45 Na?veté - Part 3 (1/2)

Chloe woke me up earlier than usual so I managed to get to school with time to spare.

I'm kinda tempted to check in on Scarlet first. Things ended on a sour note yesterday, but I'm curious about whether she came up with a new plan since yesterday.

Doing that in public would be the same as admitting to everyone that she's working with me, though…

In that case, it'd probably be better to check in with Nick and Sig first so that I can hear out their opinions.

Sig didn't look so hot after seeing Momo and Scarlet get into that argument, so checking on him would be a good idea too.

Where would they be right now, though?

Hmm, we've got about half an hour until class. I don't usually make it to school this early, but if I had to guess then they might be hanging out in the cafeteria for the Wi-Fi connection.

Those guys never take a break from their games, do they?

Guess I'll just have to head over there and remind them that we've got a campaign to run.

Feeling confident in my guess, I head off to the cafeteria.

Much like yesterday, the other students' gazes and giggles as I walk by are drilling holes into my self-esteem.

Doesn't seem like the campaign is going all too well if I'm just going to be a laughing stock for all of it.

She's obsessively focused on stopping Jen from doing that interview, but… is that really going to shift our momentum at all?

And actually, now that Momo knows about us, does Scarlet even have any say in Jennifer's campaign anymore?

Moving forward, we need to take these things into account.

Today is Friday, meaning it's the last school day before the election.

If we screw up here, then the bad press is only going to worsen my bad reputation over the weekend.

It'll be an unstoppable train, much unlike the one that's supposed to take me to school on Monday.

I sigh.

This is looking more and more impossible by the minute.

Oh whatever, there's no stopping us now.

The only way left to go is forward.

I eventually arrive at the cafeteria entrance.

And what greets me the moment I step in leaves me frozen in place.

Jennifer Swift.

”…”

A cold sweat runs down the back of my neck.

She's looking down at her phone as she walks in my direction.

What could she want with me?

Is she going to rub it in…?

Threaten me?

I'm not mentally prepared for this.

I don't know if I'll be able to respond properly at all.

The queen of the freshman year casually strolls up to me.

With my fists clenched tightly, I brace myself for her words.

But…

She doesn't seem to be paying me any mind.

In fact, she walks right past me and exits into the hallway.

”…”

The strange part is, I can't tell if that was intentional or not.

Ahaha…

Why did I freak out just from her walking next to me?

Momo must have messed me up yesterday.

She's just a high school girl, Chase. Relax.

”Haaaa…”

I take a deep breath to reset my mentality.

That aside, the room seems almost completely empty as one would expect from the time of day.

There's really only a handful or so of students lounging around and relaxing here at this hour.

And unsurprisingly enough, it seems like my guess was on the mark.

I walk toward my comrades in arms who seem to be passionately engaging in conversation.

”Hey guys, what's up?”

”Oh. Hey man, how'd it go yesterday? Sig wouldn't tell me anything about it. What's that all about?”

”Ahaha, it wasn't pretty.”

Like I thought, it really is bothering him.

He looked painfully upset about that whole thing.

I don't blame him though, he really likes her. Being forced to witness that whole situation must've been uncomfortable for him.

”Are you good, Sig?”

”N-nani..? Oh, are you referring to the thing with Momo-chan? Nah, I'm fine. I'm worried about her more than anything.”

”Why her?”

”Are you not worried yourself? Her relationship with Scarlet-chan is in jeopardy thanks to my own incompetence. If I had only the confidence to warn her about Ryan-san myself, then the responsibility would not have fallen onto your shoulders, and Scarlet-chan wouldn't have felt betrayed by her tomodachi.”

”U-uh, yeah…”

I guess that was a possible ending for this.

The two of them haven't been on good terms since the ”break up”, after all.

”There's no point in regretting it now, though. All we can do is focus on the elections. If things go well then those two might just realize that all the arguing was for nothing and they'll go back to being friends again, right?”

”I guess so…”

”Besides, you couldn't have helped her, right? You're not allowed near her.”

”Ueh? What do you mean?”

”Like… aren't you not allowed within a certain distance of her? Isn't that why you never talk to her?”

Sig stares blankly at my face for a few seconds.

