Black Pawn's Promotion.

Beaten black and blue; prideful dragon before the fall

"What's this?" Saji couldn't help but ask his fellow pawn as she critically gazed at it in the end, leaving her with the same expression and scratching her head.

"It seems like some kind of recycling campaign," the twin-tailed girl said, still scratching her head. "But I don't think we're ever planning one of those."

"Maybe it's a new idea the president had," Saji suggested. "Or maybe it's for a different club."

"I don't know," she said. "But I'm going to ask Tsubaki about it."

She turned to the vice president, who was sitting at her desk, reviewing some papers.

"Hey, Tsubaki?" The twin-tailed girl directed her question to the vice president. "Did we ever have some recycling campaigns in the works?"

The long-haired girl looked up as her expression turned to pondering.

"...I don't think so," she said. "But I'll check with the other members of the student council and see if anyone knows anything about it."

"Thanks, Tsubaki," the twin-tailed girl said.

She turned back to Saji.

"Well, it looks like we'll just have to wait and see," she said.

After the question lingered unanswered, the two returned to their seats around a large table in front of a window, organizing paperwork and discussing upcoming events. This quiet rhythm of actions is what everyone here considers to be the normal part of the student council's workday. Sorting papers for funds, facilitating social events, managing community projects, overseeing schoolwide activities, initiating reformations, and organizing a few themselves—despite the intense fighting that occurred yesterday, life went on, and it was back to their mundane work in comfortable silence.

However, that doesn't mean some people are willing to let certain questions die or let go of the excitement of the night before.

Not even blinking away from the monotony of her current work, Tsubasa leans over to the girl right beside her to ask something in a low tone. "Tomoe."

The knight beside her pricked up her ears at the rook's voice, indicating she was listening. "So how did our little pawn that could do?"

The red-haired girl shakes her head at the question. "I don't know; I only came at the tail end of the fight." Her face then tightened, as if she were staring at a very difficult problem. "And every time I tried to ask him, he looked like I had shot his dog."

"You too, huh? I tried to ask Reya about it, but apparently, this is all new to her too."

Tomoe and Tsubasa exchanged glances and then turned to the boy, who was somewhat vigorously trying to drown himself in paperwork. Both of them wondered what could have happened to Saji. This clearly occurred during the middle of the day, and they couldn't see the pawn getting so emotional over anything academic-related or some friend group.

This is all due to the fact that it's indifference for the former and nonexistence for the latter. Well, outside of—

The rook and knight reach the same conclusion in thought.

"This is Sona-related, isn't it?"

This work routine typically spans an hour before transitioning to more supernatural tasks. However, there's an anomaly that seems out of place.

"Don't you usually leave around this time?" Momo voiced the question that lingered in everyone's mind. Normally, when they shift to supernatural activities, Sona departs with Tsubaki for outside assignments. But presently, she doesn't seem to be engaged in anything of the sort. Supernatural work usually takes place in a different location, yet today it is being conducted in the same place as regular work. This deviation caused some confusion and disruption, leaving everyone uncertain about the reason for this change.