The next morning, I met up with Kei downstairs in the dormitory. "Sorry Kiyotaka, have you been waiting?"
"Not really. Shall we go then?"
Kei, who was standing beside me, took my hand without hesitation and we started walking. The act of holding hands and walking side by side like this was not uncommon anymore.
"Yesterday... Thanks for staying up with me until late. I'm very happy." Kei squeezed my hand while blushing a little.
"But it'd be a problem if we get caught."
Despite already being past the curfew, Kei remained in my room last night. Fortunately, there seemed to be no witnesses when she left, so we won't be penalized.
"Ahaha, indeed."
For some reason, Kei's profile looked reliable. Is it possible for her to change this much in half a day?
"Did it hurt?"
"Do you even have to ask?"
"Is it that bad?"
"No, but... how do I put this, I thought I was used to it." Although a little
embarrassed, Kei was delighted.
"In a way, it was my first time so I probably hadn't sorted my thoughts yet.
However, I feel reassured that you ignored the curfew and stayed with me the whole time."
That's true, who knows what would've happened if I hadn't been there.
"I see."
Kei ascended another step up on the staircase of adulthood after yesterday's
experience. Although she had support behind her, she succeeded in standing her ground. It was a big improvement from the time she thought she could never stand anymore.
Learning to get up on your own when you fall was important for Kei, a special case that didn't happen overnight like other students.
"G-Good morning, Kei-chan."
As soon as we arrived at the classroom, Satō, who arrived early, spotted Kei and got up to run to her.
"Good morning, Maya ~"
Kei, giving me a gaze, excused herself and immediately started closely chatting with Satō.
Although initially somewhat awkward, they soon began their usual chit-chat, or maybe it was even friendlier than usual. The circle of happiness that started with the two of them began to spread to the other girls, even to students that aren't typically involved, such as Shinohara and Mii-chan, who've been struggling for a while.
As a leader, Horikita is gradually starting to show her power and awakening her skills to unite the class, but she's lacking something. The ability to create, attract, and unify a small group. Without a doubt, Kei possesses these qualities. The road to the festival seemed to be going well regarding these matters, which are indispensable for strengthening the class, but suddenly news of an incident with the potential to create a major problem arised.
"Hey, is it true that our class is going to have a maid café?"
Ike bursted into the classroom, and shouted out to the rest of the class. Maezono stood up in surprise since this was a matter that was kept secret
from all but a few students.
The people who came up with the idea, such as Satō, Matsushita, and Mii-
chan, all looked at each other.
Only some of the girls who were confirmed as staff and those who were
asked to participate were aware of the maid café. Then came Horikita, who was in charge of organizing the festival.
Horikita calmly listened to Ike's story without showing any impatience. If she overreacted, it would reveal to the whole class that they were really going to have a maid café. And it would also be exposed to the other classes.
However, that element was lost when Maezono and the others strongly reacted to Ike's initial exclamation. Since he claimed it was a maid café, it was highly unlikely that he was just making it up as he went along.
"Where did you hear this, Ike-san?"
"Where did I hear? Well uh..." Ike, frightened by Maezono's stiff, angry look, chokes on his words. "Just now, in the lobby, Ishizaki, Suzuki... and Nomura, the three of them were talking about it as loud as they could."
"Hey Horikita-san, what does he mean? It was still supposed to be a secret, right?"
Matsushita, who remembered the contact from Hashimoto, approached us. "Yes. I thought it was unthinkable, but I guess I was naive."
The answer was clear when Ishizaki and the others were making a fuss. "Does this mean that Ryūen-kun betrayed us after all? You said it was okay,
didn't you, Horikita-san?"
As Maezono angrily confronted Horikita, the classroom door opened and
Sudō came in, looking a little flustered.
"Hey! Ryūen and the others are coming this way."
"I guess I'll just have to go greet them. You guys stay inside the classroom
and act like adults."
Deciding that the conversation would get complicated if an outsider joined
in, Horikita got up from her seat and decided to greet Ryūen in the hallway.
"Yo, it's Suzune. You wouldn't believe how badly I missed you."
Ryūen led the way, with Ishizaki, Albert, and Kaneda following behind. "I was wondering what you're doing here with such boisterous students." "I have something to tell you guys today. Hey, Ishizaki?"
"Y-yes."
Ishizaki looked around the room with a slightly nervous look on his face.
The students who were told not to leave the class were also observing, perhaps because they were curious about what was going on and couldn't resist.
Maezono, in particular, was glaring at Ryuen without hiding her annoyance.
"It seems these guys have caught onto all the fuss that's been going about." Ryūen, sensing the mood, replied with a laugh.
"I'm honestly surprised. You really don't mind doing the unpredictable." "Kuku, predictable behavior is boring, isn't it?"
Ryūen began to explain carefully so that Ike and the others, who hadn't
grasped the situation, could understand.
"At Suzune's proposal, your class and I formed a cooperative relationship at
the sports festival. And we were planning to join forces early on for this year's cultural festival as well."
To be precise, I was the one who initiated the request for cooperation in the sports festival, but that's a trivial detail here.
Horikita and Ryūen agreed to continue working together for the cultural festival going forward.
"We were supposed to make sure that the contents of our exhibits do not conflict with each other. Discuss stall locations. Be able to lend and borrow students and follow up with them as needed. Was that correct?"
