November 25
Weather: Clear
Recorder: Suzumoto
Well then.
I have an A4-sized notebook in my hand.
For a regular notebook, it’s a large size, but for us, it’s a familiar one.
The notebook is an experiment notebook. For those in the humanities who don’t deal with chemistry, it’s an unfamiliar item, but essentially, it’s a notebook used for recording and proving various experiments and research.
Usually, it’s A4-sized with 5mm square grids inside. Since we sometimes paste printed tables and graphs, it becomes quite thick with use.
However, it’s not like you can’t record experiments without using this specific notebook, so there’s no need to buy an experiment-specific notebook. A regular college notebook suffices for just recording.
So why does such a thing as an experiment notebook exist in our high school chemistry club, which only mimics research?
“Is this an experiment notebook? It’s the one we got when we went to the university, right?”
Peering over my shoulder, Hariu stretched and pointed out the notebook’s origin.
That’s right. As proper chemistry club members, we sometimes attend chemistry lectures for high school students held at the university on Saturdays when there’s no class or mostly on free Sundays.
This notebook was somehow distributed to us about two months ago when we attended one of those lectures.
Each person received one, so all the club members should have started using it for their experiment records.
“Why is there an extra? Is someone not keeping records?”
Next to me, Hagasaki, who was organizing another shelf, approached with a strangely ominous tone. He wasn’t in a bad mood. He’s generally always like this.
…However, I had already solved the mystery of why this notebook was left over.
“It’s from someone who quit.”
“Ah, I see.”
This notebook probably belonged to one of the girls who was in the club until the end of last month or the beginning of this month but then suddenly quit the club.
“They didn’t take it home. What a waste.”
“Well, they wouldn’t use it. It’s not like they would use an experiment notebook without doing experiments.”
You can substitute an experiment notebook with a regular one. But using an experiment notebook as a regular one… Girls who care about appearances wouldn’t do that.
This experiment notebook, not only is it A4-sized, but its cover is a solid yamabuki (bright yellow) color, following the royal road of stationery. Itโs an exceedingly plain item with “Experiment Notebook” written in a Gothic font that lacks any sense of elegance. For girls who care about appearances, it’s definitely something they wouldn’t want to use.
“Oh? What’s that?”
“Oh, Maito-san. Did you finish over there?”
“Yeah, finished. When I collected the waste liquid, it turned into a mysterious substance, and it’s quite interesting. You should check it out. I recommend the organic waste liquid. For some reason, it turned a mysterious red color. …Hey, is that an experiment notebook? It’s blank? If there are extras, I want one. Our accounting notebook is almost out. I was just talking with Itoigawa-senpai about needing to buy a new one soon.”
…If they care about appearances, that is.
Maito, who was supposed to be handling the chemicals, had somehow come over, taken the notebook from my hand, and flipped through it, happily commenting, “Nice, completely blank,” with no real meaning.
…Maito is technically a girl, but she’s not the type to care about the appearance of practical items. It’s likely because of this that she stayed in the club without worrying about being the only girl.
“Why not give it to her? We have three extras, right? …Ah, as expected. Look, here are two more. Why not give one to Maito?”
Hagasaki-kun rummaged through the shelf in front of me, and as expected, found two more unclaimed experiment notebooks.
“Yay, thanks, Hagasaki-kun! You get it! Alright, this will be the new accounting notebook! Awesome!”
One of the notebooks ended up in Maito’s hands, and she immediately wrote “Accounting Notebook” on the cover with a permanent marker. Since Maito is the club’s treasurer, her using it technically counts as it being for club purposes.
“So, what do we do with the remaining two?”
Hagasaki-kun held one notebook, and I held the other. Two blank experiment notebooks.
It would be a waste not to use them, but giving them to just one person would be unfair. It would be best to use them for club management, like Maito did.
It wouldn’t help to have just the four of us ponder this. So, as the club activity’s end time approached and all the members gathered, we asked again. Naturally, we also sought the opinions of our second-year seniors.
…As a result:
“So, what do we do with this one?”
Out of the two notebooks, one was taken by the second-year seniors. When I asked our senior, Itoigawa, what they would use it for, she simply replied, “For something fun.” Well, I’m sure they’ll use it for something.
“Hmm, the accounting notebook will be used by the whole club, and the remaining two will be used one per grade level, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
Katori took the notebook from me and flipped through it, also commenting, “Wow, it’s blank,” with no real meaning, just like Maito. It seems the saying “birds of a feather flock together” is true.
“How about we do an exchange diary? Hm?”
“Uh… in an experiment notebook…?”
“Wouldn’t that be fun?”
Toriumi suggested an interesting idea, but Kadomi looked perplexed. Honestly, I’m also confused. The idea of using an experiment notebook for an exchange diary is odd, but the idea of doing an exchange diary with this group is even stranger.
“It might be fine.”
President, Tsuge, affirmed with his usual crazed smile.
“…Are you serious? Really? A pen-pal diary? For us? President, are you out of your mind? Well, it’s not the first time.”
Hagasaki-kun said something harsh, and I mostly agreed.
“A pen-pal diary makes us sound like girls!”
Kariya said something fluffy, but it’s naive. Even if we were to start a pen-pal diary, it would never turn out like what Kariya imagines as “girly.” It would definitely become more like a grim and chaotic black magic grimoire, a cursed book, or even surpass the world’s three greatest strange books. No doubt.
However, President added to his explanation.
“No. It’s not that kind of thing. To put it another way, it’s not a diary, but a record.”
“Whether it’s fun or not is another story, but I think it’s necessary. If, by any chance, there are no members after us, without a notebook recording our club activities, it would be difficult to revive the club as it would become a relic of the past.”
“I hope that doesn’t happen.”
Despite saying “I hope,” Hariu had an anxious look on his face, and it’s no wonder. With this group, unless we attract similar people, it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to join.
“Well, while it’s best if new members join, risk management is necessary. Plus, if we have a record of our activities, it can serve as a reference for our future activities.”
…Well, records are important. If we take turns keeping the record, it shouldn’t be too much of a burden.
“Alright. So can we agree that this notebook will be our activity log?”
I checked to make sure, and of course, all eight of us agreed.
And so.
Thus, we decided to use this notebook to record the events and experiments of our club activities, as well as anything that should be conveyed to future generations and our future selves.
As the instigator, I ended up in charge of today’s and the next entry.
I hope the next entry will simply read “nothing special,” but we’ll see.
๏ผToday’s Record๏ผ
We decided to keep a record in this notebook.
Attached is the recording order. Everyone, don’t neglect your turn.
๏ผRecording Order๏ผ (subject to change due to circumstances)
Suzumoto โ Hagasaki โ Tsuge โ Kadomi โ Hariu โ Katori โ Toriumi โ Kariya โ Maito