Chapter 2: A Mysterious Forewarning and the School Festival

Chapter 2: A Mysterious Forewarning and the School Festival

Preparations for it were absolute chaos, but we somehow managed to make it to the day of the festival. Thanks to all President Momone’s efforts, this year’s school festival was far more extravagant than previous years’. First and foremost, it had been extended to three days: Saturday through Monday. Secondly, it was being held in collaboration with Juumonji High School, so there was more to do and see than ever. There was even a shuttle bus going between the campuses, and events at local shops between the schools and the station for commuters to enjoy. Going to as many attractions at both schools as possible would also give stamps used to enter in a special event on the third and final day. An event I was scheduled to be involved in...

“Oops!”

I fell prey to the dangers of daydreaming while walking and accidentally bumped into a visitor.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” the girl said before bowing and walking off.

“Well, I’m glad she wasn’t hurt.”

With a sigh of relief, I resumed my patrol of the school. You see, today I was granted the privilege of wearing a festival committee armband even though I wasn’t actually part of the festival committee. That was President Momone’s doing.

I thought she and I were even after I saved us from the game world the other day, but according to her, I still owed her one. I thought my grand debt was only three favors, which I thought I’d paid off by taking care of Tokiwa when she was sick, helping President Momone out with the student council, and then saving her from the cursed game. But when I brought this up with her, the conversation went something like this...

“There was the ghost business with Sakuya, the yokai business with Ai... twice. But that still only makes three favors, right?”

“There also was the camp during Obon. That makes four.”

“Huh? That was doing me a favor?”

“You’re a member of the light literature club too, aren’t you? I even helped look after Midori while I was there.”

“Ugh...”

“What? Are you saying you’re too busy to help me out?”

“No...”

And now here I was, patrolling the school during the festival because she’d asked me to. With this, I would finally be in the black. And the gig wasn’t too bad, I guess. All she said I had to do was keep an eye out for any problems. I’d promised to meet up with Satsuki and the others later, so this was actually a perfect opportunity for me to scout the festival out beforehand, too.

Just as I had that carefree thought, I idly stuck my hand into the pocket of my school uniform.

Rustle...

“Hm?”

I felt something odd in my pocket, so I grabbed it and pulled it out. It was a single piece of stationery.

“A letter?”

“So it seems,” said R as she peered at it.

“That’s strange...”

I didn’t recall putting it there. Where on earth had it come from? Or, more importantly, who put it there?

“...”

For now, I opened up the folded piece of paper. Written on it in very plain language was the following...

Greetings.

This may seem abrupt, but a bomb has been placed somewhere in the school.

If you want the festival to end without incident, find the four odd ones out.

The only condition is that the search must be conducted by Rekka Namidare alone.

Yours sincerely.

“Wh-What...?”

At a glance, there was no sense of urgency in the note. But the contents were disturbing to say the least. Was this a genuine bomb threat? Moreover...

“Why have I been singled out?”

Did that mean the culprit knew me? Not only had they mentioned me by name, but they’d somehow managed to sneak the note into my pocket. There was no mistaking that they’d come after me specifically. But why?

Even though I’d been involved in all sorts of stories, at the end of the day, I was still your average high school student. I wasn’t a policeman, and I wasn’t a detective. And I certainly wasn’t part of the bomb squad. If you asked me if I had any enemies, I couldn’t deny the possibility... But come on! This was a bit much!

“Is it some kind of elaborate prank?”

That was my first thought. It was just too unbelievable otherwise. That might sound weird coming from a guy who’s been to outer space and other worlds, but magic and bombs are two totally different ballgames! Magic was unbelievable in a very fantastical way. But bombs were unbelievable in an all too realistic way.

I knew they existed, sure. But I couldn’t even get my head around there being one at school. As a resident of peace-loving Japan, bombs were something I only ever saw in movies. There was no way one should be here at school... And there was no way anyone should be here if there was. Some of the students might love for the school to get blown up. Who knows how long we’d be out of class if that happened? But that was wishful daydreaming, and this was real life with very real dangers attached.

That being the case, could I really just dismiss the note as a prank and throw it away? If there was even a chance it was serious... It said I had to conduct the search alone, so I couldn’t even discuss this with President Momone.

“...”

My palms were sweating so much right now that the note was now practically glued to my hand.

“Uwah!”

What was I supposed to do? If this was a real crime, then wasn’t the note important evidence? I took another look at it. The ink was smudged a little now, but it was still legible.

“Whew...”

Relieved, I carefully peeled the note from my hand. If I folded it up like it was, it would basically just glue itself together, never to be opened again. To prevent that, I went and opened a window to dry it out in the stiff autumn breeze.

“...I wonder what the four odd ones out are?”

I didn’t really get that part. Judging from the contents of the note, finding those was what I had to do in order to prevent tragedy. But even if I complied and did what I was told, I was still a little hazy on why anyone would do this. What were they getting out of it?

“I could understand if they wanted money or for the festival to be canceled or something, but...”

I had no idea what they were after. Their motives were totally unclear. If this was a prank, were they just trying to cause trouble for me? As I was debating what the answer could be, without any warning...

BOOM!

There was an explosion in the sky over the school.

“Wah!”

“What was that?!”

“...Fireworks?”

The sudden event startled several students nearby, drawing everyone’s eyes upward. Someone had said it was fireworks, and there certainly did seem to be smoke trails. Large ones, too.

“Was it to celebrate the start of the festival or something? I didn’t see anything like that on the schedule.”

“Who knows?”

Everyone commented on the unexpected noise, but then largely went about their business. Since no harm had been done, there wasn’t much resulting chaos even among the visitors.

