Since Chiaki told him that it wasn't necessary to rush with his replies to the love letters, Seiji temporarily put them in his backpack and decided to look at them during the lunch break.
During class.
While under the effects of his system’s [study] option, Seiji felt like there was a strong gaze upon him, and when he instinctively looked, he noticed… a purple-haired boy.
It was Takashi Kobayashi.
He and Kahei Watari were attending school like normal, with bandages on their bodies. It didn’t seem like they were seriously injured. The classmates didn’t pay their bruised conditions much attention either. As delinquents, it was only normal that they occasionally got injured.
When Takashi noticed Seiji looking back at him, he turned around and averted his gaze.
Seiji felt a bit confused. Kobayashi was one of the classmates he saved with his [do a heroic deed] action last Friday night. Even though that incident became a little out-of-the-ordinary, objectively speaking, he had saved two classmates and accomplished a good deed.
He was wearing a mask at the time… and no police or black-suited men came looking for him over the weekend.
When he searched the incident on the internet, he found videos taken by some bystanders using their cell phones, but due to the video footage being too exaggerated and the final result so outlandish, most comments doubted the veracity of the video, and there were relatively little views.
There were even less people blogging about it, so it didn’t cause even a ripple.
Nothing special happened; a masked hero didn't become popular overnight after just one act of justice.
Seiji thought that the incident had been fully concluded.
But now, Takashi Kobayashi was silently watching him.
Had he… been exposed!?
Seiji felt quite tense. Did Kobayashi recognize him? Was it only Kobayashi’s intuition or imagination? Or was it a coincidence and Kobayashi wasn’t even thinking anything, and he just happened be looking in Seiji’s direction?
Even if he had been recognized… it should be fine, right? He was the one who saved him, so it shouldn’t be too much to ask them to protect his secret… right?
'I'll observe the situation before making a decision afterwards.'
Seiji decided to stop thinking about it since he didn’t know Takashi Kobayashi's true motives.
After class.
Takashi Kobayashi didn’t approach Seiji to speak with him. Seiji glanced to see what he was doing, and found that he was chatting with Kahei Watari just like usual. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Seiji stopped observing them and was about to get up to go to the bathroom.
Just as he walked out of his classroom, a tall and sturdy boy walked up to him.
Seiji wasn’t exactly short, but this… senpai? This boy was taller than Seiji by at least half a head, and he had a ferocious appearance like that of a bear.
Seiji looked at the tall boy in confusion, but Seiji wasn’t the type to meddle in others’ affairs, so he was about to walk around the tall boy.
However, he was intercepted.
"You’re… the legendary transfer student, Seigo Harano, right?" The stocky senpai asked.
Legendary… when did he become legendary!? Seiji was quite astonished.
"I’m the captain of the soccer club, Daiki Takagi." Before giving Seiji a chance to respond, the tall and sturdy senpai continued: "After hearing about your exploits at the tennis and basketball clubs, I’m certain that you’re the person that the soccer club’s been looking for!"
"…What?" Seiji blinked in confusion.
*Slam!* Takagi-senpai abruptly placed his large hands on his junior’s shoulders.
"I request that you join our soccer club! We’re not an incompetent club like the tennis and basketball clubs—we’re all hot-blooded, passionate boys! Come, aim for nationals together with us and spend your hot-blooded youth here!"
His voice was loud and full of spirit.
Everyone in the class and hallway could hear him clearly.
"That’s Takagi-senpai from the soccer club… He’s here to convince Harano-kun."
"As expected, since Harano-san’s so strong at sports… I heard he singlehandedly defeated two clubs by himself!"
"I heard that as well—was it true? The tennis and basketball clubs were…"
"That’s right, it definitely happened. The tennis club has collapsed on itself, and the morale of the basketball club is rock-bottom!"
"Wow, that sounds like something only Harano-kun could pull off~"
"He’s a destroyer of clubs…"
People were gossiping secretly with each other.
'Just how did such rumors begin!?' Seiji was secretly astounded.
He had already anticipated that he might become infamous for the tennis and basketball club incidents, but… destroyer of clubs? What was with this immature nickname!?
It seemed that he had imperceptibly become a legendary creature himself…
Takagi-senpai was still staring at Seiji with shining hope in his eyes.
