For several minutes, he had been waiting outside the door, his whole body trembling like an insect caught in a spider's web, swaying back and forth.

I just need to go in there and introduce myself to the others. It's not that hard!

'Hello, I'm Literature-Club and I'd like to join your Linus'

See, it's that simple!

"Wait... What?!"

Desperately, Linus grasped his head.

Oh my God, I can't do it! This will be the biggest embarrassment of my life!!! It will... It will be my social deathblow!

"Is everything alright?" A kind, yet firm voice snapped Linus out of his thoughts.

Linus jumped in fright. "WAH!"

A boy, slightly taller than him, now stood before him. He had opened the door from the inside, surveying Linus with brown eyes, his somewhat longer hair brown and slightly tousled, dangling from one side to the other. His big round ears made him appear funny, besides his formal clothing.

"Y-yes! Everything's fine! Hehehe." Nervous twitches ran across Linus' face.

The unfamiliar boy, however, remained calm. His body was slightly muscular and defined, but he didn't seem threatening; rather, he seemed like someone who wanted to use his strength to help the weak. Above all, his gaze was gentle, yet determined. "Would you like to come in?"

"M-me? No, no I... uuuh... I'm just waiting here for someone...? Exactly! I'm just waiting."

"You're waiting for someone at our club's entrance?" He raised an eyebrow in question.

"C-correct."

"And who might that be?" His gaze wandered through the hallway—it was empty.

"Um... you don't know them?"

"I know all the Literature-Club's members." He smiled proudly at Linus.

"So... they're not a member I guess?"

"And why are you meeting outside our club then?"

"That... That's a good question! It was... a coincidence!"

Shit, I'm such a bad liar... He'll never believe this whole story!

"Well, okay then. Have a nice day." The door closed again.

Huh?! First bewildered, then relieved, Linus breathed a sigh of relief. That went well...

...Wait a minute! Didn't I wanted to check out their club? Why didn't I just tell him the truth? Now I can never show myself here again! Why does this social stuff have to be so difficult?!

Linus ran his hands through his hair in despair, feeling like he might start crying out of frustration.

“Ahem! Would you like some tea to pass the time while you wait?” The door had opened again, and the boy looked at him again with that friendly expression. Linus nodded silently.

Phew, lucky break!

He then followed the boy into the room. A smell of books - very old, musty books - greeted him as he looked around and saw the many shelves. It was just as he had hoped, giving him the feeling of stepping into a library, albeit a very, very small one. Next, he noticed an oval table in the center of the room. On it were a few cups and a teapot, from which hot steam rose. It all had a certain charm.

“Is black tea okay with you?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess so.” I never drink tea, no idea what's the difference...

Both sat down, as Linus began to think about what he should say. Maybe he should just ask about the club; what they do there and stuff like that. Or he could steer the conversation towards books, yes, that was a good idea! But before he could even speak, the boy spoke up again.

“If I may introduce myself. I'm Sir Leopold Aschenbrenner. Pleasure to meet you.” He extended his hand to Linus.

What the hell, why does he have such a cool name?! Surprised, he returned the gesture. “L-linus, my name.”

Leopold politely nodded, but Linus wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean. Then Leopold expertly poured the tea into a small white cup in a high arc, which Linus watched with amazement. As he turned his gaze away from the spectacle, he noticed that Leopold was looking at him thoughtfully. Had he done something wrong? Linus' gaze nervously flickered up and down.

"Alright, once again; you weren't really waiting for someone, were you?" Leopold regarded him intently, it seemed obvious, yet his gaze wasn't accusatory.

Damn, he noticed! Now I'm caught! I guess I have to tell the truth... Even if it's uncomfortable. "Yeah... Actually-"

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CRASH!

Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud bang – immediately, the attention of the two boys turned towards the sound.

"Heyyy, what's up, bookworms!"

"Akira?!" Linus stared at him, bewildered.

"Oh man, you're here too, Linus?!" Akira winked casually at him.

Leopold cleared his throat. "A little quieter, please, gentlemen. After all, this is the Literature-Club."

"Sorry..." Akira gently closed the door behind him, holding a finger to his lips and lowering his voice to a whisper. "Won't happen again."

Leopold nodded, satisfied. "Well then, it seems you were indeed waiting for someone. I apologize for doubting your honesty." With a mixture of regret and pride, he inclined his head.

"No, no! It's all good, Leopold!" Linus waved his arms around. "I meant Sir Leopold, of course!"

Akira looked at the two of them, puzzled, and remarked, "One weirder than the other." But it didn't bother him. After all, he was far from being normal himself.

Leopold gestured towards a chair, but before Akira could sit down, something else caught his attention. "Um, now that we've all been introduced, I have a question."

The other two turned towards him. "Hm?"

Pointing to the black corner of the room, where dark shadows lurked Akira's voice sounded serious—different from before. "Who or what is that?!"

For a moment, complete silence prevailed.

