"Alright, everyone—"
"The Izu Spring Festival is here!!"
"Yay—"
In early May, in front of Izu University, the entire security team huddled in their booth, not daring to question the Pab Club's muscular men, who were all in high spirits and making funny faces.
"Hah— I can't believe you guys were drinking until midnight and still have so much energy."
Chisa Kotegawa sighed, pressing her hand to half her face in resignation. She was swept along with the seniors into the street of booths, completely unaware of what had them so excited.
"What are you saying, Chisa! This is the university festival! Its importance for college students is second only to mixer parties!"
"Eh?"
"That's right! And you don't have to sit quietly in a lecture hall like in middle school, and you don't have to endure coffee shops without maids! It's awesome!"
"Ugh..."
Looking at the two idiots who had come over to promote the festival to her, Chisa held up a finger and asked, "If that's the case, how do you know that after walking out of the lecture hall, the final destination will be a maid cafe?"
"Isn't that obvious!"
With his hands on his hips, Miyazawa Yu couldn't wait to pat his pocket. "I brought a lot of money! The next step, of course, is to enjoy the sweet sound of a senpai calling me 'master'!"
"Is that so, Yu!"
"It looks like you're very well prepared!"
Hearing this, Ryūjirō Kotobuki and Tokita Shinji walked over and put an arm around each of his shoulders.
And it wasn't just him; even Iori and the anime-headband-wearing Kohei, who was trying to slack off, were not spared. They were all brought under control.
"Um... good morning, senpais. Is there something you need?"
A bad feeling came over him. Miyazawa Yu turned his head and acted obedient, trying to confuse the seniors so he could immediately head to the maid cafe!
However, Ryūjirō Kotobuki was not so easily swayed. He simply used his thumb to point behind him.
The three freshmen, who were puzzled, all looked in the direction he was pointing. They saw an empty booth with a sign on top...
"The Pab Club's Delicious Okonomiyaki!!!"
"Um... us?"
"That's right! You guys!"
He feebly pointed at the booth, then at himself. Miyazawa Yu finally got the answer that shattered his spirits.
"Seriously, you should have known this was coming when Azusa-senpai taught us how to make okonomiyaki..."
Seeing the three idiots kneel in a row as if their souls had been sucked out, Chisa Kotegawa tied on her apron and said in a deadpan voice, "Although most clubs have their seniors run the booths, the Pab Club... is a special case!"
"You're right. I guess a normal person wouldn't sell okonomiyaki when it's being sold by a bunch of naked, alcohol-reeking, muscular men..."
Miyazawa Yu felt sorry for himself. His words seemed to have a double meaning, subtly jabbing at the two seniors.
But as founding members of the Pab Club, this level of subtle aggression was harmless.
Ryūjirō Kotobuki and Tokita Shinji said, "Good luck!" and then ran off without looking back, off to have fun somewhere.
"...Damn it, so it turns out we're just running the booth."
Half an hour later, Miyazawa Yu, wearing a humiliating pink Grand Blue apron, was forced to work at the griddle.
Fortunately, because there were enough freshmen, the seniors had applied for a larger booth and griddle, allowing all four freshmen to cook at the same time.
In this way, the work wasn't that hard.
However...
"It's so hot! Why was I so happy when we first got here?"
Completely dazed by the heat, Iori Kitahara, even in a short-sleeved shirt, was drenched in sweat from the May sun and the griddle.
His eyes had lost their sparkle. He had clearly forgotten all about the joy he felt when they first entered the campus.
"Thanks for waiting... I can't help it. It's a sunny day, and it doesn't feel like May at all."
Miyazawa Yu handed a portion of okonomiyaki to a customer, casually responding to Iori's rambling. At the same time, he looked at the line of customers waiting.
"Customers! Those two lowlifes can also cook, so you'll be served faster if you split up!"
"Hey! Yu, don't get us more work!"
"You have the nerve to call yourselves lowlifes! Show a bit more charm! Why is it that only Chisa and I have long lines!"
Facing Kohei's disgruntled mutterings, Miyazawa Yu immediately shot back.
