The Past and Pending

Today’s UN Training --- Never let the past alter your future

Once at the top of the ladder, there’s a final rung that needs to be the sturdiest of the bunch. Holding up the weight of the person standing on it, if it were to break, it would send the them falling to the very bottom, likely damaging every rung on their way and making a future climb almost impossible.

That final rung is a hidden Past.

No matter how much training is spent on composure, no matter how well one navigates within an institution, no matter how little or how much empathy one person has, no matter how many friends or how well one resists against the ebbs and flows of the universe… The forgotten Past can return from the dregs of a mind and topple all that effort to the ground.

The ambitious amongst us are most prone to such a quick destruction.

We’ve seen it with Principal Togashi, whether it be his actions in college or blaming the clogged toilet on Yoshikawa-sensei, he’s one slip up away from losing it all.

The Past’s reach extends to every position of authority.

The average politician or diplomat has at least a dozen hidden things about them that would ruin their lives if made public.

Our Languages club president is no different.

Akihiro Tani has been running away from a Past that has both propelled him towards his desired future, and threatens to pull him back into its clammy grasp, far away from every rung of the ladder he’s climbed thus far. If caught, what would it mean to his goal of becoming Secretary General of the United Nations?

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

Thursday afternoon of the final week of club recruiting arrived like a flash bang, and Tani is still one member short of being able to keep the Languages club afloat. The events of the days prior may have kept the thought of that lingering disaster at bay, but now the pressure is almost unbearable. The pressure has had such an overbearing presence that he hasn't so much as spent a moment trying to find out who the stalker is, despite feeling their gaze on his back at many points throughout the day.

Sitting in the clubroom, there are more bodies taking up space on the U shaped table. The four foreigners present on the chairs are looking at Tani pacing back and forth in front of the blackboard.

“It’s only a matter of time now. Someone is going to walk through that door.” Tani says confidently, but a quiver of doubt could be heard by the keen ear.

“What happens if this doesn’t work?” Mariko asks, pulling at a curl in her hair nervously.

“I thought Americans were supposed to have a can-do attitude? We can’t be letting doubts creep into our minds.”

“If ya knew anything about me, you’d know that a can-do attitude is my life’s motto!” Mariko puffs. “As amazing as I think this Instergram* idea is, it’s only natural that we have a back up plan.”

“Ha! There are 1230 students at Kokusai high school, most everyone is using that particular social media app. All we need is one student to check their inbox and see the message I sent them regarding the Languages club. Mathematics is on our side, Mariko-san, the numbers are the backup plans.”

With a carefree shrug, Charl adds, “I’m impressed you managed to get everyone’s profile information overnight, Akihiro-kun.”

“Little does your rosy French brain know, this has been a work in progress since before I even created our club. Getting that info was easy, it just took until now for it to come through. You see, the computer science club owes me a couple favors, it didn’t take much to convince them to hack into the app’s database and find out all the users within Kokusai’s school records.”

“I imagine that wasn’t easy for them.”

Tani lets a villainous smirk hijack his face when he replies, “Things would have been a lot more difficult for them had they not gotten it done.”

Emilia raises her little hand and asks, “Why don’t we just go around school and ask someone in person?”

“Because that goes against my principles as a future diplomat.” Grabbing at his hips, Tani scoffs. “Even though my efforts thus far have brought me nothing but gaijins, it has somewhat worked.”

“I see, then I have no doubts it will work out.” she replies.

Though meant to inspire confidence, her blank face and monotonous voice made that come off as sarcastic. 

Tani cringes.

“Sounds more like you’re just afraid of getting rejected straight to your face. How cute and innocent of you.” Charl teases, writing down in his notebook.

Tani grips his phone tightly and fires a scowl at his student, “You mistake me for a simpleton, I am someone who thinks things through. If we just casually ask someone if they’re clubless at this point in the recruitment stage, it would take a herculean effort to find someone.”

As backwards as Tani has gone about getting members to join his club, he isn’t wrong. Most of the students would have already committed to a club, or have decided to go clubless by now. Finding a free agent under these circumstances would be as lucky as stumbling upon something valuable in the sand at the beach. The proud recluse that is Akihiro Tani wouldn’t dare lose face groveling for members in person knowing full well that the odds aren’t in his favor.

