Once the announcements were done and the 30-minute homeroom ended, the opening ceremony officially began.
Following Ms. Shizuka Hiratsuka in an orderly fashion, the students left the classroom and headed to the auditorium.
After taking his seat in the section designated for his class, Aoki waited for the event to begin.
Soon, accompanied by rather upbeat music, the principal of Shuchiin Private High School took the stage.
After a single cough, he launched into a speech full of empty platitudes—urging students to study hard and do their best.
It dragged on for a solid ten minutes before he finally wrapped up with, "Now, I'll hand the stage over to the student council president."
Polite but lackluster applause followed.
Then the student council president took the mic.
She wasn't here to give a speech, though—instead, she was acting as the impromptu MC.
Due to various reasons, not a single member of the barely-known, five-person Broadcasting Club had shown up.
With no better option, the president had stepped in to host.
After a few introductory remarks, she called for the first speaker of the day—the representative from the first-year students.
Aoki didn't know this person, but figured they were probably ranked first in their year.
He didn't pay it much attention and waited as the student gave their speech.
The first-year student shared some study tips and encouraged everyone to keep working hard.
It was another speech full of stock phrases and generic advice—ten full minutes of it.
This made Aoki second-guess himself.
His own speech was only a few hundred words.
He clearly remembered that Ms. Hiratsuka hadn't mentioned any word count requirement, but... maybe he'd underestimated the expectations?
While he was lost in that thought, the first-year speaker wrapped up.
The president returned to the stage, and this time, the applause was even more half-hearted than before.
Still, unfazed, the president continued reading from her cue cards.
"Thank you, Toyo Nohara, for sharing your study tips. Everyone, let's strive to be more like her. And now, let's welcome the representative for the second-year class..."
Halfway through her sentence, the president paused.
Because she had taken over hosting duties at the last minute, she hadn't had time to thoroughly review the script.
She had only skimmed it briefly to make sure she wouldn't trip over any words on stage.
That's exactly why—
As she reached the name of the second-year speaker, her eyes froze on the page.
After double-checking to make sure there was no mistake in the script, she gave a small, surprised cough and spoke again, this time with a curious tone:
"P-Please welcome... the second-year representative—Aoki Kei."
Everyone at Shuchiin High already knew that "Suki-san" was one of their own. And those who had seen his interview before also knew his real name.
Now, hearing that the second-year speaker's name matched Suki-san's, the auditorium buzzed with curiosity.
Sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds aren't particularly thrilled by the principal's boring lectures.
What they do get excited about is something new—like this.
The moment the president said "Aoki Kei," the sparse applause suddenly erupted into a wave of eager clapping.
Amid the applause—and still slightly worried about how short his speech was Aoki stood up and walked toward the podium.
Taking the microphone, he glanced over the crowd of students and teachers.
The view from the stage was excellent.
With his sharp eyesight, he could even lock eyes with Kita and Bocchi among the audience.
He also noticed quite a few students filming him on their phones—but he didn't let it distract him.
His focus returned to the speech.
Thanks to his experience as an MC, this kind of low-pressure stage didn't make him nervous at all.
He glanced down at his notes and began:
"Hello, everyone. I'm Aoki Kei, the second-year student representative."
A short pause—and the auditorium burst into applause, louder than before.
It wasn't a concert, nor a formal press event, so Aoki didn't wait for the applause to die down like he usually would.
He continued right after the brief pause:
"I'm honored to be here today and share with you all a little about how I study."
"To reach the top of the grade rankings, it takes both talent and hard work. I suggest you devote at least fifty percent of your day to studying. That's it."
"My sharing ends there. I'll talk about something else now."
He held the mic, hesitated for a moment due to how short his speech was, then added a little more.
As if thinking aloud, he paused a few seconds and then said:
"Hmm... Kessoku Band will be recording a radio program tomorrow. About a week after it's done, you'll be able to listen to it.
Please check out the show 'Guess Who Yuu-chan's Invited Today.' We'd really appreciate your support..."
But before he could finish that thought, he suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Something seemed to catch his attention.
He turned his head to the side as if someone had whispered to him, paused to listen, and then—
Without realizing the mic was still on, he blurted:
"Huh? I can't say that? Oh—sorry, sorry..."
His voice echoed throughout the auditorium, loud and clear.
A few stunned seconds passed... and then came the laughter, followed by even louder applause.
Aoki apologized sincerely—he genuinely hadn't expected the school to restrict what he could mention.
Out of ways to stretch his already-short speech, he closed with:
"Well, thank you for the applause. I guess that's all from me."
He stepped down from the podium and returned to his seat under the gazes of the entire student body.
Back onstage, the student council president looked a little awkward.
She laughed it off and quickly steered the ceremony back on track, calling up the third-year representative.
Aoki didn't dwell on it.
Hiratsuka-sensei leaned over from the seat beside him, muttering under her breath.
Something along the lines of "That's all you prepared?" or "You really used your speech time to promote the band?"
But she said it with a playful smile, clearly amused rather than annoyed.
Aoki nodded, apologetic.
She gave a light chuckle and didn't push further, returning her attention to the stage.
The school board rep gave a brief talk.
The principal came back up and went over a few reminders for the start of term.
Finally, around 11 a.m., the opening ceremony ended.
But after that...
Some bored students uploaded a video of Aoki's speech to social media. It didn't take long for the comments to start rolling in:
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"I'm so jealous of everyone who goes to school with Suki-san!"
"Wait—so he wasn't joking in that interview?! He really is top of his class?! That's insane!"
"He looks even better from this close-up... A musical genius and an academic one. Suki-san!!!"
"LOL I watched the whole thing—he's kinda airheaded, isn't he?"
"Suki-san? No, no, he's my little Kei!"
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...
The video spread quickly, and thanks to it, Suki-san's popularity ticked up just a little more.
And now, with the opening ceremony behind him, the recording of the radio program was just one day away.
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