Face Off

Today’s UN Training --- Be prepared for the worst (again!)

Akihiro Tani has not wavered in his pursuit of using each day as a stepping stone towards his ultimate goal at the top of the UN. Though it may seem that way at times, especially as he grows closer to the people he is surrounded by, he is still striving for greatness.

A truly determined man is one who is able to double-task.

And Tani views himself as one of those determined men.

The Festival has reached its second and final day, and the training continues according to yesterday's schedule. He has successfully completed three out of the five necessary Phases, which puts the venture on track to be considered a success.

Everything has been going smoothly so far. No setbacks have occurred, no one has failed, and there have been no technical malfunctions or breakages. Nothing has managed to disrupt his focus.

However, this continued smoothness is, paradoxically, a major source of anxiety for him. The only difference now is that he has a sense of where the inevitable danger will originate.

Mariko, Charl, Ume and Anita.

Their attitudes yesterday revealed more than enough evidence that the thing they are hiding is most likely the existential threat lurking in the shadows that he’s been fearful of.

Although he tried to politely get some info out of Anita, it looked like the mere thought of revealing it was torturing her. Because of that, he’s abandoned pushing the Foreign Girl on the topic all together.

This doesn’t mean he’s abandoned his desire to find out, however. He can wax poetic about the wants and desires of his friends and how they’re not obligated to tell them how their feeling, but the truth is, if there is the slightest chance that it can sabotage his desired future, he’ll do whatever it takes to nip it in the bud before it’s too late.

He must find out what they’re hiding.

He’ll just need to be creative.

To truly prepare for the worst, one must seek out the very place from which the danger might arise.

-----------------------

Creativity, even for someone like Tani, is difficult to conjure up when in a time crunch. If it were up to him, he would have wired a listening device onto each podium in his booth, set up a program that automatically scribed relevant key words into a tablet, and had access to that tablet via cell phone for him to sneakily read.

Alas, beggars can’t be choosers.

He’s forced to do it the old fashioned way.

Also known as, strategic eavesdropping.

As popular as their booth has been this morning, there are still occasional lulls where conversation between club members could be had. So Tani spent those lulls creating minor reasons to get individuals together that could prompt a chat. At first he had Mariko and Ume go behind the tent to grab some miscellaneous items from some boxes; he would follow them just within ear shot and listen in on their conversation.

It was a whiff, though. They didn’t bring up any juicy details.

Next he had to make up an excuse for Charl and Anita to get together, so he used the universal tv remote to mess with their LED screens. He would do things like turn the screen off and on or rapidly change the channels, and then he'd pretend to be unable to find the remote so he could get the two of them together to manually input the correct buttons and remedy the problem.

When Anita and Charl barely spoke while trying to help each other out, the desired outcome remained far away, and Tani was forced to move on to the next target. He decided to linger next to Emilia while she handed out the club’s pamphlets and urged patrons into their booth.

With her big dark sunglasses comfortably worn, she expressed her excitement to him about Tai-san this and Tai-san that. It became very obvious that any attempt to squeeze out information regarding the others is an attempt too futile to continue. Also, he can only handle a conversation about a person he doesn’t know for so long, each time she said ‘Tai-san’ it made his face tick.

He did his best to extricate himself from the dead end conversation, but Emilia pressed on and continued on that topic despite his very obvious agitation. She delivered her excitement with a deadpan face and a monotonous tone, which only served to take abrasive pricks at his patience.

With that, all of the most sneaky avenues have been exhausted, so he saunters back into his booth and plops himself down on his chair. With a click of his tongue, he folds his arms and starts tapping his foot on the ground.

“What are you so upset about?” Ume asks.

From her podium, she could sense the radiation emanating from the little white fold out chair he’s sitting on.

“Oh, don’t mind me, I’m just taking a break.”

“But you look like you’re on the verge of flipping a table.”

“I am broadcasting nothing of the sort.” he snaps.

Ume looks at him suspiciously.

Emilia’s voice comes in and adds,  “Tani-senpai is being rude.”

“What else is new?” Ume says with a sigh.

“Excuse me??” Tani asks incredulously.

“It’s true.” Emilia says, walking to Ume’s side and standing over Tani. “He is not acknowledging the fundamental success of his teachings. My new friend is coming to our booth soon and he doesn’t seem to care one bit.”

The two are towering over him, their shadows that are cast onto his face feels like a heavy blanket thrown atop him.

“Emilia, it’s not that I don’t care. I just---”

Ume interrupts him and asks, “Your new friend? The guy from yesterday?” 

