Chapter Text
Chapter0:
A prologue that your obligated to read
Tea with the yearbook committee was something I always looked forward to. Twice a month, Sakura, natsuhiko, tsukasa and I go out for tea, where we either talk shit about everyone or actually get someone work done/ plan for the upcoming weeks; today though, was a planning kind of day
Sakura, our writer starts off the tea “party” with an announcement “Okay so the school’s budget is rather poor this season so we can no longer post the news through papers, unless we sold the paper, and no one cares enough about student of the week to pay 25 cents”
“I care!” Tsukasa raised his hand like a little kid who knows the answer to a math problem
“And you're only worth 25 cents, tsukasa. anyways, as I was saying, we are gonna have to move to a web page, and when I say webpage I mean Instagram” sakura continues
“Damn the budget is that low? Put ‘follow me @shawty.hmu23 in the bio” natsuhiko comments as if we didn't just get a huge financial downgrade
Sakura picks up a book off the table and whacks natsuhiko in the face with it, I just roll my eyes, and tsukasa sits there with no reaction whatsoever,
“Natsuhiko, this is your fault, we would have the budget if you didn’t discount the 2022 yearbooks” I say sticking my tounge out at him
“The shrimp couldn't afford one and I can’t give him special treatment” natsuhiko turns towards me and gestures towards tsukasa,
“He was a freshman? He had another 3 years to buy a yearbook” I counter
“Well you have another 2 years to print out your photos” natsuhiko counters my counter
“Guys, get over it, nothing we can-“ Sakura starts but tsukasa cuts her off
“Do you think I could eat that candle-“
“Don’t do it runt” natsuhiko stops him, I can’t have a normal day with these guys I swear,
“Anyways, spring formal is coming up in a few months and the student council sent us an email saying to advertise a voting system for the theme” tsukasa, the plan man, brings up out of the blue “What we are gonna do is interview the popular folk in each grade, convince the principal to have a school news broadcast through the projectors via a pre-recorded video, post the video online blah blah blah, people participate and people vote. Mitsuba, you're in charge of the sophomore class. natshiko, you take the junior class, and Sakura, you take the senior class”
“Teru is my best bet, considering he’s on student counsel, so I’ve already got that covered, for you two, I got club record papers containing who is in each club, if they have a vital position, class rank, awards, anything that might indicate popularity” Sakura hands us each a file folder, for us to flip through.
natsuhiko glances through it rapidly, he’s well known so he has a good idea of who people like and don't like“Oh easy choice, aoi akane, Garden club president, mixed social record in middle school but well liked throughout High School, she’s in on all the gossip too so her face on the morning news will get people talking” natsuhiko says confidently
I look through my folder a lot less confidently, I know almost none of the names, I’m flipping through the pages when natsuhiko snatches the folder
“Here, let me help you little dude” natsuhiko starts glancing at the papers, he reaches in his bag and pull out two a pen and a highlighter nd begins scribbling on the pages
“Okay so definitely not tsukasa” he comments as he crosses out two names, tsukasa yugi and amane yugi “And not his brother either, amane’s a bit of a nerd”
“Okay…” I respond, not like I know who that is anyways. He knocks out a few more names, flips the page, and then tears out the page completely.
“Why did you toss that one?” I ask, “not one person on that page worth considering?”
“Chess club, I would keep it if our team was good but those guys think that just knowing how to play is a flex”
“Oh”
“Ideally, we want someone who is on a star player on a sports team, a club president, or someone who’s insanely hot, unfortunately I don’t know any of these people so I’m gonna have to go based off sports and clubs” natsuhiko gives me a sample of his knowledge, useful knowledge in the moment, pointless in the long run
“Okay so to mark down the top athletes, sophomore club leaders with more than 10 participants…” Natsuhiko keeps marking the pages for a few minutes, than he takes out a fucking spreadsheet with top atheletes, the most popular clubs, and whatever instagram users he can find, five or so minutes so by of him jotting notes, highlighting names, positions, and attractive faces until he stops abruptly and throws his hands up. “I just hit the sophomore drama starting jackpot” natsuhiko stares off at a wall as he announces his discovery very dramatically.
