Chapter Text
“Have you heard? They say the current Student Council President works harder than any president before him. If you stay at school long enough, apparently you can see him read and sign papers at the library all night.”
“Did you see who just walked past us? It’s Council President Alhaitham! He looks so handsome again today!”
“Talk to him? No, I wouldn’t dare. Don’t you know? He’s the type you observe from afar! He’s way out of our league! I’ve never even seen him together with someone else.”
Joining the Academy of Sumeru City, the most prestigious elite high school the nation had to offer, filled to the brim with rich, intelligent and exceptional students only, meant eventually getting used to these and many more whispers of casual gossip. They filled the hallways in between classes, were secretly exchanged during lunch and could oftentimes be overheard even in the middle of an especially tiring lesson.
Cyno had never paid much attention to them. Sure, he had considered the regular murmurs rather annoying back when he had just transferred to the school last year, but by now they had long become no more than a minor disturbance. (Whenever he gave the matter any thought, he only ended up becoming irritated at the idea of people talking about someone behind that person’s back, even though he knew it couldn’t be helped. This was, it seemed, simply the curious nature of high school students.)
The same, however, couldn’t be said about the person at the center of the rumors - the alluringly mysterious Student Council President of Sumeru Academy.
Or that was how most would refer to him.
The person on top of the school’s food chain, the head of the student body and the Academy’s general management. The one individual who had not once failed to become the most favored topic of conversation ever since taking on the position. And to Cyno, being the devoted Disciplinary Committee member he was, the daily ever-infuriating thorn in his eye.
The issue that annoyed him so greatly, however, was rarely a topic of conversation among the gossipers. While those focused solely on the President’s looks, status and workload, Cyno was most bothered by the guy’s activities and decision-making in the process of his work.
While Cyno himself was most concerned with fairness and justice being upheld wherever he went, including his school - hence his decision of joining the Disciplinary Committee the first chance he got - the same did not seem to apply to the person currently occupying the school’s most important position.
Granted, Cyno was currently far from well informed about the matter. He may have been busy with schoolwork and his Committee duties or simply may not have viewed the problem as one of great importance. But after all he had witnessed thus far, including the countless ways the Council President’s decisions interfered with his beliefs - in his mind, the idea of looking into it in greater detail steadily became more urgent.
For instance, the Council had recently made adjustments to the admittedly tight school rules - permitting phone usage for private purposes on school grounds; introducing a new concept of ground rules that made it harder for teachers to punish students for all kinds of reasons. Disregarding the uniform dress code, for instance. As well as, for example, dying one’s hair - all kinds of ways to “express one’s individuality”, really.
Cyno would not stand for it. Surely, the urge to differentiate oneself from others by changing one’s appearance was somewhat legitimate but in an educational context, it would merely hinder the process of learning.
More importantly even than that, though, it was the Council President’s usage of school funds at his disposal that had Cyno’s blood boiling. A relaxation room in the school building, equipped with cushions, couches and the like, might be a fine investment to some - but certainly not to Cyno. If students were to take a break after schoolwork and couldn’t do it at home for whatever reason, there were far more convenient options all around the city.
But then there were purchases whose contribution to the students’ general education completely eluded Cyno, like an entire shelf’s worth of plant encyclopedias. Cyno himself had been fighting for the extension of the (already huge) library and its books for weeks, running around collecting signatures from students and teachers alike until the Council had completed his quest in a day, only to totally waste the entire space in the end. This was a school, not an institute of research in domestic flora. Sumeru Academy didn’t even have a gardening club.
Cyno didn’t care if other students called him petty. He had his convictions and was determined to act on them. He had let this matter slide so far because of his lack of information and very limited authority. For now, he considered the actions of the President as stupidity rather than injustice, anyway - problematic as that was in and of itself.
All of that, however, had been back when he had still been unaware of the extent of the Student Council President’s privileges.
In the end, that information was brought to him in the most unexpected way: with none other than an irritated Kaveh as his messenger.
