Vol 2 Chapter 43 – I’ll Smash Through Such Schemes with Brute Force!

“So that’s the situation.”

Anyway, I conveyed the intentions of my classmate, Tachibana Torako-san.

I considered handling it myself so I wouldn’t trouble President Takahashi or Toudou-san any further.

But—

“Yeah, first of all, thanks for being honest and telling us. You were debating whether to bring it up, weren’t you, Kajiwara-kun?”

“You can tell?”

President Takahashi sees right through everything.

“Of course I can tell. You’ve got a tendency to shoulder things yourself, Kajiwara-kun.”

“That’s not good, you know. That kind of thing.”

Toudou-san circled around behind me and started squeezing my shoulders as I sat.

Hmm, I’ve been seen through.

“Well, you really don’t need to worry about it that much. That Torako-san herself said so, right?”

With a flourish—

President Takahashi spun her index finger like a magician and said this:

“Even if she fails our entrance exam, that Torako-san really won’t hold a grudge. She’s clever. Even if she fails, she’s succeeded in winning at least a minimum level of favorability from you as a classmate going forward, Kajiwara-kun.”

“So that was part of her aim after all?”

I tilted my head, but—

“Of cooourse, of cooourse. If I were in the same position, I’d pull the same move.”

Toudou-san finished the shoulder massage and clapped both hands on my shoulders with a pat.

I see, if these two think so, they must be right.

Actually, I did end up holding a decent amount of goodwill toward her.

“Well, it’s fine, isn’t it? She definitely won’t pass the entrance exam anyway.”

Segawa-san sipped her tea from a sushi teacup labeled “Braided Busty Girl.”

She coldly stated that she’d fail either way.

Well, that’s probably true.

“Um… but…”

Emma-san looked flustered as always.

“I was a non-productive otaku my first year too, you know? But I still joined.”

She looked around while needlessly putting herself down.

No, it’s fine in your case, Emma-san.

Now she’s the second best in the club.

I know how hard she’s worked.

If she’s no good, then I’m completely hopeless, you know?

“Emma, the situation is totally different, okay? First of all, when we distributed recruitment flyers around school initially, we would have accepted anyone who nervously applied. Productive or non-productive had nothing to do with it. If someone wanted to draw, we would have kindly taught them from the start. I say ‘would have,’ but we did teach you and Kajiwara-kun, didn’t we?”

Emma-san apparently mustered her courage last year with such circumstances.

She approached President Takahashi with the flyer in hand to apply for membership.

We did the same thing this year.

But I was the only one who joined.

“But no one came this year, so we cut it off. After you joined, Kajiwara-kun. Just with that, our logical defense is already more than perfect. Like I said before.”

At this point, I don’t think anyone who joins would put in as much effort as Emma-san.

I think so too.

Even Tachibana-san, who’s just started showing interest in otaku culture, would be the same.

“So anyway, unfortunately that girl won’t be able to join our club either.”

“About the entrance exam content—have you already decided on it?”

I’m a bit curious.

I have no intention of spying, and honestly speaking, I don’t want even Tachibana Torako-san to join our club.

These five people are enough.

That aside, I’m interested in the entrance exam content.

“Yep yep yep, Kajiwara-kun. Of course Chihiro and I decided it together.”

With a push, the tall Toudou-san pressed her body against my head.

Just like a cat.

Unfortunately, Toudou-san is flat-chested.

I didn’t particularly feel anything.

“Such schemes will be smashed through with my mighty fists!!”

President Takahashi clenched her fist tight.

As always, it was a petite, powerless nerd’s small little hand that could only draw pictures.

Cute.

I found myself wanting to hold that hand.

“That’s how strict we made it. Specifically, there are three parts.”

The president held up three fingers with a snap.

Segawa-san walked over and handed me what appeared to be copy paper for the entrance exam.

The president voiced the first condition.

“First, the otaku world. Possess knowledge of it.”

So a written exam on otaku knowledge.

There was even an essay about discussing a favorite genre.

This is certainly harsh.

If someone has a favorite work, any otaku can talk endlessly about it, but it would be harsh for someone without much interest.

“Second, indecent pervy indulgence.”

Behind me, Toudou-san spoke those words while still pressed against me.

What are your sexual fetishes?

Please explain in detail.

There’s a page set aside for that essay.

What are you thinking, Toudou-san?

There’s no way anyone could explain something like tha— I started to tilt my head.

“Ah, I did that, didn’t I? I asked all of you an incredibly intrusive question about what your fetishes were. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, you did. It was a little embarrassing. So we added it to the entrance exam too.”

Toudou-san said it cheerfully.

“We can’t get along with someone who can’t even talk about the perverted stuff they like! Send them home!!”

Is this a difficult test or not?

I’m not quite sure, but it might be hard to answer content-wise.

President Takahashi nodded along, then voiced the third condition.

“Third, the face of a productive otaku—show it to us, new club member.”

“So basically an exam where they actually draw illustrations?”

“Yep yep.”

The first one might be passable if someone knows a bit about otaku topics.

The second would be fine too if someone isn’t embarrassed about disclosing their preferences.

The third is harsh.

Honestly speaking, the “Modern Culture Research Club’s” level is incredibly high—

“Bluntly speaking, we’re failing anyone who isn’t at the minimum level to immediately participate in our next doujinshi.”

“So basically, you’re planning to fail everyone.”

“Yep yep.”

They never intended to let anyone join from the start.

I understood that well.

However, even so—

“What if someone clears all three of these exams?”

“We thought about it a bit, but if someone can seriously clear all three, we’ll actually interview them.”

Oh?

Here President Takahashi showed a slight concession.

“The fourth. Secret boss exam. If someone still survives that, they might possibly be a genuine otaku who was just a bit too embarrassed and simply didn’t have the courage to raise their hand to participate in our club—someone like Emma.”

President Takahashi glanced at Emma-san.

Emma-san was nodding along.

She really had squeezed out what little courage she had to apply to President Takahashi for membership.

“So you’d accept that person?”

“Depends on the person though. If they’re actually already a pro who looked down on our doujin-class club activities but decides to participate because there’s a guy like you, Kajiwara-kun—we’d decline. Don’t insult us.”

But she’d at least do an interview.

This was clearly a concession.

“Well, I made a concession, but realistically, no one’s going to pass. Something like this.”

“They won’t pass, will they?”

I nodded honestly.

I returned the exam papers I’d received to Segawa-san.

“After all, we’ve got the student council fully on our side. Whether they cry or complain, we’ll kick out every single applicant. Kajiwara-kun, it won’t even take a month for things to settle down. Just bear with it until then.”

“Actually, it’s completely my fault, so there’s nothing to bear with.”

I’m sorry for causing trouble.

With such thoughts, I let out a big sigh.

“Like I said before, if things get messy, I’ll be the one to turn them down.”

I’ll tell them that kind of thing won’t make me think favorably of them.

That’ll solve it.

Well, there’s probably no need to worry about that anyway.

There’s no way anyone could overcome such an absurd exam.

“Alright alright, so let’s do club activities today. Oh, and from now on we’ll get a budget from the student council. We can buy snacks and cheap board games every month.”

Clap clap—

President Takahashi clapped her small hands together and got everyone moving.

Each person took out their LCD pen tablets, but—

“That’s nice, but under what pretext?”

“Activity funds, also known as nuisance fees.”

Pretty blunt, student council.

Is that really okay? I thought, but I didn’t voice any complaints.