Soul for a Girlfriend?

"And I asked her out in this situation… I\'m sorry… I seriously didn\'t know things were like this." Looking at this situation flowing out of my control, I decided to turn this conversation subtly towards me. 

I knew I was a terrible person, but I have to do what I have to in order to keep my head. Morals, emotions didn\'t mean shit to me, considering my circumstances.

She laughed and said, "No, don\'t worry… you\'re not the only one who has asked her out."

"I… guessed that." I nodded as I already knew much about her thanks to my very useful asset, Kizhashi.

"Of course she is a beauty, she gets tons of confessions." Yuna said as if she wasn\'t just as good looking as Naoto. Though the fact that she kept her before herself made me assure that Yuna was indeed a genuine person.

"But somehow, no one piqued her interest." She shook her head from left to right in disapproval and then she looked at me curiously, as she added, "I was actually quite shocked when she called you an interesting character a few days ago."

"Oh… please don\'t remind me." Remembering how Naoto called me a character, my pride is hurt if I was to be honest.

Yuna suddenly leaned towards me and looked me close in the eyes as I stepped back a bit. Her hand advanced towards me and she patted my shoulder as she said, "Also, I feel terrible that you got involved in our club\'s affairs."

I let out a breath of relief, as I chuckled, "Ahh, don\'t worry about that… I would actually like to help if I can."

I offered my help casually because this was a crucial event and later I can use this as a loophole. Though that completely depends on how Naoto takes the thing.

"That\'s really cute that you said that." She said with a smile that can easily bring a smile to someone else\'s face.

"But we can\'t do anything now since both Vivian and Ryuhan, both are pissed."She said, which was definitely true, but there is always a way out of something, it\'s just that people ignore those possibilities because of the methods.

"There must be something… that we\'re overlooking." I said, in order to check how aware she was of the situation.

"Like what?" She asked as she raised her eyebrows curiously.

"Your primary concern is the sports festival, right?" I asked why Ryuhan did the whole fight yesterday. Sports festival was nearing but Naoto didn\'t care.

"Yeah, of course… things couldn\'t have worsened at a better time than this." She rolled her eyes.

"See, don\'t worry Senpai." Looking at her troubled face, I comforted her with cliché words that won\'t do shit as far as I know, but still I said them.

"What we need to do now is not hard work…" With a sly smile, I started speaking and took a small pause to look at her. She was completely interested, so I continued, "...but work smart."

"Are you saying I\'m not smart?" She pouted.

Looking at the way she took my statement out of context, I couldn\'t help but tease her, "Are you not?"

"Eh?" She looked at me in surprise as I chuckled at her baffled expression and continued, "Nevermind… So what\'s our main objective here?"

"Umm… I just don\'t want our club to be a topic of satire at the festival." She said honestly, and I nodded.

"So basically you want to keep the club\'s reputation as it appears from outside." I summarised the thing and presented to her the key thing that she was concerned about.

"Right?" I asked, and she nodded, "Mhm."

I had a really simple idea in my head, but it depended heavily on how well Yuna could convince people. Knowing her vibes, I\'m pretty sure this plan will be successful.

"So… how many people are taking part in the Kendo event?" I asked her, as knowing the number of people in question is always helpful.

"Um… like 16" She answered. So it seems like there will be four rounds of contest.

"Ok… so that\'s not a lot." I said, trying to keep her spirits high. She was looking at me with much hope and interest in her eyes.

She looked up diagonally for a moment, and gave it a thought before saying, "No… that\'s like one-fourth of the club."

"You know their names, right?" I asked, as she will be convincing each of them personally. Persuasion in a group is a highly ineffective method since other\'s opinions would hinder your manipulation.

"I do." She nodded.

"Ok, so the first step of the plan is as smooth as I can see." I said with a slight smile.

"What plan? Which steps?" She asked in confusion as I mentioned those words. Of course, it was in my mind. I didn\'t brief her about it.

"Is anyone among you guys taking part?" I asked again, referring to Vivian, Naoto, and Ryuhan. Since they were the only people I knew in the club.

"Yes, all of us." She nodded again, but with her curiosity was growing as she was becoming restless.

"But Ryuhan left…" I pointed out.

"Yeah… that\'s the damn problem!" She gave me a sharp look and said in a loud voice which expressed her irritation.

"Okay… no need to get hyped… chill." I said, showing my palm to her in a defensive gesture.

"You\'re confusing me, Kouhai-kun." She looked at with a frown on her face. And I could see that she was clearly trying to anticipate what I might be on about.

"Listen, no need to gather all the members…" I said, getting straight to the point of my plan. She tilted her head in confusion, but I continued, "As far as the rules of the events go, only participants are needed. So there won\'t be any problem in gathering those sixteen."

She nodded patiently as I completed my sentence and then said, "Ok, but gathering them will be problematic."

"Don\'t you people have a text group?" I asked as it might be the fastest method to contact them considering that the fest was in five days in which two days are holidays.

"We do…" She nodded.

Before telling her what to do, I needed to confirm something, so I asked, "Tell me one thing…"

"What?" she asked me curiously. Listening to her tone, I could tell that she was quite interested in what I was saying. Maybe because she was quite desperate to save her club.

"Do people even obey Naoto\'s orders?" I asked, because I wanted to know the obedience of the club members. 

"I don\'t know as of now… she has stopped ordering members around for a long time." She answered with a shrug.

"Time for her to resume doing that again." I said in a low tone that she couldn\'t hear, so she looked at me with a frown, "Eh…?"