15 Chapter 15

It wasn't just the baseball club. Nearly every club's introduction was similarly ordinary. If anything surprised me about the fair, it was the substantial number of minor liberal arts-related clubs and organizations, such as the tea ceremony club or the calligraphy club. Also, I was surprised that you only needed a minimum of three people in order to form a new club.

Every time one club finished and the next sprang up, the first-year students talked among themselves about what they thought. I noticed that the gymnasium's atmosphere was rather lively. Each club's representatives, including their supervising instructors, continued to explain their organizations to the unruly first-year students without a hint of displeasure. Perhaps they were just that desperate for more members, even if their ranks only increased by one.

As the upperclassmen finished their introductions, they walked off the stage and headed toward an area where some plain tables had been set up. Probably a reception area designed to accept new members. Eventually, everyone walked off until only one person remained. Everyone focused their attention upon him, and I realised that Horikita had been staring at thatspecific person this whole time.

He appeared to be about 170 centimeters in height, so he wasn't very tall. He was slender, with sleek black hair. He wore sharp glasses and had a piercing, calculating gaze. Standing in front of the microphone, he calmly looked around at the first-year students. What was his club, and what in the world was he going to say? My interest had been piqued.

Sora's expression said that he had similar thoughts to me. He was looking at the stage with an intrigue that he hadn't shown to any of the other introductions so far.

Unfortunately, our expectations were dashed immediately. He didn't say a single word. Maybe he was drawing a blank? Or perhaps he was so nervous that he couldn't speak?

"Do your best!"

"Did you forget to bring your notecards?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

The first-year students hurled comments at him. However, the upperclassman stood on the stage calmly, without trembling. The laughter and comments didn't seem to faze him. When the laughter had reached a crescendo, it suddenly died. He wore an apathetic expression.

I exchanged a look with Sora. Even though I barely knew him, I felt that we could roughly understand each other's thoughts just through quick eye contact like this.

This guy is certainly interesting, right Ayanokōji?

Yeah. He's caught my interest at least.

I imagined our interaction to be something like that.

"What's with this guy?" remarked an astonished student. The gymnasium buzzed with people talking, yet the boy on the stage still did not move. He simply stood there, quiet and motionless, staring fixedly at the crowd. Horikita stared back at the student with an intense gaze, not breaking her line of sight even for a second.

The relaxed atmosphere gradually changed, and things took an unexpected turn. It was as if some chemical reaction had taken place. An unbelievably tense, quiet mood gripped the entire gymnasium. Even though no orders had been given, the silence was so terrible that it seemed to have gagged everyone. Not a single student looked able to open his or her mouth. The silence continued for about thirty seconds or so...

Then, the student started his speech, slowly scanning the crowd.

"I'm the student council president. My name is Horikita Manabu," he said.

Horikita? I glanced at the Horikita next to me. Perhaps they just happened to have the same surname. Or, maybe...

"The student council is looking to recruit potential candidates amongthe first-year students to replace the graduating third years. Although no special qualifications are required for candidacy, we humbly ask that those considering application not be involved in other club activities. We generally do not accept students involved elsewhere."

He spoke in a soft tone, but the tension around us was so thick it felt like you could cut it with a knife. He had managed to silence over a hundred new students in that spacious gymnasium. Of course, it wasn't his position as student council president that granted him this deference. That was simply Horikita Manabu's power. His presence dominated everyone around him.

"Furthermore, we in the student council do not wish to appoint anyone who possesses a naive outlook. Not only would such a person not be elected, he or she would sully the sanctity of this school. It is the student council's right and duty to enforce and amend the rules, but the school expects more than that. We gladly welcome those of you who understand this."

He didn't pause even once during his eloquent speech. Immediately after finishing, he hopped off the stage and left the gymnasium. None of the first-year students could utter a single word as we watched him go. We didn't know what would've happened if we'd tried to talk. Everyone in the room shared the same thought, apparently.

"Thank you all for coming. The club fair has ended. We will now open the reception area to anyone interested in signing up. Also, registration will be open until the end of April, so if any student wishes to join at a later date, we ask that you please bring the application form directly to the club you wish to join."

Thanks to the laid-back organizer, the tension in the air dissipated. Afterward, the third-year students who'd introduced their respective clubs started taking applications.

"..."

Horikita remained still as a statue, giving no sign she would budge.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked.

Horikita didn't answer. It was like my words didn't even reach her ears. Instead, an unexpected voice answered instead.

"Horikita is a brocon," Shiro said.

"Huh? How do you know?" I couldn't help but ask.

"That guy was obviously her brother. I know the look of complete entrancement when looking at Nii quite well," she explained.

