And the list is through! Or at least, Maru-maru is through with the list. It was an incredibly long list, so on a personal level it’s hard to blame him for getting a bit sloppy at the end and checking items off with an elevated degree of optimism.
The romantic partners issue he’s not going to touch with a 10ft pole…which makes sense, since how would you find a romantic partner if you have a 10ft pole? There is something like too much of a good thing. Of course there are other reasons for his abstention…one being that teachers getting involved into matchmaking between their pupils rarely works out well. But the #1 reason is simply that it was marked as optional on the list, and with such a long list, who wouldn’t disregard the optional items?
He also doesn’t sweat the strategy part…hard to say if that’s laziness or overestimating himself. Both would be in-character for a scruffy ronin, anyway. But relying on stuff he learned from Kondo Isami when his task is coming up with cricket strategies is more of a stretch than he might realize. All that talk about ‘knights of the cricket field’ is strictly metaphorical…and while I don’t know a lot about cricket, I know that it’s not much like sword-fighting. It’s more like…bludgeoning?
…and, honestly, relying on stuff he learned from Kondo Isami would probably not even be a good idea if his task was running a small secret police organization made up of elite samurai swordsmen. I mean, what had Isami to show for it in the end, aside from his disembodied head? >_>
And after disposing of those two items on the list on an accelerated schedule, it’s only fitting that he doesn’t look a gift horse in the mouth when the perfect candidate for the manager position* introduces himself just at the right moment. He has the right looks…mostly. I mean, he’s got the glasses that are an absolute stereotype for the part…his face looks a bit more wrinkly than the average high-schooler’s, but he’s got the glasses. And he has a totally inconspicuous name. You couldn’t have a more inconspicuous one without raising suspicions. And he’s the right height. The legs even more so. No, compared to everything else Maru-maru has disregarded today, accepting this at face-value isn’t the worst.
Done with the list!
More on Thursday.
*I’m keeping the word manager, because it’s used so much in manga and anime. It’s a bit misleading, of course, since the actual function of the ‘manager’ of a Japanese high school athletics club is more of an assistant role.