章 16: I don’t really like poems
"Seiji, what did you say to that girl?"
When he returned to where Mika and Chiaki were standing, Seiji was instantly peppered with their questions.
"I just wanted to ask her name and grade to start a conversation with her, but I failed." Seiji shrugged.
"Did you really fail? It seemed like you were getting along pretty well." Chiaki blinked innocently, "Mika was even getting jealous."
"Not at all!" Once again, Mika was the unwitting target of her friend’s teasing, but her face was indeed slightly flushed red.
"I just… felt like she was really cute, but she had a cold aura about her. It seemed that it would be difficult to talk with her, so… I was impressed with Seiji being able to talk with her so easily."
"No, it wasn’t easy at all," Seiji sighed lightly, "I just wanted to greet her, but she immediately quizzed me on two poems… I almost wasn’t able to follow up."
"But that means you were still able to respond—amazing!" Chiaki gave him a thumbs-up, "In my opinion, for girls that love literature, as long as you can converse about her favorite topics, it’s relatively easy to capture their heart. If you make a sincere effort, maybe you can even get her phone number!"
"Forget it, I really can’t deal with her type." Seiji smiled wryly before realizing what Chiaki just said. "Why would I want a middle schooler’s phone number!? Chiaki, you sound so certain… Do you usually…"
Chiaki Wakaba’s expression suddenly became unnaturally stiff, and then she conspicuously looked away while whistling.
Seiji and Mika were rendered speechless upon seeing Chiaki’s reaction.
Unfortunately, the two leaders of the drama club failed to convince Shika Kagura to join.
While Shika Kagura was indeed beautiful, her personality was entirely unsuited to be on stage, so the president had wasted her effort in ‘capturing’ Shika this time.
Anya Saigenji didn’t seem disappointed at all, though—it seemed that she derived the most joy from the process of hunting down potential members.
"Chiaki’s good friend, Mika Uehara, and transfer student, Seigo Harano—are the two of you interested in joining the drama club!?"
With her eyes sparkling, Anya Saigenji directly questioned the two observers.
"I’m in the tennis club…"
"I still want to check more clubs out—I haven’t made a final decision yet."
"Acting is really fun! Why don’t you try on some costumes first? I’m sure that you’ll awaken a new passion!" Saigenji eagerly began trying to tempt the two of them to join.
*Smack!* The vice president who disagreed with deceiving students in this way stopped her with a book again.
"We’re about to begin our club activities—feel free to watch." Sheena Shiho smiled amicably to the two of them before sighing: "By the way, could I trouble you guys to take care of that girl the Prez dragged here? She’s quite cold to us, and she won’t even tell us her name… Maybe she’s angry at us…"
"No… you guys just didn’t pass her test." Seiji answered reflexively.
"Huh?" Sheena was confused.
"I just chatted a little with her… From my perspective, I don’t think she hates you guys, nor does she care about being dragged here… she’ll probably leave automatically once the time comes."
"Oh…" Sheena nodded, unsure of whether or not to believe him.
"Harano-kun, were you able to learn her name!?" Anya was quite perceptive.
Seiji nodded.
"Amazing! Please tell me her maiden name!" Anya suddenly put her face up close against Seiji, and her blue eyes were sparkling in anticipation.
Her actions resembled those of a certain rich girl with long and straight black hair from the anime called Hyouka; they were only missing her adding on the phrase: "I’m curious! I want to know!"
She was close enough for Seiji to smell her fragrant scent, and he unconsciously took a step backwards.
"Her name… erm… even though I’d really like to tell you, I’d better not."
"Don’t be like that—tell me!" Anya forced herself closer again.
*Smack!* The vice president restrained Anya yet again.
"If she doesn’t want to tell us her name, then we shouldn’t ask any more." Sheena dragged the president away by her shirt’s collar, "We can let you take care of that girl, right?"
Seiji nodded.
The drama club finally began their activities.
Seiji and Mika were careful not to disturb the members as they explored the clubroom.
"These costumes are made with care."
