Yuki Perspective
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"Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, we need to change our plans." Benjamin Tsai shuffles through the sheets as he opens the door and places the updated ones on my desks.
Roxanne bangs her head on the pool of papers and cries a stream of salty tears, knowing that there is more work for her to do. Her sorrow even reaches the outside of the schools. As I glance outside, every student passing by the office stops and listens to the tune. These pupils are not happy walking down this road, so it is not surprising if they find a detour towards the cafeteria.
Upon inspecting the changes, all the student council nods their head while reading the texts with the liquifying purple stamps from the dean. The place is closer to our international school, instead of going towards a mountain full of nothing. We also note the budgets will decrease because of the fewer fees for transportations and taxes.
Since we are just first-year students of the academy, we might as well take Sir Benjamin's offer and go with an uncomplicated route. It makes our life easier than hiking at a replica of mount Everest with pinkish hues instead of cold and a blanket of ice.
After approving the documents we need for the field trip, twenty classes of first-year students go inside the auditorium to listen to the news. The bustling noise stops as they hear the president, Roxanne, speak. As my classmates hear the announcement, everyone rushes back to their homes and gathers their valuables with them since the professors dismiss them early.
We also want to join them, but we are not the usual students anymore. We are the elite slaves of this school with benefits.
These students want a new story to brag about and post the Sakura trees blooming this April in their social media accounts. I can feel their eagerness for the trip, but that is not a reason to visit there.
If I remember it correctly, we desire and appreciate the Japanese culture, environment, sights, and shrines in the area to learn more about the country. We even disrupt a hard-bound map that will guide students for tomorrow. Since most students are exchange students or foreigners, using this chance will be a helpful guide for newcomers.
The task is laborious since a quire's worth of papers slides through our desks. Every officer has their pens at all times and stamps to sign the documents. I can even see their sweats dripping at the hazel coloured table, dampening all the urgent files we need for the next meetings.
All of us are busy fixing the finance for the trip and extra precautions if sudden emergencies arise. Fortunately for us, the new documents contain all the stamps we need to conduct this field trip. But it still lacks many things like the numbers involving the journey.
Counting logistics is never my job, but I need to supervise them in accomplishing these goals.
Satoshi Akagi is in charge of all the money we have for the time being since she is the treasure of the council. The timid guitarist who always brings his case behind his back will check all the money around the event.
I run across the rooms and work with teacher Benjamin Tsai once again. We talk about many things that the students will follow throughout the trip. All of us officers do not expect to meet this recent timetable, but everyone hopes we complete everything that the students need to learn. This field trip will also serve us as motivations to continue our work as students.
If I would be honest with myself, I direly need references. I need to make a sakura setting for my next book about romance.
Benjamin Tsai is the schoolteacher of our general Science class who came up with this idea at the start of the school year. If it were not for him, then the principal and the deans would not come up with this idea, so we have high expectations about this guy. But because he is also the adviser of our club, things would get tough once we return to that organisation.
Sir Benjamin thinks we would take part in those minor events and competitions, when I am an author with prestige. Nickson is also a famous mangaka and a Webtoon artist, so his hands might be full with those projects.
"It will be a long and disastrous day, Roxanne." I lean my face closer to my best friend, who has a box full of sheets waiting for her name. These pads also gaze into my eyes, watching my every movement like an abyss.
Roxy dives her head inside the crashing papers and snores a quick break again. But that rest does not last long when someone interrupts her beauty sleep.
Lucky for us, a man wearing a pitch-black tuxedo we know well enters the council room, sits on his chair, and grabs the mountain pile of papers in front of him. He is not wearing his lenses from before. Upon inspecting his face, we recognise the new hairstyle dangling between his orbs.
I could hear a crowd of female teen students banging the wooden entrance, hoping to find this hot chick inside our room. If I could, I would kick Nickson out from this council and let the mob fish him for revenge. Fortunately for us, the members do not have the same idea as mine. They also do not mind his "attraction" and carry on with their duties.
We know the guy would ask us for some help, but we want to pay him back.
But the members of the council have an original plot in mind. These officers wish for the boy to experience our pain, especially when he has been away from his duties. The board members may be a quiet mass, but they are fearsome preys that want Nickson to do his job, like everybody else inside this room.
I could feel my spine shuddering in fear from the thought alone lingering inside my brain. If someone wants to save the mangaka, it has to be now.
But that never happens, not until now.
Within six hours of our time, he finishes the task and sends it to the dean's office for further review. After the next hour, the dean and the director approve our invitations, leading to the field trip happening right now.
We do not know how he did it, but we admired Nickson's work from afar.
Just like that, the days pass by like a breeze. One and a half weeks zooms in like a bullet bus heading towards Ueno Park. (There is no such thing as a bullet car, only bullet trains) That park is the closest tourist spot that has temples, shrines, and even a museum. I know all this information since I am the one choosing the sites.
Each class has their bus driving towards the road. We will arrive around fifteen minutes to the park and observe the Sakura trees alongside the historical sites.
However, we are not a part of those buses. There is another van for student council members, and all ten of us are inside. I am unfortunate enough to sit next to the mangaka while Roxanne gets a sit together with the council.
For some mysterious reasons, Nickson does not have his eyeglasses sticking on his face like we saw when he first barged inside the room last week. He even refuses to talk to me during the first few minutes of getting on board inside this automobile.
"The park grounds were originally part of Kaneji Temple, which used to be one of the city's most gigantic and wealthiest temples. There was a family temple of the ruling Tokugawa clan during the Edo Period. Kaneji stood in the northeast-," The tourist guide never shuts her mouth as she explains the endless historical events along the road. But for us officers, we already have the entire story in the back of our minds.
We can even make her a map if we want to, but we would want to leave that matter for later.
"How are you and your brother?" I finally break the tension and muster up my courage to talk to him.
However, Nickson refuses to answer my question and looks me in the eye. I discern his engrossed orbs in looking at the windows as it shows the light red colours on the leaves, foreshadowing the cherry blossom trees ahead.
"Fine! Don't talk to me again!" With a grunt, I cross my arms and look at the glass to my side, marvelling at the view.
As we see the signs coming across our way, we stop by at the wide road full of people taking pictures of the trees. As we open the door, the windy breeze barges inside the car, creating a chilling sensation through our skin.
"Sung-ho and I are on good terms, thanks to you," Nickson nudges my shoulder and walks past me, together with the rest of the students. I have no idea that he has this peculiar white ear device recline on his lobes.