Chapter 1648 Photography Club (2)
With the way Juri’s junior reacted, their meeting didn’t feel like a reunion at all but a simple visit from a senior to her junior. They immediately hit it off as Marin, a third-year student, happily accommodated her and left what she was working on to the guy next to her.
She introduced him to Juri, saying he was her junior who continued helping her maintain the club. Juri acknowledged him with a nod and a small smile, thanking him for his help.
He appeared a little starstruck at that point. Most likely, he finally recognized her after the initial state of being mesmerized by her.
Looking at their small shelves that contained photo albums, books, and magazines, there was probably a fashion magazine where Juri appeared among them.
Shimura, who remained by my side, whispered to me, introducing her seniors to the club.
“Onoda-kun, that’s the Club President, Kokonoe Marin-senpai. She’s kind enough to accept me here. And that’s Hisashi Keita-senpai. He’s a year ahead of us and as you can see, he’s pretty much the assistant of Marin-senpai. There are four more members but they’re not here today.”
“I see. Thank you for filling me in. I appreciate that.” I replied, throwing her my usual smile.
Although it’s not my intention, the girl almost became flustered upon catching my image. She’s not good at hiding her crush, huh? But then again, she could still hold a normal conversation with me. There’s probably another factor for it today.
Shimura fixed her hair, tucking the dangling few strands at the back of her ear before returning the same smile.
“You came here with Koizumi-senpai. I remember you were also with her back then... Uhm, if it’s not intruding of a question, can I ask how close you are to her?”
Ah. She’s curious. And she’s asking the correct questions. Well, there’s no reason for me to shut her down. And given that Juri was still engaged in a conversation with Kokonoe-senpai, I decided to entertain Shimura for a while.
“Let’s see. She’s Satsuki’s sister’s best friend. I got to know her through that connection. As to how close am I to her, maybe as close as the others? She’s treating me as her precious junior, maybe more than that.”
Was that too much information? Maybe.
Because when I checked Shimura, her eyes seemed to be spinning in circles, drawing spirals in them. She’s trying to solve the puzzle rather than be content with my somewhat vague answer.
A few seconds later, she regained focus as she looked at me before muttering silently, “Onoda-kun, you’re amazing.”
Did she already categorize Juri as another strong rival? Possibly. But who knows what’s really going on in her head?
Anyway, my hand moved on its own, patting the girl’s head and Shimura enjoyed every bit of it as if she was a cat being petted.
Juri who noticed that gave me a meaningful side-eye. She crossed her arms and then stopped Kokonoe-senpai from speaking.
Then before their eyes, she started walking back to me, grabbed me by the arm, and presented me to her junior.
“Right, Marin. Do you know Ruki? I’d like you to treat him like how you treated me. You see, he’s my precious junior.”
Juri copied what I did to Shimura and started patting my head.
However, Kokonoe-senpai’s reaction was probably far from what she expected.
The senior stared at me. A hint of aversion or wariness could be seen on her face. She recognized me, of course. And the same could be said for the guy behind her.
Most likely, she’s among those who didn’t have a favorable impression of me based on the countless rumors floating around. As for the guy, well, my notoriety was already widespread. He surely heard a thing or two about me. And if I wasn’t wrong, he’s being wary of my reputation.
Not in a combat sense but because of the fact that a lot of girls weren't even criticizing me for being surrounded by a bunch of girls.
And considering he put himself in a position close to being an assistant to the girl, he’s definitely gunning for her. Or maybe, they’re already a couple.
Seconds passed and fortunately, the girl in front managed to gather herself.
She straightened her back and scrutinized me from bottom to top before replying to Juri.
“Precious junior, you say? What about me, senpai? Wait. No... Despite his current position in our school, isn’t he also my junior? How can I accomplish what you said?”
“Senpai, you can also reject it.” The guy behind her interjected.
Unfortunately for him, what he suggested drew the ire of both Juri and Kokonoe-senpai.
“I don’t think you are part of this conversation, Hisashi-kun.”
“T-that’s right! It’s Juri-senpai’s request. I’ll decide for myself.”
Not expecting that drawback, a bitter look flashed across his face before eventually turning that into animosity directed at me.
This guy... I don’t even care about his existence here but to think that he will have the gall to act like this... is he asking for a beating?
