Asking For Help Doesn’t Make Her Less Competent, Yukinoshita Yukino Realizes (2)

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Everything seemed to be going rather well for the past few days. Yukinoshita had taken up the position of vice chairwoman and fulfilled it splendidly. She outshone Sagami in every possible aspect, making everyone forget that Sagami was the chairwoman. I could notice some rift forming between the two and it made me want to sigh. Sagami shouldn't have asked Yukinoshita for her help if she was afraid of getting her spotlight taken. At least, for now, things were still under control, so I wouldn't make a move.

"How tall are you anyway, Hikio?"

"Who the hell is Hikio?"

"You. Who else would it be?"

Looking down, I met the irritated look of the Fire Queen, Miura Yumiko. She was currently measuring my size, carelessly touching me all over my body.

"Why does my height matter anyway?"

"I need to measure it for the costume."

"Then, do it."

"Will it hurt you if you just save the time and tell me?"

Seeing such a defeated look on the Fire Queen's face brought a small smile to my face.

"I am 183 centimeters tall, by the way," I informed.

"Wow. You beat Hayato by 5 centimeters," Miura remarked. "How did you get so tall suddenly?"

"I grew."

"I should have expected much coming from you." Miura sighed. "Open your legs. I need to measure your thighs. You don't want to feel uncomfortable while wearing the costume, do you?"

I did as I was told. Miura kneeled and began measuring. Our position looked quite compromising, but I ignored it to avoid making it awkward. Not long after, I felt something hitting my crotch. Miura's yelp told me what I needed to know. She flushed at what happened. I didn't bother teasing her and accepted her apology. She soon ran away and grouped up with Yuigahama, Ebina, and Shinobu.

Shinobu seemed to know what happened, so she teased Miura about it. Though, she was smart enough to make it as if she didn't know what she was talking about. Ignoring the Fire Queen who had lost her dignity, I looked around the classroom. I found Suzuki-san or whatever her name was looking animatedly at Miura and others.

Deciding to help her, I approached Yuigahama and the group who were talking about the design of our costumes. "That blue-haired girl is interested in making costumes, so you guys should include her in the discussion."

"H-Huh!?" the said bluenette exclaimed in panic.

Yuigahama immediately included her and I decided to take my leave. Miura was stealing weird glances at me, but I ignored it. She must still feel quite awkward because of what happened. While walking to the meeting room, I bumped into Hayama on the way. He said that he wanted to get some forms, so he followed me to the meeting room. Our walk was silent but not uncomfortable. After all, I had no enmity toward him—not anymore, at least.

When we arrived at the meeting room, we were greeted by the standoff between the two Yukinoshita sisters. Haruno wanted to have her college orchestra band perform at the cultural festival, but Yukinoshita argued that every performance should be done by the students. Yukinoshita was winning the argument, but the tide changed when Sagami entered the room.

"Hello, everyone! Is something the matter?"

Seeing an opportunity, Haruno immediately jumped to get it. "You are Minami-chan the chairwoman, right? Can I have my college orchestra band perform at the festival?"

Sagami looked at Yukinoshita's weary look and smirked. I had expected much from her, so I wasn't even surprised.

"Of course…"

"Yukinoshita Haruno. I am a Sobu alumnus and a former chairwoman of the Cultural Festival Committee."

"Nice to meet you, Haruno-senpai! Yes, your orchestra band may perform at the cultural festival."

"See?" Haruno gloated at Yukinoshita.

As Yukinoshita sighed in exasperation, the oblivious Sagami smiled in triumph. A light frown marred my face, but I didn't say anything. The meeting was started and Haruno chimed in from to time as Sagami asked for some advice from her. I agreed with most of her advice, but some of them were not practical. There were too many liabilities in one of her suggestions and I wondered if she was trolling.

"You can take it easy too, Minami-chan. Being hyped about the festival is good, but you shouldn't overwork everyone. You still have your class's performance to think about, right? Everyone is the same too."

"Ah, then, I will keep that in mind," Sagami accepted the words as if they were the most enlightening words she had ever heard.

