Instead of the sounds of birds chirping I woke up to the sound of morning traffic. Ok, I am in Tokyo, and I have school today, there are other things I got on my list today, unpacking, shopping and baking two cheesecakes.
I mentally made a to-do list for the day and opened my eyes, it seems like I have woken up before my alarm, I am glad the time zone is working in my favour for a change. Finally feeling refreshed, I rolled out of the bed and checked my phone. 6 am, impressive Kelly, I give myself an imaginary pat on the back. First thing first, bathroom, shower, put my glasses on, brush my teeth and spend 10 minutes drying my hair and another 3 minutes brushing my long and unruly hair, the thing really has a free spirit and I don’t want to fight it. I put on my uniform and jeans, left my school bag on the kitchen table, so I don’t forget it.
The fridge is already full of food, assorted vegetables, bread, and preserved meats. With eggs lined the side and milk cartons underneath. I took out the ingredients and started on the task at hand.
10 minutes later I had the coffee made, breakfast on the table and my two sandwiches for lunch, one for me and one to share. The coffee cups from yesterday is already washed and drying on the racks. I checked my phone, at 7 am, not doing too bad for a high school girl. I ate my breakfast in silence while checking my ‘lane’ messages, not bothering to switch on the tv and get in touch with the world.
It turned out Suu posted a message late last night of a touching scene in the game, he had described the art in detail and all the technical analysis he can master with an emoji of anime chibi crying. It's hard to imagine him crying. Chihiro and Tomo was gaming all the way to 2 am, are they going to be ok today? Daiichi has posted a news feed of a new animated movie that’s coming out next week and started a poll on wither to go see it as a group, below the link the description was “club research material.” And Matt replied with “Funds approved by the treasury.” They had the full intention of miss-using the club funds. The best part is that everyone will type “Goodnight” before they leave the conversations it's weird, it feels like a big family. Suu was the first to sleep, he has the habit of an old man, sleep at 10:30 pm and wake up at 5:30 am in the morning, that part hasn’t changed. Michelle was the next, followed by Matt and Daiichi while the other three went to sleep around 2 am.
The intercom rang just as I finished with washing my plate, I walked over to the intercom and pressed the pick up button.
“Good morning~” was Michelle’s face on the other side of the screen
“Good morning~”
“We are here to pick you up to school.”
“We?”
“Me, Suu, Daiichi, and Matt.”
“You know its like 7:30 am right?”
“you know school starts at 8:20 right?”
No, I forgot, again, I still need to pick up my trousers too.
“Of course, hold on I am coming down.”
“Make sure you don’t forget anything~”
I hang up the intercom, grabbed my bag and slipped on my leather loafers. I checked my pockets for my phone, wallet, and keys and walked out of the door which closed automatically behind me.
……………
The elevator had a few people in it on the way down, mostly high school students and salarymen. I could feel a lot more activity on the streets, mostly from the residence of Tokyo going to work or school. Unlike yesterday, I am a properly functioning member of society today and get to places on time.
“so where are the gamers?”
“Late as usual. They probably show up right before homeroom.”
“Are they alright? I mean with attendance and all, I heard some of us have shaky attendance.”
“They will be fine, those 3 have next to perfect attendance.”
“Eh.”
“Oh, I was referring to Daiichi and Me, and probably Matt.” Suu explained.
“Eh, Nande?” I involuntary tilted my head to the side like one of those airhead characters from an Otome manga, they make it look so cute compared to what I’m doing.
“well, Daiichi has family business to attend to, like Matt. Running a Japanese commercial company requires his English skills plus he's the oldest child.”
“Why am I not surprised anymore.” He will make a fine CEO one day I am sure of it. “What about you Suu, any excuses?”
“Making money and playing Galge. Mostly making money.”
“I thought you don’t take part-time jobs.” I started walking towards school, it seems if I don’t, the shaky attendance club is happy to stand here and have an amiable conversation in front of my apartment building.
“No, but I need to somehow pay for my apartment, food, and my expensive hobbies. Mostly Hobbies.”
“Doesn’t uncle and Aunty pay for the apartment and living expenses?”
