Monday came around. It was time for the clubs of Skyline Junih to start recruiting new members.

  Each club captured a spot to advertise the club. Some spread along the hallways, others filled the schoolyard and some even took trol of entire s. They all prepared tables, flyers, posters, mid everything else they could get their hands on. pared to that, the Cssmaners club...

  "This area will be free," The club advisor, Ms. Stone, showed them to an area in the middle of nowhere on the schoolyard. “That’s the best the school could give. Just do your best. Good luck.”

  “You think that hag even try iating anythier?” Luke rolled his eyes.

  “Shh! She’ll hear you!” Vi waved his arms around and tried to hide Luke from view. Thankfully, Ms. Stone has already vanished from view.

  “I gotta agree,” Kai crossed her arms. “This sucks. We’re surrounded by enemies on all sides.”

  “‘Enemies’ is a little...” Vi scratched his head. In a way, Kai was right. All the clubs peted over the same general audiehe freshmen. And, thanks to this amazing arra, the Cssmancers club was lost out here in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by dozens of other clubs.

  Just to reach their table, a freshman would have to pass through at least three different clubs along the way. What were the ces of su adventurer reag its destination with all these temptations along the way?

  Not to mention, the sun was bzing hot today. Most students stayed ihe building as they toured around, so the number of possible didates was already cut down by more than half. These were all rough circumstances for the club.

  However, it was too early to give up! This was no club of quitters. They shall overe this ordeal and find all the stro pyers in the area! The Den of Undiscovered Potential shall suck all these pyers in like a bck hole!

  "Alrighty," Vi fished inside his backpack. "This is what I prepared for today."

  He took out the registration forms. They were updated to the test format they agreed upon on Friday. Yuel was a tad cautious of leaving this with the responsibility of printing everything but Vi proved himself.

  Of course, just in case, Yuel has already checked where he could print some copies at school. He even brought money with him to pay for it as hankfully, it was unnecessary in the end.

  "Oh!" Lars grabbed a registration form and nodded in approval. "This looks sick!"

  "I have to admit," Yuel nodded as well. "It's well done. Surprisingly."

  "Please," Vi objected. "I think ’surprisingly’ was unnecessary there."

  Vi indeed prihe registration form as they agreed on but he also added some extra fvor to the design. Thankfully, it wasn't any of the terrible designs he showed them st week. This time, the design was simple and effective.

  The form had one of the official Cssmancers apers and stylized text for better visibility. There were no silly terms y images pstered on it. Just a simple and well-edited background that caught the eye.

  In fact, it was so well-dohat Yuel wao keep a copy. Lars shared the same se and acted before Yuel fihe thought. The goof stuffed like five flyers into his backpack while everybody else was busy appreciating them out. Truly, these flyers were well-made; astonishingly well-made.

  "You made then yourself?" Yuel asked.

  "Nah, I asked my mom to fix something," Vi admitted. "You all didn't like my godlike photoshop edits, so I figured I'll let a pro ha."

  "That was defihe right choice,” Yuel nodded.

  "I have a feeling you're making fun of me."

  "You think so?"

  This wasn't even the end of pleasant surprises. Vi fished in his bag some more.

  "I alsht these," Viook out big posters of Cssmancers. "I'd put them on a wall... if we had one!"

  "We use them as a table cover," Kai suggested.

  "My poor, poor posters," Vi pretend to be teary-eyed while caressing the posters like his babies. "Reduced to the rank of a mere tablecloth. Not like this."

  With that, everything was ready. At least, as ready as it could possibly be uhe harsh circumstahey had a (terrible) spot to advertise from, their table was covered with a big nice-looking Cssmancers picture and they had a bunch of eye-catg flyers which doubled as registration forms.

  "So," Yuel started. "How do we go about it?"

  "Normally," Kai said. "Some stay behind to collect registrations while others walk around and hand out the flyers."

  "I'll stay to guard the fort," Luke announced right away. He already grabbed himself a chair from somewhere and sat down.

  "Okay," Lars grabbed a bunch of flyers. "I'mma run all over the pd advertise the club to everybody! The goal is to make at least half the schister!"

  "You know we only get one new member, right?" Yuel asked.

  "No problem! If the school sees how popur the club is, it'll raise the limit for sure! All the clubs gonna be bined into the Cssmancers club, yo!"

  "That won't happen but keep up that spirit."

  "Make sure to recruit girls too," Kai reminded. "As we agreed, girls will get a priority."

  "Yes," Yuel added. "But, only if they're at least Lv.30. Don't bother recruiting girls who never heard of the game."

