The Club (5)
“Hello, everyone. I’m Sky, and I’ll be teaching you… though looking at this year’s newcomers, it seems you hardly need my instruction.”
The girl with sky-blue hair introduced herself as Sky.
She had the air of someone truly formidable, so when she looked us over once and declared there was nothing she could teach us, it left me feeling a little deflated.
“There’s someone here who completely wrecked a wooden training dummy, and someone else who can forge a sword out of magic… if anything, I’m the one who should be learning from you.”
She fidgeted with her scabbard, looking a touch awkward, then seemed to hit on a good idea and turned back to us.
“In that case, how about exchanging techniques among yourselves? With the kind of people gathered here, I’m sure you could learn a great deal just by sharing thoughts on each other’s swordsmanship.”
I’d braced myself for something like a kendo class—endless swinging drills—but apparently we were going to have to mingle with people again. A sigh slipped out of me from sheer exhaustion.
…Whatever that flinching around me was, it wasn’t my fault.
“Since no one seems to object, we’ll keep doing things this way from now on unless something special comes up. And if there’s ever anything I can help with, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
In looks and manner alike she seemed easier to deal with than Jessica, but with everyone else ready to move on, I had no intention of being the lone voice of dissent.
The other students had already clustered off into their own little groups.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought much of it when I first came with Anastasiya—but every time one of those obvious “I’m good with a sword” types fell in behind me, I couldn’t help wondering if this was just another game at my expense.
They were all masters, as far as I could tell. I wasn’t sure I even belonged here.
Dogeon had praised me to the skies and called me amazing, but that was pure exaggeration no matter how you looked at it. And even if he were right, I still wasn’t satisfied with myself.
“Lady Anastasiya! Not only are you beautiful, you’re powerful too! Aah, I’m so envious!”
“Lady Anastasiya, you’re incredible as always! So the rumors about you tearing monsters apart like paper were true after all!”
“Lady Anastasiya, those carvings on your blade—those are runes, aren’t they?”
Lady Anastasiya! Lady Anastasiya!
When I looked around, the densest crowd was, of course, around her.
Maybe a third of the questions were actually about swordsmanship. The rest were blatant attempts to curry favor, plain as day.
Sorry, Anastasiya. I’d love to help, but people terrify me. You’ve got this.
She stood hemmed in by the crowd, clearly at a loss. I envied her and somehow pitied her at the same time.
More importantly—Dogeon was in this class too. Watching him hover around Anastasiya only confirmed he was every inch a harem-story protagonist.
Right. In the end, you’re just another guy crazy about girls, same as that Golden Sun over there.
When he’d formed a sword out of magic earlier, he’d looked pretty cool. Right now, not so much. He looked like any other guy angling for a shot with a girl.
Having once been a guy myself, I understood it—but that didn’t mean I enjoyed watching it.
Which brought me to the boy approaching me right now.
“Hello. My name is Kaya. I was hoping I might ask you for instruction on that swordsmanship you demonstrated earlier… would that be all right?”
He led with his name and immediately asked me to teach him swordsmanship. How was I supposed to not be suspicious?
He wasn’t even as improbably good-looking as Dogeon, and watching him try to hit on a girl was… well. Pathetic seemed the wrong word, but I still wanted him gone from in front of me.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline. I’m not skilled enough to teach anyone—and more importantly, what I do isn’t even a proper style.”
“…It wasn’t complete? It looked to me like a lifetime of a swordsman’s craft distilled into a single form.”
You saw a few clumsy swings and think you understand anything? Soften me up with flattery, then drag me straight to bed the moment I let my guard down—did you think I wouldn’t see through that?
“You watched me swing a few times and already act like you know everything?”
“…No. I’m sorry. That was arrogant of me.”
“If you understand, then get lost. I won’t say it twice.”
Only after watching him scurry off like a dog with its tail between its legs did I feel able to relax. Father had always said men were beasts and told me to keep my distance.
Dogeon was… an exception, I supposed. I’d come all the way to the Academy for him in the first place, and he had this way of quietly lowering people’s defenses.
Right now he was circling Anastasiya like a hyena, but the moment he came near me he turned into a gentle dog, so I never quite felt he was that dangerous.
Golden Sun was different. He was still staring this way. He didn’t even seem to be trying to hide it.
I had no idea what I’d done to make him fixate on me like this—but whatever he wanted, it wasn’t going to happen.
