Chapter 57: A club Divided
It was another weekend, but this time the club meeting was held at Aki Tomoya's house. For various reasons, Aragaki Takiya did not bring Aragaki Moeha along. Fortunately, the Shiina Sisters were there, so he could temporarily entrust Aragaki Moeha to their care.
Inside the Aki residence, in a certain otaku's Bedroom, the originally small room was divided into three small groups.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle~"
The sound of a pen tip gliding across paper echoed in the quiet room. Thanks to Aki Tomoya's previous blunder, the once lively club had lost its former vitality. Instead of the usual free-flowing conversation, they now felt more like office workers gathered together just to earn a living.
Among them, Aki Tomoya was tinkering with something unknown, Eriri was working hard to complete her drafts, and Kasumigaoka was revising the script according to Aki Tomoya's ideas. The formerly genius bishoujo game author was almost entirely submissive to him regarding the script, not injecting any of her own ideas at all.
As for the remaining two, Kato Megumi was reading an unknown book, while Aragaki Takiya was burying his head in books about programming.
"..."
After a long while, Aragaki Takiya stretched his neck, which had been held in one position from reading. A slight cracking sound of bone friction echoed in the room, but the sound didn't startle anyone. Everyone was focused on their own work, and not a single person even looked up.
To be honest, Aragaki Takiya did not like this atmosphere. If they were just unfamiliar like in a classroom, it would be fine, but having just experienced that passionate atmosphere of chatting, the current environment felt like forcing a fish to eat dirt. Besides intense discomfort, it was accompanied by a sense of dissonance.
"What's the point? If I knew it would be like this, I would have just said I was busy and not come..."
Gently putting down the programming book in his hand, Aragaki Takiya couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
After nearly a month of study, coupled with the sense of deja vu that arose during the process, he was now basically able to make a few small games. As for the bishoujo game Aki Tomoya wanted, he believed that given a little more time, he could produce it. However, given the atmosphere in the room, it probably wouldn't be needed anymore.
While Aragaki Takiya was spacing out, a crumpled ball of paper suddenly flew over from the side. Aragaki Takiya didn't choose to open it immediately, but looked to the side, only to meet Kasumigaoka Utaha's wine-red eyes.
"?"
With questions in his heart, Aragaki Takiya quietly pulled away a bit of distance before opening the paper ball she had thrown.
"Are you planning to quit the club?"
Looking at the words written on the paper, Aragaki Takiya fell into a rare silence.
"How should I answer this?"
Pinching the note in his hand, Aragaki Takiya had many things he wanted to write back, but he dismissed them one by one.
Before answering this question directly, Aragaki Takiya really wanted to ask himself why exactly he had joined this club.
Because of Aragaki Moeha?
That was likely the main reason. After all, although he had a good impression of Eriri, they basically never met in their daily lives, let alone knew each other. His initial goal in joining was indeed to get closer to Eriri.
But what about after that?
Although the purpose of joining the club wasn't entirely pure, Aragaki Takiya had still put in the effort. He took the bishoujo game seriously and helped capture reference shots while Eriri was drawing. For what reason?
Because once you join a club, you should do what you're supposed to do.
That's what the old Aragaki Takiya told himself.
But as time passed, he gradually discovered that he had even more genuine thoughts deep inside.
"Let's see how things go first."
Aragaki Takiya didn't give Kasumigaoka Utaha a reply. He knew that she wouldn't leave the club before repaying her debt of gratitude to Aki Tomoya. Since that was the case, he had more time to handle everything before leaving the club.
Thinking this, the boy stole a glance at Kato Megumi without leaving a trace.
I'll stay for a bit longer for now... "Um, today's club activity ends here. Thank you all for coming..."
After some more time, perhaps Aki Tomoya also sensed the wrong atmosphere in the room, so he announced an early end to today's club activities. As his voice fell, the originally quiet room finally gained a bit of life.
"Um, Eriri, I have something I want to discuss with you. Can you stay for a moment?"
The moment Aki Tomoya made the announcement, Eriri almost instantly began packing her things. This movement naturally didn't escape Aki Tomoya's notice. After a moment's thought, he decided to use his own actions to save the club from its decline.
"Ara~ Is Junior Aragaki just going to leave like this?"
Downstairs at the Aki residence, Aragaki Takiya, who had intended to leave with Kato Megumi, heard Kasumigaoka Utaha's teasing from the side.
"Otherwise? I shouldn't have left anything upstairs..."
As he spoke, Aragaki Takiya checked his belongings. Everything was there; nothing was missing.
"I'm not saying you forgot something. I mean, aren't you going to wait for Sawamura? She should be going to your house quite often, right?"
"That's true, but..."
Perhaps thinking of something, Aragaki Takiya shook his head.
"There's no need for that."
"Eh? Is that so?"
Hearing Aragaki Takiya's answer, Kasumigaoka Utaha was slightly surprised. She had originally thought Aragaki Takiya liked Eriri. Was her intuition wrong?
Seeing Kasumigaoka Utaha's slightly surprised expression, Aragaki Takiya didn't explain much, but chose to walk toward the train station with Kato Megumi... "Um, I feel like you're hiding something big, Aragaki."
On the train, Kato Megumi spoke up.
"In a way, yes. After all, so much has happened lately that even I feel like my head is spinning."
"A spinning head... Is it really because of Sawamura-san?"
Recalling what Kasumigaoka Utaha had just said, Kato Megumi couldn't help but be curious.
"That's part of the reason, but not all of it."
After thinking carefully, Aragaki Takiya gave up on the idea of hiding it. Anyway, this was destined to happen in the world Aragaki Moeha came from. What he was doing now wasn't wrong.
"As I thought."
With Aragaki Takiya's confirmation, Kato Megumi could finally be sure that her good friend did indeed have special feelings for Eriri. But what did the second half of his sentence mean?
"My reason for joining the club at first was indeed for Eriri, but later..."
Aragaki Takiya spoke, but suddenly stopped.
Facing the girl in front of him, should he speak the truth in his heart?
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