Ch.197Epilogue. Welcome to the Literature Club! (3)

I’ve never thought that men shouldn’t join the club.

However, for some reason, all the freshmen who approach Mako have somewhat of a cocky impression.

Not just freshmen—classmates and seniors occasionally approach her too, but whenever Mako responds kindly, Yuu, sitting beside her with an irritated expression, glares at them and chases them away.

I didn’t mean for her to chase everyone away… well, if she finds them unimpressive, I guess there’s nothing to be done.

I thought it was a “cheat key,” but it seems its effect doesn’t extend well to female students.

Well, freshmen probably have their own romantic notions about school life. It’s not like just anyone can get into this school.

If they studied hard to get in, they’ll want some reward at school. While second-years need to start worrying about their third year, most first-years don’t have many concerns yet.

If they’re dreaming of romance, joining a club with only the same gender might be a bit problematic.

“Hmm~ I guess it’s not working.”

Fukuda, who was watching the scene from a distance, said.

“Maybe we should have had Kaoru dress as a boy?”

Somehow I feel like Kaoru would have done it with great enthusiasm if asked… but honestly, I’m not sure how effective it would have been. Kaoru falls into the pretty girl category, so it would have been obvious.

Are we really not going to get any freshmen?

As I was pondering this while watching the scene—

“Um, excuse me…”

Someone approached us.

The girl seemed nervous, stumbling over her words, but contrary to her speech, her appearance was quite flashy.

Her nails were painted, and her uniform skirt was short. Almost as short as Fukuda’s was in her first year.

Her skin was fair, but judging by appearance alone, she seemed more like someone in Fukuda or Yuu’s category rather than Izumi’s.

Though her speech was timid.

“Hmm.”

Fukuda, watching the girl from behind, had an expression like she’d caught a scent of something.

For reference, Yuu glanced up at the girl once, then immediately lowered her gaze back to her book.

So in Yuu’s eyes, this girl was harmless. Despite her flashy appearance.

Thinking about it again, the girl was alone. Well, there’s nothing strange about someone being by themselves, but why not? In light novels, popular kids usually hang out in groups.

If she had close friends, they might join clubs together.

“Looks like she came from a different middle school.”

Fukuda muttered.

I think so too. If she had attended middle school with the others, she’d likely know a few people in high school.

But this girl was alone.

Then again, she might have had plenty of friends but ended up at a different high school from them.

For someone like me who’s spent a lot of time alone, eating by myself in restaurants is no big deal, but I’ve met people who say things like “I can’t eat facing a wall, it’s suffocating” or “I can’t eat alone, it’s too boring” and insist on talking on the phone while eating.

Even loners feel anxious about being alone, but popular kids probably feel even more anxious about it.

“High school debut, huh.”

Fukuda nodded to herself as if reaching a conclusion.

“High school debut?”

I asked from beside her.

“You know, when someone completely changes their image upon entering high school.”

Oh, so that’s what it is.

I’ve tried it myself. Not in high school, but when entering university and after returning from military service.

Both attempts failed spectacularly. Fortunately, since I had such little presence, it wasn’t a big issue, but it left quite a scar on me personally.

So, this girl… is that what she’s doing?

You can’t read someone’s past just by looking at their appearance and attitude, but at first glance, she seems like someone who was quiet in middle school.

“Then, is she approaching the literature club because…?”

“Obviously because the literature club is easy. You can just go there and read books, and you’ll make connections.”

Kaoru nodded in response to Yuka’s question. That’s definitely something that would have greatly disappointed Izumi if she’d heard it.

The funny thing is that I, Yuka, and Koko all ended up making connections in the literature club just as she said.

As Fukuda said, the atmosphere of quietly gathering and reading books is quite suitable for shy people. If you can occasionally chat and make friends or seniors and juniors, there’s nothing better.

Plus, both Mako and Yuu are extremely pretty, aren’t they?

…Still, I find it a bit odd to maintain such an image while joining the literature club.

Mako finished a brief conversation with the freshman and handed her a piece of paper.

It seems to be a club application form.

“Take your time looking around before deciding.”

“Th-thank you!”

The nervous girl, who had been quite tense, exclaimed that after Mako smiled kindly at her.

Well, how should I put it.

She looks extremely innocent.

She’s like someone straight out of a light novel.

“Alright~”

Fukuda said, rolling up her sleeves.

“Let’s give our freshman a warm welcome.”

And with large strides, she walked over and placed her shoulder on the blonde freshman’s shoulder.

“Eek!?”

Of course, the girl was startled, but by then she was already firmly in Fukuda’s grasp.

“I, I, I, I!”

She seems to be trying to say something, but it’s not coming out properly. Did she perhaps have a bad experience with a similar-looking girl in middle school?

Or maybe it’s that instinctive wariness and fear that loners have towards popular kids.

