She'd had enough, but she still played along. When they went to join the barista, after he had vanished inside that room, she walked beside her brother.

She was angry, and hurt. Why did they have to make such a big affair about how much they shared? They're together already. Isn't that enough?

Noriko knew she was sulking, but for once she had good reason. Urufu-kun had been hurtful. The way he talked. The way he looked at them. The way he excluded her and her brother. There was no need for that. And that Kuri-chan, she just had to play along with that arrogant smile of hers.

And Yu-kun and Kyoko-chan, just confess to each other already! It's just painful to look at you two.

She sulked some more, and pouted. Yu-kun and Kyoko-chan, the wingmen. Well, they were nice enough. Good and loyal friends in their own way, she guessed. And Kyoko-chan had even dropped out of the competition for Urufu-kun for her sake.

Noriko was rather certain Kyoko-chan hadn't paved the road for Kuri-chan. Not with those looks you give him. Like he was a viper.

Noriko entered the room last of them all. Barista and the six friends. Yes, they could easily cram in twenty people here. The large table in the centre of the room could only host a dozen, but there were a couple of smaller, foldable tables hugging the wall.

Hasn't been used for some time. Smells old in here.

The barista had left the room. He was probably making their second round of orders. She heard a phone ringing in the main café and how he picked it up.

This room is different. It's all one set here, not like the chaos in the rest of the café. “Why do you want this kind of privacy?” she asked Hamarugen Moron-sama.

He looked taken aback at the sight of her. “Eh, unless we want that fan-club congregating on us whenever we go here.”

“Why would we go here? We have a perfectly functional clubroom at school.”

“It's good to have a place away from it all.”

“Did Moron-sama forget that this is hardly away from it all?” There, she had said it.

“Noriko!” Yes, yes, her idiot brother could scold her for all he wanted.

Urufu-kun bowed deeply, European style. She could almost see that wide-brimmed hat in his hand, feather and all. “Moron-sama hasn't forgotten.”

Why are you so friendly now all of a sudden? Why did you have to become so good looking? Better if you had stayed the geek.

She looked at Kuri-chan. So tall, and I'm small. Well, not as small as a certain Aisaka Taiga, but then her knight in shining armour hadn't been as tall as Urufu-kun. But he's not my white knight. He belongs to Kuri-chan now. Bro is the closest I have. She shuddered. Unless I'm to spend my high school years as a creepy otaku wet dream we're not walking down that lane.

And that reference really belonged to Yu-kun. He was the connoisseur of everything two dimensional in their group. Even though he didn't look like it.

Noriko looked at Yu-kun, and then at Kuri-chan. I turned him down thrice. That means he had the guts to try two times after I rejected him the first time. Am I that gutless that I'll just give up on Urufu-kun?

She felt a new resolve building in her. With steady steps she approached Kuri-chan and stood facing her, looking up.

“You're in my way. I like Moron-sama, and I'm not giving up on him.”

The silence was absolute.

Kuri-chan let out a surprised laugh. It bounced in loneliness around the room. “Oh my!” she said. “Thank you for telling me, Noriko-chan, but don't you think that is for Ulf to decide?”

Noriko looked around. Urufu-kun stood, one hand on the table and his face in the other. “I like you, Moron-sama. I'm not giving up on you.” She turned and looked at Kuri-chan again. “There, better?”

“Is that what you call a declaration of war?” Kuri-chan asked weakly. “I really like your guts. Could we be friends as well as rivals?”

Noriko sat down in a chair. Her legs were almost giving way under her. She needed to sit down if she was to keep her cool. “I thought we were already friends. Did you have a differing opinion?”

“No, not at all.”

Thank gods for small victories! Now she could look at them both. She could even afford blushing at the sight of Urufu-kun, Moron-sama, whatever. It was all in the open anyway. And that was a relief. She wasn't about to copy her idiot brother and his refusal to come clear with his feelings.

She still hurt though. Nothing could make her not hurt. Well, maybe Urufu-kun having a change of heart, but she wasn't certain even that would be enough.

Behind her her brother had sat down as well. She could feel his disappointment oozing from his body.

