While Kanoko is grinning over that, Tsubaki tells her that to
go ahead to the student council room because has to go first to the computer
club. At the student council room, Kanoko stands up and gives a report to
Yabuki to check. While Yabuki looks over it, Kanoko thinks that it is like
before, Yabuki won’t say a word though it isn’t like she’s unsatisfied with it
because it is better than fake closeness. She is surprised that Yabuki calls
her because she thinks that she made a mistake. Instead, he asks her if she’s
doing something afterwards. She says no. To everyone’s surprise, Yabuki tells
her to accompany him for a while. Mizukami exclaims if he is going on a date so
how about at that beverage store by the station. Sayuri is surprised that he is
doing this while Tsubaki isn’t around. At the lecture hall which is where the
drama club practices, the drama club members go to Yabuki and asks if they are
going to talk about today’s budget but then, why are there two of them. Yabuki
apologizes and says that he is in a bit of hurry so today, Kanoko is the one
going to check it out for him. This shocks Kanoko and asks why her when Sayuki
who has a lot of fans and Mizukami who is good in talking, are better than her.
Yabuki tells her that the two are busy with their work today and Tsubaki’s
meeting is extended so there’s only her. He coldly tells her that if she cannot
do it then immediately resign for a lot of students are eyeing her position.
This made Kanoko furious with that high and mighty attitude and in society,
that is some psychological violence[?] – threaten to give the job to others and
can this exist in school when she is just minding her own business until now.
She wonders if it is because he’s older than her by two years and she is quite
disgusted with superior-underling relationship for she doesn’t like being
dominated on. She erases those thoughts for Tsubaki really wanted to be in the
student council. With cutie eyes, she apologizes and says that she will do her
best. Yabuki says that he’ll help her after he is not busy. After he left,
Kanoko overhears the others muttering if it is of use telling their budget to
Kanoko for wasn’t she elected because of Tsubaki. Kanoko approaches the club
president to check over their budget and data. After he says yes, another guy
apologizes to Kanoko that they are busy with practice so just sit and wait
there for a while. While someone gives the budget book to Kanoko, the club president
says that is a good idea to make her always wait until Yabuki comes back and
they don’t think they’ll get anything trying to suck up[/curry favor] from
Kanoko. So, Kanoko quietly sits on a chair and reads through the thick book. After
returning to the council room, Yabuki asks why Mizukami is alone. Mizukami says
that Sayuri is playing hooky. He asks why he came back so early for he thought
he went to the drama club with Kanoko. To Mizukami’s surprise, Yabuki says that
he let Kanoko handle it. Mizukami protests that those people can be quite
authoritative that they think Kanoko is beneath them. Yabuki says that he
wanted to teach her a lesson so he brought her there because until now, she
always stays behind the scenes and do things while taking advantage of Tsubaki’s
influence so she got a lot of success. He wants to make that arrogant person
know her incompetence[/inability]. Mizukami says that he understands his
feelings but Kanoko is also quite pitiful.
Meanwhile, Kanoko realizes that the drama club wanted an
increase of their budget next year because some equipment this year got
seriously broken but the student council wanted to maintain their current
budget. She thinks that Yabuki wants her to convince them to maintain the
current situation. Kanoko asks some props guy that she wants to confirm the
costumes that needed to be dry cleaned which were mentioned in the budget
record so lend her the key to the activity room. They give it to her. So, she
hurries off while everyone is busy with their practice. At the toilet, Sayuri
thinks that even if she said that she’ll go to the toilet but it is time to go
back. She is furious over Mizukami asking if it is true that except for
greetings, she and Hijiri don’t talk to each other after the election and
lately, it seems that her position has been replaced by someone else in the
television, why is that. She finds him really annoying but first, she must quickly
call Tsubaki and make him go back to the council room. Unfortunately, she doesn’t
have his number since she never asked him before. Meanwhile, Tsubaki is
shouting at Otabe that Kanoko won’t come and he is the one who is tasked with
the computer club and student council homepage. Otabe insists on a switch with
Kanoko. Tsubaki shouts that he already left the club and Otabe shouts that he
came for Kanoko when it was mentioned that the ‘secretary is coming’. Tsubaki
is too furious and tired so he takes a break. His HP [hit or healt points/life
bar like in games] is almost drained when he spots Kanoko running. He calls out
to Kanoko who is shock. Kanoko reprimands him that it is bad for her heart if
he imitates Otabe. Tsubaki immediately glomps her and claims that he is
re-charging. His HP quickly goes up. After he asked what she is doing, she
tells him that he is negotiating the drama club’s budget. Tsubaki is shock that
he asks if she is all alone. She says that it isn’t hard for everyone is not
taking her seriously. He wants to come and help her but she refuses. Tsubaki
thinks that just like today when she was bumped and before her bicycle is
filled with empty cans, he knows that she is a ‘it’s inevitable’ and ‘keep the
peace’ person. He tells her to get angry a bit for they are belittling her
without reason. He thinks that because Kanoko is strong and lenient, she is
used to forgiving and her value of herself is quite low. Kanoko says okay and
she understands what he means but she thinks that something inevitable cannot
be resolved for in this world, ‘status [/ranking] exists’ those who have high
status are more intense that they look down on low people. Tsubaki retorts what
about status for everyone are humans so don’t think that way. Kanoko says that
it seems that he misunderstands her, she doesn’t suck up to people but looking
at it objectively, in high school, her position is quite low. And is he
misunderstanding the meaning of status. Actually, it is like the rules of the
sports competition. If you won’t like the rules, you just join other sports
whose rules you can obey and she likes the ‘doctrine of the mean’ rule of
schools so she decided to join but she totally didn’t expect to climb up.
