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yansimstorythatiwillnotworkon · 3 months ago

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#12 (1)

Tuesday

Part of Ayano wanted to test if Info-Chan was still open to favors, so she decided to do so under the guise of doing a task.

Yan-Chan: Can you find out why Lori is so adamant on beating up Frankie?

Info-Chan: Wellll…

Info-Chan: I could, but I’d still need payment.

Yan-Chan: In what form?

Info-Chan: I need Raibaru’s phone.

Info-Chan: Can you do it?

Yan-Chan: I’ll figure something out.

Ayano turns off her phone, but her gaze lingers on her reflection of the blank screen. That worked, it seemed. Info-Chan wasn’t willing to cut ties with Ayano, or at least not yet. That was good.

At the moment, she was in the locker rooms. Not under any sort of scheme, but to look at the bruise that Lori had left on her stomach. Or more precisely the upper abdomen. The gross mark Lori’s ‘shove’ had left on her body is what reminded Ayano about the Frankie situation in the first place.

A loud clear of the throat alerted Ayano that someone else was coming into the locker room. Tokuko walks in with her hand on her throat and her phone in her other hand. She nods and gives a dry ‘hey’ as she walks in and behind Ayano to reach her locker. She grabs some sort of bag and walks back over to Ayano with it in hand.

As she looks through it, her gaze wanders to the mirror, and Ayano’s clear bruise catches her attention. “Damn, girl–” Tokuko coughs into her arm and clears her throat before speaking again, “--what happened?” She asks, motioning to the bruise with her elbow.

“Uh, I just bumped into something.” Ayano shrugged, rubbing the spot where the bruise was left. It was worse during the past weekend, so she was glad that it’d dulled down a bit. “I got it a couple days ago. It’s gotten better, so there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Tokuko lifted an eyebrow her way. “I think it’s concerning that it was worse than that. It looks as big as a baseball!” She claimed, although she was clearly being dramatic with that comparison.

Ayano shook her head dismissively, before deciding to get the conversation off of her injury. “What happened to you?” She asks. Tokuko had been clearing her throat even before the conversation, and despite her efforts, her voice hadn’t been as upbeat as she probably wanted it to be.

Tokuko huffs at her question, quickly popping some medicine into her mouth and using her hands to cup water from the sink and drink it quickly. “I honestly don’t know.” She says, clearing her throat a couple times as she puts her medicine away. “My throat’s been like this for the last two weeks, so I’ve been missing voice practice.”

After putting her medicine back in her locker, she comments. “Well, actually, it could be because my mother’s such a heavy smoker.” She sighs, shaking her head. “She says she can’t stop because it’s the best way to ‘relieve stress’ and… whatever.” She mumbles, pulling out her phone. She coughs into her arm and waves briefly to Ayano.

“I’m gonna go ask the nurse if she knows anything- ahem. Hope your bruise gets better, Aya.” Tokuko says half-heartedly, coughing a bit on her way out.

“Thanks..” Ayano watches as Tokuko leaves before buttoning her shirt back up. It was a bit hot today, so she decided against the jacket this time.

Now that Ayano had properly sticken a deal with Info-Chan and had checked on her injury again, she needed to find Raibaru. Considering how Raibaru was, she was likely just being a third party to Osana and Kyuji.

Unlike Ayano had thought, Raibaru was actually wandering around the halls on her own. She stayed around the club rooms, looking each of them down and chatting with the members if they happened to be nearby. When Ayano finally caught up to Raibaru, she was standing in front of the Martial Arts club.

Seeing Ayano approach, Raibaru smiled. “Hey, there, Ayano. How’s your day going?” She asks, smiling sweetly at the taller girl.

“About the same as every day, I suppose.” Ayano replies casually, placing a hand on her hip. “I was wondering where you were, actually. I didn’t see you with Osana and I was wondering what you were doing if not hanging around her.”

Raibaru chuckles lightly. “Well, I can’t spend all my time around her anymore.” She folds her arms with a light hum in thought. “You know, now that Osana has a… well, now that she’s taken interest in someone, I can’t really hog up all her space. I’d just be a bad third wheel at that point.” She rationalizes, mainly to herself.

