Click… click… click…
That was Amae, hammering away at his laptop.
Laptops and other gadgets are allowed as long as it's realted to club activities.
Thud!
Misaki and Amae were putting the finishing touches on our "article" before unleashing it on the unsuspecting internet. Misaki was perched right beside Amae, jabbing her finger at the screen here and there, suggesting improvements. And Amae, well, he was playing the role of editor-in-chief with gusto.
"Ah ha! It's done!" he declared, swiveling the laptop around to show me the final product. It was… decent. For a glorified blog post about an a silly legend, anyway.
"Just think how many views this will get!" he cackled, doing that cartoon villain thing again with his eyes.
Honestly, seeing both of them so dedicated to their work, while I was just chilling in the corner with a paperback, almost – almost – made me feel a twinge of guilt for being so utterly useless.
"Yeah, it's looking good," I said, because, you know, I had to say something.
They were really trying their best to make our childish guesswork sound like some serious, in-depth investigation. Because let's be real, who was going to read something titled: "Hanako is Popular Because of That Anime, Duh"?
He was adding the final flourishes now. "One last thing… 'Investigation by the Classic Mystery Club'. Gotta add our name, don't we?"
And he reached for the enter key…
"No, wait!" Misaki yelped, her hand shooting out to stop him just before he could hit it.
"Isn't our club name 'Classic Mistry Club'? Not 'Mystery'?" she asked, looking a little unsure herself.
Wait, what club were we even in? We didn't even know our own name? This was peak club performance.
"What? But… surely it must be 'Mystery'," Amae sputtered, looking genuinely baffled. And to be fair, 'Mystery' made sense. 'Mistry' just looked like a typo.
"I saw it on the registration form," Misaki explained, sticking to her guns. "It was definitely 'Mistry'."
"Then maybe that was a typo!" Amae protested. Typical Amae. He never liked admitting he was wrong.
They both swiveled their heads to look at me. My paperback slipped from my grasp with their sudden, intense gaze. In perfect, creepy synchronization, they asked:
"Do you know, Kyo? Our club name?"
Huh? Me? Why were they asking me? I was probably more clueless than both of them combined. Well, I vaguely remembered seeing 'Mistry' on that form my sister strong-armed me into signing…
"I guess it was 'Mistry' on the form," I answered, trying to sound more certain than I felt.
And just like that, Misaki won the argument, thanks to my less-than-authoritative judgment. Amae looked utterly defeated. He grumbled under his breath, corrected the name to 'Mistry' Club, and then finally, dramatically, hit publish.
"Finally, it's uploaded," he sighed, after posting the article to the club website. "I wonder if anyone will even read it…" He was still muttering, "But why is it 'Mistry'? It just doesn't sound right." He clearly wasn't ready to accept defeat.
And yeah, he had a point. It didn't sound right to me either. Maybe it was a typo from the very beginning, or maybe it was intentional for some bizarre, obscure reason. Whatever. None of my business.
Misaki was lost in thought too. Whenever she got that deep-in-thought look, she kind of resembled a genius, like a female version of Albert Einstein or Madame Curie. Of course, that was a far cry from the truth. Sure, she had the best grades, but I wouldn't go that far.
…For a moment, a rare, almost uncomfortable silence filled the room.
She broke the ice. "I know! Let's ask Ramen-sensei about it! Surely he'll know."
She actually called our faculty advisor that, with a completely straight face. I'd only ever called him Ramen-sensei because he was always slurping a bowl of ramen, and I genuinely didn't know his real name.
Could it be? Was this girl really so innocent she didn't realize I was joking?
"Then let's go together! Kyo, you too!" Amae yelped, grabbing my hand and practically yanking me out of my seat before I could protest.
And that's pretty much how we ended up bothering Ramen-sensei about our own club's name.
"Oh, your club name?" Ramen-sensei replied, looking up from his… well, his ramen. "I'm surprised you didn't know already. You've been in it for a month now." I could almost empathize with him. His students didn't even know the name of their own club. What a bunch.
"It's 'Classic Mistry Club'," he continued, stating it like it was common knowledge. Which, I guess, it should have been.
I stepped forward, just to be absolutely sure. "Could you please spell the 'Mistry' in our name?"
He spelled it out, letter by letter, like he was teaching a bunch of kindergarteners. Maybe he was a kindergarten teacher in a past life. "It's spelled, M-I-S-T-R-Y. Any more questions?"
