Hako’s Viewpoint:
In the early hours of the morning, I sat at the desk watching the twins scribble at a rapid pace. Yawning, I picked up the reports about the fallen fence and stated to organize them. There was absolute silence with no one talking.
H: Uh, hey, Souhou?
AK: Which one? I’m telling you that’s why he needs to call me Aiko.
H: Yeah… Aiko. Where are the other members?
AK: There are none. You’re the only one.
H: But there has to be another member like the treasurer and well, the other positions, right?
AK: Ryuu does our finances. Didn’t you know that? You guys are good friends, right? It’s to the side but he’s our finance guy.
H: Wait, Ryuu does that? I didn’t know.
RN: Shut up and get back to work, Denshin. You’re talking too much.
H: Yes, ma’am.
I started to type up the response plan and then stopped. I looked over at Rin and she ignored me, continuing to write.
H: Aiko, how did you choose to recruit me?
AK: Huh? I thought you knew.
H: No. But seriously.
AK: It’s because of “that”, right?
RN: Yes it is so now be quiet and do your work.
I adjusted my glasses and then stared at Rin and Akio with suspicion. Something was wrong.
RN: Denshin, please calm yourself down over there. Listen, we knew about your activities over with the Asian Sector so don’t believe for a second, I won’t resort to blackmail. I don’t care how you think you can prevent it but I’ll get it done. So, get back to work.
H: Yeah. I understand.
Finishing typing up the report, I nodded to myself. If that’s what the Souhou twins knew, it would be a valuable weapon for them. I was powerless to stop them so I drank more English breakfast tea and plowed on ahead, hoping I wouldn’t fall asleep in class again for the third consecutive day.
Mikoto’s Viewpoint:
I saw Denshin shuffle into class with a tired expression and as the first period bell rang, his head dropped straight down on the desk. Like clockwork, he fell asleep and the homeroom teacher strolled in with her usual rolls of maps she used for class. Taking out the attendance book, she started to call out roll and Denshin raised his head to answer.
HT: Denshin, you need to go to the nurse?
H: No, I’ll be fine.
HT: Okay. Starting off from where we left off yesterday…
I saw Denshin drop his head again and then I took out my notebook to take notes. As the first period teacher lectured, I stared up at the board and when third period finally arrived, I rose up to stretch. Denshin still had his head down and when I tapped him with my book, he stared up.
H: Oogane, what time is it?
M: Second period just ended. Get more sleep, Denshin. Is the student council work dragging you down that much?
H: Yeah but I’ll be fine though.
M: You sure? I could ask Seiji to talk to them if you want.
H: Seiji, huh? I don’t think it would change anything. I’ll fight through it.
M: Good luck, Denshin. I’ll try to help you in class if you need anything.
He nodded and I walked out of the classroom. Looking out in the hallway, I saw Taiga walking and I waved my hand at him. Taiga was the homeroom teacher for 2-3 and the coach for various sports teams. He stopped and then greeted me.
TG: Mikoto, do you have the reports for me?
M: I do. If you see Seiji, actually what am I talking about, you will. Anyways, could you give this to him for me?
TG: Sure, what is it?
M: It’s just some scouting on the opponent.
TG: He’ll appreciate that. Thanks again, Mikoto.
M: No problem, Taiga. I’ll be in the office after school if you need me.
TG: Okay. I’ll ask the assistant there to lend you a copy of the roster I need later for the winter sports. If you could start working on that, that would be amazing.
M: I’ll try.
TG: See you later, Mikoto. I have to go copy handouts for homeroom.
I watched Taiga run off and then I returned to the classroom. I saw Kenshin stand up and I walked over to her.
M: Do you need any help, Kenshin?
SG: No, I appreciate the offer though, Oogane.
M: I still find it amazing that you can do so many things even after being your classmate for so long.
SG: It’s not that hard for me. Actually, if you see the third period teacher, could you tell him that I went to the nurse’s office? I have an appointment right now.
M: No problem. Go ahead, Kenshin.
SG: Thanks again. Oh, by the way, if you see Seiji, could you tell him that I wanted to talk to him.
M: Yeah, sure, good luck with your appointment.
I waved good bye to Kenshin and then walked back to my seat. The third period teacher, a history buff, called attendance. Denshin snapped his head up at her call and then put on his glasses. When she reached Kenshin’s name, I told her the circumstances. She nodded and then continued on.
M: Awake now, Denshin?
H: Yeah. It’s always around the same time.
M: I see.
Third period ended and then came fourth. There was a surprise pop quiz which caught everyone off guard and then lunch arrived. I spent my lunchtime chatting with my friends and then fifth period crawled along. I almost fell asleep with five minutes left but controlled myself. At long last, sixth period ended and I yawned. Covering it, I grabbed all my stuff and headed down to the second building. All of the school’s clubs were housed there and I headed to the sports management room. I opened the door and saw only one person there.
Off A: Mikoto, you’re here early.
M: I could say the same for you, Sai.
