Chapter 7: What Airi Left Behind

Chapter 7: What Airi Left Behind

Chapter 7:

What Airi Left Behind

K USHIDA HAD BEEN temporarily pulled away, but now that she was back, she performed her duties magnificently. Her efforts managing the crowd outside the café successfully ensured that the long line remained unbroken, even now. However, we were now finding ourselves short-staffed because there were just too many people. We had clearly been over the admission capacity for an extended period of time.

The maids were still exhausted even after their hour break, and the girls’ movements had slowed considerably. There were some free hands among the boys, but it was still a difficult battle for us. While the boys could help out behind the scenes, they couldn’t help out as much as needed. We had a total of eight maid costumes. Two of them were essentially considered spares though, and we always had up to six maids on shift at any given time.

Satou and Mii-chan were the stars of our lineup, and they were constantly giving it their absolute best—except for when they had to go on break, of course. Even Horikita, who hadn’t planned on being in charge of the hall, started approaching visitors who were out and about, trying to get them to come over. The remaining three were Kushida, Ishikura (substituting for Matsushita), and Inogashira (who was focusing on passing out flyers).

Kushida was out in the hallway working on keeping people in line still, so in essence, there were four people working as maids. Normally, we would have brought in additional staff to help, but we didn’t have anyone else willing to come onboard. It wasn’t like we could just have any girl help either. It wasn’t really an issue of looks or charm—a large part of it was getting girls to consent to it.

I had approached several people like Sonoda about helping, but they weren’t comfortable because of both the embarrassment that went with wearing the maid outfit and the intense work.

During a spare moment, Kushida peeked into the classroom from the hallway and called out to me.

“Ayanokouji-kun? I think that the customers are really getting tired of waiting… I don’t think we’ll be able to ask them to keep holding on like this,” she said.

Horikita had been working to serve customers during emergencies (although her primary task was just selecting the food), but when she spotted Kushida, she approached her.

“How are things looking at the tail end of the line?” she asked.

“We’ve told them that they’re going to have to wait a long time, and while some people are going to wait, most of them look like they’re going to up and leave,” replied Kushida.

If customers came and saw a long line, they weren’t going to feel like waiting, and there was nothing we could do about it. The guests who remained in line now weren’t merely our visitors; they were people who came here for the Cultural Festival, first and foremost. We couldn’t expect them to keep sticking around here just because they might feel like it would be a waste to leave now after waiting for so long. That was exactly why we were having Kushida do her thing, to act as a stopgap to prevent them from going, but things seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

“We have two extra maid outfits, right?” I asked.

Maybe the time had come for us to take out the spares that we had prepared for emergency situations like this.

“Yes, but it’s pointless if we don’t have anyone who can do the job,” said Horikita.

“You’re right about that. Can’t we have Karuizawa-san do it though?” Kushida suggested.

Kushida probably figured that since Kei was my girlfriend, she would go along with it if I told her to. It was true that it wasn’t impossible if I forced the issue, but…

“If I remember correctly, though, she started her break at two,” said Horikita.

“Yeah. She’s in the middle of her break right now,” I said. “I’m not so sure how much help she’s going to be even if we ask her to put on the maid outfit when she gets back at three.”

Furthermore, though Kushida and Horikita weren’t aware of it, Kei wouldn’t be able to simply get into the maid outfit in the changing room. In the worst-case scenario, she would have to go back to the dormitory to change and come back, which would take another twenty or thirty minutes.

Just then, Ike, after bringing food over to the café who knows how many times today, came over and called out to me.

“Hey, you got a second?” asked Ike.

“What’s up? Something wrong?” I asked.

“Oh, no, nothing like that. I just heard what you were saying right now, about being short-staffed and all, so… Um, what do you think about asking Satsuki for help?”

“Shinohara-san?” said Horikita. “But would she really say yes if we asked her?”

“I think she would, yeah. Besides, she’s actually been practicing the maid routine stuff, even though just a little bit here and there.”

Shinohara had been working with the group cooking the food at the stalls, and this was the first time I had heard of that. Horikita, Kushida, and I all exchanged looks.

“Can you go call her right away?” asked Horikita.

“Yeah! On it!” said Ike happily.

I was just grateful that there was someone who was willing to put on the maid uniform right now. Afterward, with a recommendation from Shinohara, we managed to persuade Azuma to help out as well. That was two more people on staff.

“Ayanokouji-kun, I’m sure you’re aware of this, but I have to go on break starting at three,” Horikita said. “We’re going to need someone to take over when I leave.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I told her. “I’ve already thought it through, so it’s no big deal.”

Fifteen minutes later, Shinohara was sent to work out in the café, and Azuma was working beside Kushida to help keep customers entertained enough to stay in line. However, when I noticed Kushida out in the hallway, she still had a grim expression on her face. It didn’t seem like she was at all pleased by this development.

“It’s hard for me to say that Shinohara-san is the right person for the job,” she said. “In terms of appearance, she doesn’t make much of an impact, and she’s not very good at customer service.”

“It’s an emergency situation,” I said. “We don’t really have any other options.”

“Can we really not make Hasebe-san take the job after all?”

“Well, before even getting to the question of whether or not she can, I have to tell you she’s been missing ever since this morning. Officially speaking, she’s participating in the Cultural Festival, but she might have already headed back to the dormitory.”

“So, you’re saying this is her way of paying us back for Sakura-san’s expulsion? But she took part in the preliminary discussions, didn’t she?”

“Well, sure, she took part in them, in a loose sense. She was observing, more or less.”

“Even so, that still means she knows more about the job than Shinohara-san and Azuma-san, right?”

“That’s exactly why it’s an effective form of payback on her part. Haruka and Akito, who we can assume is going along with her, were factored in as people we could use in the festival, so we made plans accordingly.”

“I see… I thought that if you knew all that, Ayanokouji-kun, then you would have considered that those two wouldn’t help out in the festival and planned accordingly.”

“Even though I knew, it’s not like I could increase the number of people we have in the class. Besides, the two of them would’ve suspected something was up right away if I tried another strategy. I decided it would’ve been a bigger detriment if they were to unexpectedly engage in some form of sabotage because they saw I was planning for this.”

“Well, being down two people is a bother, but that’s all it is. It wouldn’t be effective enough for me to actually call it revenge.”

“If that was all it was, then sure,” I answered.

“What do you mean?”

“Haruka and Airi were both looking forward to the Cultural Festival,” I explained. “So that’s probably why Haruka decided to stick it out here until the end of the festival. Once it’s over, there won’t be any reason for her to stay at this school anymore.”

“You’re saying that she’ll drop out…?” asked Kushida.

“Most likely. If two students were to voluntarily drop out, a significant drop in Class Points would be inevitable, in addition to the simple disadvantage of losing people. The class would take a significant hit.”

“How much of a hit do you mean?”

“The estimate would be 600 Class Points, for the two of them.”

“Th-that many?!”

“Nothing surprising about that. Expulsion, under the rules of this school, has traditionally carried a penalty of that magnitude.”

You could say that was the natural response from the school, save for certain extenuating circumstances, such as in a rigorous special exam where the risk of expulsion was high.

“If those two really do drop out, then…my path to Class A will be doomed,” Kushida said.

The fact that Kushida said “my” path was typical of her, but she was exactly right.

“It’d be almost impossible for the class to get back on track to A after that,” I agreed.

“Are you just going to wait and see what happens?”

“Well, I had been planning on putting together some kind of a plan, but…” I looked down at my phone, but unfortunately, I still hadn’t received the notification I was hoping for. “I guess there must have been some unexpected trouble or something, because my trump card hasn’t arrived yet.”

Haruka’s strategy to sabotage the festival—well, her strategy of voluntarily dropping out of school, rather—was, essentially, an unstoppable finishing move. No matter what countermeasures I came up with, there was no way to be able to completely stop something like that.

