Happy Halloween! 7
“Ichinose, youuu!”
She grabbed Sōma, who was sitting on the floor, by the collar and forcibly made him stand up. Her strength was unbelievable for such slender arms.
“What did you do last night!? Confess everything right now!”
“W-what do you mean!? I didn’t do anything wrong! Seriously, nothing at all!”
Sōma desperately defended himself as he trembled under Miki’s fierce demeanor. His high school life would be doomed if he didn’t prove his innocence here.
“I really did stay over last night, but I fell asleep first! If I’m asleep first, I can’t do anything, right!?”
“Is that true?”
While still gripping Sōma’s collar tightly, Miki turned to Chika, who was watching from the side, for confirmation.
“Yes, that’s right. Thanks to that, I got to take lots of pictures of Sōma-san’s sleeping face. Would you like to see them, Miki-chan?”
“See! I didn’t do anything!?”
“…Are you really telling the truth?”
Miki looked back and forth between the two with a skeptical gaze.
“Chika is saying so too! Saito, there’s no way she would lie to you, right!?”
“That’s true. Indeed, you’re right.”
Miki’s grip loosened as she believed the words of the two.
But that was only for a moment.
“No! What are you doing!?”
“Huh!?”
“Didn’t you listen to my story the other day!? Like how you could end up sleeping in the same bed, or how her face could be close enough to kiss if you turned over, or what if you accidentally said her name in your sleep—there could be all sorts of events happening!”
“I slept on the floor, I have good sleeping posture, and I’m not the type to talk in my sleep!”
“What a boring guy!”
As Sōma and Miki were having their silly and embarrassing argument, Chika poked Miki’s shoulder and said,
“Miki-chan, Miki-chan, we’ve promised to have another sleepover the week after next. So, even though I don’t quite understand, maybe what Miki-chan is hoping for will happen?”
She dropped this outrageous bomb with an innocent face.
“You’re staying over again!?”
Miki’s eyes changed color.
“Ichinose, I’ll bring my favorite shoujo manga collection, and you can study from that! I’ll give you a thorough class, so you better get those shoujo manga situations into your head! And then, by all means, recreate them!”
“Who would take such a class!? And I’m not even going to have a sleepover!”
“Ehh!? But you promised just now!”
“I did not promise!”
“You did-you did! You said you’d doodle on my face!”
“Sōma, are you planning to do some doodling play like in that manga Onii-chan hides in the back of his desk drawer!? That’s way too niche!”
“Chika, make sure you convey your words properly! Saito, protect your Aniki’s privacy! I’ve never met him, but I feel so sorry for him!!”
As the two girls continued their noisy argument, time kept slipping away.
Being late was inevitable.
***
Friday, October 31st.
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Finally, it was Halloween day.
As the bell rang to signal the end of the sixth period, Sōma and Chika dashed out of the classroom.
However, they did not make eye contact or exchange words.
Sōma hurried home, packed the items he had stored in the fridge into a cooler bag, and jumped on his bicycle, heading to the community center where the party was to be held.
The venue was next to a children’s park, in a prefab hut that looked quite old. Its appearance was far from clean, and when he first saw it, he worried whether it was hygienic enough.
“Hello—Chika, are you here already?”
He opened the rickety door.
Surprisingly, the inside wasn’t as dirty as the exterior suggested. It was old, but the neighborhood association members cleaned it regularly, so it didn’t feel unsanitary.
Upon entering, he noticed a group of elementary school kids huddled in a corner.
Three girls and two boys, all from lower grades, with no older children present. The fact that these were the only members of the children’s association was somewhat sad.
It’s no wonder their continuation was in jeopardy.
“Uh, hello.”
He tried to greet them anyway.
There was no response. Instead, they huddled even closer together, turning their backs to him and whispering among themselves.
“I’m really being given the cold shoulder here.”
It was a bit hurtful, but he could understand their feelings. To the elementary schoolers, an unfamiliar high school student with a height difference of several tens of centimeters must be intimidating.
“Ah, Sōma-san, you’ve arrived.”
Still holding the cooler bag, he stood awkwardly in the middle of the room when Chika appeared from the back. Like Sōma, she was also in her school uniform, having come straight from high school.
“Please take care of me today.”
“It’s the same for me too.”
After a brief nod of acknowledgment, Chika introduced Sōma to the elementary school children.
“This is Ichinose Sōma-san, who has kindly prepared some wonderful sweets for today’s party. Everyone, please make sure to greet him properly.”
” “Nice to meet you.” “
Prompted by Chika, the five elementary school students offered their greetings in a manner befitting their young age.
“Uh, nice to meet you too.”
Not used to interacting with children, Sōma could only offer a stiff response.
“Could you help me with setting up the tables and chairs? I’ve managed to finish the decorations, but the tables are too heavy for me to move alone.”
“You did the decorations by yourself? That was quick.”
Looking around the room, Sōma noticed the chains of origami and artificial flowers they had made, beautifully arranged alongside the balloons spelling out ‘Happy Halloween’ and the wreaths.
“Alright. I’ll take care of the tables and chairs. Please put the contents of this bag in the fridge for now.”
He handed over the cooler bag he was carrying and began arranging the long tables and chairs in the center of the room.
“Will two tables be enough?”
“Yes, that should be enough since we don’t have many people. I wish I had done this yesterday though.”
“Don’t say that. We were both cutting it close.”
While grumbling to each other, they joined the narrow tables to form a rectangle.
Once finished, the children rushed to the chairs and sat down with a clatter before Chika could say anything.