We walked down the hallway. It was getting pretty empty now, just a few other students heading to their own club activities.
I looked over at Nina. She was just walking, a small smile on her face like she was thinking about sothing funny. She must have felt looking because she turned her head.
"What?" she asked, her smile getting a little bigger.
My brain stalled. I had a thousand things I wanted to ask. Most of them were about how to help Jake without making a complete fool of myself.
’Should I just ask her?’ The thought was right there. ’She’s a girl. She knows how this stuff works.’
No. That was a bad idea. A really bad idea. That’s what the clueless main character in a manga does. He asks the girl who likes him for advice on another girl, and then he’s shocked when everything gets weird. I was not going to be that guy. Even though she did not like in that way.
"What’s your favorite food?" I asked instead.
The question was so random it made her blink. "My favorite food?" she repeated, like she wasn’t sure she heard right.
"Yeah."
She thought about it for a second. "I don’t know. That’s a hard question."
"It’s not that hard," I said. "Mine is katsudon."
Her eyes went wide. "Eh? You like Japanese food? Where do you even get good katsudon around here?"
I shrugged. "I’ve never had a good one. I just see it in ani all the ti. It always looks amazing, so I decided it’s my favorite."
She stared at for a second, then let out a laugh. "You decided a food was your favorite without ever having a proper version of it? That’s the most Kofi thing I’ve ever heard."
"It’s a matter of principle," I said seriously. "So what about you?"
"If I had to pick one... probably omurice. The kind with the soft, runny egg on top that they cut open."
It was my turn to be surprised. "You too? I thought I was the only one who knew about that stuff."
"I watch a lot of food vlogs," she admitted, her cheeks turning a little pink. "They always make it look so good."
We kept walking, and I felt a small smile on my face. It was a dumb thing to have in common, but it felt nice.
"What about your least favorite?" I asked.
"Anything with bell peppers," she said imdiately. "They’re disgusting. They ruin everything they touch."
I stopped in the middle of the hallway. "What? Bell peppers are amazing. Especially the red ones. They’re sweet."
"They taste like crunchy disappointnt," she said, dead serious. "It’s a garbage vegetable."
"It’s technically a fruit," I shot back, a grin on my face. "And you’re wrong. Your food opinions are officially invalid."
"They really aren’t."
I just smiled. This was so much better than talking about feelings or social suicide missions.
We found the room for the Literature Club at the end of a quiet, deserted hallway. It was an old classroom, the kind they probably used for storage now. The sign on the door was just a piece of paper taped on, the words ’Literature Club’ written in neat handwriting.
"Well," I said, my hand on the doorknob. "Here goes nothing."
I slid the door open.
The room slled like old paper and lemon-scented cleaning spray. It was small, but tidy. Bookshelves lined one wall, packed so tight the shelves were bending a little. In the middle of the room, there was a single long table with a few chairs.
Sitting at the far end of the table was a girl.
She had short, ssy black hair and was wearing a pair of big, round headphones. She was bent over a notebook, writing sothing with intense focus. She didn’t even look up when we walked in.
Nina and I just stood in the doorway for a second.
"Uh, hello?" I said.
The girl didn’t move.
Nina took a step forward. "Excuse ?" she said, a little louder.
The girl’s head finally snapped up. She looked at us, her expression completely blank. Then she pulled her headphones down, letting them rest around her neck.
"Can I help you?" she asked. Her voice was flat, no emotion in it at all.
"Is this the Literature Club?" I asked.
She just stared at for a second. "It says ’Literature Club’ on the door, doesn’t it?"
I felt Nina shift next to . This girl was... prickly.
"We were thinking of joining," Nina said, her voice friendly and bright. It sounded weirdly loud in the quiet room.
The girl’s eyes moved from to Nina, taking in her trendy clothes and perfect hair. Her expression didn’t change.
"We don’t do that," she said.
I frowned. "You don’t do what?"
"Recruit," she said, her gaze settling back on . "We’re not looking for new mbers."
I just stared at her. ’Not looking for new mbers?’ What kind of club wasn’t looking for new mbers? Especially when mbership was now mandatory.
Nina, of course, didn’t miss a beat. Her friendly smile didn’t even flicker. "The school has this new policy. Everyone has to join a club this year. It’s a whole thing."
The girl’s blank expression didn’t change. "That sounds like a school problem. Not a club problem."
Her tone was so flat and dismissive it was almost impressive. She picked up her pen again, like the conversation was over.
Politeness wasn’t going to work. My eyes scanned the room, past the girl. The bookshelves were full of classic novels and poetry collections, but tucked away on the bottom shelf, I saw the spine of a familiar light novel series. The sa one I’d finished last month.
This wasn’t just a literature club. This was a fortress. And this girl was the gatekeeper.
Nina took a step forward, about to say sothing else, but I put a hand on her arm to stop her. She looked at , surprised.
I stepped past her, walking closer to the table. "Look," I said, my voice as flat as the girl’s. "We get it. You don’t want people in your space."
The girl’s head ca up. She looked at , really looked at this ti. Her eyes were dark and sharp.
"This is the quietest club in the school," I continued. "That’s why we’re here. We’re not looking to make friends or have group discussions about the symbolism in Shakespeare. We just need a quiet room to sit in for an hour after school so we don’t get detention. That’s it."
The girl leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed. The blank look on her face shifted into sothing else. It was almost a smirk.
"You’re not wrong," she said, her voice still flat. "This is a quiet room, but... it’s my quiet room. So, no."
Nina sighed next to . I knew she was about to turn on the charm again, try to reason with her. It wasn’t going to work. This girl didn’t care about school rules or being nice.
"What do you want?" I asked, cutting straight to the point.
The girl’s smirk got a little wider. She tilted her head, looking over like she was finally seeing sothing interesting.
"You want in? Impress ."
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