HELLO HELLO! HAPPY MAY! I'm back with another chapter of "To Reach You"!
Omg, all your reviews made me so happy I just had to write more! ;w;
THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I've updated as fast as I could because of two reasons:
1.) YOU ALL ROCK
2.)I'm too afraid of not being able to finish this story in time before summer ends.
So this chapter's pretty long, and I hope it's as interesting as you deemed my second chapter to be ^_^
REVIEW REPLIES!:
I12Bfree: Thank you~! And I love those stories so much it drove me to writing this 8")
purplepaisley05: Thanks and I love you too!
KyoRina97: Thank you very much for another review! Thank you for your comments and I love Karmanami *w*. I hope this was able to please you!
ANON: I'm glad I lifted the mood! May this chapter do the same if ever ;w;
animeandmangafangirl: I'm glad it did and you make me happy too! OMG THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO FILL ME IN ON HIS FAMILY BACKGROUND. IT HELPED WITH MY IDEA FORMULATING X'3. But I'd like to ask you too if you know what kind of relationship they share; specifically, if it's not too much trouble ^_^. Thanks for reading this story too and I look forward to your next chapter of "Karma has a what?!"!
Akabane-san: Glad this was fangirl-worthy! And I'll continue don't worry! Just hope I make it in time...
Akikarui: Thanks for leaving a review! And I'm glad you love it!
Mugipyon: OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POINTING THAT OUT! Of course I have amended my mistake so that made me really happy. Thank you for a long review and for Karma's family background! I couldn't find the character book, so if you can, and want to, please send me the link if you have time 8)
kawaiichoconeko: OHGOD IS THIS FOR REAL? I'VE READ ALL OF YOUR KARMANAMI FANFICS BLESS YOU FOR REVIEWING! Along with animeandmangafangirl I didn't really expect you to write a review here because I'm inferior 8"""). THANKS AND I WUV KYUU!
Quilla The Silent: That review made me feel giddy like a school girl. It really pushed me to finish this up quickly and THANKS FOR THE COMPLIMENTS!
natsuki DDS: Thank you and that A/N was taken care of! ;D
Okay enough dragging, time for "To Reach You" Chapter 3!
Enjoy~!
Chapter 3: Clubs, More Friends and the Troubles that come with it (Part I)
April's finally coming to an end…
Friday, April 30
It was a bright, blue, beautiful spring morning. The clouds were beautifully painted upon the magnificent azure dome that enveloped the earth. The elderly had begun to take their early 6 am walks around the clean and peaceful sidewalks of Japan. Others already took advantage of the early hour by going into convenience stores to buy their meals for the day before they face long hours of work. The cherry blossoms neared their final days as its petals danced in the air and covered the cobblestone road with tiny pink dots.
The smell of fresh eggs, pastries and fried rice floated in the air within a nearby apartment's kitchen.
Inside, a rather short girl with glasses was in the middle of preparing a meal for two. Her hair was a mess even though her uniform was already on since she'd only gotten out of bed half an hour ago without any care to fix herself before doing her chores. She hummed no particular tune and was making her own notes to her own morning song to make her work more enjoyable.
After she cooked the meal into perfection, she reached for two trays and neatly placed the food on each of them. One tray consisted of a bowl of fried rice topped with a sunny side up egg, with a small chocolate tart for dessert. This was her breakfast for the new day. The other tray had a plate of small waffles doused in honey and cream, with a side dish of egg soup; this one was for—
"Morning." A womanly voice came from the other side of the apartment followed by the gentle shut of a bedroom door.
"Good morning, Inari-nee." Manami greeted back with enthusiasm to the older woman – she had a spaghetti strapped red top covered with a yellow hoodie and jogging pants underneath; her short dark red hair was a mess but she didn't give it any thought as she yawned and made her way to the kitchen to open up the refrigerator.
The spectacled adolescent frowned at her action. "Inari-nee, it's too early for you to drink" but this scold only earned her a scoff from the other. The woman named Inari showed her a smirk "When you're older there's no early time for alcohol." And with a wink she sat herself down on the kitchen table to await her meal and consume her drink.
"I'm not going to drink when I get older." The other retorted but chuckled at her adult-like tone afterwards. The thought of a 15 year old scolding a woman in her early thirties was actually quite amusing every morning. After turning the flame off and serving the trays gently, she joined her caretaker for their usual breakfast.
They happily ate as the minutes passed and discussed the mundane things in their lives as of late. While Inari talked about her job as the school's nurse and how troublesome the students were getting lately and it's only been a month in, Manami would unknowingly talk about the lunches and walks home she'd spend with a precious friend of hers.
