CH 15

I’ve been to a few clubs since then, but none felt as good as the first one, I’ll be honest.

“So, have you decided which club you’re gonna join, Yuu?” My dad asked me.

“Hmm, it’s down to three options, and one could possibly cost quite a bit of money. I’ve done some light googling, and it’ll need more than an athletic club.”

“Three, huh? What kind of clubs are they?”

One is the “rewarding” executive committee.

The other is the happy-go-lucky gardening club, which fits my nature quite well.

And lastly, the excursion club, boasting some intriguing activities.

I laid the three alternatives out for him, and he nodded. “I see. Well, if you want to join the excursion club, and you’re worried about money, why don’t you get a bit from the reparations they gave us for that incident?”

“Huh?”

“I kept the money from back then. The plan was to give it to you when you grew up, landed a job, and was about to leave the nest,” he paused. “You’re the one who went through the gutter; I wouldn’t use your money to alleviate you guys’ upbringing expenses.

He continued, “Giving you that sum of money willy-nilly while you’re at this age wouldn’t do good, so I held it. However, for necessary expenses such as your club activities, have as much as you need.”

“Seriously? Is it okay” I asked. “Wouldn’t it be better to use it for school or living expenses?”

“That I do not approve,” he stood his ground.

Seriously, is he overprotective or something? No, I guess it’s just dad’s way of being proud and considerate. Well then…

“Okay… In that case, I want to join the excursion club. Camping and stuff like that sound nice, and I just want to do stuff differently now that I’m in high school. Stuff I wanna do.”

I was torn between the gardening and the excursion clubs but felt that if I joined the former, my high school would end up meaningless by the end. If I can find even one thing I enjoy doing, I’ll be able to look back and say my high school years meant something.

“Gotcha. Have tons of experiences and have fun, son,” my father smiled.

“Thanks, dad.”

“Senior, it’s been a little over a week, but could I get a notice of admission?”

“I don’t have one. My advisor is Mrs. Tainaka, so you should go get it from her.”

She seemed happy… or not? Well, she’s usually expressionless, so I can barely tell. Back to what’s important, I now know what to do.

“Got it. Oh, speaking of which,” I started. “Did anyone else show up to join the club besides me?”

“You’re the second one. There was another yesterday, and they’ll enter as well.”

Huh. Will the school allow us to continue with the clubroom? There’s one week left before the time runs out for joining clubs, so there’s a possibility.

Still, two weeks have already passed since the observation period began, and it’ll end this week. The following seven days after will be a grace period for people to think over their choices. In hindsight, I couldn’t help but feel moved when thinking about this small senior of mine, all alone, fighting for two weeks.

Although we weren’t large in number—just the two of us—I was happy to hear someone else was interested enough to join.

“When do club activities start?” I asked.

“Hmm. April isn’t over yet, and the observation period isn’t over, so I’m thinking Monday next week; just come here after school then. You don’t need to bring anything else.”

“By the way, what’s your name? Late introduction, sorry, but I’m Yuu Takasaki.”

“Yukina Tachibana, a sophomore. Nice to meet you.”

“Tachibana, hmm? I look forward to our time together.”

After greeting my senior, I went to the staff room, so I could get the admission letter from Mrs. Tainaka.

“Teacher, I want to join the excursion club, and I heard you’re the advisor, so could you give me an admission letter, please?”

“Sure, and erm, you’re in our class, hmm…”

“I’m Takasaki.”

“Yes, Takasaki. So you’ve decided to join the excursion club, huh? Give me a second, where was it…?” She fiddled around at her table. “Ah, here! Just sign it right now, and I’ll accept it as-is.”

“I understand. May I borrow your pen?” I asked.

Since the advisor and my homeroom teacher are the same people, it saves me time. I’ll just jot down what I have to and hand it in.

“I heard we’re currently three in members, so aren’t we in danger of being disbanded?”

“As long as it’s approved, and it has two members, it’ll be fine. Our school has determined that already approved clubs have no issues operating, as long as they have at least two in tow.”

Oh, senior… Let alone the clubroom, the whole damn club would be abolished if I hadn’t entered, wouldn’t it? The approval was just temporary!

She calls it an excursion club, but it is, in fact, a general outdoors club, regardless of whether the activities are in the name or not. I guess the name being serious and not some generic word made it relatively easy to get it approved.

“Is it fine for us to have a room?”

“Currently, the number of rooms in all buildings exceeds the number of clubs. Many athletic circles apply to use the empty classroom nearest to their practice field as their actual room, and it helps that the club building is pretty big.

“But it’s not completely safe,” she went on. “If new clubs start popping left and right, your achievements and headcount will be taken into consideration.”

Well, such a scenario isn’t very realistic, so I guess there won’t be a problem. Besides, even if we’re forced to leave the club building, I have a feeling they’ll allow us to use an empty classroom occasionally.

“Oh, can I ask you one last thing?” I paused. “Is the other new member from my class as well?”

“No, it’s a girl from class D.”

“Got it.”

“Oh well. I may show up at the newspaper club since I’m also their advisor, though they seldom need me, there’ll be occasions when I’ll have to accompany your club due to its activities. I look forward to working with you.”

“Likewise.”

Ghrn—!

I stretched as I recalled these past two weeks. I was pretty lost after the whole literature club debacle, and I even joined a club I had no idea even existed. Honestly, though, I look forward to being a part of it. All in all, I enjoyed looking at all the different clubs around.

During these weeks, I was able to interact normally with people if they talked to me in class. Other than that, I was able to create a nice atmosphere for me to chill out alone.

“Yuu~!”

“What a coincidence…”

As I was walking along, feeling good about myself, I saw Momiji running up to me while waving hello.

“Have you decided what club you’re gonna join?”

“The excursion club.”

“Oh, so, an outdoors kinda thing? If that’s the case, then we’ll soon have club activities starting soon, right? My morning training is about to start, and I don’t think we’ll be able to keep up with each other after school. So why don’t we go home from school today and walk to school tomorrow?”

Oh wow, so that’s what happens when you have different clubs. Our schedules will rarely match up. Damn, I’m lucky! This is nice.

“I guess so. It’s going to be tough going together from now on, so let’s walk together these two days.”

“Yeah!”

I went home with this excited thump in my chest that this would be the last time I’d go to and from school with her.

T/N: My guy wants nothing to do with her, lol.