Episode 7

After class, Suminodo-san had to leave early today because she had something to do. The way she gracefully waved her hand was beautiful and ladylike. After the release, we parted ways as she was heading to the basketball team and I was heading to a different place soon. I headed to the clubroom where the photography club was located because today was the day of the club’s activities.

The floor where the major cultural clubs are located was noisy, but the floor where the photography club’s smaller clubs and clubs are concentrated was relatively quiet.

Occasionally, students would pass by each other, and even though they were clustered in groups, they did not raise their voices and make a lot of noise. I felt that this atmosphere was not so bad.

When I was in junior high school, going to club activities was a terribly noisy day. I guess they were jealous of the fact that I, a small person, was always around Rinen. I couldn’t say it strongly enough, so they were hitting me hard, even though they were saying it in a joking way. I knew I didn’t understand anything.

I stood in front of the door of the photography department. There was a window pane above me, and I could see the light on the room, and I knew there were people in there. If you look closely, you can see a tag next to the door that says the room is occupied. I remembered that I had seen similar tags next to other doors I had passed.

I knock on the door.

“Please feel free to come in~~.”

“Excuse me. I’m a first-year student and I’m here to learn about the photography club.”

When I entered the room, I found a petite senior, who had been introduced as the club’s head during the club’s activities introduction, sitting on a black sofa that looked a little too narrow for two people to sit on, with a book open in front of her. It was a large booklet, probably a photo book.

“Hohoho, I didn’t expect a new student to come to the photography club on the first day. Sit on the chair there. Oh, this couch is for me only, so don’t sit on it. I’m Marumiya, the club Manager. Third year, class seven.”

She puts her books on the table and sits back down on the sofa. When I saw her yesterday, I couldn’t see her face because of her long bangs, but now I could see her well-groomed face with her long hair pinned up. Her face was as young and well-defined as her seniors’, and her pure white skin and sharp eyes gave me a bewitching feeling, like a vampire in a story.

“Hello. Nice to meet you, I am Orikawa Hisanobu, a member of the second grade of the first year. I’ve been taking pictures since the summer of my third year of junior high school, and I’m here because I’m interested in it.”

“I see. As I explained in the club activities explanation after the entrance ceremony yesterday, the club activities of the photography club are basically free, but we are forced to work at school events. Club fees are collected monthly and disappear to cover the cost of the twice- or thrice-yearly photo trips, so there is almost no assistance from the school’s budget for club activities to be allocated to club members! Film cameras are not supported within the school. All electronic data. Ok?”

“No problem, but there was no mention of the number of club members, so I’d at least like to know that.”

“There are more people in the club than you might imagine. If there are so many students, there will be some oddballs. Well, there are some railroad geeks who are in the club only to go on club trips, but their main focus is on trains. I let them work for school activities, though. What do you do for activities?”

“……What, you mean? I haven’t really thought about it that much.”

“Hmmm. In high school, people who come to the photography club with their own camera are very particular about what they do. You have a camera, don’t you? What are you taking pictures of?”

Her deep-colored eyes asked as she looked into mine. I hesitated for a moment and then answered honestly.

“Snapshots or portraits of my family, or people close to me?”

Silence falls. The wind slipping in through the open window whirled around the clubroom, and after a while, she burst out laughing. Her voice seemed to dance with the wind.

“In junior high school you became interested in photography, and family portraits are your hobby. Orikawa-kun, people who become interested in family portraits in high school are …… weirdos, so don’t make too big a deal out of it and describe it as scenery.”

I frowned, not expecting her to go that far, and she apologized a little lamely, still laughing.

“Because, Orikawa-kun. I won’t ask what you see in the family photo. Because I’m afraid. I’m just the head of the photography club, and I’m just welcoming you, a young, good-looking first-year student, to the club. But again, please don’t tell me that family photography is your hobby.

In the three years I’ve been here, the only person I’ve met in my freshman year who called family photography a hobby was a third-year guy who was perverted by his sister.”

“I don’t think that’s quite the same thing.”

“Yes and no. You and that man would be different. But now the third graders remember that man, of course, for your sake.”

She said this to me again in a gentle voice with her bewitching eyes. The distance between me and the club Manager was a little tense, but the Manager took out a piece of paper. It was a letter of admission to the photography club.

Despite her pompous words, she held out the paper to me as if asking me.

