Class had finished. The class representative gave the order to stand and bow to the teacher.
“Oh, that’s right. Yume-kun, please come with me to the teacher’s lounge to fill up a couple of papers.”
Rizel packed up her belongings, keeping an eye close on the transfer student until he left the classroom along with Vanilla-sensei.
“Let's go, Asucchi.”
“Where to?”
The expression of curiosity of the girl with the hair bun was rewarded with a cheeky smile.
“We're going to follow them.”
Most likely any other person would ask why before agreeing to such request, but Asuka’s mind didn’t work like that.
“Okay!”
She quickly processed the little information she had and turned it into a espionage escenario. Without a second thought, the energetic girl accompanied her friend, believing any answer she needed would be found at their destination.
Going through the crowded hallways, sneaking downstairs, every little movement had to be done with cautiousness. Always walking close enough not to lose sight of their preys, far enough not to be discovered. It was every bit as exciting as Asuka thought it would be.
They followed them all the way to the first floor of the third building and watched them go inside the teacher’s lounge. The girls carefully slid the door just enough to be able to peek inside. There they saw their new classmate speaking with their professor.
“And that’s it, Yume-kun. Now, do you have any questions about your new school?”, asked the teacher, eager to help.
“As a matter of fact, yes. I would like to procure a room to establish my crew's lair.”
Standing there with his arms crossed, Yume spoke with a collected tone. It was clear that his petition was serious, which made his choice of words a little more confusing.
“We'll use it to prepare for our journey. Research material is needed, so it must be big enough to store books, maps, everything that can provide us with information about the ocean of stars and the cosmic islands.”
Vanilla-sensei employed all his experience as an educator to try and decipher the teen’s terminology.
“So… you want to start a club?”
His student’s nodding encouraged him..
“And you want to research space so… an Astronomy club?
Immediately after hearing those words, Asuka took a glance at her friend. She on the other hand drifted her eyes away from the conversation..
“I understand your interest, Yume-kun, but starting a new club is not an easy task.”
The teacher reached out to the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a sheet of paper.
“At the very least you need to gather four members, and an advisor. Then you have to submit this club application to the Student Council. From there—”
“Here, brat.”
A tall, sturdy teacher, threw a key to Yume. He was barely able to catch it.
“Take the application, go to the spare room on the fourth floor of the first building. The one without a door sign.”
“What are you doing, Coffee-sensei.”
“There’s no need to tire him with all the details now..”
Vanilla-sensei pouted.
“Gather four members and look for a professor to be your advisor. We’ll talk about other details later.”
Yume left the room, walking as fast as he could. The girls moved away from the door just in time to avoid being seen by him, who then sprinted to the school yard.
“Aren’t we going to follow him?”
Rizel just stood there in silence for a minute, while staring at the ground. A hint of sorrow sparked from his eyes.
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you? That’s why you wanted to follow sensei and the transfer student.”
Amused by classmate’s insightful attitude, Rizel decided to play along.
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You want to join the Space Pirates!”
But immediately switched to being irritated.
“Of course I don’t. Pirates are evil. Nothing more than criminals.”
Asuka got startled by the reaction.
“And a Space Pirate is even worse.”
“But, if we join him, we would be members of the Astronomy club, right?”
It was hard to ignore that. In fact, there was a time when just hearing the word Astronomy would be enough to make her jump with excitement. But that time is long gone, she thought. However, there was still something Rizel had to do.
“I’m sorry Asucchi, would you please go ahead without me?. There’s something I have to do before going home.”
Puzzled by the pink-haired girl’s behavior, Asuka parted ways with her.
With every single step full of determination, Rizel made her way to the change rooms located on the rooftop of the third building, next to the swimming pool.
※※※
Coffee-sensei felt the incessant staring of his moping co-worker.
“What is it, Vanilla.”
“Are you sure about this, Coffee-kun?”
“I told you to stop calling me ‘-kun’.”
Vanilla-sensei let out an innocent laugh. He leaned his slender figure on his chair.
“There’s no point in having an Astronomy club without night activities. At least that’s why the Student Council shut the attempt to create one last year. What could be different this time?”
What, indeed. Coffee had acted on a whim.
“Who knows, Vanilla. But, if we are supposed to encourage the students’ independence, we should let them try.”
After listening to the reasoning behind his long-haired colleague actions, Vanilla-sensei couldn’t help but giggle.
“I guess you’re right, Coffee-kun.”
“Enough with the ‘-kun’.”
※※※
The sunset light coming through the windows painted the hallways in a quiet orange color. The school was little less than empty when the order to leave the building sounded from the speakers. After closing the clubroom, the transfer student walked down the last flight of stairs which led to the shoe lockers.
"Shiroku Yume."
He turned around. The one who shouted his name was standing on the stairway landing, wearing the school-issued swimsuit for girls, though still keeping the skirt and neckerchief. She wore her hair into twin-tails and was holding a small toy scepter.
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