Honestly, I think there were just some things I would never understand. This seemed to be one of such things.

"Yo, Ayanokōji. You came, huh?"

As I was lost in thought, someone called out to me. Sudō. He was with who I assumed were two of his classmates.

"Oh, hey. Classmates of yours?" I asked.

"This is Ike and Yamauchi," Sudō said motioning to each of the boys next to him.

"Are you friends with these two punks, Ayanokōji?" Sudō asked, glaring at the siblings who were with me.

It seemed that Blank had made an enemy not of just Horikita, but of the entirety of Class D. I sighed and was about to reply when a voice answered before I could.

"That's right." It was Sora's.

"Is there a problem with that?" Surprisingly, Shiro also spoke up against Sudō.

It seems that Blank had decided that we were friends - honestly it felt good that people were willing to call themselves my friend of their own accord. Was that too sad to think about? I wasn't sure.

Sudō, Ike and Yamauchi glared at Sora and Shiro for a few seconds, before managing to peel their gazes away.

"So, you joined a club too?"

"Oh, no, I just came to check things out. Wait, 'too'? Did you join a club, Sudō?"

"Yeah. I've been playing basketball ever since elementary school. I thought I'd join the team here." Sudō explained.

I had guessed that Sudō was athletic by his physique. Basketball was clearly his game.

"I see."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Horikita slip away into the crowd. I thought about going to stop her, but decided against it. She was clearly shaken up by her brother for whatever reason, so it was probably best to leave her alone for now.

"Hey, we actually have somewhere to be right now." Sora decided to cut our conversation short.

"I hope we can get along Sudō, Ike, Yamauchi." Shiro spoke once again in what I interpreted as a purposely cute voice.

Although they seemingly had a bone to pick with Blank, the three of them looked surprised that Shiro knew their names, and it seemed that even Sudō couldn't bring himself to get angry at Shiro.

"R-right..." Sudō muttered.

With that, Blank and I began walking towards the group of Ryuzaki, Lelouch and Kururugi.

"Are you impressed, Ayanokōji? Now you see the overwhelming power of cuteness!" Sora said with a victorious smirk.

"It is an unexpectedly deadly weapon," I admitted.

"Hello," Ryuzaki's voice called out to us.

Ryuzaki, Lelouch and Kururugi had also apparently started walking towards us, so we met up faster than expected.

"Can you guys wait here for a second? I need to check something," Sora said, departing from the group and heading towards the calligraphy club.

"Is Sora interested in calligraphy by any chance?" Kururugi asked Shiro, but she didn't respond.

I noticed Shiro had become noticably more timid after he left. I began to have suspicions - in particular, a single word arose in my mind: codependency.

Before long, Sora emerged from the crowd with a neutral expression. It was actually a little unsettling seeing him without a grin. Shiro visibly brightened when he returned and relaxed upon grasping his hand. My suspicions grew.

"It's just as I feared, the clubs require you to write your class on the sheets. In other words, it's pretty much impossible for us to sign up right now." Sora explained to us.

"Is it really that important that we keep Class E hidden?" Kururugi asked in a low key voice.

"Obviously! For one, no other students, not even the senpais, know of Class 1-E so confusion would quickly arise if we write our classes down. If we lie then there will also be confusion when they inevitably find out that we aren't actually in whatever class we write down. Secondly, and most importantly..." Sora said, his signature grin creeping back onto his face.

"Can you imagine what everyone's face will look like on May 1st? If they find out about Class E now, they'll just think 'oh so there's a fifth class that didn't get mentioned, so what?' . However, if they find out there is a secret, fifth class that's remained hidden for an entire month--"

Sora was brimming with childlike excitement as he spoke his explanation, his tone gradually growing more excited over the course of his speech.

"Their reactions will be priceless! That's why we have to keep it a secret!" he somehow shouted quietly.

Kururugi and Ryuzaki listened to him with a raised eyebrow, while Lelouch wore a smirk.

"I'm in. It sounds amusing. We must keep Class E a secret until the school reveals it! From now on, it's imperative!" Lelouch said.

"It's something that'll keep us occupied until something actually interesting happens, I suppose..." Ryuzaki reasoned.

"I don't have any particular objections, then." Kururugi said.

It seems that Class E, minus Light, had unanimously agreed to keep our existence a secret just for the fun of it. Logically though, Sora's first reason for why we can't sign up to a club right now made sense, so I had no objections either.

"If everyone is doing it, I have no issues." I put my own opinion forth.

"It's decided then! From now on, our most important objective is to keep Class E a secret from the entire student body for the whole month!" Sora declared.

There was a momentary lull in the discussion, which Ryuzaki took advatage of to get us moving along.

