Vol 2 Chapter 42 – Climb Mount Niitaka

“Kajiwara-kun, could you spare just a teensy bit of time before class starts? Even three minutes is fine. The time limit that warriors from the Planet of Light can stay active on Earth is good enough.”

“Sure.”

Before class started, she approached me with an invitation while I was preparing my educational tablet.

Standing before me was a classmate—the gal at the top of the class hierarchy, no less.

Hmm, is this another invitation to hang out somewhere after school?

Sorry, but I have club activities after school.

Saturday too, club activities.

And as for Sunday, I’m already talking about going shopping with President Takahashi.

I recall Toudou-san throwing a fit at that, insisting “I’m coming! I’m coming!” and being annoying as hell.

Segawa-san and Emma-san restrained her while President Takahashi tried to shut her up by throwing punches at her body.

But they’re just weak nerds in the end—people without the strength to hurt anyone, delivering pathetically feeble punches.

Anyway, since I want to spend such delightful time with them, I have no free time available, so I have no choice but to refuse—

But I was curious why an Ultraman Color Timer reference was coming from a gal, so I ended up responding anyway.

“I heard that the hobby group you’re in is getting upgraded to an official club.”

“That’s right, it is.”

It’s a fact.

That itself is a done deal, and it’s been decided that we’ll be upgraded to a club in mid-May.

I’m a bit wary of her.

“So, the entry conditions have been relaxed, right? Until now, the president supposedly turned away new applicants, saying it was just a small hobby group where people with similar interests gathered.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Yeah, that’s also correct.

In reality, President Takahashi has no intention of accepting any more members.

But I can’t say that out loud.

“So, I was thinking I’d like to try taking the entrance exam.”

“…”

Here, I struggled to respond.

It would be easy to say I don’t think that’s likely, but if she asks why, I’m stuck.

I can’t very well say Because we’re not actually accepting anyone, can I?

It’s not good form to answer a question with a question, but—

“Why do you want to join?”

I asked for her reason anyway.

“Well, because I want to get closer to you, Kajiwara-kun.”

Honest.

When someone comes at you so directly with goodwill, I don’t want to say anything too harsh.

But still, I have to find fault.

I have no choice if I want to protect the club.

“Does that mean you’re not purely interested in the club activities themselves?”

I tilted my head deliberately and asked again.

Like an interviewer in a job interview.

With a slightly accusatory tone.

“No, that’s not it. For starters, I read through all volumes of a certain end-of-century savior legend manga as a beginner! It was super interesting!! Besides that, I’ve been making an effort to get into various things recently.”

“I see.”

That manga definitely exists in this world too.

Well, it’s such an absurdly famous work that even a gal like her reading it wouldn’t be strange.

“If I’m going to do it anyway, properly doing otaku activities might not be so bad. What do you think?”

“Hmm.”

Here, I worried.

As an otaku, it’s not good to treat beginners harshly.

Rejecting beginners makes the prejudice against us harsher.

It invites the decline of the industry.

The bigger the hobby’s following, the better.

In the end, it’s an act that tightens the noose around our own necks as otaku, so it’s really not good.

As a true otaku, one should be kind and courteous to beginners.

Also, purely speaking, it’s actually nice when someone shows interest in a field you love.

So, personally, I’d be fine with becoming the kind of acquaintances who occasionally chat with her—though calling it “showing her the ropes” would be presumptuous.

“…”

The problem is involving the club activities.

Without a doubt, President Takahashi and the others won’t look favorably on it.

They don’t want outsiders entering their territory.

Besides, the “Modern Culture Research Club” is actually a creative production-type club.

They’re productive otaku, not consumptive ones.

I considered voicing such things to turn her down, but—

“Kajiwara-kun, you’re probably misunderstanding a bit. I never once said I wanted you to use your connections to somehow squeeze me into the club, you know?”

“Hmm.”

My words of rejection were preemptively stopped.

She’s right—she didn’t say that.

What she said was “I want to try taking the entrance exam,” “The reason is I want to get closer to you, Kajiwara-kun,” and “But it’s not that I’m not interested in otaku activities”—those three points.

She never said I should do anything about it.

This isn’t about using connections to make it happen.

It’s not a petition.

“Then there was no need to get my approval, was there?”

That’s the thing.

However—

“Whether or not I’ve talked it through with you makes a huge difference in how the club perceives me, right? I don’t want to be lumped together with people who are only after you, Kajiwara-kun. Just talking to the relevant parties beforehand makes a difference, doesn’t it?”

That’s a point.

As expected of a gal.

High communication skills.

President Takahashi is about the only otaku with high communication skills I’ve met in either my past or present life.

“I see, understood. You want me to mention in the club today that a classmate said something like this, right?”

“Exactly. That’s all there is to it. And I’ll add that even if the entrance exam doesn’t work out, I won’t resent you or the club, so don’t worry about it.”

Having it properly reported like this certainly does make a different impression.

I’m mildly impressed.

The follow-up is perfect too.

“…”

Honestly, I’m conflicted.

I have this vague feeling that she’s playing me like a fiddle.

But then again, I can tell she has absolutely no malicious intent.

I’ll respond honestly.

“I see, I’ll do as you say. But really, don’t resent me if you fail, okay? The entrance exam itself will probably be quite strict.”

“It’s fine. Even if I fail, let’s still get along as classmates from now on. Oh, and one more thing, Kajiwara-kun. Do you know my first name?”

“…”

Hmm, honestly, I don’t.

I tuned out the classmate introductions, and my head isn’t good enough to memorize all the full names of the 35 students in the class.

It’s embarrassing to say that out loud, but—

“I figured you probably don’t, so let me introduce myself. It’s Torako. Tachibana Torako. Nice to meet you, Kajiwara-kun.”

Before I need to, she introduces herself as if seeing through everything.

She really does have high communication skills.

Though probably not as high as President Takahashi’s.

The president is a warrior from the Planet of Light without a three-minute time limit.

Tachibana-san won’t be able to overcome the entrance exam.

But as a classmate, having some otaku conversations and getting along to that degree is fine.

While thinking such things, I contemplated the after-school club activities.

Now then, how should I bring this up to the club members?

Actually, being just a new member myself, I don’t want to cause confusion and make things messy for the club.

Well, I’ll just tell them honestly, adding “There’s absolutely no need to show consideration for appearances.”

Yes, that’s what I’ll do.

Having decided that much, I watched Tachibana-san leave her seat.

And resumed preparing for class.