If Haruka did decide to stay at this school and repeatedly tried to sabotage the class out of desperation, like Kushida had done before, then we could have used a special exam’s rules to force her out and get her expelled. It wouldn’t have been an issue at all to have come up with a strategy to counter her if Haruka went ahead and tried some cheap, petty nonsense. However, she hadn’t opted to enact a strategy like that—one that was beyond her means. She knew that her skills were no match for mine, so she had chosen to go with the most efficient option.

“Are you okay with leaving things as they are?” asked Kushida.

“It’s not up to me,” I replied. “It’s up to Haruka and Akito to decide. If they don’t want to participate in the Cultural Festival, then there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“To be honest, I really don’t think you actually believe that, Ayanokouji-kun.”

“You can tell?” I asked.

“I can,” she said. “You reached out to someone like me. You’re not going to just abandon Hasebe-san and Akito-kun like this, are you?” It looked like Kushida might have figured out what I was about to do. “The reason you didn’t try to persuade them before now was because you were testing them, right?” she asked.

“I didn’t know what they were after,” I said. “Did they want to ruin the festival? But judging from the fact that they haven’t done anything so far, I can more or less guess the answer. I’m going to get in touch with them now.”

“Do you have any idea where they are?”

“I’ve got some things in motion that’ll help me with that.”

I showed her my phone’s screen and a message from a certain someone that detailed Haruka’s current location.

“Looks like you’ve got a reliable ally,” she said. “I suppose it’s thanks to them that you found out where I was earlier too.”

“Yeah. The perfect person to help with finding people and keeping watch.”

Thanks to them, I would always know where Haruka and Akito were, no matter where they went.

“But still, at the end of the day, I’m limited in what I can do,” I said. “Whether or not I can reach into their hearts is another matter. Anyway, I’m heading out.”

And with that, I headed off to find Haruka, leaving Kushida and the other girls to handle their work.

7.1

A FTER BRIEFLY STOPPING by the classroom and grabbing the cardboard box that I dropped off there in the morning, I walked through the school building and took the path leading to Keyaki Mall. Eventually, I came across an area with benches that students typically used when they wanted to take a little rest. There were no stalls or anything in this area, which of course meant that there were no students or guests either.

As I approached, I was naturally spotted by a certain two people.

“Good job finding us, Kiyopon,” said Haruka. She was sitting down on a bench, and Akito stood near her, staring at me.

“It’s because I knew that you and Airi used to chat here after class,” I said.

I had received reports that Haruka and Akito were walking all over campus throughout the day today. And after all that walking around, it seemed like they chose this spot as their final stop.

“Just as I’d expect from someone who used to be in the Ayanokouji Group. You’re exactly right.” There was no smile on Haruka’s face as she said this, and she immediately continued. “What did you come here for? I wasn’t really getting in the way of the festival or anything, was I?”

“No, you haven’t been getting in the way, that’s true,” I said. “But you haven’t been helping either.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Haruka said.

“Look, I do feel bad for y—I mean, for the class.” Akito, who hadn’t shown his face to the class since this morning, apologized to me.

“It’s all right,” I told him. “I know what you’re thinking when you’re standing by Haruka’s side.”

“Enough about that,” Haruka cut in. “I’d rather you answer my question.”

“You mean about why I came here? The maid café is much more popular than we imagined it’d be, and we don’t have enough people.”

“Hmph. So that’s it,” Haruka scoffed. “Well, maybe the situation would’ve been a little different if Airi were still here. I would have probably participated too. So now, you’re short two people.”

“But if Airi was here, we wouldn’t have Kushida,” I returned. “That would’ve been a much more disastrous situation.”

“A snide remark for a snide remark, huh,” said Haruka.

“I was just stating a fact.”

With Haruka’s contentious attitude, she tended to trade verbal barbs with people. It was obvious that she was doing that to try to irritate me.

“Can’t we get you to help out for just the final hour at least?” I asked.

“You already know the answer to that question. Trying to persuade me is pointless.”

“I suppose you’re right. I guessed that if you stated a condition for your help, it would probably be to bring Airi back,” I said. And that was impossible, of course. “Anyway, just at least hear what I have to say. I’m sure you must be wondering what this is all about.”

“This” referred to the cardboard box I’d brought, which I now set down on the ground.

“I’d like you to open this box,” I told Haruka.

She cocked an eyebrow in suspicion. “You’re telling me that you want to do something now, after all this time? Sorry, but I don’t feel like getting involved in anything weird.”

With that, Haruka took a single white envelope out from her pocket.

Handwritten on it were two words: Withdrawal Notice.

“You don’t seem surprised,” she said.

“I knew that there was a good chance that you would drop out after the Cultural Festival,” I said. “And I’m sure you’re planning on going with her, Akito.”

“…Yeah.” Akito presented an envelope of his own in similar fashion, also with “Withdrawal Notice” written on it.

“You sure are amazing, huh, Kiyopon? I guess that’s how you were able to get Airi expelled so calmly.” Even though she was speaking to me, Haruka wasn’t looking my way. She just stared out into space. It was as though she were talking to me from some other dimension, like she had separated herself from the world.

“Airi was looking forward to the Cultural Festival. It was supposed to be her time to shine. An opportunity to change herself and to take that big step forward.” Haruka squeezed her eyes shut in frustration and slammed her fist down near where she had been sitting. “I decided I’d stay here until the end of the festival,” she said. “I’d stay here through the whole thing, on her behalf.”

“It’s true that I got Airi expelled,” I said. “I also took advantage of her feelings for me, as someone of the opposite sex. I am not planning on saying that I’m not at fault there.”

“She needed me. And she needed you, Kiyopon. And she needed the Ayanokouji Group. How do you think she feels right now, after being expelled by the person she loves? Have you ever thought about that ?” Haruka shot back.

“How does she feel? What is she thinking about?” I asked. “Tell me, specifically.”

Perhaps she had taken offense over my lack of understanding, but Haruka’s emotions welled up and poured out.

“I’m sure she’s been crying all this time, obviously. I’m sure she’s frustrated, depressed, and in pain, sitting in a corner of her room, thinking back on the fun times she had at school. Don’t you get that?!” she snapped.

“Isn’t that just the version of Airi you picture in your mind?” I asked.

“It’s not just the Airi in my mind. That’s what she’s like! Why don’t you understand that?!” She wasn’t raising her voice enough for it to be considered shouting, but she was clearly really angry. “I bet you really think so too, don’t you, Kiyopon?! But you just don’t want to face reality. You don’t want to think about how Airi is miserable because you got her kicked out of school!!!”

Haruka had clearly decided that I was simply running away.

“Sorry, but I don’t think that way at all,” I said. “It’s none of my business what happens to students after they’ve been expelled. It’s just a waste of mental resources even trying to imagine it.”

I simply stated the truth, knowing full well that it would send Haruka flying into a rage.

Naturally, Haruka was deeply shaken by what I said. “You’re the worst. Seriously, you are the worst.” With that, she got up from the bench. “I guess that Airi didn’t have an eye for men, not if she fell for one as coldhearted as you.”

Haruka slowly walked over to me. She came close enough that if I reached out with my hand, I could touch her.

“I can’t stand talking about this anymore,” she said. “Won’t you just hurry up and die together with me?”

With that, she thrust her withdrawal notice at me. By asking me to “die,” I guessed she was asking me, in other words, to drop out of school together with her. A devilish invitation. Her words seemed to evoke feelings of déjà vu, and at the same time, brought back fond memories.

“You’re getting a lot of attention over getting Airi expelled, Kiyopon. In a bad way. Aren’t you? And besides, you don’t exactly have a strong desire to graduate from Class A either, right? In that case, why don’t you just quit?” Haruka asked.

Relationships could fall apart quite easily, even from just one single incident. Before today, no one could have imagined Haruka and I having a conversation like this.

