William 25

Title: You Only Have the Choice to Accept or Not Accept

Katsuto was torn between laughing and crying. He hadn’t expected that just as they were discussing this, the situation would arise at this exact moment.

“We need to hurry. We can’t let them control the broadcasting room for too long; it’ll cause even bigger chaos.”

Katsuto urged Kousen several times to quicken his pace.

“Though it’s already caused quite a commotion.”

Kousen glanced at the students who had abandoned their lessons, speeding up to follow Katsuto.

When the two arrived at the broadcasting room, the door was already surrounded by a crowd. They were the last to arrive.

“Saegusa, what’s the situation now?”

Katsuto asked Mayumi, wanting to understand the current state of affairs.

“They’ve taken over the broadcasting room, demanding we improve treatment for Second Course students.” Mayumi said with a worried expression.

In truth, there was no need to rush. She had already finalized a plan, which was supposed to be submitted to the school board for a vote soon.

But who would’ve thought this situation would erupt now?

“Why not consider a direct assault to break through?” Mari said firmly.

She had arrived just a few minutes before Kousen and the others and hadn’t been part of the earlier discussions. To her, these were already criminals, so there was no need to hold back.

Besides, with the strength of those present, a forced breakthrough would take only three minutes to subdue the opposition without causing significant damage.

“We can’t do that. The other side seems to want a direct resolution. A forced breakthrough would only escalate the conflict.”

Suzune shook her head, clearly disagreeing with Mari’s suggestion of a direct attack.

Regardless of whose suggestion was proposed, none seemed reliable or feasible. The atmosphere at the scene grew tense.

“How about considering accepting the demands of those inside, agreeing to negotiate, and first resolving their occupation of school facilities?”

“After all, everyone here already intends to eliminate the hostility between First and Second Course students.”

Kousen offered an opinion, trying to address the issue from a different angle.

“Good suggestion.” Mayumi immediately agreed with Kousen’s proposal, especially since, among the many solutions suggested, this was the most realistic.

“Acceptable.”

Even Mari, who had been quite hardline earlier, thought it over briefly and agreed with the suggestion.

“Then it’s settled.”

Katsuto’s nod signaled that the solution to this issue had been fully decided. After all, the three main pillars with the greatest authority at school all agreed on this approach, leaving no room for others to interfere.

The hardline group led by Hanzou could only relent in this situation.

“Then, the next step is to contact those inside. Does anyone here have contact with them? If not, I’ll borrow the loudspeaker.”

Kousen scanned the group, and everyone shook their heads. Only Tatsuya pulled his mobile terminal from his upper pocket.

The phone rang a few times before being answered by the other side.

“Shiba-kun, why are you calling me?”

A girl’s voice came from the other end. Miyuki’s face immediately darkened, while Kousen’s showed an amused smile.

Tatsuya noticed his sister’s emotional shift, but now wasn’t the time to explain why his terminal had a strange girl’s contact.

“Mibu-senpai, are you in the projection room right now?”

“Yes, Shiba-kun, what’s up?”

Tatsuya lowered the terminal from his ear and, with his eyes, asked the others across from him how to respond.

Kousen immediately reached out, signaling for Tatsuya to hand over the terminal. Tatsuya didn’t hesitate and quickly passed it to Kousen.

“Sorry, Mibu-senpai.”

“This is the Vice President of the Student Council, Kudou Kousen.”

After Kousen spoke, Sayaka on the other end fell silent for a moment.

“What do you want? Until the school agrees to our demands, we’re not coming out.”

“Contacting you means we’ve agreed to your request to negotiate. Otherwise, you’d be facing our forced breakthrough right now.” Kousen said coldly.

His attitude was understandable, as he always deeply disliked fools who couldn’t think clearly.

The other end of the call went silent for a long time, likely discussing whether to accept or not.

“We accept your request to negotiate.” Sayaka’s voice came through again.

Kousen felt his mood souring further. Clearly, they were the ones who requested negotiations, yet now their tone made it sound like the Student Council was begging them.

“Then come out of the projection room immediately. We’ll discuss the negotiation details. Continuing like this will disrupt the school’s normal operations.”

“Wait, what about our safety guarantee?”

Sayaka interrupted Kousen.

“Mibu-senpai, though the Student Council has agreed to your negotiation request, you don’t think that doing something like this will go unpunished and be easily forgiven, do you?”

Kousen’s sneer grew sharper.

“But we just want the treatment we deserve.”

“Causing a disturbance at school, using magic illegally, inciting students recklessly—need I list more of your criminal actions?”

“If you wanted treatment, you could’ve come directly to the Student Council. But doing this now means it can’t be resolved easily.”

“All I can guarantee is that you’ll definitely receive a fair, honest, and open negotiation, but the crimes you’ve committed can be judged after the negotiations.”

Kousen had no interest in lying to them with promises of forgiveness or the like. He laid out the situation plainly. If they remained stubborn, there would be only one consequence for them.

The other side seemed shocked by his cold tone. Kousen’s unyielding stance made them realize this was an ultimatum—they only had the choice to accept or not.

Moments later, the large door opened.

All the Second Course students inside came out in a crowd, led by Sayaka, who had spoken with Kousen on the phone.