Chapter 224: The Final Speech of the Election

After reading that shocking title, Asagiri lowered his gaze and continued reading. Beneath it was a ranking of the top three high schools in Tokyo.

[1st: Private Seiri]

[2nd: Daikoku Private High School]

[Joint 3rd: Shuchiin Academy, Advanced Nurturing High School]

It had to be said, the writer Ashikaga Miwa hired was truly capable. If Private Shuchiin Academy had simply been ranked third, the students might not have been this furious, but...

Advanced Nurturing?

Advanced Nurturing High School was tied for third with Shuchiin Academy!?

Wasn’t this an insult to Shuchiin Academy?

"A closed off prison that recruits all kinds of riffraff and barely qualifies as a school is somehow mentioned in the same breath as our Shuchiin Academy. It is so absurd I almost want to laugh."

Hearing Asagiri’s comment, the students gathered around him all had the same thought in their hearts.

This was it. This was the taste. So refreshing.

As expected, only Utsunomiya’s sharp tongue had this kind of flavor. This was what real bluntness looked like. This was what real domination sounded like.

If anyone else said it, it would not hit the same way at all.

"Private Seiri? Daikoku Private High School? Schools like that are actually ranked above our Shuchiin Academy. It seems the outside world really has no idea what kind of place Shuchiin Academy is."

Asagiri tore one of the flyers off the school gate, swept his gaze across the surrounding students, said nothing more, and walked straight into Shuchiin Academy with Yuuki Asuna and Iwanaga Kotoko.

...

When they arrived at the Shuchiin Academy auditorium, Asagiri saw long lines on both sides of the entrance. They were all male students, and from their builds and height, they were clearly members of sports clubs. Even the order they stood in seemed to be arranged by height.

"Utsunomiya!"

The captain of the basketball club spotted Asagiri and immediately greeted him with a hearty laugh.

"Good luck. We are all here to support you!"

Asagiri smiled and asked, "This lineup is pretty impressive, isn’t it?"

The basketball club captain patted his shoulder and laughed.

"Well, it is your election after all. Of course we had to come and boost morale."

Asagiri smiled and corrected him.

"Thank you for the support, but please note that this is not my election. I am only the deputy. This is Shinomiya’s election."

"It is all the same, all the same."

After exchanging a few casual words, the basketball club captain lowered his voice and asked nervously, "Can you win? If we lose, then all of us standing here will become a laughingstock."

"Lose?"

Asagiri shook his head and walked slowly toward the auditorium doors, speaking calmly.

"We will definitely win."

Watching his back and the hopeful expressions of the sports club members lined up on both sides, Yuuki Asuna’s eyes flickered slightly. It was as if she were speaking to Iwanaga Kotoko beside her, yet also quietly speaking to herself.

"He really is that kind of person. He gives you the feeling that as long as you just follow behind him, victory is guaranteed. That kind of feeling, exciting and reassuring at the same time... is truly captivating..."

Iwanaga Kotoko smiled faintly and said, "But what we want is more than just following behind him, right?"

"Right."

Yuuki Asuna smiled and nodded, then walked forward with Iwanaga Kotoko and caught up to Asagiri.

In a small team, companions should move forward side by side.

...

The moment Asagiri stepped into the auditorium, many students were already seated. The somewhat noisy hall instantly fell silent, and hundreds of gazes turned toward him standing at the entrance.

"It is Utsunomiya..."

"He is the one giving the speech later, right?"

"This is my first time seeing him in person today. He really is handsome."

"Do not be fooled by appearances. I heard Utsunomiya is extremely tough. He did not back down at all when facing the Student Council President."

"Well, of course. He is the one trying to take the Student Council President’s seat from the upperclassmen."

"That pressure... Is this the strongest genius among the first years...?"

After Asagiri appeared, the auditorium remained silent for a few seconds before students began whispering among themselves. An indescribable sense of anticipation and tension rose in everyone’s heart.

A newly enrolled first year student directly challenging a senior Student Council President was not something unheard of in Shuchiin Academy’s history. It had happened a few times before.

But this time was different.

Everyone, whether first years, second years, third years, or even the teachers of Shuchiin Academy, was looking forward to this final election segment because this time...

The first year newcomers, Utsunomiya Asagiri and Kaguya Shinomiya, truly had a chance to win. In fact, judging by the current momentum, their odds were even higher than the current Student Council.

Could it be that today...

...would be the day Shuchiin Academy’s history was overturned?

"Utsunomiya."

"Utsunomiya, Asuna, hello there~"

Kaguya Shinomiya and Fujiwara Chika, who were standing near the door, greeted Asagiri and Yuuki Asuna. Iwanaga Kotoko patted Asagiri on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Good luck~"

"Do not worry."