She backs away from them, and the heavy accusatory blanket that was once suffocating Tani has abruptly been pulled away.

“Ahh,” Emilia puts her index finger on her chin and flatly says, “I forgot to tell you about that.”

“How could you forget to tell me that!?”

Ume’s pitch and tone reached a level that forces a cringe out of Tani, he even takes a look at his wristwatch just to check the time of day and see if it’s early enough to explain Ume’s agitation. Seeing that it is just after 11am, he shudders to think about where that outburst had come from.

Emilia on the other hand, somehow managed not to notice what was so obviously thrown her way.

“Actually, I didn’t forget. It’s just that I’ve been the last to know quite a few things that you’ve been up to with your friends, I thought it’d be fun to return the favor.”

Ume furrows her brow and turns her cheek away, it’s as though she is in the process of forcing her words back. Tani can see it straight away, and he decides it’s time to break the ice a bit.

“Apparently, this new friend of hers will be bringing another person with him that is going to draw in a big crowd.”

“W-What?”

“That’s right,” Emilia adds, “Tai-san has a really famous friend. They should be here any minute.”

Ume’s face goes pale. “No way…”

Tani claps his hands and adds, “So let’s be on our best form today, if Emilia’s friend is what he says he is, this could really go a long way for our club’s presence here. My guess is that the TIU guys will finally show up if they see that we’re getting a lot of attention.”

Ume offers him a nervous and unsettling smile instead of a verbal reply, appearing fragile, like a piece of cracked glass about to break.

There is a noticeable pause, and within it, Tani comes to the realization that the very secret being kept from him has perhaps just been touched upon. Ume is acting strange, even more strange than yesterday. He perks up and is about to confront her about it, but the voice of an old man jerks his head away from her.

“Well if it isn’t Akihiro-kun, taking a little break I see?”

“Principal Togashi??” Tani asks, abruptly standing to his feet.

The principal is accompanied by a second old man. Short in stature, the man's salt and pepper hair and thick black-framed glasses, combined with his hands clasped behind his back, projects an air of authority that comes across as imposing to Tani.

“I’m glad to see you are working hard here.” Togashi says, injecting a ping of jest into his words.

Tani catches the sarcasm in an instant, but assuming that the other old man is important, he doesn’t return any venom.

“We’ve been quite busy all morning.” he replies with a courteous smile.

“Oh, Dr. Mizuno and I have noticed how hard you and your club have been working since yesterday, actually.”

Taken aback by the unexpected kindness shown, Tani internally stammers for a moment before replying, “This is Dr. Mizuno Arai from the TIU admissions board?”

The man in the glasses steps forward and shakes Tani’s hand. “It is my pleasure to finally meet you, Akihiro-kun. As I’m sure you can imagine, I’ve heard an awful lot about you.”

“Hopefully you only heard about the good things.” Tani jokes, playing up the sugary small talk while still managing to sneak in a sharp glare towards Togashi.

Amused, Dr. Mizuno chuckles.

Togashi’s eyes scour the booth when he says, “The two of us would like an up close look at you and your club at work. Would you mind if we sit back and watch you operate?"

Tani also investigates the booth. He can see Mariko, Anita, and Charl all working with patrons, blissfully unaware of how important these next few minutes will be for him. But still, seeing them so effortlessly complete their tasks, he feels a surge of confidence begin to brew in his chest.

“We’re just preparing for an incoming crowd. A special guest is on his way.” Tani says, turning back to the two old men. “It will be our pleasure to show you how the Languages club has been representing Kokusai."

“We look forward to seeing it. So don’t mind us, we’ll be nearby.”

The two men take their leave, and Tani can relax his posture.

“You guys hear that?? Let’s knock this out of the park!”

Tani is too excited to notice Ume’s troubled expression, she is almost blue. His primary mission for the day seems completely forgotten; his focus has entirely shifted to this new objective.

“Ah, good timing.” Emilia catches sight of something in the crowd and points. “He’s here.”

Both Tani and Ume jerk their heads sharply, following the direction of Emilia’s gaze. Just as Taira promised, the spectacle is far grander than they had anticipated. Behind him is a crowd consisting of a dense and excited mass of students. 

The large assembly are entirely absorbed by a young man positioned at the very heart of it all. This magnetic figure stands out immediately; his hair is a striking, almost ethereal shade of light blue, perfectly complementing a pair of crystal-blue eyes that seem to catch and reflect the late morning sunlight.

He moves with a practiced, almost celebrity-like composure as the students desperately vie for his attention, their hands thrust forward holding notebooks and phones, pining for autographs and begging for the coveted chance to take a selfie alongside him. The noise of the adoring fans just about completely drowns out the murmur of the rest of the Festival.

