“By the way, I’m thinking about it but I didn’t ask you your name, excuse me. I’m Rina, this is Aya and Sophie.”

“Nice to meet you.” x2

“Ha… excuse me, I should have introduced myself before interrupting you. My name is Sugawara Kou, I’m in class 1-B, nice to meet you.”

“You’re our junior then? You can call me Rina-senpai then, mwahaha.”

“Uh… understood, Rina-senpai…”

“I think you make him too uncomfortable Rina.”

“No way!”

“…”

“Um… Oh, I know! We’ll come back later since the club is so crowded, but could you tell us what are these events that attract so many people?”

“O- of course… It just so happens that among the many students in the university section there are some rather well-known novel authors and mangakas. We asked them if they would be willing to run booths to showcase the club and their respective works.”

“You mean like a kind of mini-convention?”

“That’s the idea. Especially since these senpais are former club members so they kindly agreed.”

“Just curious, what are their author names?”

“Well… The authors of novels are Shiranui-sensei, Jessie Ka?-sensei, and Accel-sensei.”

“Um, I know Accel-sensei by name but I’ve never read it and the other two don’t ring a bell.”

It’s almost ironic that Rina…

“However, regarding mangakas, I’m sure I should know them.”

“Regarding mangakas, there are PekkoMekko-sensei, Meguri-sensei and Nonoro-sensei.”

“WHAT!”

Rina violently grabs the poor Kou by the shoulders while looking at him with big eyes.

“You mean these three geniuses are here, in this room?!” 

“Hiii!”

“Careful Rina-chan, you’re shaking him.”

“He’s on the verge of tears.”

“Oops, excuse me, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No… No problem…”

“These three guys are students here? Unbelievable.”

“Do you know them, Sophie?”

“No, I don’t really read mangas. However, I am familiar with the works of Shiranui-sensei.”

“Hee~ You read novels?”

“It happens that I come across stories that interest me, Shiranui-sensei’s universe is very inspired by European culture and its folklore. His works based on the industrial revolution are great.”

“I look silly for being the only one who doesn’t know any of the artists present…”

“Don’t worry Aya-chan, it was just pure luck on my part, otherwise I’m like you.”

“Thank you for wanting to comfort me, Sophie…”

Kou, still dazed by the shaking of Rina, straightens up and finds his bearings.

*Gulping sound*

“If you are interested in meeting them you can still come in if you wish.”

“Hm… That sounds appealing.”

“Are you sure about this Rina? We’d fall behind on the rest of the program if we waste too much time here.”

“You’re right. I wish I could stay, but I’ve already got a lot of things planned for this afternoon. I know me, I might want to talk to them for hours…”

“In that case, as I told you earlier, within a couple of hours their booth events will be over and they’ll go back to the university. So we should have a lot fewer people.”

“Okay, let’s do that. We’ll come back later.”

Kou notices Rina’s face darkened by sadness.

“Ri- !”

“Hmm?”

“Rina-senpai! If you like, I can have them make a personalized autograph for you. I’ll keep it aside for later when you come back.”

“You… You would do that for me?”

“Sure, I can see that you also have a passion for manga, I can feel it.”

Rina throws herself on the boy and holds him tightly against her.

*Sobs*

“KOU-KUN!!” 

“HEEEEE!” 

“Kou-kun?” x2 

“Thank you, you are so sweet…”

*Inaudible sounds*

“He can’t even talk anymore, release him, Rina.”

“Pfoua… Finally… Free…”

“Haha, sorry sorry. Anyway, you’re amazing Kou-kun, I can’t wait for it.”

“I…I won’t break my promise. Just confirm your first and last name so I can ask them.”

“You can call me by my first name now, you know. We’re friends after all.”

“Eh? Already?”

“Sure.”

“Haha, don’t overthink Sugawara-kun, our Rina here is quite impulsive and never asks people’s opinion when she’s excited like this.” 

“Ah… Okay.”

Rina hands a piece of paper to Kou with her name and surname written on it.

“Shall we continue our program, Rina?”

“Yes, it’s on to the next thing.”

Kou doesn’t even have the time to finish reading the kanji that compose Rina’s name she is already far ahead.

Sophie turns to Kou.

“Thank you for your time and sorry if Rina-chan shook you up too much. We’ll get back to you later.”

“Alright…”

…

“A real tornado, I have a hard time with that kind of people usually. But…it wasn’t so unpleasant.”

A little rascal, Kou, isn’t it?