Ch.133Election (2)

From a distance, it looks like a hydrangea, but up close, it’s a rose.

If you approach carelessly, seduced by its beauty, you’ll be pricked by its thorns. That is Zernya von und zu Trisha Adelbein. A girl blessed with the trifecta of extraordinary beauty, extraordinary talent, and extraordinary power.

There are two main ways to handle such a rose.

Either remove all the thorns, or have hands strong enough to embrace even those thorns.

Choose the former, and the rose will soon wither.

Some people wouldn’t care. They could simply plant another flower where the rose died. It would grow vigorously from the soil’s nutrients.

Choose the latter, and it will be a long and arduous journey.

But if you succeed in taming it, you could enjoy its romantic fragrance and sweet nectar. You might even be able to use those thorns together.

“Hey, long time no see.”

“So what?”

I greeted the rose I hadn’t seen in two months, pretending to be nonchalant. As expected, I received a thorny response.

I checked the time. 10 minutes to 10.

I also double-checked my shopping basket. Everything was properly packed without missing anything.

Since I received good grades in the first semester, I can take 3 more credits. I plan to register for one more third-year class.

I’m setting my research schedule for the second semester as leisurely as possible. Three months is just a fleeting moment for an outsider. I need to accomplish something definite before then.

In that sense, my goal for this semester.

“So annoying. So irritating.”

Taming this rose.

However, to make it grow properly, preliminary work is required. First, I need to do some pruning.

‘I’m an outsider now, so I can’t interfere with school affairs. I’m sorry, but I need to ask you. Eidel, no matter what happens, please prevent that person from becoming the student council president.’

I need to make Zernya lose the general student council election. Or I should become the student council president myself.

I would have started this even if Ireh hadn’t mentioned it.

In fact, I became famous for my research partly for this purpose. To run in an election, you need supporters.

After successfully registering for all my courses, I glanced at Zernya sitting next to me.

“Argh!”

“What’s wrong now?”

“The physics section… I missed it.”

She glared at me with a vicious expression and fumed.

“It’s all because of you.”

“Why?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know? You’re so famous…! Ha! Forget it. I shouldn’t even say it.”

This is a severe case.

I really need to tame her quickly.

***

How Stellarium elects its general student council president.

First step.

“I will now accept nominations. If anyone wishes to run, please raise your hand.”

They first collect potential candidates with eligibility from each department.

Not many people apply.

It’s like a real political nomination process, so it costs quite a bit of money. And you have to pay a certain portion out of your own pocket. What a pain.

“Is there really no one?”

The natural sciences and engineering departments, by their nature, don’t favor stepping forward. It’s certainly not because the seniors are so passive that they ignore group chats.

“We don’t even have time for our majors, let alone student council.”

“Does that experience even help with getting a job?”

“Well, maybe when emphasizing leadership?”

“Leadership, yeah right. If you want to prove that, an internship would be better…”

“Is there really no one who wants to apply?”

There’s really no enthusiasm here.

Well, companies are trying to recruit Stellarium science students anyway, so there’s no reason to spend time being the student council president.

“I’m just asking in case. I’ll post a notice in the group chat soon, so please let me know if you change your mind…”

This is annoying, let’s do it now.

I carefully raised my hand. A murmuring sound rippled through the crowd. As expected, everyone is looking at me. Ah, how embarrassing.

“No way, it’s you!”

“Junior Eidel von Rheinland!”

Double embarrassment.

“Junior, are you thinking of running for the general student council election?”

“Yes. That’s my intention.”

Triple embarrassment.

“Junior. We’ve been waiting for you. Finally, our Holy Physics department will grasp Stellarium’s supreme power.”

The interim committee chairman grasped my hand and patted my back. For reference, this department doesn’t even have a student council because the internal voting rate is abysmal.

“Everyone, let’s all cheer for Junior Rheinland!”

“Holy Physics! Department Physics! Mathematical Physics!”

What the hell is this FM… ah, forget it. I’ll stop talking.

“I’ve registered you on the candidate list. With your recognition, you’ll gather enough supporters. The pioneer of resonator research, the FR model! Is there any fashion science student who hasn’t read this paper?”

“Hahaha!”

And so I collected four and five stacks of embarrassment generously. It feels so full I might get indigestion.

Since it’s a nomination, I do need support from within the department (party). However, there’s no one who would cast a vote against…

“Nonsense! Junior Rheinland would benefit a hundred, no, a thousand times more by attending academic conferences than running for student council!”

…or so I thought.

“Are you talking back to our heaven-sent junior right now?”

“What’s with that senior? Does he want to get dunked by Rheinland?”

“Let’s dunk him first.”

“?”

The opposition forces were suppressed before they could even start a filibuster.

And then step 2.

Public opinion survey and recognition vote.

It’s similar to legislative notice in law-making. Or, if we compare it to a product, it’s like a new product demonstration corner.

Whether it’s the school newspaper or whatever, they post the candidates’ faces along with their pledges. Slogans are important too, but no matter how great a slogan is, it’s useless if the pledges are weak.

“Please write down some of the pledges you’ve thought of first, Junior. Then we can discuss them together.”

Hmm, pledges.

I do have a few things I’ve noticed while wandering around campus.

