Kōhei Imamura walked along the path beside the club recruitment grounds, hands in his pockets, expression dark.
"Unbelievable. Not a single club built around a harem of high school girls with me at the center. Whatever happened to university being a whole new world? What a lineup of completely pointless clubs."
He clicked his tongue, clenched his jaw in dissatisfaction, and gave a pebble in his path a sharp kick — sending it flying into the nearby shrubbery.
"Owww—!!"
A cry of pain from inside the bushes brought Imamura to a halt.
"What the—" He turned his head, staring blankly at the clump of shrubbery by the path.
The bushes rustled and trembled. Two shirtless silhouettes burst from within and landed squarely in front of him.
"Gyaaah!!"
Imamura let out a shriek and spun to run.
He hadn't made it more than a few steps before the two figures launched themselves upward and pinned him flat to the ground.
Iori — one eye bruised purple from the rock — pressed his knee into Imamura's backside, jaw set, mood visibly poor.
"Help! Two perverts are trying to do something unspeakable to me — someone, anyone, help!!"
Imamura thrashed and screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping to attract the attention of people over at the recruitment grounds.
"Will you shut up — we just want to talk to you, nothing else!"
Sebastian hastily clapped a hand over Imamura's mouth, physically assisting him toward a calmer state of mind.
"Mmph — mmph — pfah! You! You're the one who did this to me!"
What Sebastian hadn't expected was that the moment Imamura registered it was Sebastian in front of him, the struggling — which had been dying down — immediately intensified:
"You deceived me! You pretended to share my interests, you toyed with my pure and fragile heart, and now you have the nerve to show your face again! You, and whoever's sitting on me back there — what do you want?!"
"Would you calm down! I already told you, I was covering for you in the moment — how was I supposed to know you actually were a shut-in?!"
Just as the two of them were gearing up for a full argument, Iori — who had been holding Imamura down for quite some time now — lifted his head impatiently.
"Sebastian, can you please get to the point? I would really rather not maintain this much physical contact with this person."
"Oh, right — the point!" Sebastian snapped back, quickly covered Imamura's mouth again, cleared his throat, and let his expression settle into something grave.
"Kōhei Imamura. You're in luck. I have good news for you."
"Rubbish! I won't believe a single word that comes out of your mouth!" Imamura snarled, still struggling.
"That anime you love is getting a live-action adaptation."
In an instant, Imamura went completely still.
"Sebastian, I have to hand it to you — I can't believe you got him to settle down that fast."
Iori, still sitting on Imamura's backside, looked up at Sebastian with genuine admiration.
"Uuuuugh...."
The words had barely left Iori's mouth when Imamura's eyes went red and he burst into tears right there on the ground.
"W-Why is he crying?"
The hand pinning Imamura down gave a startled twitch. In all his years, this was the first time Iori had ever seen a grown man cry this hard in front of him.
"Don't worry about it — that was just step one. Alright, Imamura — I was lying to you just now. You should be calm enough to listen at this point, yes?"
Sebastian smiled with considerable satisfaction and gave Imamura a consoling pat on the head.
The crying stopped instantly. Imamura lay on the ground, tears still at the corners of his eyes, staring up at Sebastian's smiling face.
"Are you some kind of devil?"
"Never mind that — the point is, we actually do have good news for you."
Sebastian smiled, pulled Iori off Imamura's backside, helped him up with his own hands, and considerately dusted off his clothes.
"Right. The truth is, there's an anime fan club full of girls currently recruiting members. This guy and I thought you'd be interested, so we came to find you."
Sebastian straightened Imamura's shirt and smiled.
"That's impossible. I already did a full lap out there — practically every club told me off. How did I miss a club like that?" Imamura looked unconvinced, eyes full of suspicion.
"A popular club like that — you think they'd set up in the open square like everyone else? Iori and I put in serious effort tracking down where they were."
"You two did this to me.... Why would I ever trust you again?"
Imamura swept a deeply mistrustful look back and forth between Sebastian and Iori.
"Naturally, we can't expect you to take our word for it immediately. But think about it — what could you possibly have that would make both Iori and me go to all this trouble to scheme against you specifically?"
Sebastian continued his patient, methodical persuasion.
"Well...." Imamura wavered. He looked at Sebastian, then at Iori, who was standing behind him saying nothing.
"I still feel like you two are up to something. Besides, the three-dimensional world isn't really—"
Imamura never finished the sentence. His eyes had locked onto the phone Sebastian was now holding out, and every remaining word deserted him completely.
On the screen was a cosplay photo that Sebastian and Iori had carefully sourced — specifically, a cosplayer in the costume of the protagonist from Dissolve! Magical Girl Lalaco, the very anime on Imamura's shirt.
Sebastian watched with satisfaction as Imamura's lips, beyond shock, began to tremble.
"Please — I'm begging you — let me into this club!"
Imamura dropped to his knees in a full prostrating bow, treating Sebastian to a masterclass in what a truly committed dogeza looked like.
"Come now, none of that is necessary. We came to find you because we wanted to make sure you found a club you'd actually love — we couldn't bear the thought of you spending the rest of your life regretting it."
Sebastian wore a warm, gentle smile as he helped the nearly tearful Imamura back to his feet.
"You two — you're both — you're my dearest friends for life, uuughhh...."
Overwhelmed with emotion, Imamura threw his arms around Sebastian and wept openly.
Even Iori, standing behind him, found himself looking away.
"We're terrible people," he muttered quietly.
Fortunately, Imamura, deep in the throes of his feelings, didn't catch it.
"Alright, alright — this is a rare opportunity. Now that you've made up your mind, we should get moving — a club this good is bound to have plenty of people trying to join, right?"
Sebastian kept a steadying hand on Imamura and pressed the advantage.
"You're absolutely right — let's go! I, Kōhei Imamura, am joining this club today no matter what it takes! If they won't let me in, I'll die on their doorstep!"
Imamura wiped his tears, and a sharp resolve came into his eyes.
"Wonderful spirit, Imamura. Then follow us through the doors of a new world."
Sebastian extended his hand with a smile. Imamura took it, and they clasped hands firmly together.