The President Only Wants to Live in Peace

Chapter 3 Catching the Rulebreaker

The moment Asagi said that, Ueda became paler. "Pre-President..."

"Easy. I only want to see it."

"T-that..."

"If you're truly sorry, then let me see it, Ueda."

There was an eerie silence hanging between them. Asagi kept looking at Ueda with a relaxed manner and friendly smile while in contrast, Ueda was looking down anxiously. However, not long after, Ueda reached his bag and took out a notebook from there. With a trembled hand, he handed it over to the president. Asagi's smile, which looked warm at first, changed into a victorious smile as he took the notebook from Ueda's hand. He read the name written on the cover before smiling knowingly. He and Inaba were right. The book was for science assignment, physics, and it was not Ueda's.

He opened the book, looking at numbers, formulas, calculations, and marks written in there. The handwriting was similar from the first to the last written page, which meant Ueda had been doing this guy's homework ever since the very front page. There were not many pages written inside, not even half of the book, so Asagi concluded that the book was new when it was given to Ueda and it was only given to him recently. To make sure of his conjecture, he asked Ueda to show his own notebook to him. After comparing the handwriting between the two books, he was certain that both books had Ueda's handwriting in them.

"I'll be taking this with me," Asagi said as he took the notebook that was not Ueda's. "Oh, and your phone as well."

"M-my phone?" Ueda stuttered in panic. "But... President, I need it for my part-time job..."

"Then meet me in the student council's room after school and explain this," the president tapped his index finger on the notebook. "Only after that will I return your phone to you."

"B-but I have to go to my part-time job after school..."

"Call them now. Tell them you can't go today. Or make a replacement schedule. Up to you, but I will still confiscate your phone until you explain everything."

Ueda looked more and more stressed. "Y-you said you only wanted to see it..."

"Yes, if it's your own notebook. But unfortunately, it isn't, and I have confirmed that the handwriting here is yours even though the book isn't yours, so don't blame me for doing this."

Another moment of silence before Ueda nodded in resignation. Under Asagi's watch, he called his superior, informing that he could not go to the part-time job today and requesting a leave or a change of schedule. After that, he handed his phone to Asagi. The president took it after asking the owner to unlock the phone, and then changed the setting so that it was not locked anymore. He quickly put it into his pocket before anyone noticed that he had Ueda's phone with him. After all, it would be troublesome to explain why he had his classmate's phone because he did not want to tell anyone that he confiscated it. He did not want to tell the whole class that Ueda had broken the school's rule.

After thanking Ueda for his cooperation, Asagi went outside to meet Inaba. The vice president had been eavesdropping behind the wall near the front door, so when Asagi saw him outside, he did not make a single question about his conversation with Ueda. Instead, they went to a relatively empty hallway nearby to discuss their next plan.

"Are we really going to ask him after school?" Inaba started.

"Yeah, you heard what I said," Asagi said. "Can I ask you to prepare the student council room?"

"That won't be a problem. Should I tell Yoshino and Asakura to come?"

"Ah? Oh," Asagi was taken aback for a moment. He already knew Yoshino, but he did not know the other one. However, strangely he felt familiar with that name. Since Inaba mentioned it alongside Yoshino, he assumed it was the name of another member of the student council. "Yes. Thanks," he said, thinking that it was a chance for him to know the student council better.