First Line

My name is Susumu Mizushima a student of 14 years old in my last year of high school. I look like those protagonists of isekais anime only without amazing skills and clothes but I'm just an unpopular, introverted and wearing a simple uniform and my hair slightly covering my right eye what don’t bothers me, I think it even makes me a little stylish, my school is just an uninteresting school in like any other in Tokyo. When walked into my classroom with my head down towards my chair to avoid drawing attention, what didn't work out. i noticed the looks and whispers of some students who spread lies about me without knowing the truth.

"Look there, the traitor..." - one student whispered.

"How disgusting, how dare he come to school after what he did to that girl!" - said one girl commenting to another student.

When i heard these words spoken inconsequentially, i stopped walking at that very moment and looking in a direction where at that moment there was no one to see my face with an angry expression.

"i didn't do anything!". I whispered so no one would hear, i closed my hands as i looked towards the ground to restrain myself and not yell at everyone there and continued walking, because i knew that nothing i said would change his wrong opinions about me and they are not worth my time and effort to undo this misunderstanding.

So, i always looked at them with a look of dismay that resembled a dead fish's eye look and avoided talking much even if the subject was about school.

And i spend my student days like this ignoring the snide comments about rumors they insisted on believing.

while i was lost in my thoughts, looking at the gray landscape of the buildings and sky with overcast horizon through the classroom window, the monotony was broken when i heard a noise: "what was it now " - i complained as i turned to see the reason for so much noise.

And was the girl considered perfect by everyone in the school. She was impeccable in both grades and personality, not to mention the obvious fact she was very beautiful, she looked like a model. Unlike me who compared to her everything was average like my grades, my stature and to make my situation worst my right eye is always covered by my hair who maybe make a type of validation to others talk bad of me to all school and to go straight to the point her name is: Harumi Murakami, walking towards his seat seemed to see in my direction and i froze as i watched his beautiful black hair as night, she and i at the same exact moment we stood side by side and our gazes crossed, Little did I know that at that moment my life would change. time seemed to run slower i was mesmerized and began to follow her with my eyes as i were hypnotized, but whem the feeling of surprise passed and i looked towards Murakami and she acted as usual, talking to a friend leaving only a wonderful smell of shampoo that resembles a field of flowers. While the other students were in completed silence, myself included, and confused it seemed so unreal that i convinced myself it was just my imagination, like: why she would look at someone like me but i let it go while everyone was watching her and whispering were all interrupted by the sound of high heels of the teacher who entered the room cutting the wind with her white coat her name was: Fumiko Katayama, but usually we just called her teacher, although her appearance was that of someone who was strict in applying the rules of the school, surprisingly was short which explains the high heels and very friendly even with that expression.

She began to say she had an important statement from the board to give us, a statement that seemed important because she entered the room, crossed her arms and only began to speak, the room was in complete silence.

“The board said to me tell you if you want now, you can join the clubs” - pointing in our direction with a pen.

as you all know in last year you all voted in clubs you want participate in this year and now, we the teachers and the board finished the preparations

She began to write on whiteboard all the names of the clubs we could join, while the sound of the pen produced a loud noise that sounded more like someone dragging a new shoe on a smooth floor, sound who was hurting my ears, which a short time later stopped, and she announced.

“Okay, here are the clubs you can join!” - with the pen leaning against the whiteboard.

Pay attention because I'm only going to ask twice if anyone wants to join the club I talk about and just their hand.

Oh! And I forgot to warn, the whole club that has to do with the subjects of the curriculum such as Mathematics or Japanese will have to compete with equal clubs from other schools in the region to win a prize such as: in the case of the Literature Club a light novel published by a famous publisher or a who knows best contest in case of the study club and who win get a medal. So, I think about the type of club if you want to join.

Just one more thing: the club you choose will be permanent until the end of the year because if the students are changing the clubs every time it would be a mess.

“And what is the name of this publisher” - A Student asked with the left hand raised.