“...!”

Not so with me, however. Since I’d been lending a hand to both the student council and the festival committee, I knew there were no plans for fireworks. President Momone could be arrogant at times, but she would never pull a stunt like this. Even if she were planning a surprise for the festival, she would have told the committee about it. That meant this was...

“The work of the culprit, huh?”

Fireworks were an art, but they were still giant balls of gunpowder. They were only one step away from being used as bombs, which would be a catastrophe. Thinking about it, I gulped. I picked up the note that had been blown out of my hands by the blast and was now plastered on the opposite wall of the hall. This bomb threat... It was the real deal.

“That means there’s only one thing for me to do.”

I folded the now dry piece of paper and stuffed it back in my pocket before heading down the hallway.

▽

“Find the four odd ones out.” That was all the note had really said in the way of what I was supposed to do. Too bad trying to find anything based on instructions that vague was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. I needed some direction before I started searching, but the only hint I had was...

“The note said I had to search alone, didn’t it?”

At a glance, that seemed like a restriction, but it also served as a potential clue. For example, whatever the odd things out were, they had to be perceivable by me. I wouldn’t be able to search for them by myself otherwise. That is, of course, assuming the culprit hadn’t put me in a game that was impossible to win in the first place.

Just as terrifying to consider was the thought that I might just run myself into the ground searching... Which was starting to feel like a very real possibility. At this rate, the bomb was going to go off without me having a single thing to show for myself. There were too many worst-case scenarios to consider. I had to put those thoughts out of my mind for now and get moving before the culprit decided to do anything hasty.

First things first, I needed to try and figure out if the culprit really had any intention of letting me clear this little challenge of theirs. Better yet would be figuring out who the culprit really was. And if I failed at all that, it would be time to prepare for the worst... Meaning I’d have to locate where the bomb was planted.

With that plan in mind, my feet carried me to a certain classroom.

“Oh? This is Tsumiki’s class. Are you going to start searching here?” asked R.

“Yeah. I’m going to go around to all of the events the people I know are participating in first.”

If I couldn’t find a single odd thing out between all those places, then I’d take that as a sign this really was an impossible challenge after all.

I took a deep breath. Before entering the classroom, I glanced over to the sign next to the door to see what kind of event they were holding. It read: “Nozo-mini: A Place to Rest Your Feet and Fill Your Tummy.”

“Nozo-mini, huh?”

So it was going to be like a little restaurant, then? I guess I was about to find out. I went through the curtain and entered the classroom.

“Welcome! Oh, it’s just you.”

As expected, the one to greet me so unpleasantly was Tsumiki. She was dressed in her usual Nozomiya uniform and holding the kind of metal spatula meant for making yakisoba and the like. When I got a look around the room, I could see the other students were all wearing Nozomiya aprons too, most likely brought in by Tsumiki. It really was like a mini Nozomiya in here. But as I was glancing around, I spotted two familiar faces.

“Hey, Tetra! You too, Lea! Fancy running into you two here.”

“Hey, good to see you!”

“It’s been some time, Rekka.”

Tetra and Lea both greeted me with smiles.

“Wait a sec... Why are you guys wearing aprons? Didn’t you come here as guests to enjoy the festival?” I asked.

“Oh, no. We came to help out with Nozo-mini,” said Tetra.

“At Tsumiki’s request, of course,” added Lea.

“I’m using their charms to attract more customers!” chimed in Tsumiki, giving me a big thumbs-up.

I could certainly imagine Lea and Tetra would rake in the customers, but...

“Isn’t asking outsiders for help against the rules?”

“They’re not outsiders! They’re both Nozomiya employees!” Tsumiki argued, puffing out her cheeks. Then she pointed her finger right in my face and declared, “I won’t lose to your class, got it?!”

Come to think of it, President Momone had mentioned something about a reward for the class that attracted the most customers during the opening ceremony...

“What is your class doing, Rekka?” asked Tetra.

“A maid cafe.”

When she heard those words, Lea’s ears perked up.

“Oh, so that’s why Satsuki and Iris have been coming by the cafe so much.”

By “the cafe,” Lea was probably referring to Linda Lovers, where she worked part-time. It wasn’t a full-on maid cafe, but the owner made sure it was full of cute girls in cute uniforms. Customer service was their specialty.

“The maid uniforms for our class were designed by Rosalind,” I explained. “Since she likes them so much and everything.”

“Does she?” asked Tetra.

“Well, she does make everyone living at her mansion work as her maids. I’ve never seen her so motivated over a school activity before...”

I was honestly pretty surprised when she raised her hand with such intense ferocity to volunteer for the job. I’d stepped in to stop her when I realized she was about to start using her charm on people to get her way, but I was otherwise happy to see her enjoying school activities for once.

“Actually, now that I think about it, it might be better to keep Rosalind away from here to make sure she doesn’t see what you guys are up to...”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, if she sees Tetra and Lea, she might feel compelled to go get her maids to compete.”

In other words, Suzuran, Ulaula, and Corona. It’d be chaos if the three of them showed up at school too. Especially Ulaula, who was a known troublemaker.

“Hmph... Are you saying I’d lose to those three in terms of charm, Rekka?” Lea huffed unhappily as she leaned in close to complain.

“No, of course not.”

“I won’t lose either!” declared Tetra, leaning in on my other side.

Between the two of them, I was starting to panic a little.

“N-Now hang on... It’s not that I’m saying the two of you aren’t charming...”

I was frantically searching for the right words when I felt several staring pairs of eyes fall on me. No, they weren’t staring; they were glaring. My male classmates in every direction looked like they were ready to kill me.

“Why are they so close with that guy?”

