 2 different piles. The first one would be a normal scavenger hunt with items like keychains and headbands, but the real fun starts at the second pile."
Kogane was now listening with rapt attention while Takeno actually semed to be listening to Mitama for once in his life as she continued.
"Rather than various different objects, the second pile only has one item. One thing written down on four sheets of paper for each contestant."
Mitama bounced over to a cupboard, pulling out a top hat before returning to her seat, reaching into it, and drawing a single card. And as Kogane read this, her eyes began to glow, almost lighting up the whole student council room as she exclaimed:
"Someone you admire!"
Kogane grabbed the card and almost started vibrating on the spot from giddyness while Mitama and Takeno both chuckled at this display.
"The President okayed this idea after I explained that it was a good way to encourage students to be kind to one another and to get us to think more positively."
"You're a genius!"
"I know, right?"
As she said this, Mitama looked over at Takeno who up until this point had an approving look on his face. That look vanished the moment that Mitama began smirking in his direction.
"What do you want?"
"You think that this is an amazing idea, don't you?"
Takeno grit his teeth, looking away.
"C'mon! You know you love the idea. You're just too embarrassed to admit that I'm a genius, aren't you?"
"Yeah, c'mon, Tai-chan! Call her a genius!"
Takeno's pride was strong, but Kogane was stronger. He grit his teeth so hard that he almost chipped one of them before muttering out…
"You're a genius…"
"Do you have to sound like you're in excruciating pain as you say that?"
Mitama rose out of her seat, stretching as she started to walk off.
"In any case, the scavenger hunt is starting soon, so I should probably get these lots over there. See you guys later!"
Today's result: Mitama wins.
