The top floor of the club building was, as Amaya Yuu had expected, much quieter.
The signs on the doors mostly indicated small, sparsely populated hobby clubs.
“Astronomy Club…
Drama Club…
Photography Club…
The students here certainly have diverse interests.” He walked along at a leisurely pace, looking at each one, weighing whether to pick the most relaxed club to fill the quota or just leave it to fate.
Just as he was hesitating, a series of rapid footsteps suddenly echoed from around the corner of the hallway ahead.
The footsteps were light and fast, as if the person was running regardless of everything else.
And by the time Amaya Yuu realised what was about to happen, it was already too late.
A petite figure with her head down came charging straight at him.
“Hey!
Care—” Amaya Yuu only had time to get out half a warning.
“Whoa!”
“Thud!”
Before he could finish, a significant force slammed into his side.
Amaya Yuu instantly lost his balance and fell backwards.
“If I ever get stat points in the future, I’m definitely putting them into Strength first!”
Amaya Yuu was truly impressed by his Intelligence stat of 8; in this split second, he actually still had the presence of mind to have such a thought.
His suit jacket was in his school bag, so he was currently wearing a white shirt with his arms exposed.
His elbow scraped hard against the floor, sending a stinging pain through his arm.
And that running “little cannonball” also landed hard on her bottom.
Amaya Yuu took a closer look and couldn’t help but be stunned.
The person sitting on the ground was a girl with short grey hair.
Her hair was a bit messy, and she looked timid.
Her face was full of panic and guilt, and her eyes were slightly red, as if she were about to cry at any moment.
“So, sorry!
I’m terribly sorry!
It’s all my fault!” She scrambled to get up, seemingly torn between wanting to continue what she had been rushing to do and feeling she should help Amaya Yuu up first.
She was stuck in a dilemma and became even more flustered.
“Band-Aids…
Right, Band-Aids!” She suddenly shouted to herself, as if she had just remembered something important.
Ignoring Amaya Yuu, she turned and hurried off in the direction she had come from.
“Hey—wait!” Amaya Yuu never expected that reaction.
At this moment, he felt that even an Intelligence of 8 wasn’t quite enough.
“Looks like I still need to boost Intelligence first…” He stood up helplessly and brushed the dust off his clothes.
“Otherwise, I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on…
Are there any normal humans here?”
Encountering something like this on his first day of school was completely different from the warm and relaxed atmosphere of yesterday.
“Togawa Sakiko is one thing, but am I some kind of great demon?
Everyone I meet just runs away!
This time, I’m going to get some justice!” With this thought in mind, Amaya Yuu followed the path the girl had taken.
Eventually, he found the petite girl in the “Astronomy Club”.
Amaya Yuu stood at the entrance of the Astronomy Club and looked inside.
“Hey, you—”
Before he could finish his sentence, he saw the girl completely immersed in the world of choosing Band-Aids.
Her focused expression made him hesitant to disturb her.
Hearing the sound at the door, Takamatsu Tomori seemed to be pulled back from another world.
She looked up abruptly, and upon seeing Amaya Yuu, a flash of panic crossed her face, but her thoughts were quickly occupied again by the “task” of choosing Band-Aids.
She trotted up to him, held up a handful of colourful Band-Aids, looked up at him, and, with a timid yet exceptionally serious glint in her eyes, said:
“Th-that…
please choose the one you like!”
“I’m really…
terribly sorry!” Takamatsu Tomori squeezed her eyes shut, shouting this with all the courage she could muster.
Looking through the gaps between the colourful Band-Aids in her hands, Amaya Yuu saw her with her eyes tightly shut due to nervousness and guilt, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.
“It’s fine, I’m not angry.
I just wanted to come over and ask why you suddenly ran off earlier.” His tone was gentle as he casually took two Band-Aids from her palm, noticing they were printed with various penguin patterns.
“Oh right, I haven’t introduced myself yet.
My name is Amaya Yuu, a new transfer student in Class 1-B.
Today is my first day, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Transfer student…?” Takamatsu Tomori tilted her head slightly, as if pondering something.
“Ah!
I, I am Takamatsu Tomori…” It seemed to take her a while to react, and she hurriedly added her introduction, her voice gradually getting quieter.
“I’m in Class A…
nice to meet you.”
“Do you like penguins, Takamatsu-san?” Amaya Yuu shook the Band-Aids in his hand.
“They’re all penguin patterns.”
This sentence seemed to trigger a switch, and Takamatsu Tomori’s eyes instantly lit up.
“The ones in your hand are an Emperor Penguin and a King Penguin!
They both belong to the genus Aptenodytes!” As she spoke, she eagerly rummaged through the small tin box containing the Band-Aids.
“I also have Adélie penguins, Gentoo penguins…”
“Your next line is—” Amaya Yuu suddenly interrupted her with a playful smile.
“‘They both belong to the genus Pygoscelis’!”
Takamatsu Tomori blinked, not yet fully reacting, while Amaya Yuu seemed to trigger a “Deadly Tempo”, rattling off a string of fluent biological classification names: “There are also crested penguins, banded penguins, little penguins, and yellow-eyed penguins!”
When it came to biological knowledge, Amaya Yuu wouldn’t lose to anyone.
This was thanks to the meager collection in his elementary school library on the island; he had practically worn out those few interesting biology encyclopedias!
“Eh?” Takamatsu Tomori was stunned.
Ever since she was little, she had always been the one rattling off facts to others; this was the first time she had been “educated” in return.
It gave her an absurd feeling, like leading the Allied forces across the beachhead during the Normandy landings only to realise she was actually German.
“And the most important point!” Amaya Yuu concluded with a firm tone.
“Although only four species of penguins live exclusively in Antarctica, the habitats of other penguins are relatively widespread!”
He paused deliberately, looking at the completely frozen Takamatsu Tomori, and said word by word: “But in Madagascar, there are absolutely no penguins!!!”
Looking at Takamatsu Tomori’s blank expression, Amaya Yuu felt as if he heard a “K.O.!” sound effect from the void, and he proudly lifted his chin.
“So, so amazing…” Takamatsu Tomori stared blankly for a long time before murmuring softly, “I just thought…
they were cute.”
Her voice grew quieter and quieter, her fingers unconsciously pinching the edge of the tin box: “So I was just collecting them…”
“It feels like…
having my hobby pointed out by a professional on the spot…”
“But getting back to business”, Amaya Yuu steered the conversation back.
Although he had won a small victory in penguin knowledge, he hadn’t forgotten his main mission for the day.
“Are you a member of the Astronomy Club?
Why did you suddenly run off just now?”
“Do you want to join?!” Takamatsu Tomori, who had been murmuring softly just a moment ago, seemed to be injected with vitality; her voice instantly brightened, and her eyes regained their lustre.
She leaned forward half a step, but then, as if remembering something, her momentum weakened, and her voice gradually grew smaller: “Although…
the Astronomy Club only has me right now…”