That guy was also handsome and could have attracted a large number of customers with his looks, but he cunningly tied on an anime headband, which scared away most of his potential customers.
The end result was that some people wanted to eat a beautiful girl's cooking and lined up in front of Chisa, while others who were after the taste came to him for a repeat purchase.
Only Iori and Kohei were exceptionally idle. He couldn't let them off so easily!
"You're working hard. It's really hot today~ Have a cold beer!"
"Ah, thank you, senpai!"
"By the way, where are your clothes, senpai? Did you guys start having fun already?"
Ryūjirō Kotobuki, who was shirtless, came over to hand out drinks. Miyazawa Yu took the cold beer and casually asked about the seniors' situation.
After all, they had all agreed last night to support the four freshmen. They wouldn't have just bailed because they got drunk, would they?
"Don't worry. It's just too hot. You can take your clothes off too..."
"I understand!"
"Thank you so much for the reminder!"
Noticing what Yu was worried about, Ryūjirō Kotobuki immediately waved his hands, indicating that they only took off their clothes because it was hot and definitely not because they were having a drinking party behind the freshmen's backs.
At his suggestion, Iori Kitahara and Kōhei Imamura, as if they had discovered some secret art, expertly and gracefully ripped off their shirts!
Unfortunately, the customers didn't seem to understand the art form of the Pab Club.
The male customers were fine with it, at most just commenting on how unconventional the booth was. But the female freshmen had never seen anything like this before. They screamed and most of them ran away in an instant!
"What have you two lowlifes done! Don't you know that my only entertainment right now is making eye contact with cute girls and seeing their shy faces when I hand them the okonomiyaki?!"
Instantly enraged, Miyazawa Yu threw down his spatula and was about to have a talk with the two naked scoundrels about how they were going to compensate him for the loss of female customers.
Seeing that the freshman trio had entered their familiar friendly discussion mode, Ryūjirō Kotobuki laughed and walked around them to ask Chisa, "How's the situation?"
"It wasn't that great to begin with, and now we might as well just close the shop..."
Seeing the customers lose interest in the "unlimited combat" and leave, Chisa Kotegawa was happy to be idle. She opened a can of beer and shook her head.
"Is the revenue not that good?"
"Yeah, it seems we've run into a rival."
Kōhei Imamura struggled to get his upper body out of the fray and took a sip of beer. He pointed to a booth not far away that was crowded with girls.
"Ah, is that TinkerBell? They sell okonomiyaki every year, I think."
"Eh? What is TinkerBell and what do they do?"
The next second, Kohei was dragged back into the fight. This time, Iori struggled to get out and looked in the direction of TinkerBell.
The dark-skinned manager of that booth seemed to be holding a girl's hand while giving her change. It was truly enviable!
"They're a popular tennis club with a bunch of handsome guys. By the way, are you okay, Iori?"
"Don't worry, Yu didn't hit me that hard, so I won't die..."
His vitality was very strong. Feeling his leg being pulled back into the fight, Iori Kitahara quickly reminded him, "Hey, Yu, it looks like someone over there is trying to charm the girls!"
"What?! Someone's doing that!"
Hearing that someone dared to steal girls right under his nose, Miyazawa Yu's eyes sharpened. He immediately pulled Kohei back up.
The civil war between the three freshmen was over! It was time to unite against the outside enemy!
"Hey, what about using some garbage?"
"No, no, no! Pig's blood would be better. It's hard to wash off."
"You're both wrong! We should throw the underwear that the seniors took off after we got them drunk! Not only will it cause mental damage, but it might even have some sort of magical area-of-effect poison!"
"Oh! What a bold and innovative idea! I'm impressed!"
Chisa Kotegawa was surprised by the creativity of the trio, who were standing in a row with calm expressions, discussing terrifying things.
But as the only normal person in the Pab Club, she warned them, "Don't discuss what you're going to throw with such serious faces, or the booth will get shut down."
"Oh, I see. As expected, Chisa thinks about the details. This kind of thing should be done by an outsider!"
"That's not what I meant!"