The Story Of How I, A Gloomy Guy, Ended Up Surrounded By the Top-Tier Beautiful Girls In Class After A Seat Change - Chapter 209-210

Chapter 209: With Tanaka on the Eve of the Decisive Battle…♡

The day before the student council president election.

Since I’m still Tanaka’s nominator after all this, I have to give a speech at tomorrow’s support rally. So we decided to meet up after school in my room to go over things.

“Wow, Ryota-kun’s room really does smell like the kind of over-the-top perfume a cocky high school guy would wear.”

“What kind of comparison is that! Lately Rui and the others have been coming over, so I just bought some room fragrance, that’s all.”

“Hmm… how cheeky. You’re still just a fake extrovert with an introvert inside.”

Tanaka said that and pouted, then started rummaging through my secret shelf where I hide all kinds of stuff and pulled out an erotic manga to start reading.

“You read nothing but super lewd manga like this.”

“D-Don’t mix up 2D erotica with real life!”

“Which mouth is saying that, huh? Which mouth!”

And so, as usual, we started with our regular bickering before finally getting down to work.

“First of all, what am I even supposed to recommend about you when you haven’t shown your face in public even once during the whole campaign period?”

“Come on, if it’s you, Ryota-kun, who knows the usual me, you can talk about me forever!”

“The usual Tanaka… introvert, otaku, loner.”

“Why are you only listing negative things! And anyway, all of that applies to you too, Ryota-kun! Maybe you should look in a mirror!”

Tanaka snapped at me while still flipping through the pages of the erotic manga she had been reading since earlier.

Well, I’m friends with three beautiful girls, so I’m not on that level anymore.

“More importantly, you’ve already decided what you’re going to say tomorrow, right, Tanaka?”

“Huh… um, yeah! I’ve prepared an amazing speech video.”

“A speech video? Wait, don’t tell me… you’re planning to not show up in person even for the real thing?”

“I-It can’t be helped! I have terrible stage fright!”

“Jeez, then why did you even run in the first place?”

A virtual student council president is way too unprecedented.

Apparently the teachers got worried because Rui had no real opponent at first and asked Tanaka to run, but now there’s a perfectly solid rival in Himesaki.

Rui’s popularity is still as strong as ever, but Himesaki has built up just as much momentum.

She still doesn’t seem to have many friends, but she’s been working hard on the campaign together with the classmate who became her nominator, just the two of them.

During the campaign, Himesaki has been shaking hands with every student who passes by, and that close, personal approach seems to be working really well.

Compared to that, our Tanaka… has only been active online the whole time.

“I’m seriously worried about your future, Tanaka.”

“What’s with the sudden serious tone! That’s so rude!”

While I almost felt like crying over how much easier it was to spot Tanaka’s flaws than her good points, I kept working on the script for my nominator speech.

Well, something safe and normal should be fine.

“Knowing you, Ryota-kun, deep down you actually wanted to be Kuroki-san’s nominator, didn’t you?”

“…Honestly? Yeah, maybe I did want to be Rui’s nominator. I want to become vice president in Rui’s student council and support her.”

“Ryota-kun…”

“But still. I just have to do what I need to do. Rui asked me to help with her campaign too, and right now I’m Tanaka’s nominator! Anyway, tomorrow we’ve gotta give it everything!”

“…Yeah, that’s right. That’s exactly how Ryota-kun should be.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you making fun of me again?”

“Who knows~”

Tanaka said it in a teasing tone.

No matter what, tomorrow everything gets decided.

I’ve gotta stay focused.

—

Chapter 210: The Moment of Fate

And so, the day of the election finally arrived—.

I practiced my speech over and over again on the way to school, finished using the bathroom once I got there, and headed to the gym.

The election started early during morning assembly and would continue until the end of first period, so it looked like it would be a pretty long event.

Now then… the meeting spot was supposed to be at the side of the stage, right.

“Good morning, Himesaki. What’s Rui talking about with the teacher?”

“Good morning, Ryota-senpai. Um, it seems like Rui-senpai’s nominator still hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Huh? Hasn’t shown up?”

⭐︎⭐︎

I had an especially bad feeling from the moment I woke up that morning.

The second I opened my eyes, I got hit with sleep paralysis and lost thirty whole minutes.

The TV horoscope that just happened to be on said Sagittarius—my sign—was dead last by a huge margin.

…In other words, the exact same unlucky combo from way back had hit me perfectly right from the start of the day.

But I never thought it would actually come true.

On election day, an emergency situation came up.

The senior who was supposed to be Rui’s nominator had come down with a fever and couldn’t come, according to the message we received.

“Rui, you okay?”

“Y-Yeah. Thanks for worrying about me, Ryota-kun.”

Rui answered in her usual calm tone, but somehow it felt like she was forcing herself to sound composed.

On election day, the candidates gave their speeches in a pre-set order, but the rule was that each nominator gave a support speech right before their candidate’s turn.

In the lineup, Rui was scheduled to go first overall, which meant her nominator was supposed to give the very first speech of the entire event.

“I already heard before that Senpai stays up late every night studying for college entrance exams, so it can’t be helped since I was the one who pushed her to do this. Even knowing there was a risk of something like this happening, I still wanted to ask her.”

“…Yeah, I guess so.”

Rui had said before that the third-years’ votes would decide the outcome of this student council president election.

That was exactly why she had asked someone she could trust to be her nominator… but now that they couldn’t make it, the election had just gotten difficult in all kinds of ways.

“Can you find someone to take her place?”

“I thought about asking Airi or Yuria… but it looks like those two haven’t arrived yet either.”

Airi and Yuria usually showed up right at the last second before the bell, so at this hour they were probably still on their way to school and not checking their phones.

As each minute ticked by, Rui’s face grew noticeably paler than usual.

Having no nominator was obviously going to be a huge disadvantage for Rui.

Maybe the incident at her middle school graduation ceremony had felt something like this too.

Back then, it had been pure coincidence that I was the one who helped…

No—this time it’s not a coincidence… It has to be me who helps her, no question.

“Rui, listen to me.”

“Huh…?”

“I know I might not seem reliable… but I’ve already decided I’m going to support your perfect victory.”

“Ryota-kun?”

“Please, Rui—”