It was the second day of the cultural festival.
Amidst the festive atmosphere filling the air, I walked through the gates of Suisei High.
It was a long-awaited clear day, with not a single cloud in the sky. Strings of flags of different countries fluttered in the breeze, hinting at the arrival of autumn.
After walking up a gentle slope, Ayase-san and I stopped in front of the school building to discuss where to begin. We decided to go floor by floor.
As I figured, haunted houses and cafés were the most common exhibitions. Since classes weren't allowed to use open flames, food was limited to what could be heated using hot plates or microwaves. Still, that didn't stop students from selling crepes, juice, and even baby castellas.
"Didn't think of selling castellas," I remarked.
"They're delicious. It would've been nice to serve something like this at our café too."
Maybe some students sold some a year before. Guess I didn't notice.
I was never really this invested in previous cultural festivals, so it wasn't surprising that I hadn't noticed it.
School today was packed, likely because it was only a short walk from the station. Since it was a Sunday, the number of visitors from the public seemed to have increased. Plus, it feels like there's more exhibits this year than last.
Though some classes settled for simple displays, one exhibit in particular caught my eye. They'd brought a drone into the gym to film themselves dancing and playing ball games from various angles. It was interesting seeing something you see everyday from an unfamiliar angle, and really does change your impression of it. The setup was simple too, with just a screen in the classroom showing the footage on loop.
Still, that's some award winning creativity right there.
Cultural festivals were also an opportunity for clubs to show off their work. The second building, running parallel to the main one and filled with special classrooms like labs, was home to the physics club showcasing their robots and the chemistry club performing vibrant experiments. There were even things like photos of the night sky and fossil exhibits. Over in the clubroom building, the tea ceremony club was serving tea.
Ayase-san wanted to visit a few of them, but unfortunately it was way too crowded to enter.
The art room displayed the pieces that art club members had worked on, and by coincidence, they even had fluid art on display. I wonder if it's the latest trend.
As Ayase-san gazed at the artworks, one of the club members approached us and pointed out the QR codes attached to the displays. It looked like they'd photographed all the artworked and uploaded them on Instagram.
"Interested in this kinda thing?" the member asked.
"Yeah. A little, lately…" Ayase-san responded, and the club member kindly told us about some upcoming exhibitions. Looks like they're really passionate about this kind of thing too.
After stopping by the gym to listen to the brass band's performance for a bit, we walked back to the main building.
We bought some yakisoba from one class's café.
With our hunger sated, Ayase-san and I headed over to the exhibit run by Maru and Narasaka-san's class.
We arrived just in time for an open session, so we joined in on their escape room game.
The game was apparently designed for groups of four to six.
The classroom was divided into four separate rooms, and our goal was to solve puzzles in each room within the allocated time in order to move on to the next one. If a group failed to solve a puzzle in time, they'd be kicked out, receiving consolation prize cards before being sent to the hallway. The card featured a cute illustration of a crying kitty, which almost made losing feel forgivable.
Ayase-san and I were slapped into a group with two other boys and girls, likely students from another school. We exchanged brief greetings, before the student acting as our navigator began explaining the rules.
It was none other than Narasaka-san. Maybe she's here right now because of us?
"Alrighty, I'll distribute the character cards. There's eight in total, so please take the one you like," she said in a more polite voice than normal.
Each card had a character's name and occupation written on it: an archaeologist, journalist, avid hobbyist, police officer, doctor, engineer, detective, and adventurer.
…Hmm, I'm a little scared something straight out of cosmic horror might happen.
Looking closely, the cards also had a "hint chance" section, which allowed each player one opportunity to get a hint if they were stuck on a puzzle. Since our group had six players, we got to pick four from the set.
Ayase-san chose the archaeologist role while I picked the avid hobbyist.
"What's that?" she asked.
"You know the term 'koutou yumin'[1]? It's kinda like that; it refers to someone who isn't financially struggling and spends their time enjoying research and reading."
