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…
4. Haruno Yukinoshita continues to test them until the last.
Classes had ended for the day, and some time had passed since Zaimokuza's declaration of war.
We were in an especially awkward Sports Festival Committee meeting.
Finally, the time had come for the showdown.
In the east: Yoshiteru Zaimokuza.
In the west: Hina Ebina.
The curtain rose on this nightmarish face-off between the basementdwelling otaku wannabe writer fanboy vs. the high-spec slash fangirl. After having inadvertently set up this match, we'd also arranged the venue. We each performed our tasks: pulling down the screen at the front of the meeting room, warming up the projector, checking the computer connections, making sure the machine was actually projecting.
Once Yukinoshita had made sure the laser pointer worked, she turned to the student council president. "Shiromeguri, we've finished setup."
"Thanks." Meguri smiled brightly back at her, then checked with
Sagami, who was sitting next to her. "Then let's get started… SSagami?"
"Yes, o-of course…" Sagami's voice was shaking. Starting that day, Sagami would be trusted to lead the meeting by herself. As for how she was doing—she was more frightened than nervous.
But I think what she was scared of was less the position of chair and more the wild light in Ebina's eyes next to her.
"So then," Sagami began, "Hina, and…um, you…g-go right ahead…"
"Leave it to me!"
"Ah-herm…"
The excited girl and the anxious boy stood and came up beside the screen. Facing each other, they exchanged bold smiles.
Finally, the presentation showdown begins…
Surprisingly, Zaimokuza was the one to make the first move.
Generally, in this sort of competition, I feel like whoever makes the first move loses, though… Like, in cooking manga especially.
"Er-fum." Zaimokuza stood before the screen and cleared his throat.
He let his head slump into a nod of a bow, using the computer to show an outline he'd made with PowerPoint. It displayed the surprisingly legitimate title of Sports Festival Big Event Proposal. The font looked kind of brush stroke–ish, but aside from that, nothing about it struck me as the work of a fanatic.
Often, the saying "Simple is best" is used as an excuse to cut corners.
I say it a lot myself, too.
We were all holding our breaths, watching and wondering just what would be featured in this presentation that came under such a simple heading.
Occasionally, something like the buzzing of a mosquito that had survived into fall could be heard. It was quiet. Everyone was fully poised to listen.
But Zaimokuza never started talking.
"The end."
Zaimokuza exhaled, then bobbed his head again and tried to leave.
Huh?! It's over?!
N-no way. Was that mosquito whine Zaimokuza's voice?!
"Extreme nerves prevented him from speaking at all," Yukinoshita analyzed most calmly.
Well, when you're not used to this stuff… School doesn't offer many opportunities for public speaking. The fact of the matter is, a presentation stage is basically a scaffold for public humiliation. People tend to believe it's acceptable to unconditionally criticize and judge the one forced in front of the firing line.
"Hikki."
I understood what Yuigahama was trying to say. Well, he was trying to help us out, so we should be grateful, even to Zaimokuza. They had a good old saying, back in the day—"The knowledge of what is right is worthless without the courage to act on it."
"Me…? Well, of course. I'm the only one, huh…?" Sadly, I was the only one there right then who was capable of communicating with Zaimokuza. Perhaps this is what communicating with the Ohmu feels like…
With a short sigh, I stood. To our first challenger, who was frozen like a statue, I said, "Zaimokuza, I'll give you a hand, so let's go through it again."
Zaimokuza's head craned around to capture me in his field of vision, creaking like Musubi or something. His stiff expression softened, like snow melting away. "…H-herm. So be it." He seemed relieved, gradually returning to normal.
That's actually kinda irritating…
"Then let's get started…" With a casual bow, I rapped the
PowerPoint. "This is what we're proposing. It's the Chiba Citizenry Cavalry Battle. Huh? What the hell?" My head snapped over to look at Zaimokuza.
Now revived, Zaimokuza faced me, and with exaggerated gestures, he bellowed, "The Chiba Citizenry Cavalry Battle! For shoooort…! The
Chibattle!"
You should've said that to everyone from the start… "So what the hell is this?"
"Hapum. In Chiba long ago, there was a conflict between the Satomi and Houjou families. This marvelous competition reflects that history," Zaimokuza babbled on at me.
"I think this area was all ocean back then, though. So what're the rules?" I commented as I hit the Enter key to bring up the next slide.
