CH 225

I slowly opened my eyes, which were still heavy and empty, and looked up at the sky through the window in my room.

The sky was illuminated by the faint light of the rising sun, and not a single cloud could be seen.

The festival day, the weather was unquestionably clear and sunny.

After letting out a sigh of relief, I left the room, which was starting to get chilly, and went out into the corridor.

I head to the kitchen and greet the person at the open door who was already awake.

“…Good morning.”

“Good morning nii-san!”

Kaede was already ready for school in her uniform and apron, dexterously manipulating the frying pan.

Unusually for the Shinra family, consisting mostly of Japanese food, today it seems to be French toast.

The sweet aroma makes me realise that today is a day of sugar.

For the moment, it looks like I won’t be consuming anything but sugar…

I sat down on my chair and looked up at the clock, thinking about the words my dad would never say.

The time is just around 6am.

The opening ceremony is at 9am, but I need to get to school once before 8am to check the situation for the day.

But even with that in mind, there is more than enough time to spare.

While I wait for breakfast to be ready, I look over the documents I left on the table last night.

As I admire the detail of the documents, which include information such as stall allocation for each class, projected visitor numbers and sales target figures, a cup of freshly brewed coffee is offered to me from beside the table.

“Today I will be a salesgirl in beside your stall too.”

Kaede tells me with a dazzling smile, to which I give a small nod.

Next to our Sakuranaoka Gakuen student council stall, Kikyo Jogakuin’s student council has set up their own tent.

We’re going to have pancakes, and next to us, they’re going to have crepes and other sweets.

The school has told the student council that the competition is part of the exchange between the student councils, and that they have decided on the form of a survey.

However, the truth is that it is a personal desire of Sera, the student council president of Kikyo Girls’ Academy, to beat Hiiragi Akane.

The sweets showdown was made possible by proposing the idea of holding it at a cultural festival.

If Kaede helps out as a salesgirl, there is no doubt that sales will increase dramatically.

However, it is undeniable that there are still some uncertainties: whether our male students will fall for Kaede at first sight, and there’s also Hino.

In other words, my sister is cute.

I’ll return my thoughts and return to the main topic without getting too worried about other people.

When it comes to competition, it is our student council president who does not cut corners.

President said that although she had tried to recreate the taste of the pancake shop she had visited for a taste test, she was still not satisfied with the degree of perfection, given that the majority of her time was spent on preparation.

However, I also tasted the pancakes and found the quality to be more than satisfactory.

We plan to offer it for 300 yen, a price that includes the cost of the ingredients and the time and effort involved.

Thanks to Kirasaka’s efforts to talk to the wholesaler, expenses have been kept to a minimum.

There wouldn’t be any losses.

The question is how much the next shop will offer in terms of taste and price…

It’s not as if the moment you eat it your clothes will burst off like in some cooking manga, or they’ll take the hand towel off their head and say a decisive line.

(BbX: ‘Food Wars!’ probably.)

And here we have Shizuku and Kirasaka on our side.

I’m not too worried about the competition because we’re in the best shape imaginable.

As a first-time participant on the management side, I am more worried about whether we will be able to complete the event without any problems.

I take a sip of the coffee that steams up along with the aroma, as if pushing that emotion into my mouth.

“Are you going to high school once too, Kaede?”

“Yes, I also have to help with the student council.”

Kaede answers my question while skillfully holding two plates in one hand.

Then the next time we’ll see each other will be at the shopping district or at Sakuranaoka Academy…

The bitterness spreading in the mouth changes my consciousness from drowsiness to a state of forced awakening.

A day that will remain vividly in the memory of my past and future student life has begun.

Leaving home more than an hour earlier than usual, the route to school was quiet.

Stepping out of the residential area and into the shopping street, a number of high schools came into view.

The poster, a joint effort by the two schools’ art clubs, had today’s date in large letters.

I had seen the content in samples, but this was the first time I had seen it officially pasted up.

Although the colours have changed somewhat, the two schools’ emblems and a creature that looks like a familiar character from the shopping arcade are likely to be popular with children could be seen on the posters.

As I stop to think about this, I resume my steps when I see in the distance students wearing the same uniforms going to school.

