Tanaka Yukishin was a little curious.
Hirata Yosuke scratched his head, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Yesterday, I went to karaoke with some classmates. After that, I played games with a friend at his dorm until four in the morning."
Hirata Yosuke looked exhausted. He covered his mouth with a hand and yawned, while Ken Sudō stood beside him, smugly bragging about how he'd woken Hirata Yosuke up.
"Good thing he'd made plans with me yesterday. Otherwise, after this afternoon, he'd still be able to apply by going door to door.
"But every club has a quota for new members.
"When I found him, he was lying on a beach chair, sunbathing and catching up on sleep."
"Yeah, thanks to you. I appreciate it."
"We're classmates. Let's do our best together."
One of them wanted to join the soccer club, and the other wanted to join the basketball club.
They seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
"By the way, you two are together now?"
Hirata Yosuke only just noticed.
Karuizawa Kei had her arm linked through Tanaka Yukishin's, her whole body pressed close against his.
At that, Sudō burst out laughing, drawing curious looks from the people nearby.
He imitated Karuizawa Kei's linked-arm pose and deliberately drew out his words.
"Hirata, you definitely haven't woken up yet! There's a whole person hanging off you..."
"Do you have to be right up in his face to see her?"
Still chuckling, he patted Hirata Yosuke's shoulder with some concern.
"You don't look too good. Be careful not to write anything wrong on your club application later."
"I'll be fine. Trust me."
After saying goodbye, the four figures gradually receded into the distance.
As Hirata walked, he was still swaying unsteadily, and Sudō kept reaching out to tug at his arm.
Karuizawa Kei hopped around, trying to reach the cherry blossoms on a branch. The tips of her hair brushed Tanaka Yukishin's cheek.
The boy sighed as if helpless, but quietly raised a hand to shield her from a low-hanging branch.
Their shadows intertwined on the ground, like vines growing tightly together, inseparable.
As the last cherry blossom drifted past the corner of Karuizawa Kei's upturned mouth, she suddenly turned around and began walking backward.
"Hey, Yukishin."
The silhouette of the girl, backlit, was edged in gold. "If... I mean, if more people start coming to the clubroom in the future..."
She kicked a pebble away and watched it startle a sparrow searching for food.
"How many cushions would you prepare?"
As Tanaka Yukishin watched the flock of birds take flight, he suddenly thought of her trembling back and tightly pressed lips the night before.
He reached out and caught a falling petal, then blew it away from his palm.
"That depends... on how many people it takes to weather the storm."
April 7, overcast
Today, Kei-chan got the club established.
For some reason, she named it the Yukishin Society.
And, strangely enough, the Student Council approved it.
It was so unbelievable it might as well have been a fairy tale.
In Japan, establishing a club at a high school usually required meeting a lot of conditions.
One of them was specifying the club's activity category, such as sports, culture, or academics.
So how on earth did the Yukishin Society pass the review?
April 10, sunny
After a week of looking at places, I finally found a place I liked.
They'd said points could buy anything, but when I wanted a bigger room,
Chabashira Sae told me this was the best I could get.
You've got to be kidding me. I have twenty million points, and I still can't rent a place!
In Japan, class divisions really were everywhere.
Still, a hundred square meters would be enough.
Kei-chan and I officially moved in together that same day.
From then on, I began living a blissful life: a beautiful girl waking me up in the morning in a special way so we could exercise, and a beautiful girl giving me a real ear-licking ASMR session at night.
April 12, sunny.
Matsushita Chiaki was being a little unreasonable.
She lacked the ability to do it herself, so she pinned her hopes on someone else.
For someone lacking the ability, that was indeed a sensible approach.
There was nothing shameful about clinging to someone powerful, and being carried to victory was fine too.
But I had no intention of moving up a class.
What a nerve, asking me—a future world leader—to help you move up.
I gave you a hundred thousand at karaoke. After taking the benefits, you should know your place and quietly be a ghost member.