Then Zaimokuza stopped my hand. "Oh, no, wait, Hachiman! Um, this is kind of a bit embarrassing! The next slide isn't properly done yet! It's only half-done, just a rough draft! Like a sketch, okay?! I—I wasn't serious about making it, you know!" Desperately threatening excuses, he yanked hard at my hand, and the force of it made me press the Enter key by accident.
"Hogeeeeeeee!" Zaimokuza wailed, and something like a photoshopped image showed up. It was a pretty sloppy one: a picture of an armored warrior had been laid on top of your average, normal chicken fight photo. He must have cut and pasted it with MS Paint, as it was ridiculously low quality. His shitty photo manipulation exposed to the whole crowd, Zaimokuza froze yet again.
In the meantime, I decided to move things along. "Um, the rules are just about the same as a normal chicken fight. You pick out riders called captains, who'll be wearing armor cosplay, and whichever team brings down the most captains wins. This makes it more tactical than a regular chicken fight and also provides a strong visual impact… Huh, these rules are surprisingly normal." Skipping the part at the end that said Captain Sakura and a storm of dramatic adventure (lol), I read out the explanation of the rules. Frankly, I couldn't hide my surprise at Zaimokuza's actually legitimate idea.
"Y-you think?" It seemed Zaimokuza was baffled that someone actually approved.
"That's simple and easy to understand. Easy to imagine, too." Meguri nodded. It seemed his miserable edit had also been enough to communicate the gist of it. When she offered a little applause, it spread weakly through the room.
Well, you know. It doesn't matter if you did the job right; if you've expressed it in the wrong way, you often won't gain approval. Honestly, I think those methods of expression should be a part of education. Then maybe there'd be fewer traumatic incidents in class.
Zaimokuza was surprised to be receiving applause, glancing around all over the place restlessly. "H-Hachiman, what on earth…?"
"Well, it doesn't seem like a bad idea. Nice work." With a light pat on his shoulder, I returned to my own seat.
"H-hurr…" Upon receiving that unexpectedly good reception, Zaimokuza gave a tiny, satisfied smile.
The applause instantly died and was replaced with whispers about how creepy he was.
He'd have been fine without that, though…
Once Zaimokuza had finished his presentation, next it was Ebina's turn.
As expected, with her experience on Hoshimyu and her high social status, she seemed accustomed to the activity as she began her explanation. "Um, so this was my idea."
With a click of the Enter key, she moved the PowerPoint slides along. On the cover slide was written Pole Pull-Down.
That's surprisingly normal… I thought this was Ebina, here… Maybe this is not in fact Hina Ebina, but Vigna Ghina?
"The key point here is the captains. While somewhat similar to the earlier presentation, this event stresses charisma over strategy." Taking no notice of my doubtful look, Ebina continued her explanation smoothly.
Hmm, she's actually got a lot going for her in a low-key sort of way. Personnel like her is rather uncommon—she's got the ideas, the skills, and the leadership.
"Hayato Hayama is popular among students and captain of the soccer team. Making him a team captain in the pole pull-down will get everyone's attention." The slide quickly switched to the next one, displaying a photo of Hayama wearing a particularly charming and bright smile.
What the heck is this…? I was already tired of this, but the girls of the committee were tittering excitedly. It was super-effective. It seemed Sagami in particular highly approved of this.
If their response was any indication, the other girls in the school would probably react in a fairly similar way. Ebina's casting choice was not wrong. Her strategy of choosing the right crowd-pleaser to maximize payoff was spot-on.
However, it seemed there was still a hole in this plan, as her face clouded with worry. "Hayato will be on the white team, so you need someone else on the red team… Um, is there anyone who seems like they'd be good for the red team?" Ebina's gaze turned to Sagami, the chair.
"Um, I wonder…" Sagami wore a pensive look.
Meanwhile, Meguri turned the question to the meeting room as a whole. "Are there red team people here? If you know someone, it would really help if you could come up with some candidates."
Everyone began asking each other what team they were on. But no good names came up. Meguri herself hmm'd and considered the matter before calling out, "Ah! Yukinoshita, you guys are on the red team, right? Can you think of anyone?"
"Huh?! Hikitani, you're on the red team?!" Ebina suddenly jumped on that. In fact, she literally jumped on me. "Then we're set with Hikitani! Having the two captains on opposing teams as a red-andwhite-themed ship is so auspicious, let's just go ahead and celebrate! My ship is sailing!!"
