[Warning 15+]
Part Six
―With the Same Energy as Before, Wearin' a Smile
Chapter 214
What I Wanna Be
―With the Same Energy as Before, Wearin' a Smile
Chapter 214
What I Wanna Be
Lunch break.
The moment the chime sounded, Hayato's classroom burst into chaos all at once.
Simultaneously, desks were swiftly pushed up against both Hayato's and Haruki's by their classmates, surroundin' them as if to make sure they couldn't escape.
This had been a daily routine for the past few days.
Naturally, the topic was what their class should do for the Cultural Festival, and as they unpacked their lunches, everyone chatted away freely.
"Class 1-3's doing a Crossdressin' Cabaret Club! Isn't that total buzzword overload already!?"
"And get this, word is Kaidō-kun's goin' all-out with it, so my Club senpai was totally hyped!"
"Speakin' of Club senpai-s, someone was all fired up like 'We're definitely doin' a Succubus Cafe this year,' but he whined that the girls gave him major side-eye."
"Oh yeah, a sophomore class is apparently buildin' pit-dwellin's on the field and servin' recreated Jomon Period food."
"Wait, what's that about? I'm so curious!"
"Everyone's comin' up with high-impact stuff... ...To compete with all that, we really gotta figure out how to leverage our secret weapon, Nikaidō-san~"
"If possible, we wanna go all out on costumes too, and right now Mori-kun's Halloween Cafe idea is the top contender... ...but I kinda want a concept with a bit more edge."
"We also wanna feature singin' if we can."
Listenin' to the convo, it seemed like other classes were finalizin' their plans as well. Based on that info, the discussion grew more heated by the day.
As expected, everyone had huge expectations ridin' on Haruki.
Which made total sense. Out of all the first-years, Haruki stood out the most, so there was no way they wouldn't use her as the main draw.
When Hayato glanced sideways and locked eyes with Haruki, she knitted her brows and offered a helpless, sheepish smile.
Haruki had no real desire to be in the spotlight, but she was no longer in a position where she could refuse.
Amidst the excitement buzzin' around them, Haruki leaned in and whispered softly to Hayato.
"If... ...if I tell them I'm too busy with Executive Committee duties..."
"Even if it's just a tiny sliver of time, the class will probably tweak things to squeeze every last drop out of it."
"Yeah, thought so..."
Haruki let out a heavy sigh.
A ton of outside guests would likely show up for the Cultural Festival.
In the end, whatever attraction they went with, Haruki wouldn't be able to escape the spotlight, and worst-case scenario, somethin' like that video from the other day might happen again. That was the one thing they wanted to avoid.
Hayato looked over at his classmates who were passionately deliberatin'.
If they properly explained a reason that made sense to them, the class would probably hear them out.
However, neither Hayato nor Haruki had a way to explain things without bringin' up Haruki's Mom, Takura Mao.
In that case, wouldn't it be better to grab the reins themselves so they could control the narrative?
With that in mind, Hayato decided to bounce the idea off Haruki as a test.
"Hey Haruki, assumin' we do some sort of concept cafe that involves singin', what kind of vibe would you wanna go for? Doesn't just have to be outfits you wanna try on—it could be a magic school theme, or styled after an adventurer's guild like in fantasy games, or any worldbuildin' concept like that."
"Hmm, now that I think about it, I've never really given it any thought. Let's see..."
Sayin' that, Haruki crossed her arms with one hand restin' on her chin, groanin' out a thoughtful "Hmm..." with furrowed brows as she pondered deeply. It looked like an immediate answer wasn't comin' out.
"I mean, even characters from a video game you like works fine."
Continuin' his words in hopes of givin' Haruki a startin' point, Hayato squirted a mini bento ketchup packet over the omelet in his lunchbox—at which point she suddenly widened her eyes in a flash of revelation.
"I wanna praise Vampire Princess Brigit-tan!"
"Huh? V-Vampire...?"
Then, clenchin' her fist, Haruki passionately argued her case.
"Yeah, she's my number one top fave character in the game I'm playing right now! Everyone fears her as one of the cold-hearted, ruthless, absolute True Ancestor Vampires, but in reality she sucks at fightin', her hobbies are collectin' plushies and bakin' sweets, and she only forces herself to put on a tough front on the front lines to protect her Kingdom—she's a total Princess!"
"Oh, now that you mention it, I think I've seen her in smartphone video game ads. The blond girl in the red dress, right?"
"Yeah, that's her! Man, the video game's production values are insane too. On one hand, she blasts away with attacks in a cold voice saying 'I'll erase you from this world without a trace,' but the moment an ally goes down, she lets out a desperate, pleading voice like 'Oh!' or 'Don't collapse for my sake!'—it hits SO hard!"
"H-Huh, I see."
"That's not all! She buffs you with ancient incantation chants, and the voice actress actually sings them for real! The lyrics subtly convey her trust in her comrades and how much she cares, making her devotion and desperation super clear—it gets you so hyped! From tiny details like that, her vassals realize how kind Brigit-tan really is and want to support her! When the single for her incantation chant came out, I dropped cash on 5 copies, so I'll bring one next time!"
"A-All right, got it. Birgi..."
"Brigit-tan!"
"Yeah, I totally get that Brigit-tan is an amazin' character, so can we chill out for a sec? Okay?"
"I AM totally calm!"
Once her nerd switch was flipped, Haruki turned full-on speed-talkin' otaku gushin' over her fave.
Sensin' the surroundin' gazes gatherin' to see what the scene was about, Hayato tried to rein her in, but once Haruki was fired up, there was no stopping her.
"Right, Brigit-tan has a lonely orphan backstory, a gap-moe personality, and so many top-tier points, but what I wanna push the most is what gets revealed at the end of Brigit-tan's story—turns out she's actually a boy...! That shock blew my brain wide open! It's never gonna go back to normal!"
"I get it...! When I found out, I was super shocked, but my heart started thumpin' like crazy and wouldn't stop!"
"Me too! There's that scene where he claims he doesn't really like dressin' up as a girl, but gets given a cute dress and gets legit hyped about it—my nostrils flared up so big my little bro got totally creeped out watchin' me!"
"I am no homosexual, but I could easily go for Brigit-kyun, in fact I'd rather be taken by him...!"
"Where's the dōjinshi?! Where are the thin books at?!"
Stirred up by Haruki's fervor, the other classmates stood up all at once, roarin' out their own allegiances.
Then a chaotic flurry of alarmin' convos broke out: "Blew 20 hours of shift money just to pull him," "I literally went on my hands and knees to borrow cash from my little sis," "It's not gacha spendin', it's an offerin'," "It's my duty as a servant."
To be honest, it was pretty cringe.
Still, it made it crystal clear just how popular the character was.
Not just Hayato, but the other classmates who didn't play the game exchanged awkward smiles and nodded in mutual understandin'.
Then, representin' the group, Ema—who had been one of the central figures in the convo up to that point—asked as if double-checkin'.
"S-So, is everyone good with a Vampire Princess Cafe, then? Like, Haruki-chan becomes the Vampire Princess, and the customers come in as her subjects to praise her?"
"Leave it to me! I'll sprout a trunk in my heart and play the absolute best Brigit-tan ever! 'Welcome, my familiars... ...um, thanks. I-It's not like I'm happy about it or anythin'!'"
""""UOH!!!!""""
And along with Haruki's line, the video game players (familiars) let out a roar of absolute ecstasy.
Hayato could only clutch his throbbin' temples, thinking 'What on Earth are you guys even doing?'
Author's Notes:
Meow.