Noticing that we were all gathered and waiting in the room, Mika and Saori-chan gave us slight bows as they entered.
"Good work today," Mika said.
"Sorry we're late," Saori-chan added.
I gave a casual wave in response to their greetings, my eyes drifting toward the two girls hovering behind them as if trying to stay out of sight. Since we had only just arrived ourselves after being summoned by the Student Council, I didn't actually mind that they were a bit behind schedule.
"Yeah, good work. So... who are the two guests?"
"Um... they’re prospective members," Mika explained.
"They said they got interested in our club after seeing how active we were at the sports festival."
The two girls Mika and Saori-chan introduced bowed toward us with stiff, nervous expressions. Seriously, there was no need for them to be that tense. Trying to put them at ease, I spoke to them in a gentle tone.
"I see. Well, before we get to introductions, why don't you two have a seat? It’s awkward talking while you're standing. Yuji, we still have extra chairs in the storage room, right?"
"Yeah, they're there. I'll go grab them."
As Yuji stood up to head for the storage room, the two girls looked flustered and insisted they could get the chairs themselves. Yuji just waved them off, telling them not to worry about it, and disappeared into the back.
The girls thanked him with humbled expressions and then turned awkward, uncertain glances toward Mika and Saori-chan. Their friends could only manage troubled smiles in return.
"Alright. Let's start with some introductions. It’s hard to talk if I don't know what to call you. How about the girl with the short hair starts?"
Once everyone was seated, I opened the floor. For the record, the seating arrangement had Hashimoto-sensei, Hiiragi-san, myself, and Yuji sitting in a row on one side of the long table, with the two girls, Mika, and Saori-chan facing us. I had intentionally tried to seat Hashimoto-sensei and Hiiragi-san directly across from the new girls to be considerate, but looking at them now, I realized my mistake.
Doesn't this look exactly like a high-pressure interrogation? One glance confirmed that both girls were practically paralyzed with nerves.
"A-Ah, um... well..."
The short-haired girl struggled to find her voice. Seeing her distress, Hiiragi-san spoke up with a kind, soothing tone.
"Calm down. It’s not like we’re conducting a formal interview, so there’s no need to be so stiff. Here, just take a deep breath."
The girl followed Hiiragi-san’s advice, taking several shallow breaths until the tension finally began to drain from her face. Beside her, the other girl followed suit, breathing deeply as well. Well, whatever works.
"Feeling better?"
"Ah, yes."
"Then, your introduction, please?"
"Yes!"
Having regained her composure thanks to Hiiragi-san’s intervention, the short-haired girl gave us a small bow.
"Um, my name is Asami Tatebayashi. I’m in the same class as Mika-chan and Saori-chan."
So, Tatebayashi-san was their classmate. Seeing her stand earlier, I noticed she was a bit taller than Mika and Saori—roughly the same height as Hiiragi-san. Her features were more "cool beauty" than "cute." Now that her nerves had settled, she had a poised aura that seemed like it would make her popular with other girls.
"Nice to meet you, Tatebayashi-san. Before I ask why you want to join, could we hear from your friend?"
"Yes, of course."
"Go ahead, then."
"Y-Yes!"
The other girl squeaked, her voice pitching high from lingering nerves as she turned a bashful shade of red.
"Um, I’m Suzune Hino. I’m in the same class as Asami-chan..."
She had curly, semi-long hair and was a full head shorter than Mika and Saori-chan. In contrast to Tatebayashi-san, she had a youthful, "adorable" vibe that made you feel like you needed to protect her.
"Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san. Welcome."
" "T-The pleasure is ours!" "
Now that I had their names, it was time to dig into their motives. I caught Hiiragi-san’s eye for a second before turning to our guests.
"So, what made you two want to join our club?"
"Ah, well..."
"Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot we haven't actually introduced ourselves yet."
I scratched the back of my head with a sheepish grin, apologizing for the oversight. Between our performance at the sports festival and the way we'd been hounded all morning, I’d subconsciously assumed everyone already knew who we were. I guess I was getting a bit too full of myself.
"I'm Daiki Kokonoe. I’m Mika's older brother."
"Yuji Hirose. Nice to meet you both."
"I am Yukino Hiiragi."
"And I'm Hashimoto, the advisor for this club."
" "Nice to meet you!" "
With the formalities finally out of the way, I asked them again about their reasons for joining.
"Well, part of it is that we really admired the demonstration you seniors did at the sports festival..." Tatebayashi-san started.
"But more than that... we have a somewhat more pragmatic reason..." Hino-san added.
They both looked away, their words trailing off as they struggled to find the right way to phrase it. However, we already had a pretty good idea of what they were hiding.
"Is that reason... the situation with Goto-kun’s group in your class?"
" "!?" "
The two of them froze, staring at me in shock.
"I know all about it. I am Mika’s brother, after all. She and Saori-chan have been talking to me about it for a while now—how there are some real troublemakers in their class. Isn't that right?"
"Yeah," Mika confirmed. "I've been complaining to Onii-chan and the others for ages about how Goto-kun and his group won't stop their aggressive recruitment."
" "..." "
Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san let out long, heavy sighs, the tension visibly leaving their bodies. It seemed that wanting to join specifically for protection against the Goto group had been weighing heavily on their consciences. They seemed like good girls—the type who feel guilty about using others for their own ends.
