Wednesday morning I did the usual of briefly talking to Yuuki and Kimori in the morning. During lunch with Yuuki I was handed a bento box filled with two tamagoyaki (rolled eggs), two onigiri (rice balls) each had a smiley face made with seaweed, pieces of chicken, broccoli, and sausage. "Wow, it all looks really good, this is ten times better than anything I could manage" I said, shocked at her previous statement that she wasn't the best at it.
"Really? Please let me know how it tastes, if it's not good I will buy you something from the school store."
I took a bite of the tamagoyaki, then of the rice and chicken, everything I ate was packed with flavor. "It tastes great. Seriously, it's all amazing!!" That wasn't even me trying to be nice, no one in my family really made food, it was always take out or restaurants, not that it was terrible or anything, but a homemade meal was a rarity, top that off with great flavor and "it gets a 10/10 for me."
"I am glad you like it, I can try to make you lunch more often if you would like?"
"Thank you for the offer, but I can't accept that. This lunch was from what happened yesterday, so only if a similar situation occurs will I accept your offer." She seemed kind of sad by my rejection, but I would feel worse if I got free food consistently from her.
"Sounds good, we have a deal then."
"Question for you, what clubs should I see today?" I asked since I was confused on what to do.
"Hmm, how about the game club? After that I'm not sure."
"Why that one?"
"Well the game club is just fun to go to and their requests are simple."
"I see, I will go to that first then, thank you."
"At the rate you are visiting clubs you will be done sooner than expected. Good work." She said with sincerity like I was doing more than what was needed, I was happy to hear this.
"Most clubs are easier to visit than I expected, there are only a few I have had some trouble with."
"I don't blame you, most of the presidents here are third years and they all have their own quirks."
"Who is the weirdest and the most normal president then?" I asked to get her opinion.
"The weirdest one would be Kuroshi, the president of the witchcraft club, the one that asked for the strange materials. The most normal? That would be Amimono, president of the knitting club." I didn't ask this question to be judgmental or anything, but rather to clarify who is and isn't normal in this school.
"From who I have met so far I would have to agree with those choices."
"Haha, right, it's pretty obvious once you meet them, but they are all good people deep down."
I could tell that Yuuki really cared for all the students here, she was well acquainted with all of the second and third years, and she would spend her mornings talking to the first years to get a good understanding of them as well. She really was an impressive person.
"Thank you for spending this much time with me, Yuuki."
"Pfff, haha, that came outta left field. I told you, I consider you a real friend."
"Yeah but I don't think I did anything to earn that, I have only known you a little more than a week, and I still can't wrap my head around this whole situation."
"You learn a lot about someone when you chase them around the school for the better half of three days. You might not know me all that well, but I get the feeling that we are going to make a good team. Given that I have already decided that you're a good friend of mine."
How she can make such a declaration knowing so little about me is impressive, but the fact that I feel the same towards her is what makes it terrifying.
"Thank you, I will continue to work hard and just so you know, I feel the same. That we are friends who make a good student council duo and all."
After school I headed up to the second floor, room 209, the gaming club. I knocked on the door, the man who opened it did so in a quick fashion and then yelled, "in order to enter you must play me in rock, paper, scissors. You got that?! Good, ready set.
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!"
I was a tad thrown off by the quick passing, so I just threw my arm out into a scissors formation. Meanwhile the guy in front of me threw out paper.
"Well played young man, you may enter."
"Umm, right, thank you."
As I walked in I noticed something odd about the room's layout. It was surprisingly cramped but it wasn't small. They had two giant shelves going from the floor to the sealing, filled to the brim with different board games. They were all neatly stacked however. In the center of the room was a really long table going just short of end to end, there was just enough room to shuffle around the table to grab games and sit down, but otherwise it filled up the rest of the space. The club itself had a total of fifteen members, only five of which were currently in the room. Located at the black, or rather the head of the table was the president of the club. He had burgundy colored hair down to the top of his neck, and wore a purple button up under our school's black uniform.
"Welcome in newcomer please have a seat and let's play a game."
"No no, I am a new member of the student council, Kyoyota Arianagi, not a new member of your club, I was just wondering if-"
"Well then it's a pleasure to meet you Arianagi, I am Asobu Shosha the president of this club. Now please duel me as we talk."
"What do you suggest we play for me to ask my question?"
"Have you ever heard of the card game Takoyaki?"
"No I haven't, I don't play board games all that often."
"Really? That's sad. Well the rules are quite simple, it's a game that involves two players. Each player gets 10 cards, two rows of 5 cards, from a 52 card deck, all of which are faced down. Your goal is to make all of your face down cards into a row from 1-10 in order. The bottom right card needs to be an ace, while the top left card needs to be a 10. This is done by taking the top card from the 32 cards left and putting the number you get in its correct spot, then taking the card it replaces into its correct spot. If you draw a Jack, Queen, or King the turn passes, if you flip your card and it happens to be a jack, queen, king, or the same number in the right spot the turn passes.
He gave a demonstration, setting down 10 cards face down in front of him, he drew a 7 from the pile. He put the 7 in its correct spot, three spots away from the ten on the top row, then took the card it replaced. That card was a 3, putting that in the third spot on the bottom. The card beneath that was a queen which ended his run. "It would be your turn after that, do you think you got it?"
