A few days passed as we each dealt with our own thoughts and feelings, and the first day of the culture festival arrived. Ura ended up coming to the festival after all; he was absent for two more days after his initial absence, but he finally came back the day the festival began. Well, to be more precise, it was less like he came to school and more like he was escorted by me.
“Y-You got that, Momo? You’re gonna help me smooth things over with the class and shield me from their cold stares, right?!”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it...”
Ura followed me down the hallway at school, looking quite frightened. It’d been like this ever since we met up at a convenience store near the school.
Before I left for school this morning, Ura contacted me. The message was long, and its tone was high handed, but to sum it all up, it basically said, “I’m afraid of coming to school by myself, so please come along with me.”
There was no way I could refuse that kind of request. Still...I’m not sure how to feel about this. I mean, I’m glad that he came back to school, but part of me was hoping for a more touching turn of events... Like, right when his classmates were in a pinch with the attraction and starting to think, “Damn it, if only he were here at a time like this!” Ura would swoop in and save the day. Who would have thought that he’d just end up asking me to accompany him to school... Then again, it is just like Ura to do something like this...
“...You look like you have something you want to say.”
“Not really.”
“Hmph. Be grateful. I wasn’t planning on coming to this stupid event, but...you and my mom were being annoying about it, so I didn’t have any choice but to come.”
“Yeah, I know. Thanks for showing up, Ura.”
“...Bah. Shut up.” Perhaps Ura wanted to hide how embarrassed he was, because I felt a fist lightly punch me in the back. And with that, the two of us continued up the stairs and headed toward our classrooms.
Now that it was the morning of the school culture festival, the floor for the first-year students was filled with vibrant decorations, and all the classes were decorated to match their attractions. Although there were already many students, no one from outside the school had shown up yet. It might have been because of the atmosphere of the festival, but everyone was a little restless.
After I briefly showed my face in my classroom, I took Ura to his.
“O-Oh man, what should I do? What if the class gets mad and decides to kill me?”
“Don’t worry. It’ll probably be okay.”
“Momo... Just in case things go wrong, can I say that this all happened because you ordered me to do it?”
“Ha ha ha... Yeah, no.”
The attraction for Ura’s class was a maid cafe. Despite being first years, they seemed to really be putting a lot of effort into it.
The entrance to their classroom was a life-size drawing of an anime maid. I peeked into the classroom from the side of the anime maid, and just when I was wondering how I should break the ice...
“Oh! Urano-kun!”
...a girl in his class shouted when she noticed Ura hiding behind me. With that, many of the students in the classroom became aware of Ura’s presence.
“No way! Ura came?”
“Really? Oh wow, he really did!”
“Hey, it’s Urano! Long time no see!” Many of the students rushed up and surrounded him.
“Urano, have you already gotten better?”
“You had a mysterious fever? Wow, that sucks.”
“We’re all set with the preparations, so you don’t have to worry.”
“Yeah, that’s right. The instructions you sent us really helped out.” Everyone was warm and inviting as they approached Ura. Apparently, Ura had become closer to and more beloved by his class than I’d thought. It also seemed like Ibusuki’s lie about him having an unexplainable fever hadn’t been found out.
Though Ura was overwhelmed by this warm reception, he somehow managed to keep up with them. I started to think that I wasn’t needed here, and I was just about to leave, but...
“Hey, wait a second.” A stern voice reverberated through the room and cut through the welcoming mood. A group of boys and girls came out of the classroom and approached us. “Isn’t everyone going a little too easy on him?”
The one standing at the head of the group and looking down at Ura was a guy who, I believe, was called Obayashi. I had never talked to him before; he was tall, on the soccer team, and, well, the kind of extrovert who was at the center of his class. “Are you all forgetting how much trouble we had because this guy was gone for three days?”
“Yeah! That’s right! It was really tough.”
“We had to stay so long after school yesterday.” The hangers-on around Obayashi agreed with what he said. Beneath the stares of these extroverts, Ura bit his lip.
“I-I’m sorry. I’m sorry I caused you trouble,” Ura apologized as his voice trembled.
“Nope, we can’t forgive you.” Obayashi and his friends shook their heads. “Just saying you’re sorry doesn’t mean anything. That’s why...you’re going to have to be punished, Urano.”
“P-Punished?” Ura shuddered, and before he knew it, Obayashi’s friends had surrounded him. Then, they gave Ura his punishment...
⚘
“Urano came to school?!” I couldn’t help shouting even though I was by myself.
I was outside the school building because a notice from the planning committee said the area for collecting burnable trash had suddenly changed; I was checking out the new location when I got a text from Rin and Mai, who were in the classroom at the time. The text said that Urano had come to school.
“...” I started running to make my way to the classroom. I didn’t have to stop and think about it.
He came to school... Urano actually came to school!
A lot of thoughts were swirling around in my head, but I was mostly just grateful and relieved.
Thank goodness! I thought that Urano wouldn’t come.
My feelings were a mess, and I didn’t know what I’d say when I saw him. However, for now, I was just happy that he’d come. I want to see Urano. I want to see him and have a proper conversation with him.
I changed shoes at the entrance and hurried to my class. However, on my way there...
“Eek!”
“Whoa!”
I was in so much of a hurry that I ran straight into a girl who was coming toward me, and we both fell on our bottoms.
“Ow... Oh, I’m sorry, are you all right?” I rubbed my bottom as I stood up and extended my hand. I wasn’t sure whom I was speaking to, so I tried to be as respectful as I could.
The person who had fallen over was dressed in a maid outfit, which wasn’t too weird considering that today was the day of the festival. There did seem to be other classes who were also doing a maid cafe as their attraction, after all. Wait...huh? I feel like I’ve seen this maid outfit somewhere before...