“That was… intense,” Yu-kun offered from the other end of the table. He took a seat as well, and was comically joined by Kyoko-chan who sat down almost at the same time, but in a chair as far from Yu-kun as possible.

“Ulf, at least she deserves better,” Kuri-chan said and pointed at Noriko with her entire hand.

“They'll share secrets anyway,” Urufu-kun said as if he and Kuri-chan had just agreed upon something. “But I don't know if he has deserved it,” he continued and pointed at Ryu with an equally exaggerated gesture.

Noriko frowned. Is that so? “Ryu, confess!”

“What? Sis!”

“Just do it. I want in on that secret of theirs. Make your pick if you're telling Urufu-kun or Kuri-chan first, but make it quick!”

“Sis!”

He really was her idiot brother. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

He bowed his head and caved in.

***

The larger than life midget had done it again. Now he stood here with five pair of eyes studying him with amusement glimmering in all of them.

Had he been that obvious?

Well, it was time to salvage what little self-esteem he had. The result of his confession was a given, but at least he could receive his rejection with style.

“Hamarugen-san, Ageruman-san,” he gave them both a bow, “you have heard my sister. It is my sincere hope she didn't offend you.”

“None taken,” they answered in unison. Their smiles told him they were more than aware where this was going.

“While she can be obnoxious sometimes, she is my sister and quite perceptive,” because apparently a blind bat could have seen me semaphoring my feelings, “and on this occasion she is correct. I confess that I have fallen for you, Ageruman-san, and I apologise in advance if that discomforts either of you two.”

Urufu-kun bowed as a sign of respect.

“I'm grateful,” Urufu-kun faced his sister, “for your feelings Noriko, but I'm dating Christina.”

A blushing Kuri-chan turned to him. “I'm equally proud to have your feelings, Ryu-kun. But I like Ulf.” She blushed even more.

Damn, you're beautiful!

“Will the two of you accept our friendship instead?” Urufu-kun asked.

“Will you?” Kuri-chan agreed.

Ryu looked at his sister. She was hurting, bad, but she nodded. Both of them rose. “Yes.”

Then she turned into that explosive ball of energy he had grown up with. “Secret! Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

Urufu-kun and Kuri-chan roared with laughter, and they were soon joined by Yu-kun and Kyoko-chan.

“Secret, as promised,” they agreed after the mirth had quieted down.

That night, neither Ryu nor Noriko got any sleep.

***

By now it was clear to Yukio that only three of their new club members had actually joined because they were truly interested in a cultural exchange.

Ando Hiroyuki was a silent boy with a crew cut and glasses from his and Urufu's class. Shibata Kichirou was Ando-san's opposite from 8:1 with long hair dyed to the colour and dignity of a carrot, and a uniform that always seemed on the verge of falling off.

Yukio tore down a poster from the wall while he tried memorising the new members.

There was Kimoshita Midori who was noteworthy in as much as that she was both a part of Ryu-kun's fan-club and a fervent admirer of everything European. She would have been cute hadn't it been for her long, unkempt hair.

It impressed him how anyone with hair halfway down their back still managed to have bed hair. Gravity ought to have prevented that. But the first year from 2:1 didn't know about the laws of nature, and so her hair branched out in one unnatural direction after another.

It was time for the drawers. He emptied one into a garbage bag. Did you guys ever use all of this? The crumbled poster followed.

Cleaning out the club room had become something of an archaeological dig. There were, literally, layers of stuff in the drawers. He beckoned to the closest club member to help him and immediately regretted it.

Saki-chan was not there for any cultural exchange. Ota Saki had moved here from Kyoto a year earlier, and it showed in her accent. It shows in your attitude as well.

She was also their latest member, having joined the club after that uncomfortable lunch. When Urufu rose in popularity you suddenly wanted a membership? Or is it because Ryu-kun looks more available now?

Right now she was throwing a tantrum because Urufu and Ryu-kun had left early to buy supplies. It was a very polite tantrum, but a tantrum nonetheless.