No, it's not; it's gonna sink right there in the harbor.
"Hem, so Hachiman was also of the red…" Zaimokuza smirked.
Meaning he's red team, too…? I started thinking we could just make him the captain, but it really had to be someone who would be on the same level as Hayama… If you wanted an equal and opposite vector, I feel like Zaimokuza could be on a level with him, but concept-wise, that wouldn't work.
Of course, for the same reasons, my being captain wasn't an option, either. It had to be someone like Hayama, who would be broadly popular and supported by the masses.
But Ebina's shipping goggles were firmly over her eyes now as she rampaged onward. "A-anyway, Ebina will, um, Ebina will, without trying to hide her surprise and confusion and joy, continue explaining calmly. Um, H-Hayato will be on the white team, and Hikitani will go red while Hayato pulls his stick… Blerk!" Her head spasmed backward, and then she stopped moving.
Sensing a rapidly deteriorating situation, Meguri nodded at the student council. They briskly moved into action, tugging Ebina's hand and taking her outside. Watching her being dragged away, I was reminded of the Roswell incident.
I would use this opportunity to scrap the part about me captaining the red team. Well, even if I didn't, I'm sure everyone would be against it. "I'm on the committee, so I can't. If we're doing the pole pull-down, let's look for some other candidate."
"Hmm, that's right. And we have to decide which we're doing, first."
Meguri also nodded. "Then, Sagami, how about we take a vote?"
"Right. Okay, everyone who'd like to do the cavalry battle?" There were a few scattered raised hands.
"Next, everyone who thinks the pole pull-down would be good?" Sagami said, also raising her own hand. There was just about the same smattering of hands raised for this one.
It was close, but by the slightest margin, I figured there were more for the pole pull-down. They'd be able to see Hayama as the star for that event, after all, so no surprises there.
"The numbers are about the same, huh…?" Meguri said after counting.
They could just go ahead and select the pole pull-down now. That's an option, after taking a vote. Even if the numbers for the minority opinion are just about equal, a little less than half the votes, you can toss it out. The more you increase your parameters, the more people you can round out of the equation.
This is how majority rule works. You might say this system has some fatal flaws, and thus is wrong. Which means that minority rule is correct, which means a minority like me is always correct, huh? I see; so I was justice all along…
"So then how about we make it so that the boys do the pole pulldown…," Sagami said, tossing out a decision, "…and then we make the chicken fight the big event for the girls, and we do both?"
"Ohhh, I see." Meguri liked that idea, clapping her hands. Then she looked over at Miss Hiratsuka, who nodded, too. It seemed her policy was, as usual, to leave all decision-making to the students' discretion.
After checking with the teacher, Meguri scanned the whole room.
"What do all you guys think?"
Well, it was a reasonable decision. The proposals had each been supported by about half the people there. Nobody really argued when Meguri posed the question to everyone.
With majority rule, the important thing is mitigating the fallout of silencing half the room's opinions.
In that area, I could give Sagami's decision a passing grade. I don't think it was a bad call. The chicken fight was just as good as the pole pull-down as a concept, and it had actually gained the approval of the executives and the student council.
But the reaction of the crowd here was weak.
For an instant, an unpleasant murmur ran through the room. Whispers wriggled toward me like the sound of insect legs.
Yukinoshita and Yuigahama both astutely picked up on this omen.
"…" Narrowing her eyes, Yukinoshita looked toward the source of the voices. Sagami hadn't yet noticed, but the atmosphere here had already changed.
"Um, since it looks like nobody is against it, I'll take it we can settle on the chicken fight for the girls? Now let's decide on who's doing what." The success of her own idea put Sagami in a great mood. "I'll hand out a table of what's on the program, so everyone please come to the front to write down what you want to work on," she instructed.
Then the student council started distributing printouts. Next we had some time to think on our own for a while, and once we made our decisions, we would go to write them on the whiteboard.
While I was looking at my own sheet, wondering if I had to make up my mind here, too, Meguri stepped up to my side. "We're planning to have you guys as our management headquarters on the day of the event, so you don't have to pick a task for yourselves."
"All right. Then shall we begin making assignments for supervision?" Yukinoshita nodded, proposing a separate meeting among the executives.
"Yeah, let's do that."
"Oh, then Sagamin, too…" Yuigahama looked for Sagami. But they were in the same meeting room. It was impossible to lose Sagami at this range.
