An Accidental Encounter with President Horikita

It has been two months since school started, and the club recruitment period is nearing its end.

Many people have joined clubs. I heard that Hirata, the most popular student in our class, joined the Soccer Club, and even Sudo joined the Basketball Club. Hoshino felt a bit envious. After all, being able to do things you are interested in after school is truly something to enjoy.

Although Hoshino had occasionally thought about joining the Art Club, he figured that with his skill level, he would mostly just get crushed. Plus, having to follow various rules and inevitably having to interact with people made it really not worth the trouble.

He thought about it and decided against it; there was no particular necessity, and he wasn't that passionate about it anyway—it was just something he doodled in his spare time.

It had been a while since school ended, and most people in the classroom had already left, but Hoshino wasn't in a hurry to leave today.

It wasn't that he had anything to do; he just simply didn't know what he should be doing.

Resting his head on his right hand, he looked quietly out the window. In the distance, he could still see students passing by from time to time, walking in groups and discussing something intensely. Laughter drifted from the hallway every now and then. Hoshino actually quite liked this; it felt like sitting alone on a high platform—he was by himself, yet it didn't feel lonely...

After enjoying a moment of solitude, Hoshino packed his bag and left the school building.

The monotonous schedule was indeed a bit boring. On a whim, Hoshino changed his route today and arrived near the sports field, where most of the sports clubs were concentrated.

Looking around, there were quite a lot of people training!

"Shibata, fall back, hurry and fall back!..." A physical education teacher outside the field was shouting and gesturing wildly, looking as if he wanted to jump in himself. Nearby, some students wearing jerseys were watching, and some substitute players were doing their own practice.

Although it was just a daily routine, there were still teachers methodically guiding the Soccer Club's training. Watching the members galloping across the Tennis Court, Hoshino spotted a familiar figure—Hirata.

Hirata's technique seemed quite good; he was already able to play in matches. He must have had impressive skills from before! His dribbling and passing were quite fluid, making for a very pleasant sight. There were quite a few girls watching and cheering nearby; one could only say that Hirata's charm was truly immense.

In a corner outside the soccer field was the Tennis Court, where a teacher was currently training some students.

Besides that, there were other clubs like the Track and Field Club and the Drama Club training on the same grounds, yet they didn't interfere with one another. On his way here, Hoshino had even seen the Art Club sketching by the lake. Hoshino didn't dare to get too close; he could only say that the extracurricular life at this school was quite rich.

Right! Hoshino suddenly remembered something: could you get points for joining a club? After the point reward from the swimming class a few days ago, Hoshino felt that this method might actually be possible, though he didn't know when it would take effect.

When he first entered the school, there had been a club recruitment fair. What Hoshino remembered most was the serious speech by President Horikita, followed by the various club presidents taking turns on stage to talk about their clubs' achievements.

If you want students to work hard, you have to give them some rewards!

However, for freshmen joining clubs, even if they trained until now, it should be very difficult to achieve any results—unless they were already very strong to begin with. At the very least, before achieving any real results, it should be hard to earn many points. Otherwise, everyone would just join a club; wouldn't it be great to just hang your name on a list and earn points?

Strolling along the path around the field, a breeze blew by, carrying a hint of warmth. Hoshino felt very comfortable.

After watching for a while, Hoshino withdrew his gaze and slowly left the area.

Moving forward again, Hoshino found himself, without realizing it, near the club building.

Oh, that makes sense. It's unlikely the club building would be too far from the sports clubs' activity areas; otherwise, it would indeed be very inconvenient for the sports clubs in many ways.

But, why did he come here?

Thinking this, Hoshino turned to leave.

Unexpectedly, two familiar figures approached.

"Good afternoon!" Hoshino took the lead, nodding in greeting.

"Good afternoon!" President Horikita adjusted his glasses and nodded slightly. Beside him, Secretary Tachibana, though looking a bit annoyed, also gave a slight nod.

After all, these two had helped him with a few things, and Hoshino felt embarrassed to just walk past the president like that.

"Wait, you're Hoshino from Class D, right?" Seeing Hoshino about to walk straight away, President Horikita spoke up.

"Yes, President Horikita?" Hoshino paused, turning back with a face full of confusion. "...Is there something you need, President?"

"No, nothing in particular... Hoshino, how have you been doing at school these days?"

"Uh... pretty good, I suppose..." Hoshino was a bit flattered. Was President Horikita actually concerned about him?

"I see, that's good... What is your opinion of this school?" After a moment of silence, President Horikita asked an unexpected question.

"Opinion?... I don't really have one? Everything is quite good." Taken aback, Hoshino still used a "catch-all" answer, not quite understanding what President Horikita meant.

This felt a bit like... a high-level executive asking a low-level employee what they thought of the company. Hoshino couldn't possibly reply directly by saying this was bad or that was bad, and besides, the treatment at this school was truly top-notch!

"...Then, what is your opinion of the Student Council?"

"Uh... I don't really have one..." Again? Hoshino really felt that President Horikita might have some sort of issue. Why ask a mere Class D student such a question? Could he possibly say something stupid like, "It's trash, step down immediately!"?

Hoshino didn't have much affection for this school. The environment was great, the food was great, the dormitory conditions were great—the treatment was absolutely impeccable!

It was just that Hoshino didn't really like the school's cultivation methods. He always felt that this school was training students in backstabbing and adapting to class hierarchies. Only those who could contribute to their class were qualified to stay; that was fine. What was wrong was that it didn't treat people as people, but rather as "bricks" for society.

Hoshino believed that if the exams for all three grades were held together, the result would be no less than the recreation of a small-scale society!

It was just that, for now, it was only a hierarchy within a single class, and it hadn't reached that point yet.

The image of working together in unity to overcome hardships was certainly beautiful, but the power and conflict that inevitably arose from it were exactly what Hoshino hated most.

Training students to advance and retreat together and overcome hardships? In the end, that might just be a nice way of putting it.

However, thinking about it from another angle, this school was meant to cultivate people who could adapt to society, but it was currently kept at the level of class competition—a mere taste of it. Thinking back, it was actually quite interesting, as if... experiencing another "murder mystery game"? It was only interesting because it was just a taste.

As for these results, wanting to rely on the self-discipline of those foolish adults? That was probably just wishful thinking! Looking at it this way, President Horikita was truly impressive!