Vol. 2 Chapter 8 – It Just Clicked Instantly

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On the day of the school festival.

When Kyousuke woke up in the morning, he let out a sigh—he had already lost count of how many times he’d done that since the start of the month.

Iori.

That name he saw that day kept flickering through his mind, whether he was eating or taking a bath. Ayano’s cheerful voice echoed inside his skull.

He had steeled himself and asked who it was, but it was brushed off with a simple『someone from school』and he learned nothing more.

On top of that, for the past two weeks, they hadn’t met even once after school, and even when he sent messages, her replies were brief, as if she were busy. Each of those little things only made the hazy unease inside Kyousuke grow stronger.

【Ayano: Look forward to today】

Seeing the message that had been sent the moment the date changed, Kyousuke narrowed his eyes.

‘…Could it be she’s going to introduce her boyfriend to me or something?’

If that were the case, then it would be something to be happy about.

He should congratulate her. He should applaud and wish her happiness.

Yes. He knew that’s what he should do—he understood it in his head, and yet—

‘I’m such a hopeless guy…’

He didn’t feel even a microorganism’s worth of enthusiasm.

Worse still, he didn’t even understand why his heart was reacting this way. Not understanding it, yet still feeling awful about it—he really felt like an idiot.

“Got it… there.”

He sent a sticker and tossed his phone aside.

Just in case it really was something to celebrate, he should think of something to say.

“Ahhh…”

He pressed his face into his pillow and let out a wordless groan from deep in his gut.

It had been a while since he’d felt this unwilling to go to school.

This high school’s cultural festival is open to the public and when it opens at ten in the morning, outside visitors begin streaming into the school grounds.

Because of that, many students are busy with preparations.

However, Kyousuke hasn’t been assigned any work at all.

A few classmates had pushed the setup of the exhibition venue onto him, and since he had no particular reason to meet Ayano, he agreed without hesitation. As a result, he was exempted from reception duty. Even after coming to school, he had nothing to do, so he passed the time reading a book in the library.

“…It’s about time.”

When he looked at the clock, it was 9:59 a.m.

As he stared absentmindedly, the minute hand clicked kachi and reached twelve.

The broadcasting committee announced the start of the cultural festival, and the noise outside the library grew even louder. Just as he was about to stand up, thinking it was time to head out—

【Ayano: Where are you?】

Seeing the message displayed on his phone, it felt like a heavy weight suddenly dropped onto his body.

What was she planning to say today?

He didn’t even know if it was something good or bad, yet his mind kept running wild with all sorts of assumptions, dragging his mood down on its own.

“…Maybe I should just go home.”

While he muttered that and hesitated, ten, twenty minutes passed by.

Letting out a sigh, he looked up at the ceiling.

He felt like spitting at himself for not having grown at all since middle school.

“Sayo!!”

As if to blow away his damp, gloomy mood, someone flung open the library door with tremendous force. At the sound and the abnormal volume, Kyousuke straightened his back sharply.

“T-Toujou?”

“Yo, Fuji! What are you doing in a place like this?”

“What am I doing… I should be asking you that.”

His face was drenched in sweat and he was panting heavily. What on earth had he been doing?

“Oh, right! Has Sayo come here!?”

“She hasn’t, but if it’s urgent, why not try calling her?”

“I’ve called, but she’s not picking up! I just took my eyes off her for a second, and now she’s gone missing!”

“Isn’t it more like she just got fed up with you and went somewhere else…?”

“There are people from outside here too! What if some weird guy tries to hit on her…!!”

“…If it’s Shijima-san, I think she’d just deal with him normally.”

She was the kind of girl who would charge straight at a group badmouthing Ayano all by herself. Even if the other person were a man, she would probably say what she wanted without hesitation.

“Well, I’ve got nothing to do anyway, so I’ll help you look.”

He already knew there was no point staying here.

Whether he went home or stayed, he could decide after helping a friend in trouble.

“…Toujou, you know…”

Right after they left the library, he called out to his back.

Kotarou tilted his head with a『Hm?』and stopped a step ahead, lining up beside Kyousuke.

“Hypothetically… just hypothetically. What would you do if Shijima-san got a boyfriend?”

“Huh? What’s that about?”

“It’s not like it’s impossible, right? You two aren’t dating.”

“Hmm, yeah, that’s true. Yeah. When that happens, even I’d probably steel myself and bow my head to Sayo, asking her to go out with me. I’d tell her I’ve liked her all this time.”