“Ah. May I say something?” I raised my hand, gathering their attention.
Shimura, who was left behind there, also approached us but remained a bystander. She’s just interested in how this would proceed.
Juri didn’t immediately give an okay, instead, she let Kokonoe-senpai decide it. And because the girl couldn’t figure out what I was going to say, it didn’t take long for her to give me the go signal.
“Uh. Kokonoe-senpai, right? I say, you don’t have to treat me like how you treat Juri. I also don’t want to trouble you. In fact, I’m only here to accompany her.”
Although my words were quite similar to what the guy had just said, the reception to it was different. I heard Juri giggling behind me while Kokonoe-senpai was stumped before eventually copying Juri.
However, the words that came out of her mouth were far from the topic. She picked up something from my sentence.
“Oh. You’re on a first-name basis... Juri-senpai, is it what I think it is?” She drew a meaningful smile as she threw that sentence to Juri.
Expecting that reaction, Juri countered with a flick on the girl’s forehead, “If I said it is, what would you do?”
“Of course, I will support you two! Hehe~ But Onoda-kun, your reputation is quite... you know?”
Kokonoe’s laugh was more mischievous than just being playful. Moreover, with that last sentence, she already convinced herself that Juri’s answer was a definite yes rather than a hypothetical one. The aversion in her eyes disappeared and what replaced it was her concern towards whatever reputation I was waving in the school.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you that it’s inappropriate to judge a person based on what you heard from the others?” Even though she's not up to date on my standing in this school apart from knowing that I’m the Disciplinary Officer, Juri tried defending me while putting her propriety banner at the front.
It’s her bias working in my favor again. But then again, even if she heard about it, I doubt her opinion would change. In Juri’s eyes, I was probably close to perfect and she’ll only hold onto her own understanding of me.
“Is that so...? Okay then... I’m going to do this for you, Juri-senpai. I’ll be treating Onoda-kun like how I treat you.”
She sounded unconvinced at first but dropped it right away at the next moment. Somehow, she’s pretty similar to Juri. She’s unconditionally treating Juri’s words as the absolute...
I wonder... what did Juri do for this girl to be this devoted?
Well, I didn’t have time to think about that anymore as Kokonoe-senpai stepped forward and lowered her head to me. Take care of me from now on, Onoda-kun. I’ll set aside the seniority between us and treat you like my favorite senior. Say, what can I do for you?”
As awkward as that sounded, the way she delivered those words showed no hesitation.
Juri put a hand on her mouth, possibly preventing herself from laughing.
As for Shimura and the guy who was already kicked to irrelevancy, they’re both donning a stunned expression.
I mean, anyone would if they saw what had just transpired here...
Anyway, I have to say something, right?
Let’s see...
“Nothing for now. And honestly, you can be yourself around me Kokonoe-senpai. I don’t think it’s appropriate to act as the senior between us... I appreciate the thought though. Juri said she’s going to introduce me to her precious junior and I must say... I’m blown away at how you both blew away my expectations.”
Upon saying that, I looked behind me and saw Juri still holding back her laughter. I reached for her hand and pulled her to stand next to me.
And because of that, she straightened her expression before addressing me and Kokonoe-senpai.
“There you go being humble again, Ruki.” Juri pinched my cheek but it was without sufficient force. It’s more like she just wanted to pick on it. Following that, she waved her hand as she faced Kokonoe-senpai, “Geez. Marin, you’re as hardworking and diligent but you still have a habit of following my every word. Okay, let’s stop joking. Forget about treating him like me. Instead, take care of this guy for me. He’s prone to trouble so...”
Yep. That’s what I was expecting. With the way she demanded that, I knew she was just joking and all of it was to simply relive her time as the senior of this club or it was her mischievous attempt to goad her surprisingly gullible junior.
Without waiting for Kokonoe-senpai or anyone else to say something, Juri let her eyes wander around the room. Once she’s done, she inhaled quite deeply before muttering in a lively tone, “It’s great to be back here... Marin, can you bring out the anthology albums we compiled before I left the club? I want to show it to Ruki.”
In the end, even though this visit took quite a bit of a weird turn, Juri returned to her purpose of bringing me here apart from introducing me to her junior... to show me what could be considered her treasure when she’s still a member of this club. For sure, this was her way to show me more of herself and understand her thoroughly.
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