Ch.195Epilogue. Welcome to the Literature Club! (1)

Until early this year, I was a first-year student, and when school started last year, I didn’t attend the entrance ceremony.

Besides, in my previous life, I had already been out of college for several years. I did have relatives, but most were either my age with children too young or too old to be concerned with “enrollment.” I barely kept in touch with those relatives anyway.

So, I couldn’t even remember that the entrance ceremony coincided with the first day of the semester.

“…Was the entrance ceremony always at that time?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Koko beside me tilted hers too.

That’s right. Both of us had boldly skipped the entrance ceremony and were attending this school anyway.

I had at least skipped just the beginning of the first semester, but Koko had skipped an entire semester. Particularly, Koko had never even attended school before that.

As we tilted our heads in confusion, the students around us wore slightly awkward expressions.

Ah, I see.

When the two of us react like this, it becomes incredibly difficult to laugh it off.

Whether they know our identities or not, the story behind it is overwhelming in many ways. Besides, if we were to explain, it would all be rather depressing stories.

“…”

Hmm.

Come to think of it, Kagami has probably never attended an entrance ceremony either. Despite having two daughters.

Maybe I should study hard and go to college.

As I was directing my thoughts elsewhere, the students quickly changed the subject while breaking into a nervous sweat.

“S-so, this means we’ll have juniors starting today, right?”

Everyone nodded at Mako’s words.

I briefly thought of Shii. Though we were middle and high school students with uniforms that seemed like color inversions of each other, we were still classified as being from the “same school.” In fact, Shii was already calling me senpai.

Unfortunately, Sasaki and Shii are two years apart. Barring any issues, Shii would advance to this high school, but that would be next year.

Next year… well, I wouldn’t be completely unable to have fun, but I had decided to go to college. So I’d probably be studying to some extent.

“That’s true… but normally, having juniors just means attending the same school, right? Is there anything more to it?”

“That’s only because you don’t participate in club activities, so you haven’t had a chance to get close to them.”

Yuu responded to Fukuda’s words with an incredulous expression.

Well, that’s true. There’s rarely any opportunity to talk with students from different grades in everyday life.

Even when I was in high school in my previous life, I hardly ever spoke with juniors. I only had some conversations in the club I was forced to join for Saturday classes. In fact, even there I hung out with friends more often than juniors, so my memories of juniors are quite vague.

“Hmm, then maybe I should join a club activity.”

“Why? Want to have juniors?”

“Well, I didn’t have any close juniors in middle school either. Isn’t this pretty much my last chance? Next year we’ll be college exam students.”

Fukuda, you’re more diligent than I thought. Well, your grades were pretty good too.

Indeed, there’s a certain aura that emanates from the term “exam student.” Something that makes people unnecessarily tense and irritated whenever they’re called that. Though in reality, exam students still play around plenty.

“But even with club activities, I’m not sure which one to join.”

Fukuda spoke with a not particularly desperate expression.

“…Why don’t you ask Kotone?”

Yuu suggested.

“Kotone?”

“She’s in a club.”

“Oh, right!”

Fukuda looked at me with a grin.

“That’s a good idea! Somehow I feel like the literature club would let me slack off a bit.”

Your intentions are impure.

Is the literature club that easy?

Well, it is easy.

Especially the club president.

“…I think she’ll be intimidated.”

“Intimidated? Who?”

When I muttered, Fukuda tilted her head.

Izumi had been quite nervous when Yuu visited. Of course, she eventually relaxed after seeing that I was friendly with her and judging that she wasn’t harmful, but my initial impression was that she doesn’t get along well with the “delinquent type.”

You know, there’s that cliché. In these kinds of manga, the obvious “gyaru” often lacks experience, while the slightly gloomy or “honor student” type is openly promiscuous and experienced.

But that usually shows in their design. The inexperienced gyaru is a stereotypical gyaru, while the experienced gloomy girl is drawn in an incredibly sensual way.

Izumi is definitely not like that. It would be much more convincing to think that Mako has a boyfriend.

It’s not that she’s not attractive or pretty… but, well, there’s a certain atmosphere about her.

As I was about to answer Fukuda’s question, the front door of the classroom opened. Seeing the teacher enter, it seemed the break time was over.

“Ah, then let’s go after the entrance ceremony. Now that I’ve heard about it, I’m a bit curious too. Since you’ve been active there for a year, the seniors must not be bad people.”

Well, they do know each other’s faces.

So they probably won’t be too surprised when they see each other in the club room?

I nodded for now.

Having more friends in the club room would be a good thing anyway.

I hope the literature club continues for a long time, so that when I visit the school again later, it will still be there. The magazines we created will probably remain too, if there are no major issues.

In my previous life, I never particularly went back to visit my graduated school, but somehow I feel like I might do that in this world.

*

The entrance ceremony was held after morning classes ended.

Just in case, I looked around carefully, but I couldn’t see Miki.

…Well, I heard that this school not only has high entrance exam difficulty but also considers students’ backgrounds.

Given that a yakuza’s daughter attends, the criteria can’t be too strict, but Miki, well.

Anyway, she’s someone who has been involved in some not-so-good things.

