“Did you say that the campfire is not possible this year?”
“Yes, because of the incident last year when the campfire sparked and burned part of the school lawn, the faculty eting ultimately decided it wouldn’t be allowed.”
After hearing the Vice President’s logical explanation, the President nodded and said,
“Since it’s a matter directly related to student safety, it’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. I assu the students were inford about this in advance?”
Minami, who was listening nearby, opened a file and said,
“Yes, so students did file complaints about the campfire decision, but once we explained that it was already finalized by the faculty, they accepted it and left.”
“Good job. That’s exactly the kind of skilled work I expect from you, Minami.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
The eting flowed smoothly, like a ship sailing in a fair wind.
With the Vice President back, the pace of handling tasks had definitely picked up.
After going through a few agenda items, as the eting was wrapping up, the President spoke to the Vice President.
“Starting tomorrow, external visitors will be allowed to enter the festival, so please work closely with the disciplinary committee to ensure safety on campus. If sothing unfortunate happens, it’ll tarnish the reputation of both the school and the Student Council.”
“I will carry out your orders as if my life depends on it, my lady.”
“No, you don’t need to go that far…”
The President muttered, looking a bit drained by the Vice President’s overly dedicated reply.
“Ah, by the way, Yu-seong. You’ve kept your schedule clear for the last day of the festival, right?”
“Yes. I don’t have any plans.”
“I’m looking forward to our date that day.”
The President said that in a coy voice, then stood up to leave.
Even though it was a festival for the students, it seed like the President’s schedule was fully packed with events for the afternoon as well.
After seeing off the President, Vice President, and Minami as they moved on to their next events, I locked up the empty Student Council room and headed back to class.
The first day of the festival passed smoothly without any major issues.
For personally, it was a bit of a disaster having to wear the maid outfit to help attract custors to the café, but since all the guys in the class were also wearing it, it wasn’t as embarrassing as I had feared.
Thinking of it as just another school mory, it wasn’t too bad.
After all, there was an ironic idea that cross-dressing was sothing only guys could do, making it one of the most “manly” things in the world.
Anyway, on the second day of the festival, when external visitors were officially allowed in.
Even before we opened the maid café, a cold tension hung over our class.
“Aren’t there too many custors?”
“The line’s already stretched all the way down the hall.”
“How did this even happen?”
Even if business was good, it was going too well.
Yesterday, on the first day of the festival, all the boys in our class wore maid outfits and walked around campus to promote the café. But no one expected the promotion to be this effective.
One of the bald trio from class suddenly spoke up.
“Maybe it’s because of Kim that so many custors are showing up.”
“Kim?”
Suddenly, everyone’s eyes were on .
Even though we weren’t open yet, I was already wearing my maid outfit, so I sat with my legs demurely crossed in my chair.
“Well, with that visual, it’s not strange for him to attract attention.”
“He’s practically a walking advertisent.”
“I’m afraid I’ll see him in my dreams.”
I hadn’t done anything, but everyone seed to accept this explanation quite naturally.
I felt a bit wronged and was about to speak up, but the bespectacled otaku from the bald trio waved his finger and said,
“No, I’m talking about the news that was released last week.”
“Ah~~”
The class let out a collective “ah” as if they finally understood.
“Now that you ntion it, Kim did beco a celebrity, didn’t he?”
“I didn’t notice since it didn’t feel real.”
“He was already famous at school anyway.”
“If you put it that way, it makes sense why regular people would line up. They probably wanted to see Kim, the celebrity.”
Since I didn’t usually watch TV or the news, I didn’t really understand how much my popularity had grown.
After eting with reporters at the school gates last Friday, they hadn’t bothered since.
Maybe the President had quietly pulled so strings behind the scenes.
“So, the reason for the long line outside is because of him?”
Ayase, observing the situation like the class president she was, neatly summarized the situation, and everyone nodded in agreent.
“Then we’ve reached a conclusion. Yu-seong will only work until lunch today, and we’ll take him off duty after that.”
“Huh? Isn’t that cheating?”
When Satoru objected, the President narrowed her eyes and asked,
“Satoru, are you planning to work the entire festival?”
After all, the maid café was ant to be sothing the whole class could enjoy.
Just because there were many custors, working ourselves to exhaustion wasn’t the point, and Ayase seed determined to prevent that from happening.
In any case, being told I didn’t have to work and could rest wasn’t a bad deal for .
“Ah, it’s ti to open the café already.”
Upon hearing soone mutter this, the gathered classmates started getting up one by one.
“Make sure to hand out the number tickets and let people in by order. You know what they say: ‘The busier it is, the slower you should go.’”
