The girl of my first love, whom I met again after seven years. I'm falling in love with you for the second time. - Chapter 44: The School Festival of Saijo High (1)

Chapter 44: The School Festival of Saijo High (1)

It was now Saturday, the first day of the festival at Saijo High School. Arriving early at the class stalls, I planned to double check our preparations before the festival began.

‘What the…? The hell is this…’

“Why are we the only ones that have to do this?” (Ando)

“…”

“Stop complaining, you’re the one who said, ‘I’d do anything!’” (Sanada)

“No but… who would want to see a guy dressed like this?” (Ando)

Inside the classroom, Yoichiro, Ando and Sanada were getting dressed. Ando and Sanada were complaining, while Yoichiro feigned ignorance, staring off into the distance.

“Mm-hmm! It looks great, you guys!” (Tanimura)

Tanimura-san, whom I gave leadership of the stall to, struggled to contain her laughter as she looked at the three of them.

“I know I said I’d leave it up to you, but what was the reasoning behind this… Tanimura-san?” (Hiroto)

“Well… it was mostly decided by the girls. They were quiet at first, but slowly got more and more excited during our costume discussions. In the end, this was the result.” (Tanimura)

I had heard that the students might wear headbands with cat and dog ears, but I hadn’t expected anything about cross-dressing. Yoichiro has a miserable expression on his face… I’ll have to apologize to him later.

“I see… I’ll be going to the committee meeting now, I’m leaving the rest to you.” (Hiroto)

Quietly leaving the classroom, I headed for the audio-visual room. On the way there, I crossed paths with Takahashi-san.

“Oh, Yoshizumi-kun! You should come check out our classroom!” (Takahashi)

“Of course. You’ll have to wait until after the meeting, though.” (Hiroto)

I bumped into a variety of students in the hallway. Some were wearing aprons over their uniforms, some were dressed as vendors, and other students were walking around in… interesting makeup. It seemed that some classes had decided to theme their stall around a haunted house.

So far, everything seemed to be going fine. All the students were having fun.

Eventually, I got to the audiovisual room; a meeting was currently taking place.

“We’ll be at the reception desk in the morning, and the patrol group will report to each other in the group chat on their phones after lunch, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. The representatives of each class will also be involved alongside all of you. If there is a problem, a representative will report it to us, and the patrol group nearby will go to deal with it; the teacher will also be informed.”

“So… everyone will be okay if something goes wrong.”

“You’ll have free time until the festival begins, but just make sure to stay in touch.”

The receptionist duties began, and since six people, two from each grade, were in charge of the reception, things were flowing smoothly.

“It’s Yoshizumi-kun!” (Nishikawa)

I heard an energetic voice calling me… it must be Nishikawa-san. Aizawa-san mentioned that she’d be here, but I guess they came to class together in the morning.

“Good morning, Nishikawa-san. Good morning, Aizawa-san.” (Hiroto)

“Good morning! I didn’t expect to see Yoshizumi-kun before the festival!” (Nishikawa)

“Good morning, Yoshizumi-kun. Good luck with your work.” (Haruka)

“I’m in charge of reception in the morning. Aizawa-san, I hope you enjoy our festival. You… you’re Yamada-san, right? Thank you for taking care of everyone the other day.”

“Woah? You’re really THAT Yoshizumi, aren’t you?” (Yamada)

“I’m not sure which Yoshizumi you’re talking about, but yes?” (Hiroto)

What did she mean by that Yoshizumi? Yamada-kun is quite a strange girl.

All three of them were dressed casually today. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Aizawa-san in casual wear…  we’ve only seen eachother in school uniforms ever since our meeting at the hospital.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you in these types of clothes, Aizawa-san.” (Hiroto)

“Mmm? Does it look strange…?” (Haruka)

“It’s not strange. It looks good on you. I just thought it’s been a while.” (Hiroto)

“Thank you. I’ve never seen Yoshizumi-kun in his casual clothes. You were always in uniform.” (Haruka)

Now that she’s mentioned it… it was true that Aizawa-san has only seen me in a hospital gown during the stay, a jersey during our baseball matches, and a uniform when we met outside.

“Next time we meet outside, shall I wear my own clothes?” (Hiroto)

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it!” (Haruka)

I felt Nishikawa-san and Yamada-san looking at me with an interesting expression. It was quite embarrassing, shouldn’t they be doing their jobs and listening to Takahashi-san?

“Haruka… you’ve met with each other multiple times? How come you haven’t told me…” (Nishikawa)

“I heard from Aya-chan that Haruka-chan had been talking with a boy. Turns out, it was Yoshizumi-kun…? I’m a bit surprised…” (Yamada)

“Aya-chan… Yui-chan… please stop talking…”

For some reason, Aizawa-san looked a bit troubled.

“Well, let’s leave it at that. You guys have come all this way, so go have fun. If there’s any issues, just let me know and I’ll send some patrols to you.”

With Aizawa-san in the middle, the three girls walked off, speaking in hushed tones to each other.

“Psst. Did you buy her a present?” (Takahashi)

While I was working at the reception desk, Takahashi-san came up and nudged me.

“I got it, thank you. Aizawa-san seemed happy with it. Because the store was filled with girls, I just got a little nervous.” (Hiroto)

I thanked her and told her about my trip to the store.

“Oh, really? You get nervous too, don’t you, Yoshizumi-kun? Hey, hey. Can you really throw on the mound at Koshien if you’re like this?” (Takahashi)

“It’ll be fine. I was more nervous shopping than on the mound at the tournament finals.” (Hiroto)

It was quite rare for her to tell a joke, it seemed that she was satisfied with my successful present-giving.

The rest of the shift went smoothly, and it was time for my replacement. I said goodbye to Takahashi-san and went to check on Yoichiro and the others.