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[AI CENSORSHIP BLOCKED THIS CHUNK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

Under Itsuki’s direction, preparations for the culture festival proceeded swiftly. Part of that was because it was everyone’s second culture festival, and they were steady hands at this. However, the boys and girls in the class also clearly had ulterior motives, which played a large part in their eagerness.

They were doing everything they could to get ready, on top of their daily classwork, so things were quite busy. However, in an unusual turn for Amane, he found himself enjoying the work so much that he didn’t find it tiresome.

“Hey, there’s a mistake on these flyers! We haven’t put them up yet, so go fix them. We definitely can’t use them if the school’s address is wrong!”

“Do you know what happened to the tablecloths? I heard that someone went and bought some, but I can’t find them anywhere!”

“With our pricing, even if we don’t sell much, we can expect to bring in about this much, so…”

As they listened to the hustle and bustle of their classmates going about their duties, Amane and the other students who were going toserve the customers were being coached by the team leader in charge of customer service.

“Fujimiya, uh…smile.”

“…Smile.”

“That’s a grimace!”

Ayaka Kido, the girl in their class who worked part-time at a café and was in charge of procuring the costumes, was also coaching their servers. Her smile was starting to slip as she critiqued Amane’s stiff, unconvincing attempt at a grin.

He had spoken with her several times before the summer break, but he hadn’t really interacted with her since then. Now that they were stuck together, he wasn’t entirely sure how to act around her. Undaunted even by the unsociable Amane, Kido was doing her best to teach him the fundamentals of customer service, but it was all very strange to him and he just wasn’t getting it.

Amane wasn’t incapable of smiling, but according to Kido, he definitely looked awkward.

“Hmm. A normal smile would do just fine, you know. The more you think about it, the weirder it gets. You look so stiff. Relax more, relax.”

“You say that, but, like, it just happens whenever I think about serving customers.”

“Imagine your customers are sweet potatoes. That should help.”

“Potatoes?”

“Eggs might work better for Amane,” Mahiru added with a giggle. She was receiving the same orientation.

After taking care of him for nearly a year, Mahiru knew that Amane loved eggs. But it wasn’t like he randomly smiled at raw eggs, so ultimately, her suggestion wasn’t the most helpful.

That’s not really the problem, Amane thought.

But Mahiru seemed to be enjoying herself, so he didn’t offer any kind of retort and just scratched his cheek.

“Well, lots of people would say that being natural is better than forcing it,” Itsuki suggested. “So just do whatever’ll help you relax, Amane.”

“Exactly who would say that my natural attitude is any better?”

“The girls in our class? At least that seemed to be the consensus when I peeked in on them while they were with Miss Shiina.”

“I guess I just don’t like being looked at.”

“You’re not showing off for anyone?”

“As if.”

Amane glared at Itsuki. He was sure that Itsuki was riling him up on purpose.

But all he got in response was an exasperated, “This guy’s really dense…”

For the time being, he responded simply. “Shut up.”

Mahiru was smiling quietly, and her cheeks were slightly flushed. Her eyes kept running over Amane and she blushed even more than before. She seemed like she might be feeling a bit self-conscious.

Starting with Ayaka, all the other girls nodded in agreement.

“You’re at your most charming when you’re spending time with Miss Shiina, Fujimiya,” Ayaka said.

“What about me is charming…?”

“It’s like…some sort of aura you give off.”

“Aura…”

“You catch me by surprise sometimes, you know?”

He didn’t understand what Ayaka meant, but Mahiru seemed to have some idea. She was trying to hide her embarrassment. But he could see that in her eyes, mixed in with that embarrassment, there was a hint of anxiety.

Ayaka seemed to notice as well, because she broke into a big smile and waved both hands in a gesture of denial.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve got a boyfriend. I’m not interested in stealing someone else’s.”

