Lunch break, faculty office.
Murakami Yuu sat on the sofa in the conversation area, hands placed flat on his knees, looking well-behaved. On the table in front of him was a freshly filled cup of strawberry milk, its sweet aroma detectable from far away.
Sitting across from him was his homeroom teacher, Sakata Gintoki, who drained his own cup of strawberry milk in one gulp, then pushed up his glasses before raising his lifeless dead fish eyes and slowly speaking:
"Seriously, have you finally reached the restless period of adolescence too, Murakami?"
"Sensei, it's not that serious—I just didn't turn in my homework."
Murakami Yuu maintained his sitting posture, attempting damage control.
"I can just bring it tomorrow."
"Who's talking about that? You were admitted to this school as a special student because of your excellent grades. As long as you maintain your current academic level, homework doesn't matter at all."
So this is the privilege of being a good student, Murakami Yuu muttered quietly in his mind before carefully asking:
"Then why did you call me here..."
Sakata Gintoki glanced at Murakami Yuu, then returned to his desk to get a stack of papers, came back to the sofa, placed them on the table, and slowly pushed them over.
"What's this?"
"Did you forget what you did? These are club application forms you wrote."
Application forms?
With Sakata Gintoki saying this, Murakami Yuu's brow furrowed as if trying to remember something.
"Classical Literature Club, Service Club, Light Music Club (Girls), Food Research Club, Neighbors Club, Idol Research Club..."
Sakata Gintoki said lazily.
"Congratulations, Murakami-kun. Fill out one more application and you'll have exactly seven. Put them together and maybe you can summon something incredible at this school. Making a wish to it might fulfill some of your desires.
There's just one thing that strikes me as odd—most of these clubs seem to be mostly girls. This probably isn't a coincidence, is it?"
Murakami Yuu covered his face with one hand. What kind of operation was the original owner pulling here?
Seeing his reaction, Sakata Gintoki sighed and didn't pursue further, softening his tone as he entered lecture mode:
"It's good to find clubs you're interested in and integrate into them, but isn't the quantity a bit much this time? And the motives don't seem very pure either.
I've been your age too—I've collected manga like To Love-Ru that are full of hope. While men remain boys until death, real life can't always be equated with manga.
Being too fickle in romantic matters will only invite very unfortunate things, like being hacked to death with a hatchet and having someone run around carrying your head."
"Sensei, while that sounds reasonable, using 2D plot scenarios as examples really lacks persuasiveness."
Murakami Yuu felt somewhat helpless.
"That's not important—as long as the message gets across. Anyway, joining six clubs simultaneously is still excessive. In my opinion, joining two clubs would be about right.
Even if you have some unspeakable motives, that would be enough for you to implement them specifically. Think it over more carefully."
Sakata Gintoki pushed the stack of applications back in front of Murakami Yuu.
"Although I did have some immature thoughts before, after your heart-piercing guidance, Sensei, I've successfully recognized my mistakes and am prepared to change my mind."
"That sounds like empty words, but I'll listen to what you want to say anyway."
Sakata Gintoki took the untouched milk from in front of Murakami Yuu and gulped it down.
"I'll pass on the clubs. I originally applied on a whim to try them out, but now that feeling has passed, I don't have the same strong desire as before."
"In short, post-nut clarity?"
A female teacher passing by with classical literature materials heard this, stumbled in her normal walking pace, then lowered her head and quickly walked out of the faculty room.
Murakami Yuu calmly withdrew his gaze.
"Please have some awareness as a teacher and don't make inappropriate jokes. I just suddenly lost interest."
Sakata Gintoki looked at Murakami Yuu for a while, then nodded slightly.
"That's fine too. Well, there's nothing else then. Although I said homework doesn't matter earlier, do it when you have time anyway—there's no harm in it overall.
Alright, lunch break is almost half over. Hurry back and eat."
"Understood."
Murakami Yuu stood up and bowed slightly, then walked out of the faculty room.
Walking down the hallway toward the school store, he remembered what he had seen in the diary before.
[September 20th] Yukino Yukari-sensei who came for a home visit and helped me with classical literature tutoring...
Damn, that's really bold!
After cursing internally, Murakami Yuu slowly emptied his mind, not daring to think deeper...
...
Sawamura Spencer Eriri felt somewhat tired. She had already yawned several times during morning classes.
This was understandable—in order to prevent the game's production progress from stalling due to original artwork issues, she had sat at her desk working desperately all weekend Saturday and Sunday, and today she had only gone to bed after 4 AM. Honestly, not being late to school today felt like a miracle to her.
Fortunately, the investment of time and energy had yielded good results. After wasting countless rough drafts, she had finally depicted the character design for the game's female protagonist that she envisioned.
For her, this was a satisfactory work. Although it was just a simple first draft, the heroine's basic expressions, consciousness, and that indifferent feeling in the image all matched Kasumigaoka Utaha's written descriptions and the requirements Aki Tomoya had conveyed to her.
During lunch break, after patiently waiting for a while but never seeing the person she wanted to see come find her, she hesitated several times before finally running to the club room with her laptop, where she saw Aki Tomoya and Kasumigaoka Utaha, who had already arrived.
The two were sitting on opposite sides of the classroom, both reading books with their heads down.
"Your sense of time is really poor. You're the one who excitedly called us to see the heroine's design artwork, but you're the one who's over ten minutes late. What's that about?"
Hearing the sound, Kasumigaoka Utaha closed the book in her hands and complained with dissatisfaction.
"Who! Who was excited! Kasumigaoka Utaha, you..."
Eriri was somewhat annoyed. This woman with no filter could always easily make her explode instantly.
"Well, well, we're all club members, so don't get so angry."
"Ahhh!!!"
Eriri was startled by the voice that suddenly came from behind her, jumping far away in an instant and nearly throwing the laptop she was holding.
Looking back, she saw Kato Megumi with a smiling peacemaker expression. When did she come behind me? How did I not notice at all?
"That's right. Anyway, let's first look at your confident work, Eriri. It should be great artwork."
Aki Tomoya also spoke up at this time.
Eriri nodded, placed the laptop on a desk surface, opened it to the artwork she had designed, and handed it over to them.
They would be satisfied this time—Eriri had this confidence.
---
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