Part 4: For the Cause, Part 14/05/2016

A rather boring one compared to the others but Saturday, my day off from prep, was where my time went to the council. If I could demonstrate that it was worthwhile on an educational level that extracurricular activity i.e. our club was beneficial to Sumire's state of mind, it could force the school's hand in providing an authorised reason for her to spend some time with us before going over to club. No way I was letting any of the others catch on because they'd kill it. Leading us to the current predicament I find myself in: standing face to face with the student council members I chose not to use.

"Well, hello there." A red haired boy with square glasses and a slight scar on the right of his lip chimed. He'd had a hairstyle straight out of a JRPG with a cool textured look. It was like a blend of a Mohawk with a typical combed finish. Spoke like one too…

"That's not nearly as cool as you think it is, Taichi-san." Makoto tiredly responded. So he really was that character in this bunch of council folk.

"Amamiya-san, you finally choose to bring yourself in our midst." a fair haired girl teased. She had these jade green eyes and frizzy curls tied in a bun.

"It's earlier than I anticipated but thanks for having me here." I answered. This led to a hearty laugh coming from a rather bulky young man. He had spiky black hair but it wasn't nearly as reduced in height as Ryuji's was. From a glance, he appeared to be quite the athlete. Whether he was, I had no clue.

"All students welcome, right guys?" he spoke. He happened to have an average voice as he spoke, betraying my expectation.

"That's our vice leader, Naoki Takahashi." Holding out his hand, I shook it firmly. I was also disappointed that the shake wasn't as firm as it should have been.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Barika Onodera. Nice to make your acquaintance, Amamiya-san." This council member spoke with confidence - he was a dark-skinned young man with brown eyes, a slight goatee and had short black hair in a skin fade cut. Slender but not skinny, his Japanese pronunciation was beautiful.

"If you would like to begin Amamiya-san, please go ahead and take the floor." Makoto instructed, taking her seat. I could find out the other two girls' names later.

"I'll get straight to the point. I'd like to scrap the redundant one club limit for good. In essence, a student doesn't end up locked into one extracurricular interest here." Having gotten to my point straight away, it prevented the student council from coming up with sound arguments quickly which would give me time to select the right language to use.

"Multiple club allowance?" Onodera-san asked.

"Each student has the chance to be involved in more than one club which would undoubtedly improve their experience here, not to mention boosting the low morale hanging above our heads. After school hours are labelled as club time on the timetable as it is so the master record doesn't need to change because it would technically be accurate. That would save time on the administration end."

"So we'd just conveniently lie about something purely because of its trivial nature." The remaining cabinet member who stayed silent finally spoke. She had shiny royal-blue hair to match her ocean blue eyes, wearing it down.

"Exactly. And getting the paperwork ready for it the sooner, the better. Do the teachers' strike you as prioritising logging of a small section with student timetables over the impending investigation where every affiliated person with Shujin is going to be thoroughly questioned? They won't even care."

"That still doesn't justify it." She argued.

"Look…if students have the chance to explore more than one interest-"

"They can do so outside of the academy." The fair haired girl interjected.

"With the press attention that Shujin students have, people are sure to turn them away! How will you expect them to find a safe space to pursue another interest?"

"By meticulously searching for places where the school they attend does not matter, of which there are an abundant number in Japan all over the country. We can more than provide guidance as to a student's options." The hardest part of this pitch was trying to demonstrate that the multiple club idea, an untested gamble, was better than the tried and true single club idea that Shujin had probably since its inception.

"...Fair point. And that just slits the clubs' throats here."

"Where are you going with this?" Takahashi pondered.

"Let's see…what use is the Anime and Games club here? What use is there in watching cartoons parodying our nation and reading picture comics containing worlds and characters that in no way mimic reality? It's simple. Artists who don't wish to go through contemporary routes, writers who want to flex their skills in a dynamic and vast industry catering to a worldwide audience and voice acting to bring characters with appearances and personalities to life bolstering them up…a club like this is usually a starting point that those with established careers will accredit it to. An easily accessible starting point where the only major requirement is to be a Shujin student. And by telling students to go and do research elsewhere, you're removing that starting point and the right for this school to claim this." While I deemed something like that useless, the activities that took place inside would translate into skills and those skills could be transferred to everyday jobs if specialised careers weren't the path in mind.

"Even so, in order for Shujin Academy's primary goal to be met, a high quality education above all else is required. If it is deemed necessary, then the clubs will simply need to take a back pedal." Makoto countered.

