CHAPTER_11 Act 4

"Ms. Hollows, do you have feelings for Mr. Arios?" I asked.

Even if she didn't answer, I already knew. She glared at me appallingly and said, "Tell me exactly what happened, Ms. Leyand, and how certain your information is. I don't want to believe that Mr. Arios did something unimaginable."

"As I thought, you still doubt me. I have no evidence Ms. Hollows, but someone told me about it."

"And who is that person?"

"Mr. Sean Gounter, from Alter Family..."

"...I see. Alter Family seeks war, huh?"

"Hang on a second Ms. Hollows, I don't think Alter Family as a whole knew about this; I didn't obtain enough details about his plan, but I'm still looking into it," I explained.

"Why didn't you act sooner and notify us about this? You hesitated and now you're paying the price," Mr. Crane interjected.

"From what I can see, the situation right now is helpless—"

"That is not the case; you are essentially allowing things to happen," he added.

"No, like I said, I happened to stumble upon Mr. Gounter that day..."

I had already received information from Ms. Horveon about Mr. Gounter's movements. Ms. Sofia Horveon was my main informant in the Alter Family. And technically, I ordered her to closely monitor him. As an ex-member of Alter Family, I can confirm that Mr. Gounter was known as a lackey of our Representatives. I happened to cross paths with him on the day Ms. Lisa Hollows went to the Student Council to take an exam. That day, I was startled to see Ms. Hollows return after almost a week of absence. I needed to speak with her about Ms. Hiram Frestia, but I knew she needed to talk to the President, so I left them in the SC room for a bit. As I returned after leaving them, I observed a peculiar individual loitering outside, and that was Mr. Gounter.

"What brings you here?" I immediately questioned him.

"Ms. Leyand? No, um... I intended to speak with the President, but I had never expected Ms. Hollows would be there, so I'm deciding to go back for now."

His statement was obviously a bluff. There was no one outside at this early hour, especially since the meeting had already ended.

"Is that so? Then I'll make an appointment for you, Mr. Gounter, to meet with the President; you may leave now."

"A-Alright..."

He was about to leave, but I can't let this slide off easily.

"Fufu, why are you so uptight, Mr. Sean Gounter?"

I remember his name clearly since he was known in the Alter Family. He then paused, "What are you trying to say, Ms. Leyand?"

"Do you think you can fool me? When did you think you could eavesdrop outside the Student Council room?"

"I'm telling you the truth."

"If so, you must come to me first. And how did you know Ms. Hollows was inside? What are you planning? Spill it now or you may regret it later."

"Is that a threat?"

"Call it whatever you want, but if all of a sudden there was a commotion going on around, I will be the one to punish you."

"Woah, how scary, Ms. Leyand. Why are you so stern?" He then moves closer to me and remarks boldly, "Alright, to tell you the truth, I'm not here to speak with the President; I'm here for you."

"...Hoh?" That made me skeptical.

"We are aware of your animosity toward the President. You want to get rid of him, right? We can help—"

"Shut up! How did you know?" I instantly snapped at the moment, "Is that your goal?"

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Isn't that what 'our' purpose is, Ms. Leyand? Aren't you going to protect what you have?—The Families, especially the Alter Family, are the only reason why you're here now."

"..." Slowly, all of my thoughts went blank.

"Didn't you forget the purpose of joining the Student Council? Don't let your feelings change you, Ms. Lou Leyand."

"I-I'm not... Don't you dare instruct me, Mr. Gounter."

"I wouldn't dare, but that was just a reminder. Your feelings for the President are futile. You don't have him. You can't have him. Don't waste your time thinking about your choices; protect what you have, the Alter Family."

"..."

And after that, he left. That irritated me since he was only a member of the Alter Family and thought he could talk big like that. Nevertheless, that day, his compelling words clouded my thoughts. I don't know what my heart desires. But I do know one thing; in a sense, he is totally right. All of his words penetrate my uncertainties. As he said, I have to do the right thing and protect the Families. So I had to choose to go along with his plan.

On that same day, I get a chance to talk to Ms. Hollows after she finishes her examination and subconsciously inform her about Ms. Gounter's plan. However, I'm still not aware of his idea. So I contacted Mr. Gounter before the day ended, and he responded in a letter. From there, I learned that the whole scheme had been devised accordingly. And my mind was gradually losing sight of what to do. I thought that everything was inevitable, even if I chose to stop it.

