Kirie guides Cerys and the other underclassmen back through the school before leading them outside.

“So do any of you have a plan for this or are we just winging it?” Cerys looks at the underclassmen with her.

Hotaru looks at Suzaka who then looks at Kirie. All three shrug and Kirika answers for them. “We behave like civilised human beings and not unthinking brutes.”

“So is that the entire plan you have?”

Kirika looks incredulous. “I was too busy being slammed against a wall by that girl, and you just grabbed everyone and told them to come without so much as a by-your-leave.”

Cerys smirks, “Well if everyone is fine with following my lead then this should be fun.” She begins to cackle as she walks, causing Hotaru and Suzaka to share an unsure look with each other.

The group soon finds the Tennis Club out at the courts, right as they finish up their warmups.

Hana looks up to see the group and skips over, her school uniform replaced with a white athletic top and light blue skirt, “Hey guys! You’re actually early…” Hana trails off and squeals seeing Cerys and Hotaru. “Ohmygosh they’re sooo cute! Are they your little brother and sister, Kirie?”

“Huh!?” Cerys marches up to Hana, “I just so happen to be the President of the Paranormal Club!”

Hana scratches her head as she looks between Cerys and Kirie. “You are? But I thought Kirie was President?”

“Of course I’m President!” Kirie laughs as she puts a hand on Cerys’ shoulder, “We just like to let her pretend she is from time to time!”

Cerys glares back at Kirie, “What did you tell her exactly?”

“The same thing you’re telling Hana right now.” Kirika sighs.

Hana continues looking between Cerys and Kirie, “Really? Who is the president?”

Before anyone can answer, another member of the Tennis Club walks over, a girl slightly taller than Hana with dark teal hair, “Hana, who exactly are these people?”

Cerys steps back up again, “We’re members of the Paranormal Club and I’m the President, Cerys Alcott.”

Kirika looks at Cerys confused, “But neither you or Kirie are th-” Cerys shushes her before she gives the plot away.

The teal girl looks Cerys up and down. “I’m the President of the Tennis Club, Numachi Kuriyama. You know, I heard the Paranormal Club President was called Kusaka. Also didn’t hear she was tiny.”

Cerys laughs, “Well, I guess you caught me! I was seeing if you guys were privy to the info.”

Numachi glances back at her, “Well, if you aren’t the President, where is Kusaka then?”

Kirika cuts in. “She’s in the process of removing some...less desirable aspects of the club.”

Numachi stands there dumbfounded, “What did she just say?”

“There was a bad apple that Miss Sayaumura had to get rid of.” Kirie tries to clarify.

“That just made it worse!” Numachi sighs, “And who’s this Sayamura person?”

Cerys laughs before answering, “Yuuri Sayamura’s the new president. She’s handling some important Club matters and couldn’t make it out.” She looks over to Hana and quickly changes the subject, “Hey, I heard your powers are similar to mine.”

Hana gasps. “You can become a ghost too!?”

“G-Ghost? Where?!” Suzaka screams, to no response.

Numachi changes the subject back instantly, “I knew you weren’t the President because the recruitment pamphlet my first years had listed a ‘Kusaka’ as President. Then again, even that’s wrong now.”

Hotaru grabs a notebook out of his bag and begins to silently write, taking in the information around him. As he writes he draws the attention of Numachi who looks at him quizzically. “Why is this child here, or is this one also older than he looks?”

“No, this is an actual child this time. But we didn’t come here to tell you how old we are. What did you want to have a meeting for?” Cerys asks.

A second Numachi walks over and stands next to the first one, “Hey, who are you guys talking to?”

The first Numachi looks over and feigns shock, “O-Oh no! It’s my twin sister! My uglier twin sister!”

Numachi Number Two points her racquet at the first. The racquet begins to split open as the strings shoot out and tie up the first Numachi, “Yuu, you jackass! What are you doing!?”

The first Numachi morphs into a boy slightly taller than her with shoulder length brown hair. “E-Easy there Numachi. I was just having some fun that’s all.”

Numachi looks over at the Paranormal Club, enthralled by the unfolding scene. “He wasn’t giving you guys a hard time was he?”

Suzaka snaps out of her stupor, “Tha’ was awesome! Your tennis racquet just split open ‘n stuff went everywhere!,” she gushes, pantomiming what just happened.

“H-He? You’re not also a… Are you?” Kirika asks.

“A jackass? I’d like to think I’m not,” the remaining Numachi says, tugging on her racquet, “I promise you I’m nothing like this guy over here. I’m the real Numachi Kuriyama.” She looks at Hana, then her onlookers, “Oi Hana, this the Paranormal Club?” Hana nods, causing Numachi to raise an eyebrow as she looks back at them, “Well I guess you guys look weird enough.”

