Part 1

The Vice-Chief Executive of the Culture Festival Planning Committee slams both palms onto his desk. "The festival starts in a week. We can forget about adhering to our schedule; there is no hope of getting back on task at this point. It appears that all of you have been slacking off." All members of the Committee simultaneously flinch under his stare.

A male student speaks up. "Um, Yukinoshita-san. We simply did what Sagami-san instructed us to..."

"Did her instructions ensure that you would get everything planned out by next week?"

"Uh, not exactly... I mean, we did think that we wouldn't get anything done at this rate, but we followed her orders to the letter!"

"Then the fault lies with you. As subordinates, is it not your responsibility to accomplish the tasks given to you by your superiors and take the initiative to do more than the bare minimum? All of you simply used Sagami-san's lack of further instruction to lay-off doing extra work." Already, Hachikuji can hear the discontented murmuring of various members rising as tension escalates.

The unchosen representative is no exception. His face literally reddens with anger. "Yukinoshita-san, there is no need to do extra work if the Chief Executive deems it unnecessary. We were simply doing our jobs as obedient subordinates!" The disgruntled murmurs quickly undertake an approving undertone. Hachikuji scoffs inwardly.

"And where was this obedience when I planned our schedule and gave out the orders? I had extension requests from nearly every department, and yet I did not see any of you struggling to complete your respective tasks. I was told that the work distribution was unfair, although I observed that several members were using other individuals to relieve their workloads. I received various complaints that meeting times did not provide enough time to work, but none of you stayed back after meetings to work overtime. With a few exceptions, of course." He breaks his icy glare to throw a pointed glance at Hachikuji. Oh, stop it. You're gonna make this pure maiden blush.

"All of you played no small part in hindering our progress, and now you intend to pin all the blame on your Chief Executive? For shame. As a whole, your work ethic is poor. This is my order to you as Vice-Chief Executive: Change your attitude, or go elsewhere to play around. If we are to get this festival up and running, we will have to put in no small amount of effort for the next week. Now get to work!" As if a switch has been flipped, the stunned Committee members jerk to life, and the meeting room is ablaze with newfound energy within seconds.

Against her will, Hachikuji cheers inwardly. Degrading his subordinates and making them feel guilty about it? Classic Yukinoshita. He shouldn't have shifted the blame away from Sagami, though. Despite her determination to carry a neutral attitude towards her work, Hachikuji cannot help the sliver of spite towards the Chief Executive, who has gotten off scot-free once again.

Right now said Chief Executive is standing, shell shocked, while her own subordinates mill around her and disregard her existence in favour of actually getting some work done. Yukinoshita turns to her.

"Sagami-san. There are quite a few documents that require your approval. May I ask you to look through them and give them a stamp?"

Sagami's face contorts grotesquely as a myriad of negative emotions flit across her visage. Not that Yukinoshita sees it, of course; he's too absorbed in his laptop to spare her a glance. He starts when she slams the Chief Executive's stamp onto the desk right next to him.

"If you're so damn capable, do it yourself," she hisses.

The Committee members pause. Nervous tension fills the room once more.

Yukinoshita doesn't look up, even despite the clear animosity in Sagami's voice. "Sagami-san, this is one of your responsibilities as Chief Executive. Are you sure you want to pass it to me?"

Sagami rears back and grits her teeth. Evidently she was expecting a refusal and some kind of assurance that her presence is needed for the team to succeed. That tactic may have worked on Hayama, because that guy would say anything to get you to cooperate at this crucial stage. Looks like you overestimated Yukinoshita, Sagami.

The frustrated look on Sagami's face is priceless. Hachikuji snickers just loud enough for Sagami to hear, then just a little louder when Sagami bolts out of the room, furiously wiping at her face. Comeuppance has arrived, just not the kind Hachikuji would have expected. From the opposite end of the room, Hiratsuka-sensei casts her a warning glare.

As the room gradually livens up again, Hachikuji sidles up beside Yukinoshita. "Good job."

"Thank you," says Yukinoshita as he lifts his head, but his eyes have a hint of confusion in them. "I have been performing my duties as usual. What did I do to warrant that rare praise?"

