New Start

The vice president is taking his time, standing at that same spot for minutes now and it made Sayaka wonder what made him stiff while looking at the workbooks. She approached him and tapped his shoulder. "What's going on?"

"These are seriously unbelievable." he said while shaking his head and chuckling. "You wouldn't believe what she just did." Mitsuo gave one of the workbooks to Sayaka which made her confused. Just what is wrong with him right now?

Upon opening the book....

"Please notice me, senpai!" ~"Fubuki-senpai is LOVE" "Fubuki-senpai is the best! Oh, you too Mitsuo-senpai!" "Long live the Japanese History Club!"

The book was peppered with these words with hearts, sparkles and stars even. There was a noticeable twitch on Sayaka's eyebrows upon seeing these things. There is no way anyone wouldn't notice how childish these remarks are.

"Mitsuo, why are the workbooks messy?" she said with a tinge of seriousness and annoyance in her voice.

"Since Erika Hatsugawa went here, I had her answer a few workbooks. I left the two of them so I did not know she will do this."

"Unbelievable."

"But if you would actually look at it, you can see that most of her answers are actually correct. She even wrote explanations and commentaries at every question to explain her answer."

"In competitions, it is not necessary to explain your answer when not asked. This is pointless." she tossed the workbook to the floor without second thought which made Mitsuo look away, knowing how displeased Sayaka is right now.

"Did they come here to pass their forms?" Sayaka said while glancing coldly at Mitsuo.

"Yes."

"Throw it."

"You know she has potential, Sayaka. Are you sure?"

"I don't care. Throw it. Don't make me repeat what I said. " Sayaka is in a bad mood right now. Mitsuo started thinking if something else happened before she went in the room. Something probably happened that pissed her off. As she went to her desk to get the keys of the club room, getting ready to go home, someone suddenly entered the room.

"Mitsuo-kun, I photocopied more copies of the forms so that it could be distributed easily tomorrow". Shinichiro-sensei said, the adviser of the Japanese History Club. However, upon his entrance, he noticed the heavy atmosphere right away. "Is there something wrong?"

"Nothing, sir." Sayaka immediately said and smiled the moment she turned to look at their adviser. "We were just on our way home."

"I see." The teacher was about to leave when he saw papers on the table and decided to pick it up. When he saw Erika's name, he quickly looked at Sayaka. "Hatsugawa-kun passed a form? Moriyama-kun did too?" Sayaka did not say anything, instead, she turned the other way because those forms are supposed to be disposed.

"They came here minutes ago to file an application, sir." Mitsuo said and while he was thinking an alibi for Sayaka, Shinichiro responded immediately.

"I don't know about Moriyama-kun but Hatsugawa can be a good asset for the club. She's really intelligent, Fubuki-san. I'm sure you've heard about her winning the National Quiz Bee when she was in middle school, right? Who knows, she might win for our club at this year's tournament?" He said eagerly. His favoritism towards Erika is so apparent, Sayaka was silently ticked off. Mitsuo looked at Sayaka as if waiting for her final call about the situation.

"I was just about to include those forms in this year's application sir." the lady flashed a beautiful smile towards the professor as she picked up the forms and slipped those in her bag. "I guess this year's Japanese History Club will be phenomenal, don't you think, Mitsuo?" she said and looked at Mitsuo all of a sudden to which the guy simply nodded. "Of course. You graced us with your presence after all, Sayaka. Good things have happened since then."

"My my..." said Sayaka while letting off a soft chuckle.

"Then it is settled! There are two more days for club promotion. Let's do our best til the end. Goodbye to the both of you for now." Shinichiro said smilingly as he went ahead of the two. Sayaka and Mitsuo were left silent in the room. Both of them know it is something they couldn't ever get back.

"Sayaka---"

"Shut up." She really looked irritated that time but she cannot to anything about it. She just placed her hair at the side and picked up her bag. "Let's go." Mitsuo just nodded and went along with her.

---------------

The 3-day period allotted for club promotion has come to an end. After classes will be the mandatory assembly of new club members to their respective clubs. Erika and Kairo went to the Japanese History Club room to validate their application.

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to welcome the two of you to the club. I think I haven't formally introduced myself yet. I'm Mitsuo Jun, the vice president of this club. Welcome, Erika Hatsugawa and Kairo Moriyama. This is the club you'll have to settle in for a whole year. I hope you won't get tired." he said while smiling softly. He's really charming up close, Erika said to herself, since she was only able to see Mitsuo in national television.

"Getting tired of this club is not in my vocabulary nor my to-do list so you need not to worry about that, senpai!" she said ecstatically. Finally, she get to belong in a club where she can be herself.

"Since you did not respond, I suppose the odds of you getting tired eventually is high, huh Moriyama-san?" Mitsuo teased Kairo.

"It's for me to find out, senpai." Kairo said with a smile. "Although if Hatsugawa is around, I don't think the club will be boring." Although it seemed to have a different effect on Erika since she suddenly got speechless and turned away from him.

"Anyway, the other first years are being interviewed by some of the club's officers so once we're done here, you could actually go. Formal activities will start on Monday."

"Is.... Fubuki-sama around here...interviewing first years too?"

"I think she is with Shinichiro-sensei finalizing the club applicants this year, I'm sorry."

"OH NO! Not at all. I'm not....trying to find her everywhere I go." Erika said while looking shyly at the floor.

"I'm surprised Shinichiro-sensei is very fond of you, Hatsugawa-san. I didn't know someone like him could be that soft towards somebody." Mitsuo said. "He actually endorsed you to us like fresh tuna."

"Why 'fresh tuna'?" Erika pouted.

"I'm going to spare the both of you on too much formality. You can go home now and enjoy the weekend." he said and smiled at the both of them.

"Will do!" Erika said.

"Good to know. Take care on your way home."

Erika and Kairo went home together as usual, talking about their recent acceptance. However upon entering the house, a sudden throw of confetti welcomed the both of them.

"CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING ACCEPTED IN THE JAPANESE HISTORY CLUB!!" Sachiko and Akito greeted happily. Kairo was so shocked on what welcomed them, while on the other hand, Erika was so happy. There were decent food prepared on the table, some grilled meat, some vegetables. I keep on saying 'some' cause it's really not much, but for them it's everything.

"Congratulations Darling!" Sachiko said and kissed Erika's cheek. "I prepared a little something to commemorate your acceptance in the club, both you and Kairo." she said softly.

"Kairo-nii, we have meat this time! Our neighbor Hinako-san brought some meat for us! She said she bought too much meat for her family's hotpot." Akito was dragging Kairo by his wrist towards the dinner table as he was that excited to eat the food.

"Thank you, Akito." Kairo laughed a bit. "I can actually walk on my own though but if you are really that eager dragging me then okay." he said as he walked towards the table.

"I'm sorry, Kairo-kun for being this extravagant. Oh I'll call you Kairo-kun from now on okay? So that we could ease a little bit of tension between us too." her mother said so.

"I don't mind Sachiko-san and I actually don't feel any tension at all."

"It's just, we want to support Erika in all her dreams. That's why we celebrate for small things such as this one. Are we weird?" Sachiko said modestly with a slight chuckle.

"No. Not at all." Kairo said softly and looks down a bit. "I didn't really know that some people celebrate for things like this." Upon looking at Erika's family, he couldn't help but feel lighthearted with the kind of relationship they have. It's beautiful that a small household such as this one could be warmer than any other household more fortunate than they are. Kairo felt thankful he belonged to this family. Upon saying a little prayer, he clasped his hands together and closed his eyes.

"Thank you for the food."

"Thank you for the food."