“Come again?” Cerys asks, stepping up to Numachi.

“Let’s see.” Numachi points down the line of Paranormal Club members, starting with Suzaka. “You have this one fangirling about how I tied up my clubmate, that’s an elf, you two are children. Oh hey Kirie.”

“An elf who loves Tennis, ma’am! You should see the courts I have back home!” Kirika exclaims.

Before Numachi can answer, she feels some resistance coming from her racquet as Yuu pulls on it, “Am I free to go now?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Numachi sighs as the strings relax around Yuu and retract, soon the racquet reverts to its original form, “I would say you’ve learned your lesson but...you really haven’t.”

“Is that a special racquet, or…” Hotaru looks up from his notebook.

“No, it’s my power or whatever you want to call it.” Numachi replies. “I can transform whatever I hold into anything I want it to be.” Numachi demonstrates again by shrinking her tennis racquet, eventually turning it into a spoon.

Hotaru returns to his notes, writing quickly.

Cerys puts a hand on her hip. “You just tied up a student and no one stopped you. That’s pretty cool.”

“Now now, we shouldn’t judge them based on what they do in the privacy of their clubroom Miss Alcott.” Kirie says, eliciting a glare from her.

Cerys shakes her head. “Enough with the small talk. Can you tell us why you wanted us out here?”

Numachi morphs her tennis racquet to a larger size so she can lean on it, “So you guys are the absolute bottom and we wanna help you guys get out and keep us where we are.”

Hotaru looks at Numachi confused, “You guys...don’t want to promote?”

Numachi shakes her head, “We’re fine right where we are. ‘Sides, if we go any higher than we have to deal with Idol Club and Soccer.”

“Wait…” Suzaka thinks for a moment, “Isn’t this what Games Club offered us too?”

“They did?” Numachi asks, then shrugs, “Makes sense. They spent most of last year in the trash dorms.”

Hotaru raises a hand, “Why would you all help us try to escape the trash tier instead of keep us there?”

Numachi looks off to the side. “We saw what you guys did last year. There was no way we could beat you, so we decided to try and be friends with your club. Plus the trash tier only exists to motivate clubs to either stay out or leave it quickly.”

Hotaru continues his line of questioning, “And what about Idol and Soccer Clubs?”

“Well Soccer is powerful but they’re incredibly ruthless and everyone thinks they cheat but no one has been able to prove it,” Numachi shoots a glance over at Kirie, who looks away. “As for the Idol Club, they’re very loud and public but you do NOT want to get on the bad side of their Vice President. The rest of them are fine, I guess...except for their President but I don’t think ‘being cute’ counts as a crime.”

Cerys pops up, “Is he that good looking? You’re the second person I’ve talked to that said that.”

Before Numachi answers, a tall, black haired guy runs over to her. “Are you three coming back? We have to finish up practice before they close the courts!”

She realizes just how long she’s spent talking to her guests, “Oh crap! We’ll be right over Satou!” She picks up her racquet as it returns to her normal, “Sorry guys but we need to go.”

She leads Yuu back but Hana stays for a second as she looks over to Kirika. “You said you have private tennis courts right?” She asks.

“Yes! Yes we do!” Kirika quickly responds, “We can go to my family’s estate and play tennis all we want!”

“But...It’ll get dark right?” Hana looks down dejectedly.

“Not at all! We have lights so we could play well into the night!”

Hana looks back up, eyes sparkling, “That’s so cool!” she looks over to where her club is practicing, then back to Kirika, “They didn’t put up lights because they didn’t want us practicing at night!” She pouts.

The others break the huddle they find themselves in and begin to walk away “Hey Kirika! You better hurry up! I know you can’t find your way back to the dorms from here!” Cerys yells as she follows Kirie.

Kirika reaches out to grab Hana’s hand with both of hers, “Until we meet again.” She slowly lets go before jogging after the others.

Hana throws her hands up to wave at them, unfazed by the gesture. “Bye!”

***

Yuuri, Katsuki, and the rest of the club intently listen in as Cerys recounts what happened with the Tennis Club, and Numachi’s offer to them. Hotaru occasionally chimes in as he continues to write in his notebook.

“So another club wants to help us out?” Katsuki asks.

“That’s what they told us.” Cerys says, relaxing a bit after her story.

Katsuki rubs her temples, “Just say that then next time! I’m sorry Cerys but your storytelling sucks! You were all over the place with it!”

