"You two sure did took your time. Now take a seat so we could start this meeting already."
Upon entering the clubhouse, Darren and I was greeted by an irritated Minji. Everyone were already seated so we quickly took a seat ourselves to avoid Minji's wrath.
"Now that these idiots are here, lets start." Minji said and took out a file from her table cabinet and handed it to Joseph.
"Everyone, take a look at those profiles. The first ones are the members of the basketball club. Earlier, the Student Council approached us and asked us to substitute the players of the Basketball team. Apparently, the tournament they joined is an important one, and that the players had been training nonstop for a month just to win it.."
Kyle raised his hands to ask a question
"Kyle, what did I say about raising hands and being a bitch?"
"Oh sorry...I wanted to ask why the sudden request? And what its rank was?"
"I'm getting to that. Listen here, while you idiots were eating in the cafeteria, me and the weirdo over there, talked to the captain of the Basketball club and learned that 6 of their lead players were attacked and injured earlier. We then checked on them in the faculty clinic and the doctor said it'd take at least a week for them to fully recover. So they had no choice but to depend on the Gardening Club with this B-rank request."
'B rank?!'
Everyone's ears perked except for Minji and Joseph. Who wouldn't though? Thats 5 equivalent requests. 2 more of those and we wouldn't need to go to school for the rest of the semester.
Then Minji continued
"I never thought I'd say this but, I'm counting on you 5 to win this...
Minji paused for a moment as if she just realized something.
"...Wait...you idiots know how to play basketball right?"
Everyone looked at Levi first, expecting a favorable answer.
"....I don't...I'm narcoleptic what did you all expect?..."
Then at Kyle.
"S-sorry everyone hehe. I could start learning it though, even right now."
Next they all looked at me.
"Just because I'm from the hood doesn't me I know how to play ball."
Everyone sighed out of defeat. Then we heard Darren snickering on the side.
Joseph asked.
"Darren, please tell me you know how to play too."
"Know? Hah! Of course I don't...But! Before you smack me Minji. I do know how to shoot so that makes me better than you sissies."
Minji smirked and asked.
"Do you know how to dribble?"
"I could shoot."
"Do you know the rules?"
"I can shoot though."
"Do you at least know how to properly pass the ball?"
"...Yeah of course, I could shoot from far away."
"Darren, give me one good reason why I shouldn't gouge your wind pipe out."
Everyone turned silent after that little squabble and seems to be thinking of some ways to salvage our misery.
I asked
"We don't need to win it right? we just have to participate and not look like monkeys on the court. Right Minji?"
"Unfortunately, if we do choose to substitute, we are required to win the game. We're only playing for the semi-finals so that the original players could play for the championship. Losing would be seen as jeopardizing the whole club."
Ichika stood up from her seat and decided to join the conversation.
"If I may suggest. Why don't you guys practice before the actual game at my family gym? You guys could use it for the whole day without interruptions."
Joseph was the one who replied to her
"That's nice of you sweetheart. But the game day is on sunday so we would only have a day of practice on Saturday, not including tomorrow when we have classes and different requests we're working on."
After Joseph's explanation, Minji smacked the table she was sitting on with her palms and ordered in a threatening voice.
"We are accepting this rare request . And you imbeciles are going to practice on Ichika's gym this Saturday. No negotiations. Remember that if you all fail to win this game, the whole club will be dissolved by the Student Council. So do your best, or I'll pluck a rib out of each of you."
All of us hesitatingly nodded our heads at Minji's order, even the innocent Riza.
Joseph added "Yeah! We can do this everyone! Let's go ambush the enemy team tonight!"
'That was a very dangerous joke...'
"Bloody hell Minji! I was just lifting the mood, no need to give me a sprain."
"Great. And now that that's out of the way...Joseph, go and tell them the other issue."
"Eh-ehem. Uh-hem. Ehem."
"One more and I'll stitch your trachea-"
"Okay guys. Everyone of you had probably seen or heard the commotion about the A & C clubs being at war with the whole sports club right? Then I'll go get straight to the point."
Joseph paused and pointed at the profiles of the basketball club members that we had been passing around.
"Those lads, were atacked by the M & P clubs, and upon closer investigation. We learned that it was because all the valuable recordings, of the M & P clubs, that was supposed to be published were either broken or erased. And that the suspects are the 6 Basketball club members on that profile. It was because some evidences were found on the surveillance cameras of the abandoned faculty building."
'Abandoned faculty building? Where the hell is that supposed to be?'
"And now with the constant skirmishes of the clubs against each other, turning into a deadly scheme that almost comatosed a student. The Student council also asked for our cooperation to help mediate all the clubs and stop the oncoming war."
Minji continued after Joseph
"All of these had already happened last year. And believe me when I say that these are not the worst yet. The school is trying their best not to involve the police yet just like last year, and that gives us plenty of time to resolve all of these.....So I want you all to cooperate with the mediation, because frankly speaking, we do not have a choice in all these....We will do what proper gardeners do, and dig out this seeds of chaos before it sprouts into something fucked up."
Everyone had conflicting expressions but none of us voiced out our opinions.
Then Riza broke the silence
"What can we do to help then? The sooner we start the better right?"
"Unfortuantely, thats not the case Riza. With little to no proper evidences and materials, we can not make personal actions immediately. All we could really do now is to win the game and lessen the tension and stress of all the Indoor Sports Clubs."
Minji paused again and changed the topic to a less serious one.
"Oh I almost forgot. Before we conclude this meeting, I want to know if any of you has questions first?.....none?. Okay then. Everyone give me a complete report on your club activities for the past days. Starting with you, you self proclaimed devil of Lascar."
----------
"This turned out to be such a shitty day."
Darren said with a grumpy expression as we walked out the clubhouse.
Then Kyle replied
"You could say that again. First you got hit with an eraser, the impossible request, then Minji almost made you pee your pants-"
"Hey! hey, hey, hey. Hey! Listen to me. It was my sweat. I'm a sweaty guy I always work out. And I was talking about things like the injured players and burnt up valuables."
"Ah right. That....Well this is my place guys, see you two later."
Kyle separated from us and Darren soon did so too and went to the Boxing club, while I went to the Instrumentals club and continued my practice.
When I first went to the Instrumentals club and told the club president, named Zachary, that I will be the one who will aid them in their request. He got worried and disappointed.
Because I also told him that I did not know how to play the piano, yet.
He even told me that they've changed their minds and will not be having a pianist anymore.
I did not want any deviation on my plans so I made a deal with him.
If my piano performance failed on the day of the concert, I will compensate them via monthly monetary means. I only went with this strategy after a careful research of the Instrumentals club, which was a club that is constantly in a financial instability.
But of course I do not plan on failing them. Learning music is simple for someone like me, one who utilizes the powers of sound.
And now after careful consideration, Zachary had placed his bets on me and gave me five days to practice, before the rehearsals and the actual concert.
"Alright everyone, today we will be having a change of venue. I have already reserved Stage A for the practice venue today with the lovely Vocals club. So get moving 'cause they're all probably on their way now."
Zachary announced. Then we moved to Stage A to meet with the vocals club.
And a few minutes later when everyone had already gathered, while I sat in front of the piano, Nicole watches me with confusion in her eyes.