“No.”
“Eh.”
“You are 18, go fund yourself.” Suu quoted from his mother with heavily accented English.
“Are you sure? I thought the Chinese Families look after each other.”
“No, Suu family is somewhat different you see, like that when they tried to teach me how to swim by tossing me in the pool when I was 5, or when tried to teach me how to public speak by signing me as MC for a Radio station.”
“Or how they tried to teach you how to make money by tossing you in Tokyo.”
“They did hand me $7,000 as starting the fund, with 20% interest per annum of course.”
“That is worse than shark loans.”
“Don’t worry I already paid that back.”
“That is not the point.”
“Oh, I am sure they will send me some money if I go cry to them.”
That is not the point either. How the how does an 18-year-old make seven thousand dollars in 2 months and still have enough to pay for expensive apartments and galge, mostly galge.
“What is this? Are we talking about making money?” Michelle suddenly join the conversation
“We are just getting to it.”
“There are plenty of ways to make money you know, especially with someone with looks like Matt and Suu that is properly trained.”
I think I know where this is getting.
“Please don’t tell me it’s a Host club.”
“It’s not.” Suu rejects, “I have no intention of entertaining 3D women.”
“Me neither.” Matt Agreed.
“But think about it Kelly, if we open a Host club we will only have a request from up class middle-aged women that have too much of their husbands' money to spend. We will make a killing.” I am not sure wither Michelle is a business genius or just a rotten Fujo at this point, “Just imagine the reservation line and the amount of fees I can charge per hour.”
Is that how it’s charged? Per hour? Never been to one so I couldn’t say.
“I think we will have copyright issues if we made a host club.” Wasn’t there a similar popular Manga series on this very topic? I can’t seem to recall.
“Who cares, what can they do with a bunch of high schoolers with rich family connections.”
Some times I really do feel like I am in the wrong neighbourhood.
“Anyway, how does Suu make his money?” I address the group, changing the topic.
“The same way as everyone else,” Matt explained.
“Define everyone else please.” I had to
“So in an anime,” Matt began
Ok, I can see the ending.
“There are always these filthy rich normies in anime right?”
I nodded my head.
“And they all seem to run a business or play in the stock markets.”
I can’t really recall any names of those normies in animes but that sounds like the majority of them
“So, me, Daiichi and Michelle run business.”
“And Suu, our Anime character, plays the stock market.”
“Its more like the inner Chinese Gambling addict within me plays the stock market.”
I feel like it’s not Gambling if it was Suu, he would be simply taking money out of the pockets of the poor middle-aged men and women who wanted to genuinely invest in the market.
“We are really giving middle-aged people a hard time today aren’t we?”
“Nani?” Michelle tilted her head like one of those air-headed characters in an Otome manga, god she makes it look even cuter somehow.
“Don’t worry, I was talking to myself.” I apologise to all the middle-aged population deeply in my heart.
Our Middle-aged conversation about business and money-making ended when we passed the school gates, I managed not to break my nose today. Michelle took my hand and we headed to Sachi-onee-san’s office while the boys headed to class.
“Sachi-nee~” Michelle knocked on the door, it seems Sachi-nee is very popular in this school.
“Come in.” Was the quick reply.
Michelle opened the door and walked in, I followed, still holding her hand.
“Already made friends I see, that good.” Sachi-nee got out of the chair and walked towards the back to retrieve what seemed to be my new trousers. “We are after this?” She asked.
“Yes please.” was my answer
“Go on, put it on.”
“I still don’t understand why you prefer trousers, skirts would look so cute on you.” This time Michelle offered her opinion. Why does everyone want to dress me up?
“It's against my religion.” I lied
“Pff.” Michelle isn’t buying any of it. She locked the office door behind her as Sachi-nee guided me to the change room at the back, which is only a curtain on a circular track.
“tell me if it fits, although I doubt very much there will be any problems.” Sachi-nee offered.
I quickly took off my shoes slides off my jeans and put on the trousers. It looks just like the trousers the boys are wearing, but somehow it looks more feminine, with all the curves in the right places it somehow made my legs look longer. The best part is that Sachi-nee kept all the pockets which I very much liked. I turned around in the mirror a few times decided that my complete uniform looks nice.