Hachikuji blinks. "Pissing Sagami off and all that. I thought that would be good for her. Make her reflect on her own actions and stuff..."

Yukinoshita blinks. "...When did I aggravate her? All I did was receive permission to use a stamp on her behalf."

Does this mean he was oblivious to everything that was happening in that exchange? Hachikuji already thought he was dense, but this...

"...Unbelievable."

"Excuse me?"

Hachikuji sighs. Boys.

Part 2

As an optimist would say, the day has finally come. The atmosphere buzzes with excitement, and the noise levels are at an all-time high; the taste of joyful youth lingering in the air. Students are streaming down the corridor with their friends and cliques, milling around aimlessly with smiles plastered over their faces. Truly, this is Sobu High's acclaimed culture festival.

As Hachikuji would say, an optimist is simply a pessimist without experience. Hapless, she sits glumly at the admissions table. She was asked (read: coerced) to take the booth, and for better or worse there was nothing on her schedule to do anyway. Casually giving out tickets and accepting cash in exchange, Hachikuji decides that she has gained insight into her future career options; namely, what she will definitely not be doing.

"Yo, what's up?" Looking up, Hachikuji sees Yuigahama in front of her, wearing his ever-bright smile. He moves to sit down next to her with an inaudible grunt.

"What, you aren't with your edgy friends? And these seats are for the committee members, get off."

Yuigahama flashes a smile and replies "Don't be like that. They're good people once you get to know them, really. Hayato-kun wanted to try out the haunted house, but horror's not really my thing, so..." As if to give himself an excuse to stay where he is, he slumps forward onto the desk.

Oi, don't blatantly ignore my second statement.

"So, how's it going?"

Hachikuji turns back to the line forming in front of her booth and continues to idly give out her tickets, an inexplicably bored expression on her face (even more so than usual). "It's pretty boring. Not that I'd complain," she replies with a sigh.

Yuigahama laughs placidly in response, before awkwardly looking away. "I heard that there was an, uh, argument of sorts between Yukinon and Sagami-san." He continues staring straight at the ground, as if there was something there which has piqued his interest.

With Yuigahama in the top caste, Hachikuji already finds herself getting used to the fact that he has free access to practically all the student information in the school. Thinking back to the nightmare of a week she had had leading to the festival, she shudders. "Don't even talk about it."

Yuigahama smiles. "I'm glad that the festival is going on without a hitch though. You played a great part in it, didn't you, Hachikuji-san?"

"I didn't do anything," Hachikuji grunts noncommittally. The morning sun feels a little too hot on her face. With that, the conversation breaks into a lull, the silence between them occasionally broken by the background chatter and the sound of tearing tickets.

"H-Hey, Hachikuji-san, I can take over things from here, so why don't you go over to the class booth to help out with things there? You can take a rest and check out the other booths too." Yuigahama flashes his signature winning smile, but Hachikuji sees the slight nervousness in his eyes, the redness in his ears.

Really? I can skip work? Hachikuji nearly jumps for joy.

"Thanks. I'll leave you to it." Hachikuji gets up and begins to walk in the direction of the stairs. Looking back, she decides to give a final wave to Yuigahama, but was startled to see that Yuigahama has beaten her to the punch. Admitting defeat, she waves back, pulling up the corners of her lips into what she hoped was a slight smile. He seems to be engaging the incoming visitors in animated conversation, which was unfortunately something Hachikuji could never bring herself to do. He sure has changed a lot... a pang of sentimentality twinges in Hachikuji's heart before she can stop herself.

...

...Are her eyes deceiving her, or is the line already longer than when she was manning the booth? Hey, what's with this discriminative treatment? Now feeling somewhat annoyed, she turns back and continues to walk, this time at a brisker pace.

Approaching the stairs, she hears a familiar voice around the corner.

"I've told you that the concert preparations should have been completed one hour before the actual event! Please tell the team to get ready as soon as possible, or we'll be running behind schedule."

"Y-Yes. Vice Chief Executive!" the terrified committee member squeals nervously.

"Hey, Yukinoshita." Hachikuji turns the corner with a hand already up to greet him.

