#321

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Money is truly a troublesome thing.

Without money, you can’t afford food, a place to live, or even attend school.

Even hobbies, despite varying in initial investment, require money to pursue. Some might argue that there are hobbies like walking or running that don’t require any investment beyond your own body.

But what about the clothes for exercising? What about the shoes?

Ultimately, when asked what is most important for human life, the answer is money. However, it’s strange that even if you have a lot of it, you tend to be resented by others.

They say the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, but in this case, it’s more about jealousy born from envy.

Humans, always striving for average, perhaps diminish the excitement of life in doing so, I now realize belatedly.

But such thoughts are irrelevant now. The person in front of me is more sensitive to the word ‘money’ than the average person. Perhaps it’s a necessary skill for a manager, or maybe he’s pressed a certain motivational button.

“Is the money a donation or a loan?”

“…I’d like you to listen to the details and judge for yourself.”

His eyebrows furrowed slightly. But from his tone, there was no sign that he was being disrespectful or mean. It’s as if his interest has intensified, but only towards the content.

Donation… what a nice ring to it.

Compared to overseas, Japanese people tend to have a lax attitude towards the usage and results of donations.

What matters most is the sentiment, not the outcome.

It’s both a virtue and a vice of the Japanese.

It all comes down to the results.

Success or failure.

This time, what I’m being asked for is success.

Since they hosted the farewell party, the content doesn’t matter… he’s not expecting such a result, and I don’t want to showcase such a result in public either.

Yes, the biggest issue is indeed money.

When I thought about the visit to the director, some might have imagined it. Money is important in everything, right?

But, let’s be honest, looking into a high schooler’s wallet won’t reveal much. You probably wouldn’t want to know about the financial situation of an older brother who gets less allowance than his younger sister… it’s rather bleak.

Of course, we can’t rely on the students in the organizing committee to collect funds.

Because this is a school event. If it were to be funded by both the school’s budget and the students, it would be problematic.

That is, unless it’s for preparing a gift for a specific person based on personal connections.

So, what should we do?

We should approach the school to increase the budget.

Result: Rejected.

The reason is simple: the budget has been enough in previous years. Schools aren’t places for unpaid service. They’re places to nurture students who have completed compulsory education and come to learn of their own volition.

Of course, they wouldn’t spare expenses for education, but they’re strict when it comes to these kinds of school events.

Every year, they make do with the fixed budget.

As a result, the contents are almost the same every year.

Could it be that the reason they’re similar is not because of a lack of ingenuity, but because the budget itself is insufficient?

I suggested this might be a negative loop, but it was met with a glance and a sigh, and the conversation ended.

Well, if we were to gather student opinions through surveys and approach the student council, the possibilities might broaden, but we don’t have time.

Let’s leave this as a task for next year.

With Shiraishi and Hino-kun, it’ll be fine.

The second option considered was to find cheaper stores for the items to be purchased, including equipment, to create room in the budget.

However, this would take too much time, and we’d have to allocate an appropriate number of people to visit surrounding areas, so it’s not feasible.

In that case, what should I do?

Former seniors in similar positions must have thought about this before. The conclusion is evident from the past events.

Abandoning any thoughts and just settling for the usual content year after year. Because, really, there’s nothing else that can be done. Truly important people should have individual arrangements already in place.

Most of them are from different grades, and once graduation is over, they’ll never meet again. There are no idiots foolish enough to sacrifice themselves for a school event.

So, this year’s members are a group of fools. And the leader of these fools, inevitably, is the biggest fool.

Their motivations are simple: because Hiiragi Akane, who provided a significant turning point in high school life, is there.

Plus, he’s a fool who want to show off and look cool in front of the entire school.

Even though nothing will change, he wants to stand by the people by their side and prevent others from speaking out against them.

I’m not alone in thinking this anymore.

When it comes to mentioning money to the director of the Kirasaka conglomerate, there’s no turning back. No other student would ever dare to, or even be able to, say such things.

Children have pride too.

And it’s a much more troublesome pride than that of adults. Don’t underestimate teenagers.

“Thank you, I’m sorry”, are words they can’t say to your face, which is why conflicts arise so often at this age.

To proceed with the conversation, I need the documents that Shizuku and Kirasaka carefully reviewed the other day regarding the budget for the farewell party.