“…Isn’t that kind of uncool?”

“It is uncool and if I think about Sayo, I probably should keep quiet. But my feelings matter too, right? No one else can honestly speak my feelings for me, so if I don’t say them, that’d be pitiful.”

At those casually spoken words, Kyousuke’s eyes widened.

No one else could honestly speak your feelings for you. It was something completely obvious, yet the idea struck him as something new.

‘…But I couldn’t do that.’

Only someone with self-love on Kotarou’s level could pull that off.

He couldn’t do the same.

“But yeah, even so, I plan to settle things one way or another before it comes to that. I don’t want to do something like confess to someone who already has a boyfriend and end up hurting everyone involved.”

“…But if it comes down to it, you would still do it, right?”

“Yeah!”

That kind of confident answer didn’t exactly help.

“Look over here!”

“Please let me take a photo!”

“C-can I get your autograph!?”

After walking for a while, they saw a crowd gathered far ahead in the hallway.

Students from the school, outsiders in casual clothes, from classmates to upperclassmen. From near to far, the entire space was filled with girls, their excited squeals echoing kyaa kyaa through the corridor.

“Is there an idol or something?”

“I didn’t hear about any event like that…”

“…Hm? I hear Sayo’s voice.”

“How can you even tell!?”

Before he could fully process Kotarou’s almost supernatural hearing, he had already plunged into the crowd at incredible speed, like a fish riding a current. The sight of a well-built blond guy diving into a sea of girls looked borderline criminal.

With no other choice, Kyousuke followed after him. Saying『Excuse me』and『Coming through』he moved along the path Kotarou had carved out.

“Nice! That’s great! Yes, give me that look!”

Pasha pasha.

Pasha pasha pasha.

Holding a DSLR camera from who-knows-where, Sayo was snapping the shutter at an incredible pace like a news photographer witnessing a massive scoop.

“That’s it! Uhyeee! Th-this is the best!! Bufuhyaaah!!”

From the side, from the front, from behind, she took dozens upon dozens of shots, all while speaking in some unknown language far too advanced for humanity.

Meanwhile, the subject of all this attention responded to her while also accommodating the requests of the other girls.

Taking two-shots, shaking hands, offering gentle smiles. Every little movement sent waves of excitement through the crowd, the heat growing so intense that the windows began to fog up.

“Ah! Kyousuke, I finally found you!”

Bathed in a shower of heart-filled gazes from the girls, that person pointed at Kyousuke with a beaming smile.

A tailcoat tailored from high-quality fabric. A white shirt and gloves, a black tie, and leather shoes.

Her glossy hair was gathered into a single bundle and let fall behind her neck, and she carried a fresh, unfamiliar scent of perfume that differed from her usual one.

That appearance was, no matter who looked at it, completely that of a butler and with her height towering above everyone else, she looked like she had stepped straight out of a manga.

“…A-Ayano?”

For a moment he couldn’t recognize her because of the outfit, but that build—more than anything, that voice—there was no way it could be anyone else.

“Thank goodness! I’ve been looking for you the whole time, you know?”

From that overwhelmingly cool appearance came a voice like a dog showing its belly and seeking affection, and perhaps because it struck a chord, the crowd around them grew even more excited.

“Sayo, I finally found you! And more importantly, where did you even get a camera like that!?”

“I borrowed it from someone in the photography club. More importantly, you’re in the way, Kotarou-kun! Right now, my eyeballs are reserved exclusively for Ayano-chan!”

Having finally found Sayo after searching so much, only to be brushed off, Kotarou’s shoulders drooped in disappointment.

As Kyousuke gave a wry smile at that sight, Ayano’s hand suddenly touched his chin, forcibly lifting his gaze.

“You seemed kind of distant this morning too and even when I asked where you were, you didn’t answer… are you mad? Did I do something?”

Taken on its own, it was nothing special, but in her current appearance, Ayano looked far too stylish.

Combined with Kyousuke’s smaller stature, it created a composition that looked like a butler making a move on a young master, something that would probably appeal to a very specific crowd. The excitement of the onlookers surged even higher.

“Okay, okay, make way! Sorry—coming through!”

From the other side, a girl pushed her way through the crowd.

Her hair, reaching down to her waist, was a pink like American candy. Her ears were lined with more piercings than seemed necessary, catching the light and sparkling with every slight movement.

“Ayano-chan, I’m sooo sorry! The teacher just scolded me for blocking the hallway. I hate to ask after getting you to help draw customers in but could you come back to the shop?”

