Hold On, I Get That You're Angry (1)
Lucy. A girl with blazing red hair who commanded fire magic. She was a fallen noble hiding her true identity as a commoner, all so she could restore her ruined family’s former glory. That was probably why she had gone through her entire first year without a single proper friend or a club to call her own. Even our meeting had been nothing more than that one brief encounter during last week’s sparring match.
Maybe it really had been too much to ask. Club membership wasn’t mandatory. Still, there were definite advantages. Club activities earned you favorable marks during promotion reviews. You could deepen friendships, pick up new knowledge, and sometimes it was important to just kick back and have fun with friends.
I’d told her it was basically a ghost club, but even dropping by once in a while to rest would be good for her. If she graduated with excellent grades, she’d be able to support her entire family back home. That was why she charged forward without looking back, pushing herself to the limit. Knowing that, I’d made the offer so she wouldn’t burn out—hoping she’d come by and rest every now and then.
Of course, the club I was creating might not be what she needed right now. It probably wouldn’t be of any real help. But at this moment, she needed a place where she could simply breathe. Like a roof to shelter her from a torrential downpour.
For some reason I felt a sense of kinship with her, which was why I’d gone out of my way to invite someone I’d barely met. It was unlike me to take such a gamble. She could refuse if she wanted. I just didn’t want to watch her collapse from overwork.
In a way, it was lucky we’d been paired during the spar. It gave me a point of contact with her. Nothing had happened yet, but if things continued like this, Lucy would eventually exhaust herself and break down. Depending on the player’s choices, there were a few routes where she survived, but in almost every other one she ended up retiring. Even in the highest difficulty routes, a single wrong choice meant immediate retirement. Her talent was genuine, but without someone’s support it would be nearly impossible for her to rise into Class A. She needed a pillar to lean on.
I couldn’t be that pillar, but I could at least give her a roof to keep the rain off. No matter how hard she tried, she could never break into the top ranks. Above her were students from better families with even greater talent. On top of that, her family back home was struggling just to survive. She couldn’t stop. She wasn’t allowed to stop. Hers was a race with no finish line.
Even if she did graduate with top honors, whether her family could truly be restored was uncertain. By then the academy—and the entire mainland—would be in complete chaos anyway. The point was, she needed to rest a little.
“I don’t care what the club actually does,” she snapped. “But Vern, we only met last week. Why the hell are you suddenly asking me to join? What are you plotting?”
Her voice was loud and sharp, exactly like her personality—fiery, competitive, and quick to flare up. Yet I could already see the faint blush creeping up her neck.
“To establish a club, you need at least three members besides the president.”
“And what does that have to do with me?”
“I don’t know many people, so I’m asking you. Will you join? Club activities will be pretty important for next semester’s evaluation.”
Lucy flinched visibly. Her promotion to the next class was basically guaranteed, but there was no downside to having club credits.
“…So what exactly do you do there?”
“Exactly what I said earlier. You can practice magic, train with weapons, study, or just rest. Whatever you want. It’s completely up to you.”
She let out a long sigh. “Haa… That’s so generic. What the heck is this club even for…? Have you picked a name yet?”
“Not yet. For now let’s just say it’s a place for self-improvement. You only need to show up occasionally and mark your attendance.”
“….Then… could I maybe bring snacks or cook something there?”
“Do whatever you like.”
There was no need to make it something special or flashy. These kids were already living hard, distinctive lives. I just wanted to give them a comfortable space. Both Elin and Lucy looked exhausted. I hoped the club could become a place of rest for them.
My dormitory room was a single. But commoner students short on money usually shared cheaper two-to-four-person rooms. Lucy was probably in a four-person room. Living with others came with plenty of inconveniences. Since she didn’t have many friends, things with her roommates were probably still awkward, and she couldn’t study late into the night. On weekends she worked part-time like I did. It couldn’t be easy.
That was why I was telling her to use the club room freely. We could report club activities as self-study or occasional dungeon exploration. Or we could obtain magic books and decipher them together. There were more than enough things we could write reports about. As long as we enjoyed the club privileges, the specifics didn’t matter.
“Then I’ll take that as a yes.”
Lucy fidgeted, unable to keep her hands still. The way she kept twisting her fingers reminded me of myself as a child. It was like a kid who wanted a toy but was too conscious of their parents’ gaze to ask. Cute. She really is still just a kid. Well, technically she was a student, so that wasn’t wrong.
“Ah, do whatever you want…! I don’t know! Handle it yourself!!”
After squirming in embarrassment for a while, she suddenly shouted, blurted out whatever came to mind, and stormed off.
Was I too rude?
Whatever. Did that count as an okay? She told me to handle it myself, right?
“Okay. One new member secured. Now I just need one more…”
Where was I supposed to find the last one?
In the end, I couldn’t recruit anyone else. I tried approaching random students, but the moment I got close they all avoided me. Club registration could be done anytime, so I decided to take it slow. I hadn’t even picked a name yet.
Damn it. Having no friends was genuinely depressing. Because of my awful reputation I couldn’t do anything. If this world had a favorability system, mine would probably be deep in the negatives. Come to think of it, the game did have something similar. Giving gifts or keeping party members with you for a long time increased interactions and slightly raised stats. In dating-sim terms, it even unlocked special CGs. Those were the days.
Anyway, I still needed one more person to establish the club. Ron and Lloyd had already joined the Magic Club and Swordsmanship Club respectively, so they were out. I’d already recruited Elin and Lucy, which meant I’d asked everyone I had any connection with.
That left finding a student who had no ties to me and hadn’t joined any club yet. Looked like I’d have to recruit from the named characters after all. But the ones with as much importance as the protagonist all had strong personalities. This was getting troublesome. Creating a single club shouldn’t be this hard.
Still, I needed that last member. The club system was content unlocked from the second playthrough onward—new material for players already familiar with the game. It was about creating and maintaining a club. While in a club you gained a small amount of bonus experience from every action. It also created a new space for the player to interact with.
The clubroom could be customized freely, and you could display trophies and plaques. Since certain interactive objects could only be placed there, it was practically essential content. For example, setting up an alchemy table you obtained in the mid-to-late game would buff potion-making and alchemy skills. Installing an anvil let you repair weapons without visiting a shop. The trophies and plaques granted various beneficial buffs too.
There were tons of advantages to being in a club, plus extra events that could trigger. Since this was reality I’d have to write activity reports, but as long as I kept four members the club would never be shut down. It was an absolute golden system.
The first playthrough, assuming you didn’t look at guides, always led to a happy ending. From the second playthrough onward, however, multiple branches appeared, and a single wrong choice could lead straight to a bad ending. You had to choose carefully if you wanted the proper route.
The club system had been designed to help confused players facing their first major choices. Most of the events that occurred while running a club were easy and fun, but they too contained multiple branches. In other words, it was a second-playthrough tutorial that let you build up your understanding of the game step by step through club events.
Anyway, it was undeniably a good system. I had used it heavily myself.
After enjoying most of the content, I used to spend a ridiculous amount of time customizing the clubroom or tweaking character appearances.
The important thing now was finding that last member. Fortunately, there was one person who came to mind. The boss of Act 2 and a future victim—Luna. I would go recruit her.
Even with my interference, the story seemed to be flowing along somehow. Saving one person shouldn’t cause any major problems. Ah, but she wasn’t exactly a person, was she? Even if the story changed a lot, the protagonist was still the protagonist. That guy was strong; he’d handle it. I’m counting on you, protagonist!