Bring-bring.
"Hello?"
"HAYAMA-KUUUUN!"
The ninth seat sighed into his cell phone, partially because of the noisy and over-the-top introduction, and partially because, after an awful day like this, it was nice to hear that at least Professor Shiomi Jun was doing alright.
"Yes, Jun?"
"Don't call me Jun! Anyway, I, um, I need something."
The teenage boy knit his eyebrows. "What's wrong?"
Jun laughed nervously. "No, no, nothing's wrong, it'd just… I'd like to… hire some people."
Hayama was just as confused as Jun sounded. "What are you hiring for? If you need help with your experiments, I'd be happy to…"
"No, no, it's not that," she interrupted. "It's only for a few days. I want to… try something."
Hayama shook his head, exasperated. "Could you be more specific than 'try something'?"
"Music!" she chirped. "I want to try working to live music. So I can… see how it affects the spice plants!"
Before he could interject about how stupid that was, Jun pleaded, "I just need to arrange for a handful of musicians to come over tomorrow, and get some money to pay them with. I thought, maybe, because now you're in the Elite Ten, you could… help me out?"
Jun's voice cracked and squeaked on the phone.
As dumb as the idea seemed to Hayama, he found himself unable to say no to her.
"Alright, Jun. I'll find some musicians to hire for you."
"Oh! You don't need to find the musicians. I've already found them!" After a pause and the sound of rustling papers, she stated, "I want Fay Loot, Bob Ode, Pippi P. Pare..." The list continued. Once she finished telling him the names, she wished him a good night, made him promise to take care of himself, and hung up, leaving him alone to do some research.
As Hayama looked up the musicians Jun listed, he found the names he was given were members of the Professional Band Society, with each member specializing in a woodwind instrument. If you buy their services, you need to pay for at least two days' worth of music.
The ninth seat paid online, and told the musicians to report to Jun's place the next morning. The price was steep, but he paid it anyway. After all, it was like an early Christmas gift for Jun.
Ugh. Christmas.
As thoughts of his former friends' caroling crept into Hayama's mind, he scowled and decided to go to bed.
That night, he tossed and turned in his sheets, but no matter how he tried, he could not get the song 12 Days of Christmas out of his head.
To be continued...