“That’s that Namidare guy, y’know?”

“I heard a girl who looked like his little sister delivered lunch to him in her pajamas... And now he’s got the older girls too...”

“Even the student council president’s taken an interest in him!”

“And he spends every afternoon in the old school building with some beautiful upperclasswoman...”

Deep-seated grudges were roiling to the surface. The classroom restaurant was suddenly a very dark place.

“We’re not going to get any customers like this, Rekka.”

“Er... Um, well...”

Cold sweat began dripping down my spine when Tsumiki started glaring at me too.

“Th-Then I’ll leave as soon as I get something to eat.”

“Hahh... Fine. Just make sure you order something expensive.”

Honestly, I wanted to get out of here ASAP, but I had to hang in there. I had been looking around the classroom and watching the girls until now, but I hadn’t spotted anything that felt or seemed odd yet. Maybe none of the four things were here...

“Okay, then... I’ll take the Nozo-mini deluxe meat yakisoba.”

“That’ll be 1,000 yen.”

“That’s expensive!”

“Duh, it is deluxe.”

It was a painful blow to pocket an expense like that right at the start of the festival, so I had to tell myself it was just paying for the inconvenience I’d caused. I handed Tsumiki a thousand-yen bill and took the pile of yakisoba she handed me on a paper plate. I could only assume that the “deluxe meat” part was actually Lea’s Leviathan meat, which did look quite delicious when it was cooked like this. My mouth started watering when the smell of it hit my nose.

“Wow, this looks great,” I commented.

“Right? So hurry up and eat it already,” Tsumiki encouraged.

“Yeah, thanks for the food.” I snapped my wooden chopsticks in half and dug right in. “Wow, this really is good!”

The amount, the taste... It was well worth the thousand yen I’d paid for it, even if that was a bit much for a student’s budget. Tsumiki proudly stuck her hands on her hips when she heard my reaction.

“Of course it’s good! It’s our signature dish, after all! I busted my butt to make it, too! There’s no way it’d be anything other than delicious!”

“PHBBBBBT!”

I instantly spat it out on reflex when I heard that.

“Ew, gross! What’s wrong with you?”

I couldn’t even answer her. I was too busy pounding on my chest as I tried not to choke on what was left in my throat. I thought my heart was gonna stop.

“Are you okay, Rekka?”

“What’s the matter?”

Lea and Tetra came over with worried looks and started cleaning up the mess I’d made. I felt bad for making extra work for them, but... I really couldn’t help it.

“Tsumiki, since when could you cook?”

The last time I tested something for her the other day, it had blown my soul out of my body and sent it all the way to the far reaches of the universe where it remained for some time before it was willing to come back. She’d gotten better with simple dishes like rice balls, but yakisoba... Maybe her just grilling the meat would have been okay, but letting her season anything was a terrible idea. There was no way she wouldn’t mess it up. At least, not under normal circumstances. Something was weird here. Yeah, something was definitely odd. Wait, odd? That’s it!

Just as I put my finger on it...

Bang!

I heard what sounded like something small bursting.

“Hey, Tsumiki! What are you doing over there?! Who let you cook?!”

The next thing I knew, Tsumiki’s friend and classmate—I think her name was Sato—was giving her the third degree.

“We agreed to use the name Nozo-mini because you said you’d stay at the front of the house!”

“H-Huh?”

Being so scolded by Sato, Tsumiki looked up at her and blinked a few times with a blank expression. It was almost like she didn’t know what she was in trouble for.

“What’s going on here...?”

How come no one else had noticed until I pointed it out? I was sure that Sato, Lea, and Tetra all knew that Tsumiki was a terrible, no, dangerous chef. Yet not one of the three of them had said anything about her cooking just now.

Curious, I took the note out of my pocket and looked at it.

“Find the four odd ones out.”

Just who had written this? And how did they bring about this weird situation? What kind of methods were they using? At the very least...

“It definitely isn’t somebody normal.”

I mean, no normal person would send a bomb threat in the first place. But since they were threatening to use a bomb, I had just assumed they were a normal human being. That clearly wasn’t the case anymore. Maybe they were a mage, a psychic, or even some kind of supernatural being... Either way, there was no mistaking they had used some kind of special power that defied logic. Figuring this out would be tough without Satsuki’s help...

“For now, let’s move on.”

I said goodbye to Lea and Tetra, waved to Tsumiki who was still being fussed at by Sato, and then put Nozo-mini behind me.

▽

With one of the four oddities under my belt, I walked down the hallway to my next destination while quietly talking to R.

“That just now was strange, wasn’t it?”

“Sure was. Tsumiki’s cooking itself was strange, but the fact she and the others around her didn’t notice was even stranger.”

“Yet the moment I realized something felt odd, their perceptions went back to normal. What on earth is happening?”

All I’d done was notice something wasn’t right. I hadn’t done anything special, and it didn’t seem like anyone else had either. But poof. That was all it had taken for everything to go back to normal.

“Was it the realization itself that returned everything to normalcy, I wonder?”

“It could be because you said something about it out loud.”

“Either way, there’s something freaky going on here...”

I’d briefly considered that everyone was just hypnotized, but that wouldn’t explain how Tsumiki miraculously got better at cooking. I had no idea what kind of powers were at play here, but yeah... There was definitely something freaky going on.

“Hm? Oh, it’s you, problem child.”

As I was racking my brain over this, someone called out to me... and only one person in the whole school addressed me that way.

“Oh, hi, President Momone.”

President Momone was standing next to a door labeled “Haunted House” with a bamboo sword leaned against her shoulder instead of her usual wooden one.