"Yeah, it looks easy enough, you're making a row of numbers in a proper order from 1-10, whoever gets all the numbers in the right spot first wins?"
"Correct, it's a game of chance, in extremely rare cases, one could even win in the first round." After he finished his explanation he shuffled. He was like a pro casino dealer for the way he shuffled, and even more so for how accurately he tossed the cards in the right spots, they were all perfectly distanced from one another. "Impressive card skills."
"Thank you, it just takes some practice. You go first Arianagi."
I picked up the top card from the deck, it was a king card. I put it down making another pile and my turn was passed. As Shosha was picking up his card he said, "Arianagi, why are you here?" His card was an ace, he put it on the 1 spot and picked up the card underneath, then set it down in the 8 spot, the card under that was a 9, then a 10, his run finally ended as he picked up the card under the 10 spot, which happened to be another 10.
"I came to ask if the gaming club needs anything, like materials or equipment."
I picked up my next card which was a queen, I set it down on the other pile and that ended my turn.
As he picked up his next card, he said "a new game would be nice." The card he got was a 2, leading into a row of a 3, 4, 5, 6, the card underneath the 6 was another 6. All he was missing now was a 7.
"A new game? What do you like to play?" I was confused because it looked like they had every game ever made. I picked up my next card, it was a 3, and underneath it was an ace, my small run of two ended when the card underneath the ace was another king.
"Anything at all really, we just like to play games, it's my passion, I wish to make my own games when I graduate. So anything new would tie us over for a week or two." He finished his sentence, and drew his next card, it was a seven. The game ended in his win.
"I s-" I was cut off as he started another round. I knew he wouldn't listen to me unless we were talking during the game. "You're rather quick on the uptake aren't you Arianagi?" Shosha said this after dealing out the cards. "You lost so it's your turn first again."
"I don't think I am quick on the uptake, you just seem like the type of person who likes to have a conversation while doing something." I drew a card, 8, placing it in the 8 spot, the card beneath it was a 3, leading to a 4, ace, and 7. My streak ended when the card beneath the 7 was a jack.
"I see, keep that intuition of yours, it seems pretty spot on if you can pick up something like that." He drew the top card. It was a 10, then an ace, 4, 3, 5, 2, then a jack.
"I am not sure how to do that, but I will try." I drew the top card, it was a 6, then a 2, the card in the 2 spot was another 2.
"You just keep learning, once you learn to love learning, life gets easier." He drew a 6, then a 7, and then a 9, under the 9 spot was a queen.
"From my experience, learning is less important than passing." I drew a 9, under the 9 was a king.
"Then fail." He said this sharply before drawing his final card, an 8, he won the game again. "Another game Arianagi?"
I nodded my head, he shuffled magnificently once more, and threw the cards perfectly in place. I knew it was my turn since I was the one who lost last time. "Tell me, what club should I see next?" I asked picking up an 8 as the top card from the deck, under the 8 was an ace, 3, 5, 7, 9, then a queen.
"The science club, they are always an interesting time." He drew his card. It was an ace, under it was a 10, then a 2, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 6, and lastly a 5. He won on his first turn, and I lost all three rounds. A game of luck and chances favored the better player. That was all that happened.
"Thank you Shosha."
"Anytime, Mr. Bad luck."
With that out of the way I headed to the science club, the building next to this one. The science club was located on the first floor, and they had a number of members. As I walked into the room however, there was not a single person inside, but there was a note on the teachers table, it read:
Treasurer of the student council, I am currently explaining the procedures, locations of items, and rules we have in both this building and for the club in general, we are in another area for today. For the time being our club needs no new equipment, thank you, see you when I see you.
Kagaku Gaku, president of the science club
I wondered how she knew I was coming? It was probably Yuuki who informed her, but I wasn't sure. After my losing streak today I seem to have failed in getting to know this club for the time being as well. I decided to go home since I was ahead of schedule in meeting the clubs, and I felt like if I kept going more losses would come my way. Since I got home earlier than usual I decided to call Hiro and tell him what has been happening as well as figure out the next time we can hang out. It took four rings of his phone before he picked up.
"Hi hi! Long time no talk, what's up Kyo."
"We spoke three days ago, don't act like you forgot about me."
"Hmm three days is a long time, people change in that time frame. Especially when it comes to someone's best friend."
"I have been busy these last few days, so I am calling to make up for that lost time, please don't leave me Hiro."
"Alright enough with the bit, what have you been busy with?"
"I joined the student council -"
"Pffffff," I heard him literally spewing out his drink. "People really do change in just a few days, you never join clubs let alone something that requires a lot of responsibility. What happened Kyo?! Is someone blackmailing you?!"
"What? No, I just got roped into it by the student council president."
"What position?"
"Treasurer."
"Yeah that fits."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Weirdly enough Tsu joined the student council at my school."
Tsubaki, Tsu for short, was another friend of ours in middle school. I knew she went to Hiro's school, but I haven't kept in touch with her. "Really, what position?"
"Scribe."
"Yeah that fits."
"I was also going to ask if you were free to hang out and do something soon?"
"Yeah, how does Saturday at 11:30am sound? We can meet up at Koen park." Keon park was a pretty big park playground in between my aunt's place and his, about a 15 minute walk away. We hang out there often, it kind of just became the go to place for our friends.
"Sounds good, see you then."
"Yup, later Kyo."