3
Just as he figured, Minami Sagami hasn’t changed.
The day after Meguri visited the clubroom, I was in there alone after classes had ended, while the others were out.
The window was open a crack to let in the refreshing autumn wind. The room was peacefully silent; only the quiet ticking of the second hand of the clock and the slight rustling of my paperback made any noise.
With no intrusive sounds and a chillier temperature than usual, my reading pace moved quickly. As I read along the lines and spaces of text, I got really into it, and before I knew it, I’d arrived at the last page of my current book.
When I was done, I found myself yawning with satisfaction and comfort.
About thirty minutes had passed since I’d come there.
Were they struggling in negotiations with Sagami? I stood, thinking maybe I’d go check on them, when from beyond the door and down the hall, I faintly heard some voices.
The door rattled loudly as someone yanked it open.
“Aaagh. That was sooo exhausting.”
“…Indeed.”
Yuigahama and Yukinoshita came in, complaining.
“Thanks for taking care of that,” I called out to them, and the girls just nodded and gave short sighs.
Yeah, you seem super tired and stressed. I wonder if your stress will depress me, too, unless we address the mess with some finesse. The atmosphere of a scene is important.
Behind the two of them, a fluffy aura entered the room. “Thank you. And thank you for everything, too, Hikigaya!” Unlike the other girls, Meguri was smiling brightly. It seemed she’d accompanied them after their negotiation with Sagami.
Oh, her smile and kind words are so soothing.
This is it; people at the top should be more like her. They should never even by accident put pressure on a subordinate who’s trying to leave with comments like, Huh? You’re already leaving? If Meguri were to say that, it’d come off much softer, like You’re already leaving…? I’d like to be with you a little longer… I think I’d gladly do overtime then. I can really imagine it all, here. I could even see myself getting the wrong idea and confessing to her and getting gently turned down with a very kind smile, and then I’d have to leave. The rate of love confession of bland boys to gently fluffy girls is abnormally high.
As I was wavering on the boundary line between a soothing time and traumatic time, Yukinoshita’s voice came in like a cold shower. “Shiromeguri, he hasn’t contributed anything, so your consideration is unnecessary.”
Yes, I haven’t done any work.
“Yukinon, that was just a greeting.”
Of course, Miss Yuigahama! I understood that! But there’s no need to go out of your way to say so! And why bother saying that to Yukinoshita?
But, well, there was something else I had to worry about. “So how did things go with Sagami?” I asked.
Yuigahama’s shoulders slumped, her expression weary. “It was pretty rough… Sagamin really seemed like she didn’t want to do it, but I said a bunch of stuff…”
“Stuff, huh?” I repeated, sensing there was more behind that word.
Yuigahama nodded. “Yeah, you know, I was like, ‘Let’s all lick up this project together,’ sorta thing.”
I think she probably just wants to say lick…
I was capable of translating Yuigahama’s Japanese now, but Meguri was tilting her head like, Hmm?
“Oh, they’ll be doing some bootlicking, so she’s not far off, I’d say.” Yukinoshita swiftly backed me up there.
Uh, no, Yuigahama meant something completely different…
“You’ve been soft on Yuigahama lately, huh?” I said. Is the world actually that yuri-licious? Is this Houbunsha? Is this Manga Time something-or-other?
Yukinoshita gave me a blank look then, as if she didn’t understand what I was talking about. “Not at all; this is normal.”
“Is that right?”
When I gave her a look that said, That’s bull, Yukinoshita sadly lowered her gaze. “…I’m sorry. Since you don’t engage with people normally, you wouldn’t know, would you, Hikigaya? This is what normal is. You should remember it.”
Oh, it is? What a peaceful world we live in.
Well, whatever. The issue to be dealing with here was not Yuigahama and Yukinoshita’s blossoming relationship, and also not the horribleness of how Yukinoshita normally treats me or the issue of my human rights. It was whether Sagami had accepted the role of chair or not. “So what’s the verdict?” I asked.
With a particularly cool look, Yukinoshita answered, “She did accept, more or less.”
“More or less?” That deliberately chosen phrase gave me some doubts.
Yukinoshita breathed a short, somewhat resigned sigh, turning her gaze out the window. “Yes. Though it feels more accurate to say that it was because Hayama asked her and not because of anything we said.”
“You used Hayama, huh? Smart.”