What kind of school doesn’t have this? Why is it so inconvenient here? I decided to recall the inconveniences I experienced over the past half year and write them down.

And the result.

[1. Increase orbital elevators to the College-Graduate planet]

[2. Participate in the tuition review committee together with the graduate student council]

[3. Discuss modification of the early graduation system]

[4. Expand undergraduate-graduate shuttles]

[5. Install additional smoking booths]

[6. Establish a graduate school counseling center]

A hodgepodge was created.

“Excuse me, Junior?”

“Yes?”

“Your pledges are, um, something something.”

I scratched my head. I should have done this properly before. This is my first time, I swear.

“Why are there so many mentions of graduate school in your pledges?”

“Well, college and graduate school are originally one body, right?”

It’s rare for high schools and universities to be bundled together, but universities and graduate schools are inseparable. In other words, the path that benefits the university also benefits the graduate school.

Actually, number 3 is the most important.

Early graduation. By revising the existing rules to shorten the years, one can accelerate the time of graduate school admission.

“…Indeed, according to Junior’s pledges, we could receive a ton of votes from third-year students planning to enter graduate programs.”

“Such sweetness to take care of graduate students too!”

I’ve seen statistics that the physics department’s graduate school enrollment rate exceeds 60% every year. Could it be that the third-year seniors here also…?

“Um, Junior? I understand everything else, but why the graduate school counseling center…”

“Ah, that’s a system for first-year students. Freshmen lack a lot of information, right?”

“Pardon?”

“Is something strange?”

Thinking about it, the wording could be misunderstood. I modified number 6 to make it more intuitive.

[6. Establish a graduate school admission counseling center]

There. Written like this, it should look like it’s for undergraduate students.

For now, these are the core pledges, and it would be good to flesh out the rest gradually.

But something…

The seniors’ expressions are strange?

***

At the same time, in the medical school student lounge.

“Cheers!”

“Clink! Clink! Clink!”

Zernya, who attended the opening assembly, volunteered to serve drinks to the seniors.

“Whew, northern mountain beer is the best, I tell you.”

“Isn’t this expensive? Where did you get all this?”

“Well, our Junior Adelbein prepared it for us.”

The flushed seniors’ attention turned to her. Zernya smiled slyly, curling the corners of her eyes. Everything was going according to plan.

“Seniors’ drinks today? It’s on me!”

“Really?”

“Ah, as expected, Lady Adelbein is different!”

She acted like a vivacious girl who knows how to match the atmosphere appropriately. It was a mask she never showed when alone with Eidel.

“Junior Adelbein is smart and respectful. She’ll go far in the future.”

“As a senior entering the clinical years, let me give you some advice. Listen carefully!”

She continued to endure the seniors’ drunken ramblings. Idiots. And they call themselves medical students. But she needed to win over even these guys’ votes. Zernya maintained her fake smile.

Just then, the department’s student council president opened the door and entered.

“You guys, drinking alcohol at school? How dare you?”

“Fake disciplinary committee is here.”

“Would the fake cops like a drink too?”

The unusually drunk medical students raised their glasses. Several officers who recognized the expensive alcohol swallowed hard.

The president held her head and shook it. This was a common occurrence.

The president shifted her gaze to Zernya. She was the only one with pale cheeks.

“Junior, you didn’t drink?”

“I’m still a minor.”

“Right. I heard you graduated early.”

The student council president seemed pleased. And for good reason—the current medical school student council president was a girl who insisted on proper behavior.

Zernya knew this too. That’s why she had been putting on all sorts of airs throughout the first semester to win her favor. Of course, she secretly mocked her.

Zernya behaved this way because of the medical school’s uniquely closed environment.

These are faces you’ll see for the rest of your life. Year, student number. These things matter. If you talk back to seniors when you’re a junior, it just becomes troublesome.

As an adult, be more subtle and cunning.

That was Zernya’s slogan.

“Hey, hey, attention!”

The student council president clapped her hands to focus everyone’s attention.

“As you all know, the general student council election period will start soon. I’ve posted in the group chat, but if anyone is interested in running for office, please raise your hand.”

And no one did.

“We’re already busy enough without the general student council.”

“Wasn’t there a second-year pre-med student? The one who made it to the finals last time but lost to that political science kid.”

“Right. Isn’t he running this time?”

The seniors frowned and complained. They all seemed annoyed.

Zernya, observing the situation, made eye contact with the president. They exchanged subtle glances. Seeing no hostility in her eyes, it seemed okay to step forward a bit.

Zernya carefully raised her hand, acting like a shy girl.

“I’d like to try.”

The response was positive.

The primary results came out soon after.

Unification.

The medical school nominated Zernya von und zu Trisha Adelbein as the sole candidate for the general student council.

She crafted decent pledges and wrote an excellent slogan. Plus, she had the name value of the Adelbein family. With just a little effort during the campaign, the presidency was as good as hers.

No, even if she did nothing, she would at least become vice president.

Stellarium uses an officer system where votes are tallied and the president and vice president are determined based on the vote count. Even if a senior with existing recognition takes first place, there’s no way she wouldn’t get second place.

“Heh, hehehe. Hehehehe.”

Zernya was confident.

“I heard Eidel von Rheinland is running for the general student council election?”

At least until she heard that news.