Chapter 213: Chapter 213 - Lively
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Time passed by as Seiji waited and imagined various things.
Mayuzumi and Saki finished eating breakfast and cleaned up before they came to the living room.
"I heard from Mayuzumi that you guys agreed to continue touring the school festival today," Saki said as she entered the room. "I’d like to go together as well; is that alright?"
It was just as Seiji had expected.
He looked at Mayuzumi, and she simply smiled without saying anything.
"If Peach-sensei agrees, I have no objections."
There was no reason for him to object.
He felt that Sensei would be able to relax a little more if Editor Yoshizawa accompanied them. As for how Sensei herself felt about it… she probably felt helpless that Editor Yoshizawa was such a worrywart about her, but she didn’t seem opposed to the idea.
"Okay then, let’s get going." Saki wasted no time and cut to the chase.
And so, the three of them went out together.
While he was walking together with Editor Yoshizawa and Peach-sensei, Seiji suddenly felt as if Peach-sensei was a pampered young lady who was afraid of the world, while Editor Yoshizawa and himself were her bodyguards.
If only he was wearing an outfit like the editor’s, together with a pair of dark sunglasses. If he made a cool pose… yep, it really would seem like he was a bodyguard!
Seiji coughed and shook his head. 'I'm getting sidetracked.'
It was mainly because Peach-sensei seemed so weak as she walked next to the editor, who was exuding an imposing aura, which really gave him the impression of a lady and her female bodyguard.
'In reality, their relationship is quite similar to that,' Seiji thought to himself.
After they left the apartment, Saki immediately called for a taxi; it didn’t seem like she even considered taking the bus.
‘Did she find out about Sensei taking the bus yesterday?’
Seiji cast a furtive glance at Mayuzumi, who noticed what he was asking with his eyes, and she shook her head slightly.
‘So she didn’t tell her…’
Seiji felt like he could understand how Sensei felt about Editor Yoshizawa, and he didn’t intend to say anything about it.
The three of them successfully reached Genhana High School.
That was when Seiji discovered to his astonishment that today Genhana High School was at least twice as lively compared to yesterday!
It was a local holiday today. The students’ family members had free time, and the families living close to the school brought their kids here so they could enjoy the festival. Some students from other schools came visiting to see what the festival was all about, and even some white-collar workers came together with their coworkers to relax. Various types of people could be seen wandering about; from this, it was clear that the festival had attracted a greater amount of visitors today.
Seiji, who was slightly stunned at the sight of the teeming crowd of people, finally realized what Natsuya meant by telling him that Genhana High School’s festival had always been relatively successful.
‘That’s such an understatement, don’t you think!? It’s so popular!’
He had never seen such a school festival in anime or manga before… er, not quite.
There were some fictional schools that had ridiculous settings such as Academy City or that school from Mahou Sensei Negima which had rather exaggerated school festivals that made Genhana High School’s seem like nothing…
‘Wait a moment—I’m setting too high of a standard for comparison!’
With this realization, Seiji managed to regain his senses.
It was nice that it was so lively today, but wouldn’t the overwhelming liveliness cause a mess?
A huge number of people meant trouble. He hoped that the Morals and Discipline Committee in charge of maintaining order as well as the other student leaders would be able to manage them.
By the way, both the student council president and vice president were still in the hospital… was this really going to be alright?
Seiji was somewhat concerned, but he figured now wasn’t the time for him to be worrying about others.
Seiji looked towards the person beside him at the same time as Saki.
They saw that Mayuzumi, who was in between them, was taut with anxiety, and her complexion blanched when she was faced with this massive crowd.
Seiji and Saki didn’t know what to say for a moment.
The editor ended up sighing. "This place is much livelier than I thought," she observed. "Mayuzumi… I feel that you shouldn’t force yourself; how about giving up for today?"
The manga author was obviously considering this proposal.
But even though her expression flickered for a moment, her face hardened into a mask of steely resolve.
"No… I want to… try."
