Join the Activities Committee! A (Almost) First Meeting!
It was Meet & Greet week for the various clubs and committees at Temple University, a time where incoming freshmen or anyone on campus who was just curious about a certain after school activity could learn more about it -- an open house, if you will. The spring sun was shining brightly, seeming to energize both the on-lookers and the students who were volunteering on behalf of their particular club. One certain member of the Student Council Activities Committee, Omoi Kirinonai, was especially looking forward to the rush of students as she hoped to inspire at least a few of them into joining. The more help – and the more fresh, new ideas – the better!
Kirin had just finished setting out the last of the chairs as the first prospective new recruits started entering the committee’s designated room. Juuchin, the head of the Activites Committee, waved her over as he began discussing the brief agenda and assignments for each of the members. “This is going to be real informal,” he started, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he studied his clipboard, “Kirin, you’ll give the welcome, then I’ll go over the basics. After that we’ll each go to a table and talk one-on-one or in small groups with the interested students, so they get a more personal welcome – and it’ll ensure everyone’s questions will be answered in the amount of time we’ve got. Sound good?”
The rest of the volunteers nodded and a few of them – Kirin included – gave an enthusiastic “Yes!”
“All right, then.” Juuchin glanced at his wristwatch. “We’ll give the students five more minutes and we’ll get this started.”
~ * ~
A student with messy brown hair and an impressive pout on his face begrudgingly walked over to the Student Council stand. He'd been at the Meet & Greet week all day, avoiding the one club that his parents had insisted her find out more about and get involved with; the Student Council Activities Committee. Frankly, he'd hoped to get in on the Art Club, but he hadn't been able to find their stand. Besides, he knew he was going to get it from his parents if he didn't bring home at least one brochure or pamphlet or SOMETHING from the Student Council.
Hesitantly, he looked at the girl who appeared to be in charge; a rather pretty young thing with wavy black hair and a welcoming smile on her face. She seemed nice enough...but still, the Student Council Activities Committee did NOT sound appealing.
"Excuse me," he said, looking at the ground and trying to avoid eye contact (the less interested he seemed, the less likely he was to get suckered in). "Do you know where the Art Club stand is?" he asked, a hint of excitement coming into his voice at the words "Art Club."
Kirin turned, tucking her clipboard under her arm, as she heard someone approaching her. What she saw seemed a bit incongruous to her -- a rather tall guy (even with her two inch heels on) who looked more like a pouty puppy than a student. He didn't even make eye contact with her as if she'd scolded him or told him he couldn't go out and play. If he'd been much more confident -- and a little less disheveled and mopey -- she could see him as being kinda cute.
"The Art Club?" Kirin paused, considering her answer. She knew where it was, of course, since all the clubs had been given a layout indicating their respective positions in the courtyard. But asking one club where another (obviously more important in his mind) club is, was the equivalent to Kirin of asking a girl you weren't interested in where her (more attractive) friend was. And that wasn't very nice, even if he looked like a freshman and maybe didn't totally know better. So ... she'd give him a bit of a break.
"Well, I think I know where it is, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. If you don't mind staying here and listening to our Meet & Greet -- we do work in conjunction with the Art Club, you know -- I have a break afterwards and can show you where I think it is." She smiled up at him warmly, friendly, and then added, "And I know the VP of the Art Club personally, so I can introduce you to her if you'd like."
There. She'd help him IF he was willing to give her club a chance too.
At the pretty girl's generally pleasant response, Mujou grinned and nodded as enthusiastically as ever. "I can go for that," he said with a short chuckle. "I mean, uh," he gathered his composure again, trying to look serious. He didn't want her to think she'd won that easily. "IF you'll show me where the Art Club is afterward."
Letting his attention wander as usual, Mujou peered down to begin skimming a brochure. There was endless information here that went straight over the poor boy's head; everything from the Committee's Mission Statements to its current members and Officers to some other stuff that Mujou had lost too much interest in to care about anymore.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Mujou practically yelled with another nervous laugh. Pointedly placing his hand in front of the girl, he bowed and declared, "I'm Mujou! What's your name?"
Kirin laughed merrily, swept up in Mujou’s eagerness. She was amazed and definitely glad that he went from pouty to enthusiastic in what seemed like less than 0.6 seconds -- there was still hope for him yet!
