Chapter 83: Pretty Girl, Preparing for the Cultural Festival (Part 2)

The lottery proceeded quietly and solemnly.

Each person drew a single slip with a number on it. At the end, Takagi-kun, a member of the cultural festival committee, would announce the winning number and reveal the winner. The whole setup felt unnecessarily dramatic, and even I found myself getting nervous.

Once everyone had their numbered slips, Takagi cleared his throat.

All eyes in the class immediately turned toward him. Some even pressed their hands together, silently praying. What kind of religion was this…?

"Now, we’ll announce the winner."

From somewhere, a drumroll sounded. It seemed like he had set it as a ringtone or something. But why all this elaborate production?

"The winner is number twelve!"

The class went silent for a moment, then erupted in cheers.

"Yessss!"

I glanced over at Ryoji. Looks like it wasn’t him. The world doesn’t always go your way, huh. Then I checked Togo—he was slumped over, looking completely burned out.

So, who had won? A crowd of classmates had already gathered around the winner’s seat, making it hard to see. Somewhere near the middle by the window… that would be Sudo-kun, one of the guys who tended to sit in the center of the class.

A member of the soccer club, he had a friendly personality and a knack for entertaining conversation, which made him popular with both boys and girls. Handsome, kind, and well-liked—he seemed to have quite a following.

The thought of him being my partner made me feel uneasy. Surely some girls liked him, and honestly, he felt too good for someone like me.

Noticing me standing dazed among the crowd, Sudo-kun approached with light, confident steps. Behind him, curious classmates craned their necks to watch.

"Nice to meet you, Sakura-san."

Sudo-kun smiled warmly, flashing a dazzling smile. Ah… so this is what they mean by “handsome guy” on TV, huh.

I hadn’t really talked much with Sudo-kun’s group since spending lunch breaks and after-school time in the clubroom. Of course, we’d spoken before as classmates, but this was the first time I’d had a one-on-one conversation with him.

Even though he was just a classmate… I was nervous. I had to at least return his greeting.

"Y-yes… n-nice to meet you…"

"Stuttered…," "So cute," "Still, nice," "Damn, my number was just one off…"

I completely messed up, stammered, and everyone’s eyes were on me. I couldn’t even look at him, so I lowered my head.

Why does this happen just from talking to classmates? If I’m this bad now, how am I going to survive the play?

"Are you okay?"

"Huh? Ah, yeah… I’m fine."

His gentle tone made me respond in a flustered rush. From behind him, I heard whistles and cheers. People had no sense of others! With a face as good-looking as his, there’d be plenty of cute girls wanting to be his partner anyway.

Takagi calmed the class down again. There were still roles to assign. Today, it seemed he intended to decide them all at once. With the main role—the childhood friend boy—assigned, the tense atmosphere in class eased a bit.

I wondered if the remaining roles would be decided smoothly. I thought interest might fade once the main part was chosen, but that wasn’t the case.

Other roles were surprisingly easy to assign. Togo was chosen for the foreign prince who would "kidnap" me. At first glance, the role seemed princely, but by the end of the story, it wasn’t such a great character. I thought it might not be popular, but somehow it was.

"Togo-kun, I’m glad you got a role!"

I happily jumped up and down as I spoke to Togo, who was being nudged by classmates around him. He really wanted to be in the play, huh? Well, if you’re in a play, wanting an important role makes sense—something a timid person like me can barely understand.

"Yeah, I’m really happy. I didn’t get the top role, but this is still a satisfying result."

"You really wanted to be in the play that much?"

"Well, no, I wanted to be in it ‘with Ayu-chan’."

"Haha, really? Thanks."

I laughed, and for some reason, Togo looked a little shocked. But he quickly recovered and began reading his lines.

His overly dramatic reading style was so funny that I couldn’t help but laugh. He seemed to have a favorite line and repeated it several times.

…Well, I guess it’s fine to be dramatic since this is actually a play.

"You really like that role, huh? You’re super motivated."

"Yeah, it feels amazing to ‘kidnap’ Ayu-chan!"

"Uh… okay, if you say so."

Togo’s serious expression made me respond awkwardly. Honestly, I was a little taken aback.

Togo has some unexpected tastes… I just want everyone to get along.

"Ah, no… I was joking, okay?"

Seeing my expression, Togo hurriedly backtracked.

Honestly, Togo seems more like a spectator than someone who would actually ‘kidnap’ anyone. He’s surprisingly timid. Huh… maybe this role doesn’t really suit him… but I guess it can’t be helped—it was a lottery. Besides, I’m the heroine anyway.

I felt a presence behind me and turned to see Ryoji standing there with a gloomy expression.

"Ryoji, what’s wrong?"

"What’s wrong…? I didn’t get a single role!"

Ryoji’s shout echoed through the classroom.

Roles were scarce, so it was inevitable some people wouldn’t get any. But still… it was a little disappointing. Doing a role with Ryoji might have been fun.

"Tagawa, sorry. I got the good part."

"You… I thought we were on the same team… you betrayed me…"

Togo wore a relaxed expression, while Ryoji ground his teeth in frustration.

"Everything’s because I blew my luck the day before," Ryoji muttered.

"Uoooh! Normally, nothing ever shows up, and now you pull a super rare item!"

Apparently, Ryoji had just gotten a rare item in some smartphone social game he played. He knew it had nothing to do with the lottery for play roles, but good things don’t happen consecutively very often. At least getting something was better than nothing, so he could feel a tiny bit vindicated.

