Tokyo: Idol Girls have absolutely no bad intentions!

Fujikawa Kaze started to stammer as he spoke, and Ito realized something was wrong, so he slowed down.

"to be honest."

“Uh, well, that’s not it…” Fujikawa Kaze slowed his pace. “Okay, I admit I was wrong about this too.”

"Be more specific," Ito said, no longer in a hurry.

“I didn’t attend the last meeting with the club president, and then they seemed to be doing daily random checks. Yesterday they picked the film club, and nobody in the club was there.” Fujikawa Kaze looked embarrassed.

It's no wonder that efforts to crack down on bad clubs have increased. There are certainly quite a few like the film club, but it's rare to see a club president as unconventional as Fujikawa Kaze.

If it were the student council, they would have simply disbanded a film club that had no members.

If you don't look at it through the lens of your 20,000 yen, Nagano Sae is actually quite humane.

He was speechless at the film club's unreliability, and even began to doubt the abilities of its members.

He also hoped that members of the film club could provide assistance for the subsequent filming of the stage play.

I clearly remember that just a few months ago, the film club was full of passionate kids, like Fujikawa Kaze, who even won the "Best New Director" award at the regional student film festival.

How did things come to this?

They arrived at the activity room belonging to the film club, opened the sliding door, but the student council members responsible for the inspection were not there.

"Thank goodness..." Fujikawa Kaze breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and gestured for Ito to find a place to sit down.

The equipment in the film club was arranged in a mess. Tripods were leaning against the corner, lens cap rollers were on the side, and several rolls of unopened film were scattered on the desks.

Ito picked up the storyboard at his feet; it depicted a scene of a man and a woman parting ways.

"Is this really okay?"

"It's alright, Ito-senpai." A sturdy, overweight man walked in from behind him, found a chair and sat down. "Long time no see, senpai."

"Long time no see, Miura."

Following Ryota Miura's arrival, three more people entered: Vice President Aoi Natsumi (a third-year student), Eri Utsu (a first-year student), and Yuto Takahashi (a second-year student).

These are all the members of the film club. Ito Ii greeted them.

"Hello, you must be the legendary Ito-senpai. Nice to meet you." The girl named Utsu Eriri bowed to Ito, her twin ponytails swaying.

Please take care of me.

This girl is the only member recruited by the film club this year, and she even submitted her application voluntarily.

There are only five members in total. If you include him, there are only six. Most of them are third-year students. Once they graduate, the film club will really have to disband automatically.

"Has the video for the summer cultural festival been edited yet? The student council is urging us to get it."

"I'm wondering whether to keep your cross-dressing part from the cultural festival," Summer Aoi replied to Fujikawa Kaze, leaning lazily against her chair with her eyes closed.

"That kind of thing will definitely be deleted immediately." Fujikawa Kaze said with a dark face.

That's not necessarily true. Ito thought it would be better to send him a copy before deleting it.

Seemingly sensing his thoughts, Xia Rikui half-opened her eyes and gave Ito an 'OK' sign.

"Bang, bang."

There was a knock on the door of the activity room.

Chapter 80 The Final Ultimatum

The sudden knocking on the door drew everyone's attention.

A petite figure stood at the doorway, holding a writing board in her hand, her gaze sweeping over the people in the activity room.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you." After saying that, he walked into the activity room.

"Oh, it's Xiaozhi. So it's you who's here to inspect the work."

Fujikawa Kaze stood up and walked over to Matsuzaka Hae with great enthusiasm, showing no airs of a senior.

“Look, all of us from the club are here. We were just discussing artistic creation.” Fujikawa held out his hand to Matsuzaka Hae.

Just then, the storyboard on the ground was blown by the wind outside the window to Matsuzaka Hae's feet. She bent down to pick up the storyboard, looked at Fujikawa, and remained silent.

"Ha, ha." Fujikawa took the storyboard away. "I've been too busy lately and haven't had time to organize it."

I don't know if this clumsy explanation will fool Matsuzaka Haeda, but Ito thinks it's unlikely to work.

When Ito was in Matsusaka Haeda's observation room, he was also observing the other person. He remembered that the other person was conducting disciplinary checks with Fujikawa Kaze every morning.

As for specific details, they are unclear. Fujikawa only said that the other party was difficult to deal with and seemed to be a confidant of Nagano Sae.

"3:40 PM," she checked her watch and wrote the time down on the whiteboard with a ballpoint pen.

"Xiaozhi, what are you doing?" Fujikawa Kaze glanced at the paper, trying to see what was on it.

