Day after frantically busy day passed by, and before I knew it, the time had arrived. October was just about Oct-over, and the cultural festival was here! It felt like it had barely taken any time at all to get here, weirdly enough, even though it had seemed like we had all the time in the world back when we first started planning.
Class 2-A’s performance was scheduled for Saturday, the first day of the festival. We all showed up bright and early, all wearing the T-shirts we’d had specially made for the event. I’d heard that the point of school uniforms was to instill a sense of belonging in a student body, and in a strange sort of way, those matching T-shirts accomplished that effect way more than any uniform I’d ever worn. I could really feel the solidarity in the classroom that morning.
Everyone knew exactly what they’d be doing up until and throughout our performance. The performers—Yuna, Rinka, and Makina—would stick around in the classroom to change into and make any final adjustments to their outfits, put on makeup, and head over to the music room around lunchtime to warm up their voices. After that, it’d be time for the real deal.
The rest of the people involved in the show proper—the musicians, the announcer, and the ones who’d help manage the event overall—would apparently be working right up until the last minute to make sure everything went off without a hitch. Most of the people who were left over were split up into two groups, with the majority of the boys standing by around the stage to act as security, just in case, and the girls standing by to sell the merch we’d made after the show was over.
And as for me...
“Good luck, Hazama! This is a really important job, but I know you can do it!” said our class rep.
“Y-Yeah...!” I apprehensively replied as I accepted a shoulder bag containing a quite expensive-looking SLR camera.
My role for the day: camerawoman. I’d be taking pictures of the show, catching as much of it on film as I could manage. People were talking about how the photos would probably end up in the yearbook and stuff, so like the class rep had said, it really was a super serious responsibility for sure!
“Oh, jeez, the pressure...” I muttered to myself. “They taught me how to use it and all, but it still seems so hard...”
“Ha ha ha! You’ll be fine, Hazama! And it’s not like you’re alone—four other people will be taking pictures too.”
“Ah, Mukai,” I said as I glanced upward. It seemed she’d noticed how anxious I was, and had decided to come over and talk to me. “Thanks again for all this, by the way.”
“It’s fine! Don’t mention it,” Mukai replied.
Mukai was, in fact, the very person who had suggested that I be one of the show’s photographers. Her opinion carried quite a bit of weight in the class these days, seeing as she was in charge of our advertising efforts, but I was sure it still must’ve been pretty hard for her to convince them to give a jobless bum like me such an important role... Mukai claimed that, in her words, “That’s not true! You were a huge help this time, and everyone said it was fine right away,” but I was pretty sure she was just being nice.
Mukai was also right: There were five people responsible for recording the performance, me included. We’d already figured out where each of us would be positioned, as well—I’d ended up on the gym’s second-floor gallery, overlooking the stage. Mukai had been nice enough to make sure I was put there, since it’d be much easier to see from an overhead perspective than it would be down in the crowd. She was so nice, it almost made me want to break down in tears!
Aside from a few people who were in charge of the lighting, only members of our class would be allowed up into the gallery during the performance. I had a feeling it was going to be a little weird looking down on everyone from on high like that, but it would definitely make it way easier to see what was happening.
“Yotsuba!”
“Hey, Yotsuba.”
“Ah!” I exclaimed. While Mukai and I were talking, Yuna and Rinka had shown up to see me—with Makina following along just a step behind them!
“Can’t wait to hear you cheer for us today,” said Yuna.
“We’ll prove you right by making this the best performance anyone’s ever seen,” added Rinka.
“Yeah! I can’t wait!” I replied. They’d kept their comments as safe and neutral as they could, since we were surrounded by our classmates, but that was fine. I understood what they were really trying to say to me. We’d talked all about it on the phone the night before, after all, and above all else, I knew that the two of them were more excited for the show than anyone. “You too, Makina—break a leg!” I added.
For a moment, Makina hesitated. “Thank you. I’ll do my best,” she finally said with a slight, awkward smile.
