49 Na?veté - Part 7 (1/2)

The door wasn't locked when we arrived.

Leyla already appeared to be packing her interview items, so I guess we got here at about the right time.

”Oh, you guys made it! Hey!”

Scarlet quickly takes note of the two of us and waves in our direction.

Her reaction causes Leyla, whose back was turned to the door moments ago, to spin on her heels like a ballet dancer.

”Nicholas! Mon amour! Oh, where have you been? Why did you not come with…”

Her soft, heartfelt expression melts away.

”… us?”

When she sees my face, I can sense some sort of sick, twisted anger build up inside of her.

”… Nicholas?”

”W-what, dude? What do you want?”

”Who is that girl?”

”G-g-g-girl? What? O-oh… Hey wait, Leyla you're misunderstanding. This is…”

”Ahh, how cruel… You've been denying my advances to be at your side for so long that I thought you were simply shy… But to find out that you're secretly just getting close to this thot… Ah, I think I'm getting faint…”

Wow, that one kinda hurt. I kinda get why Scarlet went off on Nick now.

”Don't be ridiculous! You're being delusional right now!”

”This betrayal, it… Ahh, catch me Scarlet… I think I'm gonna…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the light quickly disappears from her eyes and she begins to lose her footing.

”Woah!”

Scarlet manages to catch her before she falls to the ground.

”Wha- wait, are you joking, dude? You're joking, right?”

”…”

Scarlet squeezes her shoulder, but there doesn't seem to be any response.

”… She's asleep.”

”Seriously…?”

”Sorry, apparently she didn't get much sleep last night preparing for the interview.”

That's kinda relatable in a way.

I guess Jennifer was right. Leyla really does take her club seriously.

She might be a bit weird, but she's got her own source of struggles, huh?

That said…

”Nick, are you okay?”

”W-what, man? Do I look weird?”

”Nah, it's just… you're getting kinda rattled by that Leyla girl. Everything good?”

”P-pfft! Of course! It's just your imagination! You think some thot is gonna rattle me? Get real!”

”Uh, sure.”

Though I'm not quite sure what exactly their relationship is, it's obvious enough that Nick is very bad at dealing with girls. Though he tries his best to make a show of it, he's not quite himself when he talks to Scarlet either.

Someone like Leyla would naturally completely trip him off his game.

”Haaa, what a weird day… So? How'd it go for you Chase?”

Scarlet puts Leyla to rest in one of the chairs and has her slump over the desk.

She's already snoring somewhat faintly. Just how heavy of a sleeper is this chick?

”Ah, yeah… To be honest, it didn't go as bad as it could have, but I think we lost on that end.

”… How badly?”

”She's going to give up on the smear campaign and focus on Monday.”

I remove the wig and place it on the table.

”Huh? That's a complete win then.”

”No, it really wasn't.”

You weren't in that room, Scarlet.

She was playing me like a damn fiddle.

I didn't know a girl my age could make me feel so helpless.

And her motivation made even less sense.

The downfall of male students?

I don't really get any of it.

But looking back on it now, I'd actually be doing this school a huge disservice by letting that girl get into power.

”Hey Scarlet.”

”Huh? What is it?”

”How much power does the Student Government have at this school?”

”Ohh. Umm, to be honest I'm not sure exactly but… their main goal is helping out with extra-curricular activities at school. They market the sports teams really well and use the games and sometimes even other club events to start fundraisers for future events. I heard they even tax all kinds of clubs for revenue.”

”Seriously…? So they're just really rich then?”

”Yeah. Apparently the Vice-Principal looks over it so that they don't run off with the money, but they normally spend it all on whatever they think will help the school long term. Club items, marketing stuff, you know… Boring grown-up things.”

Huh… That's a lot of power.

If we think about it logically, they're the source of funding for all of the clubs at this school.

Which means that the SF club, no. It means that all predominantly male clubs at this school are in danger of losing their financial backing, and they might even get taxed more than usual in favor of the groups ran by women such as the Cheer squad or the Newspaper club.

”…”

”Chase?”

Nick looks at me curiously.

I can't let that happen.

The SF club– the 'Fated Ones' is all I have at this school.

This isn't about my reputation anymore.

This is about equality. True equality.

And to do that, there's only one thing left for us to do.

”Nick.”

”What's up?”

”We're gonna destroy the thots.”

He looks genuinely surprised by my statement.

But his surprise quickly turns into a grin.

”… Heh. As expected from the man I believed in.”

He raises his fist.

”It's for the greater good.”

I bump it.

”For sure. The only way left to go is forward.”

He nods.

”Oh, and before I forget… here.”

Nick passes me a handheld device that I've never seen him carry around before.

”What's this?”

”Wow, so you really don't have any gaming consoles, huh? I feel like an idiot for believing you now.”

Ah, right. He's talking about back then.

I didn't want my economic situation to stand out so I lied about owning one. The result of that, of course, was that Nick would continuously recommend me games that I had no way of playing.