That’s impressive!

Koshiro was sitting in front of the old lady Suto-san after he brewed some tea for them.

“Hmm…” the old lady sipped the tea and smiled, “That’s impressive.”

“Yes! I told Sumiye you would be impressed by it!” “In your face Sumi-nee! I told you even I can brew some tea.”

“Hoho!” Suto-san sipped more of the tea. “Yes…” she gave a gentle smile, “It’s impressive how it’s bad.”

“Huh...?” Koshiro was left open-mouthed.

“Yes…” the old lady sipped more tea, “...very very bad.”

“Hmm…” the boy composed himself. “If it is that bad, why do you keep drinking it, Suto-san?” he asked

“Oh! That!” she smiled and stared at something distant: “It’s because it reminds me of something nice...” Suto-san continued to sip the tea.

“Something nice…?” 

“Yes… how is that Daichi boy doing? It was terrible what happened to him.”

“Yes, it was…” Koshiro looked down, “... I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Oh! That’s too bad Kushiru-kun, you should keep in touch with your friends!”

“Yeah, but he’s not my friend Suto-san.”

“Anyway…” Suto-san suddenly stopped, looked at her tea with a puzzled face, and then to the black cat on her lap: “Oh! It’s Scar-chan! How did you end up there?” she then looked at Koshiro: “Kochin-kun is here as well!”

Koshiro sighed and smiled: “Hi, Suto-san!”

***

While Sumiye slept most of the time, Scar and Koshiro passed the entire day making company to Suto-san. They were lucky she was having one of her most lucid (and least needy) days in a long time…

“Maybe seeing you two again made that impact on her.” Sumiye commented while she was driving Koshiro and Scar home (she insisted on doing so).

“I don’t know, maybe it’s just her daughter being so tending for several days.” Koshiro replied. “Besides that, are you sure it’s fine to leave her alone?”

“It’s never ‘fine’. But after she takes her medicine we have some time to spare...”

“Okay…” a hush fell over them. They could only hear the sound of the vehicle until Koshiro’s phone received two messages:

Nobu: Hey Koshiro, check the link I sent you before! Btw, are you playing tonight? How are Suto-san and Sumiye-chan doing?

Nyoko-chan: Hi Koshiro-kun! Nyoko-chan wants to know how things are going!

“Hmm… Nyoko and Nobu are saying hi to you.” Koshiro told Sumiye, “And they’re asking about you and your mother. What should I say?”

“Just tell them the truth.” she replied.

“Okay!” Koshiro then turned to the phone and started to read while typing: “Sumiye is looking like a weird and broken ventriloquist puppet as always… she’s actually driving me and Scar home right now… ouch!” he held his ear who had just been flicked by Sumiye, “Hey!”

“I’m sorry, but I saw a mosquito on your ear…”

“Not suspicious at all.” the boy continued to type: “Suto-san had a nice day today…”

“Even though she drank horrible tea.” Sumiye completed.

“Even though she had terrible tea.” Koshiro typed and after some time he made a disgusted face towards the new messages:

Nobu: I still remember when we had to drink your tea * - *

Nyoko-chan: Nyoko-chan still remembers when she had to drink your tea * - *

“Is it really that bad?”

“Yes.” Sumiye read his face and mind, “Yes it is.”

***

Since he had the duty to spy on some of his fellow club members, Koshiro started to notice some things regarding them in the next school days:

Takayama and Shimizu were basically inseparable, but the former was the one to get most, if not all, of the attention. Even though Shimizu was always being cheerful and kind to the ones around the two, and Takayama was forcing smiles and laughs left and right. At the club, Shimizu would usually ask Yasutake and Hirata for some drawings, while Takayama and Koshiro tried not to kill each other.

For some reason (or maybe just a miracle) Yasutake and Hirata weren’t always together. In fact, she was the one magically vanishing first, going to an unknown place within the school grounds, while Hirata would wait for a moment, and then, would disappear as well.

“What if they’re having a tryst?!” Sawada commented while elegantly sipping some tea in one of their tea parties, she frowned at it but continued to sip.

