Chapter 5 – Our Hyakka Festival

“Oi, you guys over there! All good?”

“All good! Also, can someone tell the teachers that we need another stack of wood-free papers?”

“You don’t need to! I already got the paper for you!”

“Thank you, Asunaro!”

I walked into the classroom and was greeted by this chaotic scene.

Well, I wasn’t surprised at all. Today was the day of the Hyakka Festival after all.

No matter how unmotivated everyone was, they’d go all out when the event had started. It was the same last year too.

“Ah, Joro! Good morning!”

“Morning, Asunaro.”

With a stack of paper in her hands, Asunaro came over and bowed to me.

Her ponytail hung down in front of her face, it looked funny.

“Hm? Himawari isn’t with you?”

“She’s helping out the tennis club. We aren’t always together. It isn’t like we’re dating or anything.”

Alright, as I previously said, today was the day of the Hyakka Festival.

For those of you who didn’t remember, let me remind you the thing that Asunaro said to me a while back.

‘Don’t worry, I haven’t distributed the article yet. I also withheld the names of the victims for their safety. I’m going to publish it during the Hyakka Festival, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on you in the meantime! Depending on your actions, I’ll change the content of the article accordingly!’

That was what Asunaro said to me as she smiled with the most innocent looking smile ever. But in her hand, there was an article titled, ‘Scum of the Century! Kisaragi Amatsuyu Caught Three-Timing!’ Unfortunately for me, the article was accidentally published, though whether the article would be altered to reflect the truth or not remained undecided.

Since it would be decided today, the day of the Hyakka Festival.

In other words, all this time, I had been trying my best to resolve Asunaro’s misunderstandings, to get her to change the content of the article so that it would tell everyone the truth of the matter, all while being harassed by the girls’ clique.

And the result of my hard work was…!

“Look forward to it tomorrow!”

I… Didn’t know yet.

Apparently, the article would be published tomorrow, the second day of the festival.

So, I could only hope that Asunaro had written something like ’the article that was released prior to this one was a mistake.’

“In the meantime, I’ll be continuing to keep a close eye on you, so, please take care of me today too!”

“…Fine.”

The content of article could go either way, thanks to Cosmos’ decision to stop practicing together a week ago.

Because of that, I haven’t been involving myself with both Himawari and Cosmos until two days before the day of the festival. On the other hand, I’ve been visiting Pansy pretty much every day since then.

Since I’ve always tried to run away from Asunaro whenever I visited the library during the lunch break, she was never there during that time. She also didn’t go to the library on the day Cosmos confronted her.

But, after that, she always came with me to the library every day after school.

She always gave Pansy suspicious eyes whenever Pansy was dancing with me, probably because she wasn’t a participant for the Kabuten.

In addition to that, she also watched me, Himawari and Cosmos dancing together on our last days of practice.

Though, both Himawari and Cosmos acted distant and we didn’t exactly talk with each other much.

I knew that it was the countermeasure against Asunaro, but it was still tough on me…

…Haah… I hoped that things would go well after we went this far, but who knows what was going on in Asunaro’s mind.

If I were to follow the trend of the misfortune following me, she’d most likely publish the article without changing anything, but there was a sliiight chance that she would show her mercy on me, so I was betting on that chance.

“Don’t you need to go and help the newspaper club, Asunaro?”

“Don’t worry! We just need to leave the articles we finished in the clubroom! We finished most of the preparations yesterday!”

Huh? The articles they finished?

“Oi. Does that mean–”

“Don’t worry! All of them are old articles!”

All of them were old articles?

But, there was still a chance that she slipped it in by accident again, so I probably should check it out just to make sure…

“Do your best during the Kabuten, okay, Joro? I’ll be rooting for you!”

…For a moment there, I thought she’d make another misunderstanding about me again.

Her support for me seemed genuine, it seemed.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time together with her because of her antics.

My impression of her was… She was a good girl…

Unlike certain girls I knew, she never pushed me around selfishly and it was fun to talk with her because she knew a lot of stuff, probably from all the research she had to do for her club.

Now that I was isolated from the girls in my class, Himawari and Cosmos were also avoiding me for the time being, she was pretty much the only other girl I could talk to and honestly, I was thankful for her presence.

Well, then again, depending on how tomorrow’s article would turn out, she could be my most hated person on earth…

If only things were to develop differently and we were able to get along without me having to deal with this silly misunderstanding…

“What’s wrong, Joro? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Nothing.”

“I see! I take it that you found me attractive and are falling over heels for me!”

“As if. Stop making up impossible scenarios in your head.”

“Hahaha! You really can’t take a joke, Joro!”

While having such a light conversation with Asunaro, I helped my class with our exhibit.

* * *

The Hyakka Festival had finally begun. There was a decently sized crowd by the time it reached 3 pm.

We students didn’t have much to do though. Essentially, the festival was just an exhibition, after all.

Some of us were manning our exhibit in our classes, others went around to see what the other classes or clubs were up to. As for me, I was visiting the newspaper club with Asunaro…

“‘The baseball club’s close loss! Dreams to Koshien Shattered!’ huh…”

“That’s an article from last year! I wrote that one!”

Asunaro said proudly after seeing the article I was holding.

This was an article that was published last year on the day after the baseball team’s match in the regionals’ finals.

Its front page showed the crying baseball club members and Sun-chan comforting them with a smile.

…What a nostalgic scene. I noticed how depressed Sun-chan was back then, so I rushed out of the stadium to look for a kushikatsu stall.

I didn’t know if it was divine intervention or I was just lucky, but there was one nearby, so I bought their whole stock.

Now that I think about it, would they open up the stall again this year? I wish they would, their kushikatsu tasted good. Also, I wanted to treat Sun-chan to more kushikatsu this year, whether he ended up winning or not. Though, the good looking stall owner complained to me that their sales weren’t good, so there was a chance that they wouldn’t open up their stall again.

“You seem to be concerned with that article, Joro.”

“Well, yeah. I really want Sun-chan to go to Koshien this year.”

“You really love Sun-chan, don’t you, Joro? Are you guys actually dating?”

“No! We’re just—”

Huh? My phone rang. Who was it, calling me at times like this? …Sun-chan?

It had been a while since I last talked with him.

I knew that he had been trying to clear up the baseball team’s misunderstandings about me though. But, I haven’t seen him much lately as he always went somewhere before class started and during the recess.

…So, why was he calling me now?

“Hello. What’s up, Sun-chan?”

{J-Joro…}

Hm? His voice sounded less energetic than usual. Ah, I got it. He was trying to troll me, surely.

Just watch, after this, he’d say that he ate purple colored steamed buns someone gave him, then he got an upset stomach so bad that he couldn’t participate in the Kabuten. Haha, no way that would be the case! Sun-chan wouldn’t go that far—

{S-Sorry… I ate purple steamed buns someone gave me… I got a really bad upset stomach… I don’t think I can participate in the Kabuten…}

It actually happened! He said exactly what I was thinking about, except that it was real!

Why the hell would you eat something like that?! Just look at its color! That thing was totally suspicious!

“O-Oi, are you okay?! S-Should I call an ambulance for you?”

{N-No need to! I’ll just open the pandora’s box–}

Would that be enough?

{T-That’s the situation. S-Sorry, I— Ugh…}

Ah, the call got cut off!

“Sun-chan? Oi, Sun-chan?! Hello?!”

Fuck! His phone was dead! I couldn’t even call him again now!

No good. He withdrew his participation at the worst possible time.

There was only a little time left before the Kabuten started…

“…U-Ugh…”

“What’s wrong, Joro? Your face is pale.”

Not good. In a normal circumstance, Asunaro’s concerned look would make me happy, but I couldn’t feel that way at all.

W-What should I do? If Sun-chan couldn’t make it to the Kabuten— W-Wait!

I had to contact Cosmos first before panicking! Quickly, quickly!

“Sorry, Asunaro, I gotta make a call!”

“E-Eh? O-Okay!”

C-Calm down! Let’s write the word for ‘person¹One of the Japanese’s beliefs is that if you write the word 人 in your palm and act as if you swallow it, it’ll make you calm down.’ on my phone and swallow– Wait, no!