“I’m impressed, it suits you,” Michelle observed
“It does, maybe the trousers weren’t so bad after all. But I still want to see Kelly wearing skirts.”
Sachi-nee handed me a plastic bag with the school logo on it for the jeans I just took off.
“Thank you so much, I’ll bring some chess cake next time.”
“I’ll be waiting. Go head to class now or you will be late again.”
Michelle and I thanked her one last time before we headed out of the office, now that I have my full set of uniform, it finally feels like I have settled in the school, I am still trying to get my bearing right around the building but I have remembered most of it.
I left the plastic bag with my Jeans in it in my shoe locker after changing into indoor shoes and headed to class 3A with Michelle. Shion rushed in right before the bell rang with messy hair and some bread crumbs on his cheeks, great, another anime cliché. I had this mental image of Shion running full speed with a piece of bread in his mouth.
I think coming into class with Michelle did a good reputation on me, There are fewer stares of death from the population during morning break and the fact that Suu and Daiichi didn’t bother talking to me was a blessing to me. Now that I look around, all the students are in their little groups as High school students do. Only Michelle, Matt and Suu were left alone, Shion is talking with a group of boys, even I have a ring of people around me trying to get to know me better.
“What does your family do?”
“Nothing much, they just work in companies.”
“What are your hobbies?”
“Baking and reading.” Reading mangas I mean “Sometimes I would like to watch movies.” Anime movies that is.
“You do any sports?”
“Netball.” I lied, can’t tell these people I got my black belt in Aikido during middle school.
“I’ve heard of that sport, isn’t that indecent basketball like game where you have to play in a mini skirt?”
Never heard of it being described like that, but yes mostly true. I avoided the question.
“Do boys have to wear skirts too?”
“I sure hope not.”
No comment. This could only get more complicated and I don’t want any part of that.
“How good is your Japanese?”
“I can manage,” I replied that in Japanese.
“You have a boyfriend?” One of the girls asked, as always, I can feel the boys listening to this conversation tense up a little.
“No comment.” It was my best answer.
“What’s your favorite food?”
“Ramen.” In fact, I feel like some ramen for dinner.
“What do you think of the current financial market?”
Sorry, what? Is that some question a high schooler should be asking?
“In Japan? Sustainable.”
“Any of your relatives work in Japan?”
“My mother used to, but the company needed her in other places.”
I see what’s going on, this bunch of people are more than just high schoolers, they are judging not only me but my family backgrounds and my family connections. Should I play with them a little? No, I am not an evil glass wearing character, even though I have the signature square glasses.
“Are there any interesting things about this school? I tried turning the tide
“Not that I am aware of, it’s just a normal international school.” That was a blatant lie
“We do have a good cafeteria menu since most of the students live by themselves.” One of the boys offered a good pointer. I added in my mental note to drop by sometime. All girls secretly want to have good food but unfortunately, the all judgemental scale in my bathroom doesn’t like that very much. To be honest, It probably broken after 2 years of not being used, my numbers don’t look right this morning.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“The school is privately owned, instead of having a principle, we call him CEO.”
“Have you decided to a club?” One of the girls asked, “Why not join the literature club?”
“Sorry, Kelly already sold her soul to the MP club.” Michelle chuckled on the table next to me, joining the conversation.
“That’s right, we have assigned Kelly as our new advisor.” Shion joined the conversation, when did he start walking from the other side of the room. I can still see dark circles underneath his eyes, are those games worth it Shion? Are they? Not that I have ever stayed up to watch an entire season of anime. Not et el.
Now that I think about it, there would be lots of girls who would gladly sell their souls to Michelle to join the MP club. I looked over towards Daiichi and Suu. Daiichi seems to be writing down something on his notes while staring at his phone screen while Suu had his ears phones on and playing a rhythm game on his phone, I can tell by how fast his fingers are tapping on the screen. Hope you get a full combo Suu you open otaku.
