Before the Festival: A Final Act of Preparation

Choosing a coffee shop for the cultural festival turned out to be a rather time-consuming project, but things were going much better than Amane had expected. The biggest reason was that they procured the outfits for them to wear during the event. In the end, they were only able to open the coffee shop after overcoming that problem.

All that was left was the décor and the items they would serve to the customers, but with some rearranging of the desks and chairs, the interior already looked rather clean and there were no problems there. The other hard-to-prepare things were the food and drinks they were offering. The cultural festival spanned two days, so they had to be cautious about hygiene in anticipation of that. That said, it wasn't that hard for them this time around. In light of the hygiene and labor issues, they ended up buying a large number of store-bought goods.

Amane and his classmates' project was to hold a café with maids and butlers.

The main attraction was mostly to enjoy the appearance of the servers and the atmosphere they provided, so they had no choice but to compromise on that point.

Considering the number of classes waiting to apply for the home economics room, it was safe to say that their provision of store-bought goods turned out to be a wise decision.

"We'll take it up a notch with the drinks, though…"

Itsuki declared so with his mischievous smile and a wink. He was also serving as the executive committee chairman.

The coffee that Itsuki brought in came from a specialty store and was purchased at a low price, and he smiled happily while lightly slapping the bag of grounded beans. It was a good choice for those who were looking for the best coffee. Normally, it would be better to grind it freshly, but that would be impossible for a high schooler's pretend store, both in terms of the equipment and labor required, so they prepared it in advance. The leaves for the black tea were also carefully prepared beforehand, and as for the offerings, they were all ready.

"This is coming out better than I thought."

Chitose murmured softly as she surveyed the classroom, where the decorations were almost all set up. The interior was a little restricted since it was originally a classroom, but the tablecloths, cushions, and trinkets adorning the lockers gave it a completely different atmosphere than usual.

While it still couldn't be called a full-blown event, it was still above the standard expected of high schoolers. To begin with, the main attraction was the students dressing up, not so much the authenticity itself.

"Yeah, I agree. This is more than enough, I think." Amane said.

"You're right. The curtains and accessories alone have changed the air in here quite a bit."

"You really outdid yourself with this, didn't you? The curtains are just perfect and they really make the atmosphere." Amane pointed to an extravagant curtain with a golden decorative string she'd borrowed from the drama club, and Chitose murmured softly, "It'd be bad if it got dirty, though."

They tried not to put too many seats near the curtains, but if they did get dirty, it would be tough for them to pay off the cleaning bill.

"Well, this much should be all we need. All we can do now is to hope for the customers to start pouring in."

"…The fact that Shiina-san's going to be a maid makes me feel like she's going to be the main attraction. If anything, we're going to be overflowing with people looking for her instead."

"Don't treat my girlfriend as bait. Besides, the other girls looked good in their costumes too, so I think it's rude to just ignore them for Mahiru."

Mahiru may have been the only one he was interested in, but objectively speaking, the girls wearing the maid outfits were all good-looking and the clothes suited them well. Sure, putting aside his favoritism, Mahiru was far cuter than the rest of the group, but she wasn't the only one who looked great with it on.

"Ikkun, you can learn from what Amane said just now." "Ow, ow, ow—you're cute too, Chi!"

"Now that's more like it~! If you don't praise me more, I'll punish you with the afternoon tea course we were talking about the other day."

"Not that! It's so expensive!"

"Apparently, there's a butler on the tables in real life, so you should watch and learn from them, Ikkun."

"That's a lot of money just to study manners!"

Leaving his two friends aside, who were happily planning their next date, Amane looked toward Mahiru, who was standing quietly beside him. For an unknown reason, Mahiru had a subtle expression on her face.

"Mahiru?"

"…Amane-kun, do you think I'm… the cutest?"

"What's this all of sudden? Are you worried about me complimenting the other girls? …You're asking the obvious. To me, it suited you the best and you were definitely the cutest out of them all."

"Y-Yes."

Although it should be assumed that Mahiru was the most special to Amane, it still seemed that she was bothered slightly by his words. Amane noticed that Mahiru seemed to be a little jealous, so he whispered sweet praises in her ear. She happily smiled as if those words alone were enough to convince her.

Mahiru didn't cling to him closely at school, but she bashfully pinched the hem of his sleeves. Even that gesture was eye-catching, and now Amane had to restrain a slight fluster in his heart caused by his own girlfriend's cuteness.

…I'm sure there'll be even more stares during the actual event.

His classmates were now looking at him with warm gazes, so it wasn't so bad just yet. The problem would begin on the days of the cultural festival. It was expected that there would be people who would send rude glances at her and those who didn't understand her. Amane decided to do his best not to separate himself from her.

Let's try to stay as close as possible.

Seeing them getting along well despite arguing, he looked back and forth between Itsuki and Chitose. Itsuki gave him the same shifts as Mahiru, for which Amane was silently grateful. Noticing that Mahiru's lips were forming a bashful smile, Amane let out a wry smile of his own.