Clubs

A week after beginning school and talking with the principal about my current 'situation,' we came to an agreement.

The story was that I had been homeschooled since young, and my only purpose for coming to this school was because my parents believed I should make some friends that were my own age instead of going to college. It wasn't hard to tell this lie since that's exactly what happened in my past life.

With a little help from God, the principal believed it and told me that besides midterms and final exams, I wouldn't have to worry about my classes and should instead focus on my social life. If I ever failed to pass one of those assessments though, I'd have to pay a fine and retake the semester. This worked out perfectly, since a social life was the exact thing that I wanted this time around. Having the guy that literally controlled fate in my corner sure was nice, I had to admit.

Today was the beginning of the second week of the school year, and the day freshman could begin joining the various clubs and sports that the school offered.

"Hey Arata, you said you wanted to get in shape, right? Why don't you join the Kendo Club with me?" Asuna asked, approaching me from the side and leaning down to look up into my eyes with her hands held behind her back. She'd become much more at ease with me, and we could now be considered friends after spending a week going to classes and talking to each other. She even kicked my ass at CS: GO the other night when we played together online. Not my proudest moment, sure, but it was also the first time in a long time that I'd played the game so it didn't bother me too much.

I continued browsing through the various club stalls while she walked beside me, awaiting my response.

"I mean, sure. But in exchange you have to join the robotics team with me." I replied. I'd never actually done kendo, so I wasn't against learning something new. I wonder if it was anything like fencing? That was something I had ample experience in.

"Okay!" She said with a beaming smile. We signed up for the two clubs, and afterwards I continued to browse through the stalls while Asuna went to convince two other girls whom she was friends with to also join the Kendo Club. I wanted her to join the Robotics team with me because not only would I then have a friend to talk to, but also a reliable teammate who I knew was smart enough to not weigh me down… too much.

It was more difficult to find clubs to join now that I had to take into account the schedules of the Robotics and Kendo Clubs respectively, which were both relatively time-consuming already. Eventually, I came across a Futsal Club. (A/N: In case you were unaware, futsal is basically indoor soccer on a basketball court with a weighted ball).

"Hey, what's your guys' schedule?" I asked the guy in charge of the booth. He was wearing a white and gold jersey, which were the school's colors, and held a trophy that said 'Tokyo Futsal Championship 3rd Place' in one hand.

"Oh! We're a pretty casual club actually. Besides games we don't require attendance. Practices are optional, but we meet every day before school." He responded naturally. He was obviously a senior student judging by the confidence he exuded. That and the fact that he wore a tag with the words 'Class of 2015: Daiki Kimura' inscribed on it.

"Cool." I responded with a smile, writing my name down on the roster. Kendo Club met after school while Robotics met during lunch time, so with that my schedule would be entirely full.

"Can't wait to see you at practice… Arata Yamato!" The senior said, bending down and reading my name.

I waved goodbye and went off to my next class- Computer Programming.

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Clubs started the next week. I woke up before the sun passed the horizon, made myself breakfast and coffee, and packed my bags for school. Indoor cleats and shin-guards for futsal, a toolkit and lap-top for Robotics, and padding for Shindo. All this together filled two duffel bags, and along with my book bag, I was now stuck carrying at least a hundred pounds worth of stuff. Considering I had to walk two miles to get to school, I decided it was better to ride the bus from now on. I'd be getting more than enough exercise as it was.

I walked into the school gym and looked around. The basketball team practiced after school so the futsal team had it all to themselves in the mornings. I'd already changed into a white T-shirt and black running shorts, and was wearing my indoor cleats and shin-guards as well.

Along with me, ten girls and ten guys also arrived. The senior that I'd briefly chatted with at the club's booth, Daiki Kimura, stood in the center of the court holding a bag full of balls, corns, and practice jerseys.

This was a co-ed team, but I was still surprised to see such an even split between guys and girls.

"Welcome to day one of Futsal Club! We're pretty chill all things considered, but when you show up to practice or a game don't expect me to go easy on you. We don't have an official coach, so as the clubs' president I'll run everything with the help of my vice president and girlfriend, Kuzuru." He said, gesturing proudly towards a pretty black-haired girl with big blue eyes who stood to his left. I gave him a silent thumbs up for getting such a pretty girl to go out with him.

"Let's start with some stretches! Then we'll be running ten laps around the court before continuing on to practicing with the ball. We'll mainly be focusing on your ball-control while only really covering team-plays during scrimmages, which will be held every Tuesday and Thursday."

Daiki, was enthusiastic and extremely high-energy. While we did our stretches he had everyone go around and introduce themselves before explaining what we'd be doing for the next hour. He would be working out with us as well since he was the team captain and still needed the practice in order to play well during games. The stretches were okay, as I wasn't very flexible, but after the ten laps I was gulping down air like I'd almost just drowned, while my skin was itching and my head felt light and dizzy. My legs were like jello and I could hardly stand.

Seeing me gasping for breath, my teammates laughed at my expense.

"I'm… So… Out of… Shape…" I panted. Daiki eventually helped me up and we began doing some basic drills such as passing the ball around and dribbling through cones. By the end of the practice, I felt like I was going to throw up and was wondering how in the hell I'd make it through the school day and Kendo Club after that.

"Why'd God have to give me such a wimpy body… I miss my old six-pack abs…" I muttered underneath my breath while walking out of the locker room. Id thrown up, showered, and thrown up again before changing into my school uniform.

-Hey, you have to work for some things you know. I can't just give you everything on a silver platter. Wait… actually, I can, I'm just choosing not to! 😂😂😂-

I read the text and took a deep breath, not wanting to throw my phone at the wall in rage only break it.