If they had been the type to exploit people without a second thought, I would have been looking for a reason to reject them right now.
"Look, you don't need to feel bad about the Goto business. To be honest, this club has its own set of internal circumstances anyway. Right, Yuji? Hiiragi-san?"
"Yeah, don't sweat it," Yuji said.
"Indeed. There is no need for concern," Hiiragi-san added.
When the three of us told them not to worry, they just gave us confused, awkward smiles before looking at Mika and Saori-chan for help. They still seemed a bit out of their depth, but Tatebayashi-san eventually mustered the courage to ask a question.
"Um, excuse me... what do you mean by 'internal circumstances'?"
"Hmm? Oh, right... Is it okay to tell them?"
I was about to answer, but I caught myself. Since they weren't official members yet, I looked at the other five to get their consensus on how much to disclose.
"I don't mind," Yuji said. "As long as they don't go around spreading it."
"I agree," Hiiragi-san said. "If they can keep a secret, it's fine."
"I think we should tell them from the start," Mika added.
"I agree with Mika," Saori-chan said.
"Very well," Hashimoto-sensei concluded. "But girls, you must understand that what you're about to hear cannot be repeated to anyone. Understood?"
" "Y-Yes!" "
Since the vote was unanimous, I began to explain the truth behind the club’s founding.
"Alright, here’s the secret. Don’t look so worried, it’s not like we’re doing anything illegal or shady."
" "O-Okay..." "
Maybe I had been too serious, because they both looked a little terrified.
"To put it simply: the reason this club exists is specifically because of the situation with Goto and his group."
"Because of Goto-kun?"
"Exactly. It started when Mika and Saori-chan came to us for advice. They wanted to know how to make Goto stop his forceful recruitment. We brainstormed a few ideas, and the end result was forming this club."
"I don't understand... what does forming a club have to do with stopping his recruitment?"
Both girls tilted their heads, clearly failing to see the connection. I couldn't blame them; it wasn't exactly a straight line from point A to point B.
"Well, there's a logic to it. When Mika first told us about the problem, our first instinct was to just march in there and 'persuade' Goto and the others to stop. But..."
"From the outside, that just looks like upperclassmen shaking down freshmen who were acting out right after the start of term," Yuji interjected.
"And we couldn't have that, could we?" I added.
" "Haha..." "
The two girls let out dry, strained laughs as they imagined that particular scene.
"Our next plan was to report it to the faculty and let the school handle it," I continued.
"But from the school's perspective," Hashimoto-sensei explained with a sigh, "what Goto-kun and his group were doing was just 'making friends' and 'hanging out after school.' Since they were diligent in class and hadn't actually committed any violence or clear rule-breaking, the teachers had no legitimate grounds to intervene or discipline them."
" "..." "
Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san looked like they understood the logic but found it impossible to accept, sending slightly accusatory looks toward Hashimoto-sensei.
"That left us with almost no cards to play. But we couldn't just leave Mika and Saori to deal with it alone. So, we came up with the idea of this club."
" "?" "
"Since we couldn't directly intervene, we had to make sure someone on the same level as them could handle it. In other words, Mika and Saori-chan stood at the forefront of the problem."
" "!?" "
" "..." "
The two girls stared in shock at Mika and Saori-chan, who only offered quiet, wry smiles.
"Of course, we weren't going to leave them out there without any backup. Since we couldn't provide direct support, we decided to build a support system from the shadows—indirectly providing as much weight as possible."
"This club is the result of that," Yuji said. "It’s a way for us to show, in a very visible way, that we are standing right behind Mika and her friend."
"We’ve also done the groundwork to ensure the faculty and the Student Council are aware of the situation, so there’s a fair amount of official support available too," Hiiragi-san added.
Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san were left speechless, their heads swinging back and forth as they looked at each of us, trying to process this ridiculous backstory. Once they finally seemed to have absorbed it, I continued.
"So, that demonstration you seniors did at the sports festival..."
"It was a show of force," I finished for her. "A way to say, 'If you lay a hand on Mika's group, you’re dealing with people who can do this.' It worked, didn't it?"
"Eh? Ah, yes. It’s true that after the rehearsal and the festival itself, Goto-kun and the others went quiet. They didn't even try to talk to us. Right, Suzune?"
"Yeah. Goto-kun and his friends had this really dark, heavy atmosphere around them back then. It was like they were afraid of something."
That lined up with what Mika had told me. The intimidation had been a success—up until that point, anyway. The "dark atmosphere" Hino-san mentioned was probably them worrying about retaliation from the classmates who had rallied around Mika as their flagship.
"But..." Tatebayashi-san started.
"When you came to school today, that dark atmosphere was gone, wasn't it?" I asked.
"Eh! Oh, yes. Senior... did you already hear that from Mika-chan?"
"No. I just had a feeling."
It seemed my worst suspicions were correct.
I looked up at the ceiling and let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Yuji shook his head with a heavy sigh, and Hiiragi-san went silent, pressing a hand to her forehead. Mika and Saori-chan just slumped their shoulders with exhausted expressions.
Seeing our reactions, Hashimoto-sensei and the two newcomers looked at us with utter confusion.
"...I take it that means our little demonstration has lost its edge, and things are about to get even more complicated?"
As I let those words slip out, Hashimoto-sensei and the girls widened their eyes in surprise.
Honestly, why is it always the bad hunches that prove right?