"Hey, Manami, what did you put in the waffles today?" Inari inquired with curiosity laced on her voice as she eyed the small treat with ease. The younger girl smiled "I tried experimenting with the fruits I bought yesterday and tried making a fruity and dairy combination today. It was fun to have trial and error yesterday evening; did I mix them in correctly?" there was a sparkle on her purple orbs as she eagerly told her about her little 'science experiments'. Inari couldn't help but smile at how much the girl loved to experiment. She's noticed this trait of hers since the year she became her guardian 11 years ago.
"Yes, you did." And she took another delightful bite until the clock caught her eye. "Oh, it's time for you to go."
"Ah! It's already this time?" she immediately lifted herself from her seat and prepared to fix her tray but was stopped by Inari "I'll fix things up here. You're Bento's over there. Hurry and get yourself out of here before Shouta yells at you." She joked and proceeded to clean up the table and hand the small girl a comb and two small bands for her to fix her hair on the way, which Manami gladly took from her before pouting.
"Amamiya-sensei's nice! He won't yell."
"Yeah, yeah whatever, now go." She gently pushed the teen out the door with 560 inscribed on it, a small 'oompf!' came out of Okuda's mouth in the process.
"I'll be going now!" she waved a goodbye and jogged towards the stairs.
"Have a safe trip!" before she could close the door, something abruptly came to mind "Oh yeah! Manami!"
Fortunately, Manami wasn't so far yet when she called, which caused the petite-framed girl to halt and look back with quizzical eyes.
"What are you going to do about clubs today?"
Clubs hm…?
That's right; since April was ending clubs would have to be introduced during May. Kimii had a policy to prioritize education rather than extra-curricular activities; hence they dedicated the entire first month to pure academics.
By now, Manami had made it to the road in front of the school gates – she usually came earlier than most so no one walked alongside her.
"I wonder which one I should join…?" she mumbled to herself while looking up to admire the shedding cherry blossoms and blue sky in hopes to maybe find some inspiration 'I could join the botany club…' she could already picture herself measuring and studying plants and creating a greener environment with her fellow club members, but the daydream was ruined when she imagined herself creating formulas for 'better plant growth' but accidentally killing several ones with just a drop – from this, she could already imagine korosensei's red 'X' face and sighed.
A mischievous boy abruptly took over her train of thought and she couldn't help but begin to wonder 'I wonder what club he wants to join…'
Just when the question came to mind, she spotted something on the path she was walking. From where Manami could see, it looked like a giant, brown ball of fur sniffing something intently, but upon closer inspection, she took notice of a small round tail and round ears similar to the traits a bear would possess. But after she took another step towards it, the small creature became alarmed and took a sharp turn to face the curious girl.
But curiosity quickly transformed into confusion when she had a good look of its face. Its eyes looked like thick vertical black lines with that white shine on the side while its legs were no shorter than half a ruler and underneath were black hooves. And finally the most prominent part, a pig's snout.
"Wha—"
"Omo-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Manami's shoulders jerked up at the sudden cry of a young girl – who currently came running at an amazing speed to their direction; in fact, it was so fast you can practically see smoke behind her.
And as if on cue, the peculiar creature hopped off to the school gates with a 'pwii!'
"Omo-chaaaan! Wait!"
"Uwoah!"
The poison lover didn't have time to register any of the incoming girl's characteristics aside from pale brown hair tied with a big green bow behind her head, for the mysterious female just raced past her and had her stumble down to the ground, with nothing left to do other than watch the weird duo have a chase-off into the school as the mystery girl obstinately called for it to wait.
Moments after they disappeared, Manami still sat there, trying to decipher what just happened with furrowed brows and a dumbstruck expression.
"What was that... just now?"
Class that day was more active than usual in 1-C. Of course, it's the day where the first years would have a chance to choose which club they want to join. Naturally, that was the topic of discussion for the day, so it easily distracted the adolescent scientist so she may forget about the events of that morning.
The entire morning session was dedicated to the showcasing of each club as they go room to room in the first year level. Manami would often hear conversations about the decisions they made and also conversations of those who really couldn't decide, but she could care less about that. As for herself, she was unsure. Since the botany club was a big 'no' for her, she considered the physics club, only to be disappointed by the lack of activeness from the members when they performed, so she was back to square one of her decision-making.
Later that day…
"Hey, Karma-kun. Have you thought about your club yet?" Okuda curiously tilted her head when she asked.
The two were having lunch at their usual spot behind the senior's building. Karma leaned on the bench in his carefree manner with a milk carton in his hand and Manami had her usual bento neatly placed on top of her lap as her posture was perfect. Karma's eyes were the perfect image of boredom when he heard the question. "None of them are interesting." He worded out bluntly and all she could answer with was "I see."
"What about you? Find anything?" his tone was dull, but he was still kind enough to put a little bit of curiosity to his tone.
"Well…" the image of a greenhouse being destroyed by a mutant Venus flytrap she created by accident flashed in her mind "I don't think I've found anything either…" she responded faintly and looked away to hide the troubled smile on her face, which Karma took notice of.