[1: Koutou yumin (高等遊民), literally meaning "high class idler" or "high class lazy person," was a term used during the Meiji era, up to the early Showa era, to describe individuals who'd graduated from universities but were financially comfortable and chose to not participate in the workforce, instead pursuing their own research endeavors]
She said it reminded her of me. Wait no, I'm definitely not rich.
"Okay, lemme explain the scenario," Narasaka-san said, lowering her voice slightly. "Right now, you're all in a remote, ancient castle in the corner of Europe."
We're suddenly in a foreign setting, huh?
"Oh, and to keep things simple, feel free to call each other by your real names or nicknames. Anyways, you're all here for various reasons. Well, let's just say you were on a sightseeing tour."
Narasaka-san explained that it started raining as soon as we entered the castle. Thunder rolled as a landslide blocked the roads, trapping us inside. And if that wasn't enough, it turns out that people had been disappearing in the castle over the past week and had yet to be found.
"And after all that and a bunch of other things, you were all cornered down underneath the castle."
With that, we were suddenly thrown into the climax of the story.
"That being said, now you've gotta solve the puzzles and escape from the castle. The first room's—"
And that's how the game began. True to its designer, Maru, a game enthusiast, it was well-constructed and thoughtfully designed. While we only needed to solve a simple riddle to pass the first room, the second and third ones put our brains to work. In the end, we were only able to crack the puzzles at the very last moment.
And that brought us to where we were now: the fourth room.
At this point our group was determined to clear the whole thing. According to the backstory, the noble who'd once lived in this castle had been searching for "the truth of the universe." Apparently, as the head of his family, he left a note saying, "I've finally found it," before disappearing without a trace.
The final room had just one door. It looked like the only way to progress was to open it. The catch though, was that if we failed, everyone in the room would be cast into the far reaches of the stars—Wait, does that mean we'd been thrown into space…?
"Maru sure loves his cheap pulp fiction sci-fi horrors," I muttered.
The last door also had a message on it: 『Offer the vase filled with true love.』
A vase, huh? Hmm.
I put my thinking cap on for a second.
Wait no—something about this doesn't feel right.
"This thing that's supposed to be a door—why's it pure white with this weird black border?"
"Something wrong?" Ayase-san asked.
"It's gotta have a knob if it's meant to resemble a door, right? Why's it just this piece of white paper stuck on top a black rectangle?"
"I guess it's meant to be a door with a window?"
"But then, why's there a light shining directly on the piece of paper?"
This "door" we were meant to open was a black rectangular curtain with a square piece of white paper about the height of a person. Since there was a light shining on the paper from right behind us, I thought it might've contained a written clue, so I got closer to take a look. But when I did that, my shadow fell over it, and I couldn't see anything.
Even after moving closer, I realized the paper was just plain white, with nothing written on it.
…Honestly, isn't it kinda unreasonable to expect us to solve this without any hints?
Now, what do we do?
"Um, am I the only one left who can use a hint?" Ayase-san asked.
"Yeah, we've all used ours already," I replied.
Ayase-san, much like when she plays poker, seemed to be the type to hold her cards close to her chest until the very last moment.
"Alright, we're running out of time. I'll use it. I'd like to use the 'hint chance' for the archaeologist now," she declared.
At Ayase-san's request, Narasaka-san flipped through the scenario booklet, likely where all the game's secrets were written.
"Let's see… The hint's hidden in the oldest object in this room," Narasaka-san told us.
"The oldest object…?" one of the two girls from the other school suddenly spoke up. "Oh, I saw something like that earlier."
She moved over to the study desk near the curtain we'd entered through.
"Here it is," she pointed out.
"It's just some toy playing chip," one of the boys commented, looking confused.
But the girl who picked up the yellow plastic chip flipped it over and showed us the back.
"Look here," she said, pointing to a small label taped to the underside. It read, "A very old coin."
"…But, I mean, we couldn't get actual European coins," Narasaka-san said with a pout.
…Yeah, I mean, we're just regular high school students. I guess we'll just go along with it.
"Quite an ancient coin isn't it? Whatcha think, Professor Ayase? Any insights?"