"The scenery backdrops and stage props are quite impressive as well—it seems like much thought was put into their designs."
The atmosphere in the clubroom also impressed them—although it was disorganized and chaotic earlier, the moment they officially began club activities, they all turned serious, making them seem like the major club they were.
Seiji and Mika unconsciously felt affected by their attitude, and they started feeling bad about being idle, thinking that it was incongruous with the club’s atmosphere.
"It’s so different from the tennis club…" Mika sighed.
"Do you think it’s better in here? How about changing clubs, then?" Seiji said.
"I… wish that our club would be a little more serious, but if they were all as serious as Wakaba’s club, then it would seem…"
Although it seemed like a waste if they weren’t serious enough, it was a lot of pressure if everyone was too serious. Seiji could understand Mika, since this was something that many students would think, even if it was self-contradictory.
"Seigo, how about you? Do you want to join the drama club?"
"Well, I’m a little interested in acting, and Wakaba’s club looks pretty lively, but I still need to go to work, so it might not be possible for me to participate in club activities as seriously as I’d like." Seiji shrugged.
"Is that so…"
The two of them observed for a while longer, before Mika glanced at the middle school girl who was reading her book silently.
Seiji gazed briefly in her direction as well and exchanged glances with Mika.
"I think we’ve observed enough—let’s call her and leave together."
Mika nodded in agreement.
Seiji walked back over to Shika Kagura again.
"Kagura-san, if you don’t intend to join this club, how about leaving together with us? Let’s not disturb their club activities any longer."
Shika Kagura lifted her head and lightly glanced over at the boy in front of her, before she closed her poetry book and stood up.
She was surprisingly obedient… Seiji scratched his face.
He indicated to Mika that they should leave now, and they said goodbye to Wakaba and the others as they left the drama club together.
"Seigo Harano, do you still need me for anything?"
When they reached a practice field, Shika Kagura suddenly asked a question.
"Er… no, you can go wherever you want." Seiji looked deeply at this unique girl with a cold aura and said, "Although I’m not from the drama club, I’d still like to apologize on their behalf for taking up your time. That president… even though she’s a little eccentric, she’s a nice person at heart. Please don’t mind her."
"I know," Shika Kagura answered lightly as she looked up at the setting sun. "Appearances may be a disguise, actions may be faked, and you may see nothing but hypocrisy. Only the heart is true."
"…Another one of Taylor’s poems?"
"No, that was from Lee Yuan."
‘A Chinese… no, Huaxia poem?’ Seiji blinked.
"Actually, I don’t really know much about poetry. I was just lucky earlier when I was able to respond to your poem." He honestly informed the girl.
Kagura was silent.
"I’m sorry if you felt like I was deceiving you," Seiji smiled wryly, "but I didn’t have any bad intentions—if you don’t mind the fact that I know nothing about poems, we can still be friends."
She remained silent.
He supposed this was how it was. Seiji didn’t mind being ignored or rejected as this was commonplace for him.
"I don’t need friends," she spoke up in her soft voice, "I… don’t like poems either."
Once again, her words were like bubbles that disappeared in the wind.
"Oh…" Seiji was surprised.
Before he was able to figure out what she meant, she turned around and left.
Seiji and Mika speechlessly watched her silhouette depart.
"She’s… rather unusual." That was Mika’s opinion.
"Yeah…" Seiji was a bit concerned about her, but it was obvious that she wanted to be by herself, so he couldn’t chase after her.
‘She doesn’t need friends… this could be seen as a middle schooler’s immaturity, but what could she mean when she said she didn’t really like poems?’ Seiji mulled over her words for a while, but he eventually decided to give up.
Either way, he was unlikely to meet her very often, since she was a middle schooler.
"Seiji, do you still want to look at any other clubs?"
"Nah, that’s enough for today. I’d like to go home now—how about you?"
"I’ll go home as well with you."
As he left school together with Mika, Seiji ceased thinking about the previous events. His mind was filled with anticipation regarding his new system options!
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