Grr I hate revision. Well, maybe 'hate' is a little too vehement but it's still freaking tedious. Oh well. What needs to be done needs to be done.
Anyway, I hope you all had a great Christmas day! Here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy it :)
As soon as the final lesson had ended and Ichijou had bustled off, they closed ranks with only one question in mind, which Tada voiced for them all.
"So, what do we do now?"
The atmosphere as they all looked at each other was a sober one, still heavy with the weight of the bombshell that had been dropped on them. They all looked at each other, nobody willing to be the first to answer. They're going to kill us, Tsukuda had said. Tada wanted to believe in the good of people, but even he could see the truth in that possibility.
"We should continue the way we've been continuing!" Jori burst out eventually, clearly seeking to dispel the fog. "Why do we need to skulk around because of …because of….."
"That scumbag." Haru helpfully provided. Everyone gawped at her. At that, she blushed and dipped her head.
"I…I'll just put away the rest of the stuff….everyone else finished?"
Reno, Reimiya and some of others handed over their mugs and saucers, and Haru deposited them on the remaining tray before scooting off with those. Tada sighed and ran a hand through his curly hair.
"Certainly, we shouldn't give into them, like Jori-Chan said." Tada continued.
"But in a way, the stakes are higher, so we do need to make some changes." Eriko finished, teeth gritted. "Although we really shouldn't have to."
"What was the point of that sort of statement anyway?" Hirigi wondered. "I mean, they never believe us anyway. "
"That is certainly true." Ruko nodded through a mouthful of Smarties.
"They want to unsettle us, weaken us." Kuroba explained frostily. "If they can make us feel that we're in danger just from being in school then we'll give up. Submit. That's what they want."
"So do you think Principal Okikura knows about Ending the End Class?!" Ayako spluttered all of a sudden, alarmed. Tada shook his head, resolutely. He didn't think that was the case at all. Sure, Hasegawa knew, that seemed fairly clear by now. But not Okikura. So he voiced this, earning more than a few confused looks.
"But then….why?" Hirigi wanted to know.
"My guess is Kyoto." Tada said, still mostly speculating and making no effort to hide that. "I think that annoyed him enough to think that he needed to find a way to restrict us. And no doubt when he next touched base with Hasegawa-kun and Otsuka-Chan they might have subtly steered him in the direction of…well…what we heard today."
"They were pretty damn quick if that was the case." Koujiro observed casually, shrugging heavily.
"So?" Reno fumed. "That doesn't EXPLAIN anything! And we still need to worry about what's going to happen to ourselves, and each other…" At this, he looked at Reimiya, askance, but she didn't seem to notice, as she was staring at them all fixedly, absorbed in the conversation, looking terrified but resolved. Tada found that made him smile, on the inside, just a little.
"Surely cleaning duty is the best place to start?" Haru came back and stood next to Hirigi. "Tsukuda-san and Tada-kun, you're going on main-building cleaning duty, right?"
"Yes. And Azama-kun, Kitabayashi-kun and Yamada-kun, just like we all discussed by email yesterday." Tada wondered if Tsukuda would be okay with that though. He turned to her to ask that question silently, and she tipped her head to the side slightly, her fringe shielding her eyes slightly before she brushed it away.
"Yeah, that won't change."
"But an odd number isn't that safe, is it?" Koujiro pointed out. "After all, I presume you'd have to split it up so one was alone, given all the places you need to do. "
"We'll keep tabs on each other." Tsukuda said, instantly. Tada sighed, and looked at her. I told you, didn't I, it's okay to be the helped sometimes, not just the helper? Sensing his disappointment, Tsukuda shrugged and then smiled softly, as if telling him that it didn't mean she just had to stop. And as that was something he could relate to, he let it go and focused on the point that was at hand, even if part of him was still honed in on making sure she was fine.
"Well…perhaps one other person could come with us?" Of course, as soon as he said it, he knew it was ridiculous. And indeed, the rest of the class just stared at him like he was insane. Well, duh, who would put themselves up for such a thing?
"I'll come."