“What’s the report?” I ask because more than likely I’ll have no idea who the fuck he’s talking about based off of just a name, so I need the supporting evidence
“Kou minamoto, little brother of teru minamoto, Captain of the cross country team and the school record holder on the 3200 meter run, and cooks for homelessness shelters on weekends”
“He’s not that popular though, he’s really just the average extrovert” I point out, natsuhiko’s plan seems flawed
“Okay but think about it like this, what gets people talking?”
“According to you, sports, clubs, and hot people”
“Well yeah, that’s the basics, now the shit that gets the tea boiling, is the highlighted lists personal buisness” he slides the paper over so I can look at it “relationships, break ups, normal everyday errors if someone tweets about it, crushes, people love it when popular people have crushes”
“What are you getting at here, natshiko” I ask hesitantly, I dont like how he puts so much emphasis on “crushes”
“Simple, get the morning news running, get ur face out there so people start talking about you, then, once people start noticing you more, we get that interview with kou minamoto and all you gotta say is one slightly flirty comment and 2 rumors about the morning news will pop up”
I feel obligated to ask “The first is the guy on the morning news has a crush on another dude but i don't see how specifically ‘minamoto kou’ gets thrown in the mix”
“Simple, what you say has to be subtle, so he doesn’t reject you on the spot, when people see it on the morning news that he doesn’t reject you immediately, people will start speculating on the one and only teru minamoto’s little brothers sexuality, the videos on Instagram will go viral and more people will hear about the vote” natsuhiko says sounding proud as if that wasn’t the shittiest idea of all time
“That sounds extremely unethical, isn’t that starting false rumors about the guy?”
“Nah, as long as the dude is actually straight, people will have no further evidence supporting idea that he’s queer and just like that, the speculations are dead, but after everyone has bought a ticket and voted of course, anyways we aren’t spreading any false information, all we are doing is getting people talking”
“And what about me? I flirt with a guy, people won’t be questioning if I’m gay or not, they will just conclude that I am and I have a crush on kou”
“Hmmm, that’s a pretty big plot hole”
“Yeah no shit”
“Well, how much do you care? I mean I remember 2 months ago, you were talking big that the whole school will know your name, and there ain’t no more hiding?”
“That’s not what I meant-“
“Well the whole school will know you as natsuhiko’s little gay cousin from the school papers and morning announcements” natsuhiko puts me in a choke hold with his left arm and makes a dramatic gesture with is other arm as if he's talking about a grand future
“Instagram, the schools Instagram, and getting votes for the student councils spring dance won’t raise money for the school news” I correct him
“Oh but it will, me, the runt, and the president were talking and we will run this vote with quarters, each quarter counts for a vote, the more quarters you put in, the more your vote is worth, since it’s a vote for the dance, 68% of the money saved goes towards the school dances budget, 12% goes towards the student councils other expenses, 10 percent to other extracurriculars, and the remaining 10% goes to us, the more votes we get, the more money we get, simple as that”
“And the tickets? Where does that go, we have to advertise those too right?”
“Oh yeah! For that the budget goes…” natsuhiko Taps the back of his pen on a spreadsheet and drags it down the a column that has the ticket budgets
“First 5,000 dollars towards academics, with an additional 20 percent of the remaining, 12% towards sports, 2% towards the art class, 30% towards the actual dance 20% towards extracurriculars with us taking up 50% of the extracurriculars funding, so we get 10% of the total money raised after the academics minimum had been met, and the rest goes towards new computers for student council”
“So basically if I get a reputation at the school and proceed to fuck it up 2 months later, we get 10 percent of the vote money and 10% of the remaining ticket money?”
“Yup, simple as that”
“That’s terrible, how much money even is that?”