Holding a hand up to the club room in front of her, Raibaru continues. “I figured that since Osana’s busier now, I should find something to do in my spare time. I’m sort of debating on joining a club, but…” Raibaru sighs. “I’m not sure… even if Osana’s busy now, I still feel kinda paranoid about not being around her.”

“Really?” Ayano tilts her head to the side. “Are you worried that Kyuji might do something? He seems like a good guy.” She comments, holding a hand up to her chin in thought.

Raibaru immediately puts her hands in front of her with a nervous expression. “Not at all! Sorry, I’m just a bit paranoid from an incident in middle school.” She shakes her head with a wry smile. “I don’t really want to go into detail but… that incident has carried up until now, unfortunately. I’m certain that I just need a way to distract myself, though.”

Ayano nods at Raibaru’s brief explanation. “I understand. I could help you out in some way if you want.” She offers. “We can talk about your likes and dislikes and rationalize which club might fit you, maybe.”

“Aw, would you really do that, Ayano?” Raibaru beams, folding her hands together with a grateful bow of the head. “That’s so sweet of you. I’d really appreciate it!” She says.

For what seemed like the hundredth time, Ayano was once again repeating the same club-visiting pattern. Starting with the cooking club, which could pass as being closed had Kenko not been seen inside. Ayano peeks in and knocks on the door of the dim club room.

Kenko lifts his head from the cabinets and stands up with a smile. “Hey, Ayano. Raibaru.” He nods to each of them, “I didn’t expect anyone to visit today. What can I do for you two?”

“I’m showing Raibaru around each club room.” Ayano explains, nodding to the shorter girl. Raibaru smiles and gives a small wave. “She’s thinking of joining a club but she’s still unsure about it at the moment.”

Kenko gives a brief smile and nods in an understanding manner. “I see. Have you ever baked or cooked anything before, Raibaru?” He starts off, placing the bowl in his hands on the counter. He closes the cabinet door and turns to fetch something from beneath the counter.

“Uh, no, not really..” Raibaru responds, raising a hand to her chin with a shy smile. “A lot of the meals I eat are cold and cut rather than cooked- like a salad. My mother usually makes hot meals for me. In fact, all I did was cut food for Ajia last week as well.”

“I see. Well, we’ll definitely..” Kenko pauses in thought. “...our function as the Cooking Club is to teach you how to cook and bake whatever is possible with the ingredients we have. At the end of the day it can just be a hobby, practice for a proper culinary school, or a job you have in mind.”

Crossing his arms, Kenko gives a small, sad smile. “I admit, as lovely as it would be to have you, our club’s, er…. state.. is a bit rocky at the moment. Realistically speaking, even if you were interested, we’d have to hold off on letting you join until after Shoku gets back in contact with us.”

Raibaru raises her hand up to her cheek with a frown. “Oh. Right, I understand.” She nods and allows a smile to spread across her face. “There’s always next time. I’ll check in some other time.” She responds kindly.

“Much appreciated.” Kenko smiles and nods at Raibaru, before turning his attention to Ayano. “And how are you doing this morning? I’m glad you’ve stopped by, regardless of the reason.”

Ayano was a bit surprised at the comment made her way. Really, she expected this process to be as quick as her first time doing this. It was probably best if she socialized, regardless of how she felt about it. “I’m alright. I don’t often have any plans so helping Raibaru is my number one priority at the moment. I hope to finish before class starts.”

“Ooh, how efficient!” The green-haired boy smiles. “I guess I shouldn’t hold you up, then.” He looks to Raibaru, “I hope you enjoy whatever club you join. I’ll see you two later.”

Bidding the cook farewell, Ayano and Raibaru head to the gymnasium. With the funeral items out of the way, it was likely that the club had moved back there.

“Sorry, Ayano. Tsuruzo and Kizana didn’t come today.” Riku smiles briefly at her and Raibaru. “Kokona is also at home right now, and Tokuko is in the nurse’s office. It’s just Shozo and I here at the moment.” He points to the stairs that lead to the balcony above the gymnasium. “We��re just working on technical things for now.”

