The next morning, the path from the gates to the school building was once again packed full of people. Each voice spoke in exactly the same tone: Join our club! Please join our club! And once again, I walked right on by.
But this time, a single voice stood out more clearly than the rest:
“We’re the CRC! Join our club!”
The CRC. Also known as the Cultural Research Club. If I had to guess, I was probably one of only a handful of first-years who knew. After all, it was a tiny, forgettable club. But after I saw that flyer yesterday, for some reason, the knowledge was burned into my mind.
I glanced over. Enjouji was standing there with that same guy from yesterday, plus two more girls: one with long, dark hair and one with long, reddish-brown hair. They were so radiant, it was if a spotlight was shining down on them, drawing all eyes like a magnet. The other club recruiters nearby couldn’t possibly compare.
“Join the CRC!”
Even the two new girls were saying it, so clearly they were in the club, too. Then I started thinking maybe I was wrong about them being small and unpopular... but no, I wasn’t. Although they could draw the students’ attention, not many stopped to take a flyer. And of those who did, almost all of them merely glanced over it before stuffing it into their bookbags.
Was this club going to find enough members...? Well, not like it was any of my business. And so I gave them a wide berth as I made my way to my classroom.
Right as I was starting to think I wasn’t going to talk to anyone new today, one of my classmates spoke to me for the first time.
“You said you were in the ping-pong club in middle school, right?”
I was sitting in the classroom, packing up after the final bell. And since I was in Go-Home Mode, I wasn’t mentally prepared for someone to strike up a conversation.
“Wanna join Yamaboshi’s ping-pong club?”
“Nah, I think I’m done with ping-pong now that I’m in high school.”
I couldn’t find the right words. What came out instead was incredibly blunt.
“Aww, c’mon! Don’t give up now!”
“I’m just kinda bored of it,” I replied flatly.
“...Okay then.”
And that was where the conversation ended. He walked over to someone else, and I missed my chance to correct myself.
As I recalled, he was in the ping-pong club in middle school, too. And I’d heard that he was trying to start a new club here at Yamaboshi. But I was never very good at ping-pong, and since I had no hope of improving, I wasn’t interested in pursuing it any further. Instead, I was hoping to join a more popular club... Not that I was going to pick my club based entirely on how much attention I could get from girls, mind you.
Still, I could have said something better than “I’m bored of it.” I could have said “I’m not personally interested, but I support you starting up a new ping-pong club.” Or “I remember you were really good.” Or “We should play a match together sometime.” I could have kept the conversation going in any number of ways.
Then, as I was drowning in regrets, I overheard one of the guys in a group chatting nearby.
“Man, did you see that Culture Whatever Club? The girls were so hot! Let’s go check them out!”
“Cultural Research Club, or CRC. Says so right here on the flyer.”
“I was thinking I wouldn’t mind paying them a visit at least once!”
“But you’re not gonna join?”
“Look, dude, they want people to sit in on their club activities, right? So what’s the harm?”
Apparently they were having fun planning out what clubs they wanted to visit. This was hardly a rare occurrence; I only noticed because I heard them mention the CRC. Even those who had already basically chosen their club were still more than happy to browse around for the fun of it.
Because the conversation had caught my attention, I naturally looked in their direction. Then one of the guys in the group looked over, and our eyes met.
“Weren’t you hugging one of those CRC chicks yesterday morning?”
I felt my heart thump loudly in my chest.
“Yeah, I remember that. I was like, damn! Wasn’t expecting him to go there!” added another of the guys who witnessed the incident in question.
“What? I didn’t hear about this. What happened?”
I needed to say something.
“It... It was an accident,” I told them, since it was the truth.
“Have you been to see the CRC?”
“No, I haven’t...”
“Then would you wanna come with us? We were just talking about it.”
And so the conversation went in an unexpected direction.
“Come on in!”
After we climbed up the stairs to the top floor of the ancient Rec Hall building and entered Room 401, the dark-haired girl from this morning welcomed us in with her arms outstretched. She was so startlingly beautiful, I nearly recoiled.
“So, um, the five of us were hoping to sit in on your club today...”
“Okie-dokie! Yeah, I figured. Anyway, have a seat!”
“Feel free to relax. Man, we’re really popular today,” said a laid-back guy as he pulled out a chair.
“Probably because Yui and I helped pass out flyers this morning!”
“...Honestly, I can’t even argue with that.”
There was a long table in the center of the room surrounded by folding chairs. The bookshelves were packed full of manga, magazines, board games, and a box labeled “Misc.”
“C-Come on in! I’ll make some tea!”
It was Enjouji, the girl who’d bumped into me. In total, there were three club members present.
“Make sure you don’t spill any, Shino-chan!”
Apparently her full name was Enjouji Shino. My eyes met hers... but then she looked back to her two-liter bottle of tea and started pouring it into the paper cups. She didn’t seem to recognize who I was.
Apparently a different group of first-years arrived shortly before we did, and they were chatting with some other club members in the room next door, since that room was more spacious. Although our two groups would remain separate, they decided to go fetch the other club members and briefly bring them into the room for a round of introductions. Altogether, there were seven members in total.
With twelve people now packed into the room, it was getting kinda cramped. Our seven senpai let us take the chairs while they remained standing.
“N-Now then, it’s time for introductions!”
And so Enjouji started the guided club tour. She was so visibly nervous, it was making me sweat.
However...
“Yo!”
“Here we go!”
“Finally!”
“I can’t wait!”
...the four guys I came with were all so excited, it quickly eased the tension. As for me, I missed my chance to join in. But it was still early — there’d be more chances.
This was a massive opportunity for me. If all went well, I could fit in with this group of guys. They were pretty popular from what I could tell, which meant I could be popular.
“Okay then... Inaba-senpai, if... if you would start us off, please!”
Now that she had regained her composure, Enjouji seemed to find her words more easily.
“Inaba Himeko, third-year and former vice president. My activities included programming and... well, tinkering with computers, that sort of thing.”
“Oooh!”
“You sound smart!”
“That’s badass!”
“Stoic and sexy, like an ice queen!”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she replied offhandedly like it was no big deal. She was as pretty as a painting — the sort of aloof girl I would admire from afar.
“Yaegashi Taichi, third-year. My club activities were mainly focused on pro wrestling activism,” said the laid-back guy from earlier. Sure enough, he turned out to be a third-year. Based on his looks, he seemed like the type to get a lot of girls, but... pro wrestling activism? Sounds cringey.
“You can safely disregard the pro wrestling thing.”
“Inaba! We’re all supposed to talk about our hobbies — hey, don’t give me that withering look! You know I can’t call you Himeko right now!”
Then Yaegashi and Inaba started bickering. They seemed close; probably dating.
On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t make that assumption. Only a total virgin would look at a guy-girl friendship and assume they had to be romantically involved.
“Allllrighty then, my turn! Aoki Yoshifumi, third-year! My stance is pretty much ‘I’m down for anything, as long as it’s fun.’ And for the record, Kiriyama Yui here is my girlfriend!”
Wha...?!
Sure, the guy looked like an airhead, but even then, I wasn’t expecting him to be so dumb.
“Excuse you! Can you, like, at least wait until I’ve had my turn?!” the girl with the reddish-brown hair growled, flailing her arms.