Erika circled publicity on the board hard enough that the chalk squeaked.
"This is our most important weakness. If people don't know what's up here and what to expect, how will they come? We need a way to get the word out, especially since we know the main campus will make things difficult for us."
The class went quiet in that thinking way that usually meant they had nothing.
Sugaya raised a hand.
"I can draw some posters."
Okajima nodded quickly.
"We can take photos of the food too. I'm sure that will bring customers."
Mimura leaned forward.
"I can make a special-edition website for it."
Isogai looked hopeful.
"Oh. That might work."
Erika shook her head.
"No. It would not work as much as you think it would."
The room turned back to her.
"Think about it. People need to know what it is before they look for it. A website won't become popular just because it exists."
That landed.
Kataoka folded her arms.
"So what do you think we should do here?"
"The best thing we can do," Erika said, "is have someone popular promote the restaurant and Akira's cooking. Only then will our restaurant become popular."
Isogai frowned.
"But I don't think we have anyone like that who can promote us."
Erika's chalk tapped the board once.
"I know. That's why we are going to use our secret weapon again."
Every head turned.
Akira lifted both hands.
"I am not famous."
"That's why we will make you famous." Erika didn't blink. "We can take a video of you cooking and put it on YouTube. When you become famous, you can post about the school festival restaurant and your cooking theater too."
Akira stared at her.
"Wait. First, how do we even know I will get famous? We only have like a week before the school festival."
Erika looked at him like the question was offensive.
"What do you mean? Have you seen your face? Do you realize how handsome you are? Believe me. Just one video and you will instantly start trending." She glanced at the room. "Right, everyone?"
The class nodded, some of them looking pained about it.
"It is possible."
Akira still shook his head.
"But… I am not sure about becoming famous, you know."
Nagisa tilted his head.
"But I thought you liked to show off."
"I do love to show off," Akira said. "But this and that are different. I don't want to become a YouTuber."
Erika did not push. She didn't want to force him. If he didn't want to do it, she would find another way.
She sighed.
"Well, if you don't want to, then we have to think of something else—"
Selena slipped into his head, far too pleased with herself.
"Bro. Just saying. If you do this well, maybe Erika-chan will give you two kisses."
Akira's eyes lit up.
"All right. I am in."
Erika's head snapped toward him.
"What?"
The change was too sudden. Suspicion climbed straight up her face.
Before she could grab him, Isogai raised a hand.
"Wait. Before that. Is it even allowed? I mean, they tried to expel me just because I started working part-time. Is becoming a YouTuber allowed?"
Erika paused, then looked at the girl by the old artillery box.
"Ritsu. Can you check the rules?"
Ritsu smiled.
"Sure."
Her eyes flicked once, scanning internally.
"I checked the rules~. Becoming a social media creator isn't against them. But it does say you need your parents' or guardian's permission."
The class looked at Akira and Erika.
Nobody in the room had ever heard of their parents.
Erika recovered first.
"Well. I don't think they can make it. They're busy. We can ask Koro-sensei to act as a guardian for this."
Koro-sensei laughed, a little too delighted.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu! As your teacher, I grant you limited permission. We don't want you getting distracted by it, right?"
Erika nodded once.
"Okay. Now we need to think about the video idea and how to make Akira famous."
They surrounded her.
Ideas started flying.
"Let's make him an idol."
"How about a model? He is really handsome and fit."
"Let's make him an action hero."
"No. It has to be about cooking."
Akira, who had not been invited into the circle, lifted a finger.
"How about an anime YouTuber?"
The class answered as one.
"Nooooo!"
Akira slumped.
"…But I want to…"
They ignored him and kept arguing until the pile of ideas finally fell in one direction.
Cooking.
---
The next day, Class E gathered in the forest behind the school.
Akira stood there in ordinary clothes and looked down at himself.
"I thought we were making a cooking video."
Erika checked Ritsu's camera angle.
"We are. A video of you gathering ingredients in the forest and cooking with them. First, we need to shoot you foraging."