"Huh!? U-uhhh…"
Ayase-san hesitated, glancing towards Narasaka-san.
"Yep, alrighty, I'll give you a hint. This old coin has the profile of the country's first queen engraved on it. That's it!"
Everyone groaned as we held our heads in frustration.
A profile…? What kind of hint's that supposed to be? How does this help?
"Two minutes left!" Narasaka-san called.
Side profile, side profile, side profile... A pitch-black door. The piece of white paper at head height. The light shining from behind us. But nothing's written on the paper, and when I get closer, all I can see is the shadow of my own head. Well, only my head—or rather, just my face. Face, face, face... side profile...
Wait, that's it!
"That… that's it. Rubin's vase…"
All five pairs of eyes, including Ayase-san's, turned toward me, staring intently.
"One minute left!"
I'm not sure if this is it, but it's the only idea I have left.
"Ayase-san, mind helping me with something? Uh, just stand over there," I instructed her, positioning her so that she stood sideways in front of the door.
The light cast her profile onto the white paper on the "door." I then stood directly opposite her, close enough that the tips of our noses almost touched.
I had to bend down since I was slightly taller, but as we faced each other, both of our profiles were cast onto the white paper.
""""Ah!"""" the four others watching suddenly exclaimed in unison.
"Huh? What is it?" Ayase-san asked, turning her head to the side, which made the illusion disappear.
"Face this way, Ayase-san," I said, guiding her to face the right direction.
Then, I snapped a picture with my phone and showed it to her.
"What's this?" she asked, sounding confused.
"It's kinda hard to explain, so I'll tell you later. This should be correct, right, Narasaka-san?"
Narasaka-san broke into a wide grin.
"Correct! You've successfully completed the 'Offer the vase filled with true love' puzzle! The door opens and you've all escaped!"
Cheers erupted from our group. Only Ayase-san still seemed confused about what just happened, so I showed her the photo again and explained.
"Never heard of Rubin's vase? It's an illusion. Instead of focusing on our shadows, look at the part that's white," I said, tracing the outline with my finger. "See, looks like a vase, doesn't it?"
Ayase-san blinked a few times, staring at the image.
"Ah…" she quietly muttered.
To explain it better, I looked up an image of Rubin's vase on my phone and showed it to her. Honestly, just the silhouettes of people facing each other in real life didn't make the vase look perfect, but in puzzle games like this, sound reasoning was good enough.
Just as the next group was about to enter, Narasaka-san ushered us out. We each received "Successful Escape" cards (with a cute illustration of a kitty cheering) and canned drinks as prizes.
As we stepped out of the classroom, Maru came by to greet us. He looked a bit frustrated, but considering our success was mostly a lucky break, I couldn't really boast about it.
Even for Maru, the creator of the challenge, making a game where no one could escape wouldn't be ideal; there'd be complaints, after all. Having a few successful players was important.
I'm glad we had fun too.
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆
"So, where should we drink these?" I asked, holding up one of the cans of juice Narasaka-san had given us.
"It was kinda tiring, wasn't it? I want to rest somewhere."
"Somewhere to rest, huh…?"
The 'breakroom' on campus was off-limits during the cultural festival as the home economics club was running a stall there. The benches over at the courtyard were an option, but as I'd found out a while back when I had lunch with Maru, they were a popular spot. There's no guarantee we'd find a seat. Going back to our classroom wasn't a great idea either, since we might disturb our classmates.
Just then, I remembered a spot from last year's cultural festival.
"How 'bout over there?"
I was referring to the very top of the emergency stairs in the building that housed the special classrooms. It was the quietest spot we found during last year's festival, far away from all the noise.
It seemed like the perfect place to relax again this year.
Ayase-san agreed with my suggestion, so we headed to the same spot we'd visited last year, with our prize cans of juice in hand. The wind was pretty chilly around this time a year ago, but it seemed that it wasn't quite as cold yet this time around.
The sounds of students' chatter rose up to where we stood on the top floor. I could faintly hear music in the distance—likely a performance from either a volunteer band or the light music club. The upbeat tunes mingled into the sky, which in turn was gradually darkening.
