Reiryuu Academy Student Council Chapter 32

La Faust Academy Arc
32 Leaving Early and Clairvoyance

"Annoying, heavy, get off!"

Laila listened to the splendid triple threat of insults with a smile.

"Lailchan, it's not something to smile about!"

Meru, the perpetrator of said triple threat, sighed heavily. She looked at the person hugging her from behind and once more began an eloquent defense.

"Rengetsu-kun. Seriously, I'm already fine. So do your own job."
"Today, I decided that I'm going to be your legs for the entire day!"
"Don't use that to skip out on your work."
"I'm not!"
"Yes, of course."
"Meru-chan!"

Meru flatly denied Fuuga's request and handed over some of the documents from the large stack at the seat next to her own.
Today, too, there's an unnatural amount of work as usual, Meru thought.

"Fuu-chan. Quit the irresponsibility. Giving a poor excuse and clinging to her, you're too obvious. Hayate applied his medical treatment, so if it wasn't broken, it's already more or less completely healed. You know that, no?"

Laila smiled while drinking tea. Laila's appearance during the athletic festival was also nice, but this appearance was the most healing to look at.

"Just what you'd expect from Kamishiro-kun, huh. It makes you wonder if he really doesn't have a medical license."

Meru said, truly impressed. Even the small amount of pain she felt yesterday when walking around with Kei had all but disappeared. There was no sense of discomfort from her foot. She wasn't sure if it was because of her own recovery ability or if it was because Hayate's treatment had truly been that spectacular. Meru was thinking about that.

"But, Meru-chan! Hii!"

Suddenly, Fuuga jumped away from Meru. As he did, a fountain pen shot past Meru's face with astounding force.

"Woooow."

Meru let out a surprised expression.

"W… Shoutarou-kun! What would you do if you hit Meru-chan!?"

Fuuga shouted while pointing at Shoutarou who was where the projectile had originated from. Shoutarou pushed his glasses up and snorted.

"That's not possible. I was aiming at you alone."
"No, that's a problem, too! If you hit me…"
"Since I was aiming at you, that's the point."
"Shoutarou-kuuuuun!"

Laila chuckled at their back and forth while Meru listened in astonishment.

"Rengetsu. I'm truly amazed by you. Although her foot is mostly recovered, or rather because of that, with you clinging to her like that, you're just being a burden on her foot. You don't even understand something that simple, idiot. Got it? If you still want to help Kusuhara despite that, follow Aidou's example."

Shoutarou looked at the quietly working Yuuri beside him. In order to lighten Meru's load, he was working many times faster than usual.

"Aidou-kuuuuun. I can at least do my own work. Or should I say, my job relies on my hands. My feet are unrelated."

Saying so, Meru snatched away the document that Yuuri was in the middle of finishing.

The document, which was the draft budget for the elementary section's support committee (PTA), was originally Meru's job. At some point, Yuuri had stolen the work away unnoticed, and if Shoutarou hadn't said anything, she probably still wouldn't have realized.

"But…it's my fault that you collapsed in the end."

Yuuri finally lifted his head, but his eyes were downcast. If he had stopped her, her foot might not have gotten worse. It seemed that Yuuri was still thinking that way and felt that he needed to take responsibility for his decision at that time.
In order to let her leave early, Yuuri doing her work certainly helped, but Meru thought that it was unreasonable.

"Well, if you think that way, that's fine. But this is student council work. How about we don't mix work and private matters?"

Meru lifted her index finger and said in a questioning manner. However, her voice held some kind of warning, so Yuuri nodded. Of course, his face clearly expressed his disagreement.

"Geez, if Fuu-chan and Yuu-chan worry that much, it'll actually make Ruu-chan feel bad."
"Seriously."

It was just as they said. If someone fussed over you too much, you would instead feel apologetic.
At least, Meru was grateful to Laila and Shoutarou who didn't show any overprotectiveness. And also to Hayate who handed over her work as usual.

"Ah, I'm going to head out early today."

Meru said as if she had just remembered. When she did, approximately one person, who might be better off being counted as one animal, raised his voice in protest.

"Why!?"

"Yep. If you were truly worried about my injury, you probably wouldn't have that reaction."
"Eh, no, um…ahh! I mean, I want to be with you as long as possible!"

Meru glared at Fuuga with narrowed eyes. Laila let a soundless laugh slip while Shoutarou and Yuuri heaved heavy sighs.

"Whatever. I don't know anyone called 'Rengetsu-kun.'"
"Meru-chan, I'm sorry! But it's also true that I'm worried! But after all, I want to be toget-"
"So annoying."

Meru flatly cut him off. Fuuga sobbed while clinging to Yuuri who helplessly consoled him.
The person who called him annoying was smiling cheerfully while looking at that, though.

"Kusuhara. Sometimes, I think you're terrifying."
"I'll take that as a compliment."

Meru collected the documents she had just finished them up and tapped them against the desk, then looked over at Laila.

"Lailchan."
"Yeah?"

When she walked over, Laila was inputting the finances into the computer. He was typing so fast that his hands were almost invisible.

Laila, who maintained that speed while turning to look at Meru, had technological skills that had reached an indescribable level.

"Well, do you have any information about La Faust Academy?"

When Meru asked that, Laila stopped typing and put his hand to his chin while thinking a bit.

"It's Japan's number one school for the affluent. They have a typical stratified hierarchy where student superiority is determined based on how much their households donate to the school. The top is the son of Japan's foundational Kinzou Zaibatsu, which ranks right with the Toujou Group. Those are the basics, I guess."

