The Fascinating Silver Red – Chapter 10

This is a fanfiction by Doughnut Gunso.

“So, a Vote of No Confidence, huh?”

“Yes, milady. It would be held three days later.”

After school, Hayate and Nagi went home and talked about the motion by Kazumi Aika of a Vote of No Confidence in Katsura Hinagiku, the Student Council President. The details were outlined in a leaflet distributed to the whole school. Nagi was holding one in her hand, and she frowned as she scanned over the content.

“And there would be no abstention,” said Hayate. “Why is it so?”

“Well, it is ‘assumed’,” began Nagi, emphasising the word “assumed”, “that Hakuou students can do better than to abstain in a matter like this, so the teachers do not allow a third option for them.”

“What do you mean, milady?”

“You either have confidence in Hinagiku, or you do not,” said Nagi simply. “There is no third option.”

“But then…” began Hayate hesitantly, as he thought of the likes of Izumi, Miki and Risa.

“As I said, it is only ‘assumed’, so it doesn’t speak for the idiots who cannot make up their mind,” said Nagi heavily. “But then, there is no need for you to worry about the people you are thinking of now. Idiots they might be, but they are very loyal to Hinagiku.”

“H – how do you know whom I was thinking of, milady?” asked Hayate as he blushed. He was surprised that Nagi could read his mind so precisely.

“I thought of them as well,” said Nagi calmly.

“So what about you, milady?” asked Hayate, clearly relieved. “Have you made up your mind?”

“Oh yes I have.”

“It is so rare to see you being so decisive on school-related matters, mi-” Hayate began, but then he took a cushion in the face.

“Come off it!” shouted Nagi as she blushed furiously. “I have to vote anyway, so what’s wrong with me making up my mind early?”

“My apologies, milady,” said Hayate as he placed the cushion back to its original position. “So what would you vote?”

Nagi sighed. “It is not my vote that you have to worry about, Hayate.”

*

Meanwhile, Hinagiku and Chiharu were having a discussion at the school cafe. As Hinagiku was subjected to a Vote of No Confidence, she was temporarily suspended from her position as Student Council President until the vote was over. Her duties had all been transferred to Athena (“You must be kidding, Kirika-san!” she said), who would also be hosting the vote three days later.

As she was suspended from her post, Hinagiku was not allowed to use the Student Council office. She knew full well that if she were to lose the vote, she would not be seeing her office desk again. It would cause some troubles vacating the office as Hinagiku had almost made it her personal room. To begin with, she had stored a lot of spare uniform in the room.

But now, she had more important things to worry about than her spare uniform.

“As you well know, the Vote of No Confidence is a two-third majority vote,” said Chiharu. “There are 1,001 students at Hakuou. As the subject, you cannot vote, so there would be a total of 1,ooo votes. Therefore, a total of 667 votes will be needed to remove you from the office.”

Hinagiku nodded. “In other words, I’ll have to secure 334 votes if I am to remain as Student Council President.”

“It won’t be easy,” said Chiharu.

“No, it won’t,” admitted Hinagiku. “There were about 300 students at the demonstration this morning, and I am afraid that there were many more who did not turn up. If we double that figure, it would be 600 students, so there would only be 400 votes left for me to fight. I do not have much ground to lose.”

“So what are you going to do, Hina?

“Clearly, I will have to ask for their support,” said Hinagiku, but she didn’t sound at all certain. As long as she refused to sign the petition, or to openly criticise Silver Red, she knew that she was not going to convince too many people.

*

The next day, what Hinagiku saw encouraged her and discouraged her in equal measures. What encouraged her was that there was another group of demonstrators, but under the banners of “Support Hinagiku” and “Support Silver Red” – Hinagiku found it ironic that somehow the students managed to relate her two identities. What discouraged her was that the group against her seemed to have grown significantly. While it might not have been doubled, the group had definitely grown by 100 or 200 students.

