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

"I'm just an ordinary high school boy."

Listening to their conversation, Ji Xiaolu slowly walked to a car parked nearby, got in, and finally went home.

In the following days, the regular exams continued. Hayama Hayato and the Service Club completed the liaison task with Hekiyo Academy. Although there were still some issues to be resolved between the three schools, the matter was basically settled. On the day before Golden Week, all the second-year students except Himekoji went to their professional internships. Himekoji played the piano with Kazusa all day in the first music room, and she simply skipped Friday's classes.

On Friday afternoon, the student council and the president's office jointly issued a notice that this year's sports festival would be held first, followed by the cultural festival. The sports festival would last for four days and there would be a soccer match with Seaside Comprehensive High School and Hekiyo Academy. This news made the soccer club members go wild, and Hayato Hayama once again became the focus of everyone's attention.

Author's Note:

P.S.: I'm still thinking about the arrangements for Ogiso Setsuna... My current draft is at 340,000 words, which means I'm about 220,000 words ahead of the current pace. The sports festival is currently underway, and Setsuna hasn't appeared in a second episode since her first appearance. However, based on everyone's suggestions, it seems like "as long as she's not given to Kitahara Haruki, anything is fine." After all, my protagonist is also human, and a huge harem would be too much for my kidneys... Even in a novel, it has to be somewhat realistic; it can't be too far-fetched.

PS2: Judging from the title "The Mastermind Behind Soubu High School", my protagonist won't always try to stand out, as that would easily attract jealousy. As the saying goes, "The tallest tree in the forest catches the most wind." So, soccer is still Hayama Hayato's forte. However, my protagonist will still show his talent on the soccer field in another way.

Chapter 062 Butterfly Dog, [Himekoji Daphne] is unaware of the hardships of ordinary people.

Himekoji remembers that Yui Yuigahama's birthday is coming soon (to fit the plot, Yui Yuigahama's birthday has been changed to May 22nd). Soon, the relationship between the two in the Service Club will break down again.

As agreed, Himekoji was going on a trip abroad with his mother during Golden Week. His plan was to go to Russia first, then avoid China's three-day holiday before going to China. Anyway, his mother was just responsible for playing with him and spending money without thinking. They happily spent seven days like this.

"Naoto's so busy he's practically invisible, and Haruto, you're spending more and more time at school. Mom, I want to get a little pet or something..."

"How about a Papillon?"

"Hey, the puppy is cute, but why did Haruto suddenly recommend it?"

"Because I think you look a bit like Queen Mary, Mother."

“Hmph, if the people have no bread, why don’t they eat cake?!” The mother, well-versed in history classics, immediately adopted a queen-like demeanor and said, but then added, “Of course, she should never have said that; it was later people who vilified her.”

Even so, my mother always gave me the feeling of being Marie Antoinette.

"Are you saying I'm ignorant of the hardships of ordinary people?" She put on a stern face, placed her hands on her hips, and pursed her lips. "Hmph, I really don't know. By the way, what do ordinary people usually eat?"

"...So you see how well a Papillon suits you."

"Well, since Haruhi has said so, I think it's a good idea, right?"

"Don't use questions, Mommy Duck!"

After this little incident, Himekoji continued on her way to the classroom.

Nothing major happened for the next week. Himekoji went to class, worked, and played the piano as usual. During this time, the student council organized a personal belongings inspection, and they found an unfinished notebook among Eriri's belongings. Just when Eriri thought she couldn't take it anymore, Aki Tomoya stepped in to take the blame, saying that he had deliberately put it in Eriri's bag. Eriri immediately burst into tears. There were countless things like condoms during the inspection, but Himekoji said that they could just turn a blind eye to those kinds of things.

They also found out about Ebina Himeko's BL doujinshi. Hayama, Yumiko, and Yuihama pleaded for her and saved her life, which prevented any major trouble. Ebina was extremely grateful to Himekoji and owed him a huge debt of gratitude.

So, on Thursday afternoon, the student council held a refereeing match against Aki Tomoya. The accompanying teacher was Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was in charge of student life guidance. Eriri and Kato Megumi also came to the student council room, presumably to keep Aki company.

Bringing something like this "uncorrected" into school could result in the heaviest punishment: sending him home for six months to reflect and then having him repeat a year. However, the truth is that this thing belongs to Eriri, and Eriri is incredibly grateful to Aki for taking the blame. Eriri's family also knows a little about it. So, if Himekoji punishes Aki Tomoya too harshly, it could cause some trouble for Himekoji's family. Although it's not a serious problem, why not avoid it if it can be avoided?

