Land of the free

Part 1

July 4th, it’s Independence day in the land of the free, guns, and no free healthcare.

Last week had so many new things happening that I can’t even begin to process what was going on. I had moved into this village only 8 days prior, yet it felt lengthy with how the length of each night became longer and longer than the previous.

Today is Monday, which happens to be the day when The Sunny Times published a new issue for the weekly newspaper.

The Sunny Times July 4th

Mystery Behind Local Cats Gone Missing Solved!

The headline was plastered all over town as a way to attract attention to the club.

For your information, last week's issue was about some sports game that was going on around the area. I didn’t pay much attention to the details as I wasn’t interested in the subject. However, it did seem to me that a lot of people were gathering at the public billboard for the news. Perhaps the topic was more popular than I imagined.

In the era of digitalization, I was very surprised at how many people were gathered up at that one spot. The crowd was even blocking the view of the newspaper and you had to squeeze through the ocean of people to read the small A3 paper stamped on the board, it was wild.

I would also like to point out that last week I didn’t have time to set up the newspapers around town. Asahi assigned me and Holmes to go investigate that mansion, so she was left alone to go put all 20 flyers, —technically it’s a newspaper— all over every available public space. I doubt she obtained permission the conventional way.

However, since there are no investigations going on right now, we had the free time to help Asahi put up the flyers this time, just right after school had ended for the day in the peak of the afternoon.

“Here you go. Izumi, Sora-chan, you two will handle the West side. Arisu, you’re coming with me to the East side. Everyone got that?”

“Sure.”

“...Roger…”

“Objective confirmed.”

“Alright! Let’s go! Mission, start!”

Once she had confirmation we were all ready, she set us out to depart for our next mission. She immediately dashed off right after towards her spot while her left hand was holding Arisu’s wrist and she quickly vanished into the crowd of the market district.

“You ready, Holmes?”

“...Of course, my dear Watson...”

Holmes had all 20 flyers sitting on her lap as she sat on her wheelchair and we then began to move to our destined locations with me behind her as her assistant.

This scene of the two of us casually strolling around town with me pushing her from behind was common enough that I didn’t think much of it. But when I think about it for a second, couldn’t she just use her walking sticks instead of this one? What was the point of a wheelchair if she can just go about anywhere on her own without anyone’s assistance?

The sudden question popped up in my head and I soon began asking her about it.

“...Ah, if you’re wondering about that. It’s true that I can operate my walking sticks perfectly fine… But when you have the opportunity to sit down every day and wherever you go without much work while someone else helps you and does all the tiresome work… It’s a missed opportunity when you don’t use it… Am I wrong…?”

“Ooooh, so you’re just lazy.” I jokingly replied.

“Precisely.”

Holmes could pick up on my jokes every time and we both chuckled at the same time as a result.

The innocent conversation between me and Holmes reminded me of what Grandma had said yesterday.

Life is a balloon that tumbles or rises depending on what is inside. Fill it with hope and playful surprises, then you’re in for a ride.

This laid-back atmosphere I had with Holmes at the moment when the sun was still high above the sky was indeed pleasant. The chilly winds of the mountains hitting my face felt refreshing.

When you can control your own life and fill your own playful surprises, suddenly it feels surprisingly comfortable.

If I had never met Asahi, I would’ve never had to go through any of those pesky and bothersome missions she had, and reminded me I might be a psychopath. However, if I had never met Asahi, I would also have had the initiative to talk to Holmes either.

On the outside, Holmes seemed to be the type of person who keeps things to themselves, never really talking to anyone outside of their circle. But because we were in the same club, I had a reason to talk to her.

Life has more colors than black and white.

I suppose it’s true that you cannot judge things the way they are. Hidden blessings and curses are everywhere, the only way to know them is to look for them.

As I was peacefully walking around the town center where most of the available billboards are, I was soon disturbed by the shouting of someone from behind.

“Heeey! Hey! You’re Satori aren’t you?”