"Really?" he pressed on but Okuda brushed it away by saying "Really." and nodded vigorously, still with her face hidden from him.
"Okay…" he decided to not push through with the subject any longer and just continued to have his drink in silence with her.
From that point, the two continued with their usual everyday conversation. There were times when Manami would still be unsure of her words or get the wrong idea, but Karma would always know what to do whenever times like those arise. Lately, the girl had been showing signs of improvement from her former introverted personality when in front of the redhead; slowly she started to become more like herself whenever she would talk to him. Albeit this however, she still needed much help with other people.
A while later, Karma stood up sharply. His eyes were lit up and he grinned in such a way a child would once he would have something up his sleeve. Manami could only look surprised at the sudden motion; here they were talking about how they can maybe deal with delinquents outside of convenience stores and suddenly he did that.
After a few more seconds of surprise, he turned to face her with a smirk.
"I think I got a good idea."
"Combat Club?"
"Yep."
Classes were over and the pair walked under the orange lights the sun gave out before it would hide itself from the world again for 12 hours. It was rather late by the time they were both able to make their way home since Manami had to wait for Karma to 'finish things up' upon his request – not to mention they both wanted to get juice again which added up to the time they spent before actually heading home.
"So you're going to make your own club? What's it going to be about?" she eyed him with interest as she took a sip from the fruity drink she held with both of her hands.
"Mhm, things should be interesting if we made one ourselves. And it's in the name. So basically, it's a club I want to dedicate to our last year of middle school." Karma said and sipped his own juice as well.
Okuda frowned "But—"
"I know what you're gonna say." He broke in before she could tell him anything and he looked the opposite direction from her – it felt like he averted his gaze on purpose just for her not see his face. "It's just that high school's been way too unentertaining compared to my life with the yellow octopus." His tone was odd, for a second it didn't sound like himself. Usually, Karma was the type of person to be blithe about the majority of things, so you'd find him with a smile on even in dangerous situations. But this time, all his tone told her was how much heavy emotions he felt after his middle school years. It wasn't sadness; rather, it was the feeling of emptiness.
Once Manami noticed this, she just stared at him with half-lidded eyes brimming with sympathy.
'I know…'
She remembered the day of their graduation from Class E, and the time each one of them were in their run-down yet beloved classroom for one last time before the ceremony began.
And there she saw him. He was alone, sitting by the window with his chin rested on his palm as he looked outside the campus he'd have to say goodbye to; any contact with the other rejoiced students was avoided. His eyes looked distant – the look someone has when someone who played a big part of their life leaves even though you knew it was bound to happen. The view itself looked lonely.
It was the pure embodiment of a human's loss.
"…da-san. Oi, Okuda-san."
Karma's voice snapped her out of her thoughts which caused her to turn sharply to his direction. "W-what?"
"We're here." His regular tone was back, and the sun had already disappeared so now a starry night sky was above their heads.
"Ah! S-sorry for that…" she let out an exasperated sigh – whenever she's lost in her thoughts it gets hard for people to get her out of them. It couldn't be helped though; she almost never talks to anyone but herself.
"Don't mind it." He smiled and raised his hand in farewell
"Well, Bye now."
"Mm, see you tomorrow." She watched on as he continued his way down the lamp-lit road.
'Combat Club…' somehow those words sounded interesting, so she looked forward to whatever Karma had in mind, and hoped for the best. And by best, she pertained to a low rate of damage and chaos for the following months.
She inwardly laughed as these thoughts piled up on her way up to her apartment. But all this was moved to the back of her mind the instant she opened the door and found her guardian rested on the couch and watched some boxing game as she sat there without a care in the world and munched on microwave-made popcorn. Her narrowed eyes looked quite peeved, and it didn't exactly look like she was enjoying the game; rather, it looked like she was imagining herself as the one in the ring and took her anger out there.
"Inari-nee, what are you doing? I thought you had a girl's night out?" Manami sweatdropped and gave her the look anyone would give when they expect something more out of them.
"I'm enjoying it." She replied and aggressively munched on her popcorn and watched as one of the boxers knocked the other one out cold. She had a white cardigan over a yellow blouse over dark skinny jeans. There were snacks all over the table and her socks and shoes were a scattered mess on the floor.
"But I thought you were downtown?"
Inari took the bottle of soda she drank from and slammed it on the table – a vein popped on her forehead as she uttered out her next words "I was. But Midori was already drunk and moping about the latest guy she just dumped." She crushed a few of her snacks when the memory of being treated like an object of rant and being hugged pathetically by the orange-head played.
"Mikagura-sensei must be having a pretty hard time…" Manami couldn't help but feel sorry for her caretaker's best friend; that was the 3rd one this year.
"Oh? You live with Inari-sensei?"
