Trying Out

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Two weeks quickly passed by. Summer was quickly approaching and there was currently chaos in the various clubs of Saint Forest Academy. This was caused by a certain student's visit to the staff room one week ago.

Kouzuki Kazuya, the student who was dubbed as a young general of the kendo scene met with the elementary division's department head to ask if it was possible for him to join another sports club. He would still compete in the kendo tournaments but to train himself more, he wanted to take on a more rigorous sports activity.

He was only asking for permission now because it took a few days to convince Jirou and Miyamoto to let him do it. Although both of them knew that there wasn't anyone that would be a threat to him in the current tournament, they were worried that his skills would deteriorate. They compromised by not allowing him to leave the club to attend tournaments. They also asked him to seek permission from the head of the department because they were not sure about the rules of joining multiple clubs since it hasn't happened before.

Kazuya started focusing on his magic training so he changed his schedule around. He had to make time for training magic with Mei so in order to maximize the usage of his time, he decided to join a club that would provide a harder regimen than the Kendo club.

"What did you say young man?" the director couldn't believe what he just heard.

"I want to know if it would be possible to join another sports club. I still haven't decided which club to join but Miyamoto-sensei told me I could do it as long as I promise to attend the tournaments and ask for your permission" Kazuya repeated what he said and explained that he was doing it to train himself more because even though the training they had to go though in kendo was hard, he needed something more to develop further.

"Have you thought this through young man?" the department head asked him. He had spent some time with Kazuya and knew that he wasn't someone who would overestimate himself.

"I have. This may sound arrogant on my part but the only reason I still considered attending the Kendo tournament is because I like seeing my family proud. I feel that my progress has come to a halt so I want to try and do something about it"

"Is that so?" the director believed him. He believed Kazuya had grown a little to ask for other's opinions because if it were the old him, he would argue and debate until he got what he wanted. This child was even successful into tricking Ono-sensei into displaying his true colors which caused the teacher to be demoted and suffer a pay cut.

The director was a bit hesitant and thought deeply about it. He and most journalists that covered stories about Kazuya would agree that his skills was already beyond their department. Even Kuronuma Ayame, who swept the Kendo Nationals in her first year as a middle school student openly stated in various of her interviews that an elementary school student named Kouzuki Kazuya was the only person she was not confident in winning against.

"Which club do you have in mind young man?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't know how the other sports clubs train before I decide. I've only attended a few martial arts clubs but their training only has a little difference with the Kendo club so I'm leaning more towards the sports clubs"

"So your purpose is only training right? Why not just get a personal trainer?"

"Because grandpa Jirou picks me up along with the robot girl. I don't want to disturb my mom because she won't allow me to go home by myself because of the incident that happened two years ago" Kazuya sighed as he explained. He would have just gone home if he had the choice but Jirou didn't want him to quit the club so he had to think of something else.

"I see…" the director understood. Since there were still people connected to the Kurogane Conglomerate in their school, they indeed had to be very careful. Shiroyuki Jirou surely was a good deterrent against those who harbored ill intentions.

"Is it against the rules director?" Kazuya asked. He knew some people who joined two clubs but they were usually one physical activity and one for arts, hobby or literature.

"It's really not against the rules but since it would be extremely physically demanding, I don't know if I should approve of it"

"I promise that I would stop if I can't handle it director"

"Fine… I'll allow you to look for clubs for now but you have to make sure that their schedules won't coincide with your primary club. Joining another club would lose its purpose if you can't participate in their activities after all" the director gave in with a sigh. He hoped that he wouldn't regret this decision.

"Thank you, director. I promise I won't let you down" Kazuya gave his sincere gratitude.

This conversation was heard by some of the staff members since the director left his door open. Some of them were in charge of other sports clubs so it didn't take long before the news spread throughout the school. Everyone wanted to have Kazuya join their club in hopes of making use of his uncanny athletic ability and popularity.

Unfortunately, the schedules for competitions for the various clubs were not available at the time. It was only a week later did the clubs whose scheduled competitions rejoiced when they found out that it didn't coincide with the kendo club's summer tournament. The baseball club in particular, lamented at the conflict in schedule since they were the most hopeful of using Kazuya's sword skills for their club. Their coach in particular looked forward to seeing how he would fair against the future ace pitchers in the middle school level.

It has been a week since the news spread out and now that all of the clubs were aware of who were eligible to invite him to their club, Kazuya had to deal with more people observing him other than the girl who continuously attended their class to silently observe him.

"(I really should get this over with)" Kazuya sighed. He didn't expect everyone to react like this. It was already disturbing enough that Kurumi had started acting like she did in his previous life. Now he couldn't even tell who were the people observing him for Ringo and Suzaku.

*tug tug* Tomoyo sensed his agitation and used her eyes to ask him if she should take care of them. It was already the end of class today and but she insisted on going with him so that she could find out which club he was going to join.

This robot girl was the person who was against his decision to join another club the most. He already reduced the times he would visit their dojo after school and now that he was going to start attending another club, the time they spent together would be limited to the classroom. She did not feel too good about that.

