The Result of the Bet

I grinded my teeth as I was being dragged by Sakurasaki’s Student Council President towards my school. He was treating me roughly, completely betraying that civilized, honor student façade of his. The rest of my men were trudging behind us, guarded tightly by the other Student Council officers. Though those who were grievously injured by the fight were left behind to be treated by Sakurasaki's school nurse.

“Hey, aren’t you the President? Why are you following that little girl’s orders like a loyal dog?” I shot the President a question, partly to annoy him and partly to confirm my suspicion. “Didn’t you hate her—?”

The President suddenly grabbed my collar and pulled me close, choking me in the process.

“Shut your mouth before I beat you up.” His cold eyes were hiding murderous intent beneath them. “I really want to pay you back for hurting Shiba-kun and Kagura, but I’m doing my best to hold back since I’m a third party here. Don’t make me lose my patience.”

I nodded my head quickly, and only then the President let me go. I coughed violently and tried my best to distance myself from him. This guy was as scary as Kagura Sakuya. He might seem like a proper and diligent Student Council President, but deep down he was a violent beast.

“What…I thought he said he has the Student Council in his grasp. Did he lie to me?” I muttered to myself.

“Hm? He?” The President took interest in my words. “Who are you talking about—”

“President.”

The Vice-President interrupted at that opportune moment.

“Takamine Academy is just ahead, and the school principal is waiting at the front gate.” She informed him.

“Ah, is that so?” The President directed his attention to the school building up ahead. As the Vice President said, the skinny figure of Takamine Academy’s principal was pacing anxiously in front of the gate. “Sorry, but can I leave him to you? I need to go and talk to the principal first.”

“Yes, please leave it to me.” The Vice President gave a crisp bow to him.

“Thank you, Marika. If anything happens, just give me a shout.” The President handed me over to her before approaching the school principal.

I glanced at the Vice President. Somehow, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she purposely interrupted the President so he wouldn’t ask about that person.

“This is a personal warning from me.” The Vice President suddenly said in a low voice. “You better keep your mouth shut about him, else you will get erased.”

“Ha!” I couldn’t help but scoff. “So you're the one he's talking about, huh?”

“If you speak another word…” She shot him a sharp glare.

I shook my head. “I won’t. I’m not that stupid to defy a member of the Kagura Family, you know.”

The Vice President eyed me suspiciously. Then she looked away. “Not that it matters now when you’ve lost your usefulness.” She whispered.

Her grim tone sent shiver down my spine. “Hold on. What do you mean—”

“KARASU NATSUHIKO!!!”

A loud, angry yell interrupted my question. Marika stepped away from me upon hearing that shout. I turned towards the speaker, just as he gave me a big slap to my face. I was too stunned to react at that humiliating treatment in front of everyone.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?!” The school principal, Kaga Kunihito, shouted. His skinny body was trembling from anger and his face beet-red. “Not only did you assault students from another school, you also forced your fellow students to commit the same atrocities! Have you no shame?!”

I internally clicked my tongue. So I was completely made into the scapegoat this time. I swore to find Kagura’s collaborator and dispose of them before making my next move.

“Kaga-sensei, please calm down.”

However, I never expected that the collaborator would show themselves so boldly in front of me like this.

“I’m sure Karasu-kun is capable of reflecting on his mistakes. If you talk to him properly, he’ll definitely listen to you.” A third-year student appeared next to Kaga. He had a good-natured smile plastered on his face, but his cat-like eyes were clearly laughing at me. “It’s unfortunate that I only came to know about this incident after he went on a rampage.” He said sarcastically.

“Shindo Kyoya! You traitor!” I growled at him, the former Takamine Banchou that I had overthrown with Kagura Kikuchi’s help.

Despite my accusation, Kyoya calmly ignored it. “Although it pains me as his friend, I hope that Kaga-sensei gives him the proper punishment so Karasu-kun will not repeat the same mistake.” Kyoya’s honeyed words made me sick.

“Hmm, I will do so. You’ve always been a sensible and splendid student, Shindo-kun.” Kaga nodded in satisfaction. “As you’ve suggested, Karasu Natsuhiko, Kitajima Miki, and Nishiya Hibari will be suspended for the rest of the semester. They will not be permitted to take the final exam, which means they probably will have to repeat a year.”

“Wha—?!” I was shocked by the harsh punishment.

Repeating a year?! Then wouldn’t I graduate at the same time as my useless little brother?!

“Wait a damn minute! That’s not fair—!” I started protesting, right when Kyoya stepped forward and clamped his hand over my mouth.

“It serves you right, my pitiful follower who betrayed me first and overthrew me.” He whispered to my ear. “How does it feel to be thoroughly defeated by Kagura Sakuya? I’ve told you many times that she’s not someone you can mess with, yet you never listened.”

“You…! You’re a boot-licking traitor! You sly coward!” I screamed at him, but it all came out muffled.

“Ah, forgive me, Kaga-sensei. I just didn’t want him to interrupt you any further.” Kyoya apologized to Kaga with brilliant smile, without removing his hand from my mouth.

“Ahem, I don’t mind, it’s actually quieter this way.” Kaga coughed. “As for the rest of them, since they’re being forced against their will and Shindo-kun also pleads for their innocence, they will be suspended for three days! I hope you all learn your lesson and not repeat this shameful behavior! You're all dismissed!” After saying his piece, the principal shot a last glare at me before returning to the school.

The delinquents behind me cheered loudly at their reduced punishment. They all flocked towards Kyoya and started thanking him with such fervor, as if he had just saved their lives. Kyoya removed his hand from my mouth to calm them down, deliberately ignoring my death glare.

“Are you trying to steal your position back from me?!” I hissed angrily.