"The necessary procedures." After recording the time, Xiaozhi turned her attention to Yingyingli, the youngest member of the club.

She walked slowly to the other person, with Fujikawa following behind.

"What did you gain from joining the film club?"

Yingyingli looked flustered, her eyes filled with panic, and she looked to the other club members for help.

However, she overlooked the unreliability of her seniors, who either avoided eye contact or stared at the cracks in the floor as if deep in thought. Finally, she looked at Ito, and their eyes met briefly before quickly passing by.

Ito noticed a fleeting hint of self-mockery in the other person's eyes.

What do you mean?

Although he knew nothing about the film club, he was still a long-time member.

"We harvested a lot," Yingyingli nodded vigorously.

"Be more specific?" Matsuzaka Hae's pen stopped on the paper.

"I gained a lot of experience."

“Eirin has not been a member of the club for long, so we have only let her learn and observe from the sidelines, and she hasn’t had much hands-on experience yet.”

The reliable Fujikawa dealt with the film club's only remaining member before Matsuzaka Hae could continue to press for answers.

It was impossible to tell from Matsuzaka Hane's expression whether she was satisfied with the answer or not.

As expected of Nagano Sae's capable subordinate, she has maintained a poker face since she came in, and has the potential to become the next president.

After that, she asked each member of the club one by one. When it was Ito's turn, she skipped over him, which clearly showed that she knew about Ito's nature.

Ito, who had already thought of how to answer, felt like he was being treated specially.

After recording everyone's answers, she nodded and finally pointed the finger at Fujikawa.

"Now, on behalf of the student union, I would like to ask a few questions and give a final notice."

"Those were all her personal problems," everyone thought at the same time, and they all felt a chill for Fujikawa.

"Please speak." Fujikawa straightened his back and became fully alert.

Is it true that your organization has ghost members?

Matsusaka Hachiko turns a new page, the sound of the pages rubbing together standing out in the quiet activity room.

"Huh?" After a brief moment of surprise, Fujikawa's expression turned stern, and his tone became somewhat angry. "Nonsense. Every member of the film club is indispensable. It would be a disservice to everyone else if there were ghost members."

"I will never allow this to happen, and I believe that anyone who becomes a ghost member is lazy, unambitious, uncooperative, completely lacking in teamwork, and selfish..."

I'm truly sorry, I'm a sinner.

Ito chuckled to himself, noticing out of the corner of his eye that everyone else was staring at him, and he couldn't hide the smile on his face.

Miura, the chubby second-year student, patted Ito on the shoulder, signaling him not to take it to heart, but Ito could clearly feel the other's body trembling slightly.

There's no need to laugh so excessively.

"Then, regarding your second question, what were you doing during club time last Thursday and this Monday? Why was no one there? Did you not receive any notification?"

Ito strongly suspects that the activity room was empty for more than just those two days; it just so happened that it was discovered on those two days.

I'm not the only ghost member.

“That’s because we’re shooting outdoors. You know, making movies requires going out a lot.”

Matsuzaka Hane remained noncommittal, but wrote on the paper, "Remember to apply next time."

“One last question,” Matsuzaka Hae’s pen paused at the edge of the page, “when will the video for the cultural festival be delivered?”

"Whoo~"

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief, having thought the questions would be even more pointed.

"It will be ready this week."

"Ah."

Matsuzaka Hae's nod signified the end of the investigation. It wasn't as troublesome as Ito had imagined, and it wasn't even as troublesome as the previous investigations.

"There's one last announcement." Matsuzaka Hae put away her pen, and as she said this, everyone's hearts, which had just settled, jumped back into their throats.

The atmosphere in the activity room became heavy, with only the creaking of leaves in the wind outside.

"Please submit your club activity application within one week. The student council will decide whether to disband the film club based on the quality of the completed club activity."

"what?"

"what?"

Eiri and Miura exclaimed in surprise, while Natsumi squinted, and even Ito was somewhat taken aback.

"Xiaozhi, did you hear that right? It should be something like abolishing film club funding..." Fujikawa said.

"No." Matsuzaka Hanae shook her head. "According to school regulations, club activity funding is determined by the achievements club members make for the school. Based on your club's current situation, it remains the highest level, and that will not change."

That's certainly true; winning an award at a regional student film festival is no easy feat.

Ito's gaze fell on the trophies and group photos in the display case against the wall.

After all, many of the other entries had guidance from industry experts, and their ability to break through the competition caused quite a stir.

Even though the previous students have graduated, the current club members are still involved.

For example, the blond-haired president who won the "Best New Director" award.