You can read ahead up to 70 chapters on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/GGS6395
Indeed, considering Sylvia's scheduled appearance at the Daihasei Festival, this year's event was bound to be fraught with problems.
Sylvia's fanbase spanned the globe, encompassing people of all ages and genders. In terms of sheer numbers, it dwarfed even the Roman Catholic Church, which boasted two billion followers. If all those fans converged on Academy City, it would be practically impossible to accommodate them.
Therefore, restricting entry became an absolute necessity.
However, even with entry restrictions in place, complacency was out of the question.
At the very least, the fans who managed to enter Academy City would undoubtedly wander around, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of the world's first famous idol. They might even congregate in specific locations.
For example, Sylvia's school, dormitory, or company.
If this causes traffic jams or even chaos, it would be counterproductive.
Therefore, this year's Daihasei Festival will be significantly more challenging.
But Fang Li didn't feel apologetic.
"Isn't this actually a good thing for Academy City?"
Fang Li spread his hands and spoke.
"By restricting entry, wealthy individuals will undoubtedly be willing to pay a premium for entrance tickets. Increased foot traffic will boost business and trade during the Daihasei Festival by several ranks. Considering the other benefits, there's no way anyone would complain."
Speaking of which, we must mention the Daihasei Festival itself.
It was the annual grand sports festival held in Academy City.
Sports festivals were an indispensable part of every school's calendar.
And with over 80% of Academy City's population being students and a vast number of facilities dedicated to education, a city-wide sports festival would naturally be an unprecedented spectacle.
The excitement even surpassed that of the School Festival in War-Academy City.
After all, even War-Academy City had only six academies, while Academy City boasted countless schools.
To coordinate schedules, Academy City unified all school sports festivals into a single event: the seven-day Daihasei Festival, held across the entire city and open to all students within Academy City.
Unlike ordinary sports festivals, the Daihasei Festival attracts over 1.8 million participants, and all events are contested by Espers, with the use of superpowers permitted during competitions.
Consequently, the Daihasei Festival is not only one of the few special days Academy City opens its doors to the public each year, allowing student parents to attend, but it also permits live television broadcasts, drawing viewership comparable to the World Cup.
Furthermore, during the Daihasei Festival, various schools set up stalls and shops, engaging in all sorts of businesses. Major corporations use the event to promote their latest products and most advanced technologies. Combined with Academy City's goal of attracting students from outside the world, the more lively the Daihasei Festival, the greater the benefits for everyone in Academy City.
Therefore, as Fang Li said, with Sylvia, the world's first famous idol, as the main attraction, this year's Daihasei Festival would be unprecedentedly lively, while also bringing unprecedented benefits to Academy City.
"Just borrowing her name alone has yielded such results. We should be grateful we didn't have to pay her. Complaining now would be unreasonable, wouldn't you agree?"
Hearing Fang Li's words, Fukiyose Seiri frowned but couldn't refute him.
"Forget it," she said, clenching her fist and turning to Fang Li. "No matter what, we have to make the Daihasei Festival a success. And we don't have much time left to prepare."
Today was September 1st, the first day of the new school year.
The Daihasei Festival was scheduled to begin on September 19th and last until September 25th, spanning a full seven days.
In other words, less than three weeks remained until the start of the Daihasei Festival.
In less than three weeks, the Daihasei Festival would begin.
Before then, Sylvia would also return.
Unaware of the slight anticipation stirring in Fang Li's heart, Fukiyose Seiri slapped him hard on the back.
"Stop daydreaming! You're one of the few combat-capable students in our class. I hear you're a tough fighter, and clearly your athletic ability isn't lacking either. Don't slack off during the festival!"
With that, Fukiyose Seiri turned and rejoined the crowd, chatting with the others.
Fang Li shook his head with a wry smile, then turned to look at the three idiots.
"Ugh..."
"I can't..."
"Let me sleep for a bit..."
Fang Li saw the three idiots slumped over their desks, as if they had burned themselves out.
He was momentarily stunned, then it dawned on him.
"You guys haven't been working on your summer homework since yesterday, have you? All through the night?"
At his words, the three idiots shuddered.
Clearly, Fang Li had guessed right.
"I knew it," Fang Li said without a trace of sympathy. "With your level of stupidity, you'd definitely overindulge during summer vacation and only realize you hadn't done your homework when you got back to Academy City, forcing you to cram at the last minute."
Ever since the three idiots had gone into the mountains to catch Rhinoceros Beetles and sent him photos to make him jealous, Fang Li had predicted this outcome.
Unfortunately, Fang Li had underestimated someone's misfortune.
Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce immediately began to complain.
"We should have been back in Academy City early! We could have finished our summer homework perfectly according to plan, meow!"
"But some kind of traffic accident happened halfway, and we got stuck in traffic until nightfall! Damn it!"
Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce pointed tearfully at someone, speaking in unison.
"This must be Kami-yan's curse of misfortune at work!"
This statement made Kamijou Touma jump to his feet.
"Shut up, you comedy duo! Do you think Kamijou-san only had this much misfortune during summer vacation?!"
Kamijou Touma shouted.
"Kamijou-san came home to find his house overflowing with all sorts of souvenirs Father had bought from who-knows-where. His room was piled high with them, leaving no space for his bed. He had to sleep on the sofa, but a broken window left him freezing all night. The next day, furious, he carried all the souvenirs out of the house, intending to burn them at the dump. But nearby, a museum hosting an international exhibition was reportedly attacked by terrorists. When police on patrol saw Kamijou-san carrying a pile of what looked like artistic souvenirs, they suspected he was a terrorist. They took him to the station for questioning and handed him over to a group of fanatical religious zealots who kept asking, 'Are you the one who stole the Original Grimoire?'... an unfathomable mystery that nearly led to Kamijou-san being tortured. He barely managed to clear his name. Compared to all that, getting caught in the rain while trying to catch a rhinoceros beetle in the mountains or getting stuck in traffic on the way back to school was nothing at all!"
Kami-yan's tearful shouting silenced all the students, who turned to Kamijou Touma with looks of sympathy and pity.
Even Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Aogami Pierce fell silent, merely patting Kamijou Touma on the shoulder in consolation.
Meanwhile, Fang Li had already turned and walked away.
"...Let's just pretend we didn't hear anything..."
(End Of This Chapter)