"According to the results of the vote, our class's program will be a 'Haunted House.'"
Okazaki Kanami announced loudly, then began detailing a series of arrangements for the upcoming preparations.
"Starting tomorrow, you can all begin gathering props for the haunted house. All expenses will come from the class budget. As for setting up the haunted house itself, we'll do that the day before the cultural festival..."
No one objected to her plan. After all, this wasn't their first time preparing for a cultural festival, and they had some experience already.
After announcing the cultural festival plans, Okazaki left the classroom.
"Hiiro, let's head home~"
"Mm."
Since it was already the end of the school day, Eriri and Wakaba Hiiro prepared to head straight home once Okazaki left. Other than the day they went to pick up their textbooks, they had always left right after school.
Their books were already packed, so they could leave immediately—except a voice called out to stop them.
"Sawamura-san, Wakaba-san, please wait a moment."
Eriri paused and looked toward the source. In the middle of the classroom sat a girl watching her seriously.
"Ara, class rep, what is it?"
The serious-looking girl was the class representative of 2-3, Sachi Kudou.
"We're about to assign tasks for preparing the cultural festival. I'd like you to stay and listen. After all, the festival is a group activity for the whole class."
"Ah, that. You can just assign things as you like. If there's anything you need me and Hiiro to do, have Mirei pass the word to us~"
With that, Eriri took Wakaba Hiiro by the hand and left the classroom without looking back.
Mirei Shinohara hesitated for a moment, but in the end, stayed behind instead of following Eriri out as she usually did.
Watching Eriri's departing figure, Sachi Kudou's serious face showed a trace of helplessness.
For over a month, she had been trying to help Eriri fully integrate into the class, but her efforts had achieved nothing. Aside from Wakaba Hiiro and Mirei Shinohara, no one could spend more than a few minutes near Eriri.
She had hoped to use the cultural festival as a chance to get Eriri involved with her classmates, working together on preparations to bring her into the group.
Unfortunately, Eriri clearly had no interest in such things.
Still, Kudou didn't dislike her for it, and neither did the other students. If anyone else behaved this way, they would have been ostracized long ago.
...
Over the next week, preparations for the cultural festival moved ahead in full swing, filling the school with a lively atmosphere.
Of course, these activities took place after school and didn't interfere with regular class time.
Naturally, none of this had anything to do with Eriri. No tasks were assigned to her.
Before long, the day before the cultural festival arrived. All the haunted house props had been ready for two days.
To give every class enough time for final preparations, there were basically no lessons that day—everyone focused on setting up their classrooms.
Eriri's class began decorating their haunted house, every student brimming with confidence, convinced that their haunted house would shine brightly at the cultural festival.
The reason things had progressed so smoothly was largely thanks to Eriri. Wanting the haunted house to be as terrifying and realistic as possible, she had handed a notebook to class representative Sachi Kudou the day after Okazaki Kanami announced the cultural festival plans.
The notebook contained a wealth of information on haunted house setups and the creation of spooky props, all explained in a clear, illustrated format. With this as a guide, the students making props worked as if inspired, producing impressively realistic items in a very short time.
It also included tips on how to act and scare people effectively, giving them plenty of confidence that their haunted house would impress all visitors.
Thanks to this notebook, Eriri was excused from all tasks—and naturally, so was Wakaba Hiiro.
Since setting up the haunted house meant starting with a thorough cleaning, the first step was to carefully dust every corner of the classroom walls.
"Ah, there's a spider here..."
Near the end of the cleaning, a sudden shriek drew everyone's attention.
Turning to look, they saw a female student pointing toward the corner by the podium. There, a tiny spider less than two centimeters in size slowly moved across a web nearly forty centimeters in diameter.
This spider was none other than the one Eriri had been keeping an eye on.
Because of the subtle butterfly effect caused by her presence, its discovery had been delayed by a few days.
Okazaki Kanami wasn't in the classroom at the moment. Without the small protective measure Eriri had placed on it, the spider might not have survived long enough to reincarnate into another world.
Seeing the tiny creature, the gathered students burst into laughter.
"What, that's it? I thought it was a big one. It's just a little spider—look how scared you are..."
"Seriously, your courage is way too small, haha."
...
The teasing only made the girl who screamed more embarrassed. She shouted back in frustration:
"Ugh, I just hate creepy things with lots of legs, okay? Hurry up and kill it!"
"Alright, alright, coming."
A male student stepped forward, broom in hand, and swatted at the spider's web.