When I received them, they were handwritten, but today I recreated them on the computer, as I need to show them to the director.

I take them out of my bag and place them on the desk, then offer them to the director.

“These are the documents regarding the budget for the farewell party, prepared by your daughter and my childhood friend.”

“Let’s have a look.”

The director responds briefly, then flips through the pages one by one.

He’s flipping through them at a speed that seems like speed reading, but I wonder if he’s really absorbing the contents…

If it were me, I’d definitely need more than enough time.

I debated how many years’ worth of documents to prepare, but I ultimately decided to hand over three years’ worth.

High school operates on a three-year cycle, so it should be just right.

The documents list the annual budget, the items purchased with it, the names of the items, the amounts, and the prices from the purchase stores.

Every year, the budget is stretched to its limit, with no carryovers.

“The annual budget is 150,000 yen. This includes decorations for the ceremony and gifts from current students to the graduates.”

Sakuranaoka Academy operates under a unrestrictive policy called freedom.

The students are entrusted with running events as long as they ensure the success of the only event that generates profit, the culture festival.

Conversely, in years when events like the culture festival didn’t go well, teachers often intervened, as Koizumi explained to us during a previous briefing on the executive committee.

So, it’s not simply the school bearing the full burden, but indirectly, all students contribute.

With this in mind, this year’s budget is the same as usual, but there’s minimal intervention from the teachers.

While there’s an obligation to report, we can still move around freely like this.

Going back further than the three years we initially handed to the director and recalculating, it’s overwhelmingly clear that the budget falls short for what we’re trying to accomplish.

The gymnasium where the event will take place already has red carpets and banners to hang on the walls, provided by the school. It seems there are also gifts for the graduates from both the school and the PTA, but gifts from current students are limited to items costing no more than 1000 yen.

<BBX: PTA = Parents Teacher Association, smh>

Well, these kinds of gifts are all about the thought behind them. It’s not about the price, so even if they’re inexpensive, it’s not a problem.

… Expecting cutting-edge games or the like would be troublesome.

“You’ve researched the details thoroughly. From this document, I can grasp a general idea, but are you saying you want to do something different this year?”

“…It’s a student event, so we can’t do anything too grand, but I’d like to make it somewhat memorable.”

Even though one of the motivations was to abandon our obsession with details, the desire to create a memorable moment for the graduating students, including the president, remains unchanged.

Last year, we attended the farewell party as first-year students. The graduating students have sent off seniors twice, just like us.

So, because we already know what to expect in terms of both the content and the outcome, we don’t want it to end the same way as always.

We can’t prepare a huge venue or lavish gifts, but we can be creative.

“Every year, in addition to gifts from the PTA and students, flowers are also sent as donations from companies that collaborate with the mayor and interns.”

The appearance of the farewell party and graduation ceremony venues doesn’t differ much over the two days.

The central aisle in the gymnasium is covered with a red carpet leading to the stage, and there are many fresh flowers placed at the entrance.

And every year, next to the red carpet, there’s an arch made of countless moth orchids.

It’s not surprising to see congratulatory flowers. It’s not surprising, but it felt strange when researching. The arches were made of fresh flowers every year.

Naturally, they wouldn’t be stored in the school’s equipment room.

However, the list of donations only mentions flowers. So, who’s donating them?

There’s no confirmation, but it’s almost certainly Kirasaka’s company.

In addition to the grand flowers sent every year, which are more magnificent than those from other companies, they also prepare different flowers for each of the farewell and graduation ceremonies.

Looking back at photos and videos, it was easier to notice because they were larger than the others.

As a precaution, I included photos of the flowers, along with the names of the companies that donated them, on the last page of the documents I handed over.

The director starts to understand bit by bit what I’m trying to convey as he looks at them.

Now, onto the main topic.

Even though I’ve been reassuring myself that I’m just a 17-year-old kid with whims, it’s still scary.

After all, the person I’m dealing with is the head of a major company that often appears on TV.

…Could I incur their displeasure and end up buried in the mountains?

Shaking off such anxieties, I speak without pretense or hesitation.

“I’d like to consult with you about something. Would it be possible to limit the donations to the graduation ceremony only?”

“…And may I ask for the reason?”

“It’s a personal opinion, but I think it’s a waste of money.”

As I say this, I reach out my hand to retrieve the documents I handed to the director.

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