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Title: Propaganda
Saeki Shiho, the school festival officer, took me to the activity center of the festival committee.
The committee wasn’t in a hurry, nor did it seem to be in a hurry, and the members from each class were nonchalantly presenting their opinions. It was kind of a letdown since I expected them to be busy, walking from place to place.
Since most of the plans were already set in stone, there was no need to change them now. They were working on the small details.
My class went with the safe plan of a café. The representatives from my class (year 2 class 2) confirmed with the treasurer where to submit fees, where to return the equipment, and so on.
First of all, what are we helping with?
Shiho’s role was to attend the committee meetings, keep track of activities of each class and club, and report them back to the student council. This made it easier for the student council to work together on the opening event. There were other things to do as well, like creating bulletin boards and bridging community relations. From what I heard yesterday, she hinted that we would be doing the same work as her, so we were probably doing something similar to that.
But it seems our real purpose was different.
“Shiho-san, Shiho-san. What are we supposed to be doing?”
“You’ll be like temporary public order officers for the student council and guide them around.”
“Houhou.”
“The cultural festival is fun, but it’s also a really chaotic event. And if someone doesn’t regulate it, there’s no controlling it. That’s why the student council, which is also the executive board, plays the role of the public committee for a bit. And then there’s the guidance staff! You’ll help ordinary people who have trouble on their way around the school. That’ll be the role of Sui and Arina.”
So she basically means security guards?
According to Shiho, the disciplinary committee wasn’t supposed to be like security guards or monitors. It might have sounded like they crack down on people, but they’re simply encouraging people to continue to improve their appearance, awareness, and regulate rules. So, they did it themselves.
However, since each member of the student council held an important position, there was a lack of manpower. That’s where we came in.
“So we should remember the layout of the festival and maintain public morals, right?”
Arina interjected.
“Right! As expected of Arina-san. Did you get it, Sui?”
“Yep.”
“But there’s nothing like a festival handbook. It’s just a matter of mixing with the Student Organization and the executive committee to understand the whole picture!”
“I see. Leave the details to us. We’ll follow you.”
“Thank you! Please treat me well.”
Arina and I got to work.
The very first thing we did was tally up what each class and club were doing. We wanted to get an overall picture.
Shiho was working on something separately.
Arina and I were shown the materials by the person who tallies stuff up and decided to copy what we needed.
“Well, I’ll organize each class and Arina, can you take care of the clubs?”
“I don’t mind, but will you be okay? Do you know how to read Japanese?”
“What am I? And who the hell are you to understand my language?”
“It’s a lie. I wonder why I can talk to a sea cucumber.”
According to what I’ve heard, sea cucumbers shoot out their intestines when they detect danger. Unfortunately, I can’t do that. But if I did have such a formidable self-defense feature, I would use it on Arina. I’ll give her all of my intestines. Would probably make a nice necklace.
I thought it was a bit crude, so I tried restraining myself, but I forgot that Arina was a bit of an esper. She elbowed me in the side. There was an unpleasant sound. I think something cracked. It was that painful.
Right now, I’m in charge of all of the classes.
It was a treasure trove of spoilers.
“There are so many ideas. One of them was a haunted house, as usual. There were some concerts and some plays. There’s also something that looks like a restaurant. Amazing!”
As I flipped through the pages, I found Arina’s class.
It was a fashion show.
“Fashion show?”
I couldn’t help but say it aloud.
Arina, who stood next to me, turned her face towards me.
“W-what?”
“—not”
“Hm?”
“I’m not doing it.”
“?”
“I’m not doing it so don’t come to it. Get it?”
“It’s like saying, ‘I’m doing it’.”
“If you come, I’ll tear you to pieces. Okay?”
“I’m sorry. I’m going to see the year 2 class 3 fashion show with Makoto.”
“
you won’t have a good death. If you come to year 2 class 3, your life will end. The National Security Agency of America will expose your browsing history, emails, downloaded videos, compressed files, sexuality, and everything. You’ll step on dog shit every day and you’ll need to buy shoes once every 3 days.
When you go to school, your p*rn website history will be plastered all over the walls. Every time you want to buy some bread from the concession stand, you will have to write a 10,000 word essay to reflect on your trip to the fashion show. You won’t even be able to open the door to your house without writing a reflection letter. You can’t even take a bath until you like your sister Ugin’s feet. You’ll only be allowed one hour of sleep, and the rest of the time you’ll write your reflection. In the morning, you’ll go to Hokkaido and then run all the way to Okinawa.[1]Then you have to head to school, or you won’t be allowed in. So, do you still want to go to the fashion show?”
“Ah. I’m going. I’ve already decided.”
“Eh? P-please don’t
”
“Listening to you, I’ve realized that Arina is quite a pervert
”
“No, I’m not!”
A few people turned towards us at Arina raising her voice.
“E-excuse me, I apologize
”
“Don’t be so happy, Arina. Don’t worry about it, I’ll record it.”
“Somebody kill me
”
Needless to say, I know that she doesn’t want to be running or participating in the fashion show.
She was probably forced to by the guys in her class. Arina was well over 170 cm tall, which is above the average height of girls. If she wore heels, she would probably be eye level with me at 180 cm. In addition to that, she had a beautiful face and a good figure, so it was no wonder why she was made to.[2]
I guess she didn’t completely reject it. It seems she would be participating. If that was the case, maybe Arina was changing.
I wrote down a list of what each class was going to do and summarized their requests. There was a haunted house, a café, a play, a mini-restaurant, and much more. The information from each class was brought to the student council.
Arina was using her pen like a machine. I wanted her to get as far away from me as soon as possible since the disparity in efficiency was extremely obvious when the two of us stood side by side. There was no room on the table though, so I didn’t have a choice but to stay.
“What did you do when you were in the student council in middle school?”
“Vice president. I was a shadow ruler, y’know?”
“You seem to like manipulation and propaganda.”
“Yup. I thought about destroying the student council with my propaganda, but I played it safe and stayed the vice president. It was boring.”
“That episode’s forbidden at the student council. I’ll be persecuted with you.”
“You’re going to Siberia. I’ll at least give you as much as Cairo.”
Dear God. Please throw this woman into a black hole.
We stopped talking and concentrated on our work. We only need to have this conversation once a year.
Notes:
[1] As a point of reference, the distance between Hokkaido and Okinawa is roughly 2,228 kilometers or about 1,400 miles. God damn.
[2] 170 cm is about 5’6″. Sui is 180cm tall, so he’s about 5’10”.