After routinely reporting his schedule to Utaha, Miyahito noticed that Ishigami, who had been sitting inside, was nowhere to be found.
"Yu went to the restroom."
Noticing his 'brother's' gaze, Miyuki answered simply, then thinking of something, he turned his head and smiled, asking Miyahito, who had lowered his head to look at his phone again.
"By the way, Miyahito. I heard you're planning to run for Student Council President at Toyogasaki?"
"Yeah, that's right." Hearing this, Miyahito slightly put down his phone (he was contacting Nakamura Maki on the other end), looked up, and winked at the calm Miyuki, asking in return.
"Is Miyuki-nii planning to pass down some killer moves for running for President?"
Seeing Miyahito's goofy expression and sneaky tone, Miyuki chuckled helplessly.
"I don't have anything like that."
"You're being modest, Miyuki-nii."
Resting his chin on his hand, Miyahito looked at Miyuki with a mischievous grin.
"I refuse to believe that President Shirogami, who defeated Shinomiya-senpai in the election and won the 67th Shuchiin Student Council Presidency with an overwhelming 87% approval vote against all other candidates, wouldn't have any killer moves."
"That was only because Shinomiya dropped out temporarily."
Recalling that election, Miyuki said with a hint of emotion.
"If she hadn't, I think... no, the position of President would have definitely fallen to Shinomiya."
"I don't think so."
Taking a sip of his drink, Miyahito spoke calmly, yet with a convincing weight to his words.
"Miyuki-nii is amazing."
"Thank you for the compliment."
Miyuki scratched his cheek in slight embarrassment, then dodged Miyahito's gaze, which was making him somewhat uncomfortable, and stiffly changed the subject.
"Enough about me. How about you? Are you confident about the election?"
".....What a stiff subject change." Miyahito roasted Miyuki with disdain, then spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and put on a confident look that said 'it's already in the bag.'
"All that's left is the election process itself. Well, it's just a formality. The result is pretty much already decided."
"?"
Hearing Miyahito's supremely confident words, which were just short of declaring 'I am the President' right to his face, Miyuki couldn't help but pause.
Seeing his 'bro's' confused yet deeply shocked expression, Miyahito found it funny. Suppressing a laugh, he began to explain.
"The election at Toyogasaki is different from Shuchiin's. Compared to Shuchiin, which focuses on the results of student votes, Toyogasaki places more weight on the combined votes of teachers and students."
"You mean Toyogasaki's Student Council is primarily guided by the teachers' opinions?" Miyuki frowned slightly, his tone becoming somewhat serious. "In that case, wouldn't the independence of the Student Council be compromised? If so, wouldn't the Student Council be somewhat betraying the original intention of 'student self-governance'?"
Listening to Miyuki's serious doubts, Miyahito nodded, but didn't completely agree with his statement.
"Fifty-fifty."
"Oh? Half right, half wrong?"
"Yeah."
Miyahito nodded, then briefly explained the situation at Toyogasaki to Miyuki.
"In my view, the main role of Shuchiin's Student Council is to manage all student affairs outside of academics, including but not limited to organizing various festivals, managing on-campus organizations, and liaising with other schools' Student Councils....."
"But Toyogasaki is different. In general, Toyogasaki's Student Council is an administrative department on par with other school departments. To put it in one sentence, the school departments composed of teachers are only responsible for students' academic aspects and some administrative matters, like accepting social donations and liaising with the government. Aside from that, everything else falls under the Student Council's jurisdiction....."
"Well, to give a concrete example of the difference between the two: Shuchiin's clubs have a Club Federation Management above them, whereas our Toyogasaki Student Council has management authority over all organizations and clubs in the school....."
"Rather than saying Toyogasaki's Student Council is a student self-governance organization, we are more like an internal school department and institution....."
"Relying solely on student elections is not enough to ensure that candidates have sufficient ability to serve as Student Council President....."
Under Miyahito's lengthy explanation, Miyuki finally understood the difference between the two schools' Student Councils.
"As for why I'm certain of the result, it's because I..." Speaking of his own election, Miyahito suddenly paused, played coy for a moment, and then revealed a smile like a cunning fox, saying proudly.
"I am the only candidate for President in the entire Toyogasaki."
"..."
"I've already eliminated all the other candidates." Miyahito sat up proudly, crossing his arms, looking exactly like a villain in an anime.
Watching this, Miyuki looked utterly speechless. Letting out a sigh with a hint of helplessness in his voice, he said:
"So, you're saying there's no one left to run against you?"
"Yeah." Miyahito grinned slightly and nodded.
"So, how did you do it?"
"It's very simple."
This time, Miyahito didn't play coy, but honestly told Miyuki about the preparations he had made.
After listening to what Miyahito had done, Miyuki felt a mix of admiration and an indescribable sense of dissonance.
Promoting the employment rate of graduates and expanding Toyogasaki's reputation through the "Corporate Directed Training Program," thereby letting the school see his network; organizing extracurricular sports competitions multiple times to demonstrate his interpersonal and management skills among students; and secondly, leveraging the impact of his previous confession incident to establish his image in the minds of students across all grades, which was equivalent to making every student recognize him.....
With this combination of punches, no wonder Miyahito was so confident.
Not to mention whether other candidates could match Miyahito's family background, reputation among teachers and students, and excellent personal abilities. Just the fact that "over 70% of the teachers and students in the entire school know him" was enough for Miyahito to completely crush the other candidates.
"Well, they say it's about electing a qualified President," Miyahito said with a relaxed expression. "But to put it bluntly, it's all about how people perceive the candidate. After all, when no one knows the extent of your actual abilities, 'Do you get a good vibe from this person?' becomes the key factor in whether you can get their votes."
...Should I say, as expected of someone from a political family?
In his heart, Miyuki had to admit that, unlike himself who came from an ordinary family, Miyahito, who like Secretary Fujiwara came from a political family, possessed knowledge and a perspective that he simply couldn't compare to.
"You're amazing, Miyahito."
"You're joking, Miyuki-nii. I think you're the most amazing one. I'm just copying what others do. I can't compare to you, who became the President of Shuchiin purely on your own merits."
Unconsciously, suddenly drawing a parallel from the gap between Miyahito's background and his own to the gap between himself and the girl he liked, Shinomiya Kaguya, Miyuki muttered in a voice so small only he could hear it.
"Can I really overcome the gap between Shinomiya and me?"
There was a barely perceptible trace of dejection and melancholy in his tone.
However, just as Miyuki once again realized the gap between himself and the Ojou-sama, falling into a brief moment of inner turmoil, Miyahito suddenly spoke up.
"By the way, Miyuki-nii, since the Student Council has been dissolved, what about you and Shinomiya-senpai....."