Needless to say, I get cold stares from the people around me when they see me twisting my mouth with evil thoughts as I secretly plan to ask the fish shop owner to treat me to something at the opening ceremony.

The main gate standing at the top of the hill had a large semi-circular archway, a special gate for the festival.

The motif is cherry blossom coloured, as the high school is named after cherry blossoms.

The green colour represents the trees, and at the top is the school emblem and a large sign saying ‘Sakura Matsuri’ (Cherry Blossom Festival).

For generations, the president of the student council at our school has written the words ‘Sakura Matsuri’ in their own handwriting each year.

This year, too, the president has written it with her own handwriting.

Having such a small piece of information makes me more aware of this cultural festival than I was last year.

When I slowly passed the main gate, a number of students were already preparing for the festival.

Dressed in costumes of the same colour, probably made from their own original T-shirts, their faces are full of youthful anticipation as they look forward to the event ahead.

On their backs, the names of fellow classmates were written in unnatural handwriting.

Is it just me who wonders if my name is written there?

If I don’t find it, I’ll feel the greatest sense of loneliness, and even if it is written, there is a chance that just my surname is written.

Rather, there’s no denying that when you’re my age, you’re often conscious of the silliness of trying to work out the hierarchy in the class by the order of the names in the line-up.

Students whose names are explicitly written in the middle are very popular with the girls.

And some guy called Ogiwara or something like that.

When I turned my gaze to the place where most of these students gather, I saw the very not out of place, Yuuto Ogiwara there.

He, too, was dressed in an orange shirt instead of his uniform, chatting with the students and getting ready for the event.

It’s like him to take the initiative to help out, even though it’s not his class or his own work…

Also, that shirt, I don’t think it’s from our class.

I didn’t buy one, or rather, I didn’t even know about it in the first place.

I didn’t have the courage to call out to him myself and wear down my spirit, so I proceeded to the tent in front of the main gate, where the student council tent is located, instead of the two buildings where the classrooms are.

I had arrived rather early and thought I would be the first, but there was someone else ahead of me.

I call out to Shiraishi, who was preparing the Student Council’s stall on the tabletop with the armband of an executive committee member on her arm.

“You’re early. …Is it because of the executive committee?”

“Senpai also came quite early, don’t worry about me!”

“I’m not really worried…”

After putting the luggage in a suitable place, I returned the reply to Shiraishi who proudly asked me not to worry.

She looks around very happily as she turns her attention to the juniors who instantly frown grimly and let out a sigh.

This is Shiraishi’s first cultural festival.

And the cultural festival for which she was the head of the organising committee has become a reality, spreading out before her eyes.

She must be filled with deep emotions.

“I’m also the next vice-president, so if I don’t help out at least on the day of the festival, I won’t have a face to show to my seniors.”

“I don’t see any students complaining about the head of the executive committee though…”

There are no students enrolled in the current student council who would praise but not condemn.

Both Koizumi and Miura understand their respective positions and tasks.

But it is probably not for such common-sense reasons.

In her mind, she wants to leave her mark on the student council.

She is not as self-assertive as she appears to be.

“There were a lot of things that were new to me that I didn’t understand, but so far things have generally gone as expected.”

“…”

These words were spoken under the quiet tent.

After the words, even a sigh of relief escapes.

Shiraishi’s actions are always the result of extraordinary anticipation and calculation.

When faced with problems like those of Shizuku, Kirasaka and the chairman, she does not have the judgement to instantly derive the correct answer.

However, she has been able to solve them by preparing dozens of answers to the problems that would arise in advance.

This ability must have been on full display at this year’s festival committee.

However, there are cases where this can be a disadvantage.

In Shiraishi’s case, when she is confronted with a situation that she explicitly does not expect, her judgment and thinking ability deteriorate dramatically.

We all face similar situations in such cases, but in her case, the fall is more apparent than others.

If there is any relief, it comes after the closing ceremony.

“Have you anticipated all the troubles that could arise today……?”

“Yes! As regards the workmanship of the product and the financial side of things—“

“…Then, keep those predictions to yourself for now.”

A bucket was placed near my feet, which Shiraishi must have brought with her, with water and a rag floating in it.

I grabbed it, squeezed out enough water to wipe the tabletop and told Shiraishi.

