ตอน 3: School Day
The day after the entrance ceremony.
The teachers only presented the course objectives for the first semester. We really don't have to take notes or listen too attentively for that.
The red haired guy who rebelled against Hirata already made a show of himself of sleeping in class. Apparently his name is Sudou Ken.
I thought the teachers would take notice and punish him for his misconduct, but they pretended not to notice anything and left him be.
I thought that an elite school like this would be more cutthroat and highly competitive. But my expectations had gone down the drain after seeing this spectacle.
It was lunch break.
I noticed my classmate Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. He doesn't seem to made any friends yet, and his presence in class is nearly nonexistent.
The only thing that seemed to talk with him was a girl that sat in a neighboring seat. She had a pretty face and a cool serious aura. Her name is Horikita Suzune, based on the label on the name of her seat.
Ayanokouji and Horikita seems to be talking. Horikita is making fun of him because he had zero friends to go and eat lunch with.
"Well, I was thinking of heading to the cafeteria. Anyone want to come with me?" announced Hirata as he stood.
I choose to observe what's going to happen. It might turn into something interesting. If things go well, he might go out with lunch with Hirata.
Ayanokouji raised his hand, intending to express of his desire to join.
"I'll go, too!"
"Me, too! Me too!"
Girls gathered around Hirata one after another. Ayanokouji seeing this hesitantly lowered his hand and pretended to rubbed the back of his head in a pathetic manner.
"What about you Amami-kun? Do you want to join?" Asked one of the girls towards me.
This girl seemed to be one of those 'gyaru' girls in highschools based on how she dressed up in her uniform. The buttons of her collars are opened clearly revealing her skin, if looked at in an angle you could see her cleavage. If this is a highschool anime, she's the type to bully the loner kid.
"Sure I don't mind." I accepted her invitation.
'Im sorry Ayanokouji. I was the one invited in the end.' I hoped that Ayanokouji would get someone to be a friend he could eat lunch with.
I exited the classroom together with Hirata and a bunch of girls in our class. We went to the cafeteria and occupied a table where all of us could seat.
Hirata and I sat across each other, and the girls are in our sides.
"Let's get along, Hirata." I said to him
"It's my pleasure, Amami-kun." Hirata has the gentle smile on his face.
The lunch became exciting and the girls are so active. The main topic of conversation is Hirata and me. They asked several questions like our likes and dislikes, what we were in middle school, and any hobbies.
We continued our lunch and the conversation around us are good. I don't dislike crowds of people like this, but I would prefer eating lunch with less number of people. In the end it wasn't a bad thing, I learned a lot about my classmates.
It was when we're wrapping up our lunch when the music played through the speakers.
"At 5 PM today, we will be holding a student club fair in Gymnasium No. 1. Students interested in joining a club, please gather in Gymnasium No. 1. I repeat, at–" a voice of a sweet girl echoed through the cafeteria as she continued the announcement twice.
"Hirata-kun, you're good with soccer right? You should join!" Yelled one of the girls.
"Yeah, that was my plan."
"Wahh Hirata-kun is so cool. I bet you'd also be really good with soccer." Said one of the girls. This girl's name is Karuizawa Kei. She's the one who invited me to eat lunch together.
"That's not true at all." Hirata said trying to be humble.
In Japanese society, being humble is virtue. I really thought it was an old fashioned way of thinking. If you're getting complimented, just say thank you or something.
"What about you Amami-kun? Are you planning to join a club or something?" Somebody asked me. If I remember correctly, this girl's name is Matsushita Chiaki.
"I have a club in mind, but I don't know if it exists in this school." I said.
"Hehh~ so what club is it?" Matsushita asked.
"The manga club." I answered immediately without any hesitation.
"Woah, that's surprising. I didn't know you were an Otaku, Amami-kun." This time another girl said. Her name is Mori Nene.
"Not so much really."
We finished wrapping up our mess and returned to the classroom.
...
I decided to attend the club fair in the afternoon. I thought this place would have less people, but I didn't expect it would be crowded like this.
"As expected of an elite school, the club has all sorts of cutting edge technology equipment." I observed.
There are sports and cultural clubs in all sorts of field. I really like the atmosphere of the clubs. The tools and instruments they require had full support from the school to assist their club activities.
While I was walking around, I noticed an unusual duo. Ayanokouji and Horikita seems to be together.
I decided to come up and walk to them.
"Yo, if it isn't Ayanokouji and Horikita together." I raised my hands in a greeting.
"Eetto, you're Amami right? I'm just here for sight seeing. Are you interested in one?" Ayanokouji said.
"Yeah. But this school doesn't seem to have the club I have in mind, so I'm choosing not to join any." I said.
Then I turned my eyes to Horikita. She also seemed to notice my presence.
"What about you Horikita? Did you come for sight seeing too?" I asked.
"I really didn't have any intentions of joining. Watching hjm flail about as he failed in fail to make friends sounds interesting." She said.
"You don't need to be so unpleasant." Ayanokouji chided.
"Hahaha, you two get along well don't you?" I said. "Don't you mind if I join in with you two? They say the more the merrier."
Neither Ayanokouji nor Horikita seems to disagree.
