Two days after the review session hosted by Juzo-san, the day finally arrived for all of us to begin our club activities together.
Once the day's classes were over, we headed to the room Hashimoto-sensei had applied for us to use—the social studies preparation room.
"Alright, let's head inside."
I used the key I'd borrowed from the faculty office to unlock the door.
"Whoa, this is something else..."
The social studies preparation room was lined with metal shelves on both walls, with a large table situated in the center. The shelves were packed with sun-bleached documents and ancient earthenware, while scrolls of Japanese and world maps were strewn haphazardly across the table.
"...Before we actually start any club activities, we're going to have to organize and clean this place."
"Agreed. We need to air it out at the very least. It’s incredibly dusty."
"It has this weird, musty smell of mold..."
"...Do we even have cleaning supplies in here?"
We had been fired up and ready to go, but our enthusiasm plummeted the moment we saw the state of the room. We shared a collective look and sighed, surveying the mess once more.
Well, I guess we just have to do it.
While we opened the windows to circulate the air, we spread a blue tarp borrowed from the janitor's office in the hallway. Hiiragi-san, Mika, and Saori-chan began carrying out the materials, dusting them off and wiping them down with dry rags.
Meanwhile, Yuji and I tackled the room itself. Heavy objects like the metal shelves, which would normally be a massive chore to move, were light as feathers thanks to the explorer correction. As I worked through the room using my Cleansing skill, the preparation room became recognizably clean in a remarkably short amount of time.
I had considered using the Cleansing skill on the documents as well, but I hesitated. What if the skill judged the old brushwork—the discolored ink—as "dirt"? If the content of the records vanished because of the skill, it would be a disaster. I decided not to risk it and stuck to cleaning the materials by hand.
"Phew... Finished."
After about an hour of solid work, we finally finished the cleanup. The dusty air and musty odor I’d noticed when we first arrived had been significantly diminished.
Exhausted, we slumped into the folding chairs around the central table.
"I’m tired and we haven't even officially started yet..."
"I know. But we couldn't exactly use the room while it was like that, could we?"
Mika and Saori-chan's complaints echoed through the quiet room. Even though they were now explorers, there was a clear gap in the degree of level correction between them and the three of us. Of course, the level of mental fatigue wasn't much different. We might have been fine physically, but mentally, we were all drained.
I pushed myself up from the table and addressed the four slumped figures.
"Look, the room is ready now. We’ve finished the preparations, so why don't we get down to business?"
"...Right. It feels like we've finished a major job, but in terms of club activities, we haven't even begun."
"Yeah. Unfortunately."
Responding to my voice, Yuji sluggishly sat up and scratched the back of his head. It really did feel like we'd just completed a monumental task.
"He's right. Let's do something to get started. Mika-chan, Saori-chan."
"Okay—"
"Yes."
Hiiragi-san sat up as well, calling out to Mika and Saori-chan to rally them. With that, everyone was finally ready to start, even if they were still flagging a bit.
First, I pulled two sets of documents from a clear file in my school bag, which I’d prepared earlier by downloading them from the tax office website. They were the "Notification of Opening of Business" and the "Application for Approval of Filing a Blue Tax Return."
"Here, these are for you."
I handed a set to both Mika and Saori-chan.
"...This is what you submit when you start a business?"
"It’s my first time seeing these... they look surprisingly simple."
"Well, yeah. Unless you're hiring employees, you basically just fill in the blanks and submit them to the tax office. It shouldn't take more than fifteen to thirty minutes."
Mika and Saori-chan's eyes widened. We’d had the same reaction when we first went to the tax office. It was hard to believe starting a business was such a simple procedure.
"The initial paperwork is easy for anyone. The annoying part comes afterward."
While the two were distracted by the forms, I reached back into my bag and pulled out another clear file. I couldn't exactly leave these particular documents just sitting in my bag unprotected.
"Here. These are the account books you’ll need to update daily."
I pulled out a printout of a portion of the double-entry bookkeeping I actually used. Mika and Saori-chan's faces immediately twisted in distaste. I couldn't blame them; I’m sure I’d made the exact same face the first time I saw it.
"It looks like a lot because there are so many pages, but it's not that hard once you're using accounting software on a PC."
"Yeah. Once you get used to it, it’s really not that bad," Yuji added.
"You have to learn the input methods, but it's quite straightforward," Hiiragi-san said.
With the three of us insisting it was easy, the girls' expressions finally softened.
"Is bookkeeping really that simple?"
"Pretty much. In the explorer profession, the types of entries are mostly consistent. Once you’re in a rhythm, it’s no big deal."
As explorers, we weren't buying inventory to resell, so it was mostly just recording the payouts for drop items, the cost of equipment, and transportation fees to the dungeons. Though, come to think of it, things had been a bit more complicated when I fronted the money for Mika and Saori-chan's spears.
"Anyway, let's put the bookkeeping aside for now and finish your notifications and blue tax return applications."
"Good idea. Better to knock these out one by one."
I collected the account books and took out my own copies of the forms I’d filed previously. These were my personal records, brought along to serve as samples for the two of them.
"Why don't you use these as a guide?"
"So this is Onii-chan's notification... wait."
"Um, Onii-san? In the occupation column, it doesn't say 'Explorer.' It says 'Hunter (Matagi)'..."
"Mh, well... what an explorer does is basically the same as a matagi, after all."
When I’d asked the clerk at the tax office what to write, I was told that for an explorer starting a sole proprietorship, the occupation should be "Matagi" and the business summary should be "dungeon exploration." I’d thought "Explorer" would have been fine, but I followed their instructions.
