SWNOVELXO Chapter 118
Chapter 118: The President’s Invitation
The trial of the idiot duo, Ike and Yamauchi, lasted almost the entire morning. In the end, it was thanks to Hirata’s patient mediation that the crowd was appeased, allowing the duo to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
When the school bell rang in the afternoon, signaling the end of classes, the idiot duo couldn’t wait to flee the classroom, as if afraid they would be blocked at the door.
After packing his things, Hikigaya headed toward the student council office. The closer it got to the summer competition, the more work he had to handle—unlike Hirata, Kushida, and the others, who had the free time to help search for people.
However, before going to the student council office, Hikigaya first made a detour to the infirmary.
“Sakura, sorry to bother you,” Horikita suddenly addressed Sakura, then proceeded to ask if she had any information regarding potential eyewitnesses.
Sakura froze for a moment, her body instinctively trembling. Her hands tightened around the straps of her backpack, hugging it tightly against her chest, looking visibly nervous.
She was well aware that Hirata, Kushida, and the others had been running around these past few days trying to find eyewitnesses for Sudo’s case. Coincidentally, she had been at the scene and had even recorded everything with her camera.
At first, she had hoped that someone else had witnessed the incident so she wouldn’t have to step forward. However, as days passed, Hirata and the others failed to find a single witness.
This left Sakura feeling conflicted—if she was the only one who had evidence…
Just as she was about to gather her courage, flashes of memories suddenly surfaced in her mind—scenes of Yamauchi, Sudo, and others mocking and insulting that boy. She recalled how just last month, that boy had stepped up to protect her, only to suffer violence in return.
For some reason, thinking about these moments made her clench her fists.
“I-I’m sorry, I… I don’t know anything!”
Gripping her backpack tightly, Sakura hurriedly turned around and left after speaking. However, as she turned, she accidentally bumped into Ayanokouji, who happened to be nearby. Luckily, Horikita reacted quickly and caught her before she could fall. However… her backpack fell to the ground with a clear sound!
Sakura’s expression changed as she quickly picked up her backpack and opened it to check inside. Frantically, she took out her camera to inspect it. After confirming that neither the body nor the lens was damaged and that it could still turn on, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Are you okay, Sakura?” Horikita crouched down and asked while glaring at Ayanokouji. The latter scratched his head with an innocent expression before also apologizing to Sakura.
Sakura shook her head, placed the camera back into her backpack, and hastily left.
“Horikita, what are you looking at?”
“None of your business!”
Horikita watched Sakura’s retreating figure and slowly furrowed her brows.
Today was student council duty day, originally assigned to Hikigaya and Tachibana Akane. However, when he arrived, he found that Horikita Manabu was already inside handling documents.
Noticing Hikigaya’s confused gaze, Horikita Manabu slightly lifted his head and explained, “Since there’s only about a month left until summer vacation, there are a lot of things that need to be organized and processed. Tachibana has been putting too much effort into student council work—she should take some personal time as well.”
So that’s how it is, Hikigaya thought, nodding slightly. He then sat on the other side and began sorting through club-related applications and documents. During this time, senior Handa also came to the office to discuss related matters with Hikigaya. After Handa left, the office once again fell silent, with only the sound of paper and pens filling the room.
Horikita Manabu—the student council president—was known among students as someone who rarely smiled and was extremely serious, making him seem very difficult to approach. Many students felt uneasy just passing by him. His imposing presence and natural air of authority were even more intimidating than most teachers.
However, this didn’t particularly affect Hikigaya. On the contrary, he found working with Horikita Manabu to be rather “relaxing.” In fact, after spending time in the student council, Hikigaya realized it wasn’t as hierarchical as he had imagined. There was no discrimination based on grade level, seniority, or class rank.
In the student council, what mattered most was ability, not seniority!
Because of this, even as a first-year student, Hikigaya had become unexpectedly familiar with third-years like Tachibana Akane, Handa Seishuu, and even Horikita Manabu. No one in the student council looked down on others just because they were from Class A, nor did anyone from Class C or D feel inferior. Despite the school’s strong atmosphere of inter-class competition, the student council was surprisingly free of such tensions—something Hikigaya hadn’t expected.
After about two hours, Hikigaya stretched, rubbing his sore shoulders and back. Then, out of habit, he glanced across the table at Horikita Manabu. The student council president was still sitting perfectly upright, just as he had been from the start, maintaining the same posture as if frozen in place.
When Hikigaya first did duty shifts with Tachibana Akane, she had also tried to “maintain composure,” presenting herself as a model senior. But after they became more familiar and exhaustion set in, she eventually gave up on keeping up the act.
However, Horikita Manabu wasn’t simply “putting on an act”—it had become second nature to him, an ingrained habit. Hikigaya couldn’t help but admire the president’s strict self-discipline.
“Hikigaya, want to go for dinner?”
At that moment, Horikita Manabu put down his pen and suddenly extended an invitation. Hikigaya didn’t think too much about it and nodded in agreement—after all, their duty shift lasted about two hours, and it was just about time for him to head to the cafeteria for dinner anyway.
When they arrived at the cafeteria, Hikigaya was just about to go to the meal ticket vending machine when Horikita Manabu said, “Follow me.”
Curious, Hikigaya followed him upstairs to the second floor.
The second floor also had meal ticket vending machines, but the meal options were slightly different from the first floor. There were fewer choices, but the food was of higher quality and more varied. However, the prices were also noticeably higher. Hikigaya also noticed that unlike the first floor, there were no free vegetable set meals, and the cheapest meal started at 1,000 personal points.
Compared to the open dining hall on the first floor, the second floor had fewer people and featured booth seating, offering a more private and spacious dining experience.
Hikigaya had never been to the second floor before—it was simply too conspicuous. The second-floor cafeteria was almost exclusively used by third-year students from top-ranked classes. Occasionally, some second-years would dine here, but first-years were almost never seen. It was an unspoken rule that everyone seemed to accept.
As Horikita Manabu walked through the corridor, many third-year students who were eating paused their meals and greeted him. Horikita Manabu merely nodded slightly, clearly used to this treatment. Naturally, Hikigaya, who was following behind him, also attracted some attention—but no one dared to say anything.