Hayama is someone Sagami admires, so a request from him would win more points with her than Yukinoshita or Yuigahama. Times like these, Hayama was a convenient card to play.
But it was quite unusual for Yukinoshita to actively rely on him. Is there gonna be a typhoon coming tomorrow to stop the Keiyo Line, too?
As I was pondering this, Yuigahama added, “But it felt more like Hayama intervened because he couldn’t stand doing nothing.”
Oh, I could imagine him doing that. I could imagine Sagami lighting up a little and saying like, I can’t do thaaat as she accepted… People don’t change that easily at their core.
“Well, she did accept it,” Meguri said, trying to mediate.
Fair enough. As long as you got results, it didn’t matter how you got there. Basically, progress had been made, or some groundwork laid to that end, in picking a chair and improving the atmosphere in Class 2-F. I hoped everything would go well now, but… But I was sure that wouldn’t happen…
I felt like I was gonna sigh a bit, but Meguri stopped me short as she continued, “So then, if we could cut right to it… Let’s go.”
“Go where?” Yuigahama asked.
Meguri grinned brightly. “We’re going to have a meeting for the committee now.”
A meeting… Urk… I don’t like that word…
But I could never resist that smile. And Yukinoshita and Yuigahama were both nodding and standing up, too…
Now that it had come to this, I’d have to join the meeting, too. Resigning myself, I stood from my seat and left the clubroom.
The room where the Sports Festival Committee was convening was the same as the one that had been used for the cultural festival. Back then, this was a place I’d visited every day.
Coming there for the first time in quite a while, I was struck by how tidy the meeting room was, and there was no sign of anything from back when we’d prepared for the cultural festival.
There was already a smattering of members from the Sports Festival Committee. Most of them were from student council. In fact, they composed the core of the committee.
“Hi, guyyys.” When Meguri addressed them, the student council members bowed and then slid to the sides, opening a path for her.
What’s going on here—are they ninjas or something?
Aside from the student council people, there were also students in gym uniforms. Judging from their physiques and general behavior, I guessed they were from sports clubs.
As I was wondering why they were there, Meguri whispered into my ear, “All the athletic clubs have sent people to help on the day of the event. Since, of course, we alone wouldn’t be able to manage all the personnel and handle all the setup.”
Oh, I see… Though they were calling this the “committee,” functionally speaking, it appeared to be made up of the student council and us, plus volunteer help like Sagami.
Basically, within the committee, there were the executives, and then there was the crew. And since we’d be the ones putting forth ideas and doing the planning and organization, that meant we were on the executive side.
Among the crew, there was someone I’d seen somewhere before, too.
She remembered me, too, I think; when her eyes met mine, she whispered something to the girl beside her, who also looked familiar. She was in a tracksuit, and the thing sitting next to her desk was probably a bag for basketball shoes. Was she from the basketball club?
But where have I seen them before…? I thought, searching my memory, but nothing quite hit. Well, I can’t be expected to remember an obvious NPC like her.
People need to leave a strong impression to stick in your memory. And for that, you need to, like, flash some black lace panties or something, like Kawa-something! Kawa-something leaves a real strong impression!
Ignoring Nobodina and Nobodette for the moment, I headed for the front of the meeting room, where Meguri was waving me over. At the very front was a woman flipping through sheets of paper. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs beneath her white coat.
“Miss Hiratsuka…,” I said dully. Of course she’s here…
At my voice, the teacher noticed us and turned around. “Oh, it looks like you’ve managed to secure some personnel.” Seeing us behind Meguri, she grinned.
Meguri responded to her smile with one of her own. “Yes, it was a good idea to do as you suggested, Miss Hiratsuka.”
“You were behind this, too, huh…?” I glared at our club advisor.
She gave an amused chuckle-snort. “I was starting to get tired of the same sports festivals every year. I’m sure you’ll make it interesting.”
“She’s just playing around, huh…?” Yuigahama said wearily in response to the too-honest admission.
Well, repeating the same event year after year will make you sick of it. Just how many sports festivals has she done, eh?
Miss Hiratsuka looked pretty excited for someone who had done this so many times already, and Yukinoshita noticed. She nodded as she asked to confirm, “Then will you be in charge of the sports festival as well, Miss Hiratsuka?”
