My love index is at its maximum.

【Miho Chiba: 60】

The girl from the kendo club and Kasuga Kanae both left the club because they hadn't communicated for too long. Tazaki Tsukasa didn't feel any regret about it, since he didn't want to have any deep relationship with them anyway.

It was a pity that I was taken advantage of by the landlady that night.

The widow was so engrossed in the pleasure that he completely forgot to buy the landlady's stock, watching helplessly as Tono Sachiko's stock rose from 250 to 350, missing out on a chance to get rich quick.

So, this newly listed stock...

Thinking about the 30 yuan needed to buy a stamina bar, the 10 yuan needed to turn the minister into a catgirl, and the 33 yuan loan still in my pocket.

So whose shares should be liquidated?

The school festival is destined to be a stage for everyone, and anyone can potentially rise to prominence, except... the club president.

Tsukasa Tazaki's gaze fell on the line 【Kuriyama Sakura: 190 (1000)】.

Based on past experience, a stock price of 200 is a threshold; reaching it means that the other person's feelings for you have essentially reached the level of love.

He currently feels that his relationship with Kuriyama Sakura has reached a bottleneck, a situation where they are only one step away from each other, but there is a difficult obstacle in between.

As for what the obstacles were, both of them knew perfectly well.

Just thinking about it makes my stomach hurt.

[Kuriyama Sakura's stock holdings have been liquidated]

Available Funds: 190000

[Purchase of 1000 units of Chiba Miho stock confirmed.]

Current available funds: 130054

For the rest, just buy shares of Kana Tazaki.

[Purchase of 565 shares of Kana Tazaki stock confirmed.]

Current available funds: 104

After closing the system interface, Tsukasa Tazaki turned his gaze back to the materials distributed by the student council in his hand.

[A summary of the Kitagawa School Festival over the past five years]

With the help of his shorthand skills, Tsukasa Tazaki only needed a quick glance to understand the general content summarized in the document.

Kitagawa Gakuen is one of the most prestigious private high schools in Japan. It boasts many unique clubs, and its annual school festival is the most spectacular among all high schools in Shinjuku, attracting many locals to visit.

School leaders are also happy to use this method to increase the school's visibility, and they invest a portion of their funds every year to support it. They even invite popular singers and celebrities to hold live performances or lectures.

For example, five years ago, Yui Aragaki was invited to perform at the school festival, which directly led to more than 5 people attending the festival that day, and the venue was once paralyzed.

After that, the school decided to abandon the strategy of using celebrities to attract visitors and instead focus on showcasing the school's own strengths.

However, a very real problem is that Beichuan is, after all, just a high school.

Compared to university festivals, which are much larger in scale and more diverse in form, the festivals are far less exciting, which has led to a decline in popularity in recent years, with the average daily attendance not exceeding 10,000 people.

The school was thus caught in a dilemma.

Inviting celebrities would certainly attract many people, but those people would be there for the celebrities, which wouldn't really showcase the students' talents. On the other hand, without celebrities, the school festival itself lacks sufficient appeal to attract visitors, thus having minimal promotional effect on the school.

As Tazaki Tsukasa processed the information in his mind, he clearly understood that the primary task of the executive committee for this year's school festival was to recruit more people...!

Sitting to his left, Qichuan Wei tilted her head and glanced at him, a malicious glint suddenly flashing in her clear blue eyes.

This kind of perspective is very familiar to Tsukasa Tazaki.

When the promotional video was being filmed, the department head looked at Yui Kichikawa with the same kind of "we've found the perfect tool" gaze.

"Have you all finished reading?" Chiba Miho sat up straight and smiled as she spoke, "Then, let's begin the election for the executive committee chairperson. Is there anyone willing to volunteer?"

Upon hearing this, the meeting room began to stir.

Some people looked puzzled, while others began whispering among themselves.

Preparing for the school festival is a time-consuming task, involving planning, submitting program proposals, setting up the venue, arranging the content, and securing sponsorships—it can easily take more than half a month. Given this, and following past practice, the chairman of the school festival executive committee is usually a second-year student. Third-year students are busy with entrance exams and don't have the time. First-year students are considered too inexperienced and wouldn't be able to command respect in Japan's culture, where seniority is highly valued.

After a period of free discussion, four of the twenty or so committee members present raised their hands to indicate that they would run for election.

Tazaki glanced at the group, not understanding why they were in such a hurry to take the blame.

“There are many benefits to being the chairperson,” Kana Shimamoto whispered in his ear. “For example, it can give you extra points when applying to university, and it’s also quite advantageous for securing university recommendations. So even if you don’t take the position this year, I’ll force you to take it next year.”

"..." Tazaki Tsukasa seemed to see himself this time next year, so busy that he didn't even have time to drink water.

The student council president's gaze swept over everyone one by one. "If there are no other candidates, then now... Kikawa-kun?"

Seeing Qichuan Wei's raised hand, she paused, then gave a slight wry smile: "Is there something you need?"

"I'm running for office."

Yui Kisakawa's cold, arrogant voice abruptly cut off the commotion in the conference room. Like a mischievous child carelessly stepping into a clump of grass, it silenced the chirping insects instantly.

"This is really troublesome." Chiba Miho crossed her arms and pondered thoughtfully, "You're only a freshman, and this is your first time experiencing the Kitagawa School Festival, so you're probably lacking in experience. But when you're a sophomore, I believe that apart from Kikawa-kun, no one can be competent for the position of class representative."

His tone was so gentle, it felt like my ears were melting.

The wording was also very careful; it only mentioned the minor issue of lack of experience indirectly, and then immediately praised the speaker. I believe that anyone who is not too stubborn would back down at this point.