Her open mouth never closed, only his gaze demanded a reason.

“I don’t mean to underestimate Shiraishi’s ability, but humans are not like robots, they don’t move in a predictable manner, …and it’s hard to solve problems as expected when there are troublesome elements involved, such as emotions.”

This time, we are not dealing with a place for students to interact with each other, nor with teachers who might give them an internal score if she gives a model answer.

We are dealing with outsiders, and the students’ relatives and a wide variety of other people.

Money is involved, and the committee is also in a position to assume some responsibility.

The student council is no exception.

“Failure, no matter how you try to explain it, leaves a lasting impression… It leaves a stronger and longer lasting impression than success… But a failure may erase another failure.”

It might… be, and this is just a possibility.

If you were dealing with Shizuku or Kirasaka, this kind of talk about only possibilities would end with you being confronted with a good argument or other possibilities.

But with Shiraishi, even the slightest possibility makes her pause for thought.

The real purpose of those words is to convey that the real work is just beginning and that now is not the time to be reassured.

It may sound far-fetched, badly worded and hard to get across, but that’s what comes out of my mouth.

“Relax your shoulders a bit… if the head of the organisation is tense, it’ll be contagious to the whole thing.”

When I said this to Shiraishi, I pointed to my left arm.

I then tapped my finger to indicate that I was pointing at the armband on her arm.

“Armband, it’s reverse.”

“Huh?”

“Also, you’ve buttoned your shirt wrong…”

The buttons were hung in the wrong place and distorted to the point that a glance under the ribbon at her neck would have been enough to notice.

She must have been more nervous inside than she showed, so much so that she didn’t notice such obvious mistakes.

While she was turning around and adjusting her appearance, complaints were spilling out from behind, but I didn’t pay attention to them, which is what a good senpai should do.

While saying that, it is also the senior’s duty to check if the juniors are wearing their clothes properly.

The two of us were having such an exchange when we saw a student approaching us from afar, rushing up to us and shouting energetically.

“Good morning, you two!”

#225

I slowly opened my eyes, which were still heavy and empty, and looked up at the sky through the window in my room.

The sky was illuminated by the faint light of the rising sun, and not a single cloud could be seen.

The festival day, the weather was unquestionably clear and sunny.

After letting out a sigh of relief, I left the room, which was starting to get chilly, and went out into the corridor.

I head to the kitchen and greet the person at the open door who was already awake.

“…Good morning.”

“Good morning nii-san!”

Kaede was already ready for school in her uniform and apron, dexterously manipulating the frying pan.

Unusually for the Shinra family, consisting mostly of Japanese food, today it seems to be French toast.

The sweet aroma makes me realize that today is a day of sugar.

For the moment, it looks like I won’t be consuming anything but sugar…

I sat down on my chair and looked up at the clock, thinking about the words my dad would never say.

The time is just around 6am.

The opening ceremony is at 9am, but I need to get to school once before 8am to check the situation for the day.

But even with that in mind, there is more than enough time to spare.

While I wait for breakfast to be ready, I look over the documents I left on the table last night.

As I admire the detail of the documents, which include information such as stall allocation for each class, projected visitor numbers and sales target figures, a cup of freshly brewed coffee is offered to me from beside the table.

“Today I will be a salesgirl in beside your stall too.”

Kaede tells me with a dazzling smile, to which I give a small nod.

Next to our Sakuranaoka Gakuen student council stall, Kikyo Jogakuin’s student council has set up their own tent.

We’re going to have pancakes, and next to us, they’re going to have crepes and other sweets.

The school has told the student council that the competition is part of the exchange between the student councils, and that they have decided on the form of a survey.

However, the truth is that it is a personal desire of Sera, the student council president of Kikyo Girls’ Academy, to beat Hiiragi Akane.

The sweets showdown was made possible by proposing the idea of holding it at a cultural festival.

If Kaede helps out as a salesgirl, there is no doubt that sales will increase dramatically.

However, it is undeniable that there are still some uncertainties: whether our male students will fall for Kaede at first sight, and there’s also Hino.

In other words, my sister is cute.

I’ll return my thoughts and return to the main topic without getting too worried about other people.