Off A: No, I got out early so I came down here to do work? And you?
M: Paperwork.
Off A: Good luck. Here’s the stuff Taiga wanted you to have.
I thanked her and then looked over the documents that she handed me. With the current season’s paperwork not finished, I decided to prioritize it. Pushing aside the new papers and filing them away, I pulled out a pen and stated filling out the paperwork. Sai was also scribbling down words, her job as the secretary to process all the documents and send them out to the right people. When the alarm on my phone rang, I tied all the papers I finished into a bundle and then passed them to Sai.
M: Please take care of them for me.
Off A: of course. I’ll see you tomorrow.
I walked back to my dormitory room and saw Seiji walking back to the dorm as well. I called him and he turned around.
SJ: Mikoto. It’s pretty late. Sports manager work?
M: Yeah. It was pretty long. Practice?
SJ: Yeah. I managed to get a good time with Nakadachi’s help.
M: Good. I expect that from you.
SJ: Yes ma’am. So, are you planning to watch over practices soon?
M: I plan to head out on Tuesdays and Thursdays for now. I have to deal with all the paperwork Taiga’s pushing onto me.
SJ: That’s too bad. But I’ll be glad to see you there. I’ll see you later, Mikoto.
M: Be careful! Don’t hurt yourself!
SJ: I know!
I watched Seiji run off and I entered the key for the girl’s dormitory room. As I walked inside, I saw the Souhou twins leave. The meaner looking one, Souhou Rin, appeared animated and waved her hands around in exasperation. Souhou Aiko, the one with a smile, just shrugged it off and appeared to be calming her sister down. Opening the door of my room, I saw Setsuhi inside reading a book as usual.
M: Is that all you ever do?
S2: What else should I do with my time? Waste it?
M: C’mon, Setsuhi, lighten up.
S2: I told you many times to address me as Yoshimura but you insist on first names, Oogane. Why?
M: We’re roommates. There’s an implied sense of closeness.
S2: Maybe. But I don’t like it.
M: Too bad, Setsuhi. We’ve known each other for almost half a year now, it’s ridiculous to still call each other by our family names especially since we spend so much time in here together. Like I said, lighten up.
S2: I don’t know how.
M: Well maybe if you smiled a little more, people wouldn’t be so scared of you, especially the boys.
S2: I have no need for that kind of attention.
M: You grabbed that kind of attention when you became #1 on the board.
S2: Your tests are too easy.
M: Says the person who’s #1. You know how many people would love to have their name up there? A lot. Maybe half of the school.
S2: They should just study.
M: Not everyone can be like you, Setsuhi. Talk more. I see Tatsumaki try to talk to you a lot.
S2: Tatsumaki Ryuu is an idiot. He should stay out of other people’s business.
M: He’s the #2 right below you. Pretty impressive if you think about it.
S2: Maybe but he’s still an idiot. I see him talk to his friends.
M: It’s something you need. Listen, Setsuhi, I’ll try to help you but you kept rejecting time after time.
S2: I don’t need your sympathy, Oogane.
M: I saw that. You were going to say Mikoto.
S2: That’s preposterous. No such thing was going to happen.
M: Well, whatever, I’m telling you, Setsuhi, you need to make friends.
S2: I have no need of them. Excuse me, I must note down what I just read. It’s quite interesting.
Setsuhi ended the conversation and I sighed. I tried hard to break the cold, chilling layer of Setsuhi but only chipped the edges. If Tatsumaki kept trying, I had a feeling that maybe Setsuhi would break but then I laughed. If I, her roommate and the person she stayed with the longest, couldn’t smash through the layers, how could Tatsumaki? It was asking an impossible task and I laid down in bad, hoping to forget about it. Every night, I tried to convince Setsuhi but failed. Another typical night at the dorm for me.
Konomu’s Viewpoint:
Picking up the plates from Itsuki, I walked back to my dormitory room and saw Shitagou walking towards me. Deciding to test something, I shifted the balance of the plates from my right hand to the left. Shitagou paused and then asked a question.
SG: Excuse you, but do you need help carrying those dishes?
K: No, it’s fine, Shitagou. I was just testing my theory…
SG: Konomu! Heading back to our room?
K: Yes. I’ll open the door.
SG: No. You’re carrying plates. Leave it to me.
Still awed at Shitagou’s amazing senses, I allowed her to open the door. Setting the dishes back into the cupboard, I rolled my sleeves up and then sighed. We were short on ingredients and I didn’t want to go back and ask Ryuu or Itsuki for them.
SG: What’s the change in mood for, Konomu? Not enough food?
K: You’re right about that. There are ingredients we lack.
SG: Why not make it a school dinner night?
K: I feel so, eh, buying the food.
SG: Nothing wrong with the taste, Konomu.
K: I guess you’re right, Shitagou. What would you like? Actually, I think I already know.
SG: The mabo tofu? Yes I would like that with a side of rice.
K: Got it. I’ll be back soon.
