At Mitakihara High, the club fair is in full swing. The long road between the school’s main building and its gates is packed with stalls and students, decked out in sports gear, handing out flyers or offering passing-by first-years samples of the fruits of their labour. The soccer club has a goal set up for those interested to practice their shots, and Ueno’s cooking club is offering a large variety of sweets and baked goods from around the world to taste.

In contrast, the Newspaper Club’s stall is little more than a table with some of last year’s issues on it, hastily decorated with some of Hanako’s plushies and an old typewriter Yosuke found lying around in the clubroom. Shinju channeled her enthusiasm into hawking and handing out leaflets, however, and she is carrying out her task with all the chutzpah she could muster. Koharu, on the other hand, is making a conscious effort to be at her absolute worst.

First-year girl: … So, eh… Is it true that you guys, like, published some girl’s nudes last year? My brother told me it was a whole thing.

Koharu: (she glares at the first-year, who is idly twirling her ponytail) Do you believe that? And what does that have to do with anything?

First-year girl: So, you’re not, like, denying it?

Koharu: (she leans in over the table, glaring at the girl) This club will publish anything as long as it gets us attention. That what you wanna hear?

First-year girl: Seriously? Gross… (the girl raises a judgmental eyebrow, glancing at her friend and the two disappear back into the crowd)

Yosuke: … (he sighs) Good going, Koharu.

Koharu: Not good going. (she angrily waves a sheet of paper into Yosuke’s face) Three people have signed up already. We have been compromised.

Yosuke: Or you could look at it from a different perspective, you know? We could get a bigger budget, buy some proper text processing software that wasn’t made in 1998?

Koharu: School’s not gonna spend another cent on me. If you think that, you—(she suddenly shuts up and turns around, grabbing one of the newspaper’s earlier issues off the table)

Yosuke: What the—? (he looks towards the crowd, seeing Sakurauchi wandering around and making casual conversation with the students manning the various stands) … Are you hiding from Ms. Sakurauchi?

Koharu: It’s Hanako’s turn to talk to people anyways. (she gestures at Hanako and Seia, who are busy sorting out some paperwork off to the side)

Hanako: Eh? Oh, um… alright. (She takes her post front and center, waiting for any incoming students)

???: (suddenly, a mellow voice speaks up, though Hanako seemingly can’t see who it came from) … Oh, hiya.

Hanako: (She looks around) Um… hello?

???: Over here. (the girl pops her head out from underneath the table) Your associate was staring daggers at me, so my instincts told me to hide. Yes. (she nods)

The freshman girl looks at the various newspapers on the table like treats at a buffet, slowly eying each and every one of them as if she can’t choose which to devour first. Her hair is a stark white, and messily done up in a short pigtail at the back of her head.

Hanako: Ah, um… don’t worry about that too much. What brings you here, anyway? (She gives a little smile) 

???: I wanna make a newspaper with you guys. I’m real good with computers and stuff.

Koharu: (drawn like a moth to a flame, she immediately brings down her hand on the table, appearing next to Hanako like a bolt from the blue) Computer club’s right there.

???: Oh, but… I also wanna talk to lotsa people. Can’t really do that in a computer club.

Hanako: Ah, um… we don’t exactly spend our time talking to people. The work we do is rather dull, quite often we’re in our own corners working in near silence to put the paper together. 

???: Don’t you do lotsa interviews? Hard-hitting reporting?

Hanako: What we do is admirable, but it is also a lot of menial busywork. The glamour of interviews and such, that’s for large media productions, I’m afraid. I could recommend debate club instead, or perhaps take a try at student council?

???: Well, I considered it, but there’s so many options, so I figured I’d pick the club where you get to check out all the other clubs. I can be your girl on the scene! Oh— and I can draw cartoons, too. I’ve got this adorable character that people’re gonna love. Yes. Lemme show you. (she pulls out her phone)

Koharu: You’re not listening. This club is not what you’re looking for.

Yosuke: (he clears his throat, putting a hand on Koharu’s shoulder) Senpai… A word, please?

Koharu: (she turns around, allowing him to pulls her away from Hanako and the talkative girl) What.

Yosuke: Err… H-How should I put this… Didn’t you have a deal with Ms. Sakurauchi about this? Cause this is starting to look a lot like you’re, kinda eh… (he lowers his voice) b-u-l-l-y-i-n-g this girl, if you, eh, catch my drift. 

Koharu: (under her breath) I know how to spell the word “bullying”.

Yosuke: Th-That’s not the point! The point is…Should we really be excluding this girl? Honestly, she seems as excited about journalism as you do…

Koharu: The deal was to advertise the club. (she gestures at Shinju excitedly striking up conversations with various freshmen passing by) Didn’t say anything about how we advertise. Besides, it’s not like that woman’s gonna hold up her end of the bargain.

Yosuke: (he sighs) Think of it this way, right? The more people we have, the bigger the odds of finding this killer right? I mean, I know we can’t tell the freshman about magic and stuff, but still, maybe one of them has an angle we haven’t explored yet. Imagine this girl can get us that one clue we need! Wouldn’t you beat yourself up for being so stubborn as to push her away?

Koharu: What are you talking about? Do you think there is even one iota of a chance that this girl, or any freshman for that matter, knows anything about homeless people getting shot behind Berry Marts in the middle of the night?

???: (leaning over the table so she can show Hanako her phone screen) — and I designed this one for my uncle! He runs an emergency clinic near… Well, you know where Yashikata station is, right?

Koharu: …

Yosuke: What the—

Hanako: Wait… but that would mean…

???: Oh, do you know him—

Koharu: (she darts back up to the table, getting close up into the girl’s face) Where is your uncle’s clinic?

???: I-Is there an emergency? Are you hurt, senpai?

Koharu: (she grabs an application sheet from the pile Seia has meticulously prepared and shoves it in front of the girl) Here. You wanna sign up? Give me the address of that clinic.

???: You can find it on Kazoo Maps. It’s called… eh, Yashikata Clinic, now that I think of it. Uncie’s not a very creative person, is he? Guess that’s why he needed me to—

Koharu: (she hastily hands the girl a pen before grabbing her backpack and storming off, pushing herself through the crowd of freshmen)

Yosuke: Koharu, wait! (he tries to give chase, but Koharu has already disappeared in the crowd, and he nearly crashes into a member of the cooking club carrying around a plate of freshly baked cupcakes) S-Sorry!

???: (as she stares at both Koharu and Yosuke running off) … Wow, she must have really loved that mascot. I’m Sara, by the way. Sara Mitsunaga. With the kanji for… eh, I forgot. But you write it like this. (she fills in her name on the application sheet) … I… think so, at least? Lemme check real quick. (she takes off her backpack and starts digging out various items, looking for something name-tagged)

Seia: (She scoots over to the front of the booth, turning her head in confusion at Koharu’s sudden departure) Well, I don’t really know what happened there, but it seems our president has taken off. Sorry about that. I heard everything from back there. I’m sure your yuru-chara are very cute.