Volume 1 - CH 3.1

Chapter 3

Translated by Sphagnum

Edited by Sphagnum

There are about five minutes left until the start of the general meeting of the Cultural Committee, which is about 20 days after the last one. Just like last year after the holidays, the attendance rate of first-year students is declining as well. As they get used to their new lives, they tend to focus more on club activities, part-time jobs, lovers, friendships, etc. Although it can’t be helped, I can’t help but feel lonely.

“As expected, it’s going to decrease.”

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

Sane and Doku, sitting next to me, seemed to be thinking the same thing, their voices a little dejected. Both Sane and Doku had often contact with first-year students, and they might miss them even more than I did. As I looked at them with a sidelong glance, the phone in my pocket trembled.

《If it is okay with you, would you like to go home with me today?》

Faster than I could stop myself from shaking, I took out my phone and checked it to see that I had received such a message from Misono, along with a sticker of a penguin waving its arms. Since that day when we went out together, I have received a message from Misono about once every two days. The text is as polite as ever, but a penguin sticker is added along with it quite often. It seems to be a sign of closeness, and no matter how many times I see it, my face almost breaks into a smile.

《Okay. If it’s a meeting who only second-year students, please go home first.》

《I’ll be waiting.》

About 20 seconds after sending the message, I received a message with a sticker of a penguin waving its hand, different from the one I had just received.

“Maki, seems you’re in a good mood.”

“A girl?”

“You think so?”

Sane and Doku are right, but I can’t even handle my own feelings, so I ask back.

“No.”

“Not at all.”

“I’m glad my friends trust me.”

While Doku and Sane and I were exchanging light banter, the committee president, Ichinomiya Jin, prefaced his opening remarks with the words, “It’s a little early.”

Today’s general meeting consisted of an explanation of the overall work scheduled for tomorrow and a handout on the future flow of the committee’s activities. The cultural festival will be held in November, but the Cultural Committee will not start in earnest until late May, and Jin’s explanation focused on that area.

Continuing from the general meeting, the sectional meeting also included a simplified explanation of the flow of activities to be conducted by the Exhibit Planning Department in the future. The slides were handed out, and Ayatsuji Takashi, the head of the department, gave a brief explanation, but—

“Why penguins?”

“Aren’t they pretty cute?”

“It’s better than a Stickman, isn’t it?”

These and other voices can be heard mainly from second-year students. The materials handed out were mostly just minor changes from last year’s, but the Stickman that showed the exhibiting groups and committees had been changed to a penguin.

Although no one but Takashi knows about it, it was I who created it. At the end of April, I received a request from Takashi, who was very motivated by the fact that “Makki seems to have the freest time of all the people I can ask,” so I made some modifications to last year’s data. I had started with a panda because I was told that “Stickman is boring,” but around the end of the holidays, I suddenly had the idea to change it to a penguin.

Although the penguin was a little more difficult to make than the panda, which was made of circles and ellipses, the penguin required a triangular shape object as well, but once I started making it, I enjoyed it so much that I set up an animation of the penguin toddling along even though I knew it would be printed out. It is a little or a lot vain to think that Takashi is the only one who sees it.

“—So, applications for exhibiting groups will be accepted starting in September, but, uh, each division will be assigned by the end of May, and from June, we will work with PR to announce the application period for exhibiting groups. That’s all for now. Does anyone have any questions?”

Takashi, who had finished his explanation, looked around the room and asked, but no one asked a question. The second-year students had no questions about the content, which was almost the same as last year, and the first-year students did not raise their hands, perhaps because they were still unfamiliar with the subject matter, or perhaps because they thought that if they read the materials carefully, they might be able to find what was written there.

“Well—”

“Yes.”

“Yes, then, Wakaba.”

The first to raise her hand was a second-year student and first-stage leader, a petite Kansai native named Iwasa Wakaba.

“I’m sure you’re all wondering, what’s that penguin?”

The sophomore girl sitting near Wakaba nodded her head and said, “Mm-hm,” in response to a question asked in an intonation that was neither standard nor from her region.

T/N : She speaks in Kansai dialect

“Why, Makki?”

I had hoped that he could make a deception, but he easily betrayed my expectations and threw everything at me.

“Did Makki make this?”

“Yeah. I asked for it at the end of April.”

“Hmm.”

All eyes were on me. Some of the first-year students might be asking, “Who’s Makki?” I was probably the one who looked uncomfortable at the end of their gazes.

“Somehow, I don’t know.”

The reason for choosing Penguin was clear, but I couldn’t say it out loud.