Smells Like School Spirit

chapter two.

☆★☆★☆★

"Shibazeki-san."

Reina looked up from the novel she was reading underneath her desk drawer. One of her female classmates, Minamori Kotoha, was standing in front of her desk. Minamori was one of her many acquaintances who had yet to cross into the friend area, but Reina still managed an amicable smile. Hopefully it did not come out as a cringe.

"Yes? Is there anything I can help you with? If you want the solution manual for our math textbook, you can pay up to like ten thousand yen."

Minamori scrunched her eyebrows and her face broke into a grimace. "Do you honestly think that I need your help with homework?"

Reina did not know what to say, but she did honestly think that Minamori needed to buy her solution manual for the math textbook. Figuring she had no idea how to deliver the words without having a fight brewing between them, Reina just shrugged. After all, she was...not exactly known for her smooth way with words. Sharp tongued, yes, but smooth, most definitely not.

"I don't know whether to feel bad for you or not, but anyways," Minamori continued as she shrugged. "Someone from the volleyball club is somehow looking for you."

Reina raised her eyebrows, honestly not expecting anyone from the sports club to look for her. She was an outlier in a school like Inarizaki which had a strong club culture and school spirit, by choosing not to align herself into one club. Not since her exit from the brass band club. "Wait what? Are you sure that it is not a mistake, Minamori-san? The school athletes don't usually...associate themselves with the likes of me."

It was a matter of fact that most of the school sports club members lived in their own bubble. And they did not usually seek a practically invisible student who was more known as one of the top students who did not belong in any club (read: an oddball).

Reina had nothing against the sports club members or anything, but keeping her distance from anything school spirit related made things easier for her to run her business. Honestly, she would rather jump off the school's rooftop than letting the jocks get their hands on this side business she was running. Sports were such a huge part of Inarizaki High's signature and a guarantee magnet to the spotlight (which meant disaster for Reina). Spotlight meant teachers finding out that she was basically capitalizing half of the student body's dumbassery and scouting her for the peer tutor program, just like Yuri was scouted at the beginning of the school year.

Yuri was smart enough to figure out a side hustle on how to keep her dying lit club by monetizing that took advantage of the strong jock worship culture in Inarizaki. And being a peer tutor was the perfect cover that would help Yuri to evade the teacher's suspicion.

Reina could never be bothered to indulge herself for practical reasons like that, unless it had anything to do with her academic performance or her own gain.

"Positive. I think it is Ojiro Aran-san."

"Ojiro Aran..." Reina closed her eyes as she gathered whatever data she had collected about the student body in her head to figure out who this Ojiro-san was. "He is a third year, why would he know that I existed or want my services?" she asked herself, not realizing that she was thinking out loud.

"Ha, like you ever give your services to jocks," Minamori quipped back. "Okay that sounded wrong I'm sorry. But just informing you that I am super positive that it is Ojiro Aran, the ace of the volleyball club who is currently outside of our class looking for you."

Reina closed her eyes, once again thinking of the data she had on the ace that got him possibly trying to approach her. He was in class 3-5 and most definitely did not need to buy her answer keys or homework answers, after all he was a year older. She could not find the answer.