Welcome to the Club

The seconds felt like hours, all of Jiro and Rei's classmates had their eyes on them, turning to look at them. They could deduce what they were talking about, yesterday Jiro asked them to call him by his name, so possibly he had asked the same to Rei. Mio turned to look at the situation worried, "What mess did you just get yourself into Jiro-Sempai?" she wanted to intervene or tell Rei that Jiro wasn't a bad person, but the teacher intervened.

- Rei take a seat, both of you stop chatting, the class has already started. -

At that moment Rei realized what was going on, she turned around and noticed many eyes on them.

- I'm sorry... -

She immediately sat down leaving a totally baffled Jiro. Unfortunately Jiro haven't had an easy life, for a long time and to this day his biggest concern was his sister so he tried to understand how she felt so he could help, this caused him to be a little better at reading people's emotions in general so Jiro wasn't really puzzled by Rei's violent reaction but rather by the conflict of her emotions. If she was angry she would be angry, but... Why did she look like she was afraid? He didn't really understand, but he couldn't know anything since he felt he had ruined his first social relationship within the school.

Jiro just sank into his thoughts and continued his classes, even so, he felt throughout the day that someone was watching him, as every now and then very intense blue eyes would land on him.

- Jiro! Let's go explore the clubs -

Kota appeared at the entrance of Jiro and Mio's classroom at the end of classes, they had only an hour to explore the whole place because Jiro had to rush off to work.

Shinsei School had top-notch facilities, all kinds of clubs gathered in the different buildings; however, because of Jiro's special circumstances, Kota knew that he couldn't enter any sports clubs as they were the clubs that would make the biggest demand on his friend's time so he limited himself to visit all the clubs that didn't have an extraordinary demand of time.

Literature club

Cooking Club

Theater Club

Dance Club

Game development club

Pet Care Club.

There was a wide variety of clubs so the friends went around the school while chatting.

- Mio told me what happened with the new girl. Are you okay? -

- Uh... yeah, don't worry about it... I know it's normal that some people don't want to call me by my name, it will be very awkward and unpleasant for me, but I can't do anything about it, it's ruined. -

- What are you talking about? She sits next to you, but that's no reason for you to have to live with her.

- You see Kota... the situation is that... - Jiro proceeded to explain to his friend what had happened yesterday and since Rei would not only be his classmate but also his co-worker, plus sitting together was no way they wouldn't have to coexist more closely at some point, in Jiro's mind a rather uncomfortable few months awaited him.

- What a game of fate, right? Although... She's really pretty, isn't she? -

Kota proceeded to give his friend a complicit look, watching him out of the corner of his eye with a smile as he put his hand on his shoulder.

- Stop making drama out of yourself, it would drain all my energy with how intense she is, plus I don't want to have a girlfriend. You know that -

Jiro couldn't deny what his friend said because Rei was extraordinarily beautiful, he just couldn't deny it at first sight; even so, he simply couldn't imagine being in a relationship with a girl like that.

- Okay, okay. How boring you are. -

Kota removed his hand and proceeded to hurry to a door at the end of the hallway.

- Here we are Jiro, this is the last club we'll visit -

- Do you think we'll succeed? All the other clubs, even though they were flexible still asked me to go at least 3 times per week

- Well, I'm not 100% sure, but I think it will be fine.

Kota opened the door and let them both in. Inside it looked like a pretty normal classroom but there weren't many chairs, just three armchairs with a table in the middle, some pretty wide bookshelves with lots of folders, a long table and in one of the armchairs a girl drinking tea in a cup. It took Jiro a few seconds to recognize her, but he had seen her before.

- Chairwoman, good morning, good morning!

Kota came in greeting.

- Oh, Kota-Kun, is this the boy you told me about? -

Sato Masako, the current student council president, a brown-haired girl, almost as tall as Jiro, with an air of elegance.

- ehhhhh! Wait wait wait Kota, I can't belong to the student council. That's too much work.

- Easy man, that's not the point. First listen to her. - Kota said to Jiro slapping him on the back to make him gain some confidence.

Soon both boys were sitting in the armchairs in front to Masako who continued to drink from her cup of tea without saying a word. Five minutes passed until she herself broke the awkward silence.

- Yoshi... Jiro-Kun, may I borrow your cell phone for a moment? -

Masako said holding out her hand, hinting that the question was just a formality and that Jiro should give her the cell phone right then and there. Masako was the second person since Shinsei High School existed to become the student president in her first year, something extraordinary for such a competitive school, she planned to seek re-election to continue her administration; however, there were still things that people didn't know about her.