Still, since she said she wanted to go to school, I hope she got into a good one. I’d like to hang out with her sometime if possible.

Miki is still working hard at the boss’s shop. She’s quite popular too. Watching her makes me feel like I should live as diligently as she does.

I don’t know what trouble she got caught up in or what the inside story is.

But I’m certain that she must have been caught up in such things against her will. That’s the impression I get.

That’s probably why the boss never gave up on Miki.

“…”

Still, it would have been nice if she could have entered the same school.

“Kotone?”

As I was coming out of the gymnasium with a slightly disappointed expression, Koko called my name from beside me.

“Koko.”

Instead of saying anything, I just called Koko’s name. Koko smiled at me in response.

And around us were plenty of friends. To the point where it seemed almost too coincidental, all the kids I’m close with at this school were gathered together.

Well, wanting more would be greedy.

If there are people I can’t meet at school, I can just meet and play with them elsewhere.

Since there was an entrance ceremony, we’ll need to recruit club members soon.

We still have enough members so the club won’t be disbanded, but for it to continue after we graduate, we need at least one new student to join.

Alright.

Then let’s start by taking these kids to the literature club today.

*

I’d like to retract what I said earlier about there being no problem since Fukuda had seen Izumi this morning.

“…”

“Um… Senior Ikeda?”

Contrary to my expectations, Izumi was hiding behind Kaoru’s back, just like when she first saw Yuu.

It was problematic enough that I brought a bunch of friends, but it was probably because the person standing at the very front was a girl who embodied the “epitome of gyaru” with her entire being.

“Hello?”

Fukuda leaned her head toward Ikeda, who was behind Kaoru, and greeted her.

“Eek!”

Ikeda changed her angle behind Kaoru as if trying to hide from Fukuda.

“Hey, Izumi? You’ve already met each other before.”

Of course, they haven’t really talked to each other.

At events like the Christmas party or at the hot spring, people mostly sat in their own groups, so they probably didn’t have much chance to get really close.

“T-that was at a social gathering!”

Ah.

I think I understand the psychology.

No matter how uncomfortable you are meeting new people, when you go somewhere with a friend and meet their friend, you can’t just sit there awkwardly. That would make me uncomfortable, that person uncomfortable, and my friend uncomfortable too.

In such situations, you scrape the bottom of your personality barrel to pull up whatever sociability you have and use it. At least to appear to be having a pleasant conversation during that time.

You also mentally prepare yourself from the moment the plans are made.

The problem is that today, I didn’t think about making any kind of appointment when bringing my friends.

“Come on, come on, these are the new members you’ve been wanting!”

Kaoru grabbed Izumi from behind her and pushed her forward while speaking.

Judging by her expression, she was thoroughly enjoying this.

“Eek!”

Our proud club president Izumi seemed very flustered when suddenly confronted with a blonde, tanned gyaru.

Fukuda looked at me. I shrugged my shoulders.

Honestly, I don’t really understand why she’s reacting that way either.

I’ve asked both Kaoru and Izumi why she acts like this, but it doesn’t seem like Izumi has any dark past involving gyarus.

So this is purely a matter of preference.

“Since the literature club president is in this state, let me ask.”

Seeing Izumi’s condition as an opportunity, Kaoru peeked her face over Izumi’s shoulder and said:

“You guys, would you be interested in joining the occult research club instead of the literature club?”

“Occult research club?”

Fukuda looked at Kaoru’s face for a moment and her eyes immediately lit up.

“What’s that? Sounds fun!”

“Right? It’s better than the boring literature club, don’t you think?”

“What are you saying!”

At Kaoru’s words, Izumi finally snapped back to reality with a shout.

“This is the literature club, the literature club! What occult research club? That’s a club that hasn’t even been approved yet! You haven’t even applied to create it!”

“That’s just because there weren’t enough members. Of course I would have applied if I had the foundation for it.”

While the two were bickering, Yuka, Koko, and I naturally sat down in chairs, leaving the confused kids standing.

“Want some dorayaki?”

I pulled the snack basket on the desk toward us and passed it to the kids, who tilted their heads but each took a snack.

I unwrapped the plastic and took a bite of the dorayaki.

Delicious. It’s just pancakes with red bean paste in between, but it tasted incredibly good, as if each ingredient used to make it was premium.

Yes, sometimes I miss this taste.

This taste wouldn’t come from store-bought ones at home. Probably even after Izumi and Kaoru graduate next year, this taste won’t be the same.

There might be a different taste then, but since it will be a taste I can never experience again, I plan to eat a lot while I can.

“Hey, could you not watch people arguing as if it’s a side dish?”

Sensing my gaze and having calmed down a bit, Izumi looked at me with a slightly exasperated expression.

It seemed that after the argument, her attention had shifted elsewhere, diluting her gyaru phobia somewhat.

“…”

Belatedly feeling embarrassed, Izumi’s cheeks turned red.

Eventually, unable to bear the embarrassment, Izumi hid behind Kaoru’s back again.

The kids’ gazes turned back to the three of us.

But Koko was already deeply immersed in the snacks, and Yuka and I were just eating another dorayaki with extremely peaceful expressions.

It took about five more minutes for Izumi to calm down.