Chapter 9

I shouldn't have pushed it, but at least I had the best long jump in the class. Izumi stretched out her aching muscles by the shoe lockers after they finished cleaning the classroom.

"Here." Shiori held out a paper with graphics of a gaming controller, a computer, anime characters, and creative lettering for the Game Dev Club. "That should be enough to make them leave me alone, right?"

Such detail. "It looks amazing, but when did you have time for this? He only asked about it at lunch."

"During class. I got bored and worked on it. It's not like we were doing much. So, are you going to take it or not? My arm is getting tired holding it up."

"Oh, right! I'm sorry. Thank you so much." Izumi smiled widely and bowed to her. "We really appreciate it."

"Sure, whatever." Shiori stuffed her hands into her pockets. "I'm going to actually check out the occult club today."

"Want me to go with you?"

"No."

"Oh, okay." Izumi's shoulders slouched.

"Focus on helping the boys find another member; they won't have long before it has to be submitted."

"This will definitely help with it. Thanks again. I wonder where they are right now..."

"Yanagi is probably with the baseball club again, and Kuruma is probably trying to recruit, so he could be anywhere in the school. Why don't you text them? You have their numbers, right?"

"Uh..." I have Yanagi's. "Not Kuruma's."

Shiori rolled her eyes. "Which means you have Yanagi's, so contact him."

Call or text? Izumi stared at the number on her phone.

"You have to hit the button." Shiori reached over and tapped to call Yanagi.

Izumi's eyes widened. "W-what did you do?"

"Hello?" Yanagi answered his phone. "Izu? You there?"

She fumbled with her phone and brought it to her ear. "H-hi! Shiori finished the poster, and—"

"Oh, that's great. Probably best to hand that to Kuruma; he's either recruiting again or talking to his brother about finding a computer lab to use and whatnot."

"Right..."

"Sorry, I'm with the baseball club right now. Otherwise, I'd bring it to him myself. I'll send you his number and let him know you'll be contacting him. He has a habit of ignoring anything that's an unknown number."

I've done that before, but it makes me too nervous wondering if it was important. "Or you could let—"

"I'm sorry to cut you off, Izu, but they're calling me over. I can't wait to see Shiori's work later. Bye." Yanagi hung up on her.

"Ugh, how rude," Shiori complained.

Bing. Yanagi texted her Kuruma's number.

Her heart skipped a beat as she stared at it. I have his number now! Don't freak out and send rambling texts... or anything weird.

"Having trouble again?" Shiori took her phone. "Here, you can quickly add to contacts and call." She tossed it back.

"Hey! Be careful with that."

"See you later." Shiori waved and headed off.

"Hello?" Kuruma answered. "Izumi, right?"

"Y-yes!"

"Yanagi said you have the poster. Can you meet me in the computer lab in the west wing?"

"Okay... I'll be there in a few minutes." West wing? Which way is which again? I always forget. This is probably why I was getting lost on the way to school yesterday!

"Cool, I'll be waiting with our advisor." Kuruma hung up.

West is... this way, right? She stepped to the side and stopped to grab the school map out of her backpack.

Of course, there are two computer labs on the first floor. Ugh, I don't have time to debate; Kuruma's waiting for me.

Izumi rushed through the halls, weaving around clusters of students, until she reached a computer lab with the door open. She stretched her neck, peeking inside.

Her stomach sank.

I went to the wrong one! Should've just gone in the opposite direction of what I thought it was!

She grumbled and took off.

"No running in the halls!" a teacher yelled at her.

"Sorry!" she yelled and kept going. Can't let him wait too long, or else who knows what he'll think of me!

A few of the students grumbled as she zipped around them.

Once she was close, her steps slowed, and she took a deep breath. This better be it, or I've gone crazy. With the paper in hand, she entered the computer lab. Her eyes went straight to Kuruma, sitting on the edge of the desk as he talked to his brother, Takumi Hiroto, their advisor.

"Oh, this must be Miss. Hashito, one of our club members." Takumi stood and bowed to her. "Pleasure to meet you."

Izumi bowed back. "Nice to meet you." She held out the paper.

Kuruma took it, and his eyes widened. "Pretty sure I could've worked on it all month, and it still would not look this good. She would make an amazing concept artist... I wonder if she does digital art, too..." He glanced at Izumi, who shrugged and sat at the nearby computer that was on.

"I don't know, sorry." I have a lot to find out about her!

"I wonder if I could talk her into joining; then we'd be set to get approval."

"Still not guaranteed," Takumi said. "The school doesn't have much of a budget to add more clubs, so you'll be competing against others that want to start new ones, and others that want a bigger budget."

