—Summer vacation.
In the seething heat, the rising air shimmers over the asphalt.
The pleasant sound of metal bats ringing out in the distance, the loud buzzing of cicadas.
The school, on the other hand, is completely silent and undisturbed.
Not a soul can be seen inside. The hallway is entirely quiet.
A casually worn summer uniform, a thin skirt.
A cute older girl walking ahead.
During the school tour, when she asks why I’m choosing this school, I answer, “’Cause it’s closest to my house.” She laughs in exasperation, saying, “Whaaat?”
But then, when we part ways…
…she gently tugs my sleeve and touches my shoulder.
“…I’ll be waiting,” she whispers and smiles—
✦ ✦ ✦
………Yeah, that’s nice. Nice. Can I join that tour, too?
Without letting any of all that on my face, I hmmed as if to say, Oh yes, I was very, very deep in deep thoughts. Oh, that’s nice… Very nice… Hmm, nice…
“So in other words, it’s, like…basically an open campus?” I said.
“Ah, that’s the idea.” Isshiki jabbed the finger that had been resting on her jaw at me.
I see. Call it an open campus, and I can get the picture.
Well, even if some teachers made impassioned speeches from the podium of the gym or auditorium or whatever to explain this and that, I doubt middle schoolers would actually listen. Maybe the parents would.
Third year of middle school—in other words, fifteen years old—is the age when you race out on a stolen bike and go around breaking the windows of the school at night. Which means guiding them around the school building and telling them where the most breakable glass is should really draw interest to our school.
As it was all coming together in my head, Komachi, diagonally across from me, clapped her hands. “Ohhh! Open campus! Now that you mention it, Komachi’s heard of that before…” She suddenly folded her arms and gave a little mmg.
Isshiki looked at her sharply. “You know about those, Okome-chan?”
Komachi responded with an incredibly heavy nod, then flipped through the notebook in her hands. “Yes. Open Campus, the magic words that open a notebook…”
“I’m not talking about the brand name.” Isshiki immediately waved a dismissive hand with a serious look.
Her cold treatment made Komachi stroke her cowlick as she giggled a little eh-heh-heh as if to say, Yeah, of course.
Aw, nooo! That Komachi-chan, she’s such a jokester! She’s cute, so I’ll totally forgive her, but if she were saying that sincerely, I would’ve made her write out a real earnest essay of apology in that Campus-brand notebook.
“Well, I do have a vague idea. Though not what it is specifically,” Komachi said as she glanced over at me. Her gaze was seeking an explanation, like But what does it all meeeeean?
So be it. I shall explain for your sake.
“An open campus is…well, in plain terms, a school tour event at a university or technical school. They have trial classes, you sample the school cafeteria, and they show you the research labs and stuff…and introduce you to clubs? Apparently,” I said.
Komachi gave me a smattering of applause. “Ohhh, as expected of a third-year.”
“Well, you know.” I flashed her a cool smile, but I haven’t actually gone to one, either.
Man, once you get to your third year of high school, discussions around you tend to turn to entrance exams, so stories like that float your way. You know those people, the ones who will tell you in sordid detail about stuff like I hear the open campus from such-and-such a place is good or I hear the commerce department will be interesting this year or But more importantly, did you know about the urban legend of that school? Or maybe that’s just the male friend character in dating sims.
When I showed off my limited knowledge on the subject, Isshiki made listening noises like hmm-hmm. “Well, a trial class or sample lunch is obviously out of the question. I’m thinking maaaaybe we’ll do a general school tour, plus introduce the clubs.”
“Hmm… Isn’t that enough? Not like I know,” I said.
“Whoa, you sound like you don’t care…,” Komachi said with a dejected look.
But there wasn’t actually anything else I could say. For one thing, the keener type who would bother coming to a formal-sounding event like a school information session would obviously be happy no matter what you did. And then a cute older girl doing the tour and club intro and all that would thrill the boys, and the girls would see her as a role model.
So I honestly was taking an optimistic outlook, like So, well, isn’t that fine? But Isshiki wasn’t so happy. Curious, I shot her a look asking, What’s up?
Isshiki sighed hesitantly with a mildly troubled expression. “So I have to make up a pamphlet introducing those clubs…” She paused there, flicking a glance over to Komachi for just an instant before turning back to me to finish. “But what do we do about the Service Club?”