Ayano lifts a hand to her chin in thought. “I see… Well, Raibaru is here to decide if she wants to join. We’re looking at each of the clubs to figure out which one fits her best.”

Shozo chuckles from his seat, a book of American culture on his lap and the script in his hand. “Definitely isn’t any good that neither our club leader or substitute leader are here right now.” He comments, holding his pen between his teeth in order to tear a page of the draft script. After crumpling up the page and tossing it in a nearby bin, he smiles at Raibaru briefly to be polite. “Not to downplay the situation of course. I’m sure that Riku can give you some information about us. Since I’m busy.”

Riku huffs lightly at Shozo’s emphasis on the word ‘busy’. He understood that that was Shozo saying that if Raibaru was going to hear anything, it was going to be from him. “Right..” He sighs and stands up with a smile. “...well, I’ll be happy to help.”

The shorter student leads Raibaru and Ayano out of the backstage area and to the main area. “Well, this is where we usually do short performances. Last year, the club’s most popular act was a comedy called “Good Script, Bad Actors”. It was very short compared to the original play due to the limited number of actors, of course, but we made it work.”

“Ah, I remember that one!” Raibaru recalls with a grin. “It was pretty funny, hehe.. How did your club manage to change your outfits so efficiently?” She asks, folding her hands together with a curious smile.

“We had some help from a few volunteers. Kashiko, Enpitsu… and a few others. They helped us keep the outfits ready and change up the hairstyles whenever it was needed.” Riku explains briefly. “While we all have our own talents within the club. Shozo with his accuracy research, Kokona with her passionate narrating… We all contribute by knowing how to act, but we contribute even more by having specific skills to help with the play in general!”

Riku holds his hand out to Raibaru with a smile. “Would you happen to have something like that? Or perhaps something you’re interested in learning like that?” He asks.

“Well…” Raibaru thinks for a moment, “...I’m not entirely sure what I could do that would be of any help.” She admits. “The only significant skill I have is martial arts. I guess I could make some pretty realistic fighting scenes if the play ever comes for that?” Despite Raibaru not having a particular interest in the Drama Club, she tried her best to be optimistic.

“That could be pretty helpful. But then that leaves acting skills.” Riku holds a hand to his chin with a kind smile. “It’s one thing to be experienced in martial arts, but it’s another thing to know how to execute the moves via how it’s required in the play. And of course there is the act of acting itself that requires experience.”

Raibaru gives a small smile. “Yeah, I understand that. I don’t think I’ve ever thought of myself as an actor, to be honest…” She mumbles, tapping her lip in thought.

“That’s alright. If you’re ever interested, we’ll be able to teach you the basics.” Riku offered, “And if things escalate from there, you could officially join us in plays!”

Bowing her head politely, Raibaru chirps, “Thank you! I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Are you ready to go?” Ayano asks, to which Raibaru nodded in response.

Riku waves the two girls off and returns to the backstage area. As they leave, Raibaru comments. “Riku and Kokona seem pretty sweet..” She starts, “...but I also know that they’re the nicest and least problematic of the whole club.”

Ayano nods. “Yes, generally speaking. Tsuruzo is very nice as well, albeit..”

“..Overzealous, hehe.” Raibaru finishes Ayano’s sentence. As Ayano nods again in agreement, Raibaru giggles. “I’d be more willing to join if I didn’t think that my inexperience would cause some riffraff in the club.”

“I understand.” Ayano replies. “A lot of people say that. I feel like the Drama Club will have to be its own little family for a while.”

Raibaru laughs again, clearly enjoying their mission as they head back to the school building.

“Ayano.” Daku briefly looked up from his book to look at her and Raibaru, but his attention immediately went back to his book, as if equally attempting to ignore their existence.

Ayano had approached Daku because he was the first person she saw. However, considering that his girlfriend was currently “missing”, it probably didn’t end up being the best idea. The look of Daku now that Saki was missing from his life was almost chilling. Ayano somewhat regretted approaching him.