Jiro hesitated a bit, but took out of his pants pocket his phone, unlocked it and handed it to the her, once she had it in her hands she started to check it, but neither Kota or Jiro knew what exactly she was doing because Masako was in front of them and the screen could not be seen.

- Did you take this picture? -

Masako held out her hand to show the screen to Jiro. On it was a mountain of stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes, and from among the stuffed animals you could see Hanae's face smiling at the camera.

- Oh! Hanae-Chan! - Kota shouted.

- Yes , she's my sister, but it's not a recent photo... she's was five years old.

- I see. -

Masako went back to the phone and quickly selected something else on it.

- What about this one? -

Turning the phone over, she could now see a field full of cherry trees, the blossoms falling thanks to a windstorm .

- Yes, I took it too...although I still don't understand what this club is about. Is it the student council? -

Jiro didn't really mind Masako seeing the pictures, he had nothing to be ashamed of. Still, most of the pictures on Jiro's phone were from 5 years ago. It was a hobby when he was younger.

- Sorry for the mystery. The truth is, I was verifying something Kota-kun told me, I wanted to find out if you really had a talent for photography. -

Masako stretched out her arm holding Jiro's cell phone for him to take.

- Photography? Well... When I was younger it was something I liked, but I don't think I have any talent, besides I haven't taken pictures of any kind for years. I don't have social networks... -

Jiro knew perfectly well that he was not a normal teenager. Yes, at some point he really enjoyed photography. But that was a long gone life, for him his life was focused on Hanae so anything even having social media seemed like a waste of time.

- I love photography! -

Masako said firmly turning to look straight into Jiro's eyes, sharp eyes, with determination.

- You see, the school has many clubs; don't get me wrong, it's good that our schoolmates have many options to choose from... But nowadays there are so many options that consequences arise, that some not so popular clubs become stuck or abandoned. And that's just what's happening with the photography club. -

- But.., is it possible for you to be in the photography club and at the same time be Student President? -

Jiro seemed to understand Masako, who in his eyes thought she had the same problems as him. How to be able to be in several places at the same time? There are too many responsibilities.

- Well, you're partly right... Currently in this club there are only two of us, Chiba Natsumi who I think is going with you to the same classroom, the other person is me. Unfortunately, since I recently brought the club back to life last year, there was no one from the second or third year students who wanted to participate, since most of them were already in their own clubs, so I decided to recruit students from first year. -

Jiro didn't quite understand Masako's whim, she didn't want the club to disappear, she didn't want to lose the opportunity to enjoy something she loved to do; even without giving up her other responsibilities. Something that was almost impossible for him to think about. The mere fact that in his mind he could imagine doing something for his own good and not only for Hanae was something he just couldn't comprehend.

- And ... Do you want me to join the club? -

- Yes, I am. -

- Thank you very much for the invitation... I must admit that I don't dislike photography, but it would only bring you trouble, I have no equipment to... -

- Here we'll lend you one. - Masako interrupted.

- I understand... Still, the schedules might be a little complicated... -

- Regarding that, Kota-Kun told me about your situation in general. I want you to know that what I'm going to tell you next doesn't take away how strict I can be. -

Masako leaned back to lean her back against the couch, crossed her arms and put one of her legs over the other, squinting her eyes to say it.

- The student council activities take up too much of my time, so in order to keep the photography club alive, I asked for special permission. At a minimum the club must meet twice a week, but I got permission for the meetings not necessarily to be held at the school or at the normal scheduled times... -

- What do you mean by that? -

- It means that our club meetings can be on Sundays, or even in the evening at dinner or even before coming to school, and the activities themselves you don't have to do them at school, as long as you bring your camera you can do them anywhere. The world out there is a blank canvas ready to be captured and captured in color through a photograph, don't you think? -

Masako smiled and let her beauty shine through.

- So... you're telling me that... if I join the photography club, will I be able to continue working and studying at Shinsei? -

Jiro's eyes started to widen in surprise, his heart was pounding and he was clenching his fists without realizing it.

- If you agree to come with me, Jiro-Kun. Yes, you can continue working and studying... -

- I AGREE! -

Jiro stood up with fire in his eyes, with decision, in a second he jumped the coffee table in the direction where Masako was and before she could react Jiro was already kneeling next to her, and then with those same penetrating eyes he saw her, took her hand and repeated.

- THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I ACCEPT! -

Jiro made a small bow while his heart was racing with decision and Masako's with confusion. "What the heck is this guy doing?" She thought to herself as she calmed her galloping heart.

- Welcome, If I'm going to be calling you by your name you might as well start calling me Masako too. Let's share a lot Jiro-Kun -

Masako put her other hand on Jiro's and gave him an honest smile, a welcoming word and heartfelt smile. From now on the photography club would start to come to life.

Chapter end