I had to operate my phone properly and make a call!

Please… Cosmos… Answer me… I needed you to answer me right now…!

{Hello?}

“P-Prez!”

{What’s wrong, Kisaragi-dono? You sound distressed.}

What happened to you, Akino-dono? Why were you talking like a samurai again?

Were you nervous because of the Kabuten? …No, wait, there was no time for this!

“U-Um, Sun-chan just told me he can’t make it to the Kabuten.”

{Now, if that’s true, that would be a disaster, wouldn’t it?}

Get back to reality, it was true! Also, stop talking in that samurai accent!

I had heard it before, but it sounded so weird on the phone call!

“It sounded like he was really sick when he called me earlier. He isn’t sick enough that we have to call an ambulance, but he won’t be able to leave the toilet for a good while!”

He already opened up Pandora’s box, but there was no need for me to tell her that.

Whether it was a disaster or a blessing that Sun-chan was unable to participate in the Kabuten, I didn’t care!

I wanted to bring justice to whoever it was who made him like this!

The heavens might allow him to get sick, but not me!

{Then, I’ll have to find someone to fill in for him.}

“But, wouldn’t it be hard to ask someone else to participate? Especially considering that they haven’t practiced the dance at all!”

{It’s still better than nothing. The main attraction of the Kabuten is the part where we have three girls and a boy dancing together… In any case, I’ll see what I can do to look for a substitute.}

You said that, but our lineup this year was two boys and two girls.

“I’ll look for someone from my end as well. I’ll contact you again when I find someone. You should contact me when you find them, okay?”

{Understood.}

So I ended my call with Samurai Cosmos.

Seriously… I never expected that this would happen!

He was the last person I would expect to get sick. The dude always kept himself in a perfect condition! He admitted that he was at least ‘Kanemoto-class²Kanemoto Tomoaki, the baseball player that holds the world record for consecutive games played without missing an inning.!’

“Um, Joro?”

“What is it, Asunaro?”

“From your words just now, I’m guessing that one of the participants withdrew from the Kabuten?”

“Yeah, Sun-chan got an upset stomach and now he can’t participate. We have to find someone to fill in for him now.”

Could Cosmos and I even find someone?

We haven’t cleared up the misunderstandings. Even if we were to try to look around for a volunteer, chances were that they would reject the offer without a second thought. We were screwed, weren’t we…?

Worst case scenario, I wouldn’t be the one who was affected by this, Himawari and Cosmos too…

“What about me?”

“Hm? You? You want to participate, Asunaro?”

“Yes, if you like me to! I’m confident that I can do the dance at least!”

“Thank you! You saved me!”

What an unexpected stroke of luck!

As expected of Asunaro! You were worthy of being called the best girl!

“Alright! I’ll contact Prez immediately! Thank you again, Asunaro!”

“Don’t be! You’ve been providing me with some good materials for my article, Joro! Just take it as my thanks to you!”

“I guess we’re even then!”

“Oh, your complexion looks better already! Alright, you should contact the President as soon as possible! We don’t want my participation to be canceled because she found another volunteer, right?”

“Got it!”

No matter how hard Cosmos looked, there was no way that she would be able to find a volunteer in such a short time.

After all, it had been less than five minutes since I made the previous call.

Man, Asunaro really got my back! Anyway, time to give Cosmos a call!

{Hello?}

“Prez! I found a volunteer!”

“Ah, that so? I actually already found one myself.”

Hm? She dropped her samurai accent, but I felt something strange.

Her voice didn’t come from the phone, but it came from behind me…

“Here.”

“Waaah! It came out!”

That surprised me! I thought it was Sada-Cosmos that appeared behind me, but it was the normal Cosmos!

She didn’t come out of a well or a cursed tape, but from the student council room!

…Wait, why was she here?

“Heya, Joro-kun, Asunaro-san.”

But, Cosmos brushed over my reaction and greeted us calmly.

“H-Hello…”

“Hello, President…”

My answer and Asunaro’s were a little jumpy because her smile looked so scary!

It looked like her usual calm and gentle smile at first glance, but there was a thick dark and gloomy aura emanating from behind her.

“I was looking for you two, but I never expected that I’d find you two together in a place like this. I guess I was lucky.”

Huh? She was looking for Asunaro too?

Maybe she was planning to invite Asunaro to participate in the Kabuten?

If so, I should just tell her that she already volunteered to participate.

“U-Um, Prez, Asunaro already volunteered to participate in the Kabuten, so we don’t need to look for another participant. Right, Asunaro?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“I see. Well, I’m here to tell you about exactly that, so I guess I don’t have any more business with you, Joro-kun.”

Amazing. So, she already knew that Asunaro would be volunteering to participate from the start! As expected of Cosmos! But, there was something wrong, I could feel it…

“As for you, Asunaro-san. Come with me to the student council room. There’s something I want to talk about with you.”

“Um, is it about the Kabuten? Then, shouldn’t Joro–”

“No, his presence is unnecessary. I only want you and you alone to come with me to the student council room, Asunaro-san.”

“But…”

“W-Wait, my presence is unnecessary? But why?!”

I shouted, unintentionally interrupting their conversation. What was this all about, seriously?

“I don’t need to tell you why. This is something that you don’t need to know, Joro-kun.”

Alright! Roger! Then, I’ll keep my mouth shut!

Wait, no! Don’t be intimidated, me!

“If this is about the Kabuten, of course I have to know what this is all about.”

“But…”

“If Joro doesn’t come with me, then I won’t come with you…”

“Haah… Fine…”

With a fed up sigh, Cosmos let me accompany Asunaro to the student council room.

I knew it wasn’t appropriate to interrupt a conversation between two girls, but considering the circumstances, it was the right action to take.

“Come with me quickly then. There’s no time to waste.”

What in the world was this all about?

Cosmos telling me that I didn’t need to know this just made me want to know about it more…

* * *

“First thing first. Do you two mind sitting down?”

As soon as we entered the student council room, we meekly followed Cosmos’ instruction and sat down in the chairs she provided. She followed suit, sitting in the chair right across from us.

“Alright, let’s get to the point. You said that you want to participate in the Kabuten, right, Asunaro-san?”

Cosmos opened her note before asking that question with a calm voice.

However, that calm voice didn’t clear the heavy air that permeated the room.

“Yes. I mean, Joro looked really troubled…”

Asunaro shyly answered. Her ponytail swayed in the air.

Thanks to that cute move, the air softened a little.

“But, I won’t approve of your participation.”

However, Cosmos’ next words froze the atmosphere.

“But why? I thought you hadn’t found someone to fill in for Sun-chan.”

Asunaro’s gaze sharpened after hearing Cosmos’ words.

“That is not something for you to worry about.”

“Of course it is! At this rate, the Kabuten will be canceled because we don’t have enough participants! Why can’t you just accept my participation instead of wasting our time for pointless talk like this?”

“But this isn’t pointless talk. This talk is heavily related to the Kabuten.”

I couldn’t let this continue. The air gradually became worse and worse. I needed to stop them from continuing with this mood, or else…

“Um, Prez–”

“You keep out of this, Joro-kun.”

Ugh! When I tried to say something, Cosmos gave me the sharpest glare I’ve ever seen from her.

“Asunaro-san, try to understand my position. If it’s the past me, I’d easily give my approval to your participation, while ignoring all the things you’ve done behind our backs.”

“Why are you changing the topic so abruptly like that? What are you even trying to say?”

Asunaro replied, without showing a hint of fear toward Cosmos.

But, she was probably trying to act tough.

Hm… Should I lend her a hand?

But, Cosmos wasn’t someone who’d do something like this without a reason.

“…Then, let me make you understand.”

Neither side was willing to take a step back. This felt like the continuation of their after school clash from a few days ago.

Cosmos continued her words without dropping the glare in her eyes.

“Asunaro-san, from now on, you aren’t allowed to publish your article that is filled with misleading information about Joro-kun. Not only that, you have to publish an article that debunks everything the previous article said. This is not a request, but an order.”

“And why should I obey that?”

I had to take Asunaro’s side with this one.

Well, I was happy that Cosmos was willing to go this far for me, but this was too far.

“I’ll tell you the reason why in a second, but are you really sure that you want Joro-kun to stay here?”

