Even though Erika was on the outside of the mass media club's door, even she could sense the life from within. As she entered, she saw several club members bustling about, some of them writing articles, others recording videos in the green room and several groups all discussing ideas.
"Looks like you guys are busy!"
One of the members gave Erika a nod.
"Yeah. It's sports fest season, so we're gonna be bringing our a-game!"
Erika gave a thumbs up.
"Keep up the good work! Now, where's Karen-"
When Erika turned to where Karen was, however, she saw quite the unexpected sight.
"Uh, Karen? Wait, did I feed you so much miso that you turned into Miso paste? I'm so sorry-"
"That's not it!"
Karen sat up, momentarily reinvigorated by the power of miso before collapsing back onto her table.
"Urgh…"
Erika pulled up a chair and sat beside her, concerned.
"Is everything alright?"
"It's just that…"
Karen stirred, slowly coming to life before…
"WAAAAHHHHH!"
This is Karen's special move where she sobs uncontrollably!
"Hah?! A-are you ok?"
Between wails, Karen managed to stumble to a tissue box, blow her nose, and come back to her seat before, finally…
"WAAAAHHHHH!"
Nothing has changed!
###
Eventually, Karen was able to calm herself down enough to speak between sniffles.
"So, seriously, can you tell me what's happening?"
Karen blew her nose before finally beginning to explain.
"W-well, we just finished our reports on the 68th student council, right?"
Erika nodded.
"Mhm. We had to scrap part of the section on Kaguya-sama and we stripped down your section about the President and her a bit, but we got a lot of positive feedback!"
"Yeah, but…"
Karen slumped over again.
"I'm going into OTPium withdrawal…"
…
"Hah?"
Allow me to explain! Karen is no stranger to moments where she is unable to bask in the majesty of her OTP! From Summer vacation to most of Winter vacation to Kaguya's recent disappearance, Karen has already gone through several stages where she was unable to witness the glory of Miyuki and Kaguya's interactions. However, none of her breaks have lasted nearly as long as this one!
"I was fine until now since we were working on maintaining their legacy, but now, it's going to be almost half a year until they see each other again."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, President Shirogane would obviously come back to visit her for graduation."
"As he should! Kaguya-sama deserves every bit of his attention, especially on such an important day!"
Karen seemed to be momentarily reenergized, but she quickly slumped over once more.
"Still, it feels like it'll be an eternity before they see each other again…"
Meanwhile, Kaguya was purchasing a plane ticket for the weekend.
"I see…"
Erika struggled, trying to think of a way to bring Karen back to life, and just when she was about to start pounding miso, they heard a knock on the door of the president's office.
"Come on in!"
Erika was taken aback at how quickly Karen fixed her posture and arranged her face into a mild grin.
Is this the same Karen as before?
The door cracked open to reveal a blond-haired girl with a plaid beret. She made her way inside, sitting down across from Karen and Erika. Immediately, a look of realization flashed across Karen's face.
It's that new ship trash!
Erika was quite alarmed at the jovial tone that Karen began to speak with.
"So, what business does the student council have with the mass media club?"
Kogane was wearing a kind of far-away look, her smile and general demeanor almost seeming lopsided.
"Ah, I'm not actually here on student council business."
Karen raised an eyebrow.
"Really? Then what are you here for?"
"Well, I was looking for a club to join and the president told me about you guys, so…"
Kogane took a brief pause, almost as if she's forgotten where she was for a moment before declaring:
"I would like to join the mass media club!"
A grin immediately shot to the surface of Karen's face.
A new member for the mass media club? And a fellow ship trash?
"I'm afraid that there are some issues with that."
Despair and confusion. Those were the 2 emotions that Karen felt when she turned to look at Erika. Kogane also seemed confused, her smile being replaced with a slight frown.
"Eh? How come?"
Erika put the heels of her hands down on the table in front of her, interlocking her fingers as she gave a cold smile.
"Well, the members of the mass media club tend to not be in other clubs, since we've actually got a lot of influence over Shuchiin. Like, if someone's in the soccer club and they exclusively write about all the athletic accomplishments our school's made, then the art departments start to lose funding."
