[Character: Kobayashi Ayumu][Charm: 5][Pass]
As expected of a real-life game—looks really matter.
Watanabe Tetsu tucked away the panel and walked to the display case in front of the club building.
"April 25th, Friday—Wind Ensemble Club Performance in the Auditorium! All teachers and students welcome!!!""Photography Club urgently needs models! Free photoshoots!!!"*"Literature Club is accepting submissions for the school journal! Submit directly to the club or via email: *****"
Watanabe Tetsu skimmed past the flyers and looked for clubs that were still recruiting.
"Live out your youth, strengthen your body—Track and Field Club welcomes you!""Soccer Club is waiting for you!!! Psst… there's a cute female manager!""Wind Ensemble Club needs two tuba players. Boys preferred. No experience required! Our goal is the Tokyo competition. Time-wasters need not apply!"
Judging by the window, the Wind Ensemble Club was definitely a passionate, all-in kind of club.
Tokyo at four in the morning: practicing alone under the sunset, tears of joy, regret, or frustration on the competition stage. Watanabe Tetsu could already see their future.
It sounded like what youth should really feel like.
Unfortunately, though he was from the countryside, Watanabe Tetsu had no strength. Even if he could tolerate the instrument's weight, finishing a full piece—or even producing a single note—would be impossible. He wouldn't hold anyone back.
"Human Observation Club, recruiting.Activities: Observe humans.Activity time: Every moment.Member requirements: Quiet, not socially inclined, early-leave habit preferred."
He hadn't read the student handbook, so he didn't know the fifth section, third chapter's rules for creating clubs, but Watanabe Tetsu was confident that the Human Observation Club violated every possible guideline.
Could it be a hobby club?
Hobby clubs had classrooms but didn't meet formal requirements. No student council funds, self-funded by passion.
Anyway, he had to see for himself. He couldn't accomplish anything relying only on imagination.
Watanabe Tetsu glanced at the club's floor number and committed it to memory.
At noon, the club building was mostly empty. As he passed the third floor, he heard commotion from one of the classrooms.
The Human Observation Club's classroom was on the fifth floor, at the very corner.
Watanabe Tetsu knocked three times. Someone called out, "Come in." He pushed the door open.
The classroom was spacious, but usable space was narrow—walls lined with boxes, spare desks, cabinets, even a faded globe.
A long table took up the remaining area, pressed against the wall to save space.
A girl sat at the window end, focused on her writing. Beside her lay a neatly finished bento box.
"Human Observation Club?" Watanabe Tetsu asked.
"Yes." The girl kept her head down.
"Hobby club? Official club?"
"Official club."
"Early leave allowed?"
"Allowed."
"Can I join now?"
The girl finally looked up. For the first time, he saw her face clearly.
She wore a white shirt with a beige spring knit over it. Her bow was neatly tied, unlike most girls' loose styles.
A face as beautiful as cherry blossoms drifting through a white window screen, long hair jet-black and glossy—Watanabe Tetsu was reminded of the broken 0.5mm pencil lead from math class.
Slender waist, small chest.
Almost instinctively, he activated the [Detector].
[Character: Kiyono Rin][Intelligence: 8][Charm: 9][Stamina: 3][Info: Observes various humans, but not particularly interested—simply has no hobbies. Hates liars and chatterboxes.][Can be pursued]
Watanabe Tetsu was a little surprised. His own charm was only 8. Apart from TV stars, he hadn't seen a male more handsome in real life—but his social circle was small.
This girl, Kiyono Rin, possessed almost superhuman beauty.
"In this school, you're the first boy I've seen staring at me like that," Kiyono Rin said, lips curving slightly. No smile, just contempt and mockery.
Even so, her cherry-colored lips made him feel oddly at ease.
"Sorry." Watanabe Tetsu looked past the [Panel], meeting her gaze.
Thinking it best to say something polite, he continued:"I've never seen someone as beautiful as you, Kiyono. I… couldn't help being a little distracted."
Kiyono Rin rested her chin on her hand, thinking.
He was about to add, "I've heard your name from friends," then decided to wrap up the club business quickly. Later he could nap in the library or report to Koizumi that he had joined a club.
"Do you like boys?"
"You… what?" Watanabe Tetsu immediately corrected himself, staring at the girl in surprise.
Encountered a fujoshi?
So the Human Observation Club might secretly pair up male students in the school while observing them for psychological satisfaction.
Kiyono Rin ignored his expression and demanded, "Answer me."
"I don't."
She thought for much longer this time, but Watanabe Tetsu didn't intend to waste time waiting.
"If early leave is allowed, I want to join the club now."
As for whether the Human Observation Club was a fujoshi haven, or who they paired with whom—it didn't concern him. Membership was just nominal anyway.
"Okay." Kiyono Rin lifted her usual expressionless face and nodded:"You lie a lot, but you're worth observing. You may join for now. Here's the application form."
"I really don't like boys." That was one thing Watanabe Tetsu hoped everyone remembered.
Kiyono Rin lost interest and picked up her pen again:"Early leave is allowed, but club activities must be attended. Also, come by once a week on Fridays. Don't worry, it won't take long."
"Club activities?"
"Currently, submitting to the Literature Club journal. Deadline: this Friday after school."
"What does that have to do with human observation? Also, I'm not good at writing."
Without looking up, Kiyono Rin said coldly:"If you're not good at writing, write a withdrawal application instead."
He hadn't even officially joined yet… Watanabe Tetsu stared at the blank form in his hands.
Ah well. Submission didn't guarantee publication. Filling out the form was better than wasting two precious hours on another club.
He completed the application and left it on the table, seeing Kiyono Rin still diligently writing.
He walked straight to the library—no nap yet.
"Do you have past issues of the Literature Club journal?" Watanabe Tetsu quietly asked the library monitor on duty.
"One moment, I'll check."
"Thanks."
Soon the monitor pointed:"Section D, second shelf from the left, bottom row."
Watanabe Tetsu thanked her again.
There were quite a few journals—one per year, by tradition.
He flipped casually, found an article observing freshmen from a senior's perspective, then mirrored it to write about observing seniors from a freshman perspective.
This wouldn't be accepted as-is—he had skimmed the submission guidelines, which required a minimum word count.
He added some fancy, profound words, and two haikus imagining the future and reminiscing the past.
Organizing his thoughts made him drowsy. Checking the old clock on the library wall, he saw he still had half an hour before the first afternoon class. He pushed the journals aside and napped at the table.
Whether the submission would be accepted or published, he didn't care.
Warm spring breezes of late April occasionally brushed his cheek with the uncompressed pages of the journal. Each time, he adjusted into a more comfortable sleeping position.