Manami squeaked and jumped from her spot by the door to face the very familiar voice's origin. The older woman inside the room had her mouth agape, the popcorn in her hands dropped to the bowl between her thighs as her eyeballs shrunk within her narrow eyes.
"K-…Karma-kun…"
"Why did you come back?" Manami uttered out each word slowly – not to mention uncomfortably.
"I forgot I needed to tell you something. Guess I was lucky you were still standing out the door, otherwise I'd still have to look for you." Karma responded and leaned on back on his chair like it was nobody's business.
The three were seated down awkwardly on the small, square kitchen table. Since Manami was a respectful and thoughtful person, she had the courtesy to cook up something fast for them to eat while they would have a small talk (Karma insisted he would like to have dinner there). Karma sat on one side and Inari was directly seated in front of him, leaving the unfortunate science nerd between the tense air between them.
"What's wrong, sensei? You've been glaring daggers at me for a while now." He smiled wryly, obviously in an attempt to further anger the already irritated woman. Inari had her arms crossed and her glare only grew darker – there was practically a dark atmosphere looming over her.
"Is it perhaps because you were found out? Or is it because I caught you in one of your moments?" he pressed on, and Manami could tell the devil's horns and tail just grew out of him right now.
Inari smiled darkly and leaned on the table to look at him directly; veins popped on her forehead. "You're a funny guy, aren't you?"
"Really? It's not surprising; I've been class clown for years." Karma, in turn, leaned on the table more to continue to taunt her. It felt like both their dark auras were clashing in a sinister frenzy.
"Oh? Good. So I'm sure my fist colliding with your face would give me one hell of a laugh" she stood up this time to look down on the shorter boy to feel superior as she took her fist and clenched it in front of her.
"Oh don't be so violent, sensei~" It was Karma's turn to stand up as he tried to level her and bring her down as well. "It's not nice to hit on guys out of your age group, right?"
Now this ticked her off for it seems as though smoke had come out of her ears upon hearing that "Hah? Whoever said I needed a man in my life?"
"No one did, that's why you gave up and became the school nurse right?" his smirk grew darker and you could see the evil in his eyes when he spoke his next sentence. "All that womanly care has to go somewhere, especially when they're reaching the point of no return"
Inari grit her teeth even harder this time, the smile had disappeared and she grabbed the boy by the collar – a fist was ready to to launch itself to his face. Not only did he insult her singlehood, but he also pointed out the fact that she was already 34, which means she was almost doomed to remain single.
"I'm going to kill you…" she sounded like a demon now. It felt like her eyes were on fire as her brow twitched from all the frustration she had 100% directed to him. But Karma was left unfazed by this threat and just pushed it to his limits.
"Oh no, Inari-sensei, I thought you were the school nurse?" It appears he had found another candidate for his 'best people to annoy' list – and right now she was on par with Terasaka (and winning).
In the duration of this glare battle, poor Manami had been ignored several times. Each instant they would bite back at each other she would fidget around and try to tell them to stop but the power of wickedness and foul play was much too strong for someone like her to handle.
"B-both of you get a hold of yourselves please…" she tried once more, but once she looked at them again, it felt like an exaggerated painting by some renaissance artist of Medusa and the Devil having a brawl as the two continued to glare menacingly. So she gave up and sighed, but she was able to notice something which surprised her.
Why do I feel like these two are getting along really well? She looked at their murderous stares one more time, and couldn't help but smile.
It was around 8:45 when Karma decided to go home. Manami had taken the initiative to bring him downstairs and see him off. And as they walked, they shared a conversation before they decided to part ways.
"So, what did you come back to tell me?" she started, her hands behind her back as she walked side by side with him.
"Oh yeah, earlier before classes ended, I looked into some of the clubs that were on the brink of disbandment and one of them was the poetry club. Lucky for us, the members barely attend or meet-up so the room's vacant most of the time – I took advantage of that and asked permission for the room." He explained enthusiastically, another one of his grins on his face.
"And they approved it?" Manami was amazed he already did so much in just one afternoon – so he was able to get a free room, permission to use it and with permission comes along the next basic requirements of a club.
But she figured in order to do that, he had to sacrifice something; and she had a hunch it was his classes…
"Yep. Now all we need is a teacher as our supervisor, support from a member of the student council and finally at least 6 members." They made it down the escape's stairs after his last sentence and the chemist was already excited to see what comes next once his plan is successful. (She still has that damage rate in her worries though.)
"Alright, so tomorrow after school can you come to the poetry room to help out with the requirements?"
"Eh? Sure, I guess." Tomorrow was Saturday, but since clubs were introduced today, the afternoon tomorrow will be taken for the first years to enter their new clubs and for others to work on the needed necessities to keep their club functioning.
"Good. See you tomorrow." Before he could take even a few steps away he turned to her again with more to say.
