Part-1 Ch-07 Ep-05

A few days after the cultural festival ended, Maki and I were walking down the hallway when our homeroom teacher suddenly stopped us.

More accurately, we were caught.

We ended up being told to clean the storage room where all the post-festival leftovers had been dumped.

When I slid open the door to the empty classroom repurposed as storage, the first thing that leapt out at me was the heap of placards and signboards tossed together in complete disarray.

On top of that were paper flowers and other decorations, cardboard boxes stuffed with things as if someone had simply shoved them inside and walked away. Everything was a scattered trail of the festival’s remains.

“Ugh…”

“Which class left it half done like this?”

Even Maki sounded a little irritated. Unfortunately, from what I could see, it wasn’t the negligence of one class in particular. It looked like every class had temporarily dumped their belongings in here.

“We’ll have each class dispose of their own things later, but first I need you two to sort out this area. There’s literally no place to step.”

The teacher bowed apologetically, hands clasped together right in front of us. We both understood we couldn’t just leave the aftermath for the teachers to handle. Reluctantly, we accepted the task.

“I’m absolutely making the teacher buy us juice later,” Maki muttered under her breath as I peered into the nearest cardboard box.

Everything inside was junk, yet every single piece still carried traces of the fun we had at the cultural festival. At the after-festival party held once everything was over, Maki had been chosen as our school’s Miss.

For the girls it was Maki, and for the boys it was Kagami-kun. The groundwork that Seishuku-san and her fan club had laid before the festival had definitely paid off. Honestly, I thought Maki would have been chosen even without all that effort.

In the game’s events, the heroine Maki and Kagami-kun were supposed to be selected as Miss and Mister at the after-party, and even if they weren’t dating, they would also be voted Best Couple… that was how it originally went.

But this is the real world.

Since you never know what might happen, we prepared in advance and organized votes centered around the fan club. In other words, we secured the foundation with bloc voting.

As expected, the two who were supposed to become Best Couple in the game ended up only being chosen as Miss and Mister. The sweet, slightly awkward exchange that was supposed to follow—“Looks like everyone thinks we’re a couple…” “That’s kinda embarrassing…”—never happened, which was a little disappointing.

That scene had been one of my quiet favorites from my previous life. Well, at least Maki’s cuteness is now known throughout the whole school, across all grades, so I suppose that counts as a kind of success.

“Congratulations, Maki.”

I called out to her as she came down from the stage after the announcement.

“Thanks.”

She gave me a slightly embarrassed, awkward smile, and it was unbearably cute.

“Wawawawa…!”

I was remembering the after-party when I heard the sound of a cardboard box collapsing behind me. I rushed over to find Maki sitting on the floor beside the fallen box. White slips of paper that had spilled out were scattered all around her.

“What happened?”

She wasn’t moving at all, so I thought she might have hurt herself and shook her shoulders.

Then…

“…Huh?”

Still sitting on the floor, Maki looked up at me with a face completely red.

“W-Why is your face red?! Did you hurt yourself somewhere?!”

“N-No, that’s not it, um, this…”

What she held out to me, flustered, was a single slip of paper. The edges were crumpled from how tightly she had been gripping it. Written on it were the words “Ichinose Maki, Nagase Mari.”

“Why are our names…?”

“Um, these are… from the Best Couple voting box at the after-party…”

“Ah… ahh…”

So that’s what it was.

I see.

In other words… that’s what this meant. The moment I understood, embarrassment surged through me. Maki was probably in the same state, which explained her red face.

Well, of course we’d be flustered to find out people had been voting for us as a couple without us knowing, even though we’re just childhood friends.

“W-We’re… being seen as a couple…? By everyone…?”

“That’s kinda embarrassing…”

“Ahaha…”

No, this isn’t the time to be embarrassed, heroine.

It is embarrassing, but…

For some reason my chest was filled with sweet, aching feelings, but unfortunately, the person Maki is supposed to feel this way with isn’t me.

It’s not me, but…

“Ehehe~…”

Maki seemed to be in an unusually good mood for some reason, so I decided to just go along with it for now. Her emotions have been unstable lately anyway.

“People write the funniest things, huh. Maybe Asahina-kun?” I said lightly, waving the slip of paper.

“Who cares who wrote it! Just give me that paper!” She snatched it away with lightning-quick speed.

“You’re throwing it out?”

“I’m not throwing it out!! Don’t joke about that!”

Whoa, scary. Lately, my childhood friend has started to look like a wild beast to me.

End of Chapter 7