“Perfect timing. Get in here.”

“Huh? Um, I’m kind of busy right now...”

“Just do it. I need you to inspect this place for issues before opening.”

“Issues?”

I wanted to know what was going on, but I was promptly kicked into the haunted house without any further discussion. The door slammed shut behind me, so with a sigh, I resigned myself to trudging the long way towards the exit.

The inside of the haunted house was, of course, quite dark, but there were black paper signs marking the way forward. The festival had only started an hour or so ago, but to think this place was only just now being inspected...

“This seems a little poorly executed for President Momone... Or maybe that’s just how thorough she’s been with it?”

Well, whatever it was, I started to make my way through the darkness. I doubted there would be any traps to trip someone, but there might be some jump scares that involved bumping into people or objects. That being the case, a thorough final check for safety’s sake made perfect sense.

“Are you sure you should be doing this?” R asked as she glanced around the haunted house.

I should be trying to handle the bomb threat right now... is what she was probably trying to say, but her words were strangely uncompelling when she was looking around at everything so curiously.

“Actually, I think this was the event Tokiwa’s class put together. Maybe we’ll run into her here.”

In the end, we hadn’t been able to decide on an event for the light literature club, so Tokiwa had said she’d help out with her class’s event some. Considering the incident with Tsumiki earlier, I now had pretty decent evidence that the oddities would all be connected to people I knew somehow. While I had no idea where Tokiwa was in this room, I figured I’d find her eventually as long as I walked the whole thing. So to get to it, I stood up and dusted the dirt off my pants.

“This is actually pretty well set up...”

A straight path extended from the entrance—probably to the window on the other side of the classroom, which had been blacked out—and the spooks kicked off with will-o-wisps floating around. It was atmospheric and rather clever, since the ones near the ceiling seemed to double as the main source of light in the room.

“...Hm?”

The flames on the ghostly little balls of fire looked awfully realistic, actually. They were even flickering like genuine fire... No, that couldn’t be. It’d be way too dangerous. I walked forward doubting myself, but it seemed like the will-o-wisps were moving out of my way as I approached...

At any rate, I made my way to the first corner. The real fun would probably start here. There might even be a jump scare right off the bat, so I readied myself as I stepped forward. Yup, there was a severed head.

“WAAAH!”

“Urrrgh...”

I screamed at the groaning, severed head spinning circles in the air. I’d thought the fire before was convincing, but holy crap... This thing was frighteningly real. But after the initial scare, the severed head flew up and over the wall, disappearing from view.

“Phew... That really startled me.”

“Wow, what amazing craftsmanship...”

“Wait, why’d you say it in that tone of voice?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“?”

R was acting weird, but that was normal for her, so I didn’t let it get to me. Anyway, I’d fallen for the very first scare, so I had to pull myself together and press on. But it was just one thing...

“Boo!”

“WAAAH!”

After another...

“Rrrgh!”

“GYAAAH!”

After another...

“Mrow!”

“BWAAAH!”

What the heck?! This haunted house was actually scary! The paper umbrella monster, the fake wall monster, and the cat monster were all totally... Wait, a cat monster?

“...”

The moment I stopped to ponder things, a pale woman with long hair silently crawled out of a papier-mâché well. Actually, that long hair looked awfully familiar...

“Tokiwa?”

“...”

When I called out, the ghostly woman suddenly lunged at me and wrapped her arms around me.

“Ooo, ooo...! I’m a scary ghost...!” she declared rather ridiculously.

“Could you, um, let go...?”

Tokiwa was only wearing a thin white robe to give her that ghostly, ethereal vibe. So when she hugged me, she felt even softer than normal...

“Ah, looks like she went braless.”

“BWUH?!”

R just blurted out what I’d been thinking, making me do a spit take on nothing. And while I was going full-on slapstick...

“It’s Rekka, meow!”

“Wuh?!”

Someone suddenly grabbed me by the waist and tackled me from behind, knocking me over onto the floor with Tokiwa still in my arms.

“That voice... Is that you, Ai?”

“That’s right, meow! Long time no see, meow!”

I had a feeling back when the cat monster appeared, but...

“Say, Ai...”

“What is it, meow?”

“Are there real yokai in this haunted house right now?”

“That’s right, meow! Momone asked us to come play.”

“Thought so.”

No wonder the will-o-wisps and severed heads looked so real... Or rather, familiar. They were all monsters I had seen before when Ai’s people had their scuffle with the local yokai. I had heard they were taken in by President Momone’s family at Kibi Shrine afterward, but to think they were willing to come help out with a festival haunted house...

“It’s the perfect job for you, I guess...”

“Mrow?”

Ai cocked her head curiously at my muttering, but my attention was snatched away when I heard a quiet voice beneath me.

“Rekka...”

“Huh?”

It was Tokiwa. And here we were... Lying together on the floor of a dark room. No matter how you cut it, it didn’t look good.

“I-I’m so sorry!”

I jumped up in a panic and ran out of the room with Ai still clinging to my waist.

“Problem child?”

“Hahh... hahh... hahh...”

President Momone called out to me from where she was stationed over by the entrance, but I couldn’t reply right away.

“Was it that scary? I heard quite a few screams.”

“You could say that...”

While that last scream hadn’t been one of terror, I was definitely scared.

“What a wuss. You coward. You’re worthless.”

R was hurling insults at me... But this time I was willing to take it.

“So, how was it? I believe I gave them instructions that were plenty clear, but they are yokai. Let me know if they went too far.”

“Wait, so I was a guinea pig?”

“Just think of it as doing your job as a committee member.”

I wasn’t even, though. I was just a helper... I knew there was no arguing with her, however, and stood up with a resigned sigh.