“Basically. This kind of work gets passed to the young ones. You know—because I’m a young one. Yep.”
She said it twice because it’s that important, huh…?
She seemed so happy about it that none of us could say anything. We felt so bad for her. Come on, someone marry her already! Let her find happiness while she’s actually still young!
Miss Hiratsuka must have noticed the sorrow in our silence, as she cleared her throat to cover the awkwardness. “By the way, how are things going with the committee? Have you made a decision?” she asked.
Meguri smiled vaguely. “Yukinoshita refused…but she recommended someone else, and we’ve asked that person.”
“Oh-ho, a recommendation…” Miss Hiratsuka narrowed her eyes for a dubious instant and watched Meguri expectantly.
Meguri nodded. “Yes, it sounds like we’re getting Sagami to do it.”
“Sagami? Hmm, I see…” Miss Hiratsuka folded her arms pensively. “Well, if that’s what you kids have decided, I’m fine with that. So where is the chair now, then? I don’t see her…” Miss Hiratsuka casually leaned back, seemingly to search behind us, but there was no point when Sagami wasn’t there.
Which reminds me, why isn’t Sagami here? I don’t really care, though.
Figuring I might as well ask, I looked at Yukinoshita. Without hesitation, she answered, “Sagami will be coming later.”
“I see… Well then, once Sagami comes, let’s start the meeting,” Miss Hiratsuka said, and then she looked over at the door.
We shifted our attention there, too—at the silent, stationary door.
Some time had passed since we’d come to the meeting room. Murmurs would spread and a few people would pointedly clear their throats, and then silence would fall before the quiet chatter started up again. Over and over.
I glanced at the wall clock, but it was already past time for the meeting to start.
The reason the meeting still had yet to begin was because Sagami was late.
Well, if she was late by five or ten minutes, then it’d be no big deal. That was common enough. We might think, Eh, I guess she was a little late, and then all would be forgiven. But when it’s fifteen minutes, you really feel like now, you’re fully late. Some part-time jobs will carry out attendance management in units of fifteen minutes, after all.
Unsurprisingly, everyone was shooting looks over at the executives that said, Still?
We had no choice but to wait. Yuigahama had texted and called her, but she had received no response. She breathed a tired sigh. That sigh spread through the whole meeting room. Sagami’s continued absence was slowly fostering an air of hesitation around us.
I leaned over to Yuigahama and Yukinoshita, beside me, and whispered, “Shouldn’t someone go get Sagami soon? Or go look for her or something?”
“Yes, true…,” Yukinoshita muttered as she also glanced at the clock.
“Oh, then I could go…” Yuigahama was just standing up when the door slid open with a loud rattle, and everyone turned to look at once.
“Sorry I’m laaate!” Sagami waltzed in without really acting guilty about it at all and headed for a seat at the front uninvited. It seemed she had no doubts that was where she would be sitting. She even waved at a couple people on the way; I guess she knew them already. “Oh, hiya!”
Wondering who those people were, I saw they were Nobodina and Nobodette.
“Haruka! Yukko! You’re on the committee, too! It’s good to see you again~.”
“…Yeah, looking forward to this.” Though a little tense, the two of them waved back to her.
Hearing those names, I managed to remember. Nobodina and Nobodette were the girls who’d been with Sagami during the cultural festival. They must have been sent to help with the sports festival because they were in the basketball club.
Having found some friends seemed to put Sagami at ease, as she got even cockier.
It was true we’d been the ones to ask her to be committee chair. And being that she’d come here on our request, it was easy to anticipate she would have a relatively superior position. But still, we executives were the only ones who knew that, and that had nothing to do with everyone else present. They were giving Sagami rather irritated looks.
When Sagami sat down, she noticed their looks and flinched a little. “Um, pardon me… I’m Minami Sagami, and I’m the committee chair,” she said hesitantly, bobbing her head in a bow.
Anyway.
Now that we were in fact beginning, Miss Hiratsuka, who occupied the front corner, looked around the whole room. “Right then, Shiromeguri—let’s begin.”
Thus acknowledged, Meguri nodded and announced most fluffily, “Yes, Miss Hiratsuka. Well then, we’re beginning the meeting. Sagami?”
“R-right.” I could hear the tension in Sagami’s voice at suddenly getting called on.
“Why don’t you and I lead the meeting together today? You can handle things on your own starting next time.”