“Yes. I’m a hundred percent sure.”

“I see. Alright then…”

For a moment, there was sadness in Cosmos’ eyes. It was as if she felt pity for Asunaro for what she was about to say to her. Though, it seemed like I was the only one who noticed it.

Meanwhile, Asunaro was still trying to confront her.

“But, before you’re going any further, can I use what you’ve just said for an article? If I’m being honest, it’ll make good material for one.”

Yeah, by doing this, Cosmos was also risking her position.

Even with her position as the student council president, she still had no right to order the newspapers club on what they had to do.

“‘The Student Council President’s Arrogance! Trying to Manipulate the Newspaper Club to do Her Biddings!’ Would make a good headline, don’t you think?”

I’ve been noticing this, but, for some reason, Asunaro had been unnecessarily hostile toward Cosmos.

Like, was there a need to be this aggressive? There should be another way…

Hm… I wonder what would Cosmos do under her threat now…

“You can do whatever you want. I’ve prepared enough countermeasures for that. Anyway, Asunaro-san…”

She said that, but she got beaten promptly the last time they clashed. Though, she looked unnaturally calm this time…

It didn’t seem like she was bothered at all by what Asunaro had said to her.

“You’ve been lying to Joro-kun and deceiving everyone else with your words. What do you have to say about that?”

Yes? Sorry? Deceiving everyone? Lying to me?

Asunaro, what— Huh? Oi, Asunaro, what happened?

Why did you look so surprised?!

“T-That…!”

“Sorry, but as the student council president, I can’t let someone as wicked and vile as you participate in the Kabuten. The footage for it will be used to promote our school, after all.”

Oi, oi, what was this all about? Why was Asunaro freaking out?

“This is why I asked you the previous question. Do you really want Joro-kun to stay here and listen to everything that I’m about to say? Unfortunately for you, there’s no going back anymore.”

“W-What are you even talking about?”

“Hm? Are you still trying to play dumb? Alright, I’ll play along. Have you prepared yourself, Asunaro-san?”

“…”

“Let’s continue then.”

Scary! Cosmos was way too scary!

Still carrying the terrifying atmosphere, Cosmos flipped through her note. She stopped at a certain page and began to speak in a calm tone.

“The first time I heard you following Joro-kun around for your article, I realized something strange was going on. You might be a member of the newspaper club, but it’s still strange for a girl to follow a boy around everywhere. It isn’t like you’re the only member of the newspaper club either. But, it was only you who followed him around.”

When she put it that way… I guess that made sense…

“In addition to that, you weren’t always with him either. You never followed him around during the lunch break. That fact bothered me for a long time, so I tried to find out the reason why.”

“T-That’s because Joro always tried to run away from me!”

That was correct. I always tried to run away from her during lunch.

It wouldn’t be strange if she wasn’t there with me.

“If that so, you could just come to the library to look for him. You’ve gathered enough information about him, you should know that he always came to the library during lunch.”

“Ugh…”

That was correct too… I always ran to the library, so if she really wanted to catch me, she could just ambush me there!

“So I concluded, you never planned to follow him around during lunch in the first place. Why is that the case? Obviously because you have something more important to do.”

“That’s not true! Joro is just good at running away from me!”

“Oh, by the way, why isn’t your Tsugaru accent coming out? I thought you’d always start speaking in a Tsugaru accent whenever you’re flustered. You seem to be really flustered right now.”

“Ugh!”

“You see, the biggest miscalculation that you’ve made is that you underestimated me way too much.”

Woah, so cool! I wish I could say that kind of line once in my life!

“Alright, let’s continue.”

Cosmos flipped through her note again before stopping at a certain page.

It seemed like she really wrote all the necessary information in that note. What a scary person…

“Sun-chan told me that the baseball club manager found out about her being chosen to participate in the Kabuten not too long after the list of names were out. An anonymous person sent a text containing that information to her. She was confused because the sender was unknown, but after realizing that the information she got was real, she decided to withdraw her participation. I’ve asked Sun-chan to forward that text to me, here it is. By the way, it was sent during the lunch break on the day Joro-kun’s participation was decided. I think it was around five minutes after the lunch break started.”

Cosmos took her phone out and showed both Asunaro and I the text she was talking about.

[Akino Sakura and Hinata Aoi were chosen as the participants for the Kabuten. The last person chosen as the participant to accompany the two prettiest girls in our school will make the whole thing even more exciting. It’ll make the two of them look even prettier.]

Oi, oi, that was something. After seeing something like this, no wonder the girl refused to participate.

“This text was sent to every girl in our school, save for me, Hinata-san, the members of the tennis club, newspaper club and Pansy-san.”

“A-Are you trying to say that I’m the one who sent that text?”

“You can interpret my words however you like. In any case, even among the members of the newspaper club, your ability to gather information is exceptional. It wouldn’t be surprising if you have the contact information of everyone in our school.”

“I-I didn’t send that text! Besides, I have no reason to!”

Asunaro was right. Even if the thing about her lying to me was true, she still had no reason to go out of her way and reduce the number of the participants of the Kabuten.

“There’s another thing. Apparently, after that false article about Joro-kun was ‘accidentally’ distributed, rumors about him spread like wildfire, especially during the lunch break. I was either in the student council room or the library during the lunch break, so I didn’t know about this, but Yamada told me about this and verified it’s authenticity. In other words, you spent your lunch break trying to isolate Joro from the rest of the school, am I correct³Petition to make Yamada the new main character.?”

A sudden Yamada-san’s appearance! He was the student council’s treasurer, everyone! Don’t forget about him! He was a mob though.

“T-That’s… I was working inside the clubroom during the lunch break! I didn’t even know such rumors were spreading around the school!”

“In other words, you really didn’t plan to keep following Joro-kun around during the lunch break. Thank you for confirming my previous point.”

“Grr…!”

Amazing! Cosmos used Asunaro’s own words to prove her point! The winner of the first round was Cosmos! Applause!

“Next, let’s talk about the article that you ‘accidentally’ published.”

Asunaro’s body started to tremble!

“Normally, the articles that the newspaper club made would be printed and distributed by a member of the club who’s on duty that day. Now, regarding that specific article we’re talking about, if it really got printed by accident, the person on duty that day would have known. After all, they double checked it twice, once before printing and once before distributing it. A mistake like this wouldn’t occur unless…”

“They didn’t know! I wasn’t on printing duty that day!”

“I know. I already looked it up. Don’t you remember? I was checking up on the newspaper club that day to see what kind of articles they will come up with for the Hyakka Festival. I also found out about who was the person on duty that day.”

“I remember that! I remember that you visited the club that day!”

I thought Asunaro was the one on printing duty that day, but it seemed like she wasn’t. Cosmos’ tone sounded so confident for some reason though, I wonder if she had something else up in her sleeves?

“Yes. You were the one who greeted me when I visited. You were also the one who showed me all the articles your club came up with for the festival.”

“Then, it’s obvious that it wasn’t me who printed that article by accident!”

“Yes, I know that much. You weren’t the one who printed that article on the day the article was accidentally distributed.”

After saying this, there was a glint on Cosmos eyes as she spoke her next words.

“But, you slipped it in to be printed a day before..”

“!”

“The newspaper club finished its activity by 6 pm everyday. They’d check on the next day’s articles at the end of the day before they took them to the printing room. With this fact, there are two times when you could slip the article in, one, early in the morning before the articles were printed and two, at the end of the day after everyone had left the room.”

“T-That’s…”

“You were always going back home with us because you had to follow Joro-kun around, however, there was one day when you didn’t. The day when Joro-kun and I were looking for the last participant for the Kabuten. At around 6.25 pm, you left us, saying that you had something important to do.”

I see, so that was how it was! The day before that article was accidentally distributed, after she confirmed that we failed to find another participant, Asunaro left us and went somewhere!

“T-That’s not true! I didn’t even go to the club room that day! We have a list of people who borrowed the key to the club room and printing room, you can check that list!”

“What made you think I didn’t do it?”

A counter came from Cosmos! She took out a piece of paper from her note!

“This is a copy of said list that I grabbed from the newspaper club when I visited it that day.”