“You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through again today,” the senior exclaimed dramatically, throwing his hands in the air for emphasis while he got comfortable on the Disciplinary Committee office’s only couch. It was just as tiny as the rest of the office, meaning Kaveh easily took up the whole of it with his long, flailing limbs. Which didn’t bother Cyno half as much as the other student’s ranting. If he was going to get done signing these reports in the Committee leader’s stead (that guy was the sheer definition of unreliability but the work still needed to be done), he certainly wouldn’t do it directly next to Kaveh.
Who had let him into the room, in the first place? And why was he here, anyway? Kaveh wasn’t even a member of the Committee. If he wanted attention that badly, he should go bother Tighnari - Cyno‘s best friend and classmate certainly had more patience than him in these kinds of situations. Or even better - Layla. Kaveh could rant all he wanted and the words would bounce right back off her in her lack of sleep-induced haze.
But of course, Cyno wasn’t given the luxury to choose in that regard. So he was stuck with Kaveh for the time being and couldn’t really do anything about it - Kaveh wasn’t exactly the kind of person who would let himself be kicked out of a room by an angry sophomore.
At least for now, Cyno didn’t have to come up with some half-hearted answer to the ramblings of his uninvited guest - Kaveh barely even paused to breathe before he ranted on.
“To think that he’d take my key - again - and then spend the night at the school library so I was completely locked out?! How could I ever think that asshole was a decent guy?! He didn’t even text me! I waited outside in the cold for hours until that nice junior found me! Until then, I was half frozen to death! I’d bet he even did it on purpose!”
“Is that so,” Cyno answered, barely paying attention. It wasn’t like he could make sense of Kaveh’s complaints if Kaveh didn’t even mention the name of the subject of his irritation. Besides, this report on his desk about another case of classroom vandalism committed by a repeat offender was of way more importance to him, anyway.
Or so he had thought.
“How is it even possible for him to misuse his privileges as the Student Council President to ruin other people’s lives?! He couldn’t even have stayed at the library that long if he wasn’t-“
Kaveh was interrupted by the loud clatter of Cyno’s chair hitting the tiles, caused by the sophomore jumping to his feet in shock the moment the words “Student Council President” and “misuse his privileges” reached his ears. Everything else Kaveh had said before, whatever Cyno had even grasped of it, was long forgotten by that point.
“What do you know about the President misusing his privileges?” he questioned so sharply it made Kaveh flinch. No way was he letting an opportunity like this go to waste.
Kaveh, in response, looked a mixture of alarmed and seriously concerned.
“What’s... got you so worked up all of a sudden, man? I mean, I’m glad you get it but... shouldn’t you know more about this than I do? Since you’re with the Committee and all.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“I’ll tell you, so don’t look at me like that!” Kaveh hastily added, raising his arms in surrender. Cyno hadn’t even noticed he’d been glaring, but all the better if it made Kaveh talk.
“Well... you only just transferred here last year so it kind of makes sense for you to not know too much about background info. You see, at Sumeru High, there’s pretty much no one with more power than the Student Council President. The real adults are all small fries around here. No one’s even seen the current principal before and the advisors have nothing on the President, as long as his reasoning is sound. They can’t exactly reject his proposals when all the investors think his ideas are great. He can get everything he wants if he has good arguments and is a smooth talker. I was part of the Student Council a couple years ago so I’d know.”
Indeed, Kaveh clearly had strong opinions about this matter, judging from how his voice had risen even further in volume and his wild gesturing had increased tenfold.
“There’s also something else that makes Sumeru High’s Student Council President more powerful than elsewhere: He’s not elected for a year only, he keeps the position until he leaves the school or steps down. Or, if a majority of the students vote to elect someone new. The handbook of school rules says it’s to prepare us for real life.”
Cyno listened to Kaveh’s explanation with a deep frown etched into his features and his mind going a mile a second. Huh? It seemed this problem existed on a far greater scale than he had imagined. This was bad.
