Fundraiser: Part One by CIC Rachel-chan. The formatting was really strange on this before, but I think I have it fixed now. Just for reference, 300,000 yen is about $2500. I hope you enjoy this. Hopefully it will become funny at some point. Until then, the best you’re going to get is dry humor and irony. If you want to roll on the floor laughing, go somewhere else. No, I didn’t mean that, stay here.

* * * *

Mitsuru’s head jerked up, startled by the insistent pounding on his bedroom door. He glanced curiously over at Shinobu, who merely shrugged, then turned back to the door. "Come in."

The door flew open, and their redheaded neighbor came into view, face flushed with worry. "Sempai!" he spluttered, "I need your help!"

The two elder students rolled their eyes, certain that Hasukawa was panicked over something trivial. Mitsuru set down his book, jumped down from his bed, and ushered the frantic boy in, closing the door to keep out the noise of the other dorm residents. He sat on the edge of Shinobu’s bed and looked expectantly at Hasukawa. "Well?"

Hasukawa glanced at Shinobu to make sure he had his attention as well. The silver-haired boy swung his chair around to face him, and stared at him impatiently. "Um, the Dorm Mother just told me that a bunch of the money we had stored up was stolen. She says that as Dorm Head I have to figure out how to make up for it. I don’t know what to do."

Shinobu’s eyebrows arched in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"Well, apparently the woman who manages the bank account has a gambling problem, and when she ran out of money she started using ours."

Mitsuru looked at his successor with concern. "How much did she get before someone found out?"

Hasukawa sighed dejectedly. "About 300,000 yen."

The lavender-eyed boy looked relieved. "Good."

Hasukawa nearly dropped his jaw. "Good??!!! How is that good? We don’t have that much money to spare!"

"Calm down, Suka. You can easily make that up with a fundraiser. It could have been much worse."

Shinobu nodded in agreement. "That shouldn’t be much of a problem. Besides, the school will probably sue to recover most of it, so you only need enough to keep the place running until then."

"But… I don’t know anything about making money! You guys have to help me!"

Mitsuru grinned. "Sorry Suka. You’re the Dorm Head now. It’s your problem." He watched cruelly as Hasukawa became even more visibly panicked. "Of course, we’ll be happy to help with whatever plan you come up with." Shinobu nodded, smiling pleasantly.

Hasukawa stared dejectedly at the two upperclassmen, then turned around and made his way into the hall. He was angry that they wouldn’t help, but determined to solve the problem. He would show everyone that he was just as good a Dorm Head as Mitsuru was! He didn’t know how just yet, but he resolved to do it.

* * * *

Shun happily took a seat in Greenwood’s main common area, munching on a bag of cookies he had bought earlier that day. He waved excitedly as he saw his roommate approach. "Hi Suka-chan!"

"Hey Shun. What are you doing down here?"

"I just got back from shopping, and since you weren’t in our room I decided to come down here. I didn’t feel like being by myself."

Shun was mildly disappointed when Hasukawa just nodded absently and took a seat next to him. He had hoped that someone would notice his new blouse, and even his roommate had failed to comment. However, his cheerful mood returned almost instantly. "Here, Suka-chan, have a cookie."

"Huh? Oh, no thanks." He returned to brooding.

"Look! I bought a new blouse! What do you think?"

Hasukawa looked up, for the first time actually looking at his friend. "Um… it’s very pink."

"I know. That’s why I picked it. Isn’t it cute?"

Hasukawa merely nodded. He had long since given up commenting on the fact that Shun wore girl’s clothing, and figured that it’s being neon pink was not much stranger.

"What’s wrong Suka? You look sad."

Hasukawa reluctantly explained the situation to his friend. Shun was notorious for panicking, and he had barely managed to calm himself.

"Do you really think we can raise that much money?"

He shrugged. "I don’t know. Mitsuru and Shinobu seemed to think so, but I sure don’t know how."

Shun smiled encouragingly. "Well, I’m sure everyone in the dorm would be willing to help out. If we all work together I know we can do it."

"I hope so. I just don’t know what to do. We don’t have anything to sell."

"Maybe we could do a car-wash or a bake-sale or something. We used to do those at my Junior High School."

"We can’t make 300,000 yen with a car-wash, and I doubt anyone here knows how to bake. Even if they did we couldn’t make enough. There must be something we can do that people would pay money for."

Shun shook his head sadly. "I don’t know."

They sat in a thoughtful silence for several minutes, before being disrupted by a loud argument at the door. Hasukawa looked up in confusion. "What on earth is that?"

"Sounds like the Dorm Lady is fighting with someone! Come on, Suka-chan, let’s see what’s going on." He dragged his friend towards the door.

The Dorm Mother was resolutely trying to keep out a small herd of girls in Junior High uniforms. "I told you! No girls are allowed inside the dorm. Just go on home!"

