NOVEL NEXT Chapter 44
One of the biggest events in high school, the cultural festival.
Each class and club decides on a content to create and showcase to many people.
That’s right, if we’re talking about the genres of manga, anime, and light novels in the youth category, it can’t be missing.
But for a socially awkward person like me, just hearing the words “cultural festival” is exhausting.
Excitement? There’s no way I’d feel that.
After all, during the preparation period, I’m left with all the hard work, and on the day of the festival, I’d end up working nonstop without any breaks, unable to refuse any requests. Even if I did get a break, I wouldn’t have any friends to hang out with, so I’d just spend time alone in some empty corner.
For a pro social outcast like me, wandering around alone isn’t a burden, but I don’t even feel the need to do so.
Well, the conclusion is that for a social outcast, the cultural festival is just another school event without any emotion or happiness.
I guess the only advantage is that there are no classes…
“Alright! On October 26th and 27th, what should our class do for the cultural festival? Anyone with suggestions, feel free to speak up!”
Miyauchi stood at the front of the classroom and shouted loudly.
Next to her were the homeroom teacher and vice president, quietly standing, and behind the three was, of course, a banner that read, “Cultural Festival Preparation!”
“…”
The atmosphere in the classroom was the complete opposite of Miyauchi’s request to speak freely.
A silence where everyone just exchanged glances, too scared to speak up.
Well, in situations like this, it’s actually a bit burdensome to give an opinion.
As a pro social outcast, I know this all too well.
“Me! Me! I have a great idea!”
Then, shattering the awkward atmosphere, the first to speak was the top social butterfly of our class, Tateyama.
She seemed so excited about the cultural festival, her eyes sparkling with a bright smile.
Was she silent not out of burden, but rather searching for a good idea?
“A gender swap cosplay cafe!”
“…What?”
That voice, sounding astonished, resonated throughout the room, but I wonder whose voice it was?
Probably not just one person’s.
As I glanced around, it appeared that most of my classmates, regardless of gender, couldn’t understand what they just heard.
“It was in that manga Sasshi showed us last time! The guys in maid outfits and the girls dressed as butlers serving customers in a cafe!”
“Wait, Haru?! You said that was a secret!”
“Who in the world would want to do something like that?!”
“Just look at those guys in maid outfits; that’s total torture…”
Thanks to Tateyama’s comment, the slightly hesitant atmosphere was now completely gone, leading to a variety of opinions starting to come out.
However, in the end, our class’s event for the cultural festival was decided to be the cosplay cafe that Tateyama originally suggested.
Instead, the choice of outfits between butlers and maids was left up to each individual.
“…”
What was I doing, you ask?
Of course, I was borrowing the power of the alias “Time Killer—” to kill time without a single thought.
I recently found out that if I recited the Heart Sutra in my mind, time flies by remarkably fast.
Isn’t that amazing?
The onsite monk must have been the first time murderer.
I respect that…
★
“…”
As if it were obvious, Kayanoh was the first to leave the classroom as soon as class ended.
But among the remaining members of 1-A, no one planned to stop her.
A short while later, Tateyama stood up and peeked outside through the back door.
“Yep. She went down.”
Seeing Kayanoh descending the stairs, Tateyama returned to her seat.
“So, what do you want to discuss, Miyauchi?”
“Um, um.”
After taking a breath to gather her thoughts, Miyauchi spoke up.
“As you all know, preparations for the cultural festival start tomorrow. So, I wanted to decide in advance. …What should we do about Kayanoh?”
At Miyauchi’s question, no one was able to speak.
Kayanoh Mina.
The girl in our class, 1-A, who always looks out of place yet is always at the center.
For everyone in 1-A, who consciously keeps their distance from her, that question felt cruelly harsh.
“Of course, we can’t exclude Kayanoh from the cultural festival preparations.”
Miyauchi’s statement was so logical that everyone nodded in agreement.
“But lately, Kayanoh’s condition has been strange, right? Although it has been over two weeks since it happened, if something truly bad happened to Kayanoh, should we consider being a little more accommodating?”
“Accommodating, in what way?”
The one who asked the question was the vice president, Ookusa.
“Well, perhaps we could assign her tasks that she can finish alone quickly and simply so she can go home early?”
“True, that wouldn’t be bad.”
…Though objectively speaking, it was a ridiculous idea.
In a cultural festival where everyone has to collaborate to create something wonderful, it wouldn’t make sense to give special treatment to just one person, no matter what circumstances they had.
Especially when there’s no confirmation of whether she was actually facing any issues.
As a class representative, that was a choice I should never make, and it would be normal for someone to oppose it.
…But that was only a notion applicable to typical situations; Kayanoh’s case in 1-A was anything but normal.