When it comes to competition, it is our student council president who does not cut corners.

President said that although she had tried to recreate the taste of the pancake shop she had visited for a taste test, she was still not satisfied with the degree of perfection, given that the majority of her time was spent on preparation.

However, I also tasted the pancakes and found the quality to be more than satisfactory.

We plan to offer it for 300 yen, a price that includes the cost of the ingredients and the time and effort involved.

Thanks to Kirasaka’s efforts to talk to the wholesaler, expenses have been kept to a minimum.

There wouldn’t be any losses.

The question is how much the next shop will offer in terms of taste and price…

It’s not as if the moment you eat it your clothes will burst off like in some cooking manga, or they’ll take the hand towel off their head and say a decisive line.

(BbX: ‘Food Wars!’ probably.)

And here we have Shizuku and Kirasaka on our side.

I’m not too worried about the competition because we’re in the best shape imaginable.

As a first-time participant on the management side, I am more worried about whether we will be able to complete the event without any problems.

I take a sip of the coffee that steams up along with the aroma, as if pushing that emotion into my mouth.

“Are you going to high school once too, Kaede?”

“Yes, I also have to help with the student council.”

Kaede answers my question while skillfully holding two plates in one hand.

Then the next time we’ll see each other will be at the shopping district or at Sakuranaoka Academy…

The bitterness spreading in the mouth changes my consciousness from drowsiness to a state of forced awakening.

A day that will remain vividly in the memory of my past and future student life has begun.

Leaving home more than an hour earlier than usual, the route to school was quiet.

Stepping out of the residential area and into the shopping street, a number of high schools came into view.

The poster, a joint effort by the two schools’ art clubs, had today’s date in large letters.

I had seen the content in samples, but this was the first time I had seen it officially pasted up.

Although the colors have changed somewhat, the two schools’ emblems and a creature that looks like a familiar character from the shopping arcade are likely to be popular with children could be seen on the posters.

As I stop to think about this, I resume my steps when I see in the distance students wearing the same uniforms going to school.

Needless to say, I get cold stares from the people around me when they see me twisting my mouth with evil thoughts as I secretly plan to ask the fish shop owner to treat me to something at the opening ceremony.

The main gate standing at the top of the hill had a large semi-circular archway, a special gate for the festival.

The motif is cherry blossom colored, as the high school is named after cherry blossoms.

The green color represents the trees, and at the top is the school emblem and a large sign saying ‘Sakura Matsuri’ (Cherry Blossom Festival).

For generations, the president of the student council at our school has written the words ‘Sakura Matsuri’ in their own handwriting each year.

This year, too, the president has written it with her own handwriting.

Having such a small piece of information makes me more aware of this cultural festival than I was last year.

When I slowly passed the main gate, a number of students were already preparing for the festival.

Dressed in costumes of the same color, probably made from their own original T-shirts, their faces are full of youthful anticipation as they look forward to the event ahead.

On their backs, the names of fellow classmates were written in unnatural handwriting.

Is it just me who wonders if my name is written there?

If I don’t find it, I’ll feel the greatest sense of loneliness, and even if it is written, there is a chance that just my surname is written.

Rather, there’s no denying that when you’re my age, you’re often conscious of the silliness of trying to work out the hierarchy in the class by the order of the names in the line-up.

Students whose names are explicitly written in the middle are very popular with the girls.

And some guy called Ogiwara or something like that.

When I turned my gaze to the place where most of these students gather, I saw the very not out of place, Yuuto Ogiwara there.

He, too, was dressed in an orange shirt instead of his uniform, chatting with the students and getting ready for the event.

It’s like him to take the initiative to help out, even though it’s not his class or his own work…

Also, that shirt, I don’t think it’s from our class.

I didn’t buy one, or rather, I didn’t even know about it in the first place.

I didn’t have the courage to call out to him myself and wear down my spirit, so I proceeded to the tent in front of the main gate, where the student council tent is located, instead of the two buildings where the classrooms are.

I had arrived rather early and thought I would be the first, but there was someone else ahead of me.

I call out to Shiraishi, who was preparing the Student Council’s stall on the tabletop with the armband of an executive committee member on her arm.

“You’re early. …Is it because of the executive committee?”

