Wednesday morning Kyo did the usual of briefly talking to Yuuki and Kimori in the morning. During lunch Kyo went to the stairs and met with Yuuki. She walked over to him and handed Kyo a bento box filled with two tamagoyaki, two onigiri, and beef with broccoli."Thank you Yuuki, this all looks amazing." Kyo ate a bite of the beef and broccoli and his eyes lit up due to the salty savory flavor. "This tastes amazing!"
"Really? I was worried that the onogiri was put together wrong and I think I burned the beef…" President Hanami said kind of panicked. Kyo reassured her that the food was in fact delicious. This wasn't him trying to be nice either. No one in the Arianagi household cooks, minus the maid. However, Kyo would always come home late into the evening, so he would only have leftovers and something from a store. He couldn't even remember the last time he ate a homemade meal. After finishing it, Kyo said, "Man that hit the spot, thank you again Yuuki."
His reaction made her happy, "I am glad you liked it, I can try to make you lunch more often if you would like?"
"Thank you for the offer, but I can't accept that. This lunch was from what happened yesterday, so only if a similar situation occurs will I accept your offer." Kyo said, slightly shaking his head side to side.
President Hanami was somewhat saddened by this but kept in good spirits,"Sounds good, we have a deal then." Kyo then wanted to switch gears, and asked, "what clubs should I see today?"
Yuuki thought for a moment then said,"Hmm, how about the game club? After that I'm not sure."
"Why that one?" Kyo said, slightly tilting his head.
"Well the game club is just fun to go to and their requests are simple."
"I see, I will go to that first then, thank you."
"At the rate you are visiting clubs you will be done sooner than expected. Good work." She said with sincerity like Kyo was doing more than what was needed. Kyo was happy to hear this, but still didn't quite feel like he was an official member yet, so he was hurrying to meet everyone to get to the next step in his new high school career. "Most clubs are easier to visit than I expected, there are only a few I have had some trouble with."
"I don't blame you, most of the presidents here are third years and they all have their own quirks."
"Who is the weirdest and the most normal president then?" Kyo asked curiously.
"The weirdest one would be Kuroshi, the president of the witchcraft club, the one that asked for the strange materials. The most normal? That would be Amimono, president of the knitting club."
"From who I have met so far I would have to agree with those choices." Kyo said with a small laugh.
"Haha, right, it's pretty obvious once you meet them, but they are all good people deep down." President Hanami said laughing with him
From the way Yuuki was sounding, Kyo thought to himself, Yuuki really cares for all the students here, she was well acquainted with all of the second and third years, and she spends her mornings talking to the first years to get to know them as well. She really is an impressive person.
"Thank you for spending this much time with me, Yuuki."
"Pfff, haha, that came outta left field. I told you, I consider you a real friend."
"Yeah but I don't think I did anything to earn that, I have only known you a little over two weeks and I still can't wrap my head around this whole situation."
"You learn a lot about someone when you chase them around the school for the better half of a week. You might not know me all that well, but I get the feeling that we are going to make a good team. Given that I have already decided that you're a good friend of mine." President Hanami said knowing that they would be working together on the student council for the next two years.
How she can make such a declaration knowing so little about me is impressive, but the fact that I feel the same towards her is what makes it terrifying. Kyo thought to himself. "Thank you, I will continue to work hard and just so you know, I feel the same. That we are friends who make a good student council duo and all." Kyo said with an awkward sincere smile.
President Hanami smiled, nodded in agreement, and said "mhm" with her chest puffed out.
…
After school Kyoyota Arianagi headed up to the second floor and stood before room C-209, the gaming club. Kyo knocked on the door, and a larger soft looking bulb-cut man opened the door quickly and then yelled, "in order to enter you must play me in rock, paper, scissors. Rock, paper. scissors, shoot!"
Kyo was a tad thrown off by the quick interaction, but managed to throw out his hand in the shape of scissors. Meanwhile the guy in front of Kyo threw out paper. The man nodded in respect and said,"Well played young man, you may enter."
"Umm, right, thank you." Kyo said, still puzzled by the interaction.