I found myself a little worried about her. Maybe she was just nervous? Did she get nervous?
“Are you okay, Makina?” asked Yuna.
“If you’re tired, you can feel free to rest until it’s time for us to perform,” Rinka suggested.
“No need to worry about me, thank you. I’m in perfect condition. I’ll be just fine,” Makina replied. This time, she sounded just like she always did.
Wait—is it me? Did she only sound uncomfortable because I’m the one she was talking to...?
Looking back, she’d been going out of her way to avoid making eye contact with me all throughout the conversation. It hadn’t started today, even—she’d been acting that way for quite some time now.
“Hey, Makina?” I said. “Did I...”
“Ah, sorry! I should stop by the restroom. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“...do something...” I trailed off.
Before I could even finish my question, Makina had made up an excuse and stepped out of the room. It was so obviously unnatural that Yuna, Rinka, and Mukai all cocked their heads in confusion.
“Do you...think I did something?” I asked.
“Considering this is you we’re talking about? I can’t rule it out,” said Yuna.
“Whaaat?!”
“It’s all right, Yotsuba,” Rinka interjected. “Yuna and I will be watching over Makina. You don’t have to worry about her—we have it under control.”
“You’re not denying it either...?” I groaned. As depressing as that was, I was also relieved that the two of them would be around to keep an eye on her.
Not long afterward, Yuna and Rinka were called away to prepare for the show. It was a bit of a shame, but considering that they were today’s stars, I couldn’t exactly complain.
“Ugggh...” I sighed as I leaned up against one of the classroom’s walls. Needless to say, I was still worried about Makina. In retrospect, she’d been acting a little strangely for ages. As far back as the day I met Mio on my way home from school, even. I’d just been too preoccupied with my own problems—or, really, too flustered by the memory of her kissing me—to notice. She could have dropped all sorts of hints that something was wrong that I just hadn’t been able to pick up on.
Would talking to her about it now be a good idea, though? What if it just made her more conflicted than ever? In the worst case, I was worried it could ruin her performance altogether...
“The group’s pretty close-knit these days, isn’t it?” Mukai, who was still standing beside me, commented out of the blue.
“Huh...?”
“Momose, Aiba, and Oda, I mean.”
“O-Oh, those three! I know, right? I guess that’s only natural, seeing as they’ve spent most of the past two months together. Anyone would get along after that, right?”
“Oh... Sorry, I didn’t phrase that very clearly. I guess I thought it went without saying that you were part of the group too.”
“Wait, me?” I asked.
“Yeah,” said Mukai. “It’s not that you said anything that made me feel that way—I can sort of tell just looking at the four of you. It’s your atmosphere, or something. I’m a little jealous, actually.”
“Huh?”
The last part of what Mukai had said came out so quietly, I was pretty sure that I’d misheard her...but the rest of it had given me plenty to think about anyway.
Oh, huh. If Makina and I look like we’re close, then maybe it doesn’t seem like she’s behaving strangely from an outside perspective after all?
Incidentally, I’d started calling Makina by her given name at some point along the way without really considering the potential consequences, but thankfully, my classmates had accepted it as normal without making much of a fuss about it. I’d definitely called her “Makina” all over the place by accident back during my speech at the advertising meeting, in retrospect...but Makina had told the whole class that it was fine for people to use her given name, and I guess people remembered that well enough to not read into me doing so. It was just another example of how high-level her communication skills were, or how incredibly charismatic she was, or something.
“Oh... Sorry, Hazama! I should be going now,” said Mukai.
“It’s fine,” I said with a shake of my head. “Good luck today!”
Mukai went along on her way. She wouldn’t be up onstage, but she—and everyone else, for that matter—was still as busy as could be. I didn’t have any responsibilities in particular to take care of at all until the show started...but I did have one ridiculously difficult mission that I had to pull off before then, unbeknownst to everyone. A ridiculously difficult mission that made me heave another sigh the second it crossed my mind.