Taking the Stage

"It's pretty lively here. There are more people than I expected."

"That's probably because some upperclassmen are here, too."

After entering the First Gymnasium, Sakayanagi returned to the Class A tour group, while Hiyori and I joined the Class C students.

"Judging by the introductions alone, the clubs at this school seem pretty impressive."

"But this booklet only lists the awards the clubs have won in the past and the famous people they've produced.

At a school that can't even gather four hundred and eighty students, how many will be left after you subtract the ones who don't want to join a club?

This booklet is so thick, and it lists so many clubs. If you didn't know better, you'd think you could start any of them with just one person, like yours."

Ryuen was being his usual sharp-tongued self. And, as he said, the section about each club's "glorious past" took up far too much space.

At a school like this, the information in the booklet was no way to decide which club to join.

"I thought every high school in Japan had a baseball club dreaming of making it to Koshien~"

As I flipped through the booklet, I found the Baseball Club, which held a unique place in Japanese schools.

"That's not an unreasonable assumption. At my old school, the Baseball Club was full of idiots who dreamed of making it to Koshien through their own efforts."

"I can't really understand that obsession. In my country, baseball is about as obscure as a sport can get."

Baseball inevitably came up in a lot of Japanese movies and shows, just as I inevitably thought of soccer when someone mentioned a South American country.

"Your club is an oddity at this school. Apart from your Traditional Literature Club, the only clubs with less physical activity are the Board Games Club and the Tea Ceremony Club."

Looking around, the only clubs with large numbers of members gathered in the gymnasium were the sports clubs.

There weren't many small, culture-focused clubs like Calligraphy Club or Tea Ceremony Club, but there was a decent variety. Most of them had the minimum of three members.

Still, none of them could compete with me. My Traditional Literature Club still consisted of just me, its lone member. I hadn't submitted Ryuen and the others' applications, and I was holding on to Hiyori's, too.

"The Student Council is gathering the club representatives over there. I'll head over first. See you in a bit."

When I saw the people who looked like club presidents getting up and heading backstage, I got a message from the Student Council secretary on my phone. It was time to go backstage and get ready to take the stage and "recruit."

"Oh? Aren't you the first-year I met yesterday? Glad to see you again."

When Nagumo saw me, he walked over with a false smile.

"Who could it be? Why, it's Vice President Nagumo. Aren't you doing business today?"

As Nagumo reached to put his hand on my shoulder, I dodged his grubby hand with a sidestep.

"Don't be so resistant, underclassman. I'm just offering you some guidance. This isn't the place for a first-year like you. Why don't you go back and fetch your club president?"

After I dodged him, Nagumo didn't give up. He stuck to me like a piece of gum.

"Vice President Nagumo, this is the first and last time I'll say this to you: you have the right to remain silent, but from now on, everything you say can be used as evidence in court."

"This isn't some American TV drama. There's no need for all that fuss. I'm just an upperclassman showing concern for an underclassman."

"Time's almost up. We should get ready to go onstage. Whatever's going on, settle it privately."

The matter ended when Horikita Manabu stepped in. Nagumo acted magnanimously and said he'd let me off the hook. I couldn't help wondering where he got the nerve to pick a fight with me.

"Line up in the order listed on the form we gave you beforehand. It's your turn to go onstage."

Once we were lined up, we went onstage at the call of Tachibana Akane, the Student Council secretary.

I couldn't understand why the Student Council had chosen this format for the club presentations. They put representatives from every club onstage at once, but only let one club representative speak at a time.

Even the opening ceremony was more interesting. If it were up to me, I'd have the sports club representatives compete against each other onstage, while the smaller clubs held a battle of wits. It was all about "merit," after all. Wouldn't that be more fun than watching them fake enthusiasm during their speeches?

Once the captain of the Archery Club finished speaking, it was my turn. The Student Council hadn't said the speeches had to be aimed at new students, so what I planned to say should be fine, right?

"My name is Sima Zhenglong, and I'm the president of the Traditional Literature Club. I'm not here to recruit new members. To be frank, the requirements for joining my club are extremely high.

"I'm here mainly to clear up some rumors.

"It's true that the Traditional Literature Club was founded by me, a first-year student, and that I'm still its only member.

"Even if the club has only one member for the next three years, the school won't disband it.

"Everyone knows how many personal points new students get when they enroll, so I don't have that many points to spare.

"Finally, and most importantly, the method I used can be replicated. If any of you club representatives are willing to pay a certain price, I can tell you how—for a fee.

"I'll be waiting for you in Class 1-C. See you around."

Calling it a rumor-clearing speech was a rumor in itself. My real target was clubs whose membership numbers were hovering dangerously close to the limit.

My method really could be replicated, so I wasn't lying to them. Whether they could actually pull it off was none of my concern.

I'd see how many fish I could catch. I wasn't above taking whatever scraps I could get.

The only sensible thing about the presentation was that club representatives could leave the stage as soon as they finished speaking.

Come to think of it, before I got offstage, I sneaked a glance at Horikita Manabu and saw that his face was livid. That made me happy.

"If anyone comes to ask about lifting the club membership limit later, tell them it'll cost five hundred thousand personal points.

"And they'll have to wait three days. If fewer than five people sign up after three days, the deal's off.

"If anyone from our class wants to join one of those clubs with only three members, talk them out of it for now. Put more pressure on the clubs that are short on members. And remember, they have to pay before signing up for the lessons—and sign a contract first."

After giving Ryuen a few instructions, I left the gymnasium with Hiyori.