Haruyama Gakuen: Investigation Division

第6話 - Six

"S-Soga-senpai?" Kouji stammered.

"Congratulations on finding me, although I hope you don't tell any other applicants."

"S-sure, I won't."

"Anyway, Matsuoka-kun, the lesson is about to start, you better go to your class. Just come to the club room after class, we'll talk then." she said so cheerfully.

"Yes, Senpai." Kouji couldn't talk much as he was still quite surprised. He couldn't shake the embarrassment so he scurried to his class.

Even during class, he couldn't take his mind off of Soga Makoto. Her laughter, her friendly words, she showed no sign of being offended. On the contrary, she seemed genuinely amused, as if she had expected it to happen.

It became clear to Kouji that all the clues didn't point to a certain gender and Kouji beat himself over the fact that he just assumed Soga Makoto was a boy. It was true that Makoto was majority used for boys, but it wasn't an exclusively boy name and quite a number of parents named their daughter Makoto. Then there was the height, most high school boy would be taller than 160 cm so Kouji should've at least considered the possibility of the mysterious member being a girl.

Moreover, her face just seemed very familiar, Kouji wondered whether he had seen her before. Then it suddenly hit him that he had seen her yesterday, not once but twice. How did I miss this? Kouji thought. Kouji remembered now that Soga Makoto was at the library, giving him curious look when he struggled with the typewriter. Then she was at the second bakery, buying bread just as Kouji arrived. She knew his movement since yesterday, she was definitely something.

The lessons was finally over. Kouji had been skittish the whole day. He was still embarrassed by what happened in the morning but he also wanted to meet Soga Makoto again and start over in hope that the not so good encounter from before could be shadowed a little. Wee, at least he could be happy for one thing, he passed the test. Hopefully.

He walked to the Executive Committee room and found the door opened. Inside, the four chairs were all full. The Committee members were talking but stopped to look at the door as Kouji said his greeting.

"Matsu-kun, you're here." said Makoto.

"So this is the one that passed the test? Way to go." said Hayashi Taka shaking his hands before introducing himself. Arashi and Tsubasa Kouji had met yesterday, he exchanged polite smile with them.

"Should we start now, Ama-kun, Ame-kun?" said Makoto.

"Ama? Ame?" Kouji was slightly confused.

"Yes, Amasaki Arashi here and Ameno Tsubasa, don't tell me they didn't introduce themselves nicely yesterday. Ama-kun, Ame-kun, what do I say about being nice to a member candidate! We couldn't end up with no member like last year!"

"Mako-senpai, if you want more members, maybe you should've made the test easier!" protested Arashi.

"It was easy enough, Matsu-kun solved it. By the way Matsu-kun, would you grab a chair and sit here next to me, we'll share the table if that's okay with you." Kouji couldn't say no, he just naturally followed her direction.

The five then spent an hour talking about the Committee acitivities and Kouji's role and responsibilities. Makoto, or Mako as she was more commonly called, was eager to let Kouji lead the Investigation Division but should hold on to it a little bit more.

"You're not planning to retire from the club just yet, right, Mako-senpai?" asked Tsubasa.

"Don't worry, I'll be around and if you ever need me I'll help, from home that is," she said with a wink.

"Well, that sounds a lot like a retirement," said Arashi.

"Unfortunately my peaceful retirement has to wait until Matsu-kun here solve his first case." she pouted.