Kogane gave a nod.
"Mhm. Makes sense."
Erika continued.
"Right. And since you're in council, also being on the mass media club would be a conflict of interest, don't you agree? Maintaining impartiality during elections would be almost impossible. For the mass media club to be in any way biased during an election would be the height of dishonest journalism."
"You've got a point there…"
The mass media club has never, ever shown bias during a Student Council election.
Karen, meanwhile, was still staring at Erika, completely flabbergasted.
She's surprisingly reasonable whenever Kaguya-sama's not involved!
Erika looked at the roof, scratching her chin before seeming to come up with a brilliant idea, a smile spreading across her face.
"Oh, but I'm sure that we can work around that! As long as you keep your biases in check and take a hiatus around election season, you should be fine! So tell me, why are you joining the mass media club?"
"To report on the President and Vice President!"
Kogane's response was decisive and immediate. Erika could feel the colour drain out of her face as she heard this statement.
That's terrible… How am I supposed to work with this? Looks like Karen and I are gonna have to-
"That's wonderful!"
Now, it was Erika's turn to be completely bewildered.
"Hah? Isn't this blatant endorsement of-"
Karen grabbed Erika and pulled her aside as Kogane looked on, mildly bemused. They huddled up, Karen whispering into Erika's ear.
"Don't you see? This is a fledgeling ship trash! We can't just shoot down her passions like this! What if she abandons her passions forever?"
That might just be a good thing…
Erika was growing more and more tired by the second.
"By the way…"
Erika and Karen both turned back around to find that Kogane now had a more serious expression on her face.
"I know that the previous student council had a good amount of recognition, but even now, students are talking about them less and less. Plus, I don't even know the names of the people on the 66th student council, or any of them before the 67th. Even if it's a little childish, I still think that we should be able to look back and recognize what the student council does for us."
This girl…
Karen began to stare at Kogane wide-eyed before…
…is making it really hard for me!
Karen's heart rate increased as she started to sweat.
I mean, seriously, there isn't a single worse way you could've worded that! If Erika thought that there was a conflict of interest before, then why on Earth would you think that she'd want to let you in now?
"Kanagae-san…"
Karen gave a sigh of defeat.
Yep. Here it comes. Bitter rejection. I'm so sorry, Kogane-chan…
"Welcome to the mass media club!"
"Hooray!"
Karen's eyes shot open as her gaze darted between a celebrating Erika and Kogane, growing more confused by the second.
"Hah? Didn't you say that there was a conflict of interest?"
Erika's smile disappeared, being replaced with a look of conviction.
"Well, you see, this girl is going to be hard at work preserving the legacy of Kaguya-sama!"
What happened to 'blatant endorsement'?
Nevertheless, Karen gave a sigh of relief as she looked at the 2 of them beginning to cheer.
Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose.
Today's activities: recruited a new member for the mass media club.
Bonus: We want to talk about the sports festivalAfter a while, Erika and Kogane had calmed down.
"So, what's your specialty, Kanagae-san?"
Kogane gave Erika an odd look.
"Hm?"
"Like, what are you good at? For example, my specialty's photography and Karen's is reporting and article composition."
"If I had to say, then I guess that mine would probably be social media and video-making and editing."
Karen nodded.
"Right, I heard from some of the middle schoolers that you were really well-known. Didn't you lose a lot of your followers, though?"
Kogane gave a shrug.
"Most of the people at Shuchi'in unfollowed and unsubbed, but I've still got about 11.4 k."
Karen's eyes went wide.
This girl's good…
Erika put a hand on Kogane's shoulder and gave an assuring smile.
"In any case, I think I have an idea for your first task!"
Erika opened the door and exited the room, prompting Kogane to follow her. She then gestured out towards the other members of the mass media club who were all hard at work either discussing article ideas or tapping away at computers.
"As you can see, we're getting ready to start reporting on the sports festival and our videography department's a little lacking, so why don't you get working on a sort of highlight video for the sports festival?"
Kogane's face lit up as stars began to form in her eyes.
"An IshiMiko Documentary!"
Today's result: Erika loses.