How come no one joined the club for the last 2 years? I remember Suu mentioning we had no new members from the lower year levels. That was the question I had as the bell rang.
……………..
Math Class was hard, I didn’t expect the curriculum to be this advanced in third-year high school. I am thankful for all the top tier teachers we get in this school, Sachi-nee, Ellen Sensei who turned out to be our homeroom teacher, and our Physics teacher yesterday. Being able to explain the fundamental theory behind formulas and applying equations to real-life takes real skill. And our middle-aged Mr. Math teacher who probably invests his paycheque in the stock market only to be stolen by Suu is very talented at teaching. I felt like I can finally learn something in math class for once.
After Math it was Lunch, I was tempted to check out the cafeteria but the sandwiches I made will go to waste, so I discarded the thought. Once again, Tomo and Chihiro had joined us in our classroom. They look more like pandas than Shion. Are those games worth it? Are they? Not that I had stayed up to read an entire series of Manga before.
.......................
“Where is Matt?” Daiichi asked as we headed to the rooftop
“Probably got called in for another meeting.” Chihiro Replied, he was gone the moment lunch bell rings.
“Is that going to be ok? He just left in the middle of the school.” I am concerned about the school’s security.
“it will be alright, as I said the school is flexible when it comes to businesses, especially when his family has a stake in the School.” Daiichi dropped a Bombshell again, I think I am getting used to it.
“That makes sense.” Damn its Matt, can you have any more points in popularity? Next, they are going to tell me his the school CEO’s son. No? Are we good, no more bombshells? Good.
We sat down on the table from yesterday, it almost felt like this was our reserved spot.
“By the way, Michelle’s mother is the CEO of the school.”
I slammed my forehead on the lunch box.
“No, that was a lie, sorry I just had to.” Damn you Suu
“Doesn’t the Suu family have stakes in almost everything? Education, real-estate, half of Malaysia?” That was a question from Michelle.
“To be honest I really don’t know, our extended family is too big.” Suu replied., “I wouldn’t be surprised if a subsidiary of a corporation owned by one of my relatives has a stake in the school as well.”
I don’t know either, I’ve met with papa-Suu and mama-Suu all the time and they seem to be normal functioning individuals of society. They do have a lot of free time on their hands though.
“Is it normal to ask these questions?”
“I’m comfortable with it.”
“Me too.”
“yeah couldn’t hurt.”
“No point in hiding it, most of this stuff is public information anyway.”
That last comment from Suu had me wondering what they would be involved in to be listed as public information.
The conversation turned to anime and anime news as lunch continued, Matt showed up when its almost finished. I passed him the extra sandwich I made, that I had no intention of eating it by myself, not at all, not a little bit. Which he wolfed down in seconds, most likely didn’t taste any of it anyway. I am curious how does it taste to him, I quite liked it.
“Alright, Meeting in the club room right after class today,” Daiichi instructed as we are packing up for our afternoon classes. “Suu can you make it on time.”
“Of course Boss.”
“Good, come prepared everyone.”
“Yes, Boss.” I don’t know what I need to prepare for but sounds like a pain, I mean, plan.
................
Japanese class was brilliant, I am intrigued about the language and the teacher had made it fun and engaging. How much is the school paying these people I wonder?
I quickly packed my bag as the bell rang, Michelle, Suu, Shion, and Daiichi are doing the same. They are looking forward to this judging from the big smirks on their faces. Anything that gets these elites worked up can’t be easy.
We met Matt, Tomo, and Chihiro in the hallway. The full party marched upstairs, against the traffic of people going home, they simply moved out of the way as always. I need some time to get used to this. We met the PC club members on the way up, they too had this weird smirk on their faces and eyes full of determination. Apart from that, they are just normal high school students…. with millions of Yen for the club budget. If the MP club got the least funding this year, how much did they have? I sure don’t want to find out, especially when they have to make it all back.
The meeting began as soon as we entered the room. Everyone sat down on their respective chair, apparently, I am now always going to be sandwiched between Matt and Michelle. Daiichi is the only one standing. He pushed a few buttons on the wall that I had totally overlooked yesterday. The drop-down windows went dark, what is this? Some sort of Japanese technology? And a projector screen rolled down, a projector came down from the ceiling and is warming up. Right above the center of the table.