"That's correct. We were planning to follow up with everyone a little further down the road. We were told early on about the content of the stalls and yesterday about the location." Kaneda smirked as he added details.
"You intended to betray us from the very beginning, but you hid it until today because you were waiting for us to find out where we were going to open our stall. I'm sorry, but we're going to have to renegotiate to cooperate."
"That's a pretty big demand for a fresh start, isn't it? You unilaterally found out the location of our stall and even revealed our exhibit."
"Revealed? Ishizaki and his friends were just chatting with each other. It just so happened that your class and the other classes overheard them. It's pretty rude of them to listen in, isn't it?"
My class slowly began to understand the situation. "Is what you just said true, Horikita-san?"
Yōsuke asked, since Horikita had not yet gotten around to informing the rest of the class of the ongoing cooperative relationship with Ryūen's class.
"I was going to tell you when everything was finalized..."
The plan was nearly in the final stage, but it was turned upside down at the last moment. Our classmates, including Yosuke, were informed by such a scene.
"May I ask you why, just in case? What's the benefit in betraying us? Did you team up with Sakayanagi-san, or Ichinose-san and the others?"
"I helped you in the sports festival to destroy Class A. You guys won the game and got a taste of the good stuff, didn't you?"
We both picked up wins in the sports festival, but we were 100 points ahead in class points as a result.
"We were on equal terms. The same goes for the cultural festival proposal."
"But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if we crush class A, if you B's rise to the same position. It won't win us many class points, but we'll win the next festival. We'll have the same concept as you guys."
"Does that mean a maid café?"
It was Maezono who immediately responded to the keyword "same". "Well, I'll change the concept a little but it is something similar."
It's not so important if the event is leaked. However, the fact that they dare
to use the same idea on the same stage would be a fatal blow to Horikita's class, and that must've been clear to our planners and classmates, including Maezono.
First through fourth; they declared competing for one of the four placements that would earn them 100 class points.
"You mean you're going to go out of your way to compete in the same genre? It doesn't sound like it would be beneficial to you."
"Sure, it's probably riskier than the other ideas when it comes to competing for customers. But so what? We have a plan to outsell you and get to the top."
I don't get Ryūen's logic behind coming all the way here to tell us so. "So, let's have a more intense competition, Suzune."
"Intense competition?"
The commotion began to grow a little louder, and even Kanzaki and other
unrelated students from other classes overheard Ryūen's declaration of war. Hashimoto was watching this somewhat amusedly, probably because he learned of this fact before Horikita's class learned of it.
"The one who earns as many points as possible will receive 5 million points from the other class. Wouldn't that be an interesting match?"
"Are you serious? That doesn't sound like a very sane wager."
"If you ask me, it's only 5 million points."
You can't mobilize class points without permission. However, private points
owned by individuals can be freely handled. He proposed a 'wager' using this logic. This was a one-on-one proposal, separate from the 12-class competition.
Even if we don't take the top rank in the cultural festival and lose, if we win the direct confrontation and get 5 million private points, it would certainly be a hotly contested game.
"Well, I would've preferred a more flashy battle with a different opponent, but Student Council President Nagumo ran away, saying that he wouldn't participate in the festival this time. Well, it wasn't as if he was running away, but as long as we can't find someone to fight, we have no choice but to confront you guys."
"Don't decide this on your own. I'm not going to accept such a reckless proposal."
"Are you going to run away too?"
"You broke the contract, leaked it, and then tried to weasel your way out of it. That's an impossible proposition. I can finally see the true meaning of Katsuragi- kun's words in regards to the avoidance of a penalty agreement."
"That doesn't matter anymore. Don't you have confidence in your ability to win a fight with me?"
"I didn't say that."
"Oh yeah?"
"You've done whatever you want so far, and even I can't keep quiet about it.
I will certainly consider the bet you proposed."
"Kukuku, so you say. I'll be waiting for your answer, Suzune." Perhaps having finished his business with us, Ryūen pulled away as if
satisfied. As he turned around, his group followed and the others made way for them.
As Ryūen and the others left, students from other classes, who had been spectators, began to approach.
Hashimoto, whose eyes met mine, smiled thinly and shrugged his shoulders. It was as if to say, "Did you catch that we're teaming up with Ryūen?" He looked as if he wanted to say so.
Although this was already known to the entire second-year students and to the entire grade, the maid café's performance, including Ryūen's surprise participation in the event, will be in a difficult environment.
I wouldn't be surprised if other classes considering the same idea were now changing plans. But we've already started a lot of preparations.
"What are you going to do, Horikita-san? We're pretty well prepared, aren't we..?"
"Is Ryūen really going to turn his class into a maid café?"
Maezono and the others approached Horikita, letting some of the bottled up anxiety and frustration spill out.
"I believe it's very likely. I don't think it's just a threat."
"How about we shift to a different concept now?"
Yōsuke suggested, considering that option in order to turn things around,
but...
"We can't do that. Part of the budget's already invested."
We've already ordered as much as we could for the maid's uniforms and so
on. We can't throw away the costs we've spent so far. If we stop, we'd be throwing away precious funds. We need to re-evaluate how we can get around in the future with our dwindling time.
We have truly fallen into a dangerous situation.
"We have no choice but to take advantage of this situation and turn it into an opportunity to get as many private points as we can by taking the gamble!"
That is, of course, if the classmates agree to this proposal. Because in order to have a large sum of money available, the whole class would have to work together to raise it.