"Phew."
Now seated at her new desk, Sakura instinctively glanced around. The students in front of her, behind her, and to her right were all looking at her with friendly expressions, and it left her a little flustered as she hurriedly nodded back to each of them.
Only after that did she finally get a moment to quietly speak to Hiyori at the desk to her left.
"Everyone's... so welcoming."
"They are, aren't they?" Hiyori replied softly, drifting into the memory. "You know this already, Airi, but when I first came here, I was actually pretty shy too. I had trouble talking to people."
"Thankfully, Yukio-kun helped me. He eased me into talking with just a few classmates at first, and little by little, that grew into talking with everyone. It's much better now. And everyone here really is a wonderful friend, so you don't need to worry."
"And if anything makes you uncomfortable, just tell everyone. Or tell me. Or tell Yukio-kun. Any of that is fine."
"Mhm."
Sakura gratefully glanced around the classroom before sitting properly in her seat, waiting for their new homeroom teacher to arrive. Inside, it felt like there was a little fish swimming happily around in her heart, delighting in being in this class, the one Yukio belonged to.
She didn't have to wait long before Sakagami walked in.
"Looks like you've all already met your new classmate, so I won't waste time on introductions. More importantly, have you settled on your cultural festival theme yet?"
"You've been arguing about it for days and still haven't picked one. Honestly, the school should've just thrown your class festival theme into yesterday's Unanimous Vote so you'd have been forced to decide it then."
Even while hurrying them along, Sakagami still had that smile on his face.
Depending on who you asked, that smile looked sly as hell. But to Sakura, he seemed pretty kind. At least when he smiled, he did. Compared to the always-cold Chabashira-sensei, he definitely felt easier to approach.
Still... Yukio's class still hadn't picked a theme? They were running out of time, weren't they?
Prompted like that, the class started laughing again, especially Ishizaki, fearless as always, who shot his hand up right away.
"Sakagami-sensei, if that question really had been on yesterday's Unanimous Vote, which of the five questions would you have replaced?"
Sakagami blanked for a second.
"If it were me? Then obviously I'd replace the— ...Get lost, Ishizaki. Stop sidetracking me. Hurry up and settle it today during homeroom. I heard the actual festival rules are coming out tomorrow."
That finally got the class more serious. They still didn't know what the festival rules would be, so that was part of why nothing had been finalized yet.
"What about an arcade tournament after all?"
"No, seriously, weren't the arm-wrestling and video game ideas already vetoed? Why are we dragging them back out again?"
"Because nobody can think of anything better!"
Airi timidly watched from her seat. Discussion in Yukio's class was so lively. Everyone seemed able to throw out ideas, while Yukio just quietly listened.
It felt... different from Class D.
Over there, it was usually Horikita or Matsushita making the decision, and everyone else just went along with it.
Then someone sighed.
"Man, if only we knew what the other classes were doing. At least then we'd have something to reference. But every single one of them is keeping it under wraps."
At that, Sakura blinked.
She'd already told Yukio what Class D's cultural festival theme was going to be. Had he not told his class?
Thinking that, she quietly turned to look at him.
He seemed like he'd been waiting for that. The moment Sakura looked over, he smiled and gave her an encouraging look, clearly urging her toward something.
Airi's heart skipped.
Was... was he signaling for her to reveal it?
Wouldn't that be a little bad? Wouldn't that put way too much attention on her?
Instinctively, Sakura hated drawing attention to herself. But seeing how seriously everyone in the class was discussing it, along with the expectation and encouragement in Yukio's eyes, made her gather her courage.
"U-um..."
Yukio's class instantly fell silent. Every student turned to look at her, and even Sakagami didn't seem surprised.
The attention made Sakura tense up so badly she clutched the hem of her clothes with both hands, her eyes behind her glasses starting to spin.
"I... I... before, Horikita asked me... to help out with Class D's cultural festival theme... their maid café..."
She... she actually said it.
Only then did the strength leave Sakura's fingers and her grip loosen from her clothes. When she instinctively turned back, she saw Yukio smiling and giving her a thumbs-up.
That sent a rush of exhilaration through her.
She'd only been in Yukio's class for a few minutes, and she'd already helped in a major way.
And with that, the thorn in her heart shrank again, almost completely gone now.
"Horikita asked Sakura-san to help? Oh, Horikita from Class D?"
"Then that means Class D's festival theme is a maid café?!"
"Right, that's exactly what it means! Man, Sakura-san really is incredible. She shows up and immediately gives us something this huge!"
The moment they got the information, Yukio's classmates reacted like they'd been handed treasure. Grins spread across their faces, and the respect in their eyes when they looked at Airi only deepened.
It left Airi a little overwhelmed. She hadn't imagined that just saying one sentence could make everyone this happy.
At that point, Hiyori spoke up beside her.
"See? Everyone really is nice here, isn't it?"
Airi stared blankly at the class for a moment before turning back to Hiyori and nodding.
This time, her smile was completely natural.
"Mhm."
But that same piece of information also made Yukio's classmates realize something else.
"Wait a second. Horikita asked Sakura-san to help with the cultural festival... then turned around and tried to vote her out in the Unanimous Vote? That's messed up!"
"Holy crap, I didn't even think of that until you said it! Sakura-san, we can't just let that slide. We have to get even for you!"
"Exactly! If we didn't know, that'd be one thing, but now that we do, we've gotta do something!"
"Ah... ah?"
Sakura had just been about to go back to whispering with Hiyori, only to suddenly become the center of attention all over again. She flustered immediately.
"Th-thank you, everyone, but I... I..."
That was when Ryuuen, of all people, came up with an idea. He slapped his desk.
"In that case, enough talking. Let's just decide. If Class D is doing a Western-style maid café, then we'll do a Taisho-style café and compete in the exact same category. We'll steal their customers right out from under them."
The Taisho era, of course, was the period in Japan when the country started really opening itself up to the world. It was also when cafés first formally took root there.
So in a sense, they'd be using tradition to counter Class D's Western aesthetic.
Ryuuen's proposal was met with immediate enthusiasm.
"That's right! Taisho café it is! We'll go straight at them and steal their customers. Let's call it payback for Sakura-san!"
Yukio clapped his hands to seal it.
"Then it's settled. When the cultural festival comes around, let's make sure we beat D-Class's sales."
"Yeah!!"
Watching the class so fired up, Sakura felt something stir deep inside her.
Back in Class D, she'd just been an invisible little nobody.
But here, classmates she'd only just met were already willing to stand up for her.
For the first time, she felt a real sense of belonging to this class.
Not to Class D, which she'd never felt much attachment to and had betrayed without any guilt.
This class. Yukio's class.
"Um... I-I've actually studied Taisho-era clothing a bit too, so I could help... help with that."
The kind of thing Sakura never would've volunteered before, she was now doing again and again.
And the moment those words left her mouth, the invisible thorn in her heart finally vanished for good.
That made the class even happier. They all felt like their boss had really brought back a treasure this time.
Even Sakagami kept nodding, openly admiring the result of Yukio's latest move.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.