“And to top it all off, the Student Council President gets a whole bunch of privileges that other students don’t - more than I’ve heard of anywhere else. He has a key to every place on school grounds so, as I said, he can go everywhere around here whenever he wants. The school archives, too - he may be checking all the info this school has on you right now and you would never know.
He also designs the Council room to his liking and chooses the members all by himself, which is pretty much why I was kicked out by that asshole last year!
Apart from that, the Student Council President also gets an extra 30% on every exam he takes. It’s so incredibly annoying and unfair. Have you never wondered how the person on top of every senior school exam could score 130%? It’s fucking unfair he gets to break every existing record like this!
And I’m sure the Student Council President has more privileges than all of that that l just forgot about!”
Finally finishing his rant, Kaveh took a moment to catch his breath and furiously glare at nothing in particular until a new thought had him glance at Cyno in sudden confusion. “But why are you so interested in all of this, anyway? It’s not like there’s anything you can do about...”
It was the sight of Cyno’s expression that had Kaveh trail off toward the end, clearly intimidated by the dark aura of fury the younger student was emitting, as well as the fire in the Disciplinary Committee member’s eyes. A fire of determination, a promise of revenge, overcoming him whenever he became privy to injustice.
Never would he have imagined to encounter such unfairness on the grounds of an elite high school such as Sumeru Academy. What had the founder of such rules been thinking, to bestow this much power upon a single individual? One who was not yet of age or even just barely an adult, no less?
Generally, Cyno had learned that most every human being was constituted to eventually exploit whatever advantage they were given, oftentimes even to harm others. He didn’t want to imagine what such a selfish student - judging by the current President’s known decisions - was capable of in this position. Were the students who had elected him two years ago even aware of any of this?
Cyno had rounded his desk and made it to the office door before Kaveh could even react. His mind was set straight on a new goal of great importance - the reports could wait, he would have to investigate this matter immediately. After all, if this injustice that he had only just become aware of still persisted even now, it meant nobody else was willing to look into it more deeply. A thought that, to Cyno, was nothing short of outrageous.
“Where are you going?” Kaveh asked, clearly caught off guard by the sophomore’s sudden movements. “You’re not going to try and do something about this, are you? Sure, I know you’re practically the leader of this Committee by now with how devoted you are to your work but do you really think...”
“It’s about time you left,” Cyno interrupted him, admittedly a little more harshly than his sudden impatience warranted. “You weren’t supposed to be in his room, in the first place.” He sighed internally, Tighnari’s words about being nicer to other students, especially upperclassmen, echoing in his head. “And... thank you for answering my questions.”
His effortfully forced politeness was, of course, completely lost on Kaveh. “C’mon, Cyno, where else am I supposed to go?” he whined, far more dramatically than the younger student considered necessary. “I already told you I got locked out of my dorm.”
All good will was lost then, when Cyno snapped. He had urgent work to do and Kaveh was keeping him from it in the most annoying way. Not to mention the algebra homework and science report still waiting for him at home. And it was already half past four, for Archons’ sake. “Out,” he hissed, once more managing to make Kaveh flinch. At least his lack of sleep hadn’t made Cyno lose his edge yet.
“No need to get angry with me, I’m going,” Kaveh grumbled, pulling himself to his feet like it was the most exhausting task in world history. Wasn’t Kaveh supposed to be incredibly smart? He should act like it sometime.
An obvious slump to his step, Kaveh dragged himself past Cyno who was holding the door open, waiting for him to leave. “Say hi to Tighnari and Collei from me,” Kaveh added before slowly trodding down the hallway, muttering something about searching for his keys in “whatever drawer of his giant desk that asshole left it”. Cyno assumed he’d better wish him luck: the sooner Kaveh regained access to his own room, the sooner the Disciplinary Committee would have their office back to themselves.
Finally, when the senior had disappeared behind the next corner, Cyno took a few moments to appreciate the peace and quiet. (Most students didn’t have the misfortune of being kept in the school building by additional duties even up to this hour.)