"Well, if it isn't Miss perfectly-capable-of-doing-more-but-sitting-at-the-ticketing-booth-doing-nothing."

Ouch! My delicate maiden heart! You could cut someone with those insults which probably got old by the time you reached preschool. Out loud, she says with the air of faux intelligence, "The wisest individual I know once said that those who take the small jobs that everyone else refuses to do are the pillars of the working world."

"Well then, Miss Wisest-individual-you-know, I suppose you coerced Yuigahama-san into being a pillar of the working world in your stead?"

"He volunteered," Hachikuji drawls. "Not my fault. He asked me to man the class booth, but I'm guessing Sagami's there already."

"Well, you guessed right," Yukinoshita states dryly with a scowl. "I passed her by just now. She acted like I didn't exist."

"I see. Hey, Yukinoshita."

"Yes?"

"I need authorisation to visit the roof. Come with me."

Yukinoshita frowns and opens his mouth to spout a disgruntled plethora of excuses, before catching the look on Hachikuji's face and catching on to her words. "...right."

Part 3

The rooftop has been transformed into a pseudo storage room for the duration of the festival, giving the different groups involved a location to store their logistics temporarily. As the festival has just started an hour ago, there is not a single soul in sight, which is what Hachikuji was banking on.

Why does she need the privacy, anyway? She had the feeling that a conversation was required to boost Yukinoshita's morale, but she hasn't even decided what to talk about yet.

"So, how's the festival organisation going?" Hachikuji asks in as placid a tone as she can manage, in a feeble attempt to move the topic at hand away from her lack of contribution thus far as a student committee member.

"As bad as it can get." Yukinoshita gives a dry laugh and leans against the railings.

Hachikuji looks up at the sky. It is a very nice day (from her limited knowledge of what a nice day constitutes), and she can hear the buzz of chatter from the courtyard. It's so peaceful that Hachikuji almost forgets that Yukinoshita is here, and closes her eyes. Losing herself in her thoughts, she nearly begins to hum, but she stops herself and bites her tongue; she would have curled up into a ball and died of embarrassment if she didn't stop herself.

Hachikuji stalls the inevitable for about fifteen seconds before she realises that Yukinoshita has a strict schedule to adhere to and is probably infringing on it to have this talk with her. She clears her throat awkwardly. "So, about Sagami..."

Yukinoshita gives her a warm (at least, as warm as he can make it) smile and silently urges her to continue. When she finds herself inexplicably incapable of doing so, he assures her with a confident smirk. "Don't worry about it, Hachikuji-san. That incident the other day did not bother me in the slightest, and due to Sagami-san's inactivity, the group dynamic of the Festival Planning Committee hasn't changed in the slightest."

Did she really look that worried, Hachikuji wonders, that Yukinoshita had to crack a joke to reassure her? The bonds between people have to be some kind of drug. Hachikuji can practically feel the redness in her cheeks and, to save herself from further embarrassment, turns away.

"Why don't you come and do something actually useful for once? I'm sure it'd be a great help." Yukinoshita says this half-jokingly, a faint smile on his smug, punchable face.

Hachikuji shudders in response. "Spare me. You know me; I find any sort of labour an absolute pain. As a wise person I know once said, energy is best spent when not spent."

Yukinoshita chuckles, the smile on his face becoming slightly more defined."You say that, but it's not like you don't really have anything more constructive to do-"

The clear peal of a standard ringtone pierces the stagnant air. Yukinoshita stops abruptly, and whips out his phone. A moment of silence, then he nods. "Sure, I'm on my way."

Yukinoshita snaps his flip phone shut and sighs. "Sorry, Hachikuji-san. I'll have to be on my way to the concert hall now. Excuse me."

And with that, Yukinoshita briskly walks past Hachikuji and down the staircase. Hachikuji inwardly curses. Why did she even assume Yukinoshita needed moral support, anyway? In the end, all she ended up doing was all for the sake of pointless self-gratification. You just needed his assurance that he wouldn't do anything to mess up, didn't you? Selfish brat. You're no better than the masses you constantly ridicule.

