If Kurumi wasn’t coming to school, I had no reason to carry out our plan. And with no strategy sessions to attend, my afternoons were pretty dull.
I’d move my desk out of the way and help with the banners or just go home. Which choice I made was largely at Tanaka’s discretion. If she called my name, I’d do the work she assigned me; if she didn’t, I’d slip out. Every day was the same.
It was two days before the festival, and my classmates had just begun their work. This time Tanaka had a task for me.
“Natsume. Sorry, but can you take this trash to the bins outside?”
“Uh, sure. No problem at all.”
“I really am sorry. I wish I could assign you to a group task, but…”
“Hmm? I’m fine working by myself.”
I meant that. Over the last week, she’d had me working with other people a lot—putting down masking tape and so on and so forth. The whole time, there’d been an awkward distance between me and my classmates that made the work feel grueling. Taking out the trash was something I could do alone, and I was grateful for it.
“…Okay, then. Thanks. We’ve got several bags full.”
“All right, I’m off.”
Hefting garbage bags like Santa Claus, I headed out to the hall.
As I opened the door, the noise hit me, along with the smell of paint. The hallway had been packed for days, but now it was even more chaotic. Some students were making elaborate art pieces on their signs, others were just goofing around with the extra boxes. One person was mass-producing paper flowers while barking orders to the rest of their group. Everyone was having a great time.
It wasn’t just a few people out here on their own, either. Whole classes were decorating the hallway outside their rooms with cardboard, 3D art, ads for crepes or bubble tea, and so on. One class was covering the lights with colored cellophane, turning that section of the hall a cheery shade of orange.
The school was really starting to look festive.
And it was about time—Saigou High was in the last stretch of preparations. There were two days left until the festival, and every class was putting the finishing touches on their work. Tomorrow there were no classes, and the whole day would be devoted to rehearsals.
Classes like ours, which were just making decorations or displays, had to finish everything and get it in place. It was all coming together.
I picked my way down the hall, stopping now and then to revel in the merriment. I was hoping I could catch some secondhand happiness along the way.
I went down the stairs to the ground floor, passed by the cafeteria, and saw festival committee members carrying out the finished welcome arch. I joined their throng and made my way to the shoe boxes at the entrance.
Shoes in hand, I moved to the front doors—then I saw someone unexpected and pulled up short.
“Is that…?”
It was the soccer team captain. He was standing near the shoe boxes.
“That’s just how it is,” said another boy. “Fall in line—and make sure the others know, too, okay?”
“…Yes, sir. Sorry.”
I’d run into the soccer captain in the same place before under very different circumstances. Today, he was talking to a third-year I didn’t recognize. The other guy was bossing him around, and the captain was bowing his head, his tone humble.
They exchanged a few more words, and then the unfamiliar upperclassman left. I waited until the soccer captain was alone.
“Hey, Iwata. How’s it going?”
“…Mm. Oh, hey, Natsume.” He raised a hand and waved to me.
“That seemed tense. Did you get in trouble?”
“Oh, nothing that bad. But I guess you should know.” Before I could ask any questions, he dropped a bombshell. “I know I told you to come by our barbeque, but we’re not doing that anymore.”
“…Huh? You aren’t? Did you decide to sell something else?”
“Oh, no, no. Our class isn’t doing a shop for the festival at all.”
The whole thing was canceled? How did that happen? I gaped at him, not following.
Realizing I didn’t understand, he started to rattle off an explanation.
“You saw that dude, right? He’s from Class 3-1. They’ve been trying to scale up their shop, so he came to us, asking to take over our equipment and location. I put off giving him an answer, so he went to our teacher instead and got his way.”
“So he just gets to take your stuff? What the hell? That makes no sense!”
“That doesn’t matter. It’s just the way it is.” The captain shrugged, like this was normal.
Class 3-1 was a good class. Why they were being so awful was a mystery, but what baffled me even more was why the captain was so calm about it all. That other class had just stolen their location and equipment! Didn’t he care?
“Just now, you were discussing giving him all your stuff, right?”
“Yep. I’m the class rep, so I was the point man.”
“And you didn’t fight back? Why just fall in line?”
“Huh? It’s not like I wanted to…” He scratched a cheek. “But there’s no use complaining. The teachers will just back the better classes.”
“……”
“You can’t fight the good students. That’s the law of our school! Ha-ha.” His smile was one of complete resignation.
I shuddered. I felt like I was seeing something inhuman and horrifying. A chill ran from the back of my heels up to the crown of my head. And following it, I broke out into a cold sweat. The clammy feeling made me nauseated, and my head began to spin.
Uh-oh. I started breathing through my mouth to calm myself down. Why was I so rattled?
I looked up, and the captain was staring at me with equal parts concern and suspicion.
“…Natsume? You okay there? What’s got you so pissed off?”
Honestly…I wasn’t sure. I wanted to ask the same thing.
Damn. My head’s swimming. I need to get it together. I gotta get out of here.
Oh, but I have to confirm something first.
“Iwata, is your class cool with not doing a shop?”
“Um, well. They said it would give us more time to enjoy the rest of the festival, so they weren’t too upset.”
…Okay. That was their choice.
If both sides agreed to it, my opinion didn’t matter.