I pinched the bridge of my nose upon realizing the identity of the blonde first-year in front of me.

  The chaos has already ensued…

  Glancing back and forth between the two arguing students, I realized I had no other choice but to do my duty as a member of the student council and resolve this conflict.

  I moved myself to stand in between the two girls and extended both of my arms to force them back a bit. Then, I took the initiative.

  “Alright, you two, settle down. Let’s get things sorted out first,” I began as my gaze settled on the transfer student, “First of all, what’s your name?”

  “Alice– er, Windsor Alice.”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Himura pull out a small notebook from the pocket of her skirt along with a writing utensil.

  I nodded and then moved my gaze to the other girl.

  “And you, what’s your name?”

  “Maki Airi.”

  “Okay, it’s nice to meet you, Windsor-san, Maki-san. My name’s Lawrence Arthur, treasurer of the Student Council and member of the Disciplinary Committee.”

  I turned my focus towards Maki.

  “Maki-san, are you aware that our school requires at least three members to sign up for a club for it to be official?”

  Maki’s expression morphed into a mixture of shock and denial as her eyes darted towards the average boy– Akira, is what she called him.

  “N-no, I wasn’t aware of that…”

  “I’m also aware that Hiramatsu-sensei approved this… club. However, I doubt that she wasn’t aware of the three people requisite.”

  My gaze wandered over to Windsor.

  Her eyes met mine as they filled with realization and she pointed a finger at herself.

  It’s clear that Hiramatsu wants something. Despite her calm and professional exterior, she was quite the schemer on the inside. I found this out the hard way during my first year.

  “Are you implying that Hiramatsu-sensei knew that I would apply to join this club?”

  I wasn’t fully confident of Hiramatsu’s intentions, but I knew for sure that I had to be somewhat close, so I nodded slowly.

  “So, what you’re saying is that we have to allow… her to join the club?” Maki questioned with a slight bite to her tone.

  I wanted to sigh at her attitude, but I held it back, and folded my arms in slight disappointment as if I were a father getting ready to scold his child.

  “If you want the club to be considered active and eligible for funds, then I suggest you allow her to. Otherwise, this club will be disbanded within the very near future.”

  “But–”

  “Maki-san…”

  My eyes shot over to the only other male present in the room. He wore a slightly nervous expression as he gazed at Maki– who looked like she had been struck by a bullet when she heard him call out to her.

  “Ehem,” she coughed into her fist, “what is it, Akira-kun? Would you like to add your thoughts to the mix?”

  He nodded.

  “Y-Yes. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to let Windsor-san join the club. A-After all, the more people the merrier, right? Furthermore, we actually do need her if we want to keep this club afloat.”

  The more he spoke, the more I felt the confidence in his voice grow.

  I guess the confidence stemmed from a good reasoning, he was the only other person that Maki would prioritize over my own authority– I can see it clearly from the expression that she was wearing.

  Despite the obvious inner turmoil that was going on within her, she eventually relented after a few minutes of silence with a small nod.

  “If that’s what you want, Akira-kun, she can join,” she said in a voice that was nearly a whisper, the bite from earlier nowhere to be seen.

  “Thank you, Maki-san,” Akira expressed his gratitude with a smile that made Maki squirm.

  Across from Maki, Windsor let out a breath of relief as a slight flush rose to her cheeks when her gaze focused on Akira.

  “Thank you so much, Aoi-kun!”

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Maki visibly recoil at the usage of Akira’s first name.

  This time, I couldn’t contain the sigh from releasing.

  This year is going to be an interesting one.

  …

  ..

  .

  After the argument between the two girls was settled, I informed Windsor on how she could properly sign up for the club. However, in the middle of it, she let me know that she was grateful for my intervention in the argument, which made me feel like the actions I took were worth it in the end.

  Once my business was fully finished with the… Freeloader’s Club, Himura and I saw ourselves out back to the student council room to finish up some of the remaining work left behind by the other members.

  We sat in comfortable silence for the remainder of the work with the only exchange being our farewells after finishing.

  It made me truly realize how peaceful my school life was until I threw myself into that clubroom with those three.

  Well, with the exception of Kaneko, but that’s an entirely different matter. She’s more of a… how should I put this? A chaotic peaceful. Her eccentric personality and tendency to ragdoll while out of energy wasn’t as bad.

  Plus, she was only one person. Not three.

  Furthermore, it’s not like I mind the physical contact I have with her. On the contrary, it’s quite the opposite.

  I smiled as I unlocked the front door to my home with a passcode.

  It makes me feel a sense of companionship. Something that’s hard to find nowadays.

  “I’m home.”

  Silence.

  And something that’s been lacking in my life.

  I have both parents and an older brother.

  They’re all alive, but were never present.

  My older brother, who’s twelve years older than me, has always been busy since childhood with extracurriculars and hanging out with his friends. It only became worse as he got older.