So we could see her clearly.
"Who'll be in charge of what, then? I'd like to be in charge of the pole pull-down," Sagami said. "Hey, Yukko, Haruka, come join me."
Sagami was with Haruka and Yukko—the ones she'd been with during the time of the Cultural Festival Committee as well. You could say it was inevitable that she'd approach them for this sports festival, too.
But they clearly seemed more distant than the last time.
Haruka and Yukko shared a look, and then as if they'd planned it, they said basically the same thing.
"Um, we can't…"
"We have our club, so we can't really handle that much prep…"
The slight distance that had opened between her and the two girls confused Sagami for just a moment. But she quickly pasted on a smile. "Oh… Huh? But that'll make the event less exciting later, right?" she said.
And then, as synchronized as if they'd divided up the parts beforehand, they pulled the gentle rejection move.
"Yeah, that's true, but we have our tournament and stuff…"
"It really is hard for us to make the time, so I dunno if we wanna go crazy…"
"Oh, but don't worry about us, Minami! You do the one you like!"
By repeatedly bringing up the issue of clubs, territory that Sagami couldn't touch, and by showing consideration to Sagami at the end, they drove the conversation to its conclusion.
That sequence of moves was kind of like how you close a game of chess.
"O-oh… Yeah, of course." Sagami put on a particularly bright smile to emphasize that she wasn't bothered.
"Sorry." They both apologized to stress that they really were sad about this. Now the negotiation was at a close.
That was right when Yuigahama called out to her. "Heeey, Sagamin! Meetiiing!"
"Ohhh yeah, coming, coming! Then I'll see you guys later!" Sagami waved to the two of them, and then once she was back with the executives, we got ready to start the meeting.
"Ahoy, Hachiman… What should I be doing?"
"Huh? …Oh, well, we're gonna be adding in the chicken fight, too, so it'll be good to have you around," I replied, and Zaimokuza gave me a herm and a nod, then thudded down in a nearby chair.
Well, that's fine for Zaimokuza, but what do we do about Ebina? She isn't back yet; is that fine? Is she still out in Area 51…?
When Sagami took her seat, the meeting of the executives began.
We confirmed the necessary roles and decided who was taking what. We could leave it to the crew to manage personnel while all the events were going on.
The issue was everything else: first aid, broadcasting, the things that needed to be built in time for the event, plus setting up the venue. This was something we also couldn't manage with the executives alone, so we had to circulate a certain amount of work to the crew.
Meguri explained what had been done in past years, and then Sagami nodded and tried to move on to the next topic. "Then besides that, what we need is…"
"The whole school will be involved in the major events," Yukinoshita explained, "so we'll have everyone on scene during the events. So perhaps it would be best for everyone to mobilize all the girls for the girls' event and all the boys for theirs."
"Oh, of course." Sagami clued in once it was pointed out to her and quietly stood up. Already the crew were starting to divide up the labor on their own, so we had to tell them this quickly and communicate to them what the total amount of work would be.
"Pardon me! We'll be requesting that everyone participate in the big events. Please write something else down for what you'll be in charge of!"
Sagami's words caused some murmurs within the crew, and they were not good murmurs. Apparently, this idea was not very popular.
And a couple of them froze right where they were.
It was Haruka and Yukko, who Sagami had just been talking with. The two of them exchanged soft whispers, then nodded at each other.
In perfect sync, they took a step forward.
"Um, Minami, we think that's a bad idea." I couldn't tell which of them spoke, but it sent another wave of murmurs rippling through the meeting room.
"Huh…?" Sagami failed to respond to such direct opposition. It seemed like she couldn't understand what they were saying. I doubt anyone there actually had a correct grasp on the situation.
"We don't think we can cooperate if everyone is forced to participate in these events…," the other one said.
Sagami went pale. "Um, but we all decided this together…right? Right?"
"But we all have clubs… We'd have to decide on different events…"
"We can't be taking too much time with prep or have anything too big."
Sagami had no reply to their insistence.
Most of the members of this committee had been sent from the athletic clubs. This was a different bloc from the executive side, which was formed mainly of student council members.
Meguri had a complicated expression. "Um, it's true that it'll be difficult, but couldn't we ask you to help us out somehow?" she asked hesitantly.
Unsurprisingly, it was difficult for Haruka and Yukko to argue against the student council president to her face, and they both looked away and said nothing. But that was not at all an agreement.