“Yeah, got it! Totally fine!”

That flashy, over-the-top appearance that made even Kotarou look plain in comparison—Kyousuke had seen it a few times before.

He knew she was a classmate, but they had never interacted.

She’s kind of intimidating, he thought, taking a small step back. At that moment, her cherry-colored gaze locked onto him.

“Wait, are you Fujimura-kun!? Whoa, seriously!? You’re even smaller than me! That’s sooo cute!”

In a flash, she closed the physical distance, eyes sparkling as she stretched her arms out to hug Kyousuke—but in that instant, Ayano smoothly stepped in between them.

“A-Ayano, who is this person? And more importantly, what is going on here? And what’s with that outfit?”

“Huh!? Ayano-chan, you didn’t explain anything!?”

“U-um… yeah. I wanted it to be a surprise…”

It was definitely surprising.

So much so that he didn’t even know where to begin being surprised.

“I’m Iori Momoka. I’m the president of the fashion club, and for this cultural festival, we’re running a cosplay café. We’re super short on staff, so Ayano-chan’s helping us out!”

“…Wait. I-Iori…?”

“Yeah. The『I』from Izu, and the『ori』from weaving. Iori. Is my name weird or something?”

“N-no! Not at all!”

The haze in his mind cleared all at once, and immediately after, an overwhelming wave of embarrassment crashed over him.

Iori. He had assumed it was a man’s name, but it turned out to be her surname.

More than that, even as a girl’s given name, there would’ve been nothing strange about it. He had just jumped to conclusions, gotten depressed for no reason—he felt like a complete idiot.

“If you want, Fujimura-kun, you guys should come to our shop too! I’ll treat you to at least some drinks!”

Grinning widely, teeth showing, she turned on her heel, her pink hair scattering like cherry blossom petals.

Ayano’s hand tightly grasped Kyousuke’s. The feel was different because of the gloves, but just like always, it was faintly damp with her palm sweat.

“Let’s go, okay?”

Now feeling guilty for having ignored her message earlier, he muttered,『Y-yeah』averting his eyes.

“Wow, there are so many customers. It’s really packed, huh.”

A cosplay café run by the fashion club, where the staff serve customers dressed as anime and manga characters.

Every single seat arranged inside the classroom was filled, and outside, it was so crowded they were even handing out numbered tickets.

While watching Ayano energetically at work—carrying drinks, taking photos together, shaking hands—the four of them, Kyousuke, Momoka, Sayo, and Kotarou, sat at a table in the corner of the classroom.

“This seriously helps a ton. If Ayano-chan wasn’t here, we wouldn’t have gotten this many customers!”

She said that with satisfaction and burst into a loud 『wahaha!』laugh.

With this many customers, they could expect quite a bit of revenue.

“Why is Ayano working here? I don’t think she was in any club…”

“Well, at this rate, our club’s going to get shut down next year because we don’t have enough members. So we figured we had to show our presence at this cultural festival—to current students and to middle schoolers who’ll enroll next year. And that’s why we asked Ayano-chan to help out!”

『I see』Kyousuke nodded.

Ayano’s style and looks were on a completely different level for a high school student. If a girl like that was dressed as a butler and charming people, of course customers would flock in.

“Not enough members? Even though there are this many people?”

Kotarou said that while looking around the classroom.

There were four people handling customer service including Ayano, two in the kitchen, and one handling the register and numbered tickets—for a total of seven running the shop. With that many, it didn’t seem like they’d be disbanded anytime soon.

“That’s the thing—we don’t have any second-years. The third-years have already retired, so that’s why I’m the club president. Most of the people working right now are third-years, and we kinda begged them to help out.”

One of the third-year staff members who had been listening smiled and waved. Momoka stood up on her chair and waved both hands back energetically, saying, 『Thank youuu!』

‘Well, yeah…if it’s someone like her, I can see why people would want to help…’

A different kind of brightness compared to Ayano. Rather than just cheerful, she had more of a gyaru vibe.

Encountering this type of person for the first time, Kyousuke looked up at her with interest, his mouth slightly open.

“Your tea’s ready.”

A tall, well-built male staff member approached, carrying a tray with four cups.

Momoka quickly sat back down and thanked him as she took the cups. He served Sayo and Kotarou first, and the moment it was Kyousuke’s turn—

—GON!!

The man slammed the cup onto the table with enough force that it could’ve shattered.