"You okay? You seem tired." Asuna asked me during English class. My legs were already getting sore and my feet were killing me.

"I joined the Futsal Club. They practice in the mornings and today was my first day…" I explained, causing Asuna to snort. Realizing that she'd just made an embarrassing noise, she quickly covered her nose and mouth and blushed a bit in embarrassment, sending me a glance to see my reaction. I snorted back.

We both laughed for a bit before going quiet after the teacher told us to stop messing around.

"So are you going to be able to make it to Kendo Club today? Or are you too tired?" Asuna asked after a while. She seemed concerned and slightly disappointed, as if expecting me to say I couldn't go.

"Nah, I'll go. I just need to rest a bit." I replied, much to her surprise.

"But you can barely stand!" She said a little too loudly, drawing the gazes of everyone else in the room. The teacher gave her a pointed look before continuing the lesson.

"But you can barely stand!" She whispered much more quietly, covering her mouth with her hand and leaning in to speak into my ear.

"Yeah, but I promised you I'd go." I replied in the same fashion.

A small smile appeared on her face and she mouthed the words "you're a good friend." I smirked and mouthed back "I know."

We both continued smiling and staring at each other until we heard some snickering off to the side. Looking around, I realized some kids were looking at us with a mixture of amusement, mockery, and jealousy.

Asuna and I looked back towards each other and couldn't help but laugh silently. We both were aware of the rumors spreading that we were a couple, and we honestly didn't care. We were just friends, and we weren't going to let the opinions of others ruin that for us.

After three more classes, lunch time rolled around.

"Do you have a lunch?" Asuna asked me as we walked towards the robotics lab. I reached into my bag and pulled out a sandwich in a baggy, which I made myself that morning, and then pulled out a packet of mayonnaise in my other hand.

"You like mayonnaise?" She asked with a wrinkled nose. She obviously didn't share the same opinion.

"Of course! But only in sandwiches." I replied easily, causing her to blanch slightly.

"What? Does this disgust you? I asked, ripping the packet open and putting some on my finger, holding it towards her face.

"Yuck! Stop it, Arata!" She exclaimed, physically recoiling at the sight. I laughed and licked the mayo off my finger, causing Asuna to gag slightly.

"Tasty."

"You're so gross!"

We finally reached the lab, and I stopped teasing Asuna.

I walked in and was met with a pleasant surprise- Daiki Kimura was also a member of the Robotics team. We'd hit it off during practice so it was nice to find out I had another potential friend here.

"Alright. You guys will be working on projects together in groups of three. I don't care how you divide the work, but using the knowledge I'll be providing you throughout the year you are to construct a working machine that fits the criteria of one of the ten prompts listed on the board. If someone isn't pulling their weight in the group, just tell me and I'll kick them out of the club." The teacher in charge of the club spoke after everyone was present.

I looked at Asuna and Daiki, meeting their awaiting eyes in a sort of unspoken agreement. Soon, we signed our three names under the same group, naming our team Dasuka. It was a combination of our three names, if it wasn't obvious. Quite generic in my opinion, but my two teammates refused to name ourselves Team Arata, much to my own chagrin.

"I can make the parts for the robot, my dad's a mechanical engineer so I already know the basics on how to do it and can probably ask for his help." Daiki said when we started to address the topic of our roles.

"Oh! Can I draw up the blueprints? I've always wanted to design a machine like this!" Asuna asked. I offered to do the code, and we all agreed that we would put the whole thing together as a group.

I could have done the whole thing by myself, but where would have been he fun in that? Besides, the whole reason I agreed to be God's errand boy was to get the chance to form meaningful, long-lasting relationships.

"I'll get started on the blueprints then. After that I'll hand them over to you two so you can do your parts." She said, waving at Daiki and I before going off to a nearby desktop and opening up a 3D modeling software. She'd create the model there and get the proportions and stuff right before sending it off to Daiki and I so that I could write the code necessary to control the robot while Daiki could start making the parts.

"She's pretty cute man. You goinna ask her out?" Daiki asked from my side since Asuna was out of earshot.

"We're just friends. Besides, it's only been two weeks since we met and I for one think it's too soon to think about that type of stuff." I replied. To be honest I had no idea what I was talking about, as I had very little experience with women throughout my past life. Besides a few drunken nights with my secretary, I didn't really have many romantic encounters.

"Bro, you're joking, right? It's never too early! Or too late for that matter… wait, scratch that, you actually can be too late. That's why you should go for it!" Daiki insisted.

"I'm still young. I'd rather just make friends and avoid drama." I made another excuse, waving him off. Daiki decided not to pursue the matter further, something I was grateful for.

"You wanna hang out sometime this weekend? Me and a bunch of my senior friends are going to hang out at my place. You can even invite a few of your own friends if you want." He asked after the lull in conversation began to get awkward.

"Sure, why not?" I replied, as I had nothing to do over the weekend. After that, we started chatting about soccer: our favorite teams, players, and our predictions on who would win some of the upcoming matches. Thankfully the players and teams were the same as I remembered them from my old world so I actually knew what I was talking about.

I'd played soccer throughout my childhood as a way of keeping active, but generally ignored my teammates and focused on my own improvement. It took me quite a while to get rid of that pride that always prevented me from getting to know kids my own age, but by the time I did it was already too late and I had ostracized myself.

Soon, robotics ended and classes resumed.

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A/N: Sup. In case you're wondering, the first ten to twenty chapters will be about the MC building relationships and prepping for Sword Art Online for the most part, so that's what you can expect.

What you can't expect is consistent uploads. Whenever I'm free I'll try, but with college, work, and life as a whole, I don't have a lot of time to write as much as I may like to.