"Um…what are you doing Ogino?"
"SSHH!"
Ogino's hand wrapped around Fumiha's mouth. She could smell the slight scent of fruit coming from her hand.
The inside of the nearly pitch-black room was as close to absolute silence as possible. Some instruments could faintly be heard off into the distance from the band club, but apart from that, there was nothing.
Eventually, another sound cut through the silence. It was like a light scratching against the wooden floorboards.
"There you are!" Ogino let go of Fumiha's mouth and jumped into the darkness.
A desperate squeaking filled the room.
"Calm down, I'm not going to eat you."
Finally, the lights turned on. The pony-tailed girl was now holding a small brown and black hamster who was trying to escape her grasp. Ogino petted the hamster's small head as she closed it back into the small cage on top of one of the desks.
"Sorry about that," she apologized to Fumiha who was still standing by the door.
Although it might not look like it, this girl, Ogino, was the Journalism club president. Like Kinjo, she also wore a black tie and skirt.
"Cookie ran the moment I opened the cage to feed him." Ogino smiled as she stuck a finger through the bars of the cage.
"I still think you should get him a bigger cage. He doesn't look too happy there."
The hamster, Cookie, was walking back and forth in its small cage. It bit at the bars like a prisoner trying to escape at all cost.
"Well…I don't really have the money for that…" she lowered her head as she groaned. "Why can't we just get money for free!?"
"That doesn't sound like the best idea, but yeah!"
The club room door slid open.
"You don't need to encourage her," the familiar drowsy voice said.
Closing the door behind them was Kinjo, her eyes baggy as always.
"Come on, it would be great if we could get everything for free!" Ogino argued.
Kinjo sighed as she sat down in one of the six desks forming a rectangle. She pulled out a laptop from her bookbag and began typing away.
Ogino and Kinjo were the only two third years left in the club. Most of the other third years decided not to join clubs due to exams and whatnot, which only made their decision to stay in a club like this one that much weirder. It wasn't like the Journalism club was a laidback type of club, especially in the condition it was in.
"Did any of you find something interesting to put on next week's newspaper?" Kinjo asked the only two other members there.
"Shouldn't I be the one asking that? The club president should always be the one that—"
"Did you find something?" Kinjo cut her off.
"…no," she said in a whimper.
"Didn't think so." Kinjo turned to Fumiha, "How about you?"
"Hm…" she thought it over for a few seconds, but nothing really came to mind. It wasn't like much went on in school or outside of school. With things being like that, there was very little left to report on. "Uh…I found a stray cat on my way here."
Kinjo stared at her for a few moments before typing something in her laptop. "So nothing new."
Fumiha sighed.
"Okay!" Ogino started, sitting in the middle desk. "We are now officially starting today's meeting."
Sitting across from her was Fumiha. To Fumiha's right was Kinjo, and the latest person to arrive was sitting to her left.
"About time," Toi, the only guy present said with a sigh.
"I don't want to hear it from you!" Ogino snapped at him. "You were the last one to arrive!"
"And then it took you like two hours to start. So who's really at fault here?"
"Can you two stop arguing," Kinjo interjected and followed it with a yawn. "We need to get to the important stuff."
"R-Right." Ogino cleared her throat. "As you two first-years have seen, we are in a bit of a pickle."
Toi opened his mouth to say something, but Fumiha quickly elbowed him to shut him up.
"This club is still pretty new so we don't have all the details fleshed out on how to operate. Because of this, the fact that students aren't picking up the newspaper anymore is a troubling development."
From what Fumiha had gathered, the Journalism club wasn't a thing until last year. That meant that Ogino and Kinjo had been here the entire time the club had existed, which to be fair wasn't much. Whatever happened to all the other students who were in the club was unknown to her.
"For the next few days, your assignment will be to find something interesting for the school newspaper. You got that?"
"Yes, mom," Toi complained.
Fumiha elbowed him. As a fellow first year, she had taken it upon herself to be the one who deals with his childish attitude.
"Make sure that the stories are interesting. I'll let each of you decide what is considered interesting."
"Stray cats don't count," Kinjo looked over to Fumiha who awkwardly laughed.
"This is only our fourth edition this year, so we have to pick up the pace!" she slammed her hands onto the desk. "And with that, you're dismissed!"
"Huh? That quickly?" Toi asked.
"Well, it's not like we have much else to talk about. Next week's magazine is basically complete, right Kinjo?"
She made a thumbs up.
"Apart from that, we have all of next week to get the next one done."
"I guess…" Toi scratched his head.
"Then that means you're dismissed! Except for you Kinjo."
"Obviously," she said as she shut her laptop.
Toi and Fumiha left the club room together. This was the first time they were leaving this early so the sun was still high in the sky. The bright rays reflected off the shiny floor.
"Do you need to be home right away?" Toi suddenly asked Fumiha.
"Not really. My dad isn't expecting me to be home for about another hour and a half."
"Then how about we go get a little snack."
She thought it over for a moment but realized she didn't have much else to kill time.
"Sure." She answered. "But where though?"
He smiled at my question, "I got the perfect place!"