Chapter 445: Yukino: You Actually Want to Train Me
At nine fifty-seven in the morning, just three minutes before the cultural festival's opening, all the teachers and students had gathered in the auditorium of the gymnasium.
At this moment, Hachiman stood near the large stage set up inside the gymnasium, surveying the surroundings and doing the final checks.
The entire gymnasium was pitch black, preparing for the opening ceremony.
Suddenly, Yukino's voice came through Hachiman's earpiece. "This is Yukinoshita. The event will start on time. Please conduct the final checks, all departments."
Immediately, voices of various department heads sounded through the earpieces.
"Lighting is all set."
"This is sound control, everything's fine here too."
"The backstage actors were delayed a bit, but they should make it in time for the opening."
Upon hearing this, Yukino's cool voice spoke again, "There should be no room for 'should.' To ensure the smooth progress of the opening ceremony, please confirm the situation as soon as possible."
"Understood..."
The girl in charge of the backstage responded, and about a minute later, her voice came through again.
"The actors are ready, we're ready to start at any moment."
"Excellent. Everyone, please take your positions before new orders are issued from the command post."
"Roger!"
...
As time passed, the once bustling noise in the gymnasium gradually quieted down. All eyes were focused, waiting for the cultural festival to begin.
Finally, with just ten seconds left until the opening:
"Ten."
"Nine."
"Eight."
Through the earpieces, everyone held their breath, silently counting down.
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Start!"
With Yukino's cool voice echoing, dazzling lights burst out from the central stage of the gymnasium, marking the official beginning of the long-awaited cultural festival.
Suddenly appearing under the spotlight at the center of the stage, Meguri Shiromeguri's cheerful voice echoed through the gymnasium via the microphone.
"Students, are you all enjoying the cultural festival today?"
"Ohhhhh!"
The crowd responded with enthusiastic cheers.
"What are festivals in Chiba famous for?"
With Meguri's question, the crowd answered in unison once again.
"Dance!"
"That's right! Then let's dance together like fools, meow."
"Sing a Song!"
In the next moment, dance music filled the gymnasium, followed by the entrance of cheerleaders and members from various dance clubs, kicking off the warm-up performance.
After Meguri warmed up the atmosphere, the students below erupted with excitement. Some danced along, while others raised their hands high and cheered.
Seeing the lively atmosphere, Hachiman raised an eyebrow.
Indeed, Meguri lived up to her reputation; she knew how to stir up the atmosphere.
Just then, a voice came through the earpiece again.
"This is the sound control. The music is about to end."
"Understood. Sagami Chairperson, please get ready," Yukino commanded.
As the warm-up dancers retreated backstage, Meguri, serving as the emcee, spoke again.
"Next, we have the opening speech by the cultural festival's executive committee chairperson."
Seeing it was her turn to go on stage, Sagami, waiting backstage, felt a nervous gulp in her throat.
However, after several days of training, she quickly regained her composure and walked to the center of the stage.
The following events were naturally not as embarrassing as in the original story. After her special training, Minami delivered her speech smoothly, further energizing the atmosphere.
"Well, looks like she did pretty well," Hachiman chuckled lightly.
"What's this? Are you happy seeing Sagami-san, who you've 'trained,' achieve good results? Are you following along with happiness?" a cold voice came through the earpiece.
Naturally, it was Yukino.
But upon hearing her words, Hachiman couldn't help but smirk.
"What do you mean by 'trained'? Please use a different word, like guided or something."
"Isn't that pretty much the same thing? Most of Sagami-san's transformation is because of your influence, right?"
"What's this? Is Yukino feeling jealous? Well, if you want me to 'train' you, Yukino, I'm quite interested."
"Train... train? What do you want to do to me?"
"You just said 'train' and guide have similar meanings, so it's only logical."
"I'm calling the police; this is sexual harassment!"
"..."
As Hachiman and Yukino bantered back and forth, another awkward voice came through the earpiece.
"Um... Vice Chair Yukinoshita, Hikigaya-san, everyone can hear you very clearly..."
Upon hearing this, both Hachiman and Yukino were caught off guard.
They had slipped up; they forgot this was a public channel.
Hachiman was unfazed, but Yukino was not.
Despite her usual cold demeanor, Yukino had thin skin.
After a while, Yukino's voice came through again.
"Proceed with the original plan for the rest of the agenda. Departments, please be prepared."
With that, she cut off the communication.
In the command room, Yukino felt the warmth on her face and quickly drank some tea to calm down.
Meanwhile,Minami, the executive committee chairperson, had finished her speech.
The atmosphere wasn't as awkward as in the original story; instead, it was further heated up.
As the emcee Meguri spoke, the opening ceremony concluded, and the cultural festival officially began.
...
The cultural festival was divided into two days, with the first day for students only and the second day open to the public.
There were class performances, exhibitions of various club activities, band performances on stage, and of course, food stalls.
Class 2F.
On the temporary stage in the classroom, they were performing the musical "The Little Prince" prepared by Hayama and the others.
With the melodious background music, Hayama, playing the pilot, and Saika, playing the little prince, exchanged lines.
Under the spotlight, both Hayama's handsome appearance and Saikas delicate charm captivated the audience, mostly composed of girls.
Especially when the two male actors on stage exchanged somewhat affectionate lines, the female audience below erupted into cheers.
"You shouldn't be like this; it will hurt you."
"I won't leave you."
"There's no other way; give up on me."
"I will never leave you!"
Hearing Hayam's line, behind the scenes, Ebina almost passed out from excitement.
The Little Prince was bitten by the snake and fell to the ground, barely breathing. Saika perfectly portrayed the vulnerability of the Little Prince at this moment, while Hayama, holding him, delivered the final line, bringing this musical to a perfect conclusion.
As the lights dimmed, the stage fell into darkness.
At that moment of conclusion, thunderous applause and cheers erupted from the audience below.
Ebina, who was backstage at this moment, had collapsed on the ground, with blood coming out of her nose.
Seeing her exaggerated state, Hachiman felt somewhat helpless but still helped her up.
"Pull yourself together; you're exaggerating too much."
"You wouldn't understand, Hachiman," Ebina said with a puzzled smile on her face.
"But if it were you and Hayama performing, it would be even more perfect."
Hearing this, Hachiman smirked but still tore off some tissue and pressed it against her nose, which had been bleeding.
As the musical ended, the audience began to disperse, looking for their next favorite performance.
The sign on the closed classroom door read "Resting," while Hachiman sat at the classroom door, somewhat bored, watching the passing crowd.
At that moment, Yui approached with a care package in hand.
"Hikki, you worked hard."
Sitting beside him, the girl's face lit up with a happy smile.
"Oh, it's not that hard for me. It must have been tough for you to prepare for the performance," Hachiman replied with a smile.
Hearing this, Yui smiled shyly.
"I'm just in charge of publicity; the real hard work was done by Hayama-kun and the others."
"But with such a successful performance, everyone's efforts paid off."
Seeing the familiar silly smile on her face, Hachiman couldn't help but reach out and pat the bun on her head.
"My Yui is amazing too."
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