“I don’t mind you pressuring me into dropping out of school, but something about this doesn’t add up,” I said. “I can’t help but be bothered over the fact that Airi has to go along with your selfish, delusional fantasies,”

“Huh? What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that, from where I’m standing, you don’t seem to understand how Airi actually feels.”

“I understand her better than anyone. You’re the one who doesn’t want to admit the truth!”

“Don’t act so full of yourself, Haruka,” I snapped.

“Wh…?!”

In response to my words, which were filled with intimidation, Haruka fell silent. Akito seemed to have misunderstood the situation, reflexively thinking that I was about to physically attack her, and he quickly jumped out in front of her, holding out his left arm as if to shield her from harm.

“It’s all right, Akito,” she said. “I was just a little surprised, that’s all. Move out of the way.”

Haruka probably hadn’t been able to sense the danger that Akito had picked up on through instinct. Though he was still wary of me, Akito lowered his arm and stepped back.

“What do you mean, don’t be so full of myself?” she said. “What about you , Kiyopon? Where do you get off talking like that, huh?”

“I mean don’t selfishly speculate about what Airi’s feelings without her and just say whatever’s convenient for you, claiming you’re speaking on her behalf. Airi is the only one who truly knows what she thinks and feels deep down.”

“No. What I don’t understand is you, Kiyopon. Do you seriously think she’s fine with getting expelled?”

“It’s true that she probably felt miserable in that moment, sure,” I conceded. “But how could you know how she feels now?”

“Well, that’s… You can guess if you just think about it a little, can’t you?”

“No, you’re wrong. The Airi that exists in your mind who has been feeling miserable—before, and now too. She has to feel that way, according to you.”

“…Huh?”

“You’re suffering so much, but it’s not because Airi was expelled,” I said. “It’s because someone that was so convenient for you to have around is gone. You wanted Airi, someone inferior to you, to be by your side. You selfishly wanted to play the role of her protector. You loved the sense of superiority and feeling of satisfaction from that. You couldn’t get enough of it.”

“That’s not true at all! You don’t even remember what she was like !” shouted Haruka. She vehemently denied it, but I could see a faint flicker of something in her eyes. “I’m… I’m thinking about how she feels right now!”

“Are you, really?” I asked.

“I am! All the time!!!”

During the course of this conversation, which I could only describe as something akin to parallel lines that never intersected, Haruka’s heart was wearing down.

“You don’t know the truth,” I told her.

“Well, I… There’s no way we could know. There isn’t any way we can question her about it directly under these circumstances!”

“It’s true that there’s no way for us to ask her directly,” I agreed. “But we have a hint: this box here. There’s a good chance that this is what you need right now.”

“Huh? I don’t get it. That’s not what I need,” she replied curtly.

“Even if it’s the last message that Airi left?”

“…What?”

Haruka had been totally standoffish up until that moment, but just then, both she and Akito, standing behind her, opened their eyes wide.

“There’s no… What kind of joke is this? You’re the one who brought that box anyway. Right, Kiyopon?”

“On the day that Airi’s expulsion was decided, she went through the process of having this package forwarded to me. I think it was because she realized what she had to do in the limited time she had left.”

Haruka lowered her gaze, looking down at the cardboard box that I had placed near her feet.

“You can tell from looking at the sender’s name that this isn’t something I arranged, right?” I said.

Haruka crouched down and looked at the packing slip affixed to the box. I was listed as the recipient, and the name of an online store was listed as the sender. I myself first learned about the sender after I received the box and looked at it.

Before I knew it, Haruka reached for the box and started frantically trying to peel off the packing tape with her fingers. After fumbling with it a bit, she finally succeeded in removing the tape.

The box was open at last, and inside was a single maid uniform.

“Th-this is…”

Haruka should have understood what this meant.

“I was supposed to wear this…” she began. “I was supposed to wear it together with Airi… Why’d…”

“She considered the possibility that you would drop everything and wouldn’t participate in the festival. Isn’t that exactly why she had this delivered to you? To prevent that from happening?”

“Ai…ri…”

“At the very least, you can sense Airi’s strong feelings in this message. It doesn’t seem to me that it’s completely wrapped in misery… What do you think, Haruka?” I asked.

“Airi… Airi…!” she cried out. Haruka took the maid outfit out of the box and clutched it to her chest, hugging it tightly. She sobbed deeply, tears flowing down her cheeks. “I wanted to be at the Cultural Festival together with her… I wanted to give her a little push from behind, since she tends to get embarrassed, and I wanted to show her off to you, Kiyopon…!”

It wasn’t like she had excessive demands or expectations or anything. Haruka was just lamenting over the things that she was supposed to have done in the future. I hoped that Haruka would show that she understood now, and that she’d be able to look forward. But…

“This is…wrong…” muttered Haruka. She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her school uniform, stood up, and rejected the message.

“Wrong?” I repeated.

“She didn’t get this for me because she wanted me to participate in the festival…”

I suppose that things aren’t going to change that easily.

“She was just frustrated. That’s all,” Haruka continued. “She sent this to you, Kiyopon, with resentment in her heart, because she was the one who was supposed to wear it originally… That’s what this is supposed to mean.”

It was up to the individual how to interpret what exactly this maid outfit meant. Since Airi hadn’t left a specific message, it meant that the convenient explanation might not necessarily be the truthful one.

“I’m right, aren’t I? Because if I really was supposed to wear it, then she should have sent it to me. But the fact she addressed it to you, Kiyopon, must mean that there’s some other reason behind it, no?” she argued.

The difference in viewpoint was interesting, and it was certainly true that I couldn’t rule out the possibility she was raising. The chance that she did this to harass the person who got her expelled… What an interesting thought.

“Wait, Haruka.” Akito interjected for the first time in the course of this conversation. “I feel like there’s something not quite right about that…”

“Eh? I am right… Y-yeah, that’s it! Kiyopon bringing this package here, setting this up… This whole thing might be some act he put together…!” argued Haruka.

“Don’t you think that maybe the reason why she sent this final present to Kiyotaka and not you was because she wanted you two to have a chance to come together like this? To make up and be friends again?” asked Akito.

It was true that if Airi sent the package to Haruka directly, and if she honestly accepted it, Haruka and I probably wouldn’t have come into contact like this.

“You’re wrong,” Haruka insisted. “You’re completely wrong…!”

“Hey, I was a part of the Ayanokouji Group too,” Akito protested. “Knowing Airi, this is the kind of thing that Airi would think of.”

“I told you that you’re wrong!!!” Haruka turned and stormed up to Akito, grabbing him by the collar. “Don’t interpret this so selfishly! Don’t you dare twist this into something so convenient so you can try to forgive Kiyopon!”

“I wasn’t trying to…”

“And besides, even if…even if that were really the case, Airi had her place stolen from her!” she argued. “It was precious to her, and it was taken away! That fact will never change, and I will not accept a friendship built on sacrifice!”

“But whatever one’s fantasies about this situation might be,” I said, “they won’t have any impact on the person in question here: Airi. The important thing is where she is right now, what she’s doing. Isn’t it?”

“I know that,” Haruka wailed. “That’s why I’m going to drop out of school and find out for myself. I’m going to be by her side!”

So, as soon as she finished taking her revenge against the class, she was going to go see Airi herself. Which meant that voluntarily dropping out of school was also something Haruka was doing for her own convenience.

“You’re being awfully loud,” said a new voice. Her words were calm and cold. “You do realize that if you’re not careful, people will still notice you, even way out here, right?”

The newcomer was none other than Kushida—someone not even I expected to see here. She was still dressed in her maid outfit, which made her seem quite out of place in this tense environment. She slowly walked over to us.

“Is everything okay at the café?” I asked.

“We just got a new round of customers seated, so I have a little time before I need to get back,” she said.

I didn’t know if that was the truth or a lie, but I didn’t imagine that she slipped away without permission. The look Kushida gave me, which seemed to say, “Really, it’s okay,” told me as much.

