Chapter 939: Rejection
After explaining the situation over the phone, Teacher Mikinari spoke a few more words in a low voice, then quickly hung up.
Looking up at her colleagues present, Teacher Mikinari had a somewhat inexplicable expression: "Misaka Student refused."
This result was not unexpected, because from the call just now, everyone already knew this outcome.
However, out of politeness, no one else interrupted the call, nor did they deliberately eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Teacher Miki, you don't seem to have mentioned Lin Wuming," a teacher reminded.
In their opinion, Lin Wuming was undoubtedly the crucial trump card to persuade Misaka Mikoto.
"No…" Teacher Mikinari smiled bitterly, "Because Lin Wuming has already refused the invitation to be a student representative—Misaka Student told me this, Lin Wuming seems to be by her side right now."
...
"Onee-sama, you refused the invitation?" Shirai Kuroko asked.
"Yes," Misaka Mikoto said as she put away her phone, "You know, I'm not very good at handling those kinds of occasions."
Misaka Mikoto was not lying; although she appeared carefree, cheerful, and lively on the surface, she was actually the type who easily got nervous—especially in such formal settings, when she needed to do something in front of a large crowd.
It wasn't that she couldn't do it well; she just couldn't help but feel nervous and uncomfortable, which was similar to Lin Wuming.
If the other student representative was Lin Wuming, Misaka Mikoto might be able to overcome this small difficulty.
But Lin Wuming had just mentioned this matter and clearly stated that he would not serve as a student representative—since that was the case, Misaka Mikoto naturally had even less motivation.
At this moment, Misaka Mikoto was a guest at Judgment Disciplinary Committee Branch 177—after much thought, she finally decided to come here with Shirai Kuroko.
Because Misaka Mikoto often appeared here, the Judgment members in the branch were used to her presence; so much so that this Judgment activity room was almost like Misaka Mikoto's home ground.
Just like going home, Misaka Mikoto no longer felt nervous or constrained and could interact normally with Lin Wuming.
Shirai Kuroko just pouted, but in the end, she didn't say much—if she really wanted to object, she wouldn't have let Onee-sama come along.
Although Shirai Kuroko had her own selfish reasons, inviting Lin Wuming to One Seven Seven Branch to "inspect the work" this time was indeed to boost morale—on this point, Shirai Kuroko had never lied.
The Great Ba Xing Festival was approaching, and the public security pressure in Academy City was increasing; these were all facts.
As Judgment members active on the front lines, they indeed needed a senior and "hero" like Lin Wuming to inspire and boost their morale.
In fact, when Lin Wuming returned to this activity room, he was indeed warmly welcomed.
These middle school Judgment members seemed to have met an idol star, immediately swarming over and surrounding Lin Wuming.
Lin Wuming was as face-blind as ever; he could only recognize that many of those present were familiar faces, but he couldn't match these faces with specific names.
However, these juniors seemed to know about Lin Wuming's "face-blindness" and didn't dwell on it too much.
Moreover, Lin Wuming only didn't remember their names, but he clearly remembered the experience of taking them on missions together; therefore, Lin Wuming eventually deduced their names through the jointly executed missions and called them out one by one, which deeply moved them.
Seeing that Lin Wuming was truly there to boost morale, and Shirai Kuroko was indeed just watching silently from the side, Misaka Mikoto, who insisted on coming along, felt a little embarrassed.
But since she was already here, leaving like this was obviously impossible.
So, Misaka Mikoto, like Shirai Kuroko, chose to stay quietly to the side, only observing but not disturbing the Judgment members' interactions.
Fortunately, Lin Wuming did not forget the two of them, and after chatting with his Judgment juniors, he eventually came to Misaka Mikoto's side.
Actually, Lin Wuming also had something he wanted to ask them about, which was the so-called "declaring war on himself."
Because this news was simply too outrageous, even though Heaven Canceller Doctor said it himself, Lin Wuming still couldn't completely believe it.
Now was a good opportunity to directly inquire about the situation from Misaka Mikoto and Shirai Kuroko, two insiders from Tokiwadai Middle School.
Regarding this, Misaka Mikoto clearly stated that the so-called "declaration of war" was a false rumor spread by misunderstanding—this was the answer she obtained after specifically confronting Shokuhou Misaki.
Shirai Kuroko seemed to have a different opinion on this, but after much deliberation, she ultimately did not speak it out.
Since the topic had already come to the Great Ba Xing Festival, Lin Wuming also mentioned his refusal to be a student representative.
Immediately after, Misaka Mikoto received a call from Teacher Mikinari.
With Lin Wuming's prior answer, Misaka Mikoto naturally refused without hesitation at this time.
Moreover, Misaka Mikoto had a good relationship with Teacher Mikinari, so there was no need to hide many things from her.
Therefore, Misaka Mikoto acted decisively; when she sensed that Teacher Miki was about to say the name "Lin Wuming," she preemptively stated the fact that "Wuming Student has already refused the invitation."
As expected, after hearing her say this, Teacher Mikinari decisively gave up on further persuasion and hung up the phone very simply.
"Next, that Shokuhou..." Misaka Mikoto muttered to herself, "No, she definitely won't accept the invitation either."
...
"There's no need to ask Shokuhou; she won't accept the invitation," Teacher Kawai Hanor blinked, and deep in her pupils, starlight faintly flickered.
"This... I really didn't expect it," the Dean rubbed his temples hard, "It went directly from one extreme to another."
"So, do we need to forcefully assign, or directly decline the invitation?"
"Just decline it directly. Tell the operations committee that I respect the students' personal will and will not force them to do things they don't want to do."
After thinking for a moment, the principal lady finally added: "Tell the operations committee to contact other candidates first, and if there are absolutely no candidates, ask them to consider the possibility of Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki becoming student representatives together."
Fair and just, with both of them going up together and no Lin Wuming interfering, might be the best outcome.
