["PLAY THE KING" IS ACT TWO OF THE "PLAY" SERIES. PLEASE READ "PLAY THE QUEEN" FIRST.]
It's been four months since Priam Torres, the once unpopular president of the Elysian University Student Council, assumed office. Thanks to his chief-of-staff Cas...
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REYNARD
THINGS ON campus started to get more interesting. Just to be clear, I had no horse in this race. Castiel Seville and friends fucked around and found out, so now they were facing the consequences of their actions. Serves them right. On the other hand, Alaric Esteban and his allies were weaponizing their majority voting bloc as well as the Constitution and By-laws.
Who would win? I wasn't sure. I couldn't tell. Who would I wanna win? That's beside the point. One thing's for sure: This was gonna be a spectacle for those who craved drama and thrill in the university. And everybody loves drama. Some were probably itching to grab a bucket of popcorn and start munching as they watched this whirlwind of mess and madness.
For instance, The Herald.
"Looks like this chess game is about to get more brutal."
I craned my neck and checked the writer across my workstation. Tutok na tutok si Ambrielle sa laptop niya, walang tigil ang pagki-click at pag-i-scroll ng mouse. She might not have realized that she was thinking out loud. I swiveled my chair backward and sprang from my seat. Lumapit ako sa kaniya para tingnan kung ano ang nakakuha sa atensiyon niya. Kung may tsismis, dapat i-share niya rin sa 'kin.
"What do you have there?" I leaned my face closer to her laptop screen.
She slammed her laptop shut before I could even catch a glimpse. "This is beyond your turf so this is none of your business."
Napakamot ako ng ulo. Ang damot! "Alam kong competitive ka, pero hindi 'to ang panahon para do'n. Remember what the EIC said? We need to work together. Collaborating means sharing information. You know what I know, and vice versa."
Since the whole impeachment trial involved the University Student Council and the Legislative-Executive Committee, Ambrielle had no choice but to collab with me. This cooperation thing was a direct order from the editorial board, so she begrudgingly welcomed me as her partner.
"Fine." She sighed before opening her laptop again. "Nag-send ng audit report ang USC treasurer. You know Tabitha, right? She found out that the previous CEA-CSC had falsified some receipts for their liquidation report. Guess who was the treasurer back then?"
"Eamon Alfonso?" I guessed. Siya ang unang sumagi sa isip ko dahil siya ang incumbent chairperson. Kung ibang officer 'yon ng CEA-CSC, walang magiging impact ang release ng audit report. No one would be interested in a nobody. The exposé wouldn't even make a splash.
She nodded before clicking her mouse twice. "Base sa audit, may ilang receipts na hindi mismo galing sa business establishments na naka-declare sa liquidation reports. That's a major offense and serious accusation if ever."
"So this is what that FOI was for..." I muttered as my lips curled into a smirk. "They used it to access the CSC's old records and search for any discrepancies. Then they're using those discrepancies to either expose the CSCs or bully them into submission. It's the former, it seems."
