Chapter 262: Ai-chan: I Want to Punch a Pink Parasite!
The first day of the cultural festival ended peacefully.
Very quickly it was the second day.
In the morning, Sakurai Saki sat on the sofa in the student council room, holding a few cups of instant noodles in his hands.
Instant noodles were the kind of food that, if you didn't eat for a few days, you'd miss them, but if you ate too much, you'd get sick of them. Truly a very magical kind of food.
Originally, he hadn't planned to eat them, but after talking with Shinomiya Kaguya about it yesterday, he suddenly felt interested, thinking about it all night. This morning, he went to the convenience store and bought a few.
"Sakurai?" Shirogane Miyuki pushed the door open and saw someone he hadn't expected to meet here.
"Good morning, Shirogane. Aren't you going around the festival today? I heard the drama club is performing a play in the auditorium, something about the story of the Devoted Hearts Festival." Sakurai Saki recalled the information he had gotten.
"There's also one in the evening. In total, three shows in a day. The last one is right before the night festival begins, no need to rush." Shirogane Miyuki went to the president's seat and picked up a few files — submitted by the executive committee, which he needed to review.
"Shirogane, do you want instant noodles? There's yakisoba and also noodle soup." Sakurai Saki raised the cups in his hand for him to see.
"I'm not hungry." Shirogane Miyuki shook his head.
He had already eaten breakfast, and by now he still wasn't hungry.
Seeing he didn't want to eat, Sakurai Saki didn't insist and went to boil water.
This morning, he had deliberately skipped breakfast.
Although Hayasaka Ai had once moved in to live at Sakurai Saki's place, recently she had gone back to live on her own, saying they needed to keep some distance, that way they could prolong the passionate stage of romance between a man and a woman. The two lived only a few hundred meters apart, so who knew what meaning there was in moving out with such a short distance.
Even though separated by only a few hundred meters, they still called until late at night. Sakurai Saki felt a strange happiness from it, thinking he had contracted a sickness called "love," and moreover, it was quite a severe case.
Sakurai & Hayasaka: ღ´͈ ᵕ `͈ )♡⃛(´͈ ᵕ `͈ ღ
"Every time I eat instant noodles, I always hesitate about which flavor to pick."
"I get that!" Shirogane Miyuki joined in.
"Not just the flavor. Even between yakisoba and noodle soup, I hesitate for a long time."
"Let's go with seafood today." After some consideration, Sakurai Saki still chose the one he usually ate.
Back when he worked part-time, he often ate this one, mainly because it was convenient.
The instant noodles had already been soaked, and while Sakurai Saki was waiting—
Suddenly.
An uninvited guest barged into the student council room.
Shinomiya Kaguya entered with a mysterious expression.
Kaguya: ( • ̀ω•́ )✧
Then she said: "Do you know? Ishigami-kun confessed to Tsubame-senpai, I just found out."
"Kaguya-san's information really is slow." Sakurai Saki didn't even bother turning his head.
Now the whole school knew Ishigami had confessed to Tsubame-senpai. Perhaps only Ishigami himself didn't know? Yesterday, Sakurai Saki had already noticed it, Ishigami Yuu's expression had been so calm it was as if he were paying New Year's greetings to relatives. The heart-shaped cookie in his hand didn't even look like a love confession, but more like a gift set.
"What's that delicious smell?" Shinomiya Kaguya caught a whiff of the fragrance in the air.
"I'm cooking instant noodles." Sakurai Saki explained.
"Instant noodles…" Shinomiya Kaguya muttered, then sat down across from Sakurai Saki, staring fixedly at him.
Kaguya: (✿◠ᴗ◠)
Sakurai: (¬_¬")
"…" Being stared at, Sakurai Saki felt a bit uncomfortable. "If you want instant noodles, just take some."
"Really?" Shinomiya Kaguya said happily.
"If not, then forget it."
"Eat, of course I'll eat, why wouldn't I?" Shinomiya Kaguya would never miss any chance to take advantage of Sakurai Saki.