I feel like I understand, which is a bit depressing.

“Come on, the club room is this way.”

But Fukuda had no intention of letting her go, and with her hand still on the girl’s shoulder, she turned towards the old school building.

While the school buildings are basically connected, the appearance of the old building and the relatively recently expanded new building are quite different. The old building isn’t so dilapidated that it’s unusable, but honestly, it does look a bit shabby from the outside.

If I were a clueless freshman, I’d probably be terrified. Being dragged to the shabbiest place in the school, and by someone who looks like they’re extremely popular.

In fact, the freshman was looking at Mako as if asking for help, but unfortunately, Mako was also complicit.

Though her smile was a bit forced.

Yuka, Koko, and I quickly followed behind them.

We followed in case the girl had a heart attack or something, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. She turned pale, probably thinking a gang was following her.

…But Koko and I don’t really give off that kind of impression, do we?

We might be a bit gloomy, but still.

Honestly, if you asked people who they’d be more scared of being dragged away by, me or the freshman, most would probably say the freshman.

Fearing she might actually faint if we tried to speak to her, the three of us just silently walked up to the club room.

*

“…”

And in the club room, there was an even bigger scaredy-cat than the freshman.

“Hey, senior. No matter what, it’s problematic if the club president is scared of a freshman.”

Fukuda said that while holding the freshman’s shoulder and circling around Kaoru.

Izumi, just like when she saw Fukuda last time, was using Kaoru as a shield and running around.

“Eh? Eh? Eh?”

Like before, the girl was just making broken-sounding noises.

“Hey, Fukuda. Why don’t you let her go?”

Yuka said, perched slightly on the desk.

She had her arms crossed and wore an incredulous expression.

While Yuka is just acting as she usually does, I honestly don’t think that posture is very good. From the perspective of an already frightened girl, it just looks like another bully has appeared.

In reality, Yuka is closer to being a loner than a bully, but there’s no need to point that out here.

“Alright, alright. Our president is also troubled. It’s a bit fun to tease Izumi, but if you tease her too much, she’ll get upset.”

“You…!”

“Tease…!?”

Kaoru’s words had a powerful impact on the two frightened small animals.

Izumi slapped Kaoru’s back repeatedly, and the freshman’s expression turned completely pale. Did she misinterpret the word “tease” as bullying or something?

I wish she’d notice that Izumi is currently hitting the person who’s supposedly doing the teasing.

Fortunately, Fukuda listened to Kaoru.

“Here, sit down, freshman-chan.”

Chan, huh.

It’s been a while since I heard that honorific.

Coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately, Fukuda seated the freshman next to me. After all, within the literature club, I’m considered quite sensible.

Of course, Koko was sitting next to me. She was looking at the freshman with a smiling expression.

Come to think of it, this is the first time Koko has had a junior in her life.

Thinking about it that way makes me feel a bit strange. Of course, if we go by the order of birth in this world, my body came after Koko’s, but Koko, who hasn’t properly interacted with humans, hasn’t even had the minimal relationships that others might have had.

Does she understand the concept of a junior?

Koko, with her smiling expression, reached for the snack basket in the middle of the table and picked up a dorayaki.

Then she offered it to the junior whose name we still didn’t know. I leaned back to make way for her hand.

“Want to eat?”

“Huh?”

The junior, who seemed a bit dazed sitting in the chair, asked back.

“Want to eat?”

Koko repeated with a smiling face.

Hmm.

She seems to understand the concept of a junior. She’s been oddly excited since this morning, probably at the thought of having a real junior.

“Ah, yes, thank you…”

The junior, who had unexpectedly received a snack from a senior smaller than herself, was confused.

Even after receiving the dorayaki, she hesitated and fidgeted without eating it.

Koko reached out to the junior again.

“Give it to me.”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

The junior, still not understanding the situation, placed the dorayaki back in Koko’s hand.

Koko, after receiving it past me,

“This is how you do it.”

Kindly opened the plastic wrapper of the dorayaki.

With an expression that seemed to say, “I can’t believe you don’t know this, but I’ll help.”

I reconsidered Koko’s social learning. I thought she had learned most of the common sense that normal people have.

Ah, no. Thinking about it again, the junior has been stumbling over almost all her words. She even failed to form proper words a few times.

So, Koko probably recognized this girl as “someone who needs help.”

Just like the gaze Koko first received from the children around her.

Thinking back, I taught Koko in a similar way. Perhaps Koko wanted to teach someone else in the same way.

“Here.”

“Ah, yes…”

The freshman, who had suddenly become someone who couldn’t even open a snack wrapper, received the dorayaki again with a dazed expression.

And with a bewildered look, she glanced at Kaoru, who was sitting across from her and smiling at her.

When Kaoru just silently looked back at the freshman, the freshman finally took a bite of the dorayaki.

