Source
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The day after I’d been forced to serve as an assistant to the Culture Festival Executive Committee.
At “Anemone,” the café where I work part-time, the same three familiar faces gathered as usual after school.
“A café area at the Culture Festival?”
Natsume, sitting at the counter, tilted her head as she took a bite of the pudding that had just been brought to her.
“Yeah. Apparently, the student council is running it.”
“So, is Kasugai going to brew the coffee?”
“I can’t do that without the kind of equipment you’d find in a real coffee shop. At school, I’ll just be in charge of customer service and staffing.”
“That’s boring. I was planning to go check it out if you were going to wear a butler’s uniform.”
“Why do you assume I’m going to wear a butler’s uniform?”
“Because it would suit you.”
Natsume answered without a hint of guilt.
Next to her, Shiina was jotting something down in a small notebook.
“Kasugai-kun in a butler’s uniform… expressionless, yet a servant sworn to loyalty only to his young mistress…”
“Don’t use this as material for a novel.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You said it all out loud.”
Shiina hurriedly closed her notebook, but the cover read “Next Work: Character Profiles.”
I’d barely even gotten past the halfway point of the first book I was being forced to read.
“As for who will be in charge of hosting guests on the day of the cultural festival, I will select the appropriate personnel.”
Himuro, who had been sitting by the window, looked up from the student council documents.
“I will not permit any costumes that make Kasugai-kun look like a sideshow.”
“Isn’t that up to you to decide, Himuro?”
“It’s only natural, as the person in charge of management.”
“So, what are you going to wear, Himuro?”
When Natsume asked her this, Himuro was at a loss for words for just a moment.
“I’ll be wearing my school uniform.”
“A maid’s uniform would draw more customers.”
“I won’t wear one.”
“What if Kasugai wore a butler’s uniform?”
“…To maintain a sense of uniformity in our operations, there is room for consideration.”
“So you would wear one after all.”
“That’s just a hypothetical scenario.”
Himuro lifted her cup to hide her face.
Lately, her expressions have become easier to read than before.
Right after she was rejected by Chairman Kuze, her smile and words were somehow stiff. But since she started coming here, she’s been rolling her eyes at Natsume’s banter, calling out Shiina when he goes off the rails, and giving me detailed instructions on how to serve customers.
At least while she’s here at the shop, she isn’t forcing herself to act a certain way.
If that’s the case, I think I can put up with her hanging around here every day.
“Speaking of which, Kasugai-kun…”
Shiina raised his hand hesitantly.
“Are you planning to walk around the cultural festival with Mizuse-san?”
The atmosphere in the shop shifted.
Natsume’s spoon stopped moving, and Himuro looked up from her documents.
“Why bring Kotonoha into this?”
“Because she’s your childhood friend. I figured you probably used to walk around together every year.”
Shiina’s guess was correct.
During the cultural festival in my freshman year of high school, Kotonoha and I walked around the school together, just the two of us.
Since we both had class duties, we only had about an hour of free time. Even so, back then, I thought of it as a secret date.
“She’ll be walking around with Ren this year, right?”
“Hasn’t anyone suggested the three of you walk around together?”
“They might ask.”
“Are you going to go?”
Himuro’s voice dropped slightly.
“I think I’ll turn them down. They’d definitely be in the way.”
“Of course.”
“That was a quick answer.”
“Minase san and President Kuze don’t make enough of an effort to understand other people’s feelings.”
“Don’t drag President Kuze into this.”
“Those who win at love are oblivious to the existence of the losers.”
Himuro stated this with a serious expression.
Natsume nodded deeply.
“I get it. Makabe-senpai also said he’d bring his girlfriend to club practice next time.”
“That’ll be awkward.”
“Plus, he said, ‘I want to introduce her to you, too.’ I haven’t told him I used to have a crush on him, you know. As a cheerful underclassman, I’ll have to greet her with a smile.”
Natsume said this with a laugh.