  "Okey-dokey!" Lars saluted and dashed off with the stack of flyers. "Seeya dudes ter!" And poof. He was gone.

  "I'll walk around too," Viook a stack of flyers. "I trust Lars, the Sun Messiah, to cover the schoolyard. So, I'll walk ihe building and see who I vert."

  "Are you sure you're not just going to sck off?" Kai narrowed her eyes.

  "You hurt my feelings, m'dy," Vi acted as if a bde just pierced his chest. "I'm the most passionate in here about recruiting! I seek to add as many new potentials as possible to our Den of Undiscovered Potential!"

  "But," Yuel retorted. "You're not passionate enough to do it uhe sun."

  "Unlike you three, I don't possess an Anti-Sunlight Noble Phantasm."

  He robably referring to the fact Yuel, Kai and Luke were all wearing sports caps. For Kai, this was the norm and she even wore the cap in csses. However, Yuel and Luke came especially prepared for the worst-case sario today. pared to them, despite how well Vi prepared with the flyers and everything, he fot t a cap for outside activities. It was the miscalcution of the tury!

  "Well," Vi g Yuel and Luke. "If any of you kilemen is willing to leheir cap, I shall gdly walk down this scorched nd ahe infernal sun in order to spread the word about our secret cult!"

  When did we bee a "cult"? Yuel made a face. Then again, what kind of club holds activities in the basement? Illuminati team firmed.

  "So? Anybody wants to leheir cap?" Vi asked again but only from Yuel and Luke. Kai wasn't even an option for some reason.

  "No way, man," Luke waved his hand in dismissal. "I ain't giving up my cap here. My brain gon without it. It's hot as hell today."

  "Agreed," Yuel nodded. "I rather keep my cap too."

  "Alrighty," Vi shrugged. "Then, the building is my domain. You, the chosen ones who carry the legendary rank S Anti-Sunlight phantasms, shall stay outside a the sun's infernal bze!"

  Viook a stack of papers, shoved them into his backpad strode toward the school building. Even though Lars and Vi both took big stacks with at least thirty flyers, there were still plenty of flyers left behind oable. Just how many copies did Vi print? He was really into this whole thie knowing they’ll get only one member at best.

  There were three members around the table and the big stack of flyers was calling them. Somebody should probably take them for a walk but nobody volunteered. Eventually, one of them broke the silence.

  "You should go around and advertise too," Kai pushed the stack of flyers toward Yuel.

  "How about you do it while I stay here?" Yuel pushed the stack ba Kai's dire.

  "That won't do," Kai pushed the stack toward him again. "I'm the captain so I have to stay in the base."

  "Nobody outside the club knows or cares about you being the captain," Yuel pushed the flyers back. "Besides, this isn't some military operation. You walk around without any risk to your life."

  "The captain's job is tahe operation. Leg work is for the grunts."

  "I'm not even an official member. You should be grateful I'm even helping out."

  "Oh, I'm very grateful. Now, how about you do some actual work and take a stroll?"

  "I don't believe leg work is my stro suit."

  Wham. Half of the flyers slipped off the table due to their tug of war.

  "Are you guys, like, five?" Luke made a face.

  "I don't wanhat from somebody who acts like he came here on a vacation," Kai shot him a look. "Where did you even did that chair from?"

  "Grabbed from one of the csses."

  "That makes us look really unprofessional," Yuel said. "Everybody is standing iher stalls."

  "Hey, you two are standing," Luke chuckled. "That's good enough to create a serious image. Haha."

  "Now, seriously," Kai said. "We least one more person to walk around. Two recruiters aren’t enough."

  "Sure seems like it," Yuel agreed. The entire school was like a war zht now.

  "e join the soccer club!"

  "Our basketball club went to nationals two years in a row!"

  "Free cookies over here for anybody who signs up!"

  It felt like huge armies were fighting for the freshmen’s attention. Meanwhile, the Cssmancers club only deployed two soldiers to the field. No matter how much ground Lars and Vi cover, they won’t be able to win this war.

  "Wait," Yuel looked around. "Where's Ben?"

  "Um," Kai gnced away. "He's busy with other things."

  "Like what?"

  "Well..." Kai left the question hanging for a while. A long while.

  "I bet he's helping his pals from another club," Luke said. "What did these guys join, again? I think it was basketball."

  "Probably," Kai nodded relutly.

  "Basketball again?" Yuel raised an eyebrow. Last time, Ben already excused his absence from club activity with that “basketball” excuse. He’s at it again? What gives? He’s part of the Mancers club, not the basketball club.

  “Why does he keep hanging around the basketball club?” Yuel asked.

  “That’s...” Kai started but didn’t finish again.