What is this? Japanese technology???
Daiichi plugged his laptop into the slot at the head of the table and produced a remote control. “So this is the best timeline I can come up with, with final exams, school trips, summer holidays and autumn school festivals taken out of the equation,” Daiichi explained. He fired a laser pointer from the remote he was holding and guided our attention to the timeline.
We just entered May, so that leaves us with, 6 months if we take away all the other events Daiichi had mentioned. What is? A joke? How can anyone produce an RPG in just 6 months?
“Any objections?” Daiichi addressed the room, I kept quiet, praying someone else with more sense than me would speak up. “No? Good, let's move on.”
What do you mean Good let's move on?? Daiichi Prez, I thought you had a head screwed on straight, why have you forsaken us!
“This time we are creating an Action Fantasy RPG, with Cute characters and Great plotline as focus, the play style can be simple but satisfying.” Daiichi rushed ahead, “This time, instead of a short film we will have to deal with publishers to work out a deal, which means we have around 4 months to get the game into the Alpha stage, of course, we will publish this as an Indi title around the world, it will be offered in Japanese, English, and Chinese while voiced in Japanese. Is that do-able Suu?”
“Yes, Prez.”
“Good, the artworks will have to be outsourced however, I believe none of us have any skills in drawing what so ever.”
“No Prez.”
That was a sad answer considering how much anime and manga we ingest as a group yet none of us have any artistic talents.
“Any chance to get the art club involved?” Tomo asked?
“With a fee, I believe we can.” Was Michelle’s answer, “have you got enough provisions for that Matt?”
“Not much, but maybe we can work out a deal, most of the funds are going to 3D Models and 3D Maps from Vietnam.”
Vietnam???? Did I just hear Vietnam?
“I’ll take care of relations on that one.” Was Daiichi’s answer.
“Also, we will need to have to use open source music for this, which comes with a bunch of legal responsibilities especially when it’s a commercial project.” Matt the treasurer continued.
LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES????
“Done, I can take care of the music part.” Was Chihiro’s contribution, “Matt and Daiichi be prepared to record some Guitar and Piano duo.”
“Deal.”
Eh, they can play music?
“That leaves the character design and the plot. Matt and Michelle, 2 weeks is enough? Suu will need that done before we can chain them together into a story.”
“It's not that easy you know, we need a setting first.” Matt objected.
Suu produced a piece of printed document from his bag, it had drawings on it too.
“Here is the one I prepared earlier,” Suu quoted from a cooking show, “As long as you provide me with a loli cleric equipped with a bladed weapon and maxed out on evasion you can do whatever you want with the rest.”
That sounds overpowered as hell, if was the game master I will not like that fly. I’ve seen Suu’s Cleric characters in RPGs, he will always find a way to abuse the weakest class in-game.
“Deal.” If all deals can be made this fast, Australia wouldn’t be in financial troubles. Matt and Michelle already started reading the fantasy world Suu created within the past 24 hours, just when does he find time for this stuff is beyond me. But judging by the Character Design teams faces they are more than impressed with the work. They are literally holding a world in their hands, created by his almighty Suu. I hope it’s not too delusional.
“I’ll work on finding a good game engine with Shion then.” Tomo concluded, “It’s a good idea to work on learning the codes early in the process. Pass me the world design when you are done please Matt.”
Daiichi Prez updated his schedule and sent it to Matt on email. “I will get you a costing on outsourcing tomorrow once I heard back from Vietnam. Can you provide a list of costs?”
“Already done. Just need a few adjustments.”
“Impressive.”
“Always.”
I have witnessed the birth of a new RPG in the past 10minute, they really don’t waste their time on meetings. Once something is agreed on they will simply move on to tackle the issue. If all the companies can function like this, we will have fewer delays in games and anime. And those cursed recap episodes will never exist in the first place.
“What do I do?” I asked. “reading manga and watching anime sounds fun but I should do something.”