Akira looked around.
"What about the kitchen, then?"
"About that," Erika said. "It should be ready soon."
Akira tilted his head.
"What?"
A yellow blur circled the clearing.
An outdoor kitchen landed in the grass like it had always been there.
Koro-sensei popped up behind a cutting board.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu! Kitchen is complete! Sensei worked hard. Akira-kun, don't forget my food too."
Erika nodded once.
"So the kitchen is ready. Are you ready?"
Akira lifted a finger.
"Wait. What about dialogue? Do I have lines, or should I improvise?"
Erika said flatly,
"No. Don't speak."
Akira looked confused.
"…What?"
Erika chose her words with visible pain.
"We are going for a mysterious handsome-guy persona here. If you talk, you will just be… eh… you. And we don't know how well that will come across."
Akira thought about that, then shrugged.
"Fine. I'm not good with dialogue anyway. I'll be the mysterious character."
"Ritsu will follow you as the cameraman," Erika said. "She should be steadier than the others."
Ritsu settled a camera on her shoulder and saluted.
"Here."
Akira looked at the trees.
"Okay, but how should we start? I can't just start the video by walking, right?"
Kayano raised a hand.
"How about we do something like… start with him waking up in a bed, and then going to forage?"
Erika considered it.
"Not a bad idea. But where should we get a bed?"
Koro-sensei vanished and came back with an entire outdoor bedroom: a bed, sheets, and a little fake wall behind it.
"Will this work?"
Kayano beamed.
"Yeah. This could work."
Erika clapped once.
"All right. Everyone to your positions. Akira, all you have to do is act like you're waking up and going into the forest, okay?"
Akira nodded, walked to the bed, and tucked himself in properly.
Koro-sensei lifted a tentacle like a clapperboard.
"Now… Action!"
They waited.
Nothing happened.
Koro-sensei tried again, louder.
"Action!"
Still nothing.
Erika's frown sharpened. She walked over.
"Akira, what are you doing—"
He was asleep.
Actually asleep. Peaceful. Useless.
She shook him.
"You idiot! Why did you actually sleep?"
Akira sat up, blinking.
"I can't help it. I didn't sleep well last night…"
Erika said seriously,
"Take this seriously and do it correctly."
Akira sighed.
"Fine."
They reset.
This time, he woke on cue, pushed the sheets aside, and stepped off the bed like the morning belonged to him.
"Cut!" Koro-sensei said.
The playback looked annoyingly good.
Erika exhaled.
"All right. Next part. Into the forest."
Akira sighed.
"Fine."
Koro-sensei clapped.
"Action!"
He went in.
The first finds were ordinary: mushrooms, greens, and things growing on the ground. Then something useful sat too high in a tree, and he went up after it with the kind of quiet acrobatics that did not belong in a cooking video.
Isogai winced at the monitor.
"Is it okay to keep that in?"
Erika watched the replay.
"…I don't know. But it doesn't look bad. Leave it in."
He kept going.
Fish. Crayfish. Eggs. All of it was gathered with the same calm expression, like this was just another chore.
Nakamura nodded.
"This looks promising."
Maehara pointed at the silent footage.
"Yeah. Him not talking really does do the trick."
Akira carried the haul to the outdoor kitchen and cooked.
No speech. No explanation.
Just the same battlefield focus as yesterday, mountain ingredients turning into a feast pretty enough to make anyone watching swallow.
Koro-sensei, already drooling, raised a tentacle.
"Cut!"
The class closed in at once.
"Akira, that was so cool."
"It really went well."
"I'm sure with some calming music, this will be a hit."
Erika allowed herself a small smile.
"All right. All that's left is editing and posting it. Since it went really well, I don't think we need to edit much. Ritsu can trim the first take and add music. Let's go back to class and finish it today."
Everyone cheered.
"Yeahhhh!"
Then Nagisa frowned at the empty boards.
"Wait. Where is the food?"
Everyone turned.