“Hm? What are you saying?” Kyoya shot me an incredulous look. “Is there anyone here who still think of you as the Banchou?”

I flinched at those words. Refusing to believe him, I looked around desperately, but all I saw was delinquents singing Kyoya’s praise as the one who truly cared for them. None of them stood by my side, while my most trusted subordinates were left behind because of their injuries.

Kyoya patted my shoulder with a pitying look. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that my successor is properly educated to never go against Kagura Sakuya.”

You will never be the Banchou, was what he practically said.

I sank to my knees and hung my head. I got out with barely any wounds from fighting against Kagura, yet I lost everything else.

That day, Takamine Academy once again witnessed a change of Banchou.

*****

Two weeks had passed since that incident.

That day, Sakuya who collapsed was urgently sent to the nearest hospital by the panicking Sasaki. The rest of us were sent home by Yuuki and the other Student Council officers.

Sakuya was hospitalized for a week before being discharged, but even after that, she hadn’t come to school.

Because she was suspended by the principal.

Since it was a huge fight with a lot of casualties and many witnesses, the principal had to punish the students involved. Nonetheless, with Sakuya being the only one who fought, she was the only student suspended for the rest of the semester.

Yuuki actually offered to share Sakuya’s punishment, for he ordered the Student Council to assist her in the fight. But the principal refused. He insisted on treating the Student Council’s actions as mediating the fight instead.

On the other hand, the delinquents were blaming themselves for Sakuya’s suspension. Since they couldn’t change the principal’s verdict, they channelled their frustration into studying for the final exam instead. Coupled with the hellish studying they had been doing all this time, I was sure that the delinquents would pass the final exam just fine.

Today was the last day of the final exam, and also the day when the remedial test’s result would be announced. All of the delinquents were gathering in front of the school’s announcement board. They had a rare nervous look and couldn’t stop fidgeting.

“It will be okay, it will be okay, I will definitely pass the test…” Narumi kept muttering to himself as if praying.

“Damn, why did they take so long to announce the results?! I couldn’t sleep for two weeks!” Abe griped while holding his head.

“You guys are so pathetic…stop fretting and just wait resignedly like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.” Kazu said with empty eyes.

Touma stared at the three of them with puzzled look. “If you study hard, you’ll pass the test. Isn’t that obvious?”

All three of them and I also stared back at Touma with an incredulous look.

“Then, why did you have to take the remedial test in the first place?” I asked.

“Because I played around with my girlfriend too much, so I didn’t have time to study.” Touma answered innocently.

“Ugh! All popular guys should just go and explode!” Narumi fell to his knees while crying out and repeatedly hitting the floor. Abe squatted next to him and patted his shoulder comfortingly.

“He’s so pure, huh…” Kazu commented wryly.

“Speaking of which, Sakuya-san has missed the final exam because of the suspension. Will her grades be okay?” I changed the topic.

“Don’t worry, the principal agreed to let her take the final exam from home.” Hiiro popped out of nowhere and nonchalantly answered my question.

“How did you—no, never mind.” I shook my head and gave up asking his source of information.

“Asahi told me, actually.”

Hiiro’s next sentence made me turn to him in shock. The intelligence-gathering team leader had never revealed his source of information before. And yet, now Hiiro was readily telling me about it.

“Apparently Asahi heard about it from the President. Since you’re going to hear about it anyway, I’m telling you in advance.” Hiiro shrugged, as if it was not a big deal.

I laughed. “You’re really dishonest about your feelings, Hiiro. Isn’t that why you haven’t confessed to Sakuya-san?”

“Wha—?!” Hiiro’s face was instantly dyed red. “I don’t want to hear that from the guy who joined the enemy faction just because of a small fight!”

“You…!” My face was also flushed red from embarrassment. “Stop bringing up my dark history—!”

“Be quiet, both of you.” Ouji suddenly cut in and separated the two of us. “They’re going to post the result now.”

“…!”

All of us focused our attention toward the announcement board, where two teachers were posting the remedial test’s result. The hallways instantly turned silent, enough that you could hear a pin drop. I held my breath as the teachers pasted the announcement and stepped back.

Remedial Test Result

Minimum passing mark : 40 points

Number of students with passing marks — 79

Number of students with failing marks — 0

Listed below it were the names of students and their respective scores.

My eyes were fixated to the number of students with failing marks.

Zero.

Which means…

“WE WON THE BET!!!!!!!!”

We cheered so loud that the whole school could hear us.

“We did it! We all passed!”

“Now Kagura-san won’t have to leave school!”

“Summer festival! Beach date! Fireworks! Here I come!”

I turned towards Ouji and Hiiro, who were also grinning like madmen. Without saying a word, we raised our hands and did a high-five.

“We need to tell Sakuya-san about this as soon as possible!” I said happily.

“Yeah, let’s stop by at her house after school! It’s a visiting-your-sick-girlfriend event!” Hiiro spouted some nonsense in his giddiness.

“And I get to keep my title as the second strongest delinquent.” Ouji nodded proudly.

At those words, both of us abruptly turned to him.

“ “Huh?” ”

We turned to check the score list.

Mikado Ouji — 90 points (Highest score)

“ “HUH?!” ”

We turned to Ouji again, this time with gaping mouths.

“How?!” “Are you really Ouji-senpai?!”

We pressed him with some rude remarks.

“If it’s for the sake of staying next to Kagura-san, I will spare no efforts.” Ouji crossed his arms and said coolly.

Hiiro and I exchanged shocked glances.

“Hey Hiiro, could it be that Ouji-senpai…” I whispered to him.

“…is actually the most formidable rival?” Hiiro finished my sentence in a whisper.

“What are you two whispering about? Let’s go and buy the juice Kagura-san likes so much.” Ouji called at us.

“Y-Yeah!” We followed him.