So instead, he bribed the Computer Science club into sending out a mass text directly into the Intergram* inbox of every student at Kokusai high school. In the message is an image of Tani, holding up a hand sized replica of a globe with a light blue UN flag and the rainbow colored ‘Pace’ flag sticking out of it.

If his devilishly smiling mug isn’t suspicious enough, his account handle is @Languages4u, which has zero followers and is following zero people. And if the two of those don’t raise alarm bells, the promotion text reads, ‘You are the chosen winner to be the final member of the Languages Club! Click on the link below to claim the prize of knowledge!’

This is all really bad, but wait, it gets worse.

The link presented reads,

‘www.languages4u/abcxyzUN-geniusteachings2022//1230instaxxx/linksignup.de’

No one in their right mind is going to click on that link.

Somehow, the suspicious glares and gossiping whispers Tani has heard and felt directed his way throughout the school day have not been registered as odd. The students all got this message, and virtually all of them think Tani is a scammer trying to get their credit card info.

It should be considered fortunate that none of his Languages Club members received this mass text, because if they did, Tani would most certainly be teased for such an obvious blunder.

‘Ping’

Tani’s message notification goes off, and the sudden vibration in his hand surprises him to the point of fumbling his phone and nearly dropping it.

“Ha! See, I bet this is our newest member messaging me now!”

The rest of the club is excited, and eagerly watch Tani look through the contents of his message.

But any chance of solving their existential threat is dashed when Tani says,

“It’s a message from Shirai-sensei!?”

They take a collective sigh of disappointment, including Anita who can only understand the rise and fall of her fellow members’ energy.

Tani scrolls through the message she sent him saying, [“I didn’t take you for a social media user, Akihiro-kun! To think you'd send me a message as well! Kyah! You’ll be seeing my life outside of school, maybe I should delete my most scandalous photos??”]

Tani squints at his phone and mutters to himself, “I won’t be seeing anything of the sort because your account is private and we haven’t added each other.”

As soon as he said that, Shirai’s handle, which is @parttimeteacherfulltimebabe1995, sends a follow request his way.

[“Oh my, maybe I should have done a better job at keeping my students away from this account, how embarrassing for me! >o<”]

Tani is about to return his phone to his pocket and pretend he never received anything from her, but all the sudden his phone blows up with a series of single word messages.

[“Don’t”]

[“Scroll”]

[“Too”]

[“Far”]

He can almost ignore the rapid pinging notifications by putting his phone on vibrate, but one final message does enough to pique his curiosity to the point he decides to add her and take a look.

[“ ;) ”]

Her Instergram* page is entered, and his eyes are immediately bombarded with provocative photos of Shirai in a wide variety of outfits that are NSFW.

“!!”

Tani does well to keep himself from shrieking.

Shirai Keiko has photos of herself in bikinis on the beach drinking colorful alcoholic beverages, photos of herself dressed skimpily in what looks to be a club with some of her girl friends, photos of herself posing seductively in short skirts and high heels in Roppongi. Sexy gym photos that broadcast how fit she is. There’s even pics of her dressed in the cosplay of some popular anime.

Tani’s mind is flooded with a series of thoughts he struggles to choose from; he first wonders just who it was who took all these very professional grade photos, he then wonders why she’s half naked in most of them, and finishes with pondering how she affords such a lifestyle on a teacher’s salary.

Looking at a particular picture of her in a swimsuit, he notices thousands of likes and hundreds of comments from a plethora of men saying how sexy she is and other very inappropriate flirtations. He also notices that she only replies to the female commenters giving her props on her outfit. This in and of itself is certainly not a problem, in fact it’s the best way to deal with these types of interactions baring blocking, but considering Shirai’s infatuation with no longer being single, the final thing that enters Tani’s mind comes out of his mouth.

“This account is a damn thirst trap!”

“Um… What just happened?” Mariko asks while scratching her cheek.

The rest of the group look as confused as she does, they’ve been watching Tani go down a social media rabbit hole in real time after all.

Tani clears his throat and smoothly replies, “It’s nothing.”

He slides his phone back into his pocket, emoting no evidence to compel them to further ask any other question on the topic.

