Club Recruitment

Since it was now lunch break, Shiraishi Makoto quickly went over the points to note. The students of Class B might be a bit naive, but they weren't fools—many things clicked after just a hint.

Without a doubt, information about class competition needed to be kept confidential. Then there was the matter of being careful about how close they got with students from other classes, especially those from Class C and Class D.

Shiraishi Makoto was genuinely worried that someone in his class might be fooled by Kushida Kikyo's act and end up having some dark history exposed. But he couldn't call her out by name right now, so he could only vaguely hint at it with phrases like "class rankings" and "major flaws" to warn everyone.

After the class meeting ended, most of the students calmed down and gradually left the classroom to go eat lunch.

"You worked hard," Ichinose Honami said, walking over with a smile. "Shiraishi-kun isn't really used to this kind of situation, is he?"

"This is my first time doing something like this," Shiraishi Makoto replied, smiling a bit sheepishly. "I feel like I should leave this kind of thing to Ichinose-san from now on."

Standing at the podium facing dozens of gazes was fine, and giving a speech was fine, but having to respond differently to different people really left him flustered. Only by actually experiencing it could he appreciate how impressive Ichinose Honami was—she truly could take care of the feelings of almost everyone around her.

"You did great, Shiraishi-kun," Shiranami Chihiro said, following behind Ichinose Honami. She was the one who had been supporting Shiraishi Makoto from the audience alongside Ichinose Honami earlier, and other classmates who were close to Ichinose Honami also gathered around.

"That's right, that's right. Shiraishi-kun managed to figure out so much—that's pretty amazing," Kobashi Yume, with her light blue hair, stepped forward and spoke.

He should say something now, right? But Shiraishi Makoto really didn't know how to respond, so he could only reply with a smile.

"Want to go eat together? You were busy investigating all this yesterday, weren't you?" Kanzaki Ryuji and Hamaguchi Tetsuya walked over, and Hamaguchi Tetsuya naturally took over the conversation.

"Let's go together," Shiraishi Makoto said with a slight nod.

To be honest, Shiraishi Makoto still wasn't quite used to the eating habits here in Japan. Since lunch break was only fifty minutes, quite a few students would buy lunch from the convenience store or student cafeteria and then choose to go back to the classroom to eat. Because Class B had held a short class meeting, they ran into quite a few students heading back now. Roughly estimating, about half of each class did this.

But strictly speaking, he was the outsider here, so he had to adapt to these eating habits.

"Should we eat back in the classroom?" Kanzaki Ryuji bought a bento box, looking around as he spoke.

Maybe because they had just realized the reality of class competition, the Class B students were a bit too reactive when they saw students from other classes. The vast majority planned to have lunch back in the classroom.

"I'm fine with that," Shiraishi Makoto said, picking up a yakisoba bread. He had heard about this thing a long time ago from movies and novels, and since he really liked fried rice and fried noodles, he wanted to try what this yakisoba bread actually tasted like.

The group returned to the classroom, pushed some desks together, and started eating. Shiraishi Makoto opened the packaging and tasted the noodles and bread separately. Honestly, this sweet-and-savory flavor suited his tastes.

"Testing, testing," came a cute female voice over the loudspeaker.

"Starting at five o'clock this afternoon, a club information session will be held at the First Gymnasium. Students interested in clubs, please gather at the First Gymnasium. I repeat, today—"

The voice from the loudspeaker echoed throughout the campus, but the atmosphere in Class B was a bit strange. Several students instinctively looked at Shiraishi Makoto, who was eating his bread.

It seemed Class B had started treating him like their "strategist." But now that the students were beginning to speculate about the school's intentions with every announcement, that was a good start.

Shiraishi Makoto raised his free left hand, signaling the students to wait a moment. He chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped his mouth, and then slowly spoke.

"Advanced Nurturing High School is a school that cultivates talented individuals. And talent isn't something that can be summed up by academic ability alone."

"Social skills, artistic ability, athletic ability—all of these reflect a student's capabilities."

"I haven't gathered any information related to clubs yet, but in this school, the most important things are class points and personal points. I think if you participate actively and perform well, the school might reward you in these areas? But we'll have to wait until the afternoon club information session to know more."

"If any of you have a skill or are interested in certain clubs, you can give it a try."

Shiraishi Makoto shared his "analysis" with everyone and then continued enjoying his lunch.

Club content didn't really play a big role in the overall story of Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e. It was probably just a setting like "normal schools have clubs." The only important thing was the student council, especially the position of student council president, which could change the school's rules to some extent.

"Does Shiraishi-kun have any plans?" Hamaguchi Tetsuya asked.

"Sorry, I don't think I have any particular talents..." Shiraishi Makoto paused, then shook his head lightly.

"True, we don't even know what clubs there are yet," another boy who had joined their table said. Shiraishi Makoto remembered his name was Nakanishi Jiro, but he had no impression of this classmate at all.

There was no helping it. The main perspective of Youkoso was still on Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in Class D. Characters from other classes who didn't have standout performances really didn't get much screen time—they were pure background props.

"But there should be the most common clubs like basketball, soccer, and track, right? Though I'm not good at sports either. Maybe there's a detective club or a book club?" Hamaguchi Tetsuya laughed.

Lunch break passed quickly, followed by the afternoon classes. And right after the afternoon classes ended came the club information session.

"Shiraishi-kun, want to go check it out together?" The first to approach was Kanzaki Ryuji, and the other students also looked over.

"No problem," Shiraishi Makoto replied immediately after finishing packing up.

"We're going too, so let's all go together," Ichinose Honami said, waving her hand. A group of girls had gathered around her as well.

And so, with the boys' group centered around Shiraishi Makoto and the girls' group centered around Ichinose Honami, the entire Class B made their way to the gymnasium.

It wasn't that everyone in Class B wanted to join a club. Shiraishi Makoto felt that at least half of them were just there to accompany friends or to see what was going on.

Many students from other classes also showed up, but clearly not as many as Class B's full turnout.

As they entered the gymnasium, club members handed out pamphlets with detailed information about the clubs.

"There seem to be some pretty impressive clubs," Hamaguchi Tetsuya remarked as he flipped through the pages.

Indeed, the pamphlet listed the awards the clubs had won nationally and internationally, how many "national-level" athletes they had, and what status they held across the country.

Of course, the club directory also included some fringe clubs, like the ballet club and the baseball club, whose levels couldn't compare to the others at all.

But precisely because there were such impressive seniors, many students felt a bit of pressure. Some who had originally planned to join a club seemed to be having second thoughts.