Listening to Laila's explanation, Meru asked, "Then do you know any details about the students?"

"Well, if it's the top ranked students there, then I do. Hold on a sec."

Laila took a USB out from a drawer.

When he inserted it into the computer, data seemingly about students appeared. Head shots and minor profiles were written there.

"Let me seeeee."

Meru took over the mouse from Laila and scrolled all the way down in one go. Her target was indeed in there.

"Alright, thanks."
"Did you read all of that just now?"
"More or less."

That meant she looked over a hundred people's worth of data in seconds. Laila was once again astonished by Meru's ability.

"But, why?"
"Today, I'm going on a field trip to La Faust Academy."
"Eh!?"

The one who had that reaction to Meru's words was, of course, Fuuga. However, Laila, Shoutarou, and Yuuri's eyes also shot open in an instant.

"Meru-chan, I'm definitely against you transferring or anything like that!"

Fuuga came flying over and once again clinged to Meru. Because she took it head on, her face was squashed against his chest and it was difficult to open her mouth.
Meru somehow turned her head a little to the side and spoke.

"No, no. I'm going as my little brother's friend's attendant…or something like that?"

The end of her sentence became a question. Meru was the one who said they would be accompanying him. But if she had to say, it was closer to interfering. While she was thinking about that, Yuuri asked here with interest.

"Kusuharsan, you have a little brother?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"He's pretty good-looking."

Laila smiled. Wondering why Laila knew, Meru tilted her head to the side. However, she quickly understood. During the pick-up incident, Kei was there, so of course he would know.

"Then, I'll go too!"
"Why?"

Meru asked while letting herself be hugged.

"I mean, if the young masters at La Faust do something to you or take an interest in you…!"

Saying so to there, Fuuga once again jumped away from Meru.

"Woooow."

This time, a ruler passed in front of her eyes. The one who threw that to separate Meru and Fuuga was, of course, Shoutarou.

"Shoutarou-kun! Seriously, what are you thinking!?"
"That's my line. Kusuhara is so pitiful, I can't help but want to file a report about a stalker."
"Stalker!? Who are you talking about!?"
"You! Idiot!"

Fuuga and Shoutarou gripped the desk on their respective side and began to quarrel. Yuuri, who used the same desk, was at his wits' end. 

Shrugging her shoulders at the three, Meru turned back to Laila.

"Hey, Lailchan."

Laila inclined his head and responded to Meru again. That gesture alone was almost too cute.

"Do you have a voice recorder?"
"I do. Here, though, the one I have here is a little big."

Laila said, but the voice recorder he handed over was plenty small compared to the voice recorders Meru knew.

Meru laughed and took it thankfully.

"Then, I'm done with my work, so I'm heading over."

Meru whispered to Laila, who replied with a "Have a safe trip."

Meru was walking down the hall.
She debated saying goodbye to Hayate before leaving for a moment, but because where he was in the staff room was in the exact opposite direction of where she was heading, she gave up on the idea.

As she did, she saw a recognizable figure leaning against the wall in the hallway she was taking.

"Did you teleport?"

Meru smiled uncomfortably.

"Going back to the staff room is a pain. I'll go home on my own accord today and just apologize tomorrow. Is that what you were thinking? Meru."

Hayate looked at Meru with a sidelong glance and his arms folded. Meru shrugged her shoulders and stuck out her tongue.

"Umm, I finished my work today, so I'm heading back early."

When Meru finished, Hayate laughed. Even though he had given her the same amount of work as the other executives, Meru alone finished everything quickly. Because it was Meru, he should be saying that it was as expected.

"Meru. You are certainly incredible, but a declaration of war isn't very good."
"Kamishiro-kun, are you clairvoyant?"
"I might be something close."

Meru opened her eyes slightly. She couldn't tell whether his smile was real or fake.

"Be careful."
"Of what?"
"It's just my intuition."
"That's unsettling."

Meru passed by Hayate's side.

"I'm off."

While waving her hand, Meru's figure grew smaller. Hayate stretched out his hand toward Meru's retreating figure.

"……Meru."

What exactly was reflecting in Hayate's eyes, only he himself knew.

And we're back! Hopefully for the long haul this time. The goal is to not do this week to week like before because wow when shit hits the fan, that is just added stress that no one needs.

Anyway, for releases, I'm planning to set the schedule for every Friday at 7am JST. I already messed up this week because I set the release to 7pm instead of am, but I caught it a little earlier. My bad. :') Let's continue to enjoy Meru's adventure. ❤
(Also I shamelessly started a ko-fi because what is money and because someone mentioned it to me before I disappeared off the face of the planet, but of course I'm going to keep going regardless, so there's no pressure! If you want to support, here's the link: For every $30US that I receive, I will release a bonus chapter up to the set amount per month. Since I'm releasing this at the end of March, there will only be a chance for 1 extra chapter! Starting in April, I'll announce how many chapters will be available for the month in the translator's note on the first chapter of that month. The number will change based on how many chapters I have in stock and also my level of busyness for that month. I will also keep a count for the bonus chapters on the RASC main page. Any funded bonus chapters will be released on the last day of the month. Furthermore, if a $30 goal isn't reached, but there is some money donated, I'll roll the remainder over and start the next month's funding at that amount. Any money donated beyond the full monthly amount will not be counted toward the following month. So if, for example, March's bonus fundraiser reaches $31, I'll be very grateful for that $1, but I'll consider it as a donation b/c you love and support me. ❤ This is because it will get really difficult to keep track of, and I can't guarantee that the next month will have the same amount of bonus chapters available. Everything will be clearly listed on the ko-fi site!)

Chapter end