“There are few things worse than false hopes while expecting something, I’ll have to give our club’s faculty sponsor a piece of my mind when I see her next.”

As soon as he finishes saying that, his phone vibrates six more times in rapid succession.

Pulling it out and scrolling through the messages Shirai has sent him, he lets a frown pull his eyebrows towards his nose. “In fact, I think I need to take care of that right now.”

Tani walks to the door, slides it open and says, “I’ll be right back.”

“Good luck.” Charl winks at him.

“If someone texts you while you’re out, be sure to rush back and let us know! The pressure is killin' me over here.” Mariko adds.

“Ciao.” Emilia says.

Anita simply smiles and salutes him.

For whatever reason, Tani feels like he is embarking on a great crusade that his club members think he has no chance of surviving. He leaves them behind, despite being sent off in such a discouraging atmosphere.

But he knows something they don't. The series of messages Shirai had just texted him reads,

[“Don’t ignore me after seeing me in such a state! You’ll have your poor teacher in tears!”]

[“Okay I can tell that you saw my messages, why aren’t you responding??”]

[“But seriously, respond!”]

[“You can say anything!”]

[“But don’t tell me I look fat, I’ll actually die.”]

[“Ohh that reminds me, if you decide to like some of my photos, I’ll let you in on a little secret about getting you your 5th and final member ;)”]

Tani spam likes her most recent photos while making his way through the hallways towards her classroom.

There is no amount of phycological torture he wouldn’t go through to ensure his club isn’t relegated out of existence.

“If this turns out to be another gaijin, I swear---”

‘Bzzzz’

His phone vibrates again, he sighs.

He’s only a few meters away from Shirai-sensei’s classroom so there is no reason to return her text, but he still finds himself compelled to look at the message.

“!?”

He’s surprised to find that it isn’t from Shirai’s account at all. Instead it’s from the handle @plumfairy05

What’s even more surprising is that there’s a blue checkmark by the name. And what’s even more surprising than that, is the fact that this person has 7 million followers.

This famous person has left a message, and he’s quick to read its contents.

[“This link led me here, I’m interested in claiming my prize. Meet me on the roof of Kokusai.”]

Tani looks at the message dejectedly.

“This is a total scam. What kind of account has 7 million followers and isn’t even public??”

The avatar for this account is an attractive looking young woman behind identity concealing sunglasses, she's striking a model pose, dressed expensively in a designer outfit. Even someone as bad at social media as Tani assumes that this isn’t legit.

“Could it be that there’s a group of guys waiting up there to mug me? Or worse yet, what if it’s the stalker!? No way I’m going, I could be killed!”

As if replying to his protest, his phone buzzes, [“I clicked on your sketchy link knowing full well I might lose my account and all my followers, you should show me the same courtesy. Be here in two minutes, I'm waiting for you.”]

No matter how threatening a situation could be, our ambitious high schooler is someone who will risk life and limb for his goals; now it’s a matter of choosing the better option between this person who replied to his link, or Shirai-sensei’s dubious claims of a potential member.

The answer comes easy to him.

“I’m on my way.” he texts back.

Tani makes his way up the stairs towards the roof.

It only takes a what seems to be second for him, and he finds himself opening the door leading to the top of the school. The outside air greets him with the late afternoon touch of the warm spring sun. The welcoming sensations felt on his skin supersede any anxiety about meeting the real life version of someone from a social media app.

He walks out to the open, but is disheartened to find no one there. The roof is a big open space without many places to hide, so when no one is present, any hope of this being a real encounter is dashed.

But then the door behind him shuts, prompting him to turn around.

Standing there blocking his only escape path is a girl with maroon hair and striking indigo eyes.

She’s a delicate looking creature, but with the sleeves of her cardigan covering the hands pressed onto her hips combatively, she comes across as extremely intimidating to Tani. The sun reflecting off her cute features in brilliant displays of warm colors do little to quell the bubbling tempest brewing in his chest.

Why would this beautiful girl summon such an unwanted eruption from the deepest depths of a purposefully forgotten part of his soul?

“...Kimura Ume?” he mutters in disbelief.

It is because he knows this girl, he knows her very well.

She points her sleeve covered hand at him and declares, “I’ve finally found you, Tani.”

Today’s UN Lesson --- The Past is an inescapable part of your future!