Good call. If Meguri were to suddenly turn the leadership of the meeting over to Sagami in this situation, I doubt she could have managed it. She’d probably drop the ball just like she had with the cultural festival. Rather than leaving things to Sagami from the start and exhausting all of us, it’d be better for Meguri to help her with the first time to nail down the important items. It seemed she’d carefully considered what had happened the last time.
Meguri briskly stood and headed for the whiteboard, and one of the student council members followed. Standing beside the whiteboard, the student council member briskly held up a pen for her.
“Righty then, our agenda for today is to come up with a big event for the sports festival,” Meguri declared, accepting the pen from the student council member, and she began to write the agenda on the whiteboard in rounded and cute letters.
She tapped the board. “Throw your ideas at us! Anyone with something to say, raise your hand!” Meguri looked around the room, but everyone looked at each other and said nothing.
In the silence, Yuigahama’s hand shot up.
“Yes, Yuigahama!”
At times like these, the ability of the first person to offer a proposal will affect how active the meeting is later. No matter what her idea is, what’s important is to get the ball rolling. In fact, the dumber the statement the better.
On that point, one might say Yuigahama was our ace batter. Just what you’d expect from a bimbo (I kid; she’s not) who’s good at reading the atmosphere and worrying about what people think. Using her social skills to get us out of this was pretty sharp of her.
But before I could be too impressed, I looked over at her and saw her muttering “That’d be good, too, but maybe this…” like she was just having fun, and you know, it seemed she was only thinking about how she wanted to have fun.
Well, of course! She’s not the type to be thinking that deeply about strategy at a meeting like this, right?
I could almost hear her thoughts (I’d like to do that, but I’d also like to do this; there’s just so much I wanna do!) as Yuigahama bounded out of her seat and called out, “What about a club vs. club relay?!”
“Then people who aren’t in clubs would complain about not being able to participate, so we need to consider that…,” Miss Hiratsuka muttered immediately.
There was a squeak as a line was drawn through club vs. club relay on the whiteboard.
It seemed we had an instant no. I don’t get it…
Yuigahama dejectedly sat down. When she tilted her head as if this didn’t quite make sense to her, Yukinoshita gave her shoulder a consoling pat.
“Keep ’em coming, okay?!” Meguri said with even more cheer.
This time, Yukinoshita quietly raised her hand.
“Yes, Yukinoshita!” Meguri pointed at her.
Yukinoshita answered coolly, “A scavenger hunt with random items from the students.”
“Using personal belongings often leads to trouble. Things are lost; things get damaged…,” Miss Hiratsuka said without missing a beat. There’d probably been an incident like that in the past. Something unpleasant must have happened, as her expression was rather dark. I wonder if she’d been in charge of that matter…
“Hmm, I see…,” Meguri said, pen squeaking as she drew a line over scavenger hunt on the whiteboard. Her face clouded slightly as she took another look at the two failed ideas. But she quickly psyched herself up again, calling out with extra energy, “Don’t get discouraged—let’s work at this! Next!”
Now everyone was feeling timid, and they weren’t raising their hands. But Yuigahama wasn’t going with the crowd that day. Once again, she thrust her hand up with an “Ohhh!”
“Yes, Yuigahama!” Meguri responded, calling her name with bright cheer.
“A bread-eating contest!” she suggested.
But yet again, Miss Hiratsuka muttered, “Choking incidents are pretty common… And people quickly start griping about wasting food…”
This is what people call risk management. You might also call it autoregulation. The result was bread-eating contest had a line drawn over it with a squeak.
Looking between the whiteboard and the teacher, Yukinoshita said with exasperation, “So many concerns…”
“They’re really finicky about these things lately… There’s tons of regulations about everything,” Miss Hiratsuka replied, and even she sounded fed up.
Ahhh, so if Miss Hiratsuka were to allow something risky here, then she’d get all sorts of complaints from higher-ups and parental guardians, huh…? Middle management’s a tough job.
As the enthusiasm of the whole room began to wane, Meguri still did her best to act cheerful nevertheless. “Anyway, let’s try thinking up something! Everyone else, you keep your ideas coming, too!”
Meguri’s efforts seemed to inspire, as Yuigahama, Yukinoshita, and the student council all offered their ideas.
They were rolling in now—one after another.
