CHAPTER_11 Act 3

I looked at the two girls, who were staring at me blankly.

"What's up? Why are you with Mr. Seid?" Ms. Steward greeted me, but she seemed perplexed, as did Ms. Hollows.

"Ms. Steward, didn't you warn Mr. Crane earlier? They were fighting in the hallway," I pointed out.

"Ehh?" she said, startled.

"I clearly said this before, please keep an eye on him."

"But he informed us that they wanted to talk alone, so I let them go."

In answer, I let out a long sigh, "How can this be..."

Well, Ms. Steward was like this since I met her. She could be easily duped by anyone.

"So, what are you two laughing about?" I quickly changed the subject.

"Oh, that? We are talking about—"

"It's nothing; didn't you come here to make such announcements?" Ms. Hollows intervened.

On that note, I thought it was suspicious, but I consider it best not to question them again and to get straight to my business. So, with that, I inform them of the President's decision. They remained silent and did not interrupt me.

"That's how it is, huh? This is the end for me," Ms. Hollows said grimly.

Mr. Seid made an observation, saying, "This isn't what the perpetrator would expect..."

I wouldn't mind if Mr. Seid knew everything before the rest of the school, because this news will be publicized eventually. Now, from his statements, I would assume he was aware of what was going on.

Ms. Hollows hastily inquired, "What do you mean?"

"I need to talk to the President," he adds, disregarding her.

"No, you don't have to because he's already aware of the situation," I explained.

"Ms. Leyand, have you ever told the President how you feel?"

"What? That came out of nowhere, Mr. Seid..."

"Did you say the things you wanted to say to him?"

"No... uh..."

At that very moment, I was dumbfounded. Those words stung me.

"If you tell him what to do, he might reconsider."

"What are you trying to say?"

He looked into my eyes with the intent of probing me further. That gaze was obviously analyzing me. He is indeed trying to understand my emotions.

"He is still human, and there are occasions when he is unable to accomplish something."

"How did you know? And the same is true for you, Mr. Seid."

He's trying to convince me to do something in this circumstance with Ms. Hollows' case.

"I was aware of my inadequacies, Ms. Leyand, therefore I sought out a person who could fill those flaws."

"That person? Are you referring to Ms. Wyte?"

"Enough of me; why did the President select you to be the Secretary, Ms. Leyand?"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

And that pierced my heart once again. I'm not here to hear his utterance, but it did make me realize something; I'm such an idiot. What am I doing?

"Sigh... Why am I even listening to you anyway?"

"I'm not here to lecture you, Ms. Leyand, but this has made me believe that this will not end if you don't stop this. My purpose here is not to side with the Families, but I guess I'll just do it anyhow."

He then advances to the door, but Mr. Crane stands in his path, "You can't go, Mr. Seid."

Mr. Seid, on the other hand, simply looked at him dreadfully. I can see that he is suppressing his rage.

"Mr. Seid," I cut in, "we've heard you have your Order Family."

"..." He didn't react to it in the slightest; and seemed didn't want to respond to my comment, so he remained mute.

"If that's true, then what is your goal?"

I'm completely interested in his reason for starting a Family.

"I see. This is much better, I guess," he stated in satisfaction. "Would you let me off the hook on this one, Ms. Leyand? I promise to answer your question the next time."

"Hmm... is that so?"

Without waiting for my answer, he started to take a few steps toward the doorway. Though, Mr. Crane, interfere once again.

"You can't leave Mr. Seid until you tell us what the truth is you are talking about," Mr. Crane said.

"Truth? Didn't Ms. Leyand already explain to the Student Council?" He then glances at me, but he concludes, "Well, that seems not to be the case. Zei was correct, you people have no attachment with one another."

"What did you say—?"

Mr. Seid instantly grabs his arm and jabs him in the face, but Mr. Crane escapes the strike unharmed.

"You can't beat me, Mr. Seid."

This will not end, so I interjected between them, "Mr. Crane, let him go. I will need to discuss something to the SC members."

Mr. Seid walks away as soon as Mr. Crane lets go of his hand. At the moment, Mr. Seid is not a concern. I need to make things clear on what's important right now.

"What's Mr. Seid talking about? How come you didn't inform us sooner?" Ms. Steward inquired. Her look had changed from one of curiosity to one of concern.

"In truth, that's because I'm upset... with the President."

"What makes you feel that way?"

"...Because he intended to ruin all Families."

Ms. Hollows responded to them for me. As expected, this rendered them speechless. And because the two SC members had no idea, I believe I should tell them right now.

"I discovered Ethan was planning to destroy the Organizations when someone informed me about his background; it was shocking at first, but later on, I talked to him about it, and he was blinded by revenge; of course, I was upset at him deep down, while also being heartbroken."

I can clearly recall his firm declaration and its grim retribution on that day. I can't even oppose him.

"What is this about his past?"

"No one knows about it, except Hana Frey. I'm not going into detail, but that was his objective from the start. He understands the risk, especially to his own life, but I know that if I warn him, he would choose to reject me nonetheless."

"That jerk, why is he acting as if he has responsibility—?"

"He needed to, Devon," I interrupted him, "he needed to forget and move on."

"That seems like his history was unpleasant, doesn't it?" Shane said.

"...I guess so."

"So why didn't you stop him yourself?" Ms. Hollows questioned.

"You're the third person to ask me that, and I'll tell you again why; I was upset at him—"

"That's an excuse; in truth, Ms. Leyand, you're scared. I never imagined I'd see your shortcomings at the time like this."

"No, that's not an excuse... in any way."

"You're too obvious right now, Ms. Leyand; you're afraid to address him directly, which is why you wanted all Organizations to side with you and let them accomplish what you wanted to do; yet, you're still trapped in this quandary of whether you'll go and stand with the President or oppose him."

"It makes no difference whether I inform him what I feel or not since he was too blind to see his own."

"That's why the Student Council must still assist him, but I'm becoming frustrated because the Student Council isn't what I imagine it to be; Mr. Seid was right, all of you are just a bunch of individuals."

As Secretary of the Student Council, I cannot disagree with Ms. Hollows' statements.

"Therefore, that finishes my assumption that this entire scenario was entirely due to you, Ms. Leyand."

"...You're not wrong in that sense; I'm somehow linked to and drawn into this mess."

"Now that you're here, Ms. Hollows, may I ask who murdered Mr. Levi Flavin?"

My eyes widen, and I unconsciously glance into Ms. Hollows' piercing eyes. I can affirm that she, too, want to uncover the identity of the culprit.

"If you're that eager to know..."

"Who is it? You know that I didn't doing anything wrong. I don't care if I'm going to be expelled or not; all I want to know is the truth."

"...It's Mr. Fred Arios."

"What!?" she said as she rose from her seat "Are you serious, Ms. Leyand?" She fixed her gaze on me.

"Do you think I'm joking right now? You wanted the truth, right?"

Ms. Hollows gets up and tries to leave the room, but Mr. Crane is waiting right outside the door, therefore she can't leave right away.

Mr. Crane remarked, "Please calm down, Ms. Hollows; you're not in a position to go out right now."

"I'm calm, but I'm angry," she explained.

"Why are you so upset right now, Ms. Hollows?" I asked her.

Ms. Steward muttered quietly in my ear, "Earlier, Mr. Arios was here and told her that he would make sure that Ms. Hollows gets released, and then he left us. I can tell that she was somewhat really glad, but what you said is a bit..."

To relieve my frustration, I let out a huge sigh from nowhere, "Ms. Hollows, do you like Mr. Arios?"