Epilogue: Thrown into Chaos, But Still Moving Forward

A morning in mid-July.

It was the day the final exam period ended, right on the verge of summer vacation.

In front of the main gates, two girls stood side-by-side, their white shirts and summer skirts fluttering in the breeze as armbands reading †Disciplinary Committee† wrapped around their arms.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning."

Mio and Niina greeted the arriving students just as they always did.

The tone of their voices was entirely different, yet they harmonized mysteriously well.

—The activities of the Disciplinary Committee had become significantly more robust over the past month.

From standing guard at the gates during the morning commute to patrolling after school, what had once been a committee in name only was transforming into an organization that thought and acted on its own.

—The only drawback was the participation rate.

While some had found their motivation, there were still committee members who remained entirely absent.

The reason for that probably came down to what I had said on the stage. I couldn't deny that it had thoroughly creeped some people out.

It might also be due to the spread of a biased view that the Disciplinary Committee was a rather draconian organization that would ruthlessly expose students' privacy without batting an eye.

...The truth was, rather than being strict, our internal affairs were actually pretty lax.

My recognition as the "Disciplinary Committee President" had firmly taken root, and to be completely blunt, the people around me were keeping their distance just a bit. There was even a ridiculous rumor floating around that I was secretly manipulating the student council from the shadows.

...No, fake news is bad!

I wanted to shout it at the top of my lungs, but for now, these two were probably the only ones who would believe me.

"Good morning, Ryo-chan!"

"Good morning, Ryogo-kun."

"Morning, Mio, Niina."

By the way—the rivalry between Niina and Mio had heated up just a little bit.

"Ryo-chan, come over here and stand with me~"

"Ryogo-kun, it is more efficient if you greet them from over here."

...I knew all too well that if I made the wrong choice here, I would regret it later.

"Then, I'll just stand between the two of you..."

""He ran away.""

"No, I'm just trying to avoid any trouble beforehand..."

The two of them made dissatisfied faces, but the very next second, they looked at each other and let out a small chuckle. Seeing that, I couldn't help but smile wryly.

...Are they getting along, or are they on bad terms?

I had already grown accustomed to balancing the two of them like this. I was the type who sought harmony over turbulence, so I wanted to extinguish any unnecessary sparks as much as possible.

However, irregular events still tended to occur fairly often.

"—Ah... Sawa-kun!"

Trotting over to me was the student council president, Kurumizawa Yui-senpai.

When she approached, I couldn't help but tense up just a bit.

"G-Good morning, President..."

"Good morning. Also, um... I believe I asked you before, but please call me Yui..."

...Like hell I could call you so intimately by your first name.

Naturally, my internal retort didn't reach her, and the President fidgeted in front of me, her cheeks flushing red.

"Well, about that, there are other people watching, so it's probably better if I stick with President..."

"Then, when it is just the two of us, you can call me Yui..."

"No, that would make me too nervous, so maybe we shouldn't~"

—That's right.

Lately, whenever the President was in front of me, her inner maiden was on full display.

She had been a complete anti-romance advocate until just recently—and I had no idea what triggered it—but when she showed off this level of girlish charm over a simple greeting, the truth was, for an average guy like me... it definitely struck a chord.

"Still, calling you by your first name, President, is a bit—"

"...Ryo-chan?"

"Eep!?"

Right behind me, mere centimeters away, was Mio's face.

She was smiling brightly, but just as I thought, her eyes were completely dead.

This was the one thing I still couldn't get used to. It was one thing with Niina, but whenever it came to other girls, she was always like this... Seriously, it was terrible for my heart.

"I'm sure it couldn't be true, but that rumor... is it real?"

"...What rumor?"

I asked Mio back, my voice trembling.

"The rumor that you've been hanging out in the student council room and doing sneaky things with the President."

"It's for official duties! There's no way anything is going on between me and the President!"

The moment I said that to Mio—

"—Sniffle..."

...Eh? Sniffle?

When I timidly turned around, tears were welling up in the President's eyes.

"E-Eeeh!?"

Just now, was that perceived as me making her cry—or what?

Suddenly, the students who happened to be walking by began whispering to each other.

"That President is crying...!"

"...That guy really is a demon, huh."

"Did you know the President is completely at the Disciplinary Committee President's beck and call?"