This self accusation stings less than Hachikuji expects it to. Perhaps it's because she knew this all along. Yes, maybe she's doing this for herself. Even so...

"Yukinoshita!"

Upon hearing his name, Yukinoshita stops halfway down the stairs, looking back at Hachikuji who is now standing at the top of the flight.

"...Do your best." Hachikuji looks away almost immediately after choking out this line. Yukinoshita notices a slight red tinting her cheeks, and, for the first time since meeting Hachikuji-san, decides to act with some tact.

He smiles warmly (at least, as warm as he can make it) in response. In his expression, Hachikuji can sense the confidence, even the slight arrogance in the smile that he usually wears. Funny how you don't notice the previous absence of something until you sense its presence.

"Yeah." Turning back, he makes his way for the hall.

Somehow, it seems that Yukinoshita could have used some encouragement, after all. Hachikuji finds herself smiling back at the empty bottom of the stairwell, her temporary trance cut short by the crackle of static on the P.A. system.

Visitors and students, the concert will start in half an hour...

Part 4

Decidedly, Sagami is having a good day. An incredibly good day, for that matter. She has just spent the past hours hanging out with her friends at the festival, exploring booths and events, essentially having the time of her life. In fact the only thing that remotely bothered them (because obviously anything that bothers her would bother her peers, right? Their bonds of friendship are just that strong!) was their encounter with one of their classmates, who confronted them and accused them of skiving off their duties. Don't they realise that the organising committee of the festival doesn't have time for class duties? Annoyed, Sagami ignores the complaints of her classmate and caught up to her two friends, who are now walking among the various booths as if in a trance.

Just like in a play. Everything is scripted, everything is fake, everything goes just as planned. Isn't that right, Organising Committee President Sagami-Sama? But alas, your circle of influence is limited to these dumb bitches. Even pretty boy Yuigahama left you in second year to join that Hayama's clique.

Sagami's pupils dilate in horror. This isn't right. She's the Organising Committee Chief Executive, for God's sake. Desperate to maintain a cheerful outward facade, she pushes these thoughts to the back of her head, with little to no success.

"Hey, Mina-chi, let's check out the concert later! It's in 15 minutes." Her friend (Sakura? Was it Sakura?) interrupts her thoughts and puts forward a suggestion, bringing her back to reality with a violent crash. After regaining her bearings, she gives it some thought. It doesn't seem too bad. She's here to enjoy the festival, without any worries, and going to a concert will provide the perfect atmosphere to rid herself of these unreasonable thoughts.

Oh, crap! She vaguely recalls Yukinoshita saying something about being at the venue 1 hour before the actual event started.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go!" Passing her half-eaten yakisoba bread to her friends, she takes off in a sprint.

…

Sagami bursts into the room panting.

"Sorry I'm late! I got held up." Backstage, committee members are bustling around hurriedly, carrying various chairs and instruments. Sure enough, Yukinoshita is standing right in the centre, barking orders to the backstage team. This kind of situation wasn't a stretch of anyone's imaginations at this point; it's become the norm. Everything seems to be proceeding smoothly under his leadership and nobody bothers even recognising that Sagami has entered the room.

See, now? This is what a real director is like. He commands individuals. He ensures smooth operations. He sways the masses in a way that you will never be able to-

Scrambling to shut the voice in her head up, she blurts out, "I had class dut-"

"Hey, Yukinoshita-san, where do I seat the VIP's?"

"Give them the middle 10 seats of the first 2 rows. We'll be expecting about 16 of them."

Nobody is paying any heed to me, why is that?

Take a wild guess. Why do you think?

"H-Hey, how's all the preparation going?" Sagami looks around for an answer, but no one is bothering to reply.

Oh right, these were the people who accused me of giving them permission to slack off.

Sagami glances around apprehensively - everyone is working together in perfect harmony, with Yukinoshita acting as the core, beautifully orchestrating everything, like the perfect orchestra with Yukinoshita as the world-class conductor.

The truth doesn't dawn on Sagami so much as slug her in the face. In this grand orchestra, her presence there is like that of the triangle player; horribly out of sync but unnoticed anyways. Looking around at the faces of the people scuttling around her, a wave of resentment wells up in her. Sagami averts her gaze to the ground.

