“None of the presents say who they’re from…”
“And now that I think about it, there aren’t really that many people who even know when your birthday is, right? Any idea who knows other than the people that went to your party?”
“…No.”
A stack of mysterious gifts, all from anonymous senders, without a single clue as to their origins… Both Masachika and Alisa were naturally hesitating about touching the increasingly suspicious pile…when Sayaka suddenly broke her silence.
“Hmm… This is starting to feel a little suspicious. I—the disciplinary committee—should hold on to these for now.”
“What? Why?”
“Because bringing non-school related items to school is a violation of the rules, and said rule is subject to enforcement by the disciplinary committee. Besides…”
Sayaka, after subtly glancing around herself, then stepped a little closer to Alisa and Masachika and whispered:
“There’s also the possibility that these were left here by one of your rival’s fans in order to sabotage your chances in the election, so it’d be better if we opened them together alongside the rest of the disciplinary committee.”
“…!!”
Her observation snapped Masachika back to reality. The high school hadn’t seen any sort of scummy election interference since the incident at the school festival, so he had grown completely complacent. However, Sayaka was absolutely right.
Yeah… This could easily be some kind of bad prank related to the election…
Finding needles or thumbtacks in the gifts would be downright charming compared to what some lowlifes might try. Nevertheless, this was Seirei Academy’s election—this was war. It was entirely within the realm of possibility that someone might have hidden a microphone or a camera inside the gifts, which they could easily exploit to expose their opponent’s secrets or weaknesses.
I wouldn’t put it past some motivated scumbag like Yuushou to do something like that…
After Masachika’s expression twisted slightly at the thought, he gave Sayaka a small nod of gratitude.
“Thanks, Sayaka. Things have been so peaceful lately that I let my guard down,” he said softly.
He thereupon turned toward Alisa and deliberately spoke in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
“We should do as Sayaka says. Who knows? Some sick fan of yours might have gotten you something really weird.”
“Good point. Thanks, Sayaka.”
“Not at all. Anyway, I’ll call for help.”
No sooner had she said that than Sayaka pulled a transceiver from her pocket.
“Is that…a two-way radio?”
But despite Alisa’s bewilderment, Sayaka just pressed a button and began speaking into the transceiver.
“This is Taniyama, year one. I need three first-year students to come to classroom 1-B to transport around ten suspicious items to the disciplinary committee room. Over.”
A few moments passed after she released the button before several voices began responding one after another through the transceiver.
“This is Fukunaga, year one. I’ll be there in ten seconds. Over.”
“Why even respond if you’re going to be here in ten seconds?”
“This is Fox. Be there in a minute. Over.”
“Uh… Why does he have a code name?”
“This is Maesawa, year one. I still have to finish my homework for first period, but I’ll be there. Over.”
“No! Finish your homework!”
Though Masachika couldn’t keep his mouth shut, nobody on the other end could hear him since it was a simplex transceiver. Regardless, it wasn’t long before the three reinforcements arrived one by one and helped cart the gifts out the door.
“You’ve become quite popular,” Sayaka remarked while they gathered the gifts.
“Huh?”
“All the birthday wishes you got earlier. The old you would have never been wished happy birthday so casually by your peers.”
Alisa pondered this detached observation for a moment before slowly nodding.
“Yeah… I do think it’s definitely something I should be grateful for. I mean, being wished happy birthday by everyone today…”
Alisa, though slightly embarrassed, smiled genuinely and with heartfelt joy as if she were finally starting to realize it herself.
“…made me so happy.”
“…I’m glad,” replied Sayaka, her expression remaining unchanged as she glanced at Alisa out of the corner of her eye. She then faced forward and added, “But be careful. The more attention you get and the more popular you become, the more people start to resent you.”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.”
Alisa smiled gently at Sayaka’s seemingly nonchalant yet sound advice, then, as if suddenly remembering something, asked:
“By the way, Sayaka… Do disciplinary committee members always carry two-way radios on them?”
“Yes. Smartphones—unless it’s an emergency—are prohibited, after all. Besides, these are more convenient if you want to give orders to multiple people at once.”
“Oh, come on. Half of it is basically you just wanting to pretend like you’re a member of the special forces. I mean, why even call for backup? We could have just stuffed all these gifts into a plastic bag and brought them to the disciplinary committee room ourselves.”
Sayaka raised an eyebrow at Masachika’s retort as she stared up into his eyes.
“So you’re willing to throw someone else’s presents into a plastic bag like garbage? Where are your manners?”
“Oh, uh… Still, couldn’t we have just gotten everyone here to help?”
“As long as there’s a possibility of danger, then we cannot ask for non-committee members to help.”
“…All good points, but admit it: you just wanted to play with your two-way radio, right?”
“Not at all.”
Masachika gazed intently at Sayaka’s prim, unamused expression, then—
“By the way, do you have a code name, too?”
“…! N-no, of course not…”
“Uh-huh…”
“What?”
“You stuttered.”
“Because you asked something incredibly bizarre.” She huffed, turning away with irritation and peevishly marching into the disciplinary committee room. But after everyone had placed their presents on the long table, a male student, who had introduced himself as Fox earlier, shifted his gaze toward Sayaka with a grin and declared:
“Mission complete. Need anything else, Noir?”
“I knew it!”