"Wait? Are the rumors about them secretly meeting in the student council room real?"

...Wait, wait, wait.

I don't forgive people spreading fake news about others, but I'm a man who forgives fake news about himself even less, you know.

"Hey, you guys, you're misunderstanding some—"

—thing, I was about to say, before the students scattered and ran away. Being able to clear a crowd with a single glare was entirely unfulfilling. Somehow, I even lost the will to be angry.

To think my completely fabricated persona as the Disciplinary Committee President was being shaped like this—well, as long as a select few knew that I was actually a kind person, that was fine.

And, the one person I couldn't forget about was the President, who had been sniffling this whole time.

"President, what I said just now was just a figure of speech..."

"It is alright, I understand... I just got a little carried away this morning..."

Despite saying that, the President's eyes were watery, her hair was a little messy, and her shoulders were quivering slightly. ...The fact that she wasn't doing this on purpose was the Kurumizawa President quality. A genuine maiden.

"Um... I'll stop by the student council room later, so we can talk properly then..."

In that instant, the President's expression instantly brightened.

"Are you really coming over!?"

"Ah, no... it's about the notices for how to spend the summer vacation that we're distributing to the whole school..."

"Understood! I will be waiting! Well then!"

...She perked right up and walked away.

Just like that, the matter with the President was also becoming a bit of an issue in my mind. If I didn't resolve this quickly, there was no telling what Mio might do to me.

—A Decent Romance?

No, a situation that was far from decent had already been constructed, and I couldn't escape it.

Mio and Niina were in a rivalrous relationship, putting me in a position where I eventually had to choose one of them.

On top of that, with the President getting involved, it was getting even further away from a Decent Romance.

—Even so.

Things were livelier than before, and I found myself in a time that felt somewhat fulfilling.

While there were a few annoyances, I had finally realized the fun of interacting with others.

Setting aside whether you could call that growth—my everyday life was, in a sense, thoroughly enriched.

"Here to help the Disciplinary Committee from Class 2-B, Miyake Ramu~. 'Sup~."

...Hey. Give me back my sense of fulfillment.

Why was it that things that seemed like they would cause problems just kept happening one after another?

It was after school on that same day when I felt the urge to complain to someone, anyone.

I had somehow managed to evade President Kurumizawa's "Would you like to get tea sometime?", lightly brushed off the furious Ashiya's insults, and had finally dragged my exhausted body back to the Disciplinary Committee room.

When I opened the door, Ramu was casually waving her hand with a "Sup~". It felt like being kicked while I was down after accumulating a massive amount of fatigue.

"...Miyake, I haven't heard anything about you helping out, what's going on?"

When I inadvertently asked her that, Ramu laughed brightly in her usual tone.

"Since the scholarship thing got decided, it's kinda like a 'thank you'? I figured there had to be somethin' I could do to repay you guys."

"Oh, is that so... I don't really need anything, though?"

"Ain't you bein' a lil' cold!?"

She retorted with all her might, but the truth was, there was no way I could accept a reward from Miyake.

"I'm not trying to be cold, but that was the result of you working hard, Miyake. What the Disciplinary Committee did was only natural, so you don't have to worry about it."

When I told her that, Ramu smiled softly.

"But still~, I totally relied on you guys for everything, didn't I? I was super thankful, and this time I thought I wanted to do somethin' for someone else. Let me help out with somethin', yeah?"

—I appreciated Miyake's sentiments, but...

Thanks to her, the scholarship system had been revised, and just recently, the introduction of the scholarship repayment exemption system starting next year had also been officially decided. She had already done more than enough work for the students currently attending this academy, and for those who would attend in the future.

If I made Miyake work any harder than she already was, I felt like I'd be struck by divine punishment.

"Come to think of it, I heard from Mio that you were studying hard, how's that going lately?"

"Listen to this! I studied my butt off, and I made it into the top fifty on the final exams!"

"Y-You're pretty good..."

"Right~? Means I've started walkin' the path of the highly educated Gyaru!"

A smug face and a reverse peace sign.

I was planning to send her away by saying something like, Studying is tough, right?, but she had easily exceeded my expectations.

For the record, out of two hundred students, I ranked one hundred and twelfth. ...Is it really okay for me to be the Disciplinary Committee President?

