After hearing from Tatebayashi-san about how things were going at the club, I tilted my head, my face twitching slightly with a bad feeling. Since I didn't remember inviting anyone to the school festival besides my mother, we shouldn't have had many outside visitors, yet here they were, supposedly swarming the place. As for potential exceptions, I had mentioned the festival at Kiritani-san’s office, so there was a chance Yuta-san might stop by to say hello, but... swarming?
We had put a lot of effort into the presentation materials, but as far as school festival attractions went, ours fell into a fairly plain category.
"Were there really that many outside visitors?" I asked.
"Yes, there were nearly ten of them. At a glance, they looked to be around our parents' age."
"Visitors from the parents' generation, huh... How were they dressed? More casual, or were they wearing business formal?"
"It’s hard to say for sure since it depends on personal taste, but I’d say they were leaning toward business formal."
Visitors dressed in business attire were visiting our club right at the start of the morning—and in large numbers. Our club's description was in the school festival pamphlet, but we hadn't done any particularly vigorous advertising.
Yeah, I had a feeling this was going to be a real pain.
"Visitors with the scent of business, huh... Maybe they're the ones the teacher mentioned—scouts from companies who tried to reach out to us."
"Scouts?"
"Yeah. Apparently, because we worked so hard at the last sports festival, we got scouting offers through the school. We turned them down, of course."
"Then, the people visiting the club right now are..."
Seeing Tatebayashi-san's hesitant expression, I nodded, confirming her suspicion.
They were most likely people from the companies we had already rejected. They probably figured that the school festival was a good time to approach us directly since the gates were open to the public. They might have calculated that visiting our homes or approaching us on the street or at the dungeon would be seen as a nuisance and leave a bad impression, making the school festival a relatively "safer" option. Plus, since we were acting as staff for an attraction, they likely assumed we wouldn't be able to treat them too harshly.
"We’ll handle those types of guests when we get there, so don't let it worry you, Tatebayashi-san. Though, since they're coming as customers, I guess you can't exactly ignore them."
"I understand. We'll leave the handling of those visitors to our seniors."
"Yeah. Sorry for the trouble."
"Oh, no. What happened at the sports festival was an aftereffect of what you did for our sake, so I don't think of it as trouble at all. I only heard the rumors, but I know things were quite hectic for you afterward."
What I had done at the sports festival was a way to keep Goto-kun's group—who had been aggressively recruiting—in check, showing them that we were there as Mika and the others' support. I never expected the group’s leadership to drop out of school after summer break, though. There were probably other factors involved, but I occasionally wondered if our intimidation had been a little too effective.
"Right. I appreciate the sentiment."
"Yes."
We ended the talk about the club there. If I kept chatting with my juniors at a table in the middle of my class's cafe, it would eventually cause trouble for my classmates.
I cleared my throat and offered the standard greeting.
"Dear guests, have you decided on your order?"
"Oh, yes. I'll have the tea and dessert set, please."
"One tea set. Which dessert would you like? You can choose one from this menu."
"Um... I'll go with the mille crepe."
"One mille crepe. Understood."
After taking Tatebayashi-san's order, I turned to Hino-san.
Hino-san wore a look of quiet satisfaction as she pointed to a spot on the menu.
"I'll have the coffee set, please. With the tiramisu."
"A coffee and tiramisu set. Understood. Please wait a moment."
I gave them a light bow and headed to the kitchen area to relay the orders.
A short while later, I placed the items on a tray and returned to their table.
"Thank you for waiting. Here are your tea and coffee sets."
"Thank you," they said in unison.
"Please, enjoy your stay."
Having finished the delivery, I bowed and moved away. Lingering by their side would only be a distraction.
When I returned to the kitchen corner, which was partitioned off and served as the staff waiting area, a male classmate immediately began to interrogate me.
"Hey, Kokonoe. Is it true those girls are your juniors from your club?"
"Hmm? Yeah, that's right."
"Why would girls that cute go out of their way to visit you? Are they really just juniors?"
"I don't know what you're doubting, but they're definitely my juniors. They just came to tell me how the club's attraction was doing."
The other idle classmates were listening intently, and I could feel their burning gazes. I had to be careful with my words. I needed to maintain the image that they were strictly my juniors from the club.
"Apparently, they're getting a lot of outside visitors. It looks like the copies of the handouts we prepared won't be enough, so we were talking about prepping more when my shift ends."
"Seriously? Is your club doing something so interesting that it's drawing a crowd?"
"Who knows? It's just an exhibition of research materials we gathered, so maybe it just happened to click with a specific demographic."
Though, the demographic it should hit hardest would probably be this guy in front of me, or any other students with an Armed Exploration Permit. Well, in a few months, it would be a problem they’d have to face whether they liked it or not. When their parents sit down for year-end adjustments, they'll suddenly realize their child's income has exceeded the dependency deduction limit.
Come to think of it, maybe those numerous visitors were actually the parents of student explorers?
"...Doesn't sound like very exciting content to me."
"True. If you're not interested, you probably wouldn't find it fun."
On the other hand, if you looked at the data and understood what it meant, you’d probably be filled with panic. Especially the parents.