“What are you doing here?” asked Haruka.

She wasn’t the only one who was suspicious about why Kushida suddenly showed up here. I was curious too.

“What am I doing here? To get the truth, I guess. Hasebe-san, Ayanokouji-kun told me that you and Akito-kun might drop out of school after all.”

Haruka shot me a look for a moment, but she quickly directed her gaze back at Kushida. “Well, if you want to know the reason why we’re doing that, it’s because of you , Kushida-san. If only you voted opposed to expelling someone from the beginning, we—”

“Sorry, but I still don’t regret the choice I made back then, not even now,” Kushida said. “It’s true that incident disgraced me, but at the same time, it was an opportunity to open up a new path for me.”

“…I’m going to teach everyone in class that keeping you around was a mistake, Kushida-san,” said Haruka.

“If you want to drop out, go ahead and do whatever you want,” replied Kushida.

“Don’t pretend. Besides, you said it yourself, didn’t you, Kushida-san? You said that the only path left to you was to graduate from Class A. That’s the only reason why you continue to put up with being in such an uncomfortable environment with classmates you don’t get along with. That’s why I’m going to take it all away from you,” threatened Haruka.

“Your act of revenge against me might work, sure. But is that what’s really important here? I can’t think that’s what Sakura-san would want,” replied Kushida.

“Don’t say the same things as Kiyopon. Sheesh, both of you… What do you even know about Airi, anyway?”

“Not much,” Kushida said. “But I can at least tell that she’s not as wishy-washy as you are.”

Haruka blinked. “Huh?”

It seemed like Kushida was simply pulling things out of thin air, but…I wondered if there was any basis for what she was saying. The fact that Kushida even showed up here raised another question too.

“Sakura-san was weak,” said Kushida. “That’s why she was expelled.”

“You, of all people, are saying that? You were completely humiliated too… You lost, didn’t you?” argued Haruka.

“Yes, it’s true that I lost too. I admit that I was weak. But it’s also true that it was the same for Sakura-san. Actually, no—she was weaker than me, which is why she got expelled.”

The fact of the matter was, Horikita decided that Kushida was a better, more useful ally than Airi. And at the Cultural Festival, Kushida lived up to the expectations placed on her and she played an active role.

Of course, if Airi participated in the festival too, there was no doubt that she would’ve been popular. But even so, excellent customer service skills and the sort of people skills needed to chat well with adults you didn’t know weren’t the sort of thing you could pick up overnight. Airi couldn’t have compensated for that. And even before getting into that discussion, there was the fact that Kushida got excellent grades, including placing high on the second semester midterm exam. With that in mind, you could definitely say Kushida had made solid contributions to the class.

“Yeah, she was weak, that’s for sure… But that’s exactly why I wanted to protect her, and…”

“You wanted to protect her?” Kushida scoffed. “You sound so arrogant right now. You’re the only one who thinks she would always be weak.”

“Shut the hell up.”

“I won’t,” Kushida said firmly.

Kushida didn’t care about a little bit of verbal abuse from Haruka. Perhaps it was because of her past experiences, but she was clearly tougher than your average student.

“Ayanokouji-kun, can you take a look at this?” Kushida looked away from Haruka and over at me. “I used to go looking for other people’s secrets every day. I was hungry for them. That’s because I believed that they would make me more valuable. And Sakura-san was no exception to that.”

No matter who they were, if there was a possibility that Kushida could use their secrets, she would go for it. It was easy for people to pay attention to the things that interested them, but it was difficult for them to care about the things that didn’t. It wouldn’t be possible to continue paying attention to those sorts of things for a long period of time with just an ordinary level of mental fortitude.

“I was wondering if there was any use for her secrets now that she’s been expelled,” Kushida went on. “However, I found this.”

With that, she took out her phone and handed it over to me, showing me the screen. I scrolled down and read the information there.

“This is…” I began.

“It seems like you didn’t know this before either, Ayanokouji-kun. Knowing you, I thought you might have been aware of it,” said Kushida.

“All I can say is wow, I’m impressed. How did you find this?”

“I did some digging for you in the past, remember? That’s probably how.”

Kushida was talking about what happened a year ago, before we had formed the Ayanokouji Group. Haruka was looking at us incredibly anxiously because we were talking about Airi.

“You’re wondering what we’re talking about, right? Since it’s about your beloved Sakura-san,”

Kushida said, waving her phone at Haruka in a provocative manner, having clearly seen right through her.

“What is it?” snapped Haruka.

Kushida turned her phone screen off and walked up to Haruka, with her phone still in her hand.

“Generally speaking, I’m a bad person,” Kushida said. “But you seem like you’re the same way, Hasebe-san. You simply take pleasure in finding someone weaker than you and helping them, right? Essentially, you’re not worried about Sakura-san. You’re just sad about the fact you no longer have someone to take care of. Am I wrong?”

Strangely enough, Kushida told her the same thing that I did, even though Kushida and I hadn’t talked about this beforehand or anything. Hearing the same sentiment from both of us made Haruka squirm uncomfortably, her eyes darting around.

“So, it’s just like with your family after all, huh?” said Kushida.

Family? I hadn’t expected to hear that. However, that word gave Haruka pause, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

“Stop it,” said Haruka sternly. “Don’t talk about that.”

“Why? If you’re planning on dropping out of school soon anyway, what does it matter to you if I tell someone what you told me? There’s no need for you to protect your secrets anymore.”

It sounded as if Kushida knew much more about Haruka than I did.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Haruka said. “I wanted to protect Airi. I wanted to be by her side. Even if I was doing it for my own purposes, still, I…”

“I can understand how you feel, but I can’t accept your way of thinking as correct, Hasebe-san,” Kushida told her. “That’s why you haven’t been able to make even a single proper friend since getting into high school. Or am I wrong about that?”

“I—” began Haruka, before being interrupted again.

“Never mind, just forget it. If I keep wasting time talking to you about it it’s going to cause problems for the maid café, anyway. Why don’t you just drop out of school without learning anything about it? Besides, it’s no use to you now, even if you find out the truth, right?”

With that, Kushida stopped there and turned her back to Haruka.

“Wait!” Haruka demanded. “What about Airi?!”

“You want to know?” asked Kushida.

Perhaps it was because Haruka was annoyed that Kushida had gotten the edge on her, but she aggressively rushed over to Kushida and grabbed her by the shoulder.

“She can’t do anything without me,” Haruka insisted. “She needed help.”

“I don’t know about that,” Kushida said. “She’s much, much more mature than you think she is, Hasebe-san.”

Haruka frantically reached for Kushida’s phone and practically snatched it out of her hands. She then proceeded to tap the screen with a fingertip. The phone was connected to the Internet and showed a certain person’s social media page. It was a rather convenient app which allowed you to share your thoughts with the whole world by posting messages.

There were heavy restrictions at this school to prevent students’ identities from being revealed, so hardly any of the students here used this particular app. However, there obviously wouldn’t be any issues using an app like that for someone who wasn’t enrolled in this school, no matter how much they used it.

The account name was listed as “Shizuku.” It was a pseudonym of Sakura Airi’s, back when she was secretly active as a gravure idol in the past. Back when a certain incident happened, Airi had deleted the account. However, it was recently recreated, and Kushida found it. Although this new account had only been active for a few days, it already had over a thousand followers.

“No way…” Haruka muttered. “This is Airi’s…?”

I had to say, finding that was quite an achievement. It was just the kind of thing I expected from Kushida, since she had a single-minded focus when it came to collecting information on her classmates.

“No, this sort of thing is… There’s no proof that Airi is the one who made this. Kushida-san, this is obviously a fake account fabricated by you two, along with Ayanokouji-kun…”

“Will you still think that after reading what she posted?” I asked.

“I’ve decided to resume my idol stuff after a long hiatus.”

