3. Isotani Shoko
While others were puzzling over how to interact with Keita, Isotani Shoko was in high spirits.
“Hm hm. Hm hm hm. Hm-hm hm hm.”
She was in such a good mood that she couldn’t help but hum a tune.
“Lady Shoko. You’re in top form, aren’t you?”
“Can you tell? Can you really tell?”
“Of course I can tell.”
Her childhood friend and now assistant, Sakazaki Emi, who had entered the military academy to support Shoko but had been assigned to Class B due to slightly insufficient grades, was in such high spirits that it was almost annoying (though better than being in a bad mood, honestly).
And for good reason. After all, the person she had been keeping an eye on (at least in her mind) had gone into actual combat, distinguished himself, and been promoted faster than anyone else, even faster than their seniors.
Of course, there’s a part of her that feels frustrated that it wasn’t herself. However, Isotani Shoko was the type of person who could honestly celebrate a friend’s promotion.
But that’s not all. Until now, other classmates had kept their distance from Keita, so they knew nothing about him despite being in the same grade.
But Shoko was different.
As the only one in Class A who had closed the distance and interacted with Keita, Shoko alone had succeeded in accumulating information about Kawakami Keita, the secret weapon user created by Mogami Heavy Industries and the hidden ace of the Second Division.
This was an achievement that even her usually strict parents would praise with beaming smiles.
Now that Keita had proven himself, other classmates would likely try to close the distance to gather information about him. However, from Shoko’s perspective, while Keita might have some weak points, he was by no means a fool.
Therefore, he would likely be cautious of those who approached him after his promotion and interact with them without giving away information. However, considering Keita’s personality and the fact that they would be classmates for three years, he might eventually let his guard down and treat them as friends. Or rather, unless they became adversaries, they would likely end up as friends.
(But how long will it take for the others to get past his caution? A month? Three months? Half a year? Maybe even more than a year?)
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Keita is cautious by nature. And Shoko has informed him that everyone around him, including his classmates, belongs to a military faction (of course, she also told him that she’s part of the Sixth Division faction).
As a result, Keita will approach all future friendships knowing that everyone who tries to get close to him is connected to a military faction.
In the end, for others to become friends with Keita, they’ll have to overcome an extremely high hurdle.
But Shoko is different. She just needs to maintain the same distance as before. If she does that, Keita will naturally compare [those who try to get close to him after his promotion] with [Shoko, whose attitude hasn’t changed even after his promotion].
When comparing the two, it’s needless to argue which one will be more favorable.
(The more attention Keita gets, the more others will crave information about him. But the more others try to get close, the more cautious Keita becomes. It’s a textbook vicious cycle. And I just need to offer help at the right moment. Whether I offer that help to Keita or to the other factions, well, that depends on Father’s instructions and their attitudes, I suppose?)
Since this involves negotiations with other factions, naturally, the broad policy will be set by the head of the family, her father. But even he can’t give detailed instructions about what happens at school. Therefore, Shoko is given some decision-making power, albeit limited.
And as long as the result of using that [limited decision-making power] leads to successfully monopolizing information about Keita, the Isotani family is unlikely to object to Shoko’s decisions, unless she does something incredibly foolish.
“In other words, right now, I’m the one holding the reins! Not the top student Saori Muto, not the second-ranked Issei Fujita, not even third-ranked Keita, but me, Shoko Isotani!”
(Whoa. She’s making a really intense face. If that Keita guy saw this face, things could get pretty bad, so I hope she doesn’t do this at school.)
While Shoko is indeed the honest person Keita acknowledges her to be, she also possesses a normal amount of ambition and desire for recognition. As she imagines the attitudes and expressions of her classmates who will try to approach her, Shoko indulges in self-satisfaction with an expression that makes her aide, Emi Sakazaki, visibly uncomfortable.
──Incidentally, it seems there’s a head of the Isotani family who’s feeling conflicted about the fact that his daughter, who had never shown any interest in boys before, suddenly started interacting with a boy her age upon entering the military academy and even began enthusiastically reporting about their conversations. However, Shoko remains blissfully unaware of this.
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