I don’t want to join any clubs…

"Do you plan on joining any clubs or organizations this semester?" Jiho asks. Zoan looks up from her book, a purple highlighter in hand, her gaze landing on the stack of papers in Jiho's hands.

Or are they flyers? What time is it? Zoan is sure school ended minutes ago, and she's mostly here to review for tomorrow's quiz.

"Club? Ah… not really, I'm not interested," Zoan replies, waving a hand dismissively before focusing back on her paper, crossing out her mistakes. She sighs, burying her head in her arms.

She got 5 out of 30 wrong.

"I'm pretty sure it's mandatory to join a club," Jiho says, slapping a flyer down in front of Zoan. She raises her head, staring at it—it's a Chess Club flyer.

Zoan gives Jiho an incredulous look, grabbing the flyer and handing it back. "No thanks, I don't play chess," she says, closing her book. She flinches when Jiho slams another flyer on her table.

This time it's for the badminton club. Zoan pushes it away again. "No thanks." Jiho sighs, sliding her chair out from under the desk and sitting beside Zoan.

"Why are you the one handling the flyers? I thought that was for club leaders," Zoan asks, confused as she turns to Jiho.

Jiho lets out a small squeak, her face flushing. "I—uh, I volunteered," she mumbles. Zoan almost misses it until she leans closer, noticing Jiho's flushed cheeks.

"Sorry?" Zoan asks.

"I volunteered," Jiho repeats, lowering her head in embarrassment. "But you have work later; shouldn't you use your spare time to rest?" Zoan says, concern creeping into her voice.

Jiho perks up. "Will you help me then? We need to post these flyers on the school boards, from the first floor to the eighth floor."

"Eighth floor?!" Zoan almost yells. "Why are you volunteering for this? And no, I did not say yes—" she protests, but Jiho has already handed her a stack of flyers before running out of the room.

"Jiho!" Zoan yells, springing to her feet.

But Jiho has already dashed away, laughter trailing behind her. "That girl!" Zoan groans, exasperated. She hadn't even agreed to help!

Now, though, she's stuck with the flyers. If she doesn't do it, they'll blame Jiho…

With a resigned sigh, Zoan stuffs her books into her bag, grateful that Thead bought her a messenger bag. She'd once complained that backpacks were bad for her back and that she wanted to maintain good posture—Qian wouldn't let her live it down if she had bad posture.

At least Thead listened. She can fit the flyers inside and leave the flap open as she pins them on the boards. Still, it doesn't mean she has to like it.

Pinning flyers instead of studying—how stupid! Zoan grumbles to herself. Jiho is nice but such a pushover! With frustration, she slams a stubborn pin into the board, forcing it in until it's buried deep.

She's pretty sure it won't be easy to pull out now, but she doesn't care. On the fifth floor, she continues stamping flyers on the boards when Jiho strolls by, now empty-handed.

Spotting the last few flyers on Zoan's arm, Jiho grins. "Thank you!" she chirps, but Zoan responds with a deadpan look, slamming her palm onto one of the pins, causing Jiho to gawk.

"Hey! They won't be able to pull that out!" Jiho whines, approaching Zoan and attempting to remove the pin, only to fail. Zoan can't help but grin at her frustration as Jiho crosses her arms, giving her an expectant look.

"I'm pinning it in place, securely," Zoan said, glaring at Jiho as she pouted, snatching the flyer from Zoan and walking away to pin it on the board herself.

Zoan sighed, rolling her eyes. She followed after the perpetually pouting girl, whose cheeks were puffed out. "Stop pouting," Zoan teased, pinching Jiho's cheeks.

"'M not! Stop that," Jiho weakly swatted Zoan's hand away, but the taller girl only grinned, chuckling softly. Zoan poked Jiho on the cheek a few more times before opting to follow her like a duckling trailing its mother.

"What's that?" Zoan asked as they passed an open classroom door. Jiho paused, tilting her head in confusion. "I have no idea why it's open, but I'm pretty sure this was Aliani and her gang's room," she said.

Zoan raised an eyebrow. "You can get a room here?"

"What? No—not really. But somehow Aliani got her hands on one of the Art Club rooms and took it for herself. I heard she demolished the art club, and now it doesn't exist anymore. The teacher who led it also resigned," Jiho sighed, shaking her head.

She sounded disappointed. "Jiho, were you part of that club back then?" Zoan asked, curious.

Jiho blushed. "I—I guess? I was about to join last year, but then it was announced that the Art Club was gone."

Zoan nodded in understanding. There seemed to be a lot happening at Golden High that she hadn't heard about. "That sucks. You think someone would bring it back?" she asked, but Jiho just shrugged as she peeked inside the room.

"I have no idea, but it looks different now. I was sure this room was messier when Aliani had it," she murmured.

"Who are you two?" a voice called from behind, causing both Zoan and Jiho to jump and turn around. They found a small girl—about Jiho's shoulder height—holding two large cans of paint. 

Her hair was long, accented with light pink highlights. "Hi! Uhm… didn't Aliani use to own this room?" Jiho asked, wrapping her arms around Zoan after being startled by the other girl.

The girl's eyes widened. "Are you interested in joining the arts club?" she asked, her initial suspicion melting away into excitement.

Zoan raised an eyebrow, glancing at Jiho, who looked utterly confused. "I thought that club was demolished and disbanded?" Zoan remarked.

Jiho's mouth opened and closed in confusion, struggling to find a response.