SG: Be safe!
I walked to the cafeteria and saw a rare sight there. The Souhou twins were conversing at a table a few feet away from the counter. Not wanting to eavesdrop, I moved to the counter away from and ordered dinner. They scooped out the food and in a minute, they had it served in a box ready to take way. I thanked the cafeteria lady but I as I walked past the twins, I heard the name “Ryuu” mentioned. Walking back to the room, I wondered about the twin’s mentioning of Ryuu. It was odd because he had no affiliation with the twins that I knew of. Pushing the issue aside, I walked into my room with the food.
SG: Ah, smells nice. They might have added a little more than I expected based on the smell. But that’s alright.
K: I don’t know how you do it, Shitagou. Piling that spicy food into your stomach like that. It hurts when I do it.
SG: It’s easy. I just love the texture of the tofu mixed with the sharp spiciness that the sauce and ground beef carry.
K: I think I’ll stick with my serving of spaghetti.
SG: It’s your choice.
K: I happened to overhear the Souhou twins talking and heard Ryuu’s name. I wonder what’s going on?
SG: Nothing bad I think. Ryuu wouldn’t be one to get in trouble.
K: So you think. But he’s idiotic enough to lose his temper so who knows?
SG: Hmm, that does sound like him. But I think its fine. Nothing to worry about.
K: You’re right. I’m worrying for nothing.
SG: Konomu, let’s play that game after dinner.
K: Really? How do you never get bored?
SG: It’s always a good idea to train your senses.
K: You’re right. Alright, let’ do it then.
After dinner, I turned on the laptop and started up a listening program. It played audio flies in random order and asked the listener to identify the sound based on several choices listed. I played the first sound and I thought hard. Before I even looked at the answers, Shitagou yelled the answer out.
SG: Medals on a jacket colliding.
K: That’s right. How you… I mean…
SG: Practice, Konomu, practice. You can get it down too.
K: I’d guess I really tried. Alright, next one.
SG: A cat.
K: Okay, that was too easy. Even I got that one. I think this next one should be harder.
SG: It’s the humming… from a TV… no the pitch for that would be different. Ah, I got it! The fan on a computer running.
K: Right again!
We spent the entire night before sleeping identifying sounds and I eventually felt tired. Shitagou turned off the lights and then went to sleep. I leaned back on the bedpost and then stared up at the ceiling. I enjoyed the days like these, peaceful and just having fun with Shitagou. Hopefully, it would last.
Aiko’s Viewpoint:
I waited for Hako to write and poured myself another cup of tea. Rin typed on her laptop and didn’t even look up once. Looking at the clock, I saw it was 5:45 AM and then I went back to drinking the cup of tea. There was a noise outside and I bounded up. Opening the door, I saw Ryuu instead of Hako.
R: Morning. I have the data for you.
AK: You’re early. Are you sure it’s okay for you to deliver them this early?
R: It’s fine. I wake up around this time anyway.
AK: Come in then.
Ryuu walked in and took a seat opposite of mine. He yawned and then took out a pen. He asked for paper and I handed him one. He scribbled down numbers and when Rin finally finished typing, he took out the financial reports and papers for the semester.
R: This is it, Rin-senpai. I also included a few notes on how to move the money around. You’re not in the read yet but based on the current spending pattern, you have to be careful.
RN: Where does the budget fall short?
R: In the areas that Aiko-senpai manages. The ones you already made are fine.
AK: Don’t look at me like that. It’s not my fault that I want to make the school fun.
R: Regardless, you’ll have to move money around to cover for the expenses that Aiko used.
AK: Sow me, Ryuu, and I’ll try to fix them.
R: Impossible. The math doesn’t work out unless you pull some of the stuff you want to do.
AK: Ah, that’s no fun!
RN: Show me the areas.
R: I already noted the places. Read through the notes and see what you can do.
RN: Thank you, Tatsumaki. You can leave now.
R: Yeah. Time to go eat breakfast.
Ryuu left the room and left a note for Hako. I looked at the note and then drew a smiley face on it. When the time struck 6:00 AM, Hako walked in with a large stack of papers. He sighed and then saw the note that Ryuu left behind.
H: That’s weird.
AK: What?
H: He drew a smiley face. The hell is wrong with Ryuu?
AK: Oh yeah. He seemed pretty happy about it.
H: Really? I don’t think Ryuu is happy about anything.
AK: Okay, fine, I drew it.
H: Okay, well at least it’s nice. Let’s see, okay, looks like Ryuu gave me some documents to process. What am I now?
RN: A slave. Now go back to work.
AK: Stop being so hard on him.
RN: Be quiet! And get the work done. This is absurd, the money that you placed on some of the events and planning. Aiko, we need to have a talk later.
AK: Okay, I’m sorry.
I sighed and then went back to working on the work. If Rin wanted to have a talk, it never ended well. I would have to be ready for lectures and more lectures. Putting my head down, I weeped inside a little.
Lantern Dragon Works 