Club Recruitment

Since it was lunchtime, Shiraishi Makoto quickly went over all the things everyone needed to keep in mind. The students in Class B were a little naive, but they weren't stupid. They caught on quickly once things were explained.

There was no question that information about the class competition had to be kept secret. They also needed to be careful about how close they got to students from other classes, especially those from Class C and Class D.

Shiraishi Makoto was genuinely worried that his classmates might be taken in by Kushida Kikyo's carefully crafted persona and end up revealing some embarrassing secrets. But he couldn't call her out by name, so he could only hint at it obliquely with phrases like "class rankings" and "serious flaws."

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

"You worked hard." Ichinose Honami came over with a smile. "You're not really used to this kind of thing, are you, Shiraishi?"

"This was more or less my first time doing something like this." Shiraishi Makoto smiled a little awkwardly. "I feel like I should leave things like this to you, Ichinose."

Standing at the lectern and facing dozens of pairs of eyes was fine, and giving a speech was fine too. But reacting differently to all the different people had left him struggling to keep up. Only after experiencing it firsthand could he appreciate how capable Ichinose Honami was. She really could take the feelings of almost everyone around her into account.

"Shiraishi did really well," Shiranami Chihiro said, following behind Ichinose Honami. She was the one who had supported Shiraishi Makoto from the audience alongside Ichinose Honami. A few other students who were close to Ichinose also gathered around.

"Yeah, yeah! It was really impressive how much you managed to figure out, Shiraishi." Kobashi Yume, a girl with pale blue hair, stepped forward and chimed in.

He was supposed to say something now, wasn't he? But Shiraishi Makoto really didn't know how to respond, so he could only 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 naturally picked up the conversation.

"Sure." Shiraishi Makoto nodded slightly.

To be honest, Shiraishi Makoto still wasn't used to the way people ate lunch in Japan. Since the lunch break was only fifty minutes, quite a few students bought lunch at a convenience store or the student cafeteria, then went back to their classrooms to eat. Class B had just held a brief class meeting, so as they headed out, they ran into plenty of students returning with their food. Judging by appearances, about half the students in each class did that.

But strictly speaking, he was the outsider, so he had to get used to their eating habits.

"Shall we go back to the classroom to eat?" Kanzaki Ryuji asked, looking around as he picked up a boxed lunch.

Perhaps because they had only just realized that classes were competing against each other, Class B's students were overreacting a little whenever they saw students from other classes. Most of them planned to eat their lunch back in their own classroom.

"I don't mind." Shiraishi Makoto picked up a yakisoba bun. He'd heard about them ages ago in movies and books, and since he really liked fried rice and yakisoba, he wanted to find out what a yakisoba bun tasted like.

The group returned to the classroom, pushed their desks together, and began eating. Shiraishi Makoto opened the wrapper and tried the yakisoba and the bread separately. To be honest, the sweet-and-salty flavor suited his tastes pretty well.

"Sound check." Just then, a cute female voice came over the broadcast system.

"The club orientation will be held this afternoon at five in the First Gymnasium. Students interested in joining a club, please gather at the First Gymnasium. I repeat, today—"

The announcement rang across the entire campus. But something about the scene in Class B was a little strange: several students instinctively looked over at Shiraishi Makoto, who was eating his bread.

It seemed Class B had started treating him like their "chief strategist." But now, whenever the school made an announcement, his classmates had begun trying to guess what it meant. That was a good start too.

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

"Advanced Nurturing High School is a school that cultivates outstanding talent, and talent can't be summed up by academic ability alone."

"Social skills, artistic ability, and athletic ability are all aspects of a student's capabilities."

"I haven't gathered any information about clubs yet, but at this school, Class Points and Private Points are what matter most. I think that if you participate actively and perform well, the school might reward you in those two ways. But we'll have to wait until the club orientation this afternoon to learn more."

"If you have a particular skill, or you're interested in a certain club, you can give it a try."

Shiraishi Makoto shared his "analysis" with everyone, then went back to enjoying his lunch.

Clubs didn't play a very big role in Classroom of the Elite. They were mostly just part of the setting, since "normal schools have clubs." The only one that really mattered was the Student Council. In particular, the position of Student Council President came with the power to change the school's rules to some extent.

"Do you have any plans, Shiraishi?" Hamaguchi Tetsuya asked.

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

"Fair enough. We don't even know what clubs there are yet," said another boy who had joined their table. Shiraishi Makoto remembered his name was Nakanishi Jiro, but he couldn't say he remembered anything else about him.

There was nothing to be done about that. The main point of view in Classroom of the Elite belonged to Ayanokoji Kiyotaka in Class D. Characters from the other classes who didn't stand out didn't get much time onstage. They were pure background characters.

"But there should be the usual clubs, like basketball, soccer, and track and field. I'm not any good at sports, though. Maybe there's a detective club or a book club?" Hamaguchi Tetsuya laughed.

The lunch break passed quickly, and afternoon classes began. Once they ended, the club orientation would follow.

"Shiraishi, want to go take a look together?" Kanzaki Ryuji was the first to come over, and the other students looked his way too.

"Sure." Shiraishi Makoto had just finished packing up and answered at once.

"We're going too, so let's go together." Ichinose Honami waved. A good number of girls had gathered around her as well.

And so, with the boys' group centered around Shiraishi Makoto and the girls' group around Ichinose Honami, all of Class B headed to the gymnasium.

That didn't mean everyone in Class B wanted to join a club. Shiraishi Makoto felt that at least half of them were only there to accompany their friends or see what it was like.

Plenty of students from the other classes had come too, though it was obvious that fewer of them had shown up than Class B.

As they entered the gymnasium, club members handed out pamphlets detailing each club.

"There seem to be quite a few really impressive clubs," Hamaguchi Tetsuya remarked as he flipped through the pamphlet.

Indeed, the pamphlet listed the awards each club had won nationally and internationally, how many "national-level" athletes they had, and their standing across the country.

Of course, there were also a number of less prominent clubs in the directory, such as ballet and baseball. Their level was nowhere near that of the other clubs.

But precisely because the upperclassmen were so impressive, quite a few students began to feel pressured. Some of those who had planned to join a club seemed to be having second thoughts.