Chapter 1
November, Year 2 of ES. Star House Living Room.
Hmm…
(‘S no good. I’ve already been checkin’ social media sites for almost an hour.)
(I’ve searched ‘n searched, but I’m comin’ up with nothin’.)
(But if the solution was easy, then I wouldn’t be this worried ‘bout it.)
(Handlin’ this alone is useless. Should I get some help from Rinne-han or HiMERU-han?)
(For better or worse, they’re actually good at thinkin’. Maybe they’ll find the answer.)
(…No, that won’t work. This situation’s got nothin’ to do with Crazy:B.)
(It doesn’t even hafta do with a job in the first place. It’s a completely personal problem.)
…As expected, this is somethin’ I gotta figure out on my own.
That said…
Hello, Oukawa-kun ♪
Huh? …Oh, is that Shino-han? Good to see ya.
You’re in a pretty good mood, ya know?
Oh, you can tell?
Lucky guess. Did somethin’ good happen?
Ehehe… Yes actually.
A little bit ago, everyone from Ra*bits was doing some lessons… We were making pretty good progress and doing well, so we finished earlier than usual.
So Tomoya-kun suggested that all of us go to the general store I had been interested in. Fufu. It was so much fun…♪
Ooh. Y’all over in Ra*bits seem to get along pretty well.
Whenever Crazy:B gets together, Rinne-han always brings in some sorta trouble or makes some silly remark that makes me want to punch him.
O-oh, is that so?
Yup. Just the other day, Rinne-han and Niki-han were havin’ an argument over some nonsense.
Niki-han had ordered some sweets for his blog ‘bout a year ago, and Rinne-han went ‘n decided to eat all of ‘em without permission, or somethin’ like that.
If ya take food from Niki-han, it's almost like he turns into some sorta beast, ya know? Even though both me and HiMERU-han were tryna stop him, it wasn’t easy.
Ahaha. Just hearing about it makes it sound difficult…
Yup. Though, I’m jealous Ra*bits doesn’t act like that.
Honestly, from what I can see, I’d say Crazy:B has a close relationship too. You all being close enough to fight like that is its own relationship, I think.
…Well, I guess despite disagreein’ sometimes, it’s not a hostile environment overall.
But, the problem right now isn’t Crazy:B… Sighhh
……
Umm, I know it’s not really my business.
But are you bothered by something, Oukawa-kun…?
It just seemed like you were, so I wanted to say something.
What happened? Was it something like a fight with somebody…?
…Oh, so ya noticed. Sorry to worry ya.
N-no. It was my fault for noticing in the first place…
It’s a public space anyways, so you’re not at fault for just passin’ by, Shino-han.
Anyways, you can rest easy. It wasn’t a fight.
Oh, alright. That’s good…
Forgive me for phrasin’ it confusingly. But…
Honestly, ES Academy… Ah, let’s just call it Reimei Academy to be less confusin’, alright?
Recently, I resumed attendin’ school… But after my extended absence, somethin’ troublin’ came up.
Something troubling?
Yup. That is…
A flashback. A few days ago, Reimei Academy.
(‘S been a while since I’ve attended school like this.)
(While I did get back to classes, bein’ so busy with one thing or another kept me from comin’ in.)
(Maybe Rinne-han and HiMERU-han were concerned ‘bout me, so they moved ‘round my work schedule.)
(So that’s prob’ly how I was able to come today, but… The classroom seems unusually noisy.)
(Everyone’s pretty cheerful, or maybe they’re all just unusually excited ‘bout somethin’.)
(No, somethin’ ‘bout the atmosphere feels a bit tense. I might be imaginin’ things but…)
(Maybe somethin’ happened while I was absent. I s’pose askin’ is the fastest way ta find out then…)
Hey, d’ya have a bit?
The classroom feels oddly excited, did somethin’ happen?
Oh, I guess you wouldn’t know since you’ve been absent. The school has decided to hold a cultural festival pretty soon here.
A cultural festival?
(Is a cultural festival one of those things with food stalls and haunted houses?)
(Reimei Academy is pretty closed-off, so this event shoulda been somethin’ pretty new to everyone.)
(Well, the school did get integrated into ES Academy, so all the organizational structure changed. I wonder if that’s what caused this change too?)
(A cultural festival… Great, that feels like a real school event, so I’ve been curious ‘bout it for a while.)
(Technically while on the Megasphere, I experienced a cultural festival, but that’s gotta be different from the real thing.)
(I never thought I’d experience something like this, like a real student…♪)
So, d’ya mean our class is gonna put on a program or somethin’?
Ah, yeah we made the decision yesterday. But we chose to do a maid cafe.
(A maid cafe… settin’ aside the maid part, this’s got the feelin’ of a proper cultural festival.)
So you mean we’re gonna be cross dressin’ ‘n servin’ customers?
Yeah… But that’s causing some conflict now.
Conflict? …That’s not good, what happened?
Well…
The class is currently split between those who think cross dressing will be fun, and those who don’t.
Originally, doing a maid cafe was our second pick. But to keep it balanced between classes, we didn’t get our first pick…
So now everyone who originally hated the idea is speaking out about it…
Ah, I see…
(Makes sense why I felt the conflictin’ atmospheres of excitement and subtle tension.)
But if the program was already decided this way to keep balance between the classes, then it’ll be pretty difficult to change anythin’ now, right?
Yeah. The people who don’t like it just have to put up with it now.
It’s not like there’s a program that satisfies everyone. There’s just no way, you know?
……
(Sure, I wouldn’t voluntarily think of cross dressin’. But…)
(I finally get to participate in a cultural festival like a real student. So I’m gonna do everythin’ I can to enjoy it.)
(But with the atmosphere of the class all tense like this, that’ll be difficult…)
(It’d be great for everyone to participate ‘n have a good time.)
(Dunno if I could come up with a solution, since I haven’t had a proper school life ‘n all…)
(But…)
(There’s nothin’ to lose after all. Guess I’ll take a swing at it.)