“Ahem. Ayano?” Kokuma tapped on Ayano’s shoulders, stiffening up as the taller girl turned back to look at her. She paused for a second before waving a little, “..hi. Um, Daku’s sort of busy right now, and Oka should be walking around the school somewhere. I-If you need anything club related you could go find Oka or speak to me. An..And Shin isn’t here right now.” She adds the last bit awkwardly, but still smiles.

Raibaru speaks up with a sweet smile. “We’re touring each of the clubs to see if I’ll be interested at all in joining.” She explains, “I admit, the Occult Club was never on my list, though.”

Kokuma laughs a bit nervously and brushes her palms against her skirt. “Yeah..! Yeah, no, people usually say that. I’m surprised you came here at all, honestly, hehe… It’s really cool that you’re actually trying out all of your options, though! So, erm..” She blushes as she stutters a bit. She clearly wasn’t the best at conversation. “...wha… uh, what would you like to know?”

“Well…” Raibaru looks around the room, and Ayano does the same. She notices that Daku actually left, and was nowhere to be found in the room. Raibaru looks at the strange sigils all over the room. “..I, uh… know your cult- er- occult club… is known for doing rituals and stuff, but… what do you plan on doing after you summon a demon? Hypothetically speaking, that is.”

Laughing a bit nervously, Kokuma quietly explains. “Well- uh, there are several possible outcomes… a-according to our… our books, that is, hehe… And because there are tons of different demons, there are tons of different outcomes.. You know?”

“Right, so…” Raibaru lifts a hand to her mouth in thought, “...I’ve heard about a ‘flame demon’, I think. If you, erm… summoned it wrong, would it burn the whole school down, perchance?”

Kokuma pressed her lips together, clearly hesitant about answering her question. “...in theory… yes. I-It’s a possibility..”

Raibaru huffed out a laugh, crossing her arms and giving Kokuma a smile, as if waiting for her to defend her club.

“...um, but…” Kokuma inhales deeply and then sighs. “..okay, my club would hate to hear me say this, but the fact of the matter is that… while we all believe in the supernatural, we don’t believe in it enough to not try dangerous things.” She admits, looking around, as if expecting her club mates to be nearby to hear her. “...if you want, you can just imagine this as some ghost-hunting club. At this point, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind such a name.”

“Well, that does sound a little more fun.” Raibaru laughs lightly, smiling sweetly at Kokuma. “Although… I admit I’ve never been good with… horror. Ghost stories and whatnot.” She confesses, a light blush brushing her cheeks.

Kokuma smiles a bit at Raibaru’s confession. “Not many are, especially when scary things actually start happening. Which I’ve witnessed a lot since I joined this club…” She trails off a bit, before clearing her throat. “It’s alright if you don’t think that the Occult Club fits you. There are plenty more clubs out there.”

Raibaru nods in agreement, and Ayano speaks up this time. “Thank you for standing in for your club leaders, Kokuma.” She says, bowing her head respectfully.

Blushing bashfully, Kokuma quickly dips her head down as well. “O-Of course! I’m glad I could be of help…” She waves her hand with a happy expression. “..s…stop by again!”

Despite Ayano explaining her and Raibaru’s situation, Gema was clearly struggling to answer. Or perhaps struggling to notice them was more accurate, since he was still furiously pressing the buttons on the controller in his hand. It seemed like the whole club was pretty busy with whatever it was that had come up, since they were all playing the same game.

“Uuuugh!!” Pippi suddenly groans, flopping back in her chair. “I hate how he’s programmed to go after the healer! It’s so smart, though!!” She sighs, spinning around in her chair before noticing the two girls there. “Oh, hey, Ayano! And Raibaru! I didn’t expect to see you here.” Pippi smiles at the two, kicking her feet and hanging her head back to look at the two. “Sorry the ‘boss’ is busy right now. He’s in the middle of a super-important tournament right now, and he’s gotten pretty high up the ranks with our help!”