“I am sure you have plenty of work to do once Suu is done with his script, as our dear English advisor I’ll have you translate.”
That sounds easy enough, everyone else is already digging into the parts of the job. Matt and Michelle are typing away on their keyboards with character descriptions. Chihiro put on his big headphones and already browsing websites.
“Suu, Kelly, come with me.” Daiichi pressed the button to roll up the screen and brighten the windows, made sure everyone had something to do, and added, “It’s time for diplomacy.”
.......................
I still couldn’t understand how a high school club suddenly turned into a high-performance development team in a matter of seconds. And our Glorious leader Daiichi Prez is leading the group unfazed. He seems so caring and mellow outside of the club. I shall name this version of Daiichi Alpha prez.
“Where are we headed to?” I asked Suu as we followed behind Alpha Prez.
“Judging by the floor, we are heading to the art club first.”
“So we are there to make a deal with them?”
“Most likely.”
How did my happy go lucky light novel lifestyle turned into some hyped upcoming of age anime where the characters struggled every day to complete a project under impossible time frames? I just want to roll around, read manga and watch anime without feeling guilty been surrounded with these high-performance High schoolers.
“Tell me Suu, you are the one who put together this team right?”
“Of course.”
“And the reason why you haven’t recruited anyone from lower year levels is that you already have the perfect team.”
“Partly,” Suu had to think about this one for a little. “I just enjoyed the friend's circle and I don’t want anyone ruin it. Same reason why the students in every school operate in their little groups and won’t let anyone else in. Quite childish isn’t it.?
“No, coming from a high schooler, it’s perfectly normal, I think everyone else agrees with you too. They really do appreciate the club.”
“I do hope so.”
“Alright, we are here. Remember to be polite, we are here to make friends, not to cause trouble.”
“Yes, Alpha Prez.” Shimata, That slipped out of the mouth.
“Yes, Alpha prez.” Suu joined in, his amused face only going to mean that Daiichi’s new title going to stick.
Ignoring us, Alpha Prez knocked on the door of the art club. I looked up, apparently, this is the art room. Someone had come to the door and opened it for us, I can see the projector screen much like ours had just been rolled up. It seems like they had a spartan meeting just like ours. I can see about 10 members hurriedly getting things ready for whatever they are planning this year. Alpha Prez turned his attention towards one of the girls already in art smogs, her short blonde hair curled next to her shoulders. She had a cute flower hair clip and her green eyes reminded me of the rivers of new-Zealand. She is about the same height as me but her skin is lighter than my Aussie Sun tanned tomato skin. She seems to recognise Daiichi straight away.
“I was expecting you, a little late, are we?”
“My apologies Shiori. We had a new member with us this year.” Is it ok to call her Shiori Alpha Prez?
Shiori looked over his shoulders in my direction and gave me a warm smile, oh my god she is cute.
“So, how can we help this year? Just letting you know the Literature clubs already booked artworks for their light novels.”
“Oh, nothing much, just 200 characters and 30 backgrounds.”
Is that how much we need?
“What are you planning exactly this year? That sounds a lot less than last year.” Shiori looked troubled, “it was difficult to do all those scenes you know. But you did pay us handsomely for it.”
“We are creating a RPG,” Daiichi spilled the beans already.” Lots of interesting characters.”
“And I assume it’s going have to be anime style.”
“You know us best, Shiori.”
The adorable Shiori made a little sigh and dropped the brush, “You know this isn’t going to be cheap, there are only 2 members of this club that can produce what you wanted.”
“How much.”
“20%”
“Deal.”
What? What 20%? What deal just we make?
“Alpha Prez, don’t you think 20% is a little too much?” Suu whispered next to Daiichi.
“Think you can find anyone else can get it done on time?”
“No prez.”
“Then that’s a deal. Sorry to bother your club, I’ll send Michelle and Matt later with the character descriptions and details.”
“You are welcome, thank you for business.” Shiori waved us goodbye warmly as we made it towards the door. The meeting took no more than 2 minutes and we already made 20% on who knows what deal.
.........
“20% of what did we just sign away?” I asked Alpha Prez
“The total profit of the game sales.”
