Mission: Reincarnation into COTE

Vol. 1: Chapter 4.2 - Meeting the Other Angel

As we were walking towards the gymnasium, I tried to make small talk with Horikita so as to not feel awkward while walking alongside her.

"So... is there any particular club that you want to join?" I cautiously asked Horikita, who then seem to ponder on an answer.

"There are a few that I have thought of, but none that I have decided on yet. The literature club was one of the choices."

"You do seem to read a lot. Was it the Nighthawk's Star that you brought today?"

Horikita widened her eyes. "You know of it?"

"Well, I have read few of Miyazawa Kenji's works. They have great themes and explore a lot of religious philosophy."

"I'm surprised that you actually know of his works. Not to be rude, but you do not seem to be a..."

"Functional student who cares about his academics?" I laughed half-heartedly.

"You said it, not me."

Well, I probably did read more literature than most of the other students in this school. While I was planning to major in science when in high school, both majors still had compulsory subjects that they had to take, with Basic Japanese Literature being one of them. As a result, I had read quite a few books in my lifetime. The only student that I could confidently say has read more books than me was probably Hiyori.

"What about you? What clubs are you looking to join?"

"Hhhhhhm, I would say the track team. I did track for three years during junior high and I'm confident that I could still compete reasonably well in high school."

"I see," Horikita said, nodding her head.

As we finished up our conversation, we arrived at the gymnasium.

The gymnasium was big. It was large enough to put some professional places to shame. Inside it was around hundred or so students, most of them being freshmen. We went near the middle of the crowd, and waited for the fair to start.

"Do you think there are any famous clubs within the school? Like a Karate club, for example?" Horikita asked curiously.

"A lot of clubs are famous in this school," I replied while flicking over the pamphlet given to us at the front of the gym. "Many of them seem to have made it to the national stage; including basketball, baseball and volleyball clubs. Ah, but it doesn't seem to have a karate club afterall."

"Hhhhhm."

Of course, I knew the reason why Horikita chose to ask about karate in particular. Both the Horikita siblings practiced karate for several years, and from my memory, Horikita Manabu held a 5th dan in Karate and a 4th dan in aikido. And this was supposed to be before he entered this school. It takes someone at least 6 years for them to reach 5th dan in karate, assuming that they have passed every examination that they took on their first try. This would accentuate that Manabu had practiced karate starting from at least during the the middle years of elementary school. That alone would be impressive, but also a 4th dan in aikido? Excluding the white room students, Horikita Manabu should be far above everyone else in terms of physical confrontation, even above the likes of Sudou, Nagumo, and Ryuen. As someone who had practiced martial arts as well, Horikita Manabu was someone who I could respect very much.

"Hey, Toshiro-kun!"

I turned around to face the voice that called my name. There, I saw Hirata and the Karuizawa group coming towards me.

"Hey guys."

"You two did come very early. You sure we are not ruining a moment here?" Matsushita teased, pointing at both me and Horikita.