From: Kaguya Shinomiya

To: Hachiman Hikigaya

I would be happy to discuss the future of our company; why don't we talk it over at the Shuuchin donors' Christmas banquet? I understand that you were extended an invitation. I'm also delighted to be seeing Komachi again. See you there.

~/~

I shook my head and smiled. Even now, Kaguya was still such a dinosaur. Literally, whenever it was possible, she tried to conduct business face-to-face.

In the seat next to me, Isshiki whined. "Senpai, you're going to come help me this evening, right?"

As I predicted, Iroha had won the election handily. Since that, she had been a pest in asking for my help. This time though, she had made a mistake. I had lured her into the service club room. I just needed to lay the trap then I could throw her to the wolves (AKA Yukinoshita).

I sighed. "I don't mind helping you, but I don't feel like I'm facilitating your improvement in any meaningful capacity." I switched to consultant language. The way of saying nothing but talking for hours on end.

Isshiki didn't back down. She smirked cattily, looking more satisfied than a cat that had gotten the canary, the mouse, and the goldfish. "Senpai, save that; it's perfect."

At this statement, even Yukinoshita and Yui, who had been ignoring us thus far, looked up from their novel and textbook, respectively. Isshiki didn't notice; she was too busy marching triumphantly out the door. "Be there at 5 pm, Senpai."

I looked up, hoping for some sympathy, and found none. Yui smiled a grin dripping with schadenfreude while Yukinoshita simply looked unimpressed. "Hikki, why did you promise to help her?"

"I didn't think that it was gonna come back and bite me in the ass this way." I grumbled.

"For someone hailed as a genius. You can be quite obtuse." Yukinoshita chided. I scowled at her, and she hid a smile behind her book.

I turned sideways to Yui. "Got any sympathy to spare?"

Her response was a lack of one, flipping a page in her textbook. Jesus, getting sympathy from these two was like wringing blood from a stone. Ultimately it wasn't a big deal, but I still liked to complain. I instead decided to dedicate myself to a more useful pursuit.

That pursuit, of course, was writing another proposal for the Shinomiya company. I tapped away at my laptop, and at some point, Yukinoshita stood up to brew tea. I accepted the offered cup gratefully. I muttered thanks but didn't look up. There was so much work to be done and so little time.

The Shinomiya conglomerate needed to grow fast. Unfortunately, the company was so big already that finding new industries to expand into was hard. According to my research, the best place to funnel our resources right now is into banking.

It was an ambitious goal, to be sure. Acquiring our own bank and then improving the infrastructure but if we pulled it off, we could easily surpass the 50% in 10-year goal that had been set for us.

After I finished writing that, I browsed through the bylaws of this stupid inter-school student council collaboration. Once I'd read all fifteen pages of that, it was time to go.

The clock struck 4:40 pm, and I stood to exit. "I'm gonna head out." I paused as a thought struck me. "Wanna go with me?"

Yukinoshita raised an eyebrow while Yui smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I have some organic chemistry homework that I need help with; Yukinon promised to help me study."

I frowned. "Well, I guess this is karma. Later." I jogged over to the community center at a relaxed pace. Fortunately, it was barely two kilometers away.

I covered the distance with ease and barely broke a sweat in the crisp air. When I entered the community center where the meeting was being hosted, Isshiki immediately began hounding me. "Senpai! Senpai! Where have you been? The meeting is about to start."

She gestured urgently, and I looked over her shoulder to see the rest of the Sobu cabinet trudging into the meeting room. "Relax, we have about five minutes to spare."

Isshiki took a breath. "Okay, but we need to be ready. They all talk so much, but somehow, my team always ends up with the most work."

I squinted at her. "So just tell them to do that work themselves." She averted her eyes. "So I'm just here to be your fall guy and look like an asshole."

I began to turn away when she caught my arm. "It's more than that. Senpai, they use all these fancy words, and whenever they ask me to put more work into my council, they always make it seem like if I say no that I'm a bad person."

I groaned. "Uggh, fine, I'll help you. Just watch and learn."

We entered the meeting room, and I scanned the various student councils that each occupied a section of the table. My eyes traced over Orimoto, who looked shocked at my attendance.

The seated students looked at me with a small degree of interest. Isshiki didn't seem like she was going to take the initiative, so I stood tall and introduced myself.

"Hello, I am Hachiman Hikigaya. I'm here as a consultant to the Sobu president." I used my head to gesture at Isshiki. "I'm experienced in administration and organizational management. I ran the Sobu cultural festival this year. I'm excited to be a part of this project and hope to make it a success."