“Enough to get your photos printed on high quality photo paper” Natsuhiko points out. As much as I hate to admit it, photo paper sounds nice. a moment of silence is shared between us. “But hey, you can always interview the chess club, and keep posting your photos on Instagram, isn't the color profile on your camera different too? Doesn’t the gram make ‘em look all fried?” Natshiko states as if it’s an ultimatum, which it probably isn’t, but no other interview could get me high quality color prints, and Instagram photo quality is ass
“Ughh fine I’ll do it, but if that photo paper isn’t the best thing since sliced bread than I’m gonna pissed off Natsuhiko”
“Yeah yeah, whatever” he shrugs
Now since our conversation is over, Sakura takes this as her que to talk “Natsuhiko, please tell me you ordered the tea”
“I’ll be on it in one second m’lady” Natshiko stands up and speed walks over to the counter, we have been sitting here for 20 minutes thinking that the shop was short staffed while in all reality, natshiko forgot to order our drinks
“Oh for god’s sake” Sakura mutters under her breath. “I think I can get a morning broadcast up and running on mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but just an fyi mitsuba, you can change your mind whenever you want, no one is forcing you to do it”
I nod a bit before muttering “Alright then, thanks, can I give it some thought?” Although I am very desperate to get high quality prints, outing my self to literally the whole school in hopes it goes viral is fucking terrifying.
“Yeah, take as long as you need” natsuhiko appears behind me holding a teapot in one hand, on the other hand he has a iced matcha latte, and a mug of hot cocoa “Alright matcha for mitsuba, hot chocolate for the runt, and spiced chai tea for me and m’lady” natsuhiko announces as he puts down each of our drinks
“I’ll be back with the rest” natsuhiko leaves again and returns shortly later with a tray of scones, truffles, and shortbread cookies, 4 of each item, along with 2 teacups for him And Sakura
“When do we start the morning news?” I ask, will it be just me on tv? Or will the 4 of us alternate,
As if Sakura read my mind she responds “how about this Monday? First week of school passed, so it’s a good time to begin, I’ll continue to handle morning announcements on tuesdays And Thursdays, so it will be just you on the days with the morning news recordings, natsuhiko will join you on Fridays though, and tsukasa will continue to just be the idea man”
“Okay then…” I can’t say I’m a fan of being on camera, but that’s a sacrifice I’m certainly willing to make for the sake of the club’s budget, the outing myself thing though… i have time to decide..
“Thinking about it, I’ve never met the little Minamoto before, what are your thoughts on him, mitsuba?” As natsuhiko speaks, Sakura turns towards me with a hint of curiosity, and tsukasa, leans over the table completely so he is right up in my face listening
“Uhhh, he’s…umm…okay… I guess” I hesitate a lot, a suspicious amount, I mean, I’m telling the whole truth so I’m not quite sure why I’m getting choked up when I talk… I’m saying most of the truth, in all honesty, I think he’s cute, barely ever talked to him though, so I wouldn’t call it a crush or anything of that nature, he just has a pleasant looking face
“Wow, that was a pathetic excuse for a response”
tsukasa notes as he sits back down in his seat
“Do you like him, mitsuba?” Sakura sips her tea
“Definitely not, I’ve talked to him once? Maybe twice? I don’t know but certainly not enough times to form a crush”
“Sooo… you think he's hot?” Natshiko asks and and I step on his foot in response, well more like I stomped on it really
“Ow what the hell?!” Natsuhiko turns towards me looking very mildly annoyed, and in my 15 years of knowing him, this is the most annoyed I’ve ever seen him
“You had it coming”
“Man, I don’t think your my favorite cousin no more”
“I’m your only cousin”
We continue to drink our tea and eat the dessert array. We hung out there for another hour or so talking about random stuff. Sakura mentions the fact that I have to be at the school an hour early on Monday to film for the morning news, if we want to get the recordings fully finished and edited before second period, of course, since I’m the only one who knows how to edit videos, I’ll probably have to miss first period until we get a proper schedule running
I have something to look forward to…