It wasn't until Kazuya told her that it would be a good chance for her to polish up her skills while he reduced his sword practice that she reluctantly agreed to the temporary situation. He explained that some time for themselves would be good since he was expecting her to surprise him in the next tournament where they would most likely end up going against each other again.

Kazuya felt a little guilty about tricking this loyal little girl but he also felt some time apart from each other would lessen her dependence on him. She was already fundamentally different from the robot girl that he hated from his previous life so he held no more grudges against the robot girl and empathized with her instead.

He used to lump this robot girl and Kurumi together but even though he met with Kurumi as well, the girl still acted like she did in his previous life. What was worse was that she was not as good as her version in the previous life and blatantly acted like a creepy stalker.

"It's fine. They'll stop after I find a club to join" Kazuya smiled at the robot girl who followed along towards the area where the sports clubs were.

"Hold it!" Tomoyo didn't react at the sudden intrusion because both of them already knew that they were being followed by this person.

"What do you want Stockton Maron-san?" Kazuya remained calm because he already expected this girl to make a move from her attitude all day.

"You said that you will be joining a club that didn't have any conflict with the kendo club's tournament schedule, right? The basketball club is one of those clubs so you can try out for our club right away" she finally had a reason to drag him into the basketball club.

"Sure" Kazuya immediately agreed which made Tomoyo stare at him. She didn't expect such a quick response from him.

"You should stay true to yo… wait… what did you say?"

"I said I'll give it a shot" Kazuya smiled. Maron appeared to have prepared for this so he didn't give her a chance to make use of all the things she had been thinking about and immediately agreed. "Lead the way then" he gestured her to go ahead.

Maron looked at him suspiciously and led the way while stealing glances to make sure that he didn't run away. She thought that he must have been up to something because it wasn't like the new him to agree with her without question. Though she did think that, Kazuya and Tomoyo followed her all the way to the gymnasium where the basketball courts were without any trouble.

Kurumi remained quiet and walked alongside Maron. Even she thought that something was wrong because ever since they joined the class, Kazuya and Maron would always clash whenever they had the chance.

As soon as they entered the basketball club, Maron was approached by her teammates. Kazuya was a little surprised that she was able to get along with everyone after only a short few weeks of joining but it seemed like they looked up to Maron. The clubs of Saint Forest Academy had a good reputation since the school would actively invite talented individuals to join the school so a lot could be determined just by looking at how she was treated.

She may have been a member of S class but school activities were a different thing altogether. This is why rarely any members of S class joined any extra curricular activities. Coaches and consultants were instructed never to give them special treatment because what was more important was the results the team will have in the end. Kazuya heard that she was an old teammate of his so he wanted to see if her talk was good as her walk.

"I'll go change" He left Tomoyo to wait as he changed in the boy's locker area. Elementary school basketball was unlike middle school and above where genders were separated. Both boys and girls could play together in the same court so it was an achievement for Maron to get the current Kazuya to play with her in the same court.

Kurumi on the other hand was still feeling weird over the sudden change of events. The rumors that spread only said that Kazuya was considering joining other sports clubs that didn't have any conflict with the kendo club's tournaments but did not mention why he had chosen to do so. She questioned his intentions and thought that he was doing this because he felt guilty about rejecting her initial offer of playing with Maron for a chance to recover his memories.

"I'm ready" Kazuya walked out of the locker room wearing the school's track suit. One detail that Maron didn't miss however were the shoes he was wearing. It was one of the pairs he used to wear when they played together.

"Looks like you came prepared" Maron grinned at him.

"Huh?" Kazuya tilted his head looking confused which irked Maron almost instantly.

"Your shoes! Those are basketball shoes!" she knew her patience wasn't long but Kazuya always pushed her buttons and made her immediately lose her temper most of the time.

"Oh these? These types of shoes are nice for sports activities. They have good traction and are nice to use when moving around so I brought them along to try different clubs with" he said nonchalantly to indirectly deny any thoughts they might think about him going here on purpose.

"Now we can play" Maron couldn't wait to play with him and turned to their coach for the arrangements.

"Wait a moment. Why are we going to start playing all of a sudden? My purpose for coming here was to see and experience what kind of training the sports clubs can offer so I can choose which one can make improve better"

"Are you purposely trying to make me angry?" Maron thought that this was his play after making her all excited.

"Why would I waste time with that?"

"Are you looking down on us? You may be looking for a club to join but it will be up to us whether we accept you or not. You make it sound like you can just join us like that but for us, we need to see if you actually possess the skills for us to even let you join in our training" Maron retorted.

"I see…" Kazuya smiled. The short tempered girl finally gave a good argument against him. She was right, even if people eyed him for his athletic ability, he still needed to show whether he was worth anything to their team or not. He expected a prideful member of a club to point this out but he never expected it to come from Maron of all people. This proved that she was indeed serious about this club of hers which he couldn't help but compliment her for.

"Looks like you finally understand" she gave a victorious grin. This was the first time that she had the last word against him and she couldn't help but savor the feeling.

"You forgot one thing though…" Kazuya scratched his cheek. "I have no idea about the rules aside from making the ball go through the hoop for points"

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