That was her very first post on this new account. Since then, Airi posted about how she had been focusing on her studies, and how she’d been enjoying spending time with her friends. And about how she had given up on her idol activities a while back. The things that had been posted on the account could only have been written by Airi, the person in question.

“I’ve made up my mind. I’m determined to try and do what I can. So that I can be unashamed of myself when I see my best friend again, who is so dear to me. So I won’t be ashamed of myself after my best friend graduates and sees me.”

“It’s true what I said then, about you just acting like her protector,” I said. “Sure, Airi might have had her troubles, but she’s been maturing at an unbelievable rate after being expelled from school.”

“I finally got an audition yesterday! I was super nervous, but I’m so happy!!!”

“This is…” Haruka gasped as she saw the comments that Airi posted after a breakthrough in a third-round audition.

“The reason I decided to pursue a career in entertainment is because I want to make my voice heard.”

“There are hard times, and there are sad times too… But I want to face forward. I’m going to keep facing forward. So, you too—don’t give up!”

Of course, it was possible that someone could have used the name Shizuku and created a fake account. However, it would’ve been difficult for someone to keep up the masquerade in all areas, when you considered the types of content in her posts. She was even being followed by a talent agency. Haruka had to understand that Airi was the real owner of the account.

“From what I’ve read, I can’t picture the miserable Airi you’ve been describing,” I added.

“You were overprotective of her, and you assumed that you were above her, didn’t you?” Kushida said. “But she’s made a new path for herself after being expelled. She hasn’t just been standing still.”

After Kushida snatched her phone back from Haruka’s trembling grasp, she turned to me.

“Sorry for slipping out of the maid café again.” She then flashed me her usual smile, which didn’t really seem fitting for the occasion.

“I thought I was going to be the one doing the helping, but you saved me right away,” I said.

“So, you owe me for this, huh?” she asked.

“I thought we weren’t doing the whole paying back for favors thing anymore?”

“I don’t like it when I owe other people favors, but I don’t mind other people owing me.”

Well, that was all right. With that, Kushida walked off, presumably to head back to the special building.

“She’s a cunning one, all right…” I muttered to myself.

Even after her faults had been laid bare for others, Kushida was moving forward in her own way, trying her best, and was clearly several steps ahead of the rest.

“…Haruka,” said Akito. “I can’t imagine that this account’s fake either.”

Akito must have been looking at Shizuku’s social media page on his own phone. He offered it to Haruka so she could continue to read through the messages Airi had posted. Haruka scrolled through them frantically, practically devouring them.

“U-uh…” she sniffled.

As Haruka stared at the phone, her eyes boring a hole into its screen. Tears started pouring down her face. Haruka had believed Airi couldn’t do anything without her, but here was proof that Airi started moving forward, all on her own, without Haruka even realizing it. Even now, Airi was trying her absolute hardest to continue on, even though she was surely heartbroken. She was doing all of this because she feared Haruka might have come to a complete stop herself.

Haruka must have been thinking something like “What a fool I am!” She realized she simply assumed Airi was miserable after being expelled and was selfishly pitying her.

“I’ve learned something new from this too,” I said. “I always thought that when people were expelled, it meant they lost, that everything was over.”

Haruka had assumed that this package she had sent was the last trace of Airi.

“But it’s not,” I added.

Those who lost could start over. There are people who can begin again from a place of defeat. That was a significant divide between the White Room and this world. But…perhaps even those who were expelled from the White Room could have a fresh start too, much like Airi did.

“Airi might very well become a big star in the future,” I went on. “And yet you’re going to willingly drop out of school to chase after her? Forget about being laughed at—Airi might not even want to have anything to do with you then.”

It wasn’t difficult to imagine what would happen if Airi met Haruka after she dropped out of school for the sake of revenge. Rather than greeting her friend with a smile on her face, Airi would likely be seriously upset with her.

“I… I don’t know what to do…!” sobbed Haruka.

“There’s only one answer,” I told her. “And that’s simply to be yourself so that you can face Airi with your head held high. If you graduate from Class A, things will be different. You have to finish three full years of high school and step up to the plate so you can stand alongside Airi as someone who isn’t ashamed of herself.”

Airi wasn’t chasing after Haruka. It was now time for Haruka to chase after Airi.

“And in case you’re wondering, the cost of the item in this package was included in the budget for the Cultural Festival,” I said.

We hadn’t had any guarantee that we’d be able to use the item for the festival, but having it in place as a contingency plan was the correct choice. In other words, Haruka putting on this outfit and joining the maid café wouldn’t cause any issues.

“I’m not going to ask you to do things as promptly and efficiently as the other maids,” I went on. “But you should see the things that Airi wanted you to see. You were her best friend. You owe it to her.”

Haruka offered a quiet apology to Akito, handed him the envelope with her withdrawal notice, and ran off, holding the maid outfit to her chest. There was only a little time left, but there was still enough for her to have the chance to take the stage.

“Kiyotaka… Will our classmates accept Haruka?” asked Akito.

“Kushida is there. So is Horikita, and Yousuke too. No matter what the situation might be, everything should go fine,” I answered.

“I see…” Akito put his phone away, placed the two envelopes one on top of the other, and tore them in half, right down the middle. “Her reason for dropping out is gone. The same goes for me too. I want to stay here with Haruka, until the end.”

“Even though she learned the truth, her heart will remain closed, isolated,” I told him. “Support her.”

Even though she wouldn’t be able to smile and laugh with everyone right now, there was still more than a year of school left. The day when she could truly smile again might not be that far off.

“I’ll probably get some grief from my classmates for a while too.” Akito scratched his head bashfully at that, a small smile on his face. “I wonder what would’ve happened if Kushida hadn’t shown up, though. What would you have done, Kiyotaka?”

“I might’ve given up,” I replied.

I took out my phone and opened the web browser. I deleted all of my search history that led to Shizuku’s social media profile. I had done some searching in advance, but Kushida showed it to them first, and effectively too, opening the path to success. The real credit belonged to her.

“Well then, let’s head on back, Akito. There’s still a little bit of the festival left.”

“Yeah… Okay.”

It was just around 2:20 in the afternoon, and Horikita’s class had successfully regained its missing members.

7.2

W HEN I BROUGHT Akito over to the food stalls, the guys welcomed him with open arms, even if they did tease him a bit. His eyes looked a little bit red when he thanked them for the warm welcome. The fact that Akito wasn’t really the central figure in this whole troublesome issue probably helped the situation. Unfortunately, Keisei, another former member of the Ayanokouji Group, wasn’t around because he was on break at the time.

When I returned to the maid café in the special building, I saw that the line was still as long as ever. Kushida was walking by the customers, handing out fresh cookies and greeting them with a smile. A lot of them, both the older crowd and kids, seemed to exclusively have eyes for Kushida, perhaps because they were charmed by her. I felt bad for Azuma, who was also trying her best alongside her…but Kushida’s contributions were in a class all their own.

“Welcome back, Master!” shouted Satou cheerfully, leading customers to the entrance.

Two female guests left the classroom, waving to the maids. Without delay, the next guest came in and was ushered to an empty seat. We had originally taken some of the chairs in the classroom out to help the ambience of the café, but now we were bringing chairs back in and rearranging them when we had time to compensate for the number of customers. Normally, we should have been trying to give the guests more space to relax, but we didn’t really have any other choice since we needed to earn as much as we could with the remaining time we had.

“Looks like she came after all,” said Kushida, popping in for a moment from the hallway.

I waited for the person in question to come through the door.

“Ah… Phew! It’s hard to run!”

Haruka had arrived at last, her shoulders rising and falling violently as she gasped for breath. Even the maids were temporarily taken aback when they saw who showed up, but they had other things to worry about at the moment. They immediately focused their attention back on what they needed to do. It wasn’t like anyone was going to march up to Haruka and ask her why she had come here now.

“Where did you get changed, Hasebe-san?” asked Kushida.

