"What's going through your head, Shujinkou?" Shujinkou looked up from his soggy bowl of cereal and looked into his mother's eyes. They were full of curiosity and worry. It was a look he was very familiar with. "You don't usually look so serious when you drift off into your own world."
"Well… I was just thinking about this girl…" he sighed.
"A girl?!" the shocked look that formed on Hiro's face quickly allowed her son to realize the horrifying ramifications of what he just said. "Oh boy… I knew this day would come. I guess it's time for us to have the dreadful talk both kids and parents never want to talk about: Let's talk about the opposite gender."
Aside from the from the fear he felt welling up inside of him, confusion also had its grip on Shujinkou as he wondered which gender his mother was referring to.
"Eh, I meant the opposite gender in regards to you," Hiro said, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment. "Oh boy, where to start… Um, you may have realized that now that you're getting older, you are beginning to feel a strong attraction to the females around you and…"
"Mom, I don't have a crush on this girl!" Shujinkou quickly blurted out.
"Oh thank goodness," Hiro breathed a sigh of relief along with her son. "But if you don't have a crush on this girl, then why are you thinking about her?"
"Because I was assigned to be her Student Liaison; to be her guide and help her adjust to her new surroundings," Shujinkou answered. "The thing is, she's really quiet."
"So she's really shy?" Hiro concluded.
"More like she doesn't really emote," he corrected. "Yesterday, I promised that I would show her the kind of clubs the school has. But the thing is; I have no idea what she'll think about them, whether she wants to join any them or whether or not she wants to check out any of them at all."
"A girl that doesn't respond to much, huh…" Hiro remained silent as she processed what she was just told. She spent the next few minutes thinking until she just sighed once more. "Sounds like this new student requires a lot of patience. Unfortunately, all the advice I can think to give you is to continue be patient, try to get as much of a feel for this person as much as possible and try to use what you've learned to your advantage. Funnily enough, that was what my mother told me when it was my time to have the talk about burgeoning feelings of love."
"How'd that conversation go?" Shujinkou asked.
"It was a lot less weird than the conversation I had with dad," Hiro shuddered at the memory. "The terminology and analogies he used gave me a weird impression on men."
"I think I can visualize that conversation…" Shujinkou awkwardly chuckled, scratching his right cheek. He could imagine the booming, boisterous voice coming from the adventure loving man explaining every negative trait that men had as any father would do.
"Anyway, you should hurry up and finish up your breakfast or else you'll be late for school," a small smile appeared on Hiro's face as she pointed to the bowl of cereal that her son was neglecting.
He proceeded to finish his breakfast quickly and grabbed his bag to go to school. Once outside, Shujinkou was immediately approached by Sayori.
"You're looking better," he then placed the back of his hand against her forehead and grinned. "You feel like you're better too."
"That's because I had such great doctors," Sayori gleefully chuckled. "Oh, by the way, are you going to bring the new student to the club?"
"I'll try to bring her, but only if she's in the mood," Shujinkou answered.
"Try your best!" Sayori cheered. "Monika would be really happy if we could find a new potential member."
Once at school, Shujinkou found Rei standing in front of a vending machine that dispenses coffee.
"Good morning, Rei," he said as he approached her. "Getting some coffee?"
The raven-haired student turned her gaze towards Shujinkou and silently stared at him.
"So… are you going to get some?" Shujinkou asked, determined to not let the silence to create an awkward atmosphere like the day before.
Rei's gaze returned to the machine, leaving him to wonder what was she was thinking. Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he inserted money into the machine and ordered a plain cup of coffee. He was surprised as Rei bent down and watched as the machine pour the dark liquid into a medium sized brown cup.
He then curiously grabbed the cup and presented it to Rei.
"Careful, it's hot," Shujinkou said as Rei slowly reached for the drink. Just like the day before, he watched in eager anticipation as she raised the cup up to her lips. That anticipation was soon introduced to disappointment as her expression remained once she lowered the drink. "It's good, isn't it?"
Rei silently looked Shujinkou in the eyes and took another sip from the cup.
"I'll take that as a yes…" he awkwardly chuckled, scratching his right cheek as he did so.
Soon the first bell rung and Shujinkou escorted Rei to her first class. From there, he followed the same pattern from yesterday until the school day came to an end.
"So, um…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he tried to soldier through the awkward silence. "Did you want to see what kind of clubs the school has or would you rather go home?"
At this point, he knew that Rei wouldn't verbally answer his question. Instead, Shujinkou waited to see what his fellow student would do next. 5 minutes later, Rei still had her eyes glued to Shujinkou.
"Alright then, let's see the kind of clubs the school has," Shujinkou said.
Without wasting any more time, the student liaison proceeded to show the new student around the school. He showed her the debate club, the cooking club, the girls' basketball club and after narrowly avoiding the pain of having a ball bounced off of his head once more, he proceeded to introduce her to every other club that he was aware of.
Eventually, Shujinkou brought Rei to the final stop of the tour: the Literature Club.
"This is the Literature Club," he announced.
The moment the two stepped inside, they were immediately approached by Sayori. As he expected, her eyes were twinkling with excitement.
"You really brought her," she grinned.