I turned around to see who the culprit that made me and Holmes jump were, and it turns out that person was none other than the top student of the entire school, no, the entire prefecture, Kenshin Ando.

“Ah, hi there Ando, how are ya?”

“Pant… pant… S-Satori-kun… Where’s Asahi?”

Ando came running at us when he saw the sight of two of the four members of The Sunny Times. And, just like before, he was searching for Asahi once again.

Hey now, if you’re gonna keep going after another girl your girlfriend will get jealous.

“Asahi should be on the other side of the market,” I replied.

“Damnit.” He said bluntly

Having run all the way over to me he was already pretty exhausted, and with how crowded the market was at the time, it was even pain to search for someone in this environment. Buildings were blocking the roads and making things out of sight for the plain eye.

“Sigh… Anyway, relay her a message from the president of the student council. ‘You have one more week of getting your fifth club member before your club’s termination.’ That is all.”

Asahi had previously mentioned how the club needed 5 members to be able to get a position as an actual club in the student council’s books. Whoever the head of the student council is must be pretty generous, giving her a lot of time before the termination.

Hell, I’d say they must be very unaware of the activities of The Sunny Times.

“Okay, sure, got it. By the way, who’s the president of the student council?”

“Hm? Me, of course.” Answered Ando.

“Huh?! Wait, you’re the president?!”

I thought someone as smart and strict as Ando would’ve definitely laid some ground rules for Asahi in what she can and cannot do in the club. Or maybe he did lay them out but Asahi just ignored it completely and still got away with it, which was the most likely route.

“...Watson… Do you not know…?”

Holmes, who had been silently observing our conversation this whole time, now commented on my question which seemed to be a no-brainer for anyone to be a student in the school.

“S-s-Satori-kun! Y-y-y-you didn’t know???”

Ando said in a panic over something that seems to be trivial, and honestly, not that important.

“Calm down buddy, I only transferred a week ago.”

“...Watson, look… The damage is already done…”

Holmes pointed towards the ground, somewhere even lower than her own wheelchair, and what greeted me there was Ando on all fours banging the ground like his own desk.

“He… He doesn’t recognize me…!”

Did I… Say something…?

I was confused and didn’t know what to do in a situation like this. Seriously, what do you do when suddenly just flops on the ground like a fish? This isn’t something I had dealt with ever.

“...Let me give you a lesson, my dear Watson… The president of the student council you see before you right now takes a lot of pride in being the student council… You not being able to recognize him had greatly damaged his pride…”

“Does it really? What’s so significant being the student council president anyway?”

“...My thoughts exactly… Ah, you made it worse…”

“Stop please…! No more…”

While Ando was having his own episodic seizure I simply walked out of the way with Holmes’ wheelchair in hand and rolled our way out of there. If you don’t know how to deal with it, or you don’t want to deal with it. Just run and leave the problem to someone else.

“Today I learned something new.”

“...Quite the learning experience wasn’t it…?”

We still had work given by Asahi to do so we thought we would finish that first before rendezvous and meeting Asahi back in the club room.

Aside from what had happened to that poor student council president, today’s mission was relaxing and I love the atmosphere this town brings. A very nice change of pace from all the running around missions Asahi loves so much. I and Holmes collectively agreed to ignore what happened with Ando and decided it was better to just laugh at the person when they’re not present.

What’s so good about being the student council president in some random village when you’re the #1 highest ranking student in the whole prefecture?

Part 2

We finished our mission and made it back to the clubroom where 2 of the remaining members of The Sunny Times were waiting. We were immediately greeted when we turned the doorknob and entered.

“Yahoo! How’d it go?”

Asahi, being the only person in the room, greeted us at our arrival.

“It went fine.”

“...Akagi-san… there’s a message from Ando…”

First things first I assisted Holmes and helped her sit down on a chair while she was the one to relay the message from our dear friend Ando.

“A week huh? That’s awfully generous of him if I’m being honest.”