I took a seat next to Isshiki, who offered me a grateful smile.

One boy from the same school as Orimoto cleared his throat. "It's nice to meet you Hikigaya. Not to be rude, Isshiki, but this is highly unorthodox."

She fumbled for a response. "Well … you see - that I uh-"

I couldn't bear to watch this so I leaned over and whispered in her ear. "According to the joint school collaboration initiative, any given school may send a delegation of up to seven students per meeting. These students may attend in a rotating pattern or regularly. Regardless of the fact that this is slightly irregular, it is completely within the bylaws that govern us." Isshiki recited my muttered instructions as a hastily crafted defense came pouring out of my mouth.

There were three points of failure for which I only had moderate defenses but I didn't believe that anyone here was skilled enough to find and attack them in due time.

Okay. Nevermind. Everyone was silent and looking at us like we came from mars.

Tamanawa coughed. "Well, I guess she had a point; now on to the meeting. I was thinking of a way to create a new organizational paradigm that will better allow us to incorporate all the ideas pitched thus far…."

I tuned him out. This was like a cheap imitation of the real board meetings that I had sat in on and participated in. I pulled my phone from my pocket and began a game of digital chess.

I idly moved the pieces as the machine proceeded to crush me thoroughly. I waited for this stupid prick to run out of steam before I pounced. Once the conversation came to a lull, I interceded. "I would like to propose a new streamlined system of idea classification and application. The current plan involves so many factors that a sort of organizational dissonance is created. In order to creat harmony I propose a distillation of our most promising ideas."

They had no idea what I was saying. Hell, I barely knew what I was saying. Tamanawa had worn himself out, sure, but that didn't mean he would let me steamroll him. "I must disagree with Hikigaya. Inclusion and diversity are essential to any cohesive project."

I riposted. "As this plan currently stands, all it will allow is a degree of half measures and cut corners applied to a plethora of event aspects. Based on current neuroscience, people tend to remember bad more than good." I switched to vernacular, all the better to punctuate my most important points. "Therefore, we can't afford to have a bad part of this celebration. I propose that we focus on quality and getting it done right, rather than what's easy or less intimidating."

He frowned but chose not to reply. What could he say? I attacked him with the most painful weapon in my rhetoric arsenal: truth. Everyone on the committee knew that they weren't getting anything done, but no one wanted to be the one to say it.

Someone raised their hand. "I second Hikigaya."

Another. "I support his proposal."

I allowed myself a satisfied smile. "Thanks. Let's make this event fantastic. So what I was thinking of for the event was a white Christmas theme."

~/~

I was shooting a text to Ishigami when she approached. I quickly sent it. The hallway was empty save for the two of us.

From: Hachiman Hikigaya

To: Yuu Ishigami

Yuu; I know everyone in the student council received an invitation. You better be there!

Kaori Orimoto looked nervous. "So that was really something back there."

I shrugged. Not putting on airs nor feigning nonchalance. The truth was that I found her insignificant. She simply bored me now. "Not really. I just mimicked his style and cut to the heart of the issue."

"When did you change? You weren't like this in middle school." She smiled in reminiscence.

"I didn't show it at school. But I was." I replied. "There was something novel about being a regular kid."

She laughed. "Wow, for a moment there, I thought you were being serious. You're funny, Hikigaya!"

I smiled. I think I was amused and surprised at her disbelief. I stood and slipped by her, leaving her behind in the hall.

~/~

Yui Yuigahama

Yukinon flipped a page, her long lashes fluttering in the warm light of our shared desk. They fixed onto me, and I glanced back down at the paper.

"Explain to me what benzene is." She asked as she tucked a stray strand of ebony hair behind her ear.

I rubbed my temple with my left hand, trying to pull a drop of knowledge from a brain that had just been bombarded by a flood of learning. "Okay, it um consists of a ring of six carbons atoms and uhh.."

Yukinon gestured for me to continue.

"With alternating single and double bonds."

Yukinoshita quirked an eyebrow and smiled slightly. "Not bad make sure to specify that it's carbon-carbon bonds alternating between single and double. Besides that, not bad."

I beamed. The space between our faces grew smaller as I leaned forward. My focus dropped from her piercing blue eyes down to her lips. They looked moist and soft. For a moment, I wondered how they would feel pressed against my own.

My breath caught, and the moment passed. I hugged her and lay my head on her shoulder as she tensed. I purged the thought from my mind with extreme prejudice.