From a distance, Hinagiku did a very quick head count on the group which supported her – it was the group that mattered to her, and it was easier to count anyway – and found that there were about 200 students. She would still need another 134 from the neutrals, or even better from the opposition group. She knew that she had to do something, but so far she did not have better arguments than those from the previous day.

Meanwhile, the two groups began shouting at each other. The group which supported Hinagiku accused the other group of forgetting how much the Student Council President had done for the school, and how often her decisions had benefitted the school. The group which opposed Hinagiku kept on criticising her decision to back Silver Red, and that she was naive enough to believe in hero “fantasy”.

The conflict escalated soon enough, as some volatile students from both sides began throwing leaflets and fists against their opposition. The school security stepped in and tried their best to separate the two groups, but only ended up being beaten by their angry fists. It had become a huge mess, but Hinagiku could only watch at the school gate. She was no longer in the position to demand order, and she knew full well that should she show herself, the demonstrations could turn into a riot.

Suddenly, there was a very loud voice besides Hinagiku that made her jump: “IDIOTS!!!!!!!”

Hinagiku turned to the source of the voice and, to her surprise, she saw Nagi, who looked absolutely furious, and Hayate, who was holding a loudspeaker for her. The students appeared to have been stunned by Nagi’s sudden loud voice as well. They stopped fighting and turned to look at Nagi.

“Shame on this school,” shouted Nagi, “which brags how prestigious it is, yet the students do not even know what is right, and what is wrong!”

Her words fired up all the students, who began shouting at her. “What are you talking about?” “Who are you saying, idiots?” “Which side are you on?”

“I am saying,” shouted Nagi again, and the students were silenced once again – the loudspeaker was so powerful that it overwhelmed all the noises made by the students – “that those who want Hinagiku to sign that stupid petition do not know what they are doing!”

The Hinagiku supporters cheered in joy as they found such a powerful voice on their side. The opposition group looked a bit shaken in front of the powerful enemy. “W – what do you mean by that?” one of them managed to ask. “Silver Red has disrupted public order!”

“Then you have no idea what Silver Red has really done over the past few days!” shouted Nagi without fear. “On the day you said that he has caused a traffic jam on the main road, he has saved me from kidnappers. Without him, I don’t even know where I would be right now!”

Nobody spoke.

“And on the day you said he has destroyed a restaurant, Silver Red helped my butler to save my cousin! And I won’t be afraid to tell you that it was my butler who did most of the damages to the restaurant, so I will apologise to the owner, and offer any compensation he would demand!”

“B – but he has also assaulted the police!” there came a voice, but it sounded weak. “The serpent…”

“Do you have any evidence that it was summoned by Silver Red?” shouted Nagi. “Just because it has attacked the police, and Silver Red took benefit from that, does it mean that he has summoned it? Has this school not taught you about the legal system and its spirit? Innocent until proven guilty!”

The Hinagiku supporters cheered.

“Hinagiku has made the right choice not to sign that stupid petition which incriminates the one who has saved my cousin and myself. And yet you idiots are here shouting at her, and would be voting her out of office two days later! How stupid are you?”

The Hinagiku supporters booed, this time towards the opposition group, who had no response.

“This lot is pissing me off! Let’s go home, Hayate!” said Nagi coldly as she turned away.

“Yes, milady!” said Hayate proudly as he lowered the loudspeaker. Usually he would have to apologise to the others if Nagi leaves them in such a rude manner, but this time he was in full support of his lady’s move. To him, there was absolutely nothing wrong to be rude to the “idiots”.

Hinagiku took a step towards them. “Nagi… Hayate-kun…” she began, but she was so moved that she had yet to regain composure to say “thank you”.

Nagi, without looking back, showed her a thumb. Hayate did turn and showed her a warm smile and a nod.

Tears fell heavily on Hinagiku’s cheeks. It didn’t matter if the whole world was against her – she felt that she could live on with the support of only these two people.