Gains

"A club information session will be held at the First Gymnasium today, starting at five in the afternoon. Students interested in joining a club, please gather at the gymnasium. I repeat, today..."

An announcement played over the speakers.

"Lezheng, would you do this young lady the honor of accompanying her to the gymnasium?" Sakayanagi's appearance snapped Lezheng out of his daze.

"Hmm? Are you talking to me?" Lezheng looked left and right, confirming that Sakayanagi was indeed addressing him.

"Perhaps there's another student here with the surname Lezheng?" Sakayanagi smiled.

"Normally, I'd definitely accept, but these are special circumstances. Please allow me to decline."

"You can consider this an invitation from a friend."

"But this is only the second time we've spoken."

"In that case, I'll be sure to find a way to make you my 'friend.'" Sakayanagi's gaze grew serious.

Lezheng said nothing, simply getting up and leaving.

At present, Class A was divided into three factions: the Katsuragi Faction, the Sakayanagi Faction, and the self-proclaimed Neutral Faction, which watched from the sidelines. However, Lezheng belonged to none of them. He clocked out right on time every day, and Kamuro was the only person in Class A he had spoken to a few times.

Still, Sakayanagi seemed to have classified him as a member of the Neutral Faction.

More than ten people stood on the central stage in the gymnasium. After several minutes passed without anyone else entering, one of the girls raised the microphone in her hand and began her introduction.

"Hello, first-year students. Sorry for the wait. I'm Akane Tachibana, secretary of the Student Council, and I'll be hosting the club recruitment event..."

Then, at Tachibana's signal, the representatives of each club began their speeches.

The Archery Club, the judo club, the sports club, the tea ceremony club... In short, their speeches were very compelling, and quite a few new students joined the various clubs.

But what surprised Lezheng was the piano club. Its representative was a girl dressed very cutely, though that wasn't the point. Rather, they had a rule that they only accepted girls.

This rule also sent quite a few boys who had fallen in "love at first sight" away in defeat, though there were still some oddballs...

"I really did win a national piano competition back in middle school!" a boy shouted.

"But we only accept girls into our club," the girl from the piano club replied, sounding slightly apologetic.

"You're letting my talent go to waste!"

"But..." The girl wanted to keep explaining, but her companion tugged at her.

"Then, what's your name?"

"My name's Haruki Yamauchi. Are you going to let me join? Then I guess I'll have to accept. Hahaha!" Yamauchi laughed.

"But I checked all the past champions, and I couldn't find your name."

"Th-that's because I asked the organizers not to disclose my information. After all, that would cause me a lot of trouble." Yamauchi began to stammer.

"Tch, I've already worn that excuse out," someone in the surrounding crowd of onlookers suddenly remarked, making Yamauchi's face instantly turn red.

"Just you wait. I'll go get my certificate and show you right now!" Yamauchi squeezed his way out of the crowd.

Seeing that the show was over, Lezheng shook his head and began looking for a club that suited him. Unfortunately, he found none, so he could only leave.

Bored, Lezheng decided to use this time to explore the school and gather some useful information along the way. The hundred thousand private points the school had distributed, along with the free provisions at the convenience store and cafeteria, all suggested something was off. The teacher had also made those ambiguous remarks.

School was out now, so the shopping mall was packed with students. Since practically all the first-years were at the gymnasium, he planned to make contact with some upperclassmen.

Lezheng entered a café and found it filled with groups of people, all heatedly discussing something. He sat down in a corner, switched on his phone's recorder, and put it in his pocket.

Like this, Lezheng kept going in and out of various public places.

"This is the last place for tonight." Lezheng looked up at the three large characters overhead-Library.

The library here was several times larger than the one at his previous school, and its surroundings were exceptionally good as well.

Perhaps because school had only just started, only a few scattered people were in the library. Lezheng picked up a book at random, sat down, and began reading intently. Whenever he read, he felt as though he were right there in the book.

That lasted until the vibrating alarm he had set in advance jolted him out of it.

"It's already eight in the evening? Time to head back." After returning the book to its place, Lezheng set off for the dormitory.

Beneath a tree in front of the dormitory entrance, a petite girl was poking at something with a stick. Before long, however, she crouched on the ground in dejection, hugging her knees.

"Hello, do you need any help?"

The girl turned to look. The first thing she saw was a hand extended toward her, followed by a smile.

"Y-yes... My hair ribbon got blown up into the tree." Taking the boy's outstretched hand, the girl stood up, then pointed overhead.

"All right, I'll get it down for you." Lezheng took the stick from the girl's hand, aimed briefly, then gave it a light toss.

The stick struck the branch holding the ribbon, then fell under gravity's pull, along with the hair ribbon.

Lezheng caught the stick, while the girl caught the slowly drifting ribbon.

"Th-thank you." The girl bowed to Lezheng.

"You're welcome. If there's nothing else, I'll head back." Lezheng helped the girl straighten up.

"Lezheng, I'm Yamamura Miki from Class 1-A."

"I didn't realize we were classmates. But how do you know me?" Lezheng was a little puzzled.

"Because you're... you're very good-looking." Yamamura turned her head away, blushing.

"..."

"Oh!" Yamamura suddenly realized something.

"What's wrong?" Lezheng looked at Yamamura curiously.

"Lezheng, you can actually see me!"

"My eyes can still see for now."

"S-sorry, that's not what I meant." Yamamura hurriedly began explaining.

As it turned out, Yamamura had so little presence that people often overlooked her. That was why, even though she had nearly been frantic enough to cry just now, not a single person had come to help.

"I don't know about anyone else, but I can see you."

"But you didn't even recognize me just now," Yamamura muttered.

"Because all I do every day is sit in my seat spacing out. Kamuro is the only person in class I remember."

"All right, I forgive you." Yamamura's earlier dejection vanished.

"It's getting late. Let's head back together."

"Okay."

Back in his room, Lezheng took out his phone and began playing back what he had gathered that afternoon.