She showed us what was written on that paper.

But, when I skimmed through the list, I couldn’t see Asunaro’s name.

“S-See? What did I tell you?”

Mhm. Well, I guess Asunaro won this second round.

Cosmos couldn’t prove that Asunaro went to— Huh? She pulled out another piece of paper.

“By the way, this one here is a copy of the list that Yamada copied before I visited the newspaper club.”

“W-What?!”

The paper was similar to what we’ve seen earlier, a list of people who borrowed the key to the newspaper club room and the printing room. And in this list, ‘Hanetachi Hina’ was written on it… Woah!

“In other words, you had another purpose for coming to the club aside from welcoming me and showing me the articles. It was to get to the club room before me and change the content of the list.”

This sealed Cosmos’ victory for the second round! An overwhelming victory for Cosmos!

She could just pull that list out from the start, but she didn’t! Instead, she waited for the right timing to seal off Asunaro’s escape route!

Also, Yamada-san was doing a good job, despite being a mob! Would he ever make an appearance in this series?!

“Didn’t I tell you? You underestimated me way too much.”

As expected of the Demoness of Abashiri!

Anyway, this meant that the article wasn’t distributed by mistake, but on purpose?

She visited the newspaper club after everyone else had gone home and placed the article inside the printing room.

When I looked at Asunaro, I saw her eyes darting around with her body trembling.

Based on her flustered reaction… I guess she really did it, huh?

“Not only that. Based on the circumstantial evidence, I found out that you’ve known that Joro-kun isn’t a three-timer from the start. You were putting him in this kind of situation on purpose.”

“Wait a minute! Why would she do that even? I’ve never done anything that could make her resent me like this!”

“Asunaro-san has two goals. First is to isolate you and second is to stay by your side.”

Why would she go so far for such reasons? What the hell was going on here?!

“Why would she stay by the side of someone she’s trying to isolate? What’s the point on doing that even?!”

“Asunaro-san. You like Joro-kun, don’t you?”

Ah, that made sense! If she really had a feeling for me, it made sense that she— Wait, what?!

I thought her flag had broken down already?! I mean, we’ve sat down on that bench together!

“But, several variables appeared in your plan; the chosen members for the Kabuten, Sun-chan’s actions and Pansy-san’s existence.”

Okay, I understood the first one, but what was it with the other two?

“Initially, you were trying to distance us from Joro-kun by threatening him with that article. But, he was chosen to participate in the Kabuten, that means he had to involve himself with us whether he liked it or not.”

Yes, that was correct. At first, I tried to distance myself from the three girls.

When I proposed the idea to them, they rejected it because of the Kabuten.

That was why I ended up having to clear up Asunaro’s misunderstanding instead, because I couldn’t exactly stop involving myself with the three of them.

“And so, you tried to participate in the Kabuten instead. Because of that, you had to find a way to deal with the candidates, the ten girls who received the most votes for the event, including Himawari-san and myself. That meant you had to make eight girls withdraw their participation.”

“T-That’s…”

“Sadly for you, Himawari-san and I decided our participation right in front of your face, that left you with no other choices but to deal with the other eight since you deemed it to be impossible to dissuade us from participating. Am I correct?”

Asunaro kept her gaze straight at Cosmos, trying to refute her words, but that was the only thing she could do. Her mouth gaped open without saying anything comprehensible.

“To deal with them, you sent that anonymous text to them. That was enough to discourage them from participating, putting the rest of us in a tight spot because we were unable to find someone who was willing to participate in the Kabuten. You cleverly used the legend, ‘Among the three girls who’re dancing with the one boy, one of them will end up marrying the boy,’ to dissuade even more girls from volunteering.”

“N-No… T-That’s…”

“And lastly, to seal the deal, you released that article to ruin Joro-kun’s reputation. That was enough to make every girl in school repulse the idea to dance with him and isolate him from the rest of the class. All so that you end up to be the only person by his side.”

You went that far! That was awful of you, Asunaro!

“However, unluckily for you, Sun-chan made his move first and volunteered to be a participant. You must have never expected that a boy would willingly volunteer to be a girl dancer, huh? That was why you gave him this thing anonymously earlier today. So you could replace him and participate in the Kabuten.”

Cosmos showed us a steamed bun. By its purple color, it was obvious that someone had poisoned it.

“I don’t know what kind of substance you mixed into this bun, but whatever, I can always find it out later.”

Wait, couldn’t you stop Sun-chan from eating it?! Like, how could you calmly talk over this while letting him suffer, Cosmos?!

Also, how could Sun-chan not tell how suspicious this bun looked?! No sane person would willingly eat this thing!

“And lastly, Pansy-san’s existence… That’s the thing that bothered you the most, isn’t it?”

As soon as Pansy’s name came out, Asunaro’s body jerked upward.

“As someone who harbors a strong feeling toward Joro-kun, she is the most troublesome person for you to deal with. After seeing the relationship dynamics between those two, you probably decided that they would never stop interacting with each other even after the festival was over. That’s why, in the article you’re going to release tomorrow, you won’t mention my name or Himawari-san’s, but Pansy-san’s name only. Am I correct?”

“A-Ah…”

“I was convinced about this back when I confronted you directly a while ago. Even though Himawari-san, Sun-chan and I clearly wouldn’t go to the library anymore, you still stubbornly cling to him like glue. The reason for that is because you don’t want to leave those two alone.”

Cosmos was awesome! The amount of research she put into this… Amazing!

“Alright, let’s wrap this up, shall we?”

She slowly flipped through her note before stopping at a certain page.

“Asunaro-san, because you had a crush on Joro-kun, you had a desire to monopolize him for yourself. For that reason, you created a fake article to blackmail him, sent malicious texts to other female students in our school to discourage them from participating in the Kabuten and intentionally published that fake article so Joro-kun would be isolated from his classmates. If my accusation is correct, then I demand you to write and publish a new article that states the falsity of the previously released article.”

It felt so strange… The Cosmos that I knew was a girl who was trying too hard to look mature and whenever I needed her for something, she would be too flustered to be useful… But, why did she look so reliable this time?!

Wait, I shouldn’t get distracted. Leave that kind of thing for later. There was something that I needed to do for now.

“U-Um, Asunaro? I-Is everything that the Prez said… true?”

Before I knew it, she stopped clenching her hands.

When I called out to her, she didn’t look at me, instead, she kept her head down, unmoving.

“…Everyone is so unfair.”

By everyone, did she mean Himawari, Cosmos and Pansy?

“I… I’ve always tried to get close to Joro! But, Himawari was always in the way whenever we’re in the classroom! And you were always keeping him occupied during the after school, President! You two didn’t even like him, yet why were you two the ones who got to be with him? It’s unfair!”

With tears in her eyes, Asunaro grabbed the hem of her skirt tightly.

“But, when I got the chance to be with him… When you two stopped interacting with him, I thought that I’ll finally be with him for sure… But, Sanshokuin-san took him away from me!”

Was she talking about the time when my relationship with everyone became strained?

Come to think of it, during that time, Asunaro and I started to talk with each other more often.

“But, you knew, right? Pansy-san and Joro-kun are—”

“I know! That’s why I always did my best to take him away from her! I always tried my best to talk to him in the classroom! But, he never looked at me! He just kept looking at Himawari and Sun-chan!”

Well, back then I was too preoccupied with those two. I wanted to make up with them.

“But I didn’t give up! I even got in Himawari’s way when she tried to talk with him! I did my best so he would only look at me!”

That happened? …Ah, right! When I hadn’t made up with Himawari yet, there was a time when she was about to call out to me, but Asunaro distracted me! I see! She did that intentionally, huh?

“But… I couldn’t do anything to Sanshokuin-san… Then, that day came… I had to go back home late because of my club activity. When I reached the station, I saw Joro-kun and Sanshokuin-san standing together under a big tree. That was the time when I found out that she was holding such a great secret…”

Come to think of it, when Asunaro first told me about the article, she mentioned that she saw me together with Pansy that night. She found out about Pansy’s secret during the same night too, huh?

“I knew it, you found out about Pansy-san’s secret. That’s why you thought you’d never win against her, correct?”

Asunaro shook her head in response to Cosmos’ question.