Now, where to start? Not for the first time, Cyno contemplated asking some of the other Committee members for information, specifically his upperclassmen who were bound to know more about matters of management than he did. Interrogating some Student Council members might be a solid option as well. Although Cyno was not one to converse with other students, even those he spent time with on a daily basis - for work purposes, mind you - so it would likely be an ordeal more on the embarrassing side. But if Cyno was to accurately judge the Student Council President’s likelihood of exploiting his privileges, he would probably have to go to greater lengths than usual.
Too bad his preferred witnesses would have long left the school by now.
Firstly, it would certainly be best to acquire the necessary basic knowledge about the exact rules set for Sumeru Academy’s Student Council Presidents, anyway, which could be done at all times of day, as long as the school remained open to the average student. One copy of the school’s full rule handbook, in all its approximately 700 pages long, 20 pounds heavy glory, could always be found in the library - Cyno would know, often as he had made use of it in the past year - so that would be his first destination. The entrances to the cathedral-high room were located at the south of the school’s first to fifth floor so getting there should merely take him about ten minutes.
Cyno made it halfway to his destination, only encountering a few teachers on the way, before the distracted state of his mind, still busy ordering the details he had learned so far, caught up to him.
Cyno had never been the type to not pay attention to his surroundings. In fact, he got into accidents so rarely that others - Collei - considered his attentiveness inhumane.
Therefore, this was the first time for him to experience the cliché of bumping into someone at a corner - in this case, someone holding a remarkably huge stack of papers that, upon colliding with Cyno’s face, elegantly dropped to the floor. With the sophomore not so elegantly following their example.
Meanwhile, the broad giant who was to blame for the pain now residing in Cyno’s butt barely even reacted at all, let alone stumbled. There wasn’t as much as a sound of surprise to match Cyno's shocked gasp. Oh well.
Cyno only got a look at his offender’s face when the stranger kneeled to silently rearrange his papers. He had unruly gray hair, wore some kinds of technical headpieces in gold and various shapes of green on top of his ears and his face reminded Cyno of a statue of a Greek God, stony expression included.
It took Cyno a moment until he recovered from his shock and leaned forward to help the young man in his task of orderly stacking his documents. While Cyno migt currently be fighting both irritation and great confusion on the inside but remained determined to stick to Tighnari’s advice nonetheless. He had promised he would make his friend proud and Cyno was a man of his word.
However, instead accepting his silent offer of assistance and thanking him, the other student pulled the papers from his reach in a swift motion before continuing to sort through them with great precision, expression unchanged. Cyno gaped. He only grew more surprised, though, when catching a glimpse of a certain, familiar stamp on the bottom of one of the documents.
He immediately recognized it as the seal reserved specifically for the Student Council President, the same seal he had found on every single one of the documents responsible for some great headaches of his over the past year. So this meant…
“Are you with the Student Council?” Cyno found himself asking before his mind even had the chance to agree.
The stranger, now having successfully rebuilt his stack of papers, paused for only a moment to direct a sharp, unreadable stare at Cyno. His eyes had quite the unique color, a small, unnecessary part of Cyno’s mind noted: it was probably merely a reflection created by the bright hallway lights but his pupils looked white, framed by a ring of crimson and around it, turquoise. Unlike any eyes Cyno had ever seen and more piercing than any he knew of.
Not that it mattered.
The instance of eye contact between them, tiny as it had been, froze Cyno in place until the other student had risen to his feet, documents skillfully balanced on one arm. He made no move whatsoever to offer Cyno his free hand to help him up (not that Cyno would have accepted the gesture) but instead stood above him, unmoving. The entire time, that expressionless gaze remained focused on Cyno beneath him like he was waiting for something.
Only now did Cyno notice that the other was dressed in the same uniform as him, although his black blazer had been casually left unbuttoned, just as the upper to buttons of his shirt. He was not wearing a tie.
At this point, Cyno was more than ready to give that shameless upperclassman a piece of his mind. And teach him a lesson about wearing his uniform according to regulations, while he was at it.
