After the student representative finished his speech, thunderous applause erupted from below the stage. The students applauded because the speech was short, while the leaders applauded because of the speaker's identity.
In short, compared to the previous speaker, Shinra's speech was undoubtedly successful. Of course, for him personally, surpassing Sagami Minami was nothing to be proud of; rather, it was a matter of course.
Yukino also didn't think such a scene would cause any trouble for Shinra. When Shinra went on stage, she had already begun preparing for the next step.
After handing the stage back to Meguri, Shinra took the earpiece from Hachiman, but his gaze was attracted by a group of girls gathered not far away.
The center of the group was undoubtedly Sagami Minami. The girls surrounding her seemed to be comforting her.
After all, anyone with eyes could see Sagami Minami's mistake in the speech just now. To show their empathy and to continue hanging out in the Sagami Riajuu Group, Sagami Minami's followers had to show 'loyalty' immediately.
However, Sagami Minami herself didn't seem to buy such loyalty. She had a rather forced smile on her face. If it were the previous her, she would probably enjoy this very much and would think she did great amidst the flattery of others.
But she didn't. Perhaps because she had worked with Yukino for a long time, Sagami Minami subconsciously thought: What would she do if she were Yukinoshita?
Then she quickly came to the answer—If it were Yukinoshita, this kind of mistake wouldn't happen at all.
To be honest, Sagami Minami no longer felt jealous of Yukino. Jealousy only exists when the gap isn't big, but when the gap is too large, the so-called jealousy appears insignificant and ridiculous.
Through Emotion Perception, Shinra could clearly sense Sagami Minami's emotional changes at this moment: from embarrassment after getting off the stage to discomfort after being surrounded by followers, and finally, all emotions turned into unwillingness regarding her own lack of ability.
Soon, Sagami Minami excused herself, saying she had something to deal with, broke away from the crowd, found Yukino, took an earpiece from her, and began to undertake her share of the work.
As expected of someone who underwent labor reform. Although Sagami Minami's performance on stage was unsatisfactory, she could adjust her state as soon as possible after getting off the stage to deal with the next challenges.
In a sense, she indeed achieved the goal she set when she first ran for election—self-growth.
The opening ceremony finally landed smoothly under the methodical arrangement of the executive committee members.
The lights in the venue were turned on again. The leaders left the venue first, followed by the students. The whole process lasted about half an hour, and only the Item Management Group members responsible for cleaning up the mess were left in the venue.
Unexpectedly, Sagami Minami also stayed behind. Not only did she stay behind, but she also temporarily acted as the on-site coordinator.
Shinra came backstage, where Yukino was collecting the earpieces used just now.
"Thank you for your hard work." Shinra took off the earpiece and handed it to Yukino.
"You too, thank you for your hard work." Yukino rarely verbally praised Shinra.
After all, Shinra not only went on stage without a script but also temporarily compressed the speech time by half according to her request. The difficulty could be imagined.
"Any reward?" Shinra climbed up the pole immediately, treating Yukino like family.
"Reward you with carrying this box of equipment to the conference room." Yukino rolled her beautiful eyes, then pointed to the cardboard box piled with earpieces by her feet, signaling Shinra to lend a hand and carry these things back to the conference room with her.
The reason they weren't returned directly to the equipment room was that these earpieces would still be needed for the closing ceremony tomorrow. The conference room was closer to the venue, while the equipment room was quite far away, and entering and exiting required getting the key from the teacher, which was troublesome.
Therefore, to save trouble, usually, all used equipment would be returned together after the school festival ended.
"Okay, okay." Originally, Shinra wanted to go to the class to see Hayama and the others' performance after returning the earpiece, but since Yukino said so, he couldn't pretend not to hear.
Anyway, the Hayama-Totsuka mini-theater wasn't performed only once.
Moreover, the box, which was quite heavy for Yukino, seemed weightless to Shinra. He easily held it in his arms, no different from carrying an empty box.
Yukino wasn't idle either. She also held a bag in her hand, which contained a pile of unknown wires. The overall weight was only slightly lighter than the box in Shinra's arms.
"Let's go." Yukino looked at the time. "After putting these things in the conference room, we can take a break."
"Any plans later?" Shinra took the opportunity to ask this question.
Yukino tilted her head, pondering.
"Find a place to read?"
How to put it, this answer was indeed very Yukinoshita-style.
Compared to lively visiting the school festival with good friends, Yukino preferred to find a quiet place to read alone.
Or rather, the word 'lively' itself conflicted with Yukino's cold personality. Anyway, Shinra found it hard to imagine she would be interested in such collective activities.
...Seems not entirely true. If it were 'cats', even if there were many people, Yukinoshita Neko-no would try her best to overcome it.
"I heard a class in the first year is preparing a cat cafe."
"That's a cat ear theme cafe; there are no cats inside."
Yukino obviously already knew about this.
"Cat ear theme cafe?" The scene of the maid cafe previously floated into Shinra's mind.
So, cat ear waitresses?
"No, everyone who enters must wear cat ears." Yukino ruthlessly shattered Shinra's fantasy.
"Guests too?"
"Only guests."
A strange look appeared on Yukino's face. "Of course, it's not mandatory. It's just that guests wearing cat ears can receive a cup of coffee for free."
"What are they after?" Shinra couldn't quite understand how that class came up with such an idea. Would anyone really be willing to go...?
Shinra's gaze inadvertently drifted to Yukino.
Hiss... this idea seems to have something!
Noticing Shinra's gaze, Yukino immediately showed a vigilant look on her face. She instantly guessed what Shinra was planning.
"I won't go."
"Don't say that, Yukinoshita-san. There is still one condition between you and me, right?"
"...There is, but isn't that my condition?"