“Well, I don’t think there are any issues. It’s supposed to be scary, after all.”

“I see. Then it should be fine to let the general public in now too.”

“If that’s all you were waiting for, why didn’t you check it yourself, President Momone?”

“If I went in to check, the yokai would be the ones who were scared.”

She had that part right.

“Hm? Were you thinking something rude just now?”

“No, not at all.”

I tried playing dumb, to which President Momone replied with an exasperated sigh. She turned her critical gaze on Ai, who was still clinging to my waist.

“And just how long are you going to slack off?”

“Mrow?!”

“Guests will be coming in soon. Make sure you’re on standby.”

“Got it, meow!”

Fearful of President Momone, Ai quickly scurried back inside the haunted house. Not a moment later, someone called out to President Momone from down the hall. We both turned to see the vice president dashing over towards us, but she took one look at me and made a sour face. She mistakenly thought I was some kind of womanizer, so she reacted poorly every time we crossed paths. I’d yet to have an opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding.

“I finally found you, president.”

“What’s up?”

“There’s a problem with some supplies someone left in the hallway. They’re blocking traffic.”

“Where’s the disciplinary committee?”

“The number of visitors coming by car has increased since this morning, so they’re organizing some auxiliary parking.”

“I see. Then I’ll deal with this myself.”

With that, President Momone and the vice president turned to go.

“P-Please wait!”

I reflexively stopped them, and they both turned around to look at me.

“What?”

“What is it?”

I could feel the expression on my face grow more and more fraught. At a glance, there was nothing weird about their conversation just now. President Momone had heard about a problem. and she was going to solve it. That decisive attitude and her initiative were the same as always. But... something was still odd.

“Shouldn’t you be investigating the fireworks from earlier that weren’t on the schedule?”

That was it. The supplies in the hallway might be an issue, but there was a much bigger issue at hand. Someone completely unauthorized had fired off fireworks, and probably from somewhere on the school grounds. Yet here President Momone was concerned about a haunted house, and the disciplinary committee was trying to arrange for additional parking. No matter how I thought about it, it was weird. Looking into the fireworks should have been President Momone’s top priority.

Bang!

There was that bursting sound again, and then...

“That’s right! I can’t believe something like that slipped my mind. I’m leaving the traffic issue to you, vice president. I need to head to the school courtyard for a bit.”

“U-Understood!”

President Momone quickly issued orders and then darted off without even waiting for the VP’s reply. Well, it at least seemed I’d found the second oddity.

▽

Since the deluxe meat yakisoba had filled me up nice and good, I continued my search around the school for the third oddity without stopping for a break. I considered returning to my class and checking on Satsuki and the others, but it was currently lunchtime. This was surely when they’d be busiest, which would make it hard to talk to them and investigate properly. So, to kill time until the crowds calmed down, I decided to look elsewhere for now. As for how that went...

“I can’t find it anywhere...”

I sat down at the bottom of the stairs and heaved a hefty sigh.

“Sucks to be you, I guess.”

Thanks, R. That’s about as helpful and encouraging as usual.

I’d searched everywhere I could think of. Obvious spots around the school, places I frequented personally, the light literature clubroom... But I couldn’t find a single clue.

“Does that mean the oddities are really all centered around people I know after all?”

So far they’d involved Tsumiki and President Momone. In other words, people rather than places or things. If that was intentional, then it was possible the remaining oddities were amongst the friends I hadn’t checked in with yet. I couldn’t be certain, but it was as good a lead as I had right now, so I shifted my priorities accordingly. That meant my next stop should be my own class. I could poke around some while I waited out the lunch rush. But just as I stood up with my destination decided...

“Sir Rekka!”

“Rekka!”

I heard people calling out to me. When I turned in the direction of the voices, I experienced a bit of déjà vu as someone ran up to me and grabbed me by the waist.

“Brother Rekka! I came to play!”

“H-Hey, Fam.”

“Jeez, Fam! It’s dangerous to tackle people like that!”

It was Fam that had practically run into me, and Rain who was chiding her. They were both dressed in regular street clothes.

“Good grief, what are you doing?”

“Sir Rekka, are you okay?”

One step behind them was Shirley and Harissa, who were both dressed casually too. They were the ones who’d called out to me initially. But there was a fifth party present also...

“What in the heck...?”

It was L, who was standing behind the other girls and giving me a disgusted look. She was in casual clothes too, most likely Satsuki’s old ones. They looked somewhat familiar.

For the record, Garnet was there too, dutifully following behind Shirley. She quietly bowed in greeting when she saw me.

“Come to think of it, you said you’d drop by after lunch. Did you bring everyone along, Shirley?”

“Well, I am their guardian, after all.”

“Thanks for bringing Harissa and L too. I hope you guys have fun.”

“You should go around with us, Brother Rekka!” Fam implored, her arms still wrapped around me.

I was busy as it was, so I almost immediately said no, but...

“Okay, sure.”

The exact opposite response came out of my mouth.

“Are you sure? Aren’t you busy?” asked Shirley.

“Nah, I’m just helping out,” I said, pointing to the committee band around my upper arm.

It was true that I was only supposed to be helping out, and besides, it was entirely possible that one of the oddities was with the group of girls who’d just arrived. Maybe I’d pick up on something while I was walking around with them, so I decided to give them a tour of the school as I continued my investigation.

“So, where do you guys want to look? Inside or outside?”

“Outside!” Fam shouted enthusiastically on behalf of everyone.

While there weren’t as many as there would be at a real festival, the school grounds were lined with quite a few food vendors, games, and other fun things.

“Hey, don’t run!”