Emilia leaves to go greet Taira, and Tani can only watch on in awe as she smoothly makes her way to greet her new friend amidst that large group of people. He feels a surge of pride seeing her growth; the Emilia he first began teaching wouldn’t dare approach a crowd like that.

Her actions are further proof that everything is going to go well, his entire club has grown so much that he is certain Dr. Mizuno, and even Togashi, are going to be impressed by them.

However…

A gentle tug on his sleeve pulls him from his thoughts, slamming him back to reality. The pale face of Kimura Ume confronts him.

“T-Tani…” she says, trying to hide her discomfort with an overtly strained smile. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“...Huh?”

“I need to leave.”

To say that he’s confused is an understatement, he almost can’t process what he just heard. 

“Leave?? Were you not paying attention just now? The principle and the rep from TIU are watching us!”

“I... I can’t do it.”

“Ume, don’t you know how important this is to me?? My future is at stake here, we can't do it without you!”

“I know...! I'm sorry!"

Ume twists her face from him and begins to make her swift exit out the back of the booth. But before she could get away, Tani grabs her wrist.

“Ume wait, you can’t be serious! You wouldn't actually hang me out to dry like this, would you??”

Her composure utterly fails; the expression she presents is enough to leave him paralyzed. Her lips are tightly pursed, desperately trying to keep unwanted words from escaping as tears gather in the corners of her eyes.

“I’m dead serious…” She says, “I need you to let me go, Tani.”

“...W-What’s wrong?”

The weight of the world seems to land on her suddenly, making her knees weak. After a moment's pause, she allows herself to sink slowly to the ground. Looking up to him from there, she is finally able to admit, “This Tai-san that Emilia met yesterday… It’s actually Taira.”

“Eh? Like, our Taira? From middle school?”

“Yeah…”

“....”

Tani is stunned not to have recognized him yesterday, even without his glasses. Coming face-to-face with him after all this time is a shock, though he immediately tries to minimize the revelation's impact.

“That’s fine though… It might be a little awkward, but that doesn’t actually matter.”

“It does!”

“Why?”

“I… I don’t want to say.”

Tani leans down to her level and says, “If you don’t tell me what’s going on, then I can’t possibly help you.”

Ume agonizes over confessing the truth, fearing his reaction could change his perception of her or even push him away. However, given his response when she told him she couldn't work, she feels she owes him the honesty of explaining the reason why.

“The guy Taira is with… That is Hagihara Katsurou, I bet you’ve never heard of him, but he’s a pretty famous actor…"

"So what?"

"...And he is my ex boyfriend.”

“...Oh.”

“The two of them have been out to get me for months now. Ever since we broke up, Hagihara has been on a mission to sabotage me. From modeling gigs to my friend group at my old school, there’s a reason why I had to transfer to Kokusai.”

“And Taira? He’s a part of this too?”

“...Yes.”

“I don’t get it… Why are they trying to hurt you?”

Hidden behind the table of their booth, the crowd outside can’t see them, but the two of them can sense the commotion coming up on them. They hear Shirai greeting the famous actor, and Taira’s voice loudly proclaiming their desire to participate in the Language club’s game.

Their presence at the booth is akin to a raging house fire, and the smoke they emit not only suffocates them but also serves as a glaring warning compelling her to flee.

Ume puts both her hands on Tani’s shoulders, looks him square in the eyes and says, “I promise, I’ll explain everything later. For now, please help me… Don’t let them find out I’m here!”

Seeing her like this crushes Tani. His heart takes a thunderous beat, and his chest suddenly feels tight.

The danger he was so adamantly seeking the source of has finally been exposed. Yet even with this newfound clarity, because of the suddenness there can be solace. Instead, the anxiety of the unknown threat that he has spent the entire Festival agonizing over has intensified tenfold now that the threat has become known

It is overwhelming.

But as the old adage says, pressure makes diamonds.

Tani grabs Ume’s arm and shuffles her along the ground, guiding her underneath the final podium, where she fits snuggly and out of sight. Despite feeling a sense of dread, he manages to give her a reassuring smile.

Ume looks upon him as though he were an angel that has just descended from heaven to save her. She has no idea that he is secretly terrified of what’s to come, to her, he looks like someone who can handle whatever is out there.

His parting words to her confirm what her eyes are seeing.

“Just wait here until it’s over. I’ll take care of it.”

Today’s UN Lesson --- You can never truly be prepared for the worst!