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Countless trending topics like these were plastered all over SNS.
#Keigo Higashino Is No Match For Copycat Sensei#
#In The 21st Century Japan May Produce Its Next Great Literary Legend#
#Clannad! A Work That Rivals the World Classic No Longer Human#
#Is This Farce? Just Full-Drive Bunko's Weird Marketing? Or a Deliberate Smear Campaign?#
Across the internet, people were already talking about Clannad, even though the light novel hadn't been released yet.
And, naturally, they were talking about "Copycat" too, the seventeen-year-old author who had shot to fame overnight.
The opinions were all over the place.
...
..
After finishing his game, Oikawa Toru threw himself back into planning the Christmas event, completely oblivious to the online war raging around him.
And honestly, even if he had noticed, he probably wouldn't have cared.
"Damn, I'm exhausted. Why does it feel like I'm the student council president? Isshiki Iroha's basically just the puppet they put in front of the stage."
Oikawa stretched and rolled his neck.
On his computer screen was the draft proposal for the Christmas Event.
Though calling it an "event" wasn't quite accurate. It was more like a Christmas concert. The theme was family togetherness.
After all, the main attendees would be elderly people living near the two schools, along with some elementary school kids.
The performances were split into five parts: Classical music, orchestra, jazz, hymns, and Christmas carols.
When marking down the orchestra segment, Oikawa instinctively thought back to Haruno and the others' performance at the school festival.
"Maybe Yukino could ask them."
"…Though if I ask her directly, she'll definitely refuse. Better have Yui or Isshiki do it."
Decision made, he wrote Haruno Yukinoshita under the orchestra section.
Classical and orchestral music would probably go over well with the older crowd. If they mixed in some of the usual Christmas plays and musicals between the five sections, it should make for a decent Christmas program.
"For the musical side… I can ask Ebina. She's way too deep into her BL fantasies, but that Little Prince musical last time got a pretty good response."
Rubbing his sore eyes, Oikawa sent the proposal over to Isshiki.
Then he typed, "Check with the student council president at Kaihin High. If everything's fine, we start rehearsals tomorrow."
There were only three days left.
The elementary school kids had already prepared two or three performances with help from their teachers.
Oikawa and the others only needed one or two connecting acts to tie things together.
Maybe they could just revive The Little Prince and perform it again?
Yeah. That would work. That meant they only needed to prepare one more act.
"Could also have Yui and Yukino do a duet. Pretty sure both of them are great singers."
Ideas kept bursting into Oikawa's mind one after another.
He always thought organizing this kind of thing was a pain, but the satisfaction of seeing ideas click into place was strangely addictive.
...
A little while later, a red notification popped up over Isshiki's profile icon, "Senpai, I talked to President Tamanawa. He said the overall plan looks good, but he wants another meeting to iron out the details and make things official."
Oikawa raised an eyebrow.
That basically meant they'd agreed. The "meeting" was just a formality, a way for Kaihin High to save face.
After thinking for a moment, he typed back, "At the next meeting, say the major ideas were something you and Tamanawa discussed and decided together. You get what I mean?"
A reply came almost immediately. "But… you're the one who did all the hard work, Senpai! That's not fair to you."
"Oh? Guess you've got some conscience after all." Oikawa muttered with a grin as he read her message.
Then he replied, "I don't mind. You might end up working with Kaihin High again in the future. No need to become best friends, but don't leave things strained either. Besides, I won't always be around to help you."
Once this Christmas event was over, Oikawa figured he'd just coast through the rest of winter break in the Service Club and then finally shake off that burden for good.
And after that? If anyone came asking him for help again, he'd just smile and say, "Sorry, I'm the president of the Literature Club."
Service Club? What's that? Never heard of it.
A while later, Isshiki finally replied, "Senpai, what's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to act cool so you can win me over? Don't tell me you think helping me once is enough to become my boyfriend. That's way too optimistic. At the very least, help me a few more times and then I might consider becoming your girlfriend."
"..."