“In the girls’ bathroom… It was rough.”

“I can imagine.”

With all the people around right now, Kushida was in angel mode. She welcomed Haruka to the fold with a wry smile.

“…What’s the situation?” asked Haruka.

“Ask Horikita-san,” Kushida said. “I’ve got my hands full with line management.”

Horikita, dressed in her maid outfit, called Haruka over to the waiting area.

“You finally came.” Horikita started with a few brief words of welcome, and then gently patted Haruka on the back. Haruka had a stiff expression on her face all the while. “I thought you weren’t going to show up today, but it looks like you’ve made up your mind. Haven’t you?”

Although Haruka hadn’t fully regained her composure yet, she managed to catch her breath, and nodded in response.

“You weren’t originally going to be working as a maid,” Horikita said. “You haven’t practiced either. I don’t expect that you’ll be able to work as deftly as Satou-san and the other maids, but… Right now, I’m happy for any help we can get. We’re extremely busy.”

I supposed there was no getting around the fact that by joining us right now, Haruka was being suddenly tossed to the wolves, having to face the toughest part of the festival.

“Can I trust this to mean that you came here willing to contribute to our efforts?” asked Horikita.

“Don’t worry,” Haruka said. “I won’t do anything to ruin everyone’s hard work here… I figure you probably don’t believe me, though.”

“No, I do believe you.” Without any hesitation, Horikita expressed her trust in what Haruka told her.

“Why…?”

“Because I can tell when I look into your eyes. Ayanokouji-kun must have smooth-talked you into it. Am I right?” Horikita asked.

“Hey,” I objected, taking issue with her choice of words.

“Kushida-san helped too,” Haruka said. “I never would’ve imagined her coming after me in a maid outfit.”

“Kushida-san did?” asked Horikita. “When did she even leave her post…?”

Perhaps Horikita hadn’t noticed that Kushida was gone because it was so hectic out in the hall.

“Anyway, even if you don’t like it, I’m going to ask you to forget about the resentment and hard feelings you have for me at least until the festival is over, okay?” said Horikita.

“…Fine,” said Haruka.

“Then we’re good. We’ll have you pouring drinks for customers when they run low on water, and, if requested, you’ll be available for photoshoots too. Is that okay?”

“I’ll try my best.”

Now that Haruka had come this far and agreed to this much, she was at Horikita’s mercy and willing to do what it took to get through this situation. Indulgent demands like “I want to do this instead!” or “I don’t want to do this!” would not be tolerated.

Horikita turned to me. “I have to take my mandatory break at three o’clock, so after that point, I’ll have you keep an eye on her, Ayanokouji-kun. Take good care of her.”

“All I can really do is take some good pictures, at best,” I replied.

I had taken dozens of pictures today, after all, and I felt like I’d figured out the trick to it.

Haruka nodded, looked over at me, and took a deep breath. Then she left the waiting area, a pitcher of water with lemon in hand, and started walking around the café. She bowed politely to each person one by one as she went by and introduced herself.

I couldn’t say that she did everything smoothly, of course, since she clearly was lacking in practice compared to the other maids. But the adults watched her warmly, with kindness in their eyes. Furthermore, Haruka had an attractive feminine side, and even if they couldn’t see what she was like on the inside, they seemed to take a liking to her subconsciously.

“Well, before getting to the matter of whether we win or lose this festival, I suppose our class can finally breathe a sigh of relief now,” observed Horikita.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Ayanokouji-kuuuun!” Satou’s voice reached all the way to the waiting area. “We’ve got three photography requests for Hasebe-san! Please and thank you!”

I quickly got my camera ready. I figured Horikita was probably prepared for one final push in the little time she had left before her break.

“See ya later,” I said.

Leaving Horikita in the waiting area, I focused my attention on the board that showed who had been requested the most for photoshoots. Kushida had the highest with a total of fifty-six requests, even including the time I was absent. Satou trailed far, far behind her in second place with twenty-four. Horikita had only eleven, perhaps because she was lacking in amicability. I thought that if we were to judge solely based on looks, Horikita wasn’t inferior to Kushida at all, but I supposed that wasn’t what was most important. First, one needed charm, and second, one needed, well…charm.

“Even if Haruka tried to catch up to the others right now, there’s no way she’d be able to get her name on the board,” I thought aloud.

As I stood in front of Haruka, camera in hand, I got more requests from someone out in the hallway. It was another customer who wanted a photograph with Kushida.

“Okay, Haruka. I’m taking the picture,” I announced.

“O-okay…”

Her face looked stiff, probably because she still felt reluctant to face me. I tried to find a good shot, but…

“Should I switch with Yousuke?” I asked.

“Hold on. It’s okay… I mean, I’m fine,” muttered Haruka as she raised her hand, as though she were talking to herself.

She didn’t have a full smile, but I figured it was still good enough for a picture, so I snapped one single picture. The other two customers had requested two pictures.

7.3

I T WAS ALMOST three o’clock in the afternoon at last. I left the maid café to make my final move. No one knew exactly how much we had to make in sales in order to take first place. Of course, if we could manage to take in more than half of the Private Points that were currently in circulation, then we would be able to take first place for sure, but that was almost impossible with how this festival was structured. In other words, it was just important for us to earn as much as possible until the Cultural Festival came to a close.

The student concept cafés were met with high praise, which applied to both Horikita’s class and to Ryuuen’s class. Our one-on-one showdown astonished many of the guests, and we had successfully managed to draw them into the competition, getting them to support one side or the other in the fight.

I assumed that we were currently in a tight race for the top, as the situation stood. When I went over to Ryuuen’s Japanese-style café to check out the competition, I saw that there had been a new development: there was a long line of customers in front of their café waiting to enter too.

“They’re just as popular as we are,” I observed. “Business is booming.”

They were even more prosperous than I imagined, and the students in Ryuuen’s class didn’t even have the time to talk. I couldn’t determine everything from just a momentary glance, but I suspected there was probably little difference between our two classes in terms of the number of points we were earning. It appeared to me that they were formidable enough to aim for the top spot, but of course, it wasn’t like there were any guarantees to my assumptions.

“Sorry for asking you to come all the way over here, Chabashira-sensei,” I said.

I had called Chabashira-sensei to come and meet me. Before now, she had just been spending her points on campus for the festival on classes outside of our grade level.

“Have you finished spending your Private Points?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh, well, I have eighty left,” she replied. “So I’ve pretty much used them all up. What of it?”

It sounded like she had finished making her contribution to the festival as required of her as a teacher, and there wasn’t much time left now.

“That means you’re free for now, right?” I asked.

“Yes, I am. All that’s left for me now is to wait until the festival is over… What in the world is this all about?” she asked me again.

She looked completely puzzled, not understanding why she had been called here. The Japanese-style café stood before us and was the backdrop to this conversation—that was it. I wasn’t going to say anything about how business was booming at their café, nor about the possibility that Horikita’s class would lose. It would be better if Chabashira-sensei could see what I was doing and interpret what was behind it all on her own.

“To tell you the truth… For the next hour or so, I’d like to ask you for your help, Chabashira-sensei.”

“Wait… Hold on, Ayanokouji. My help? I don’t understand what you’re talking about…”

Teachers were to contribute to the festival by spending their points on campus, and that was their only role required of them today.

“I want you to become a maid, Chabashira-sensei, so that you can contribute to our sales at the maid café.”

It was a solid strategy to win this thing. I tried putting it into words and getting the message across, but…

“…Huh?”

This might have been the very first time I had ever heard a stupid, dazed sound like that come out of her mouth.

“Me? A maid? This is the first I’ve heard about this…” she replied. “What are you even talking about?”

“That’s because I’m just telling you about it right now,” I said. “It’s just another step that we can take in order to win.”

“But why do I have to be a maid? And besides, I’m a teacher. And I’m your class’s homeroom instructor. There is no way that I’d be allowed to support my specific class.”

