Cote: Retelling

Chapter 4: Clubs are the Path to Becoming Popular

An announcement spoken in a cute voice rings throughout the school speakers. "At 5 pm Japanese standard time today, we will be holding a student club fair at Gymnasium No.1. Students interested in joining a club, please gather in Gymnasium No.1. I repeat-"

Despite being on the roof, I can clearly hear the announcement.

"Sensei, can I gain extra private points from clubs?"

"Indeed, though the amount varies depending on the club and your results."

"So if my results are inadequate, I can also lose points?"

"Possibly." That's just a coy way of saying yes at this point.

"What club has the highest potential payout?"

"Greedy all of a sudden? Well, sports clubs with national competitions, I suppose."

"Alright. Thank you for your time sensei. Please don't take too long up here. The cold wind may be bad for your health." Turning around, I head for the roof door.

"Ayanokouji, are you going to tell the class about what you asked me?"

"Perhaps." I head down without looking back. I might reveal it to convince my classmates to buy an explanation from her. If class points are tied to behaviour, we might have already lost some. I'll evaluate my classmate's attitude in class before deciding. If it's satisfactory, I'll slowly feed clues to Horikita or some other prominent classmate like Kushida or Hirata and have them go down the same line of questioning I did. I want to be in the upper-middle of my class hierarchy, not the top. That would severely limit my freedom and time. If their attitude is desperately bad, I might make some excuse that lowers my credit and reveal it myself.

But for now, let's go buy that free vegetable set meal. It's still lunch and I haven't eaten.

I had a quick lunch in the cafeteria. Many other senpai were also taking the free vegetable set, and when I stopped them to ask what class they were, most didn't answer but the few that did answered D. I tried the set, but it was bland, unappetizing, and only gave the bare minimum of basic nutrition. I might take up cooking to have decent meals while minimizing costs.

After classes resumed, I observed my classmates closer than before. To generalize, there are:

model students: Hirata, Yukimura Teruhiko, Matsushita Chiaki, Wang Mei-Yu, Horikita

quiet students: Sakura Airi, Inogashira Kokoro, Mori Nene, Hondo Ryotaro

average students: Miyake Akito, Sotomura Hideo, Hasebe Haruka, Onodera Kayano

distracted students: Shinohara Satsuki, Karuizawa Kei, Sato Maya, Okitani Kyosuke

And finally, the troublemakers, including Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji, Sudo and Koenji. If anyone'll drag the class down at this early stage, it's them. I'll do something about them once given the opportunity, but the club fair comes first. However, going alone is not preferable, meaning-

"Hey, Horikita-"

"I have no intentions of joining a club."

"I didn't even ask anything yet."

"Well, what was it?"

"Want to go to the club fair?"

"Do you have dementia, Ayanokouji-kun?"

"No."

"Then you heard me. I have no intention of joining a club."

"But that doesn't mean you can't go to the club fair. You probably have a free schedule, right? You prefer being alone so you wouldn't have made plans, and since school has barely started there's no need to bury yourself in studying."