Even though she didn’t sound particularly resolute, she was definitely working hard.
"Alright, I’ll lead the way then." Seiji smiled to reassure her. "I’ll walk in front, Sensei can follow me, and Editor Yoshizawa can take care of Sensei from behind. Is this arrangement okay?"
Mayuzumi nodded in response.
Saki saw her friend’s resolution and decided to support her.
The three of them arranged themselves in formation and charged onwards!
After entering the school, they were greeted by the sight of a huge map stuck on a billboard. It depicted the various activities available.
Seiji felt that pausing to examine the map wasn't a wise idea. He took out his cell phone, snapped a picture of the map, and continued leading the way without stopping.
After they entered deeper into the school, the dense crowd began to thin out noticeably.
"Sensei, would you like to explore some of the stalls we didn’t get to visit yesterday, or start with my classroom’s store?" Seiji turned around and asked.
"Let’s… go to your classroom’s store." Mayuzumi’s expression had eased up slightly. Still, passing by so many people made her rather uncomfortable.
"Understood—follow me."
Seiji took them to Year 1, Class 5’s room.
He saw a huge line waiting at the door!
"Such a long line early in the morning… seems like my class has been pretty successful." Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation.
"This is the popularity that a ‘Honey Candy Girl’-themed store deserves," the editor lectured in a serious tone of voice. "Since you even received direct permission from the author, it should at least be on this level."
"Saki, don’t say that." The manga author was getting embarrassed.
"Editor Yoshizawa is rather strict… but I can understand her feelings." Seiji smiled. "Anything related to a product that you worked hard on together with your friend... you’d wish that it would be the best, isn’t that right?"
Saki glanced at him and nodded in confirmation.
"As a fan, I have the same hope. But this is still just a temporary store run by ordinary students, so there’s no need to set your expectations too high. Honestly speaking, I think that being able to maintain this condition without any problems until the end of the school festival would be quite the achievement."
Just as he finished speaking, they all heard the sound of a dish breaking from within the classroom.
Seiji was rendered speechless by this unfortunate timing!
He could only smile wryly at Saki and Mayuzumi as he indicated to them with a hand gesture that they should go over and see what was going on.
The student that had broken the dish was hurriedly cleaning up the broken pieces, and the person who was apologizing on his behalf to the customer was… Chiaki!
She was wearing an exquisitely embroidered cosplay outfit, one that was much more exaggerated and extravagant than the one that Seiji wore yesterday.
Ordinary students wouldn’t be able to do this outfit justice; it would only seem like a monkey in a circus outfit if the person didn’t have an excellent appearance. But when Chiaki wore this outfit, not only did she do it justice, it even seemed completely natural on her with no sense of abnormality.
This was supposed to be a fantasy-themed cosplay outfit! Why did it seem so appropriate on her!?
Seiji was somewhat stunned at the sight.
And all the customers in the store—especially the female customers—were all looking at Chiaki with stars in their eyes, as if they were seeing an idol… or a prince!
That’s right—Chiaki was a prince wearing a fantasy-themed prince outfit that made her seem even handsome than Seiji and his butler-style outfit from yesterday!
'No wonder there's such a long line so early in the morning.'
After he recovered his senses, Seiji realized the reason behind the store's unusual popularity.
That was when he saw Chiaki looking in his direction.
The resplendent prince—who was actually female—smiled at him and blew him a kiss.
This instantly caused a huge commotion.
Seiji, who was the recipient of the unexpected impact, was unable to stand the crowd's gaze and immediately escaped.
Mayuzumi and Saki were mystified by all this.
"Harano, what just happened?"
"N-nothing—a friend was just playing a joke on me." Seiji could only sigh. "It seems that… we won’t be able to go to my classroom’s store for a while, so let’s find somewhere else to sit down for a little while."
"Then, please come visit our class!" said a candid-sounding female.
When Seiji reflexively turned around to see who it was, his vision was filled with nothing but purple.