Sponsorship Review (5)
The Magic Engineering Department of Architect Ma-do Academy was treated like the academy's unwanted stepchild.
It had just two members.
And even that count included the president, making it barely qualify as a club, let alone a department.
Yet there was a reason it had been officially recognized as a "department."
The president herself was that reason.
The genius girl Reisha!
Even in a city teeming with geniuses, she stood a cut above the rest.
From a young age, she'd shown immense interest in development and invention. After enrolling in Academy City, she'd created numerous useful artifacts, like the illusory barrier central to the city's defenses and the indispensable Flu devices every student carried.
In honor of these achievements, the academy had established a club just for her.
But perhaps they'd set expectations too high.
Once put in charge, Reisha began taking increasingly bizarre paths.
She brought in an unassuming male underclassman as her sole junior member for this club made just for her, then unveiled a string of absurd inventions.
She'd claim to be making a baldness cure and end up with a hair-killing agent.
Or start ambitiously developing grand, beautiful fireworks, only to half-destroy the academy.
These days, the Magic Engineering Department was seen more as a den of troublemakers than geniuses—even within the academy.
According to President Reisha, "Invention is a solitary battle by nature, my assistant! Especially ma-do engineering—we're the pioneers! It wouldn't do to expect understanding from those around us!" She didn't seem too bothered by it.
But her actual club member, Damian, could only sigh endlessly at his president's words.
As Reisha said, ma-do engineering was a field she'd pioneered.
She was the expert, the authority.
Which meant they needed some kind of success to get the academy to support the department.
But they'd never produced a single proper result...
"President."
"Hm? What's on your mind, Assistant?"
"We're out of living expenses."
"I see. I see... What?!?"
In the end, they weren't just struggling to run the club—they were facing a livelihood crisis!
"H-how?! We should still have activity funds left!"
"The funds from above ran out ages ago. We've been covering them with our own pockets until now... but thanks to that 'Doddokkun MK.4' you just made, my wallet's officially dead."
"N-no way...!"
At Damian's words, Reisha dropped the cute mini-car onto the floor.
As the useless scrap rolled across the ground, she collapsed onto the floor herself.
Her red twintails fluttered, briefly blocking Damian's view.
"B-but... we can still have Baker House coffee every day, right?"
"No way that's possible. We've scraped the bottom of the barrel, President."
"Ughhh... R-right! If we show this 'Doddokkun MK.4' to the baldy dean, he'll cough up some support funds!"
"So... what does it even do?"
"...It drives well!"
"Not the driving part."
"......It drives very well!"
"I mean, besides driving."
"......It drives super well!"
"...If you show that to the dean, you're probably getting a fireball to the face."
Maybe recalling the spectacular fireworks show from when she'd half-destroyed the academy before.
Reisha shuddered all over and hung her head at Damian's words.
"Ugh... I never want to go through that again."
Muttering weakly from her spot on the floor, Reisha suddenly perked up as something occurred to her, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Damian.
"Right! Since it's come to this, you can just get a part-time job to cover the activity funds, Assistant! Yes! That's perfect!"
"...Thanks for everything up till now, President."
"W-wait! Where are you going, Assistant?! Hold on! I was kidding!"
She barely stopped him from leaving the clubroom by grabbing his pant leg, then looked up at him with teary eyes.
"Have you forgotten your vow to make the Magic Engineering Department the world's greatest club?!"
"I never made any such vow."
"When you joined, didn't you swear you'd follow me till death do us part?!"
"No, you straight-up kidnapped me...!"
Was this the perpetrator beautifying the crime?
Suppressing his rising anger, Damian clutched his head and glared down at her coldly.
That face! If it weren't for that face, I'd have bailed on this club ages ago!
She looked far too perfect playing the tragic heroine, covering her mouth with her sleeve and shedding fake tears. It only made Damian angrier.
He hated how she always caused the messes, but he could never stay mad— one apology and it was all forgotten.
