Choosing a Club
It had already been a month since we started attending school. Time had flown by rather uneventfully. Perhaps our classmates had finally gotten used to us, as they were starting to act a bit more relaxed. They still walked on eggshells around us, but at least they didn't freeze up instantly anymore. Humans really were creatures of adaptation.
"What club did you guys choose?"
"Club?"
I tilted my head at Appleton's question. A club? In my whole month of school life, this was the first time I'd heard the term. Of course, I knew what a club activity meant. They popped up all the time in comic books and novels.
"Yeah."
"I've never heard of it."
"Oh... really?"
Appleton nodded at my words. Over the past month, she had changed quite a bit. She no longer got tense around us, and she had started treating us comfortably, just like she would her old friends. Of course, formal speech still slipped out of her from time to time, but we had finally reached a point where we could truly call ourselves friends. It made me feel pretty good lately.
"Shandroi mentioned it last week," Shine said.
"Last week...?"
I searched my memory at Shine's words. What did I do last week? If it was a school day last week, it must have been the day Lucy, the protagonist of The Little Witch's Grand Adventure, made her debut as a Virtual Nutuber. That was the day I had unfortunately ended up coming to school because I miscalculated the date.
"I don't remember..."
Since I had spent the entire school day thinking about Lucy, there was no way anything else would have registered in my brain.
"Shandroi mentioned it before we went home. She said there's a club activity once a month and told us to pick one we liked. Did you choose one, Jeff?"
Since I didn't even remember the announcement, there was no way I could have chosen one. I took the small slip of paper Shine handed me and scanned the contents. Swim Club, Manga Research Club, Soccer Club, and so on. From the ordinary to the bizarre, there was even an Archery Club—something I'd only ever seen in Rain's comic books.
"Hey, Appleton, which one are you in?"
"I'm in this one."
At my question, Appleton leaned against my shoulder and pointed her finger at a section of the paper. She was pointing at the Photography Club. It was a choice that perfectly suited her tastes. I nodded.
That aside, I felt like Appleton had been getting physically affectionate more often lately. She would casually drift close, lean in, and then casually pull away. It was so subtle that you wouldn't even notice unless you were paying close attention, but she was slowly closing the distance between us. While getting closer was nice, I didn't really know how much personal space normal friends were supposed to keep. Since Shine and Rain felt so much like family, rubbing shoulders or touching skin didn't bother me at all. In fact...
"What are you going to choose, Jeff?"
"Hmm..."
I shook off my idle thoughts and looked back down at the list. But nothing really caught my eye.
"Shine, what do you want to do?"
"Whatever you do."
"I figured."
Shine's answer was always the same. What I wanted to do, what I planned to do—that was what she wanted to do.
"Then... what about Rain?"
I turned my head to look at Rain.
"H-Huh?"
Rain, who had her face buried in a thick book, startled at my voice. What on earth was she reading that had her so deeply engrossed?
"I'm talking about club activities."
"Oh. Clubs..."
"Yeah. What are you planning to do, Rain?"
"Well, in the past... No, hmm..."
Rain started to speak as she recalled her past memories, but she shut her mouth the moment she noticed Appleton sitting next to us. It seemed she didn't have anything she particularly wanted to do either.
I slowly waved the paper in front of me.
"Then how about we try them out first?"
"Is that allowed?"
"Yeah. We can spend a day visiting all the clubs and then pick the one we like best."
"Oh... that sounds pretty good."
"But I really wish you guys would join the Photography Club with me..."
Appleton spoke with sparkling eyes. She was a girl who genuinely wanted to do club activities with us. Her adorable expression brought a smile to my face.
At that moment, Appleton raised her camera.
"Taking another picture?"
"Yep."
"Well..."
Appleton snapped another photo. The picture was immediately sent to Shine's phone. This sort of thing had been happening a lot lately. Since I didn't really mind having my picture taken, I usually didn't say anything, but the problem was the occasional embarrassing photos she caught.
When I let out a soft sigh and looked down, Appleton's camera clicked again.
"Why did you take that one?"
"Because the vibe was nice..."
"Mmm..."
I let out a small groan and rubbed my face against the desk. Naturally, Appleton's camera clicked yet again. By now, I was used to it. I just let it slide and closed my eyes. The cool touch of the desk against my cheek felt nice.
"So today is the day for club activities..."
No wonder the classroom felt a bit restless. Although everyone was talking quietly, there was a faint trace of excitement in their hushed voices.
"But why is it only once a month?"