Thankfully, we had a sharp-minded leader. As long as we followed her lead, nothing would go wrong.
The students of 2-B busily started moving according to Ayase’s orders.
10 AM.
As soon as we opened for business, the custors started pouring in at a terrifying pace.
Because of that, unlike yesterday, I couldn’t take a single step out of the kitchen and was stuck standing in front of the stove.
“Two Chinese-style olet rices here!”
“Coming right up!”
“Add one more tantann!”
“Got it!”
As soon as I finished one order, two more would co in right after.
It felt like I was working in a restaurant during the peak rush hour, as I kept processing orders without a break.
“Restock the ingredients before we run out!”
“I’m about to head to the store. Do we need anything?”
The kitchen was like a battlefield.
The only saving grace was that, thanks to the Class President’s foresight, we limited the number of custors entering, preventing an overwhelming flood of people.
On top of that, we set up a ticketing system where custors would get notified when their table was ready, so we avoided having lines in the hallways that would disrupt the flow of traffic.
After working tirelessly without a mont to breathe for about two hours, the kitchen suddenly beca noisy from outside.
“Na-na-na, it’s Naotan!”
“Minato Nao!”
“Is it a holiday? What’s she doing here?”
I heard a familiar na.
It was the na of my junior, whom I had t not too long ago.
The reason she had co to our class was obvious.
She was probably here to see .
I handed my apron to soone else for a mont and stepped out of the kitchen.
Whoosh!
Even though it was just a makeshift kitchen divided by a tent, the difference in temperature between the inside and outside was significant, probably because I’d been standing by the stove the whole ti.
As I instinctively reached up to wipe the sweat from my cheek with my sleeve, soone suddenly handed a handkerchief.
“I ca as promised, Senior.”
The owner of that handkerchief was none other than Nao.
“…Thanks.”
Oooohhhh!
The people around us suddenly burst into cheers at the sight.
To those who didn’t know the situation, it must’ve looked like a famous actress being kind.
When I returned the handkerchief, Nao took it and looked up and down.
Then she gave a big grin and said,
“Senior, that maid outfit suits you surprisingly well.”
“I’m not taking that as a complint.”
“I personally like how your bulging muscles can’t be hidden by the outfit.”
As she said that, Nao poked my chest with her index finger.
I furrowed my brows at the sudden touch but responded politely.
“Don’t act so casually like that. People might get the wrong idea.”
Nao just laughed and said, “Oh? I don’t mind at all.”
I had a bad feeling and tried to stop her from speaking, but Nao was quicker.
“It’s true that I’m acting this way to be misunderstood.”
It was essentially a confession.
And since she was treated like the nation’s little sister in Japan, the impact of her statent was huge.
“No way!”
“Why Nao-tan?!”
“NOOOOOO!!”
Cries and groans erupted from all around.
Among them was Satoru, practically crying tears of blood.
I looked around in confusion at the sudden chaos.
Sasha and Rika, who were already familiar with Nao, were looking at in disbelief.
“No, this is a misunderstanding!”
I was genuinely frustrated.
After all, I had already turned down her confession before.
But it seed like Nao was deliberately taking advantage of the situation, as she suddenly linked her arm with mine and spoke to my classmates.
“Then I’ll be borrowing Senior for a bit! See you later, Class 2-B!”
And just like that, I was kidnapped.
“So, where exactly are you taking ?”
While leading to a secluded area of the school, Nao spoke.
“I’m not taking you anywhere specific. I just wanted to talk with you for a bit, Senior.”
“I’m serious. You need to stop ssing around like this.”
“I’m not joking. I’m being serious.”
“…Do you even know what you’re saying?”
“Of course.”
“Like I said before, I can’t accept your feelings.”
“I know. But… I haven’t given up yet.”
Seeing my troubled expression, Nao smiled mischievously and said,
“But talking about sothing serious while you’re wearing a maid outfit makes you look kinda cute, Senior.”
“Can we talk seriously, please?”
“Alright, alright.”
Nao sighed and then pulled sothing out of the bag she was carrying.
“Here, this is for you.”
What she handed was a small box.
“What’s this now?”
“Oh, it’s that new ga you asked to get for you. I thought you’d like it, so I bought it.”
“Thanks. But you didn’t have to go out of your way to get it for .”
“I wanted to thank you, Senior.”
“Thank ? For what?”
“For a lot of things. You’ve always been kind to .”
Nao smiled quietly as she said this.
“So this is just a little gift from to you, from my heart.”
“…Thanks.”
After that heavy conversation, my talk with Nao ended on a calr note.
“Well, I’ll be off now.”
With that, Nao said her goodbyes and left.
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