Pastel headed towards the Newspaper Club, feeling quite wronged.
A suited Demon Lord walked alongside.
“How could I have silenced the Newspaper Club with black money? That’s ridiculous! How can someone report on things they didn’t even do? And on top of that, they added terrorism charges!”
She waved her hands dramatically.
“Moreover! Even Elly, who always watched over me from the student council, doubts me after reading the article! And! And! I showed them the paralysis poison to prove none of that wicked poison exists, but Dustin’s eyes turned all weird!”
Then it hit her that maybe she had given them enough reason to doubt, causing Pastel to trail off her rant.
“Ugh…”
She hesitated, not knowing what to say, and just pretended to cry.
“ Waaah!”
Raising her voice in a theatrical tone, she wiped her eyes with both hands.
“Demon Lord! Demon Lord! I need comforting! I’m just a poor soul trying to protect the academy—”
A diligent soldier, without a selfish agenda, was patrolling the hallway when he came across the Marquis, saluting respectfully.
Pastel briefly froze before returning the salute with a composed expression.
Then she started pretending to cry again as she walked away.
“ Waaah!”
Her wailing filled the air.
She glanced at the Demon Lord who walked beside her.
The Demon cast a suspicious look down at her.
“Ugh, why aren’t you comforting me? You’re gonna make me genuinely sulk at this rate! Don’t you want to see my laundry pile grow?”
She thought of various mischievous scenarios.
What if she dove into bed all muddy, no matter how much the Demon told her to clean-up and rest afterward?
“Ugh… the idea of diving into a fluffy bed when tired sounds fantastic!”
It would surely get dirty, but the Demon would wash it anyway.
Pastel’s eyes sparkled with mischief.
“Wait, am I a genius?”
“Hmm? That gives me the creeps,” the Demon remarked, glancing around.
“Oh no…! I’ve been caught!” Pastel awkwardly whistled.
“The heck are you whistling for? Are you plotting something?” the Demon inquired suspiciously.
“W-what? Me?”
Innocent Pastel feigned ignorance.
She deliberately made a pouty face.
“Are you suspecting me now, Demon Lord?”
“…No.”
The Demon, deep in thought, spoke in a hesitant tone, “Anyway, I’ve been watching you for almost a day. I won’t misinterpret the Newspaper Club’s article, but if you keep showing this duplicitous behavior, even unexecuted wrongdoings will be questioned.”
“Ugh…”
Pastel’s eyes widened comically.
“What about just now? What did I do?”
The Demon pointed behind her, showing the back of the soldier retreating in the distance.
“If you act lively like usual in this school environment, it’ll only seem like duplicitous acting to others. If you have no awareness of that either way, it’s also an issue. Try to close the gap in your actions and attitude.”
“Hmm?”
Pastel tilted her head in confusion.
“What gap?”
“I’m simply living my life…”
The Demon led Pastel to a full-length mirror in the hallway, gesturing towards it.
“What do you see?”
As Pastel looked into the mirror, her pink hair flowed down as she tilted her head, and her pink eyes glanced back at her.
“What do you see?”
“A ruler!”
Pastel’s lips curled into a cheeky grin. She twisted her body playfully.
“Powerful Pastel!”
“How delightful!”
She felt electrifying excitement.
“Hehe.”
The Demon looked perplexed as it was not the answer they expected.
“No.”
“Pfft.”
“What kind of gap are you talking about?” Pastel asked, flaunting her righteousness while crossing her arms, looking down with an air of authority at the Demon in the mirror.
“Oops? How dare the servant cast a condescending gaze!”
The girl pointed accusatively at her guardian.
“Show proper respect to the esteemed Marquis, the great ruler of the academy!”
“Ah, this troublemaker,” the Demon replied, pressing down on Pastel’s pink head with its palm.
“Wahhh!”
Pastel protested against the oppression.
“You’re messing up my hairstyle! My hairstyle!”
Her pink hair was a ruffled mess.
“Eek!”
It was getting bushy!
The Demon chuckled quietly.
“Since I’ll just brush it later, it doesn’t matter.”
Pastel gasped in horror.
“Impossible!”
“No way…!”
“How could you ruin the hairstyle I spent ages creating while half-asleep this morning?!”
But, damn, the Demon was right.
“Hmm.”
Pastel couldn’t find a rebuttal and flailed about.
“Evil Demon! Super Ultra Evil Demon!”
The Demon merely chuckled, no counter to be found.
“Zero impact.”
“Ugh!”
Already a Demon!
“How cowardly! That’s so cowardly! If that’s the case, can you make me a Demon too…?”
#
Having fixed her hair, Pastel stormed into the Newspaper Club.
Time to transform the naughty Newspaper Club into a righteous one!