If the kids liked it this much, wouldn't it be fine to do it once a week? If it interfered with keeping up with classes, moving club days to the weekend seemed like a good option too.
"Because everyone leads busy lives. They just don't have the time."
"Time?"
"Yeah."
At Appleton's words, a certain fact finally clicked in my mind. In the case of me, Shine, and Rain, we had time to burn. A ridiculous amount of it, in fact. Even on days we "went to work" at the office, it was work in name only; in reality, we just tagged along with Amy and played there. We did actual work once in a blue moon, but that was extremely rare. However, the students attending this school were in a different situation. Every single one of them came from an extraordinary background, so their families naturally had massive expectations for them. I had a vague idea of how kids like that grew up.
"Time..."
"Um... Jeff, what do you usually do in your free time?"
Seeing me lost in thought, Appleton asked.
"Hmm. I think I just live pretty normally."
"You must be busy, right? Since, you know, you're from Lord Pehrman's family."
Appleton nodded as if she understood my vague answer. She seemed to be misunderstanding, but I didn't bother to correct her.
"What's your relationship with Rain?"
Appleton was clearly asking out of pure curiosity. But I couldn't answer her question. To call her family, there was a discrepancy in our publicly known statuses. Rain wasn't a member of the Pehrman family, so I couldn't call her family. Then what were we? How would we look in the eyes of others? We certainly wouldn't look like mere friends.
I let out an awkward laugh and stroked Rain's cheek. Though she was startled while focusing on her book, the moment she realized it was my hand caressing her cheek, she rubbed her face against it.
"For now, friends."
"For now?"
"Yeah."
"Friends who go home together and come to school together?"
I nodded at Appleton's question. She tilted her head but didn't pry any further. Seizing the opportunity to satisfy all her curiosity, Appleton began tossing light questions at us one after another. Most of them weren't hard to answer. But then, she threw out a casual question that made me shut my mouth, unable to answer.
"So, between Shine and Jeff, which one of you is the older sister?"
It was a truly lighthearted question. Yet, I couldn't answer. The moment I opened my mouth to speak, an inexplicable resistance welled up from deep inside, forcing me to shut it. Shine... she was definitely my older sister. All I had to do was open my mouth and tell Appleton that.
"Shine is..."
...my older sister. But the words wouldn't come out. Just then, Shine, who had been watching us from the side, wrapped her arms around my neck and spoke casually.
"I'm the older sister."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Jeff is my little sister."
A gentle touch wrapping around my neck. Shine's face resting lightly on my shoulder. Her cheek rubbing softly against mine. Her voice whispering in my ear.
"Right?"
Shine's soft voice tickled my ear. Unable to find my voice, I could only manage a nod.
"I kind of figured. Shine seems more mature than Jeff."
Shine smiled softly, clearly pleased with Appleton's words.
"Did it look that way?"
"Yeah. Jeff... how should I put it? Sometimes she acts like a junior you'd meet in a club."
"M-Me?"
"Yeah."
I turned to Shine in utter shock at Appleton's words. Did I really look like a kid to others, while Shine looked mature? But we looked exactly the same, didn't we?
"Rain! Rain, look at Shine and me for a second!"
I frantically tugged on the arm of Rain, who was still focused on her book. Her small body swayed and tumbled right into my arms, but she didn't panic, only shifting her eyes to look up at me.
"Yeah. I'm looking."
"What do you think when you look at Shine and me?"
"What do you mean?"
"Appleton said that when you look at us, you can tell who is more... mature. What do you think, Rain? Between Shine and me, who looks more like the adult?"
With trembling eyes, I looked down at Rain, who was lying across my lap. She looked back and forth between Shine and me, then slowly opened her mouth.
"Shi—mgh."
I hastily began squishing Rain's cheeks. Her soft, mochi-like cheeks were squeezed together, cutting her off before she could finish her sentence.
"I'm the more mature one, right?"
"Mmph-mm."
Rain shook her head. My face fell. Do I really look like such a kid?
In the end, unable to make a choice, we decided to try them out first. Our first stop was the Photography Club, which Appleton belonged to.
Once the morning classes were over and we had finished our lunch, we headed to the Photography Club.
The Photography Club occupied a very spacious room. Cameras were on display all over the classroom, alongside stunning landscape photographs. Pictures of animals captured in dynamic motion added to the wonderful atmosphere.
The supervising teacher didn't seem to have arrived yet, as there were only students inside. A wide variety of students were gathered, ranging from very young kids who looked like first-graders to tall students I had to crane my neck to look up at. The one thing they all had in common was the camera bags slung diagonally across their shoulders.