"I can't refute that. However, as a council, you have yet to see the long term view. The ramifications of the press right now need to be countered as much as possible. We've already had cancellations for external trips in clubs altogether. Sport facilities have begun to tear up their contracts. We will get past this but at what cost? Once more first years go on to finish their time here, when the interviewers ask about Shujin, will you want the responses to be just about the education alone? Or better yet, ask yourselves this: that's not what encompasses a student's time at Shujin, is it?"

"..." Alright. There was something that they couldn't argue with. Sure, the education of a person along with their skills and qualifications is paramount in determining whether they a fit a role but the hobbies and interests tells them who they are and makes their existence meaningful. Otherwise, why would one bother with an expensive Shujin student if someone else cheaper who had the same skill set was available? These companies certainly wanted to maximise profits and hiring someone for less was the way to go.

"In any essence, you would be directly contradicting the school's main goal: to allow us to be the best version of ourselves. Before the exceptional awards obtained by our alumni, the extracurricular variety of the clubs allowed this school of 50 years to continue to stay at the forefront of education and act as a huge selling point over another place…let's say, Kosei High, whose focus is aimed more to the arts than to a balanced programme."

"I suppose that is a point." the curly blonde said.

"Bringing this to the teachers and successfully convincing them of this…it would be a huge win for the council first and foremost as you'd be demonstrating that you actually can change." I pushed ahead with my momentum.

"Secondly, it would bring MUCH needed revenue into Shujin - from the students, for the students. Shows investors and shareholders why they put their money where their mouth is. There are obvious exceptions to this rule but having the clubs be able to fund themselves-"

"Where is this money coming from?" Onodera prompted.

"Thank you for asking. It would be a semesterly club appreciation event where each club showcases what they're about in order to pull new members. The club members would demonstrate that the members care about their interest and are happy to embrace it. Like a mini cultural festival. This would be a gold mine to put on a resume if effort is placed into the event by club presidents as well as showcasing-" I ended up interrupted by Makoto.

"I think I speak for everyone that we get the gist of what. Let's say for argument sake that we can market this idea with your assistance to the students and teachers. How would you fairly assess whether they approve or deny the idea?"

"Simple ballot majority. Anonymous, of course."

"Sorry, but I believe we've glossed over something trivial yet highly important, President. How will the multi club idea effectively work if students get the right to decide one day they want to go to the Occult and the next, they want to go to Performing Arts?" Onodera-san posed. A valid question indeed. I had the answer to that:

"Primary and secondary designation. My idea doesn't fully remove the one club framework: it means the club you choose as your primary is the one you mainly attend whilst your secondary club happens to be the one you attend at least once a fortnight. Of course, permission for how the secondary fulfilments are made is per club basis."

"Too infrequent, junior…" JRPG guy again…

"Okay, once a week then. The particulars can be ironed out but in its simplest form, you attend your primary club more than your secondary."

"If we use your Weapon Appreciation Society as an example, it would mean you would decide if someone has met secondary fulfilments. How will you keep in touch with the other club presidents?"

"A group chat or meetings once a month."

"And how do we ensure that information is tracked?"

"...Minaguchi-senpai, you still stand by the idea of open communication, right? Namely, the student information. From what I understood, things such as grades and assessments from teachers being public knowledge would negate the fact there's an unfair playing ground for students and instead encourage students to better prepare. Or do you no longer feel this way?" I'll let this student council can fight amongst itself instead.

"Minaguchi. Do you not understand how much of a breach of privacy this is?" the curly blonde haired girl yelled. This is too easy…

"I concur. Without the consent of the parents, it would arm them with the right to open up Shujin Academy to further litigation. Then the school would surely be finished." Onodera-san commented. Poor senpai gave a hopelessly optimistic response.

"Hang on…let's not be so hasty to dismiss good old Guuchi here."

"Thanks, Yoshino. Didn't we say we were going to change things around here? We've had complaints over the usefulness of the contactless card and this would put a pin in that." So the blue haired girl is Yoshino.

"Nowhere near the amount of complaints over outdated revision resources in the library!" JRPG guy again. And they all bickered…

"What's that got to do with the conversation, Ishida-san?!" Ah…the blonde is Ishida.

"Seeing as we're airing complaints out in the open…" Don't you guys see what he's doing to you? Snap out of it…I could see it in his eyes that he really wanted this idea to go through. This was for the students sake? Don't make me puke. There was something to get out of this for his own gain and I would make it my job to find out what.

"Stop, all of you! Let us get back onto topic!" I barked. Surely the rest of my cabinet weren't going to embarrass me further.

"Amamiya-san, there's no means for you to convince the many parents and guardians to provide their permission."

"There's actually no need to worry about that. They've already given it." Amamiya-san stated, crooked smile hidden away from us all.

"Where?"

