CH 207

<TL: I’ll be using Sakura and Cherry Blosson interchangeably>

The season has come to a close, and the calendar has entered October, a month with double-digit numbers.

At Sakuranaoka Academy, where the excitement of the Sports Festival had not yet cooled down, the next event was almost upon us.

In the classroom where tension and anticipation are mixed, it was Shiraishi Momiji, the head of Sakura Festival Executive Committee, who spoke up.

“We will now begin the second part of the Sakura Festival, the Cultural Festival.”

As the executive committee meeting was held in the AV room on the second floor of the first year building, Shiraishi was standing on the podium where the teachers usually stand.

On the blackboard behind her, ‘About the Cultural Festival’ is written in large letters, and the students listened with their eyes shifting between the materials in their hands and Shiraishi’s.

A total of 38 students, including two representatives from each class, the student council members, and three students, Ogiwara Yuuto, Kanazaki Shizuku, and Kirasaka Rei, are gathered in the room.

The regular students are sitting in the front of the room, and the student council and Shizuku and the others are sitting in the back.

I sat at the very back of the room, where I could see the whole scene.

As I expected, there were no students chatting or laughing once the meeting started, as they had been selected as committee members.

After confirming that there was nothing else to talk about, Shiraishi began to introduce herself.

“I am Shiraishi Momiji, the head of the Sakura Festival Executive Committee. This year’s festival, …we will call it the Cherry Blossom Festival from now on, is the biggest student event during the year. I would like to thank you all for your cooperation.”

The students applauded Shiraishi after she finished her greeting, although it was only a formal self-introduction since they had already finished meeting each other and introducing themselves at the sports festival.

When the applause stopped, Shiraishi held up a handout that had been distributed to the committee members.

“The Sports festival held the other day was a kind of recreation, if I may say so. Please read this printout on the premise that the purpose of the festival is to deepen the interaction among the students and to transfer their feelings to the actual Cherry Blossom Festival.”

Shiraishi’s original assertive attitude is still in place, and even though she is a first-year, she clearly tells the upperclassmen that it’s her personal opinion.

In my opinion, Shiraishi will be able to show her abilities without regret when it comes to organizing meetings and organizational management.

She determines the outline of the conversation and anticipates the responses.

She can respond to inquiries from students by preparing answers in advance that are close to standard answers.

In the unlikely event that an unforeseen situation arises, there would be time to consider the question if it does not require an immediate answer.

It should be reassuring to her that, unlike during the election, she will also have the student council behind her.

I don’t know what …she think of me.

However, I also agree with the idea that the sports festival is a form of recreation… it’s just an opening prelude to improve performance.

That’s fine with the average student.

There is no doubt that it will be a fun event in which the students get along well together and enjoy their youth.

However, the students who are here are the representatives of each class.

They are the ones who are directly responsible for the success or failure of the festival, and they should not be left in a festive mood forever.

If they want to make the event a success as committee members, they must first accept that fact before moving on.

If there are students who view Shiraishi in negative as the committee head because of her age or lack of experience, then they are not the right people to be here.

We have to think about starting over from the selection process.

“…”

“…”

Everyone became silent at the words of Shiraishi, the serious-looking first-year and executive committee head.

Fortunately, no one had any complaints against Shiraishi, which was a good start.

“This is a survey of last year’s visitors and applicants, and of course, our main goal this year is to beat those numbers.”

First of all, I was relieved to see Shiraishi’s behavior in presenting a clear goal for all students, and then my gaze turned to the seat where the student council was sitting.

“Now, …before we move on to the main topic, is there anything that President would like to share?”

“No. Today is the first meeting for the Cherry Blossom Festival. The student council would like to know the policies of the executive committee members, so I am not going to interrupt you with words.”

President shakes her head at the question posed to her.

She did not stand up, but simply replied in a voice loud enough to be audible to all the students.

The student council is only in a position to monitor the activities and policies of the committee members to make sure they are correct.

If necessary, the Student Council’s main activity is to provide manpower or to talk to the teachers.

However, even if there is an executive committee, the student council has a big say.

No …to be precise it would be the voice of Hiiragi Akane, not the student council.

Even if the proposal was submitted with the consensus of the executive committee, if the president expressed a negative opinion, that alone would force a reconsideration.

Even if the student council is a separate organization from the executive committee, it is not an entity that can be ignored.

Because even if it is the committee that manages the Cherry Blossom Festival, it does not mean that it can color the event as it likes.

It is the responsibility of the students to persuade the school of the merits and demerits of their actions.

Of course, the student council has the same responsibility.

That’s why the student council is not left to do everything, but rather, the work is divided among the right people in the right places.

But, on the other hand, it also means that the students trust us that much.

Every year, the Sakura Festival is a success.

The majority of the students are expecting this year’s festival to be a great success as well.

“The third-years are busy with exams and other activities, so the first- and second-year students will take on the heavy workload. As for the details, we are asking Kirasaka-senpai from the executive committee and Miura-senpai from the student council to take on the accounting and accounting related work.”

Miura, who had her gaze caught by Shiraishi’s explanation, stood up and bowed her head in a gesture of thanks.

Kirasaka, on the other hand, did not make the slightest move when the topic came up and kept her eyes on the documents.

