"Hey, I came back to see you."

"Thank you."

Damn. This story is sweet, too sweet for me. So sweet that I can almost taste faint non-existent vanilla inside my mouth.

Disgusting.

With me still delirious from reading a romantic story made for a world without mistakes, I took out a pen from my bag and began to write… and write… and write.

As soon as I find myself finished writing my review of the draft on a piece of paper, I closed the notebook containing the said draft and gently returned it to the anxious owner standing right in front of me. She has a hint of jolly on her face. Waiting for my reaction perhaps.

I stood up to face her, took a deep breath and opened my mouth.

"I'm sorry Renai-san, but this story is no good."

The moment I said those exact words, I can see her face of anticipation fade to that of dejection.

"Heh.. I see." She said with a soft voice.

Her eyes fidgeting everywhere but towards me, as if trying to avoid my gaze as much as possible.

Moments passed without a single word between us. Each second making the atmosphere a lot more awkward than the last.

Feeling uncomfortable with it, I took the initiative to move and took out her hand to place the piece of paper that I have written my review on.

"Please refer to this paper for the full review, I even placed a tl;dr version at the end. For convenience purposes."

Without wasting any time at all, she took glance and began reading my review. Though, it didn't even take ten seconds for her to stop reading, crumpling the paper a bit in the process.
Hey hey hey, I didn't just write that just for you to crumple it you know!

I took a quick glance at her face that still won't look at me. I noticed that she's a bit reddish on the cheeks, I also noticed something shining .

No. It's different from shining. It's just reflecting. Reflecting the light passing through the clubroom's windows.

Tears.

Those are tears.

Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, are those watery eyes? Are your tears about to flow? Really? From just reading my review?

I know some people will just shun at evaluations. Be it an evaluation of their product, personality, academic standing, etc. I also heard some will verbally attack their criticizers instead of finding ways to deem them wrong of their judgment. But this is the first time I saw someone cry.

Why is she crying? I am sure I made it to be one of the least offending yet straightforward reviews in the area of Japan.

No matter what her reason is, I'm not comfortable enough to see a girl begin to cry right in front of me. I need to cheer her up somehow, hell even distracting her from crying is enough.

"Uhhmmm, Renai-san wha-"

"Thank you very much. Please excuse me." Before I can even finish asking my question, she bowed down, thanked me and quickly ran off, exiting through the door of the Service Club.

I took no initiative to chase her, partly because I found no reason to but mainly because I was too startled with this whole thing.

Well it's too late now even if I change my mind. I guess I'll just make up with her whenever I or she feels like it.

With the request somewhat finished, I decided it was time to pack up and go home.

I began to move, putting objects to their designated places.

My books and pen to my bag, cleaned utensils that I used to have my afternoon snack on the shelves and the empty can of MAX COFFEE I drank to the garbage bin.

With all things organized, I took my bag and headed to the Service Club door.

Another day passes by for me and my Service Club.

I sighed with great power. "Another unsatisfied customer. " I said that aloud even though I'm the only one in the room.

"Yeph, that would make three. Three unsatisfied customers in a row. And here I was thinking that everything will operate just like the past generation did. It seems that I'm wrong."

Without my consent, a voice continued what I said. That voice was female. It was a voice resembling that of a caring onee-san, but that voice belonged to someone older than an onee-san and that voice, in reality, isn't caring at all.

It belonged to Hiratsuka Shizuka. My teacher who forc-…. suggested to me that I revive the Soubu High School Service Club.

She stood in front of the door of the Service Club, her giant frame blocking the only exit of this room.

Sensing danger, my guts told me to go home and not prolong my stay here any longer.

"Sensei, you are blocking the door way. Please move, I want to go home." I said to her.

Yet she didn't move. "Sensei, if you would kindly change the area of your current position so that you would not interfere with my action of retreating to my base of operations."

I tried asking again hoping that she just didn't hear it in the first place.

Nope she still won't budge an inch.

Okay, I'm worried now.

Her blank stare and her not letting me pass through must mean she wants to lecture me about life or some stuff again.

And of course, I don't want to deal with that since I had a long day thanks to that incident with my latest customer.

I asked myself if it's time for drastic measures. Yes, it is definitely time for that.

High risk ,High reward.

I embraced my bag and with no hesitation charged forward.

Risk won.

"Pumphf"

goes the sound of me bouncing from Sensei's voluptuous breasts.
I don't know if I should either feel irritated because I was too weak to force through the wall that is sensei or feel proud that her breasts are that bouncy.

"Where do you think you're going after you have failed again, Tsurumi Rumi?" Sensei said to me with arms crossed while wearing a sadistic smirk on her face.

