"You?"
Kenji was the one who opened the door to the Literature Club and upon seeing me, he was puzzled as to why I came back here.
"Goto-senpai. I'm here to look at the club once more. Err… I still haven't chosen the club I will join but the Literature Club is still one of my choices."
I explained my appearance even without him asking.
I peeked inside and saw the surprised faces of Otsuka-senpai and Ishida-senpai. Kana and Fujii already knew I would be showing up since I messaged them about it.
Kana was smiling at me while Fujii also had a hint of a smile upon seeing me.
This Kenji guy still has no idea that I'm the one that changed Kana. To him, I'm just a 1st year student who tried their club last week.
"Alright. Come in."
He widened the opening of the door and let me in. His expression is sour but at least he didn't turn me away.
Upon entering, I immediately greeted the two senpais, Otsuka-senpai, this curious girl, somehow became tongue-tied while Ishida-senpai stuttered as she responded to my greeting.
What happened last Sunday was still fresh in her mind.
Then I also greeted Kana, I just met her yesterday and upon seeing her here, I already have an urge to go to her and take her in my arms again.
Then there's Fujii, she just nodded and smiled at me before going back to reading what's on her hand.
Now that I'm here, I could feel an awkward air around them, Kana was sitting with Fujii, then next to her was Otsuka-senpai. Ishida-senpai and Kenji were at the other end of the table but they're also apart from each other.
Even with the overflowing curiosity of Otsuka-senpai, it looks like she was afraid to ask them about what happened which leads to this awkward situation in this clubroom.
It's already been five days since that day when they confessed to what had transpired to Kana and until now, it hasn't been resolved. How come this club is still afloat?
Now that I'm here, let's stir up trouble here. Err… I mean, enliven the atmosphere.
I looked at what they're currently doing but it seems there's really no activity going on. Fujii was taking in new knowledge, Kana was writing something and Otsuka-senpai was just sitting there. Ishida-senpai was completely conscious of me that she kept on glancing my way, while that Kenji was looking at Kana.
I settled myself next to Otsuka-senpai. There's that sparkle in her eyes again, the thing she always has whenever she's curious about something.
My appearance here became her salvation to her bottled up curiosity.
"You received my message, senpai?"
I asked her and she immediately nodded.
"I'm waiting for your questions, Onoda-kun."
It's my turn to ask her for questions but there's no way I could ask those to her at this moment. Those were sensitive questions after all so I thought of entertaining her curiosity for now.
"Not now, senpai. I'll ask about it when we're alone. You must be curious why I'm back here, right?"
I kept my voice down as I whispered to her. We already got the attention of that Kenji. Though he couldn't pick up anything from our conversation, it will be strange for him to hear us talking like we're in contact with each other.
I looked at Kana, she's still writing something but her ears were perked up, trying to listen in on our conversation.
I also need to think of a reason to talk to her here, I want to update her on what I've read from her novel.
Since the other members were silent, only the voices of me and Otsuka-senpai filled the room. We might have started from the reason why I came back, it gradually evolved to anything this curious girl could think of.
"So, Onoda-kun, I think you're best suited here, remember what you wrote last Wednesday?"
Well, at least she's sensible enough to refrain from asking things about my relationship with Kana.
"How could I not remember? I heard Ishida-senpai's shout back then. But is it fine for me to join here?"
"Of course! Look how silent the club room is, with your addition we will be more lively. Are you considering other clubs?"
" Yes. Apart from this, there's the Game Club and the Book Club."
When I mentioned Book Club, it took Fujii's attention from what she's reading and she suddenly stood up and shouted.
"No! Don't go to that club. Their members are scary!"
Ah. Right the impression she had on that club was about those six members.
"Eh? Mirae-chan, it's rare for you to speak out. What happened?"
With that sudden outburst from Fujii, Otsuka-senpai's curiosity was now switched to her.
Ah this is good too, it's a bit tiring satisfying that girl's curiosity.
"Uhm. She mentioned to me about the members of that club. She got scared of them so she chose to join our club."
Kana provided an explanation. They're both a bit reserved when speaking and it seems they got closer this week.
"This is the first time I'm hearing this, tell me more!"
Like there's an invisible curiosity meter that was suddenly filled up, Otsuka-senpai stood up and asked to switch places with Kana.
She already forgot about asking me more. The thing she just heard was more interesting for her.
I watched on as Fujii flinched and started to back away from her but under Otsuka-senpai's barrage of questions, she gave up eventually.
