It had become common knowledge throughout the school that I’d been cast as the lead opposite Yuria and Kuroki for the cultural festival play.
As I walked to class, twice the usual amount of cold glares pierced right through me.
"Wait, isn't that the loner playing the lead with Kuroki-chan?"
"I'm jealous, but no matter who they picked, he's a total mismatch for those two."
"For sure. It’s not like being in a play together means he actually has a shot at dating them."
Those envious guys clearly assumed that even if a loner like me got the lead role, our relationships wouldn't actually change. Basically, they saw me as a total joke casting.
(In reality, I’ve been close with that Beautiful Girl Trio since before the play, though...)
I swallowed the urge to say anything and just tried to survive another day of high school.
Once classes ended, Hino, the male representative of the Cultural Festival Executive Committee, stepped up to the chalkboard.
"Alright, we're starting festival prep today. Anyone who can stay behind, please do."
There it was. The dreaded after-school stay-behind prep.
It was the worst kind of event—a chance for the extroverts to giggle and mess around while pretending to work. I hadn't participated a single time last year, but since I had the lead role this time, I couldn't exactly just bail.
(If I'm the lead and I just skip out, it’ll ruin the mood and turn my life into a living hell.)
Even though I was a loner, I was the peace-seeking type. I didn't want to make things awkward for everyone.
"Yuria, Airi, I'll leave the rest to you."
Kuroki, who sat to my right, spoke to Miyama and Yuria before heading out of the classroom.
"Rui-chan has it tough, doesn't she?"
"Well, she’s aiming for her fifth consecutive Inter-High win. Everything’s riding on this for her..."
Yuria toyed with her hair, her eyes fixed worriedly on the sliding door Rui had just walked through.
(Come to think of it, Yuria was worried about her even back when we were deciding on the Prince Role.)
It had ended up as a double cast, but Yuria clearly would have preferred for Kuroki to focus entirely on her track career.
(I thought the number of people staying behind would drop once Kuroki left, but...)
"Hey, Ryouta, isn't it kind of empty in here?"
"Well... it’s usually like this."
Just as I thought, the only people left in the room were the cast members, the Gloomy Girl Scriptwriting Group, and the committee members—Yuria and Hino. Honestly, they should have made it mandatory for everyone who wasn't in a sports club.
Yuria and Hino finished their talk at the chalkboard, and once they'd reached a decision, Yuria walked over to us.
"Yuria! What are we supposed to do?"
"About that..."
Yuria sat down and turned her chair toward mine and Airi's to start talking.
"Hino is going to coordinate with the scriptwriting group, so the rest of the cast is on cardboard collection duty."
""Cardboard collection?""
Airi and I tilted our heads in unison.
"Every class uses a ton of cardboard for the festival, right? The stuff we can find around school won't be enough. We have to go to the nearby supermarkets and convenience stores and ask them to give us their extras."
Oh, right. I remember the extroverts in my class struggling with that last year, too.
"The rest of the cast is staying, but we can't do much until the script is finished. Since cardboard is first-come, first-served, Hino wants us to split into two groups to be efficient."
"Got it! Then the three of us—Airi, Ryouta, and Yuria—can go on a little outing!"
It’s a work detail, not an outing.
Miyama was clearly in full-on play mode. For extroverts, festival prep was basically just another way to hang out. For a loner, it was just tedious labor.
"Alright, Airi. Let's head out, just the three of us."
Me, Miyama, and Yuria...
I looked from one to the other. If our secret gets out, it’ll be a disaster. I have to make sure I don't act too familiar with either of them...