Asami handed me a paper the next day. "Your request was approved by the administration. Naruyo will deliver your new uniform and you are to start wearing it the next day."
I nodded my head and looked at the stamped form. "Then, the other uniforms?"
Asami seemed annoyed but still replied formally before leaving, "I expect you will be prepared to present your ideas at the next meeting. Don't be unprepared."
I vowed to spend extra time before then working on my designs. I would give this extra formal secretary a uniform that would spice up her image quite a bit.
* * *
"Your uniform. As designed." The quiet girl named Naruyo gave me a clothing bag containing the uniform she had made. It was honestly shocking that a high school student could produce such a quality garment in just four days. "Follow me. Assistance in dressing required."
I signed the form, so I had no good reason to refuse. After we reached the changing room, I took off my old uniform and she held up the tutu.
"Step in. Corset difficult to lace. Will teach." Naruyo spoke up softly.
She pulled the tutu up and I held it to my chest as she pulled the back closed. I could feel it start to compress my stomach slightly, but it didn't get to the point where it was painful. Even if it wasn't painful, it still constricted my breathing a bit, and I found I could not take a full breath with it on. As she was lacing it, she gave me a few tips to put it on by myself. After she fully laced it, she pulled a zipper up the back, covering up the laces. Even now, it still left most of my chest and shoulders bare.
She showed me how to properly use the garters on the stockings, and also how to wear the ballet boots without help. They laced and zipped up to my thighs, so it took quite some time to get it right. Finally, the gloves and jewelry were easy to put on without help.
Overall, like I imagined, it was quite embarrassing to wear, and I would surely need to get used to being seen in it. Naruyo had me turn around slowly at the end. "I knew it. Very cute." With a quick thumbs up, she collected my old uniform and ran off.
Unsurprisingly, I drew the attention of everyone in sight as I moved through the school. My first few steps on my ballet boots were excruciating. I could barely move away from the wall without losing my balance. I staggered down the hall on my boots, and by the time I made it to my class, I was already starting to get used to them.
The harder part than the ballet boots was navigating with the butterfly wings attached. I kept hitting things as I passed them, and I smacked several people in the face with them while turning around suddenly. As I sat down in my seat, I found myself out of breath, much more so than I otherwise would be. The corset made it harder to take deep breaths, so I had to quickly take more shallow breaths to compensate.
It seemed some rumors were already spreading about the student council president wanting to stand out as an example student to lead the class forward, which, while wildly untrue, sounded nice enough for me to not fight against them.
What was more embarrassing than the stares I got at school though, were the comments and looks I got from people on the train and from people I passed walking home from there. Everyone was complementing my costume and asking me what the occasion was. I didn't know what to say, so I just thanked them for the complement and hurried on.
* * *
I was extra prepared for the second student council meeting. I had planned out in detail uniforms for each of the other council members, and I would not let them escape again this time. As soon as the secretary began the meeting I stood up and was about to begin showing off my designs when she held up her hand and looked at me.
"I know what you want to say and show us, president, but I have an urgent matter we must address first. The school administration came to me this morning and gave me a list of things that the student council must attend to before next week without fail. We must give a report to them tomorrow morning to tell them how we plan to deal with it."
Deflated, I sat down "...Fine, continue on with your report." I was determined to get my way, but I could not say my matter was more important than the critical requirements from the teaching staff.
"Very well. The school is unhappy with school club enrollment. According to my records, only 62% of students have applied to an after school activity. School regulations state that all students must be involved in an after school activity, or have an approved excuse from their homeroom teacher. I recommend we inform all clubs to more aggressively recruit new students, and make announcements in each morning standup to make sure people know the requirements."
"One of the janitors found a bunch of cigarette butts outside one of the rear doors and the administration would like us to keep an eye out for anyone smoking and convince them to stop."
"The teaching staff would like us to start arranging study sessions among the students. The year just started, but it is never too early to begin reviewing last year's content and beginning to study for exams in a few months."
A seemingly never ending sequence of annoying tasks flowed seamlessly from Asami's mouth as she explained all of the various things the school wanted us to take care of. Finally, what seemed like an age later...
"And that is the last thing on the list I was given. Sorry for taking up so much time, president, would you like to start over with what you were going to show us at the beginning?"
Finally, As I stood up to start my speech over, I heard a familiar sound... *ding dong ding dong* "..." No… My plans…
"I promise, next time, president! I'll summarize the important matters so we won't use up the whole meeting!" Asami bowed again, deeper this time, and looked earnestly apologetic.
I tried to be accommodating, since it would be harder to get anyone to listen to me if I created enemies out of them first. "...It's fine. I'll talk to everyone next week."
Asami just smiled when I said next week, and said "Sure, have a nice long weekend, President." but I didn't catch the full meaning until I saw the calendar in the main hallway. It was a public holiday, and school was cancelled for the day. When I saw the big X through our meeting, I realized that there would not be a chance for another week after that!
I was determined to get my way, so I sent a message to the rest of the council, stating that I was moving the meeting to the following day because of the holiday. Asami tried to object, but she was overruled by Matsuko, who said she didn't have a problem with it.
* * *
"The rest of these matters aren't so important that they can't be handled next week. I will now put forth my proposal on the alterations of the remaining student council uniforms." I started to hand out the sketches I made for each girl: A maid outfit, a bikini, a bunny outfit, an opera dress, and a magical girl outfit. I watched the impressions each of the other members gave as they looked at the sketches.