"Eh?" Everyone turned to stare at Reimiya, utterly flummoxed. She blushed a little and hunched under her scarf, but she showed no signs that she hadn't meant what she said. Instead, she turned so she was facing Tada.
"I'll come." She repeated.
"Miya-Chan!" Reno protested, flailing. "You can't….that isn't…I….." Reno spluttered and gave up, but clearly looked unhappy about the entire thing. And it wasn't that difficult to figure out why. Reimiya, on the other hand, had no such issues, and she was not about to back down. That much was clear.
"Then, I'll pair with Yamada-san." She said. Then, she pointed to Kitabayashi and Azama before turning to Tada and Tsukuda. "You two can go together, and finally, you two. Easy. "
"That does sound good, Reimiya-Chan." Tada nodded. "Only if you are sure, though."
"I am!" Reimiya responded, clearly put out that Tada had stared at her, and then sighed, shaking his head.
"Then I will come along, too." He declared. "I can't let you go alone."
"But surely that just repeats the problem again." Azama queried as he hopped off the desk he'd been sitting on. Reno fixed a cold gaze onto the boy.
"Not if we are a trio." He said, gesturing to himself, then Yamada, then Reimiya. Then, he turned to Tada.
"If I can't tag along, then Miya-Chan can't either. It won't be safe. Sorry."
"Ah, it's fine. Having more hands will be better, right?" Tsukuda flapped a hand at him tiredly, and then looked at Tada for confirmation. He silently groaned, and decided to concede. More hands are better, right?
"Yes, it will be. But in any case, we should all probably head off now- it's going to be troublesome for Haru-Chan and Kaori-Chan to clear up here if we're all blocking up, and we need to make our way to the building if we are going to be there on time to start on the homerooms- so let's talk about things tomorrow. "
"Like our next steps?" Kuroba wanted to know.
"Just like that." Tada promised. "If any of you can think of anything, by all means note it down to let us know later. Anyway, Hanae-Chan, everyone else, let's set off to where we need to be."
…
Ueno was not feeling things that evening. Pretty much as soon as he'd got home he'd gone straight to his desk, only stopping to change from school uniform into comfortable home clothes. And since then, he'd been studying. For the biology pop quiz, then for one in Social Studies, which he wasn't great at, and then he needed to rewrite the notes for English because he hadn't managed to understand the lesson the first time around, and his grades were getting too close to the cut-off point which would mean that….which would mean that…..Ugh, dammit. I can't end up in 3E, I can't. There is too much to lose here.
But all the same, he just couldn't make himself focus. No matter what he did, no matter how sternly he told himself off, he just could not. He thought about shoving the words at Aimi to see what she made of it, given that she was a bit of a whiz at English (even if, as a big brother, he was biased there), but that just would not do. After all, she had her own work, not to mention that she was just a child anyway. Hell, it was still a while before his mum would have to worry about her middle school arrangements. Although, if Mum lets me have any input, I know that there's one place I'll tell her to not consider. So, he held the pen firmly in his hand, feeling the smooth plastic tube dig into his fingers, hoping that the sensation would prompt the action of writing. But of course, it didn't.
"Geez, Shou-Chan! If you're not feeling it, why are you bothering?"
Ruko whipped the pen out of his hand and began to spin it skilfully around her own fingers, grinning as she did so. Ueno stared at her, jaw hanging open. Then, he pulled himself together and reached forward to try and get the pen back.
"Ruko-kun, give that back, I'm studying!"
Ruko just mock-pouted and stepped neatly out of the way, still spinning the pen.
"But we're meant to be playing! And no, don't say anything about entrance exams. Nuh-uh, don't want to hear it! Aaaaaaaaaaaand you look like you're nodding off. So come on…."
Ueno ran a hand through his hair and regarded the practise exam paper, noticing the fact that the winter sun brightened the paper impossibly. Noticing the sun made him think that it was a weekend….and the entrance exams were still a couple of months away….and even if it was chilly, he didn't want to be sitting here, not really. And with that, he gave up and stood. Ruko grinned smugly, tilting her head at him so her curls bounced.