But despite the flow of ideas, opposition popped up every time from somewhere else and crushed them. The whiteboard was a disaster scene.
Eating contest
Ball toss (wink, wink)
Ball rolling (wink, wink)
Decathlon
Decameron
Botticelli
Chim Chim Cher-ee
Ooka is a cherry
All of them had a line drawn over them with a squeak.
At some point, it had turned into a sort of word association game. Can’t we just call this magical banana? Also, please stop talking badly about Ooka just because he’s a virgin! There’s nothing wrong with that!
But at this rate, I feel like the meeting is gonna end without us deciding anything…
If I were to offer something now, it’d probably get shot down, just like all the other ideas. There’s a flow to meetings; when the reception of ideas has been positive, it’s easy for new ideas and proposals to be accepted, but when it’s negative, no matter how great an idea is, it’ll get rejected or deferred.
Humans are social animals, creatures that will conform to social atmosphere and environment. They’ll be swallowed up by the waves, swept away in the crowds and change. That was why no one tried to oppose that flow.
Going against the current means making waves. Unless you’re someone like me with a firm, unyielding, steel will—like a lone island protected by a rock-hard concrete dam—you can’t oppose the flow.
People who don’t get that will be continuously worn down.
“Ideas, please, guys!” said Sagami, as one of those in charge of proceedings. She didn’t say it very loudly. It was her job to guide the meeting, but since Meguri was handling most of it, I doubt many people were paying attention to Sagami.
But still, some people were looking at her.
Familiar voices are more easily noticed. Perceptions are not formed merely by physical senses; they manifest through connection to the object. Therefore, the more familiar a member of this meeting was with Sagami, the more they’d truly hear and understand that this was an irresponsible statement made by someone who didn’t really care in a meeting that was starting to drag.
Sagami… Telling people Give me ideas, ideas, and more ideas when she isn’t doing anything at all… Is she our boss or what?!
On the other hand, I wasn’t offering any ideas, either. In other words: I’m a boss.
I think I’m sure to be an important person one day, but out of an abundance of concern for any underlings working for me as their boss, I’ve decided to absolutely never get a job. I’m not gonna do it; I’m never gonna get a job. Get a job, and you lose.
Left with nothing to do but strengthen my determination to be unemployed, I quietly turned my gaze out the window.
Outside, the setting sun was sparkling. Fall had deepened, and the days were getting shorter.
I guess as the days get shorter, so does your attention span. At some point, the vibe in the meeting room had reached rock bottom. The long meeting had exhausted all of us. People were bored and fiddling with their phones, zoning out with hollow-eyed looks, and fanning themselves with printouts. Everyone in the committee looked positively grumpy.
“Urk… If there are any other ideas, p-please… Aren’t there any more…?” Meguri asked, sounding tired, but the response of the room was dull.
“Anything eeelse?” Sagami tried to follow up, but to no avail. As the two leaders of this meeting called out brokenly, Miss Hiratsuka, the supervising teacher, maintained her silence. And she was also maintaining her virtue, too. So prudish!
Perhaps my rude thoughts reached her, though. Miss Hiratsuka had kept her eyes closed and arms folded, but then she opened one eye and glanced over at me. Then with a jab of her jaw, she gave me a signal. Guess she wanted me to do something about this.
I couldn’t help but sigh. “Agh… This isn’t going anywhere…”
The one to speak next was Yukinoshita. Pressing her temple, she exhaled with similar fatigue. “Yes, the ideas here are weaker than I expected…”
“And even when we come up with something, there are more people shooting it down…” Yuigahama had made multiple suggestions, but each time, she’d been hit with rejection after rejection.
The both of them were already in resignation mode. Not Nekomimi Mode.
Since this meeting was flowing the wrong way, even if we were to proactively propose things, it wouldn’t have much effect. This unproductive conference should be wrapped up quickly.
“You can’t expect us to come up with anything now. This is a waste of time,” I grumbled.
“What do we do, then?” Yuigahama asked, and I considered with a hmm.
We couldn’t get anything done. Someone else who could should be the one to make suggestions. And even if they couldn’t do it, they might figure out what to do just by being forced to try. When you think about it, someone other than us really should be doing it after all. Just like Shinran, in the spirit of Let a higher power support you, let’s expect someone else to save us. I’m so Buddhist, man. Well, not like Shinran meant that when he said that.
