Following the declaration from Hoshino, the Culture Festival Executive Committee Chair, the school festival officially ended, and the time for cleaning and packing up began. From all corners of the school building, sounds of appreciation and the clatter of moving furniture started to echo. It finally sank in that the festival was over.
Though it was only a one-day event, it felt both long and short at once.
"Onii-chan, stop spacing out and help me clean."
"Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry."
It seemed my hands had stopped moving while I was lost in thought, drawing a sharp reminder from Mika. I apologized with a light bow and resumed the work. I peeled the exhibits off the walls and started folding the tables and chairs we’d set out. These were borrowed items, so they had to be returned later.
About ten minutes later, Mika and I had finished the bulk of the work. Since our club’s exhibition was small, the cleanup was simple. If we’d been a large club using a special classroom, it probably would have taken much longer.
"Right, that should be good for now. We’ll decide what to throw away once we’ve consulted with everyone else."
"Good idea. It’d be a problem if we tossed something only for someone to say they wanted to keep it later."
"They’re mementos of the festival, after all. It’s safer to ask first."
These materials were the result of a lot of hard work. Even if the information was no longer useful to someone personally, they might still want to keep them as a memory of the day. Besides, since they were collaborative projects, it would be wrong for one person to decide their fate on a whim.
"True. So, are we done here?"
"Yeah. Good work."
With the temporary tables and chairs cleared out, the room returned to its usual layout. For now, our work here was done. The finer details of the cleanup could wait until we talked with the rest of the members.
I stretched my back to loosen my muscles. Mika was doing the same, so I spoke up.
"Still, that was a lot more intense than we expected. So many people came."
"I think we had nearly three hundred guests by the end, right?"
"Based on the number of handouts we went through, that sounds about right. Seriously, though, why did so many people come to our room? There were plenty of other things worth seeing..."
"I know, right? And then there was that weird guy..."
Ah, right. Him. After hearing Hiiragi-san’s report, I’d expected someone might show up, but that was just uncalled for. At the very least, they should have gotten permission from the school and made an appointment. Behavior like that is reason enough to reject a scout’s offer on the spot.
"Well, regardless, it turned out to be a pretty fulfilling festival. Even though my original plan was just to phone it in."
"Haha, now that you mention it, that’s true. I totally forgot about that because we were so busy."
"I thought we’d just get a trickle of guests here and there, but we ended up with a massive line. You really never know what’s going to happen."
In the beginning, we’d debated how to kill time, convinced that no one would bother visiting us. Given the dry nature of the subject matter, we didn't think guests would be interested. I’d actually brought a deck of cards to keep myself occupied, but I never got a chance to touch them. I was far too busy for that.
"Definitely. Well, since we’re done here, I’m heading back to my class."
"Yeah, I’ll go help with mine too. They’re probably still working over there."
"Our class did a karakuri house, so packing it up might take a while."
"Right, that was the mechanical trick house. Setting it up is hard, but tearing it down is just as bad."
The more elaborate the creation, the more there is to clean up. Unless it’s something the club made to keep, items built specifically for the festival usually just end up as trash. The school has a system where all the festival waste is gathered at a designated spot for a contractor to collect. If I recall the rumors correctly, last year’s trash filled two large trucks.
"Yeah. But since we have a lot of kids who are explorers, carrying the trash to the collection point is actually pretty easy. I heard from the upperclassmen that classes with elaborate attractions had a really rough time last year."
"That makes sense. Last year’s festival was before the public release of the dungeons, so there weren't any explorers yet. I remember we struggled with the cleanup ourselves."
Back then, the girls usually handled the meticulous tidying while the boys were relegated to trash duty. It wasn't necessarily heavy, but the decorations like artificial flowers were so bulky that they were a pain to move. Perhaps reflecting on that lesson, my class’s attraction this year had been decorated very simply.
"I feel a bit bad since we all worked so hard on it, but it’s not like it serves any purpose sitting in the classroom. We decided to just scrap everything."
"True. You can’t keep stuff you don't use forever."
"Exactly. That’s why we’re tossing it all. Anyway, I’m off!"
"Yeah, take care. And make sure everyone comes to the club room after school. We need to sort through the stuff here."
Mika nodded and gave me a light wave as she left the room. Now that she was gone, I supposed it was time for me to head to my own classroom.
But before that, I had one more thing to do.
I poked my head into the club rooms on either side of ours to apologize for any trouble we might have caused. I’d greeted them once before the shifts changed, but I’d never imagined the line would persist until the very end of the festival. For the sake of neighborly relations, even if it was just a formality, making the rounds to apologize was important. It was a gesture to show I hadn't simply ignored them.
Nobody wants a neighbor who causes a nuisance and doesn't even bother to say sorry.
"Thank goodness. They weren't mad at all. If that line had been blocking their entrance, it would have been quite the eyesore..."
Whether it was a spillover effect or a ripple effect, it seemed both neighboring clubs had enjoyed a steady stream of customers from our line. Because of that, I managed to avoid any petty jealousy and maintained a good relationship with them.
I breathed a sigh of relief and began walking through the building toward my classroom.
"Even though the festival is over, it still feels just as lively as when it was in full swing."
The sounds of laughing students and the loud crashes of exhibits being dismantled made for a very noisy cleanup period. Students were hauling waste to the collection point, others were at the sinks washing up, and some were taking down tents in the courtyard. Everyone was busily running around.
