Chapter 16: He could only awkwardly smile… what the hell!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: - -
"W-wait a moment!"
Once the president detected the horrific killing intent radiating from Sheena, she jumped up in panic.
"I apply for a delay in execution! Sheena, there’s a reason why I’m late today. Have a look—this is the result of my ‘hunt’ today!"
She pulled in a short girl who was standing outside the clubroom, and pushed her in front of everyone.
"See!"
Everyone instantly fell silent.
"Wow!" After a short moment of silence, the classroom once again broke out into uproar, but this time, it was purely due to their appreciation of beauty.
Even Seiji was momentarily shocked.
The girl in the middle school uniform was petite yet full-figured. She had an exquisite face with no blemishes and snow-white tender skin. Her hair was jet-black and silky-smooth with cute bangs hanging down on both sides. Her eyebrows were thin and elegant, and her nose was small and delicate. Her large and clear eyes sparkled with a soft light, and her luscious lips were the color of cherry flowers… As she stood there shyly with a poetry book in her hand, her beauty was indescribable.
She was an undisputable, super S-rank beauty.
This girl was the second such beauty that Seiji had met—the first being the student council president, Natsuya Yoruhana.
And if Natsuya Yoruhana’s beauty could be described as an alluring mix of seductiveness mixed with purity, then the beauty of this girl was comparable to the beauty of an untouched snow field—pure and detached from ordinary people.
A girl with sufficient beauty to move an entire country—that was the type of girl that she was.
"Wow, so pretty! Is she a middle schooler? Where did the president find her?"
"She’s just like a porcelain doll—so beautiful! Who is she?"
A multitude of excited voices arose once again in the clubroom.
"Heh heh, I’m great, aren’t I?" The drama club president had a self-satisfied smile as she spoke: "Even though I still wasn’t able to find the legendary creature, I coincidentally discovered this one, so I instantly decided to capture her!"
‘Capture… Does she think this is Monster Hunter or Pokémon?’ Seiji was rendered speechless as he heard the president’s words.
The Vice President Sheena Shiho looked at the beautiful girl who was currently expressionless, and then ended up sighing.
"President…"
"Praise me, Vice President! This way, our club will…"
"How many times have I told you to not kidnap our underclassmen!?"
The accurate and powerful book attack once again arced through the air, leaving a trail behind as if it was a sword!
And so, Anya Saigenji, the drama club president, was executed by the vice president for kidnapping a middle school girl, at the age of…
Just kidding.
This president was actually quite something; when she took the position of president in her first year, the drama club had so few people that it was in danger of being abolished. In just one year, she had revived the entire club! And after another year passed—that is to say—the president was in her third year and it was now the present time, the drama club was already one of the ten biggest clubs in Genhana High School.
It was possible to make a movie out of the entire experience, with her as the main character. Even a 24-episode anime or television drama could be produced. For any normal student, the president’s life experiences were way out of the ordinary.
And this legendary club president had just one bad habit that outsiders didn’t know about—kidnapping… No wait, finding talented students, and forcefully bringing them to the drama club!
"About one-third of the club members were brought back here like this by her, including me." Chiaki Wakaba was grinning as she explained the situation to Seiji. "At first, I intended to check out every club beforehand, but halfway through, the club president met me, and she captured me and dragged me over here just like with this girl. Well, it just so happened that I was a bit interested in acting, and this seemed like a fun place, so I decided to join."
‘So that’s what "hunt" and "capture" meant. It seems like the president was treating finding new members as a game like playing Pokémon in real life!’ Seiji could only inwardly comment to himself as he watched the club president being forced to sit in a corner and receive the brunt of Vice President Sheena’s lecturing, which was akin to a raging thunderstorm.
"When I heard Chiaki telling me about this before, I thought she was joking…" Mika Uehara spoke with a trace of disbelief: "Doing such a thing… isn’t she ever punished?"
"In her first year, the president had a debate with the student discipline committee, and she emerged victorious from the debate. This means that as long as there are no official complaints, the student discipline committee won’t interfere with anything she does."
Hey, this was too much information to take in!
Seiji and Mika awkwardly exchanged looks with each other before they glanced back at Chiaki Wakaba, who was still grinning widely. Finally, they looked around the clubroom at all the other members who were taking this scene for granted, and… all they could do was awkwardly smile?
‘Smile, what the hell?!!!
‘Wasn’t this almost at the level of a crime!? And she even had a freaking debate with the student discipline committee and had managed to win!?
‘Was there something wrong with this school’s student discipline committee!? They actually had a debate with a first-year student and had lost pitifully!? What on earth!!’ Seiji’s inner commentary continued like an unstoppable torrential downpour.
"Chiaki… before, I had always thought that you were rather unique and willful, but now… I’ve learned that I was wrong—my apologies." Mika’s worldview had suffered a huge blow.
Don’t give up on common sense so easily, Miss Uehara!