“That’s a lot of money you know.”
“We’ll just make it back, no problem.”
“There it is, Daiichi’s special Money diplomacy.” Suu chipped in.
“Please, I call it investments.”
“Does that mean the art club will have to rely on our club to perform well for them to get a decent income?” Was my take on the situation?
“Exactly, they are confident by their artwork alone they will increase the sales potential of other clubs,” Daiichi explained.
“Maybe Daiichi just has a crush on their cute Prez.” Suu dug in from no where.
“Maybe.” Daiichi not at all fazed. “Its public information anyway.”
I want to know where people in this school are getting their public information from! Is there a Shinjuku International High Wiki somewhere? Link Kudasai~. Also, I didn’t know Daiichi has a crush on Shiori. I don’t blame him, I would too. Would they make a good couple? I tried picturing them together in my head. Not as Alpha Prez but as Daiichi. He would have a very good chance. I mean prez is good looking and good at looking after other people, so nice and kind, plus rich…..And have a future ahead of him….” Ok Kelly, time to snap out of it, this thought process isn’t good. I am sure we will deal with Shiori often enough.
“Alright Suu, Your turn.” Alpha prez had stopped in front of the PC club room, I do remember hearing something about a new computer for coding yesterday.
“Aye aye, sir.” Suu saluted Daiichi, which anime is this from again? And knocked on the door.
The door slides open shortly after. I can feel warm air coming out of the room.
“Andrew, how are you.”
“Good, what brought you here prez”
There are too many prez’s in my life right now.
Andrew is a fair-skinned youth with brown hair and eyes. His curly hair looks fluffy and comfortable to pat and his eyes sparkled curiosity and intelligence. Seems like Suu knows him well, but then again, he is the prez of all prez’s….and their budget rests in his hands……and he can basically abuse his power all he wants…… No, too dark, come back Kelly.
“We here to rent a new PC, I am sure we can scrunch up a few parts around the place for us.”
“What you are using it for?” Andrew asked, pulling out a note pad and a pen
“We are making a game, probably lots of 3D rendering.”
“You know that will not come cheap.”
“That’s why we are renting, and if we somehow manage to fry it, I shall take no responsibility.”
Is that even allowed?
“30 thousand yen.”
That’s a lot of money, how many bowls of ramen is that????
“Deal.”
“upfront, please.”
“Let me call Matt, hold on.” Suu pulled out his phone and dialed in Matt’s number.
“Suu, whats up.” Matt is on the other side of the phone.
“We need 30,000 yen in PC clubs account,” Suu instructed. “We are renting a PC for the year.”
“Done” Matt instructed.
“Thank you, Matt, ~” Suu hangs up the phone on him.
A message buzzed inside Andrews pocket, I assume it’s the transfer notification.
“Alright, it will be delivered within 1 hour to the MP Room.”
“Make it 30 minutes.”
“We’ll do our best, but I need to guarantee quality and security.” Inside Andrews' head, the PC is already been built. “Let me get to work.”
He simply shut the door on us.
“I don’t see diplomacy anywhere.” Was all I could manage. Yes there are other things I can take a jab on, but I felt mentally tired. I am trying not to drown in the plot development in the past 5 minuts.
“Money is the best diplomacy.” Daiichi answered, “By the way, how much would that PC cost if we bought it.”
“Probably about 210,000 yen. Technology isn’t cheap you know.”
Wait a minute, that is almost 15% of our total club budget! I am starting to think 1.5million Yen isn’t such a large amount for our money diplomacy club.
“And just how much budget did the PC club get this year?”
“Classified.”
“I sure hope they can pay it back.”
“Me too.” Was Suu’s response. He doesn’t have much confidence in them, but at least he will not be the one shutting the club down if their new product decides to flop. I sure hope it doesn’t. He reminds me of some loan companies prescribing someone a loan that they can’t repay so they can take their assets. I am sure Suu doesn’t have those motives, maybe he just believes in the PC club and their business venture.
“Daiichi, head back first, I’ll get some drinks.”
“Good idea, something with a little sugar in it for me please.”
