Volume 2 - CH 17

“Yuuri-senpai, this is a haunted house! Let’s go in here next!”

As promised, Yoshi-chan and I are going around the festival together. She was very excited to experience a high school festival for the first time. As proof of this, she reacts to every exhibit she sees and says, “I want to go in here! I want to be in here!”

Her reaction made me smile, and it reminded me of when I was a first-year student myself, and I felt nostalgic.

“Hmmm. It was kind of a cheap haunted house, wasn’t it?”

As soon as we got out of the haunted house, Yoshi-chan expressed her harsh opinion with her arms folded.

“The haunted house was made by a high school student. I think that’s the limit, right?”

“My plan was to pretend to be scared and hug Yuuri-senpai, but that didn’t work. So please go with me to the scarier one next time.”

Her smile, so defenseless, appealed directly to my heart. Seeing that smile, I felt my heart ache.

———

After parting with Yoshi-chan, I spent the rest of the day just helping out at the costume cafe. It was a pity that Kanade and I did not have the same break, but it was a good thing that I could go around the festival with Kanade after Satoru’s confession.

Thus, our last festival, which had been a great success day after day, ended in a great success. At first, we were a little shy about dressing up in costumes, but now we are all regretting it as we go back to our school uniforms.

“It’s all over now, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yes, it is. It was the best festival ever, wasn’t it?”

“It was really great. But it was a pity that I couldn’t go around with Yuu-kun.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sorry about that, too, but we still have a big job to do. After that, let’s go around the festival together.”

“Yes! Then I’m going to go to Kozue-chan’s place as soon as possible!”

Kanade ran to Tanuki-san, who was back in her school uniform. I saw her off and went to Satoru’s place.

———

“Ugh, Yuuri. My heart is beating unbelievably hard, am I going to die like this? Here, touch it. It’s not normal.”

Satoru looked pale and asked me to touch his chest. It would be a very bad picture if a man put his hand on the chest of another man like that.

We are walking toward the schoolyard where the campfire is. There are a few extra activities going on around the campfire, and it is still going strong.

“Absolutely not. You’re not going to be okay with that now, are you?”

“It should be fine. I’ve always been like this before a match, and once the match started, I was able to open up. To tell you the truth, I’m in worse shape than before the match.”

“Satoru looks brazen, but he’s surprisingly sensitive.”

“No, I’m serious…”

While we were talking about such things, it was finally time to light the campfire. Then the countdown begins.

“Five, four, three….”

Everyone shouts along with the countdown.

“One, zero.”

“”””Woooooooooooooooooooooo!!!””””

Just as the excitement of the students reached its peak, a huge flame shot up from the campfire, illuminating the darkened schoolyard in red.

Now, Satoru’s game was about to begin. I put my hand lightly on Satoru’s shoulder. Satoru looked at me and nodded his head once as if he had made up his mind.

Unlike the Satoru of a few minutes ago, his eyes were determined.

(I guess it’s true that you can reopen your mind when it comes to a match)

When I saw Satoru’s face, I felt reassured, clapped him on the back and said, “Let’s go!” and started walking to the classroom.

———

In the classroom, lit red by the campfire light, Satoru was waiting for Tanuki-san alone, looking at the schoolyard. I, on the other hand, after letting Satoru into the classroom, went into the next classroom and hid.

Then I heard Kanade and Tanuki-san’s voices coming from the end of the hallway. They had probably arrived at the front of the classroom.

“Kozue-chan. I’m sorry I brought you here without telling you. Could you please go into the classroom by yourself, Kozue-chan?”

“What? What’s wrong? Why do I have to go into the classroom alone?”

“Please! You’ll understand when you get in there. I promise you won’t be scared or anything.”

“Okay, okay. But next time, you’ll tell me before I go in, okay?”

“Yes! Thank you.”

As soon as the conversation was over, I heard the sound of a door opening.

I went to Kanade in the hallway and kept an eye out in front of the classroom for anyone coming in until their conversation was over.

“Do you think Satoru’s confession will go well?”

“I’m sure it will.”

“I’m just a little nervous because I’m thinking of all the other possibilities.”

“Don’t worry. I can tell by looking at Kozue-chan.”

“I see…”

We didn’t talk after that, just looked around and waited for the two of them. The time was about fifteen minutes. The door opened and the two came out of the classroom. Satoru was crying. I was worried for a moment when I saw her tears, but when I saw the look on Satoru’s face, it all went away at once.

“Yuuri…… I’m going out with Tanuki-san.”

Satoru had the most charming smile ever. Seeing his face, my emotions exploded and I hugged Satoru and said, “That’s great! I called out to him. Tanuki-san, who saw that, let out a slightly excited cackle, but I tried not to let that bother me.

After sharing our joy for a little while, Kanade and I went back to the schoolyard and watched the campfire side by side.

“I’m really happy for the two of them that things turned out so well.”

“Yeah, when I saw that look on Satoru’s face, I was really happy too.”

“I’m really happy too. Kozue-chan was a little embarrassed, but she looked really happy.”

When I looked at the expression on Kanade’s face next to me, she looked really happy. There are times when Kanade always seems to put others before herself. When she is happy, she is happy with them, and when they are hurt, she is kind and supportive.

I want Kanade to be happy from the bottom of my heart.

And I want to be the one to make her happy.