Fable (on hiatsu)

10. Clubroom

Monday

The weekend was exhausting. We spent it making a stack of potions of all kinds and when that was finished, we set to build  the stall. From scratch. Needless to say we were drained by the time Monday rolled around.

I got out of bed, as stiff as a board. I groaned with every step that brought me to the washroom. Finally achieving my goal, I slumped onto the counter. Ugh. My eyes had big dark bags hanging under them, my hair was barely better than a bird’s nest and my skin was pale.

What a nice morning.

 After breakfast, Kyuu and I walked to school. The morning was already cooler than yesterday. It seems like winter is rolling around. As we walked under the canopy of trees lining the road, a chorus of birds sang an ode to the morning. Beautiful.

"So, you joined a club too, Craft?" Kyuu asked me. Her silky hair was spun into two buns on either side of her head, kind of like animal ears.

"Yeah. Toby came up with it. We're investigating the Supernatural... or something like that?"

"The Supernatural, huh? Don't you really like that kind of stuff?" She froze, paling, “Isn’t that kind of stuff usually scary?"

"Erm... Well there are a lot of cases like that, but its not all scary..." It can be terrifying if you meet the wrong people, but I know a lot of good Beings. "It’s the same as humans, really. Some are scary, some make you happy and some are simply normal."

"Is that so?" She turned and gave me an interested/surprised look. Her eyes were hazel and the kind that continuously look happy.

"Yeah."

... When we got to school we separated. She ran off to her friends from the cosplay club and I joined my friends. I guess I should call us the Paranormal Research Club, from now on though. Jo was sitting on the stairs tugging nervously on his black hair and eyeing every passing girl nervously. His burgundy eyes rested on each and every one, flitting from one to another, resting no more than a second. See, Jo is complicated. He loves girls. He is scared of speaking to girls. Girls are attracted to him because he is a "bishonen", a hot guy. According to them.

In other words, Jo is in a living hell.

Next to him sat Toby, staring at the last monarch butterflies of the season. Though he isn't necessarily bad looking (Kyuu told me one night while watching TV) his *ahem* reputation precedes him. He has light red-orange hair (natural) and blue eyes. To his utter despair his only girlfriend, ever, was a girl in kindergarten. That lasted three days.

As for me, I am in love. No need to say anything more.

The boys looked up as I approached, a smile illuminating their faces.

"Craft! We have a club room! We can go there after school!"

"Sounds cool. What will we be doing anyway?" I asked, standing before him.

"Research!"

"That's all huh."

"Pretty much all I have in store till now. We're going to have to wait a month before doing stuff~" I can swear I felt the hostility from that last comment.

"... We're gonna prank people into believing ghosts are invading the school?"

"Nope, though that sounds fun. We are going to be EXPLORING."

I felt as if I had swallowed an iron basketball. Ouch.

"I'm not sure I even want to know..." I waited a few second for form. "Okay, where?"

"Here. At night."

"You do know breaking into the school at night is illegal right?"

"Don't worry, we'll take a set of keys. We won't be breaking in!"

"That's stealing. Also illegal, for your information." I grinned. "I'm in."

"YEAH! Jo is too, by the way. I had to convince him... but he's agreed." Toby snuck an amused glance at Jo.

"Glad to hear it."

The bell rang and we rushed off to class.

After school

We waited by the teacher's room for the keys to our new clubroom to be handed to us, before rushing up the stairs (after acquiring the said keys) like crazed monkeys. We reached the right hallway and trotted to our assigned room. With cheer, we unlocked it and stepped into a glorified closed.

"Yeah!" We all cheered, unaffected by the tiny size of the room. It had a small round table and four chairs. A tiny window at the back had a view of the soccer field where a match was being played.

We spent the afternoon making a sign to hang outside the door and some recruitment pamphlets. We needed four members to be allowed to function like an actual club. We also made a list of things we were going to do. This went along with a fair share of arguing.

"Let’s make a book with a compilation of all the supernatural tales and creatures to publish at the end of the year!"

"No! Let’s make a slideshow with all of our findings with cool music and stuff!"

"How about a cool poster with all of them combined?"

The fight over these three ideas went on for about twenty minutes before we decided to combine all three. Publicise the book with a video, put the poster as the cover and compile all our findings into a Guide. We were exalted.

Before leaving, at five, we stuck our sign outside the door and admired it.

"We look almost professional, now!" Jo exclaimed, looking proud. We all agreed. This was going to be really fun.

"Since I'm your president now, you guys," Toby ranted "We all have to bring computers tomorrow so we can begin research! Dismissed!" He exclaimed, a goofy grin clinging to his face.

"Aye aye, sir!" Jo and I replied with the same expression.

Laughing, we all headed home. Time for work.