Click!
The door was opened.
"Jiang Wei, I'm sorry for getting late. The test results were put up." The speaker seemed to be exhausted. The voice was hoarse, yet rigid. Like hard rock hitting a marbled floor, it resonated with the creaking sounds made by the vibrations in the fan. It belonged to a man. A...handsome one at that. He stepped in to find us sitting by the table. As his eyes shifted over to me, the expression on his face dropped, only to for it to go pale. Despite the transition in his expression, his temperament was refined and calm. The dim lights in the club room made his pale skin appear much more paler. His features astonishingly charming.
"Did you manage to score well?" the club president questioned in a poise manner.
"...Of course, I ranked 2nd in the class. Setting that aside... who is this person?"
"Literature club's new member."
"Is that so.....Excuse me." pulling a chair over for himself, he placed it right next to me. He began to stare at me the second he got seated. It went on for a few minutes.
"???" {sweats nervously}
"That's enough. Rukawa, you're making her anxious."
"Ah am I?"
- silence -
"Hey, you look quite handsome."
SMACK!
"Why did yo-" he said in an surprised tone.
"Your comments don't suit your character." Jiang Wei retorted. "You should start with the introductions first."
"Hikaru Rukawa, class 12-A. Majoring in Arts & Literature."
SMACK x2
"Do it properly." The sound of that smack this time was rather strong, I couldn't help but feel my complexion darken.
"En? No it's okay Wei-" my voice cracked up midway which was rather humiliating. This...aren't the club members way too energetic? aggresive? insaneeeee???
"I'm Hikaru Rukawa, I'm in the same class as Jiang Wei. It's nice to have you on the club." The look on his face had yet again transitioned to a unique one.
H-HE WAS POUTING?! I DID NOT SEE THAT...
Morever! how can he look good even while making those unusual expressions? The heavens are really unfair!!! Now that I think about it, all the club members I've met until now were very good looking.
...
What is this?
It's exactly like the make-up of characters from an otome game. I'll be either suffering from an extreme inferiority complex or fall into the delusion of having a harem of myself.
"I'm Izumi Fujita from the psychology major, class 11-B. Thank you, I hope we get along. Um...where are the other club members?"
"Oh, they went home early today 'cause of some work. Nice name you got there." Am I being unnecessarily analytical or did his way of speaking change dramatically now? It seemed like he was testing me if I was worthy to be in this club or not. Ah, there goes my brain diving into the sea of overthinking again. I slapped myself in my head to clear up the thoughts that were muddling my thinking.
"Thank you. I should be the one saying it, you got the same name as my kin."
"No way...You....YOU READ SLAM DUNK?" Rukawa leaped up happily, his face a bit flushed in red and his eyes glinted in a light of excitement. As overly excited as he was, he didn't realize that leap of his caused him to lean a lot closer to me.
"AH! YOU TOO???" The name of the manga itself was enough for me to get sprinting around the clubroom. But finding someone who read it? In this hell of a school filled with normies? It was a rare, a very rare occasion. Cheerfully, I held his hand and in response so did he. We were extremely happy and indulged oursleves in talking about the manga, still unaware about the position we were in. The club president looked like a third wheel spectating lovers in an amusement park holding hands and talking passionately.
"Did you read the new chapter?"
"You bet! Sakuragi's play was so good!!!"
"AHEM."
- Jiang Wei clearing her throat was enough to snap the two little lovers out of their enthusiatic world. -
I turned my head to the club president only for her eyes to motion towards something below me. And so I eventually ended up glancing at the affectionate scene. Rukawa repeatedly followed the same steps as me. Both of our eyes fixated at it.
"Woah, guess I got too excited." I responded naturally while slowly breaking away.
"Same here. I don't have any female friends who read slam dunk, you're the first one. Jiang Wei only reads those stupid romance novels. She doesn't know what good stuff is, please teach her, ah."
"Well, everyone has their preferences so can't blame her. Rukawa-san should try to read some of her recommended novels too, in that way she would be convinced to read the mangas you recommend. What do you say?"
"No! I'm never reading those lengthy boring novels with no visuals! And just call me Rukawa."
"Um..."
"Don't with bother him. Shall we get engaged in some club activties? This will be your first. I hope you're ready."
"Y-yes." Although I don't know what I should be doing. Let's just smile and nod mhm.
"Here are some books. Read and write your reviews on them each, submission in 5 days. The reports will be evaluated by the vice president." The books handed over to me were heavy. Some had thick bindings and less page count, some had larger area which served as a supporting base as I held the books together, some had thin bindings but neverending texts, while some were small and light. There were a total of 9 books. The title of each book was something I was familiar with. The ones which caught my eye during my first inspection around the clubroom were all mentioned here. The club president was a good judge of character, it was truly commendable. She accurately picked out the books I would prefer to read so that I wouldn't get bored while completing the assigned task. After all this, I obviously couldn't say no and finally took up on that challenge.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Rukawa '流川' means flowing river
otome game 乙女ゲーム "maiden game", is a story-based video game that is targeted towards women. Generally one of the goals, besides the main idea/goal, is to develop a romantic relationship between the female player/main character and one of the second-lead male characters.
Harem is a kind of story in Japanese anime and manga where a male character is surrounded and loved by many female characters.
Slam Dunk is a manga/tv series