“…It’s delicious.”

“Ah, she’s cute.”

Kaoru said that and gave Fukuda a thumbs up.

Fukuda also gave a thumbs up with a satisfied expression.

The atmosphere was like they had successfully completed a hunt, which was a bit amusing.

Perhaps feeling some sense of closeness after seeing the freshman’s overtly naive behavior, Izumi was now sitting next to Kaoru, looking at the freshman.

“Ahem.”

Izumi, who had been running away from the freshman just moments ago, cleared her throat with a dignified expression.

“So… you want to join the literature club?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

The freshman answered.

Holding the dorayaki with both hands, her impression was indeed very naive.

With her blonde hair, painted nails, and a uniform that had been subtly tailored to fit her body, her outward appearance was that of a “gyaru,” but the rest of her was extremely naive.

“Ah, excuse me.”

As if finally coming to her senses, the freshman blinked.

Then, after nervously looking back at Fukuda who was still lingering behind her, she turned back to Izumi.

It was a scene that made me imagine what she might have looked like before her transformation.

“Is this… not the literature club?”

“No, it’s actually the occult research club.”

Kaoru interrupted Izumi’s words.

“No, it is the literature club. Did you get the application form?”

I held out the application form on behalf of the freshman. I had picked it up when she dropped it while playing hide and seek with Izumi.

“See, it’s written right here? Literature Club.”

“Yes…”

“If you don’t believe us, we can also show you the magazine we made.”

“Ah, no, I mean, of course I’d love to see it, but, um, I don’t think you need to go that far right now!”

“R-really?”

When Izumi looked at her with a slightly surprised expression, the freshman, who had jumped up from her seat, slowly sat back down.

She gives off the impression of a small animal.

Even though she’s taller than me.

“Usually, we gather here to read books, or write various things.”

The “writing various things” part only happens a few days a year, but anyway.

“We also make a literature club magazine for the festival.”

“Ah, speaking of the festival, have you thought about doing something different this year?”

Fukuda jumped into the conversation as if she had been waiting for this moment.

“How about a café? Like a maid café?”

Her eyes were looking at Koko and me. Is it because we have experience?

“A maid café? The literature club?”

“More precisely, a literary café. Cafés have books, right? If the literature club does that…”

“…Let’s think about that later, we still have time.”

Izumi spoke with a very reluctant expression. It seems she wasn’t too thrilled about the idea of wearing a maid outfit herself.

Meanwhile, Fukuda was looking at Izumi’s expression with sparkling eyes.

Kaoru was the same.

Those two get along too well. I should be careful not to become their prey when they’re together.

“Anyway.”

Izumi tried to bring the conversation back to herself.

“We also go on training camps during vacations. There aren’t many burdensome activities.”

That was true.

For some reason, the freshman’s gaze turned towards Koko and me, so I nodded. Koko also nodded, following my lead.

“Last year, we went to a hot spring. We also had a Christmas party.”

I casually included events that weren’t officially under the literature club’s name. Well, since everyone here was present at those events, it’s not exactly a lie.

Even if they weren’t activities related to the literature club.

“T-training camp!”

But at the word “training camp,” the freshman’s eyes sparkled.

“D-do you also have pajama parties!?”

She seems to have latched onto something strange.

“Um… we did wear pajamas?”

Since we slept, after all.

“…!”

The freshman’s eyes sparkled enormously. She seemed to have completely forgotten her earlier intimidated state.

“I, I want to join!”

“Oh, really?”

Izumi, who had been prepared to persuade her, was a bit taken aback by such a straightforward response.

“Are there any conditions for joining?”

“No, there aren’t any… well, that’s fine.”

Izumi, finally understanding the freshman’s reaction, pushed the application form in front of her towards the girl.

“Then, sign here. You can join for now, and if you don’t like it, you can quit later.”

“Yes, thank you!”

She energetically wrote her name with the pen I handed her.

*

In the end, she was the only one who joined.

Almost all the others who approached were boys, and most of them openly checked out Mako or Yuu. Even the more serious-looking boys stared intently at one or both of them, and eventually turned away as if fleeing from Yuu’s gaze.

“…Harumi.”

By the time we went to pick them up, Yuu was quite annoyed.

“Sorry, sorry.”

Fukuda apologized with her hands together and said with a bright smile.

“But that girl said she’ll join!”

“Really? That’s great. She seemed like a nice girl.”

Mako said with a bright smile.

“Yes, yes, right? She seemed like a super nice girl!”

Fukuda said, clasping her hands together.

…Well, how should I put it.

To be honest, the girl might have seen through Fukuda correctly.

Fukuda is kind, so she won’t bully her, but… you know.

Fukuda really likes cute girls.

Kaoru too.

She’ll probably be quite influenced by them, won’t she?

Well, if she enjoys it herself, I guess it’s fine.