With the cultural festival right around the corner, all the students suddenly seemed to get busy.
Still, they were enjoying it. They were busy because they wanted to be.
Yukio's class directly appointed Sakura as their cultural festival consultant. Whether it was clothing or decorations, the class would go to her with questions. With Shiina staying by her side, Sakura handled one small issue after another.
As for Ishizaki and the others, they simply put their muscle to work and got folded into the shopping team. The girls took the lead, said what needed to be bought, and they just hauled it all back.
The rest of the students became the decorating team, cutting up the materials they'd bought and dressing up the classroom. As a result, every day during class the room looked a little different, going from random and messy to gradually becoming a full retro Taisho-style space.
The last few students, the ones skilled in tea service and sweets-making, stayed in the classroom practicing over and over, hoping to use their technique to push for a high sales total on the day of the festival.
Time passed quickly, and before they knew it, it was already the day before the cultural festival. Even after school, everyone willingly stayed behind to put in overtime and finish the last touches.
The students' desks and chairs had been temporarily moved to the special-use building for storage. At the back of the classroom, opaque curtains had been hung up to create an enclosed kitchen area.
The classroom itself was filled with custom tables and chairs, all carrying that unmistakable old-century atmosphere. The walls were covered with paper flowers and cheap calligraphy prints, and every seat had neatly set white tableware.
It no longer looked anything like a normal classroom. It really did resemble an old-fashioned Taisho-style café.
Even though Yukio was still acting like a hands-off boss who handled nothing, he stayed in the classroom with everyone all the same, keeping them company.
"Cheng, try this and tell me what you think. It's Kinoshita's proud masterpiece." Hiyori walked over smiling, carrying a tray with a cup of black tea and setting it in front of him.
Yukio's expression turned a little strange.
If he wasn't mistaken, Ishizaki had only just brought back several boxes of instant black tea powder earlier. Just add hot water and done. Did that really count as a masterpiece?
Still, he couldn't say that out loud. It would be too hurtful. At the end of the day, the cultural festival was basically just a school event for the students to have fun with. If you started judging it by professional standards, that would be taking things way too far.
Yukio blew on it to cool it down, then took a sip.
Sure enough, it was just instant black tea powder. The taste wasn't particularly good, but it wasn't bad either.
"Yeah, not bad."
At that, Hiyori motioned for Sakura to come sit with them. Though Sakura still looked somewhat reserved, she was already much better than before, back when she practically never spoke to anyone at all.
Hiyori went to the curtained-off kitchen area and came back with another cup of tea for her.
"So, Airi? Have you started settling in?"
Sakura held the cup with both hands like a little hamster clutching a treat. Though there was still some unease in her expression, there was also a faint trace of contentment.
"Mhm. Everyone's really nice. These past few days... have felt very fulfilling."
"That's great." While the three of them chatted happily, Mio Ibuki finally walked out from the curtained kitchen area.
Even Yukio was caught off guard.
What she was wearing was the completed Taisho-era outfit the class had spent so long preparing. The base color was an elegant blue-violet. Paired with a white half-moon floral headpiece, two loose red knots, and a clean white high-waisted apron, the whole thing looked traditional while still carrying a bit of Western flair. It really suited her.
"W-What are you staring at?" Ibuki clearly wasn't used to clothes like this. Her face looked awkward, and she unconsciously straightened her waist a little.
Yukio couldn't help but smile.
"It suits you, Mio."
"D-Does it?" Ibuki froze for a second, the corners of her lips lifting before she quickly pressed them back down, as if she felt that showing happiness here would only make Yukio get smug and push his luck. "Whether it suits me or not, I don't care what you think."
"Pfft." Hiyori couldn't hold it in and laughed.
Even Sakura, sitting beside her, couldn't help smiling. After joining this class, she'd already come to understand Ibuki's awkwardly twisted tsundere personality.
Seeing it in person really was funny.
Ibuki's cheeks flushed red at once. "W-What? Is it really that funny?"
Hiyori lightly shook her head, while Sakura softly explained, "No, no. I'm just... kind of jealous. You can talk so naturally like that."
Ibuki's lips started twitching again.
Hearing Sakura say something like that clearly made her happy, though she still forced the smile back down.
"It's not that big a deal. You can just call me Mio. No need to be so formal."
"And you... you're not bad either. There's nothing to be jealous of."
She'd obviously gotten embarrassed by the compliment and wanted to return one of her own.
But the moment her eyes swept over Sakura, especially the part of her that steamrolled every girl in the school, Ibuki's heart sank.
Damn it.
Why did she suddenly feel like she was the one who ought to be jealous of Sakura?
What exactly would it take to get that ridiculous?
Hiyori left Ibuki and Sakura to keep chatting and quietly leaned closer to Yukio.
"Yukio-kun, do you think this outfit looks nice?"
Yukio honestly nodded. "It's really cute."
"Then I'll go change too."
With that, Hiyori slipped into the kitchen area. After a little while, she came back out carrying one of the class's specially made menus.
When she sat down beside Yukio, she even shyly used the menu to hide the lower half of her face. Her voice came out soft and sweet enough to pull on a man's soul.
"Yukio-kun... how does it look?"
The warm sunlight outside hadn't yet turned golden, but it was already bright enough that, shining behind Hiyori, it made her look like a little deer stepping lightly through the forest, each step landing right on Yukio's heart.
She was so adorable that for a moment he couldn't even find words.
Because Hiyori wasn't good at interacting with strangers, her main role during the cultural festival would be handling the bookkeeping during the morning shift. Someone else would collect the points, and in the afternoon the task would be handed off to Nishino.
That made her the perfect silent poster girl. He'd known that already, but seeing her in the outfit with his own eyes still made him marvel from the bottom of his heart.
"This is dangerous."
Hiyori heard the praise from the person she cared about most, and though the menu hid the lower half of her face, her eyes curved into a delighted smile.
Then she opened them again. "What kind of dangerous?"
Yukio slowly looked her over from top to bottom.
"If tomorrow weren't the cultural festival, and we didn't have to worry about the outfit, that would be perfect."
That line made Hiyori's ears turn bright red at once. After being with him this long, how could she not understand what he meant?
It was nothing more than this: after the festival was over, he wanted to ruin that outfit.
As for how he planned to ruin it... that part didn't need to be spelled out.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.