“Did you see that freshman with blue hair?”

“What a weirdo.”

“Weeb alert!”

One week into his first semester and Kazama had already received every insult he’d heard in middle school and more. The final bell rang and Kazama sank into his desk. He could only wait until the rumors blew over.

Just before everyone finished packing up, a portly boy burst into the classroom. The bespectacled kid stomped his way to Kazama’s desk. He retrieved a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it and laid it out on the desk. Above some extremely crude drawings, were the words;

Come join the anime club!

Kazama stared at the flier, then at Daniel, then at the smug grin plastered on Daniel’s face.

“I bet you thought this school didn’t have an anime club…” Daniel spoke loudly so that everyone could hear. “…And you’re right! That’s why I’m gathering members.”

Kazama maintained his blank stare, and so Daniel kept going.

“I want someone like you to help me recruit members. Honestly, even I’d be a little embarrassed to cosplay during the middle of the day, but you pull it off well.”

Kazama’s eyes narrowed, but he continued to listen in silence.

“My name’s Daniel, by the way. I’m a freshman like you…and the only member of the club so far. BUT, if you join right now, I wouldn’t mind giving you the president’s chair. So, will you help me hand out these fliers?”

Kazama blinked. Between asking with an audience present, assuming he’d already agreed to join and using the president’s position to sweeten the deal…Kazama had never seen such a mix of desperation and arrogance.

“There are two things I need you to understand.” Kazama said as he gently raised two fingers.

“Okay…”

“One, I hate anime.”

Kazama gathered his things while everyone in the room did a double-take.

If you don’t like anime, then what’s with that hair? He could feel the silent question burning in everybody’s minds.

“Two, this isn’t dyed and it’s not cosplay either.”

Kazama slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom.

Looking on the bright side, Kazama assumed this would end the rumors about him and his hair. Unfortunately, it did.

“Did you hear about that blue-haired kid?”

“The cosplayer? I heard he’s president of the anime club.”

“Ew, there’s an anime club?”

“Maybe? I heard about it from a friend of a friend.”

Pritchard’s is quite a large school, and its rumors only carry what the students want to hear.