“This is the fifth report we’ve received of these wretches causing trouble!”
Rubiaflash Sadie, the president of the student council, clenched her fist and slammed it against her desk, seemingly unconsciously. The impact was so great it sent her teacup flying most of the way up to the ceiling, and it would have surely shattered against the floor if she hadn’t averted disaster by catching it partway through its descent.
“My, oh my. I see our president is rather irate today. Hardly the most elegant of attitudes, I must say,” a student with distinctively wavy hair, Direwolf Etigra, said without sparing Sadie so much as a sidelong glance. It seemed she’d understood what had just happened through her keen senses alone. Etigra, incidentally, was in charge of the council’s general affairs.
We were in the student council chamber: a room with an extraordinary presence ordinary students were too scared to so much as approach.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am irate. These incidents are unprecedented, which serves as concrete evidence the current student council has failed to keep the student body under control!” Sadie said, raising her fist to slam the table once again—though this time, Wyrmspeed Ricuen swept in to collect her teacup before it could be launched all over again.
Ricuen was swift enough to exploit even the opening caused by her opponent taking a single breath. She worked as the council’s subsecretary, meaning she was the secretary’s subordinate. To be frank, having an upperclassman work beneath me was an intensely uncomfortable situation that I had not yet come to terms with.
“If I may speak freely, there have always been certain students at this academy who are prone to poor behavior. Any excuse is good enough for their kind, and their behavior does not reflect upon your abilities,” said Ricuen. Her words were consoling, by all rights, but her frigid expression made it hard not to read a hint of sarcasm into them.
You’d think she’d at least try to smile when she’s comforting someone.
“Well then, they could have at least had the decency to not cause these issues the moment the new term started! It’s infuriating!” Sadie raged.
I understood her indignant anger all too well. The problems that had been reported were clear proof the academy’s order had not, in fact, been preserved. I had to wonder: Had my sister’s graduation brought about a new era in the academy’s history after all…?
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why Sadie was so incensed.
“As of this fifth incident, we are finally certain the culprits are students of our own school. Sixth-years, specifically—in other words, members of my own grade level… Are they trying to spite me? And did they really have to cause trouble outside the academy, of all things…?”
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“I see. So we know for sure that the incidents in question were the work of our students, then. You’re beside yourself with fury not only because your own pride has been besmirched, but also because students causing trouble outside of the academy is sure to damage its reputation,” Ricuen said, summarizing the crux of the issue neatly.
Oh no, no, no… So the only reason why this problem hadn’t been mentioned before now is because it wasn’t certain one of our students was involved…? And now that we are certain of that fact, it’s painfully clear the order we thought had remained stable is anything but!
“That’s exactly correct, much as I hate to admit it,” Sadie said, head hung with shame.
“However, President Sadie, while the incidents may have occurred off school grounds, the victims were nevertheless all our students. We can take some small comfort in the fact that dragons unaffiliated with our school have yet to be impacted,” said Ricuen.
“I’m afraid you’re being far too optimistic, Ricuen,” said Sadie. “It doesn’t change the fact that sixth-year students have been repeatedly engaging in illicit activities. A member of our highest grade level is completely flouting the responsibility that comes with her position…”
It struck me that, in recent times, Sadie always seemed to be worrying about one thing or another. She’d been active and engaged back when she was the Vice President of the East, but ever since she took up the president’s office, it seemed she’d struggled to cope with its myriad responsibilities. The pressure of the president’s seat was not to be underestimated—or perhaps I should say the pressure of following in Leila’s footsteps was not to be underestimated.
Within a month of my sister enrolling at the academy, students had started calling her the “shadow student council president.” Not long afterward, she had been elected to the office proper as a mere first-year, establishing herself as a living legend. No one would ever want to be compared with her—not even I, her sister, was an exception to that rule. The clearer it became you didn’t want to be compared to someone, however, the more prone to doing so people became… To Sadie, my sister’s legacy was probably something akin to a curse.
“Well, if their pranks have gone too far, then our only choice is to show them some discipline. If anything, their being students here will make it easier for us to bring them in line. It works out in our favor,” Direwolf Etigra said as she scribbled away in a notebook. I assumed she was working on her homework. “Fortunately, it seems our culprits will be striking again today. I’m to understand they’ll be making an appearance on the northern side of Mount Rokko roughly thirty minutes from now.”
The question of how Etigra knew that was instantly raised, and as it turned out, it was just something her instincts had told her. Sensing an enemy’s bloodlust in battle was relatively believable, but how one could sense a battle that would occur in half an hour somewhere entirely different was a mystery…although considering every one of the council’s members possessed abilities that were equally extraordinary, it may have just been par for the course.
“Makes sense. We know how many of ’em there are, and we know where they’re from, too. Sounds like the student council heading out to teach ’em a lesson might be just what’s needed. I’m for it,” said Paulownia Tokinen, the student council’s treasurer, throwing her weight behind Etigra’s proposal.
Tokinen was a rather rare red dragon in the sense that her hair was so conspicuously darkly colored, it almost looked black. Although she stood out physically, Tokinen herself was very much not a contrarian—in fact, she was the sort of person who would regularly agree with the popular opinion, even when she didn’t agree at all deep down. As such, it was a little hard for me to take her vote at face value. She was almost my exact opposite in that respect. In any case, credible or not, a vote was a vote.
“It sounds like our treasurer is in favor of handling this ourselves,” said Etigra. “How about it? What say we—”
“Let’s do it!” I said, shooting to my feet and shouting out loud in spite of myself before Etigra had even finished. “If they believe there’s nothing wrong with disturbing the peace, then we have an obligation to teach them how foolish their actions truly are! That goes doubly given we’re dragons—when our kind messes around, we have the potential to cause earth-shaking disasters! We must never be allowed to misuse our power!”
Needless to say, that little speech drew the gazes of all the members of the student council toward me…and I found myself feeling extremely bashful. I shrank away from their stares in embarrassment…
“My intent was to convince our president, but if our secretary is that motivated, I think the matter is as good as settled. I, Etigra of General Affairs, shall depart to battle.”
“I, Subsecretary Ricuen, will do the same. Better to take action and wrap this up today than sit here and worry about it—not to mention my superior has already made her intentions clear.”
“I’ve told you a thousand times, Miss Ricuen, please stop calling me your superior!”
Etigra stowed her notebook in her bag, and Ricuen filed the papers she’d been approving away on a shelf. They moved with purpose, wasting not a hint of time or effort.
President Sadie heaved a sigh. “Very well, then. We will wipe them out! Our foes are five in number, and so we will dispatch five members to oppose them. I trust our remaining members will handle the office work in our absence!”