  We may share the same blood, but the same couldn’t be said for our bond. We’re on friendly terms, stranger friendly that is. When we greet and talk to one another, it’s not like we’re talking to family. It’s like we’re talking to a stranger we ran into on the side of the street.

  Careful of the other’s feelings and unsure of what boundaries there are.

  This relationship is also shared with my parents.

  My parents were– and still are– always busy with work. The two of them manage their own companies and are never home until an hour from midnight– a time that I’m usually already asleep.

  The only times I saw them were during my childhood, but as soon as I was old enough to walk myself to school, I rarely ever saw them.

  By the time that came around, my brother was eighteen, and enrolled into the university of his choosing– fully independent.

  It made me wonder if my parents purposefully had a calculated age gap between my brother and I to create a schedule for their fitting.

  Don’t believe me?

  My brother and I’s birthdays are only a few days apart.

  It sounds bizarre, but knowing how work-oriented my parents are, it could be plausible.

  With all this, it may sound like my parents don’t love us, but it’s the opposite.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The two of them regularly give my brother and I birthday and holiday presents each year with hand-written notes.

  They provide us with what we need and want, just not the intangible things like companionship.

  Life is good, but it could easily be better with just a little change.

  I exhaled heavily as I took off my shoes and placed them on the shoe rack in the closet right next to the door.

  I clapped my hands twice and the fluorescent lights of the hall turned on before I walked towards the living room of the house.

  As soon as I entered the living room, I noticed that the blackout curtains were still rolled up so I grabbed the remote and rolled them down with the press of a button.

  After doing so, I flopped down onto the couch and pulled out my phone.

  With homework at the back of my mind, my only priorities at the moment were preparing a nutritious meal and watching videos on my phone.

  After all, it was a weekend. It's not like I have anything to do.

  An hour has passed and now I’m watching cat videos on the projector we had set up from the ceiling in the living room.

  My eyes were focused on the cute cats until a buzz from my phone caught my attention.

  Turning the screen on to check what it was, curiosity overcame me as I saw that it was from LINE.

  What could it be? Is it another one of those news offers they usually sent?

  Unlocking my phone with my thumbprint, my eyes widened as I read the notification.

  Kaneko Haruna wants to add you as a friend.

  How did she get my contact information? No, wait… I put my contact information down when I applied for the student council.

  The contact information of the student council members are made public for the student body if they needed any help that the teachers were unavailable for.

  However, it was supposed to be our school contact, and not personal ones… but I didn’t put in my personal one.

  I stopped my thought process– realizing that I was overthinking– and scratched the back of my head.

  Let’s just ask how she found it.

  You’ve accepted the friend request.

  …

  ..

  .

  She was already typing.

  Kaneko Haruna: Hi!

  Kaneko Haruna: ( ?ω?)?

  King Arthur: Hello~ can I ask who you got my info from?

  Kaneko Haruna: I asked one of the members of the student council… not sure what his name was…

  Ah, well that makes sense. The student council members are part of the handful of people from school who have my LINE added. I won’t really do any snooping around to find out who it was because I personally don’t mind.

  King Arthur: Ahh, gotcha.

  Kaneko Haruna: Sorry, was this a little bit intrusive?

  King Arthur: No, it’s fine! It was just a pleasant surprise, that’s all.

  Kaneko Haruna: That’s good to know. I really liked talking to you during lunch, and I was hoping to talk to you more. I actually would’ve added you earlier, but I was too busy lamenting if I should’ve just asked you personally for it.

  I smiled, the cat videos completely forgotten as the screen in front of me held 110% of my attention.

  Text really is different from reality. In real life, it would’ve taken her a bit to get all those words out.

  King Arthur: Well, I’m glad you added me anyways. I enjoyed our talk earlier, too.

  Kaneko Haruna: (??? )

  Kaneko Haruna: You seem to know a bit about anime, do you watch it as well?

  King Arthur: I do!

  Kaneko Haruna: I thought so（＾ω＾） are you watching any shows right now?

  King Arthur: As a matter of fact, I am! I’m currently watching…

  I felt my heart flutter as I exchanged texts with Kaneko, completely unaware of the huge goofy smile on my face.

  Then, before I knew it, hours had passed and the life of our conversation had yet to fade– in fact, it was only becoming livelier.

  We talked about what anime we were watching, which were our favorites, and what our preferred genres were.

  Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end at some point.

  As we were in the middle of another topic about light novels, she suddenly sent a text full of gibberish.

  Kaneko Haruna: I think the type of novel I would reajflkcvmx0428119eskd

  The smile on my face softened as I laughed quietly at the gibberish she sent. It was clear that she had most likely fallen asleep in the middle of her message and the phone probably fell on her face.

  King Arthur: Good night, Kaneko

  I sent one last message to her before shutting my phone off.

  My gaze rested on the ceiling, the projector long turned off as I felt more comfortable than ever with heavy eyelids.

  It didn’t take long for me to give in to the embrace of the darkness as I fell into a deep slumber.

