Asakura and Chihaya Anon hadn't been at the bonfire party for long when the melodious music for the folk dance began to ring out.
"Humph, there's no time to explain, let's go!"
"Eh?"
Before Asakura could react, Chihaya Anon took the lead and pulled him into the dance floor, then began following the movements of the leading Student Council members. Holding Asakura's hand, they spun in circles around the bonfire in that leisurely manner.
"Is it really okay to jump into the dance like this without looking for the others?" Asakura asked with a bit of a wry smile.
"What does it matter? We have to dance eventually anyway..." Chihaya Anon said in a low voice. "And if we looked for everyone from the Magic Club... Takuma-kun certainly wouldn't dance with me, after all, I'm just a junior who transferred in midway."
"It's just a matter of order, right?" Asakura said nonchalantly. "I won't go back on my word."
Although he said that, even the Student Council couldn't actually do anything to him; the teachers at Sobu High wouldn't really punish him, a third-year, over such a trivial matter. However, as things stood, Asakura still decided to follow the rules—it was just dancing one song.
"It's not just a matter of order, Anon... if it's not first place, I'll be very sad." Chihaya Anon said with deep meaning. "If only Takuma-kun could remember this point well."
"Anon, you really do like dancing."
The girl laughed but didn't answer, simply dancing through the song quietly with Asakura.
Whether it was out of consideration for stamina or other factors, the BGM chosen by the Student Council for the folk dance was the relatively short kind, and the song finished before Asakura broke a single drop of sweat, leaving him feeling quite relaxed.
"Alright, on a day like today, I won't monopolize Takuma-kun all to myself..." the girl, who had been leaning half her body against Asakura, let go of their joined hands and took a nimble step back to create some distance. She looked up with an expression that was slightly... well, Asakura felt he probably just imagined it, but the girl's smile seemed to have a faint bittersweet air to it. "I'll leave Takuma-kun to the others now."
Before he could figure out exactly what the girl's expression meant, someone arrived at their side.
"Did Anon-chan find Takuma-tan? How impressive~" Yuigahama Yui said as she approached with an air of zero distance.
"That's right! I want to report to Yui-senpai! Takuma-kun wanted to slip away!"
Asakura noticed that Chihaya Anon's expression had somehow returned to its original sunny and cheerful look, joking around with Yuigahama Yui, completely devoid of that slightly melancholy beauty from just a moment ago.
"I get it!" Yuigahama Yui said with full energy. "Then next, the Yuigahama Court will conduct a trial of Takuma-tan!"
"Is Yui-senpai going to dance with Takuma-kun? Rather than a trial, isn't it more like a reward?" Chihaya Anon said.
"It doesn't matter, because I don't know how to do ballroom dancing at all. During the dance, I might accidentally step on Takuma-tan's foot—just let him dance with that kind of worry, isn't that a type of trial?" Yuigahama Yui puffed out her chest and said with full confidence.
"I don't mind, as long as it's not Yanami, it's fine..." Asakura said. "If it were her, if I weren't careful and got stepped on, even I might not be able to handle it."
After all, she is quadruple weight.
Yuigahama Yui was stunned for a moment, then realized what Asakura meant and couldn't help but let out a "pfft" laugh. But then she felt it wasn't good to laugh at Yanami like that and tried hard to suppress her smile, lightly tapping Asakura's shoulder with her small fist. "Don't say things like that, Yanami-chan will be hurt if she hears it. She used to care a lot about her weight."
"Judging from the fact that she bankrupted a mega-burger place all by herself, I can't see even a hint of her caring about her weight at all."
Asakura curled his lip, still disparaging her.
"Alright, I've successfully handed Takuma-kun over to Yui-senpai..." Chihaya Anon interrupted their interaction and said loudly. "Then I'll take my leave now!"
"Where is Anon-chan going?" Yuigahama Yui asked.
"There are people in my class who want to dance with me... like Eri and the others..." Chihaya Anon said proudly. "By the way, Anon is the male lead for my class's dance."
Asakura thought about it and remembered there were indeed a few classmates Anon got along with well, but for some reason, he couldn't recall those few faces, only vaguely remembering a couple...
After bidding farewell to Anon, Asakura and Yuigahama Yui walked into the dance floor together and began dancing to the slow music.
Unlike Chihaya Anon, who took a more active lead, Yuigahama Yui really did seem quite unskilled at ballroom dancing.
Of course, the possibility that she was actually aiming for Asakura's feet could not be ruled out.
"Speaking of which, where are the others from the Magic Club?" Asakura asked.
"Yukinon was just here, she should still be around the playground. Chiba... ah, I mean Takuma-kun, I haven't seen her since the bonfire party started..." Yuigahama Yui said. "I don't know if she's still with Takuma-tan, but I already mentioned in the group chat that you were here, so she should show up in a bit."
"Wait a minute, Yukinoshita didn't join the Magic Club, did she?"
"Even if Takuma-tan says that, everyone outside pretty much considers Yukinon one of our members."
"Public opinion is a fearful thing..." Asakura noticed she was missing one person: "Eh? Speaking of which, where's Yanami?"
"Yanami-chan... she ate too much pizza and is lying in the infirmary." Yuigahama Yui's tone sounded a bit strange. Only then did Asakura understand why she couldn't help but burst out laughing earlier.
Fine, it seems that even with four times the normal food capacity, Yanami as a normal human still has her limits...
"By the way, I just ran into Ruri-chan!"
"Oh."
"Isn't Takuma-tan surprised at all?"
"Nani! Ruri-chan actually came too!" Asakura let out a forced show of shock.
"Takuma-tan, your expression is way too fake..."
"Well, because I already heard about it from President Amakusa earlier. She came with Tamaki and the others, right?"
"That's right, but after she and I talked about the Holy Grail, she left in a hurry, seemingly planning to find the Student Council to collect her reward..."
"If it's that child, she would probably exchange it for all-you-can-eat cafeteria coupons." Asakura speculated.
"People from other schools don't seem to be able to exchange for those..." Yuigahama Yui said. "After all, the school festival is special; normally, outsiders aren't allowed in to eat at the school, right?"
"Dance songs and club budget increase vouchers are also useless rewards for outsiders, right? If you put it that way, if someone from outside wins the Holy Grail, they just get a big hunk of chocolate..."
No, thinking carefully, if it weren't for the supernatural events leading to his involvement, according to the normal process, an outsider winning would at most get a thermos, a trinket, or a lucky bag. The most valuable thing would be that small... booklet Eriri left in the activity room.
It's just that it's not as good as chocolate.
Asakura couldn't help but lament: as expected of the Student Council, they easily do things we can't even imagine...