Time passed steadily as I occupied myself with odd jobs. Eventually, Tatebayashi-san and the others finished eating and prepared to leave, so I went to see them off.
"Thank you for the meal. It was delicious."
"Was that dessert handmade?"
"No, those are commercial-grade products. Nowadays, even an amateur can get their hands on them pretty easily if they know where to look."
Our cafe was basically just a collection of pre-made goods. Even so, since we were serving professional desserts that were marketed as being used in hotel buffets, they were unlikely to be rated poorly.
"Commercial desserts have such high quality now. But now that you mention it, I feel like I've eaten this somewhere on a trip before..."
"Me too, actually..."
"If the manufacturer or the distributor was the same, that's bound to happen."
As I thought, the taste triggered a bit of déjà vu. I nodded and guided the two to the classroom exit.
"Thank you for coming," I said with a light bow as I saw Tatebayashi-san and Hino-san out.
For a while after their visit, nothing unusual happened. The cafe stayed at about half capacity, and I enjoyed the moderate busyness of serving customers alongside my classmates. This was a school festival, after all—this level of activity was part of the experience.
Then, with about an hour left in my shift, the guest I’d been expecting finally arrived.
"Welcome."
"Um, excuse me. Is Daiki Kokonoe here?"
"Kokonoe-kun? Um, excuse me, but who..."
"I'm his mother."
Standing at the entrance where the female hall staff member was welcoming people was my mother, dressed up a bit more than usual for the occasion. I remembered her saying she’d stop by while I was on duty.
I quickly moved to the entrance and spoke to the classmate who was helping her.
"Thanks, I'll take over."
"Oh, Kokonoe-kun. Sure, go ahead."
Taking over, I gave my mother a light bow and used the formal greeting.
"Oh, Daiki."
"Welcome. I'll show you to your seat."
"Eh, oh, yes. Please."
My mother sounded a bit bewildered at the sight of me acting like a professional waiter, but she followed as I led her to a table in the corner. Even if the place wasn't full, it would have been awkward to seat her in the center.
Once she was settled, I dropped the formal act and lowered my voice.
"Welcome, Mom. You're later than I thought. Did you go to Mika's class first?"
"Yes. My, you went back to normal so quickly."
"I'm on the clock, after all. Other guests are watching, so I figured I should keep it up until you were seated."
"Fufu, look at you, playing the part of a waiter."
Relieved to see me acting like myself, my mother smiled wryly but looked impressed. I offered her the menu with a slight grin of my own.
"Here's the menu."
"Thank you. Still, every class really does have a different feel, doesn't it?"
"Compared to Mika's place?"
"Yes, that side was quite high-energy and lively. This place feels very calm."
Well, compared to the first-year attractions, the upperclassmen’s stalls always looked modest. I mean, what was with all those neon lights in the first-year wing?
"I see. So, how was Mika doing?"
"She looked like she was having fun. Though it seemed like they were struggling to get all the mechanisms working right."
"I think that kind of struggle is part of the fun. Success after a lot of hard work leaves a much stronger impression than a success that comes easily."
"You're right. She seemed to be having a hard time, but everyone looked like they were enjoying the challenge of fixing it together."
I could easily picture her running around with Saori-chan and the others with a huge smile on her face. I was just glad she was enjoying the school festival to the fullest.
After looking through the menu, my mother pointed to one of the items.
"I'll have the tea, please."
"Just tea? We have dessert sets, too."
"I have a few other places to see after this, so I can't stay too long."
"I see... One tea. Coming right up."
I took the menu, bowed, and headed for the kitchen.
Naturally, when I reached the kitchen area, my classmates immediately started teasing me. I brushed them off, waited for the tea to be prepared, and headed back out.
"Thank you for waiting. Here is your tea."
"Thank you. Are you alright? It looked like they were giving you a hard time back there."
"Haha, I'm fine. They're doing it to everyone—it’s just the standard routine when a parent shows up."
"Is that so? Well, as long as you're okay."
My mother, who had looked worried that her presence had caused me trouble, seemed relieved by my answer.
"I'm just glad to see you're getting along with your classmates. Lately, whenever you have a day off, you're always out with Yuji-kun and the others..."
"Well, that’s been happening a lot lately, but I socialize with everyone in class well enough. Don't worry."
It made sense. If a kid spent every weekend disappearing into dungeons with the same group of friends, any parent would worry about whether their child was actually fitting in at school. While I wasn't incredibly close with most of them, I had a normal, functional relationship with my classmates.
"I see. That's good to hear."
My mother looked satisfied and began to drink her tea, so I gave a light bow and returned to my station.
She stayed for about ten minutes before I saw her to the exit.
"Well, I'm heading out now, Daiki. I'll stop by your club on the way home."
"Given what's in there, I don't think you'll find it very interesting. It's pretty dry stuff."
"I'm more interested in seeing what you're working on than the content itself."
What we’re working on... raising awareness about income verification for student explorers, dependency deduction limits, and the nightmare of final tax returns.
And how to use dungeon-produced items... Yeah, thinking about it again, that is some very heavy content.
"Good luck with the rest of your shift."
"Yeah, thanks. I'll do my best."
With a light wave, my mother headed out into the hallway.
A swarm of adults in business attire at a school festival... I could definitely smell trouble brewing.