"…"
The way things had turned out was beyond everyone's expectations. Even Sato had never imagined that the better they performed, the fewer people would actually come.
Everyone looked at each other.
"What are we supposed to do now?" Yui muttered with her head lowered before looking up at Sato.
One after another, everyone else turned to look at him as well.
With no one knowing what to do, they instinctively left the decision to Sato.
It also seemed to show just how much they trusted him.
A trace of helplessness appeared on Sato's face as he said, "Looking at me won't help right now. I don't know how to deal with this either."
Even he had never expected something like this to happen. It seemed that sometimes doing something too well wasn't a good thing either.
Perhaps this was what people meant by, "When something reaches an extreme, it reverses."
People were, after all, creatures driven by emotion. Many of them harbored feelings of inferiority. When they saw someone exceptional, they would inevitably compare themselves, and once they felt the gap between them, those feelings of inferiority would naturally emerge.
Seeing everyone looking dejected, Sato's heart stirred, and he encouraged them.
"Still... it's not like we have no chance. There's another welcome performance tomorrow. As long as everyone acts a little more approachable then, it'll be fine."
"Ho ho, looks like you all need my help!"
An eerie laugh suddenly echoed through the clubroom, reverberating through the empty space.
Mio was just about to look for the source of the voice when she suddenly felt someone's breath against her back. The cool sensation brushed across her smooth skin, instantly raising goosebumps all over her body.
Her body stiffened in an instant. After a brief moment of blankness, her expression immediately turned to terror.
The next second...
"Ahhh!"
A piercing scream rang throughout the entire clubroom.
Frightened out of her wits, Mio jumped up as if electrocuted and threw herself forward.
Standing directly in front of her was Sato.
His eyes widened slightly when he saw the girl rushing toward him, and he quickly reached out to catch her.
In an instant, the soft, delicate girl fell into his arms.
The girl's slender body leaned against him tightly, her arms wrapped around his waist as she buried her face in his chest. All he could see was her cloud-like black hair and her slightly trembling body. With both hands raised awkwardly in the air, Sato had no idea where to put them.
"Huh? I scared you again?"
A figure appeared where Mio had been standing moments ago. Yamanaka Sawako looked somewhat surprised at the sight of Mio collapsed in Sato's arms.
"Sawako-sensei!"
Yui looked at Yamanaka Sawako in delight.
Suddenly, Sato felt the girl in his arms stop trembling. Even the hands around his waist loosened a little.
But she still didn't let go.
He vaguely felt the spot on his chest where her face rested gradually becoming warmer.
Could it be...
Her whole face had turned red?
Sato thought in surprise.
Her flushed cheeks were like glowing sunset clouds. Even through a layer of clothing, he could clearly feel the heat radiating from them.
He knew Mio had probably realized that the culprit behind everything was Yamanaka Sawako. But after doing something like this in front of everyone, she probably needed a little time to recover.
But...
The longer she took, the worse this would become.
Sato looked up around the silent clubroom. Nearly everyone's gaze had settled on Mio, who was still hugging his waist.
Their expressions were rather strange as they looked from Mio to Sato and back again.
Sato spread his hands to show that he hadn't taken advantage of the situation.
After a long silence, laughter suddenly broke out.
"Hehe!"
Ritsu wore an excited grin as she slowly walked over to Sato and Mio before deliberately clearing her throat twice.
"Ahem! Ahem!"
At that moment, Sato felt the arms around his waist tighten once more. He could even faintly catch a light fragrance coming from the girl. He couldn't tell whether it was her natural scent, body wash, or shampoo.
He could clearly sense Mio's embarrassment.
He figured she was probably thinking that it would have been better if she had simply fainted earlier.
But after going through this countless times, Mio's resilience had undoubtedly improved. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing for her was another matter.
"Mio, you should let go now."
Ritsu leaned close to Mio's ear and giggled.
From the outside, Mio didn't seem to move at all, but Sato could feel the hands around his waist loosening slightly.
This is bad!
Sato hurriedly shot meaningful glances at Ritsu.
Unfortunately, the troublemaker with the mischievous grin didn't notice them at all.
Sato slowly closed his eyes and silently mourned in his heart.
Accept your fate.
Bang!
A delicate fist suddenly flew out and landed squarely on Ritsu's head, knocking her flat to the floor in one clean blow.
KO!
Sato opened his eyes again, looked at Ritsu's "corpse," and silently murmured, "Amen."
The clubroom fell completely silent.
Gulp.
Yuigahama Yui and Yui swallowed in unison, staring at Mio with horrified expressions.
So scary!
Mio's face was still bright red, but her expression remained surprisingly calm. Looking at Ritsu lying on the floor, a flash of thoroughly satisfying triumph passed through her eyes.
"Sawako-sensei!"
She suddenly looked up at the true culprit and asked sharply,
"What were you trying to say just now?!"
Gasp! How terrifying!
Were kids these days really this fierce?!
Even Yamanaka Sawako felt her heart skip a beat. She immediately forced an awkward laugh as she slowly backed away.
"Um... I just wanted to say that if you need performance costumes, you can come to me anytime. Th-that's all! I'll be going now!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she reached the doorway, yanked the door open with lightning speed, and vanished in a flash.
"Ow!"
After stepping outside, she seemed to bump into someone. Following a brief, hurried exchange of words, the sound of footsteps rushing down the stairs echoed through the hallway.