The final hurrah of Eichou High’s cultural festival—a bonfire lit in the very center of the school courtyard as a sort of closing ceremony—was apparently a tradition that had been passed down since the school’s founding. Cultural clubs and motivated students would put on little performances, people would sing karaoke, and everyone would chow down on all the unsold leftovers from the food stalls. It was a real party all around, though it never got too out of hand. I’d also heard that some students, maybe driven by the excitement of being at school in the nighttime, would take the chance to ask each other out and stuff... Buuut attendance was completely optional, so I hadn’t participated at all during my first year at the school, naturally.
“Okay, everyone—next up, we’ve got the tag team of your dreams: a collaboration between the pop music club and the dance club!” a festival executive committee member shouted into a microphone, much to the crowd’s delight.
I was sitting a ways off from said crowd in the shadows, watching the bonfire flicker away in the distance. Next year, we’d be studying for our exams. That meant that this was the last year we’d get to take a really active role in the festival, and that was the big reason why I’d stuck around. It sort of felt like a waste to not be there for the event’s conclusion at least once. Oh, and I also still had a problem on my plate that needed solving, of course.
“Hey, Yotsuba,” Yuna said as she and Rinka walked over to me.
“We brought you a drink,” said Rinka.
“Oh... Thanks,” I replied. “Sorry I sent you guys out for them.”
“Eh, it’s fine,” Yuna said with a shrug. “I mean, we’re the ones who wore you out, right?”
“Ha ha ha...” Rinka chuckled as she awkwardly scratched her cheek.
In the end, we really did spend the whole rest of the festival, and the cleanup period, er...let’s say “losing track of time.” We didn’t look around the stalls or anything at all. What drove us to go quite that far? As best as I could tell, the same sense of not wanting to miss out that drove me to attend this closing event.
Anyway, Yuna and Rinka were doing just fine now, but I’d never had much stamina to begin with, and those meager reserves had been pushed to their limit. I opened up the plastic bottle that Yuna had handed me and took a long swig of the sports drink within. It was a little lukewarm, but still really tasty.
“I guess that’s a wrap, huh?” I said.
“That’s right,” Rinka agreed. “It’s hitting me a little harder than it did last year.”
“Same. Probably since the performance was so fun and all,” Yuna chimed in.
The two of them looked totally satisfied. From what I’d heard, they hadn’t joined in on the closing party last year either. As it turned out, that was kind of my fault—I’d raced along home at the first chance I got, and the two of them had each independently decided that it wasn’t worth sticking around if I wasn’t there. I’d only learned that when they brought it up with me just a little while ago, and while it sort of made me happy, I also felt sort of bad for causing problems for them...
“Ah, Yocchi!”
Hm? I know that nickname...!
“Akksy!” I shouted as I caught sight of her. Akane Hishimochi—Akksy—was walking toward me from the bonfire, giving me the biggest wave she could.
“Hey! I’m surprised you stayed late for this,” said Akksy.
“You too!” I replied. “I thought you’d have gone home to study for your tests!”
“Eh—I skipped the daytime part of the festival to make up for it. I’ve always liked these wrap-up parties, and as you well know, I’m basically nocturnal.”
“I didn’t know that at all, actually...”
Yup—that’s the Akksy we all know and love, all right. At first I hadn’t quite known what to make of her, but as of our third meeting, she’d reached a “trading jokes and japes with the owner” level of regular customer status in the local eatery of my mind...or actually, that might be a little much.
“Who’s this, Yotsuba?” asked Rinka.
“Oh! Umm, she’s a third-year who—”
“Geh!” Akksy squawked in incredibly loud surprise. “I-I-I-I-Is... Is th-that... A-A-Are th-th-they...th-th-the S-S-Sacrosaaaaaanct?!”
Oh. Oh, right! Akksy’s the president of the Sacrosanct fan club! And while Koganezaki’s helping manage the fan club because she wants to keep their activities reasonable and rational, Akksy’s the opposite! She’s just their super-obsessive ultra-fan, plain and simple! And that means that if she’s suddenly exposed to both of them at point-blank range, she’s basically guaranteed to lose it!
“Ahabuwabuhawgh...”
“Or maybe she’ll pass out?!”
I jumped forward to catch Akksy before she collapsed on the spot.
“U-Umm...?” said Yuna.
“I-Is she all right?” Rinka asked.
The two of them were completely bewildered by Akksy’s behavior—and, I mean, I guess they would be! The question was: How could I explain it to them?
“So...” I whispered, “maybe I should step aside for a minute, and you can just—”
“N-No! No way no how nope nope nope!” Akksy frantically babbled as she grabbed onto me, holding me in place! “Don’t leave me here, Yocchi! I can’t take this on my own! I need you here!”
“O-Ow! That hurts! Ouch!”
How’s she gripping me that strongly?! Is she getting one of those moment-of-mortal-peril adrenaline rushes right now?! She’s that against being alone with them?!
“So...”
“Yotsuba...?”
Agggh?! And now they’re both giving me that “Oh, great, you did it again” look?!
“O-Okay! I get it! I’ll stay, I’ll stay!” I shouted.
“Really...?” said Akksy. “You won’t run away if I let go? That feels like it’d be pretty in-character for you, right?”
“I can’t totally deny it, but I promise I definitely won’t run this time!”
I didn’t know why she was giving me such a distrustful, pleading stare in the first place, but for the time being, I tried to dispel her doubts with everything I had. Yuna’s and Rinka’s stares were getting painful in their own right, so there was no time to waste!