Chapter 46: Volume 2 - CH 3.1

The days of festival preparation passed by at a dizzying pace. It was surprisingly exciting to be swept up in all kinds of troubles, big and small, but that period eventually came to an end.

Finally it was the 30th of October. The Halloween Cultural Festival greeted its first day.

“Hey guys, the day has finally come!”

A Jack O’Lantern was calling out in the middle of the classroom, which had been converted into a coffee shop. Obviously, that was Namase. Today, all students were obliged to do Halloween-related cosplay, so he was dressed like that.

By the way, for some reason, they prepared a priest’s outfit for me. Apparently, my setting was an exorcist who came to exorcise demons.

“There might be trouble later, but we’ll get through it together! We’re gonna open up the shop!” At his signal, the coffee shop opened.

The thought of this event finally happening made me feel a little uplifted, too.

“Hey, there, priest.” As soon as the store opened, someone called out to me.

When I turned around, there was a demon girl with very revealing clothes. She had horns that sprouted out her head and a short dress that showed off her shoulders and thighs. On her back were a pair of bat-like wings.

It was Yuzu in cosplay.

“There you are, demon. Foolish of you to show yourself before me.”

“I’m not a demon, I’m a vampire.”

I showed her the cross around my neck, but the vampire didn’t look intimidated and proudly stuck out her chest.

I could see the cleavage of her breasts from the low neckline; she was quite well-endowed.

“What do you think? Isn’t it cute? It’s cute, right?” Yuzu showed off her outfit to me.

“Isn’t it…a little too revealing? I’m not sure where to put my eyes.”

When I averted my gaze that was about to be sucked into the cleavage of her breasts, Yuzu smiled nastily as if she had found an interesting toy.

“Oh-oh? For a priest, you seem to be full of evil thoughts, Yamato-kun. does it make you nervous to look at me?”

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She hit the bullseye but I couldn’t simply admit it, so I stared at her while gritting my teeth.

“Shut up. By the way, you’re supposed to attract customers, aren’t you? If you go there dressed like that, you’ll get tangled up with strange men. And it’s cold out there.”

I justified my point, but for some reason, Yuzu remained composed.

“Hmm. In other words, you don’t want other men to see me dressed like this. Yamato-kun, you’re jealous.”

“How did you interpret it to become that?!”

When I denied it with all my might, Yuzu brought a spare cloak and hat that she had left in a corner of the classroom.

“You’re stubborn to admit it. Then I’ll let you choose one for me, Yamato-kun. If you admit to being jealous here, I’ll stop dressing up as a vampire and put on a less revealing witch costume. If you don’t admit it, I will stay this way. So, what now?” Yuzu happily confronted me with the two choices.

Ignoring her words, I opened the classroom window slightly. Immediately, the cold wind of late October hit Yuzu.

“It’s cold!” Yuzu cowered as hard as she could and shivered from the chill.

“I told you. Use that cloak or you’ll catch a cold.”

However, Yuzu was shaking and refused to nod no matter what.

“B-but… I won’t use this cloak if Yamato-kun doesn’t admit it.”

“You suddenly push yourself to stoicism. What’s with this stubbornness?”

“Wh-who knows, just admit it already… Ah-choo!”

“All right, all right. I’m very, very jealous, okay? I don’t want other men to see you like that, Yuzu. Please, I beg you, be a witch.”

“Aw, I can’t help it then!”

The moment she heard my surrender, or rather, she already wrapped herself with the cloak as soon as I said the word ‘I beg you’.

“Yamato-kun really loves me, doesn’t he? You’re so dominant and restrictive.”

“Haha, you’re really good at being a witch. No one but a witch could have such a twisted interpretation of human kindness.”

I returned the sarcasm with a snicker, and Yuzu gave me her best smile.

“Yamato-kun is not suited to be a priest, is he? Because you lie without hesitation. The truth is that you are jealous, but you forcefully made up some other excuse to make me change my clothes. No, Father, you have to be more honest.”

“Ha-ha.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

We glared at each other with smiles on our faces–not how a couple would do..

“…Hey, the Ba-couple over there. Why don’t you get out of the way and hand out some flyers?”

When I turned around, I saw Kotani, who was dressed in a witch costume like Yuzu, looking at me with a fed-up look.

“Who’s a Ba-couple…? Oh, you look really good in your witch costume, Kotani.”

Her slender figure and the flamboyant atmosphere looked great in her black-based witch costume. At this sight, I couldn’t help but honestly voice out my thoughts and Yuzu next to me suddenly poked me in the side.

“Hey, I was hoping for a compliment like that myself. And I wanted it before Aki, if possible.”

*pokes* *pokes* Yuzu hit my side repeatedly with her index finger.

“Stop it. I just complimented you on being a witch on the inside.”

“That’s not a compliment! What the hell, you’re really messing with me!”

It was a rather big problem for Yuzu, and she was beyond angry and sullen.

“Oh, I got it! I’m sorry. Yuzu-chan is the best.”

“All right then!”

Yuzu’s mood changed 180 degrees. It was hard to know if she was a pain in the ass or an easy girl.

“What am I supposed to do now that I’ve been used to improve the relationship of this Ba-couple…?”

Before I noticed, Kotani was already staring at us with very cold eyes.

“No, that wasn’t our intention…”

“Oh, that’s enough. I can’t stand it when you two start flirting, and I’m not particularly happy when Izumi praises me in the first place.” I was about to explain, but Kotani interrupted me with a wave of her hand.

“So go ahead and hand out the flyers. And I also… will go find the one I want to receive compliments from.”

“Kotani…”

At Kotani’s slightly embarrassed words, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

“Well, I’ll take your word for it. Let’s go, Yamato-kun. Be my bodyguard so I don’t get hit on by any strange people.” Yuzu pulled me by the hand and walked out of the classroom.

I held the flyers that were on the table and followed her.

“So Kotani has decided not to give up,” I muttered to myself as I walked out into the hallway.

It was noisy in the school, which was already crowded with customers, but my words seemed to have reached Yuzu properly, and she smiled slightly.

“Yeah. We have to thank Hiiragi-san for that. Aki, I think she has properly calmed down..” As she said that, Yuzu’s face was a complicated mix of regret and delight.

I patted her witch hat.

“That’s not all, is it? You guys also contributed to that.” I encouraged her and she shyly grinned.

“Yeah, I know. Everyone was busy with the festival, but they were still trying to stay connected. I’m sure there are some things that came out of that…”

Hina providing an outlet for Kotani to vent her feelings was merely a trigger. What held Kotani from drifting away was the bond that existed between them.

“…Hey.”

Then suddenly, Yuzu looked serious for a moment.

“What is it?”

“Yamato-kun, with that friend you had failed to—nuh-uh, it’s nothing.” In the middle of her words, Yuzu shook her head.

“Yuzu?”

When I questioned her, Yuzu’s earlier seriousness dissipated and she broke into a smile.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it. Let’s hand out the flyers as soon as possible. Yamato-kun would also like to have a date with me as long as possible, wouldn’t he?”

“No, it doesn’t have to be that long…Well, there’s nothing better than getting the job done early.”

I nodded, and Yuzu smiled.

“Yamato-kun, you’re really not honest.”

“You are so hard to please.”

And so we began our work.