"Fine then. Let's go out to play. You can teach me how to do that pen thing you're doing…..by the way, when did you even learn to do that?"
"Oh, I was looking at some YouTube tutorials during maths on Thursday. I was bored."
"RUKO-KUN!"
Ueno found himself laughing at the memory of that winter, before he then remembered that he didn't have the luxury of such a relief this time. Because they'd drifted apart this year…..because he'd left her behind. Because of Kunugigaoka, was the thought he knew was true but still couldn't bring himself to acknowledge, not even as he got up and headed to his cupboard to find his memory box.
Once he had found it, he sat on his carpet and plonked it in front of him. The memory box was a large wooden box slightly smaller than an apple crate. He'd wrapped his up in old gold-and-silver starry Christmas wrapping paper his mum had saved from a couple of years before getting the box, and then he'd calligraphed his full name across the lid in black ink. Aimi's memory box was covered in all sorts of differently coloured papers, all cut to look like jigsaw pieces. Souji-the reason that the children in the Ueno household had memory boxes in the first place- was obviously not old enough to be able to decorate a box himself, but that time would come soon. Ueno had personally promised himself that he would sit down with Souji and help the younger child to decorate the box how he saw fit. Thinking of this, he stared at the decoration he'd spent so long on last year, before opening the box and looking into it.
There were all manners of things in there- an essay he'd won a prize for, some certificates and medals, a tiny wind-up toy chicken, some attractive sweet wrappers, a couple of stuffed toys he hadn't been able to throw away when he'd made the move to middle school, film posters ripped out from newspapers, old comics, a letter his dad had written before leaving them all behind, a bright pink scrunchie, one of those pens that looked like a one-legged feathery bird, a pair of old, worn baby booties and various Christmas cards. And photos. All manner of photos. Official school ones, photos from special occasions, and lots of candid ones. It was these photos, the candids in particular, that he pulled out of the memory box and looked at specifically. And even more specifically, he had sought out the ones that contained Ruko.
Naturally, in most of them she was either pulling ridiculous faces or not even posing at all at the time of the snap. Only a few were proper posed shots, like the one from the New Year her parents hadn't been home. And in some, even those from the beginning of their friendship, had her clutching onto a camera, taking some snap or other, and almost drooling over it. In a sense, they were pictures within pictures. Ueno wondered where those pictures were, and was just about to reach for his phone and ask her, when he remembered with a sudden hard mental smack –I can't do that.
"Shou-nii!" Ueno looked up to see Souji toddle through the door, his arms outstretched in anticipation of a hug, and so he quickly dumped the pictures in a messy pile atop the other contents of the memory box. He could rearrange them properly later. Quickly, he reached forward to grab the giggling and wobbling Souji, and then plonked the toddler on his lap, tickling his belly as he did so to make him giggle.
"Whatcha doin, Shou-nii?" Souji asked, looking up merrily, tiny hands clinging to Ueno's clothes. Ueno tickled him again, and then proceeded to explain about the memory box as best as he could without confusing or accidentally scaring him. That meant a lot of cutting out, but Souji was blissfully oblivious and seemed to enjoy the talk, until all of a sudden he let go of Ueno and turned to launch at the memory box.
"Sou-kun, no, don't touch!" he wrapped Souji in a big bear hug so he wouldn't be able to reach out. Naturally, he squirmed and whined about it, but Ueno was gentle and firm.
"You can't touch, Sou-kun, you might damage the box, or the things inside. They are very fragile so you must be careful. Okay?"
"Noooooo! Ru-ru! Want Ru-ru!" Souji squirmed and wriggled even more, trying to point at something.
"What are you….oh? Oh, right." Ueno glanced at the messy pile of photos, and realised one was facing upwards. One of Ruko, at the beginning of the summer term last year. She was holding the camera up to take a photo, so her face was slightly obscured, but the hair and the eye and the half of the grin that could be seen were all undeniably Ruko. As he had taken the shot, he knew that Ruko had a picture of him with a camera half covering his face somewhere in her house. Ahhh.
"No more Ru-ru?" Souji mournfully asked, clearly picking up on Ueno's dip in mood. He started to nod, and then for some reason caught himself.