“I—I wasn’t worried about that…”

“You don’t have to hide it! I know what it feels like when someone starts paying attention to your boyfriend. But I’m only interested in guys with big muscles. Fujimiya’s too skinny, so he’s definitely not my type!”

“I feel like she just called me a bean sprout.”

Amane had thought he had been putting on a decent amount of muscle. It was fairly disappointing to hear that he was still too skinny. Itsuki had even complimented him, telling him that he had gotten stronger, but apparently Itsuki’s standards were fairly low.

“A-Amane isn’t a bean sprout,” Mahiru interjected. “Sure, he has a light complexion, but…well…w-when he takes off his shirt, he’s actually…pretty muscular.”

“Oh, he looks good with his shirt off?”

“You’re gonna give people the wrong idea! Don’t say weird things like that, Mahiru.”

“…But you’re quite well-built.”

“Never mind that. You’re going to be the one who feels embarrassed about this later, Mahiru.”

He wanted her to realize that she was admitting, in her own words, that she’d had the opportunity to see and touch his bare skin.

The reality was that they had been wearing bathing suits, so it wasn’t like he had anything to feel guilty about. But to anyone listening, it wouldn’t have been difficult to interpret her words to mean that they had already been intimate together. However, Mahiru had also let word get out that Amane was a total gentleman, so it also seemed like people might assume that they hadn’t done anything.

Amane was relieved when Mahiru declined to say anything further on the subject. Just as he’d expected, the other students around them were giving the couple tepid looks. Without thinking about it, he clicked his tongue. Mostly at Itsuki.

“Huh? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because your grinning is pissing me off.”

“Whoa, don’t make this about me,” Itsuki insisted. “Come on, no more love talk. Time to practice,” he said, urging Amane to set his personal matters aside,

Amane clicked his tongue at Itsuki again before turning back to Ayaka with discontent still written all over his face. Ayaka just laughed.

“Well, I can see that you two are passionate, and that’s enough for me. As long as you welcome the customers with a half-decent smile, Fujimiya, it’ll be fine. The way you naturally carry yourself is already nice, so if you can greet people in the way I taught you, I don’t think we’ll have any problems.”

“I’ve never thought that I carry myself well.”

Amane didn’t think that he was clumsy, but he didn’t think that he was especially graceful either, so he was puzzled to hear her say that.

But Mahiru smiled knowingly. “I think it’s probably because you watched your parents growing up,” she said. “The two of them are so graceful.”

“I don’t know if I agree, especially when it comes to my mom, but yeah, I guess she’s not clumsy.”

“Does that mean that you’re close with Fujimiya’s family, too, Miss Shiina?”

“K-Kido…”

“Sorry, sorry!”

Amane turned a sour look on the giggling Ayaka, but that justmade her laugh even harder. She and Mahiru together were both looking at him in amusement.

With two weeks until the school festival, the class got word that the costumes they had requested had arrived.

“Okay, these are the outfits that came in! I’ll hand them out, so just wait a second, okay! I’ll let you know when it’s time to try them on, so wait for that too, please.”

With a smile, Ayaka handed each of them a costume. When she came to Amane’s desk, she handed his outfit over with a big grin. “Right, here you go. Oh, Fujimiya, later on, you can go to the classroom we’ve reserved as a dressing room by yourself, okay?”

“Why by myself?”

“Mmm. Special case.”

“What does that mean?”

“A little request, from Miss Shiina. One that I’m inclined to grant. She said she wanted to show it to you first, so…”

Ayaka mentioned in passing that he didn’t need to worry because of course she had already gotten permission from all the other girls, and while Amane felt a little guilty about it, he was delighted that Mahiru had gone so far as to make the request.

Feeling grateful, especially to Ayaka, who had willingly accepted that request, as well as to the other girls in their class, Amane smiled and said, “Thank you.”

And so, at the allotted time, Amane waited outside the door of the classroom where he had been told that Mahiru was getting changed.