Having good looks, expert at sports and can deal with anything, isn’t that a
standard that’s quite interesting for it is rare to surpass the normal people’s
standard.
She tells him that when he said that ‘status doesn’t exist’,
that isn’t quite persuasive. Tsubaki asks why. Then, he suddenly recalls that
during their first meeting, he had slapped her hand away and shouted that he
hates talking with ugly girls = words of someone who feels superior. Tsubaki is
totally aghast that it drained his HP to 0 = game over. Kanoko tells him that
she should go. Just then, the computer club members ask Tsubaki to resume the
meeting. Tsubaki mutters that for her to say that, he couldn’t answer back. He
nervously asks the club members if there is a way to make something that had
happened disappear. Then, he gloomily walks away and tells them to forget it. The
freshman club members are moved over Tsubaki possibly doing something wrong before
so his fans increases. Later on, Yabuki thinks that it is time to check the
situation of the drama club and just like what Mizukami said, giving this duty
to a female freshman is a bit too pitiful so next time, he’ll give her a simple
job. Just then, Kanoko comes in the room. Yabuki thinks that Kanoko had unexpectedly
left the job instead of staying there after knowing her incompetence and he
thought that she has perseverance. Yabuki asks her about the drama club job. To
his surprise, Kanoko tells her that it is over for she made the drama club
agree to maintain their budget. Yabuki says that it is impossible for he has
seen it a bit and the increase isn’t that unreasonable. Holding up the agreement,
Kanoko tells him that they already agreed which she made the club president
sign. After reading it, Yabuki, together with Kanoko, goes to the drama club
and asks what’s going on. The club president and others say that it is nothing,
just maintain last year’s budget and that’s enough. Yabuki insists on knowing
why but they just claim that they are busy with practice and let them out the
lecture hall. Yabuki asks Kanoko what’s happened. Kanoko tells him that she went
over the drama club’s storage room to find any treasures and after spending
some time, she found some – a [anime]con’s limited edition garage kit and
underground band CD. She asks them about it and they told her that she can sell
those for they are no longer needed. So she brought those things to the idol
research room and negotiated with them over and over. The nerd tries to bargain
over the garage kit because the box of the toy is a bit destroyed but Kanoko
threatens to sell it to someone else. Kanoko says that in the end, she sold
them at a good price so it is alright for the drama club to maintain their
budget. Yabuki asks if she is saying that she just did a money business deal.
Kanoko tells him not to worry for she didn’t use the name of the student
council. Then, she apologizes for being blunt but as a freshman, he brought her
there then just left so if some problem arises during the work, shouldn’t he as
the leader be held responsible. Is this making the people below grow up by
letting them taste hardship caused by the higher ups? He asks if she wants him
to let her off. Kanoko smiles and says, “Please support me.” Yabuki sighs and
says it is like that, a change in the way of speaking. Kanoko is surprised for
she thought that he’ll refute her when he was obviously tough when he left her
at the drama club. She really cannot guess through him. Turning around, Yabuki
bows and apologizes to her. He admits that this time, it is totally his fault
and he tried to matched her up with the people he had met before.