"I'm not so sure of that, Sou-kun. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place."
"Shou-nii stuck?" Souji seemed to pick up on some of what Ueno had said, which made him chuckle, and at that moment, Aimi burst in through the door.
"Souji! You naughty boy! I told you not to disturb Nii-san!" Aimi skidded to a halt in the middle of the room, and stared down at Ueno, surprised.
"Oh. Your memory box." Aimi blinked, and then plopped herself down next to Ueno. Souji giggled and clapped his hands a couple of times before launching himself at the little girl, who grabbed at him acceptingly.
"I was letting him play with my teddies while I was doing my homework-then I remembered I left the felt-tips downstairs so I left him there while I went to get them and then I came back and he wasn't there so maybe I thought he went to the playroom but…why are you looking through the memory box anyway, Nii-san?"
Aimi's babble faded away and she narrowed her eyes at him seriously. The look contrasted with the way her hair-still somehow in the two bunches it had been in that morning- was impressively tousled from playing in the park with friends on the way back from school. This made Ueno laugh as he messed her hair further by ruffling it.
"No real reason, Aimi, it's fine." He reassured. "How's the homework? Is it okay? Do you need help?"
"Ah no, don't be silly, it's all fine for me you know, just the same old same old….but you're not fine Nii-san."
"And what makes you think that?" he asked, mildly. Aimi just gave him another exaggeratedly serious look, and pointed at the photo pile. Ueno put a hand to his face in a more sedate form of a face-palm, and then went to pick up the pile and settle it in his now vacant pile, and picked up the Ruko-taking-her-own-picture photograph and held it. Aimi leaned over to scrutinise it, paying no heed to the way Souji was using her as some kind of mountain sofa.
"Who are those people with you and Ruko-nee-san?" she leaned over and plucked off the next photo in the messy pile. When she did, Ueno's heart travelled up to his mouth. It was a selfie printed off the computer- one of him and Ruko, but also Tada, Ayako, Kinomoto, Haru and Hiro. Ayako, who was right at the end, on Ruko's other side, was the one who had taken the photo, on that day they'd attended the study group that Tada had organised. Tada, the new boy with the sad eyes and open mind. Tada-kun, who was a good friend, too, before all this. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten about what else he'd had before 3E changed it all.
"Just some people I used to talk to. They go to my school."
"So they're classmates of yours and Ruko-nee-san's?"
"No, not classmates." That's the whole issue. "Just the same school."
"OH, okay. You're still not talking to Ruko-nee-san, are you?" Suddenly, Aimi stood up and planted her hands on her hips, letting the printed out photo flutter to the ground. Souji, surprised by the sudden action, stumbled and fell on his bottom, but rather than crying, he blinked dazedly up at Aimi. Ueno blinked in a similar manner.
"You're not, are you, Nii-san?" Not wanting to lie, Ueno just nodded faintly. Aimi let out such an exasperated huff of air, Ueno found himself surprised at the fact that Aimi was still only in fourth grade.
"Why?"
"Why…I, well now, it's complicated, you know, especially because of school…." Ueno hedged, not sure what to say, because Aimi didn't need to worry about Kunugigaoka. Apart from his existence, she didn't have anything to do with that place, and that was how it should be. It'll be so much better. Then she won't ever get to be as torn as I am right now.
"Pfft, school. Nii-san, you know I love you right?" Aimi burst out randomly as she re-tied her bunches. Ueno blinked again. Clearly, his off-day feelings were contaminating the rest of his cognitions.
"Well of course."
"Except, you're a really, really, really huge idiot!" Aimi pouted impressively at this, leaving one bunch untied to plant her hands on her little hips again. "And if you don't know why you're a big idiot, then you're a MASSIVE, MASSIVE IDIOT. Okay?"
"Okay….." Ueno shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and then shrugged. "I guess I'm a massive idiot then."
"Yes, Nii-san, you are." Aimi nodded solemnly. "But like I said, I love you anyway and do you need help sorting out the photographs?"
"Huh? Oh, no. It's alright, Aimi. I wouldn't want to take up more of your time." He smiled at her vaguely, but she wasn't buying it.