“If you are willing to spend these three years in the photography club, please fill out the form. Today is the first day of this year’s activities, and there are probably only one or two people left.”

“Well, I’m a little nervous because of the way the club Manager is behaving.”

“What a terrible junior. I have such good intentions toward you. You talk so freely to me.”

“I want to do a lot of things in high school.”

“So I don’t think it’s right to be so direct.”

“Maybe I’ve learned that being reserved is a bad thing.”

“You’re a very reserved young man.”

“I’m sorry I’m so reserved.”

Her eyes were hidden by her bangs, so I could not see the details of her expression. She did not look hurt and was fidgeting, looking for my next move on the piece of paper that I had placed in my hand. I wrote my name on a piece of paper and handed it to her, saying something like that to the Manager. She nodded her head in satisfaction, accepted the form, and smiled beautifully.

“I welcome you to the club, Orikawa-kun, even if you are a junior who has no reserve. It would be great if you could bring your camera to the next activity day so we can have a good conversation. Or is there something you would like to do? If you like taking pictures, not just family snapshots or portraits, the school is fine. As long as you wear an armband or something that identifies you as a member of the photography club, you’re allowed to take pictures on campus without permission, even though they’re not convinced.”

“…… not convinced is not allowed, is it?　Let’s Keep the portrait rights in mind. What do you enjoy taking pictures of, Manager?”

“Me? I enjoy taking pictures of beautiful landscapes and beautiful girls, so right now I’m just trying to figure out what’s beautiful about first-year students.”

I was stunned by her shamelessly saying such a thing. But she didn’t seem at all offended. She just grinned and laughed as if she was used to it, as if to say, ‘Everyone reacts like that.’

“How can you say that without taking offense?”

“I’m a girl. Nothing wrong with that, right?”

“I don’t know if that’s true.”

“Now, after all this talk and no one coming, why don’t we go around the school together? We have a lot of shooting to do on campus.”

Without even giving me a chance to refuse, the Manager moved me around, and before I knew it, I found myself holding a position a little diagonally behind the petite woman and listening to her explanation. First of all, she told me not to take too many pictures in the corridors where the clubrooms are clustered together. She also complained about not being able to take pictures at her preferred time of day, since the snapshot type of shots are inevitably taken after school when the club is active. She also regretted that as long as she was a student, she had almost no chance to take pictures of the scenery during class.

The sports clubs have their own areas on the spacious grounds where they conduct their activities. With that in the background, she walked alongside the cherry blossoms, which were beginning to show their leaves.

“The cherry blossoms are falling so fast. If you want to take pictures with cherry blossoms in the background, you only have a chance in March.”

“Are there any cherry blossoms that are out of season? There are double-flowered cherry trees that bloom in May, aren’t there?”

“Not in school. If they are not in the school, it is difficult to get the subjects to come out on weekends. You should also emphasize the importance of the relationship with the subject you want to photograph.”

“I don’t have that kind of relationship …….”

“Hisanobu?”

The voice echoes. It’s a fresh voice like rolling a bell. Rinen, whose eyes looked suspicious of the petite girl next to her, was walking with her long hair swaying in the spring breeze. The Manager, who was looking up at Rinen who was approaching, spoke as if she was impressed.

“Hello, what a beautiful first-year student you are.”

“Um, who is it, Hisanobu?”

“Ah, Marumiya-san, the head of the photography club.”

“Thanks for the introduction, Orikawa-kun. Nice to meet you, I’m Marumiya.”

Rinen looked at the hand of the Manager offered for a handshake, let out a hmm, and then walked away as if nothing had happened.

The Manager looked at me with a surprised expression on her face, but there was nothing I could do for Rinen, who had already made the choice to walk away and leave.

She was walking away leisurely in the spring dusk, as if she were an undisturbed fairy, and even her appearance afterwards was beautiful.

“I was surprised at how rude she was. Do you know each other?”

“We’ve known each other since childhood.”

“I see. Then you should have taught her a little more about manners.”

“…… Haa, I don’t think so.”

Rinen still doesn’t know what the standard of behavior is for people other than me and my family. I think she would be a little more polite if she was in lady mode, but I wonder if the reason why she didn’t show herself to the Manager just now was that she was in private mode for a while.

After that, the Manager didn’t go into her in depth either, but lightly went around the school building and ended today’s club activities. I apologized again to the head of the club for my childhood friend’s rudeness, then left the clubroom and went back to get my bag that I had left in the classroom.

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