It would also conveniently make her owe a small favor.

The reason why the Ebina incident could be glossed over by the student council, while Eriri's incident escalated, is that Eriri was completely at a loss when she was discovered. Tomoya rushed in and offered to take the blame. How am I supposed to keep quiet when you're so eager to take the blame? It's impossible to give Kasumigaoka any face. The whole school is in an uproar.

Therefore, Himekoji's ruling was: "Go home and reflect for a week, and apologize to Sawamura in front of the whole school at the student assembly the week after next."

Ji Xiaolu had already given him a great deal of face, not to mention that his previous scandals were still in the student council's filing cabinet.

After the referee finished, Hiratsuka Shizuka called Himekoji out.

"Do you know something? The referee is being so lenient."

Hiratsuka Shizuka leaned against the wall, looked up, and calmly smoked, completely disregarding the fact that she was in a school corridor.

"I do know something, but I can't explain it to Professor Hiratsuka yet."

“Even if you didn’t say it, I could probably guess what it was. I didn’t expect you to be so humane sometimes,” Hiratsuka Shizuka smiled and patted Himekoji’s shoulder, but deliberately patted it hard so that Himekoji couldn’t stop her. Finally, she withdrew her hand, resumed her indifferent appearance, and said, “When I heard you give such an easy ruling, I knew something was wrong… But, whatever… You haven’t been to the Service Club much lately, have you?”

"It's not that I haven't been there much, it's that I've never been there."

"You're telling the truth! You're practically becoming a ghost member."

"I have to finish my student council work every day and also play the piano with Kazusa, so please spare me the Service Club and stuff."

“You can quit the club anytime you want. It’s too easy for you to just stamp your name as the student council president. So why haven’t you quit and why aren’t you participating in any activities? I’ve always been curious about that… But now’s not the time to be curious,” Hiratsuka Shizuka took a deep drag of her cigarette, slowly exhaled, and looked at Himekoji. Her eyes looked a little dazed from just taking a big drag on her cigarette. Hiratsuka Shizuka put a hand on his shoulder and said, “Since you’re a member, please go and help those two kids. I’m begging you.”

"what happened?"

"Who knows?" Hiratsuka Shizuka said, rubbing her temples with a headache. "Honestly, I've never seen any guys who give me more trouble than those few. Educating is not easy, not easy at all. But according to Hayama, Hikigaya and Yui had a conflict, and Yui cried a lot that day... She hasn't come to club activities for a week now, that's about it."

"I see..."

"Want one?"

Hiratsuka Shizuka shook the cigarette case at Himekoji; there were about four or five Seven Stars cigarettes left, rattling inside.

"No, I'd better not. Smoking affects lung capacity. I work very hard at exercising, so a little drink is fine."

"Do you need any help with this?"

"Since it's your request, I'll grant it."

"Hahaha, alright, kid, come with me."

Hiratsuka Shizuka grabbed Himekoji's arm and pulled him toward the special building. Himekoji hadn't been here for a long time. Hiratsuka Shizuka didn't say a word the whole way, but Himekoji felt that the profile of her face, which was only visible to him, was always a little red.

She still habitually barged in without knocking. Actually, Himeko thought it was some kind of perverse pleasure of hers. Perhaps she was looking forward to suddenly opening the door one day and finding someone doing something naughty inside—?

Chapter 063 Adorable Pet Exhibition, [Himekoji Daphne] Where Her Heart Leads

"Yuigahama still didn't come today."

Hiratsuka Shizuka started saying discouraging things as soon as she entered.

"Teacher, please tell me... why are you here?"

Yukinoshita glanced in this direction and saw Himekoji walking in with Hiratsuka Shizuka, and her expression changed drastically.

"That's practically like telling you never to come back."

"If possible, I would like to remove the word 'please' at the beginning."

"Ah, I guess that won't work, no, it's impossible," Himekoji said, pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of Hiratsuka Shizuka. "After all, it was Hiratsuka-sensei who asked you to do it."

"Ah~ Ah~, don't say things like that anymore," Hiratsuka Shizuka sat up straight, gripping the back of the chair with both hands and straddling it rather ungracefully, and said, "This club was created with my help, after all. It's really not good to just watch it dwindle in size. You guys, think of a way to recruit some more members. The target number is 150!"

