I, the mastermind behind the scenes at Soubu High, refuse to be caught in a bloodbath.

"Oh, it's the kind of service that Haruto-kun is considering now, it's completely different from the 10th Division that just has two pretty girl JK hairstyles but is actually empty and boring, doing chores for others!"

“Eek... Shiha, your Service Club has become an illegal organization in every sense of the word.”

Himekoji took two more steps forward, and Kasumigaoka finally released his neck. She quickly walked a few steps to Himekoji, put her hands behind her back and deliberately got close to him, saying as she backed away, "Anyway, you're the mastermind behind the school, so it shouldn't be a problem to make an exception for me, right? After all, I, Shiyu, have had hundreds of sleepless nights and been sweating profusely because of you, Rindo-kun."

"Don't make writing a novel, getting inspired, and then frantically typing away sound so lewd! And what's with the 'I'm the mastermind' thing? Is the student council really such an evil department?!"

Himeko suddenly blushed and retorted.

"Hehe~" Kasumigaoka winked at him, lightly touched her own lips with one finger, and then, as if launching a sneak attack, touched Himekoji's lips. She stuck out her tongue at Himekoji and made a face, saying, "Anyway, it's pretty much the same."

"Almost there? That's a joke!"

"Inspiration has transformed into a吐槽 (tu cao, meaning to criticize or roast) performer again."

"It's all because of you..."

Ji Xiaolu weakly gripped the escalator and went down the stairs.

"By the way, the draft for that timber stand has grown a bit longer this time."

Kasumigaoka, standing beside him, pondered this as he spoke.

"That's alright. It would be terrible if he didn't improve at all. But light novels are basically like buying illustrations and getting the novel for free. Once he can take it a step further, we should help him find an illustrator."

"I feel like you've been getting increasingly nosy lately, Inspiration-kun." Kasumigaoka walked behind him with her arms crossed, and seeing that Himekoji didn't answer, she paused and added, "And you don't even spend time with me..."

"Have you finished writing the outline I gave you before? I feel a little guilty about asking you to come to the student council to work, because you are usually too busy. Now you are saying that I don't spend time with you... Um, I'm afraid you will hate me when the deadline is approaching."

Ji Xiaolu said without turning her head.

"Hmm, that's true. Well then, goodbye~"

Kasumigaoka quickly ran down the stairs, winked at herself at the corner, and then left the school building with a giggle.

"She's a little different from usual; she seems more clingy."

Ji Xiaolu muttered a couple of words to herself, slowly walked out of the teaching building, closed her eyes and randomly pressed a can of drink on the vending machine, then "pop!" opened the drink and walked towards the special building while drinking it.

Sixth floor, Service Department.

For some reason, every now and then a sticker that looks like it's deliberately trying to be cute will appear on the originally blank door sign. It started with a small skull, and then a slice of watermelon appeared. Himekoji could probably guess that the person who did this was Yuihama, but she didn't know her motive.

"Knock knock—" "Come in."

Himekoji flung open the door. There were now four people in the Service Club. The original trio was there, plus Hayama. Compared to Himekoji's calm and composed expression, Hayama was quite astonished. He subconsciously stammered, "Why...Why, President?"

"Unfortunately, I joined the Service Club because I needed to achieve a certain goal. Just now, Ms. Hiratsuka called and asked me to come and solve your troubles, so—" Himekoji closed the door, leaned against the doorway, and pushed up her glasses, saying, "What trouble have you gotten into this time? Let me make it clear that I won't help you clean up the mess if there's no benefit to it."

"Clean up the mess? Yukino-chan, did we do something so terrible?"

Yuihama was startled by the small thing, her eyes quickly scanning Himekoji like a little rabbit wary of something.

"No, President, you've misunderstood. With me watching over everyone, how could they possibly cause trouble?"

Hayama scratched his head and gave Himekoji a bright smile, while Hikigaya's expression became increasingly unpleasant in comparison.

"That's right. But since Professor Hiratsuka Shizuka called you here, you should come and contribute what you can. I hope you still have something to contribute."