“That’s what I thought too.”

“Maybe there’s something to it… Or maybe not and I’m just overthinking it. Anyway! Izumi, tomorrow you and I are gonna go around the school at the break to catch a new member!”

“Eh? Why am I dragged into this?”

For all of the previous times, she had to find us a new member she always does it alone. Like with Arisu where she most likely just barged into the lower classes' room and kidnapped whoever had a high-end camera.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, we’re not just gonna get any members. I need your cooperation skills to catch our next one.”

Perhaps everyone now raised their Asahi awareness level and stayed away from her in case they’d get kidnapped like Arisu. But Arisu seemed to be self-volunteering here. Somewhere in my gut tells me she has other plans and an ulterior motive for bringing me along.

Last night I was able to pick up how Grandma reads other people’s emotions. Their body language was the biggest factor. The subtlest movement we normal people do not notice was an important factor.

Things like where their focus is if their eyes reacted a certain way, and their tone of voice. Most people can’t tell the difference and do not notice them at all. We only get a certain feeling that something feels wrong, but when we’re asked to pinpoint exactly what was wrong exactly, we can’t.

Grandma also mentioned how ‘eyes cannot tell lies’ and most human reactions and emotions show through in their eyes. In fact, that was how she could tell I was lying the other day.

But Asahi wears sunglasses.

What do her eyes even look like right now?

Am I simply overthinking this?

I still can’t read minds like Grandma, so I only have to put these feelings on hold.

Nevertheless, it was the first day of the week so Asahi went out to meet with her crows to gather more intel for next week's issue while the rest of us remained in the clubroom. There was nothing for us to do so we watched Arisu when he returned to perform magic tricks to pass the time.

His hand tricks were especially impressive. He might do a better Sleight of Hand trick than Asahi.

That night, dad wasn’t drunk while crying like he always was.

Character progression! Nice one, dad!

Part 3

The loud traditional bell was hit.

The high-pitched noise as a result echoed through the whole school grounds, indicating it was the first break of the day.

“Here we go! Izumi, you ready?”

“Hold on a moment, I need to clean my desk first.”

“You can do that later, just come here.”

Just like playing off of a script, she grabbed me by the collar as always and dragged me out of the classroom.

“See ya later, Sora-chan.”

“...Later…”

Holmes sat on the table nearest the back door, we quickly greeted her before walking out and on to the great outdoors that is the open hallways of the school courtyard.

“Now then, there’s no chance any of our classmates are going to join. So Izumi, got any ideas who we should invite in?”

“Between the two of us, who do you think has spent time longer in this school and knows more people in general than the other?”

“Sigh… And here I thought you would’ve met someone by now without my knowledge, but oh well.”

Excuse me, but what do you mean ‘without my knowledge?

She does stalk everyone in the village so it wasn’t that much of a surprise for her to be stalking me too, but man.

“No choice then, we’ll use my original plan. Here’s a list of the people I’m targeting.”

Asahi reached for her coat pocket and retrieved a hit list which she handed over to me. It was a list of the names of potential kidnap targets, and next to their names were their class numbers and a scale out of 10.

Hang on, what the fuck is this scale for?

There were 3/10, 5/10, 6/10 and the list goes on.

She’s literally ranking them to numerical values huh

There wasn’t anything to justify what those numbers were for, I could only guess her true intentions with them.

“Okay, so who seems to be the most attractive out of all of those names?”

“Just based on their names…? Then, what about this Inohara-san.”

“Alright, we’re off!’

This Inohara person was someone just from the class next to us, 2-A, and her rating was 7/10. I had no idea who she was, but she was one of the higher-rated ones and her name reminds me of someone from a game so I picked her.

“Misagi Inohara-san is a very sociable person but likes to spend her time in the classroom for some reason. So, she should still be in class.”

