Ethereal Wheels

Chapter 2

Earlier today I crashed into another first year, who turned out to be the flashy Naruko Shoukichi, quite well-known for his red hair around the school by now. I can't believe the teacher didn't believe him when he said his hair was naturally red.

...

Although I'm beginning to wonder if Naruko's hair color truly is red. I mean not many people have red hair from birth, unless it's in their genes. After class ended, I decided to look for my cousin, who was banging his head against the door of a classroom? From the way he's acting, it looked as if it was the end of the world to him.

"Saka-nii." I called to Sakamichi out of worry. This wasn't the first time he had such an expression, it reminded me of the times he missed an episode of one of his favorite anime shows or didn't have enough money to spend for anime merchandise. Though the minute he jerked his head over to me, an unsettling feeling struck me as Sakamichi lunged forward to hug me. Sakamichi wore a disappointed expression muttering the same words over and over again, "The...The anime and manga club."

"Huh?" Weakly, Sakamichi pointed at the door of the supposed meeting place for the anime club. A sign left on the door stating these words:

Due of the lack of members the club activities has been suspended. If you would like to reopen the club, then please gather at least five members and contact the adviser.

"Oh...I see." I closed my eyes. Finally it had arrived to the point where Sakamichi had to search for friends in high school in order to discuss about anime and mangas. 'Poor Saka-nii, but in the end the world decided to give him retribution for not being so talkative to others in his middle school days.'

"What is that?" Turning my head slightly, I noticed two girls standing across from us. Sakamichi continued to despair by the door, once he let go of grasping tightly onto my arm.

"The anime club's room?" One of the girl noted the sign written atop of the club room door whereas the other girl opened the school club activities handbook to point out, "Oh...it's in the club activities handbook, but I heard it's been closed down."

Without hesitation, my cousin dashed over to the two girls babbling, "Do you guys want to join too?! It's such a shame, right?! Let's gather more members together and reopen the club!"

However Sakamichi froze midpoint in his inconsistent begging, the two girls seemed a little on edge by Sakamichi's words. I decided to step in this time to prevent my cousin from being embarrassed anymore, "I'm sorry, for my cousin hassling you two."

But, maybe they would be willing enough to join the club? I added on,"However, are you two interested in joining the anime club?"

The first girl bearing long dark brown hair stepped forward to answer, "Sorry. She's joining the tennis club, while I'm joining the bicycle racing club."

"What...?" Sakamichi's face darkened. I grimaced upon taking notice of his reaction to the girl's response.

'Without a doubt, Saka-nii is totally thinking about his despise in Athletic clubs.' All of a sudden he jolted in realization as if he remembered something.

"What?" The light brown-haired girl seemed a bit angry by my cousin's way of speaking. Well at least he managed to talk to these two girls.

"Is something wrong?" The dark brown-haired girl questioned my cousin's worry, a look of curiosity shone in her eyes as she watched Sakamichi twitch under her gaze.

"I'm going to Akiba now."

'That's right. Saka-nii wanted to go to Akiba this afternoon.'