Yukinoshita gave Himekoji a cold look, pulled out a chair and sat down. The others followed suit. She sat up straight and looked directly at Himekoji, saying, "For some reason, we received a request about a girl named Kawasaki Saki in Hikigaya's class. She works late every day, so someone asked us to investigate what she's doing and also to persuade her to get back on the right track."

"It's that Kawasaki guy..."

Ji Xiaolu pictured a tall girl who always projected a strong personality.

"Does the student council president also know Kawasaki from our class?"

Here, only Hayama can speak to Himekoji like this; Hikigaya will not speak to Himekoji unless it is absolutely necessary.

No, I don't know him.

Himekoji certainly knew her, but he had made an agreement with Kawasaki to keep her working there a secret.

The top floor of the Royal Cesare Hotel – the Stairway to the Angels.

"So, Hayato, you didn't come to the Service Club because of Kawasaki, did you?" Himekoji glanced at him, and Hayama stiffened, clasping his hands tightly together on the table and lowering his head, saying, "While it's somewhat related to me, I did come to the Service Club for other reasons..."

"I just finished one of your requests and another one comes along? Seriously, you guys are so popular..." Hachiman didn't finish his sentence. Hayama smiled at him apologetically, while Yukinoshita closed her eyes and said softly, "Enough, Hayama-kun, tell me about the request you're asking for this time."

"I'm sure you all know that our school will be collaborating with Seaside Comprehensive High School and Hekiyo Academy to host a sports festival and soccer tournament next semester."

Ye Shan glanced at Himekoji, who was staring at him, and thought to himself: As expected, I still can't do it alone. I was too stubborn during the meeting, and now everyone in the soccer club is convinced that I can reach an agreement with those two schools, but I have absolutely no clue what to do... There's still a week until the deadline, sigh.

"No, I don't know."

Hachiman was the first to shake his head.

"Is there such a thing? I've never heard of it before..." Yui Hama also touched the corner of her lips with her fingertip in confusion. Yukinoshita opened her eyes and looked at Himekoji opposite her, asking in a deep voice, "Have you decided yet?"

At the very beginning of Chapter 037, [Hiratsuka Shizuka] was brought out.

"So this is the request Hayato made here. If we want to co-host the sports festival and the soccer tournament, we need the cooperation of the other two schools. But Hayama, who boasted at the conference that he could make it happen, is now in a completely desperate situation. He's probably scared by his own people, right? Your manager is the same. He's not very capable, but he's a master at being cute. Every day he tells everyone, 'No problem, no problem, please trust Hayato-kun,' but actually, Hayato himself doesn't have any good ideas either."

Ji Xiaolu shook her head, one hand on her forehead and the other on the table, and said, "Seriously, at least have a plan before you try to get everyone excited. If you really can't get it done, the members will hate you."

"Yes...the president is right to reprimand me."

Hayama smiled apologetically at Himekoji and shrank his neck. Watching this scene, Hikigaya thought to himself: These two are not even in the same league... Himekoji, who dared to challenge Hiratsuka Shizuka and even won, is far superior to Hayama.

“I understand,” Yukinoshita frowned upon hearing the troublesome request. “We need to communicate with two other schools simultaneously, and if I remember correctly, the deadline is before the end of Golden Week, but we only have a little over a week left… Hayama, you’ve really thrown us a hot potato.”

"Yes...I'm so sorry."

Hayama also bowed his head to the snow.

"Yukino is amazing!"

Yuihama praised him with sparkling eyes.

"However, according to the order of the requests, shouldn't we deal with the Kawasaki matter first?"

Hachiman rubbed his temples. One troublesome thing after another was happening. The people he least wanted to see kept appearing in front of him at this critical moment. Maybe he really was a cursed lone star.

"Let's ask Hiratsuka-sensei to handle this first. Hayama, you're on standby—oh, and maybe it would be better if you went, Himekoji!"

Yukinoshita called out Himekoji's name without any hesitation.

"If we're talking about winning her over with a smile, I think the student council president would be a better choice. Besides, one of you has silver hair and the other has white hair, so you might feel more connected."

Yuihama watched Himekoji cautiously as she offered her advice.

"Kawasaki's hair is dyed, mine isn't—"

"Huh? You're kidding!"

