The moment class ended, Yukio's classmates surrounded Sakura, all wanting to ask about the clothes for their Taisho-themed cultural festival.
They really could not be blamed for being this eager. They had picked their theme way too late, and there were less than two weeks left before the festival. A lot of things had to be prepared starting now.
And honestly, their excitement made sense. ANHS was way too restrictive.
After all, they had not even gotten a cultural festival at all during their first year.
Back in middle school, they had one every year and could really have fun with it. Then they got to high school and suddenly had nothing. That gap had never sat right with any of them.
Now that the Acting Chairman had finally arranged a cultural festival, of course they were throwing all their enthusiasm and energy into it. At the very least, they did not want to look back and regret it.
Of course, that was only compared to the average Japanese student. Only then did ANHS feel overly restrictive.
Compared to certain strict, quasi-military high schools back in Yukio's homeland, even Advanced Nurturing looked downright relaxed.
At those schools, forget a cultural festival. Some students did not even get to go home once a month. They were out running drills and doing morning study before sunrise, got five minutes to eat each meal, and endured what was basically three years of torment.
Compared to that, Advanced Nurturing was paradise. Just Keyaki Mall alone, with all its shops and entertainment spots, would feel heavenly to some high schoolers.
"Sakura-san, could you explain in more detail what café clothing looked like in the Taisho era? I tried looking it up on my phone, but the internet is all over the place. Everything looks different. Which style do you think is the most representative?"
"Move it, you lot. Clothes can wait a little. Let us figure out the decorations first, okay? The tableware, tablecloths, wall decorations, all that needs to be sorted out ahead of time."
"Huh? Why are you in such a rush over decorations? You can set those up the night before. Outfits are obviously the priority."
Sakura was so flustered by all her new classmates that she had no idea what to do. She looked from one side to the other, opened her mouth to answer, then froze because she did not even know who to answer first.
"Everyone... everyone, one at a time..."
"Okay, okay." At the critical moment, Hiyori stepped in. She walked over and gently wrapped an arm around Sakura's shoulder. "Come on, you guys. Airi doesn't even know all of you yet, and you're all crowding her at once. Who's she supposed to answer first?"
"How about this? One leader from the outfit team, one from the decoration team. You take turns lining up and asking Airi, okay?"
Everyone immediately understood how inconsiderate they had been after seeing how nervous Sakura looked. They apologized on the spot, quickly split into small groups to talk it over, picked temporary representatives, and came back one by one to ask their questions.
That made things much easier on Sakura.
She looked gratefully at Hiyori. "Hiyori-san, thank you. I... I really didn't know what to do just now."
"You don't have to be so formal, Sakura." Hiyori smiled, her eyes bright as stars, light and drifting like clouds in the sky. "We're friends, aren't we?"
Sakura paused.
Friends?
Could she and Hiyori still be called friends?
If they were friends, then how could she steal Hiyori's man?
But when she thought about it carefully, if she was not asking for status or position, if all she wanted was a tiny little piece of Yukio's affection, then maybe it did not count as stealing.
She truly wanted Yukio and Hiyori to be happy. She only wanted to become Yukio's lover.
So Sakura blushed and timidly nodded.
"Yes, Hiyori. We're... friends."
Hiyori stayed by her side as she helped answer the class's questions, and that support eased a lot of the tension Sakura felt in this unfamiliar environment.
Bit by bit, Sakura began to find her place in Yukio's class. That sense of belonging grew stronger and stronger. Even the shyness that had always plagued her seemed to be improving as she slowly started to fit in.
Watching the two of them getting along so well, Yukio finally relaxed.
It seemed the thorn in Sakura's heart had truly been pulled out.
At that moment, Ryuuen suddenly remembered something.
"Yukio, doesn't the student council need to hold a meeting today?"
What he was really asking was not whether they had a meeting, but whether the student council could revise the rules for the cultural festival this time.
Every special exam the school arranged got reviewed by the student council first, all to ensure the students' interests were protected.
Back when Tsukishiro first arrived, the class poll exam would never have gone through if Yukio had not approved it. Without student council approval, it could not have stood.
That restriction was exactly why Ryuuen asked the question now.
When Sakagami had just urged them to hurry up and settle on a theme, he had said, "The detailed rules come out tomorrow."
That little leak had caught Ryuuen's attention. So he wanted to know: if the festival rules were coming down tomorrow, why had the student council not revised anything? That did not make sense.
Yukio shook his head. "No message from the school about it. Looks like we'll just get to go home and rest after class today. No meeting. Or rather, once class is over, we'll have to start preparing for the cultural festival."
Ryuuen looked a little surprised.
Could this be another case of the Acting Chairman doing whatever he wanted again, like with the class poll exam? That did not seem likely.
"This festival isn't going through the student council?"
"It isn't." Yukio did not seem surprised in the least. "This is a brand-new event, and it's the school's first time inviting guests from outside society. There isn't really room for us to revise it."
"As long as the school ensures the students' interests are protected, there's no reason it has to go through the student council."
"After all, it's just a large-scale event, not a special exam."
The sharp-eyed Ryuuen immediately drew a useful conclusion from that.
"So this means there are no punishments involved this time."
All the previous special exams had either deducted class points or expelled students. The penalties had always been serious, which was why every class fought so fiercely.
If this cultural festival did not have any real punishment attached, then it really was a pretty relaxed event, something geared more toward entertainment and letting everyone unwind.
After reaching that conclusion, Ryuuen glanced over at Yukio.
Yukio gave him a confirming nod.
Ryuuen's shoulders immediately slackened. "Tch. That kills my motivation in an instant."
"Not necessarily." For just a moment, Yukio's expression turned strangely intriguing, like he had just thought of something.
That look alone made Ryuuen straighten up. He had no intention of pointing out that Yukio sounded like he was contradicting himself. He was just waiting for a bit more information.
Yukio did not keep him hanging.
"The festival itself may be fine, but the guests who show up for it... might turn into a problem."
...
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