The classroom fell silent, and all eyes turned to Kyousuke.

After a few seconds of stillness, Ayano’s cheerful 『Welcome!』brought life back into the atmosphere.

“H-hey, Aikawa-kun!?”

“Sorry, sorry. My hand slipped.”

The man called Aikawa returned to his work without even trying to hide his irritation.

‘W-what was that just now…?’

It wasn’t just the rough way he placed the cup—there had been an intense glare for a split second.

‘…And that guy… I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before…’

Something flickered at the edge of his memory.

But he couldn’t quite pull it out.

“What’s with that guy? He’s kind of unpleasant.”

“He’s in the same first year as us—his name’s Aikawa-kun. He’s a bit of a delinquent type, but even so, that just now surprised me. Did you maybe do something to him?”

When the question was directed at him, Kyousuke shook his head.

“No… I don’t think I did anything…”

“Fuji’s not the kind of guy to make enemies.”

“T-Toujou…!”

“You need communication skills to make enemies, after all.”

Just when Kyousuke had started to think better of him, this happened.

Kotarou himself didn’t seem to mean any harm, and with a grin he slapped Kyousuke on the back.『You didn’t do anything wrong!』At that bottomless tactlessness, Kyousuke clicked his tongue quietly.

“Ah! Um, um, there’s something I’ve really wanted to ask!”

Sayo leaned over the table and raised her hand energetically.

“Ayano-chan’s outfit! Who exactly made that butler outfit!?”

“Huh? We call ourselves the fashion club, but we’re basically a cosplay club, and I’m actually the only one who makes the outfits.”

“S-so that means, Iori-san…! That’s seriously incredible!! It brings out two trillion percent of Ayano-chan’s charm, just looking at it is enough to make me lose my mind!!”

“Right, right! I’ve been seeing her in magazines for a long time, and I always thought I wanted someone like her to wear the clothes I make someday. Ayano-chan has an amazing figure, sure, but what’s really incredible is her posture. With that build and that core strength, she’s basically god-tier. And I thought, wouldn’t it be insanely perfect to put her in something that suits that straight-backed, butler-like posture?”

“Y-yes! Exactly!! Iori-san, you totally get it!!”

Sayo slammed the table repeatedly as she spoke in extreme excitement.

Of course, her voice reached Ayano as well, and a hint of embarrassment mixed into her otherwise composed, professional expression.

“Oh, right. Sayo-chan, could you help hand out flyers for our shop?”

“Flyers?”

“Like I said earlier, we’re really short on people. Please, just for a little bit!”

“Hmm. I’ve also got shifts for my own class, so—”

“If you help out, I’ll give you that outfit Ayano-chan is wearing once the festival is over.”

“I’ll do it! Please let me!”

She answered at terrifying speed, grabbed the flyers from Momoka, then seized Kotarou’s hand and rushed out of the classroom with a『Let’s go!』

‘So Iori-san is actually pretty calculating…’

To make up for the staff shortage, she baited Sayo with something she absolutely couldn’t refuse.

And by using her, Kotarou would come along too. A flawless plan that got two for the price of one.

“Then next is Fujimura-kun.”

“Huh? No, I’m good.”

Handing out flyers might look easy, but when people ignore you or refuse to take them, it’s actually pretty rough.

Knowing that, Kyousuke immediately declined.

“Ehh! Kyousuke, come help with me! It’s actually pretty fun!”

Ayano chimed in from the side, and Kyousuke fell silent.

This was bad. It was hard to refuse when she asked.

“You know, the moment I saw you, Fujimura-kun, I got that spark feeling! Like, this guy is definitely a hidden gem! I can’t let him get away!”

“A-a hidden gem? Me…?”

“Yep, yep! So just help out a little, okay? If anything, I’ll even pay you as part-time wages!”

“Wages…”

He didn’t have anything to do or anything he wanted to do at this festival anyway. In that case, maybe earning some money wouldn’t be a bad idea.

“…Alright, I’ll do it. Just for a bit.”

“Really!? Yay!”

Throwing her arms up in a full-on banzai and expressing her joy with her entire body, the piercing in her tongue—visible when she opened her mouth—glinted slickly with an eerie shine.

“Alright then, come with me for a bit!”

“Huh? W-we’re handing out flyers, right—”

“Before that, you’ve gotta do your makeup and get changed!”

“…………Huh?”

As he was pulled along by Momoka, Kyousuke thought to himself.

【I’ve definitely just stepped into something I should never have gotten involved in.】