"Anyway, if you have questions while writing, just ask. Ready to start?"
"Yeah."
"Yes."
The two girls uncapped ballpoint pens and began filling in the details while referencing my samples.
While they were working, the door to the preparation room opened. Standing there was our club advisor, Hashimoto-sensei. She was carrying a binder and a laptop.
"Sorry I'm late... oh? My, this place has become quite clean, hasn't it?"
"We all cleaned it together before starting. Hello, Hashimoto-sensei."
"Hello!"
"Yes, hello. I see... you all cleaned it..."
Hashimoto-sensei set her documents and the laptop on an empty spot on the table and looked around the room. She let out a voice full of genuine admiration.
"It's incredible, everyone. This room used to be so dusty, but now there isn't a speck of dirt to be seen. I can't believe you managed this in such a short time..."
"We used a few tricks. The room itself was easy—though dusting off all those old materials was a bit of a chore."
The "trick" I referred to was, of course, the Cleansing skill. It made cleaning incredibly easy. However, if I used it openly at school, I’d be stuck with everyone's cleaning duties, so I usually kept it under wraps.
"Is that so? Well, thank you. I’d actually been talking with the other social studies teachers about how we needed to clean this place properly. But between our schedules and the sheer effort required, it never happened..."
Hearing her story, I wondered for a moment why she’d applied for such a mess of a room as our clubroom, but then I realized its poor state was probably why the application had been approved so easily. I surveyed the organized room once more. It was crowded with teaching aids, but the floor space was quite generous. It was a wonder no other clubs had claimed it. Then again, if it had been in this condition from the start, I’m sure it would have been snatched up long ago.
As I was lost in thought, Mika and Saori-chan spoke up.
"Finished!"
"I'm done as well."
They handed me their completed forms. I gave them a quick scan to ensure there were no errors before passing them to Yuji and Hiiragi-san. It was always better to have a double-check on these things. I didn't want them to look bad by having the clerk at the tax office point out mistakes.
"Yeah. No typos. These should be fine."
Once Yuji and Hiiragi-san nodded their approval, I gave the good news to Mika and Saori-chan, who had been watching us with bated breath.
"Yes!"
"Thank you very much."
Both were clearly relieved to have the paperwork finished.
"Now you just need to stamp your seals on them and take them to the tax office. Once you do, you'll both be sole proprietors in name and in fact. You'll have to keep up with the bookkeeping, but I know you can do it."
"I will!"
"Yes!"
I returned the forms to them with a word of encouragement.
"Oh, that's right, Saori-chan. One more thing..."
"What is it?"
"You've told your parents that you're starting as a sole proprietor, right?"
"Yes, I told them properly... is there a problem?"
Saori-chan looked a bit anxious.
"No, as long as you've told them, it's fine. But you're currently a tax dependent of your father, right? Before you submit those forms, please have him check with his company about how this affects your status as a dependent. If there's a misunderstanding there, it could cause issues for his company's payroll later on."
"Oh... I see. I'll check."
She didn't seem to fully grasp the tax implications, but her parents would understand once she explained it. Becoming a sole proprietor meant changes to tax deductions and required specific procedures.
Once the girls had tucked their forms back into their bags, Hashimoto-sensei, who had been watching the scene, spoke up.
"Since you've caught your breath, may I have a moment?"
"Of course. Go ahead."
At my prompting, she set up the laptop so we could all see the screen.
"I applied for this laptop in advance to be used as club equipment. It has accounting software installed, though it's a slightly older version."
"It even has software?" I asked. I wondered if she’d borrowed a PC from the administrative office.
"Yes. However, the laptop itself is standard school property. The accounting software is my own—something I bought and used as part of my studies back when I was a student."
"Is that so..."
"Since it's an old version, some of it won't match the current tax codes, but it will work perfectly for practicing data entry—learning which items go into which columns."
That was actually a huge help.
"Thank you, Hashimoto-sensei. We appreciate it."
"It’s no trouble. It was just sitting at home gathering dust."
She looked a bit bashful when I thanked her. To hide it, she quickly pulled a sheet of paper from her binder.
"Oh, and I have one more thing. Look at this."
She produced a color printout.
"Is this... a recruitment flyer?"
"Yes, I tried making one. What do you think?"
We took the flyer and looked at each other. To put it politely, it was an incredibly avant-garde and "original" design.
"Um... Sensei, did you draw this illustration?"
"I did! I thought it would be too plain with just words. What do you think? Isn't it cute?"
Cute? This? What angle do you have to look at this from to find it cute? It looked like she was trying to draw a cat or a dog, but the skill level was so low it was impossible to identify the creature.
"Er, well... I-I suppose it's cute...?"
"Right? It's my best work yet—a four-legged owl!"
An owl?! Wait, this was a bird? Where were the wings? Why did this bird have four legs?
Ignoring Hashimoto-sensei as she excitedly explained the drawing, we all looked at each other and nodded in silent, perfect unison. If we posted this flyer, we would never get a single member. We had to stop this at all costs.
"S-Sensei... we really appreciate the gesture, but we were thinking we'd like to try making the flyer ourselves..."
"Y-Yeah. We thought this could be our first collaborative project as a club..."
"I-I agree. I think it would be better if we all decided on the design together. Right, girls?"
"U-Uh-huh!"
"Y-Yes! We want to make it together!"
We desperately lobbied for the "collaborative project" angle.
Hashimoto-sensei looked a little crestfallen. "I see... well, if you're all that set on it, then I suppose we should make it together."
She gave in, and we immediately set to work on a new flyer before she could change her mind.
I never imagined Hashimoto-sensei had a weakness like this... I’ll have to be careful from now on.