This time, I wasn’t being dragged by Asahi. Being able to walk freely feels nice, I could run away right now but I better hope there’s no PA system in this school because she would unhesitantly use it to broadcast my address or something more serious.

Or… maybe she wouldn’t actually.

“Izumi, be ready.” Asahi whispered to me as we got closer and approached the door to the 2-A classroom

“For what—?”

“Heyoo! Misagi-saaaaaan! I’m here to talk!”

Before I could finish my reply, Asahi burst open the door to the classroom next door and announced her presence.

“It’s Akagi-san!”

“Oh no! Misagi-san, run away!”

“Hya—!”

Inohara was having a casual conversation with her friends when Asahi made a sudden entrance without any prior warning. It seemed to have been the right call for Asahi, as what the people in the classroom did next wasn’t what I could have expected.

“Her target’s Inohara! Class, just like practice, Defense formation A!”

“”””“Roger!””””

A boy was sitting at his desk minding his own business until Asahi bursts into the room and suddenly shouts to the entire class. The rest of the people in the classroom, not just Inohara’s friends, were prepared and geared up for an upcoming Asahi invasion.

Before long, a human wall formation was erected by the remaining classmates, blocking our way, and sight of Misagi Inohara.

Their wall had no cracks. It was impenetrable. Each centimeter was blocked off either by their clothes or by their own physical bodies.

They’ve coordinated military-like tactics just to avoid Asahi?! How long have they been practicing this?! It's really fast!

“Misagi-san, come on, hurry on to the window!”

“I still think this whole thing is unnecessary…”

“Izumi, quickly! Fetch them behind the school!”

“A-alright!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

Inohara’s friends ordered her to get out of the window while I was ordered by Asahi to follow her behind the school. Being on the ground floor meant that you can literally just jump out of the window for a quick exit.

I quickly did as she told me to and dashed off in the direction of our targets by going around the entire building. I could hear from behind some students from 2-A getting out of their classrooms to chase after me. Multiple footsteps were vigorously trying to leave the small and cramped doorway, which gave Asahi the opportunity to stop them one by one.

“Watch your steps!”

“Whoa—!”

“Hey—!”

Asahi had kept some marbles in her pocket which she uses on the poor souls to make them trip and fall in the doorway. As the bodies fell one by one, the pile of bodies was stacking up the doorway, blocking it in its entirety, and creating a dogpile with which it was impossible to go around.

We’re gonna get in trouble for sure.

This window of opportunity gave me the time to go around the back and catch up with Inohara. The back of the school is a pretty small corridor, with one side being the back of the school building, and the other is a natural wall formed by the mountains. It's carved into a shape that resembles a cliff, and overgrown trees were sprouting all over the cliffside above.

However, it was still bright as the lights could still reach inside, and the corridor’s width was enough for 2 people to run along inside.

“Look out! It’s the new guy!”

I made it and reached them where I met them face to face for the first time. I don’t know who her friends are, I don’t even know their names. Truth be told, I would much rather greet them normally and get to know each other better like normal people, but circumstances do not allow me to initiate such a thing.

How unfortunate.

I never had a plan of what I would do when I confronted them. This whole operation was thrown unto me out of nowhere, after all. With no such preparations, I stood still not knowing what my course of action should be next.

“Stay away from Misagi-san, you retarded outsider!”

“H—Hey I think you’re going a bit too far…”

Ow.

That hurts.

It’s true, but it hurts.

I no longer had the courage to move on and continue my pursuit as I slump down a little while Inohara tries to calm her friend down from overreacting to the whole situation.

I could no longer move as my motivation had left me, and as the two continued to bicker with each other over something unnecessary, a figure came up from the sidelines out of the blue.

To my right, where the school building is, I spotted a figure running across the roof of the building. Their footsteps were gradually getting louder and louder as well as they approaching our two targets with immaculate speed.

There’s no doubt about it, that person running on the rooftop was her.

The person on the rooftop then quickly descended upon the floor below where all of us were and quickly snatched out the two targets with her oversized coat.