"Please," cried one of the girls, "we won’t be long, we just want to see Ikeda-san!"

"Or Tezuka-san!" cried another.

"No! The rules are very clear, and you are not allowed. You can find them tomorrow."

"But we can’t wait!"

"Well, you’ll have to." The matronly woman angrily forced the door shut, leaving the desperate girls outside.

Shun sighed. "Nothing interesting after all, huh Suka?"

Hasukawa didn’t respond, and appeared deep in thought.

"Suka-chan?" Shun waved a hand before his friend’s face. "Are you okay?"

The redhead nodded absently. "I’m fine Shun. And I think I may have an idea."

* * * *

The Dorm Mother looked at Hasukawa in shock. "You want to what? I can’t allow that!"

"Why not? It’s sure to raise enough money to keep the dorm running. It’s not as if we have many choices."

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow, almost suppressing his smirk. "I don’t know, Suka. Don’t you think that’s in rather poor taste? I mean, high-school students, selling their bodies?"

Hasukawa glared at the older student. "It’s not like that. We’ll just be selling dates."

Shinobu clucked his tongue disapprovingly, but otherwise remained silent. Hasukawa turned to him coldly. "Why are you two here, anyway? It’s not like you hold offices anymore."

Shinobu shrugged. "The Dorm Mother asked us to come. Naturally we complied, since we are always concerned with the state of the dorm."

Hasukawa mumbled something under his breath, then turned to the Dorm Mother. "I know it sounds bad, but we could get other students to chaperone, so nothing bad would happen. It’s the only thing I can think of that will solve the problem. Please, at least give it a chance."

The woman shook her head worriedly, then gave a resigned sigh. "If you send chaperones on every date, and get parental consent for all the boys who participate, I suppose it would be alright. However, I don’t want you pressuring anyone to be involved in this. It would be very understandable if some of the dorm residents want to stay out of this event."

Hasukawa nodded eagerly. Despite the conditions she had given, he was sure that his idea would work. "Thank you."

She gave a strained smile and ushered the boys out of her office. Once they were out of hearing range Hasukawa turned excitedly to the upperclassmen. "Can you guys believe it? We’re going to make a fortune with this. I bet we could even afford some new furniture if it goes well."

Shinobu smiled slightly. "Don’t get too excited Suka, you haven’t even announced it to the rest of the dorm yet."

"He’s right," Mitsuru added, "a lot of them may not want to help. The Dorm Mother probably won’t be the only one who has a hard time accepting this."

"Yeah, but everyone will be willing once they see that you guys are backing it."

Mitsuru raised an eyebrow at the younger student. "What gives you the idea that I am going to participate in this?"

Hasukawa looked flustered. "Well, when I was in your room you said you’d be happy to help with whatever plan I came up with. This is it."

The lavender-eyed upperclassman stared at him coldly. "Suka, when I said that I assumed I was volunteering to bake cookies, or clean houses, or be part of a play, or something along those lines. I did not envision prostituting myself so that you could continue to have shrimp for dinner. I’m a high-school student, not a gigolo."

"It’s not like I’m asking you to sleep with anyone! It’s just a date. Come on, I need your help."

"Suka, remember what the Dorm Mother said about pressuring people? You can’t make me do this. I’ll donate some money to cover my share if you want, but you can’t force me to be involved." He spun on his heel and headed towards his room.

Hasukawa turned to Shinobu with his eyes wide. "What just happened?"

"It would seem you offended his moral sensibilities."

"I didn’t know he had any."

Shinobu shrugged. "Well, he was raised in a temple. That’s bound to make a person a bit prudish."

Hasukawa scoffed. "Prudish? Please! He runs betting pools, plays mean jokes on people, gives alcohol to minors, and steals other people’s food! Seems more evil than prudish."

"Po-tay-to, Po-tah-to."

Hasukawa sighed. "Do you think I can convince him to change his mind?"

"Maybe. I’d stop calling him evil for a start."

"At least say that you’ll help. Please?"

Shinobu nodded absently. "Sure. If you’ll excuse me, I want to get back to my homework." He abruptly turned and left Hasukawa in the hall, alone, and very worried.

* * * * *

Shinobu silently pushed open the door to his room, noting that Mitsuru had returned to his bed, and was again reading his book. He closed the door behind him, allowing it too make enough noise that his roommate would notice his entrance. He gave a slight smirk. "So, how much of that temper tantrum was an attempt to teach young Hasukawa a lesson."

Mitsuru grinned. "Most of it. Although I prefer the term Righteous Indignation to temper tantrum."

"When are you planning to cave in and participate?"

"When he asks me nicely. Until then I’ll watch him squirm."

"And to think he called you evil."

END OF PART ONE.