“In addition, for the negotiations with the students, Ogiwara-senpai and Kanazaki-senpai will represent the executive committee, and Koizumi-senpai will represent the student council.”

The next two people whose names came up were greeted with a small but audible cheer.

Especially the female students are looking at Yuuto with passionate eyes.

…It can’t be, did they participate in the executive committee meeting just because Yuuto was going to be a part of it?

Shizuku also smiled, bowed, and exchanged silent greetings with the students.

As discussed beforehand, the meeting proceeded with a review of the organizational chart.

If the third-year students are the core of the organization, they can manage the school stably through experience, but on the other hand, they have to spend more time on their higher education and career activities.

In past years, third-year students have been given support, advice, and the helm for their own class productions, with the juniors taking care of the major tasks.

We should note that this was something I didn’t know about until I joined the student council. It was top secret, wasn’t it?

Surely not because I wasn’t interested, but because I never had the opportunity.

…Yeah, right.

Once the representatives in charge of their respective areas stood up, took a bow, and finished meeting each other, the agenda moved on.

The time available was too short to proceed and we had to proceed with the meeting in that limited time.

“Please see the second page of the handout, where you will find a chart that pulls out the current year’s budget as well as past years’ budgets.”

“…”

The sound of paper turning resounds through the classroom.

I have heard that some people have a sound fetish and like the sound of paper, and I turned the page as well, thinking that a person taste is a mysterious thing.

I am more than a little taken aback when I see the paper listing the approximate budgets for this year, last year, and previous years.

The amount of money was an order of magnitude different from any allowance or purchase I knew of.

It was an amount that my monthly allowance would take years to reach.

“The next page shows the budget ratios based on the past data and the desired performances by each class…”

Shiraishi’s words, which had been going smoothly up to this point, were interrupted.

I looked at that hand with a confused expression on my face but soon realized the reason why.

Next to the column with the overall budget, the costs that would be incurred if the plan were to proceed as desired were listed in red letters.

The cost of purchasing equipment, plus the cost of renting it, plus the cost of food, if any, plus the sales that would rise or fall depending on the weather and temperature, etc., were all calculated and written separately.

To be honest, I did not expect her to have even made calculations based on the weather and temperature, but I guess Miura and Kirasaka must have come up with these calculations.

I would have thought that these two would have been able to handle this level of forecasting and calculation without much trouble.

As a result, the budget was in red, and with this, no matter how exciting the Cherry Blossom Festival was, the evaluation by the faculty would end in failure.

“What exactly is causing this…?”

“Well…”

When I asked Kirasaka, who was sitting in the seat in front of me, she took out a red pen and drew a line on a particular number.

As Shizuku next to her also watches as quite a few lines are drawn, I took it from Kirasaka, who turned around with it.

“Some of the classes are over-budgeting overall, but I wonder if there’s a particular problem here.”

“…”

Leaning forward from the seat in front of me, Shizuku also looks down at the paper.

I’m curious to know if the nice smell that’s wafting through the air is shampoo!

My thoughts have gone in an unnecessary direction, but I redirect them and turn my attention to the numbers.

Certainly, it is questionable that the amount of money for the class applying with the coffee shop is close to the amount of money for the class applying with food, but what is more noticeable is that the club activities that rarely incur expenses had a larger budget than expected.

“What the heck is this …Cosplay match?”

The baseball team’s submission made no sense.

What do these guys want to do, play a match with cosplay on?

“I heard that each team will wear a different color maid outfit for the game.”

“What kind of torture is that?”

Last year, the athletic teams also had games on the field, and since they buy costumes for them, their amount spent was quite high…

I mean, the choice of maid uniforms really shows the bad taste of the baseball team.

As I let out a sigh of exasperation, thinking that I need to take Yuuto and the others to think about changing the proposal here, I heard the door at the rear of the classroom open.

I checked to see who had entered, and there was the student council advisor, Sudo-sensei.

I was wondering if he had come to check on the meeting when I saw him silently walking up to us and stopping next to the president.

“Hiiragi, I need to talk to you for a moment.”

“A moment, sir? …If you have a few minutes to spare, it would be great if it’s after the meeting. It’s our first meeting.”

President answered without hesitation to Sudo-sensei’s stern face, but her wish was never fulfilled.

“No, it has to do with the Sakura Festival. Koizumi and Miura, as I recall, have important roles to play on the executive committee. …Then, Shinra, you come too.”

“I’ve a feeling I have a lot of roles to play as well.”

“I don’t think so.”

Although I have not received a role of special importance, my instinct tells me to refuse the invitation.

I said this by exuding an aura of complete disgust, but it doesn’t work on faculty members.

The answer came really quickly.

Those relentless words hurt my petty pride.

President silently follows me, seemingly unconcerned with my slight depression, and as I turn on my heel and return to the door of the classroom.

The moment President passed next to me, she grabbed me by the sleeve of my uniform and forcibly took me away.

“Minato-kun…”

“Sorry …let me hear the contents later.”

After briefly telling Shizuku and Kirasaka, who were looking at me with concern, I left the classroom following President without protest.

Well, …I know from my experience of reading numerous light novels that what comes after this is not a good development.

As I silently proceeded down the corridor, I inwardly prayed that the level of trouble to be low.

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