had kept his distance from the group purely because he hated them, let out ƒDz‰Šdz„‡Š‹†‡Ǥ ‹˜‡Š‹•†‹•’Ž‡ƒ•—”‡ǡ–‘‘‘˜‡”–Š‡–ƒ•‘ˆ…Š‡…‹‰ the page. Displayed in large lettering atop their streamlined front page was a •—ƒ”›‘ˆ–Š‡‰”‘—’ǯ•ƒŒ‘”ƒ…–‹˜‹–‹‡•ǤŠƒ†ƒŽ”‡ƒ†›Šƒ†•‘‡‹†‡ƒƒ„‘—– them having become a job-hunting organization, but it also seemed that the scope of their activities had become a lot more solidified than when I was part of the group. I continued reading the fine print. Moai, at present, was chiefly a networking group. Naturally, that was a separate activity from the horsing around Tousuke had seen them doing in the rented party room at the karaoke bar that evening. Clearly, that had been a gathering of all the self-centered job seekers who had come together —†‡”–Š‡‰”‘—’ǯ•„ƒ‡”–‘…‡Ž‡„”ate their shared victories under the guise of a meet-up. These meet-ups, which consisted of Moai members, university alumni, and the professionals they were affiliated with, were billed as an exchange of knowledge and creativity. Apparently, students and professionals would be put into groups together to discuss such big ideas as Dz–”—‡‹†‡’‡†‡…‡dzƒ†Dz†‡ƒŽ‹‰™‹–Š†‹ˆˆ‡”‡…‡•ǡdz„—–Œ—†‰‹‰„›–Š‡ˆƒ…– that they had posted up the personal histories and companies of those professionals, as well as studentsǯ‹–‡†‡†…ƒ”‡‡”’ƒ–Š•ǡ–Š‡‹’‘”–ƒ–’ƒ”– here was the connections. Dz‘„ƒ•‹…ƒŽŽ›ǡ–Š‡›ǯ”‡ƒŽŽŒ—•––”›‹‰–‘‡–™‘”™‹–Š’‡‘’Ž‡ˆ‘”–Š‡‹” ‘™‰ƒ‹ǡdz‘—•—‡•‹‰Š‡†„‹––‡”Ž›„‡Š‹†‡Ǥ’’ƒ”‡–Ž›ǡ–Š‹••‘-called meet-up was an incredibly popular, large event that brought together fifty or more Moai members, and as many working adults. The home page was covered in images of an unnecessarily large event hall and students putting on serious faces while listening to other people talk. Here and there I glimpsed faces of people that even I, with my immensely narrow school social circles, was familiar with. I looked at the upcoming events to see that they intended to book the hall again for another such meeting the week after next. ˆ›‘—ǯ”‡™‘†‡”‹‰Š‘™ˆ‡Ž– about this, all I can really say was that I ™ƒ••—”‡–Šƒ––Š‹•™ƒ•‘–™Šƒ–Dz„‡…‘‹‰›‘—”‹†‡ƒŽ•‡Žˆdz‡ƒ–ǤƒŽ•‘ˆ‡Ž– bewilderment that such a drastic shift in philosophy could happen in just a few years. There were apparently a number of small discussion groups and lectures that were held more frequently than the mixers, but there were very few pictures of these gatherings, as though perhaps they were really more of an afterthought.