"By the way"
"Hm?"
"Do you think you could make me a stink formula over the night?" she could tell he was up to no good with the way he worded it out, but since it was chemistry, she couldn't stop herself from submitting to his request.
"Thanks" he smiled brightly. Oh he can always count on his Okuda-san to kick his plans up a notch.
Wait a minute…when did I agree to join?
Okuda watched Karma vanish from her sight when he took his left turn.
Oh well.
After their final farewells that night, Manami walked up the fir escape's stairs to get working on his request and was mildly surprised to find Inari leaned against the opened door to wait for her
"Your friend's a brat." She deadpanned as Manami made her way inside with a sheepish smile. "But he's a good kid." Inari continued.
"I thought you wanted to kill him?" she laughed lightly and proceeded to clean the table and prepare herself for another night of experimentation. Inari didn't answer and was just left with her thoughts as her co-resident cleaned things up.
True, he was a brat and she figured he had 0% respect for any adults, but upon seeing his eyes and and studying his personality, she could tell her really was a good kid behind the problematic behavior he showed her. But what surprised her most was when the thought of him being able to take care of a certain fragile little girl came up – and she actually conside—
"Inari – nee, there's a paper on the table. I think Karma-kun left it here." Speaking of fragile little girl, she was currently reading a paper that had an envelope stuck to it. 'When did he make this?'
"What does it say?"
"…it's a bribe."
"Okay he still pisses me off!"
Karma's been gone for a while…
The sound of a ticking clock filled the emptiness of an old wooden room that hasn't been used for a long time now. Its shelves were dusty and the floor could use some cleaning too. There was barely any paperwork stalked on top of the provided furniture despite this room supposedly being an art club. The room contained a bookshelf with a glass door stationed in the left most corner; next to it was an old cooking stove anyone would doubt could still be used for anything and a rusty sink. To the right, there was a whiteboard and a blackboard right behind it – there was also a stack of chairs to the corner and sets of drawers that were burdened with cobwebs. Finally, in the center of the room was a square, Japanese table, where the chemist awaited for the return of a mischievous ginger.
After Saturday classes, both of them came to this room as soon as they could and met up for a while. They made a few comments about the room's cleanliness but figured it's not as bad as Class E's supplies and dismissed it. Minutes later Karma went off saying he'll be 'back in a while'; but that while has been over 20 minutes from when he left.
"I wonder what he's up to…"
Speak of the devil and he arrives for Karma slid the door open not a second after she mumbled that out. "Sorry it took kinda long~" he said playfully and jogged over to the other side of the table to sit down laxly.
"It's okay, so where did you go?" Manami inquired and sat up straight to look at him properly. When she did though, he had a ghastly smirk on and his eyes looked like they were glowing red under the darkness of his bangs. From this, she could already tell he just played dirty again.
"What did you do—"
"Hey YOU!" and the sliding door slammed open to reveal a furious high school girl with long strawberry blond hair. Her blue eyes were clouded with infuriation towards the trickster in the room. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN MY SHOE LOCKER YOU GODDAMN CLOWN?!" she yelled into the room as her arms flailed – the person she pertained to on the other hand had a his tongue stuck out and he looked to the side, clearly giving the message he wasn't sorry at all.
Okuda recognized her immediately. It was Nakamura Rio of Class B, also her former classmate, and she brought with her an…
Odd smell…
She stomped into the room after she forcefully closed the door behind her in a fit of anger. Manami wanted to be polite, but the smell she had on her was too strong to not cover her nose.
Rio slammed her hands on the table "I SWEAR AKABANE IF THIS IS JUST ONE OF YOUR—" her yelling came to a pause when Karma shoved a paper onto her face.
"Before you destroy someone's eardrums, take a good look at this." He requested and let her take the paper.
"What's this?" she studied the paper with furrowed brows and mumbled some of the words it said.
"Application form for our club."
"Club?" she placed her hand with the paper on her hip and looked at him with a raised eyebrow "You want me to join this combat club of yours?"
"Oh, Rio has a brain~"
"Forget it then!" she gritted her teeth and was about to crumple the paper and throw it at his head when he quickly said "You haven't noticed yet?" in his sinister tone and Rio had a bad feeling form in her stomach.
"Noticed…what?" she felt a little anxious from that point. Because when Karma does things with that smirk of his, it's never something anyone can laugh about with him.
"My we have a smelly situation under our noses now don't we?" he taunted – even as much as pinched his nose shut to prove his point. And that's when Rio's face fell
"You son of a—" she remembered that upon opening her shoe locker, a pink gas came out and covered her entire body, and the one who did such a thing left a note that said 'I'm in the poetry room if you want me :P'. And ever since that weird gas came into the air, everyone she'd pass by would avoid her –and worst case scenario was when she caused a teacher to faint and another student gag on vomit.