“Deal. If you give my club a chance too, you know,” she teased lightly, watching his expression as his eyes roamed over the Student Council Activities Committee official brochure. She was a little leery of the slightly glazed look, but it vanished as he introduced himself (with a bit of nervousness, she thought). How did he jump from mood to mood so much and almost effortlessly? It intrigued Kirin.
Sketching a bow herself and extending a hand warmly, Kirin responded, “Pleased to meet you, Mujou! I’m Kirin.”
Just as she was about to ask Mujou his year and major, Kirin heard Juuchin calling her over. She turned towards his voice and gave him a quick wave before bring her attention back to Mujou. “Well, that’s my cue! Just take a seat and enjoy the presentation. I’ll be back over for the Q & A session after the intro, okay?” She fluttered her fingers in goodbye to Mujou, and then hurried over to Juuchin so she could start the "show."
“Good afternoon!” she began as everyone settled down. “I’m Omoi Kirinonai and on behalf of the Student Council Activities Committee I welcome you to our little corner of Meet & Greet week! It is such a pleasure to see so many of you interested in our club and I hope it’ll live up to your expectations. To give you a better idea of what we stand for and what we do, I’m please to introduce Taizen Juuchin, head of the Committee.” Stepping aside to give Juuchin the stage, Kirin scanned the small crowd to get a feel for everyone’s reactions and enthusiasm. Most looked like they genuinely wanted to be there and that delighted Kirin to no ends. Now she just wondered what Mujou was thinking as Juuchin went over the Committee’s details.
At first, Mujou seemed genuinely pleased that the meeting was starting. His attention stuck to Kirin the entire time she spoke, even as his enthusiasm was diminishing slightly. She seemed nice enough, even if her club was sort of...well, boring.
However, as the head of the Committe, Juuchin approached the stand and began his speech, Mujou suddenly felt rather bored. This man didn't seem to have the same excitable passion that Kirin had, not to mention all the little details he was going over were dull enough as it was. Couldn't Mujou just read all these things he was saying in the brochure?
...Not that he was actually going to read the brochure, of course - the boy had already drawn doodles all over the tiny pamphlet by the time Juuchin was halfway through his speech. One of Mujou's pictures showed this Juuchin man with a mustache and beard, depicting him in a rather disrespectful manner. In the drawing, he was holding a sword in the air and had a horrible glare on his face reminiscent of any dictator, and he was telling everyone to join in the war on fun!
Mujou's boredom continued as he drew himself and Kirin with smiley faces on, both dressed in sailor senshi costumes (though Mujou wore pants rather than a skirt). "What would Kirin-chan think of this?" he mused aloud, but to himself.
As Juuchin spoke, Kirin managed to pick Mujou out in the crowd. He was sitting at a table near where they had originally spoken and seemed to be taking notes on the brochure she had given him -- at least it appeared that way from where she was standing behind the podium. His pencil was going all over the hand-out and Kirin was pleased that he seemed to be very attentive and taking copious notes. That was until she couldn't help but wonder what kind of language he was writing in, since his pencil seemed to hardly ever lift off the page to form letters or the letters seemed to take an incredibly long time to write. Either way, it was very curious...
"And that concludes this portion of our Meet & Greet," Juuchin announced. "Now a member of the Activities Committee will come to your table, so you can get all your questions answer as well as meeting some of the great people you can work with if you join up. Members? Go ahead and pick a table."
A soon as they were given the signal, Kirin made a beeline over to the table that Mujou was occupying. As she came closer it appeared he was -- sketching? -- something intently. Therefore probably not taking notes. Or paying attention. A ghost of a frown formed across her lips as she took the seat across from Mujou. "So what did you think?" Her voice was still quite pleasant, but now held a note of caution.
Blinking in surprise, Mujou jumped a little as Kirin sat down, much like a child who'd just been caught committing an ill deed. "Kirin-chan!" he practically yelled cheerfully. "Well, I, um," he began, stammering, trying to find the right lie. "It was great! You were really good, Kirin-chan!" he gleefully exclaimed, seeming to have missed the fact that Kirin had done nothing at all with the presentation.
