savethecitydesu | A Stepford Smiler and a Tyrant walk into a bar-I mean, room...

Entry tags:

akito,
takeo

A Stepford Smiler and a Tyrant walk into a bar-I mean, room...

Who: Akito and Takeo
What: Akito comes to check up on Takeo and his crummy office
When: Beginning of the school year
Where: Disciplinary Committee Room

You would think Akito would have been done this sort of thing after getting out of treasurer position but no.

Though, he reflected, it was better than being stuck in the student council room debating putting together proposals and how best to welcome the new students to a new shining era of the school year and whether papers should be lime green or yellow or conservative white. He would still look them over before he signed anything of course but there was only so much insipid conversation he wanted to put up with.

Checking up on their new DC though? Well, that got him out for a bit and should be a relatively easy errand. Maybe by the time he got back they'd have at least decided paper colour.

The office for the DC was unlike the student council room, instead tucked away and in one of the crummier spaces in the building. Akito adjusted his glasses, killed time by pretending to be trying to find something in his notes, then, after the point of believably had passed, finally knocked on the door.

"Akiyama-san? It's Terumi from the student council."

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The room had not been what Takeo, or anyone, would call a decent place for discipline, intimidation, or anything of the sort. It felt more fit to house a couple of broomsticks, a bucket, and detergent.

In short, it was small. It had two desks, fit in an L-shaped fashion, and one of them didn't match the size of the other. There was a window leading out to the school yard outside and two stories below, and it was missing a pane of glass, in just the right place to send anyone with even a little OCD crying home. The room didn't feel big enough to make people feel small, and the only advantage Takeo had was that, being a bit short of stature himself, the room did make him feel bigger than he was.

He hated it. However, he would not pass on taking advantage of the small size: it carried sound well... so he made sure to bring the loudest kettle from home, to have on the tiny electric stove that he'd also imported from his house. It would always put people on their toes if they would hear the shrill scream of the kettle... and that made up for things, just a bit.

But he pulled himself together and opened the door. He gave a polite nod of his head. "Hello, Terumi-san. I didn't expect you to come, yourself..." he said.

There was a tense pause. Terumi was three positions higher than Takeo in the grand scheme of power in the school. This is the moment where a high-tier predator casually enters the cage of another, similarly apt beast, and the audience hold their breath to see whether or not the blood will fly. But the politically savvy Takeo knew better.

"AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" screeched the kettle, over the brief silence.

"It's a pleasure to see you. Tea?"

"Oh? Were you expecting someone else?" Akito asked lightly.

Observation: in a small space with an extremely loud kettle going off, it actually hurts the ears a lot. Akito winced. Well, that was one way to get some people to jump.

The smile snapped on automatically. "If it's no trouble. I'd hate to put you out when you're obviously busy settling in."

"Manners precede such convenience. And, please, the tea is already made," Takeo said, turning to go pour the cups, but not before pulling out a chair for Akito. It was supposed to have wheels, but the sound the chair did as it scratched the ground, wheels unbudging, made it clear that it had long since lost its powers of mobility.

"I'm glad you came, in any case. I've had a bit of a run-in with our esteemed treasurer already," he said, turning to hand Akito his cup, properly dressed and with a folded napkin next to it, and a tiny envelope of some sugar replacement ("ZACCHARINE FAILY" it reads, with a picture of a fairy on it) along with it.

"As you probably know, the disciplinary committee is an important part of the school..." Takeo said, stepping around to his chair. "And our image is--"

The chair's arm broke immediately, and Takeo fell. Violently. Loudly. Then, in an amazing recovery, he stood up, with only a minimal amount of tea spilled, poker face on. It was the sort of stuff that makes people clap in solidarity. He sat down again. "Is, well, a bit hard to... let's say, sustain... what with the materials given."

"Well then, if you insist..."

The screech wasn't as loud as the kettle had been but it would have made dogs howl regardless. Akito took the proffered tea with a smile and, "My thanks," but didn't dump the sugar replacement in. As much as he liked his tea sweet, that stuff was cheap and never tasted right.

"Ah yes, I'm aware. He was mentioning that run in at our meeting, actually." The treasurer. He had a napoleon complex and was stupid, small-minded but he was clever enough to know what he could get away with and who couldn't touch him. At least Akito bothered to hide pettiness or revenge before he ruined someone with a strike of pen. The current treasurer openly relished what he could do.

When Akiyama went down, Akito debated whether he needed help up and how 'concerned' Akito should be. He decided on a few steps forward to check when Akiyama stood up, poker faced and seemingly alright. Akito kept the 'concern' on his face. "It shows, obviously." He nodded to the broken chair, before continuing. "Speaking the obvious, budget cuts haven't been kind in the past few years. I tried shuffling some funds over last year-" and he made sure they went past their frugal president first who was sure to say 'no', "-but it didn't take. Akito 'sheepishly' ran a hand through his hair. "You would think they'd be willing to spend enough to buy chairs that aren't on the brink of breakage."

"Ah, but our lady principal, blessed in her wisdom, has already told us that it would be 'quaint' to sit on the floor. And cheap. I think Iwata-sensei complained about a similar problem and was told to look at he bright side of things, such as 'You didn't lose a chair, you gained a stool' followed by, 'and you haven't lose your job, yet.'"

He sipped his tea, putting it on the desk in front of him. "But your efforts to manage the budget are welcome, and were appreciated, even if they were left at good intentions," said Takeo, lying through his teeth. He knew there were ways it could've worked. He spent hours plotting how it would have worked, if he'd been in Akito's position the year before.