"BASTARD! YOU'RE GONNA BLACKMAIL ME INTO JOINING, AREN'T YOU?!" she took Karma's collar and shook the male in a rage. If it's a Karma stench, mere bath soap and water would never be enough. Literally and figuratively – so she knew that she'd be doomed with this stink forever without his help; and his help is not free
"Let go of me, you reek." He had an irritated smile on now and was this close to stinging her with pepper spray (not that he had any at the moment, but it was tempting) and she let him go to repetitively slam her fists on the table "WHO'S FAULT IS THAT?!"
Karma sighed.
"Okuda-san, you made a perfume to counter it right?" he turned to her and grinned.
'How did he…?'
Karma knew that if Okuda was to create anything dangerous, she'd be thoughtful enough to make something to fix whatever lethal effect it had.
"A-Ah! M-Mm…" she nodded and searched for it inside her bag, still quite surprised how he knew about it. But there was another reason she was so fidgety – it was the uncertainty of how to act in front of an old friend after forgetting how to socialize. She was glad to finally see another member of class E, but when the time came, she was left wondering how in the world she should act after she spent months without them.
With hesitant hands, Manami lent the bottle of perfume to Karma and he gladly took it from her possession to swing it in front of Rio's face – he was taunting her, and he knew she'd get the message.
"You play dirty, Akabane." The blond glared darkly at the smug-looking teenage boy.
"You aren't used to it?"
"Agh! Fine. And here I wanted to try the painting club but whatever. I'll sign your stupid thing so get me out of this—"she attempted to grab the bottle from his hand, but with Karma's speed, he evaded it and kept the bottle far away from her.
"Hold up."
"What do you want now?!" she looked ready to punch him for real this time.
"Just a little favor before I give you this." He handed her a long folder with a naughty grin and leaned on the table, excited about his next plan. Knowing that if she wanted to smell good again she'll have to obey him, she grabbed the folder along with a 'hmph!'
Pleased, Karma turned to the silent, braided girl on the other knelt on the other side of the table "Look, we already have one member~"
Students were scattered all throughout the school campus; each freshmen took their time in deciding clubs and eventually got to know the other seniors within it. All was just peachy for most students – save for a certain orange haired girl.
Hayami Rinka was still undecided as she took slow steps outside the cafeteria, a sandwich in hand. As usual, she was silent with a serious expression as she kept to her thoughts. For now, her options were the archery club, the volleyball club, and the debate club. 'Alright, for now I guess I'll pay a visit to the archery…' she trailed off when a certain paper upon a bulletin board caught her attention. Her eyes grew wide with disbelief when she studied the paper once more.
Application form for Geisha Club
Hayami choked out a shocked gasp "G-Geisha…!? It kinda has a weird smell though…" she commented as she drew closer to the paper.
This was secretly a fetish of hers – she's told no one about this, not even Chiba. In situations like these, you could say 'everyone has their closet moments'.
"This can't be real; there hasn't been a high school I've heard of with a club like this…!" she had her suspicions, but the form looked real enough in her eyes – albeit the peculiar smell it had. Unconsciously, she took a pen out of her bag and her hand neared the signature area until she stopped herself. 'No, it could be a trap! But even if it wasn't what do I do when everyone finds out?' she backed away from the board and lowered her pen.
"T-The archery club sounds like a-a better deal, right? Yeah." She said to no one in particular and went away from the paper with a lot of hesitance.
Moments later she came running back, quickly signing the application before throwing the pen away, making sure the coast was clear before she signed. She looked at the paper one more time and walked away with a red tint on her cheeks.
A while later, a certain blond came to the board and lifted the so-called 'Geisha Club Application' to reveal the combat club's form underneath a carbon paper – Rinka's signature belligerently above the space. With a satisfied smile, Rio took the paper off.
Rinka was surprised to find Chiba in the classroom with a few others as she walked by – seeing he had a club application form in his hand, she was curious and approached him to inquire.
"Chiba." She started as she looked down on him sitting on his desk, having just finished signing up for something. He in turn, greeted her with a "Yo, Hayami." And fixed the paperwork on his desk.
"Combat club?" she raised her eyebrows after reading what he signed up for. "Why?"
"I just joined it because you joined, call it bandwagon-ing if you may."
"Huh? But I didn't join."
"Yes you did." He held up her application form with that aggressive looking signature she just did earlier "Rio came in with this just now."
…Hah?
Five students were gathered in the old poetry room with an uncomfortable silence. The only sounds that could be heard was the dusty wall clock placed on the high wall as it read 2:30 pm. Each of them were seated on particular sides of the table. Karma and Manami sat next to each other on the opposite of Rinka, while Ryuunosuke and Rio sat on the remaining sides.