"Let's go to a karaoke room. I found out that once you're in there no one else can come in unless you let them and there's no cameras - in other words it's the perfect place for our meeting." Ryuzaki summarised.

"That's fine with me, but I've been meaning to ask this ever since I spotted you three. Where is Light?" Sora asked.

"He's on a date," Ryuzaki said nonchalantly.

"Oh, okay."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Wait, what do you mean he's on a date?! He was sent with you to complete a task and he's on a freaking date?! How did he even get one that fast, the bastard?!" Sora exclaimed, seemingly in outrage.

"Calm down. It's with a Class A student." Ryuzaki said, clearly implying something.

"I inferred that much, that's not the damn problem here! How the hell did he manage to secure a date so fast? If I tried that, they'd probably call me ugly and tell me to go die!"

Originally I had thought that Sora was angry because Light had neglected his mission. Ryuzaki had alluded to the fact that Light was most likely using the date as an excuse to ask some questions to the Class A girl, but it appeared that Sora had already deduced this much as soon as he found out about the date, and was actually upset because of his self-esteem issues.

"Nii, you're not allowed to look at other girls." Shiro dropped that bomb onto the already derailed conversation.

"Ehhh??"

Now it was everyone else's turn to be flabbergasted. Ryuzaki looked genuinely baffled for the first time since I'd met him, while Lelouch and Kururugi observed with a mixture of amusement and concern written on their faces.

"Hey... Can we get going before we derail further?" I decided to interject.

"Yep." Kururugi said before anyone could object.

However, fate had other plans.

"Um, you're Lelouch, right?" An unknown voice called out to Lelouch.

We turned to find a group of three girls. They all had a light blush on their face. The one at the front was apparently the one who'd spoken up.

"That's right. Do you have business with me?" he asked.

"W-we were just wondering if we could... have your contact information," the speaking girl squeezed out the latter half of the sentence with apparent difficulty.

"Oh. Sure," Lelouch said seemingly unfazed. "May I ask why you approached me in particular?"

"Oh, um, well, you see... We thought you were v-very cool earlier today..." the girl's cheeks reddened as she spoke.

"I see..."

So Lelouch had also pulled something when he went to Class C, just like Sora had with Class D. I couldn't deny that I was extremely interested in hearing what exactly had happened in both of their cases.

After the girls had finished exchanging contact information with Lelouch, they made a quick retreat and borderline ran out of the gymnasium.

The rest of us just watched the interaction in silence. After he was done, Lelouch just turned back to us as if nothing had happened.

"Should we go then?" he asked.

I heard a deep breath, and then--

"Someone explain to me what the hell is going on here!!" Sora fumed.

"Those were Class C girls: Shiho Manabe, Nanami Yabu and Saki Yamashita." Shiro recounted like some kind of living database.

"--Eh? How do you know?" Sora asked, still looking somewhat annoyed.

"I overheard them say their names to one of the upperclassmen club representatives."

"And you remembered them perfectly just from that? What about the fact that they're in Class C? How did you know that?" Kururugi asked, apparently astonished.

"I guessed. They all looked pretty stupid, but I knew they weren't in Class D because I've already memorized everyone in Class D. Also, you and Lelouch went to Class C after class today, didn't you? The connection was easy to make." Shiro explained.

I'd never heard her speak so much at once before. Her deductive reasoning was decently impressive, but what was more impressive was her memory - she claimed to have already memorized every student in Class D, and also perfectly recognized the three girls just by overhearing their names in background noise.

"That makes sense I suppose, but you could've been nicer when describing them." Kururugi joked.

We made our way to Keyaki Mall awkwardly after that - Sora spent most of the walk complaining about his love life while Shiro glowered quietly. He'd also tried to ask Lelouch what he had done to suddenly gain popularity with the Class C girls, but he just responded with a mysterious 'You'll find out soon enough'. I was sure that our group was standing out as excessively strange to all the other students who were walking around us. Not good, I thought, but ultimately decided not to worry about it. No matter what I did, I was inevitably going to be recognized once Class E was revealed anyway.

I didn't say a word for the entire walk; I just trudged along at the back of the group since I was preoccupied trying to decipher what exactly Shiro had meant when she said 'you're not allowed to look at other girls.' to her brother.

Before long we arrived at the Karaoke Parlour, and claimed one of the rooms. The room was unexpectedly luxurious - there was a place where you could get drinks and refills, a reasonably sized stage with two microphones located on it, some speakers that I assumed played the music, various comfy-looking sofas and multiple tables spanning the room. The tables were big enough to fit us all around, so we all took a chair and gathered around one of them.

"Light won't be too long. Hopefully." Ryuzaki prayed.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Anyone want to play a game of chess?"