“Gotcha!”

“Kya—!”

And who would have thought that the person who could have climbed the entire 1 story tall school building and run at super speed while going unnoticed by the two of them was none other than the natural-born athlete named Asahi Akagi.

“And let’s not forget about you too.”

“Hey—!”

With her athletic skills, she successfully managed to force their hands around their back and handcuffed them with her massive coat. It was large enough to be handcuffing both of them.

“Now calmly get on your knees.”

She pushed both of them down to the ground where they now were sitting on their knees like a criminal. Their backs face the wall of the school building.

“Nice work as always, Izumi.”

She flashed another thumb up at me alongside her trademark fake smile.

I only stood there dumbfounded after another display of Asahi being superhuman.

“Urgh— Let me go, you good-for-nothing public speaker!”

“Oya oya oya? What do we have here? Kou Kimata, 16, likes to spend most of her time around popular people because she has no other identity or any character trait. Oh, the misery.”

“---!”

“Want me to continue? I know the kind of things you liked on Twitter.”

“No! No! That’s fine, that’s fine…”

That's a straight-up invasion of privacy, miss.

This Kimata person was silenced by Asahi’s menace, while Inohara —our target— remained silent the entire time. Seems like she knew how to handle Asahi well.

“Now, Izumi, time for the real reason why I brought you here. What do you think of her?”

She directed the question towards me as her thumb pointed to Inohara.

“What do I think…? What specifically?”

“Just tell me what you think of her.”

But this is the first time I’ve met her ever…

Asahi was hard to read as always, when can I read through her intentions I wonder.

Let’s take it a bit slow for a moment and back off for a bit.

If I answer honestly and give her my original thoughts, she would use that data in a way that I would never have known of. I have no clue what she wants with it, or how she will handle it, but I can only assume the worse if it’s her.

On the other hand, what happens if I lie to her? Right now, I’m the one in control. I can change something for the better, or at least I think. But either way, I think saying something that goes out of the line and out of character for her is the better option.

“She’s gorgeous.”

“---!”

“Ooooh?”

Asahi became ever more curious about my answer while the person I was talking about was hiding her face from presumable embarrassment.

“Ha… wa wa wa…”

And her friend became speechless.

What’s with y'all? Aren’t you guys overreacting a bit?

“So my original judgment was more or less correct I see…”

Oh dear.

I may or may not have made the wrong decision there. Asahi ended up with more information than I would like her to keep.

“Alright Izumi, now I want you to be the one inviting her to The Sunny Times.”

“...Sure.”

Better not cause more damage than I’ve already done.

I walked slowly over to Inohara-san who was still on her knees and her head was looking down low from the sudden compliment before. I didn’t know how to properly relay the message across here, and I couldn’t think of anything flashy, so I will just keep it simple and short to not waste any more time.

Now let me tell you something that Asahi would never know, which is how to properly talk to another person. In this very unique scenario, it seems like I am above her and she’s below me.

I’m only saying that figuratively because she’s on her knees handcuffed right now, but my point still stands. She most probably feels intimidated at the moment, especially with Asahi being my partner.

So how do we combat this situation and make her feel more at ease and relaxed? Well, it’s simpler than you’d think, really.

Talk to them at their eye level.

Adults used this with children to make them calm down and have this feeling that they’re talking to someone as if they are equals.

As I stood in front of Inohara-san, I bent one of my knees so I could comfortably be at her eye level.

“Inohara-san.” I quietly whisper to lower my voice so as to not raise any sort of alarm.

“Would you like to join the newspaper club with me?”

I caught her attention with the first line and with the second line I aim to hook her as quickly as possible and as friendly as possible.

She looked me directly in the face. Her expression was that of bewilderment. I got too close to her to where I could hear her soft breathing.

If her breath is still stable, then we’re off to a good start.

And there was something else I could take advantage of in this situation.

Eyes cannot tell lies.

