Chapter 99 – Does a Member of the Going-Home Club Dream of Winning a Competition?

 

Spring break was finally over. 

 

When I blinked my eyes, everything was over.

 

Since the class announcement, time passed without anything meaningful happening.

 

If I were on the royal road of adolescence, for the rest of the spring break, I would be hanging out with the heroine, sub-heroine and the harmless mob at a beach, pool or anywhere where they could show their naked bodies for the world to see.

 

Unfortunately, I belonged to the most powerful club in Andromeda, the going-home club. I wouldn’t involve myself in such uncouth and cliched activities. Not only was it a waste of energy, it was also a waste of time. 

 

That was the reason why I ended up not leaving my house at all during this period of time. In return, my sense of time was in disarray, but that was a small price to pay for happiness.

 

It was already April but the cherry blossoms haven’t bloomed yet. It seemed that it would take a while longer for it to happen. Still, looking at the brighter and more colorful scenery made me able to tell that the season had changed. Aside from that, the weather got warmer and it was comfortable to walk around now.

 

However, despite the comfortable atmosphere outside, getting up in the morning was still hard for me. It was the first day of school but at the same time it was Monday, I just couldn’t feel any excitement on Mondays. End my misery.

 

*   *   *

 

The floor where the third-year classes was in felt uncomfortable to be in. It had this unsettling atmosphere, probably because I still felt like a second year. I knew that Aki-senpai and the other senpais had gone already, but the place still felt intimidating to me.

 

I entered my class and saw that both Makoto and Tsuru were already inside. We greeted each other and after that, I immediately went to check the seating order on the blackboard.

 

“My name… My name is…” (T/N: He said this in English)

 

I found my name near the center, the seat right in front of Makoto and diagonally on the right of the Empress herself, Hiwa Arina. That would be a perfect place for her to assassinate me.

 

After that, I went there and greeted Makoto.

 

“You’re behind me? Seriously?”

“They ordered it by name.”

“You’re right beside Arina too.”

“It isn’t like I wanted this! I’m scared, okay?!”

“This is going to be fun.”

 

Makoto was trembling in his shoes. He hadn’t seen the current Arina, it seemed. I moved to organize my things while trying to calm the guy down when the Empress herself finally descended.

 

The atmosphere inside the class instantly froze.

 

Those who knew of her poisonous tongue.

 

Those who were intoxicated by her beauty.

 

Those who found out that the girl was in the same class as them.

 

Those who fell in love with her at the first sight.

 

Meanwhile, the girl herself just gave them a small bow before walking to the blackboard. After seeing that, the other classmates resumed their activities, whether it was chatting or organizing their belongings. Yet, there was still awkwardness lingering in the air. They acted as if they were being watched by an apex predator.

 

In the midst of that, Arina finished checking her seat and walked toward us in an unhurried manner. Her footsteps echoed loudly and steadily.

 

“Yo.”

“Your seat is here, huh?”

“This is probably Akakusa-sensei’s works.”

“Maybe, who knows.”

 

When she sat down, Makoto let out a small shriek.

 

Seeing this, Arina called out to him.

 

“My, hello.”

“H-H-Hello…”

“Don’t look so scared. I won’t hurt you or anything.”

“O-Okay…”

“By the way, you confessed your feelings to me before, right?”

 

She casually dug up the past that he wished to forget. He confessed his feelings to her in a spur of the moment during the first-year and got completely rejected by her. That experience gave him a mental scar to the point that he would start trembling whenever she entered his field of vision.

 

“I said such horrible things back then, right? I’m sorry about that. I hope that you’ll live a happy life with your current girlfriend.”

 

Said Arina in a gentle tone.  Makoto straightened his back as he opened his eyes wide. He looked at me, trying to ask me something while moving his eyes around but I didn’t understand what he was asking me about, so I just gave him a random nod.

 

Then, he suddenly leaned forward and whispered in my ear.

 

“H-How?! She just became a real bishoujo!”

“It’s called character development.”

“But, isn’t this too much?! That mysterious air and her manner of speech… She’s a real bishoujo now!”

“You’re repeating yourself, calm down.”

“Nay, Brother, I can’t calm down in this situation! If the boys were to find out about this, they would flock over here like flies and our daily lives would be destroyed by them!”

 

I tried my best to calm his a*s down but he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut for a second, so I threatened him with Ruka’s name. That caused him to be depressed because she wasn’t in the same class as him anymore, but that was a good enough sacrifice for peace.

 

As for Arina herself, the image of her as a troublemaker still lingered in everyone’s mind, that was why the only girl who approached her at first was Tsuru. But, gradually, other girls mustered their courage to talk with her. She didn’t turn them away, instead, gave them a smile and welcomed a conversation with them.

 

The rest of the morning was occupied by the opening ceremony, the students buying stuff they needed for classes and a photo shoot. After that, lunchtime finally arrived.

 

Mom gave me money instead of lunch, so I went to the cafeteria. Since the new school year just started, there were no club activities yet and I was able to get some bread without fighting a war. It was a miracle. Normally, those girls who were in the sports club would do their best to kill me and I woulda break a bone or two before getting anything edible.

 

“You’re getting out unscathed today, huh?”