“Family, huh. Well… I’ve never really thought about it. By the way, Lady Anastasiya—why do you ask?”
I’d been lost in my own thoughts when Dogeon’s voice reached my ears.
I wondered for a moment why he was talking about family again, then realized Anastasiya must have been the one who asked.
Did she have a whimsical streak too? She could be a little short on common sense, but I didn’t remember her being flighty.
I still had no idea why she’d asked Dogeon what he thought of family. Same as earlier, and same with him.
…Still, Anastasiya is better than the cliquey social butterflies with no consideration for loners. Everyone has a twisted side somewhere.
The only difference is whether you hide it or show it. She’d clearly chosen to show it.
“…You need to cherish your family a little more.”
“Pardon…?”
While Dogeon sat there frozen by the nonsensical question, she had already moved on to talking with someone else.
When I walked over to him, the confusion written all over his face was plain to see.
“Ah, Hoyeon.”
“Looks like things didn’t go well.”
Even if he’d partly been trying to cheer himself up, Dogeon had tried to comfort me before—so I figured I ought to return the favor.
“…Did something about it displease you?”
“No? Not at all. I simply thought—you’re just another guy after all.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? I just said it’s fine.”
I’d sensed something off ever since Anastasiya started treating me with a faint hostility, but I never expected family to come up.
That wasn’t like her at all. Had something happened without my knowing?
Could it be because of Hoyeon?
No—that was too much of a stretch. She’d only met Hoyeon once, yesterday, and I couldn’t imagine that encounter had left any real mark.
So what on earth had happened?
I tried to think it through, but Hoyeon was already walking this way, so there was no time.
“Ah, Hoyeon.”
What she said next only made things more complicated.
“Looks like things didn’t go well.”
One look at her face told me this was no attempt at comfort. If anything, it was closer to a sneer—like she found the whole thing deeply satisfying.
“…Did something about it displease you?”
I couldn’t think of anything that would explain that expression, so I asked Hoyeon with the faint hope she might tell me.
“No? Not at all. I simply thought—you’re just another guy after all.”
I don’t like it when the person I’m interested in talks to other girls.
I’d dealt with that type of woman maybe three times before, so I had a pretty good idea how exhausting this would get if I didn’t smooth it over now.
“I’m sorry.”
Ordinarily I’d have just cut ties and walked away—but she wasn’t someone I could do that with. I had to yield for now.
“Sorry for what? I just said it’s fine.”
It was clearly not fine, and she was saying it was. We were only on day two, and the thought of having to dodge her eyes while talking to the other heroines already made me feel hopeless.
I couldn’t leave her alone, but keeping her close would probably get in the way of building ties with the others.
Exhausting as it was, I was just going to have to work harder. And for that, I needed to soothe Hoyeon first.
“No, I’m sorry.”
That only seemed to backfire.
“Don’t make me say it again.”
Yeah. She had zero intention of letting this go. The punishment felt a little steep for the crime, but I decided to treat it as valuable information gained.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Anastasiya had already shut me down herself, and Hoyeon had given her warning—there wasn’t much else I could do. Not being able to build a relationship with Anya stung, but at least nothing serious seemed to have happened to Hoyeon. That was a relief.
The first club session ended with nothing much to show for it. We were on our way back to the dorms together when—
“…I’ll grant you yesterday. But you’re still tailing me today.”
Well, if I leave you alone, this entire continent is in danger. I didn’t say that out loud.
“I don’t have any friends to hang out with.”
That much was true. I didn’t know anyone, and the Academy was only on its second day—of course I had no one to walk with.
“You don’t have friends? You?”
The genuine curiosity in her voice—stripped of all her usual dignity—caught me off guard for a second. Then the way she said it, as if of course someone like me would have friends, grated on me a little.
Here I was, trying to make friends, and the very person who’d hate me the moment I spoke to anyone else was acting surprised I didn’t have any. It felt like she was mocking me.
“Besides Hoyeon, there’s no one I’d call a friend. Would it be all right if I thought of you as a friend?”
But I didn’t have the nerve—or the guts—to push back. Better to play nice. I asked her if we could be friends, partly to secure an excuse to keep following her around, but her reaction was a little strange.
“You and me… friends?”
The way she kept repeating “friends, friends” like a broken answering machine made me wonder if I’d messed up again. I didn’t have long to wonder what to do about it this time.
“If we’re f-friends… does that mean… I can speak casually with you…?”