Puzzled Kanoko says that even if she doesn’t understand but
it is alright, please raise his head. After raising his head, Yabuki says, that
she is she and even if there is others similar to her but they are not the same
with her. “Unexpectedly forgetting this simple principle is because of my
arrogance. If you are held accountable for the cash exchange then at that time,
I’ll accept punishment together with you.” Kanoko felt that she has seen the
true side of Yabuki for he isn’t ‘Ice Yabuki’ at all. Then, Kanoko feels
awkward over what he is saying so she tells him that it is okay for she is also
at fault. <- she doesn’t know why she is apologizing but to break the
deadlock, she first apologizes. She asks him not to talk about her as if she is
some rare species and just conveniently treat her like the same. Yabuki says
no, from today on, he is going to treat her as unrivalled[/unique] ‘Naedoko
Kanoko’. This made her more uneasy. She tries to run off and tell him that from
today on, please call her as ‘the other secretary besides Tsubaki’. She is
surprised when Yabuki holds her arm. Yabuki coldly tells her not to run at the
hallway. Soon, it is night. Gloomy Tsubaki goes out of the computer club and he’s
tired to death. Sayuri sees him and asks if he only finished now. Tsubaki tells
him that until Otabe left, they couldn’t talk and the meeting actually lasted
for only 10 minutes. Sayuri gloomily tells him ‘good job’. Then, she asks for
his phone number. Tsubaki refuses at first even if Sayuri says that it is just
in case, at least, she has his number. To convince him, Sayuri tells him that
Yabuki went out with Kanoko. Furious Tsubaki asks why she didn’t immediately
tell him. Sayuri repeats that she doesn’t know his phone number. Going back to
class, Tsubaki calls out to Kanoko to find her drained while resting her head
on the table. He asks what happened. She tells him to make a long story short,
she got lectured by Yabuki for running the hallway. This relieves Tsubaki for
it turns out that she was just lectured. He happily says that they go home and
his HP level is fully charged. Kanoko thinks that Tsubaki didn’t know that she
is tired because she said a lot with Yabuki since she shouted back at him not
to preach her. Kanoko laments over her ‘trouble issues from [her] mouth’ and
she shouldn’t have said unnecessary things. At the train, Yabuki thinks that
using money to resolve it can be considered an excellent plan and everyone got
their anticipated ending and this is really amazing. Recalling telling Mizukami
about that arrogant person, smiling Yabuki muses that arrogant person is
actually him and a female freshman unexpectedly taught this principle to him. So,
Kanoko didn’t know that Yabuki has come to have an interest on her. And lastly,
she doesn’t know that she has a new nickname. The nerds are thinking of a good
nickname for her like her Meteor Eye Kanoko or Big Pick Girl Kanoko.
Comment: There
are some interesting relationship observations mentioned in this chapter. The
first one is being overly modest when being praised which leads to keep on
saying things that one doesn’t mean which lead one into trouble. Actually, it
is seems to have ended up like trying to best each other over who is the most
modest one. ^^; Kanoko realizes that even if one knows this principle of not
talking too much, but when the situation is there, and then add to that one’s
emotions, perceptions, etc., everything is out the window. It is only after the
damage is done when one regrets it. It is a case of knowing but didn’t do. Still,
is it possible that it turned out that way because the other person turns out
to be Yabuki? I can understand why she would rather keep her peace and not be
confrontational towards people who cause minor injury/insult to her. To make a
fuss is indeed quite a hassle, so time and energy is saved if she just does
what she can do herself. Also, even if she raised a fuss, it is highly doubtful
that they will cooperate given her ‘status’ in school and how they belittle
her. Tsubaki also has a point for if she kept on being lenient, people would
just keep on doing those things to her so where do one draw the line? Amusingly,
after all that, it is possible that she might ‘blow up’ at someone
else..hm..Yabuki in this case? The talk about the ‘status’ is interesting. It
is indeed true that if one is good at something which gives one have a higher
position, one has a high tendency to consciously or not, belittle the others
who don’t have it – beauty, athletics, capability, intelligence, etc. But of
course, even if one isn’t at a high position, there are those who still
belittle people based on their own perceived superiority. ^^; Anyway, it’s
really nice that Kanoko showed Yabuki what she is capable of. She handled it
quite well by herself. It is also nice that Yabuki can actually apologize for
it. And, as president, it is good not to be easily swayed by praises and
beautiful crying ‘representatives’. Hm..though Kanoko might not like the
aftermath since she really wanted to keep a low profile. So, if Yabuki starts
liking her, Tsubaki would be in more stress and Kanoko will kind of have a
harem =P Scans by 红莲汉化组
Word of the day:
If you want to stay out of trouble, be careful what you say.
~ Proverbs 21:23 (GNT)