"Me?"
Asakura looked at Amakusa Shino in confusion.
"To be precise, it's that mermaid girl you brought over during the Founders' Festival."
Amakusa Shino said loudly, crossing her arms over her chest.
With her chest having little rise and fall, she was quite suited for this pose, looking rather heroic and dashing, no wonder there were rumors that she often received love letters from girls.
"Mermaid?"
Asakura frowned.
In his impression, he didn't seem to have encountered this type of supernatural being.
Let alone a mermaid, he hadn't even seen a water monkey.
"It's that child who sang at that time."
Amakusa Shino said, "Her singing was as beautiful as a mermaid's, so unearthly, and after the performance, she disappeared like a bubble, so the rumor of the 'mermaid girl' began. It was quite a stir back then; there were even talent scouts from entertainment companies who specifically came looking for her, wanting her to debut directly as a new idol singer. They specifically came to the school to negotiate with the Student Council, wanting us to provide her information."
Oh, it was Gotō Hitori.
"Did something like that actually happen...? Although it was somewhat expected."
Asakura rubbed his chin, "So those talent scouts..."
"Of course the Student Council turned them away. How could we reveal someone else's personal information without their consent?"
Amakusa Shino replied as if it were obvious.
"Even if that child isn't a Soubu High School student?"
"Even if she's not a Soubu High School student, it's the same."
"As expected of the highly anticipated next Student Council President."
Asakura clapped his hands in earnest.
"Even I, the highly anticipated one, can't persuade certain people to help out in the Student Council and lighten my burden."
The girl looked at Asakura with some resentment, while he pretended not to notice her gaze, looking out the window and whistling.
"Anyway, because of the mermaid girl, it seems many people have come specifically, thinking they might see her again in the cultural festival's auditorium performance."
Amakusa Shino continued.
"Then they're going to be disappointed."
"As expected, you didn't plan for that child to perform again, did you?"
"She will sooner or later go to a bigger stage than the Founders' Festival—" Asakura said as a matter of course, "but not now, not today."
If the girls Asakura currently knew were ranked according to their witch qualifications, first were the three official witches:
The most outstanding was naturally Gokou Ruri. After her [Cat] magic went out of control once, she quickly mastered its basic and advanced uses. She was so excellent that cultists would use her as a vessel for the descent of an evil god. Now, her magic had even shown a higher-level evolution. Although it hadn't fully manifested yet, with the girl's talent, she would surely soon re-understand the magic's Context and master the new power after its evolution.
Next was Gotō Hitori. Although she couldn't truly grasp the power of [Song], from the Founders' Festival and recent events, she had already gained some understanding of her own magic and would probably soon become a combatant. The problem was her poor mentality. As a rather subjective power, magic was easily affected, leading to magic deterioration.
Then there was Asagumo Chihaya, who possessed a powerful magic of unknown origin related to time. Because she couldn't control her own power, the magic appeared in the form of an item, and she eventually messed it up, leading to a magic power deficit and the magic falling into a slumber, difficult to awaken.
Next were the three who had witch qualifications but had not obtained spells, in order of magic power and magic affinity: Yuigahama Yui, who had excellent magic power and magic affinity, and could easily control the Golem 'Napoleon'; Chihaya Anon, whose magic power was subtle but had decent affinity for Mirror magic; and… uh, Nukumizu Kaju.
Finally, there were three who had no witch qualifications at all and only came into contact with the supernatural due to some special reasons, ranked from lowest to highest Muggles degree: Fujiwara Chika > Yanami Anna > Yukinoshita Yukino.
Besides these, there was Aragaki Ayase, whose system was different from witches, completely following a superhuman path, probably like an additional warrior in a tokusatsu show.
I've strayed too far.
In short, Gotō Hitori was actually a witch with excellent qualifications, but due to her mentality, she couldn't become an immediate combatant. Similarly, until her mentality was completely stable, it would be difficult for her to truly stand on stage and directly accept goodwill and malice from everyone.
However, although Asakura didn't plan for Hitori to sing on stage again, she should still come to Soubu High School today.
After all, Asakura had specifically told Ijichi Nijika and the others about the Soubu High School Founders' Festival. In Kessoku Band's chat group yesterday, that blonde side-ponytail archangel also said she would come here to play with Gotō Hitori and the others.
Hmm, I'll find them after I finish touring the Founders' Festival with Asagumo Chihaya.
Asakura decided this in his heart.
"Since there's nothing else, I have a date, so I'll go down and play first…"
"No."
Before Asakura could slip away, Amakusa Shino grabbed him.
"What are you doing? Amakusa Shino, you're about to become the Student Council President. It's not good for your image to be pulling at a boy here."
Asakura tried to struggle, but she immediately adopted a pose similar to 'strongman locking a man'. Although it offered no substantial help, Asakura felt somewhat constrained because he thought a real struggle would hurt her.
Moreover, even though the girl's chest was pressed tightly against Asakura's back in this position, for some reason, there was no feeling of 'soft and cuddly'; instead, it felt a bit hard…
"Because of Asakura's mermaid, the number of visitors to the Founders' Festival has far exceeded the initial plan. The Student Council's manpower is completely stretched thin, and I need your help."
Amakusa Shino completely disregarded her own reputation—well, judging by the dirty jokes she often blurted out without hesitation in daily life, she didn't seem to care about it anyway—and just said loudly: "Asakura-kun, you don't want the Founders' Festival, which Soubu High School students put so much effort into preparing, to be ruined by some accident, do you?"
"…Amakusa Student Council President, you are very despicable right now."
Asakura stopped struggling and looked at her helplessly, while the girl's face showed a victorious smile.
"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to do anything difficult. After all, we agreed before, and this time it's only because the Student Council is really short-staffed. Everyone is so busy that they even need to borrow a cat's paw."
Amakusa Shino pulled out a red sash (for some reason, 'Student Council Special Combat Force' was written on it in gold paint) that she had prepared earlier and handed it to Asakura: "Asakura, you just need to help greet guests at the entrance and also keep an eye out for suspicious-looking individuals. When other Student Council members are free later, they will take over your work."
☰