COTE: Unknown prodigy

Chapter 4: Club fair

Once we arrived to the club fair, I noticed that the gymnasium was already filled with students from all different classes talking to one another as they waited around the stalls. The fair hadn't been scheduled to start for another 5 more minutes so we decided to wait around the entrance until it would begin.

"Hey Ayanokoji-kun, are you here to join a club?" Whilst i was talking to Matsushita, Kushida had walked up to me and my group.

She was accompanied by Onodera and some other girls that I hadn't met before. One of them I remember seeing during the entrance ceremony. She was sitting in the class B section and stood out because of her long pinkish-coloured hair. Much like Kushida, she could be described as highly attractive, even more so than Kushida. I wouldn't be surprised if she hadn't already been confessed to.

"I'm not really interested in joining a club right now, so I'm only here to look around. What about you? Are you planning on joining a club?" I asked her the same question.

"No, Onodera-san said she wanted to join the swimming club, so I decided to come with her."

Once me and Kushida finished talking, we decided that we should join our two groups together so that we would now have one big group consisting of 10 people.

Because of this, we all introduced ourselves to each other and i learnt that the pink-haired girl was called Ichinose Honami and alongside her were two girls named Amikura Mako and Shiranami Chihiro. Both Ichinose and Amikura seemed like nice, sociable people, whereas Shiranami looked to be more on the introverted side, slightly reminding me of Inogashira.

"When is this thing going to start? I'm beginning to get tired." Karuizawa complained, irritated that the fair still hadn't started. I looked at my phone and saw that it had been two minutes since the fair was supposed to begin and many others in the room looked to be sharing the same feeling as Karuizawa.

"I'm sure it will start any minute now." Hirata said in an attempt to calm Karuizawa.

Right on cue, a girl with purple hair appeared on the stage and walked over to the podium, catching the attention of the students in the room.

"Sorry for the wait, we will begin shortly, but before that i would like you all to listen as the Student council President would like to say a few words." She announced to everyone in the gymnasium, calming their nerves after hearing the fair would begin in a few minutes.

After she said this, a tall black-haired boy walked over to the podium. He stood silently, surveying the students in the gymnasium before addressing himself.

"My name is Horikita Manabu. As you heard from my secretary, I am this school's Student Council President and before i begin i would like to thank everyone who decided to come and attend this year's club fair. I'm here to recruit potential Student Council members, so if you'd like to join, then please take an application form from my secretary once the fair begins. We are looking for promising students, so don't try applying if you aren't capable enough. I hope you all have fun during your time at this school." He finished his speech and then left the stage.

During his speech no-one dared to interrupt him as it felt like there was an invisible dominant force that stopped them from talking and once he left, that force disappeared and i could hear a few sighs of relief from those around me.

Ichinose then left our group and i remember her saying before that she wanted to join the Student Council so she was probably going to get an application form. Amikura and Shiranami decided to follow behind her.

"Come on, let's go look at what clubs they have." Sato proceeded to drag me along with the group as we followed Hirata who was searching for the football club.

There were many different clubs, like tennis, cricket, volleyball, art, basketball and many others. Due to how large the school was, it felt like there was a club for almost anything.

As we continued looking at the stalls, we eventually found ourselves at the football club and we waited for Hirata to finish signing up. Whilst waiting, Matsushita had noticed something.

"Ayanokoji-kun, i remember you saying that you liked playing the piano, why don't you join the music club?" She seemed to remember what i said during my introduction.

"It's only a pass time, and I'm not interested in any club right now." Matsushita didn't care about what i said and grabbed my arm, forcefully taking me to where the music club was.

Once there, we met a girl with brown hair that had a hairpin in the shape of a sunflower on the right side of her head.

"Hello, my name is Asahina Nazuna, I'm a 2nd year. Are you planning on joining the music club?" She asked with a soft smile.

"Sorry, I'm just loo-" Just as I was trying to apologize for wasting her time, Matsushita interrupted me.

"He's a bit shy, he likes to play the piano." Why is she trying to sign me up for a club?

"A piano player? We don't have anyone that plays the piano in our club right now, so it would be a great addition." She sounded excited after hearing that I play the piano.

"See, you're just what they need." Matsushita said, turning to me.

"I'm sorry, but I don't plan on joining any club right now." I said to Asahina who looked saddened after hearing i wasn't planning on joining.

I looked at matsushita internally, saying, 'look what you've done.'

She read my mind and sent me a glance that said, 'it's not my fault.'

I felt a bit bad for Asahina as Matsushita had led her into thinking i was going to join her so, I tried to cheer her up.

"If I ever decide to change my mind, then I'll be sure to tell you." Whilst I was probably never going to change my mind, I decided to say it anyway.

She lightened up a little after what i said and her previous smile returned. "Yes, if you ever change your mind please tell me."

"Yes i will, it was nice meeting you, Asahina-senpai." I said, saying my goodbyes.

"Wait, before you go, can i know your name?" Oh right, I forgot.

"Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, sorry for forgetting."

"It's fine, I hope the next time I see you, you'll have changed your mind." She waved as I walked away with Matsushita.

Once we were a far enough distance away, I finally spoke.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

...

Is she serious?

"I'm not going to play this game with you." I said in a more serious tone.

"Fine, i was getting payback for yesterday at the store." She reluctantly admitted.

Is she really that petty?

"So you tried to sign me up for a club unconsensually?"

"Maybe."

i sighed, "Promise me you won't do something like that again, it's too troublesome to deal with."

"Just don't give me a reason to." She replied, a mischievous grin was visible on her face that made me think that this wouldn't be the last time she tried something like that.

After re-grouping with Hirata, we decided it was time to leave as we had completed what we came here for.

Leaving the gymnasium, we slowly began heading back to the classroom to finish the rest of the day.