"….Nii-san, you need to lighten up. But okay, whatever, that's fine." She went back to tying her hair, and once she had, she returned her attention to Souji.
"Souji, come, let's go back to play in my room!"
"Ai, carry me!" he commanded, holding out his little arms and giggling. Aimi rolled her eyes exaggeratedly but knelt down to carry Souji, who gleefully treated her as if she was a tree trunk by wrapping himself around her, nearly dwarfing her torso in the process. Aimi took it cheerfully enough, and half-sauntered, half stumbled out of the room. Ueno watched them go, and once he had, he turned back to the photographs, and looked at the faces of Ruko and his other friends. Can I even consider them my friends right now? I know I would be able to with no hesitations. if they came back to the main campus but….that doesn't look like that will even happen. Not the way things seem to be. Ah, but I miss them.
As he sorted through the pictures, he found himself looking back at his desk, at all the school work and revision that cheerfully taunted him as it waited for him to return. But he decided to stay where he was and sift through the memories from the memory box. He'd pull an all-nighter, or something. But for now, he needed to wallow in all of this confusion and loneliness and nostalgia. He needed to.
Because maybe this way he'd be able to figure out why he was a massive idiot, and what to do about it.
…
Adjusting to their new level of in-school neglect was a rocky process, as none of them wanted to accept that such dismissiveness was possible, and certainly Eriko didn't want to believe that teachers, so called responsible adults, could condone it. Well, Ichijou didn't seem to condone it, as such, but all she really did was constantly remind them that they could go to her if they wanted to ask or tell her something. This was vaguely reassuring, but didn't really help. She's one of the staff, so she should know that she'd have more power in this type of thing than we do.
So they subtly checked in their own behaviour in all sorts of different ways. When traveling to and from school, and when on cleaning duty on the main campus, they always made sure they were in pairs or small groups. Eriko, Tsukuda and Tada each became more fervent in the self-taught P.E lessons, Haru brought in cans of pepper spray for all of them to carry, as well as tiny personal alarms, and Izzy diverted his obsession about the 3E of 30 years prior to try and see if he could find anything on Principal Okikura or even Hasegawa that would persuade him to repeal. Condoning hacking and blackmail is surely the lesser evil here, right? And collectively, they all tried to avoid the main campus student as much as possible- difficult, given Tada and Hana's sisters, but all the same, that was how it was. It shouldn't have to be, though.
But all the same, they were hoping that it wouldn't last, that once they'd pleaded their cases then at least things could go back to normal. 3E life wasn't exactly anything great, but this….this thick, cloying fear was different, so completely and utterly different…but it wouldn't last. That's what she'd thought and held onto for the whole of the week.
But nothing had come of it.
No, instead, during the next school council meeting, they had tried to bring up the problem, and Tsukuda had become really impassioned when explaining why it wasn't right, and even cleverly bringing in the point about the school not being above the law, but of course, it hadn't worked. Hasegawa sidestepped things and just talked about school rules and discipline, and Otsuka naturally took pleasure in mocking their fear. Is Otsuka-san going to get over things? She's already above me, isn't she? And of course, none of the other representatives tried to chip in, although Asami did cuttingly point out that Tsukuda's point about the law was correct, which had caused the male class rep of 3A-Otonashi-san, was it?- to look at her in a baffled way and for the tiny first-year rep Endou to nod firmly. But even so, as usual, the meeting was a pointless affair from the 3E perspective, and all they had really done was take up seats. We may as well have just skipped, but no….
"Eri-Chan?"
Eriko rubbed her eyes and gawked at Kaori, the sun shining in her eyes. Sighing irritably, she shifted over so she could see better, and let herself take in those she was currently conversing with- Tada, Tsukuda, Kaori, Ayako, Hana, Kuroba, Izzy, Akira and Reimiya. Then, she poked at one of her bento box omelettes with her chopsticks before lifting it up.
"What was that?" she asked, putting the omelette in her mouth, but not pulling the chopstick away.
"We were talking about the possibility of expanding the blog campaign with something hand done." Tada explained.