“It’s not like that,” I told her. “Not exactly, anyway. As per the rules for this festival, the teachers are treated the same as guests. Homeroom instructors are not allowed to spend their points on classes in the grade level that they teach. However, those are the only two rules that apply. There are no rules that state that only students are allowed to participate in the offerings that the classes put on. Which means that, in extreme cases, teachers should have the freedom to serve guests as well. It’s not the normal way of doing things, but technically, the only problem is whether a teacher is willing to do so. That’s all it is. It’s not something prohibited under the rules.”

If she were to do something like hastily purchase goods for personal use at the convenience store or at Keyaki Mall today, or at any other place where you could spend points, that would have been a clear violation. However, from an HR perspective, there was no need for her to apply for the position of maid, and she was free to help her class.

Perhaps Chabashira-sensei hadn’t completely wrapped her mind around this, though, because she seemed to be at a loss for words.

“Should I explain it more clearly, then?” I said. “Let’s assume there is a student carrying a heavy load. The student wobbles as they walk past. A guest passing by offers to help and carries the item on the student’s behalf, over to the student’s intended destination. Would that be a violation of the rules?”

“No…it wouldn’t,” she answered.

“There you have it. Now, even if we substitute guests for students in this scenario, the reasoning still stands. Class 2-A asks Class 2-D for help, and Class 2-D readily agrees. Would there be a problem with those classes loaning students to each other?”

The reasons for lending personnel to another class varied. You could do it purely out of a desire to offer support. It could also be a ploy in order to cause trouble from the inside, or even as a form of exchange—trading labor in exchange for some other form of compensation. Whatever the reason, if it was permissible within the rules, the school was not going to condemn it. In fact, just from taking a stroll around the campus, I saw a smattering of students supporting other classes.

“There…wouldn’t be a problem, no,” said Chabashira-sensei.

“It’s the same thing in this case. A teacher’s willingness to cooperate is in itself not a violation of the rules.”

“No, it’s not okay. Regardless of technicality, it would still be seen as me helping the class that I’m in charge of.”

“Yes, you’re right about that. Even if something is technically allowed, that doesn’t necessarily mean that people won’t get that impression,” I said.

And that was precisely why we needed to use clear rules to make what we were doing legitimate.

“We will pay the number of Private Points needed in order to rent a teacher,” I explained. “I’m sure that the school has already considered that possibility in anticipation of the Cultural Festival, anyway.”

“Impossible, you couldn’t… I mean, but wait… Well, yes, it is possible…”

Judging from the look on her face, I’d hit the bullseye. Not only was Chabashira-sensei an instructor at this school, but she had also been in charge of other classes here in the past. It was only natural to assume that the school was taking all sorts of things into consideration, even if this was a kind of festival that hadn’t been held before. In principle, Private Points were a powerful weapon here at this school. It would make sense if we could use points for staffing if needed, as well as for everyday items.

“There’s nothing that you can’t buy with Private Points here at this school,” I said. “Or am I wrong about that?”

To deny that would be to deny the entire institution. And it would be like admitting she wasn’t qualified, as a teacher. Even if it was far from her intentions, Chabashira-sensei had no right to refuse.

In a panic, she began poring over the Cultural Festival’s rules on her phone. “…In the event a teacher is asked to help, he or she must be paid 100,000 Private Points per hour,” she read out loud.

“It seems like you’re well-prepared, quickly pulling up the rules that only people involved with the school would have,” I said. “Yes, that option is what we’re going with.”

This was similar to what happened once, long ago, when we used Private Points to purchase points for a test.

“Again, it’s 100,000 points per hour,” she said. “That’s not cheap… Are you really sure about this?”

“Of course.”

Normally, even if you did ask a teacher to help, it wasn’t like they’d be that useful. If you asked them to help with cooking or with serving, if they hadn’t practiced beforehand, it’d just be a waste of Private Points to have them help for an hour or so. If a teacher came into a café and started serving, it would be difficult for them to jump right into it. However, if you could employ a teacher in a different way, you could get value out of that high number of Private Points you had to pay.

“Are you really, actually, absolutely sure?” she asked.

“You’re drawing this out longer than necessary, Chabashira-sensei,” I said. “Time is of the essence. Even if you don’t like it, I’m going to have to ask you to help.”

If it got later than three o’clock in the afternoon, then we wouldn’t be able to get a full hour’s worth of help, and it wouldn’t be as effective.

“W-wait,” she said. “Okay, I’ve got it—how about asking Chie? She can do this kind of thing much better than I can. I’m sure she’d fulfill her obligation too, even if it was for a rival class.”

“Yes, I’m sure you’re right about that. But right now, I’m not looking for someone who can handle the job skillfully. Quite the opposite, actually—I’m looking for someone awkward. That’s because I believe the more awkward and clumsy someone else is, and the more on the fringes they are and completely disconnected from this kind of thing, the more effective they can be.”

“I don’t get it… I do not understand your logic behind this at all, not even one iota.”

I figured that she probably hated this idea from the bottom of her heart, and that she couldn’t understand it at all. And it was because she couldn’t understand it that Chabashira-sensei would work just as well as I had imagined.

“We can’t waste any more time,” I told her. “We’re counting on you.”

I thrust out my phone, paying Chabashira-sensei the Private Points.

“And now the contract is in place.”

“Th-this is completely unfair, Ayanokouji. Using the school rules like this…”

I don’t think it’s unfair at all, though… I felt that it was a completely fair way of fighting.

“I have no idea how a maid café is supposed to work,” she went on. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

“That doesn’t matter. We’re not expecting anything from you.”

One simple thing was going to guarantee our victory—Chabashira-sensei, dressed in a maid outfit, was going to be in the café.

7.4

A FTER PUSHING the reluctant Chabashira-sensei into the changing room, I copied and pasted the message that I wrote ahead of time on my phone and sent it out as a mass text to all of my classmates. I informed them that Chabashira-sensei was going to be working as a maid, just for the last hour. I was also notifying students who were free at the moment to go around the campus and advertise that fact.

News spread fast through word of mouth, just as I planned. The idea of having a teacher at our café made this big news—a truly limited-time event, the likes of which a student could never, ever pull off. The hallways were so abuzz that I knew that people were going to start freaking out any instant.

Chabashira-sensei, dressed in her maid outfit, sped through the hallway at a gallop. When she arrived, she was completely red in the face.

“I-I’m here…Ayanokouji,” she panted. “H-hurry up and let me in the room…!”

“We’ve been expecting you,” I said.

Since I couldn’t just keep showing her off for free, I ushered her inside the classroom.

“Okay, so, what am I supposed to be doing here…?” she asked.

“You don’t have to do anything,” I told her. “Just stand still, please.”

“Wh-what?”

“I believe I already explained it to you. I wasn’t looking for someone skilled. Again, we’re counting on you.”

And so, I thrust Chabashira-sensei into the classroom and put her to work doing nothing but standing around. She didn’t talk to anyone and instead stood shyly in a corner of the classroom. Even if she looked at someone in appeal, hoping that they would help her, no one could. Well, actually, I would tell them not to. This was the ultimate in eroticism.

Starting now, we were going to have some big changes to our maid café policies. Our biggest concern was the large number of interested customers who we couldn’t fit in the space. In order to eliminate this problem, albeit bluntly, we needed to have customers pay a reasonable fee of sorts. We were going to offer “standing room only admission” to accommodate more customers once we exceeded our maximum seated capacity. We were also going to add an additional rule that we would allow customers immediate entry into the classroom if they paid 1,000 points. We were going to suggest that potential customers take advantage of this option, starting with those waiting near the front of the line and moving on down. Only those who were willing to stand would be allowed in right away. While some of the people who were still waiting in line might grumble and complain, that was a risk we were prepared to take.

“Standing room only… I’ve never heard of a maid café with that kind of thing before,” said one person in line.