But that smile was just a little more forced than usual.
“Why don’t you just skip it?”
“I don’t want people to think I’m running away.”
“From who?”
“……From myself.”
Natsume stared at her pudding cup.
“Since I couldn’t properly confess my feelings, I at least want to end things with a smile. If I cry in front of him, he’ll figure out I’ve liked him all along, right?”
In the sense that we both harbored regrets about not being able to confess our feelings, Natsume and I were alike.
But unlike me, Natsume wasn’t running away—she was trying to draw a line under it.
“I don’t think you need to force yourself to smile, though.”
“You’re saying that, Kasugai?”
“I can say that because I’ve been there. If you force yourself to offer congratulations, it’ll just be even harder when you’re alone later.”
“So, what should I do?”
“Just say hello, then come over here right away.”
Natsume looked up.
“Here?”
“Yeah. Have some pudding or a parfait, and badmouth that senior as much as you want.”
“Are you going to listen to that, Kasugai?”
“Himuro and Shiina will be here too, right?”
“I want you to listen, Kasugai.”
Her tone was stronger than I expected.
Natsume was staring straight at my face.
“Kasugai listened to me when I looked my worst. So please, Kasugai, listen to me until the very end.”
“……Okay.”
When I replied, Natsume smiled as if relieved.
This time, her smile was just a little more natural.
“Kasugai-kun.”
Himuro called out to me quietly.
“From now on, please report to me in advance whenever you make personal plans with a woman.”
“Report to whom?”
“To me.”
“Why?”
“To avoid scheduling conflicts.”
“Have you and I ever even shared a schedule?”
“We’ll start doing so from now on.”
Shiina also raised her hand slightly.
“I’d like you to report to me as well. If I write a scene where only Natsume-san gets special treatment, it throws off the balance among the characters.”
“Don’t try to bend reality to suit the needs of a novel.”
“Pudding alone isn’t enough for me. I want a parfait too, okay?”
“I’m just listening to you—I didn’t say I’d treat you.”
“Are you going to make a heartbroken woman pay for it?”
“I told you not to use heartbreak as an excuse.”
The three of them spoke at once, and the previously quiet café suddenly became noisy.
Then, the manager, who had been polishing dishes at the back of the counter, chuckled softly.
“It’s gotten quite lively in here, hasn’t it?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll tell them to keep it down.”
“It’s fine. There aren’t any other customers anyway.”
The manager looked at us, then shifted her gaze to the entrance door.
“By the way, Yuto, we have customers.”
The doorbell rang.
“Welcome!”
I called out reflexively, then froze when I saw the two people standing at the entrance.
“Yuto, you really did work here, didn’t you?”
It was Kotonoha and Ren.
They were standing shoulder to shoulder, sharing a single umbrella.
“Sorry for dropping by so suddenly, Yuto. Kotonoha said she wanted to come check this place out.”
“It’s fine. I welcome customers.”
I meant to answer as I always did.
But deep inside my chest, a pain shot through me, as if an old wound had been scratched open.
Kotonoha scanned the interior of the shop and spotted three people sitting by the window.
“Himuro san and the others are here, too.”
“They’re here every day.”
When Natsume replied, Kotonoha’s eyes widened in slight surprise.
“Every day?”
“On days when Kasugai is here, anyway.”
“Natsume. No need for unnecessary explanations.”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
Kotonoha’s gaze returned to me.
Although a smile played on her face, for some reason it seemed slightly stiff.
“Yuto, you look like you’re having a lot of fun.”
“I’m on the job, though.”
“I see.”
Kotonoha replied briefly and headed toward an empty table with Ren.
I followed them to bring them their menus and water.
Himuro and the others were staring intently at their backs.
At that moment, I thought they were just my childhood friend and my best friend coming to the shop.
But after they sat down, Kotonoha kept glancing back and forth between me and the three girls.
It was as if she had just realized for the first time that I had found a place for myself somewhere she didn’t know about.
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