We narrowed our vague target demographic even further.
“So, it’ll be around March by then, right? That means the third years will be graduating, so the main targets would be the current first and second years.”
“Depending on when the paper is published, we may have to consider targeting upcoming freshmen as well.”
“Oh, I get the feeling there’d be more new students who’d look at this!”
“That’s true, new students are more likely to take one since it’s a bit out of the ordinary for them.”
The three of them converged under the same opinion. Now, we determined our main target readership.
After narrowing down our target readership, the remaining thing to do was to plan and adjust our course of action accordingly.
Yukinoshita who had been taking notes stopped writing with her pen. As she reviewed what she wrote down, she opened her mouth.
“If we are going to target the upcoming freshmen, the theme of the paper can be about introducing the school and we can create a section for introducing local spots… That should give us something solid.”
“That’s pretty common, but it’s the conservative way to go for the first issue. If we can tie it in as some kind of new student life guide book, we should be able to make something decent.”
“Ohh, that does sound decent…” Yuigahama said, sounding impressed. Similarly, Isshiki clapped her hands as if finding everything so far satisfactory and agreed.
“That sounds good to me! So, how should we go about introducing the school?” Isshiki gave Yukinoshita a look with eyes of expectation. However, Yukinoshita gave back a dull stare, apparently telling her to think for herself. Ohh, how strict of her…
With Yukinoshita’s cold look at her, Isshiki stammered. As she gave Yukinoshita glances, she timidly spoke.
“We could… p-promote the clubs, or something…? Maybe?”
Isshiki meekly huddled to herself and squeezed her bosom.
In contrast, Yukinoshita silently listened to her and questioned her with a look as to whether that was what she really wanted.
And lastly, Yuigahama watched the two of them nervously.
Silence ruled over the room for the next few moments. In this congealed atmosphere, Isshiki groaned. Just stop it, you guys! It hurts just watching her, so just tell her she’s right, please!
Though I wasn’t sure if my plea had gotten across, Yukinoshita eventually smiled. “…I suppose that’s fine.”
Yukinoshita brushed her hair at her shoulders and nodded. Isshiki sighed in relief at her side.
“We’re going with that, then. Mmkay, so we’ll do club introductions. Clubs, clubs…”
Yuigahama gladly nodded as well and began writing down the names of various clubs. Yukinoshita looked over at her notes.
“We should be able to do quite a bit with this amount. I believe it should be about two pages worth.”
“It’d be nice if we could get one more page out of it.”
Eight pages might’ve not sounded very much, but in reality, it’s quite a lot. It didn’t seem that way when you were reading, but when it came to actually filling the pages, it’s very time consuming. Even the single page we did for the local magazine last time was pretty painful.
“You’re right… I suppose we should select a club and feature them in a large, special article.”
“Sounds like the Tennis Club!”
“Sounds like the Soccer Club!”
Isshiki and I answered at nearly the same time to Yukinoshita’s suggestion. We then glared at each other.
“It clearly has to be the Tennis Club. Everyone wants to join, you know.”
I mean, everyone’s read Prince of Tennis, and tennis was getting pretty darn popular nowadays. Isshiki, however, wouldn’t budge.
“It obviously has to be the Soccer Club no matter how much you think about it. That’s what everyone wants to see, and there’s Hayama-senpai.” Isshiki argued her position in earnest.
M-Mmm… I kind of lost my ground once Hayama’s name popped up… It’s certainly true that featuring a photo with Hayama would be met favorably… Like Sagami Minami for example, she seems like she’d take several of them for herself. And then there was Miura who’d swipe a single photo of him when no one was looking. Wait, no, if we featured Totsuka’s picture, everyone would definitely—alright, that’s out of the question. The only one who should get to enjoy Totsuka’s pictures was me!
I fought with my inner demon and groaned in frustration. Yuigahama made a complicated face while watching me.
“Mmm. People might say stuff about us if we give special treatment to just one club…”
“Ahh, I guess we might get some people complaining.”
As considerate as always, Yuigahama. That’s our Gahama-san. As it turns out, even if our intentions weren’t like that, we wouldn’t know how others would perceive it. It’d be easier on us if we just followed the template to a T to avoid any needless conflict.
Isshiki, however, had a different opinion. Her eyebrows scrunched together like a frown and displayed her discontent.
“Ehh, can’t we just ignore them?”
Ohh, she sure has a strong heart… Though, “It doesn’t matter what someone like Isshiki does, someone’s going to complain anyway!” might be more accurate here.
Yukinoshita sighed and turned to Isshiki. “It’s not that simple. This paper will be sanctioned by the Student Council. There are some things you need to consider with something like this… After all, the one who will be the target of the backlash is you.”
Her words were harsh, but her tone was kind and considered Isshiki’s well-being.
“…Well, I guess so.”
Yukinoshita’s words that thought of Isshiki seemed to have gotten through to her as she nodded reluctantly. Although it’s a bit hard to tell, Yukinoshita was acting like a proper upperclassman for her.
“Oh, but hey, why don’t we ask Hayato-kun? He’s the president of the club president meetings, so if we have him act as the representative for all the club presidents, everyone should be fine with that, right?” Yuigahama said with a positive voice, acting as the other good upperclassman to Isshiki.
Isshiki perked up her face and made a sparkling smile. “That sounds good! I’ll interview him!”
“Yes, let’s fill one page with that interview.”
Having figured out our plan, the next thing was to fill in the page with details.
Yukinoshita wrote down a list of things to ask for such as club president names, pictures, and comments to feature on the overview page of the clubs. Isshiki looked at those notes and spoke.
“Are we not going to feature the Service Club?”
Upon mentioning that, Yukinoshita and Yuigahama looked up and exchanged glances. A short silence was born as though they were checking with each other or unsure. I then broke that silence.
“We don’t need to write anything about this club.”
“Why’s that?”
“Uh, well…”
Isshiki asked me curiously while tilting her head. Because she looked at me directly, I choked on my words. I spat out words that I didn’t really mean in order to smooth it over.
“Come on, it’s embarrassing to write about yourself, right…?” I said.
Yuigahama nodded in realization. “Ugh, that’s true…”
“Besides, no one even knows about this club, so featuring it in the paper isn’t going to make anyone happy.” I continued.
Yukinoshita moved her hand to her chin and thought. “I suppose so, and it’s not like we’re looking for new members…”
“Right? Plus, it’d be easier for us if we prioritize the editing by reducing work where we can.”
Though I was saying that, I was well aware of the actual reason why.
And it was simply because I had no idea what we should write about for this club. I wasn’t sure what to call our club activities or how to define them.
Isshiki opened her mouth as though trying to add another point of her own, but she stopped that with a sigh.
“…Well, if that’s the reason, I guess there’s no helping it.”
For now, it looks like she was convinced. Isshiki quickly took the notes. While fluttering them, she turned to Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.