Each had themselves occupied as they waited for the member of the student council that was to orient them about the making of their club and its requirements. Manami just shifted around awkwardly in the quietness of the room while Rio leaned on the table and yawned. Lucky for Karma and Ryuunosuke, they had books to distract themselves from the boredom, until moments later the redhead closed his and deadpanned
"Well, when are you gonna stop staring at me like that, Hayami-san?"
Rinka spent the past minutes glaring at him and sulking in the bitterness of being deceived by a cheap trick. There was a darkness loomed over her bloodthirsty eyes as she rested her chin on her palm with her elbow on the table.
The bespectacled girl sighed inwardly. She's been thinking about how on earth she'd try to talk to them after wishing to be with them since the day they were separated from one another. She's conscious whenever she would talk to people, yes, but it wasn't this kind of conscious. She was wondering why she couldn't even speak up to them even though she was able to do so the past year – heck, she even got along with them well and didn't have to think too much about her words. Why now…?
Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by loud tapping on the other side of the sliding door.
"Oh, could they be here?" the blond wondered, but all members of the room were suspicious since the sound was coming from the bottom of the door and it was way too loud for knocking. Rio hesitated, but she took the initiative to stand up and open the door – only to regret it after…
'Pwiiiiiiii!'
Suddenly a brown creature flew into the room. They couldn't exactly identify what it was for it had ears and a tail similar to a bear, but it had the snout and hooves like a pig would have; the vertical lines it had on its face that served as its eyes.
All were caught by surprise at the animal's abrupt entrance as it landed on the table, which caused those who sat by it jump save for Manami, who could had a bewildered yet curious face 'Isn't this fellow from—'
"Omo-chan!" panted a girl that leaned on the side of the room's door until she pointed at the creature to scold it "You can't just barge into people's rooms like that without asking nicely and behaving properly!" she flailed her arms in an adorable manner as she tried to sound threatening but looked like she was having a hard time.
Okuda's eyes widened. It was the girl from that morning; the same pale brown hair, the same big green bow that fixed it behind her head – but this time she could actually get a few details. The tie on her uniform was blue, meaning she was a sophomore (Since red was for freshmen and green was for seniors). Now that she looked closely, this girl had bright, blue, droopy eyes.
'Pwi!' answered the pig…bear…whatever as smoked seemed to have come from its nostrils.
"Omo-chan, I know you're on medication but you still have to be nice to people." The mysterious girl wagged her finger in front of it after having fully entered the room.
The scene itself was so weird even Karma couldn't hide his mild shock.
"You…You're the one from yesterday!" The chemistry-lover blurted out, clearly astonished to encounter her again, which caused everyone to think 'That's what you're surprised about?!'
"Oh! Sorry! I forgot to introduce myself and got carried away." She took the brown furball in her arms and faced the flabbergasted group properly. Her droopy eyes were filled with kindness as she smiled genuinely "Hello, my name's Isura Mai, Vice President of the student council. I'm here to discuss with you all about your new club."
It was hard to believe someone like Isura Mai would be a part of the student council – moreover, she was the vice president! The girl looked clumsy as it was, and there was no doubt in their heads that she wasn't the type to read a situation carefully and act on impulse most of the time. Her appearance didn't make her look like a leader, but it did give an impression she was someone approachable.
All six of them were back to sitting by the Japanese-style table as the girl named Isura Mai started her discussion regarding the club's requirements. "Since combat club is something you just created, it's much more prone to disbandment compared to other stereotypical clubs. For example, if you don't complete the necessary materials and have a more sufficient club request in queue, it's likely your club would be permanently demolished. Also, if you do reach the school's needs, yet fail to show any signs of progress or activity by the end of each month, any teacher or student has the right to file a report against your club and have it off the school grounds without questions asked; any questions?" She explained it all in a polite and understandable way – it was a tone you'd look for in everyone's dream big sister.
"Uh none except…" Chiba raised his hand warily "What's that?" he pointed to the furry creature resting on the older girl's lap – the animal turned to him with a choleric stare at the mention of the word 'that'.
"Hm? Omo-chan? Omo-chan is Omo-chan." She said it in a matter of fact character – in fact she looked proud of her answer.
"That doesn't really explain anything but I'll just take it." The dark haired man decided to just let the topic go since he's pretty sure it'll get them nowhere.
"No more questions? Okay, now let's get down to the specifics." She smiled brightly and looked at each one of them. "Actually, things should be quite easy for you now. You've already gathered five members and the needed amount is six. I'm quite amazed at the progress you've made in day." She looked at Karma with praise and he just bowed his head – earning him sour looks from Rio and Rinka.
But what the vice president said got Manami thinking. So that was his strategy…
It astounded the bespectacled girl when she got a good grip of the plan he made. Using the entire afternoon yesterday to get a room, permission and a member of the student council to support them and then using pure wit, guile, and just plain dirty tricks to already get him the member count he needed within less than one and a half hour. So he already took care of the hardest parts to get the club going as soon as he wanted.
