The Falling Down

The door of the manga club slid open. Entering was a small, timid first-year student, his bangs draped over his eyes. He carefully scanned around the room, slowly stepping further into the cluttered abyss of scattered manga and crumpled manuscript papers. His eyes blinked anxiously as he watched the three second-year students argue over something seemingly important.

"I told you, our protagonist has to be named Mika! Umeda Mika!"
Kuromoto Nishi wrestled with Sakai Akinari, both of them trying to physically overpower each other's interlocked grips.

"No, you're taking this in a completely different direction! It's going to be about Setagaya Jin!"
Akinari grunted as he was being pushed back into his chair.

"Both of you are ridiculous! It has to be my idea about Enki, the yakuza tattoo artist!"
Yamaguchi Minami joined the frenzy, slapping both boys across their heads.

"Stop it! We all know my shoujo idea about a fantasy kingdom is the clear choice. Nishi-senpai, you wouldn't turn down your girlfriend's idea, would you?"
Tan-Tan sat with puppy eyes, doing her best to join the argument; but looking too cute and innocent to be taken seriously.

"Um... hello?..."
Meguro Makoto softly shouted toward the quarreling teenagers.

In unison, all of their heads jolted to the nervous boy, shouting at him.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!"

"Eek!..."
Makoto covered his face, shielding his frightened expression from the ferocious manga club members.

"Oh, Makoto-kun!"
Tan-Tan quickly rushed out of her chair, prying Makoto's arms away from his face. She gently led him over to their senpais, aiming her open hands at the scared boy; much like Nishi had done when he introduced her to Akinari and Minami.
"This is Meguro Makoto. When Nishi-senpai went on his stubborn tangent the other week, we had a new applicant submit a form to join our club. Please, treat him well."

Nishi's eyes narrowed with guilt, recalling the events of last week. Rather than bring up the past, he cleared his throat and returned to his duties as a proper club president.
"Tan-Tan... don't you think it was important to mention this? I mean, instead of flooding my email with manga ideas?"

Tan-Tan rubbed her neck sheepishly, her gaze innocently focusing on the window.
"Y-yeah. I suppose I forgot."

Makoto shifted slowly to the door, not wanting to spend another second with these unpredictable excuses for club members.

"Hold it, newbie. We're not usually like this."
Akinari stepped in front of the door, his natural resting-bitch-face seeming to startle Makoto more than he already had been.

"That's not true... When I first saw you... you were assaulting Kuromoto-senpai..."
Makoto backed against the wall, his nervous eyes darting around for an escape.

"Shit, you saw that? Well, Nishi deserved it, end of story. The point is, we're happy to have you join."
Akinari stepped closer, trapping Makoto against the wall.

"Sakai-senpai, you're scaring him!"
Tan-Tan pulled Akinari away, calmly leading Makoto to the table. Sitting down, she nodded her head to the timid boy. He took a seat beside her, his gaze fixated on his fidgeting hands beneath the wooden desktop. Tan-Tan scooted closer, handing Makoto a sketch from her notebook. He examined it, noticing the familiar character from his favorite manga series; the bottom read 'Welcome to the Manga Club' a reference to the name of his treasured series.

"I made this for you, but I haven't seen you in a week, so I never had the chance to give it to you."
She smiled sweetly.

"Tanaka-san... Thank you..."
Makoto hugged the paper to his chest, his lips quivering around a creeping smirk.

"You can call me Shina or Tan-Tan, you don't need to be so formal. We're both first-year students."

"Shina... I think I'll call you... Shina..."
Makoto scooted closer, extending his hand for a formal shake.

Tan-Tan carefully shook his hand, letting out a tiny giggle of joy. Nishi, who had been watching from his chair, felt a hint of jealousy as he witnessed his girlfriend be so polite to a total stranger; but he quickly brushed the feeling away, glad that Tan-Tan was making a real connection despite her shortcomings.

"Meguro Makoto, was it? You want to join the manga club? We would be honored to have you. Sorry your first impression of us was a bunch of cruel delinquents, and thank you for being friends with Tan-Tan."
Nishi bowed his head in apology.

Makoto stuttered, quickly returning the bow with frantic hands.
"Kuromoto-senpai... you mustn't bow!..."

Nishi raised his head, confused as to why the boy was insisting against a formal apology. He tapped his chin with the back of his eraser, studying Makoto's hidden eyes.
"You're an odd one, Meguro-kun. I guess you'll fit right in with us."

Makoto looked at Nishi, like a loyal servant to an almighty god. He rummaged through his pockets, pulling out his smartphone. His fingers tapped away at the screen, prominently showing the senpai the school news article. The headline from last week read:
'Shishigami High School manga prodigy, Kuromoto Nishi. Read his 80 page one-shot below! Who is the mysterious story writer, Tanto?'

Nishi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as he studied the phone screen in the boy's shaky hands.
"I almost forgot I submitted our manga to the school newspaper."

"What? You mean to say the entire school has read our manga?!"
Minami shot up from her desk, rushing to Nishi's side to look at Makoto's cell phone.

"Nishi-senpai, is that true? This whole time, people have been reading and leaving comments?"
Tan-Tan appeared almost skeptical at the situation, as if she couldn't believe he hadn't informed them sooner.

Makoto lowered his arm, scrolling through the flooded comment section of 'Romance Plagues The Manga Club'.
"Look, Kuromoto-senpai... Dozens of students are expressing their interest..."

"Whoa, you're right. I didn't realize so many students would praise our work like that."
Nishi read each word from his own phone, casually grinning at the kind words of his peers; the question on everyone's mind being who this mysterious story writer going by the pen name 'Tanto' was.

"Look, Tan-Tan. Everyone is complimenting your story."
Nishi tossed his arm around her from behind, resting his chin on top of her head. Tan-Tan read through the comments, letting out giggles at the silly ones.

"This is amazing; way better than getting published in a shoujo magazine!"
She pressed herself closer to Nishi, savoring the warmth of his body.

Makoto watched uncomfortably, unsure as to why the two looked so comfortable while hugging. He looked to Akinari and Minami for guidance, but was equally surprised to see the two holding hands while scrolling their own smartphones. He grimaced; stepping back from the display of affection.
"Romance is plaguing the manga club..."

The four looked at each other, bursting into a boisterous laugh. Minami spoke first.
"I guess it is. It's ironic, right?"

"Now we have to find Meguro-kun a girlfriend so he doesn't get lonely."
Akinari smirked mischievously.

"Don't tease Makoto-kun!"
Tan-Tan pouted at Akinari.

"Now, now. Let's get to work on our new story. We can't keep the students of Shishigami High School waiting, right?"
Nishi handed a stack of screen tone to Makoto, his eyes were gentle and inviting.
"Have you ever applied screen tone?"

Makoto shook his head, eagerly bouncing on his heels.
"Never! But I'm a fast learner, Kuromoto-senpai!"

"Alright, let's get to work. Obviously we're going with my crime syndicate story."
Nishi puffed his chest out, but the reaction from his club members invalidated his confidence. Everyone began arguing over whose story was going to be picked. This was just another average day in the manga club, now with a fresh face joining the silly antics.