A sense of calmness spread through Fuyu's entire body. It was strange, she had tea to try and calm her nerves but none had such a quick effect like the cup Yuri prepared for her.

"Thanks… I needed this."

"Ah… No problem," Yuri replied with downcast eyes.

Fuyu couldn't blame Yuri for feeling the way that she did.

"I'm still having a hard time accepting that you're actually here, Fuyu," Monika interjected in a playful tone. "Maybe I should have asked Shujinkou and Kiyoko to ask you since they only had to ask you once."

"It wasn't just them, it was the timing," Fuyu explained. "I'm so tired right now that I can't slip into 'President Mode'."

"Really?"

Sayori crawled towards Fuyu and looked into her eyes. She thought just the act of entering Fuyu's personal space would cause her stoic side to emerge but it never did.

"Wow, you really can't go President Mode right now."

Seeing this as a prime opportunity, Sayori crawled back to her original spot and asked, "Hey, those times you asked to see Shujinkou alone, were you telling all of us to stay behind?"

Without saying a word, Fuyu calmly took another sip from her teacup then she adjusted her glasses.

"…No, that was specifically to you," Fuyu answered.

"Eh?!" Sayori exclaimed.

Laughter filled the room.

"Why…?" Sayori whined.

"Because Monika told me to tell you that if you asked," Fuyu replied.

Sayori instantly turned toward Monika.

"Sorry, Sayori, I couldn't resist," she explained with a chuckle.

The club VP simply pouted at Monika until she noticed something move from the corner of her eyes.

"R-Really?"

A voice of disbelief soon entered the room through the slightly opened clubroom door – Shujinkou's voice.

He soon pushed the door further open and walked in with Mali.

"Mm-hmm," Mali cheerfully nodded her head. "Pinching a nerve is actually as painful as it looks on TV. I had the Vulcan Nerve Pinch done on me. It didn't knock me out, but the person who used it knew how to make it painful. The pain itself could have knocked me out."

Shujinkou awkwardly scratched his right cheek. He had a hard time understanding how Mali could talk about that happening to her so easily.

Looking past him, Mali took note of the occupants of the room.

"Oh, Senpai gathered everyone in one place," she said. "I guess he planned on leaving me out though since he wasn't looking for me."

Shujinkou continued to scratch his right cheek as he contemplated Mali's words. He then shook his head and sat down.

Silence soon fell over everyone in the room.

"Would it be against school rules to buy beanbag chairs for clubrooms?" Kiyoko suddenly asked.

"Not really," Fuyu replied. "Lest anyone plans on using it as a weapon."

"Who would use a beanbag chair as a weapon?" Natsuki asked in a baffled tone.

"You never know," Mali teased with a light giggle.

Shujinkou could only hope that Mali didn't have a story to go along with that comment. Her story that complimented the effects of pinching someone's nerves already made him think back to his question of whether or not Mali possessed a grudge against others.

In less than 24 hours he had found himself dabbling in uncomfortable and dark subjects he never thought he'd have to.

Not to mention the thing Mali found…

Even without the moral dilemma he faced earlier, just the fact Mali that she found something hidden in regards to Akuma was frightening to him.

What am I suppose to do…?

Shujinkou soon noticed that Yuri was staring at him. Immediately after meeting eyes, she looked away.

Does Yuri know what happened?

Guilt once again filled Shujinkou, but he didn't show it.

"Do you think we should get beanbag chairs, Kiyoko?" Monika asked.

Kiyoko shrugged. "Or whatever you would like. Sitting on the floor all the time can't be fun."

That's actually the one thing I miss about the old clubroom… Natsuki admitted to herself.

"I'm surprised you guys didn't delve into your allotted budget yet," Fuyu said.

"Well, we haven't exactly decided what to spend it on yet," Monika explained. "Though I guess we should at least have something to sit on and somewhere to write."

"Naturally."

A bright voice filled the room. All eyes were pointed toward the door as a new face entered the room.

"After all, what's a literature club without some writing to go with the reading?" they continued.

Feeling both amusement and bewilderment, Monika could only stare as that person sat next to her. "Claudette?"

"In the flesh," she replied.

It wasn't her cousin's sudden appearance that surprised Monika nor was it her lack of posing to go along with it. What surprised Monika was what Claudette was currently wearing.

"Are you wearing my uniform?" Monika asked.

"Yep. Makes it easier to sneak in," Claudette explained.

"That's…"

A nervous smile crossed Monika's face as she glanced at Fuyu.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear you say you're impersonating a student," the bespectacled student said.

"I didn't realize that Ms. School President would show such bias," Mali noted. "Even if it is towards the one person everyone's biased towards. Aren't you supposed to treat everyone equally?"

"Right now, I'm simply a student. I think President Fuyu kicked the bucket for today during the last class."

"Ouch. Overworked yourself?" Claudette asked.

"…Yes. This semester particularly so far has been a nightmare."