"Like a poster." Hana put in "Or leaflets. Something to be handed out. "
"Or even if there are online ways of expanding. Like an equivalent Facebook page, or YouTube channel? Or even Nico Nico!" Ayako said, her eyes sparking with ideas that Eriko couldn't even begin to fathom. She blinked, slowly, trying to drag herself out of the pessimism so she could join in properly.
"….why would we be using video sharing websites?" Pfft, that's a start, I guess. Eriko put the chopstick down and began to munch on the omelette.
"We have stacked up a few personal videos so far this year, but I haven't put them on the blog yet. I've mostly been doing text posts, photograph posts, the comment-mocking posts and links to other relevant stuff. But I was thinking, if we had a video sharing channel, I could put them up, and then we could set up mock interviews with each other, and we could even set up proper interviews with other people who also don't want 3E to continue. Like, I'm sure Isogai-san and the others would be on board with that, right?"
Ayako directed this last bit at Tada, who nodded.
"Admittedly, I think they'd want to keep the mentoring side of things secret for now, especially since it is still relatively early, but they'd put their names to something like that. "
"Well, their knowledge could always be explained through the fact that you knew them already, right?" Reimiya suggested.
"I'd imagine so." Kaori commented. Again, Tada nodded at this, but said no more on the matter. Eriko nodded too.
"That sounds good." She said, covering her mouth with one hand as she spoke, since she was still munching. "They could always link us up with other former 3E members, like how we met Fumiko-sempai because of them."
"I can do the same thing." Izzy querulously pointed out. Tsukuda slapped the back of his head lightly, but aside from that they all neatly sidestepped that particular comment. Kuroba seemed disapproving of this, letting a condescending huff of air as his red eyes hardened, but the fact he still seemed willing to see where their conversation would go next was a good sign. Eriko found that rather relieving.
"Still, is it as if we need to choose one over the other, in terms of whether we go for posters or other forms of social media? Surely we could do both….like having the posters advertise the online stuff?"
" .Gosh. Reimiya-san, you are brilliant!" Ayako glomped Reimiya, causing her to shriek and then giggle. Tada sighed fondly and ran a hand through his hair. Eriko noted that some colour was returning to his complexion, which was good. When they'd been leaving the building after the Class Representatives meeting, he had seemed the most depleted out of the most of them, in much the same way Tsukuda had been the most profoundly affected student when the announcement about the rule had first been made on Monday. Eriko doubted that he'd noticed that he'd needed to lean on Tsukuda to walk back up, given the way he was trying to hold it all in.
"What I really want to do…." He started, and then paused, looking down at the ground and scuffing it with his shoe before looking back up at them and continuing. "I want to draw attention to what Principal Okikura said on Monday….and not just the reactions to it. I want what he said to be made clear. It needs to sink in. "
"I can take care of that."
Every single head whipped around to a very stoic Akira, who, up until then, had just been studying the proceedings while sitting cross-legged on the grass, her notebook in her lap but not in use. She regarded them coolly, but didn't say anything. Instead, she dipped a hand in one of her sweater pockets and seemed to pull something out. A corner of it glinted silvery grey, but Akira kept her hand around it as she fiddled for a moment. And then, Okikura's voice rang out into the afternoon.
"Now, for an announcement of school rules. As you know, especially if you are 3E, misbehaviour and violence are not tolerated in this school at all, and you are all expected to adhere to that. Unfortunately, I've had far too many reports of these rules been broken time and time again. But yet the culprits never seem to want to take responsibility for this. "
Akira made a brief motion with her finger, and the voice stopped, mercifully not continuing. It's still so raw. Then, she adjusted her hold on what she was gripping to reveal a silver, rectangular gadget with a cord that looped around Akira's wrist. A digital recorder.
"Well, well, well." Kuroba slow clapped as he inclined his head to Akira in a respectful manner. "I'm almost ashamed of myself for not thinking of that myself. Clever thinking, Akira. "
Eriko did a double take. Did Kuroba-san, of all people, seriously just say that out of his own volition?! Unsurprisingly, the others looked a little stunned too, although whether this was because of Kuroba or Akira was not clear.
