LogFAQs > #902249996

You don't join clubs in the game, for the record.

The only vaguely Persona-esque thing in the game is the bonding system. The date thing is just a framing device, its otherwise linear like every other Trails game.

EDIT: I also kind of recommend either saving/loading to see every bonding event or youtubing the ones you don't get, for some reason Falcom thought it was a good idea to put actual character development in them instead of in the main game, and its actively impossible to get every event otherwise.

It's especially bad in CS2 where there are important plot points hidden in some of them...