Before and After the School Festival

Right in front of me, a red-faced Jessica had her eyes closed. It was exactly the same situation as five seconds before kissing.

"J-Jessica…"

I think that her fondness and love for me, heightened by magic, had burst. This was the time to reap the fruits of my labour, and that's when I decided to move forward.

"I'm sorry for taking so… long…"

Senior Margaret, the air-headed club president, opened the door and entered the room while speaking. The noise made me and Jessica turn our heads toward the door at a tremendous pace.

"..."

"..."

"..."

I held Jessica on my side and hugged her, staring silently at senior Margaret. She was surprised to see us, but for some reason, she showed a satisfied expression.

"I-I wasn't too late, was I… More like too early…"

As she said this, her body moved backward step by step.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bother."

She went out into the corridor and slowly closed the door. She looked at us one last time and she said.

"Well, go ahead, take your time."

With a clank, the door was completely closed. At the sound, Jessica and I, who had been frozen in place, were finally able to start moving.

"W-Wait a minute, Senior!"

"I-It's not what you think, Senior!!"

In a panic, I opened the door and dragged in senior Margaret, who was standing right in front of the club room, listening attentively. As we both worked to clear up the misunderstanding, I was glad that I was on track to conquer Jessica.

At any rate, I told myself that if I wanted to make a confession so that there would be no hindrance to the festival, it would be after the festival.

***

The preparations for the festival were over, and the festival was about to begin. My awkward relationship with Jessica was back to normal on the day of the festival.

Our school's festival is not that grand and is only held on Sunday. The students, especially the sophomores and members of the sports clubs who chose the food and beverages, were having a hard time because of the large number of visitors from the outside.

The tarot reading by senior Margaret was unexpectedly well received, but the omikuji assigned to Jessica was problematic. Not only current students but also boys from outside the school gathered in large numbers.

Senior Margaret and I were not able to help enough, so we had to call in senior's friends and Matthew to the rescue. As a result, although there was some confusion, it did not become such a problem that the student council had to come out.

By the time we had sold out our omikuji, we were exhausted, so the fortune-telling club's activities came to an end and we disbanded. I decided to kill some time hanging around, buying Matthew a drink at the food stall as payment for his help.

I, Matthew, and Daniel, who had just returned from the tennis club's stall, were in charge of props. On the day of the event, we only had to set up the set, so it was easy.

I waited at the side of the stage while feasting my eyes on the dressed-up Jessica. The performance was good enough for an amateur, with only a few moments of silence due to the forgetfulness of an amateur actor who had few lines to say.

Once the event was over, everyone returned to their classes, carrying their own personal belongings. We were told that the large items would remain in the gymnasium and they would decide what to do with them at a later date.

When I returned to the classroom, feeling relieved and exhausted after my turn, I found the class president and vice president standing side by side at the podium. The president is a boy named Oliver Thomas and the vice-president is a girl named Harper Lee.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I need a moment of your time."

The noisy room became quiet and everyone paid attention to the two of them.

"Tomorrow is today's substitute holiday, but why don't we all have a party tomorrow?"

"This is a proposal from Alexander, but it's possible to rent out a certain coffee shop."

When the class president looked at Alexander, he nodded, stood up and started talking.

"Yeah, it's a shop run by an acquaintance of mine, but the membership fee is low. Specifically..."

The membership fee he mentions is cheap enough. The fee for boys was higher than for girls, though.

"...From 2 pm to 5 pm, after lunchtime, we'll be the ones bringing our own food and beverages, so that's why the price is this low."

"What if we add drinks or more food?"

"The person who ordered it should pay for it."

"Got it."

"Also, the location of the shop is..."

There was no particular problem with the location he mentioned. It was about 20 minutes by train and on foot from the nearest station to the high school, so no one would say it was too far away to go there.

"...That's why everyone is welcome to participate... If possible, Jessica too."

Finally, Alexander called out to Jessica. She glanced at me as all eyes were on her, exhaled lightly, and replied.

"…Yes. I understand. I will participate."

""Oooh…""

"…Ah, yeah. Thank you."

The boys all looked thrilled that Jessica had agreed to participate. Alexander, perhaps not expecting it, was also flustered and thanked her.

"Then you have free time until the culture festival is over. Dismissed."

At the class president's words, my classmates left their seats with a bang. As I watched Jessica leave the classroom, I wondered what I was going to do.

"Ethan. What are you going to do now?"

"I wonder… Maybe I'll go to my clubroom."

"To clean up?"

"Maybe so."

I answered Matthew who was talking to me, and got up from my seat. Well, will anyone be there?

***

When I moved to the fortune-telling club room, I found that Jessica and the president had started to clean up the room. There was not that much work to do, but I helped them and finished in a short time.

We put the desks and chairs back in their original arrangement and somehow we all sat down. That's when I broached the subject with Jessica.

"Jessica. Can I have a moment?"

"…Yes."

"Tomorrow's class party, would you like to go with me?"

"Together?"

"Yeah."

At my suggestion, she closed her eyes and thought for a while before opening her mouth.

"Okay, sure."

"Really? That's great to hear. Then, let's meet at..."

We set up a time and a place to meet at the nearest station. Then, Jessica took out her phone and said to me, 

"Then… Shall we exchange contact information?"

"…Ah, that's right."

I hurriedly picked up my phone and exchanged contact information with her. senior Margaret stared at us in amazement.

"You guys… You haven't exchanged contact information?"

"Yeah, well that's right senior."

"It wasn't necessary."

The club president looked like she wanted to say, "And yet, you were about to kiss each other?" and we all continued to chat, killing time until the end of the cultural festival. Thus, the cultural festival ended, during which the distance between Jessica and I decreased.

***

The next day, I arrived at the meeting place near the venue a few minutes before the appointed time with Jessica. She showed up on time, dressed cutely.

I've seen her in plain clothes at senior Margaret's house, but she had a different charm than in her school uniform. I spoke to her, chewing on my joy at being able to meet up with such a superbly beautiful girl.

"Good morning Jessica."

"Good morning. Did I keep you waiting?"

"It's okay. I just got here... Well then, shall we get going?"

"Yes."

We arrived at the coffee shop where the event was to take place, probably just before the time the party was to begin. As I was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Jessica, talking about the events of the festival, my phone's ringtone rang.

"I'm sorry, but excuse me."

"Yes, go ahead."

I called out to her and checked my phone to see that it was Matthew on the other end. I thought of ignoring him, but he seemed like he would keep calling, so I had no choice but to answer.

"Hello."

"Ethan? Where are you now?"

"I'll be there in a little while. I should be on time before the party starts."

"I see."

"I'll be there, so please tell the others that."

"Understood. Then, only Jessica is left."

"If it's Jessica, she'll be by my side. See you later."

"Haaah!? W-Wait!?"'

I cut off the call and put away my smartphone. My smartphone rang again, but this time I completely ignored it.

This is because the location of the party, the coffee shop, was right in front of us.