"We can work on a tiny budget. I've already found several programs that are free to use, and—"

I wonder if the computers already have any of the free software installed. She poked at the computer while they talked.

"Give me a list, and I'll look into them. They'll also have to be approved."

"Ugh, school sucks."

"I... can't refute that, but do things properly, and we're less likely to be denied."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it."

Takumi patted him on the back. "Why don't you photocopy that new, fancy poster of yours and get back to recruiting? You still need that fourth member before I can submit it."

"I was hoping to get started on the club itself—"

"I've already submitted for use of this half of the computer lab, but it hasn't been approved."

"We have to wait for everything."

"There are a few programs on the computers already for it." Izumi gestured to the screen.

"Wait, really?" Kuruma approached and leaned in close, looking at her screen.

Oh! Her heart rate spiked as she stared at him. Such a sharp jawline and smooth skin... Izumi shook her head. Stop staring! She turned back to the screen. But he's so close I can feel the heat coming off him!

"Hey, this is one of the ones I was going to suggest." Kuruma placed his hand over hers on the mouse, encompassing it, and clicked to open a 3D animation program.

He's touching my hand?! But... he doesn't even notice. Izumi bit her lip. He probably doesn't even realize he's touching my hand...

"Well, that's one less thing to get approval on." Takumi chuckled, watching the two of them.

"More than one, actually. A few missing, but we could probably work with just this if we had to." Kuruma stood.

Aw... come back.

"You know, if you guys have a goal, like a workable game by the cultural festival in October, it would increase your chances of approval," Takumi suggested. "Nothing with gore or anything, though."

"Is fighting in the game allowed?" Kuruma asked, trying to figure out a type of game.

"Against monsters, sure, but against humans or animals... the school would frown upon it. Again, nothing gory, and no foul language, please. Oh, and no..." Takumi cleared his throat. "Characters that might be deemed inappropriate." He moved his hands down, motioning for curves.

Oh, I haven't even thought about the types of characters he might make. It would be quite telling...

Kuruma's face burned. "Why would you think I'd even do that? Do you think I'm stupid or something?"

"No, but I have to cover my bases, and as the leader, you'll have to keep everyone else following the rules, too."

"I can't see Yanagi doing that either; he'd probably want to be the main character in the game, though."

"Did I hear my name?" Yanagi popped his head in.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were busy with baseball?"

"For a short while, sure, but it's not like real practice has started yet. So, are we good to go?"

"We still need to put the poster up and find a fourth."

"Oh, I thought she was the fourth." Yanagi slung his arm over Shiori's shoulders and dragged her through the door. "She was grumbling outside, so I thought she had joined."

"Tch." Shiori brushed his arm off. "Don't touch me, Tsueno."

"Aw, but I thought we were friends." Yanagi held his hand over his heart. "You wound me, using my last name." He sighed.

"You're delusional, and I'm out of here."

"Nope." Yanagi blocked her path. "I saw what happened with the occult club nearby and followed you here. I know what happened."

What happened? Is she okay?

"You don't know anything."

"Shiori?" Izumi took her hand, shaking slightly, and pulled her off to the side in the computer lab.

"Hey, Takumi!" Yanagi greeted him.

"You, too? Seriously, it's Mr. Hiroto!"

"What happened?" Izumi whispered. "Are you okay?" Her eyes look a little red.

"I'm fine," Shiori huffed and looked away at the computers.

Izumi's grip on her hand tightened. "Is it the occult club? Did they do something?"

"Tch. They're pathetic losers that don't even have a real interest in it."

Something definitely happened. "Are they not letting you join?"

"After what those fakers showed me, I decided to give them a little scare. They asked me to leave right after, so I don't think I'll be joining the occult club. Pretty sure I have no reason to go back there, unless it's to curse them... or at least let them think they're cursed." A dark shadow covered her eyes as she tilted her head down. "Seems I have some planning to do."

"I'm sorry they were fake... occultists? But you still need a club, right?" Who am I to call others fake? The corner of her mouth twitched.

"I guess..." She cringed, knowing where it was going.

"Will you join the game dev club? We could use your skills, and you need a club. We're only going to meet twice a week, so you'll be free to go home after school most days." Izumi stared at her with stars in her eyes. "We can't do this without you."

Shiori could feel more eyes on her, and despite herself, she looked up to see the three guys staring at her pleadingly.

"We need you, Shi." Yanagi bowed, with Kuruma beside him following suit.

"Geez, those stupid cards ended up being right again," Shiori mumbled. "Fine, I'll join."

"Yes!" Izumi hugged her. "Thank you."

"Guess it's official. I'll submit the request," Takumi said. "Congrats."