The blow destroyed the web, knocking the spider to the floor—but thanks to Eriri's protection, it wasn't harmed.
When the spider began trying to scurry away, the boy lifted his foot to crush it.
But before he could bring it down, a voice from outside the classroom stopped him.
"Wait!"
Everyone froze, including the boy about to stomp the spider. His foot came down off-target, missing it completely.
The reaction was natural—because the voice belonged to Eriri. This was the first time she had ever addressed them of her own accord.
Since she and Wakaba Hiiro had no assigned tasks, they had spent the earlier part of the cleaning period wandering around the school. Upon returning, they had walked right into the scene of several students trying to kill the spider.
"Ah, Sawamura-san, is something wrong?"
"It's nothing. It's just that this little spider and I have a bit of a connection. Could you let it go?"
Eriri smiled at the students in front of her, the overwhelming charm of her beauty making them instinctively avert their eyes.
None of them had the courage to refuse her, and they agreed without hesitation.
"Of course, no problem."
Hearing their agreement, Eriri said nothing more. She simply extended her slender, jade-like right index finger and rested it against the nearby wall.
The next instant, the tiny spider scurrying across the floor seemed to respond to a summons. It turned and climbed the wall, making its way to Eriri's fingertip, where it stopped.
With the spider retrieved, Eriri walked toward the back of the classroom by the window. Wakaba Hiiro followed behind, giving the little creature perched on Eriri's finger a thoughtful glance.
Because the haunted house setup required most of the desks and chairs, they had been stacked together to form walls. Eriri could only lean against the window and watch her classmates work.
Not that she did nothing—when necessary, she offered technical guidance.
By a little after two in the afternoon, Class 2-3's haunted house was complete.
"Wow, this looks amazing."
"All thanks to the haunted house guide Sawamura-san gave us. Without it, we wouldn't have come close to this!"
"Not even close. Even one-tenth of this would be impressive enough to run a real haunted house outside."
"No kidding. Sawamura-san's not just beautiful—she's brilliant too."
…
The twenty-four students other than Eriri and Wakaba wandered through the haunted house, excitement plain on their faces. Their words brimmed with gratitude and admiration for Eriri.
If the haunted house hadn't been built by their own hands—and without anyone yet playing the role of ghosts—they might already have run out, scared.
They could already imagine the scenes tomorrow when visitors came.
Even Okazaki Kanami, after experiencing this "youth edition" haunted house, felt a chill in her heart. If not for the fact that most of her classmates were inside, she wouldn't have stayed a moment longer.
In short, she was very satisfied with the setup.
The day passed quickly, and at last, the cultural festival began.
After breakfast, Eriri and Wakaba Hiiro—who had, as usual, joined her for the meal—headed to school together.
Though the school wouldn't officially open to the public until ten, preparations were already complete. The food stalls near the gate were busy with students prepping ingredients, dance performance classes were warming up, and exhibition rooms were ready for guests.
In the corridors, students bustled back and forth carrying items. Occasionally, a girl in a cute maid outfit passed by, while student council members with armbands patrolled the grounds.
"Good morning, Eriri, Wakaba-san."
"Good morning, Mirei."
In front of the Class 2-3 room, Mirei Shinohara greeted them as usual. Today, she wasn't in uniform, but in a white dress splattered with realistic bloodstains and with blood-marked bandages wrapped around her head.
The effect was striking—crafted with red dye following Eriri's guide, and convincing even in daylight.
"Mirei, are you playing one of the ghosts?"
"That's right! How do I look?"
She spun once in front of Eriri.
"Pretty convincing. But what made you decide to take the ghost role?"
Mirei's costume wasn't the final version, but it already matched Eriri's provided sketches by fifty to sixty percent. With makeup, the likeness would rise above seventy.
"Hehe, I just wanted to experience scaring people, so I volunteered," Mirei admitted shyly.
"Oh? Then you'd better work hard. I hope you don't end up getting scared instead~" Eriri said with a sly smile.
After all, she planned to place a few real horrors in the haunted house—harmless under her control, but visually far beyond anything a human could imitate.
At Eriri's words, Mirei's expression turned confident.
"No way I'll get scared. Just watch—I'll have visitors running out crying!"
"Good spirit! That's worth praising."
Eriri gave her a thumbs-up. Mirei, oblivious to any hidden meaning, only thought she was being encouraged and grinned happily.
"Alright, I need to get my makeup done. There's not much time before we open."
With that, Mirei hurried back into the classroom to join the other ghost-role students for final preparations.
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