Done with corrupting Sagami's mind, Haruno made her way to me. "Hikigaya-kun," she drawled out. "It has been some time since we last met. How have you been?"

"I am quite fine."

"I heard some interesting things from Orion Inc., you know?" she looked at me mischievously. "Do you know something about it?" she poked me in the chest playfully.

"I have no idea."

"Boo! What a party pooper. You should have played along and pretended to panic!"

"What are you doing here?" I asked coldly.

Haruno went still for a moment before saying, "I just wanted to visit my sister—to know how well she is doing. It surprised me that she is not the chairwoman, you know? But what could I say? If that is her decision then I can only respect it."

Haruno was full of contradiction. I could tell she cared about Yukinoshita, but she often threw curveballs at Yukinoshita, making her life harder. I wondered what she was aiming for. She should have been more direct if she wanted to help Yukinoshita. I swear, the Yukinoshita seem to have something wrong in their heads.

The meeting started when everyone—well, mostly—was in the room. Haruno didn't leave the room as she opted to sit beside Sagami and watch as the meeting progressed. Unsurprisingly, Sagami relayed Haruno's message. I could immediately see the look of relief on everyone's face and I figured it was time to intervene.

"I have some words to say," I raised my hand.

"Ah, do share with us, Hikigaya-kun," Sagami responded cheerfully.

"While I fully agree with you on taking it easy, I think it is obnoxious for us to take it lightly. We only have two weeks until the D-day, so we have to take it seriously."

"Of course! That is absolutely true."

"But can you guarantee it will be the case?" I asked coldly, wiping the smile off her face. "There is no problem in letting everyone help their class, but it won't be long until some bastards decide to use it as an excuse to not come to the meeting. Everyone will become complacent and it will ruin the dynamics of the committee. When that happens, the diligent ones are going to be burdened by the workloads of the irresponsible."

Yukinoshita looked at me in surprise, meanwhile, Haruno looked at me in amusement. Sagami didn't dare to look at me. She looked at Haruno, but, of course, Haruno wouldn't help her. Haruno merely smiled encouragingly at her. I purposefully waited till the atmosphere became tense before speaking again.

"Therefore, I suggest some rules that everyone has to obey. First, instead of having a meeting every day, let's do it thrice a week. Second, everyone must do their task even outside the meeting. They can only excuse themselves from the meeting if they have fulfilled their quota. Third, everyone has to finish their work at the given deadline. The rest of the day can be used to help out your class. I will perform at the festival and I can manage, so you should too."

I swept the room with my gaze, meeting everyone's eyes. They looked at me hesitantly but eventually nodded. Sagami regained her voice soon and told everyone to keep what I said in mind. She asked if anyone minded the decision, but I glared at each of those who were about to raise their hands. The meeting was concluded with new rules set in stone.

It was much to my disappointment that a few days later, I found the bastards still slacking. No one paid any attention to the rule. It was as if they joined forces to defy the rules and spite me. Sagami also didn't come to the meeting, which was not that surprising considering how she had behaved since the beginning of the meeting. The expression of the body following the head couldn't be any truer.

As I had predicted, the diligent ones were burdened by all of the workloads. Some divisions were even doing the tasks of the other divisions. My CHRO instinct was triggered and I knew I had to do something. Yukinoshita was doing the most tasks and she didn't look all right. She had a very low stamina, so I was afraid she would collapse.

Walking up to the committee secretary who thankfully remained there, I said, "You know everyone in the committee, right?"

"A-Ah, yes," the guy replied nervously.

"Take someone with you and summon those who are not here but still in the school area. Quick!"

"Y-Yes!" The guy unnecessarily yelled at me, attracting everyone's attention.

I waved them off, prompting them to resume their work. The committee had to change. If they refused to change, I would break it and reform it. There was no need to suffer for people who wouldn't even appreciate our efforts.

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Honorary Mention:

Venerable Immortal Bowzer

Venerable Immortal Gwiber

Venerable Immortal Orion

Venerable Immortal P. Felipe

Venerable Immortal W. M. Jones