Vol 2 Chapter 44 – I Couldn’t See Through Her, Even With These Eyes of Mine, Toudou

“RAAAAAAH!!”
“RAAAAAAH!!”

Bap. Bap.

Their battle cries were fierce, but the actual brawl was painfully pastoral. We were, after all, weak-bodied nerds with no real capacity to hurt anyone. To me, it looked like nothing more than cats swatting at each other with their paws.

“Who said nobody would pass the entrance test?!”
“That goes for both of us! You laughed too, Chihiro, saying nobody could pass something like this!!”

Club President Takahashi and Toudou-san were hurling insults at each other while engaged in this painfully pastoral brawl. I had no desire to stop them. After all, I knew neither would actually get hurt. These two were utterly removed from anything resembling an ugly catfight.

“Balus!”

Club President Takahashi invoked the spell of destruction! Since aiming straight for the eyes would be slightly terrifying, she targeted the bone just above instead. Using two fingers—her index and middle—she jabbed at Toudou-san’s eyes.

“My eyes! My eyes!!”

Toudou-san took the hit full-on and writhed in agony. Though, well, since her actual eyeballs weren’t pierced, this was all just playful theatrics. I asked calmly.

“Someone passed?”

I tilted my head. The hidden boss exam, as it were. Though the interview portion hadn’t been conducted yet, apparently someone had cleared all three challenges. And that’s what these two were fighting about. Well, fighting? Was this even enough of a conflict to call it a fight? No, it was more like… playful roughhousing. Just two cats pawing at each other.

“Yeah, someone did. I couldn’t see through her, even with these eyes of mine, Toudou Hatsune.”
“You’re blind as a bat!!”

But blaming Toudou-san for this seemed unfair. If anyone was blind, it was all of us—every single member of the Modern Culture Research Club—who never thought anyone could pass these three tests. Hell, even the student council officers were incompetent in this regard.

“Well, calm down. I’ll make some tea.”

I took the initiative to brew tea. I retrieved the two sushi-themed teacups from the cupboard—one labeled “Club President” and the other “Flat-Chested Beanpole”—filled the electric kettle with tap water, and set it to boil.

“I can make it, you know?”
“Let me do it for once.”

As I exchanged those words with Segawa-san, the water quickly boiled. I added powdered kelp tea and brought the cups to the two of them. They’d already calmed down and accepted their respective teacups.

“Ah, well, you know. At first, things went well. The student council spread word about how tough the exam was, so only a few people actually took the entrance test.”

And after all that commotion demanding we let people join. What was that even about?

Toudou-san muttered complaints and sipped her kelp tea.

“Yeah, the problem is that one of those brave few actually passed.”

This is the first time I’ve ever had a guy make tea for me.

Club President Takahashi said that offhandedly. I’d gladly make tea for everyone in the Modern Culture Research Club anytime, though.

“Were they academically excellent? A closet otaku?”

Segawa-san tilted her head. Only Club President Takahashi and Toudou-san had been involved with the exam, so the rest of us had no idea what had happened.

“Well, they barely scraped by in various areas, you know? But considering the overall score, we couldn’t exactly deny them a pass, could we?”

The exam itself had to be conducted fairly. That’s what Toudou-san said as she downed her kelp tea in one gulp.

“First test: the written otaku knowledge exam. Low score on that. But the essay portion was magnificent.”
“So their knowledge was pretty skewed?”
“Probably. As an otaku, they’re shallow. But when it came to their favorite work, they went deep—really deep. They likely gave up on breadth of knowledge early on and spent most of the exam time writing that essay.”

Club President Takahashi sighed.

“What was it about, by the way?”
“A certain century’s end savior legend. They really love it, apparently. Wrote about it with deep affection in an absolutely wild way.”

Mm-hmm. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this. A suspicion was forming.

“Now then, the second test. They were a magnificent fetishist. Without a doubt, a pervert on par with us.”

Toudou-san spoke. Every single member of the Modern Culture Research Club was undoubtedly a pervert. But was it really okay to proudly admit that? Even as I thought that, the conversation wouldn’t continue otherwise, so I asked.