Stop trying to give me advice all the time.
If you really get on my nerves, I'll wipe out your entire clan.
April 15, sunny
Why hasn't Kushida Kikyo come to see me yet?
Didn't she want to be friends with everyone?
I'm curious.
I guess I could kill her, or save her for a surprise.
I don't think she can ignore my existence.
After finishing today's journal, Tanaka Yukishin closed the binder and casually put it on the left side of his desk drawer.
Under the protection of his good fortune,
as long as he didn't agree, no one could open it.
At the podium, Chabashira Sae was teaching history from the Kamakura period through the Sengoku period.
She didn't simply recite the textbook. Instead, she drew on local customs, legends, and unofficial histories to explain the changes in different regions and eras, gradually building up from the basics.
History, which had been dull and tedious, became interesting when she told it.
Even Tanaka Yukishin, who had no interest in village wars, listened with rapt attention whenever Chabashira Sae taught, as if he were listening to an acquaintance tell a story.
Tanaka Yukishin's assessment was that Tokyo Advanced Nurturing High School lived up to its reputation as a prestigious national school with a closed campus.
Aside from its love of shady dealings, it had more than enough resources.
That went for both living resources and educational resources.
As for Chabashira Sae,
if you judged only her teaching experience and ability, she was undoubtedly an excellent history teacher.
But when it came to professional ethics, she had long since failed as a homeroom teacher.
Tanaka Yukishin had never seen a homeroom teacher who did nothing except teach.
Ding, ding, ding...
The class bell rang.
Chabashira Sae stopped writing with the chalk in her hand and tossed it into the box.
Then she picked up the lesson plan from the podium, turned, and left.
Another day had passed. It had been a productive one, too.
Tanaka Yukishin left the classroom, ready to grind through today's dungeons.
At this rate, he should be able to clear every club before the end of the month.
Karuizawa Kei followed him as usual and linked her arm through his right arm.
Sunlight slanted through the hallway windows, coating Karuizawa Kei's flaxen hair in a honeyed glow.
"Going again today?"
As she spoke, her fingertips unconsciously brushed the second button of Tanaka Yukishin's uniform.
The hem of her skirt swayed slightly, rippling like a silent declaration of ownership.
The gesture drew a few suppressed gasps from several girls around the corner. They were hiding behind a fire extinguisher and secretly taking photos, their phone cameras flashing silently.
As a handsome guy, Tanaka Yukishin was very attractive to girls.
"Yeah."
Tanaka Yukishin lifted a hand and tucked a stray lock behind Kei's ear. The overly intimate gesture prompted a short squeal from one of the girls taking photos.
"Then I'll go home first and wash and chop the ingredients, and wait for you, Chef."
Karuizawa Kei lowered her fluttering lashes, casting butterfly-wing shadows over her cheeks.
When she tilted her head up to kiss him, she deliberately left a lipstick mark on Tanaka Yukishin's cheek instead of the corner of his lips.
After their goodbye kiss, she withdrew her left hand and waved as she left.
Tanaka Yukishin stood there watching her until the ombré tips of her hair vanished around the stairwell.
He touched the still-warm lipstick mark and suddenly chuckled at the empty air.
She'd accepted his declaration that he'd have a harem, and still insisted on staking her claim.
Kei-chan really was adorable.
Afterward, Tanaka Yukishin went to today's dungeon as usual and repeated the activity he'd already done fifteen times.
On his way home after finishing up, he suddenly spotted a familiar figure ahead.
Sakura Airi had lately felt that something was wrong.
It was as though someone was watching her from the shadows.
But no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find the person spying on her.
She'd tried changing her route.
But wherever she went, that hidden gaze remained fixed on her.
The constant pressure had left her looking exhausted. Her once-bright eyes had grown a little dull.
"Hey, Sakura."
A man's voice came from behind her.
She stopped in her tracks, her breathing turning rapid.
She turned around in a panic.
It was Tanaka Yukishin.
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