Chapter 2: "Heavens, I'm innocent"
In the office, the weak sunlight shone through the window, casting light and shadows on the floor.
At this moment, many teachers were still buried in correcting student assignments, their red pens occasionally scribbling on papers, their faces showing varying degrees of exhaustion.
In one corner, several teachers were gathered, discussing something.
A woman in a white lab coat was lounging with her legs crossed, leisurely watching the boy in front of her.
"Teacher, this is for your own good. The Service Club has fewer activities and fewer people; it's a good fit for you."
"Uh, Teacher Hiratsuka, could I ask why I got so many points deducted?" Dan Shiki asked carefully, clearly not wanting to join the club, trying his best to protest.
No, who would want to join that stupid Service Club?!
Hiratsuka slowly stroked her chin and thought for a moment before answering, "Maybe it's because someone heard you secretly badmouthing the principal or something?"
By the end, her sentence turned into a question.
Dan Shiki: "..."
What kind of baseless accusation is this? Please, if you're going to make something up, at least sound confident about it! And badmouthing the principal? That's just too far-fetched! Don't you dare say you've never talked behind someone's back!
[Note: "Baseless" refers to an unjustified accusation in Chinese, famously used during the trial of Yue Fei in ancient China.]
"Wait a minute, there's no way I should lose 25 points all at once for something like this." Dan Shiki was starting to get anxious.
"Ah, maybe some classmates reported you for things like littering, not wearing your uniform properly, or feeding stray animals recklessly," Hiratsuka continued to make things up calmly.
Dan Shiki felt defeated. He tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle, looking at the ceiling, wanting to shout three times, "Heaven! I am innocent!"
[Note: "Heaven! I am innocent!" is a reference from the Records of the Grand Historian where a character, sentenced to death without knowing his crime, cries out in his innocence.]
"Let's go. I'll take you to familiarize yourself with the place," Hiratsuka said, not giving Dan Shiki a chance to argue. She stood up and walked out of the office.
Dan Shiki realized there was no room for negotiation, so he had no choice but to follow her.
...
Chiba City's public high school building has a unique shape. If you look at it from above, it resembles the Chinese character for "mouth."
There are two large buildings: the classroom building and the special building. The second floors of both buildings are connected by a corridor, forming a quadrilateral. The empty space in the middle of the quadrilateral is the central courtyard.
Once lunch break begins, some boys and girls come to the courtyard to have lunch and play badminton to help digest. After school, they use the school buildings as a backdrop for their romantic rendezvous.
As Hiratsuka's footsteps echoed on the polished floor, she headed toward the special building, which was her destination.
Dan Shiki, walking behind, glanced through the window at the courtyard.
Although Dan Shiki had already decided to be a ghost member of the club, he was still curious about the "Service Club" that Hiratsuka had mentioned.
Words like "service" tend to make people think too much. Even without any sinister meaning, it's not exactly a light term. Maybe there's some physical labor involved, which is definitely something Dan Shiki doesn't want to do.
More importantly than the word "service," Dan Shiki was curious why Hiratsuka was so determined to have him join the Service Club.
To be honest, while Dan Shiki wasn't a top student, he prided himself on being a good person who didn't cause trouble or stir things up. In fact, he considered himself almost invisible.
He was average in every way, so he couldn't understand why someone like Hiratsuka would care enough to focus on him.
...
"We're here," Hiratsuka said as she stopped in front of a very ordinary-looking classroom.
Dan Shiki instinctively looked up at the sign above the door, only to find that it was blank—just an empty sign. He was puzzled when Hiratsuka pushed open the door.
"Whoosh—"
"Yukinoshita, I'm coming in," Hiratsuka called out, entering without knocking.
Dan Shiki thought to himself, "Why announce it after opening the door? That's pointless!" And her phrasing had some odd implications...
He muttered silently while looking into the classroom.
The classroom was spacious yet ordinary, with dozens of chairs piled up in the back. It was more like a storage room than a clubroom.
The only thing that gave this simple, even messy, classroom any meaning was the black-haired, long-straight-haired girl sitting in the center.
The girl, like any ordinary high school girl from Chiba, wore the standard Japanese school uniform. But she wore it with an elegance that made her stand out.
For someone like Dan Shiki, who came from the mainland, the Japanese school uniform was indeed unique, but in a province like Chiba, where everyone wore the same uniform, it was the appearance and temperament of the wearer that made the difference.
For a moment, Dan Shiki found himself staring blankly. An odd feeling arose in his heart—no matter how many years passed, whenever he thought of this scene, he would always recall the phrase, "In the North, there is a beauty, unparalleled and independent."
[Note: This is a reference to The Book of Han, where a poet sings of a beautiful woman who stands out from all others.]
The girl noticed someone had entered and closed the book she was reading, placing a bookmark inside. She sighed, clearly frustrated. "Teacher Hiratsuka, please knock before entering..."
Her voice was pleasant, slightly hoarse yet carrying a fresh quality, and her tone, though slightly cold, held a trace of subtle warmth.
In an instant, Dan Shiki was struck.
"Ahahaha... Sorry, I'll make sure to knock next time," Hiratsuka laughed awkwardly. "Let's get to the point."
"Hah, what is it this time?" Yukinoshita sighed, clearly unable to do anything about Hiratsuka's behavior.
"Well, this is...," Hiratsuka began to explain.
Dan Shiki stood behind Hiratsuka, feeling a little uncomfortable. He was an undeniable social anxiety case, and the reason he wore a mask was because of his anxiety.
Of course, it wasn't severe enough to stop him from speaking to people; he simply felt uneasy and sometimes stammered. Wearing a mask gave him a sense of being unnoticed, which helped him feel more comfortable.
He was looking around, trying to distract himself, when he spotted a familiar face in the classroom.
"...," Hikiya looked at Dan Shiki standing at the club's door, looking confused and uncomfortable. His brain began to spin rapidly.
Seeing the "dead fish-eyed" boy, Dan Shiki's eyes brightened a little, at least this meant he wasn't completely alone in the club.
Wait, something seemed off? Suddenly, a flash of realization struck Dan Shiki as he remembered everything Hikiya had complained about today.
No way... if Hikiya had joined this Service Club, then the "battle-ready ice queen" he'd mentioned must be Yukinoshita, right?