Volume 2 - CH 16

It’s 5:00 in the morning on a Saturday morning, and Kanade and I are walking to school. The purpose was to prepare for the school festival.

We had already finished decorating the classroom the other day, so there was no need to go to school so early if we were going to have a regular coffee shop.

However, our main attraction was a costume cafe. In a sense, it is no exaggeration to say that we put more effort into the costumes than into the coffee shop.

“Ah, I wonder what Yuu-kun’s Dracula-sama will look like? I’m looking forward to it.”

“I’m looking forward to Kanade’s bloody nurse too. Thanks so much for dressing as a nurse.”

“Mmm~. I feel a little uncomfortable if you say it that way…”

Kanade’s eyes are so cute today as always.

When I was looking at her face, she said, “Yuu-kun, I’m mad at you,” and then she puffed out her cheeks and looked at me with even more cold eyes.

“Hey, you two. You guys have been so lovey-dovey since this morning.”

“Oh, Satoru. Good morning.”

“Hi, Satoru. I can’t wait to see you in your werewolf costume.”

We glossed over Satoru’s lovey-dovey comment and continued our conversation about the festival.

“I had a werewolf makeup done for a test once, and I think you’ll probably be pretty amazed at Fushimi-san’s skill level.”

“Oto-chan is really amazing! I knew she was good at drawing, but I didn’t know she was that good.”

The crux of this costume was, after all, the design and makeup of the costume. Fushimi-san was originally said to have excelled in art, but as Kanade said, she did not expect that he had the skill to change people to that extent.

Although she would like to take more time to improve the finished product, as expected with the time limit, it was tough, so she settled for a simple makeup (still amazing from an amateur’s point of view).

“Satoru can’t wait to see Kozue-chan as a witch, can he?”

Kanade, as if in return for being lightly teased earlier, grinned and began to agitate Satoru. Then Satoru’s face turned bright red and he began to get overly upset.

What is it, Satoru? You’re too cute.

It was hard to wake up so early, but seeing Satoru’s cute face made Kanade and I feel relaxed in the morning.

—

“Hey, isn’t it a little too crowded?”

“Oh, I didn’t expect so many people to show up…”

As soon as the festival started, there was a long line of people waiting in front of the classrooms to see our performance, which had gained a reputation for the high quality of the costumes.

Stunned by this situation, the werewolf and Dracula stood in the hallway.

“We can’t go around the school like this, with all the work we have to do all the time.”

“It’s a little more than I expected. Hmmm. How about a numbered ticket system? If we limit the number of people in each group to 15 minutes, it will be easier to calculate, and the burden on the people in line will be reduced.”

“Oh, that’s great! Let’s go propose right away.”

“Yeah, sorry. Satoru, could you go propose this?”

Satoru, the werewolf, looked doubtful for a moment, but then he thought of the person who was in charge of the class, figured out what was going on, and just said, “OK,” and went to Hazuki. I could deal with her on a normal level, but to be honest, I had to deal with a lot of things when it came to proposing. I was not comfortable with that.

If you ask me, “Do you still hate Hazuki?” I honestly don’t hate her that much anymore. If I had been alone, I might still have been trapped in my hatred, but I had many friends around me. That’s why I was able to look forward naturally.

However, just because I looked forward, I could not forgive Hatsuki and talk about it as if nothing had happened. I am not yet that settled or mature. Will I ever be able to forgive Hazuki? I couldn’t even imagine such a future.

—

Thanks to the fact that we were able to control the crowds to some extent by starting to hand out numbered tickets, Satoru and I were able to show up at Yoshi-chan’s classroom.

“Ah, Yuuri-senpai, whoops! It’s Dracula! You’re so cool!”

Yoshi-chan, who immediately spotted me entering the classroom, was shouting and waving her hands in the air in a big, sweeping motion. Next to her was Hanaka, who was tugging on Yoshi-chan’s arm while saying, “You shouldn’t shout so loud.”

“They both look so cool, like real dealers!”

Yoshi-chan and Hanaka were dressed in white shirts, black vests, and bow ties. Their hair was pulled back in a single ponytail, giving them a dignified look instead of their usual cute look.

“Heh heh. Do we look good together?”

“Yeah, you look great. Don’t you think so, Satoru?”

“Of course! Hana-chan and Yoshi-chan both look great.”

“Thank you, both of you!”

“I’m not very happy to be praised by Yuu nii-chan. I wish I could get compliments from more handsome and nice men.”

“Hanaka, give up on this one… I, your brother, am the limit for you.”

“I don’t want to accept such reality!”

Hanaka gave me a stomach punch and quickly went back to her post.

As I rubbed my belly, Yoshi-chan smiled and said, “I’ll be the dealer next, so let’s play blackjack together.” Yoshi-chan invited me and Satoru to sit at the table with her and we started to play.

The only thing I can say about the outcome of the game is that Satoru and I lost miserably to Yoshi-chan.

“Yoshi-chan, aren’t you being a little strong?”

“Hmmm. I’ve never lost a game like this. I am also a strong mahjong player.”

Yoshi-chan grinned and said with a smug look on her face, “My specialty is here.”

“No way! I never thought I’d hear a line from Akagi Shigeru come out of Yoshi-chan’s mouth…”

“What? Huh? What’s up with you two all of a sudden?”

In front of Satoru’s eyes was a first-year high school girl who smugly said a line from the main character of a maniacal (and in some cases famous) mahjong manga, and my best friend shuddered in surprise at the unexpected remark.

But what’s up with Yoshi-chan’s taste in manga? I mean, you look so smug, but if I didn’t know that, you’d suddenly be the girl who said something incomprehensible!

When I told her that, she replied, “I know all about you and your taste in manga, so don’t worry about it.” How much does she know about me? Yoshi-chan, you horrible girl…

“Hmmm. I don’t know, but it’s kinda fun! Yuuri, let’s go play roulette this time.”

“Okay! I’ll win next time! Double push!”

“Oh, yeah. Double push!”

As I headed for the roulette in a weird tension, I heard a voice behind my back blurt out, “Buhuh…”. Hearing that, I grinned, confident that I had gotten through to Yoshi-chan safely.

I then enjoyed the casino with Satoru and was about to leave the classroom when Yoshi-chan came running after me.

“Senpai. I hope you two will go around the festival tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it.”

She blushed as she said this and returned to the classroom with a big bow of her head, saying, “Well, I’ve got to go.”

“Yuuri, the popular guy, seems to be going through a lot of trouble.”

“Baka, it’s not that nice.”

I said, and then I hit Satoru’s shoulder with my fist with a knack.