Chapter 54: Vice President of the Student Council

At this moment, Tachibana Kanade appeared so pitiable to Shiraki and Yechen. Before they arrived here, she had always bought meal tickets alone, eating mapo tofu in some corner of the cafeteria, isolated and solitary. No one ever trusted her; she was constantly misunderstood, forced to bear every injustice by herself. Yet she never resented anyone, nor did she blame the world. All she wished was for others to understand the beauty of the world.

Thinking carefully, she was perhaps the most unfortunate soul in this world. After Xiaobai finished her ice cream, Yechen gently stroked Kanade’s small head with his free hand, his gesture full of compassion. Kanade looked at Yechen in confusion, but felt no aversion.

“No way! Are you sure this is the Angel—the greatest enemy of our Afterlife Battlefront so far? How could someone so adorable be fed like this? It’s almost too cute—no, it really is cute—but how could Angel possibly be like this?” Seeing Kanade obediently eating mapo tofu in front of Yechen, Hinata could hardly believe his eyes. Their enemy, Angel, absolutely couldn’t be such a cute creature!

“When people are feeling down, they eat their favorite food to find happiness. What kind of Angel would do that? She’s just a human, only fulfilling her duties as Student Council President and unable to ignore our disruption of school discipline. Because we manufactured weapons in the Guild, she had to create her own ‘GUARDSKILL’ to counter us. If you connect all the events, it makes perfect sense.” At this point, Yuri had to admit that Kanade was not, in fact, an angel. The only regret was that so far, clues about God had only been heard from Yechen’s lips. Perhaps there was no God in this world at all.

...

After Kanade was dismissed as Student Council President, the members of the Afterlife Battlefront naturally assumed the academy would become their playground, free from restrictions. They ignored school rules, played as they wished, and stopped attending classes. As a result, they were surrounded by a horde of NPC students. Unable to retaliate against ordinary students, led by Yuri, the entire Afterlife Battlefront was subdued and taken to the First Reflection Room to contemplate their misdeeds.

Except for the main members—besides Shiina and Yechen (Shiraki was not counted as a member of the Afterlife Battlefront)—everyone else was confined in a tiny reflection room, bored to death and complaining, “What’s wrong with these students! Why do I feel less free now that Angel’s out of power?”

“It must have been members of the Student Council who put us here. Isn’t Yechen the new Student Council President? Why were we still caught? Is Yechen planning to discipline us like Angel? Has he become a lapdog of God too?” Fujimaki vented his frustration by striking the wall with his wooden sword.

“That’s impossible. Even if he were a god, he wouldn’t have the qualifications or strength to subdue Yechen. Besides, ever since he became Student Council President, I haven’t seen him manage anything. Maybe he still doesn’t even know where the Student Council is. How could he be responsible?” Yuri replied, feeling inexplicably displeased at Fujimaki’s suspicion.

“Other than him, who else could command the Student Council members? Ordinary students have never forced us to reflect in this way!” Noda, equally skeptical, said while hefting his double-bladed axe.

“Maybe it’s that before, Angel kept them in check. Now that Angel’s lost power and Yechen doesn’t care, things have turned out like this.” Otonashi considered, voicing his thoughts.

“That could be. NPCs’ behavior is generally exemplary, but emotionally, they're just like real people. It’s not surprising that some of them might be more aggressive. During the last baseball game, I noticed the Vice President of the Student Council was particularly hostile toward our Battlefront. This whole affair could very well be his doing!” Remembering how Angel had no reaction when Hinata’s team was winning against the Student Council, but the Vice President—whom he regarded as an NPC—was furious.

“Oh! That guy! Now that you mention it, his glare at us last time was indeed unpleasant!” With Yuri’s reminder, Hinata’s team recalled the Vice President’s overt hostility during the baseball finals.

“A Vice President who can't be countered is even more troublesome than Angel. With the Student Council President not managing him, what is he so concerned about?” Since they couldn’t attack ordinary students, Naoi’s nuisance level in Yuri and the others’ eyes soared past even Angel’s.

While Yuri and the others were pondering how to deal with the Vice President, the door of the reflection room suddenly opened. It wasn’t mealtime, nor was it time for demonstration, so they were surprised when the ordinary student at the door calmly announced, “You may leave now.”

This immediately excited them. The floor in this tiny room was so hard that even sleeping was uncomfortable. The chance to leave early brought no objections; one by one they rushed outside, breathing in the fresh air deeply and declaring, “The air outside really is refreshing!”

“Right! You can’t sleep well in there; my bones are about to fall apart!” Once outside, they lingered by the door, complaining about their ordeal.

“How superficial!” As they groused, a familiar voice sounded in their ears, prompting everyone to turn in delight. Shiina stood just behind Yechen, taking a small step back, while Shiraki and Kanade stood closely nearby, watching them.

“Hey! What’s wrong, have a few days in the room made you forget who we are?” Yechen waved at them with a smile.

Seeing Shiina and Yechen appear together, along with Kanade and Shiraki beside them, the group quickly realized that their early release was thanks almost entirely to Yechen, the Afterlife Battlefront member who moonlighted as Student Council President. Remembering their boredom in the reflection room, they collectively complained about Yechen.

“Hey Yechen, can’t you keep your subordinates in line? We were stuck in there for so long, bored out of our minds and unable to fight back. Do you know how frustrated we were?” Hinata wanted to grab Yechen’s collar, but Shiina, ever the responsible subordinate, stopped him. Hinata was left to wave his arms in the air, desperate for Yechen to understand his grievance.

“Even if you say that, I really don’t know what to do. I don’t even know where the Student Council is, and I’ve barely seen the Vice President, let alone spoken to him. How could I help you? Even if I tried, he might not listen to me.” Yechen shrugged, speaking the truth. He had only seen the Vice President once at the baseball field, never exchanged words, and the Vice President wasn’t likely to heed him.

“We figured as much. As Student Council President, your words may carry some weight, but the rest is up to us. Knowing this, maybe it would’ve been better if Angel stayed President!”