"Of course, I definitely know that. What I want to say is... actually, I can owe another condition."
It could only be said that for Neko-Ear Yukino, Shinra threw away his face.
"Owe another condition?"
Hearing this, Yukino, who had made up her mind not to agree no matter what Shinra said, fell into hesitation.
Seems... quite tempting?
"Owe another condition~"
"Alright, I agree." Yukino finally agreed.
However, before taking action, Yukino directly used the condition Shinra just owed, ordering Shinra to temporarily hand over his phone to her for safekeeping.
"Eh?" Shinra was dumbfounded. No, you took my phone, what do I take photos with?
Yukino replied with a sneer. It's precisely to stop you from taking photos that I took the phone.
Regarding Yukino's unsportsmanlike behavior, Shinra didn't play rogue but very simply handed his phone to Yukino.
Seeing Shinra hand over his phone so simply, Yukino couldn't help but be suspicious. As her thoughts turned, she thought of the loophole.
"Where is the camera of the Record and Miscellaneous Group?"
"With Hachiman."
OK, loophole eliminated.
Yukino was completely relieved. Previously, Hachiman was arranged to go to the second-year group to take photos and record the performances of each class. No matter what, he couldn't come to the first-year group, so there was no need to worry about Shinra keeping photos through Hachiman.
"Then let's go." Yukino put Shinra's phone into the pocket of her skirt on the right side.
Yes, you heard right, the skirt has pockets.
It's just that the pocket of the Sobu High uniform skirt is small and designed to be invisible, basically only able to fit one phone.
So Yukino naturally swapped her own phone out and held it in her hand.
She even lit up the phone screen in front of Shinra and opened the camera in advance.
The meaning expressed was self-evident.
"Wait, you don't mean to..." Shinra's face changed again.
"Just suddenly wanted to record the beautiful life, what are you nervous about?" Yukino revealed a quite bright smile. Shinra saw such a smile on her for the first time.
Unfortunately, Shinra couldn't smile anymore.
"Cough, I cough when drinking free coffee." Shinra wanted to activate his money ability. He was quite wealthy. It was just a cup of coffee, and organized by a class in the school; there was no need to take advantage of them.
"It's okay, I'll drink the free one." Yukino obviously wouldn't let Shinra off so easily.
She could help drink the coffee, but she would trouble Shinra to wear the cat ears.
After all, Shinra couldn't take all the good things, right?
Now there were only two paths in front of Shinra: one, drink free coffee and wear cat ears for a photo; two, don't drink coffee but wear cat ears for a photo.
Anyway, no matter what, Yukino was determined to take this photo today!
Even if Jesus came, he couldn't stop it, she said so!
Looking at Shinra who looked like a frosted eggplant (wilted), the corners of Yukino's mouth curled up slightly. This seemed to be the first time she had the upper hand in a confrontation with Shinra.
The taste... could be said to be quite wonderful.
Of course, Yukino didn't give Shinra no chance.
"It's not too late to regret now."
Admittedly, if Shinra went, he had to leave a photo, but she also had to wear cat ears if she went along. Although no photos would be left, for Yukino, wearing cat ears in front of Shinra would more or less feel shy.
In a sense, it was also killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of her own.
"Say no more, let's go!" Shinra looked like he had made up some kind of determination. Even if he lost a thousand, he wanted to see Yukino wear those cat ears today.
The smile on Yukino's face slightly faded. Seemingly sensing someone's determination, her cheeks felt a bit hot, but things having come to this, there was no room for retreat.
Go then go!
Soon, the two left the conference room and came to the floor where the first-year group was located. Almost at a glance, they saw the prominent words 'Cat Ear Coffee Theme Experience Hall' in the aisle.
At the entrance, a sign was thoughtfully placed, clearly stating the rules for receiving free coffee.
Put on cat ears, meow like a cat once, and receive a cup of coffee.
Wait, why do we have to meow like a cat?
Yukino's expression changed. After seeing the rules clearly, she turned her head sharply to look at Shinra beside her.
"You knew long ago?"
"Who knows~ It's not too late to regret now."
Seeing the expression on Shinra's face, how could Yukino not know that this guy had planned this long ago? No wonder he was willing to pay a condition for it.
The most infuriating thing was that this guy returned the words she said to him earlier intact.
Although knowing clearly that Shinra was deliberately goading her, Yukino still spat out a word through her teeth.
"Go."
Regret? Who would regret.
Isn't it just meowing like a cat? It's not like I haven't meowed before!
Anyway, last time at the Tokyo Cat and Dog Show, she had already 'meowed' once in front of Shinra. No big deal.
Guided by the first-year junior girl, Shinra and Yukino were seated quickly.
Don't look at the small venue; it had everything. They even considered the privacy of guests; between each table, there was a colored cardboard partition.
Before long, the waitress junior brought a tray with two cups of coffee and two cat ear decorations.
Without needing the waitress to introduce the rules, Shinra directly picked up the cat ear ornament from the tray and put it on his head, then 'meowed', then calmly picked up his cup of free instant coffee, took an elegant sip, raised the cup, and looked at Yukino.
No, why are you recording?!
Originally, Shinra thought of completing the cat ear challenge with lightning speed before Yukino could react.
But Yukino seemed to have anticipated Shinra would do this. She had opened the phone recording early on, just leaving it flat on the table before. When Shinra acted, she only needed to raise the phone to complete the shooting.
Shadowy to the extreme.
Watching the changing expressions on Shinra's face, Yukino calmly ended the phone recording with a triumphant smile on her lips, then took the cat ears from the waitress. Just as she prepared to let out a 'meow'.
The result was hearing:
"Sorry, Yukino-chan, I-I'm late..."
Yukino's expression froze, looking at the newcomer.
Yuigahama Yui. When did she arrive?