Kaguya: ( ๑‾̀◡‾́)✧
...
A few minutes later.
Sakurai Saki, while slurping noodles, brought up the earlier matter: "Kaguya-san, before, when you helped Ishigami review, it was also to support him in confessing, right?"
"Umu, so what?"
"Do you think Ishigami has any hope?"
"If the failure rate isn't 100%, then there's still a chance of success. Thinking of giving up before even trying, I don't think that kind of mindset is good." Shinomiya Kaguya opened the lid of her cup noodles, impatiently picked it up, then set it down again because it was too hot.
She glanced at Sakurai Saki's calm expression, silently thinking that maybe he wasn't a normal human but an alien.
"Last exam he already made it into the top 100. I think that's very impressive, much stronger compared to my five idiot students." Sakurai Saki recalled.
At this moment, Shirogane Miyuki also joined in: "What do you guys plan to do next? Are you going to help him?"
"No further plans." Shinomiya Kaguya rested her chin on her hand, thinking: "Ishigami-kun isn't my son, he's just a junior. In this matter of love, I still hope he puts in the effort himself."
"Me too, from beginning to end I didn't get involved, if I had to forcefully say, maybe cheering him on at the sports festival counts?" Sakurai Saki slurped a sip of noodle broth.
Shirogane Miyuki hurriedly wrote documents.
The fragrance in the student council room was strong, and he began to feel hungry.
"Ishigami now is like a mountain climber, with the goal being the flower on the mountaintop." Shirogane Miyuki set his pen down, "If he succeeds then of course there's no problem, but if he fails, I'll try to act as the cushion for him, so when he rolls down, it won't hurt too much."
"Shirogane, when you said that, in truth you already no longer believed in him." Sakurai Saki complained.
Shirogane Miyuki smiled, not refuting.
"What flavor do you want? Shouyu tonkotsu? I see your eyes keep glancing this way."
"Alright, take that one."
"Oh right, Shirogane, the astronomy clubroom, it's on the rooftop of the classroom building, no one uses it at night, right?"
"No one uses it, why?" Shirogane Miyuki sat down next to him.
That was where the giant dragon ball he made still remained, and just the painting alone took quite a bit of effort.
"Nothing, just casually asking."
Today's weather wasn't bad, it was a good day for stargazing, he was preparing to invite a girl to come along, maybe he could ask if Ai-chan was free.
"At night the wind is strong, going up to the rooftop is just for idiots." Shinomiya Kaguya slurped noodles, occasionally blowing to cool them, speaking as she ate.
Sakurai Saki ignored her.
Anyway, tonight, the one acting like an idiot with him wasn't her.
"Tonight during the night festival, Kaguya-san, don't let your arrow miss, or it'll be a huge embarrassment."
"No need for you to worry. As long as I have hands, I can shoot. This kind of fire-lighting ritual, it can't miss."
Kaguya: ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ
She wasn't lying, last year's national individual archery champion title of hers was indeed solid proof.
...
After finishing his cup noodles, Sakurai Saki prepared to head to the stage next to the gymnasium, where Ai-chan would perform. In just a moment, Ai-chan would be on stage singing and dancing for half an hour straight.
'Huh?' Sakurai Saki's back was suddenly slapped.
...
Over there, Hayasaka Ai and two teammates were preparing backstage.
"So nervous, there are way more people than I imagined."
"What should we do, what should we do?"
Even Hayasaka Ai, being the center, was a little nervous at this moment.
Her phone buzzed with a message, she opened it to see it was from her boyfriend, saying he was already in the audience.
Only then did Hayasaka Ai let out a sigh of relief.
Ten minutes later, the performance officially began.
Hayasaka Ai stepped onto the stage, bowed slightly, then saw her boyfriend.
And also Fujiwara Chika standing next to him.
Secretary Fujiwara linked arms with Sakurai Saki, smiled at Hayasaka Ai, and shouted loudly: "Ai-chan!!! Do your best!!"
Chika: ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
Hayasaka: (≖_≖)
Hayasaka Ai clenched her fists tightly.