Right now, Inohara-san is full of emotions. For the past 10 or so minutes she had been running away and getting caught up in one of Asahi’s traps on her break. What was supposed to be a calm and relaxing first break turned out to be a chicken hunt, where she was the prey.

What is she thinking right now? What does she feel?

I stare deeply into her eyes for an answer. I can’t read emotions as well as Grandma but I could at least get some experience.

I got closer to her face as I tried to get a better reading of her eyes and after a few seconds.

“A…”

That was all she said before she collapsed to the side, resting on Kimata’s left shoulder.

“Eeeeeh?! Misasgi-san wake up!”

“Holy shit, you killed her.”

“No, I didn’t! What did I do?!”

Our time there thinking of what happened to her was cut short when the rest of class 2-A finally got out of their blocked doorway with body piles and reached us from behind.

“There they are! Get them!”

“Hyaa—! I See that Inohara-san collapsed?”

“Akagi…! You better pay for this!”

Their rage was even more furious with someone literally passing out on another person’s shoulder.

“Right, give me my coat back. Izumi, it’s time for your favorite activity, running!”

And so, that break ended with the 2 of us managing to get back to our classes before recess ended and we made it to the next period safely. No one still knew what happened to Inohara-san and what made her collapse. But we do know she was brought into the clinic room where she rests on a bed.

However, I thought back to her expression at that time.

I swear I saw her face turn red when I got closer… I wonder what’s up with that.

Life has more colors than black and white, huh?

Part 4

“Sorry for the wait! The teachers didn’t hold back at all.”

The two of us finally made it to the clubroom after school when the teachers called us about what happened earlier this morning. And I was right, they were not silent about it in the slightest. It also doesn’t help with the fact of how small the school was and Asahi was basically the prime suspect in every commotion that happens ever.

“...Welcome back…”

“Welcome back, Senpais. My apologies, but I’m in the middle of something right now.”

In the room were Holmes and Arisu playing chess. Holmes seems to be winning by a long shot but Arisu had a grin on his face like he has some kind of plan.

“...Checkmate…”

“Drats! You saw through my plan!”

“...Your king was vulnerable…”

It appears the game has been won with one swift move by Holmes. Arisu’s grand plan was too grand for him as he couldn’t handle defending himself against Holmes. His only goal was to execute the plan and not think of any countermeasures.

“...I could already tell what you’re going to do with your actions…”

“Curses! It was entirely my lack of awareness of my own surroundings that led me to my demise. I see, good game, senpai.”

They shook their hands to call it the end of the match, Arisu learning something new in the process.

Yet I also took note of some of their actions just now.

Nothing in this world is instant, they all need set-ups that require time and sacrifice. For example, if you want to shoot at someone with a gun. You have to draw, aim, and then fire.

Don’t ask why I watch gun safety videos online despite not owning a gun.

If I can carefully observe my opponents' actions, I could predict what they’re going to do next.

“Okay, playtime’s over, I came here to have an urgent discussion.”

Asahi, who had been quietly observing those 2’s battles, sat on the director’s desk and began her dialogue.

“As you all know, the club needs one more member before the week ends. I had thought they gave us plenty of time, but in fact, they knew no one is going to join The Sunny Times because I’m here. So if any of you know anyone willing to join then please speak up.”

I, for one, had no one to invite. I had thought that only being here and having Asahi as an accomplice was a good excuse, but being here in a week and still having no friends in class was actually hurting my soul a bit. At least I have Holmes.

Nevertheless, the room became silent after she made her announcement. Arisu and Holmes’ heads wander for a bit, occasionally looking up at the ceiling and down on the floorboards, but ultimately they shook their heads in the end.

“...Just like I thought. Well, that sucks. I would appreciate it if you guys can think of someone by the end of the week. It may seem long, but trust me, Sunday will come faster than you would think. That is all.”

The short meeting was dismissed to Asahi going back to information gathering in town to search for the topic for next week’s issue while the rest of us were walking around school grounds looking for anyone who hadn't gone home to invite.