“I guess they’re calling it secondary space or something,” said another.

We created a standing area on the side of the podium where we couldn’t set up desks, and another in the area at the rear of the classroom. This would allow people to come into the café even if we couldn’t fit any more desks and chairs inside.

We were also offering photography sessions with Chabashira-sensei for 2,000 points. That was more than double the price of photography sessions with a student. I quickly wrote the offering down on the board at the entrance to the café.

“Oh, wow, that’s expensive… Are people really going to buy that, at that price?” Kushida wondered aloud.

“Take a look behind you,” I replied.

Kushida had been staring intently at the board as I scribbled on it and turned around. When she did, she saw customers paying for standing room admission one after another, pouring into the café. It was like they were being sucked into the classroom. Even the current teachers and staff were keenly interested, as this was the sort of thing they wouldn’t see happening ever again. Although homeroom teachers were prohibited from spending Private Points on classes within the grade level that they taught in, there was still an overwhelmingly huge number of teachers employed at this school who were in charge of classes outside of our grade.

And on top of that, even the adults who worked at Keyaki Mall had a strong mental image of Chabashira-sensei as a straitlaced, hard-nosed teacher from what they saw of her in their everyday business. More and more and more adults came through the door, almost like a wave of people crashing into the room.

“Jeez, it kind of feels like this is completely overshadowing all the hard work the maids have put in… It’s a little depressing,” muttered Kushida.

Some of the adults from the outside world might not have fully understood the significance of this phenomenon, but if you consider the idea of “it doesn’t hurt to just take a look,” well… Even if someone didn’t really understand what the big deal was, limited-time offers are tempting, and they’d be hit with an overwhelming urge to rush on over.

The maid café was now overflowing with standing-room customers—at first there were over ten people, and then more than twenty. The long line outside the café wasn’t growing shorter though. Instead, even more people were coming.

“Th-there’s an incredible number of people here, Ayanokouji-kun!” Kushida was visibly astonished by what she saw, pulling back from the swarm of people coming in.

“Yeah. To be honest, even I didn’t think that we’d get this many.”

“When did you come up with such an incredible idea, anyway?” she asked.

“About two weeks ago,” I said. “I figured it could be the ace up our sleeve for the Cultural Festival.”

“How do you think it would have gone if you did this earlier in the day…?”

“I think that if we did it earlier, it might’ve had a lasting effect, sure,” I said. “We could have been able to keep it up for two or three hours, but there would’ve been a problem. If we did this for a longer period, other classes would have been able to try something similar.”

“Oh, I see what you mean… Since there’s less than an hour left, even if the others wanted to try something similar, they couldn’t.”

If other classes had also done something like this and used a faculty member, then the effect would’ve been diminished.

“If we were going to put this plan into action, we’d only be able to make it feel like a premium, limited experience by having it during the last hour of the festival,” I reasoned.

Also, the fact that Kushida and the other maids had spread the good word about our maid café and people thought of us positively as a result had helped too.

“I see…” mused Kushida. “There’s really no way I could win.”

“Hm?”

“I’m just reminded again of how amazing you are, Ayanokouji-kun. You’re incredibly nasty to go up against as an enemy.”

“Your eyes aren’t smiling, Kushida,” I pointed out.

“Maybe that’s because while half of me is glad that we’re classmates, the other half of me is ticked off?”

She said half and half, but I had a hunch that the latter feeling was stronger than the former.

“No pushing, please!” Sudou shouted. “Line up here! Again, please, no pushing!”

Sudou and the other guys rushed to create a human wall, trying to get the customers to form an orderly line, but there were adults fumbling into the room like they were trying to desperately sneak a peek. It ended up looking more like a mob. Still, that was part of their job too.

The inside of the café was thoroughly concealed from view from the outside, and the interior windows were locked too. The only way for someone to sneak a peek inside would be to break a window. No adult would try such a thing, of course, so they were forced into an orderly line.

As we were doing this, however, there seemed to be no end to the number of people who wanted pictures of Chabashira-sensei. Both standing-room-only customers who recently came into the café and those who had already been here raised their hands one after another, hoping for a photoshoot.

“She might end up becoming the top earner in sales in just this one hour…even though she didn’t do anything,” said Kushida.

“Excuse me, but we can’t fit any more people!” Mii-chan’s agonized wails reached me and Kushida where we stood, informing me that the secondary spaces had been filled.

“I guess this is it, right? The number of people hasn’t gone down at all and there doesn’t seem to be any sign that anyone’s going to leave. That’s a shame for the people still waiting,” said Kushida, adding that she wondered if we ought to be satisfied with the number of standing-room-only customers we were able to bring in.

“It’s not over yet,” I said. “The people who are waiting in line right now are there because they still have money. I’m not going to let them leave.”

“But what are… You aren’t thinking of bringing desks out into the hall, are you?” she asked. “There are dishes and stuff on the tables, so that would be really tough… And it would take a lot of time and effort to move things…”

Either way, it was obvious that there was no more room for guests in the classroom.

“We’re going to start putting the tertiary space to use, starting now,” I replied.

“Tertiary…?” Kushida repeated.

I turned to the customers waiting in line and called out to them.

“I’m terribly sorry, everyone, but the café is full, and we cannot admit any more customers,” I announced.

Once I made that declaration, disappointment was clear in the eyes of adults all over.

“However, for those of you who have at least one single point left at this time, you may still view the café interior from this location by paying us all of the points you have on hand,” I added.

By “this location,” I was referring to the hallway where we stood, where customers were standing in line for the maid café. By opening the door, removing the coverings that we put up, and opening the windows, we could expand the classroom space in a sense, making it into a pseudo-open area.

“Y-you’re using the hallway?” asked Chabashira-sensei.

“That’s right.”

“B-but wait a minute, spend all of their points?” she said. “Okay, if someone only has a small number of points left in their total budget, that would be one thing…but what about people who can pay a lot? What about them?”

It seemed like not even Chabashira-sensei could imagine that many people would give us all of their points.

“There’s no problem,” I said. “I don’t know if it would be worth a large number of points, but there isn’t much time left in this event. Even if, hypothetically, someone had close to 10,000 points left, the big question would be where they could even spend those points.”

“Ah, I see… If I remember correctly, any remaining points will be returned to the school after the festival is over,” said Chabashira-sensei.

“That’s right. That’s why I’m notifying the customers like this, so they can use them all up if they want to. It’s better for people to spend all of their points here rather than to not have anywhere else to go spend their points and ultimately end up losing them. It’s not an exaggeration to say that to the adults here, one point and ten thousand points are of equal value.”

If anything, the more points someone had, the more they might feel that they needed to spend them here and now. Furthermore, many of the adults who have been here for a long time were still waiting in line.

“We will process payments for anyone interested in order, so we ask that you please wait where you are,” I told the people in line.

Once I announced that, I sent out a few people to go through the line and collect payments. Then, we lined up those adults in the hallway and guided them to a spot where they could see into the classroom.

“Now then, all we’ve got to do is open up the curtains that we’ve been using to hide the space until now,” I thought aloud.

And by doing just that, the new tertiary space was ready. When we opened up all of the curtains all at once, Chabashira-sensei was shocked. I was sure that to her, this must have felt like some sort of public execution. But since we paid the school for this, there wasn’t any need to feel bad for her.

“O-oh, I see…” said one of the teachers.

The teachers who had been gossiping about Chabashira’s transformation just moments ago sounded deeply impressed. I was sure that seeing her dressed up this way—a single member of the opposite sex, someone that they were close to as colleagues, and who they had never seen like this before—must have been intensely stimulating.

And so, we continued publicly showing off Chabashira-sensei like this, using the hallway as extra space, until four o’clock in the afternoon.

In the end, Chabashira-sensei surpassed Kushida in photography session requests with a total of sixty-three, thereby taking the top spot.