Kana exchanged glances with me, now that we're suddenly next to each other, I didn't miss the chance to reach for her hand.
That Kenji was still looking at her but yeah, I don't really care about him. Crossing our fingers together, Kana visibly blushed from her seat. We don't need to converse to each other right now, just feeling our hands together like this was enough.
Now I'm more inclined to join this club. There's this interesting awkward atmosphere around them, if I join, I will make sure to make it more awkward for them.
Ishida-senpai, on the other hand, was still conscious of me but she couldn't get herself to come and ask me.
I wonder what it is that she wanted to ask. There's already no point to talk about how I caught them in that love hotel.
But there's no point of me being here if there's no activity, right? I still need to put up a pretense that I'm here for their activity.
While still holding Kana's hand, I turned to Ishida-senpai to ask her. I could ask Kana but I opted to ask her to get her to talk.
"Senpai, is there anything I need to do? Don't we have a club activity today?"
But instead of Ishida-senpai, it was Kenji who answered my question.
"Not today. But if you want to do something, you can read those."
He pointed to a bookshelf at the corner of the room. There were books and stacks of papers stored there. As to their contents, I guess I can only know by checking it.
"I see. Then is it fine for me to read something else?"
I don't want to leave Kana's side just to check those books so I thought of just reading her own novel. He won't notice that it's hers, right?
"Sure. I'm sorry about this, Onoda. We'll resume activity next week. Right now, we're only gathering together here."
Still clueless about what's happening, Kenji even apologized to me. Looks like they were really strained here. I still couldn't get the whole picture but something already happened, Kana was ignoring him while he still kept looking at her. Then there's Ishida-senpai who didn't know where to place herself.
What should I do about this situation? If nothing happened maybe this situation will persist even until next week or the week after that.
Kana insisted on handling it by herself, I wanted to respect that. Should I just show this guy that I'm close to Kana? That way it can push him to question her and through that, they will arrive at the main point. Or maybe they're already past that main point, they just need to start moving forward again.
"I see, you don't need to apologize, senpai. I'll be reading this."
I released Kana's hand for a bit to take out her novel from my bag. After putting it down to the table, Kenji curiously glanced at it but he didn't recognize the familiar handwriting used.
Kana never showed him this.
At that same moment, Kana was half-smiling as she watched me flip open the stack of papers.
Then from it, a small piece of paper was clipped. I took it and gave it to Kana before I whispered to her.
"I've read the 1st chapter and this was what I noticed. Err, I also got the help of a book enthusiast."
She read the contents of the paper and she fell in thought at the insight and ideas written there.
Letting her think, I started reading from the 2nd chapter. About 10 minutes later, not minding the watchful gaze of Kenji, Kana moved her chair closer to me before whispering.
"Thank you, Ruki. Those were really insightful."
"I'm glad it helped."
This time, she's the one who reached for my hand. Unlike earlier, it was at the top of the table and was in full view of everyone.
This girl suddenly made this bold move. She probably thought the risk of showing this but she still chose to do it. So without rejecting her, I opened my hand and received hers.
She then gave me her sweet smile as she rested her head on my shoulder. The thought of Kenji seeing that was already out of her head. Maybe she really wanted to show him this.
I took a glance at his way.
That guy was really watching everything, his expression was indescribable but he couldn't utter words that he wanted to say. He just watched on as we crossed our fingers together.
This was his place before but now, I'm occupying it. As to what's going through his head right now, I have no idea.
I thought he would confront me or Kana but he only stood up, took his bag and left the clubroom.
What's wrong with him?
I turned to Kana expecting an answer and from her mouth, the answer cleared everything.
"I've already ended everything between us."
"K-kana, he…"
Ishida-senpai couldn't help but ask, she was also watching from her seat.
And even Fujii and Otsuka-senpai's attention were switched to us when Kenji left the clubroom. Fujii didn't have that much of a reaction since that girl knew things about me and Otsuka-senpai also knew how close we are, she even watched us have sex in this very room.
"Rumi, this is the guy I told you about. I couldn't hide it anymore."
Only Ishida-senpai had no idea about us but yeah, she was the first one to get suspicious back then when we ran into her on the stairs.
And as if that's not enough shock I supported Kana's claim by taking her lips into a kiss.
Kana didn't reject it as we kissed each other in front of them. At this moment, Kana finally got out of her shell she made for herself. The shell that caged her to the thought of liking that Kenji.
