[Shiodome High School Cultural Festival, it’s starting again today!]
I’m busy.
I’m so busy that I don’t even know what I’m thinking.
“Ah, um, we’ve run out of coffee beans…”
Yesterday felt like a tutorial, as customers kept flooding in.
Miyauchi said it would be busier today since it’s Friday, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.
Thanks to that, my physical condition was at its worst.
I was already mentally exhausted from having to keep talking to customers, and with all the work piling up, the
pressure doubled.
The time was still 11:48.
Since the shift change was at 1 PM, I still had nearly an hour of work left.
“Kayanō-san! Please go to table 3!”
At someone’s request, I wearily headed to table 3.
The average time spent at one table was about 20 minutes.
I still had to serve three more tables after this.
Is this hell…?
The next customer was a woman wearing a hat.
Please let her be a shy customer with a quiet personality.
I silently wished as I opened my mouth.
“I, I can help with your order, miss…”
“Hmm. I’d like a coffee, a black tea, a brownie, and a macaron. One of each, please.”
“Ah, understood.”
…Looks like a big eater.
As I quietly wrote the order on the receipt, she continued.
“And I’d like to borrow the cute butler right in front of me.”
“…Huh?”
The customer suddenly grabbed my hand and said that.
Surprised, I slightly turned my gaze and noticed her pink-blond hair.
“Is that okay?”
And that voice sounded familiar from somewhere recently.
“Um, uh, Akasaki-san?”
“You got it right this time.”
The girl, Akabane, said this while taking off her hat and smiling at me.
I was currently sitting at the table facing Akabane.
Normally, I should still be working, but Akabane had already received permission from Miyauchi at the entrance and had me sit down.
…Honestly, it would be a lie to say I didn’t feel a bit sorry for everyone else, but I was also glad I could rest.
“You came early.”
“I wanted to have you serve me once, Kayanō-san. So I came a little early.”
…Isn’t this not serving?
That thought crossed my mind, but I didn’t voice it.
After all, Akabane came here because of me, and I thought it was enough if she was satisfied with the situation.
“Well. But the taste is better than I expected. Since I heard students prepared it, I was planning to enjoy the
atmosphere of the cultural festival rather than the taste.”
After tasting the coffee and brownie, Akabane made that evaluation.
Well, since Miyauchi, who dreams of being a patissier, made the brownie and macaron herself, and the coffee and
black tea were helped by a classmate’s parents who run a café.
“So, do you have any plans for today?”
I quietly swallowed at Akabane’s question.
I had looked at the pamphlet yesterday, but I hadn’t exactly decided what to do.
If I had to think of something, it would be to go watch the band club’s performance.
Someone might say I lacked responsibility upon hearing this, but no matter how I thought about it, I wasn’t in the wrong.
How could someone who had never gone around with friends schedule plans with someone else?
Going to watch the band club’s performance would have been unimaginable if it weren’t for anime and light novels.
“You haven’t really decided, have you?”
“Um, I’m, s-sorry.”
“It’s okay. I figured you wouldn’t have made any plans, to begin with.”
Saying that, Akabane spread out the pamphlet on the table.
…But what kind of image do I have for her to make such a declaration?
Who knows?
Maybe I came prepared, grinding my teeth, with an incredible cultural festival viewing plan.
…But even I thought that was a completely unconvincing story.
Akabane might be a genius…
“Well, we should probably have a simple lunch first, right? I found out that the 2-C class’s ramen and the culinary
research club’s okonomiyaki have good reviews. Let’s pick one of those and eat, then we can do the board game
club’s….”
Akabane explained today’s plan without any hesitation.
In front of her, I could only nod my head in agreement.
After all, everyone has their own strengths, so I’m not that bad…
Eventually, before the break time at 1 PM, I continued chatting with Akabane.
Whenever it seemed like I could help a bit during the busy moments, Miyauchi stopped me, saying it was fine, so I just watched instead.
…Did they judge that I was not much help?
Well, if someone who can’t even converse properly was to be useful in the service industry, that would be a stretch.
It was probably only because Miyauchi was kind that she didn’t say anything, but there must have been a ton of
complaints.
So, it would be much more convenient to just leave me with someone I knew.
“Thanks for your hard work today, Kayanō-san.”
“Th-thank you.”
I’m not sure if I deserve to be told that I worked hard today.
Of course, I worked hard before Akabane came, but after that, I just relaxed.
“Let’s go, Kayanō-san.”
“Y-yes…”
I could hear the sound of my reputation in our class continuing to drop…
“That was really delicious, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, I, um, ate well…”
After eating the okonomiyaki we talked about earlier, we strolled down the hallway.
Naturally, we were holding hands as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“So, shall we go play darts at the board game club like we talked about earlier?”
“I’m, um, fine with anything.”
But I wasn’t at all flustered by this anymore.
Thanks to meeting Tateyama during summer vacation, I learned that this level of physical contact between girls is normal.