"I also stamped and created it."

"It would have been even better if you hadn't stamped it."

"You really know how to say annoying things on purpose."

"In the end, it's because you always do things that annoy people."

"Okay, okay, stop!" Hiratsuka Shizuka stood up, opened the door, and said, "You must add a new member by Monday. I don't care what method you use. Oh, right, the student council president is not allowed to suddenly bring in people."

"It's already Thursday..."

"There are still a few days left, let's think of something," Hiratsuka Shizuka gestured towards the door and smiled slightly, "How about we go now?"

So, Himekoji and the other two were asked to come out again.

"What exactly are you trying to do, pulling me in only to kick me out again?"

Himekoji stared intently at Hiratsuka Shizuka.

"Ha, don't mind it, don't mind it," Hiratsuka Shizuka patted his shoulder hard again, as if taking revenge for something that happened before. Himekoji's eyelids twitched. Under the terrifying gazes of Hikigaya and Yukinoshita, Hiratsuka Shizuka gradually stopped, coughed as if to cover up her embarrassment, and put her hands on her hips, saying, "In short, a mission is a mission! Replenish the manpower! Understand?"

"Um, Ms. Hiratsuka, I'd like to ask if you mean that just one more person would be enough?"

"Yes, that's it, so I'm asking you three to do this."

Hiratsuka Shizuka waved to them, humming a little tune as she left. It's likely that patting Himekoji made her feel much better.

The three discussed it for a while but didn't come up with any constructive suggestions (the idea of ​​celebrating Yui's birthday is from the anime, but we're following the novel's plot here).

"Even you can't think of a good solution, student council president."

"I told you I have a name, didn't I?"

"Even you can't think of a good solution, Himekoji."

Yukinoshita read aloud with a stern face.

"...Even Jun isn't willing to add it after the name? That's really malicious."

Himeko sighed helplessly, rubbing her forehead.

"Um... I'll head back now."

Upon seeing Himekoji arrive, Hikigaya instinctively wanted to slip away. In addition, he had just had a minor argument with Yukinoshita, which wasn't really a verbal altercation, and felt there was no place for him to chime in. Being adept at reading the atmosphere, he said he would take his leave.

"I'm heading back anyway. It's too late today. Let's think of something tomorrow."

Yukinoshita expressed her unwillingness to be alone with Himekoji, so the three of them walked out of the special building together. The two of them walked towards the school gate one after the other, while Himekoji walked towards the main teaching building. Yukinoshita looked back and saw only his lonely figure with a head of white hair.

"He's the same person too."

Yukinoshita murmured these ambiguous words, then turned and left with a flourish.

On Himekoji's side, Kazusa's anger over the portrait had mostly subsided, so the two of them really teamed up to prank Kitahara Haruki. It was the same thing Himekoji had suggested earlier: whenever Kitahara Haruki played a piece, they would first play a section along with him, and when he was getting into the groove, they would suddenly switch to another piece. Every time this happened, the guitar music on the other side would cut off for a moment, and Himekoji and Kazusa would exchange knowing smiles.

"This guy plays guitar so badly, if he asked you to teach him, would you?"

"Now I never reply when he greets me. Do you think I'd even consider such a troublesome idea? I hope he'd stop practicing guitar here because of us. No, wait, if that happened..."

"What if that's the case?"

"It's okay, keep playing."

Kazusa pursed her lips slightly, raised her head, and recalled Himekoji's reason for staying here to play the piano. She smiled faintly.

Friday passed peacefully, and Saturday finally arrived.

"Haruto, take me to buy a butterfly dog."

My mom came to Ji Xiaolu's room early in the morning to poke his face and wake him up.

"Huh...? Where can I buy it?" Half asleep, Ji Xiaolu fumbled for the light switch, but his mother didn't turn it on for him. Instead, she yanked open the curtains and shoved an extremely flashy magazine in Ji Xiaolu's face, saying, "Look, look! This, this!"

"The Tokyo International Pet Expo... Oh, I almost forgot." Himekoji rubbed the white hair on her head and slowly straightened up. Still sleepy, she subconsciously replied, "So how do we get there?"

Although it says "Tokyo XXXXX Exhibition" on the sign, the exhibition venue is actually in Chiba, just like how Disneyland is actually in Chiba but has to be humiliatingly labeled as "Tokyo".

"Last time, Haruto, didn't you say that I, your mother, didn't know the hardships of ordinary people?"