As Kyo walked in he noticed something odd about the room's layout. It was surprisingly cramped but it wasn't small. The club had two giant shelves going from the floor to the sealing, filled to the brim with different card and board games. They were all neatly stacked, like someone had played a great game of Tetris with boxes. In the center of the room was a really long white table going from the back wall to before the door, allowing for just enough room that the door could fully open. There was also barely enough room to shuffle around the table to grab games and sit down.
The club itself had a total of fifteen members, only five of which were currently in the room. Located at the black, or rather the head of the table was the president of the club. He had burgundy colored hair down to the top of his neck, and wore a purple and black jacket over the school's standard male uniform. "Welcome in newcomer please have a seat and let's play a game."
Kyo hurriedly explained why he was here, "No, I am a new member of the student council, Kyoyota Arianagi, I was just wondering if-"
"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Arianagi, I am Asobu Shosha the president of this club. Now please duel me as we talk." The president said confidently, overshadowing Kyo's statement.
Kyo, realizing that he could not refuse, asked, "What do you suggest we play for me to ask my question?"
Without any pause in having to think of a game, Asobu said,"Have you ever heard of the card game Takoyaki?"
"No I haven't, I don't play board games all that often." Kyo explained.
"Well the rules are quite simple, it's a game that involves two players. Each player gets 10 cards from a 52 card deck, making two rows of 5. All of which are faced down. Your goal is to make all of your face down cards into a row from 1-10 in order from right to left. The bottom right card needs to be an ace, while the top left card needs to be a ten. This is done by taking the top card from the 30 cards left and putting the number you get in its correct spot, then taking the card it replaces into its correct spot. If you draw a Jack, Queen, or King the turn passes, if you flip your card and it happens to be a jack, queen, king, or the same number in the right spot the turn passes.
He gave a demonstration, setting down 10 cards face down in front of him, he drew a 7of diamonds from the pile. He put the 7 in its correct spot, three spots away from the ten on the top row, then took the card it replaced. That card was a 3, putting that in the third spot on the bottom. The card beneath that was a queen which ended his run. "It would be your turn after that, do you think you got it?"
"Yeah, it looks easy enough, you're making a row of numbers in a proper order from 1-10, whoever gets all the numbers in the right spot first wins?" Kyo said making sure he was fully understanding the game correctly.
"Correct, it's a game of chance, in extremely rare cases, one could even win in the first round." After Asobu finished his explanation he shuffled the cards again. He was like a pro casino dealer from the way he shuffled, and even more so for how accurately he tossed the cards in the right spots, they were all perfectly distanced from one another. "Impressive card skills."
"Thank you, it just takes some practice. You go first Arianagi." Asobu said with a hand gesture towards Kyo.
Kyo picked up the top card from the deck, it was a king card, he then put it down making a separate pile and passed his turn. As Asobu was picking up his card he said, "Arianagi, why are you here?" His card was an ace, he put it on the 1 spot and picked up the card underneath, then set it down in the 8 spot, the card under that was a 9, then a 10, his run finally ended as he picked up the card under the 10 spot, which happened to be another 10.
"I came to ask if the gaming club needs anything, like materials or equipment." Kyo then picked up his next card which was a queen, repeating the process of setting it down on the other pile and passing the turn. As Asobu picked up his next card, he said "a new game would be nice." The card he got was a 2, leading into a row of a 3, 4, 5, 6, the card underneath the 6 was another 6. All he was missing now was a 7.
"A new game? What do you like to play?" Kyo said, starting his turn. Picking up the next card, it was a 3, and underneath it was an ace, his small run of two ended when the card underneath the ace was another king. Then Kyo passed his turn.
"Anything at all really, we just like to play games, it's my passion, I wish to make my own games when I graduate. So anything new would tie us over for a week or two." Asobu finished his sentence, and drew his next card, it was a seven. The game ended in his win.
Despite the game being over, with Asobu being the winner, the conversation was not finished, so he re-shuffled the cards, dealing out 10 to each person, then said "You lost so it's your turn first again."
Kyo then said, "Ok I will look out for a new game, but do you at least have a list of which ones you are looking for?" Kyo said while drawing a card, it was an 8 of spades, placing it in the 8 spot, the card beneath it was a 3, leading to a 4, ace, and finally a 7. Kyo's streak ended when the card beneath the 7 was a jack.
