The final bell for classes had rung already, but the halls of Electown West High School kept to a respectable amount of activity as the various and many clubs approved by the school board (and a few that weren't, even) went about their after-school business. The Programming Club was no exception to this, although the inside of their SC Room 313 was oddly quiet at the moment. Of the 5 registered club members, only 3 were inside their designated computer lab, and they all seemed to be doing their own thing while waiting for the other 2 to show up.
To do a headcount, Howie was at his choice computer with headphones on watching some anime episode, Suzie was sitting at the main desk doodling away in what was supposed to be her literature notebook, and Maya was at her own computer lurking the school's BBS forums. Hilt's tablet PET, with him in it, was with Suzie's abstract art on the main desk, he seemed busy meditating in his own thoughts over one matter or another. Given he was the club's vice-adviser and was supposed to be keeping the students on the educational-track... well, perhaps that was just best left as it was. Since the swordsman wasn't paying attention for better or worse, Suzie found herself bored without any interaction, so she got up from her seat to go bother Howie.
"... That's an awfully short skirt she's wearing, Howie." noted Suzie after leaning in over Howie's shoulder to examine the scantily-clad animated girl on screen.
Howie took the headphone cover off one of his ears, and sighed before turning his head around to face his fellow club member. "Don't think this is just some shallow fanservice to pick up extra sales, Suzie. Her entire design is self-referencing the theme of the story itself, and-"
"Hey! Hey, Maya! Don't you think this girl's skirt is too short?" shouted Suzie right over Howie's highly educated opinion, not turning away from the monitor as she tried to wave her fellow female over with one hand. A sharp ear could pick up the sound of Howie grunting, but the door was closed on him ever finishing that sentence either way.
"Eh? Um..." stuttered Maya, feeling a bit less than comfortable on the idea of sizing up Howie's creepy fanservice anime as she turned around in her seat to look across the room and see what Suzie was going on about. It was a silly question really, as Maya thought that the skirt on the school uniform was too short, let alone the scrap of cloth the character was sporting. "Maybe... ask Hilt? He probably has a fairer opinion than I would..." she suggested, espousing a valid point and more logic than the situation probably needed.
"Oh, good idea!" agreed Suzie, thinking that having a level-headed guy like Hilt side with her would be worth a lot of points, or something. She hurriedly hopped back over to the main table and picked up the Navi's large tablet-type PET, shaking it to get Hilt's attention even though the device didn't have motion sensors. "Hilt, what do you think? You heard it all, right?"
"Yes I heard, and stop shaking my PET..." sighed Hilt, who was only getting nauseous after opening his eyes to watch the video screen with Suzie's face bobbing up and down. The pink-capped girl obliged that request, and walked the tablet over to Howie's computer. Hilt took a few seconds to stare at the paused video and form an opinion. Frankly, the fact that Howie was playing this on a school computer was an issue in itself. Any good club adviser would certainly condemn playing such a sketchy anime on the school's property (or any anime, but that's besides the point). "... I think it's fine. Keep up the good work, Howie." declared Hilt with a nod after completing his deliberations.
"You got it. Glad to see someone else with a refined appreciation for art." replied a pleased Howie, offering a thumbs-up back to Hilt's PET before finally unpausing the episode.
"Heeey! Come on Hilt, you're supposed to be the responsible vice-adviser here! Don't give me a guy answer when you're not supposed to!" whined Suzie, being clearly dissatisfied with the decision as she began shaking the swordsman's PET again as punishment.
Being the resourceful type, Hilt just minimized the video screen to spare himself the motion sickness. "It's free time anyway until Cliff and Jack get back with the supplies, and I'm pretty sure Howie even did his homework already." retorted Hilt as a matter of fact, though his voice sounded funny coming out of the speaker that was continuously in motion. "Have you finished everything, Suzie?"
"Erk..." was all Suzie could muster in response, as Hilt had clearly hit her weak point.
An awkward silence then hung over the club room, as Howie had resumed his anime and Suzie couldn't counterattack without actually doing her homework now (god forbid). Interestingly, this suffocating silence actually bothered the introverted Maya the most, but being the brave trooper she was, Maya tried to alleviate the problem by... talking! Amazing. "Um... Speaking of... Shouldn't Cliff and Jack be back by now? They left as soon as school let out..."
"Should be soon, yeah. Wanna go look, Maya? They could be back in the school already." offered Hilt, his PET having been placed back down on the main table by Suzie during the quiet period. Even she didn't have the guts to keep shaking Hilt around during that awkward moment.
"Okay..." nodded Maya as she got up out of her chair. The door to the computer lab was closed (less some teacher randomly walks in on Suzie doodling, Maya Net-surfing, and Howie watching fanservice anime), so Maya turned the handle and... Oh, there they were.
"Yo, Maya." said Cliff with a smile. His hand was reached forward to open the door himself, but since that didn't go as planned, Cliff quickly lifted his palm up to serve as a sign of greeting. A smooth recovery. Jack didn't say or do anything other than hold the plastic back of supplies they had purchased, but that was typical Jack really. Speech failed the surprised Maya as she quickly gave way to her upperclassmen, allowing them to enter the room and let Jack put the purchases down on the table. Suzie was currently slumped over in her chair at said table, her face flat down in her doodling notebook. "You okay, Suzie?" asked Cliff curiously, seeing her through his sunglasses in such a strangely despondent state.
"I'm good... Just recovering from a crushing defeat in battle..." whimpered Suzie without lifting her head, the ends of her pigtails joining her face flat against the table.
Jack sat down unceremoniously on the other side of the table, and began installing the upgrades he had bought from the Navi Shop into Hilt's PET. "Just get over it, we're ready to start practicing Netbattles with Hilt as soon as these upgrades are in." Well, that was blunt.
"Really?!" exclaimed Suzie, who immediately jumped out of her chair and ran around the table to get a better look at what Jack was doing. Blunt was effective, apparently.
"Yep. I managed to get a few new sword Battlechips for our dear vice-adviser too, so he should be totally up to par for what the district Netbattles will throw at us." answered Cliff with a happy grin on his face. "Howie, Maya, you both had programs ready to use for Hilt, right?"
"Yup." and "Yes..." they answered together, each unplugging their personal PETs from their computers and delivering them to Jack, who had inadvertently assumed the role of installation monkey. Howie managed to finish his anime episode (it only had a few minutes left before Suzie started making a fuss), but he usually gave the proper club activities like this priority... usually. Cliff wrote an attack program as well, so he handed his PET as well to Jack, who in turn gave Cliff a silent glare of "why am I doing this for you". Cliff just shrugged with that grin still on his face, and moved on to get the club's collective Battlechip supply in order.
Once Hilt was all upgraded and rebooted up, the EWHS Programming Club began their first official day of training for this year's competitions.
(Jack In, Electown Net)