“Momo does not feel like she is a lioness,” Moo muttered glumly, absently petting the bag holding the new, improved and, unfortunately, unused Garr. Despite her earlier assertion, Emi couldn’t help but agree. If anything, she felt like she had been eaten by said lioness. The guilt bore down on her like a physical weight. She had assured them the club would be approved. She had convinced them. Ultimately, though the five-person requirement was certainly not insurmountable, she had lied and disappointed them.

“I’m…” the brave façade Asami had tried to hold together began to crack like an eggshell and her lower lip trembled. Oh, God, Emi thought, please don’t’ cry. Please don’t cry, because if you cry, I’m going to cry.  “I-I’m so s-sorry I let all of you down!” Asami wailed, her emotions overflowing. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she broke, her shoulders hunched from the force of her sobs. She put her hands to her face and cried through her fingers.

“M-Momo is sorry,” Moo’s deep brown eyes glanced Emi’s way, searching for help for the unfamiliar situation she found herself in. She touched Asami’s shoulder in a desperate attempt to console the sobbing girl.

“I’m so sorry, Moo!” Asami wailed, flinging her arms around Momo’s neck, and burying her face in the smaller girl’s shoulder. Momo was momentarily taken by surprise before her chin began to tremble.

“Momo should have made a better Garr…” Momo whimpered. “She is not good enough. M-Momo is s-sorry she- “She couldn’t get the rest of what she wanted to say out as tears rolled down her cheeks and soon, she was sobbing as well. Emi tried to hold back the tsunami of her own emotions after her blatant lies but couldn’t and soon she joined Asami and Momo and an already crying Suyin.

“Why haven’t they kicked us out of that family restaurant, yet?” Emi shook her head as the four of them made their way through the windy streets of the town toward the hill leading to the dorms. Emi’s eyes were puffy, and her chest and head throbbed. Her eyes felt like they were on fire, and she was exhausted and shaky, but she supposed in a real way, she did feel better. “I seriously need to heap Ochugen on them in July. Anyone know what an appropriate gift for a family restaurant might be?”

“Napkins?” Asami asked hoarsely. She had it even worse than Emi. Her eyes were nearly swollen shut from crying, and she swayed like a reed in the wind as they walked. But the cry seemed to have done her some good as well as she was at least talking again, Emi figured.

“A giant Maneki Neko?” Momo mumbled, plainly overwhelmed by emotions she was not familiar with. "Momo could make one."

“I’m sorry,” Emi glanced at a still silent Suyin. She was a little worried since she hadn’t said anything, but Suyin smiled at her encouragingly.

“Sometimes it’s good to get it out,” she shrugged. “You can’t appreciate the heights of success without experiencing the depths of failure. Besides, we just have to find one more person. We can do it! I believe in all of us.”

“Awww,” Emi grinned, pulling Suyin in for a hug. “Thank you! You are like a Zen bowling ball knocking away the pins of despair!”

“Haha! What?” Suyin giggled.

“I saw one on Amazon once,” Emi shrugged with a grin.

“You find some weird stuff, unnie,” Suyin chuckled.

“Oh…you have no idea,” Emi warned her. “One day I’ll show you some of the stuff I’ve found.”

“Will I be distressed?” Suyin cocked an eyebrow at her in mock alarm.

“Undoubtedly,” Emi nodded.

“Then I look forward to it!” Suyin laughed.

“What do we do, now?” Asami asked, huddling deeper into her jacket to keep herself warm in the face of the harsh wind.

“Well, as much as it pains me to admit it, a decent session of crying can do wonders,” Emi replied thoughtfully. “Can do without the headache, though. That part’s no fun. But I guess going forward I suppose we should take tonight to mourn our loss and tomorrow we start putting together a list of potential victims to rope into being our fifth.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t read the rules right,” Asami shook her head bitterly. “Rookie mistake.”

“I didn’t read the rules at all, so you’ve got one over on me,” Emi scowled ruefully. “I was ill-prepared and caught flat-footed. We won’t make that mistake again.”

“Riku senpai gave me the handbook section pertaining to clubs before we left,” Asami has a fierce look of determination in her eye. “We will have our club!”

“Riku senpai certainly is efficient,” Emi marveled. Thinking back, Emi couldn’t come up with a time she was ever even remotely close to as efficient. Emi tended to lean deeply into the philosophy of barely controlled chaos as a rule of thumb. Ms. Harada, their housekeeper, was fond of saying Emi enjoyed holding on to the lightning and riding it where it took her, and Emi supposed she was not wrong. Thus, upon seeing someone like Riku senpai securely in control of every situation that seemed to present itself Emi found herself rather intimidated.

“She’s amazing, isn’t she?” Asami gasped, clenching her fists in determination. “I want to be just like her!”

“Momo does not think she is that amazing,” Momo replied, as close to pouting as Emi had seen the girl. Emi grinned in the gathering dark at the young Moo’s pouting face. “Plushy chan is just as organized.”

“You think so?” Asami gaped at her. “You really think so?”

“Y-Yes,” Momo stammered, taken aback as Asami’s face drew near to her.

“You’re not just saying that?” Asami pressed, grabbing Moo’s shoulders, and turning her bodily to face her. “If you’re lying, I won’t forgive you! Do you really think I’m as organized as Riku senpai?”

“Y-Yes?” Momo repeated, at a loss for what to do or say since Asami’s face was centimeters from her own and the bigger girl had a hold of both of her shoulders.

“You and I, Momo!” Asami grinned, a wild look in her eyes. “We’re going to whip this search into shape!”

“O-Oh,” Momo mumbled, not sure what was happening.

“We are going to get a complete list of students and go through each one and cross-reference the club lists!” Asami was positively bouncing with excitement, causing Momo’s shoulders to bounce up and down with her. “We’re going to find the perfect recruit for us! There’s no time to waste! We can still make it to the administration office before they close for the night if we hurry!”

“Have fun you two!” Emi called after them as Asami, dragging a thoroughly bewildered Momo behind her rushed off toward the school.

“They seem…close,” Suyin said as they vanished into the gathering dark.

“They’re certainly getting there,” Emi grinned at her, shoving her hands in her pockets, and trudging through the dismal weather toward the dorm.