"Brother Monogatari."
This novel had the potential to become extremely popular.
No, it definitely would become a huge hit; they had to make it into one!
Seiji was stoked with the fire of pa.s.sion.
"I must begin writing it soon!"
He hoped that he could finish it as early as possible and get it published.
For the rest of the night, he discussed the finer details of the story together with s.h.i.+ka-chan, both trying their best to perfect and smooth out their story.
The next day.
Seiji didn’t seem like he was intending to come to school today, either.
Mika Uehara felt worried about him.
Kagura-san had already recovered her memories, so what was he doing?
He wasn’t working or attending school... was he really that busy?
Even if he didn’t want to work or attend school… was he too busy to even visit them?
Fine then—she admitted that she was feeling somewhat lonely!
Even if it had only been two days since she last saw him…
"Your expression is like that of an abandoned kitten," a flirtatious voice commented from beside her. Needless to say, it belonged to Chiaki Wakaba.
"It’s been a mere two days since the last time you saw him, but you’re acting like a girl that’s been ignored by her boyfriend for three weeks straight. Is such a melancholy and pitiful expression really necessary?"
"Who… who’s acting all melancholy and pitiful!" Mika’s face flushed completely red. "I-I’m just a little worried—I definitely didn’t have any strange expression like that!"
‘And why did Chiaki say three weeks? This amount of time sounds rather strange…’
Yep, a familiar haughtiness, a familiar tsundere. Chiaki smiled warmly at Mika’s reaction.
"If you miss him, why don’t you just give him a call? Maybe he’s too busy to contact us, but he never said we couldn’t contact him."
Mika couldn’t find any words to say in response.
She felt like something was a little odd about Chiaki’s statement this time as well.
"No need… I was just slightly worried."
"Would I be a bother if I contacted him over such a small matter?"
At any rate, when he returned, he would probably explain everything.
Even though she was a bit lonely and worried, Mika was still an understanding girl… mostly.
Understanding Mika"s feelings, Chiaki changed the topic.
"The school festival will be held in two days, so no matter what he’s busy with, I hope that he’ll finish before then."
"Yep…"
Everyone at school was excited for the upcoming school festival.
Apart from a select few programs where the members procrastinated too much or were taking too long to complete their task, the majority of cla.s.ses and clubs had already finished preparing.
Genhana High School’s festival had always been rather popular. There were always many guests each year, lending it a bustling atmosphere.
And as for the high schoolers themselves, apart from their efforts in preparing the festival programs, the three-day school festival was also a perfect opportunity for some special personal activities.
Such as confessing, telling a boy or girl that you liked them, and asking to go out with each other…
Confessing during the school festival was an unwritten custom at Genhana High School!
It was no longer possible to ascertain just when and how this custom began, but nonetheless, this custom existed together with a legend.
The basic gist of the lengend was this: during the school festival, a girl wearing sakura-pink clothes would appear in some certain corners where n.o.body frequented.
Anyone that asked the boy or girl they liked to these corners in order to confess would be 100% successful if this legendary girl saw them or if they saw her! And the couple would always stay together and be blessed forevermore.
Some people believe that the legend came after the custom, while others believed that the custom arose from this legend. It was basically a matter of chicken or the egg, with n.o.body knowing which truly came first.
Truthfully, it wasn’t all that important.
The students knew that this was a time to burn… whoops, confess, and that was enough for them.
What else would happen other than confessions?
Cough cough, those would be special activities for couples—activities which trod upon the forbidden. It would be best not to mention those.
Mika didn’t intend to confess during the school festival.
But, she felt it was highly likely for other girls to confess to Seiji during this time.
She faintly hoped that the school festival wouldn’t ever arrive when she thought of this. However, she felt a twinge of guilt at her own selfish desire.
‘I’m such an idiot,’ thought the pigtailed beauty, collapsing onto her desk.
‘She’s such an idiot,’ thought the tomboy, giving a sympathetic glance to her good friend.
Not too far from them in the same cla.s.sroom, there was one other girl worrying about the same thing.
‘Should I… ask Seigo Harano to become friends with me during the school festival?’
Kaho Miyamoto was currently battling with her own emotions.
After three weeks of constant exercising and dieting, her weight had decreased significantly, and even her face had become thinner to the point where she could now be called cute.
Her friends had been surprised at her actions and intentions. At first, they tried to convince her against it, but seeing how resolute she was caused them to change their minds and support her encouragingly.
"The school festival should be a good chance for you to request to be friends with Harano-san… To be honest, I’m still a little worried, but this is something that you’ve chosen to do, so take your best shot at it."
Her best friend Momoko Matsuoka had just told her this.
Kaho really wanted to do it, but she also felt like waiting a little longer.
She felt that she still hadn’t done enough yet.
But Momoko was right—the school festival was an excellent opportunity.
If she let this chance pa.s.s by, then what timing would she choose? After the school festival, she needed to worry about the semester exams.
Kaho didn’t want to make Seigo wait too long for her.
At any rate, she couldn’t decide what to do and was quite bothered.
"Oh yeah, Harano-san"s been taking time off from school ever since last week, and he still hasn’t come to cla.s.ses. Has something happened?"
His good friends Chiaki Wakaba and Mika Uehara didn’t have any clear explanation.
She was a bit worried… hopefully it wasn’t something too difficult or bothersome to deal with.
Kaho cared about Seigo Harano.
His sunny smile flashed through her mind again.
It had already been three weeks since that scene.
It didn’t seem like all that long had pa.s.sed to Kaho, but it also somehow felt like time pa.s.sed by in a flash.
The school festival would be in two days, and after that there would be the semester exams and the winter vacation…
Kaho suddenly realized that there wasn’t much time remaining in this semester!
She actually still wanted to procrastinate?
"No, that won"t work…"
She couldn’t procrastinate anymore, nor did she want to procrastinate any more.
She didn’t want him to wait any longer… no, that was wrong! She herself was the one… who didn’t want to remain afraid anymore!
Kaho’s eyes began sparkling.
Momoko was right—she needed to bring out her confidence!
She needed to bravely step forward without waiting any longer!
She made her decision.
"I"ll definitely tell him during the school festival!"
A look of resolution slowly settled over Kaho’s expression.
This was a teenaged girl’s determination.
At the exact same moment.
Everywhere in Genhana High School, in every cla.s.s and every grade, boys and girls were making similar decisions.
They either told their friends about their decision or hid their resolution in their hearts, but the aura they exuded was identical.
That was the scent of youth… cough, that may have been a bit of a lame joke.
At any rate, Genhana High School was currently filled with an enthusiastic, lively atmosphere.
As for a person who wasn’t a Genhana High School student.
The female mangaka, who had just completed a ma.n.u.script, turned around to look at her calendar. She was sipping on some tea as it was her break.
Her grayish-brown hair was tied in a casual ponytail. She was wearing thick black-rimmed gla.s.ses, and while her face was a little pale from fatigue, it didn’t detract from her moving beauty.
"It’s almost time… for the date," Mayuzumi Amami muttered to herself, staring at the date circled with a red pen on the calendar.
Just imagining that tall, handsome, almost s.h.i.+ning, boy caused her lips to arc imperceptibly upwards and her cheeks to flush with a tinge of red.
‘I look forward to seeing you again, Haruta-kun.’