Her voice was soft, like clouds lazily drifting across a clear sky, and her eyes sparkled with surprise.
"Eh? Tsumugi, do you know this classmate?"
Yui Hirasawa tilted her head, eyes wide. The rest of the group turned to look curiously at Kotobuki Tsumugi.
Caught off guard by the sudden attention, Shiro Sakamaki blinked in confusion. He had no mory of eting Tsumugi before.
"When you were ten years old, I saw you at a birthday party," Tsumugi said with a gentle smile. "Your flute performance left a deep impression on ."
Shiro suddenly rembered. Considering Tsumugi's background, it made sense. That party had been one of many events his family had attended. He had been performing that day and hadn't paid much attention to the crowd.
"Sorry, Kotobuki-san. There were a lot of people there, and I didn't really notice."
"It's okay. We know each other now, don't we?"
"That's true. Let introduce myself properly—I'm Shiro Sakamaki. Please take care of ."
The others clapped lightly, smiles on their faces as they welcod him.
"But I have to ntion this—I may be good at playing the flute, but I can't handle any of these instrunts you've got here."
He gestured toward the instrunts stacked in the corner—guitars, drums, a bass, and a keyboard.
"And isn't this the Light Music Club? These instrunts scream heavy tal!"
"Oh, you can learn an instrunt later. Don't sweat the small stuff."
Ritsu Tainaka waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, to welco our newest mber—let's have a tea party!"
At that, Yui Hirasawa and Tsumugi's eyes lit up like stars.
The only one not excited was Akiyama Mio, who sighed, her expression a mix of resignation and exasperation.
"Ritsu, you haven't practiced for three days now."
"No way! I practice at ho every day!"
Ritsu laughed nervously, scratching the back of her head.
"I've really lost to you..."
Mio shook her head. She knew Ritsu too well—saying she practiced at ho was as believable as a pig climbing a tree.
"Ara, everyone must be thirsty."
Tsumugi had already started pouring black tea into dainty porcelain cups. The rich, llow aroma of imported tea quickly filled the room.
Despite being black tea, it was distinctly not from Han, but rather imported from the British Isles. Shiro, a tea connoisseur, could tell by the scent alone that this was a high-grade tea—not quite as refined as the tea his grandfather brewed, but still excellent.
The teapots and cups were elaborately crafted, more like elegant art pieces than standard club utensils.
"Please enjoy."
Tsumugi added delicate pastries to the mix—elegant cakes that matched perfectly with the tea.
Shiro sipped the tea. A soothing warmth spread through his chest, the soft scent lingering. Combined with the light, airy sweetness of the cakes, the mont was almost perfect.
He glanced around. Though the Light Music Club was tucked in a corner of the top floor of an old building, even the "worst" classrooms in Shuchiin Academy were spacious and well-equipped.
Aside from the instrunts, the room also housed Tsumugi's collection of fine tea sets, making it feel more like a cozy café than a club room.
"Maybe... this really would be a good place to write a novel."
He wrapped his hands around the warm teacup, inhaling the rich aroma, the happy chatter of the girls around him blending into a pleasant background hum.
Just then, Ritsu handed him a form labeled Application for Club mbership. All the fields were already filled in except for his na, class, contact info, and musical instrunt.
"They were ready to drag anyone into this, huh..."
He filled in the details, listing his skills: flute and—after a mont of thought—saxophone.
He nodded. The saxophone wasn't part of their setup, which ant one thing—he could slack off and no one would notice.
Of course, he wasn't bluffing. He'd taken saxophone lessons for a while. While he wasn't a master, he could play well enough to impress.
Ritsu blinked at the form. "A saxophone? Hmm... I guess we could do blues or pop rock?"
"But... do we have a saxophone?" Mio asked calmly from behind her.
"Eh? That's fine! Shiro probably brought one from ho, right?" Ritsu grinned.
Shiro shrugged. "I'm an exchange student. Didn't bring any instrunts with ."
The room fell silent for a beat.
"No problem," Tsumugi said gently. "If it's for Shiro-kun, I can bring one from ho."
Shiro froze. That was exactly what he didn't want to hear.
Good grief. Just offering it up like that? It must be nice to be rich...
Then again, he rembered—the Kotobuki family ran a musical instrunt company. It might actually be easy for her to just grab one.
"Whoa! That ans we can totally play blues now!" Yui exclaid excitedly.
"...Yui, do you even know what blues is?" Mio asked, deadpan.
"Uh..."
Shiro chuckled softly, letting the cheerful noise wash over him.
With the taste of sweet cake in his mouth, the fragrance of black tea around him, and the sunlight filtering through the windows—it really wasn't a bad place to spend an afternoon.
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