[We are going to get rid of the Aqua Family, so we're going to set a fire between Mr. Arios and Mr. Flavin. Later on, we'll add something to it.]

"Are they intending to eliminate one of the Families? This is going to be a war," I thought.

[That's what has been decided by 'everyone' in other Organizations. Some of them agreed with us since they are at the bottom of the Fifteen Organizations. We will re-nominate for the vacant seat if possible. Oh, and we will also eliminate Zei Wyte.]

"Wait... what exactly did he want?"

That is what I read in the letter. I had no idea how he would pull this off, though I think he is convinced.

After that, I burned the letter. I decided to talk with Ms. Hollows again on that same day and tell her about it. Later, I found out that Mr. Gounter was using me to create a fuss. Ms. Hollows tells me that this was all my plot, which puzzled me. Mr. Gounter informed not just her but other Representatives too. Of course, this offended my reputation, but I'll keep my calm as usual when talking to Ms. Hollows. I thought to myself that this was for the best in order to protect all of the Families.

However, as a result of what Mr. Seid statement earlier, my thoughts began to move in a different way. But, as I said, there's no way someone can stop this situation, not even me. It's all meaningless now that I've evaluated the entire thing. Even after hearing this information, I can tell Mr. Seid has come up with this theory as well. Though, other things did not go as planned, such as the Time Family saving Zei Wyte. Despite this, they accomplished their primary purpose of eliminating the President and shattering the Aqua Family. Still, I'm not sure why they want to get rid of Ethan.

"I'm curious, why did you tell me about the plan, Ms. Leyand?" Ms. Hollows asked.

"Hmm... I wonder why... Maybe I thought to myself that I needed help and didn't want to get my hands on this mess."

I wished I could turn a blind eye to this. Funny enough, I am such a hypocrite.

"But you are involved in this trouble, Ms. Leyand," she added.

"Right, and that's how I came to the conclusion that this whole situation does have something to do with Mr. Gounter, along with the rumors between the President and you, which are essentially unavoidable."

Apparently, the rumor between Ethan and Ms. Hollows was unmistakably from Mr. Gounter as well.

"I'm wondering if Mr. Oaes was aware of all of that. How could he have let this happen without knowing it?" Ms. Hollows murmured. "I'm going to see him—"

"No, you can't go outside, Ms. Hollows," Mr. Crane insisted.

"Please, just this once?"

"I know you're worried and wanted to clarify things, but you still can't go because everyone thinks you're a criminal," I stated.

It may sound harsh, but it is true for her.

"I never thought Mr. Gounter would plan such a thing; wasn't the Alter Family aware of what was going on?" Ms. Steward asks.

"I'm still on bad terms with them, so I don't know right now, but I asked Ms. Horveon about it."

This is not the right time to ask the Representatives of Alter Family. Though Ms. Horveon is someone I can trust, so there's no need to worry. She was with me at the time when we joined Mr. Seid at the cafeteria. I remember it being so tense and awkward back then.

"Your wish, Ms. Hollows... I wanted to get that, you know?" I bring this up to ease up the room.

"Wish—that's what you wanted from the start, right? Why though?"

That wish... I didn't get enough points, or rather, I didn't get a perfect score to beat Mr. Seid and Ms. Hollows. If I ever obtain it, I'll be greedy and selfish.

"Of course, everyone in our class wanted that. Wishes are always a secret, don't you think? So it's best if it stays hidden. You already have one, right?"

"I wanted to find Hiram, but no one helped me; it's just a nonsense game in our class."

"It's obvious you wanted to go for that, Ms. Hollows, but it's difficult to acquire information about her."

Even I was still skeptical about her whereabouts.

"I know... but still..." she persisted, "Uh, speaking of which, didn't you have any information about Hiram, Ms. Leyand? You wanted to talk to me that day, didn't you?"

"Well, that? Last time we said that she dropped out, we meant she was being transferred out; apparently, the President and Principal only knew where she went but didn't tell us."

"Is that so? That's what the Principal told me before; that Hiram wanted to leave the school... But why?"

"Well, that's what I thought. You don't know exactly the reason."

"How could I possibly know?"

"Fine... That day, I thought I could talk to you about her words before she left when I was able to talk to her."

"What did she say?"

"She blurted out inconceivably that she was tired of everything."