Chapter 12: At the Karate Club
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Translator: Cryus
「My era has come!」
「It’s the beginning of my era!」
「I’ll change it to my era!」
I open the door to the sight of the fully hyped club members.
I’m here in spite of the hot and stuffy day, within the hot and stuffy room.
「So? Whose era is it exactly?」
「「「Mine.」」」
The members point to themselves and say the same word in unison.
Annoying.
「Everyone, please keep your voices down. It doesn’t really matter whose era it is. In fact, wouldn’t you agree that Noda’s era has come?」
Arioka-senpai hands me a plate of cookies with a fed up expression.
I take the remaining few cookies while marveling at how he could still reach me among the crowd.
「What kind of era would that be?」
「The Stone Age, of course. Hunting, gathering, and coexisting with mammoths.」
I hit the closest club member with the emptied plate.
It makes a nice banging sound.
「It hurts! It really hurts. She hit my head with the plate!」
「Settle down already. Stop being so pathetic. A strong and sturdy karate martial artist shouldn’t be crying over getting hit by earthenware.」
Arioka-senpai is sitting at a different spot, so he kicks someone else’s back instead.
The bulky guy who let his guard down fell with a thud.
Forgetting about whose era it is, the club members start saying 「Let’s bury him!」
「So? Why is everyone unusually hyped today? Normally no one comes to club during summer.」
It would be normal if there were only 2 or 3 club members, but almost everyone’s here today.
「Ah. Everyone is working hard at club activity today because Kinoshita-san will be coming to visit.」
「Kinoshita-san? During summer break?」
Michel isn’t in Japan during summer break.
He goes home in the beginning of break every year.
He comes back here just before the end of summer break, but overall he’s gone for about a month and a half.
I wonder if Kinoshita-san comes here frequently even though Michel isn’t here.
「It’s sort of our secret, but it seems like things haven’t been going too well with Michel and Kinoshita-san.」
「Eh? Really? It looked like they were getting along quite well.」
Just like a Westerner, Michel is smart and gentlemanly without being snobbish at all.
Kinoshita-san is cute too, and they make a good couple.
「By the way, heave ho!」
The club member who was rolling on the floor stood up and cut his way into the conversation.
「Kinoshita-san turned down Michel’s request to make some cookies. She says it’s because she can only make it well sometimes, and is afraid that Michel will dislike her if she fails. Michel seemed dissatisfied, but put up with it since he seems convinced that she’ll make them someday.」
「………………Hmm.」
I have a complex feeling since I know the truth.
Michel has never eaten Kinoshita-san’s cookies.
She knows that for a fact as well.
「Apparently, Kinoshita-san tried to keep Michel in Japan for summer break, saying she wants to be with him. But Michel went home to France anyway. In other words, Michel chose his Maman over his girlfriend Kinoshita-san.」
「Guys who are too attached to their mothers are most likely to be disliked by girls, you know.」
「Kinoshita-san coming here despite Michel being away. Looks like she’s interested in me.」
「You’re too self absorbed! Take a reality check! She was interested in me first!」
The club members begin asserting themselves and argue again.
I hate to see this on a humid day.
「Good afternoon~」
It’s a voice as cute as a sounding bell.
The club members correct their posture and become courteous upon hearing the unusual voice.
They welcome her with some tea, snacks, and her personal seat cushion.
Wearing a chiffon dress and having her hair tied up, Kinoshita-san enters and mesmerizes the club members with a gentle smile.
They’re pathetically smiling twice as much as usual.
「It’s hot so I brought some ice cream. Everyone, please help yourselves.」
The club members get dizzy over her concern.
「I can overcome anything if I have one of these!」 The club members declare while breathing wildly, causing Kinoshita-san to pull back slightly.
They forget about their surroundings and enter their own world.
They appeal to themselves creepily, saying 「She’s interested in me!」
「……………………」
It seems like Kinoshita-san is more interested in Arioka-senpai though.
She sits close to him and looks up at him slightly.
Arioka-senpai is the only one in the room who is keeping his cool.
Maybe she’s just sitting there and isn’t really interested in him either.
「Are you feeling lonely without Michel around?」 Arioka-senpai asks. She blushes, as though she’s still in love with Michel.
Maybe it’s just my imagination, but she may be interested in Arioka-senpai as well. I’m inexperienced in that area, so I can’t really tell.
「Please have some ice cream too, Noda-san. Maybe you’d like vanilla.」
Kinoshita-san hands me a cup of vanilla ice cream.
A club member pushes on me as I thank her.
「Haha! Noda loves haniwa-」
[1. TL Note: Haniwa is a childish way of saying Vanilla; also possibly refers to HoneyWorks, a popular Japanese vocaloid group.]
I send the annoying guy flying with a kick.
He lands right in front of me, but I shielded the ice cream, so he falls on his face.
That felt great.
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