"Kiyomi, how did you manage to do that?" Reimiya gasped, wide-eyed. Akira shrugged and started to go red.
"I-it wasn't such a big deal. It's not as if this is an original idea or anything. And a recorder this size is easy to hide. But it makes sense to have auditory evidence too, right?"
"Yeah, it definitely does!" Reaching over, a beaming Tada reached over and ruffled Akira's hair affectionately. "That's brilliant stuff, Akira-Chan! Thank you!"
This seemed to make Akira tomato-up even more, and she shoved the recorder at Tada before wriggling out of reach and opening up her notebook. She then produced a pen from somewhere and neatly took herself away from the centre of attention without actually moving away.
"If we post a copy of that online, or send it direct to Principal Okikura, then that would probably weigh in on our favour. " Kaori said.
"Nuh-uh." Kuroba opposed. "It's far too soon for that."
"It is?" Tsukuda raised an eyebrow, then flashed a can-you-believe-this look at Tada.
"No, that makes sense, actually." Eriko spoke up. "Surely it's better to take things slowly, and not show everything that we have straight away? Keep our cards close to the chest, so to speak. That's what you meant, Kuroba-san, right?"
"Good to see someone else here still has their head screwed on right." I'll just take that as a yes, then…
"I suppose that makes sense, I guess." Tada thought for a moment, then clapped his hands together once, loudly and with a big smile. "Back-ups!"
"Huh?" they all stared at him. Eriko couldn't speak for the others exactly, but she was sure that they knew what he was saying. The issue was more the delivery of the epiphany. Tada let his hands back down to his sides and blinked back at them, clearly just as baffled. We are so weird.
"Yep, back-ups are always good. Akira-Chan, maybe you should give that recorder to Tada?" Izzy suggested, causing the girl to look up at him and glare, her dark blue eyes seeming to glow with the indignation.
"This is my recorder!"
"Surely it would make more sense to send around the actual file to as many people as possible, then maybe download it onto a couple of different things?" Ayako pointed out.
"That could be how Isogai-san and the others then contribute." Kaori nodded at this. "And this way, Akira-san could keep her recorder."
"Surely it may be more prudent to have the recording on some sort of portable device and not just on computers and the like?" Eriko queried. "No, wait, USB sticks. That could work! So, Akira-san, would you be more comfortable in emailing it to everyone in the class, then either myself, Tada-san or Tsukuda-san could download it on a USB to then give to Isogai-san and Maehara-san. "
"And my aunt." Now, everyone swivelled to Tsukuda, who held out her arms in an appeasing gesture.
"My aunt's a lawyer. And she taught me everything I know and stand for. I want her onside. "
"That sounds like an idea to me." Tada was the first to recover and therefore agree. "I have someone like that, who is also a lawyer. She isn't actually my aunt, but I call her as such. And she was in the same class as my mum."
"Oh, is that so?" Tsukuda asked. "That sounds cool. Hey, maybe we should drop in on them personally to do this delivery, like at the weekend. What's your mum's friend's law firm?"
"Kanehara and Itsuki."
"Uwahh, that's a coincidence!" Since it didn't take a genius to work out what was so coincidental, Tsukuda didn't clarify. "Guess it saves us a journey then, when we do this."
"Mhm…I think Aunt Rio's on vacation though….she might be back by now….I can't remember. Ah, never mind. Anyway, Akira-Chan, how about that? Can you do that tonight?"
"Yes, sure. And I'll email it to Kataoka-san, too?"
"Yes, that's right." Eriko nodded.
"Kyaaa, okay! Now we've finished all that, can we go back to the social media please?" Ayako demanded. "What are we going to do then, hmmm?"
"I liked the idea of posters, to be honest." Eriko said. Akira, Reimiya and Hana all nodded at this. "That being said, I think having a Facebook page or something to that end would be good."
"Who's going to actually make the posters though?" Kuroba pointed out. "It's all very well faffling about it, but can you actually make it happen?"