Many people present agreed with the student council president's statement and nodded in support.

Tsukasa Tazaki made no move.

Yui Kirikawa is a very stubborn person, and he knows that better than anyone else.

Under his gaze, the blonde girl stood up abruptly and responded politely and directly: "Experience is not a problem. The procedures for organizing the Kitagawa School Festival are already very mature. We just need to follow the path laid out by our predecessors. In contrast, the correct judgment that the student council should make is to appoint someone who can demonstrate leadership to the position of committee chairperson, rather than making a decision solely based on experience."

Tsukasa Tazaki nodded in agreement.

The eldest brother is indeed the eldest brother; what he said makes perfect sense.

Since the task involves managing all the affairs of the school festival, it's essential to find someone with excellent leadership skills. Someone from the upper class is most suitable for this position, especially someone like Yui Kikawa, a king-like figure at the top of the food chain.

But... Brother, could you be a little gentler? Don't speak to Chiba-senpai in the tone you use to criticize a subordinate. She's such a gentle girl; it wouldn't be good if you scared her.

"Hmm, cough cough." Chiba Miho cleared her throat. "The school festival is a student event, and it is a good thing that a student as passionate and responsible as Kikawa is participating in the election for class representative. So please come forward, five candidates."

"Wait a moment."

Qichuan interrupted her, her gaze sweeping coldly over the other four, and said without any restraint, "You don't need to go. Only I am qualified to be the chairman."

The entire conference room was as quiet as the eye of a storm. Everyone held their breath and stared at Qichuan Yui with the same fear as if they were witnessing a storm raging around them.

The other four candidates, in particular, all had their eyes lowered and fists clenched, looking angry but unable to speak out.

Kana Shimamoto reached out and pinched Tsukasa Tazaki's thigh. He turned to look at her, and the teacher and student exchanged a glance.

'Let's see how you handle this!'

'How did she get herself blamed for this...'

These two lines of dialogue are what Tsukasa Tazaki imagined the exchange of glances between the two.

At the front of the conference room, Hoshino Shikami turned around, stuck out her tongue at Tazaki Tsukasa, winked, and gave him a thumbs up.

'Your childhood sweetheart is pretty arrogant!'

'Yes, that's right, that's definitely my brother's style.'

Of course, the idiot Shikami couldn't understand Tsukasa Tazaki's radio wave signals. He subconsciously bit his thumb and tilted his head in confusion, staring at him blankly.

lovely!

It's hard not to worry that she might be tricked away with a lollipop in the future.

These two exchanges of glances between Tazaki Tsukasa were merely minor incidents; the somber atmosphere still hung heavy over the conference room like a mountain.

"So what if you have money? You don't even know how to respect your elders..." A low, mocking voice, hard to identify, came from the corner.

Yui Kawakawa's gaze swept over that direction.

The five students sitting there all looked away, none of them daring to meet her gaze.

Silence fell over the meeting room once again.

Chiba Miho, who was truly troubled, gave a wry smile upon seeing everyone's reactions: "Kikawa-san, let's just follow the procedure. This way, we can avoid you being attacked by malicious rumors."

As expected of the student council president of a prestigious school, he can uphold the principle of fairness even when facing truly top-tier young ladies, while also presenting the powerful reason of "it's for your own good."

Tazaki Tsukasa leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, looking like he was watching a show.

He didn't intend to speak.

Because his elder brother never fights a battle he's not confident of winning; he's very at ease with him.

"There's no need to waste time." Yui Kikawa turned on her computer, looked up at everyone, and said, "I have money and power, but I would never use those things to intimidate people. Since the other candidates are not satisfied, I'll ask you a few questions. First of all, how do you four plan to boost your popularity at this school festival?"

“My family owns a media company,” one of the boys said. “I have access to a lot of advertising to increase exposure and gain attention.”

“Rejected,” Yui Kikawa said, tapping her fingers slowly on the table. “The fundamental reason why the Kitagawa School Festival is becoming less and less popular is that the content itself is not outstanding. While advertising can increase exposure, it also needs to have a compelling selling point or trending topic to be effective. Clearly, you don’t have the capital to attract people.”

“Add more special performances,” another boy said. “For example, the wind band that wins national gold medals every year, the kendo club that just won the Jade Dragon Flag, and the chemistry research club that has won many awards. These are Kitagawa’s top clubs. We can attract more people by increasing their performances.”

“Rejected,” Yui Kikawa said expressionlessly, tapping the table in the same rhythm. “If you want to see these, there are plenty of videos of the national competition online. Nobody will come all the way to the school to see these students.”

She paused, tilting her head slightly to examine Tsukasa Tazaki's face with an approving look: "Well... except for me and Tsukasa."

Tsukasa Tazaki nodded.

Since his older brother had spoken, he naturally had to express his support.

Chiba Miho looked over and asked her, "So, does Kikawa-san have any methods for creating buzz?"

“Of course.” Yui Kikawa stood up, her gaze sweeping around the conference room before settling on Tsukasa Tazaki. She smiled slightly, “Tsukasa Tazaki standing together is the biggest headline!”

It was a pure and innocent smile.

Nothing in the world is more romantic and beautiful than this.

"Besides, I'm very confident in creating buzz." Yui Kichikawa said with a gleam in her eyes and a bright smile, "Have you all forgotten about the 'Energetic Tuna Girl' promotional video we filmed before?"

Throughout the conversation, her gaze never left Tsukasa Tazaki.

Tsukasa Tazaki responded with a smile.

This is the true demeanor a young lady should have: not using her family background to bully others, but rather gathering all the information, showcasing her strengths, and giving reasons that are convincing to everyone.

In comparison, that lazy minister is really pathetic...