"It has been the most interesting semester so far, so I can see why it would be hard for you," Mali said in a mocking manner.

"Probably doesn't help when there's someone going around pranking people for no good reason," chided Natsuki.

"Maybe, but nothing I did was as bad as Ms. School Idol getting kidnapped," Mali playfully replied. "Plus, I've been nothing but good since Senpai saved the day."

"Okay!" Claudette clapped her hands together, drawing the attention back to her. "Just realized that I had yet to properly introduce myself."

"Everyone heard Monika say you're name Claudette," Natsuki pointed out.

"Oh…" Claudette daintily tapped her left cheek. "Still, name's Claudette. I'm Monika's not that much older cousin."

She looked around the room and counted the number of people in it. Barring, Natsuki, she had introduced herself to seven people.

"Ooo, a challenge," a confident smile spread across her face. "I like it."

"Challenge? What are you talking about?" Sayori asked.

"My way of saying hello."

Claudette slid closer to Sayori and kissed both of her cheeks. Sayori's brushed her red cheeks as a sense of familiarity washed over her.

But she didn't have long to think about that. She watched Claudette call the others by name before giving her "hellos".

Reaction to this introduction varied from person to person, but most of those feelings vanished the moment her eyes landed on Shujinkou.

"Uh…"

Shujinkou anxiously scratched his right cheek. His heart started beating against his chest as he watched Claudette crawl towards him.

"And you must be the fabled Shujinkou…"

"Fabled…?" Shujinkou nervously repeated.

Monika could only wince, hoping Shujinkou wouldn't realize what led to her cousin to use that word.

"You're even cuter in real life. Those club photos didn't do you any justice," she complimented.

"Th-Thank you?"

Shujinkou continued to scratch his right cheek until Claudette took his right hand.

"Nice to finally meet you," she said, raising his right hand towards her face.

Shujinkou's cheeks glowed bright red the moment he felt her lips press against the back of his hand. She then pushed his hand against his left cheek.

"Monika already did half of it for me," she whispered.

Losing all feeling in his arm, Shujinkou couldn't even scratch his right cheek nor could he recognize the tense and awkward atmosphere that the act created.

"You're interesting," Mali chirped.

"Naturally," Claudette replied.

"So… Why'd you come to school, Claudette?" Monika asked.

"Right," Claudette dug into her borrowed jacket pocket and pulled out her phone. She then placed it in the middle of the room for everyone to see.

"I was just lazing around, thinking about what I'm going to do when I head back home and then this erupted on the internet."

She tapped the center of the phone and a video started to play.

For a few seconds they saw the back of someone's head. They had bright blue hair with neon green and pink highlights. Fifteen seconds in, they heard someone off screen say a particularly noteworthy name: Yoki.

Soon after, the head began to turn before the video ended.

"That was really Yoki?" sputtered Sayori.

"Looks like it," Claudette replied.

"Of course it cuts off before anyone could see her face..." Natsuki sighed.

"But isn't that good?" Shujinkou asked. "I don't think she would like it if her identity was leaked like that."

"I'm honestly surprised that it took that long for a leak to happen," Kiyoko said. "Things like that happen earlier."

"It does seem like leaks get worse and worse as time goes on…"

"I'm also guessing whoever leaked this footage had spy level equipment," Fuyu replied.

"Still… This leak is probably going to cause a lot of problem for people with blue hair," Monika sympathized.

"Glad I didn't go blue," Claudette thought aloud.

Hearing that instantly made Shujinkou think about the transformation from Dragon Ball along with him envisioning her transforming.

Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Claudette… Super Saiyan Blue Claudette…

It was sudden and weird, but the thought was cool.

"But yeah, that was why I snuck into this school," Claudette said.

"I like how you don't try to sugarcoat what you're doing," Mali praised.

"I like that you like that," she replied with a smile.

Is Mali actually being nice to someone? Natsuki wondered.

Claudette stood up and walked towards the door. "Anyway, I better head back home before someone suddenly questions me slash I want to get home so I can keep track of this story."

She opened the door and spun to the other side of the frame. Looking back at the others, she smiled and said, "Au revoir."

With those parting words, Claudette shut the door behind her.

"You're cousin is certainly full of confidence," Yuri said to Monika.

Monika agreed with that sentiment. It was an aspect about her cousin that she admired greatly.

The meeting continued on as usual until Monika abruptly brought about an early conclusion. Confusion welled up in Shujinkou as those who were invited said their goodbyes and left the room.

Mali then sat up and whispered into Shujinkou's right ear. "Looks like you're in the middle again. Good luck, Senpai."

He didn't understand what she meant until after she left. The moment the members of the Literature Club alone, Shujinkou soon found himself the focus of everyone's stares.

Silence as once again fallen over them, causing his confusion to devolve into worry.

"Shiko… There's something really important we need to talk about," Sayori said.

Shujinkou solemnly scratched his right cheek. He had a pretty good idea what they wanted to talk about.

"Think we can do it somewhere else?" he requested.