"You looked relieved, Asamura-kun," Ayase-san said.
I chuckled. She's right; I am relieved.
Though we were now dating and attending the festival together as a couple—a big change from last year—the fact we still preferred quiet, less crowded places hadn't changed. We laughed as we talked about how some things changed while others didn't, sipping the juice we'd won.
The last rays of the sun painted the clouds red, and the orange sky slowly faded into a deep indigo. Just then, I heard the speakers crackle, followed by an announcement signaling the end of this year's Suisei High cultural festival and directing visitors toward the exits. In just thirty minutes, the gates would close.
After that, the day would turn into a private affair for Suisei High students—the highlight being the bonfire.
"Wanna join in?" I asked.
Ayase-san nodded.
"I want to make the memory of dancing with you while we're here, Asamura-kun."
"Then let's head back to our class and help with cleanup. It'd get too cold if we wait here for an hour."
"You're right."
I remembered how we'd bought warm drinks last year, a stark contrast to the chilled canned juice Narasaka-san had given us.
As we showed up in our class, Class Rep looked surprised.
"Huh? What's up?"
And it was understandable. Ayase-san and I weren't scheduled to help today, so she probably hadn't expected us to come back just to help with cleanup.
"Just killing time," I replied.
"Ohhh, I see. You're both joinin' the bonfire later, hm~?"
Class Rep, quick to catch on, smiled knowingly.
As the sky deepened into a rich indigo, the bonfire was lit in the schoolyard. There'd been a time in Suisei High's history when the bonfire tradition was ditched due to safety concerns. But thanks to a student council president a few years ago, it was revived. I was grateful for that.
Ayase-san and I joined the line as all the students gathered. Soon after, the speakers started playing music for the dance.
It would've been nice if they'd played a familiar song—like the old folk dance we'd been taught in elementary school. That didn't happen unfortunately, so we had no choice but to mimic the movements of the people around us.
"I think you're meant to hold each other closer," Ayase-san said.
I pulled her closer to me. Our steps were pretty sloppy, but at least we weren't standing out too much from the others.
"I wonder how people see us when we're this close together. Siblings? Or do we look more like a couple?"
"I dunno. Either could be possible."
That was my answer, but in truth, I wasn't thinking clearly enough to give it much thought. My thoughts had already drifted to the vivid memory of touching Ayase-san's bare skin the other day.
Still, even as I felt the soft curves of her chest and the press of her body against mine, we continued to dance in sync, guided by a rhythm that felt natural for the both of us. There's this idea—though I didn't know if it was true or not—that long ago, festival dances were used to gauge the compatibility between a man and woman. If that's true, I think our compatibility isn't bad at all.
The circle of dancers revolved around the fire. Boys and girls switched places, holding hands while drawing each other close as they danced. One, two, three—we swapped places, our hands still joined. I moved to the outside of the circle while Ayase-san shifted inside. We swayed together, our hips brushing, as we stepped in unison.
Since this dance featured no partner changes, Ayase-san and I stayed close together, dancing around the flames. In this darkness, it was logical to think that no one could tell who was dancing with whom. Yet, at that moment, I realized something. Deep down, there was a part of me that didn't mind being noticed—no, I wanted us to be noticed.
I wanted our relationship to progress, to move forward.
"Siblings, lovers. Yeah, people could see us as either. But… I want to be seen as lovers."
"…Yeah."
Touching her skin, being touched in return, exchanging our body heat. What existed between us at this moment wasn't the crude expression of sexual desire I'd feared; it was an honest affirmation of the love we shared. It was only when we had touched each other's bare skin that I came to understand this truth for the first time.
And it was the same now. We might've been pressed up against each other, but I didn't feel overwhelmed by any crude desires.
And that was okay. I knew I could cherish Ayase-san, and I knew she accepted me.
So, I'll move forward with more confidence, leveling up our relationship from being just level one lovers.
Sparks from the bonfire were carried into the night sky by the wind, while the flames cast a warm glow on Ayase-san's cheeks, making them blush a fiery red.