Half of the school grounds was being used for temporary parking too, so we had to be mindful of cars. The disciplinary committee was managing the traffic, so it wasn’t that much of a concern, but still.

“Jeez, here.”

“Oh!”

Since it was dangerous, I grabbed Fam’s hand and stopped her from running ahead. She turned and stared at me blankly for a second.

“Heehee... I’m holding hands with Brother Rekka!”

“Just don’t run anymore, okay?”

“Okay!”

Fam happily started to swing our linked hands...

“...”

And I felt several pairs of eyes fall on me, specifically on my free left hand.

“Rekka, I’m afraid I might get lost in a crowd of so many people. Might I also hold your hand?”

“Huh? Oh, sure, Rain.”

“Thank you very much.”

Rain happily reached for my hand, but...

“Not so fast. I’ll hold your hand, Rain.”

Shirley grabbed hold of her.

“Sh-Shirley?”

“Yes? Is something the matter?”

For some reason, I thought I could see sparks flying between Rain and Shirley... Was I seeing things?

“Now, Rekka, allow me to hold your other hand,” said Shirley.

“Hey! That’s so underhanded, Shirley!”

Rain raised an objection to Shirley’s tactics, but someone slipped between them and grabbed my hand before either of them could act.

“Harissa?”

“Teehee, I have a right too.”

Shirley and Rain both narrowed their eyes at her, and I could swear they were practically growling.

“Ugh, what is this farce?”

Meanwhile, L was grumping behind everyone as she watched the scene unfold.

“Would you like to hold hands with me, Miss L?” asked Garnet.

“I’ll pass.”

And so we walked along—Fam, Harissa, and I holding hands, Shirley and Rain holding hands, and L and Garnet trailing behind—as we checked out the various stalls set up outside.

“Come on! This way, Brother Rekka!”

“H-Hey, don’t pull.”

Fam sure was energetic today. It was all she could to do to hold on in the beginning, but now she was dragging me this way and that, pulling me towards whatever caught her interest. But I tried not to complain too much. She was being a good girl and didn’t let go of my hand the entire time.

“You’ve turned into a dopey dad wrapped around his daughter’s little finger,” said R.

I didn’t think I had gotten that old yet...

Anyway, while I was minding Fam...

“Sir Rekka! I want to try those!” said Harissa excitedly, tugging on my opposite hand.

“Hm?”

I looked to see what she was pointing at, which turned out to be a stand selling chocolate bananas.

“Oh, sure.”

I approached the stand and placed an order.

“How many?” the student behind the counter asked.

“Two... No, four, please.”

I got one each for Harissa, Fam, Rain, and L, and then handed them out.

“Oh? And what about me?”

“P-Please cut me some slack,” I whined rather pathetically at the grinning Shirley.

Including the deluxe meat yakisoba, I’d already spent quite a bit of money today, and it was still only the first day of the festival.

“So sweet!”

“It’s delicious. Thank you very much, Sir Rekka.”

“It’s been decorated with chocolate, I see.”

“H-Hmph! I won’t be bribed by something like this.”

In general, it seemed like the chocolate bananas were a hit with the younger crowd, although the youngest among them—L—was being stubborn about admitting it for some reason.

“Ah!” Harissa suddenly yelped.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“O-Oh, um...”

“?”

I peered over wondering why Harissa had raised her voice, and I saw the cause immediately—chocolate. She’d managed to get some on her clothes. It looked like she’d accidentally touched her shirt with the hand she was holding the banana with.

“Oh, I’m sure it’ll be fine. You’ll just have to wash it when you get home later.”

“Aww, I’m sorry, Sir Rekka.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me. You’re the one who’s been doing the laundry lately, Harissa.”

When I told her not to worry, Harissa began beaming brightly. She then opened her mouth and said...

“Then since we’re doing the laundry, let’s bathe together too!”

...something completely unthinkable.

“Wh-What on earth?!”

“What? What’s the matter? We can bathe together once in a while!” Harissa repeated those unthinkable words again, lightly tilting her head.

S-Seriously, what was with this? Harissa wasn’t the type to just blurt out stuff like that... Moreover, Shirley and the others hadn’t had any reaction to it whatsoever. The looks on their faces said that they thought this was all perfectly normal... But why? Wouldn’t a huge ruckus ordinarily be breaking out right about now?

“I want to bathe with Brother Rekka too!”

“You can’t, Fam! B-But if you insist, then I’ll be joining you as well!”

The next thing I knew, Fam and Rain were at it too.

“Hey, what are you two saying?” Shirley demanded, finally showing a reaction.

My head was practically spinning. Harissa’s sudden declaration. Fam and Rain jumping on board. Everyone else’s apparent indifference to it all. The whole thing was odd... That’s it!

“Hey, uh, Shirley?”

“What is it?”

“Isn’t it weird for Harissa to be saying things like that?”

“Huh? Is it?” Shirley tilted her head.

So far, whenever I’d pointed out the oddity of a situation, something would burst with a bang and snap everyone to their senses. But when I spoke up about what Harissa had said, nothing changed. Was I wrong? Was that not the oddity? No, something definitely wasn’t right with her... Could it be I’d just put my finger on the wrong thing?

“What is it then...?” I unwittingly murmured out loud as I scrutinized Harissa.

“I-Is something the matter?” she asked, faltering under my sudden staring.

She was wearing hand-me-downs I’d given to her, which she’d taken a liking to wearing on her days off recently for some reason. There was nothing strange in particular about her appearance, so what was the catch?

“Hmph! Brother Rekka! How long are you going to keep staring? Let’s go already!”

“Huh? Wah!”

