C59 The Third Dance: To the Literary Girl in a Hallucinatory Dream (1)

C59 The Third Dance: To the Literary Girl in a Hallucinatory Dream (1)

The night breeze stirred, causing the bonfire at the center of the venue to sway gently.

The sight of the bonfire, perhaps stirring a sense of nostalgia within her, made Kazama Nanami disinclined to remain at the bonfire dance any longer, and she expressed a desire to return early.

She even extended an invitation to Hoshimori Shion, suggesting, “Let’s go see the ocean together,” but Hoshimori Shion declined.

Primarily, however, Kazama Nanami had arrived on her motorcycle.

Hoshimori Shion swore that even if it meant being beaten to death, she would never again endure a second ride on Kazama Nanami’s motorcycle.

[Idiot big sister! I’m on the road outside the school. So many people have set up stalls today! I’m starting to eat first!]

Hoshimori Shion opened her phone, immediately spotting the message from Hoshimori Ayane.

Below that message, Hoshimori Ayane had sent various pictures of delectable food.

Common festival snacks such as takoyaki and crepes were all prominently featured.

Another photo depicted a small, fair hand clutching a taiyaki, suggesting Hoshimori Ayane had succumbed to the allure of the food and had already started eating.

Hoshimori Shion could vividly imagine Hoshimori Ayane biting into the taiyaki, her mouth brimming with the sweet red bean paste.

At this delightful thought, Hoshimori Shion couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.

‘Perhaps I should go outside and see for myself…,’ Hoshimori Shion mused, stepping out of the small viewing platform on the second floor and heading towards the classrooms.

The staircase there offered a quicker descent.

Passing by the A-class classroom, where the cafe had been bustling with activity just that morning, it was now remarkably quiet.

The classroom decorations had mostly been taken down, the desks and chairs returned to their original positions, and by the time classes resumed on Monday, everything would be as it had been before the cultural festival.

Except for one thing: the signboard at the main entrance, adorned with Hoshimori Shion’s anime avatar and bearing the words ‘Maid Chief welcomes your nomination,’ had surprisingly not yet been taken down.

Hoshimori Shion, quite proactively, took down the signboard herself and placed it on the podium.

The lights in classrooms B, C, and E had already been extinguished.

However, only the lights in classroom D still remained illuminated.

‘Wait, Class D…’

Through the window, one could see Kujou Sakuya sitting alone in the classroom, a pencil clutched in her hand, as she doodled and wrote something in her notebook.

“Kujou-san!” Through the window, Hoshimori Shion greeted Kujou Sakuya.

Kujou Sakuya, startled like a small kitten, quickly snapped her notebook shut.

However, upon realizing it was Hoshimori Shion greeting her through the window, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Hoshimori Shion, please don’t scare me like that. Come in quickly.” Kujou Sakuya smiled and waved Hoshimori Shion in.

Class D’s classroom had also been tidied remarkably well, showing no trace of having hosted a haunted house earlier that day.

Only the black cardboard panels that had formed the long corridor still lay along the edge of the hallway, likely awaiting removal during a subsequent thorough cleaning.

Hoshimori Shion walked into the classroom, making her way over to Kujou Sakuya.

Kujou Sakuya reopened her notebook, an immensely important possession for this literary girl.

Kujou Sakuya’s notebook contained a multitude of entries.

It appeared that, besides the notes she typically took while reading, she also seemed to meticulously record her feelings in it at any given moment.

For instance, on the day she visited Hoshimori Shrine, she had drawn a large, adorable smiley face in her notebook.

Rather than merely a notebook, it more resembled a diary where Kujou Sakuya would jot down her thoughts and musings at any given moment.

Hoshimori Shion, unlike Kazama Nanami, couldn’t simply stride into other classrooms with complete ease; when she entered Class D’s classroom, she still felt a touch of awkwardness.

“Have a seat, Hoshimori Shion.” Kujou Sakuya invited Hoshimori Shion to sit beside her. “Why aren’t you out enjoying the bonfire party?”

“I was originally going to find my sister, but I ran into a few close friends on the way. We chatted and even danced together.”

Hoshimori Shion smiled. “Then, passing by Class D’s classroom, I saw the lights were still on and you were here, so I came over. Kujou-san, aren’t you going to the bonfire party?”

“Outside… there are too many people,” Kujou Sakuya said with a blush, tugging at her skirt. “And I didn’t have time to go home and change my clothes. If I went out to dance and someone noticed, it would be terrible.”

Hoshimori Shion immediately understood.

If Kujou Sakuya hadn’t had time to go home and change, that meant she was still going commando (TL Note: A Japanese slang term, ‘shinku,’ meaning ‘going without underwear.’) underneath.

No wonder she didn’t go out to dance.

“Then Kujou-san, aren’t you going home?” Hoshimori Shion leaned her head on the desk, watching Kujou Sakuya, who was still writing.

Kujou Sakuya shook her head. “I prefer to be alone. If I go home or to a crowded place, I feel a bit… uncomfortable.”

“Then how about I stay here and sit with you?” Hoshimori Shion continued with a smile.

Kujou Sakuya momentarily paused her writing, glanced at Hoshimori Shion, and felt a profound sense of reassurance.

“Hoshimori Shion, it’s fine. If you’re by my side, I feel very at ease.”

“Because I believe, Hoshimori Shion will like my… work.”

“Oh?” Hoshimori Shion straightened up slightly, a little surprised.

“Hoshimori Shion, what do you think of my script?” Kujou Sakuya suddenly asked. Then, she added, “Just tell me honestly.”

Hoshimori Shion recalled the script she had received.

To be honest, her first impression had been quite positive; the phrasing, the scene divisions, and the framing all turned out better than she had imagined when actually performed.

Although there were quite a few typos and the antiquated style was a bit heavy-handed, it didn’t prevent Hoshimori Shion from seeing that Kujou Sakuya had genuinely, truly put her heart into writing it.

“I think it’s fantastic~ However, there are some typos, and a few sentences feel a bit stiff, but they worked out fine during the performance.”

“And Kujou-san, you truly put so much effort into it.” Hoshimori Shion said, carefully choosing her words.

Kujou Sakuya smiled somewhat helplessly, then gently rubbed her head against Hoshimori Shion’s shoulder, much like a small black cat.

“Hoshimori Shion, I actually… have no literary talent at all, truly none.” Kujou Sakuya lowered her head. “Most of the time, my writing is simply to express my own feelings, but sometimes, I also hope that others might acknowledge me, just a little bit…”

“Oh, by the way, Hoshimori Shion, have you read Osamu Dazai’s ‘No Longer Human’?” Kujou Sakuya suddenly asked.

Hoshimori Shion quickly accessed her mental database of knowledge, but it seemed that, as a poor student, she couldn’t quickly grasp the various literary classics Kujou Sakuya referenced so casually.

Therefore, when Kujou Sakuya claimed she had no talent, Hoshimori Shion felt she was being far too modest; Kujou Sakuya was certainly more brilliant than that idiotic Miko (TL Note: A shrine maiden, often serving at a Shinto shrine.) at Hoshimori Shrine!

“To describe it with that book might be a bit affected, haha.” Kujou Sakuya chuckled self-deprecatingly.

“But why does that book resonate so much… with me?”