Damn this ever spying teacher of mine.
I need to find an excuse. Fast.

"R-right, that is why I am going home now so that I can reflect on my mistakes." I said to her as the excuse of my choice. I even added a forced smile in the end hoping she'll buy it.

"Huuuuuuuhhh?" Along with that really obnoxious question, Sensei stared at me with scary eyes. Eyes that scream "The hell of an excuse is that?".

My mind is going blank from pressure, I am losing composure because of the terror unfolding before me.

"It's not me, It's th-"

" HUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"

"Kya-"

My body immediately jerked back upon witnessing my teacher's gaze and voice turn from that of irritation to complete anger.

I held my bag tighter to my chest, making it as somewhat a makeshift body armor, fearful that a fist would come flying any second.

I am legitimately scared for my life right now.

Someone save me, save me from this horror of a teacher.

If you can't save me, at least find me a husband that will always celebrate my death anniversary.

Before I even noticed that Hiratsuka-sensei calmed down, I heard her sigh.

"Where did I go wrong? How could my calculations be incorrect? I was pretty sure you're going to be a prodigy in this field"

Without letting me say a word, she continued.

"In my observations, I had concluded that you have skills close to that of Yukinoshita's and the efficiency like that of Hikigaya's. You also have the outlook of life resembling to theirs thanks to what you experienced in the past. Yet somehow you miserably fail at this, resulting in you getting 3 unsatisfied customers in a row."

"Making a big deal out of 3 consecutives seems a bit too much, Sensei."

"I wouldn't be making it such a big deal if it weren't for them being your first three customers ever. You have yet to make a client happy with the results."

My belly squirmed with hatred upon hearing those words, hatred towards myself because those words are indeed true. You see, I was put into this club against my will, that is an undeniable fact. The only thing I liked about the club back then was that I was able to read without somebody suddenly bursting out from nowhere asking what piece I'm reading just because they're bored. I read in solitude in the clubroom, in this room without any disturbance at all. Well, there were rare occasions of people knocking on the door but I always ignored them.

But all of it changed since the time that I had known that this club was the club that he used to participate on, I was overjoyed. I felt like someone who won the lottery. No, it's a joy that even surpasses that.

Yes, just because of that one fact that I quickly replaced my habit of ignoring customers in order to read my books in peace to that of actually doing club activities.

Why?

Because I wanted to be like them.
(I wanted to be like him.)
I wanted to be someone who could do what they did.
(I wanted to feel what he felt back when he saw me as a new person thanks to his guidance.)
I wanted to continue this club's legacy no matter how little it is to somebody else's view.
(Maybe, I just wanted something to connect the two of us.)

Yet here I am, with a zero over ten. I am a failure to them . I can't even make a simple review without making the person cry. I am nothing but an absolute failure.

"Sensei, I do not know what to do anymore. Even your lectures are getting me nowhere near to what you wanted me to be."

I gripped my heart, or at least where my heart should be inside my chest, asking myself maybe it's for the better? It should be. Any other way would just be me being selfish. Therefore, it is the only way.

"I do not want to tarnish this club's name any longer. I would be glad to relinqui-"

"Shut your trap, I'm calling someone here."

Again, she interrupted me again. Here I am reflecting on what to do best and there you are looking at the ground and talking to a guy on the phone. Wait.

A guy.

A guyyy?

What.

Hiratsuka Shizuka talking to a guy on the phone?

No, no, no. It's probably an elder male teacher talking to her to organize a boring educational event or something. It's probably that.

I concentrated harder as if to make the audio seem louder in my head, to confirm it all.

Upon further inspection, It's totally a young guy's voice.

I am sure I have not mistaken since it is my youthful ears after all, ears that have yet to fail me on any lecture.

Wow, it truly must be divine intervention. For Hiratsuka-sensei to finally find a guy deserving of her. You know, I could let out a tear of joy right now if not for her interjecting me.

The call ended with the guy saying something near the lines of "Wait, I still haven't agreed to it yet."

Sensei turned her gaze back to me.

"I heard you, and no, I am not letting you quit the club. The way I see it right now is that you just need a little bit of sharpening again."

Without further delay, she continued with a question.

"Say, do you want to see him again?" She asked with a serious tone.

Before my brain can even process what she meant by that, my head just went to nod by itself as if knowing who "him" is.

"It's decided then, meet me immediately after class tomorrow. Bye."

Sensei left me alone inside the clubroom.

"Hehhh, I guess I'm seeing him again huh." I said to myself with an irremovable smile on my face.