“i can’t say yet, only when I announce the winning club at the end of the competition” - She replied.

She picks the ruler that was on your table and pointed to the words” literature club” written on whiteboard and asked us “who would want to join the literature club “

“Now is my chance!” That thought flashed through my mind when I realized I could start writing my novels in peace and in complete silence since no one will want to join the literature club with that in mind I said: “I want to teacher!” - raising my hand quickly.

Murakami also showed interest in participating, “i would like to too, teacher!” - Spoke loudly who makes the whole class begin to whisper.

I think is because the fact of someone so popular as Murakami going to participate in the same club as someone so unpopular as me. Even our teacher was speechless,

Suspicious I couldn’t help but think “what is she going to do at the club “

However, I could only conclude that from that moment on, my peace would end, and I sighed, anticipating the headache I would have.

I could hear some whispers from some students saying that I was chasing Murakami, which obviously wasn’t true.

“Damn, he’s already behind Harumi she’s too much for him.”

And it would be hard to deny all the rumors because we were in the same club, and I would have to go into detail of my reasons to joining this club which I wouldn’t do at all because it would be another joke to be used against me and I ignored and the teacher for my relief get the attention of the class again.

“Right, right! quiet everyone!” - clapping our hands two times trying to calm the class.

The class was in complete silence and the teacher looked in the direction of Murakami and I with a serious look on her face “Are you sure You can’t change later” she warned us.

“No problem” - Harumi replied.

“Okay” - I agreed.

“Anyone else want to join this club” - the teacher asked the other students.

I heard voices of two people who wouldn’t normally say anything in a situation like this, but life wasn’t always as we imagined and one of those voices was very close to me, being more specific on my side a friend of mine Makoto.

I was caught off guard thinking he would never show interest in this kind of think, my best friend is a dedicated otaku normally wouldn’t waste his time joining a club, would be better spent watching an anime or reading a manga. Which made me curious.

And the voice of the other person I never saw express clearly because she is shy. Was Murakami’s friend Sayuri who from the little I had observed was the person who most talk to her and they seemed to get along well

I looked suspicious at the two of them who I thought that never showed interest in this kind of thing.

“Better I ask later” - I thought.

To confirm the teacher repeated our names while looking to her clipboard

“Murakami, Sayuri, Makoto and Susumu, right “ - She looked at us.

“And who will be the president of the club Harumi, right “ - She asked again.

We looked at Murakami and she sighed “if everyone is ok with it” - realizing she had no choice.

“Them is decided Murakami is the club president and the others are members” - said the teacher.

And the same process was repeated for the remaining clubs until the end of class with the students in clubs we were dismissed.

“Right, you can go to the club rooms.”

Walking towards our club room Murakami led the as I stood two steps away from everyone getting there and she opened the door, and we entered was a room who wasn’t used for quite some time by the amount of dust there was and was easily noticeable by the rays of sun that illuminated the room revealing the dust flying in the air. Noticing the mess that was I asked Murakami how we were going to organize the room and the chairs who were next at the table in the back of the room who was small, but it has enough space.

“Murakami what we do with those dusty chairs” - I asked.

“Call me president not Murakami when we are at school” - said with a smug smile.

O-okay president - I replied awkwardly because a few moments ago she accepted because she had no choice and now, she acts proud strange

“And about the chairs place the table together with Makoto and after this place the chairs please while I’ll go see if there’s any portable whiteboards and a broom out there.” - complemented president.

“President, what could I do to help “- asked Sayuri when Murakami was about to leave.

“Could you please clear the chairs and the table “.

“Then I'll go get some cloth and alcohol.” - Sayuri answered and both leave the room.

Makoto and I finished putting the table and chairs in place.

“Makoto is not strange that even here being a deposit there is no whiteboard.”

‘You're right, now that you said it, I realized that we don’t have any.”

And suddenly the door open was Sayuri

“Here boys I came back with the alcohol!” - while opening the door.

