Video (4)

"We will be picking our fraction leader for the next school year today," the current fraction leader in the neutral fraction announced.

Luke had shaken me awake since it was necessary to place my vote in electing the next fraction leader. I wondered if this was the season for all the fraction leaders to find their successors. Although Luke had been taking me to all his meetings, I always woke up in my bedroom after the first time he took me to his main fraction meeting. Making this the second time that I was participating in a fraction meeting.

Finding myself covered by my usual plushy and thick blankets, I realized it was almost like being inside a sleeping bag with the way he arranged everything. My earmuffs were hanging around my neck, not blocking me from the noise anymore. Looking around my surroundings, I found Delia and Allan together, beside Sienna and Cillian. It made sense that Allan joined the neutral fraction as Delia's new partner.

"Our two candidates are Sienna Auclair Clarence with her partner, Cillian de Auclair and Luke de Impalia Roselia with his partner, Rika de Impalia Roselia," the current fraction leader surprised Luke.

"We withdraw our candidacy!" Sienna yelled before anyone could say anything.

"Congratulations, you are the succeeding fraction leader for the next following years," the current fraction leader turned to us.

I was shocked from how everything was unraveling. It was no wonder why Luke's main fraction didn't allow someone to withdraw from their candidacy. Someone could easily try to push all the work to someone else like Sienna. I knew that Sienna hated doing any fraction work in general, feeling like it was taking some of her time out from enjoying the club room. Luke didn't trust me in doing the fraction work with him, double checking everything when I did help.

It was nice on my end, only helping him when I wanted something from him. I wondered why we were even candidates in the first place, being a recent addition to the fraction. Luke seemed to be thinking along the same lines, finding more work toppled onto his current ones. Not accepting the result, he asked, "while it is an honor to possess this role, were there not better candidates?"

"You have done more things for our fraction than all our other members. You quickly earned our trust, which is why most of us voted on having you as a candidate without letting you know," the current fraction leader seemed to favour Luke.

Both Sienna and Cillian looked the other way when Luke turned to them. Deciding to look at Delia instead, she quickly avoided Luke's eyes. My jaw almost dropped, feeling almost betrayed when they were the ones who voted on having us as a candidate, maybe coming up with the idea itself. Were they this desperate to not become the next fraction leader? Luke brightly smiled as he realized everything was planned out in advance.

"Can we decline the role?" I tried to take things back.

"Unfortunately, we have a rule that we cannot change our successor once it is determined," he declined my request.

Inside the club room, the number of documents had dramatically increased on his desk as the next confirmed fraction leader for the neutral fraction. Sienna sighed in relief, feeling glad that she wouldn't be the one that would have to deal with it. Alex seemed to pity Luke, hearing everything that happened last night. In fact, none of my friends showed any signs of guilt, feeling glad that their plan had worked.

I couldn't even blame them since Luke would be doing all that work by himself. If he continued to let me sleep during the meetings, nothing would change for me. Accepting the result, I continued to practice my vocal skills to record the first song that everyone had created. Feeling annoyed when Luke woke me in the middle of the night again, I found myself in Charles' fraction this time.

"We withdraw our candidacy!" I yelled after I opened my eyes.

"Everyone is a candidate as a rule. We vote for our next fraction leader," Haruka explained.

I smiled since there was no way anyone would vote for us then. Why would they vote for the newest members when there were Oili, Ethan and Charles? I liked this fraction more than all the other ones I have experienced so far. Placing my vote for Charles, I hoped he would suffer from more fraction work. But Charles smirked in my direction before making his vote in public, "I vote for Luke de Impalia Roselia and his partner, Rika de Impalia Roselia."

"We all know how hard it will be in covering for Rika. As her partner, he should do the most work," he explained.

"What? Isn't this your main fraction?" I didn't want to be dragged into this.

"Do you think I don't know how much trouble you cause?" Charles wanted to pass all the work to Luke.

"Isn't there a conflict of interest here? We're already fraction leaders for Impalia fraction and the next fraction leader for the neutral fraction," I pointed out to the crowd.

"Luke has been perfectly doing the work assigned from our fraction, more so than other members who have relatives in other fractions," Haruka waved my concerns away.

This was exactly why it was bad if you were too perfect in everything. Like there was no way nobody would trust me with the fraction work, everyone wanted Luke to do the work for them.

"I'm sorry Rika," Oili didn't want to become the next fraction leader.

I was stunned from Oili's betrayal when he voted for us. Not wanting the enormous burden, Ethan didn't hesitate to follow Oili and Charles. Seeing how the most influential members in their fraction were voting for us, others began to follow them.