No, wait a second there! I get that Asunaro knew Pansy’s secret, but Cosmos too?! How?! I thought Sun-chan and I were the only ones who knew!

“So unfair! Everyone is so unfair! Everyone else is much more attractive than me! I can’t even compete! It’s so unfair!”

I mean, their look wasn’t the only reason why I hang out with them often, you know?

But, since when did Asunaro started to like me? Hm? Could it be? No way, right?~

“Even though I’m the one who loves him the most! I’ve always loved him since the baseball club’s final match last year! I’m the one who loves him the most yet why am I the one who can’t be together with him?!”

“I see. So you too, huh…?”

Okay, stop right there, you two. I knew that this was a serious situation, but there was something I needed to say.

How the hell all of your love started from that one event?! Was that event some kind of singularity point?!

“Back then, it was him who went out of his way to shield me from that stray ball. Everyone laughed at him when they saw the ball hit him, everyone except for me! I thought that his clumsy action was cool back then!”

Sorry, but that wasn’t right.

I didn’t actually shield you from that ball, I just tried to move to another seat because I wanted to take a closer look at the demon king’s face. Well, it was before I found out who she really was.

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

“That’s why, I don’t want anyone other than me to stay by his side! Whether it’s you, Himawari or Sanshokuin-san, all of you could just disappear for all I care! Haah… Haah…”

Her shoulders shook violently after she let out that scream.

It was obvious for everyone watching that she was drowning in her emotions.

“Sorry, Asunaro-san, that’s impossible.”

“Why is that?! It isn’t like any of you—”

“Listen to me.”

Cosmos interrupted Asunaro.

“No matter how hard you try, you won’t be able to control other people’s emotions as you like. You and Joro-kun are two different individuals, it’s impossible for the two of you to feel the exact same way about the exact same thing. Besides, do you want to be with Joro-kun because you want him to do everything that you want? You want to tie him down and manipulate him like a puppet?”

“O-Of course not! I don’t want that!”

“In other words, you want to give him the freedom that he deserved. But that means things will never go your way.”

“A-Ah…”

“Love is complicated, isn’t it? If you ask people about it, everyone will have different thoughts about it. Like you, I also made a mistake because of it. I dragged someone down with me because of my selfishness and even after that, I got nowhere with it.”

From the bitter look Cosmos let out, I could guess that she was talking about the previous incident.

“No amount of words could convey your true feelings. No amount of longing could make your love come true. When it comes to love, the saying ‘hard work will always be rewarded’ became a lie. If anything, no matter how hard you work, it’s more likely that you will never be rewarded for it.”

“…”

“But, that’s exactly the reason why the joy you’ll feel when your efforts are finally rewarded is immeasurable.”

Cosmos closed her note and let out a smile. It wasn’t her usual sheepish or serious smile, but a smile so beautiful that it made my heart race.

“So, what are you going to do from now on, Asunaro-san?”

“I-I…”

Asunaro hesitated for a moment after hearing Cosmos’ question, but her hesitation quickly disappeared.

Then, she stared at me, with tears in her eyes.

“Joro! U-Um… Things somehow ended up this way, but I want to tell you something! U-Um… I like you, Joro! I’m sure that I like you more than anyone else in this world! That’s why!”

With a determined look on her face, she let out her next words in a strong tone.

“Please, let me stay by your side! As someone dearest to you!”

Someone dearest… I guess she wanted to be my girlfriend…

Hm, that was an interesting story for sure. Though, I believe Asunaro was too harsh on herself. Sure, she couldn’t compare herself to Himawari, Pansy and Cosmos, but she was a fairly cute girl herself.

Her courage to confess to me was commendable too.

But, you see, Asunaro…

“…It goes without saying, I have to refuse that.”

You’ve done something that I could never forgive.

“T-That’s…!”

“Sorry, I don’t have a speck of romantic feelings for you. Also, that’s a bold word to say there. You like me more than anyone else in this world? Are you telling me a convenient tool that could measure up someone’s love exists in this world?”

Seeing her eyes widened in surprise, a sense of guilt appeared in me.

I knew that my words were terrible, but I had no lenience to care about that right now. No matter how terrible it felt to say those things… No matter how guilty I felt… This was something that I had to do.

“Well, your effort is commendable at least.”

And when I already decided to do something, I’d do it no matter what. That was my life motto.

“But that doesn’t mean I like the way you did things. Have you ever stopped to think about the consequences of your actions? Look at the Prez! Do you think it’s easy to look for a willing volunteer for the Kabuten? She had to beg her underclassmen for it and all her efforts were in vain in the end!”

“S-Sorry! B-But, J-Joro—”

“Shut up, this isn’t about me! And I don’t care about your feelings for me!”

I haven’t got to the point yet. The thing that I wanted to tell her the most.

“What the hell did you think you were doing to Sun-chan?! I’ll never forgive you for laying your hands on him! That guy is so desperate to go to the Koshien this year, but he had to take out his precious practice time to help us because of you! And you even poisoned him with that bun… I swear, if something were to happen to him, you’ll be in a great, great trouble…”

“Hii!”

“And after all that, you expected me to let you stay by my side? Stop dreaming.”

When I said that with the most blunt tone I could utter, tears welled up in Asunaro’s eyes.

Her tears didn’t stop and she kept on crying for a while.

She tried to stop it by rubbing her eyes with her sleeves, but it was futile. Yet, she repeated the action again and again despite knowing that.

“…I see.”

After a while, she let out a weak word of resignation.

Then, she put some strength on her legs before standing up from her chair.

“Like you’ve ordered, President, I will write a new article that will state how incorrect the information from the previous article was. I’ll also apologize to Sun-chan for what I’ve done… And, please forgive me for all the troubles I caused you, President…”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Asunaro-san. Also, I’ll forgive you.”

Cosmos quietly replied to Asunaro, who was making a forced smile.

“Alright, since I need to write that article, I’ll have to go now! See you later, Joro, President!”

With red, swollen eyes, she headed for the door.

Suddenly, she stopped right at the door.

“Guess I got dumped, huh~?”

Then, leaving behind her last words with her familiar Tsugaru accent, she left the student council room.

* * *

“You really care about Sun-chan, don’t you?”

After fiddling with her phone for a while, Cosmos said so.

“I never thought that you’d be this angry for him.”

“That’s a given. I don’t give a shit about anything else, he has been doing his best so that he could go to Koshien this year. All of his hard work since middle school is just for that one big moment, you know? Ah…”

Oh, whoops, I got so emotional that my language became rougher than usual. I needed to fix that.

“Hehehe, it’s fine, you don’t need to fix it.”

But, Cosmos told me that she didn’t mind as she let out a gentle smile.

“After all that happened, you guys still care about each other this much. The bond that you two have is something else.”

Seriously, can you not compliment me to my face like that? I couldn’t handle this kind of thing well.

“You opened my eyes, Prez. I’ve never thought that you could be that terrifying. I can’t imagine being in Asunaro’s shoes.”

“Because I’m the one who’s sitting in the special seat this time, unlike last time when I sat down in the general audience’s seat. I think I overdid it a little.”

“I don’t understand what you are trying to say.”

“You just don’t understand me at all, Joro-kun.”

“I never made an effort to understand you in the first place.”

“You’re a boring guy, you know that?”

It felt like I’d already had this conversation with someone else prior to this… Wait,this wasn’t the time for this kind of talk!

The matter of everyone’s misunderstanding about me was resolved thanks to Cosmos unearthing Asunaro’s work in the shadows. Since we got Asunaro’s words that she’d write an article to fix everything, I guess we could rest easy about it for now. But, there was another important problem that we had to deal with!

The Kabuten!

If we couldn’t find the last participant in time, the whole event would turn into a disaster!

“Anyway, what are we going to do about the Kabuten? Since Asunaro can’t participate…”

“We’ve already found a substitute for Sun-chan… Well, that isn’t the right way to put it since he has no intention to participate in the first place.”

“Sorry?”

“I’ve said it just now, you guys truly care for each other so much.”

Startled at her remark, I stared at her with a confused look. Seeing my reaction, she let out a grin, as if she was amused by my reaction.