Koro-sensei was already trying to sneak into the trees with both arms full.
The class moved as one.
"That damn octopus!"
"Catch him!"
"Don't let him eat all that!"
Koro-sensei laughed over his shoulder, already too far ahead.
"Nuruhuhuhuhu! You can't catch Sensei…!"
He escaped.
The feast went with him.
---
While a certain yellow octopus was still being hunted for stolen gourmet plates, the rest of Class E crowded around Akira's laptop.
They edited the footage together.
There wasn't much to do. Akira had done the work too cleanly. Ritsu trimmed the sleep take, laid a quiet track under the knife work, and that was almost the whole job.
They watched the finished cut.
The room went still in a different way.
Maehara spoke first.
"This is actually really good."
Nakamura nodded.
"Yeah. This looks more like an action documentary than a cooking video."
Erika closed the laptop halfway.
"All right. All we need to do is post it."
Akira raised a finger.
"What about the channel?"
Erika nodded.
"Let's make it now."
Akira tilted his head.
"Sure. What about the channel name?"
That started a fight.
"How about Akira's Cooking?"
"No, that's too simple. How about Action Cooking?"
"That's a bit too out there. Maybe Mountain Guy Akira."
"Yeah, no. That will not work. We need something better."
Akira lifted his hand.
"How about Akira's Amazing Adventures?"
Erika stared at him.
"What are you making, an anime?"
Akira looked at her.
"Then what do you say?"
Erika sighed.
"The channel name isn't important. Let's just call it Akira's Journal."
The class accepted it at once.
"Yeah. That might actually work."
"Yeah. It's good."
Erika nodded.
"All right then. Post it."
The video went up.
Title:Akira's Mountain Gourmet Cooking.
Thumbnail: Akira's face.
"Now," Erika said, "we just have to wait."
They stood there in a tight, stupid silence.
Then the silence broke because nothing happened immediately, and people started talking about the next job.
Maehara looked at his phone.
"…Guys. He's trending locally."
Erika snatched the thought out of the air.
"What? It isn't even ten minutes. How is he trending this soon? That's impossible."
Nagisa checked the timestamp.
"Yeah. The video is even fifteen minutes long. This is basically impossible."
Mimura leaned in.
"Let's check the comments."
They gathered around the laptop again.
The comment section was already a disaster.
OMG who is he.
This guy is handsome. Does anyone have his number?
Is he an actor? How is he this good-looking?
He is so CUTE.
I call dibs. No one fight me for him.
Who is fighting you? He is mine.
His cooking is really good.
Is that acrobatics real?
HE IS MINE.
Nobody spoke for a second.
Karma smiled like he had lost a bet with himself.
"We underestimated him."
Nagisa pointed at the pile.
"So he is purely trending because of his looks."
Okuda adjusted her glasses.
"There are some comments about cooking here."
Nakamura scanned the comments once.
"I can see one. That's it."
Erika put a hand to her forehead.
"Now I suddenly feel like I shouldn't have done this."
Akira sighed, then struck a small pose.
"See? This is why I don't want to become famous." He paused. "I am just too cool."
The class looked at him in silence.
Isogai's voice came in carefully.
"Guys. There are some negative comments too."
"Really?"
They looked.
Jealous ones had arrived with the rest.
He is definitely not real.
Yeah, this is edited.
Yeah, this is definitely AI taking over.
And why is he not talking?
He's probably not talking because his voice isn't good.
Erika's face changed.
"How dare they!"
The air around her got heavier.
People leaned back without meaning to.
Akira lifted both hands.
"Erika. It's just a comment."
Erika gritted her teeth.
"I know. But who dares insult your voice? Don't they know how good your voice is?"
Akira blinked.
"They don't?"
"Exactly. We can't let this go." She pointed at him. "Akira. Your next video is a song."
Akira looked confused.
"What? But you said no speaking."
Erika said it as if it were obvious.
"Singing won't take away your mysterious image. Just sing a cool song and they will know."
