The calendar flipped to early October. Unfortunately,Japan doesn't have a National Day holiday—no week-long break for anyone. So Kuroha Akira still had to drag himself to school like usual.
No extended vacation aside, October did bring the Cultural Festival, which was basically a big deal at the high school. Scheduled for mid-October, discussions and prep work were already in full swing. The entire student body was buzzing with energy. Last time things got this lively was back in June during the Sports Festival.
The Sports Festival—basically Sports Day. Over here, Sports Day isn't divided by class. Instead, students split into Red and White teams for competitive events.
Back then, Kuroha Akira was still an ultimate background character. But following the "everyone participates" rule, Teacher Kobayashi assigned him to the tug-of-war event. His White Team ended up losing. Classic.
Anyway, the Cultural Festival operates by class. Each class submits a proposed activity to the Cultural Festival Executive Committee, and only after approval can they start prepping.
As the representative of Class 1, Grade 1, Asato Hitomi was naturally one of the key decision-makers for their class's Cultural Festival plan. But she didn't have any solid ideas yet, so she brought it up with Kuroha Akira during lunch while they ate bento boxes together.
"Akira-kun, what kind of program do you think our class should do for the Cultural Festival?"
"The Cultural Festival, huh… Honestly, anything's fine with me…"
When someone said "Cultural Festival," Kuroha Akira's brain immediately went to maid cafes. That impression was burned into his mind from all the anime he watched in his past life.
Maid outfits were pretty great. Kuroha Akira liked them a lot. Maid outfits with garter belts? Chef's kiss.
But this year's Cultural Festival wouldn't feature JK maids, which was truly a tragedy.
*JK-term for high schooler
Why? Because the Student Council had already explicitly banned all classes from opening maid cafes. Even if a class somehow got permission, they could only wear proper, ankle-length long-skirt maid outfits—nothing even remotely spicy.
Rumor had it that during previous Cultural Festivals, parents filed complaints saying the maid outfits were too revealing, risking accidental exposure, and setting a bad example.
Don't even think about even more suggestive costumes—"school swimsuit cafes" or "gym uniform cafes"—those would get rejected instantly.
Also, if maid cafes were allowed, half the classes would apply to open one, and deciding which class to approve would be a nightmare. So the Student Council just blanket-banned the whole thing.
Butler cafes where boys wear maid outfits? Those were permitted. But the boys were not having it.
Then there were haunted houses. Setting up the scenery is a huge pain, making props and costumes is super time-consuming, and cleaning up afterward is another nightmare. Very few classes bother with haunted houses, and Kuroha Akira wasn't about to volunteer as free labor either.
Next on the list: various food stalls—yakisoba, hot dogs, crepes, bubble tea. All super common, but also super ordinary and kinda boring.
The most popular options were probably dance and band performances. JKs absolutely love that stuff. But those tend to overlap with club activities.
After racking his brain with zero good ideas, Kuroha Akira suggested to the class rep,
"Why not ask Shiori? Find out what other classes are doing. It might give you some reference material."
The class rep picked up one of Kuroha Akira's favorite potato croquettes and fed it to him. While he chewed, she said,
"I already asked Shiori. Her Class 3 seems to be doing a quiz challenge."
"Oh? What's the prize?"
"I don't know… I mean, Akira-kun, we're discussing what our class should do here. Please focus."
The class rep puffed out her cheeks in mock annoyance, then stabbed a piece of broccoli and shoved it into Kuroha Akira's mouth. She knew he didn't like broccoli, so this was her idea of punishment for being distracted.
Chewing on the unwanted broccoli, Kuroha Akira looked helpless. His high school life in his past life was nothing but studying and memorizing textbooks. He'd never experienced such a rich, varied campus life. So where was he supposed to pull good ideas from?
"Alright, how about we ask Ryota? Isn't he pretty active in class? Doesn't he have any bright ideas?"
Kuroha Akira tossed the ball to Sumitomo Ryota. Since that guy was such a busybody, he must have a ton of ideas. Plus, Sumitomo Ryota's influence in the class was second only to the class rep. If he took the lead on something, most classmates would probably get on board.
"Sumitomo hasn't been focused on school lately. His group has been meeting way less often. Akira-kun, haven't you noticed the class 'buzz' has dropped a lot recently?"
"…No."
Kuroha Akira honestly hadn't been paying attention to class dynamics. He'd been buried in light novel work all last month.
"So what happened to him? Did he get a girlfriend outside of school?"
Maybe he got his heart broken and started looking for a 'substitute' for the class rep?
"Probably not. I heard he's gotten into boxing recently. He runs off to the boxing gym every day after school. I think he even quit the soccer club—and he was a rare first-year who made the starting lineup…"
"Oh? So he was in the soccer club?"
Kuroha Akira had also played soccer in his past life. Hearing that Sumitomo Ryota was in the soccer club gave him a weird sense of familiarity. Boys' friendships are always simple—playing soccer together is enough to become good buddies.
"Yes. He and Mitsui were famous members of a youth team… Ah, Mitsui is the other boy we used to play with when we were little…"
At this point, Asato Hitomi secretly watched Kuroha Akira's expression, curious whether he'd show any jealousy.
But Kuroha Akira's face remained perfectly calm.
Mainly because he'd already met the "Mitsui" the class rep mentioned. He remembered the name—Mitsui Sojiro.
Seeing no reaction at all, Asato Hitomi felt a tiny pang of disappointment. Still, she composed herself and continued, "They've been playing soccer together since they were kids. They even won the national championship in the youth division."
"Oh wow, that's impressive…"
Kuroha Akira recalled the Mitsui Sojiro he'd seen before—tall, muscular. Probably a center forward or center-back.
"Mitsui got a sports scholarship to a boys' school with a strong soccer program. He originally invited Sumitomo to go with him, but Sumitomo ended up coming to our high school instead…"
Without overthinking it, Sumitomo Ryota must have followed the class rep here. He'd had a crush on her back then.
Asato Hitomi knew the reason too, so she didn't continue that line of conversation. She didn't want to bring it up in front of Kuroha Akira.
"I didn't expect that even though you've gone your separate ways, Class Rep, you still care about them quite a bit, huh?"
It seemed the class rep still kept tabs on her childhood playmates. She was secretly paying attention.
Asato Hitomi misinterpreted this as Kuroha Akira's jealousy. While secretly pleased, she still explained to avoid any misunderstanding.
"Mm… I didn't specifically ask about them, okay? It's just that we live really close. Even if I don't want to know, their parents will update me on how they're doing."
"Alright, I'll take your word for it."
Seeing Kuroha Akira's slightly perfunctory expression, Asato Hitomi unhappily shoved a piece of carrot into his mouth—another vegetable he hated.
"Honestly, Akira-kun, I would never lie to you. Right now, my most cherished friend is you, okay?"
"Aren't Shiori and Moe also your friends?"
"Of course, they're my good friends too…"
But right now, my most cherished friend is you, Akira-kun.
She didn't say it out loud. Instead, she picked up a piece of fried shrimp tempura—his absolute favorite food—and gently pushed it into Kuroha Akira's mouth.
She remembered everything.
Every like. Every dislike. Every little detail.
Because that's what you do for your most cherished person.