Yuuri scratches her head, “I think I understood it though.”

Cerys hops out of her chair. “Good! I’m going to go take a nap!”

Katsuki looks at her phone, “But it’s 7…”

“I’m going to sleep then.” Cerys counters as she yawns and walks back to her room.

Yuuri notices Hotaru still writing, “Whatcha working on over there Hotaru?”

The little boy finally stops writing and looks up, “I’m sorry. I’ve been working on compiling a list of all the students we meet and what powers they possess.”

“What for?”

“Well, it’ll better help me, and by extension us, keep track of everyone in this school so we know who we’re dealing with come competition time.” Hotaru proudly responds.

“So you’ve made a Studex?” Katsuki asks.

“T-the name is still a work in progress” he meekly responds, caught off guard.

“I think I’ve come up with a very good name for it then!” Katsuki puffs her chest out with pride.

Hotaru grumbles for a second. “Fiiiine. It can be the Studex.”

Katsuki leans over the table and ruffles his hair, “You made the right choice kid!”

Yuuri puts her arms on the table and leans in, looking over her club, “So, should we take Tennis Club up on their offer?”

A quiet murmur spreads across the table as the club talks amongst themselves about this potential new partner. Yuudai finally speaks up, “Do you think the Games Club will be upset with us for doing this?”

Yuuri scratches her head in thought, “I’m...not sure. They did reach out to us first and I don’t want to trash our treaty…”

Kirika slams her hand on the table and stands up, “We should trash it anyway! They are trash and they belong in trash!”

Mari looks over, “Are yew cranky, Kiricchi? Is it past your bedtime?

Kirika continues, “The Games Club is full of nothing but violent savages, like her!” She points a finger at Rina.

“Why you…” Rina growls standing up, but quickly sits back down and pouts.

Kirika follows, ignoring Rina. “And WE are much too great to lower ourselves to that level.”

Hotaru pipes in, “They also talked about the Soccer and Idol clubs! It doesn’t seem like we want to be on their bad sides.”

“Indeed, the Soccer Club is one we don’t want to be offsides with.” Kirie says, causing everyone to look at her.

“Why aren’t we wanting to be offsides with them, Kirie? You seem nice enough!” Suzaka asks.

Kirie looks back at Suzaka, thinking for a moment. She opens her mouth, but shuts it again, shaking her head.

Suzaka looks back with a curious glare. “Hey, you actually never said why you left, come ta think about it. Why did ya?”

Kirie looks down for a moment, then back up with a disarming smile. “It was… creative differences.”

“Creative? Wait, were ya the coach?”

Kirie can feel the eyes of everyone at the table, though her smile doesn’t break. “In a manner of sorts, yes. I wanted them to be all for one, but they wanted to stay 4-4-2.” Everyone turns to look at each other, then nod in pretend agreement. Kirie’s smile grows. “I’m glad you all understand.”

“Erm… back to the Tennis club.” Yuuri says. “What do we want to do?”

Kirika perks up “I… I think we should join them. Tennis is the sport of kings and queens, after all.”

“But they’re more than willing to stay at the rank they’re at. Allying with them wouldn’t give us much besides numbers, would it?” Hotaru says.

“And what about tha other clubs?” Mari asks. “If we ally with Tennis, there could be a club that this action peeves off.”

Katsuki replies. “We could just wait until after the competitions begin.” The table falls silent again as everyone mulls over Katsuki’s plan.

“Lets go talk to another club, no sense in limiting our own options for no reason.” Akina yells out from the kitchen.

“Gettin’ ta know tha people in th’ clubs can help us make a decision on ‘em too, even after we see how strong they are in th’ heat of battle.” Suzaka says.

“Then how about we visit the Fashion Club?” Kirika looks to Yuuri for approval.

Yuuri thinks for a moment before nodding, “It’s a good idea. Any objections?”

“Well, how many clubs are there?” Yuudai asks.

Hotaru digs through his backpack and pulls out a pamphlet, “Going by what Roka said the other day and this pamphlet they gave me, there are nine clubs.”

“Then...why are we visiting the Fashion Club?”

“To make fun of their stupid outfits obviously!” Rina replies, looking away from everyone else.

Yuuri looks over at Rina before answering. “Well, they are on the tier above us, so maybe they could give us some assistance as well!”

Akina returns from the kitchen, a large pot in her hands. “This discussion can wait. Dinner is ready.” She sets the pot in the center of the table and heads to go get bowls. As the Paranormal Club prepares to eat, the excitement at the table is palpable as they prepare for their second day and potentially meeting a third club.