Seriously, what was going on? I thought Sun-chan decided to join us, despite him being a guy, because we were desperate to get a willing participant?

But now Cosmos said that he had no intention to participate in the first place?

“Think about it for a second. The Kabuten is an event where it’s required to have three girls and one boy to dance together. Do you think I’d let another boy participate no matter how desperate we are?”

“But, he told me that you approved because it’s a unique concept…”

“I see. Then, you were fooled by him again.”

Really?! Why did he lie to me, then?!

“Let me tell you what he said to me first. When he came to me, he begged me, ‘Please put her name in! I know that she’ll be willing to participate as long as Joro is in it!’ In response to that, I told him that I, together with Himawari-san, will help him to convince her to participate. After all, I knew that you had always wanted her to participate in the Kabuten to begin with.”

“What are you…?”

“Here.”

Cosmos took out a piece of paper.

It was the paper we used to write the name of the girl we wanted to see in the Kabuten.

There was a certain girl’s name on that piece of paper, written with a familiar handwriting… Mine…

“H-How did you know that’s mine…?”

“You were the secretary of the student council, at this point I’m more than familiar with your handwriting. This is supposed to be an anonymous vote, so bringing it up is against the rules, but I can’t just pass it up after seeing it.”

I see. She remembered it from the time when I used to be in the council, huh?

Since I took care of a lot of documents for her, it wasn’t a surprise that she could recognize my handwriting.

“For a long time, Himawari-san, Sun-chan and myself had always wanted to apologize to you for all the trouble we had caused you in the past…”

Seriously, that matter was done, why were you guys kept bringing it up… It didn’t matter to me anymore…

“We went through quite an ordeal, you know? We had to go to school earlier to convince her to join us. We had to quickly pick a fitting dress for her in the time you went to the convenience store to buy us umbrellas and many more. But, seeing your surprised look, I guess it’s all worth it.”

So that was why Sun-chan went to the toilet for thirty minutes back then!

“Sun-chan went out of his way to follow us along for your sake. Everyone else didn’t know about him faking his participation, so in truth, he had been skipping his club activities for our dance practice. And lastly, he pretended to be sick so that she could step forward, all for your sake.”

I couldn’t even describe how shocked I was. Sun-chan went that far for me…?

“I’ve already contacted her earlier. That girl and Himawari-san should be on their way here.”

“T-Then, the last participant for the Kabuten is…”

“It’s me, obviously.”

Before I could finish my words, the door to the student council room was opened and she appeared from behind it.

Unlike her usual look, she untied her braids, removed her glasses and chest binding.

The dress she was wearing had a Japanese accent to it and it was so eye-catching that I was having a hard time trying to look away from it.

It suited her well. I had a strong urge to embrace her right there and then.

“What do you think? Does the dress suit me?”

This girl…

“Pansy…”

“Jeez, I’m waiting for your compliment here. Why are you being such a tease to me?”

Seeing how shocked I was, Pansy let out a giggle. But, I was too occupied to care about that.

“Hey, hey, Joro~ Pansy-chan is so pretty, don’t you think~?”

Next to Pansy was Himawari, giggling happily, looking somewhat prideful.

“Look at how surprised Joro is, Cosmos-san! Our operation is a success!”

“Yes. Some unexpected things happened, but it mostly went as planned, Himawari-san.”

Himawari and Cosmos did a friendly high-five, ignoring me who was still in awe.

“S-Since when…”

“Since the beginning.”

“Huh?”

“At first, I hated the idea. I mean, I really don’t want to show up in a crowded event like the Kabuten. I rejected them multiple times, you know? Well, I gave up eventually. I think it was right before you guys started your after school practice.”

Right, back then I was running late with Asunaro. Before I entered the library, I overheard them talking about something. I never woulda thought that they were talking about this…

“Pansy-chan downplayed our efforts! It was hard to persuade her!”

“We’ve prepared various words to persuade her but none of them worked.”

“It was Sun-chan who managed to persuade her!”

“Sun-chan was amazing. I never thought that he would go as far as going down on his knees to beg her to join us. ‘It’s for Joro,’ he said.”

What the hell were you doing, Sun-chan? Didn’t you still like Pansy?

I never asked you to go this far for me…

“If it’s just because there’s no one else who wants to participate, I would never agree to join their antics. But, since everyone was doing their best for you, Joro-kun, it wasn’t like I had any other choice.”

Could it be… When they decided to stop practicing…

“So, the reason why you guys decided to stop practicing together…”

“Of course it’s so that you two could practice the dance together. We knew that you would do your practice with her if we were to leave you two alone. By the way, we did our own practice secretly behind your back.”

Cosmos affirmed my speculation with a wink.

They got me… I had no idea that they were planning to do something like this from the very beginning…

But, why couldn’t they just tell me?!

Pansy, I thought you said you’d never lie to me!

“I told you about it. ‘Let’s practice together and get better so that we can surprise everyone.’”

So I was included in the ‘everyone?!’ What was the point of surprising me?! I had already received enough surprises from everything prior to this revelation!

Also, be more specific next time if you were trying to give me a hint! I didn’t even realize what you were trying to say!

“U-Um, Joro! W-We caused you a lot of trouble, so… U-um…”

Himawari’s eyes wandered around as she said that. Seriously, I’m going insane. This girl was so easy to read.

“Don’t worry about it. It doesn’t matter anymore. I also caused you guys a lot of trouble anyway…”

“…Okay!”

{The Kabuten will start soon, everyone! Please gather at the gym immediately!}

“Oh, Yamada’s calling us. Let’s get going now. As long as we can perform the dance properly, the Kabuten this year will be a great success. So, everyone, are you ready?”

“Yes!” “Ready.” “Ready to go!”

And so, we left the student council room and headed for the gym.

* * *

“Uu…! I’m so nervous!”

Behind the stage, inside the gym. Wearing a yellow dress, Himawari looked completely restless.

“Joro-kun, the order of the dancing starts from Himawari-san, followed by me and lastly, Pansy-san. Don’t mistake the order, okay? Okay?”

Cosmos was wearing a pink dress. I thought she looked calm, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case at all.

She was so nervous that she had to repeat that last part of her sentence.

“What do you think about this hairpin, Joro-kun? Do you think it suits me?”

Meanwhile, Pansy came trotting to my side to show off her hairpin.

Honestly, it looked really good on her.

But, I didn’t feel like praising her for some reason, so I’d just give her a generic compliment.

“It looks pretty.”

“…You’re such a tease.”

Even if you pout at me, I don’t care. Besides, whenever I asked you to show me your true appearance, you’d always find a way to refuse it even though we had an agreement beforehand, but you showed it so easily to Himawari and Cosmos. Seriously, was there something wrong with your brain?

“Are you guys ready to go? Oh, Joro, you look good in that suit!”

While we were dealing with our nervousness in the backstage, Sun-chan suddenly approached us in his school uniform.

From the look of his face, it seemed like he was really lying about having an upset stomach.

“You’ve really done it, huh, Sun-chan…?”

The sour look I gave him wasn’t enough to wipe off his smile.

Rather, that made his smile even wider.

“Hahaha! C’mon, Joro, I’m not that stupid! There’s no way I’d eat a clearly suspicious bun given by someone I don’t know!”

Yeah, but I really thought that you were that stupid, you know?!

“Besides, didn’t I tell you from the start? ‘I have things that I need to do,’ and this is one of them!”

Indeed, that was his answer to me when I asked him about his feelings toward Pansy.

Still, I didn’t expect that ‘the things he needs to do’ was to make Pansy participate in the Kabuten… No, that wasn’t it…

It was embarrassing to admit it, but I already knew his goal…

To make me happy. That was what he meant by ‘the things that he needs to do.’

“It’s time, Joro-kun.”

Pansy came up to me and grabbed my right hand.

It was a very attractive move coming from her, but…

“No. Sorry that I have to let you down, but I’m not going to hold your hand.”

“Why?”

Pansy tilted her head in confusion after hearing my refusal. I could see a hint of sadness in her eyes.

“Uh, I mean…”

Seeing her look, I unconsciously scratched the back of my head, unsure on how to reply.

Well, it wasn’t like I’m trying to hurt her. Let’s just tell her my answer without beating around the bush.

