"Minami-san, what did you want to talk about?"
Kotori led Sato to a quiet corner. Along the way, nearly every customer in the maid café stared at the two of them in astonishment.
After all, Minami Kotori was the signature maid of the Meru Maid Café. Not only was she sweet and adorable, with a petite and graceful figure, but she also had an exceptionally gentle personality. She was well known even among the maid cafés throughout Hanamachi, so every move she made drew attention from the customers around her.
At that moment, Sato could practically feel the stares boring into his back like needles.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
This is way too scary.
These people were probably so jealous that they wanted to tear him apart on the spot.
"Um..."
Kotori pursed her glossy pink lips as though organizing her thoughts. After hesitating for a long while, she finally made up her mind. She looked up, meeting Sato's eyes with her beautiful amber gaze filled with determination.
"Actually, Akane-senpai asked us to come. She said Nohara-kun might be able to help us."
Akane-senpai?
Who was that?
Sato looked at Kotori in confusion. After thinking for a moment, a flash of realization crossed his mind, and he instinctively asked,
"Do you mean Kosaka Akane?"
Most people refer her as Akane-san or Akane-senpai but real name was Kosaka Akane.
"Yes."
Kotori nodded, her face filled with nervous anticipation.
All of a sudden, Sato remembered something Kosaka Akane had said outside his apartment when she handed him the game's USB drive not long ago.
Back then, she had mysteriously told him she wanted to ask him for a favor. But when he pressed her about it, she refused to elaborate, saying that he would understand when the time came.
Could this... be what she meant?
His interest was immediately piqued.
"Can you tell me more?"
"Of course!"
Seeing that he had agreed to listen, delight flashed across Kotori's eyes.
She looked around before pointing toward an empty table.
"Let's sit over there while we talk."
"Sure."
Sato nodded, and the two of them took their seats.
Kotori sat across from him.
The beautiful girl sat with perfect posture, both hands resting neatly on her lap. She wore a well-tailored black-and-white maid uniform, and her flaxen hair flowed smoothly down her back. She naturally carried herself with an air of refined elegance.
"Please, go ahead, Minami Kotori-san."
Kotori nodded nervously before carefully asking,
"Nohara-kun, do you remember telling me before that Otonokizaka (High School) might end up closing?"
Hm?
Did I ever say that?
Sato thought back for a moment.
Then he remembered hearing some inside information from Yukinoshita Yukino. Since Yukino's father was a prefectural assembly member in Chiba, he knew quite a bit of confidential information.
Yukino had mentioned it to him during a casual conversation, and he had later brought it up while chatting with Kotori.
Hearing her mention it now, everything immediately clicked.
He looked at her in surprise.
"Don't tell me... Otonokizaka is really going to be shut down?"
Kotori unconsciously tightened her grip on the hem of her skirt, her expression dimming as she quietly nodded.
Sato fell silent as he looked at her.
He could more or less understand how she felt.
It was much like how he felt about Asahigaoka Branch School. No one wanted to see their alma mater fade into history and become nothing more than a memory.
What he hadn't expected, however, was that Asahigaoka still hadn't received a closure decision, while Otonokizaka had already reached that point.
"Why?"
"Because enrollment keeps declining. They've decided not to accept a new class next year."
"I see..."
Sato nodded thoughtfully.
Otonokizaka Academy wasn't far from his own Private Mixed High School. Several schools in the area were located close together, so he knew a fair amount about Otonokizaka.
To begin with, Otonokizaka had a long history. Among the nearby schools, it was one of the oldest.
A long history also meant strong traditions, which was why Otonokizaka remained a private girls' high school.
But in today's society, where birth rates continued to decline, even coeducational high schools struggled to recruit students.
A girls' school naturally had an even smaller pool of applicants.
The fewer choices students had, the harder recruitment became.
More importantly, however, Otonokizaka wasn't especially strong academically.
It couldn't attract students with outstanding college admission rates, nor did it have any remarkable achievements in arts education.
Overall, it wasn't a bad school.
It was simply... average.
But being average carried its own implications.
Single-sex schools, whether for boys or girls, were products of an earlier era. In an increasingly open society, if students and parents had to choose between an average coeducational school and an average single-sex school, most would choose the former.
That was the predicament Otonokizaka Academy now faced.
It could choose to become coeducational, but such a transition involved countless uncertainties and wasn't something that could simply be decided overnight.
Perhaps the school's board had already considered it.
In the end, however, they had chosen to let the school close instead.
Perhaps, in their minds, that would give this long-established academy a dignified ending.
But judging from the current situation, many people clearly weren't willing to let Otonokizaka disappear so quietly.
He looked up at the nervous Kotori sitting across from him and helplessly frowned.
"While I sympathize with you, there's really nothing I can do about a school closing. I honestly don't know why she told you to come to me."
Kotori quickly shook her head.
"No, we actually have a plan. Akane-senpai just said that Nohara-kun might be able to help us with it."
"Oh? What kind of plan?"
Kotori fidgeted awkwardly. Beneath the table, her hands clenched together nervously. A faint blush spread across her cheeks as she spoke shyly.
"It was Honoka's idea. She happened to see a school idol performance one day, and it inspired her to start a school idol group to raise Otonokizaka's popularity. As long as we can recruit enough new students next year, the school won't be shut down."
"...Huh?"
"A school idol?"
How am I supposed to help with that?!
Sato was completely dumbfounded.
What, do you want me to be an idol master?