”You're talking nonsense, Chase-dono. I don't talk to her because I get nervous around her. The first time I spoke to her, I got so nervous that I started spouting cringe-y weeaboo lines that made me want to die.”

Oh, so you were self-conscious about how bad it sounded.

But if that's the case then, why did Momo tell me that she imposed some kind of rule on him?

”Ah screw this, enough about that thot already! Let's get back to the matter at hand!”

”Momo-chan isn't a thot, you… you… baka-leader!”

”Yeah, yeah. I'm not even gonna get started with you anymore. Anyway, Chase. Did you figure out what you're going to be doing about your campaign speech?”

”Uh, yeah. I did up a rough draft last night. Here.”

I reach into my back pack and start searching through for my notebook.

”You seem really into this though, Nick. I'm surprised.”

”Heh, well it is the first step necessary for taking over this shitty school and making it something that nerds and geeks alike can marvel at. #MakeSunHighGreatAgain! Get that trending Sig. We have a campaign to run here.”

”Seriously, stop that.”

I pull out what I've written of my campaign speech so far.

”Let's see!”

He swipes the opened notebook and skims through it.

”Hmmm, hmm… PFFT! Dude this opener is so stupid! Hahahahaha! Man, this is gonna be great.”

”Thanks. I thought of it myself.”

”…”

”…”

”Ehhh, not bad… but I think it needs more emotion.”

”Emotion?”

”Yeah man. Take it from the guy who gives the best motivational speeches in the 'Fated Ones'. By far.”

By far, huh?

”You can't call people to action without appealing to their emotions.”

”I don't quite understand…”

”Yeah well, let's look at you, right? If we're going off of logic alone, you almost certainly shouldn't be voted in even if you're technically a better candidate than Thotifer. You skipped a ton of class, got into a fight, and there's rumors about you being a huge womanizer. Right?”

”Uh, yeah.”

I forgot about how bad this race actually looks for me. I'm definitely the turtle here, no two ways about it.

”But that's only if we look at it logically. What if we could appeal to their emotions to change their perception of you? You know, and make them feel sorry for you? Or make them sympathize with what you stand for?”

”Oh yeah, Scarlet was talking about how that's the strength of my campaign. Like, how I'm the victim of a smear campaign or whatever.”

”Yeah man, so don't put too much thought into this policies thing. Or rather, have it compliment the character you're going for once you start the speech.”

”Character… you sound like a real politician dude.”

”Heh, that thot should just count her lucky stars that I'm not the one running against her.”

He returns the notebook.

”Thanks, but this isn't really the main problem right now.”

”Huh? What do you mean?”

”Well…”

Sig speaks up after silently listening for a while.

”The thing is, the opposition is going to have an interview with a certain reporter-san about some bad things Chase-dono has supposedly done.”

”Geh, she's going to talk to Leyla isn't she…”

Oh yeah, I was wondering… Do those two have some kind of a relationship?

”Scarlet-chan figured that she should distract Jennifer-chan and then have Chase-dono do the interview to get her a replacement scoop, but we don't have confidence in her ability to do that…”

”Mm, true. Jennifer is a Grade A thot after all.”

”Which is why I came up with an idea.”

Oooh?! Not bad, Sig! I knew I could count on you!

Nick nods his head, appearing noticeably interested in Sig's words.

”I see. So? What's this brilliant plan of yours?”

”Well, rather than having Scarlet-chan distract the interviewer, we have her do the interview itself so she can tell the truth about everything that's been happening with Chase.”

Certainly, that would mean she could get the truth out without having to talk to any guys or any of the girls in Jennifer's circle, but…

”But what about Thotifer herself? How do we distract her?”

At Nick's question, Sig smirks.

”We use 'that'.”

”'That'?”

”The latest weapon of the 'Fated Ones'. The thing you left early to procure yesterday.”

”That thing? How would we… Ah!”

A devious grin stretches across Nick's face.

”C-c-c-certainly that could work, but… but… we'll need time to set it up!”

”Hai, I think the three of us should skip the final period in order to make sure it goes off without any hitches.”

”Hehehe… Sig you're a diabolical genius.”

”Well, I am the one who made you buy it in the first place…”