The Fourth Class Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"Or rather, it was because of that. Compared to an underclassman, Taishi felt more like the little brother of some Kawashima-whatever classmate, or Kyōka's older brother."

Taishi really was my underclassman, but I'd known him since before he enrolled, so he didn't really feel like one now.

If we joined the same club and saw each other regularly, our closeness would probably update, and I might be able to see him as an underclassman. But for now, he was just a bug trying to get close to Komachi.

...Komachi would get annoyed if she heard me call him a bug, so I kept that to myself.

Taking that into account, I swallowed my words, but apparently that had not been the right decision. Komachi still looked at me in confusion.

However, when she heard the crisp crack of a metal bat and the off-key sound of a trumpet, she turned her gaze toward the window.

"Yeah, Komachi has thought about it too..."

Then she sighed softly.

It seemed I had not needed to worry. Komachi had already been thinking about the future too. Great... Just as I set down the weight in my heart, Komachi crossed her arms, frowned, and knitted her brows.

"But even if we want to recruit members, it's hard to explain what this club actually does."

"Ah... that's true."

I could not help agreeing.

To outsiders, the Service Club was probably a club shrouded in mystery.

It was called the Service Club, yet it did not serve people—that was, it did not volunteer. Recently, its activities had been no different from being the Student Council's contractor. The occasional requests and consultations it received were also extremely personal matters, making them difficult to explain to a third party.

If it had a clear goal like Koshien, Nationals,