The Cultural Festival 5
…If we have the same break time, maybe we could sneak off somewhere to eat something.
As he thought this, Wakui, who had been intently watching the baby castella bake, muttered softly.
“Chika’s yukata is cute. Maybe I should have gone for something flashier too.”
She was also wearing a yukata, but it was quite ordinary in length, and the pattern was a chic one with white arrows in a geometric pattern called “Yagasuri.”
Since many of the other girls, including Chika, wore flashy and colorful yukatas, Wakui’s seemed relatively subdued in comparison.
“But Wakui, you like that yukata, don’t you?”
“Ah?”
Wakui’s hand, holding the pick, stopped at the casual remark from Sōma.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you’re usually flashy.”
He said, pointing to her unretouched, pudding-colored hair.
“To be honest, that yukata doesn’t seem like something you’d pick at all. But you know that better than anyone, right? And yet, you’re wearing it on purpose, which means you must have a special attachment to that yukata.”
“Maybe I’m just wearing it reluctantly because it’s the only one I have.”
“If that’s the case, you wouldn’t wear a yukata at all.”
Wearing a yukata wasn’t mandatory.
In fact, there were several girls who didn’t have one or didn’t want to wear one and were not in yukata.
“So, you do like that yukata.”
As Sōma laid out his deduction, Wakui nodded slightly.
“Yeah, my grandma bought it for me. That’s why I really like it.”
“Then don’t compare yourself to others. Wear it with pride. At least, that’s what I would do.”
“That’s so like you, Ichinose. You really haven’t changed since the first term.”
As Sōma finished speaking, Wakui showed a smile that was half admiration, half exasperation.
“Your hands have stopped. Keep baking efficiently.”
“…That’s also very like you, Ichinose.”
While watching Wakui pour the batter into the empty holes, Sōma began dropping five small cut gummies into each hole.
Due to a limited budget, they were strictly instructed to limit it to five gummies per baby castella.
Counting the gummies as they sank into the batter, sparkling, he said to Wakui.
“Besides Wakui, I think your yukata looks mature and nice.”
“…Eh?”
“Kind of cool, or should I say, it has a mature charm? It’s a completely different vibe from your usual self, and I think it’s beautiful.”
“Be-beautiful…!?”
As Sōma continued to drop in the gummies, Wakui’s hands stopped again.
“Hey, if you don’t round them off quickly, they’ll harden.”
As he turned to her with a warning, her face was as red as it had ever been.
“Beautiful…!? Me…?”
She was trembling with embarrassment.
This girl, unlike Chika, didn’t seem used to being praised.
“Stop it! Ichinose, don’t say things like that so easily to girls!”
Perhaps because of Chika, his sense of distance with girls had become skewed, he reflected.
Then, perhaps as a way to hide her embarrassment, Wakui gave him a slap on the back.
The impact of the slap caused the gummies in his hand to drop onto the undercooked baby castella.
“Ah!?”
It was too late to scream.
The gummies were sinking deeper and deeper into the soft dough.
“What the heck are you doing!? How are we going to fix this!?”
It wasn’t just five pieces. Dozens of gummies had fallen.
Despite the stares from around the classroom, he complained, but Wakui, her ears red, started laughing heartily.
“Just consider it a lucky hit. It’s definitely going to be delicious.”
“Is that really the problem here!?”
“If you want, I can buy it and feed it to you, Ichinose.”
“No thanks. I refuse.”
She picked up a piping hot baby castella and tried to bring it to his mouth, but he turned his face away and refused.
“Getting shy again?”
“Your words don’t mean much to me right now, Wakui.”
Handling both the baby castellas and Wakui was already too much.
“…”
That’s why Sōma didn’t notice at all that Chika seemed to want to say something while looking over at him.
***
“Sōma, Wakui-san, good work. You can take a break now.”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
Shōhei, who had been doing manager-like tasks, called out to them just after one o’clock.
Orders for food items like mini American and cheese & mixed vegetables had decreased, and the “Matsuri-ya” was beginning to settle down.
“I’m hungry now.”
He put down the pick he had been holding all morning and handed over the hot plate to the next person in charge of grilling.
“You two don’t have to do the cooking shift anymore. Go enjoy the cultural festival.”
“Okay, got it.”
He stretched my shoulders, cracking them with a sense of relief from finishing the work, then beckoned Shōhei over and whispered in his ear.
“――Do you know where Chika is?”
“I’m not sure? She took a break a little while ago, so she might be visiting other classes with her friends. Or maybe she’s helping Saito-san with her rounds. Saito-san was pulled away by someone from the student council even though she was in the middle of serving customers.”
“During service…? Is Saito really doing the student council rounds in a miniskirt yukata? That’s pretty bold.”
He wondered about the propriety of that in terms of discipline.
“I kind of want to see it.”
“I can’t agree with that. So, we don’t know where Chika is. Well, can’t be helped.”
He wanted to tell her “good job” and that she looked good in a yukata, but there was nothing he could do if he couldn’t see her.
As he was thinking about grabbing some lunch somewhere, Wakui called out to me.
“I-Ichinose, if you don’t mind, would you like to have lunch together?”
“Lunch?”
When Sōma looked surprised, she flusteredly waved her hands as if trying to cover something up.
“It seems like all my close friends are scattered, and I’m alone. Also, um… I heard there’s a place run by second-year students that serves really good udon. But I’m a bit scared to go to another grade’s area alone.”
She said something that sounded like what Chika would say.
“Isn’t there a place serving udon in the first year too?”
He opened the pamphlet he was holding to check, and indeed, class 1-8 was running an udon shop.
“The udon in the second year is hand-made.”
“Really? Serving hand-made udon at a cultural festival is quite amazing.”
He had assumed that the festival at a public high school with a small budget would be mediocre, but it seemed that some classes were really trying their best despite the budget limitations.
“Sounds interesting. Alright, let’s go check it out.”
“Y-Yeah!”
Encouraged by Sōma’s interest, Wakui’s face lit up with joy.