  “Let’s just say,” Luke leaned ba his chair and took out sungsses. “It’s better to not get involved.”

  “Are you supposed to be a tourist or something?” Yuel made a face. With the cap, sungss, and that id back pose, it felt like Luke only came here fhtseeing aing himself a tan.

  Seriously, this whole procedure is so me. Yuel sighed deeply. Everything about today was so unahat he wao cry. It was miles away from how everything was handled in StormBlitz. Even after the club carefully went over the details on Friday, they still found themselves in this messy situation and had to improvise on the spot.

  It wasirely their fault, though. Even though they undoubtedly could’ve prepared better and agree on the roles ahead of time, the school itself was rgely responsible for how messy everything was. Instead of letting the club borroroper spa which they could advertise themselves a applications, this entire procedure became a battle royale.

  It was a raging sea of people flowing all over the pce. Loud shouts. Wild hand motions. People dashing. It was like an active war zone. Yuel will be swallowed whole if he dares to step in there. Gulp.

  In the middle of this whole chaos, the Cssmancers club only had a tiny stall that was posed of just oable. They were like a needle in a haystao surprise nobody paid any attention to them. Did people even realize they were recruiting?

  “e to the Tennis club! We got hot boys!”

  “Swimming is the healthiest sport! e to the swimming club if you want to be fit!”

  “Soccer! e py soccer! Soccer!”

  pared to these loud advertisements, the Cssmancers stall was pletely silent. Literally nothing about it drew anybody’s attention. It was a total disaster.

  “So?” Luke motioned with his while lying ba his chair with his sungsses on. “Anybody gonna call people over or what?”

  “That’s...” Kai pursed her lips. No matter how Yuel looked at her, she definitely wasn’t the type to raise her void shout out loud. And, Yuel wasn’t the type either.

  “How about you do it?” Yuel asked.

  “Me?” Luke poi himself. “Alrighty, I guess I could. How much ya gonna pay me for it, though?”

  “Let’ see,” Yuel rolled his eyes. “How about I don’t nag yrading your meme picks? For each person y in, that’s one day free of nagging.”

  “You know what? You got yourself a deal,” Luke gave a thumbs up and stood up. “CLASSMANCERS CLUB! Do you y a video game during club activities? Then e to the Cssmancers club!”

  “Wha,” Yuel frowned. Luke’s volume was high enough to make some heads turn but what’s with these terrible lines!? Advertising the Cssmancers club as some zy “gaming club” was the st thing the club needed!

  “You know we’re searg strictly for petitive pyers, right?” Yuel asked.

  “Welp, you ain’t gon any petitive pyers if you got no pyers at all.”

  “... I suppose that’s true,” Yuel had to cede. Even though this was terrible marketing, at least it got the attention of some people. A few students came to the stall to hear more.

  “What’s that Css thing?”

  “Is this really a video gaming club?”

  Unfortunately, it mostly attracted the wrong kind of crowd. No offeo any of these students, but they weren’t the target audience. Yuel would gdly vert ead every one of them into a high-level Cssmancer pyer but that was impossible with the club’s strict limit.

  “Yes, this is a club for the game Cssmancers,” Kai frohe crowd. “But, we only search for petitive pyers who already know how to py.”

  “Eeeeh? That’s a bummer.”

  “Hey, I think I heard of the game before. Does that t?”

  “Well, I haven’t pyed this o I’m Gold in League of the As. So, I’m kinda a pro. Does that t?”

  The freshmen raided the stall with their curiosity.

  “No, no, and no,” Kai shot down ead every one of them. “We only accept experienced pyers. If you want to pin to anybody, pin to the school for its strict rules.”

  “Meh, that’s dumb. Let’s go.”

  “You have no idea what you guys are missing. I’m totally a pro pyer. LotA is way better than that crap anyway.”

  One by ohe students left and the crowd thinned out. Only three didates remaio sign up. They actually had some experiender their belt so they were relevant. One was a Lv.43 pyer, another was Silver III and the st was a rather impressive Gold V.

  “That’s twelve days free of nagging for me,” Luke reminded.

  He was serious about that part? Yuel smiled wryly. “But, only three people registered.”

  “Hey, I didn’t say anything about how maer. I brought in twelve, so I get twelve days of peace.”

  “Heh, fair enough,” Yuel produced a dry ugh. It was amazing somebody actually put in the work just for the sake of not getting nagged by Yuel. Perhaps he should exploit this kind of deal more often.

  At any rate, even with Luke doing a loud advertisement, they failed to attract a rge crowd. Were they really going to recruit anybody at this rate? Not to mention, not a single girl has applied so far...