(Ishida Shiki's POV)

A shiver went down my spine and my instinct told me I should make a run for it. As inched closer to the door, however, the President's voice rang out. 

"Stop."

I froze unconsciously. Looking at the President cautiously, I pursed my lips before wearing a calm expression. I was a grown-ass man for crying out loud! How could a kid intimidate the likes of me?

Clearing my throat, I met the President's gaze head-on and said, "Yes President?"

"Ho..." 

The President smirked and put the candies on his desk before looking back at me. Crossing his arms, he said, "What's your freshman?"

"...Ishida. Ishida Shiki," I replied politely. 

"Ishida Shiki..." The President's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before they returned to normal. The expression on his face slowly brightened into another blinding smile. "So you're the kid..."

'Kid? What kid? If anything, you're the kid here,' I thought silently grumbling. Despite my inner annoyance, I displayed a blank expression conveying little to no emotion. I said with a bit of confusion, "What do you mean?"

The President chuckled and said, "No need to be modest now. Aren't you the genius kid who won the Tokyo Software Programming tournament? Although they didn't release your face to the public, your name was mentioned along with the fact that you were in Junior High at the time."

Upon hearing his words, my eyes widened in mild surprise before returning to their usual. With a cough, I averted my gaze from the President's interested one and said, "What are you talking about? Isn't that a bit much of a guess? I'm not the only Ishida Shiki in Japan you know."

"You're not a very good liar," countered the President with an amused grin. 

My left eye twitched. 

"Woah, you're a computer nerd?" a girl's voice spoke up. It was another student council member. She had blue hair that was tied up into a neat ponytail and a slightly plump body. She was looking at me in amazement. "Ah, I didn't mean that in an offensive way. I just think it's pretty cool."

"No offense taken," I replied with a sigh. "Anyway Prez, how did you know about that? No one has ever come to that conclusion after meeting me."

It was partly my fault though since I've never publically revealed my skills. Taking part in that competition was really just to earn some pocket change and the prize for first place was 200,000 yen. I didn't tell anyone about the competition. Not even my own parents and till today, no one ever figured it out. It probably would've stayed that way had I not met the SC President. 

"What a pain..." I muttered under my breath. 

Footsteps neared and the President appeared in front of me with his hands clasped in front of him. Still wearing his charming smile, he said, "Since you've rejected my heartfelt gift, you must now work for me until I say you can leave."

"??"

My perfectly calm expression cracked. What the hell was this doofus saying?

"Huh? You can't just force people to work for you-"

"Actually, he can."

Cutting me off was a deep voice from the side. Turning my head, I saw a familiar face looking at me coldly. It was the same guy I bumped into on the first day at school. Seemingly unbothered by my blatant staring, he continued on to say, "The SC President has the authority to give orders to students that will procure benefits for the school and for the students. It says so in the school handbook, page 140, section F. Under any circumstance involving that of school activities and clubs (excluding examinations and assignments), the SC President has the authority to instruct, organize, and control student behaviors and actions. Students are only exempted from obeying the President if and only an official member of staff gives permission."

Listening to the senior's words that sounded like a lawyer in court, my mouth almost fell open. Did this guy memorize the entire student handbook? But that's not the crazy part of this...

What kind of school gives this much authority to a student?! Did I enter a school and not some black company?

"Thank you Okamoto-kun," the President said. An amused grin was plastered on his face as he observed my cracking expression. "To put it simply, what I say, goes. If I say you have to work for me, then you must do so. Otherwise, feel free to complain to the teachers."

I'm pretty sure my face had worsened to a considerable degree by now but I couldn't help it. This kind of situation was a little ridiculous, wasn't it? I just rejected a bit of candy...why go so far?

A hand fell on my shoulder and patted it. It was the same member who tried to warn me earlier. 

"My condolences. We all fell for the same trick," the member, Yamaguchi, said solemnly. "Don't bother going to the teachers. They'll never choose you over their star student. We've been stuck in this position since our first year."

My face fell further.

'My happy...peaceful...troubleless life...' I thought inwardly crying. I could picture it leaving my hands vividly. 

"Kekeke! Welcome to the family, I.s.h.i.d.a-kun!" 

Slapping my back, the President let out an evil laugh and for a second, his shining face was overlapped by a devilish one. 

...Fuck my life.

---

The SC President's full name was Yoshinaga Elias. He was half-Japanese and half-English. His mother was from England while his father was from Japan. The mixture of two different races contributed to his dashing, unique appearance which attracted the students. Aside from his impressive looks, he was someone that was well-respected and idolized by the masses. 

But as they say, looks can be deceiving. 

Not even an hour had passed after my impromptu recruitment to the student council when I witnessed the 'real face' of the person called Yoshinaga Elias. 

"HAHA! I win again!!" 

Slamming a card down on the desk, the blond-haired, blue-eyed President stood up and started hopping around like a 5-year-old. He made teasing faces at us as he celebrated his victory. 

Having been in a lot of weird situations before, I didn't find it too shocking. Just very...weird. 

"Is he...always like that?" I leaned over to Yamaguchi and whispered. 

Yamaguchi nodded his head, "All the time. But it's only in front of the student council members. Otherwise, he maintains his princely appearance for the rest of the school."

"What a scam."

"Pfft," Yamaguchi snorted. "Not a scam. It's more like a fake."

"It's a fraud," Kaneda Sawako, the dark blue-haired SC member said. 

"Falsehood," added Chiba Fuyu with a snicker. 

"No," Okamoto cut in. With an annoyed look, he said, "He's just an idiot."

With that, everyone burst into laughter. 

"What are you all laughing at?" the confused voice of Prez appeared. He had completed his terrible victory dance celebration and walked over to us who were laughing. "What happened? You guys are making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Pffft! Of course, we are!" Chiba-san giggled. 

"Hey!"

Okamoto merely snorted and began shuffling the deck of cards. Surprisingly, he had a sense of humor behind that grumpy expression of his. 

"C'mon, tell me what was said," pestered the Prez. Sadly for him, none of us budged even the slightest so he could only turn around to pout in the corner. As I observed this, I silently pondered. 

'The president was portrayed to be cool and charming in the manga. It never mentioned that there was another side to him...

Was he always like this or did the plot perhaps change?

But then I shook my head. There was no point pondering on useless things. Whether or not the plot changes is none of my business...

Right?