"Well, if you're motivated, I guess I don't have a reason to stop you..."

"For real!? Heck yeah!"

"However, you're strictly just helping out, okay? You're not an official committee member."

"Understood, Prez!"

Ramu laughed brightly, but then suddenly stepped right up next to me and lowered her voice.

"...Btw, didja tell those two about that?"

"Hm? About what?"

"About the two of us goin' into a love hotel."

"...!?"

I frantically whipped around. Mio was organizing documents, and Niina was working on the computer. It seemed they hadn't heard our conversation.

"No, that was just an attempted entry, and I haven't told them..."

"Hehh~, just as I thought?"

"What do you mean, just as you thought?"

"It'd be real bad if those two found out, huh?"

...Isn't that obvious?

When I glared at her, Ramu patted my shoulder, grinning widely.

"Well, my lips are pretty sealed, so don'tcha worry."

"Oh, right..."

...No, I was incredibly worried.

It wasn't a matter of whether the love hotel incident would get found out, it was the way she was teasing me. If she slipped up, it wouldn't be me, but Miyake who stepped on those two girls' landmines. And she'd do it without a second thought. And I had a feeling I'd be the only one caught in the blast... Was that how this was going to play out?

"So with that said, count on me from here on out~."

"Y-Yeah, count on you..."

When I let out a sigh, Mio spun her chair around.

"Replacing posters and making materials is tough work, so I'd be so happy to have someone as motivated as Ramu-chan helping out. I welcome you with open arms!"

"I knew you'd get it, Mio-chan~! As expected of Seigyo's angel!"

"That way of saying it is embarrassing, so please stop~..."

While Mio blushed and turned red, Niina continued working on the computer with a deadpan expression.

"Niina, what do you think about Miyake helping out?"

"I merely follow whatever Ryogo-kun decides."

"I've started to realize this recently, but you always use that line to dodge responsibility, don't you?"

Niina let out a small chuckle.

"Oh, did you figure it out?"

"You really are..."

"More importantly than that, the Disciplinary Committee's work."

"Yes, yes—"

—And just like that, another new member was added to the Disciplinary Committee.

It had just been me and Niina a short while ago, but now there was Mio, Ramu had joined, and occasionally President Kurumizawa would pop in. That was what the Disciplinary Committee was like now.

In the classroom, Ayato continued to report his romantic entanglements to me, which I would scold or retort to, while Shibayama laughed amusingly.

Speaking of Shibayama, the awkwardness in the classroom had faded, and now she smiled just as much as she did before her suspension. She had made up with her friends and was spending her days happily.

—This was my new everyday life.

Every day was filled with someone's cheerful voice, it was noisy, and when it was time to be serious, we were serious—the old me would have probably dismissed such a daily life as "annoying."

But now—that noise felt just a little bit comfortable.

And, my daily life was probably going to get even noisier.

Ever since the day I decided to do my best as the Disciplinary Committee President, ironically enough, I felt like I had traveled to the place furthest away from the word "Decent". Especially when it came to romance—I constantly felt like I was losing sight of it.

—What was a Decent Romance again?

Niina's quietly smiling face, Mio's bright and energetic smile.

Could someone who wasn't decent, like me, ever have a Decent Romance with them—?

I would probably continue to agonize over that from here on out.

No one probably knew the correct answer.

But there was one thing I knew for sure: the simple, clumsy emotions of wanting to protect someone, or wanting to see them smile—those were probably the entrance to a "Decent Romance".

When would I ever reach that entrance next—?

"Aight, I'm gonna go put up these posters!"

Looking lively, Ramu exited the Disciplinary Committee room.

Ah, crap—by the time I thought that, it was already too late.

"Ryo-chan, while Ramu-chan is gone, wanna take a break?"

"Mio... does your definition of a break actually mean we're going to rest?"

"I agree as well. Ryogo-kun... shall we do some Secret Training?"

"No, we don't have to do that... Also, Niina, you're too close! Too close!"

As they spoke, the two of them closed in on me.

Their faces exuded an aura that was more deeply erotic than that of a little devil.

"Is it true that when fatigue builds up, that part of you gets energetic?"

"Mio-chan, you have to verify that with your own eyes. Ryogo-kun said so before, didn't he?"