An impatient Fam gave a good hard yank on my arm to motivate me suddenly, making me lose my balance. I fell straight forward on top of Harissa.

“Kyah!”

“S-Sorry!”

I quickly tried to get off of her, but I noticed something strange. I won’t say where exactly, but... Was it possible...?

“Harissa, have you turned into a guy?”

“Huh? S-Sir Rekka...?”

Bang!

The ridiculous sound rang out to confirm my guess. I knew it. Once I touched her—and again, I won’t say where—I’d figured it out instantly.

Phew, that meant I had three oddities down. I only had one more to go, but finding it would have to wait. I suddenly had a much bigger problem on my hands.

“REKKA!”

Once I’d pointed out the oddity and the spell was broken, Harissa returned to being a girl and everyone else returned to their senses... meaning they were all furious at me for touching her.

▽

I fled into the school building to get away from the angry girls.

“Hahh... At least... hahh... there’s only one oddity left...”

“Right.”

R confirmed what I already knew as I tried to catch my breath. Once I had calmed down enough... I sighed once again.

“So the culprit can even change someone’s gender?”

It seemed like nothing was out of bounds with this enemy.

“But Harissa made a cute boy, didn’t she? Although, her being a boy would be troublesome in terms of my mission.”

“...Yeah.”

“Anyway, that only leaves one more oddity. How about you stop complaining already and get your butt to your class?”

“Understood.”

At R’s urging, I slapped my hands against my knees and stood up. Remotivated, I started walking towards my own classroom. It was already past two o’clock. It was nearly three, actually. If all the oddities were planted with the people I knew, then the last one surely had to be with Satsuki and the others. There wouldn’t be an issue if I found it, but... No, there was no point in thinking about that anymore.

When I got there, I entered our classroom which had been rebranded as “Maid Cafe Vampire” for the festival.

“Welcome!” all the girls shouted as I stepped inside.

I was surprised by their perfectly coordinated greeting.

“Ah, if it isn’t Rekka!”

Then one girl in particular jumped out from the crowd to greet me personally. It was Iris. The uniforms for the cafe were inspired by both vampires and maids, so the somewhat gothic outfit had a great deal of emphasis on the color black. I had seen what the maids wore at Rosalind’s mansion plenty of times before, but this was different. It suited Iris quite nicely.

“Well? Am I cute?” she asked, twirling around elegantly as she held her skirt.

“Yeah, really cute.”

“Yay!” she cheered, her twintails bobbing up and down as she bounced in joy.

“Hmph, it’s an outfit of my own design, after all. Of course it would be cute.”

That was where Rosalind chimed in, speaking proudly of her handiwork. She was also wearing the cafe uniform, which naturally looked quite good on her too.

“Rekka,” Satsuki then called out. “Come have a seat over here.”

“Ah, sorry. I shouldn’t stand in the doorway and block traffic.”

At her prompting, I took a seat. Maid Cafe Vampire seemed to be relatively successful, with a fair amount of customers still around even past peak hours.

“Wh-What would you like to order, m-master?”

“Hm?”

Satsuki was asking for my order with a bright red face, so I tried to laugh it off to reassure her.

“It’s all right. You don’t have to treat me as a customer too. Isn’t it embarrassing?”

“I-It is, but that’s not...”

“Hm?”

I’d seen her blushing when greeting customers earlier, so I’d assumed she was having the same trouble with me... Was I wrong?

“She’s probably just embarrassed about calling you master,” R said with a sigh from where she was watching in the air.

“?”

I mean, my guess wasn’t that far off... Why did she seem so exasperated with me? Whatever. For now, I ordered a drink.

“C-Coming right up.”

With her face still red, Satsuki left the table to fetch my order. When she walked away, both Iris and Rosalind approached the table where I was sitting.

“Rekka, have a chat with me!” Iris cooed.

“Um, are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah! It’s almost my break, anyway.”

“Fancy that,” added Rosalind. “It’s almost my break as well.”

The two of them then took seats next to me.

“I worked reeeally hard today, you know? I wish you’d been here to see it, Rekka!”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I had patrol duty and all that,” I said, pointing to my armband as an excuse.

“There were sooo many customers! We were sooo busy!”

“And it was all thanks to me,” huffed Rosalind as she crossed her legs and leaned back smugly in her chair.

“You did put a lot of effort into helping out with the cafe, setup and all.”

“Hmph, it was nothing.”

While the words coming out of her mouth were more modest than usual, her expression was still as proud as ever. I wished she would use that passion in her regular school life... At least, that’s what I was about to tell her. But when I realized I wasn’t particularly passionate about school either, I had to hold my tongue.

“Hey, you two! What are you slacking off for?” Satsuki returned, carrying my juice drink on a silver tray, and scolded Iris and Rosalind on sight.

“But it’s already break time!”

“Our break starts at three, you know? There are still three minutes left on shift.”

“Gosh, Satsuki. You’re always suck a stick in the mud.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“You should have more... Now, what was the word again? Chill, I believe? It won’t kill you to relax a little.”

“Not you too, Rosalind...”

The three girls went at each other noisily. Before I knew it, Maid Cafe Vampire was starting to sound just like our typical classroom. Y’know, business as usual. And with that feeling came...

“Why is that guy hogging all the maids to himself?”

“I can’t believe that blonde tsundere loli girl is already falling for him. No matter how you look at it...”

“Huh, is she? I can’t see anything through my tears...”

“Hey, wasn’t that guy with two other hotties earlier at Nozo-mini? Not to mention the little girls that surrounded him outside.”

“Argh! I’m losing my will to live! The world is so unfair!”

Yup, all the other guys in class were glaring daggers at me.

