"It's the hot shoe part, that is broken. You just have to replace it."
"Hot shoe? Shoe?"
"Oh, I mean this part over here. See the iron? It bent." Hata point a finger into a specific spot at the top of the camera.
"Oh yeah, if you look closely it bent! Thank you, senpai!" The freshmen bow in gratitude.
After send the little girl off, Hata take a seat and observe the newspaper clubroom. There are several freshmens but only two seniors including herself.
"How can I graduate in peace if these things keep happening?" She release a large sigh, covering her aching forehead.
Ranko Hata. A girl that is the newspaper club. No, you don't read it wrong. She literally IS the newspaper club. The club has no more than two active members from the third grade. She even have to bribe some person just to add numbers in order to make the club pass the disbandment. The club also does not have even a single member from the second grade, makes Hata herself have to sneak into the latest second grade field trip. She also has to work extra hard because even with only two members, she has to show some quality in the club, providing existence.
Hata loves the world of journalism though. She fell in love so much that she gave everything to it. Her love to the world unfortunately takes a toll. There are always something bad if things had somthing too much in it. Her affection makes her looks like a freak even in the circle of camera lovers and journalist.
Fortunately in the new semester they can finally recruit some freshmens but what kind of newspaper club, where no one except her, don't even know simple camera's anatomy? Even Akane, her third-year comrade does not know anything about camera or journalism. Many times, the green haired girl thinks that Akane is there because she pity her.
"Akane, I'm out for scoop." Hata marches to the door after she finish her lsat sip of coffee.
With a short farewell, she takes her feet into the outside world. Far away from the clubroom that crowded but always makes her feel lonely.
"You know cam. It's not that you lame or anything but if only I have a friend that I can talk to." Hata softly talks to her camera.
Sometimes her camera is a better talking partner that anyone she met. It's not that every person that Hata met are cruel. She sometimes wants a friend where she can talk about camera, journalism, who can finally break her shell that prevents her to tell others how she feel.
"Maybe my shutter release is broken." Hata mumbles to herself.
She always been like that. There are many kind person in her life. Student council members, Akane, even Uomi. It's just. When she brokes down and needs another person to talks to, just the last moment before she mentions her problem, she will swallow everything and wear back her cool and happy-go-lucky mask. Just like a camera with no shutter release, she cannot engage the final action, broken.
Wandering around makes her body reflex guide her. Before long, she finally realized direction that she head to.
"If you walk here then," She stares at a sign not far from her. "Ah, camera repair shop."
It is actually on the menu today, she indeed wants to fix a club camera that broke several days ago. Joking to herself about how convenient to have this body, the newspaper club president enters the shop.
"Good afternoon." Hata shouts to the empty front desk.
"Welcome! Anything I can help?" A male sound welcomes her as a man comes out from the shop.
With a swift gesture, Hata pulls out a camera from her bag and put it above the front desk.
"The viewfinder seems ... I meant this part..."
"Tch, this habit." She scold herself. This habit of spewing names of camera parts without noticing. Most clerks are part-time workers. The won't understand even a simple phrase like "Shutter release."
"The viewfinder huh? Is it makes the shoot blur? Is there a crack on top of it?" The voice cuts Hata even before she point her finger.
Hata flabbergasted. She raises her head up to meet a scenery. The young man with a short brown hair carefully analyzes the viewfinder of the camera and looks at the entire room with the camera.
"It seems that the viewfinder is not heavily damaged because there are no crack. The auto exposure also works perfectly. It won't take long, you can even wait for it here." The clerk smiles.
Hata stares into his face. A black framed glasses is covering his blue eyes, spiced with a beautiful smile above that soft jaw line. At that moment time stops for Hata. This is not the racing feeling when she gets a big scoop or finishing a big newspaper club project by herself. This is. Something different.