I had thought it was more approachable this way without Asahi, but our efforts were still futile in the end.

It seems like our names are already tainted by being associated with Asahi. It sucks, but there’s nothing we could do about it now. The only way was to change her image entirely, and that seemed impossible.

Without much of anything happening afterward we all went back home, and so the night went on…

Part 5

It was after school on one of our patrols.

I was casually strolling in the central town where all of the folks would gather and I had a better chance to gather some rumors for a potential story for the next issue. I had Holmes accompanied along the way, but we still couldn’t find anything story worthy.

“...Watson, don’t you think talking to drunk people is fun…?” She suddenly spoke.

“You’re partially right, it’s only fun when they’re in a cheery mood. If they’re under the weather then it would just be annoying.”

“...True… I was thinking of the fact how they could come up with nonsensical things that no sane person would think of…”

“Oh right! And if you watch them from afar you get to see them doing really hilarious things. Well, it’s only fun and games when you’re not the one cleaning up after them though.”

“...You’re right…”

I know all too well how annoying it would be to clean up after a drunk person’s mess, and Aunt knows about it way better than I do. If you don’t want to do it, just run and leave the problem to someone else. Unfortunately, I cannot do that back in Tokyo.

“But why bring this up?”

“...That guy we trapped last Saturday was a bar owner right…? I just thought maybe we could convince him to grant us access to his bar, and with that, we can listen in to all the rumors around town with all the drunk adults…”

“Hmm, you’re right. Asahi probably already knows of a way to do that for us actually.”

It is true how it would be easier to gather rumors when you’re in the hub where all the adults like to gather, but being minors I never thought it would be legal to enter one. Guess that won’t be a problem when we have Miss Houdini and her tricks.

As we were having our very normal and not at all odd conversation, we didn’t quite pay attention to our surroundings as someone came up from behind me.

“Howdy!”

The moment I heard that greeting I jumped out of fright and almost fell to my front while carrying Holmes’ chair. I didn’t even think I could do that.

“Pant… pant… That scared the living thing out of me.”

“Oh sorry, sorry, I never meant to scare ya!”

As I turned around I saw the person who jumped scared me with a hello.

It was a girl of a similar height to me with long straight hair, actually, I think she’s taller than me. She wears the same sailor uniform as Holmes and Asahi so she must be a student at our school. If I could describe her with one word, ‘Big’ would be the best way to describe her, as almost everything about her physical appearance was indeed large.

“...Ahem…”

Watson coughed to get my attention back.

“A—anyway, what do you need, Senpai?”

“Nah, nah, nah, yer’ Satori-san and Kiyama-san right? From the newspaper club?”

“Um, yes, that would be us.”

Is it just me or are we becoming famous or something?

“Then ye two are my senpais.”

“”Huh?””

It wasn’t just me, but Holmes joined in as well.

“...She’s… younger than me…? She has that much… And I’m older…!?”

Holmes had an existential crisis episode which I’ll let her be for the time being. Poor thing.

But also funny.

“So what do you need from us, Miss kouhai?”

“Ah, perden’ me, I haven’t properly introduced myself yet. The name’s Haruka Ichikawa! And I'm ‘here to join The Sunny Times!”

Another surprise was bestowed upon us with her intentions of talking to us. Where was she when we were going around campus finding anyone that would be interested in joining the club? And yet here we have someone who is not only willing but also wants to join it all together.

I’ve never heard or seen her around school, I mean I’ve only been here for a week. And I couldn’t ask Holmes if she knew anything about her as Holmes herself was busy regretting her life decision of not drinking milk when she was young to grow big.

However, her first impression doesn’t send any bad signals like it was with Asahi, so I think considering her as a candidate will not be an issue.

Also, her accent is funny.

There’s no way someone who speaks like that would go under my radar and not be a candidate.

What’s the worst that could happen?

~~To be continued~~