Warmth Of A Genius | Classroom Of The Elite

Move 4 - The Student Council

Today was Friday, our first full week of school at the Advanced Nurturing High School was about to wrap up. Normally we'd have classes in the afternoon, but the first Friday of the year seems to be a special exception.

"Excuse me, you two! Would you be interested in signing up for the art club?"

"Hi there, you two are freshmen right? How about joining the basketball club!"

"Hey, first years! How about checking out the soccer club?"

Sanada and I were walking through the gymnasium where all of the school's clubs had booths set up to try and recruit as many freshmen as possible. No matter where we went, we were approached by 2nd and 3rd years who were trying to get us to check out their club.

"I knew it'd be busy, but I think we underestimated just how busy it would be," Sanada said. Before coming here we thought we'd been smart by coming 30 minutes before the gymnasium was supposed to close, hoping that most students had already checked out and signed up for clubs. Unfortunately for us, many other students seemed to have the same idea. I was told by one upperclassman that towards the middle of the afternoon it was almost dead quiet in the gymnasium.

"Great minds think alike, clearly," I said, trying to crack a joke. Sanada didn't laugh, but he did crack a smile. Whether it was one of pity or not is up for debate honestly. "You said you weren't interested in joining any clubs right, what made you change your mind?"

When we had lunch with Hashimoto on our first day, both Hashimoto and Sanada expressed no interest in any clubs. Hashimoto stuck to his word, but Sanada seemed really interested in joining a club today out of seemingly nowhere.

"I overheard some upperclassmen yesterday when I was heading to the dorms after class. Apparently joining a club in the school is beneficial to you in some way. While that didn't completely win me over, it did make me do some research into the clubs at this school."

Beneficial to you? Something about the way he worded that rubbed me the wrong way. While it could be interpreted as having you participate in an activity and getting to meet new people you'd normally never talk to, I don't think that's the kind of benefit Sanada was referring to.

In the single week I've been around Sanada I've found out that he's pretty friendly but can also be surprisingly calculating at times. If there's a chance that joining a club would actually benefit him outside of the typical student life benefits, Sanada would surely be interested to an extent.

"I looked over the clubs not expecting much, but I'd be lying if I said none of them interested me. There was one in particular that piqued my interest at least a little bit," Sanada pointed towards a booth at the end of the gymnasium. It was the one place we hadn't checked out yet. I did notice that it seemed like Sanada was searching for a booth in particular and I guess this would be it.

"I didn't take you to be the type to enjoy archery, color me surprised," I told him. The booth was relatively empty. There was one student with purple hair in front of the booth who was signing up for the club but other than that nobody came by to check out the archery club. The clubs that were positioned next to the archery club seemed a lot more popular.

"Would you believe me if I told you I actually did archery when I was younger? My dad used to do archery as a hobby. He brought me along when I was pretty young and I got a taste for it. My junior high didn't have an archery club, so I just assumed this school wouldn't be any different," Sanada let out an awkward laugh as he scratched the back of his head. I assume he was slightly embarrassed by making such a childish assumption.

"I'm going to check out the archery club. If it doesn't interest you, I don't mind if you go home already, Ayanokouji-kun. I'll let you know if I end up joining or not," Sanada said with a smile. I've enjoyed hanging out with him so far. He's rather friendly, he's also not overly energetic or extroverted like I've noticed a lot of class B's students are. But most importantly of all, he doesn't drag me around if he knows I'd rather do something else. I like that about him.