It went without saying, but the curtains had been pulled closed. Originally, they had planned for the boys and girls to get changed in their respective locker rooms and then practice waiting tables incostume. Instead, they borrowed a classroom because walking through the school in maid outfits with long swishy skirts would cause a stir, and with the hallways overflowing with props and paint, there was a distinct possibility of tearing the costumes or getting them dirty.

What is this—I’m nervous?

When Amane thought about the fact that there was a girl changing clothes just on the other side of the door, he felt kind of awkward and nervous. She was his girlfriend, and he had seen her undressed before—nearly in her underwear—but putting that aside, he still couldn’t calm down.

As he was leaning his back against the door, waiting in silence, he heard a somewhat stiff voice say from within the classroom, “You can come in now.”

Mahiru being Mahiru, she was probably just as nervous. He smiled a little and followed her prompting to enter the classroom.

He closed the door behind him, and looked at Mahiru, who was standing a short distance from the door.

Mahiru was wearing a waitress uniform with long sleeves and a long skirt that went down to her ankles.

Modern dokunuşlarla bezenmiş, klasik bir hizmetçi elbisesiydi bu. Takım; uzun, lacivert bir elbise, üst kolları hava dolmuşçasına kabarık duran uzun kollar ve elbisenin üzerine giyilen bir önlükten ibaretti.

Kido, iş yerinde giydikleri mini etekli üniformaların kabarması için jüpon kullandıklarını anlatmıştı. Oysa Mahiru'nun üzerindeki elbisenin eteği uzundu, bu yüzden dar bir kesimle pürüzsüz bir siluet oluşturacak şekilde tasarlanmıştı.

Önlüğün her yanını fırfırlar sarmıştı; ancak kıyafet neredeyse hiç ten göstermediği için derli toplu ve temiz bir izlenim bırakıyordu. Uzun eteğin etek ucunun altından, siyah külotlu çoraplarla örtülü Mahiru'nun ayak bilekleri görünüyordu.

Bu siyah külotlu çoraplar aslında Mahiru'nundu. Okulda dikkatsizce tenini göstermemek için yıl boyunca giydiği bu çoraplar, şimdi de üzerindeydi.

"Nasıl olmuş?"

Mahiru başını nazikçe yana eğdi ve bağlamadığı yan perçemleri hafifçe sallandı.

Müşterilere hizmet edip yemek taşıyacağı için, uzun, keten rengi saçları başının arkasında topuz yapılarak bir saç filesi altına sabitlenmişti ki engel olmasın.

"...Hayal ettiğimden bile daha çok yakışmış sana."

"Öyle mi? Sevindim. Böyle bir kostüm giymek ilk deneyimim, bu yüzden..."

Amane ona dürüst övgülerini sundu ve karşılığında utangaç bir gülümseme aldı.

Kıyafetin Mahiru'ya yakıştığı aşikârdı, zira o zaten çok güzeldi. Ancak Amane'yi her şeyden çok şaşırtan, kostümün Mahiru'nun kişiliğine bu denli oturmasıydı.

Mahiru'nun doğuştan gelen yardımsever mizacı, kıyafetin ona daha da çok yakışmasını sağlıyordu.

Onun yumuşakça gülümseyişini izlerken, Amane içten içe kimseye hizmet etmesini istemediğini hissetmekten kendini alamadı.

"Amane?"

"Ha? ...Ah, üzgünüm. O kadar çok yakışmış ki sana, kimseye göstermek ve bu görüntüyü kaybetmek istemiyorum."

Kıkırdar. "Neyi kaybetmek?"

"Coşkumu mu...?"

"Pekâlâ, söz veriyorum saçlarınla sonra oynarız, şimdilik idare et lütfen. Ne de olsa, ben de başkalarının seni kahya kıyafetinle görmesi fikrinden pek hoşlanmıyorum..."

"Benimki özel bir şey olmayacak, o yüzden sorun değil."

"Hiç de sorun değil!"