Yuihama opened her eyes wide and kept blinking at him.

"I don't want to prove anything to you, as long as you know it's true."

Himeko didn't want to argue with Yuihama. Did he really have to take out his mother's photo and show it to them? And then Yuihama would say, "What if this was dyed too?" Himeko felt like he might just slap that annoying Yuihama to death.

"It's true that it's not a good thing for the student council president to lead the way in breaking school rules. Let's just believe it for now. Mixed-race people aren't that rare in today's society. So, are you going? Operation to lure Kawasaki Saki."

Yukinoshita is seriously proposing a plan to use a handsome man to seduce Himekoji.

"I refuse, without giving any reason or explanation. Let Hayato go."

Himeko crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair.

"Ha... okay."

Ye Shan helplessly raised his right hand, accepting his fate with a wry smile.

Indeed, when I was in junior high school, I was immature and would occasionally play such pranks. When a pretty girl wanted to reject someone's confession, I would pull myself along and explain to that person, "I already have a boyfriend." The boy would feel ashamed and give up when he saw me. But later, Hayama realized that doing this was not a good thing and gradually gave up.

I never expected to have to go back to my old ways when I got to high school.

“Then I’ll contact Hiratsuka Shizuka,” Himekoji said, taking out her phone to make a call. After the call connected, the other end said first, “It’s rare for you to call me directly. What’s wrong? I don’t think the matter is so complicated that you can’t solve it.”

"According to Yukinoshita's plan, we intend to ask you to go first. Tomorrow after school, you can act as the head teacher and confront Kawasaki, though I don't think that will be successful."

Himekoji noticed that Yukinoshita clenched her fist.

"I was saying, I want your help to make this happen..."

"What's wrong? Why are you being so picky when you ask for help?"

"Fine, you win. I'll try tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

That's all for now, goodbye.

Himekoji hung up the phone, and then he noticed that everyone except Hachiman had a look of surprise on their faces. Yuihama muttered to herself, "They were talking to that Hiratsuka-sensei teacher so casually... and they even reprimanded her without holding back."

"After all, this man named Himekoji is quite outstanding in terms of rudeness."

Yukinoshita pouted and said sarcastically.

"Well, I feel like it's not just that..." Hachiman was only halfway through his sentence when Yukino glared at him. He immediately made a shushing gesture and then zipped up his mouth, sitting up straight and remaining silent.

The next afternoon, in the corridor near Class F.

Hiratsuka Shizuka was already waiting there early on. Himekoji stood beside her, pretending to discuss something with her. The two seemed to have some irreconcilable conflict, and their body language and expressions were quite rich. Yukinoshita, the other two, and Totsuka hid behind the shoe cabinet and secretly watched, waiting for Hiratsuka-sensei to make her move.

Kawasaki Saki, a silver-haired girl with a beauty mark at the corner of her right eye, has a model-like figure. Apart from her face being slightly less attractive than Yukino's, she has no other features that Yukino can surpass in terms of appearance. She tied her school uniform jacket around her waist and casually carried her schoolbag on her back with only two fingers, walking down the corridor with this delinquent-girl look.

Then Himekoji gave Hiratsuka Shizuka a wink. Hiratsuka Shizuka turned around and met Kawasaki's gaze. She called out to Kawasaki, and as if suppressing her anger, quickly instructed Himekoji, "I'll talk to you later."

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Kawasaki glanced at Hiratsuka Shizuka, then asked Himekoji, "The student council president is also here. What are your orders?"

"I need to talk to you." Hiratsuka Shizuka turned around to face Kawasaki. It seemed that the argument with Himekoji had affected her mood. She looked quite intimidating now. If Hikigaya were to face her in this state, he would probably immediately confess that he had accidentally seen some girl's panties last month.

"what happened?"

"You seem to be coming home very late lately. Where have you been and what have you been doing?"

The veins bulging on Hiratsuka Shizuka's forehead hadn't subsided yet, but Kawasaki seemed oblivious to it.

Author's Note:

P.S.: Happy New Year to everyone!

Chapter 038 Before that, [Kawasaki Saki] had already made a deal.

"Teacher, where did you hear this from, and from whom?"