“A tryst??!” Murakami exclaimed while almost falling from her chair. “D-Do you really think that??!”

“I…”

“I really don’t think so, and I’ve told you to be careful about Shimizu.” Koshiro stated.

Sawada pouted at him, like a child who lost its candy, and asked with a sulky voice: “And why do you think that?”

“It’s just because there isn’t a change in their behavior towards each other, but Shimizu is always with them at the club.”

“Of course they would hide it! Koshiro idiot!”

“Ugh. This is unnecessary.” he frowned at the girl.

“Idiot! Idi…”

“Anyway!” the president interrupted her, “We have to be sure about it, so you’ll have to follow Yasutake, Koike-kun.”

“Me? Follow Yasutake? But…”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?”

“I-I w-was g-going to ask when you want me to do it, Mrs. President! I mean, Murakami-san! The best president in the world, I love you!” Koshiro was hasty with his speech, and his eyes were wide open, “What the hell is going on with me?”

“Huh?” Murakami tilted her head, not understanding what the boy was saying. “Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be passing through the classrooms announcing the event. You should look into their tryst as early as possible.” 

"Oh, so the festival is really happening? How did you manage to convince the principal, Murakami-san?" 

"I'm curious as well, Aika-chan."

"Well, it was pretty simple." Murakami sipped some tea, "I just had to sell my body."

"..."

"..."

“Ugh, what is this?" Murakami looked at the tea, "Who did this? How can someone mess this up?”

"Aika-chan."

"Murakami-san."

"Wow, this is really bad... huh? What did you guys say?"

"I might've heard wrong... but did you say you sold your body?" Koshiro asked.

"HUH?"

"O-Oh I knew I heard it wrong, I'm sorry Mrs. President!"

"What? But you heard it right."

"..." Koshiro froze.

"I sold him my body pillow." Murakami explained, "I didn't use it. It had a monster from a game Katayama-Sensei likes."

"Thank god." Koshiro sighed with relief.

"Yep, this character right here..." Murakami quickly showed her phone to Koshiro.

"Oh." the boy looked at the screen, "Oh..." "Is Katayama-Sensei into that stuff?? But after taking a better look I must say..."

"Seriously..." Murakami retracted her phone and sipped more tea, "Why is this so bad?"

“Koshiro idiot did the tea today!” Sawada turned Koshiro in.

“KOSHIRO…?” the president turned to the boy with a “nice” smile.

“I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just wanted to try and see if I could make some tea.” the boy replied promptly.

“Have you drunk it?” Sawada asked, “It’s really terrible.” she kept sipping it elegantly.

“No… I was looking forward to an expert opinion.” Koshiro scratched his nape and looked away, “Why do you keep drinking it, by the way? Did I do it at least a little bit right?”

“Definitely not.” Sawada answered him, “It’s just that it’s what we have here…” she murmured.

“Huh?” strained his ears trying to hear: “What did you say?”

“Improve your tea making.” Sawada stated and the conversation ended.

***

The president of the student council Aika Murakami was telling class 1-C of the big event that would be happening in the first semester of the school year: “...it’ll be a historic moment for this school! The Club Day is sure to be a success, I’m counting on your support! Don’t forget that it’ll help with your end-of-term tests!” for some reason, she was always looking at the direction in which Yasutake, Hirata, and Koshiro were, “So, what do you guys think?!”

A hush descended over the class until different murmurs and mutters started to be voiced:

“Some type of Cultural festival?

“Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to be at the end of the year?”

“This story sucks!”

“President Murakami is so scary…”

“Help with our grades?”

“I don’t think we should agree..”

"Bread with banana?"

"What type of person doesn't like pizza?"

"Hey, respect the differences!"

“Hey!” Aika Murakami, who was standing in front of the class, gave her (supposedly) friendly smile and asked with a (supposedly) gentle voice: “What are you guys saying? PLEASE, SPEAK LOUDER, GUYS.”

“Great idea president!”

“A club festival sounds great!”

“It’ll leave a legacy, right?!”

"This bread with banana thing doesn't sound so bad!"

“Thank you so much, guys!” Aika shouted. “I’m counting on you!” she bowed.