“The order, remember? You’re last.”

“…R-Right, I forgot…”

Pansy turned her slightly reddened face away. I could feel her grip on my hand loosened.

It was hard to tell that she felt embarrassed because her face didn’t really show it, but I could tell how she was feeling based on her gesture.

After our conversation was over, a loud music echoed from the gym and so the curtain for the Kabuten had been raised.

* * *

{Now, the main event of the first day of the 124th Hyakka Festival, the Kabuten, begins!}

Darkness enveloped the gym.

In that pitch black room, Himawari and I walked up to stand at the center of the stage.

“It’s going to start soon.”

“I can’t wait to see Himawari and the President in their dresses!”

“I wonder who’s the lucky guy who gets to dance with those two this year? I’m jealous…”

It was too dark to see, but from the buzzing sound that I could hear, it seemed like there were quite a lot of people coming to see this event. That meant we couldn’t afford to mess this up…

After giving myself that small prep, bright lights illuminated the stage and we began our dance.

“Alright, let’s do it, Joro!”

The first song being played was Chopin’s Waltz of the Puppy.

Himawari began to dance cheerfully, following its tune.

“O-Oi, you’re going too wildly! I—”

“Ahahaha! Can’t hear you~”

I knew that it would be a huge ordeal to dance with her and I was completely right about it.

With all of her energy released, I didn’t even know if I was dancing or being pushed around by her.

“Joro.”

“What is it?”

Up here on the stage, surrounded by the music and the cheers of the other students, Himawari asked me a question in a voice that only I could hear.

“Is there anyone that you like now, Joro?”

“No.”

I answered that question without any hesitation. If I may be honest, I liked a certain girl who was still in the backstage, but I was only attracted to her appearance and nothing more. I wasn’t attracted to her romantically at all.

Like, that girl deceived me this time. If anything, my feelings toward her were one of annoyance.

“I see!”

Himawari smiled brightly before tightening her grip on my hand.

Huh? Could it be?

“Me too! I don’t have anyone that I like!”

Wait, no, you weren’t supposed to say that!

You shoulda told me something along the lines of ‘that means I have a chance!’

Seriously, I was a fool for expecting something good coming out of your mouth…

“Ei! Yah! Tah!”

Was that supposed to be a dance cry, if that even existed?

You know what? Whatever. She seemed to be enjoying the dance and everyone else was having a good time. That was all that mattered here.

“Alright!”

As we entered the final step of the dance, the song ended.

At the same time, the gym was enveloped in a thunderous applause as darkness enveloped the stage once again.

When the light came back on, Himawari was no longer standing by my side. Instead, it was Cosmos who was standing next to me.

“Let’s do our best.”

“Got it.”

The next piece played was Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu.

Unlike Himawari, Cosmos wasn’t dancing erratically, so it was easier for me to keep up with her.

“What do you think, Joro-kun? This dress should be the one that suits your taste.”

With its bosom slightly opened and the overall mature-looking vibe it gave out, the dress suited Cosmos’ style perfectly.

Except for the color, pale pink, a maidenly color that Cosmos didn’t want to separate from herself.

“Well, it isn’t bad.”

“That’s good then. It was worth the effort asking Himawari-san to pick the dress for me. By the way, I was the one who picked her dress.”

I see. Himawari had the tendency to pick a mature-looking dress while Cosmos had the tendency to pick a childish-looking one.

That meant if they were asked to pick each others’ dresses, they’d pick dresses that would suit each other. A brilliant idea, I gotta say.

“By the way, what did I sound like when I was on the phone with you? I was worried that my nervous act was a little wonky since apparently I talked in an accent whenever I started to feel nervous.”

“You did well, I was completely fooled by it.”

Come to think of it, she’d start talking in a samurai accent whenever she got nervous.

So, the reason why her samurai accent came out was because she was nervous about her acting?

Ah, the more I think about it, the more confused I get…

“…”

…Anyway, I wonder if Asunaro would be okay? Well, the relationship between me and her would turn awkward, that much was a given, but I was worried if this matter would also affect her relationship with others as well…

“If you’re worried about Asunaro-san, don’t be. She’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean?”

“The only ones who know about her secret are me, you and Sun-chan. It would be better for others to not know about it, especially Himawari-san, who is in the same class as you guys…”

It seemed like she figured out that I was thinking about Asunaro from my sour expression.

She assured me with a gentle smile.

“Sun-chan also said to me that he isn’t angry at her anymore, so you don’t need to worry.”

“…Thank you for everything you’ve done for us, Prez.”

“It’s me who should be thanking you. If it isn’t for you, the Kabuten wouldn’t go so smoothly. It was thanks to you that Pansy-san agreed to participate in the first place.”

“Then, may I ask for a reward?”

“You’re back to your normal self, I see. Well, that’s a hard question to answer, but let me think of a good answer for you.”

You could just let me touch you more while we were dancing.

Wait, I shouldn’t say that out loud, she’d make me kneel again.

…For a while after that, Cosmos kept on dancing while thinking about something.

“…I guess that’s what I should do, huh? I don’t think it’s the right answer, but let’s just do it anyway…”

Toward the end of the song, she seemed to stumble upon a good answer as she let out a serene smile.

“If I were to consider the future, this will make everything more complicated, but I like you more than I like omurice anyway, so this should be fine. I should follow my heart in a situation like this and take action.”

Could I complain about how absurd her point of comparison was?

“What are you going to do?”

“This.”

We finished our dance and like before, the thunderous applause echoed through the gym as the light went out.

“Woah!”

At that moment, Cosmos pulled my body closer toward her.

“W-What are you—?!”

Then, I felt a soft sensation on my cheek.

A soft feeling that I had only ever experienced once prior to this.

It was too dark to tell, but Cosmos was really doing this to me?!

“T-That was my answer… S-So what score did I get for that…?”

“A-A hundred points…”

“That’s great… T-That’s all from me then!”

With her voice disappeared to the darkness, the warmth of her hand also disappeared. However, the soft feeling on my cheek didn’t seem like it would fade anytime soon.

What an amazing reward… Let’s hope that Pansy didn’t see that…

Anyway, it was time for the last dance. If I nailed this one too, the event would end in a great success.

By the way, Cosmos was hiding the last participant’s identity from everyone else.

When she submitted the member list to the teachers, she told them that the girl wanted to keep her name a secret and the teachers allowed it. That was the student council president for you, I guess.

When my mind was occupied with such thoughts, I suddenly felt my hand being grabbed by someone.

…Guess she was finally here. The ideal girl for me, appearance wise only.

I wonder what would the other students think when they saw her? Would they go crazy in excitement?

Amidst the darkness, I could faintly hear everyone’s voice. ‘So, the last dance would be a two-guys dance?’, ‘Sun-chan won’t be participating, so it seems like someone else will pitch in for him,’ ‘Tough luck on whoever it is, having to dance after those two…’ and so on. It was clear that they didn’t expect anything from us. That just made me excited for their reaction though.

As I waited with that kind of excitement, the light was turned back on. In that instant, the gym exploded with cheers.

“Woah, that’s hella loud.”

“Everyone’s lively, it seems.”

No one in the audience reacted calmly, everyone was surprised to see her.

“Oi, who is that pretty girl? What class is she from? I’ve never seen her before!”

“B-Beats me! But, she’s so pretty… I’ve never seen someone that pretty…”

“She might be prettier than Himawari-senpai and the President…”

“Hello, I’m Sunada from class 3-1! I’d love to know your name!”

Their voice turned up my excitement by a notch.

Yes, praise her more! You guys were right, Pansy was a real beauty!

And I was about to dance with her! Hahaha! Bet you guys were jealous, huh?

“It’s time to start, Joro-kun.”

How could she stay calm at this… No, that wasn’t the case.

Despite her calm voice and indifferent expression, her hands were trembling.

At times like this, if you were to let your surroundings affect you too much, everything would fall apart, but I guess it was too much to ask for her since she wasn’t used to this in the first place.

…Well, let’s do this.

“Pansy, don’t mind your surroundings, if you do, it’s easy to lose yourself. Well, I know that you don’t need me to tell you this.”

“What are you talking about?”

She asked that question as she blinked.

