Chapter 180 - Chapter 160 What Remains, What is Left Behind
"The cleaning supplies are here."
"Roger."
That said, we're not a sports club, and we usually keep the club room tidy, so it's probably just a matter of dusting and tidying up. And Mion was frozen stiff…
"By any chance, have you never done this before?"
To that question, Mion, who had taken off her VR HMD, nodded repeatedly. She truly is a young lady of impeccable breeding. These days, there aren't schools where students clean, and in Mion's case, I wonder if Tsubaki-san cleans her room too.
"Eh? Izumo-san, are you bad at cleaning?"
"Y-yes…"
The fact that she's surprised means she doesn't know Mion is a young lady, does it? I don't think she's hiding it, but it's not something she'd typically bring up herself.
Club President Bell gave me a look that said, "You teach her."
"Um, first, you do this, from the high places."
We started by dusting the high places with a feather duster. The basic rule of cleaning is top-to-bottom. If you clean the bottom first, it's pointless if dust falls from above later. I flapped the duster, knocking dust off the top of the shelves.
"Mm."
"Just lightly, it's fine."
When I told her that, her movements were unfamiliar, but she gently dusted. Come to think of it, when I asked Mashiro-nee to do the same thing, she did it so hard she scratched the wall…
"I would think one cleans their own room…"
"I clean Miki's room too, you know."
"Isn't that… being overprotective…?"
Because if I leave her alone, she won't clean. If she said she'd clean it herself, I'd leave her be, but she leaves her door wide open, almost as if she's provoking me to clean when I can't stand it. By the way, Mashiro-nee uses that extra 'technique (?)' too…
"Speaking of which, what's in these shelves?"
"Old club photo albums are in there. When we're done cleaning, I'll show you something good."
Club President Bell offered something a little interesting.
"When you joined last year, Club President, there weren't any seniors, were you?"
"No, there weren't. They graduated just as I joined, so if I hadn't, the club would have gone dormant."
"Heeh…"
Apparently, if a club remains dormant for two years, it gets disbanded. It's rare for people to join a club that's gone dormant, so it was effectively on the verge of being disbanded.
"Mm."
"Yeah, that's good. Next, we'll wipe it lightly with this… like this, lightly."
Since there weren't any greasy stains, I quickly wiped the surface and inside of the shelves with the provided wet cloth. I handed it to Mion, who nodded repeatedly… She seemed fine. (If Mashiro-nee were to do it, the wet cloth would tear on the first try.)
"You're quite skilled at this."
"As long as it's not the kitchen, it's not that much trouble."
All things considered, oil stains are the most troublesome. I'm starting to feel like I should wash the range hood at home sometime soon. Maybe I'll at least change the filter next weekend.
"Finally, we'll finish with the floor wiper."
"Roger. Oh, I'll leave that to you, but can I look inside the fridge?"
"Eh, yes. It's fine, but…"
I'd been curious about it for a while. Hoping it only contained energy drinks, I opened the fridge, and…
"Ah."
"W-what's wrong?"
"Please stop setting things to maximum just because you think 'maximum is good enough'."
It was fine that it only contained energy drinks, as expected, but the temperature knob was set to maximum, and there was a faint frost in the back. If it's 0-5, 3 is fine, but they probably didn't read the manual… I explained to Club President Bell that for typical refrigerators, the middle setting for temperature control is stable. I mean, her home fridge should be set that way too.
"I didn't know there was such a big difference…"
"There's no point in cooling it unnecessarily, right? It's like your CPU running at full throttle, using electricity even when you're not gaming."
"That's… certainly annoying."
If it's just this much frost, will it disappear if I leave it? Well, if it persists, I'll defrost it during the big cleaning at the end of the year.
"Hello there~. Is the cleaning finished~?"
"It was just about finished, but… what's that?"
Yata-sensei appeared at the perfect moment, just as cleaning was finishing. A box in her hand? I don't think it's a gift box of sweets, but…
"Ah."
"Yes~. It arrived~. Mion-san and Shou-kun, please open it."
Hm? Did Mion send something? The box was handed to me… Heavy!
"Eh? What is it?"
"You'll know when you open it~."
Yata-sensei was smiling. Club President Bell was smirking? Mion was excited? Well, if they say I'll know when I open it, then I'll open it, but…
"Oh? Ah, ah!"
I carefully peeled off the beautiful wrapping and opened the decorative box, revealing an iron shield – or rather, a ceremonial shield.
"The two of you, hold it and stand there~."
"Eh? What are we doing?"
"A commemorative photo."
Club President Bell opened the shelf door and took out what looked like a rather expensive SLR camera. There were even such supplies…
"Alright, alright~, right here~."
Pulled by Yata-sensei, I was made to stand next to Mion. Somehow, it's embarrassing to have my picture taken formally; it doesn't happen often…
"This is because we won an award in the club, or something like that, right?"
"Of course, that's part of it~, but it's good to take photos for any occasion~. It's fun to look back at them later~."
"Come on, come on. Get closer."
Mion pressed close to me at her words… Yata-sensei and Club President Bell were smirking… After several photos were taken,
"Alright~, Bell-san, you also stand here with your ceremonial shield~."
"Yes."
Club President Bell handed the digital camera to Yata-sensei and took an iron ceremonial shield from the back of the shelf. The president's was kept here too. After taking photos with the three of us, we took some with Yata-sensei as well, making four. They even had a tripod…
"You'll send us the photos, right?"
"Yes, of course. But since we need to keep them as club records, I'll print them out."
"Eh, that's rare these days…"
When it comes to albums, Eternal State Drives (ESDs) for semi-permanent storage and dedicated paper displays are common, but.
"These kinds of things~ are like old traditions~."
"I'll handle the printouts; let's look at the old albums. There are photos from Yata-sensei's student days too."
"Eh? Yata-sensei was an alum? Or rather, a senior in the Cybernetics Club?"
"That's right~. If you ask how many years ago it was, she'll get angry~."
Yata-sensei smiled, radiating intimidation. I'll take the hint there…