“I’ll tag with Suu, don’t think he can carry all of that.”
Daiichi headed upstairs to the club room while Suu and I headed downstairs towards the cafeteria where they have vending machines. We ended up buying 5 Pocaris, 2 green teas, and that foul sweet coffee for Matt. Suu swiped his phone on the Vending machine to pay for it. Japanese technology.
“Didn’t know Prez had a crush on Shiori-chan.” I started.
“Me neither,” replied Suu, “At least not until a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, but didn’t he say it was public information?”
“Anything is public information if you research hard enough.”
So that’s what they all mean
“I do hope something works out between those two.”
“It’s a lot more complicated for people like Daiichi, his family is traditional and when you that high up in the world, even if Shiori returns his feelings, Daiichi is still going have to convince his family.” Suu explains, “that being said, I don’t know much about Shiori’s family status, maybe they could be very much compatible.”
“You make this sound like one of those books, what was the name? Pride and prejudice?”
“That’s exactly what I am referring to.” Suu agreed “I doubt his family will mind if he was just playing around and looking for a girlfriend.”
“I don’t think Daiichi is that type of person.”
“That is the biggest problem, it makes it overly complicated for himself and Shiori.”
“You think Daiichi has a chance.”
“I’ve worked with Shiori on the project last year, she is smart enough to understand that this is the last year for the Multimedia production club and that we have nothing to lose.” Suu explained, “If we fail, her club might not survive.”
“Then why.”
“Because love can be very blinding,” Suu concluded. I almost expect him to give me the name of the anime he got the quote from. But I got no reply. If Suu is correct, I am happy for Daiichi, but also a little sad that this will not play out like a simple rom-com, in fact, it could be the worst-case scenario. This is how tragedies are born and I do hope Daiichi would confess and get rejected.
“What about you? And everyone else.”
“Who knows.” Was all I could drag out of Suu. We climbed the stairs to our club room and re-joined the mayhem. Daiichi is on the phone calling someone. Everyone else is on their computers, their hands moving as fast as they could. All I could do is distribute the drinks, Pocaris for the boys, coffee for Matt and Green tea for the girls. Every time I see Daiichi I can picture Shiori’s Happy face. I shake my head, no I don’t know how Shiori feels yet, don’t rush to conclusions.
“Ok done,” Matt stated, “Is that enough for you Suu?”
“Four girls and three males.” Michelle Added.
“That is plenty. give me a copy of the character sheets.”
“we’ll work on the side characters and NPCs later, this should get you started.”
“We’ll pop over to see Shiori-chan.” Michelle got up with her laptop “Prez, everything is good with the art club?”
Daiichi gave her a thumbs-up as he kept his conversation on the phone, he seems to be used to multitasking.
Michelle and Matt left the room. Chihiro handed Suu a Memory Stick.
“Here are all the music I could find that we can legally use for free. If it helps.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll join the boys with the coding, it looks like they are having fun.”
Suu took out his earphones, plugged it into the computer with the Memory stick. Listening to the soundtracks as he read what Matt and Michelle had created for him. After his done. Suu leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. And opened the word document on this laptop. The look on his face changed, his eyes focused on the screen and his breathing slowed. The god of this fantasy world is about to type life into these characters and breath a soul into them. It is an amazing experience, I have seen Suu done this before once, he would always create the characters in his fantasy world first, and then let the characters decide how the story unfolds. It’s like an adventure game when he writes, even Suu himself doesn’t know where it is taking him. He merely drifts with the story and become a part of it, the characters would grow and develop as they wish, and Suu is only there to guide them.
As Suu is immerses in his own world he created, he missed the knock on the door when the PC club delivered our goods. The PC is smaller than I imagined but Tomo and Shion seemed to be very impressed with the specs. The PC club even borrowed one of their screens to us and set it up on one of the empty sits. It's only then I realized the table have power points on the underside of it. Which the PC is now connected into. I am starting to feel that the club might just finish this game in 6 months. Hopefully, make some money out of it too. I am still not getting used to the idea of money-making in a high school, but hey, money is money.