"But what do you think of this?" Mujou said with another excited grin, holding up the picture of him and Kirin (and carefully covering the picture of Juuchin). He seemed to expect nothing short of an ecstatic grin and child-like claps of approval from the woman sitting across from him. "I just drew this right before he started speaking, so I was paying attention, really!"
If only Mujou was a better liar...if only.
Kirin's brow twitched almost imperceptibly as Mujou's "notes" were displayed in their full glory. Good drawings, she silently admitted, but very bad notes. Make that no notes. It was very clear that what she was presented with was a -- sailor senshi? -- version of herself and Mujou. The guy had talent, which explained why he was so interested in the art club, but didn't explain why he felt the need to express it during the Activities Committee Meet & Greet.
"Your drawing is quite nice. I can tell that you drew the two of us and that takes a good deal of skill," Kirin began encouragingly, not wanting to squelch his artistic creativity, then added, "And I'm glad you liked my introduction, but what did you think of the information Juuchin went over? Or the info in the brochure?" The last question was a bit more pointed than the rest of her words. She was pretty sure of the answer; however, she'd give him one more chance before telling him their deal was off due to his defaulting on his end of the bargain.
Mujou blinked, his head clearly empty, before answering. "Well, um," he began tentatively, not wanting to lose her trust so soon. "I, uh, really liked it all! I think I might join later, but could you please let me know where the Art Club meets?"
With a toothy grin, Mujou hoped to win her over. However, things weren't looking good for the boy; his lying skills were at an all time low, and to top it all off, Kirin didn't seem too happy with him...
So that would be a "no" to the paying attention, just as she thought. He didn't even bother to try and throw some random factoid at her that he picked up to attempt to prove he was listening like she was expecting. Well, at least he didn't say Juuchin's speech was "interesting." That would have been even worse.
"Mujou, why do you expect me to still show you where the Art Club is when it is fairly clear, at least from what I've seen, you didn't really give my club a chance?" This time Kirin didn't hide her quirked brow, curious as to what he'd say.
Mujou's indigo eyes swelled to the size of golf balls, and the boy looked as if he was somewhere between sorrow and shock.
"B-but...Kirin-chan..." Mujou said disappointedly. "I'm sorry...but, that guy was just so boring!" He shrugged, looking rather pathetic. "I'm sure your club is great, but you guys need to do something more exciting if you want to get people to join!"
Suddenly, Mujou was happy yet again, but getting carried away (yet again). "LIKE A LIVE ACTION SHOW! YOU GUYS SHOULD START ONE - IT'D DEFINITELY MAKE PEOPLE JOIN!" he shouted with an enthusiastic grin, grabbing Kirin by her shoulders in his excitement.
Realizing how much he'd lost control, Mujou backed away and pouted, looking downtrodden. "Sorry, Kirin-chan...I guess I'll have to find the Art Club myself..."
Kirin blinked, then shook her head not in disagreement, but to refocus. Mujou was doing that emotional rollercoaster thing again and its effects were very similar to a real coaster: disorienting and a little head-achy if the jolt is unexpected.
"Mujou-kun," she sighed, feeling a little bad (but still miffed) after she was given the puppy-dog eyes. "I know Juuchin's speech might not have been entertaining, but you can't expect everything to be a ... a," here Kirin searched for a word, then gestured at his drawings, "a manga." And she was so not going to even touch the subject of Live Action shows. She just couldn't see herself running around in a senshi fuku proclaiming the goodness of the Activities Committee. Just no. (Unless it was really, really mandatory, then maybe).
"Okay, look," she handed him a fresh, clean brochure after circling the meeting date and putting little stars and a smiley next to it (for Mujou's short attention span's benefit). "I will show you where the Art Club is IF -- BIG IF here -- you attend the meeting I've circled for you. And I will come find you if you don't show. I've got connections and I'm not afraid to use them." Her voice somehow managed to be cheerfully threatening. "Deal?"
"O-okay!" Mujou stammered and nodded, as enthusiastic as ever. He really was trying to appease Kirin, even if he was failing miserably. Placing a hand over his heart, he called out to any who could hear, "I solemnly promise to go to the next meeting of the Activities Committee for my friend Kirin-chan."