Seiji slowly opened his mouth and was about to say something when another voice interrupted.
"Let him go, Takagi, the legendary transfer student should belong to our volleyball club!"
A tall and slender senpai in a sports uniform with a bright and handsome face and wearing a ponytail suddenly appeared.
"Your soccer club already has quite a strong team; it’s not like you need a new student, right? Do you intend to make one of the senior students mad by adding a first-year newcomer to the varsity team, or do you intend for a talent like Harano here to be a benchwarmer?"
The ponytailed senpai chuckled coldly as his words hit the mark.
"Our volleyball club is different—we still lack a consistent, reliable ace! Harano-san can definitely join our club and compete with the other candidates. As long as he proves that he has sufficient talent, there’s no problem with him joining the main team! Everything in our club is decided based on talent! Harano-san, I’m the volleyball club captain, Shouta Eguchi. I sincerely request that you to join our volleyball club!" Eguchi-senpai exclaimed as he showed off his glistening teeth in a brilliant smile.
Seiji was rendered speechless at this.
"Heh, it seems that I was a bit late to the party, but that’s not important. I believe that the legendary transfer student will make the correct decision."
Another senpai appeared; this one was short but well-built, and he had a spiky hairstyle.
"For a talent like Harano-san who has such incredible stamina, the track and field club is obviously the best place for him to utilize his ability! Unlike team sports such as volleyball or soccer, track and field has both individual and team categories. Such a sport is definitely the most suitable for such an outstanding talent like Harano-san to show off his true ability! He can help raise the level of the entire team as well as joining individual competitions without worrying about any of his teammates being too much of a burden on him! That’s why you should come to our track and field club, Harano-san. In fact, as the track club captain, I, Kogorou Fujimoto, will promise that you’ll shine spectacularly in track and field!" The stocky Fujimoto-senpai spoke with great spirit.
Seiji didn’t know what expression he was showing anymore.
"The volleyball, soccer, and track club captains are all here… They’re all the captains of major clubs!"
"Is this the true ability of Harano-san? Destroyer of clubs…"
"Harano-san is too amazing—this is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this~"
"Which club will he choose?"
The spectators continued to gossip between themselves.
"Harano-san! Please join our club!" Three voices rung out simultaneously.
Each of the senpais had such a fierce atmosphere about them that it felt stifling and difficult to breathe.
'Somebody save me!!!' Seiji shouted mentally.
…
It took much effort, but Seiji finally managed to clarify that he wasn’t interested in joining any club for the time being, and convinced the three captains to leave him alone.
However, other clubs kept coming for him.
Baseball, swimming, football, bicycling, weightlifting, wrestling, gymnastics, mountain climbing, handball, ping pong, badminton… Just about every sports club he could imagine came to invite him!
Most of the club captains personally invited him, while the others were all vice-captains or managers. Even some strange clubs such as the fitness club, idol club, public affairs club, and butler club sought him out.
'So this school had that many clubs…' Seiji thought as he collapsed listlessly onto a table.
"Hahaha, you’re so popular, Seigo! You’ve become the target of every single sports club~" Chiaki couldn’t stop laughing. "But of course, your stamina is like that of a monster’s, and your reactions are incredible as well. You crushed your opponents in the tennis and basketball clubs with purely your physical ability, even if your technique wasn’t up to par. As long as you master the techniques of any sport, you’ll probably become the ace of that club, or maybe even an ace among aces! As long as you’re not held back by your teammates, it should be quite simple to obtain some awards~"
Mika next to her silently nodded; it seemed that she agreed with Chiaki’s conclusion.
"But I truly don’t want to join a club right now…" Seiji moaned from his position on the table.
As an otaku, his true nature wasn’t one where he liked sports—all the exercise he previously did was purely in order to raise his stats; going to the tennis club was only to test his newfound strength, and basketball was for the purpose of grinding points.
Joining a club without actually enjoying the relevant sport... That would make himself feel shackled, and it also felt disrespectful to the members that truly loved that sport.
How about… not going to any sports clubs to test himself in the future? But he still wanted to grind some points on occasion, especially this week… What should he do?
Time passed by as Seiji battled with his frustrations, and it was now lunch break.
Another wave of events were about to come for Seiji.