"Thank you all for waiting, first-year students. We will now begin the club fair. A representative from each club will explain their function. My name is Tachibana, the student council secretary and the club fair's organizer. It's nice to meet you all." After Tachibana delivered the opening remarks, representatives from each clubs began lining up.
"Hey, if you want to get a fresh start, why not try joining an athletic club? The judo club looks good, doesn't it? That upperclassman looks kind, and I'm sure he'd encourage you." Horikita said.
"What do you mean 'kind'?! He looks like a gorilla! He'll kill me for sure!" Ayanokouji snapped.
"He'll probably talk passionately about how easy judo is."
"Cut it out!"
"Even if I wanted to join, the athletic clubs all look really intimidating. I get the impression they don't accept beginners."
"Beginners should be welcomed. The more members a club has, the more money they receive from the school. That's how they're able to get better training equipment."
"Sounds like they're using the beginners for the money…"
"It would be ideal to gather many new members as a budgetary increase, and then simply to bench them the rest of the time, like phantom members. If you were skilled at manipulation, that is."
"What an unpleasant world… You have a pretty strange way of thinking." Ayanokouji muttered.
"What do you think Amami?" Ayanokouji asked me.
"It sure is interesting. I wonder if that senpai would transform into a Kaiju? It would be interesting if he uses judo techniques to topple off buildings." I said.
Like King Kong for example.
"That's not about clubs anymore but a movie." Ayanokouji said.
"And in that movie Ayanokouji-kun would be the first to get stomped on. No, that's too kind. In fact he wouldn't even be a member of the cast, just a background character that is the collateral damage to merely add up the numbers of casualties." Horikita added.
"Horikita, did you hate me or something?"
They seem to really get along well. I observed Horikita and Ayanokouji during classes and I found them to be quiet people who preferred to be alone. But surprisingly they can be pretty chatty like this.
A girl dressed in archery gear stepped onto the stage.
"Hello, my name is Hashigaki, the captain of the archery club. Many students may be under the impression that archery is an old-fashioned, simple activity, but it is actually a fun and rewarding sport. We welcome beginners with open arms. If you're interested, please consider joining."
"Hey, look, they seem to be welcoming newcomers. Why don't you try joining? In order to increase their budget, that is." I said to Ayanokouji.
"I hate the idea of joining a club solely for that reason! Besides, athletic clubs are just gatherings of people with nothing better to do. Also, I probably wouldn't have fun if I didn't know anyone there. I'd end up quitting in the blink of an eye."
"Isn't that simply your twisted personality talking?" Horikita said.
"Yeah, you're absolutely right. But athletic clubs are a no-go."
As the upperclassmen introduced their respective clubs one after the other, I saw Horikita suddenly tense. She looked at the stage, her face pale.
"What's the matter?" It seemed that Ayanokouji also noticed her as he called out.
She didn't even seem to notice us anymore. I followed her line of sight to the stage, but there was nothing there than the baseball club representative. I scrutinized the people there and I ended up looking towards the end of the line.
There's a male student dressed in regular school uniform unlike the other upperclassmen. I adjusted the focus on my eyes and I could make up small details about the male student's facial features. One thing I noticed is that this male student looked similar to Horikita.
'An older brother perhaps?' I speculated.
Eventually the line is reduced and only the male student that I thought Horikita's older brother remained.
He appeared to be about 170 centimeters in height, so he wasn't very tall. He was slender, with sleek black hair. He wore sharp glasses and had a piercing, calculating gaze. Standing in front of the microphone, he calmly looked around at the first-year students.
"I'm the student council president. My name is Horikita Manabu." he said.
So I was correct after all. The reason why Horikita tensed up was because she saw her older brother. Thinking that this year is pretty much isolated from the outside world, it must be three years since they last seen or talk with each other. Maybe she was overwhelmed with emotions of joy.
"The student council is looking to recruit potential candidates among the first-year students to replace the graduating third years. Although no special qualifications are required for candidacy, we humbly ask that those considering application not be involved in other club activities. We generally do not accept students involved elsewhere."
He spoke in a soft tone, but the tension around us was so thick it felt like you could cut it with a knife. He had managed to silence over a hundred new students in that spacious gymnasium. Of course, it wasn't his position as student council president that granted him this deference. That was simply Horikita Manabu's power. His presence dominated everyone around him.
I have met people like him before. He possessed great qualities to be somebody great in the future.
"Furthermore, we in the student council do not wish to appoint anyone who possesses a naive outlook. Not only would such a person not be elected, he or she would sully the sanctity of this school. It is the student council's right and duty to enforce and amend the rules, but the school expects more than that. We gladly welcome those of you who understand this."
He didn't pause even once during his eloquent speech. Immediately after finishing, he hopped off the stage and left from the stage. None of the first year students could utter a single word as we watched him go. We didn't know what would've happened if we'd tried to talk. Everyone in the room shared the same thought, apparently.
"Thank you all for coming. The club fair has ended. We will now open the reception area to anyone interested in signing up. Also, registration will be open until the end of April, so if any student wishes to join at a later date, we ask that you please bring the application form directly to the club you wish to join." It was Student Council Secretary Tachibana who said with the closing remarks.
And that ends the day for the club fair.
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