Oikawa stared at her messages and rolled his eyes.
This girl really had an overactive imagination.
After thinking for a second, a grin tugged at his lips as he typed back, "Sorry. I'm not into flat-chested girls."
About a minute later, he received a sixty-second voice message.
And right after that, a voice call request.
He rejected it without hesitation.
[Isshiki: "Pick up… PICK UP THE PHONE!!! I dare you!"]
Laughing, Oikawa locked his screen.
Yep. Someone had definitely cracked.
...
..
Student council really did come with privileges.
After Isshiki reported to the school that there wasn't enough time left to prepare for the Christmas event, the school approved their request to go off-campus almost immediately.
To be precise, it approved the outing request for everyone in the Service Club. Plus Ebina.
At this point, it was basically an early vacation.
After all, it was already December 24th. Winter break officially started on the 25th and lasted until January 8th.
So when Oikawa and the other two walked out of the classroom with their bags slung over their shoulders, nearly everyone in class looked at them with naked jealousy.
Every single gaze seemed to scream the same thing: You three are the absolute worst.
Oikawa suddenly understood why Meguri-senpai, despite already being guaranteed admission to the University of Tokyo, still showed up to school every day.
Getting looked at like this by your classmates? It felt... amazing.
Oikawa made up his mind. When he got to the second half of his third year, he'd do the same thing. Secure an early recommendation into the University of Tokyo. Then he could spend every day sleeping in class.
Even during Shizuka Hiratsuka's lessons.
That was the real peak of arrogance.
"Alright, let's split up."
Everyone stood in front of the Service Club room as they divided the work.
Isshiki took charge. "Yukino-senpai, Yui-senpai, the two of you go ask Haruno-senpai if she'd be willing to bring her orchestra over to perform. I'll head to the civic hall and discuss the details with President Tamanawa from Kaihin High."
"Ebina-senpai, come with me to the civic hall. We'll check out the performance venue upstairs, and I'll need your help handling some miscellaneous stuff."
"And Oikawa-senpai, you're in charge of applying for the budget. Out of all of us, you're the closest to Shizuka-sensei."
"Is everyone okay with that?"
Her voice carried a bit of hesitation, but compared to a few days ago, the difference was obvious.
She'd grown. Now she really did resemble Meguri-senpai a little. More like a proper student council president.
"No problem." Yukino nodded. "This shouldn't take too long. We'll head to the civic hall to meet up with you afterward."
"I'm good too!" Yui raised her hand enthusiastically.
"I'm fine with it."
"No objections."
Oikawa and Ebina answered simply.
Isshiki clapped her hands, "Alright then, let's get moving. Thanks, everyone."
The group split up.
As Oikawa walked off, he realized something.
It seemed like every school event somehow ended up under Shizuka Hiratsuka's supervision.
Were they seriously going to keep piling everything onto one person?
Honestly, he almost felt bad for that old woman.
...
Finally, Oikawa stepped into the faculty office and headed over to Shizuka's desk.
What greeted him first was an ashtray overflowing with cigarette butts. And several empty beer bottles.
For a second, Oikawa genuinely doubted it. This... this was the faculty office, right?
"Shizuka-sensei."
The old woman was writing something, so Oikawa announced himself.
"Mm. Wait a sec. There's a stool over there. Grab it and sit."
Oikawa was already used to her style, so he didn't bother being polite. He dragged over a stool and sat down.
After about two or three minutes, Shizuka turned around.
She pulled a cigarette from her pocket and stuck it between her lips, "What is it?"
"Applying for the Christmas budget." Oikawa carefully explained the full Christmas event proposal, along with a breakdown of every expense.
The costs would be split between the two schools, so there couldn't be any mistakes.
"Not bad. Knew it. Just as expected of the man I picked."
Shizuka's iron palm slammed down on his shoulder.
Her teasingly suggestive words immediately drew a few looks from the other teachers in the office.
But they were all familiar with Oikawa, the top-ranked student in the year.
After one glance, they all casually looked away.
