Today, for some reason, all the students had gathered in the auditorium.
“After a comprehensive recommendation process that basically said anyone but me is fine! This year’s Tengushi Festival executive committee member—a role so brutal even a black company would recoil in horror—is...!”
The reason for the assembly was simple: choosing the executive committee members for the Tengushi Festival.
The Tengushi Festival was apparently a massive event held by the high schools of Tengushi City, and it was quite famous.
Since it was my first time, I was ridiculously excited.
Anyway, as Ai stretched out the end of her sentence, the spotlight snapped onto Itsuka-kun, who was standing right beside me.
“Itsuka Shido has been chosen!”
“Huh?”
Itsuka-kun wore a blank expression, completely blindsided by the fact that he’d been appointed as an executive committee member.
I wondered if it was really that shocking, but if Ai’s earlier comment about "black companies" was true, I could see why.
Just how hard do they work people to make a comparison like that?
“This is a conspiracy!”
Itsuka-kun, now on stage, shouted in a desperate denial of reality.
Honestly, if he was unlucky enough to get stuck with that job, it was truly unfortunate.
“An executive committee member... is talking back?!”
“Hey?!”
That was all well and good, but it had nothing to do with me.
As long as it wasn’t me.
“Serves you right~”
“You’re always flirting with pretty girls.”
Just listen to the voices around us!
Everyone wanted to see Itsuka-kun suffer!
“What is the Tengushi Festival?”
Tohka, who like me was clueless about the event, asked Tonomachi-kun beside her.
In response, Tonomachi-kun gave her a detailed explanation.
“The Tengushi Festival is a joint cultural festival held by ten high schools in Tengushi City. Every year, voting is held in three categories: food stalls, exhibits, and stage performances. The school that takes first place gets to reign as the prince.”
Thanks to Tonomachi-kun, I filled in the gaps in my own knowledge.
A joint cultural festival with ten schools? That was something that would never happen in Korea, so my expectations only continued to rise.
“There are a lot of rivals, too. Eibunishi High, Senjo University Affiliated... and the one you absolutely can’t forget is the reigning champion, Rindoji Girls’ Academy.”
According to Tonomachi-kun, Rindoji Girls’ Academy had taken first place last year and held the title of prince.
Their strength lay in the fact that the city’s most beautiful girls were all concentrated there.
And apparently, they even had that “Miku” this year, making them a formidable opponent.
Miku was a name I’d heard before; I knew she was a hugely popular singer.
“Hm? Ah! Oh no! There’s been a change in the voting results!”
While I was listening to Tonomachi-kun, Ai’s voice boomed over the speakers.
As everyone’s attention snapped back to the stage, Ai continued.
“And so! This time, not one but two people have been chosen as executive committee members! One is Itsuka Shido! And the other is...!”
The spotlight, which had begun to dance across the crowd, stopped dead on me.
...Huh?
“Ta-da! It’s Higakieta Hai!”
“...Fuck?”
The curse slipped out of my mouth instinctively.
I just wanted to enjoy myself, so why had the voting results suddenly changed to include me?
The answer came very quickly.
“For our Sachi-chan.”
“Mm-hm.”
“She said she was fine with it, but this is still payback for making her cry.”
The culprits were the girls.
The girls who had grown close to the Fire Keeper had somehow remembered what happened on the last school trip and recommended me out of spite.
“You too, come on up, Hieta!”
Itsuka-kun seemed delighted to have another victim to share his misery with, and he welcomed me with a grin.
Thinking that Itsuka-kun had somehow snapped, I could only trudge up to the stage.
Once I arrived, Ai announced, “All right! This year’s sacrifices— I mean, the two boys who became executive committee members!”
She definitely just said sacrifices, didn't she?
“A few words, please!”
Following Ai’s prompt, Itsuka-kun, who had gone first, shared his thoughts.
“Sigh... I’ll do my best.”
Such a short line.
But all of Itsuka-kun’s despair was packed into those few words.
And, as expected, he handed the microphone to me.
I took the microphone in one hand and said quietly, “Haha, everyone.”
“Do you know why Itachi is strong?”
I knew. Of course I knew.
But the other students just tilted their heads, clearly not getting the reference.
Then Ai, Mai, and Mii seemed to realize what I was about to do and started moving in a hurry.
“Because he ran away!!!!”
“Hey! Catch him!!!”
“Stop right there, Hieta!!!”
“That’s so lame~!!!”
I dodged the three of them and sprinted toward the auditorium exit.
As I reached the entrance, moving my feet as fast as humanly possible, a group of boys blocked my path.
“W-what is this!”
“You’re not getting out, Hieta!”
“If you leave, one of us is definitely going to get picked instead!”
Those crazy bastards were blocking me because they didn’t want to be the next sacrifices.
In that case, I had no choice but to use my trump card.
“Dragon-shaped cookies for the first three people who move out of the way!!!”
At my shout, the wall of boys split in half like the Red Sea.
I rushed through the path they’d made and reached for the door handle, only for—
“Got·cha!”
—Mai to seize me, having somehow chased me down.
“Let go of me!!!”
“I’m never letting go!!!”
“Hurry up and drag him back!”
“I am not becoming a slave!!!”
“This is so lame!”
In the end, since I was being dragged by girls, I couldn’t even struggle properly and was hauled right back up onto the stage.
“Ghh...! Damn it! I should’ve gone through the window!”
If I’d smashed through a window to escape, I might’ve actually had a chance...!
“No. Then you’d have become famous for all the wrong reasons.”
Itsuka-kun objected from the side.
But still, wouldn’t that have been better than becoming an executive committee member?
Being infamous was way better than being worked like a dog.
“Well, since I’ve ended up as an executive committee member anyway, I might as well do my best.”
“If you were going to accept it that quickly, why did you put on that whole escape act...?”
Itsuka-kun shook his head, sounding completely dumbfounded.
“Because if I’d succeeded, I was planning to actually run away.”
Wasn’t that obvious?
If you can avoid something, you avoid it.
“...Yeah. Right.”
I could feel a look of pity in Itsuka-kun’s eyes, but I decided to just ignore it.
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