"I can do that!" Reimiya volunteered. "I like to draw things. "
"I can help too." Akira silently asserted, looking up from her notebook. "Micchan and I can work together."
"Would it not be better to create posters professionally though?" Eriko wondered, thinking things over and trying to see them from different angles.
"That would be rather expensive though, and besides, what places would do that?" Tada wondered. It's a good question- I don't know anything about that kind of thing.
"I know a good art shop that's in my area." Kitabayashi came around from the corner, holding a puzzle book in one hand and a pencil with broken lead in the other.
"You do?" Tada asked quickly to avoid the awkwardness their collective surprise could result in. Kitabayashi seemed to rear back a little, but nodded slowly.
"They do all sorts of different things that are all kind of arty. And the owner sort of knows my family. I think he'd be willing to give an opinion on something like that…." Kitabayashi fiddled with the broken pencil and refused to look them in the eye.
"Kiyomi, maybe it's worth a visit?" Reimiya inquired. Akira nodded at that.
"I'd come too! Would you let me?" Hana asked, almost bouncing with the excitement of the possibility.
"Sure you can, Hana-san! I'm certainly tagging along!" Ayako declared. "Hey, Kitabayashi-san, think you can take us there some point during the weekend?"
"W-what? Why?" Spluttering in English, Kitabayashi looked alarmed as he shuffled backwards a little bit more. Eriko sighed deeply.
"Just text one of the Class Representatives the address, then we can deal with that. Do you know the name of the shop owner? The shop itself?"
"The shop is called All Is Possible. I can't remember the name of the guy though…..something beginning with S? Ah, shite, I don't know." Kitabayashi seemed to respond better to the direct questions, his posture loosening a little. It took Eriko a moment to catch up with the 'beginning with S' comment, and she rubbed her head. I'm tired.
"Can I go back inside to sharpen my pencil now?" Kitabayashi demanded. Eriko sighed and flapped a hand in an away gesture as a sign of assent. Just like that, Kitabayashi scurried off, all too eager.
"Don't forget the address!" Eriko called after his back. Once he was gone, she sighed again and turned back to the others.
"So…that will be Takashita-san, Akira-san, Reimiya-san and Hana-san taking care of social media expansion and posters this weekend?"
"Me, too. I'm onlining." Izzy piped up, chipper. Eriko restrained a groan- onlining isn't a word!
"And, I'll tag along to the art store." Kuroba announced. Everyone's jaw's dropped open in utter surprise. Kuroba just gave them a dark look, and naturally didn't give any insight into what his reasons could be.
"You'd really do that?" Hana gasped, wide-eyed. Kuroba looked down at her with a stare that was hard, but not as cold or dark as the one reserved for everyone else. It made Eriko raise an eyebrow until she remembered that Izzy seemed fond of Hana, as that would explain everything.
"I said so, didn't I?"
"Well, that's still good enough for now. We can tell the others and if one or two others want to tag along and help, let them. "Eriko ordered. "While that's happening, Tada-san, Tsukuda-san, given we're all Representatives, may I tag along with the two of you when you're going lawyer-visiting?"
"Yeah, sure! The more the merrier, that's how the saying goes, right?" Tsukuda said, then, with a little gasp, she pulled out her phone and read the screen before returning to her usual grin. "Ah, Kitabayashi just texted me the address. I'll forward it to you art guys now."
At that point, the discussion splintered, with Reimiya, Akira and Ayako talking about the posters and the possibility of coming up with an idea that night to take to All Is Possible the next day while Hana drifted towards Kuroba and Izzy who were, as usual, deep in discussion about something ridiculously intellectual, if their expressions were anything to go by. Kaori seemed to consider joining Ayako, but instead came and sat down next to Eriko, leaning over and taking the last fried chicken strip from her bento box. When Eriko turned an aggrieved look at her, Kaori responded by popping the chicken into her mouth and smiling a closed-lipped grin. Eriko rolled her eyes and started to work her way through the rice, covering the bento box with her hand between mouthfuls, so that Kaori could not nab anything else.
"So," she turned to Tada and Tsukuda. "The law firm, Kanehara and Itsuki. What time do they open on a Saturday?"