"Okay, then I will go take my seat~"

After Iwanaga Kotoko headed to the seating area for Class A, Kaguya Shinomiya, Fujiwara Chika, Utsunomiya Asagiri, and Yuuki Asuna, the four people participating in the Student Council election, entered the preparation room backstage.

"Today is finally the day."

Kaguya Shinomiya took a few stapled sheets from her satchel and handed them to Asagiri.

"The speech."

Faced with the speech Kaguya Shinomiya offered him, Asagiri merely waved his hand.

"It is no longer needed."

"No longer needed?"

Fujiwara Chika blinked in confusion.

"But the speech includes our plans for improving various school systems after winning the election, as well as changes from the students’ perspective. Adding those things to your speech should not affect your original..."

"Fujiwara, you and our opponents have both overlooked the most important point."

Asagiri looked at Fujiwara Chika and Kaguya Shinomiya and spoke slowly.

"Although Shuchiin Academy’s Student Council election imitates the structure of a real election in many ways, the voting rights are still in the hands of high school students. Unlike adults, most high school students are easily driven by emotion and impulse. What I need to do is stir up their emotions. Anything else, whether it is selecting a school trip destination or arranging extra lessons from excellent teachers, will only cool down those emotions after they have been ignited."

Fujiwara Chika first nodded as if she understood, then asked curiously, "But if the other side includes those things in their speech and attacks us with them, would that not put us at a disadvantage?"

"Even if they say those things, it does not matter. Because their speaking order is after ours, they can always simply offer more than we do. That is the advantage of going last. If they want to, they can keep raising the conditions and give the students something even more attractive than what we promise. However..."

At that point, Asagiri changed his tone.

"Ordinary things like that can be done by anyone who becomes Student Council President. What I am going to give the students below is a promise that only I can fulfill. They will believe that only I can fulfill it. It is a promise no one else can replace."

After saying that, Asagiri turned to Kaguya Shinomiya and asked with a smile, "Is that fine, Shinomiya?"

"You do not need to ask for my opinion. You should decide that yourself."

Kaguya Shinomiya nodded slightly, her tone calm.

"I believe in you."

Hearing those words, Fujiwara Chika, Kaguya Shinomiya’s friend for many years, could not help but show a look of surprise.

Only Fujiwara Chika understood how special the word "believe" was to Kaguya Shinomiya.

So that was how it was...

Kaguya really had changed a lot.

...

Twenty minutes later, inside the Shuchiin Academy auditorium.

"Utsunomiya is on stage."

The moment Asagiri slowly walked to the center front of the stage and adjusted the microphone, the students below instantly quieted down. The only sound in the entire hall was the faint touch of his fingertips against the microphone, amplified by the speakers.

"Hello, everyone. I am the speaker for this Student Council election, the deputy of first year Kaguya Shinomiya, first year Utsunomiya Asagiri."

After a brief introduction, Asagiri pulled a stapled speech from his pocket.

But what he did next stunned everyone.

"I originally prepared a speech, but this kind of thing is completely meaningless."

Asagiri tore the speech in his hand into pieces, crumpled them into a ball, and casually tossed them aside. Then he lifted his head and faced the thousand plus teachers and students below. His face held no trace of nervousness or stage fright. He simply said in a calm voice,

"In this year’s joint entrance exam, four of the top ten chose Shuchiin Academy, including me, the student who ranked first."

"In the previous year, five of the top ten enrolled in Shuchiin Academy. The year before that, the number was eight."

At this point, Asagiri paused for a few seconds, giving everyone below enough time to think, before continuing slowly,

"Shuchiin Academy’s prestige and influence are declining at an alarming speed. I believe many of you already saw the flyers posted at the school gate. In the eyes of the outside world, we are no longer the strongest high school in Japan. We are not even the strongest high school in Tokyo. Ranked above Shuchiin Academy are so called elite schools like Private Seiri and Daikoku Private High School, and now even places like Advanced Nurturing are being spoken of in the same breath as us."

"I know many people would like to pull out all kinds of statistics, average grades, college admission rates, and other numbers to prove that we are the strongest high school. But I have a simpler, more direct, and more unforgettable method."

Asagiri swept his gaze over the students below him. His tone remained calm, but his words were powerful enough to stir the blood in everyone listening.

"We will crush every school that dares place itself above Shuchiin Academy, completely and undeniably. With victory so overwhelming that no one can dispute it..."

"We will prove, once and for all..."

"...that Shuchiin Academy is the undisputed strongest."

.....

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