“You came back quickly Sayuri” - Makoto said fast

Sayuri begin to clean the chairs while Makoto and I were leaning in the wall of windows. I decided to bring up subject just to not be a awkward silence.

“Makoto why did you decide to join the club “

“Simple! Because I was curious about what picked your interest since you always stand in the corner of the room l ooking bored.”

“You know why.”- I replied with a serious tone.

“You still care what others say because of those rumors” - asked Makoto.

“As if I could ignore, they always talking behind my back.”

“What rumors “- asked Sayuri.

“I'll tell you later Sayuri” -said Makoto with an awkward smile.

Trying to get out of that unpleasant situation I made other question to Makoto.

“If you have the time to go to the club how you will the time to watch anime or read manga “

“No problem, I can watch the anime on streaming apps and the manga, I order everything and see everything on the weekend”.

I get it, you don’t have any more hopes,” - I said felling hopeless.

“Said the isolated boy” - Makoto replied arranging the position of his glasses.

Hahahahaha! - I couldn’t hold back the laugh.

“Wh-What wasn’t that just rude “ - asked Sayuri confused.

It maybe, for those who do not understand how our friendship works it may seem we are arguing, but we are friends since the first day of high school, he started to ask if I watched anime and I said yes and from that moment we started talk about anime that we liked and from there we became best friends besides that we are both isolated and have no friends except each other.

“And you Sayuri “ - I asked.

“m-me

“Yes, why did you want to join the literature club “

“Because I wanted to be close to my friend, simple, beyond that the room of literature club is a quiet place,”

“It makes sense” -while crossed my arms.

“True” - Makoto agreed.

“Since we’re talking about how we met, Sayuri I'm curious to know how you met Harumi” - Makoto asked.

“The president “

“Yes, herself, since she seems to talk to you a lot.” - said Makoto.

“No, it was nothing memorable about this, if I remember well was the day before the first day of school, the first year I was in a store that sold stuffed animals, we were in the same section, I commented that the panda who was on the shelf was cute and agreed.

In the end each one bought a stuffed panda and the next day we met in classroom, and she was the girl I met that day and she sat next to me we started talking more we became friends and so we are until today.

“But anyway, returning to the subject of the reasons for entering the literature club, Susumu ,what are your reasons to joining this club “ - asked Sayuri.

And that...

Suddenly the door opens, it was Murakami.

“I came back with the whiteboard, pens, eraser, and a broom.”

“Aaaaaaaahhh!!!!” - I screamed and fell from my chair.

‘What was Susumu “

N-Nothing" - I said with a small smile trying to disguise it.

I don’t want to be exposing my horrible past to them even though I already said, but now I have no intention of letting Murakami know she may have a connection with that girl.

“Right” - she said suspiciously, narrowing her eyelids, but she didn’t seem to want to insist.

“Let’s start by voting to define the world where the story will take place, we have two types: fantasy world or our world in the present day, because it’s easier to write.”

“Raise your hand who prefers fantasy world.”

“Just Makoto “

‘Now even I already know the answers I'll ask, who prefers a story that takes place in our world in the present day”

We all raised our hands.

“As I imagined”.

“Let’s now define the genre of our light novel will be.”

I raised my hand and asked - “Why not we write about something that always has people interested.”

Since you Makoto is who has more knowledge about this which has more possibility of Be popular what do you suggest?

“Um...” - he thought for a moment with hand on chin.

“Maybe, romance “

“Oh! Good idea” - Sayuri agreed excited, but soon shrugged.

“Might be, good idea dude”- I agreed, giving a nod of approval.

“I also think it’s a good idea” - said Murakami.

“I knew that one day my knowledge would be needed.” - said Makoto happy while adjust the position of the glasses.

“Alright, guys let’s end for today our first activity as the literature club. I wrote everything down and

Bring it tomorrow.”

I went straight to the outside of the room to wait for Makoto as I leaned against the wall across the hall.

“Makoto let’s go soon!”

“I'm already going Susumu! I was packing my things.”