39 - The Meeting Makes No Progress
Afterward, Shirou contacted Iroha via a messaging app, and soon received a reply. The meeting was being held at a community center near the train station.
That was also the planned venue for the upcoming event—a community center similar to a senior activity center, designed to host various activities for the elderly. This time, however, the event would include both senior citizens and children, so the scale was considerably larger.
A room had been specially reserved there for the student council as a conference room, allowing both schools' student councils to hold meetings and discuss arrangements. But recently, those meetings had seen virtually no progress.
As a newly appointed first-year student council president, Iroha had no experience, and due to her personality, all she did was go along with the other school's proposals.
Since the plan was initiated by the other school, naturally, the invited student council—Shirou and Iroha's International High—was in a passive position, assigned to handle a whole bunch of menial tasks.
With things becoming unmanageable, she had come to ask Shirou and the Service Club for help.
After asking around a bit, Shirou and the others arrived at the meeting room. Inside, multiple rectangular tables had been arranged into a large rectangle to allow both sides to sit face-to-face for discussion.
On the far side sat male students from the local vocational high school. Closer to the door, Shirou spotted students in the International High uniform. One of them looked familiar—he remembered that person was the student council vice-president.
"Hello, we're here to help out. Is Iroha not here?" Shirou asked.
"Ah, Iroha-chan? She just went out to the convenience store to buy some snacks," replied the vice-president.
"I see. Then I'll go get her," Shirou said, and after greeting the two girls accompanying him, headed outside.
As he arrived at the convenience store, Iroha stepped out, struggling to carry heavy plastic bags in both hands.
"Ah! Senpai, you're here! Sorry to keep you waiting," Iroha said with a cheerful smile.
"Give them to me," Shirou said, holding out his hand.
"Eh?" Iroha blinked at his hand, then took several steps back.
"A-ah! Senpai! You really are into me, aren't you?! I'm sorry! Even though I did feel a little flutter, just this kind of kindness isn't enough—this tactic is too obvious!" she exclaimed, thinking to herself, I'm not that kind of easy girl—you're not going to win me over just like that!
"What are you talking about? Weren't you just saying the bags were heavy and you wanted help?" Shirou replied, irritated, and forcibly took the heavy bags from her. As expected, they were indeed heavy—definitely too much for a slender girl to carry. The bags were filled with snacks and drinks, likely for the meeting.
"Ah… Thank you, Shirou-senpai…" Iroha mumbled, a slight blush on her cheeks from the sudden contact.
"Yeah…" Shirou replied.
Though this was the third time she'd teased him like that today, now that she was acting oddly quiet and demure, he didn't even know how to respond.
They returned to the meeting room together. Iroha began introducing the students from the vocational high school to Shirou, Yukinoshita, and Yui. Once everyone had arrived, the meeting began.
"Let's brainstorm freely again today! As long as there are no objections, speak openly!" said the vocational school's student council president enthusiastically.
"Yes! About the musical performances—I think since we'll have seniors attending, we definitely need some traditional instrument performances, like shamisen, erhu, or guzheng."
"I think since there'll be kids too, we should invite singers to perform theme songs from currently popular children's anime, like Little Witch Miracle, Melulu, or Chubby Face. That would definitely be a hit."
The vocational school's student council president twirled his hands in the air, as if trying to stimulate his brain, then smiled and said, "Hmm, traditional instruments and anime songs—great ideas! Let's jot those down."
Seeing their suggestions accepted, others began enthusiastically chiming in with their own interests:
"I think we can't have this kind of event without jazz. Our school has a jazz band too."
"What about light music? A five-girl light music group with cute songs is all the rage among teenage girls right now."
"Then how about going big—invite a full symphony orchestra! Trumpets, saxophones, flutes, piano, violin… the grand blend of dozens of instruments would be incredible! Imagine a national gold-medal-winning orchestra delivering a full musical experience to seniors and kids alike!"
"But if we really want to fire people up, it's gotta be rock!" one student yelled, striking a rock-on hand gesture.
"Everyone's ideas are amazing! Let's record them all!" the student council president shouted, waving his hands.
…No. It seemed like only his hands were moving, and not his brain.
Shirou couldn't take it anymore and raised his hand to speak. "Um, excuse me! But at this rate, the performance schedule is already packed. And with this many performers, we don't have enough budget to cover the costs."
"Thank you for your input," said the student council president with a gentle smile. "But we're still in the idea-collecting phase. We'll figure out the budget together once things are finalized."
So just for the music segment alone, they had now listed: traditional instruments, anime theme songs, jazz, light pop, a full symphony, and rock bands… Was this a New Year's Gala or something?!
"Have all the past meetings been like this?" Yukinoshita whispered to Iroha.
"Yes…" Iroha lowered her head gloomily.
At this rate, when the Christmas event actually began, the plans might still be unfinished. On top of that, there were final exams to study for.
She might not even have time to max out her Christmas Attila in FGO...
Knock knock.
"Excuse me, high schoolers. The elementary school girls who came to help have arrived," said a staff member from the community center, opening the door.
"Great! Please let them in," the student council president said, welcoming them.
They had originally discussed involving elementary schools to broaden outreach. Now that the girls had arrived, no one had any idea what work to assign them.
A group of elementary school girls walked in timidly, heads lowered, nervously glancing at the high school students. They'd come to help, but their teachers hadn't told them what they were supposed to do.
What they didn't realize was that the high school students inside… didn't know what to do either.
Shirou and Yukinoshita simultaneously covered their faces in dismay. The future looked grim. Not only were problems unresolved—now there were even more issues piling up.