"When they agreed to send you, me and everyone else here. It would fall somewhere under the enrolment form, probably something about student interests are mentioned. It's very easy to spin this to that angle. I never saw the form for myself but it would be there." Ren answered. He was right as usual…Sis and the other parents would've seen that section.

"So the legality is handled. However, the original question we posed concerned the issue of club hopping."

"An app to display student information as discussed would also display affiliated club information. It would have a chart of the students' attendance and punctuality to the club as well as the effort they put in. That would prevent a case where a student isn't going just to say 'Hey! I've shown up so I'm a part of this club now!'. The club presidents will need to look out and see their members actively contribute. After those embarrassing expulsions, the remaining presidents won't be so lacklustre in doing so."

"You're joking. The school will not sanction such a thing especially with tighter strings on the budget! When will this app be designed? How will it be funded and paid for? Money does not grow on trees, junior." JRPG guy kept spouting lines like this…he was clearly the weakest link in the group, much too big for his boots.

"Funny you say that." Ren fiddled with his phone and then displayed an application to us. He was too prepared for this. As the shock spilled onto the faces of the others, I could only find the design stems were exceptional - the timetabling template had the student details on one tab, dummy club details on another, dummy redacted reports on another and so on. There was a feature to comprehensively look up students, view the position of their ranking in the latest test…this had to have been in the works for a while. Even so, I won't be made a fool of again.

"I have two brilliant designers who I explained this to well in advance and they were happy to help out. The app would need to be linked to Shujin's servers in order to stay updated. The teachers would be glad to know the budget won't be hurt too much by using this app. System administrators have the user documentation to set things up as they need to."

"...I can't allow this." Makoto stated. It seemed she would do questioning of her own.

"Prez?" Yoshino spoke for the fifth time today.

"You think a dodgy app that was made from an external source of just two people is really going to be cleared just like that? It would be an utter embarrassment for this council to show this to the teachers and have them take it seriously without having done a test run with students." I looked around to gauge the others reactions whilst Makoto somewhat lost it slamming her fist on the table.

"Don't look at them, Amamiya-san. I'm talking to you right now." She was highly annoyed.

"You think Principal Kobayakawa will accept you going to him with this? How much of a leg up do you think you have here?" She asked.

"President Niijima. I understand your frustrations but bear in mind those were extraordinary circumstances that no one saw coming. In fact, we're still in said circumstances with a lot of uncertainty surrounding the school." Vice president Takahashi stated, trying to ease the room.

"Our cabinet is not going to be a fast tracking service for another one of your schemes and plots!" Makoto barked.

"Hang on. I've not even told you what I'm going to do in return."

"So that's your angle, eh? This is not one of those 'I scratch your back, you scratch mine' circumstances. Do not try to sully the authority of the council thinking you can buy us off with some unknown favour or task or in your case, asset like that, however prepared it is." Yoshino-san argued.

"Indeed. As far as the planning and implementation of your proposal, I can only credit just how air-tight it is, Amamiya-san. That being said, the rules and regulations in place are not something any of us are above. Put in the paperwork like everyone else does and we can progress further." Onodera-san instructed.

"This was nothing more than a courtesy, is that what you mean to say?" I turned to look at the cabinet and after seeing their faces in stoic agreement, the JRPG protagonist decided to contribute a fuck you my way.

"If you didn't realise that by now, I wonder just how long you'll survive here, junior. That is, if you will survive here." Well then. I happened to have my answer on whether official means would work or not. Time wasn't wasted in taking a chance. Looks like I'll need to do it my way.

"It's a shame but I suppose that's just the way it is." I had no more reason to try and push this seeing as they didn't care.

"Be honest. Why do you want to scrap the structure and what are you planning to do?" Makoto asked, fully aware this wasn't the end. I simply left the room and told them nothing else.

This isn't over in the slightest…what the hell does he have in store? Anything goes regarding Amamiya-san's trickery and I could only assume his newest concoction was already in motion. My cabinet and I can't even act to stop him knowing absolutely nothing of what's to come…

"President? You're looking awfully pale." Barika commented.

"That haughty junior…how dare he make our Little Mako stressed!" Yoshino barked. You haven't quit with that annoying nickname, Kana? Ugh…

"The worst part of it is that he's bringing some pretty insightful perspective. It'd be far easier if there wasn't anything to his claims."

"What do you want us to do, Prez?" Taichi-san asked me.

"...We wait. Instead of using our resources and time, let's let him use his. If he thinks he can convince the majority of the student body to sign onto his idea, let him try. And where do you think you're off to, Taichi-kun? No one's dismissed yet." Not until it was crystal clear to my more truant members not to make an embarrassing show like that ever again.