I observed them as I hurried along to my floor.
"Hmm, this area is a lot quieter, or rather..."
When I reached the second-year floor, the atmosphere was markedly different from the other grades. It was much less boisterous. While the sounds of cleanup were coming from every room, there was a detached, business-like air to it. You could call it efficient, but compared to the other floors, it felt like people were just going through the motions.
Feeling a bit awkward, I passed the other rooms and arrived at my own class.
"...Alright."
Steeling myself, I placed my hand on the door of the classroom, which was silent save for the sounds of work, and stepped inside with a slightly raised voice. I’d been worried the cleanup might already be finished since I couldn't hear any talking, but there was no point in hesitating now.
"Good work, everyone!"
As I spoke, the eyes of my classmates turned toward me. There were no accusing glares for my late arrival, but rather looks of mild surprise. It was the kind of gaze that said, "Oh, you're back already?"
"Good work, Kokonoe-kun. Is your club finished?"
"Eh? Oh, Azuma-san. Yeah, the basic cleanup is done. The rest is just sorting through things, so we’re planning to do that as a group after school."
"I see."
The person who spoke to me was Azuma-san, our class’s culture festival executive committee member. She was stationed near the door, apparently coordinating the cleanup and keeping an eye on the overall progress. Since I didn't want to just stand around, I asked her for a task.
"Azuma-san, what should I help with?"
"Um, well... I'm sorry you rushed back, but most of the work is already finished..."
Following her gaze, I looked around the classroom and realized there were a lot of idle classmates. They looked a bit restless, as if they didn't quite know what to do with themselves. Most of them were probably like me—people who had left their club exhibits early to help with the class.
"You see, our class didn't have very elaborate decorations, right? Cleaning up basically just meant putting the tables and chairs back and throwing away the used paper cups, so..."
"So you don't really need more hands?"
"Y-yeah. I'm sorry since you hurried back, but there’s nothing left to do. You can just stand by for now."
And just like that, the moment I returned to my class, I was declared redundant. Though, rather than being useless, it was more that there was a surplus of labor and a lack of jobs.
Now what?
"Stand by, huh... Got it. It’ll probably be faster for the people already working to finish up than for me to butt in and disrupt their flow. But let me know if anything comes up. I’m happy to do trash duty or whatever."
"Okay, I will. Sorry, especially since you got here so fast."
"Don't worry about it. It’s better than being short-handed."
"Thanks. I appreciate you saying that."
"I’ll be over there, then."
I gave Azuma-san a nod and headed toward the corner where the other idle students had gathered. Fortunately, I saw a familiar face, so I’d have someone to kill time with.
"Hey. Mind if I join the club?"
"Hmm? Oh, looks like you’re surplus too, Kokonoe."
The person I spoke to was Shigemori, who was sitting in a chair staring listlessly out the window. It seemed he had also returned only to find himself with nothing to do; the spark of motivation had completely vanished from his eyes. I sat in the chair across from him and started some idle chatter.
"So, how was the festival? Did you have fun?"
"It was alright, I guess. I walked around a bit, and it seemed like everywhere except the second-year floor was pretty hyped up."
"You noticed that too? Our grade really did seem to lack a bit of... drive, I guess. Or enthusiasm."
"The quality of the exhibits was high enough. But like you said, the heat just wasn't there compared to the other grades."
It appeared Shigemori felt the same way I did. Even looking at the cleanup, the other floors still felt like they were coming off a high, while the second-year students were just packing up in silence. It was a strange situation; it wasn't as if people were being negative about participating, they just lacked energy. It was a difficult thing to pin down.
As we were discussing our impressions of the festival, Shigemori finally asked the question I’d been expecting.
"By the way, Kokonoe, I heard a rumor that your club was so popular you had a massive line out the door."
"Popular... I don't know if that’s the word. Most of the people in line were guardians or adults from outside, so it felt more like a line at a government consultation booth."
"A government consultation? Why would that draw a crowd? What kind of exhibit were you even doing?"
"Just stuff related to the club's focus on dungeons. Mainly about explorer income and the aftermath—taxes."
A few other students nearby cast curious glances our way, but since they didn't join in, I ignored them.
"Income is one thing—I assume you mean drop items—but what’s 'the aftermath'? Is there something explorers actually have to do?"
"It’s not just for explorers; it’s something anyone with an income has to do. Basically, we were talking about taxes. We were explaining that even as a student, if you earn enough as an explorer, you have to handle tax procedures. You know, you hear about it sometimes, right? Things like the limits for dependency deductions..."
"I hear it mentioned now and then. Like people saying they have to keep their part-time job hours within the dependency range."
As the conversation got more specific, the number of people eavesdropping suddenly increased.
"Exactly. Explorers... especially student explorers, are usually still dependents on their parents' taxes. But an explorer’s earnings can easily exceed the dependency limit. If you blow past that limit while still being claimed as a dependent and you haven't done the proper paperwork... things are going to get messy, guaranteed. In the worst case, you could get hit with an additional tax penalty for a false declaration. So, I put all that info into a pamphlet and put it on display, and for some reason, a ton of adults swarmed the place... Wait, what’s with you guys?"
Before I knew it, the chairs where Shigemori and I were sitting were surrounded by classmates wearing expressions of pure shock. Most of them were the students who active as explorers.
Is it possible you guys never discussed taxes with your parents?
Sometimes, when you hear an acquaintance talking about something very important, you just can't help but butt in.