"Still, I could do without the chair. I'm hoping to do some print outs this year, and I'm sure my mother wouldn't appreciate me hijacking the printer from home. Nor would I. I'm fairly sure the printer is possessed, and the more critical a document is, the more likely it is to print out the Windows test page instead," he said, pausing to add, "Also, I require money for a glass frame and a beach tennis racquet."

"One way of looking at things, I suppose. Cheap but also inconvenient." Akito sipped the tea. It was also cheap. "I'm almost surprised she didn't encourage you to think of it as an opportunity to go out and do your duties in the hallways more."

Akito feigned thoughtfulness, "Well, a glass frame is possible. It'd be cheaper to patch that up than to increase the heating or have to go to the effort of finding new DC members because they froze to death when winter comes. For printers, I'm afraid you'll have to argue with the tech club for printer privileges, we're staying out of those matter this year. Now as for a tennis racquet...how should I justify that to our esteemed treasurer?"

Takeo peeked over his cup, blinking as if the answer should be obvious. "Well, look around you..." he said.

A pause.

"It's a disciplinary committee room, and not a single item of discipline. This is a bakery without an oven," he said. "And I found out that the school sold all of the old tools of the trade that they'd kept up until the 70s. So I thought I'd just buy a racquet, put it in a frame, and get an old looking plaque to make it look like an antique paddle."

Sip tea.

"You know, just to bring the whole thing together. For effect, if you will."

"Ah, effect." Akito smiled above the brim of the cup, 'amusement' not entirely faked. "Would you like a two-way mirror, some recorders, and a set of thumb screws too?

"I'm joking, of course." He took another sip. "But you are right about the DC's current problem. Image is everything, after all, and it is difficult to get much across as things stand. Consider the racquet noted." He unattached the pen from his notes and scratched things down with practiced ease. "Along with a glass frame. And a chair, or at least something less 'quaint'. Is there anything else?"

It rarely hurt to let people say more on that. People always wanted things and it made them feel even better to think it was actually being taken into account, even if it amounted to nothing in the end. Just the illusion of progress.

Takeo shook his head. "Oh no, it's alright. My mother gave me permission to bring the nutcrackers we keep home. I'll just unscrew them and turn them backwards, and let people wonder just what those devices were for..." Sip from the cup. "And I'll say, 'search me, but all we know is that older students were better behaved for a reason, so maybe they knew what it did.'"

He smiled at Akito's continued approval. "Thanks for listening, and no, there won't be anything else for now. I may eventually have to terrorize the carpentry club into helping out a bit... Ah, out of curiosity, what clubs are you going to participate in this year, Terumi-san?"

"I see." He nodded. "As long as that is all you do with them, there's no harm in letting you keep them around. Of course, don't take this as encouragement to start filling this ominous objects. After all, it would be troublesome for us to have to deal with complaints asking why the DC room looks like a torture chamber.

"It's no problem, it's my job after all," Akito replied blithely. "Hmmm...I'd imagine most of my time will be chewed up by council duties but I might look into the film club or sports." Sip. "What about you, Akiyama-san? I can't imagine you'll be spending all your time with the DC."

"I do a bit of swimming, so I decided to do that for sports. Undignified as it may be, it's at least the one sport where I can smell of bleach, not sweat," Takeo said, pausing for a moment. "I'm also interested in film club. What a peculiar coincidence. It's the closest the school has to a 'modern culture' club, in any case..."

Modern Culture. It's the words used by people who want to explain their hobbies without outright saying 'television' or 'manga.'

"I wonder if we could screen televised material for study," he continued, looking into his cup thoughtfully.

"Fair logic," Akito nodded. It wasn't that Akito was bad at sports, he was in better shape than most boys their age, but whoever said they liked dripping sweat all over them were liars or idiots. He chuckled at the mention of the club.

"I imagine we could. But that club is a catch all. I doubt many would be in favor for using it as another way to cram school into our heads. And besides." There was that smile again. "I think it's preferable for to keep clubs to themselves as much as they can. Everyone needs their breathers, don't you agree?"

"Agreed. I personally find that the disciplinary committee offers a nice retreat. If you think about it, this is the one room in the whole school that no one would willingly barge into."

"Well, I would imagine most people don't associate going to this room as a good thing," Akito replied, a light teasing note. He tilted his head slightly, and continued, voice still light.

"Most, except you, clearly." Akito drained the last of his tea (if only it had real sugar to taste more bare-able). "I'm sure your reason is somewhere on the sign up sheet you handed in but I'm curious to hear from you myself. Why would you sign up to be in the DC?"

This was a question that made Takeo put down the tea cup. "I will insincerely tell you that I felt like somebody had to do it... You know, a few inspiring words here or there about the importance of social order and how I understood that it was my responsibility to take on this challenge, having the strength of mind and character required for it, and aware that such a thing is not common on the school. But that would be insincere, really."

He finished his cup and put it down. "The truth is I have motives. Ignoble, foul ones that I don't like to share because," Takeo made a mannerism of coyness that would make even the most rosy boy-love magazine look boring and decent. "I'm shy about sharing..." And then he returned to looking his usual, deadpan self. "Sorry."

Akito merely cocked a brow at that show and chuckled slightly. "I see. Well, I won't pry your motives out of you then. Or worse, make you be insincere. I value honesty, after all.

"But, I do hope you're not taking on a duty you'll hate within a week just for those motives," Akito said, sounding completely 'sincere' as he looked at Akiyama with that 'concern' again. "Even if your motives aren't as palatable or inspiring as those insincere reasons, I would hope you are getting something more out of the job. Your duties shouldn't just be about serving the student body, they should be something for you too. We're not robots, after all."

Akito seemed to catch himself. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did it just sound like I was ripping off a high school drama just now?"

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A Stepford Smiler and a Tyrant walk into a bar-I mean, room...

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