Chapter 102: Nine Schools Joint Gathering
（PS: This chapter was placed in the wrong order; it should be Volume 3, Chapter 15. Don’t subscribe, just skip it.)
Zuo Hang originally thought of having Zuo Rou try out for the Student Union, but his socially anxious sister was completely unable to handle the Student Union work. Although her social anxiety had gradually recovered, the Student Council Vice President position required frequent conversations and communication with people, which was extremely terrifying for a former socially anxious person to do every day with new faces.
Zuo Hang had approved a leave slip for Jiang Xia, and his sister couldn’t handle it either. As the Student Council President, once words were spoken, they were like spilled water—he had already given Jiang Xia time off, so calling him back was impossible.
The day before the Nine-School Joint Gathering began, Jiang Xia couldn’t rest assured and made time to visit the Student Union Activity Room.
She still trusted Zuo Hang’s abilities; this man was always extraordinarily meticulous in handling matters. She thought the Nine-School Joint Gathering preparations were proceeding in an orderly manner, but when she opened the door to the activity room, the busy scene she had imagined in her mind did not appear.
Zuo Hang, the man who had given himself time off just a few days ago, was sprawled on the table sleeping at a time when he should have been busy. The activity room’s air conditioning was set very low, but this guy hadn’t closed the window. Not only that, the long table in the activity room was covered with snacks, and two Pokémon with bulging bellies were sleeping soundly pressed together. Turtwig had its foot on Pikachu’s belly and had even pulled his tail over as an eye mask.
On the sofa on the other side lay a girl with drool at the corner of her mouth—that was Zuo Rou, who seemed to be sleeping quite deeply.
In an instant, Jiang Xia felt something in her heart about to erupt. She slammed both palms heavily on the Student Council President’s desk and shouted loudly, “Zuo Hang! You’d better get up right now and explain the current situation to me.”
Current situation? Huh? What current situation?
Dazedly opening his eyes, Zuo Hang saw a face. It had been so long since he’d seen it that he almost cried upon seeing it—great! The Student Union’s savior was back. Zuo Hang lay on the table, head down, arms up, offering his uncovered pen: “Xia Badge! You’re finally back! Sorry, I won’t give you time off ever again. The Student Union needs you; you’re the light of the Student Union!”
Jiang Xia unconsciously took half a step back. Wasn’t this persona wrong? Where was his cool junior black-bellied soul? How had he become possessed by Xingye after just a few days?
“What happened to you? Don’t scare me! Hurry up and give me back my cool president.”
“When people are extremely exhausted, it triggers the purest essence of their inner self. I’m not cool at all; I’m just a loser who happens to have a few awesome Pokémon.”
“Loser? Oh my god! How can those two words come out of your mouth? Wake up, president!” Jiang Xia walked behind the desk, grabbed Zuo Hang who was sprawled on the table by the collar, and pulled him up. His eyes were slightly squinted, mouth slightly open, with drool from sleeping at the corner, looking utterly lifeless and a bit dazed. Jiang Xia waved her hand in front of his eyes, but this guy didn’t even move his eyeballs, just like he was really dumb.
“What have you been through these past few days? Does the Student Union really have that much work?” Jiang Xia wiped the drool from his face with her sleeve, then patted his face hard, trying to wake him up. But Zuo Hang showed no sign of waking, so Jiang Xia had to take out Dedenne’s Poké Ball.
“Dedenne, shock him!”
“Dedenne—!”
Upon receiving this command, Dedenne instantly became abnormally excited. Unable to shock Pikachu, shocking his owner was still great.
“Zzzzt~~~—!!!”
A surge of electric current coursed through Zuo Hang’s entire body.
A few seconds later, his already fluffy hair was directly blasted straight up.
Zuo Hang felt his consciousness clear up a bit. He had no idea why he had slept so deeply; it was clearly just one night, but it felt like he had slept for over half a year.
If nothing like Shaymin or Dialga altering time had happened, he could only attribute this supernatural event to being too tired.
Zuo Hang vaguely remembered having a dream where he was in his third year of university in his previous life, majoring in environmental design. It was tough back then, staying up late every night drawing and making PPTs, then presenting at the podium the next day. These days in the Student Union had directly made him dream back to university. These days he’d been approving various club applications, arranging accommodations for representatives from the other eight academies, preparing two speeches as the White Dragon representative to deliver on stage on the day of the Nine-School Joint Gathering, and the tradition of the Nine-School Joint Gathering: the exhibition match on the joint gathering competition day against the Student Council President of Black Dragon High, who ranked second.
He really couldn’t handle it. Speeches should be written by the secretary, but Huohuo wasn’t there, so he typed two purely on the keyboard himself. Receiving teams from other schools should be the vice president’s job, but he’d given Jiang Xia time off, so he personally handled receiving all eight schools.
Jiang Xia said, “Couldn’t you find some officer to run errands? Don’t tell me you handled a ton of stuff all by yourself.”
Zuo Hang glanced at him: “The Student Union just finished changing terms; the officers from the previous term all left. The new little officers this term know nothing. On the first day, I sent them to pick up people from Dongshui High—they got the people, but got lost in the academy themselves, called me several times asking for directions. Damn it, I’m not a tour guide! They’ve been at school for days and still can’t remember the way?! And they’re supposed to be White Dragon High elites—pissed me off so much my blood pressure shot up.”
Jiang Xia scratched his head and said, “Actually, you can’t blame them entirely; our school is really big. I used to get lost all the time too.”
“Dedenne—!” Someone lightly knocked on the activity room door twice, and a girl wearing a Black Dragon High uniform entered the activity room.
“Hello, White President. About tomorrow’s exhibition match… we haven’t rehearsed yet.”
The freshly awakened Zuo Hang pretentiously picked up his glasses from the table, put them on, and said, “Exhibition match? Who are you?”
The girl in the Black Dragon High uniform pointed at herself and said, “It’s me, Zuo President. We’ve met; did you forget? You personally came to pick me up. I’m the Black Dragon Student Council President.”
