After parting ways with Ayanokoji, Yukio spent more time wandering around with Amasawa, checking out most of the festival stalls. During all of it, Amasawa was unusually well-behaved. She did not ask a single extra question. She just focused on enjoying herself and savoring the very first school festival of her life.
After that, the two of them even stopped by Sakayanagi's class to watch the movie they were screening. Calling it a movie was a bit generous, though. It was really more like a forty-minute short film.
It was pretty decent. If you overlooked the students' not-quite-there acting, the script itself had no major flaws. They had invented a special exam that had never actually happened at Advanced Nurturing High School, and the result was something that helped visiting guests understand the school much better.
There were also a few thought-provoking scenes and bits of philosophy mixed in, so it was entertaining while still giving people something to think about. By the time it ended, even Amasawa was full of praise. Second-years really did know how to play. Their theme had been something completely different from everyone else's.
When they left Sakayanagi's classroom, it was already close to noon. Yukio finally figured it was time to head back to his own class and grab something to eat.
"Amasawa, do you want to come see my class setup, or keep wandering around by yourself?"
"Perfect timing~" Amasawa had no interest in strolling around the festival alone. "I want to see what theme your class came up with too, Senpai~"
"It's a Taisho-era café theme," Yukio told her directly. "You can grab something to eat there too. It's all pretty much fast food, but it'll do the job."
That only made Amasawa more interested.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go~"
So the two of them headed to another floor, where they found both Yukio's class and D-Class with lines forming outside their classrooms.
It was a straight-up head-to-head match.
Their customer base almost completely overlapped, and judging by the number of people waiting outside, the two sides were dead even at the moment.
"Wow! It's so lively here."
Amasawa loved this kind of atmosphere.
On Yukio's side, Manabe and Nanae were standing out front in Taisho-era outfits, handing snacks and drinks to the guests waiting in line.
On D-Class's side, Horikita—still wearing her regular school uniform and looking cold as ever—and Sakura Sato in a maid outfit were doing the same thing.
Yukio could not help looking surprised.
"Horikita, you're not in a maid outfit?"
"!"
Horikita's eyebrow twitched. Clearly, that question had just stirred up some bad memory.
"That's none of your business."
"Were D-Class's funds too tight? Not enough costumes?"
Yukio still looked genuinely puzzled. Based on looks alone, Horikita definitely ranked at least a little above Sato. Not by a huge margin, but above was above. By any normal logic, she should have been the one wearing it.
"Not at all," Sato said with her usual easygoing, friendly personality, waving both hands with a laugh. "You and Yukio just don't know, that's all~ Horikita in a maid outfit with that icy face would be super out of place. Like, super not right."
It looked like Sato had plenty more to say, but one cold glare from Horikita sent her right back to handing out snacks to the line.
Yukio and Amasawa could only clamp their mouths shut and shake with barely-contained laughter. The looks on their faces practically screamed, Please, continue, we'd love to hear more.
Under Horikita's gaze—which was hard to tell whether it was icy or resentful—Yukio led Amasawa into his own classroom instead.
Inside, nearly all the tables were occupied by guests of all ages, and business was clearly booming. Only one table remained empty, tucked against the wall at the edge of the room.
That one had been deliberately reserved for class members to take breaks and eat. Guests seemed perfectly used to it. Other schools did the same thing, leaving a small table for their own people, so nobody had any issue with it.
Yukio sat down with Amasawa and casually flagged over a classmate to bring a menu, which he handed to her so she could order whatever she wanted. From the counter, Shiina spotted him and came over too.
"Yukio-kun, this is a huge success. Business is really good."
"How so?" Yukio nodded toward the door. "When I came up just now, D-Class's line looked pretty solid too. Their number of people waiting seemed about the same as ours."
Hiyori seemed completely confident. She did not even need to check the ledger. She recited a few sales figures from memory, then gave her conclusion.
"They're not a problem. They won't be able to maintain that for long."
"That kind of Western-style maid café? I've never been to one, but they seem to be everywhere these days. For most people, though, a retro Taisho-style café like this is much rarer."
"Younger guests will pick us just for the novelty, and older guests definitely won't be comfortable with the whole maid thing, so they'll choose us too."
"We have a strong advantage there. Over the course of the whole day, barring surprises, our traffic should be much steadier than D-Class's."
"That's good."
Yukio nodded, reassured.
"By the way, where's Ibuki? I haven't seen her."
Hiyori immediately broke into laughter.
Apparently Ibuki's situation was similar to Horikita's. Just bringing her up was enough to amuse Hiyori.
"She's outside handing out flyers. At first her attitude wasn't great, and Sakura was worried she'd get us complaints."
Yukio did not need much more explanation than that. Just imagining the scene was easy enough—Ibuki slamming a tray down in front of customers and scowling at them. Sending her outside had probably been the safest option.
That way, at least she was less likely to cause trouble.
"Finally, I can take a break."
Ibuki looked at the small stack of flyers still left in her hands, checked the time, and thought again about how this whole Taisho theme had been chosen mainly to get revenge for Sakura.
That made something inside her feel faintly sour, and she let out a quiet sigh.
"Whatever. I'll finish handing these out first, then go back. Uh, excuse me—would you like to visit a Taisho-style café?"
She stopped more than a dozen passersby and asked them one by one, until she had finally gotten rid of all the flyers. Only then did she stretch both arms high and roll her shoulders in satisfaction before turning toward the teaching building.
But at that moment, someone fell into step beside her.
Ibuki instantly became alert.
Was this one of the customers interested in the Taisho café, someone tagging along because they did not know the way?
Or was it... someone with other intentions?
She shot him a sidelong glance and saw a boy in a school uniform. He had a bright, sunny smile.
Which only made him look even more disgusting.
That was just how Ibuki saw the world. She did not believe in flawless people. The more polished and pleasant someone looked on the outside, the faker and more repulsive they seemed to her.
"Who are you? Keep following me and I'll beat your ass."
"The upperclassman really has a lot of personality," the boy said without taking offense.
Clearly, he had no idea what kind of worldview Ibuki was operating on, because he kept smiling the same fake-sunny smile.
"I should introduce myself. I'm Takuya Yagami from Class 1-B—"
Ibuki walked off before he could even finish.
She did not slow down in the slightest. She simply tossed one sentence behind her.
"Not interested."
Yagami's face darkened instantly.
She had no interest in him? In the most outstanding student from White Room's fifth generation?
What a clueless idiot.
Still, time was short, so he could only force himself to endure it. In his heart, he was already deciding that once he had finished using her, he was definitely going to make her pay for this.
After silently cursing her out a few times, he pasted that bright smile back on and went straight to the point to stop her from leaving.
"Ibuki-senpai, don't you want President Yukio to leave Shiina-senpai? Don't you want him to find someone who really understands him?"
"...What?"
Ibuki's face twitched.
If Yukio went off to "find someone who really understood him," then by that logic she would not even qualify for consideration herself.
This dumbass was seriously standing here spewing nonsense.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.