Chapter 50: Service Club Activities
Upon hearing Sakayanagi's words, Hikigaya finally reacted. No wonder this Sakayanagi person was so concerned; could it be that she suspected I leaked information to the people in Class D?
"Of course, it's not a problem. Actually, I was asked to come here by my classmates..." Kushida completely avoided mentioning their previous casual chat and recounted the dispute between Class C and Sudou of Class D once more.
While Sakayanagi and Kushida were talking, Yukinoshita walked up to Hikigaya and spoke in an unquestionable tone: "Since you haven't left yet, you can just come to the clubroom with us."
"Eh? Why?" Hikigaya asked with some reluctance.
"Although it was your idea to found the Service Club, you haven't done any volunteer work, so you need to come once in a while. Otherwise, the club achievement reports we submit won't have any section about you. This is, after all, an official club at Advanced Nurturing High School. People without motivation and perseverance won't be able to stay in the Service Club."
Motivation and perseverance, huh...
"Hey, I'm telling you, Yukinoshita... I don't have motivation, and even less perseverance, can I leave...?" Hikigaya tentatively spoke, holding onto a sliver of hope.
'I don't want to work. Let's just dissolve the Service Club.'
"Stop the nonsense! Do you think I'm negotiating with you?" Yukinoshita glared at Hikigaya with ice-cold eyes.
"I-I understand..."
'Am I truly unable to escape...?'
Listening to Kushida with a smile, Sakayanagi nodded in understanding: "In that case, I'll help you ask my classmates."
"Thank you, Sakayanagi-san. Oh, and I also have to thank Yukinoshita-san. Thanks to the exam sheets you provided, we were able to pass the midterm exam smoothly."
"I was merely fulfilling the terms of a contract," Yukinoshita gently shook her head.
Sakayanagi took out her phone, sent a message in the class group chat to ask, but didn't receive any useful information.
She looked up and showed Kushida a slightly apologetic expression: "I'm sorry, Kushida-san, it seems there were no witnesses in our Class A."
Kushida gently shook her head, indicating it was nothing to worry about.
"Kushida-san, have you checked the crime scene?" Hikigaya asked with some curiosity.
"I've been to the Special Instruction Building a few times before, but there are no surveillance cameras there," Kushida placed a slender finger on her smooth chin, answering Hikigaya's question in a soft voice.
Hikigaya thought for a moment, then spoke as if he had realized something: "While the Special Instruction Building doesn't have surveillance cameras, the two fork roads leading to that area do have surveillance. That is to say, anyone who went to the Special Instruction Building would be captured on the surveillance footage from those two fork roads. If you just investigate who passed through those two forks that afternoon, you could narrow down the potential witnesses to a relatively small group, couldn't you?"
"That makes perfect sense. Thank you, Hikigaya-kun."
Kushida had moved in front of Hikigaya at some point, extending both hands to grasp his palms. The soft touch and faint scent coming from in front of him made Hikigaya's face involuntarily flush.
Seeing Kushida's action, Sakayanagi narrowed her eyes, and Yukinoshita's gaze turned cold; both wore a somewhat subtle expression simultaneously.
"Ku-Kushida-san?" Having his hands held by a cute beautiful girl, even though he was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, Hikigaya felt two chilling drafts coming from his sides.
'Did someone turn down the air conditioner?'
"Ah, sorry, Hikigaya-kun," Kushida chuckled, letting go of Hikigaya's hands with a somewhat sheepish (yet clearly not finished) expression: "I got a little too excited after learning a way to find a witness."
"Ah, n-no problem. I understand," Hikigaya stammered.
'That's right, Kushida is just a little excited about finding a way to help a classmate. I absolutely must not misunderstand, me.'
"Well then, I'll be taking my leave." Having gotten the information she wanted, Kushida departed with a look of satisfaction.
"Hikigaya-kun..." Sakayanagi's voice was very soft, so soft it made Hikigaya a little scared.
"Y-Yes! I-I'm here..." Hikigaya was almost so frightened he was speaking in overly polite language.
"Kushida-san has already gone far away, and it's getting late. We should also hurry to the clubroom. We have so much work to do, you know," Sakayanagi looked at Hikigaya, flashing a meaningful smile.
"Sakayanagi-san is right, let's go." Yukinoshita casually took a step, completely blocking Hikigaya's escape route.
"U-Um, I'm a little hungry. How about we grab dinner first and then..." Hikigaya's face showed an anxious expression, sensing something ominous.
"Don't worry, I'll text Kamuro-san and have her bring you food," Yukinoshita ruthlessly cut off Hikigaya's last sliver of hope.
And so, Hikigaya worked in the Service Club until night fell.
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"Ah, I'm so tired..."
Finally finishing the work assigned by Yukinoshita, Hikigaya sighed exhaustedly.
He raised his hands high, stretched out in a big yawn, and leaned back against the chair, utterly spent.
The work of the Service Club was more complicated than Hikigaya had anticipated.
Besides calculating the club's various revenues and expenditures, he also had to liaise and communicate with the stores, negotiate work details with the club members doing volunteer work, prepare contingency plans for emergencies in advance, design and produce promotional posters and flyers, and organize the photos taken during club activities and the activity content into a written report to be submitted to the Student Council...
Just the single task of producing promotional flyers required juggling design work within limited time and budget, interviewing the promoting stores, gathering photo materials, drafting promotional copy, confirming the content with the stores, and then confirming the print layout with the printing shop, making timely corrections and providing feedback for any issues...
The thought alone gave him a headache.
Sakayanagi and Yukinoshita sat on one side calculating the various point revenues and expenditures, while Hikigaya was responsible for drafting the club activity report to be submitted to the Student Council.
Honestly, he hadn't even done any volunteer work, yet he had to sit here racking his brain over how to describe the gains and growth obtained from the club activities in written language.
'Is this some kind of new form of torture?!'
Not to mention the existence of deadlines—something that absolutely shouldn't exist in this world!
"Good work, Hikigaya-kun," Sakayanagi smiled and handed Hikigaya a cup of black tea.
Ever since the last time the group held a discussion in the Service Club, Sakayanagi had stocked the clubroom with a water boiler and a complete set of tea implements.
"Thanks..." Hikigaya took a sip of the black tea, letting out a soft sigh: "The work is more complicated than I thought. Thank you both for your hard work."
"Well, we did take your points... Oh, right, we haven't given you your share yet, Hikigaya-kun. This is the commission fee from May until now."
Sakayanagi operated on her phone for a few seconds, and then Hikigaya's phone emitted an alert tone: "One million points have been credited to your private account. Transferor: Sakayanagi Arisu."
"There's actually this much already?" Including the points remaining from the last two months, Hikigaya's account now held over 1.2 million private points.
"Yes. If this momentum keeps up, Hikigaya-kun, you might become the first student in over a decade since the school's founding to accumulate 20 million private points purely through your own efforts."
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