Meguri gave a strained smile at their stubborn attitude.
It was clear which side was more committed to this project.
From where the executives stood, since we were asking the crew a favor, we couldn't come down hard on them. There was no clear hierarchical relationship built into this situation. That was why, even if Sagami was the committee chair, they were still nothing more than fellow members on the same project, so she couldn't order them around. There was no need for them to submit to her request.
It was a structural flaw.
If there had been a relationship built on trust here, then they'd probably have accepted this request. Most likely, Meguri and her predecessors had always done it like that. But Sagami and her friends didn't have that. No—maybe it would be more accurate to say they'd lost it.
Their close relationship during the cultural festival prep had been enabled by their shared position on it. However, in the Sports Festival Committee, Sagami was with the executives while the other two were in the crew, so their club activities and the clear burden posed by the higher workload had caused this difference to emerge between them.
This was a bad sign.
Sagami's fairly trivial words and actions had generated ripples, and those must have come from the two girls. She had upset them more and more each time she failed to take the crew's position into account.
And now that was erupting.
"Let's leave it at that," came a strong voice that carried well.
Looking over, I saw Miss Hiratsuka had come to her feet, throwing open the door. "It's getting late. Let's call it a day and discuss it again another time."
The executives and crew were both in different positions, but they were both students. A voice had to come from a level higher than them in order to force action. The only thing that could bring this to a close was Miss Hiratsuka.
Haruka and Yukko looked at each other, then snatched up their bags and pattered out of the meeting room. The rest of the crew followed their lead.
The only ones left were the executives: the student council, the Service Club, and Sagami.
"Shiromeguri, do you have a minute?" Miss Hiratsuka called, and Meguri went outside, too.
"Coming…"
Silence fell on the meeting room.
Sagami stood frozen for another moment, then practically collapsed into a nearby chair.
The light of the inclining sun poured into the meeting room.
The brilliance of the setting sun made Sagami look down to the floor.
The afterglow of the sunset dyed the sky red. The clouds billowing from the ocean blanketed the western sky with brilliant flames, while darkness was slowly spreading farther inland.
A morose atmosphere hung heavy throughout the meeting room.
After the announcement that we were adjourned, there had been no progress. The whole crew had left, including Haruka and Yukko, and most likely returned to their clubs.
We were waiting for Miss Hiratsuka and Meguri to return.
Zaimokuza breathed a leaden sigh, twisting around uncomfortably.
Yuigahama and the student council followed his lead and sighed, too.
Except for Yukinoshita, who was still sitting dignified and straight with her eyes closed.
Meanwhile, the rest of us just felt awkward and out of place, and we were all starting to focus on one person.
Minami Sagami.
After her tenure as the chair of the Cultural Festival Committee, she'd been wheedled into taking up the position of chair of the Sports Festival Committee, too, but you couldn't see in her any dignity befitting that title. She hadn't opened her mouth once since the meeting had ended. Her forehead was down on her desk, and every once in a while, you could hear the sound of her nails tapping on her smartphone. I couldn't see her face from where I was sitting, but I could tell she wasn't happy.
Sagami had spent the cultural festival with her friends, but this time, they disagreed with her. In front of everyone, too, which added to the burden.
Having those connections in the first place is what makes it sting when they're broken.
I didn't think Serves you right. I actually felt sorry for her.
Though I doubt they'd ever been all that close to begin with, relationships are fickle things. They only cut so sharply when they're lost.
The return is low, but there's risk all over the place.
It's the sort of relationship where you don't really know how you got acquainted, but you know their faces and run into them occasionally at school and say 'Sup when you do, and maybe you might have one or two conversations.
They're different from the fixed relationships you have with people in your class or your club. The Cultural Festival Committee and Sports Festival Committee are perfect examples of that. I hear they call these sorts of limited connections "'sup friends." Komachi told me that at some point… Does that even count as a friend? Isn't that bar too low to count as friendship?
Sagami's miscalculation had been the presence of Haruka and Yukko, her 'sup friends. To be more precise, I'd say it was because the two of them were in a different position from Sagami this time around. Sagami was there as an executive, while Haruka and Yukko were there as crew. Color-coded points of difference easily become live coals.
If the three of them had been in the same position, just like during the cultural festival, then they'd probably have gotten along. They'd have enjoyed themselves and chatted as they worked: She shouldn't have been chair; this job sucks; they're ordering us around, but they're hardly working themselves, huh?