"No, thank you very much," I said quickly, because if I didn't, this conversation was going to drag on forever.
…
Back in the clubroom, we were all sitting around our little square table that we pretended was a round table. At least now they knew what name to use. But now, of course, a new problem had surfaced in my mind. You see, in about T-minus five seconds, one of them was going to get curious about why it was named like that.
And right on cue, Misaki stood up. "Why is our club named 'Mistry' instead of 'Mystery'?" This time, she was looking directly at me, as if I was some oracle who held all the answers.
Amae immediately backed her up. "Yeah, Kyo! Tell us why!"
Like hell I knew! I gave them my most honest, most humble answer.
"I don't know."
"Then figure it out! And then tell us!" Amae insisted, demanding answers like I owed him money.
Hmm… I knew trying to refuse was a complete waste of energy. They wouldn't buy it. I needed to come up with something, anything, to convince them to drop it…
"It must be a typo," I presented my brilliant theory. It wasn't enough. I needed to spice it up a bit. "At first, it was a typo. Then, they decided to keep it because it was… eye-catching.".
Both of them just stared at me, not saying anything. Another wave of silence washed over the room.
Could it be? Did it actually work? Were they not going to demand any more answers?
"No," Misaki said, settling back into her seat. She wasn't standing up all leader-like this time. "I don't think it's that."
Then Amae took the lead, presenting his own, far more elaborate theory. "It must be a secret code! To unlock something!" He'd definitely picked that one up from some cheesy mystery novel.
"No, that's not possible," I shot down his theory immediately. "A club name is public information. No one in their right mind would use it as a secret code or anything." I could see the defeated look creep across his face.
What could I say to finally end this? Saying it was a typo hadn't worked. But it probably was a typo. So, I was just going to say it. No more made-up stories.
"I'm saying it's a mistake," I stated, trying to sound as firm as possible. "And that's the most logical conclusion." I really did believe that, even though I knew these two probably wouldn't buy it.
"...Okay," Misaki said softly, a small smile on her face. "It must be a mistake then. If Kyo is saying so…" She still looked like she was thinking, but she accepted it. She wasn't really satisfied, I could tell, but I guess she realized I really didn't want to dig into this any further.
Maybe I was right, maybe I wasn't. But honestly, none of it really mattered to me. What our actual club name was? Was it a mistake or intentional? These were all questions that curious minds like Amae and Misaki would bother to find out. And, as it happened, I was not one of them.
No, I wasn't the same. I was different. I didn't enjoy this group work stuff. I didn't particularly like being here. That being said… I didn't actually hate this place either. Somehow. It actually felt… kind of nice. Sometimes.
Sometimes I wondered… what if I wasn't this type? What if I was like them? This curiosity, this desire to learn the unknown… it would take them far, far ahead of me. So far, I'd barely be able to see their backs.
Amae was multi-talented, hardworking. You could ask him about anything, and he'd at least have some knowledge about it. I didn't get why he thought so lowly of himself sometimes. He was the type of person who could bloom anywhere you threw him.
And Misaki… she was the Honor Student. I didn't think so, but everyone else seemed to think she was incredibly smart, even outside of academics. She was also the heir to some… whatever-the-name-was clan.
And then there was me. No talent, no desire to learn anything new. Just… laying around, eating, sleeping. What did I have? A principle to justify my unwillingness to learn, to grow?
Sometimes… I wished I wasn't like this.
I wished I was like everyone else.
Or maybe… I wished I wasn't here… to begin with.
--
A hand waved in front of my eyes. "There you are! You were spacing out for a couple of minutes there," Amae said, a hint of concern in his voice.
"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something," I mumbled. Perhaps I really had been spacing out
"Is everything alright?" Misaki asked, her brow furrowed with worry. She looked concerned too. Was my face that easy to read?
"Yes, I'm fine," I said, but something heavy was gnawing at me from the inside.
"Oh, his screws are just a little loose today," Amae said, slinging an arm around my neck and pulling me close. "Don't worry. I've known him for years." His arm then rested on my shoulder.
Was this his way of comforting me? It was… surprisingly effective.
He looked at me then, his face just inches from mine, his arm still around me. "You need to be fine, Kyo. Else… I won't be able to bear it."
What did he even mean by that?
I didn't know. And right then, I told myself I didn't care.