And so, I gave her a grin before answering her question.

“I mean, am I not the only one in your eyes? If that’s true, you wouldn’t mind about other people to begin with.”

“…Yeah… I guess you’re right…”

Pansy let out a graceful smile. It seemed like she understood what I was trying to say.

Her nervousness must’ve started to go away as her grip on my hand became firmer.

“I’ll be focusing my attention on you while we dance, Joro-kun.”

“Suit yourself.”

The last piece of song played was Chopin’s Grande Valse Brillante.

A masterpiece to close the Kabuten.

“Joro-kun, I have a question for you.”

As the famous song entered its final part, amidst the cheering crowd, Pansy spoke to me.

“What is it?”

Maybe she somehow found out about the kiss Cosmos gave me just a while ago?

If that was the case, guess I had to brace myself.

“Why have you been doing so many things for me ever since the day I went to your house?”

Oh crap. I’d rather her ask me about Cosmos’ kiss instead of this…

“I-I don’t remember doing anything for you.”

“You know that I can see through your lies, right?”

“Ugh…”

Then, just accept the fact that I didn’t want to talk about this! Why must you be so insistent!

“I’m guessing the trigger was back when you escorted me home that night, right?”

Ah, she kept on going. Why must she do this to me?

“‘The more friends you have, the more good memories you can make.’”

Adding to my despair, Pansy repeated the line that she said back then.

“Jeez, I said those words to help you out… Why are you using it to help me out instead?”

“I thought you said you were just speaking from your experience…”

“Yes, that’s true. I never expected that you’d take those words to heart and try to help me make more friends.”

Fuck, I thought she didn’t notice because she hadn’t said anything about it prior to this!

“Starting from the midterm study sessions, you invited me to teach Hinata-san and Oga-san. You said that the more people join, the merrier, but you were hiding another purpose; so that I could get along with those two. I always told you, ‘you’re easy to read,’ but you’re still underestimating me like this. Seriously, you don’t understand me at all, do you?”

Stop laughing! If you were to do that while looking like this, I’d fall for you!

“Then, all the strategy meetings in the library. At first, you invited Himawari-san and Akino-senpai, then you invited Oga-kun as well. Just like that, it became normal for everyone to gather in the library for lunch. You might have thought that you were being subtle about it, but I could see your intentions clearly, you know?”

Ah, this girl was so thorough… I really thought I was being slick for making that move…

“Lastly, the practice for Kabuten. This one you were just trying too hard. The other three already noticed by then that you were trying to make us get along. It was too obvious.”

Busted! Everyone already knew huh? Wait, even Himawari knew?

Seriously? Was it really that obvious? There was no way, right…?

“That’s why, let me ask you one more time, Joro-kun.”

Pansy stared at me with her crystal-like eyes as her mouth moved indifferently.

“Why have you been doing so many things for me ever since the day I went to your house?”

“…Because you always insist on being together with me.”

“That much is a given. I love you, after all.”

“Even so, you’re going overboard lately. You forced me to be with you on lunch breaks, that much is fine, but after school too? I figured that if I get you some friends, you’ll talk to me less.”

“You know that’s not the answer to my question. What I want to know is the reason behind all your actions, not only the part where you tried to get me friends.”

“Ugh, seriously, you…”

“Please, Joro-kun. Tell me…”

She squeezed my hand tightly as she begged me with a sweet voice.

Ah, I can’t handle her like this! If only she was in her usual appearance!

“A-As a thank you for everything that you’ve done for me…”

“Like what?”

“Think about it yourself.”

“No. I want you to tell me.”

Grrr, this big chested, pretty girl! Just because you were pretty didn’t mean you could get anything you wanted!

Whatever, everything could go to hell for all I care!

“No matter how harsh I was on you, no matter how much I told you that I hate you, you always stayed by my side. Thanks to you, I was never alone. You were always there for me. For that, I’m thankful, that’s why, I want to pay you back. I figured that I’d help you get more friends so your high school life will be even more fun than before… Anyway! Despite all that, I still hate you, so don’t forget about that!”

That’s it! I have nothing more to say to her!

“…You’re amazing, you know that?”

“What?”

“You know, I thought that I couldn’t love you anymore than this. But, after hearing your words, I ended up loving you even more.”

You were even more amazing than me for being able to say something like that out loud.

“Alright, as a thank you for answering my question, I’m going to tell you something.”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“The flower language of various pansies according to the people overseas. Since you’re an idiot, I doubt that you know about it.”

Oh here we go again, her usual conceited self was back. Her appearance might have changed, but some things didn’t change.

Not to mention that she casually spit out her venom at me again. Seriously, what an annoying girl.

“Listen carefully, okay? This is a little embarrassing, even for me…”

As the song came to an end, not only did she gripped my hand tightly, she also clasped our bodies together.

Amazing… The feeling of her chest… I felt dizzy…

“Yellow pansies mean ‘memories.’ I want to make a bunch of wonderful memories from now on.”

“You’re speaking as if you’ve never made some already.”

I spoke curtly, but she ignored me completely and continued with her words.

“White pansies symbolized ‘loving thoughts,’ well, I always showed you how affectionate I could be.”

“That caused nothing but trouble for me.”

“And there are purple pansies…”

She probably hadn’t realized that her face was getting redder by the seconds.

Well I wouldn’t say anything to ruin the mood. Let’s just stay quiet and listen to what she has to say. The dance would be over soon anyway.

“‘You’re the only one in my heart.’”

The music stopped and we stopped moving. Thunderous applause filled the room. With this, I could say with confidence that the Kabuten this year was a huge success.

Various things happened, but we were able to conclude everything safely.

This outcome was as close as it could get to the best outcome possible, at least for me…

With that, the curtain gradually fell down until we couldn’t see the audience anymore.

“The legend surrounding the Kabuten… ‘One of the three girls will end up marrying the chosen boy…’ Guess he’ll end up marrying one of them in the future, huh?”

“Nah, I don’t think the legend will apply for this year.”

“Hearing that answer made me feel relieved, but at the same time, I feel bad for him.”

Looking down on me much, don’t you? I swear, those people…

“You did it, Joro!”

“Woah! S-Sun-chan?!”

As I was staring absent-mindedly, Sun-chan came running from behind the stage and wrapped his arm on my shoulder.

“You were so beautiful, Pansy-chan! My heart was throbbing when I saw you dancing!”

“Thank you, Pansy-san! Thanks to you, the Kabuten this year is a huge success!”

Cosmos and Himawari rushed over to Pansy’s side.

When Himawari was about to hug her…

“Can I say something to everyone? I have something that I want to share with you all.”

Saying this, Pansy stared at a certain person.

Not Himawari or Cosmos, but the guy who was wrapping his hand on my shoulders, Sun-chan.

“Um… What is it, Sanshokuin-san?”

“What’s wrong, Pansy-chan?”

“Is there something on your mind, Pansy-san?”

The three of them tilted their heads, showing their friendliness toward her strange behavior.

Oh, by the way, I didn’t know why she was acting this way either. What was she up to?

“Himawari, Cosmos-senpai, Sun-chan… Thanks to all of you, I was able to make good memories with Joro-kun… Thank you…”

Woah, she just called them by their nicknames.

Those three were surprised. Look at their eyes, they were wide open.

Well, that was an understandable reaction, she never did something like this before.

I was the only one she referred to by nickname.

The fact that she was willing to call them by nicknames meant that she considered them as her friends.

“Hehehe! Don’t mention it! I also got to make good memories with you, Pansy-chan!”

Himawari was bouncing around with a smile that was 50% wider than usual.

“Let’s get along well as friends from now on, Pansy-san!”

Cosmos squeezed Pansy’s hand and smiled like a maiden-in-love.

“H-Hahaha! I-It was nothing! Also, your performance during the Kabuten was perfect, Pansy!”

Finally, Sun-chan, with tears in his eyes, popped a thumbs up at her.

Good for you, Sun-chan. All this time, you were the only one who was still calling Pansy by her surname.

You were able to call her by her nickname now. I could understand your happiness.

After that, the lights on stage were turned off and we retreated backstage.

And thus, the event that would remain as a precious memory to me, the Kabuten, ended.