"As for the budget, I'll still need to discuss it with Kaihin." Shizuka glanced at him, "But looking at you, you seem pretty worn out. Put a lot of effort into this Christmas event?"
She pulled out a lighter, about to light the cigarette between her lips, but paused when she remembered there were other teachers still in the faculty office.
Then she got up and walked outside.
Oikawa followed behind her and said as they walked, "It's partly because of the Christmas event. But mostly because of Clannad. There's a lot of stuff Full-Drive Bunko still needs to confirm with me before release."
"Tough life, being a big-shot author." Shizuka took a drag from her cigarette, her tone teasing. "I checked Twitter yesterday. Your Clannad hasn't even come out yet, and people are already tearing it apart. Apparently some of your fans went and started attacking works by established literary authors."
Shizuka stretched lazily.
The motion put her figure on full display, and Oikawa took it all in. This time, he really couldn't be blamed for having impure thoughts.
"One more look and I'll knock you flat." Shizuka's cold voice cut in.
Oikawa muttered under his breath, "Like I even wanted to look, old woman. No wonder you don't even have a boyfriend."
"What did you say?" Shizuka asked in a low, cold voice.
"Sensei, I was simply repenting for my sins and offering you a blessing as well," Oikawa said, looking up with a perfectly innocent expression.
Oikawa then turned to the withered cherry tree outside the window and spoke softly. "Even if people smear a cherry tree as ugly, it still blooms beautifully in April. Clannad is the same."
Shizuka glanced at him, the corners of her lips curling up slightly, "Sounds like you're pretty confident, Oikawa."
"More importantly…" Shizuka suddenly narrowed her eyes at him. "So… this one's a healing story?"
"Of course," Oikawa answered without the slightest hesitation. "Shizuka-sensei, trust me. This one is definitely healing."
"..."
"Wait here." Shizuka crushed out her cigarette and walked back into the faculty office.
When she came back out, she had several paper tickets in hand.
Each one had a panda printed on it.
They looked like admission tickets.
"Disneyland tickets. Won them as a prize at a friend's wedding. I'm giving them to you. There are four in total. Take Yukino and the others this afternoon."
"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Go have some fun. Forget everything that's bothering you for a while. And Disneyland's doing Christmas events too, right? The holiday atmosphere there might give you some inspiration."
Oikawa was so moved he almost teared up.
Was this really the same fierce woman who usually solved everything with punches and kicks?
"Shizuka-sensei, I'm seriously touched."
"I hope the second you turn thirty, you get married right away, so you can stop envying other women."
Bang.
A fist slammed into his stomach.
Shizuka fixed him with a cold stare. "For the last time, I'm very young. Nowhere near thirty."
"I'll remember that in my next life." Oikawa collapsed onto the ground.
Yeah... that hurt. So, definitely not a dream. Those Disneyland tickets are real.
...
..
[Oikawa: (Photo)]
[Oikawa: "Shizuka-sensei said the event budget still needs to be discussed with Kaihin High's teachers, but she gave me four Disneyland tickets. Anyone want to go?"]
The moment Oikawa sent the message in the group chat, Yui replied instantly.
[Yui: "Real Disneyland tickets?! I heard they sell panda plushies there! I've wanted one forever! And I heard there are fireworks at night too! I wanna go! I really, really wanna go!"]
Even through the screen, Oikawa could feel her excitement.
Disneyland plus giant pandas.
That double combo was practically irresistible for most girls.
Isshiki jumped in right after, "Me too! I'm going too! I wanna see the parade! And the fireworks tonight! Let's go this afternoon. We'll finish all the setup stuff this morning and then go have fun."
The moment she saw the tickets, Isshiki seemed to have completely forgotten her duties as student council president.
Yui sent another message, "But there are only four tickets... isn't it kind of mean to leave Hina out? Maybe I just won't go then."
Then Yukino replied, "Don't count me. I already have an annual pass for Disneyland."
That message immediately brought the smile back to Yui's face.
.
.
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