What were they even saying when they blamed me for telling them to do nothing? What kind of leader tells their workers to slack off? I sure as hell didn't...

"Sagami-san, you'll be going onstage in 3 minutes. Are your preparations for the speech ready?"

"Oh… uh, yeah." Sagami tries to remember the contents of the script that she left at home. It's not like she shunned her duties aside, she is, after all, a fairly capable leader. (She couldn't have been that bad, right?) She'd even spent the time to even make a script, a rare expenditure of energy which a task should be honored to receive from her. As a matter of fact, she was just about to memorise it when her friends called her to talk. By the time they'd finished, it was too late and she had to go to sleep. Therefore, it's not her fault; it's Sakura's (was it Sakura? What even are the other names?) fault!

Yukinoshita cuts off Sagami's frantic self-assurances. "That's good. It's basically the opening of the concert, so you have to deliver it well. But I guess there's no need for me to worry, since it's Sagami-san that we are talking about after all."

Was that sarcasm? With Yukinoshita it's impossible to tell.

Sagami looks up into Yukinoshita's eyes, and is presented with the sight of an ice cold, expressionless and unwelcoming face. It might just be her imagination, but those empty eyes seem to drill right through her, gazing into her soul. In comparison to him, she's just an empty husk of a person - a "leader" who couldn't get anything done, not even a simple script, they seem to say. Maybe I should have memorised it after all…

"Well... the thing is, come to think of it, I'm not feeling too confident... why don't you deliver the speech instead?" Sagami was confident about ad-libbing the speech previously, but can now feel her knees getting weaker by the second. After all, it would be horrible for her public image if she were to stutter or even suffer a panic attack on-stage. Shiromeguri-senpai's opening speech and the loud cheers from members of the student body don't seem to be helping either. In fact, they're making her feel even more inferior.

Or is it due to the sheer presence of Yukinoshita, with his overpowering aura of confidence, standing before her, the nervous wreck that she is? A defensive wave of anger boils in her stomach.

Yukinoshita tilts his head, a confused look on his face. "Sagami-san, are you quite alright? It's too late to make any changes to the agenda and I don't have a speech prepared."

"I mean, you're basically the leader, aren't you?"

Wait, what am I saying? Who's the Chief Executive here?

"What are you saying?" Yukinoshita's response mirrors Sagami's thoughts, catching her by surprise. "You're the organising committee head, not me. You're responsible for this event. In other words, it's also your responsibility to address the visitors and students at the concert. You're the one that everyone wants to see."

Amongst the simmering emotions bubbling in her chest, despair begins to claw its way to the surface. "But-"

"To kick things off, we'll have an address by the head of the Culture Festival's organising committee. Without this person, this festival wouldn't have been possible, so please put your hands together and give some uproarious applause to… Sagami Minami!" The loud roars of the audience burst through the curtains into the backstage room, and Sagami feels the force of countless expectations push her forward.

Part 5

Yukinoshita looks at the Sagami standing on the stage, stiff as a stick, staring at the ground in front of her, with one hand fiddling with her skirt and the other clutching the microphone so hard her knuckles were ghostly white, which just so happened to be roughly the same color as her face.

Sagami tries to look at the audience, but everything feels blindingly bright to the point of overwhelming her, as the loud cheers of the audience slowly fade away into her subconscious. She breaks out into a cold sweat, and can hear faint ringing in her ears. Her mouth opens nervously, and shuts again; her tongue feels hot and heavy. Did it really require so much effort just to remain standing before?

"Go-Good morning, everyone-" Loud feedback erupts from the speakers, and she flinches reflexively. Sounds of hearty laughter issue from the audience.

"You can do it!" Someone from amongst the audience shouts encouragingly. Somehow, that stings much more than the laughter ever could.

Yukinoshita sighs. Maybe he should have done the speech after all. No, that wouldn't solve anything. In fact, in spite of himself, he feels almost amused by the now speechless Sagami struggling to find her words.

Nothing sweeter than schadenfreude, huh.

