Inoue Matsuhita The cute and polite junior softly declined what seemed like another more fervent attempt at recruiting on Inoue's behalf. Inoue just let out a defeated sigh as the girl went on to elaborate that it wasn't something to do with the members particularly but her situation. She then noticed some movement from Noboru that made her offer to join the others, who seemed to have been joined by the drama queen of Warakuma, Akari Yamamoto herself. Inoue felt a slight wave of displeasure in her as her name crossed her mind, even the name of those abominable twins seemed to leave a bad taste in the mouth. Before she could consider the thought of having to bear her presence, Akari already made her way out leaving her spell on Sagat judging by the stupid look on his face. Alexei on the other hand seemed rather unmoved, the guy was literally a placid lake. Even though Inoue tried her earnest to probe deeper he never gave anything away, he was like water, there would be ripples but what lay beneath never surfaced. She turned to Shirohane and agreed to her suggestion, "Yes Kotori-chan we should join the others. And If I may, you don't have to be sorry for anything. I knew from the moment you said that after school duties to your family kept you busy, that you won't join the club. Truth be told, you don't have to if you don't want to. Real life, family and ambition are more important than these distractions anyways. But do hang out with us from time to time, you certainly seem like you can teach me a lot from just observing you. I'm shameless to admit that I haven't seen such gentle grace from my peers. Also drop by the Thai restaurant at the corner sometime, the treat would be on Sagat after all he's looking to overtake the place." She said with a bashful smile before turning around to walk towards the boys. -- Alexei It won't be wrong to say that Akari was successful in ensnaring Sagat for he continued staring at her retreating form for a good few seconds as Alexei and Noboru talked. A flustered expression plastered on his face when he got back with them. Girls usually shied away from him because he was too dark, too big and delinquent-looking. To have such a beautiful woman like Akari take interest in him was certainly flattering. Meanwhile, Alexei responded to Noboru " Well it's no bother but do as you wish. Sagat goes through bags at an alarming rate, I think I should start repairing and filling them with sand rather than sawdust. In the last three days, he's already blown all the spares this school had." As Noboru let on his philosophy, Alexei just shrugged after all everyone was different. "I can't say I agree with you but it's your choice, If they worked hard and lost the place to you, it just means they need to work harder. You may have talent but in these kind of sports, hard work trumps genius 99% times, that's the simple truth. No matter how much they may twist this fact in fantasy settings and mangas. As for me, I like to be the alpha, if there is even one challenger, I like to see him grovelling before me for even thinking of besting me. that always keeps you on the edge, forces you and drives you to be the best you can be. Life is no fun until there is a blade at your neck and any false steps means you are dead." he said in a calm tine, too calm even for someone to be talking so casually about life and death but that was Alexei, growing up taking care of his family, protecting them from any harm whether actual or imagined he had developed such a mentality. Just as he finished Inoue walked in "Hieee!! seems like you guys hit it off quite well. So Noboru, I already offered this to Kotori-chan here, would you like joining us for lunch at Sagat's restaurant?" Sagat spoke up hesitantly, "It's not mine yet, Inoue-san." "Oh! quit it, it will be soon" she said with a bashful smile.