  The next morning, I woke up with a blanket tucked over me, a tray of food laid out on the table in front of the couch, and my phone charging on the shelf placed against the wall.

  There was no other answer than my parents.

  I must have been asleep for a while if they had enough time to cook food for me and leave for work.

  I sat up and looked down at myself.

  Ugh, I forgot to change out of my school uniform. I can’t believe I had such a deep sleep with this on.

  I feel sticky and grimy, too.

  I need a bath.

  Badly.

  Plus, I’m quite famished since all I did yesterday was sit on my phone and text Kaneko for hours without consuming any liquids or food.

  Who knew texting could be such a detriment to one’s wellbeing…

  Standing from the couch, I made my way over to the restroom to get myself cleaned up, because I feel like if I check my phone now, I’ll be stuck in place for the next few hours.

  I closed the sliding door behind me before I opened up the restroom’s closet to grab myself a towel and a change of clothes.

  …

  .

  .

  After I freshened myself up, I immediately made a beeline towards my phone before anything else.

  Unplugging it, I brought it with me to the couch as I plopped myself down in front of the tray of food left by my parents.

  Grabbing a piece of toast layered with scrambled eggs, I turned the screen of my phone on and saw an unread notification from LINE about an hour ago.

  Unlocking my phone, I was able to see the sender’s name, and my lips immediately curled up into a small smile.

  Kaneko Haruna: Good morning, I passed out last night. Sorry.

  King Arthur: It’s all good, I fell asleep not too long after you did.

  Not expecting a quick response since I took an hour myself, I put my phone down on the table, but as soon as I did so, I saw that my message had been read.

  She sure was quick with it.

  Kaneko Haruna: Oh okay… did you sleep well?

  I snorted.

  King Arthur: Probably the best sleep I’ve had in a while. I was out like a baby.

  Kaneko Haruna: (??? )

  Kaneko Haruna: I’m glad you slept well.

  The smile on my face grew as I turned on the projector.

  “...A new manga cafe has opened up in the downtown area, and it’s booming with business already!”

  A manga cafe, huh?

  Should I invite Kaneko out to visit it? It’d be a fun experience… but I wonder if she’d even have the energy to hang out.

  I pondered for a moment...

  Eh, let's go for it. It never hurts to try, right? There's always a possibility that she'll be down to hang.

  My fingers glided across my phone's keyboard, however, there was a rising feeling of uncertainty. A feeling of nerves...

  King Arthur: Thank you!

  King Arthur: Also sorry about the sudden change in topic, but there’s this new manga cafe that opened up downtown

  I paused after sending the second message, but both of them were instantly read by her so I moved my fingers.

  Though... why am I feeling so nervous?

  King Arthur: And I was wondering

  ...another pause.

  My fingers trembled slightly. I couldn't tell if it was from my nervousness or a sudden rush of adrenaline, but for some reason, this felt like more of a grander task than securing one's own future.

  Get a hold of yourself, Arthur. It's just asking a friend to hang out. Move your fingers.

  King Arthur: If you wanted to hang and visit one?

  Once I sent the big message, I had to put my phone down and contemplate life for a bit. My heart was thumping as I folded my hands and gazed forward at the display from the projector.

  Even though my gaze rested on it, I wasn’t paying any attention. I was just doing anything to avoid looking at my phone screen until I felt like I was ready to check it.

  After what felt like minutes but was actually seconds in reality, I grabbed my phone and checked if she had responded.

  Immediately upon turning my screen on, I saw the LINE notification, and my heart began to race even more.

  I then unlocked it with my thumbprint, and was greeted by the app– opened up to our conversation.

  Kaneko Haruna: Sure (≧▽≦), will it be today or tomorrow?

  My heart immediately settled as a warmth flooded through me.

  King Arthur: Does today sound good? We can meet in the afternoon.

  I looked up at the time. It was currently 9:50 AM.

  Kaneko Haruna: Today is good and afternoon works fine. Allows me time to recover energy! (?ω?)b

  I laughed.

  King Arthur: Haha, sounds good! Does 1 PM work for you?

  Kaneko Haruna: 1 PM is perfect. Oh, also what’s the address?

  I searched up the manga cafe online and copied the address for her. Pasting it into our conversation, I waited for her to reply.

  Kaneko Haruna: That’s actually quite close to where I live! (─??─)

  King Arthur: I guess that gives you plenty of time to recover energy then, huh?

  Kaneko Haruna: Yep. I’ll see you at 1 PM! d(￣◇￣)b

  King Arthur: See you then! ′???`

  Kaneko Haruna: Now, off I go to recover energy!! (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻

  I chuckled and left a reaction to her message before exiting the app.

  Guess I do have plans for this weekend after all.

  Name meaning(s):

  Maki = genuine, Airi = love

  Akira = bright, Aoi = blue green

  I hope the pacing of this chapter didn't feel too slow nor fast.