“Senpai also came quite early, don’t worry about me!”

“I’m not really worried…”

After putting the luggage in a suitable place, I returned the reply to Shiraishi who proudly asked me not to worry.

She looks around very happily as she turns her attention to the juniors who instantly frown grimly and let out a sigh.

This is Shiraishi’s first cultural festival.

And the cultural festival for which she was the head of the organizing committee has become a reality, spreading out before her eyes.

She must be filled with deep emotions.

“I’m also the next vice-president, so if I don’t help out at least on the day of the festival, I won’t have a face to show to my seniors.”

“I don’t see any students complaining about the head of the executive committee though…”

There are no students enrolled in the current student council who would praise but not condemn.

Both Koizumi and Miura understand their respective positions and tasks.

But it is probably not for such common-sense reasons.

In her mind, she wants to leave her mark on the student council.

She is not as self-assertive as she appears to be.

“There were a lot of things that were new to me that I didn’t understand, but so far things have generally gone as expected.”

“…”

These words were spoken under the quiet tent.

After the words, even a sigh of relief escapes.

Shiraishi’s actions are always the result of extraordinary anticipation and calculation.

When faced with problems like those of Shizuku, Kirasaka and the chairman, she does not have the judgment to instantly derive the correct answer.

However, she has been able to solve them by preparing dozens of answers to the problems that would arise in advance.

This ability must have been on full display at this year’s festival committee.

However, there are cases where this can be a disadvantage.

In Shiraishi’s case, when she is confronted with a situation that she explicitly does not expect, her judgment and thinking ability deteriorate dramatically.

We all face similar situations in such cases, but in her case, the fall is more apparent than others.

If there is any relief, it comes after the closing ceremony.

“Have you anticipated all the troubles that could arise today……?”

“Yes! As regards the workmanship of the product and the financial side of things—“

“…Then, keep those predictions to yourself for now.”

A bucket was placed near my feet, which Shiraishi must have brought with her, with water and a rag floating in it.

I grabbed it, squeezed out enough water to wipe the tabletop and told Shiraishi.

Her open mouth never closed, only his gaze demanded a reason.

“I don’t mean to underestimate Shiraishi’s ability, but humans are not like robots, they don’t move in a predictable manner, …and it’s hard to solve problems as expected when there are troublesome elements involved, such as emotions.”

This time, we are not dealing with a place for students to interact with each other, nor with teachers who might give them an internal score if she gives a model answer.

We are dealing with outsiders, and the students’ relatives and a wide variety of other people.

Money is involved, and the committee is also in a position to assume some responsibility.

The student council is no exception.

“Failure, no matter how you try to explain it, leaves a lasting impression… It leaves a stronger and longer lasting impression than success… But a failure may erase another failure.”

It might… be, and this is just a possibility.

If you were dealing with Shizuku or Kirasaka, this kind of talk about only possibilities would end with you being confronted with a good argument or other possibilities.

But with Shiraishi, even the slightest possibility makes her pause for thought.

The real purpose of those words is to convey that the real work is just beginning and that now is not the time to be reassured.

It may sound far-fetched, badly worded and hard to get across, but that’s what comes out of my mouth.

“Relax your shoulders a bit… if the head of the organization is tense, it’ll be contagious to the whole thing.”

When I said this to Shiraishi, I pointed to my left arm.

I then tapped my finger to indicate that I was pointing at the armband on her arm.

“Armband, it’s reverse.”

“Huh?”

“Also, you’ve buttoned your shirt wrong…”

The buttons were hung in the wrong place and distorted to the point that a glance under the ribbon at her neck would have been enough to notice.

She must have been more nervous inside than she showed, so much so that she didn’t notice such obvious mistakes.

While she was turning around and adjusting her appearance, complaints were spilling out from behind, but I didn’t pay attention to them, which is what a good senpai should do.

While saying that, it is also the senior’s duty to check if the juniors are wearing their clothes properly.

The two of us were having such an exchange when we saw a student approaching us from afar, rushing up to us and shouting energetically.

“Good morning, you two!”

Seeing this, and the expression on Koizumi’s face, as if to say that he was looking forward to this event was just  the opposite without any tension, not only I but also Shiraishi let out a wry smile.