"Yeah, we do, I can send the student council a copy of the list later, but you only need to buy one game a month, two if you are feeling generous." Asobu said drawing the top card. It was a 10, then an ace, 4, 3, 5, 2, then a jack.
"That would be greatly appreciated." Kyo said with a small bow adding a flourish to his next draw. The top card was a 6, then a 2, the card in the 2 spot was another 2, ending the turn. Kyo then asked, "can I ask a second question, do you have any advice for me in my new position as treasurer?" Kyo wasn't sure why, but he felt this was both a good way to keep the flow of the game going, and to gain some knowledge moving forwards. Asobu was more than happy to answer his question, "You just keep learning, once you learn to love learning, life gets easier." He drew a 6, then a 7, and then a 9, under the 9 spot was a queen, he passed the turn back over.
"From my experience, learning is less important than passing." Kyo said nonchalantly while drawing his next card, it was a 9 of clubs, under the 9 was a king, at the end of Kyo's turn he heard Asobu say in a very sharp serious tone, "Then fail." Asobu drew his final card, an 8, he won the game again. "Another game Arianagi?" Asobu said with a smile, despite his serious sharp tone against Kyo's comment, it was a genuine smile, he wasn't angry or upset, just wanted to steer Kyo towards a better mentality about success and failure.
Kyo picked up on this and nodded his head. Asobu shuffled magnificently one more time, and threw the cards perfectly in place. Kyo, having picked up more of the game, knew that it was his turn to start."Tell me, what club should I see next?" Kyo asked picking up an 8 as the top card from the deck, under the 8 was an ace, 3, 5, 7, 9, then a queen. The game's pace quickened.
"The science club, they are always an interesting time." He drew his card. It was an ace, under it was a 10, then a 2, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 6, and lastly a 5. Asobu Shosha won on his first turn, and Kyo had lost all three games. A game of luck and chances favored the better player. That was all that happened.
"Thank you Mr. Shosha."
"Anytime, Mr. Bad luck."
With that out of the way Kyo headed to the science club, the room below this one. The science club was located on the first floor, and they had a number of members. As Kyo walked into the room however, there was not a single person inside, but there was a note on the teachers table, it read:
Treasurer of the student council, I am currently explaining the procedures, locations of items, and rules we have in both this building and for the club in general, we are in another area for today. For the time being our club needs no new equipment, thank you, see you when I see you.
Kagaku Gaku, president of the science club
I wondered how she knew I was coming? Kyo pondered for a moment, thinking it might have been the president. After his losing streak today and now not being able to meet with this club, he felt as though today was just an unlucky day (minus the lunch from the president). Kyo decided that it would be better to go home since he was ahead of schedule in terms of meeting the clubs.
…
Since Kyo got home earlier than usual he decided to call Hiro and tell him what has been happening as well as figure out the next time they can hang out. It took four rings of his phone before Hiro picked up.
"Hi hi! Long time no talk, what's up Kyo."
"We spoke three days ago, don't act like you forgot about me."
"Hmm three days is a long time, people change in that time frame. Especially when it comes to someone's best friend."
"I have been busy these last few days, so I am calling to make up for that lost time, please don't leave me Hiro!!" the two laughed then Hiro said, "Alright enough with the bit, what have you been busy with?"
"I joined the student council"
"Pffffff," Kyo heard him literally spewing out his drink. "People really do change in just a few days, you never join clubs let alone something that requires a lot of responsibility. What happened Kyo?! Is someone blackmailing you?!"
Kyo shook his head at that last question. "What? No, I just got roped into it by the student council president."
"What position?"
"Treasurer."
"Yeah that fits."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Weirdly enough Tsu joined the student council at my school."
Tsubaki, Tsu for short, was another friend of theirs from middle school. It was no surprise, as it was her top pick, but it was shocking to hear that she joined the student council. "Really, what position?" Kyo asked out of curiosity.
"Scribe."
"Yeah that fits." The two friends laughed at that comment.
"I was also going to ask if you were free to hang out and do something soon?"
"Yeah, how does Saturday at 11:30am sound? We can meet up at Koen park." Keon park was a pretty big park playground in between Kyo's apartment and Hiro's place. It was the park that Kyo could see glimpses of outside of his window.
"Sounds good, see you then."
"Yup, later Kyo." After they hung up, Kyo made dinner, studied, and went to bed.