Volume 2 - CH 14

The second semester has begun, and before I knew it, September was already nearing its end.

The atmosphere in the school was different from usual and somewhat buoyant.

It’s no wonder since there are less than two weeks left until the school festival, one of the most exciting events of the school year. Although things are still calm at the moment, next week many of us will be busy with preparations until late at night.

Especially for us 3rd-year students, we are all very enthusiastic because it is the last festival in our high school life. Incidentally, our class decided to hold a Halloween costume cafe because Halloween is coming soon.

At our school, the third-year students are given priority for the most popular performances, and if there is any overlap in content among students of the same grade, it can be decided by rock-paper-scissors-scissors. Therefore, we had to decide on a third choice. However, there is a loophole in this as well.

For example, maid cafes, butler cafes, and cosplay cafes are very popular, and the competition is fierce every year, but by changing the name and concept, it is surprisingly easy to pass. So, our class was able to avoid competition with other classes by changing the name to Halloween Costume Café and making the food and drinks Halloween-specific.

This is a trick that Tanuki-san, who was a member of the festival committee last year, taught us. By the way, Tanuki-san wanted to have a cross-dressing cafe, but it was rejected due to objections from all but a few classes because of the high possibility of a serious problem.

———

The success of our class performance will depend on the quality of our Halloween costumes. If the quality of the costumes is low, it will look like a play, and it will become a black history that we cannot erase even if we want to.

But no one in our class was worried about that. In fact, Kanade and Sayuki Mitani are very good at Western-style dressmaking. Mitani-san, in particular, was so well-versed in Western-style dressmaking that she designed and made her own clothes and wore them for everyday wear.

And there would be no need to worry about makeup either. After all, in our class, there is Oto Fushimi, who has won many prizes in painting competitions. She and the rest of the art club will be applying makeup to our faces as if we were canvases.

I, on the other hand, have absolutely no skills in this area, so I am doing chores such as thinking up the cafe menu and helping with decorations in the classroom. Or rather, except for a few dexterous boys, I was mostly in charge of chores.

———

“Um, Yamagishi-kun. I’m about to run out of materials to make decorations. Can you go shopping for them now?”

It was Hazuki, my former lover, who said this to me.

After we broke up, Hazuki started calling me by my last name instead of my first name, and when she first approached me in the third grade, she called me “Yuuri” as before, but I asked her to call me by my last name. I then started calling Hazuki by her last name, “Sakashita-san”.

Hazuki looked a little sad, but she agreed to it honestly, saying, “Okay.” I know that people around Hazuki say that I am too cold in my treatment of her, no matter how much we have broken up.

But as much as I don’t care what people around me think, I couldn’t be familiar with Hazuki anymore.

Since the preparation for the festival started, Hazuki has been talking to me more and more often. Well, Hazuki is in charge of managing the progress of the class, so this kind of interaction is inevitable. However, I already felt nothing about whether Hazuki was in my sight or not, whether she spoke to me or not. I was not sad or happy. The emotion inside me was nothing.

“Oh, okay.”

After saying this, I went to Satoru and asked him to accompany me to a large discount store to do some shopping.

———

“Hey, Yuuri. Actually, I need to talk to you about something.”

When I was taking a break on a bench at the discount store after shopping, Satoru looked at me with a reserved look.

“What’s the matter? That’s not like Satoru. If it’s okay with you, I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

“Thank you… A, actually… I’m thinking of confessing my feelings to Tanuki-san at the festival.”

“I see. The day has finally come.”

“What? What is that reaction? Did you notice it by any chance?”

“Oh, Kanade and I were aware enough to talk about when you were going to confess your feelings to her.”

Satoru mumbled, “Really?…” as he held his head. Then he grabbed my shoulders with both hands as if he had noticed something.

“Wait, you don’t mean to say that even Tanuki-san knows about this, do you?”

“I don’t think so. Also, I haven’t actually asked Tanuki-san, but I think Kanade and I have a pretty good guess.”

“What? Seriously?”

“I think Tanuki-san doesn’t tend to show much emotion, but when she talks to Satoru, she is quite emotional. I think that’s how much he cares about you.”

“Then I’m happy. I’d like to know how she feels about me. But if this doesn’t work out, it’ll be too hard, so you’ll have to comfort me then. Also, I don’t want our relationship to become awkward because of my confession, so I’d appreciate it if Yuuri would follow up.”

“Of course. I don’t want to think about failure, but leave it to me then. Also, can I tell Kanade about your confession?”

“Yeah, all I’m asking is you two! You got it, my best friend!”

Best friend ……, huh?

I guess I would have originally had this kind of relationship with that guy.

Well, I was the only one who thought he was my best friend.

That is why I really wanted to be of help to Satoru, who called me his “best friend.” I would rejoice with him when he succeeded, and if he failed, I would continue to support him. That is how I treat my “best friend.”

———

“Yuuri-senpai!”

As Satoru and I were walking down the hallway after returning to school, we heard a bright and cheerful voice behind us.

“Hey, Yoshi-chan. It’s almost time for the festival, how are the preparations going?”

“It’s a very difficult task. The high school festival is much more serious than I thought it would be. It’s good that we started preparing for the festival, but there’s so much to do that we’re all dying.”

“Our school is especially enthusiastic, isn’t it? By the way, what are you going to do?”

“We are a casino! We play poker and roulette, and whoever wins against the dealer gets a drink and an assortment of snacks as a prize.”

“Oh, that sounds like a lot of fun!”

Satoru leaned forward and eagerly took a bite.

I wonder if this guy likes to gamble. I hope he doesn’t ruin himself with it someday. ……

“When the school festival starts, senpai, please come visit us too, okay?”

She made a request to us with her upturned eyes.

Kuh, There is no way we can say no to such a request with such eyes. Or rather, we had no choice but to say yes from the very beginning.

“Of course, I’ll come to visit you. I hope I can be free at the right time when Yoshi-chan is a dealer.”

“Thank you! Then I’ll send you the time I’m scheduled to be a dealer next time on RINE!”

Yoshi-chan smiled a very lovely smile as if she was happy.

I was thrilled by her expression, but I think we managed to communicate with a poker face.

Then Yoshi-chan went back to her classroom to prepare for the festival, but suddenly stopped and came back to me as if she had remembered something.

“I forgot to tell you. If Yuuri-senpai has some free time during the festival, would you be willing to go around with me?”

Despite looking a little uneasy, Yoshi-chan looked me straight in the eye.

(This girl is really determined.)

“Yeah. That’s fine. I’ll tell Yoshi-chan when I know my free time.”

When she said this, her anxious expression from a moment ago was replaced by a dazzling smile. Then, saying, “I promise,” Yoshi-chan returned to the classroom with bouncy steps.

“Yoshi-chan is a really pretty girl.”

“Oh, yeah…”

I had not told anyone that Yoshi-chan had confessed to me. However, I know that it is not a good thing for me to take advantage of her goodwill and stay like this.

If I don’t get my act together, no one will be able to look forward to the future. It’s not just Yoshi-chan, it’s Kanade and me as well.

(It’s time for me to get my act together.)