“Why’re you asking me…?” I reflexively avoided the question.
Despite Isshiki’s wry little smile, earnest seriousness lay in the depths of her gaze. With her eyes fixed on me, I was forced to consider what she meant by that question.
This probably wasn’t just about work.
I got the feeling she was asking what we planned to do about this club in the future, down the road.
The image I’d envisioned when I’d arrived at the clubroom that day rose in my mind again.
The following year, or a year and a half from now.
A girl reading a book in the slanting light of the sun.
The sight of Komachi, left behind alone in this room.
If I wanted to avoid making that fiction real, it would be best to tout the club to the new students.
But I wasn’t the person to be asking about that. Komachi had been the one to take on the care of this club, of this place. We had accepted that this thing would inevitably end, and she had inherited it for us.
I was just the recipient of her blessing.
Though I was slightly anxious that this might keep her tied down.
I looked over to see Komachi scratching vigorously at her head as if at a loss. “Ahhh… Who knows… Komachi hadn’t been thinking about it. For the moment, though…,” she said, with an examining glance at me. That was about the same as what she’d told me before when we were alone together. Though she didn’t bring up any concrete pros and cons, the evasive way she spoke suggested that she was leaning toward no.
If Komachi wanted to put it off for a while, then I would take over from here. I specialize in deferral, putting things off, and procrastination. “Do we have to put something in that pamphlet?” I asked.
Isshiki furrowed her eyebrows, considering with a hmm. “This is supposed to be an official club, more or less, so I think it’s kinda sketchy to not mention it. The school admin will probably check it, too, so…”
“I see…” Any document being handed out at a school information session had to be checked by the school.
If the club wasn’t in the pamphlet despite existing as an official club, then it was plenty conceivable that would be pointed out, and they would come to check.
If we weren’t going to put it in, we would need an appropriate rationale.
The activities of the Service Club were fuzzy and dubious, after all.
If we drew attention to ourselves, then the school was bound to find it suspicious. It was bad enough that even I, a member, still wondered what the heck the Service Club was. To avoid future trouble, it would be best not to give them excuses to dig into it.
So I was racking my brain like All right, so what do I have to do to sneakily slip out of this one? when Isshiki let out a light phew.
“Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a rush, so if you could just think about it,” she said, then looked at the empty seats.
Komachi’s eyes were on the same spot. “All right. It’s a bit difficult to decide only on Komachi’s discretion, so we’ll try talking with Yukino and Yui tomorrow.” She clasped her hands into fists in front of her chest to pump herself up. Zoi!
This would affect the future of the Service Club. Yukinoshita and Yuigahama would also have their own thoughts about it. I had some, too. Whether I was going to put those into words or not, we should have the opportunity to communicate them.
So then, deferring a conclusion until tomorrow…, I thought, and I suddenly realized something.
…Tomorrow?
“Uh, tomorrow’s kinda eh. I won’t be here,” I said, and both girls went blank-faced at the exact same moment. They cocked their heads in opposite directions.
“Oh, really?”
“Did you have something?”
“Prep school tour. And a trial class, too,” I said with some smugness. I may not look it, but I am studying for entrance exams, you know. Although it was pretty late now to still be choosing a prep school.
The both of them made totally apathetic huhhh and ahhh noises.
“Huhhh, really?” said Isshiki. “Well then tomorrow Yukino and Yui will be in attendance…so maybe I’ll pop in then.”
“It’s been a while since it was just us girls!” The two of them chattered cheerfully together.
At this point, I had an unfortunate announcement to make.
“Uhhh… Um, Yukinoshita also might not come?” I said, my gaze sneaking away in spite of myself.
It’s not like I had anything to feel guilty about…and yet I was assaulted by such intense embarrassment that I could die.
There must have been something real funny about that, as Komachi and Isshiki both went “Mumu!” like the Rakuten Card Man, attention fully on me.
“Ah, that’s what it is…” Eventually, Komachi seemed to figure it out, nodding oh-ho, oh-ho with a spreading warm smile.
Isshiki, on the other hand, wrinkled her nose in protest and let out a big, fat sigh. “Ah! There it is. Using the prep school tour as an excuse for your crap date.”
“Don’t use that language…,” I said, scandalized. But I couldn’t exactly tell her off because whether it was a date or not was yet to be resolved. Yes, hello, that’s me.