The efficacy of backbiting and slander in communication is immeasurable: the sharing of experience and perception, the display of your own viciousness, the knowledge of that viciousness giving each party a hold on the other's weakness, the consciousness of being conspirators, the unity brought about by that consciousness. Furthermore, slandering each other lets off steam and makes the communication after that smoother.
Backbiting is the best. You can get along with anyone. It just sucks for your target.
A friendship built on some kind of sacrifice will always require fresh meat. Once the supply is cut off, then you must offer up one of your own.
It started with their difference in positions and continued with Sagami's repeated screwups. And then the fact that it was two against one had made it completely clear to me that Sagami would be the lamb for live sacrifice. Right about now, Haruka and Yukko would be entertaining themselves with all kinds of malicious gossip about not only Sagami, but the executives, too.
I felt sorry for Sagami because I could see all of it. Watching her still clutching her cell phone and trying to cling to some kind of connection just made it worse. And I doubt I was the only one feeling sympathetic.
Yuigahama pressed her lips together and glanced at Sagami.
No matter what our purpose had been, we'd been the ones to push Sagami to be chair. Maybe Yuigahama felt a little guilty about that.
"Meguri and Miss Hiratsuka are taking a while, huh?" Yuigahama didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular, but her comment lightened the air in the room somewhat.
"Yes…," Yukinoshita replied, quietly raising her gaze.
"Should we go see how things are coming along?" one of the student council members asked, standing.
But Yukinoshita shook her head. "I'm sure they're not done talking, and I think going now wouldn't change much," she replied coolly, and the representative quickly acquiesced.
But I could understand the student council's impatience. Miss Hiratsuka and Meguri's discussion was dragging out longer than expected.
By the time the two of them came back, I figure about twenty minutes had passed. Miss Hiratsuka's expression was far more serious than usual, and Meguri was looking rather dejected as they came into the meeting room.
"Sorry to make you wait," Miss Hiratsuka said, and with that one remark, she took a seat in the chair at the very edge of the meeting room, while Meguri also headed for her seat in the middle.
Once all eyes had gathered on her, Miss Hiratsuka said, "After discussing with Shiromeguri, we're thinking we'll cancel the next meeting."
"We've decided to give everyone some time to cool down and see how things will go…," Meguri added.
Well, that was a pretty reasonable decision, in my opinion. Since we couldn't eliminate the cause of the tension around us, we had no choice but to wait for time to erase them—or maybe wear them down.
But I doubted that would be enough.
"Will it work out in only a day or two, though?" Yuigahama muttered.
"Yeah, I doubt it…"
Anger, as an emotion, doesn't last that long. That was why it was the correct decision to have a brief cooldown period. But even if anger doesn't last, hate and resentment will go on. They'll keep smoldering deep, deep in the darkness, and like glowing embers, they'll burn and burn, slowly and quietly.
And what's even worse is that derision, teasing, and contempt will continue even longer. Dragging someone down is far easier than building them up, and when people start getting witty about it, the whole thing becomes just another way to have fun. Keep it casual, and everyone treats it like a joke. Since you don't even think you're doing something wrong, unlike hate or a grudge, it becomes a cycle that continues in the long term.
It was very possible that things would get worse over the next few days.
"Still, it's better than holding a meeting with the way things are now," Miss Hiratsuka said, sounding pained. She must have sensed my misgivings.
Miss Hiratsuka was right; if they were to suddenly face each other again the next day, it would be hard to imagine that going well. Given how Sagami herself was acting, the probability was even higher.
When I glanced at Sagami, she was biting her lips instead of saying anything.
"So can I take it you're fine with that?" Miss Hiratsuka confirmed with her, and she nodded.
"Yeah…I am…" With that broken reply, her head lowered again.
"…" Yukinoshita had been watching her intently, but then she suddenly looked at Meguri instead. "…All right, let's notify everyone of the cancellation."
"Yeah. The student council will handle it," Meguri agreed, and the rest of the student council jumped right on it without her having to tell them to. I didn't know how they did it, like with a mailing list or adding it to the morning announcements or what, but because they completed the task immediately, it must have been something fairly easy.
Watching them, Miss Hiratsuka said, "Well then, let's adjourn for the day, too."
Everyone said their adieus, then started to get ready to go.
