Mia and I approach a noisy room. We heard the bangs and whirrs long before arriving at the door.

On top of the door, a handcrafted sign made from wood displayed the text, “Carpentry Club”.

Mia knocks on the door. No response. Well, that’s a given. The knocking would only sound like someone trying to talk in crowd during a concert. Nobody would be able to hear that.

I lean in front of her and open the door. It has gotten louder now.

Revealed inside the room is a group of students working on… something. What the hell is that?

A student that was facing the door noticed us. He said something to his peer next to him and then came to us.

“Hey. Sorry. Are we being too loud? I already told the other clubs. There’s nothing we can do. It’s not like we’re the ones who decided to install the equipment in this room. We’re also not responsible for assigning your club rooms. If you have a complaint, go talk to the administrators or something.”

Sounds like he has had visitors before.

Mia is the first to speak up.

“Ah? No. I mean, it is loud. But that’s not what we’re here for. We’re looking for someone.”

She turns to look at me.

“Is Todd Yu here today?”, I ask.

“Todd? Yeah. I’ll get him. But, don’t take him for too long.”

He heads back into the room and talks to one of the students working on the unidentifiable object. The student set his gloves aside and then approached us.

“You need something from me?”

“Hi! I’m Mia. Nice to meet you, Todd!”

She extends her hand out and Todd shakes it.

“Hey, I know you’re working on that… what is that, by the way?”

“Oh, that?”, Todd points behind him.

“We’re working on making sculptures. People are saying the specialization exam for carpentry has something like this in it. I think it’s all just a rumor, but practice is still practice.”

Mia stares at the sculpture and tilts her head in different angles, trying to make sense of it. I don’t blame her.

“Uh… what’s it supposed to be?”, she asks.

“A squid fighting with a whale.”

“Oh! I see it now! Right! Right! Of course! Why didn’t I see that?”, Mia nods vigorously.

You do?

“That’s not what we’re here for.”, I interrupted.

“That’s right!”, Mia said while making a serious face.

“Todd, you were a member of the gaming club, yeah?”

“I was. It dissolved a few years ago."

“Mhmm. Well, I’m starting it up again. Do you want to help me bring back the glory days of the old gaming club?”, Mia says with a triumphant smile on her face.

At first, Todd was surprised at this sudden request. His face then turns into a puzzled look.

“You’re reestablishing the gaming club now? Sorry, but I don’t really have the time right now. I’m happy to hear that you’re doing this, though. If you had only tried to start it earlier in the year, I might have joined. I’m really sorry.”

He truly does look apologetic. Mia raises her hands to stop him from apologizing further.

“Ah! It’s ok, no need to be sorry. You’re probably stressed out from all this work and all the studying, right? I get it, you’re busy.”

“Yeah, I do feel a bit exhausted. I don’t think I can join another club right now.” he replies.

“If you’re feeling so stressed, why not have a break? Get your mind off things occasionally. I usually relax after doing something tiring.”, I interject.

Mia picks up on my hint.

“We’re having a meeting tomorrow. So, if you ever want to take a quick break from your hard work, then you can just come on down to our club room.”

“Hmm. Might not be a bad idea. Well, I’ll think about it. But no promises!”, Todd said after thinking for a bit.

We finished up the conversation after that and said our farewells.

After walking a bit down the hallway, Mia gives me two thumbs up.

“Nice job, Kastille! What you said there was perfect. At this rate, we’re bound to find someone willing to join!”

“If only it were that simple.”

---

In the end, we could not find anybody willing to join the club. The other students we visited played a similar scenario to Todd’s. The previous members of the gaming club that we visited were happy about the club returning, but they had more pressing matters to attend to.

After returning to the commons, Mia and I sit down at a table near where we originally met.

It really is just not a good time to start a new club.

Mia is the first to speak after we sat down.

“Augh! Why does no one wants to join? I was sure one of the old club members would.”

She lays her head down and stretches her arms across the table.

Why is she asking why?

“Do you really not know why?”

She sighs and lifts her head from the table.

“Well, I know… It’s because the final exams are coming up.”

“So, you understand.”

“Yeah, yeah…”, she frowns.

She turns towards the wall of trophies, resting her head on her left arm. Breaking off eye contact and occupying herself with something else. Gazing away from a person you’re talking to is an easy and obvious signal.

“Shouldn’t you be worried about that?”

“The exams? Ehh… not really.”

“Not really? What do you mean?”

Mia glares at me from the corner of her eye.

“Well, I haven’t really picked a track. So, all I have right now are the general studies and prereqs.”

“You’d still need to prepare. Unless... Mia, how did you transfer to this school, anyway?”

“I got here by a recommendation.”

“And what about your scores?”

She quickly looks away.

“Mia. Do you know what school you enrolled in?”

The skin on her face adopts a shade of red.

“Okay! Okay! I know! I only went here because I didn’t want to turn down the recommendation, but I suck at studying so I’m probably gonna fail. I was barely even there at my last school. So, what? I gave up. What about you, huh? Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself instead of me?”

That was loud enough to get some attention from the nearby students in the commons. Good thing it wasn’t quite at the level of yelling.

Better calm her down.

“Well, I can afford to worry about you. I haven’t picked a track either, so I’m also doing the general studies and prerequisites. My grades aren’t that bad.”

“Wait, really? You haven’t picked a track? I thought you would have picked something like business management or something.”

I’m glad I can use her own curiosity against her. The conversation seems to have calmed down now. She’s looking my way now, too.

“I have a plan for myself. I don’t really need to pick a track.”

Considering my current circumstances, I might need to think about it more seriously…

I hope not. That would be such a bother.

“Must be nice to have a plan for your own future. What are your grades, by the way?”, she asks.

“I’ve been top scorer in all the courses I’ve taken and in the general studies track.”

“Top!? Like, number one?”

“Yeah. Perfect scores on the last exams.”

Her jaw drops.

“Seriously? Ah, well, I guess that’s not that surprising. It’s still surprising that you don’t have a track picked out, though. Aren’t you going to follow your mom’s or your dad’s tracks?”

“No.”

“Eh? Uh. Are you going to tell me why?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Now I really want to know. Please?”

Uh-oh. The ‘curiosity switch’ has activated. It’d be really tiring if I continue to say no, because these kinds of people would continue asking. I’d rather not deal with such an annoyance.

I sigh before speaking, “Alright, since you’re so incessant… I can’t follow my parents because they’re both failures. My dad is a sad excuse of an entrepreneur, losing at every turn. My mother has a useless degree and now works at two separate part time jobs. There is nothing for me to follow.”

She raises her eyebrows.

“Failures, huh?”

Suddenly, her face calms down and she gives me a gentle smile. Her eyes tell me something different, though.

“That’s a funny word to use. But, now that you’ve said that, I’m beginning to think that word fits with my parents as well. I guess we’re more alike than I thought.”

It grows quiet. While she stares silently down at the table in front of us, I observe her. I didn’t expect things to turn out this melancholic.

I clear my throat.

“The students that we visited today. None of them flat out said ‘no’, right? Most of the responses we got were ‘maybes’ and ‘I’ll think about it’. We still have tomorrow’s meeting.”

Mia perks up, “Oh, you’re right! This isn’t over yet.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t over yet.

“I think we’ve done what we can for today. You’ve got that temporary club room, so let’s meet up there for tomorrow.”, I said before she gets too hyped up.

Whether Mia’s club gets members tomorrow or not, it will be the end of this job. I can’t wait.