The class needed a moment.
"He can sing?"
"At this point, what can't he do?"
"Teaching, apparently."
Akira looked flustered.
"But all I know are anime songs."
Erika nodded.
"Don't worry. Choose a good one and sing it well. We can slap all their faces."
He looked even worse.
"I don't know what to choose."
Erika started to answer, then stopped, thinking.
"Then I will…"
Her eyes lit up with an old memory.
"Akira. Wasn't there an anime about a guy getting a parasitic talking hand?"
Akira remembered.
"Talking hand? Are you talking about Parasyte -the maxim?"
Erika nodded.
"Yeah. That one. Its ending song is really good. Try singing it."
Akira stared at her.
"That's It's the Right Time. It's actually a good song."
Erika clapped.
"That's it. Let's go to the forest and shoot it. Ritsu, bring up the backing track."
Ritsu smiled.
"Okay."
Erika was already pushing him toward the door.
"Let's go."
Nagisa watched them leave.
"What happened with her?"
Nakamura didn't look away from the hallway.
"That's just her girlfriend instinct taking over."
Maehara frowned.
"What the hell is girlfriend instinct?"
They followed anyway.
---
Akira stood near the waterfall with a mic in his hand, looking like he wanted to sink into the water.
Erika pointed.
"All right. Ritsu. Start the music."
The track came up.
Akira's face changed.
He remembered the sad scenes. The quiet ones. The ones that had sat in his chest after the credits, and they went into his voice.
Then he sang.
It hit the class without asking permission.
By the last note, people were crying.
Koro-sensei had returned from food exile just in time to cry too.
"This is so good."
"Why am I crying?"
"His voice is so good."
Koro-sensei blew his nose.
"This is so good. Sensei is so proud."
Maehara wiped his face.
"Yeah. I forgot to even kill you."
Erika looked as if she had sung it herself.
"All right. We don't even need to edit it much. Come on, Ritsu. Let's post it."
Ritsu nodded.
"Okay."
They took it back to class and uploaded it under Akira's Journal.
Erika folded her arms.
"Now they will know."
Ten minutes later, Maehara made a wounded sound.
"Yeah. He's trending again. Even more than before. There are even English comments. He's going a little global."
Erika looked.
His voice is so good.
What is he, an angel?
HE IS A GOD.
He sings and cooks. He is perfect. Where is he?
Someone send me his number.
Stay away. He is mine.
Only then did the shape of the problem reach her.
Her boyfriend was in danger.
Erika shook her head and muttered,
"It's fine. It's fine. I will kill anyone who tries."
Akira leaned away from her.
"Please don't."
Isogai lifted a hand like a white flag.
"It's good he's trending, but now we have another problem. What if too many people come?"
Erika's eyes went back to the board in her head.
"Yeah. Seems like the ingredients will run out sooner too."
The room changed flavor.
This was a different kind of trouble.
Erika straightened.
"All right. I have a secret plan. If we run out of ingredients, we have one more card to play."
Akira squinted.
"What is it?"
She looked at him.
"A concert. Of Akira. Not many songs. Just a single song to end all of it. I'm sure the tickets will sell."
Akira looked at her.
"Why?"
Nobody else asked why.
They were already nodding.
"Yeah. We can make more money there."
"Does anyone know how to play an instrument?"
"We need volunteers here."
"I volunteer as tribute."
"I can play the drums."
"I can try electric guitar."
The planning noise rose around them.
Akira slumped toward Erika.
"I knew your inner student council vice-president would be released someday. I didn't expect I would be swept up in this."
Erika did not deny it.
"Deal with it." Her eyes narrowed. "Anyway, Akira. Why did you suddenly agree to everything? I'm sure you would only agree after some whining."
Akira turned his face away, guilty.
"Nope. I was just suddenly interested."
Erika stepped closer.
"No. It's suspicious. Out with it."
Akira locked up.
"No. I won't."
And so Class E's festival prep went in a completely different direction.