Before either of them could respond, Pippi waves her hand dismissively with a cute smile. “Not that you guys care about that, though. What brings you two here?” She asks, turning around to sit backwards on the chair. She folds her legs beneath her and leans her face on the head rest of the chair.

“Raibaru’s trying to find a club to possibly join.” Ayano explains, turning her head to the monitors, each of them flashing different colors. “Are there any aspects of the club that are more…”

Pippi smiles, “...less brain-rotting than sitting hunched back and being unable to respond to human life?” She asks, giggling at her own dramatic explanation of Gema’s current state. Part of Gema seemed to hear Pippi, though, as he straightened his posture immediately at her comment.

Ryuto exhales, looking defeated as he slumps into his chair. “If you’re looking for something that doesn’t include sitting down you could always try that DDR rip-off over there.” He points over to the dance machine on the opposite side of the room. “That’s definitely a workout.”

“Agreed.” Pippi giggles. “I think the best thing about video games is that there are so many of them!” She explains, “Even people who dislike games have a favorite. Like, sometimes they’ll say ‘I hate video games but this game is actually educational’ or ‘this game has great taste in music!’ you know?”

“I… think I understand.” Raibaru nods slowly. “Cooking-related or roleplay games sound nice. Realistic ones, of course, hehe… I think the only thing I dislike about video games is how unrealistic they are.”

Ryuto hums in thought before commenting. “Ironically, you’d probably hate fighting games, then.” He rationalizes. “Fighting games usually depend on unrealistic body types and fighting moves- especially adding magic and powers- in order to reel in their players. Since you used to do martial arts, I can see you wanting something that is related to what you trained.”

“Exactly! Good thinking.” Pippi compliments quickly, although based on Ryuto’s red face, he seems to dwell on the small compliment more than Pippi does. “Not everyone is really a gaming-club person. Especially since there aren’t any legitimate benefits.”

Raibaru nods as she thinks. “Right, right.. Well, I guess in that case I should look for something a bit more my speed, right?” She wonders aloud, to which Pippi nods to enthusiastically.

“Good luck with that. Have a nice–” Pippi’s attention is immediately snatched by a certain sound effect that seemed to signal that Gema had won. “-Holy crap, you did it alone?! Good job!!” She cheers.

As Gema begins explaining in detail his thought process and plan throughout the whole event, Raibaru and Ayano take that as their chance to leave.

Mina and Frankie were the two sparring today, and it seemed like Mina was winning this one- which wasn’t an inherent surprise. What was a surprise is that Raibaru was unaware that Frankie had recently joined the club.

“She joined just last week.” Budo said, his voice low since Ayano was right next to him. He looked to Raibaru, who seemed happy to see another member. “She’s making great progress, but… well, she’s lost a couple of nails.” He says, referring to the fake nails Frankie wore. “Still, she’s pretty adamant on keeping them on. Says she’ll have them on anyway if she has to defend herself, so she might as well get used to it, haha.”

Frankie usually adopted the almost infamous gyaru style. Hence why she was currently the most bedazzled Martial Arts member with blonde curly hair and all sorts of makeup still on her face. It’s worth noting that whenever she’s done training she has to reapply her makeup.

As Frankie and Mina finish up, the blonde exhales heavily and fans her face as Mina gives her a reassuring pat on the back. She spots Raibaru and walks over with a knowing, albeit tired, smile. “Hey, aren’t you the old club leader?”

“That’s right. It’s nice seeing that people are still joining the Martial Arts club!” Raibaru beams, folding her hands together happily.

As Raibaru and Frankie chat up a storm, Budo nudges Ayano softly. “You really seem pretty task-happy, huh?” He comments nodding to Raibaru. “Every time I see you you’re busy helping someone.”

“Hm, well..” Ayano folds her hands in front of her lap. “I don’t see a reason not to. She seemed to need help and I had the time on my hands.”

“It’s very admirable. I think you’ll be pretty well-liked in due time. Which would be a pretty big change from last year.” Budo says, crossing his arms and keeping his back straight, as per usual. It seemed like the polar opposite of Gema.

Ayano lifted an eyebrow, her arms also crossed. “Last year?”