So I can legally enjoy this soft sensation.
Jealous?
“Hehe…”
“Hmm? Did you call me?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Of course, if it had been the old me, I would have felt nauseous and unable to enjoy this situation at all.
But with the current me…
After growing from the live performance with Nacchan…!
I could manage to hold on if I didn’t make eye contact with one person.
Hehe. Akabane-san, you made a mistake.
I won’t let your soft hand escape my grasp…
“Is something wrong, Kayanō-san?”
“Ah, n-no?”
“Your hand keeps fidgeting. I thought maybe you wanted to go to the bathroom.”
“…N-no, it’s nothing.”
I should just stay still………
★
Before I knew it, the time was approaching 5 PM, when the cultural festival would end.
I had spent a whole four hours wandering around with Akabane, and as expected…
“Thank you for your hard work…”
“Ah, it was fun. It really felt like I was back in high school for the first time in a while!”
I was completely exhausted.
In contrast to me, Akabane still seemed full of energy.
She was probably older than me, so how could she be like that?
“It’s almost time for outsiders to leave, so we should get going.”
“Um, um, Akasaki-san…”
“Hmm?”
“C-could we wait and have dinner together…?”
Honestly, after the cultural festival ended, I wanted to rush home and lie down on my bed right away, but there was a reason for my request.
The reason Akabane came to our school’s cultural festival today was because of the penalty we promised during the
last collaboration.
So naturally, I planned to pay for everything today if money was needed, but for some reason, Akabane insisted on
covering everything instead.
And I felt sorry about that, which is why I made this decision…
But Akabane waved her hand in refusal.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I planned to pay for everything from the beginning, and just being able to relive the memories of
high school is enough for me.”
“But I’m really s-sorry…”
“Besides, if you want to have dinner with me, you’d have to skip the campfire happening a little later, right? There’s
really no need for that.”
If Akabane just went home, she never intended to stay for the campfire in the first place.
The final campfire of the cultural festival was open to free participation.
More importantly, the campfire would start at 7 PM.
Even if it took an hour for cleanup, I didn’t want to stay at school for an additional hour.
No matter how I thought about it, it was much better to quickly go home and rest…
“Well, I figured you’d want to go home and rest, but I hope you stay at school to see the campfire, Kayanō-san. The
memories of the cultural festival in high school last a long time, right?”
Since I heard the same thing from Koga yesterday, I answered the same way.
“Ah, I still have two more chances left…”
But unlike Koga, Akabane smiled widely and said, “Even if you see the same scenery, your feelings will always be
different. You understand what I mean?”
“…That’s a line from ‘Uncle.’”
“Hehe. As expected, Kayanō-san has a taste similar to mine.”
As Akabane grinned and placed her hand on my head, she ruffled my hair haphazardly.
“If you really feel sorry for me, you’ll watch the campfire and send me your impressions later! Let’s make this the
penalty for our last bet.”
“I think this is a bit too m-my own way of thinking…”
How many times is she planning to change the penalty?
At my complaint, Akabane said,
“Well, who cares? We’re friends, so just let it go.”
She said that.
“F-friends?”
Friends?
Friends?
Me and Akabane, friends?
“Ah, are you the type to think carefully about the word ‘friend’? Then I guess I’ll consider you a candidate for friendship…”
“Ah, no! I’m, I’m friends with Akabane-san…!”
“Not Akabane, but Akasaki, right?” …out loud.
“I-I’m sorry! I’m just so happy… Hehe…”
I couldn’t help but smile.
I was so glad that someone called me a friend first that a silly smile crept onto my face, one that anyone would think looked weird.
“…This wasn’t what I originally intended.”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing. So? You’re going to watch the campfire, right?”
“Ah, okay.”
Even though my honest feelings were that I just wanted to go home, I couldn’t say no to Akabane after she said that.
“Well, there’s really no need to stay until the very end. To be honest, it’s tough to stay at school for another two
hours. It’s okay to just watch a little and then leave early.”
“Y-yes…”
Then I’ll just stay for about five minutes.
I thought that would be a sufficient concession on my part.
“Alright. It’s about time to go. I’ll contact you again soon.”
“Goodbye.”
“See you later.” With that, Akabane patted my head once more and turned to leave.
“At least when saying goodbye to a friend, you should look each other in the eye! Got it?”
And that phrase came to mind.
“Akabane-san!”
“I told you it’s Akasaki… So why?”
As she turned to look at me with a grin, I felt my energy wane further, and looking directly into someone else’s eyes
made me tremble uncontrollably while feeling nauseous. I wanted to hurry home and lie down on my bed.
But as I gazed into Akabane’s light brown eyes, I shouted as loudly as I could.
“Thank you so much for today!”
“…Yeah!”
Then, the campfire that I stayed behind to watch alone until the very end was…
“…exhausting.”
…quite beautiful.
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