"Welcome, Hikari-san! It's time to begin our first official meeting of the year!" Hara-san said.

The beanbags were set up like chairs next to the table. I walked over to an empty one and sat down.

"Alright. Since today is our first official meeting, we're going to do a group activity to get to know one another."

See, this is why I didn't want to join the book club.

Those two, horrible, evil words:

Group activity.

Am I allowed to quit the club during the trial? Probably not.

"We'll each say our names, and then give a clue as to what our favourite manga is. Then, we each have to guess what that person's favourite manga is. Whoever guesses correctly goes next. Sound good? I'll start. My name is Hiroshi Hara. My favourite manga involves an ouendan."

I already knew that the manga he was talking about was Again, but if I said that, he would make me go next. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, so I stayed silent.

"Oh! I know!" A girl with shiny black hair said. "Again by Mitsurou Kubo!"

"Correct! Your turn."

"Okay, I'm Akasuki Mori. My favourite manga involves a test to become a special librarian." The girl said.

No one spoke up. I sighed. I knew what it was, it was my favourite too. I would have to do this eventually, so I might as well speak up now.

"Magus of the Library by Mitsu Izumi." I say.

"Correct!" Akasuki-san says.

"I'm Hikari Yui. My favourite manga involves a boy with pointy ears and green eyes, and blond hair."

"Oh! That's also Magus of the Library!" Akasuki-san says.

We all look to Hara-san.

"Who goes now?" Akasuki-san asks.

"Hmm... how about give a hint to a more well known manga that you like, and whoever guesses that one goes next." Hara-san says.

"Okay. My second favourite manga involves demihumans, otherwise known as demis."

"Oh! It's Interviews With Monster Girls!" A boy with brown hair says.

"Correct! Your turn, Kazhu."

"Okay. My name's Murakami Kazhuhiko. My favourite manga is based off of a video game."

"Zelda?" One girl guessed.

Murakami-san shook his head.

"Oh! I know! Splatoon!" A boy sitting next to me said.

"Yep! Your turn, Hasegawa-kun."

"My name's Hasegawa Taishiro. My favourite manga involves wizards, and celestial spirits."

"Fairy Tail," a girl whispered.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Fairy Tail."

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you!" It's obvious that Hasegawa-san is just teasing her now.

"I said Fairy Tail! Baka!"

Hasegawa-san laughed. "That's correct. You're turn, Shimizu-chan."

"Okay... my name's Shimizu Sumi. My favourite manga involves a girl and four boys, and the boys really like the girl but the girl's an otaku and a fujoshi."

"Kiss Him, Not Me?" A girl wearing glasses asked.

"Correct."

"Okay, my turn. My name's Hayashi Chiasa. My favourite manga is dystopian, and yaoi."

Shimizu-san rolled her eyes. "You always did love yaoi... it's No.6."

"Yes."

"Who goes next, Hara-kun?"

"Well," Hara-san says. "It seems there's only one person left. He can go next."

"Wait, Hara-kun. Why are there only like, ten people here? There were so many last year." Hayashi-san asks.

"Well, many of them were third years last year, so they graduated. The ones who should be third years now are mostly here, though Haru-kun and Nakamura-kun are doing exchange programs, and a few of the others joined different clubs. So now it's just us. Anyways, Ishikawa-kun. Would you like to go next?"

"Yes. My name's Ishikawa Genki. My favourite manga involves ayakashi and an inn called Tenjin-ya."

"Kakuriyo: Bed and Breakfast for Spirits?" Hara-san guessed.

"Yes."

"Alright, great! Now that that's over, feel free to do whatever you want! You can read, talk quietly about books, or talk to other members to get to know them! But first, I would like to make a special announcement." Hara-san clears his throat. "You may have noticed that we have two new faces here today. Please welcome first years Hikari-san and Ishikawa-kun!"

"Welcome, Hikari-san and Ishikawa-san!" Everyone says.

I blush from all the attention. Just like how I don't like interacting with people, I don't like it when people's attention is on me.

"So, Hikari-san! Your favourite manga is Magus of the Library, too?" Akasuki-san asks me, pulling her beanbag over next to mine.

"Yep!"

"That's so cool! I love Magus of the Library. I hope it gets an anime."

I smile. "So do I. And your second favourite is Interviews With Monster Girls? I love that manga!"

"Same! It's so cool that your last name is the same as the main character's first name." Akasuki-san says, smiling at me.

"Yeah. She's my favourite character..."

Me and Akasuki-san continued talking about our favourite mangas. As some point, Murakami-san came over and joined our conversation. I found out that Akasuki-san and Murakami-san are dating, which is why Akasuki-san called him by his nickname, Kazhu. Soon, the meeting was over, and it was time to go home. Akasuki-san lived in the same direction as me, so we walked home together.

"Hikari-san," Akasuki-san said as we were walking. "Would it be okay if I used the -chan honourific for you? You can also use that honourific for me."

I smiled. "Yeah, that's fine, Akasuki-chan!"

"Awesome, Hikari-chan! Well, this is my house, so I'll see you tomorrow!" Akasuki-chan says as we reach a beautiful house with a pretty garden out front.

I wave goodbye. "Yep, see you, Akasuki-chan!"

I continue walking. When I get home, I go up to my bedroom and text Yuki-chan.

Yuki-chan

Hi, Yuki-chan

Hiya, Hikari-chan! How'd it go?

It was actually great! I made a new friend. Her name's Akasuki-chan, and she's a third year!

That's great! So you like it? Do you think you'll permanently join?

Yeah. I decided I'm going to : )

Awesome! I'm so happy for you!

Thanks!

Well, I got to go help my mom with dinner. Want to meet up later at the library?

Sure. Maybe at like, 7? After dinner?

Sounds good! See ya!

See you later!

It was only five o'clock. Dinner wouldn't be for another hour. I decided to watch anime until then. Soon, it was time for dinner, and then it was time to go meet Yuki-chan at the library. I walked to the library to meet her, not knowing that the first of many clues to solving a mystery would be found there.