"Herm. Farewell, Hachiman." Zaimokuza was finally free after being forced to hang around us the whole time, and he quickly packed up his things and scampered out of the meeting room. The other student council members also quickly finished prep and headed home.
When I was grabbing my bag, ready to head home as well, someone called out to me specifically. "Hikigaya. You three stay awhile."
"Huh? I mean, today's not really…," I protested, but Miss Hiratsuka pointed to the others with her jaw.
Looking over, I saw Yukinoshita must have anticipated staying behind, as she hadn't moved from her spot. Yuigahama was just zoning out and didn't really seem to have anything on her mind.
It had been determined that I would stay behind as a member of an affiliated organization. Any opposition was futile, I knew, and I reluctantly sat down.
All right, so what does she want to talk about? I wondered, waiting for her to continue.
But rather than speaking to us, Miss Hiratsuka addressed someone unexpected. "And Sagami. You too."
Sagami twitched when she heard her name, but she showed no signs of refusal. All she said was a quiet "Okay."
Miss Hiratsuka looked over me, Yukinoshita, Yuigahama, Sagami, and Meguri, and then began. "I'll get straight to the point. What are you going to do now?"
Yuigahama and I exchanged confused glances. But that wasn't going to give us answers.
I looked at Yukinoshita, and she was looking at Miss Hiratsuka. Apparently, she understood at least somewhat. "Do you mean, how do we plan to manage this going forward?"
"Well, more or less. Though that's not all…," she said evasively. She glanced over at our chair. "Sagami, how do you plan to continue?"
"Huh…?" Sagami must not have anticipated the discussion would be turned toward her. It took her a moment before she finally said, "I don't know; I think…we just have to do it…" All she had to offer was a hesitant, vague remark.
That didn't answer the question, but it did basically seem she was cognizant of the current situation, that things were bad right now. She'd been asked what she would do about it, not if she recognized the position we were in, but maybe it was a little harsh to demand that much of her right now.
Instead of sighing, Miss Hiratsuka made a solemn noise of agreement. Then she turned back to Sagami once more and began slowly. "Mm-hmm. Then first, let's sort out the issues." She was giving Sagami the space to confirm the situation and sum up the important points. Miss Hiratsuka fully intended to have Sagami come up with an answer to this problem herself, I think. This methodology was very like her.
Sagami's gaze swam around as she closed and opened her mouth slightly, as if she didn't know where to start.
Her eyes darted nervously to the rest of us and away, back and forth. She looked at me, too, but then she wrinkled her nose in shame and loathing, and looked away immediately again.
Nobody said anything. We just waited for Sagami to talk.
She must have interpreted that as pressure, as she hesitantly opened her mouth. "Um…the crew won't listen to us."
"…"
Well, it's not surprising she took it that way. I didn't feel exasperated—more like this just made sense to me. The table was completely silent.
Only one of us, Meguri, offered any reaction at all, and it was a bit of an uncomfortable smile. "Hmm… Yeah. For the sports festival and the major events to work out, the crew needs to be able to work with the sports clubs, you know? But right now, things are a little tight for everyone, so it's difficult to get them to commit to giving the time and the effort… Maybe we could put it like that."
"Y-yeah," Sagami replied immediately, but it was doubtful whether she really understood Meguri's helpful remark.
Well, I had no problem with Meguri giving hints. Since Sagami had the title of committee chair, she would be the one coming to the final conclusions. It was best to make her consider this matter right now. To put it another way, this was fine as long as Sagami was the one to come up with the conclusion in the end.
The rest of us should lead her to that conclusion.
Yukinoshita also understood this quite well; she paused for a moment, then looked at Meguri. "Meaning we negotiate and coordinate with each of the clubs… We can check the schedules of the clubs that have upcoming tournaments and determine which assignments are good for everyone."
Yukinoshita's proposal was very respectable.
Her method was to carefully eliminate each of the reasons Haruko and Yukko had brought up—the premises they'd used as a shield, so to speak.
But that wouldn't help us here. A logical method would only work on people who thought logically.
"That's not gonna be enough," I said, and Yuigahama hesitantly agreed.
"Yeah…maybe." It seemed she understood the other issue here.
"Tell us why," Miss Hiratsuka prompted.
I explained it in very simple terms. "As long as they're still mad about what happened, we're going to stall again unless we handle this very carefully."
People act based on emotion.