Brushing away the thick strands of white hair that had fallen into his eyes due to the collision, he finally pulled himself back up to his feet. As he did, he made it a point to reciprocate the stranger’s stare with his fiercest glare - which did, quite obviously, not perturb the other at all.
“You big klutz, what do you think you’re-“
Okay, definitely not his best insult but considering that his anger currently made it hard for him to think properly, he couldn’t exactly be blamed.
The other student interrupted him mid-sentence, anyway, so it really didn’t matter. “Waiting for your apology for disrupting my work,“ he simply responded to the unfinished question.
His voice was deep, firm and as devoid of emotion as his face. Was he a robot or something?
“Besides, how is it justified for you to call me clumsy even though you’re just as much at fault for this incident as I am? In fact, one could argue that most of the blame falls on you, seeing as you were not occupied with important management tasks when you ran into me. Much unlike myself.”
Once again, all Cyno could do was stare, this time in utter incredulity, mixed with an amount of fury mighty enough to momentarily paralyze him.
The audacity of this guy. Management tasks aside - what kind of argument even was that?! - why should Cyno have to apologize first when the other was being far more of a prick about all of this? Especially since the stranger didn’t look like he felt guilty in the least, let alone like he was about to apologize himself.
The entire attitude of that guy infuriated Cyno greatly already.
Before he had the chance to jump the bastard and rip that big, cocky head right off his neck, an unfamiliar, female voice accompanied by quick steps in the other corridor made him pause. The next second, an ice blue haired girl with long pigtails rounded the corner in a hurry, her uniform skirt waving behind her.
She stopped abruptly in her tracks at the scene in front of her and overbearingly crossed her arms over her chest.
“President Alhaitham, this is no time to be lazing around!” she scolded, addressing the student opposite of Cyno, to Cyno’s great shock. “May I remind you that Advisor Azar has requested the reports to be reviewed and affirmed by this evening?
…And who might you be?” The last part, she added when she first took note of Cyno’s existence. “Are you the one responsible for keeping the President occupied?”
Cyno, however, was in absolutely no state to answer her. Or to do anything but stare at the colorful pair, his ruby eyes wide as saucers. Right now, Cyno felt absolutely horrified.
The Student Council President, incredibly privileged, unofficial leader of Sumeru Academy, the most important cog of the school’s management - this asshole? No way. No fucking way.
His mind may currently be struggling to process, let alone accept the events taking place right before his disbelieving eyes but of course, the world moved on without him, anyway. The insufferable prick - no, Student Council President Alhaitham, Cyno’s mind corrected bitterly - had long turned away from him to face the unfamiliar girl.
“Yes, I was in the process of delivering the reports to the advisor when I encountered an… unexpected interruption,” he answered her previous complaints, which earned Cyno a loathing glare from her.
“You are dismissed for today, Faruzan.”
“About damn time,” the female student commented before swiftly turning on her heel and marching off toward the direction she had come from without as much as glancing at Cyno one more time.
The President, unlike her, at least took the time to send one last, leveled gaze Cyno's way before following behind her. Which, however, only served to make Cyno’s anger boil even hotter.
After the two of them had left, Cyno stood, unmoving, in the very position he had been in ever since rising back to his feet. So... this was the current Student Council President of Sumeru Academy?
Cyno wasn’t even given the benefit of doubt: the broach he had spotted on the previously folded and therefore hidden part of the male student’s blazer when the other had turned to leave couldn’t possibly be mistaken by him of all people.
At the very least, this meant he wouldn’t have to carry out a tiring investigation to determine the President’s personality and therefore likeliness of him willingly using his authority for his own gain and to harm other students.
It was obvious: With this young man, Alhaitham, at the top of Sumeru Academy, the school was doomed. Cyno should have known from the start, after all he had heard up to this point, that Alhaitham was far from fit to remain in his position.
In matters of using his unjust authority for unjust purposes, Alhaitham was certainly guilty, without a spur of doubt.
And where there was injustice, Cyno had sworn to fight it, to make absolutely sure those responsible for such deeds received their just punishment.