“Wherever Rekka goes, carnage is sure to follow, it seems,” said R.

I calmly sipped my juice as I wished for mercy.

“But, hmm...”

I had been observing the girls for a while, but I hadn’t spotted anything odd with the three of them yet. Maybe it was something that couldn’t be “spotted,” per se? Based on what had happened with Harissa earlier, I couldn’t write off the possibility...

Satsuki and Iris were one thing, but maybe there was something going on with Rosalind? After all, there was that incident a month ago where she’d grabbed me and I’d felt a little more than I expected... Wait, what am I thinking about?! I was supposed to be trying to find the oddity here, not staring at breasts.

I shook my head and checked myself. I tried to get back on track, but I still couldn’t see or find anything odd.

“Well... What do you think? It’s my first time wearing this myself, but don’t you think I look quite stylish even dressed as a servant?” Rosalind inquired, shooting me a rather flirtatious look all of a sudden.

My heart skipped a beat as I went speechless for a moment.

“Well, Rekka? Does it strike you?” she said expectantly, recrossing her legs.

Though Rosalind’s appearance was childlike, she was a vampire. She could be intensely bewitching at times like these. Not that I would ever say that out loud...

“Um, well, yeah... I think you look cute too.”

“Hmph, that’s not what I was hoping you would say at all,” Rosalind replied before leaning forward in her chair to get closer to me. “Do I have to call you master too to get what I want?”

She lifted my chin with a twist of her finger and met my gaze. Our faces were so close that I thought she was just about to kiss me, when...

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Satsuki and Iris both raged.

“I can’t believe how... how... how Rekka you are! You clueless jerk!” Satsuki fumed, grabbing me by the collar and shaking me furiously.

“And you, Rosalind! Don’t you dare try to steal a march on him right in front of us!”

“I don’t want to hear that from you, little Miss ‘I Kidnapped Rekka and Dragged Him to an Amusement Park in Space!’”

Iris and Rosalind both dramatically put one foot up on a chair and leaned in, glaring at each other as explosive tension mounted between them.

“Hey, um, I’m sorry to interrupt, ladies, but... Your shift is over now. Would you mind changing so the next maids can use the outfits?”

Unable to just sit by as things escalated further, one of our classmates intervened by calling out to Satsuki and the other girls. I looked at the clock to see it was already past three. It was time for their break, but...

“No way! Today’s the day I show this babyface my true power!”

“Hah! I’d like to see you try, little girl!”

Iris and Rosalind weren’t budging at all. And while they were going at it, Satsuki was still trying to shake me to death.

“You’re always like this, Rekka! I’m the only one you didn’t compliment in the maid outfit too... Ooh, I’m so mad!”

It was like she was completely oblivious to everything else. She just kept shaking and shaking and shaking... Wait a minute.

“H-Hey, uh, Satsuki?”

“What?!”

“It’s already three, you know?”

“I don’t care about my break right now!”

Aha! That was it! There was no mistaking it. And it wasn’t just Satsuki, but Iris and Rosalind too. It was already three o’clock, but not one of them had said a word yet.

“Then I guess we’re calling off our date to go around and see the festival together?”

We’d had an agreement to meet at three when they got off their shift. And no matter how heated things got between them, there wasn’t any way Satsuki, Iris, and Rosalind would ever forget about it.

Bang!

There went that bursting sound again.

“...Wuh?”

“...Huh?”

“...What?”

Suddenly, the three of them had blank looks on their faces like their rage had instantly evaporated.

“That’s right, Rekka! We’re going to eat crepes right this minute! Let’s leave these two in the dust!”

“What are you talking about, Satsuki?! Rekka is going to see the bands play in the gymnasium with me!”

“Hold it, you two! Rekka is most certainly going to sample the new products at the mobile bakery in the parking lot behind the school building with me!”

In no time at all, the three of them were back to their usual bickering over me. Actually, wait a second... How was this really any different than before? They were just as fired up, including Satsuki being wound a little tighter than normal.

Well, all that really meant was that I’d get dragged around even more than usual as we went around campus... But eventually, at last, the first day of the school festival came to a relatively uneventful end.

▽

When I finally got home that night, I fell straight onto my bed the moment I got to my bedroom.

“Man, I’m totally wiped out... That was way more work than I thought it’d be.”

I mean, I’d expected to be tired at the end of the day, but the day had turned out to be much longer and much more trying than I had anticipated. After all the unexpected nonsense, I was dead tired. And today was only day one... Would I even live through tomorrow?

For day two, the plan was to go visit the Juumonji High part of the festival and see what I could do to help out there as an emissary of the festival committee. I’d already promised to meet up with Hibiki and the others in the morning, but now I wasn’t sure I’d ever make it.

“...”

As my thoughts turned to tomorrow, I reached into my uniform pocket and grabbed the note. After what had gone down today, it now read...

Dear Rekka Namidare,

Congratulations! You cleared the game.

Maybe you’ll actually live up to all my expectations?

Yours sincerely.

I’d been pretty vigilant all day, so the chances that anyone had swapped notes on me were low. But what? Did that mean the note had changed on its own? Either way, I’d ended up searching the whole school even after clearing the challenge just to be sure, but I never found a bomb. Maybe it had been a false alarm all along, but there was still something freaky going on.

“I wonder what the point of all this was...”

That was still puzzling me. Who was the culprit behind the letter? Why had they done this? There were too many unanswered questions, but I was way too tired to come up with any answers tonight.

“I’ll discuss it with Hibiki tomorrow...”

With that, I got up from bed and went to take a bath. Not with Harissa, mind you. Just so we’re clear, okay?