Seiji rubbed his mouth that was twitching uncontrollably, and he turned around to look at the other side of the clubroom.
The middle school girl that was brought here by the president was sitting quietly on a chair by the window and reading the poetry collection that she had brought with her.
A light gust of wind blew in, and the gentle breeze lifted a few strands of her hair upwards.
If a picture was taken at this moment, the scene captured would be more than sufficient to enter a photography contest.
The president who brought her here was currently receiving a lecture, and perhaps all the other club members were too awestruck by the girl’s aura of purity, so nobody went over to talk with her.
Seiji thought about it briefly before he walked over.
"Hello."
The girl didn’t respond to his greeting.
Seiji scratched his face and crouched down in front of the girl, staring directly at her face.
"I’m Seigo Harano, a freshman in high school that transferred here just today. Right now, I’m checking out the drama club. Which grade are you in? If it’s alright with you, could you tell me your name?"
After several seconds had passed, the girl finally responded.
"A fool is a fool—not because of ignorance, but because of his own lack of knowledge." A soft and gentle voice responded in a clear and calm manner to his question.
‘Huh?’ Seiji blinked in confusion.
As he attempted to grasp the meaning of the girl’s sentence, the conversation options appeared—
[A: What are you talking about? Are you insulting me?]
[B: Sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.]
[C: Wise people are wise—not because of their knowledge, but because of their desire for knowledge.]
Option C seemed philosophical, so it had to be the correct choice.
"Wise people are wise—not because of their knowledge, but because of their desire for knowledge." Seiji said lightly.
*Ding!* [Favorability rating has increased!]
The girl’s eyebrows arched upwards, and she finally took her large eyes off her book and focused her gaze on Seiji.
"Have you also read Taylor’s poetry before?"
"Er… yes… a few." Seiji thought to himself that he knew who Tagore was, but who the hell was Taylor!? After acting so pretentious just earlier, though, he couldn’t say that he had no clue who Taylor was!
"What’s the distance between you and me? First, you must ask yourself what the distance between our hearts is."
Again!?
This time no conversation options had automatically appeared.
‘Come on, system, give me some help!’ Seiji mentally urged the system to no avail.
Seiji broke out into a cold sweat, but he had a sudden flash of inspiration.
"The farthest distance between us… is when I’m right in front of you, but you don’t realize… I love you."
‘Man, what an embarrassing thing to say!’ Seiji thought to himself. He only copied something he had read on the internet before in his previous life, but he didn’t know if this world had a similar phrase.
Hearing his answer, the girl’s watery eyes opened slightly wider.
"That wasn’t a poem by Taylor… But… it was… pretty good."
She closed her poetry book.
"Kagura…"
"Hm?"
"My name is Kagura… Shika Kagura."
Her voice was soft and gentle and also contained a slight hint of coldness, but it wasn’t something that would make anyone feel uncomfortable—it was just like snow on a sunny day.
"Shika Kagura… is it?" Seiji scratched his face, "It’s a beautiful name."
The girl looked directly at his face.
"Seigo Harano… what do you need me to do?"
"Eh?" Seiji blinked in confusion. "No… I don’t need you to do anything; it’s just that I heard you were forcefully taken here, so I thought that you might be feeling somewhat uncomfortable."
Shika Kagura tilted her head slightly.
"You thought I might be uncomfortable, so that’s why you asked for my name?"
"Yeah…"
"Strange person."
‘Was that really strange!?’ Seiji felt exhausted; it was difficult to hold a conversation with this girl—their wavelengths just weren’t compatible!
"I thought that if someone talked to you, it would help you calm down… but it seems that I was probably just an annoyance—you were always calm to begin with."
He wasn’t skilled at dealing with girls that were interested in literature, and after he had confirmed that she wasn’t nervous or feeling uncomfortable here, he already felt like retreating.
Perhaps some people thought that the difficult-to-approach type combined with a S-rank appearance made the ideal goddess, but Seiji wasn’t very interested. If even having a normal conversation was difficult, then forget about it.
Shika Kagura was silent for a few seconds.
"Were you… trying to console me?"
"I suppose."
"I see…" Shika Kagura nodded. "Seigo Harano… is a good person."
She suddenly had the impression that he was a good person?
Seiji was clueless on how he should to respond to this. Thankfully, just as he was contemplating his next words, he heard footsteps approaching.
Turning around, he saw that it was Sheena Shiho, followed by Anya Saigenji who seemed rather dizzy.
Finally, someone was here to rescue him! Upon seeing the duo, Seiji mentally sighed in relief.
"They’re the president and vice-president of the drama club. If you’re interested in this place, why don’t you have a chat with them?"
As he said this, he waved his hand and walked away.
Shika Kagura watched him leave wordlessly.
"He seems… rather special…"
Her soft words faded into the wind.
Finally, she retracted her gaze from his figure.