"W-w-welcome, everyone, to this festival, and this concert. The organising committee has…uh, tried very hard to put together a fun experience for everyone so… please enjoy it. Also, we, uhh.."

We? Don't kid yourself. You mean "they". What have you ever done to deserve being part of the committee? Did you do anything at all?

I'm the chief! I had the authority! I was in charge!

You gave all of your authority to Yukinoshita, remember? Even the Head's stamp of approval.

So? Everybody respected me! Except for that fish-eyed bitch...

Nah, no one respected you. Just that, she was the only one with the decency to be honest about it.

She realises that she has been spacing out on the stage for too long. Blocking out the voice in her head, Sagami strains to recall snippets of the script in an attempt to continue her fragmented speech and fails horribly. Why... at such a crucial time-

Right. Shiromeguri-senpai wrote most of it.

Seriously, how can she possibly call this a memorised speech? It's like she's making it up on the spot! Unaware that he actually hit the nail on its head, the junior Yukinoshita glances at his sister, who is sitting next to Hiratsuka-sensei. The paper in Hiratsuka-sensei's hand has been crumpled (almost crushed, in fact). A burning flame rages in her eyes, which the ground has taken up the unfortunate duty of receiving, courtesy of her foot. Clearly, she doesn't look favorably upon the development thus far. As they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Meanwhile, Haruno has clasped a hand over her reddened face, and is trying her best to hold back her laughter, occasionally letting loose a snort. It's evident that however hard she is trying to conceal her laughter, it just isn't enough; she looks almost comical with laughter ready to overflow out of her any minute. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, yet a woman doing the scorning is clearly worse in several ways. But just this once, Yukio can relate.

"Yukinoshita-san, if Sagami-san continues at this pace, we'll fall behind schedule."

Right, the schedule.

…..

Sagami's day is... not exactly good. It is said that good things come to those who wait, so after all that has happened, surely something good is bound to happen right? After all, can things get any worse than what has already happened? Well, things are currently a whole lot worse than when she started out, actually. Standing in front of the massive audience, she can almost melt under their collective gaze, and the glaring overhead lights are only making the situation worse. She feels like she is being swallowed whole by the intense glares of every single person in the audience, with nowhere to escape.

What's next? I have to… thank our sponsors? I don't know!

...Who are our sponsors, anyway?

"Sagami-san, we have to hurry up, we're going to fall behind at the pace you're saying your script." Turning to look at the side of the stage, Sagami sees Yukinoshita, who is furtively glancing between his watch and the concert schedule, all the while tapping his foot so fast that it appears to be staying completely still.

Shut up, you damn lackey. But from what he said, it should be alright to end the speech now, right? We're falling behind time, after all. I can't help it. It's not my fault.

"I-I'd like to thank both our sponsors and everyone who came for the event. Please enjoy the concert!" Sagami walks off the stage in a cold sweat, almost relieved that despite her pathetic performance, a portion of the audience still continues to applaud her. She ignores the fact that the applause is mostly out of pity.

She almost walks straight into Yukinoshita, who hisses, "What are you doing? I told you to speak faster, not to end the speech. You have nearly two pages worth of content that you skipped completely!"

Sagami's jaw nearly unhinges in shock. What? But he said…

"Well, it's fine. Being ahead of time is better than being late."

Sagami opens her mouth to speak, but Yukinoshita has already walked off to brief the concert performers.

What's with that guy? How can he talk to his superior like that? After not doing a single thing to help me out when I was struggling on stage!

No need to be so defensive. He trusted you to handle this much by yourself, didn't he? Or rather, he trusted you to screw this little task up without his supervision. Ignorant little brat.

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP.

The uncertainty that Sagami Minami has been squashing down at the bottom of her heart suddenly explodes, and the past month's worth of committee meetings flashes before her eyes. Countless thoughts raced through her mind, and none are positive.

Feeling a sudden pang of nausea, she picks herself up and runs from reality.

END OF CHAPTER 8

Author's Note: I apologise for the excessive amount of Sagami roasting. She really had it coming, to be honest. Do drop a review, I need the feedback :)