Just like the tale of the hero slaying the Demon King, she anticipated fierce resistance from the wicked Newspaper Club, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.
Pastel was able to listen to a sincere apology from the upperclassman and snacked on some treats.
“Whoa.”
She sprinkled gem powder like seasoning on her snack.
Nom nom nom.
The upperclassman’s expression turned complex as he glanced at Craft, who enjoyed munching on snacks sprinkled with metallic gem powder, and then nervously bowed his head.
“I’m sorry. I asked the new members to craft a fictional scenario for some fun practice, but it accidentally got printed.”
It wasn’t the club president, but rather the vice president.
Pastel’s eyes widened.
“Printed mistake?”
The club members behind the vice president nodded hastily.
“We’ll issue a correction article right away. We’ve already prepared it.”
The vice president showed a sample of the correction article with an apology included.
“Aww, come on…”
It wasn’t a big deal.
Phew!
“Oh goodness! I was so startled! I thought I had bribed the Newspaper Club to silence them and even incited terrorism!”
Pastel placed her hands on her hips, her face slightly stern.
“Upperclassmen! The juniors were truly shocked! Truly shocked!”
So shocked, she even released paralysis gas in the student council room!
“I’m sorry. I can’t even imagine how shocked you must have been. My verbal apology might not be enough, but I’m really sorry.”
The vice president bowed deeply.
Pastel waved her hands dismissively.
“It’s okay! I totally understand! The Newspaper Club might make mistakes in their reporting while practicing journalism!”
The vice president stole glances and exchanged silent cues with the members around.
“Whoa.”
“Since we’re apologizing… might I mention…”
Pastel titled her head, intrigued.
Her innocent reaction embarrassed the vice president, gesturing towards the clubroom.
There lay a scratched wooden table that looked like it was scavenged, cluttered with cheap yellow paper bundles and a broken ink bottle.
And there were also plush sacks in the corner, the contents unknown.
“The truth is, the Newspaper Club isn’t an official club. It’s not funded by the school; we run it out of our own pockets, leading to a lot of operational difficulties.”
Pastel’s eyes went wide.
“The newspaper club doesn’t get budget support? Student voices getting oppressed in the student-focused school?”
The vice president’s face brightened.
“You know well! We are the voice of the students, doing our best with limited funds!”
“No fair!” Pastel exclaimed.
She was taken aback by the new realization.
“Of course! It totally makes sense! Why else would the school focus on metrics rather than protecting its students?”
Heaving.
“They’re starving for the sake of the students’ voices? These folks are the true righteous journalists!”
“I can’t just sit here!”
Pastel pointed at herself dramatically.
“I will normalize the students’ voices under my name!”
“Hiiiyah!”
She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket and held it high.
It sparkled in the sunlight from the window.
“Ta-da!!!”
“Whoa…!”
The vice president and club members gasped, entranced by the sight of the shining check.
Pastel gleamed with pride.
Though the money was earned for her livelihood, at this moment, it was being used for a good cause without selfish intent.
She handed over the check.
“Please add this to the Newspaper Club’s activities!”
The vice president received the check with shaking hands, visibly moved, and stared at its amount, gasping double time.
The vice president and the members exchanged glances, their restrained joy breaking through as if a plan was set into motion.
“I will definitely speak for the students’ voices!”
Pastel boasted.
“If you need more, please let me know! We absolutely cannot let fair and just journalism face obstacles!”
BAM, today she normalized the school!
“Hehe.”
I truly am good at this, aren’t I?
I must be cut out for power!
At that moment, one of the bulging sacks in the corner toppled over.
A face popped out from within, looking like an upperclassman with a bullhorn, eyes gleaming like a true righteous journalist, shouting, “Down with the state-run media—!”
The nearest member leaped in and quickly tied the sack shut again, suppressing the voice within.
“Whoa…”
Pastel blinked in surprise.
She stared intently at the now-silent sack.
What just happened…?
She continued to watch but saw no movement.
Did she just imagine it?
“Hmm…”
She shook her head.
Then another sack fell over.
A student’s face popped out, seeing the fallen sack from earlier and screamed, “Vice President…!”
It sounded like a cry for a fallen comrade, battling against injustice.
Nearby members rushed in and re-tied the sack, silencing the voice once more.
“Whoa! Whoa!”
Pastel’s eyes widened again.
The vice president and members broke a sweat, looking petrified.
“Whoa. Whoa.”
Pastel rubbed her eyes vigorously.
She glanced back at the sacks.
“Squeak. Squeak.”
Just a sack.
Nothing indicating any movement.
“Oh, I see!”
It must have been a mistake!
No way there could be a person in there!
“Right!?”
Pastel turned her head proudly.
“I am Pastel!
Today, I have normalized the school!”
“Yay~!”
