The closing ceremony proceeded without a hitch, and as soon as the Cultural Festival concluded, it was time for the post-festival party—or not. Instead, the cleanup work began that very instant. In this day and age, no school would allow students to stay on the grounds until nightfall. Even if there was no official event, everyone would likely head to karaoke or somewhere else to enjoy themselves once the work was done.
"Sajou, you’re coming too, right?"
"Yeah."
For a first-year attraction, the Riddle Contest had been quite a success. A class after-party was inevitable. The local karaoke parlors were undoubtedly on edge, knowing our school’s Cultural Festival was today. Just they wait; I was going to dominate that microphone.
"Haaa... Still, to think Sasaki finally..."
"? Oh..."
Yamazaki was looking toward a certain girl. As a member of the Tea Ceremony Club, she walked toward the classroom with a perfectly straight back. Despite her posture, that Yamato Nadeshiko—Saito-san—looked like her expression was softening, or rather, she seemed somewhat flighty. There must have been progress in her relationship with Sasaki. I wondered what would happen if I told them I was the one who gave him that final push...
Sasaki himself was still in the gymnasium, busy with his duties for the Cultural Festival Executive Committee alongside Natsukawa. He probably never expected his relationship with a specific girl to advance during the festival. What was that whole period where I felt so murky after he told me he was interested in Natsukawa? Even though I was the one who encouraged him to date her, I still felt a lingering sense of helplessness.
"Well, whatever."
"Right?"
Actually, it wasn't fine. It looked like both Shirai-san and Okamo-chan, who were close to Saito-san, had held feelings for Sasaki on some level, so things might get awkward from here on out. But that wasn't something to think about right after the Cultural Festival. I decided to just soak in the afterglow of the fun event and make some noise without worrying about anything beyond tomorrow.
"Wait... ugh."
My pocket vibrated. When I pulled out my phone, the name Yuuki-paisen was on the lock screen. It was an unexpected message from the Student Council President himself—the one person I didn't want to see for a while.
[Come to the waiting room next to the stage.]
"..."
Next to the stage. I assumed he meant that mysterious space beside the platform in the gymnasium. In other words, he wanted me to go back there. I had a bad feeling about this...
"...Sorry, I have some business at the gym."
"Sure thing."
"..."
"..."
It was a narrow, cramped space like a poorly ventilated warehouse. The equipment that usually lived here had been shoved messily against the walls, and bare light bulbs dangled from wires on the low ceiling. In the clearing, several vanity mirrors were lined up, their edges glowing with actress lights. I imagined the dressing room of a struggling comedian would look something like this.
But the people in front of me were certainly neither actresses nor comedians.
"...You doing okay?"
"..."
Four handsome guys were scattered across the roughly six-tatami space. They lay collapsed on the floor—which wasn't clean by any stretch of the imagination—shaking periodically as if to prove they still had a spark of life left in their sparkling stage costumes. In the center, sitting on a folding chair in a pure white wedding dress, was my Nee-chan. She was slumped over like a boxer who had literally burned out into white ash. Her mental state had clearly taken a massive hit.
The shock of seeing my own sister go up on stage as a bride flanked by four handsome men was bad enough, but now I was being treated to a scene straight out of a delinquent manga. I wasn't sure what the correct face to make was.
The silence after the storm. In this miserably surreal space, I felt my artistic score for asking "How are you?" toward the person who had likely been the storm was quite high. There probably wasn't a single sane person in this room.
"Ugh... You... came..."
"Oh, so you're alive."
"Yeah..."
Yuuki-senpai spoke while barely lifting his head from the floor. Who would have guessed that message was a cry for help? At the very least, my bad feeling had been spot on.
"Are you okay? Who did this to you? What on earth happened here...?"
"...Ugh..."
When I crouched down to ask, Yuuki-senpai gritted his teeth, pain washing over his face as if he were reliving a trauma. He propped himself up with his right forearm and stared at my feet.
"───Nothing... happened."
The man certainly had some resilience.
It wasn't hard to imagine who had done it or what had transpired. Even if he claimed nothing happened, the damage from being kicked by Nee-chan’s stilettos couldn't have been negligible. Was he able to say that because of his devotion to her? Honestly, that’s heavy.
"It's exactly as you see... Wataru."
"Eh?"
"We're finished..."
The hell you are.
"It doesn't look like we'll be able to walk properly for a while."
It's your own fault.
"Can you... do me a favor?"
"Eeeh..."
I couldn't hide my grimace at this pathetic turn of events. Even though I was about to be used as an errand boy, I didn't feel any real displeasure. The annoying thing about handsome guys is that people forgive them even when they're full of themselves, but since this guy had clearly suffered a painful ordeal... I couldn't bring myself to hate him.
"What about Gou-senpai...?"
"Ishiguro is no good..."
"Why?"
"Kaede’s fist reached him as well."
I thought you said nothing happened.
Lying on his back with his rear against the wall, Yuuki-senpai began to explain while catching his breath. Apparently, today's surprise appearance and Nee-chan’s retaliation had been within their expectations. Knowing that, they had cleared away any loose ends and finished their subsequent work so that it would be okay even if they ended up collapsed like this.
The unexpected part was that just a moment ago, some people appeared—identity unknown—asking for a meeting with the Student Council. They were likely seeking documents that the vendors who cooperated with the Cultural Festival were scheduled to submit.
"The school called only Kaede, saying it should be in person and that one person was enough, but I have no intention of allowing that. If she’s meeting them, I want at least me to be there—or so I’d like to say, but we and Kaede are all in this state. It’s not as simple as just changing clothes and heading over."
"You’re all sparkly from your hair down to your toes, after all..."
On top of that, a menthol scent that seemed like it would clear a stuffy nose was wafting around. Even if they changed into their uniforms now, they would just look like hosts and hostesses wearing school uniforms and pretending to be students.
"We’re going to try our best to return to our usual selves."
"Oh, you're going to try, then."
So, he wanted me to run to the Student Council Room and print the necessary documents in the meantime. It was a simple job of just going there and back. That was fine, but I wished they’d try a little harder.
"Haaa... Fine, I get it."
Even as I replied, Yuuki-senpai was holding his side and catching his breath, wheezing while staring at the ceiling. Just how much did it hurt? Aren't you supposed to be a handsome, wealthy guy with more pride? Why was he trying so hard to push through this without a single complaint or ounce of pessimism? Seriously, what kind of relationship does this Student Council have...?
"───Wataru."
"Hm?"
".........Thanks."
"Yeah..."
Nee-chan spoke weakly without moving from her slumped position. Perhaps because she was already hanging her head, she looked even more uncomfortable. She didn't look at all like a woman who had just incapacitated four grown men. Or rather, I couldn't believe the woman who pulled that off was my own sister. It seemed she really had been tricked into wearing that outfit, just as I’d suspected, so I felt some sympathy for her.
"The key to the Student Council Room is... right there───ugh..."
"Wait, Senpai? Yuuki-senpai!?"
Yuuki-senpai glanced toward a bag in the corner, and with that final gesture, his hand holding his side fell limp to the floor. It seemed he had run out of strength. I couldn't imagine them returning to normal in ten minutes. Are these people seriously okay?
Taking the key, I stepped out of the waiting room alone. Although the gymnasium was full of students busy with the cleanup, no one paid me any mind. For some reason, I felt like a suspect slipping away from a murder scene after discovering the bodies.