“What kind of fetish did they have, by the way?”
“Muscles.”

Toudou-san looked at me. True, I had a blessed physique and was undeniably muscular, but I didn’t particularly consider myself erotic.

“You know, when she talked about her fetish, I found myself nodding along. Like, ‘Ah, so that kind of eroticism exists too. That kind of perversion is out there.’ I came to understand.”

I can’t lie to myself. I passed her.

Toudou-san spoke with seeming melancholy. About her own perverted nature, her sexual proclivities. Was that really the kind of thing to speak about with such sadness? I didn’t think so, but if I kept interjecting, the conversation wouldn’t progress. I asked about the third test.

“What about the crucial art test? I heard it involved actually drawing illustrations.”

Without experience, this should be impossible to pass. In fact, I thought the person I was suspecting couldn’t possibly pass this. That’s what I believed, but…

“The genre’s a bit different, but they’re damn good. I had to acknowledge it as excellent. I couldn’t deny that.”

Club President Takahashi spoke with frustration.

“Different genre, you say?”
“Well, it’s not your typical manga-style illustration, but they’ve got artistic sense—possibly even more than me. They’ve clearly been doing this for quite a while.”

Enough for Club President Takahashi to acknowledge? I tilted my head.

“They brought their own acrylic paints and completed a magnificent portrait. Here, look at this.”

With that, Club President Takahashi showed me the painting. It was a portrait of me. To think they could draw this well without me even being present.

“I can pretty much guess, but could it be—”
“That’s right, your classmate, Kajiwara-kun. Tachibana Torako-san.”

Her, huh. I didn’t know she had this kind of talent. It was impressive, or rather, unexpected for someone with a gal appearance to have such a skill.

“At the end, she said this to us: ‘I’m new to manga, but I’ll do my best.'”

Club President Takahashi held her head. To me, that gesture looked adorable, but I couldn’t afford to be that carefree.

“Um, I’m sorry.”
“It’s not something for you to apologize for, Kajiwara-kun. Our judgment was poor.”

Literally blind as bats.

Saying that, Toudou-san waved her hand through the air.

“So what will you do?”

I asked for the conclusion.

“At worst, I’ll turn her down myself, but—”
“No, that’s not good. We set up an exam thinking no one could pass, but at the very least, she broke through fair and square. I don’t want to resort to such underhanded tactics.”

On that point, Club President Takahashi was serious.

“I agree. In any case, she’ll take the hidden boss exam. A direct interview. We’ll assess her character. Well, we haven’t actually thought of any specific interview content at all, though, you know?”

Toudou-san went “Hmm” while groaning. Like a cat, she stretched her tall, lanky frame and let out a sound like “Mrrow.”

“Should I be present?”
“No, please sit this one out. If you’re there, Kajiwara-kun, there might be things she’d hesitate to say—”

Club President Takahashi said that, and then:

“The four of us will conduct the assessment. Segawa-chan, Emma, sorry, but we need your help.”
“Us too?”

Emma-san tilted her head, her expression saying I’m useless and can’t contribute anything. As always, her self-esteem seemed painfully low.

“Now that it’s come to this, we’ll seriously assess whether she can actually participate in club activities. The four of us will do it properly. Ah, Kajiwara-kun, sorry for leaving you out.”

The president apologized, but it couldn’t be helped. Tachibana Torako-san had confessed directly to me that I was her goal. Since her objective was already clear, it was better if I wasn’t present.

“But to think such a person was hidden among the general populace.”

Still holding my portrait, Club President Takahashi gazed at the painting and murmured pensively. I’d assumed gals couldn’t draw. I’d held that prejudice against her.

“The world is vast, isn’t it?”

I truly agreed with that sentiment. In any case, she’d reached the hidden boss exam—the interview for joining the Modern Culture Research Club. As for me, I was a bit reluctant to approve because gals weren’t really my type, but I also couldn’t bring myself to oppose her with malice when she’d shown me genuine affection. With complicated feelings, all I could do was watch how things unfolded.