Matsuko seemed amused by her dress, but Asami looked on at her maid uniform with disgust.
"What is this? We would be investigated under the decency standards if we ever adopted such a uniform." Asami stood up and protested.
"I think you'd look nice in it, personally. If we both do it, it will be less embarrassing, right?" Hinari said while holding up her bikini sketch.
Naruyo looked up from her bunny girl sketch. "Sketch unrefined. Needs work to be acceptable."
Asami seemed to remember something when she heard Naruyo's comment and immediately spoke up. "That's right! Uniform change requests must be filed on the right form! We can't formally discuss this matter until you present them properly filled into this form." She dug into a filing cabinet and gave me a stack of blank forms.
I stood up to try and negotiate. "Can't we talk about it first? I'll file the forms later."
Matsuko spoke up as well. "If you want to be seen as a responsible president, you should always do things the proper way so that you serve as a proper role model."
I had no way to refute that argument, so all I could do was collect the sketches and sit down.
Asami stood up again and started speaking, "The next matter on our agenda is the signpost leading to the gymnasium. It was hit by a student on a bike last week and still hasn't been repaired yet.
I put my head down on the table and pouted for the rest of that meeting.
I spent the next few days meticulously copying my sketches and descriptions onto the proper forms, making sure there was no way I could be denied my chance based on a technicality.
By this point I had gotten used to wearing my new uniform, and the student body was used to seeing me in it too. I had even started to get a reputation as "17th's Little Fairy", which was quite a bit embarrassing on its own.
The next Monday, I stood up before the secretary could even bring the meeting to order. "I don't think there's any important agenda items this week, so let me reintroduce the plans I've been working on for you girls." As I started to spread out the forms with my sketches on them, Asami's face kind of scrunched up and she looked like she was the bearer of bad news.
"Um... Kogamo-san, I don't know if I should mention this, but I feel I must inform you. The deadline for uniform changes already passed last week. Even if we wanted to, the school won't let us change uniforms again until next year."
"Wait! Why didn't I know about this?" I shot to my feet and shouted.
Asami just pointed to a day on the student council calendar on the wall, where the words "Uniform Change Deadline" were marked in red. I admit I had not looked at this calendar before, but it was still hard to believe.
After staring at the calendar for a few seconds. I froze over like I was suddenly on an ice floe. "Then... that means..."
Asami frowned like she was pitying me. "I know you must have worked hard on your sketches and designs, but I'm afraid we can't use them any more."
I slumped down in my chair, crestfallen. "If you guys are staying with the normal uniform, then I too will--"
Asami shook her head "I'm afraid that's not how it works. The school has already approved your uniform change, so if you start wearing the old uniform, they will consider it a violation and give you demerits each time you are caught. For what it's worth though, I think you look quite cute and you've already become quite a symbol for our class and school. I've even heard that they may wish to have some promotional pictures or videos made with you for various marketing schemes."
"But that's....not fair!" I jumped to my feet and slammed the table, ready to fight further, when I felt a hand on my head.
"Dear Ko-chan, I know this is as disappointing for you as it is for us, but this can't be the only reason you joined the student council, is it? Surely you have ideas and plans other than changing our uniforms?" Matsuko quietly encouraged me in my ear and I couldn't help but feel my anger and frustration ebb a little.
That's right. There would be many more times and places to get what I want than just this one instance. I'll just use these designs in a future event. The frown on my face slowly disappeared. "Thank you, Matsuko, you're right. I'm sorry for my embarrassing performance just now." Unable to withstand the shame from my embarrassing meltdown, I quickly gathered my drawings and fled the room.
* * *
Several minutes after Kogamo left, Matsuko broke the silence. "Asami-chan, you're so cruel to crush Ko-chan's dreams like that. I was quite eager to see what she came up with. And why didn't I know about the so-called uniform change deadline?"
Asami's poker face did not flinch under the interrogation. "Of course you didn't know about it. After all, I modified the calendar myself to add it just a few days ago. It is not my problem she wasn't able to see through such a simple deception. And besides, you weren't really going to go along with whatever she came up with, were you?"
Matsuko laughed "Who knows, at least I'm not afraid to show off what I've got, unlike this prude here" She poked Asami in the chest and turned to leave the room. "Remember, I'm the one who picked her out, and I don't like people trying to undercut my decisions, don't push her too hard, alright?"
Asami frowned, "Don't lecture me about things like this, after all, it was your unilateral action that led us into this situation in the first place. It's not my fault if something happens to your new pet."
Matsuko frowned back then got up close to Asami and slammed her hand onto the wall behind her, "Just go easy on her, or else I will swat your behind so hard you won't sit for a week." Her eyes ignited with white fire as she said this and Asami immediately withered under that gaze.
"Y-y-yes...I'll keep that in mind...I've got to go now" Asami blushed deeply and squirmed away from Matsuko and ran out of the room. When Matsuko withdrew her hand, there was a burn mark in its place.
Hinari chirped in from the side, "Ooh, the old president returns, I thought you'd lost your interest in the affairs of management, but I guess you were just playing nice for a while."
Matsuko glared over at Hinari, "Don't think you're safe just because you didn't pick a side. Remember what I said just now."
Hinari changed topics, "Hey, do you think that Ko-chan has gotten used to those boots way too quickly?"
Matsuko stopped to think about it, then spoke up. "Now that you mention it, yes. She was shaking for the first day or two but she has looked like a natural ever since. What could her secret be? Let me look into it on my own." She left the room looking pensive.