 

As I was about to leave, Shirona called out to me. Like last year, we got into separate classes.

 

“Yeah. It feels like something is lacking, though. As expected, between touching and not  touching the girls’ bodies feel different.”

“So you did cup a feel, huh? You’re the worst.”

“That was a joke, a joke!”

“Anyway, Sui, have you heard about the sports festival?”

“What’s up with that?”

“You know there is an inter-club relay, right?”

“Ah, that lowly relay that didn’t recognize the going-home club’s legitimacy? What’s up with that?”

“I heard from someone in my class that they’ll be letting students who aren’t in any clubs participate this year.”

 

What? Did that mean the school finally acknowledged our club’s existence?

 

“Finally they recognized our contribution to this planet.”

“So, will you enter the relay?”

 

Of course! I would win easily if I were to join in. I was a member of the International Going-Home Club Association, my power level was way above those babies from baseball or football clubs. Even I was scared of my own power, those guys wouldn’t be able to handle even 1% of it!

 

“Let’s talk about it again when they confirm everything. Catch ya later.”

“You’re all motivated for the event, huh?”

 

This would be a good chance to show off our club’s power. I went back to the classroom after parting ways with Shirona.

 

Since Makoto’s seat was right behind mine, it was inevitable that we would eat our lunch together. It had been two years since we started doing this, we didn’t need words to start our little lunch party by now.

 

“Dear Makoto. I’m going to beat both you and your club.”
“What? What are you talking about? Did I do something to you?”

 

I briefly told him about the sports festival and he laughed at me after that.

 

“Dream on.”

“What?”

“You can’t beat us that easily, let alone the soccer club. Even we can’t beat them easily, you know?”
“How dare you underestimate the potential of the going-home club! Me being there is enough to bring us to victory!”

“You think you’re strong enough?”

“Of course. Do you think my tall and well-built body is just for show?”

 

I was agile and athletic enough to make my mom ask me whether I was a monkey in my previous life or not. I didn’t have enough opportunity to show my full capability off though, because it was troublesome.

 

The public didn’t know that I received a NASA commendation for destroying an asteroid that approached Earth and preventing a terrorism using biological weapons.

 

“Also, we have Arina on our side.”

 

She wasn’t exactly a going-home club member, but I would do everything to drag her into my team. I knew that she was quite athletic.

 

At my voice, Tsuru, Arina and the perverted girl, Kaya, who were having lunch together, let out a strange voice and turned their gazes on me.

 

“We can always ask Arina to go nude during the festival. Everyone will forget about the competition and we can get an easy win. Well, some people might admonish me for this, but I can just go nude alongside her. Hell, let’s just turn the festival into a nude fest!”

“I’ll never do that. I’ll report you to the police.”

“Don’t worry, that’s our last resort. We’ll do our best to win fairly first.”

“I can do it instead of her~”

“You, shut up. Stay in your house and read your p*rn book instead!”

 

After hearing my words, those three looked away from me. Actually, no, one of them was still looking at me with an excited look. Nevertheless, I ignored her and looked at Makoto instead.

 

“We’ll win. But first, I’ll have to recruit some people.”

“You weren’t joking?!”

 

*   *   *

 

After lunch, I immediately went to look for Toma. Since I didn’t know which class he was in, I just went to random classes and shouted out his name. Turned out he was in class 4.

 

“What happened?!”

“I have a favor to ask.”

 

I told Toma about my plan and asked for his cooperation.

 

*   *   *

 

A few days later.

 

The first-year students started attending the school and the atmosphere started to become more lively.

 

A certain poster was posted all over the school.

 

Arina came to me with said poster in hand.

 

“What is this? Did you make this?”

“Yes.”

“What is this even? ‘Gather, the strongest going-home-er! We’ll defeat the sports club!’ What?”

“You’ll also participate, by the way.”

“I heard nothing of this.”

“You did just now.”

“I see… Are you part of that crowd? Uh… Chuu something?”

“Chuunibyou?”

“Yes, that.”

“Of course not. Those people would dress up to show the world how different they are from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, I’m completely normal, right? Well, aside from my speech, I did nothing else to be lumped together with those guys.”

 

Arina raised an eyebrow.

 

“Just your speech, huh?”

“Yes. You can say that I’m all talk and no action.”

“I see! Now I understand why you like to joke around!”

 

Said Arina as she pointed a finger at me smugly.

 

“You watched too many foreign movies, especially American ones and they influenced you somehow.”

 

Wow, she got that one right.

 

The foreign movie essence ran through my blood, bone and skin. From my character to metaphors and jokes I made, all were influenced by them.

 

“O-Of course not!”
“That’s a lie. When you’re stuttering like this, it’s obvious that you’re lying.”

“You’re so terrible… I’m going to cry…”

“Anyway, didn’t you quit the going-home club?”

“I’ll be signing up as a former member of the club.”

“I see.”

 

In any case, the decision to add Arina to the roster was a solid one. We had to win the thing, both literally and visually. The going-home club had to quit their club activities for a while to spend their after school time with her.

 

Imagine if we could actually win the thing. I wanted to see a miracle like that happening once in my entire life.

 

Well, this was just the beginning.