From the shadows of the farthest corner of the room emerged a dark figure. With her appearance, a sinister aura unfolded before the eyes of the others. Black hair, black fingernails, a black coat—everything about this person was black; pitch black, except for her red lipstick and the red furr hood of her jacket. Her skin tone also had a slightly darker complexion, but the color of her eyes couldn't be determined, as she wore sunglasses that seemed to not only shield her from sunlight but completely absorb any light. Linus felt a cold shiver down his spine as he stared at her blankly.

"Oooh, I see, that's Beyza. She's also part of the club," Leopold gestured nonchalantly towards the girl.

Linus blinked at him in disbelief. Seriously?! I thought she was about to kill us!

Then Linus looked back at Beyza. She met his gaze but said nothing. Sometimes, looks spoke louder than a thousand words.

Linus flinched as a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. I think she hates me!

Akira leaned closer to Leopold, raising an eyebrow. "She looks like one of those secret bosses that are much harder to defeat than the actual end boss of the game."

Leopold looked at him, perplexed. "You... You really are a special guy, aren't you?"

Akira didn't let that deter him and continued muttering to himself. "Maybe she escaped from the Gothic-Club..."

Eventually, everyone moved to the table – Beyza positioned herself as far away from the others as possible. Without asking, Leopold poured her a cup of black tea. He had a special black cup for her.

So she really is a regular here?

Meanwhile, Akira and Linus exchanged glances. Akira silently mouthed the words 'Let's get out of here,' but Linus shook his head. He wasn't ready to leave yet. Sometimes, you had to give things you tried a chance.

Then, Linus cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Sooo, what do you guys usually do here? Just read books or...?"

"A good question, Linus," Leopold stood up from his seat and pointed to the board behind him with a pointer. "Today's agenda includes, firstly, food and drink, followed by a book presentation round, and finally, we'll discuss what club activities we want to undertake during the next holidays."

"You do things during the holidays too?" Linus asked, amazed.

"Indeed! We take the club very seriously and are all good friends—in these summer holidays, for example, we went camping for two weeks."

Linus nodded in satisfaction. Even though camping wasn't necessarily his thing, it gave a positive impression of the club. "That sounds good, don't you think, Akira?" But there was no response to his question. "Akira?"

"Huh?!" Akira was busy looking up from his phone. "Uh, yeah, sounds great!"

Beyza shot him an annoyed look. "If you're not interested in the club, you should leave." Then she gave Leopold an equally nasty look. What did he do to deserve that?

"Yeah, I probably should," Akira agreed in a slightly passive-aggressive tone.

"There's the door." She coldly gestured with her hand to the other end of the room.

Linus watched the confrontation tensely. On one hand, he didn't want to go against Akira, especially since he wanted to become friends with him—but Beyza had a valid point, and it wouldn't help if Akira forced himself into something he didn't want.

"H-he didn't mean it like that! There was just something... important to clarify—that's why the thing with the phone?" What was supposed to be a statement sounded more like a vague guess, and so Linus passed the ball back to Akira. With slight nodding, Linus tried to persuade him to agree now.

"Nah, I just find the game on my phone way more exciting than your chatter." His response was short and honest, but not exactly what Linus had hoped for.

Leopold sighed heavily, as if Beyza's dark gaze had drained him of all strength. Linus felt like the Gothic queen wasn't pleased about new people joining the club—regardless of Akira's behavior. She had jumped on him too quickly, urging him to leave, as if he was some sort of traitor. Something just didn't feel right here. Unless this really was her way of treating others. If so, then she was a truly bitter woman. Or rather, a girl? Linus couldn't gauge her age at all.

The only thing Linus could understand about her behavior was that in a long-established group, people were reluctant to have new faces around. He would feel the same. However, this was a public club offered by the school. It certainly didn't belong solely to the members.

"All right then... If this isn't for you, then I would ask you to leave the room," Leopold said somewhat disheartened. It seemed almost regretful, even though Akira didn't seem to care about it.

Akira got up from his chair and looked at Linus. "Are you coming?"

Linus startled, gave him a fleeting glance, then stared at the ground. Was he serious? Did he really want to put him on the test? "Uh... I..." It felt like an eternity he took to think, but the decision was ultimately taken out of his hands.

"Okay, then forget it." Although his voice didn't sound disappointed or angry, in Linus' perception it did. Was Akira disappointed in him now? Why was it even important to Linus what this guy thought of him?

"I have my own will, and that's fine!" Linus thought, or at least tried to convince himself of it. Just because Akira had been a little nice to him, he wouldn't immediately follow him like a dog.

"W-Wait, Akira!" Never mind, he would. Despite the feeling that he was doing the wrong thing by putting his own interests aside for someone else, he now followed Akira. The latter was already at the door and didn't even give Linus a glance. Did it even mean anything to him? As Akira touched the door handle, it sprang open on its own.

Linus let out a startled croak. "Eeeek!"