"Well… she wanted to see what kind of clubs were around the school," Shujinkou replied.
Just then, Natsuki approached the three; her eyes gave away how surprised she was.
"Did you really bring us a new member?" she asked.
"I don't know if she wants to join, but she did want to check out the clubs the school had," Shujinkou said again. "This is Reizo, but I've been told that she can be called Rei."
"Hey," Natsuki casually waved.
Rei simply stared at the pink-haired student.
"Wow. She really doesn't talk that much," marveled Sayori.
The club Vice-President wasted no time in reaching out and gripping Rei's sleeve covered hand. With a big smile, Sayori led the visitor to give her a tour of the classroom.
"Jeez. You could've told me that she's not much of a talker!" Natsuki shot an annoyed look at Shujinkou.
"Sorry," he replied, scratching his right cheek as he did so.
The two then turned their attention to Rei and watched as Sayori introduced her to Yuri.
"This is Yuri," Sayori introduced. "Yuri, this is Rei."
"Hello," Yuri said.
Rei stared at the purple haired maiden, sending an awkward chill down her spine.
"Wow, she really doesn't talk…" Natsuki turned back to Shujinkou before immediately diverting her gaze. "So… How did you meet, Rei?"
"Fuyu introduced us. She wanted me to be her Student Liaison," Shujinkou answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
The look of shock crashed onto Natsuki's face.
"You're a student liaison?" she exclaimed.
"Mm-hmm," he nodded. He then pulled the necklace Fuyu gave him from under his shirt and showed it to her. "This is my proof that I'm on an active mission for the Student President."
"Oh…" Natsuki glanced at the floor before crossing her arms in a huff. "You could've at least said that so no one could get the wrong idea."
The fifth member of the Literature Club immediately found himself in curiosity's grasp once more as he began to wonder whether or not he should have stated his role as he introduced Rei, though those thoughts were quickly cut short as an exhausted Monika entered the classroom.
"Sorry, I'm late everyone," Monika apologized, before her eyes were then instinctively drawn to the necklace around Shujinkou's neck. Surprise crept up on her face as she looked up at wearer of the object. "Is that one of the necklaces of a Student Official?"
"Necklace of a Student Official?" Shujinkou shot a confused look at the club president.
"Yeah. Did you take Fuyu up on her office?" Monika asked.
"Offer? What offer?" Natsuki queried.
"Fuyu once offered Shujinkou the position of Vice-President," Monika answered.
"Vic-?!" Natsuki was temporarily rendered speechless by what she just heard. "Why would she offer you something like that?!"
"You know, that's exactly what I was thinking when she made that offer…" Shujinkou said as he scratched his right cheek. He then turned to Monika to answer her question. "But no, I didn't accept Fuyu's offer. I'm just the Student Liaison. I didn't even know that Student Officials wear these things."
"That's understandable, considering that Fuyu handles all of the student body positions," Monika commented.
"And this is our club president/creator: Monika," Sayori said to Rei as they approached the three.
Surprise wasn't as subtle on Monika this time as she adjusted her gaze to Rei.
"Hm, who is this?" Monika inquired.
"This is Reizo, though Shujinkou was told that we can call her Rei. She also doesn't talk much," Sayori explained. "She's a new student that he liaisoning."
"It's nice to meet you, Rei," Monika extended her hand to Rei and smiled.
The quiet girl's expression remained the as she simply stared at Monika.
"She doesn't really respond to that either…" Shujinkou added.
"Oh. Sorry, Rei," Monika apologized. She then turned to Shujinkou. Despite appearing to be her usual calm self, he could tell just by looking into her eyes that she was excited. "Is she here to join the club?"
"Actually, she's here to check it out," Shujinkou replied.
"By the way, Monika, why were you late?" Sayori asked.
"I had to stop a chemistry experiment from exploding," Monika explained. "Someone's afterschool experiment was on the verge of causing the entire room to be covered in a nauseating mist."
"Leave it to you to save the school from a major crisis," Natsuki chuckled.
"Well, if I knew that we would've had a visitor, I would've tried to solve the crisis even faster," Monika said.
Silence soon cut the conversation short. Everyone's focus was on Rei, but no one knew what to say to the quiet girl in front of them.
"So, Rei…" Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as he desperately tried to think of some way to break the awkward silence. "We've seen all the clubs that the school had. Was there any that interested you at all or have you seen everything the school had to offer and want to call it a day?"
Rei silently turned towards Shujinkou and stared at him.
"I mean, no one's going to be upset with whatever you choose," he added.
What happened next was something Shujinkou didn't expect to see. Rei's visible eye widened ever so slightly as she continued to gaze into his. But before any words could be said, she turned around and walked out of the club room.
"Well, that was awkward," Natsuki said bluntly.
She returned to the classroom closet with a confused look on her face. Sayori followed suit and happily skipped to the leftover cotton candy in her bag.
"By the way, Shujinkou, do you think we could talk outside?" Monika requested.
Without question, Shujinkou followed Monika outside of the classroom and shut the door behind him. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
Monika looked around their surroundings as she continued to lead him down the hallway. "Well, actually, there's something important I wanted to ask you since yesterday…"