Grabbing her hand, he shook it roughly before asking (with wide-as-ever eyes), "So where's the Art Club?" No matter how he tried, he couldn't hide what he was really after.
Kirin nodded, accepting his solemn promise as such, though she couldn't help but wonder if he'd follow through without her having to chase him down. Glancing about, she noticed Mujou's speech or more likely its volume was drawing a small crowd and a few odd looks. "Um, thanks, Mujou-kun. Now remember, I'm going to hold you to it, all right?"
She was a little surprised when he grabbed her hand, but found herself laughing at his way too obvious enthusiasm and noticed her annoyance was starting to dissipate. The guy certainly did have a one track mind and he was awfully determined, she'd definitely give him that - now if he could just focus more!
"The Art Club, right. It is at the end of this row on the left, I think." She made one last check that he had the new brochure on his personage before asking, "Shall we go?"
Blinking for what seemed like the millionth time today, Mujou nodded and walked in the direction Kirin had pointed him, holding her hand and practically skipping with enthusiasm, drawing strange looks from passersby as he bounced along.
"So Kirin-chan," he said dotingly, as if he'd known her for years. "What manga do you like?" he asked with a grin at his new friend. "I like Sailor Moon mostly, and Inuyasha, and Yu-Gi-Oh, and a lot of others that I can't think of right now, haha!"
Stopping in his tracks as if he'd forgotten some extremely important detail, he resumed walking upon adding, "OH, I completely forgot - what's your major, Kirin-chan?"
"Sailor Moon is kind of classic, so I'll agree with you there." She half watched him, half kept an eye on the crowd to make sure they didn't accidently bump into anyone or anything. Mujou seemed to be a living battery especially considering he seemed to only run on High regardless of the situation, which amazed Kirin.
Waving to a few people she knew and wondering what the crowd thought of her and Mujou's version of the Odd Couple (though not that she really cared), she was snapped out of her musing when Mujou suddenly stopped. "My major?" she murmured as she hurried a little in her heels to keep up with his pace. "I'm a music major - specifically piano and vocal. What about you? Art, maybe?"
Stopping immediately upon being asked his major (or was it because they'd just reached the Art Club stand?), Mujou looked at the ground as he mumbled, "Computer Sciences," as if ashamed of his answer.
"Well, Kirin-chan," he leaped right back into his usual enthusiasm, hoping to avoid that subject and looking back up at his friend. "Thanks for helping me find the Art Club. I promise, promise, PROMISE that I'll come to your first meeting," he said with a sincere bow. The energetic boy hoped that the girl would not question him about his major further, and take his word that he would be at the Activities Committee meeting (even though he'd already forgotten the date).
A puzzled expression crossed Kirin's face briefly at Mujou's response to her question. She wanted to ask him more, but this was the first time since she'd been around him that his energy just completely deflated. Not a good sign. So she'd ask him again on a better day maybe - no point in upsetting him when they had finally reached his destination.
"No problem, Mujou-kun! It was fun in a roundabout kind of way." Kirin flashed him a sincere smile and returned his bow. He honestly seemed like he meant his promise this time, so maybe she really wouldn't have to go find him come meeting time. "Now remember, I'm going to hold you to your promise," she teased lightly, this time with no threat in her voice. "Now go enjoy yourself and tell Ichirin-san, the VP, I said hi, okay?"
With a bright nod, Mujou gave a "Hai!" and was off to the Art Club stand.
Kirin sure was nice. Even if she'd done it all for the sake of getting Mujou to come to an Activities Committee meeting, it was kind of her to help him in the end. She was rather pushy, though - Mujou would have to get used to it, he supposed. After all, at least she wasn't as boring as her friend Juuchin!
The Art Club's stand was looking promising; pictures everywhere for passersby to admire, and Mujou looked forward to having his own pictures displayed there one day!
"Excuse me," he said beseechingly to the stand operator, who was a short, frail-looking girl with glasses and messy hair. "This is the Art Club stand, right?"
"Of course," the girl drawled in a rather sleepy tone. Pointing to one side of the stand, she gave a half-hearted smile and offered, "Read some of our brochures for more information."
"Brochures?!" Mujou cried in a desperately upset tone. "Augh!"