“Yeah, last year. You were pretty quiet and didn’t talk to anyone, let alone actively do favors.” He explains.

Truthfully, Ayano didn’t realize that anyone noticed her last year. She always, always kept to herself because she didn’t see any value in socializing. She studied a lot, but even today has to look at Info-Chan’s information to decide which of her peers she’s speaking to sometimes.

“I’m.. surprised you noticed. Me, I mean.” Ayano mumbles, looking away. “I probably assumed that if I ignored everyone else I’d be ignored in return.”

Budo smiles, “Well, I like to think I noticed everyone so long as they weren’t skulking in the shadows or something. Heh. Even last year you were one of the more appropriate ones. Whenever someone invited you somewhere you refused, whenever someone suggested accessories or hairstyles you refused.” He shrugs. “If anything, I think you’re a pretty nostalgic image.”

“Nostalgic is… a way to put it.” Ayano tilts her head to the side with a questioning look. “Do you mean like I’m a typical sight to see?”

“Typical seems like a stiff way to put it. I mean since you’re nearly the same as you were last year, it feels normal to see you. Even if you didn’t start interacting with others. You’d be a nice normal somewhere in the background. You know?” Budo explains, although Ayano couldn’t say for sure that she understood entirely.

“I… suppose.” Ayano pauses for a minute. “Thanks.” She wondered if Taro saw her as that in some way, since she struggled so much to speak to him. Was her nervousness something he expected from her? Was that a good or bad thing?

“I sort of feel obligated to thank you for always being around, now, haha.” Budo chuckles, “But you’re welcome.”

Raibaru obviously didn’t want to return to the Martial Arts club, but she did enjoy catching up with them.

Kiba nods at Ayano as a greeting as the two enter the Light Music Club. “Hey, ladies! Miyuji didn’t come to school today if you’re looking for her.” She explains briefly, laxly tapping on the keys of her keytar to something that sounds like Der Flohwalzer.

“Yeah. Some club leader, am I right?” Gita jokes, to which Beshi immediately adds onto.

“For context, Gita constantly forgot that she was the club leader last year.” She reveals with a grin. “She was the latest to every one of our club activities.”

“Time is relative.” Gita says with a shrug, eliciting a giggle from Raibaru.

Ayano holds a hand up to Raibaru. “We’re looking around the clubs to see if Raibaru likes the look of any of them.” She explains briefly.

“Right.” Raibaru nods. “I know you all focus on rock, but would you happen to have any other kinds of instruments?” She asks, tapping her finger tips together with a smile.

Beshi points to a corner of the room, where a couple of forgotten instruments sat. “We have a couple of classical instruments if that’s more your taste. Piano, violin, simple stuff like that. Nothing too fancy.” She explains.

“If you’re into anything other than rock, we could probably set aside a bit of our budget to getting you what you want. It’ll just take a little longer than anything else since it’s not the number one priority.” Gita explains. “Despite the name this is a rock club for a rock band. So anything other than those necessities comes second.”

Raibaru hums in thought. “So, hypothetically, if I were to join the club would I automatically be part of the band and be required to play?”

“Nope. The band and club are two different things.” Kiba explains laxly, having to raise her usually low voice a bit to be heard from the other side of the club room. “In fact, if our club was big enough and we were split in half on the type of music we’d play, we could even have two separate bands in one club. That’d be cool.” She comments, returning to her keytar.

“Well, I am more interested in classical music…” Raibaru mumbles, holding a hand up to her mouth in thought. “...then again, I might be more interested in listening to it..” She wonders aloud.

Beshi smiles at her, “It’s good to know that difference. We’ve had a couple of members who joined for like a day when they realized that they’d actually have to play instruments.” She said with a light laugh.

“We probably just need to do little mini-interviews before we actually let them join.” Gita comments. “Instead of ‘you like music? Me too! You’re a part of the club now!’ You know?”

Raibaru nods in agreement. “That would probably help a lot, actually.” She bows her head a bit, “Thanks for your time!”

“Totes! Bubye!” Kiba waves as the two girls leave for the art club.

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