'As always, Karma-kun's amazing' the girl looked at the redhead who sat next to her with awe for a moment or two before listening to Isura-senpai again.
"Since you're already—"
Knock Knock.
"Oh, who could that be?" Isura wondered eagerly and sharply turned to the door. The other members also faced the door since neither of them expected anyone else to come.
"Excuse me, we heard there was a new club being made. Is it too late to join?" the sliding door opened to reveal two students; a boy and a girl. The boy who asked them had spiky, short black hair and dark blue orbs while the girl with him carried dull brown hair and eyed them with cheerful, light purple eyes.
The sight of the two stunned all in the room except the jolly vice president.
"Sugino-kun!"
"Yuzuki-san!"
The two whose names were just mentioned smiled "Hey there." Said Fuwa as she and Sugino walked inside before getting bombarded with greetings and questions from their former classmates.
"I didn't know you guys attended this school!" exclaimed Rio, rather ecstatic. Sugino smiled sheepishly "Actually we just started attending a few days ago. It was a big shocker for me and Yuzuki-san to be transferred from different schools and meet up here."
"That's actually kind of incredible." Remarked Hayami from her seat, also quite happy to see more of Class E in their school.
"We were shocked too really. And also because we both just transferred, we were put in the same classroom, 1-F" Fuwa admitted, also smiling quite sheepishly.
As the girls continued to talk about the whole transferring incident, Sugino greeted his old friend "Yo, Karma. Long time."
The devilish boy stood up to be in level with him as they did a high five for old time's sake. "Right back at you. But I thought you were aiming for baseball?"
"I am, but since I'm sure you've heard I'm already part of a national team, I guess joining this club shouldn't hurt. And besides, it's nice to see the members being Class E!"
Manami's grin didn't fade the moment those two entered. It felt like a family gathering together again for some sort of reunion – basically she was joyful that more people from 'home' came back to her life. Despite this however, she couldn't say anything to the two when they arrived.
"Looks like you all get along really well." Isura observed as they had their small merry gathering.
"I can already tell this club's gonna be a heap of fun..." she muttered and couldn't help but beam at the scene before her.
Once things had settled down, Mai decided to start closing the orientation.
"Lucky for you all, you have more than enough members – and on the first day too. Not all clubs can do that so be proud of yourselves." She praised them and felt content when she spotted them exchanging smiles with one another.
"Last but not least, you'll need to clean this room up by yourselves and buy your own materials. Don't be alarmed for each club's been given a budget of 15,000 yen for every year. And since I am your assigned student council representative, all you have to do next is find a teacher as your supervisor and you're all set to go." She finished up with that joyful aura of hers.
Karma grinned "That last part's taken care of."
His sentence earned him some quizzical stares from the students inside the room.
Meanwhile, an orange-haired chemistry teacher quietly took notes on her desk only to be rudely interrupted when a dark red-haired woman hit her in the head with a DVD case. Before the former could get angry, the darker haired woman made her take a good look at the case, giving the ginger a mortified look and a really bad nosebleed which later drove the entire office into a panic.
"Mikagura-sensei, you're an otaku?!"
"You made Inari-nee buy her an Otome game?" the small chemist sipped on her new flavor of juice – this time she tried raspberry.
They were in the middle of their usual walk home with the sun setting beautifully on such an eventful day filled with good happenings.
"Not really, but I just requested her to buy something Mikagura-sensei can't refuse and tell her the condition was she'd have to supervise the club." He chuckled at the thought of the twisted chemistry teacher being so easy to bend with mere visual novels. 'That's an Otaku for you.' He thought. Karma was proud of fooling old women. Very Proud.
And they continued on peacefully, as the stars began to twinkle above their heads –each of them looking forward to their next school days as members of the combat club.
Things are probably gonna get pretty rowdy from here on out...
Under the orange-ish sky with a few taints of night blue, two snipers walked in quietude they always did.
Until of course, the taller, shaggy haired tried to start a conversation out of mere curiosity "So, you're into Geishas?"
"Don't make me shoot you."
PAPARARA~ DONE! So, was it rushed?
okay I'm not entirely sure what to feel about for this chapter, but I hope I did it right and it suited well to your tastes ^_^
Btw, I know Sugino's a major character and everything but I'd just like to assure you all that whatever happens to Sugino by the end of the manga doesn't happen here. Since the manga or anime isn't done, I'll have to 'play with people's pasts' for story's sake 8"3
But if what happens to Sugino here does happen in the end of the manga or anime then
YAY!
Btw, if it doesn't hurt, I'd like to ask you guys which parts you guys liked most or found notable during the story/chapter. Just if you want~
No Preview this time because I decided I'll only make previews for every new arc to lessen spoilers ^_^
PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!
With love,
~TheFlowerWeSawThatDay