The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

LEO

"Did you think about what clubs to join yet?" Thomas asked me.

"Eh? Clubs?"

"Yeah, the application is due this Friday," he said.

That made me vaguely remember. There was some talk about the diverse range of clubs we could join as first-year students at the Academy, and Janice did mention something about wanting to join the choir as well when we had our weekend trip. After her singing, none of us—other than Janice—had any doubt whatsoever that she could fail the audition. As someone who wasn’t particularly good at anything (and even the things that I was ’okay’ at, I was nowhere near as good as Janice was at singing!), it puzzled me why someone with such talent would feel scared and unsure of things.

"What club are you joining, Thomas?" Dimitri asked, putting a big piece of bread into his mouth as the four of us sat on a bench outside for lunch: Thomas, Dimitri, Alexis, and me. (Marius said he had to go somewhere, and Briant said he wanted to have lunch with another group—he always seemed to be trying to get to know more people and be friends with them.)

"I’m thinking about joining the cooking club," Thomas said, shrugging.

"Huh? Isn’t that for the ladies?" Alexis asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

"Oh boy, you better not say that in front of Janice," Dimitri said with a chuckle, which made Thomas laugh.

"Oh, is Isabelle joining the cooking club too, then?" I asked, thinking that maybe that’s why Thomas wanted to join the cooking club. But Thomas shot back quickly, saying,

"Hell no. I’m not going to join the same club as her."

"Ah, so you are joining so you can learn to cook for her. Just as Janice said men should," Dimitri joked.

"Shut up," Thomas said with a groan, giving Dimitri a punch on the shoulder, which he did not dodge and which simply bounced off his bulky muscles.

"What club are you joining then, Dimitri?" I asked this time.

"Kick-ball club, of course."

"That makes sense," I said, remembering Dimitri’s passion for kick-ball. (I also realized that we hadn’t played kick-ball together yet, and thought that someday I’d suggest we play a match. I wasn’t particularly great at it, but it was one sport that I knew how to play—unless they had different rules in the city...)

"I’m thinking about joining the debate club," Alexis said.

"Doesn’t sound too exciting to me," Thomas said, unimpressed.

"I’m hoping it’d help me get better at public speeches."

Alexis sounded like he really looked forward to it. He was always keen on improving, be it swordsmanship or his studies.

And here I was, still not knowing what to do.

"So, how about you, then, Leo?" Alexis asked me this time.

"I don’t know... I don’t even know what clubs there are," I said.

"There are so many different kinds. Anything from choir to kick-ball, debate club to arts, cooking, literature, acrobatics, hunting, and so on," Alexis said enthusiastically.

None of them sounded like something I would be good at.

Then suddenly I got curious.

"I wonder what club Marius is joining...?" I asked no one in particular.

"Definitely not the choir, hah!" Dimitri said, making Thomas and me laugh.

"What’s wrong with his singing?" Alexis asked.

"Oh right, you weren’t there," Thomas said, remembering that Alexis didn’t join us at the weekend trip to the lodge and missed Marius’s big performance.

"I’m sure he’s not as horrible as you guys make him out to be. I can’t imagine Marius being bad at anything," Alexis said.

"We should get him to sing for your birthday or something then," Thomas laughed and added.

"I’d be happy to have him sing for my birthday! But—realistically, he’s probably joining the Student Council," Alexis said matter-of-factly.

"Student Council?" I asked.

"That sounds like such a Marius thing to do," Dimitri remarked.

"Or more like a Valenkraft thing to do," Thomas added.

"He is just a very responsible man, that’s all. I think it’s admirable that he takes the duties of being a Valenkraft so seriously," Alexis tried to defend Marius.

"What is the Student Council?" I asked again.

"They are like representatives of the students, sort of like a self-governing body. They do a lot of support work for students in need and also act as a communication channel between students and the teaching staff. They are also the ones responsible for organizing a lot of student activities, like club schedules, events, festivals, and so on," Alexis explained kindly.

"Festivals?!" I asked, happy to hear that word.

"Yes, there are a few scheduled per year. I attended one last year when they had a public open day," Dimitri said.

"Yup, with me and Briant," Alexis added.

"A festival club sounds fun...," I said.

"You are probably thinking something silly, Leo. But all the clubs participate in festivals and have their own events during the festival, so it won’t actually matter which club you join. You will get to enjoy the festival," Thomas said, knowing what I was thinking in my mind.

"Why don’t you ask Marius then? He probably knows a lot about the Academy already and all the different clubs there are," Alexis suggested.

"Do you think it would be okay?" I asked.

"Of course, why not? He’s kind to his friends," Alexis said.

’Friends...’

I remembered that time I became a tree in the forest and inadvertently overheard Marius and Briant’s conversation. Marius did say back then that he wanted to make friends... I didn’t believe him back then because I thought he was holding grudges against me for bumping into him on the first day... but since then, we had been getting somewhat close. When I thought about it now, I realized that I wasn’t so scared of him anymore, and we had some good times during the survival mission and the last weekend at the lodge too. He even sang for me despite being so horrible at it, and that was really nice of him.

"I guess I’ll just do that then when I see him later," I said.

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