Student Council Invitation

16:50

The students had already been dismissed for the day, but since it was only the second day of the semester, clubs were holding recruitment drives in the main gymnasium after school.

Looking at the sea of people inside the gymnasium, there wasn't a single place to sit except for the club recruitment booths.

Pushing through the crowd, Gojo Satoru walked straight up to a large table with a sign reading "Cooking Club" beside it, eyeing the various cakes and desserts laid out on the table.

He asked directly, "Can I eat these?"

"Huh!?"

Seeing Gojo Satoru suddenly appear, his towering frame startled the senior from the Cooking Club.

Looking at the stunned senior, Gojo Satoru waved a hand in front of her face and asked again, "Senior? You okay?"

Snapped out of it, the senior sitting at the table finally reacted and hurriedly said, "Y-yes, you can! Please, help yourself! You're a freshman, right? I haven't seen you before—you're really tall!"

As she spoke, she handed him a slice of cake.

Taking the cake, Gojo Satoru ate it without any hesitation, then commented after finishing, "Too much cream, should've used less."

With that, he picked up another dessert, tasting it while critiquing, "This one's too sweet."

"This one's a bit bland."

"This one leaves your throat dry."

"Why is this jelly so flimsy it can't even hold its shape like pudding?!"

Looking at the table now nearly covered in empty plates, it wasn't just the senior who handed him the cake—even her companions realized something was off!

"If you keep eating, there'll be nothing left! And if you say it's not good, why are you eating so much?!"

Swallowing the last Kitafuku, Gojo Satoru replied calmly, "It's delicious! I'm just giving my thoughts, not saying it's bad. Well then, goodbye—thanks for the meal!"

As Gojo Satoru turned to leave, the senior from earlier quickly asked, "Junior, don't you want to apply for the club? If it's tasty, why not join and learn the techniques!"

"No need for that. I only stopped because you said to help myself. I have no intention of joining any clubs—I just came to look around."

Gojo Satoru waved his hand as he spoke.

Watching his retreating figure, then glancing at the table full of empty plates, the Cooking Club seniors stood frozen in place.

"What was that all about?!"

Leaving the Cooking Club, feeling the dryness in his throat, he found it a bit uncomfortable.

'I really did eat too much, huh? Should've grabbed a cup of tea from the Tea Ceremony Club first.'

Recalling the Tea Ceremony Club he'd passed by earlier, he felt a twinge of regret.

"Well, going over for a drink now works too!"

"Excuse me! A coffee, please!"

Since most tea enthusiasts were refined young ladies, this club was notably quiet compared to the livelier ones.

The seniors simply sat in their chairs, calmly sipping tea, without actively recruiting newcomers.

"Bang!"

Startled by the sudden remark, the seniors—including Fenfen—all looked at Gojo Satoru.

One senior, who clearly had a short temper, slammed her teacup down hard onto the tray, ignoring the tea that splashed out.

"This is the Tea Ceremony Club! We don't have coffee! And we're not waitresses!"

Her angry voice rang out, her icy glare as if she wanted to devour Gojo Satoru!

"Eh~, is that so? I saw everyone sitting around leisurely drinking tea, so I thought this was a special lounge area."

Ignoring the many furious stares, Gojo Satoru explained with a smile.

But the senior clearly wasn't buying it, pressing on relentlessly, "This classmate shouldn't be blind, right? Even with that blindfold, you navigated through the crowd just fine—doesn't seem like your eyes are the problem.

So how come you can't see the sign right there? 'Tea Ceremony Club'—three big characters sitting there."

"Truly a proper young lady, observing so keenly—can't be easily fooled."

"Don't mind the details, can you pour me some tea first? I'm a bit thirsty."

Seeing he couldn't bluff his way through, he quickly changed the subject.

"I refuse. Please leave. The Tea Ceremony Club doesn't welcome rude people!"

"Don't be so quick to refuse. I can buy it with points."

"Who cares about your—"

Before she could finish, Gojo Satoru's offer cut her off.

"Twenty thousand Private Points. I just want a simple black tea. I can pay upfront."

"Would you like sugar?"

Watching the senior stand up and start brewing tea, Gojo's mouth twitched slightly as he continued to tease.

"Yes. But I still preferred that defiant look you had earlier. Mind bringing it back?"

Hearing this, the senior wiped off her smile, put back on that aloof expression, and coldly handed over the brewed black tea.

He took the tea and downed it in one gulp, completely unconcerned about the scalding temperature. After all, his current physical constitution could no longer be described as human. Compared to the trivial burn of boiling water, the dryness in his throat was far more unbearable.

"Ah~, fully revived!"

Stunned, everyone watched Gojo drink the black tea brewed with boiling water. Some wanted to warn him, but it was already too late.

The crowd stared at Gojo in disbelief. One person even reached out to touch the teapot.

"Ah! It's hot!"

She quickly pulled back her small hand, looking at her burned finger, eyes moist from the pain.

Witnessing her friend's injury, the senior asked in surprise, "Do you have no sense of pain? Even so, that was freshly boiled water! Even if you can't feel it, your throat would still be burned! Are you an idiot?"

"It's fine. I'm naturally heat-resistant."

'This is way beyond what heat-resistance can solve, isn't it?!'

She wanted to shout back, but her upbringing kept her calm, leaving her to scream only in her mind.

After transferring the points, he left immediately. If he stayed any longer, who knew what would happen! Even as carefree as Gojo was, he couldn't handle the looks from the Tea Ceremony Club seniors that seemed ready to skin him alive.

Full and satisfied, he wandered through various clubs. Along the way, a bun-haired senior handed him a letter.

Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School Student Council Invitation.

He tossed the letter straight into the trash, recalling, 'That was Student Council's Tachibana Akane, right? Cute face, but too bad—her head's full of Student Council President Horikita Manabu.'

On the gymnasium stage, after one club president after another finished introducing their clubs, a stern-faced Horikita Manabu stepped up.

Standing on the stage, Horikita didn't speak. He simply swept his gaze across the students below, pausing for an extra second on Gojo's group.

"I am the Student Council President of this school, Horikita Manabu of Class 3-A."

A simple self-introduction, yet his overwhelming presence silenced the gymnasium.

Watching Horikita deliver his speech on stage, he couldn't help but sigh, 'No wonder he's the most outstanding Student Council President since the school's founding. He must be the most talented existence aside from Koenji Rokusuke, right?'

After Horikita's speech ended, the quiet gymnasium buzzed with activity again.

"Does Ayanokoji-kun have any clubs he wants to join?"

Wandering around, Gojo heard a voice from behind and turned to look. There stood the 'parents' of the 'little angel' combo—

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and Horikita Suzune.

And the question just now had come from Ayanokoji.

"Ah, if it isn't Mr. Poker Face and Ms. Ice Queen."

Hearing this, Horikita Suzune immediately swung her right fist at Gojo's waist, but he sidestepped and dodged.

Watching her fist easily evade, Horikita's temple bulged with veins as she snapped angrily, "What do you mean by that?!"