“It’s like, you know how they say, ‘The right person in the right place’?” I quoted that very wonderful, pithy saying.
Yukinoshita nodded with an mm-hmm. “It’s true; that’s a valuable way of thinking…”
Yeah, yeah, it totally is.
At a part-time job or anywhere, if you show people you’re capable of handling something, next you’ll be getting all that kind of work thrown at you. It’s like how at my convenience store job, the girl who could kinda draw was forced to make signs every time. The boss would say something like You’re good at drawing, so you can write one up fast, right? Thanks. People need to consider a little bit that even if you can do it, maybe you don’t want to.
With this past experience in mind, the words spilled out of my mouth. “Well, typically speaking, an organization will use up talented people and then spit them out. And the job never even makes you much money anyway, which makes working at all seem pretty stupid.”
“I feel that. I feel that!”
When I turned toward that sudden cry, there was Miss Hiratsuka slapping her knee hard and nodding with profound understanding.
“Miss Hiratsuka… I’m not sure you should be sympathizing here…” While the other kids were giving Miss Hiratsuka pitying looks, Yukinoshita pierced her with a chilly gaze.
It’s great that she can just say what’s right. My eyes are blurring with tears right now; I can’t see in front of me… Someone needs to marry her soon, or I might seriously get a job and support her. Hurry! Someone hurry and marry this woman!
Quietly wiping the tears from my eyes, I pulled myself together and continued with my suggestion. “Someone who can’t get the job done and keeps on trying anyway won’t get you anywhere. It’s best to call a pro in the area.”
“In other words, you mean abandoning the request?” Yukinoshita gave me a dubious look.
But I threw out my chest and declared, “No, I’m talking about work sharing, job rotation, outsourcing.”
At my list of business jargon, Yuigahama made a rather impressed ooh. “I don’t really get what you’re talking about, but it sounds pretty intense…”
Thank you for the endorsement, but you seem very gullible, so please watch out. I feel like you’d be duped into buying natural something food products and find yourself a part of a pyramid scheme.
Yukinoshita, on the other hand, always seemed like she’d have a firm head on her shoulders when it came to these things, but at the moment, she was just holding her head in her hands. For you, I think it’d make your life happier if you could trust people a little more.
“That’s a very nice string of vocabulary words… It all depends on how you say it, doesn’t it…?” Yukinoshita sighed, but Meguri hopped up beside her.
“But it’s all right as long as it works out, right? It’s important to trust in people and delegate!” she agreed encouragingly.
Nodding back at her, I turned to Yukinoshita again. “Yukinoshita.”
“Yes,” she replied immediately. With even that brief interaction, it seemed she’d figured out what I was thinking. And then quietly raising her hand, she looked at Meguri. “Shiromeguri, I’d like to call an advisor, as external staff,” she said.
Meguri blinked. “An advisor?” She tilted her head, confused, repeating the question.
Right after, Yuigahama did the same. “…Visor?”
“If we’re not reaching any conclusions, then there’s no point in this meeting. It’s a good idea to try asking the opinion of an expert, here,” I added.
Meguri smiled brightly. “Yeah, if they can help, that might be nice. Right, Sagami?” Even if it was in form only, Sagami was still the chair of the committee. We should see what she wanted, basically. And Meguri managed that tactfully.
Sagami must not have thought the discussion would be turned to her, as she said hurriedly, “Y-yeah. That’s right. We’re not getting many good ideas anyway…”
She was aware of what was going on now, too. There would be no reason for her to refuse. Just about anyone in this room would say the same.
But after Sagami agreed, oh-so-quietly…
…I heard just the slightest whisper, like a single droplet of water falling into india ink. It was an unvoiced sound and did not ring loud, but it lingered clearly in my ears.
“Miss Hiratsuka.” But it was drowned out by Meguri’s voice, and Meguri slid her gaze over to the teacher. Miss Hiratsuka nodded firmly.
Once we had her approval, I turned back to Yuigahama. “Yuigahama.”
“Yeah?” Hearing her name, she pointed at herself and blinked. I beckoned her, and she moved her chair to the side, leaning over toward me.
That’s closer than I expected… I briefly worried I’d get dizzy from the faint scent of her perfume and shampoo. I paused to take a breath to calm myself, and Yuigahama, confused by my weird pause, examined my face.