Alright, this time I need to give her a real talking-to. I can't keep cleaning up after her forever. Tell her! For the club's sake, we need inventions that actually make money!
Combining magic and engineering to create new inventions beyond mere ma-do tools!
It might not align perfectly with her original goal, but the club had to survive first.
Anything but a part-time job for Damian.
"President...!"
"Argh! If it's come to this, we have only one path left!"
"P-President?!"
But before Damian could get the words out, Reisha sprang to her feet.
Ignoring his calls, she dashed to a corner of the wall and slammed her palm against a posted notice.
"The club sponsorship review! This is all we have left!"
"Haa..."
She said it confidently, but sadly, it was impossible.
"President, our sponsorship got rejected ages ago."
"Heh heh heh!"
But Reisha apparently had a secret plan.
"Of course, regrettably, 'Doddokkun MK.2' failed to show its true potential to the Total Student Council reps and met a glorious end."
"It exploded so artistically..."
"But!"
Cutting Damian off mid-sentence, Reisha scurried to a corner of the room and pulled out a crumpled document.
"Just in case, I submitted for another shot!"
"Ooh! Brilliant! But we still have to pass the document review... Think we can?"
"Of course! I anticipated this and revealed my secret blueprint! Look— we've already aced the document review!"
"Ooooh!"
Reisha pulled out her Flu and showed it to Damian.
Carefully taking it, Damian struck a dramatic pose at the acceptance message displayed there.
"Document approved! As expected of you, President! You really can do it when you try!"
"Ahem! Praise me more— more!"
"I thought you were just a weirdo senior till now, but you're a proper president after all!"
"Y-you saw me that way?! A-anyway, we've taken the first step in the sponsorship review! All that's left is to dazzle them with my eloquence in the interview!"
"You got this, President! I believed in you!"
"Heh heh heh! More praise!"
"President's the best! President genius!!! President's amazing!!!"
"Yes! I am Reisha Kaenhoff! The one and only inventor in this genius-packed Academy City to earn the title of genius!"
Ahahahaha—!
Reisha threw her head back and laughed heartily at Damian's hype.
Damian clapped even more enthusiastically at his president's display—until a teacher arrived at the clubroom, forcing them to quiet down.
.
.
.
.
"By the way, Assistant."
"Yes, President."
"There's a second document round too."
"...Pardon?"
"Truth is, I forgot the deadline."
"W-wait, that means..."
"So, Assistant."
"Hold on! The deadline's tomorrow?!"
"I'm counting on you for the second document submission♡"
"You... damn president...!"
Trembling with rage, he watched his president scamper away, then let out a deep sigh.
"...No helping it."
What could he do?
He'd chosen to join under her spell, so he had only himself to blame.
───
The club sponsorship review covered every club in Academy City.
The massive prize pool of 10 billion was a huge sum even for the clubs, drawing record numbers of applicants each year with fierce competition.
This year's review had even more entries, thanks to word that Academy City's powerhouse corporation Flügel was co-sponsoring.
But amid the hordes of clubs, certain massive ones stood out.
These giant clubs passed the review almost every year and claimed the funds.
Even the Total Student Council couldn't fund them indefinitely, though.
So they selected just seven clubs from the bunch to receive sponsorship.
"But this year, they're sponsoring 10 clubs!"
"Flügel's doing, huh? Talk about big corp power."
Exactly.
Thanks to Flügel's collaboration, this year's recipients numbered an unprecedented 10.
"10's plenty—we've got a real shot! Especially with what you've prepared, President...!"
"Heh heh heh! As if there's any doubt, Assistant! Failure doesn't exist for this Reisha! I'll captivate the judges for sure!"
Ahahahaha—!
Hearing his president's laughter echo through the review hall, Damian thought carefully to himself.
You're saying that, but it's been nothing but failures so far...
But the words on the tip of his tongue stayed locked in his chest.
"Come on, Assistant!"
"Coming, coming."
No need to kill the mood before we even start.
With that, Damian took her hand and stood.