She was a beautiful girl that would naturally catch the eyes of her classmates as they passed by.
And that beautiful girl always emanated a cold aura, as if rejecting anyone who approached her.
Overwhelmed by that aura, no one dared to approach her privately, and that situation had continued for nearly half a year.
As a result, everyone in class 1-A began to feel a sense of guilt.
Wasn’t it our fault that Kayanoh had become isolated in class because we didn’t put in the effort to approach her?
No matter how cold the atmosphere might be, it didn’t mean we could allow a friend in the same class to be isolated.
Was it really okay to go through three years as classmates like this?
We could have gotten closer to Kayanoh too.
Such thoughts gradually settled in everyone’s hearts.
And that sense of guilt eventually led to this situation.
“Completely excluding her from the work would indeed be unreasonable, right?”
“Yeah. And even if it were possible, I wouldn’t want that. Kayanoh is part of 1-A too, after all. If we completely exclude her from the work, I think that would make her feel even lonelier. I want her to have at least some memories of enjoying the cultural festival with us.”
“That’s true.”
“Okay then! Let’s assign Kayanoh to do the flyer work and create some simple decorations!”
“Awesome!”
★
[Mycaron Reading! #Star’s Flow#Kainoh Izumi#Chat Broadcast]
“Konozumi… the, the atmosphere maker, Kainoh Izumi…”
-Hiizumi!
-Why do you look so tired?
“I-it’s because I’m, um, busy…”
From tomorrow, I’ll have to stay later at school for the cultural festival preparations.
Having to stay longer than usual, surrounded by those scary social butterflies at school.
Just the thought of it was mentally exhausting.
“Um… starting tomorrow, my, my streaming time might be late…”
=Coke JP¥ 5,000: How late are we talking about? You’re not taking a break from streaming, right?
“Thanks for the hyperchat, Coke. I’ll probably start around 9 PM, and it might go for a maximum of 2 hours, maybe…?”
I usually get home by 4:30 PM. Even when it’s my turn to clean, I never come home past 5.
So on weekdays, I usually stream around 6 PM.
But if I start preparing for the cultural festival, I’ll have to stay at school until at least 5 PM, and even if I rushed home, it’d be past 6.
When I shower and eat dinner, it’ll naturally be around 8 PM.
So even if I quickly start my stream, it’ll be after 8:30 PM.
And if I start receiving requests from people around me, the tasks will only pile up, and I might end up staying until 7 PM alone.
“B-but I will still stream as much as I can…”
Yet during the stream, I probably wouldn’t talk much and focus on gaming instead.
After struggling around social butterflies, I doubt I’ll have the energy to chat when I get home.
Well, that doesn’t mean I’ll completely shut my mouth.
“Then should I start reading Mycaron soon…?”
[Hiizumi!]
[(Self-Proclaimed) Social Butterfly Ultra Cute Girl Atmosphere Maker (Reality: Social Outcast Communication Impairment Trash Mentality Punching Bag VTuber Mei-chan has a question for you.]
[Are you still using the Hero of Destiny, Hercules, you picked last time?]
“…Is this a question for me, or are you just picking a fight?”
But how long could those prefix descriptors go on for?
Instead of feeling bad, I found it so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh.
-Maybe both?
“That… sounds worse…”
Still, I had somewhat gotten used to it by now.
Despite being filled with bad words… it was still sent by those who liked me.
“I’ve already done the final awakening and even the skill act. I tried using him in the farming dungeon, and he was incredibly strong…”
Hercules was so powerful in the recent high-difficulty event missions that it made me wonder, “Is it okay to clear them this easily?”
Since I had maxed out all the limits, if he were weak, that would be odd, but even considering that, he was an exceptionally strong character.
Plus, the illustration was top-notch.
“I feel sorry for those who couldn’t summon him, hehehe…”
-Are you picking a fight now?
-You wanna go?
“Eek. I-I’m sorry…”
Thinking it’d be fun to tease, I received a response much stronger than I expected.
I had no idea that so many of my viewers were fans of Heroes of Destiny.
“L-Let’s move on to the next question…”
-You’re probably just moving on because you’re scared
-I spent 100,000 yen and still couldn’t get a limit break
-I really dislike Mei today
-I should’ve recognized it from when you said the second part of episode 2 was better than the finale
“It’s true that the second part of episode 2’s story is the best…”
But there’s no way I could give this up.
The story of Heroes of Destiny’s second part is the best.
“Admit you lost when you lost to Yukari-chan last time”
“Not gonna happen!”
That remark eventually led me to chat nonstop about Heroes of Destiny’s story alongside the Izutomo crew until I ended the stream.
-Let’s not do a stream where we just read Mycaron from now on…
I think that makes sense.
But I believe I’m innocent as it’s those people who first touched my pride.