Like I said, too close…
The awkwardness of eye contact at close range made the both of us look away.
Trying my best to not look or think about it, I briefly explained my idea. As she listened, her face was lowered. Her ears, partially hidden beneath her brown hair, were a little red—perhaps because of the light shining through them.
Once I was done, Yuigahama lifted her face. “Got it. Then I’ll go call for them.” Cell phone in hand, she stood and made the call as she headed out of the meeting room.
I watched her go, then let my tired body sink into my chair.
Before long, our advisors arrived.
“So this is them?” Yuigahama looked at the two people standing in front of the door.
“Why’d you call me here?”
“Herm?”
Standing there in puzzlement were Ebina and…Zaimokuza.
Actually, I’m the one who’s puzzled as to why Zaimokuza is here… Oh well. It’s Zaimokuza. You can’t think too hard about it.
Ebina still appeared confused as she said, “Hey, Yui. Why’d you call me here?”
“There was something we wanted your advice on.”
“Advice?” Taking a good look around the meeting room, Ebina tilted her head. Indeed, there was nothing that would connect the Sports Festival Committee and her. She could rack her brain all she wanted, but she wasn’t going to crack this case.
“Well…”
“Every year, the school holds a unique event for the sports festival. But we can’t quite seem to get any ideas this year… So we were hoping to get your insight,” Yukinoshita told her faster than I could explain, summing up all the important points.
“I’m not doing anything, so sure, I guess…but why me?”
“Oh, Hikki picked you,” Yuigahama replied.
Ebina looked at me with deep interest. “Hikitani did, eh? Huh…,” she said, sounding surprised as she examined me.
“…Your musical during the cultural festival was a big success, right? If you’ve got any more weird ideas, let us have it.”
Believe it or not, I did think highly of Ebina’s ability as a producer. She’s good at arrangement and direction, the type of producer who makes one into ten, so to speak. Additionally, given her accomplishments during the cultural festival, we could also trust her when it came to management and moving projects along. She also had connections with Hayama’s clique, the school’s upper crust. In short, there could be no better producer in Soubu High School.
“If you think I can do it, then I guess I’ll give it a good shot.” She gave a little tee-hee laugh.
Beside her, Zaimokuza made one of his noises as he shot her a sidelong look. “Hachiman! Me too! I shall also give it an earnest effort!”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved him off. He was so annoying about getting attention, tugging on my sleeve.
“Then we’re counting on you. Come up with something that’s got that wow factor,” I said.
Ebina pushed her glasses up. “Wow factor… Something that will get people talking, right?”
“Well, basically, yeah.”
“It just has to get people really into it, right…? It doesn’t matter what they’re getting excited about, right?” Up until that point, Ebina had been looking pensive, but for an instant, I saw her putting on her shipping goggles as a leer rose on her face, and then she went back to normal.
What are you gonna have them get excited about…? Yikes; this girl is scary…
As genuine fear slowly crept across my heart, there was a loud clap.
“Oh! Yes! That sounds promising. Then first, maybe you could give us ideas for the boys’ event and help us out with it.” Meguri gave a summary of the discussion, and Ebina and Zaimokuza both nodded.
“Well, I’ll think about it!”
“Leave this to Yoshiteru! ”
The both of them spoke at practically the same moment and then looked at one another.
“Then let’s do our best, um…Z-Za? Zazamushi?”
The aquatic insect larva? Sounds about right.
But Yoshiteru Zazamushi’s fists were trembling now, so maybe he wasn’t a fan.
“Fool! I shall be victorious in this presentation showdown! I swear it! A-and…don’t call me Z-Z-Zazamushi! Y-you—you—ebi sushi!”
And with that elementary-school-level parting insult, Zaimokuza ran off.
What’s going on there? Maybe he thinks of Ebina as a serious rival or something… Is this, like, his basement-dwelling otaku’s pride telling him he can’t lose to a slash fangirl or something? Man, how dumb…
“Since when did this become a competition…?” Yukinoshita said, confused.
“Dunno. But that might give us some good results.”
“True.”
A reaction I’d expect from the girl who always wants to clearly delineate black from white, right from wrong, through victory. She was easily convinced. Is that why she likes Grue-bear? He’s got black and white on him.
And thus, the bug-larvae-versus-shrimp-presentation showdown begins…
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