"Hehe, while Ayu-chan and I practice together after school, you can stay over there making grass out of cardboard," Togo teased.

"What’s with this overwhelming sense of defeat… Don’t make fun of my grass!"

Watching these two bicker was endlessly entertaining. Somehow, it was a peaceful, reassuring kind of chaos. Honestly, I’d rather everything were handled by familiar faces. Statistically, that’s impossible, but it would have made things easier. Not that I wanted a kiss scene with Ryoji… really.

Still, I hadn’t talked much with Sudo-kun before, so I was a little nervous. Maybe I was afraid to approach him. He was nearly 180 cm tall in his first year of high school. If I put a 30 cm ruler on top of my head, I could barely reach him.

Ryoji was tall too, but Sudo-kun was even taller. And, being in a sports club, he had muscle to match. When I hung out with Aoi-kun before, I realized big people could be intimidating. Even with classmates, I felt a bit frozen.

Would I be okay…?

While I was lost in these thoughts, the roles were being assigned, finishing with the last person. Among the Cooking Club members, only Togo had gotten a role.

Apparently, Sakurako-chan and Moeka-chan hadn’t even volunteered for the play.

Once all the play roles were set, Takagi-kun started assigning duties for classmates not participating in the play—stage sets, props, costumes, lighting, sound, and so on. Even if I wasn’t acting, I had no clue which task a clumsy person like me could handle…

Yeah, impossible. I was too clumsy. Even cooking, if Mom hadn’t taught me step by step, I would have ended up with a blood-soaked disaster every time.

Just imagining a blood-stained cutting board made my spine tingle.

Meanwhile, behind me, the work assignments progressed smoothly. The stage set team had gathered quickly, and surprisingly, Ryoji had joined them.

"Next, anyone want to be in charge of costumes?"

Takagi-kun began assigning the next role.

Costumes were tricky. High school students would struggle to make them from scratch, and renting them seemed complicated too.

"Yes! Me!"
"Yes!"

I realized familiar voices had volunteered. Moeka-chan shouted with extra energy, while Sakurako-chan responded in a quiet yet determined tone. Both were clearly highly motivated.

The two were quickly assigned as costume managers, and a few other girls joined them for support.

"Moeka-chan and Sakurako-chan are really enthusiastic," I remarked.

"Of course! We’re going to make super beautiful costumes for Ayumi-chan!"

Wait, there were other performers too! My role was a girl from the outskirts of town—I wasn’t exactly supposed to have a gorgeous outfit. Honestly, Togo and the others would be wearing more impressive costumes.

"Hehe, we’ll make cute costumes for the unsophisticated town girl, and create magnificent outfits for the palace scenes!"

"…But isn’t that difficult? Can you really make all those costumes?"

"Don’t worry! Aika’s helping me, so it’ll be fine!"

Even though Aika-chan was only in middle school, she could make costumes so skillfully… I’d heard about it before, but it was still hard to believe.

Still, being able to knit or sew… I might secretly admire that. Maybe I’ll ask her to teach me someday…

"Wait… Aika-chan, you’re in your third year of middle school, right? Isn’t this the time when exam prep gets really busy?"

"No worries! I said I’d make clothes for Ayumi-chan, so I’d even do it while repeating a school year if I had to!"

"That’s not okay at all! Please don’t retake high school just for this!"

As I protested to Moeka-chan, suddenly Sakurako-chan grabbed my shoulder.

I jumped in surprise at the sudden movement.

She turned my face toward her and stared straight into my eyes. She looked unusually serious.

"To do that, I need to measure Ayumi-chan… Yes, this is necessary. It’s fine, right?"

"Huh?"

"I’ll measure everything—your three sizes, inseam, arm length, neck circumference—nothing will be left unmeasured! It’s fine, right?"

"Uh… Sakurako-chan, your eyes are scary…"

Her breathing was heavy, and she was really close. She barreled ahead without paying attention to anything else.

I glanced at Moeka-chan, hoping she’d stop her. She normally would!

"Wait! Wait! Sakurako-chan!"

My plea seemed to reach her. Moeka-chan—what a good kid.

"When you measure, call me too! We’ll measure together!"

Nope. Totally hopeless. Moeka-chan—what a useless kid.

"Wait, Aikawa-san! Minase-san!"

Ah, the other girls in charge of costumes were stepping in to stop her. She wouldn’t push past all of them and run wild, surely.

"We want to measure Ayumi-chan too! No, just measuring isn’t enough! We want to… touch every inch!"

What are they saying?! Is this class even okay?! And why are Sakurako-chan and Moeka-chan nodding along? Maybe we really need Yoshino-san here.

You guys promised at the beach you wouldn’t do anything weird! And it’s only been a month!

"Don’t worry, Ayumi-chan. We won’t do anything weird, so trust us."

Even saying that with a smirk like that… I can’t believe them at all. Honestly, this might be harder than practicing for the play.

Surrounded by the costume girls, I thought exactly that.

With the play roles decided and the tasks assigned, it seemed today’s meeting was finally over. The real preparations for the cultural festival would start tomorrow.

First, the actors had to be measured for costumes… and after that, they’d start rehearsals. I hadn’t memorized the script yet, but I wanted to learn it quickly so I could keep up.

The thought that things were really about to get serious made me excited but also anxious. Honestly, I almost wanted to run away from the stress. But if I could work hard together with everyone and accomplish something, it could become a memory for a lifetime. I wanted to see it through, no matter what.

Quietly, I whispered to myself, "Do your best."