“The vice president and official mascot shouldn't have to run these kind of errands. People more suitable for the task, like you, should do that instead.”

OK, maybe not all that polite.

“But the vice president understands Sweden, just like President Ageruman-san,” Kimoshita-san countered, and continued fawning all over Kuri-chan.

The remaining idol in question sat together with Kyoko-chan and Noriko-chan and swapped banter with two girls on Skype. One was the Japanese girl who had helped set up the club in Sweden, and the other was, as he understood it, a third year who didn't look like anything he would have expected from Sweden.

There was, Yukio had started to understand, a certain lack of dominance when it came to blond, blue eyed people in that faraway land. And they wore no school uniforms, which was strange considering that Urufu had referred to it as an elite high school.

He listened to the peculiar conversation, part of it in Swedish, parts in English and some of it in Japanese whenever a misunderstanding needed to be cleared up. They really only did use first names in Sweden. Even the Japanese transfer-student spoke with Kuri-chan, Kyoko-chan and Noriko-chan as if they had grown up together.

He really didn't care all that much. What he did care about was how Noriko-chan had grown closer to Kyoko-chan and Kuri-chan since that spectacular evening in the Stockholm Haven Café.

But you're putting up a brave face right now, aren't you? I never guessed you were so into Urufu until Kuri-chan shot you down.

The secret told in the café. That was the reason why Ryu-kun followed Urufu like a subdued puppy wherever he went rather than strangling him.

Yukio smiled and tore down some more decoration from the walls. Cleaning day. It was time for their room to lose all Sengoku reminders and become a tacky dream for prospective tourists in need of a depopulated nation with endless forests, lakes everywhere, a coastline dotted with islands and fairy-tale towns.

Some of the printouts Urufu had plastered to the wall went as well. Because, Urufu you have sucky taste. Old posters, old music, old style clothes, well, old. He liked what Yukio's father might possibly have liked in his youth, and there was a reason.

The door opened and Wada Sango entered together with Taniguchi Jirou. Wada-san was a former member of Ryu-kun's fan-club, but she had taken a liking to the past president and only remaining member of the now defunct Sengoku Cultural Club, after he joined their club in search of a place to spend his time.

There had been a power-struggle for the presidency which had lasted for all of a few seconds, after which Kuri-chan asked him about similarities and differences between the Swedish social democrats and the LDP.

Yukio handed them the garbage bags he had filled and they left the same way they had come. She was part of the 3:1 bedlam, but Taniguchi-san was a sombre second year from 4:2. They made a good couple, even though none of them had dared to confess yet.

Like I'm the confession hero. I've hardly spoken with her since she rejected me. And what a rejection that was.

Yes, that was a problem. He wasn't merely experienced in confessing to girls he fancied. He was experienced in receiving a prompt rejection. But I don't want one this time. I like her too much. I don't dare to risk a strike out like with Noriko-chan.

And here he was, inside their club room and together with the object of his affection. And they only shared silence. She was currently glued to a computer screen and he was picking up trash and transforming it into garbage.

Yukio sighed. Two bags out. That meant that the two girls from 5:1, Ito Aika and Inoue Fumiko were on their way. Both solid admirers of Ryu-kun.

That left the home-grown brothers, Tanaka Dai and Tanaka Hideo, and no, they weren't brothers. They weren't even relatives. Tanaka Dai was a walking flagpole. He managed to make Urufu look short, and Tanaka Hideo was barely of average height. They usually hung around their leader Fukuda Sho. All of them from 3:1 and all admirers of Kuri-chan's.

Hitoshi Nori, the motor-mouth from 4:1, sat by the table talking to Sakurai Sakura from 3:1, whose parents needed their brains examined given what they had named their daughter. Too many pointless jokes had made her silent, and she was pretty much the perfect conversation partner for Hitoshi-san. He talked and she nodded.

There were another four members, but as they hadn't delivered a formal application Kuri-chan and Urufu pretended they didn't exist. The club really didn't need any more people at the moment.

The late afternoon passed in relative calm. The room got clean, the members tired and the Skype call finished. The last topic to be covered had been some kind of comparison between amusement parks.