Chapter 100: Another Participant

The day before yesterday was very fun. When I went to the academy today, everyone’s outing would definitely be a hot topic. Similarly, I wanted to get to school quickly so I could talk about the outing the day before with everyone.

“Sakuya, you look really energetic today.”

“Yes! It is because I wish to discuss Saturday’s outing with everyone!”

I answered my brother honestly. You might be wondering what an uncle who was mentally an adult was saying, but it was the truth, so it couldn’t be helped. My brother looked at me with a smile. He definitely thought of me as a normal younger sister acting like her age…

Sorry, brother… I had lived longer than you, had more life experiences, and I was an adult in the inside. If you looked at me with a smile like that, I’d be troubled.

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I was already used to the posters at the academy when we had arrived. Their number had decreased compared to the beginning and the shots still up were only the ones chosen, but there were still some stuck up here and there.

From what I’d heard, sometimes people wanted the posters and so unstuck them and stole them… so the teachers suggested that those people not steal the posters and an official directive went out. Were there actually people who wanted these posters? It’d be better if those people were involved in the matter like us…

Speaking of that, the Konoe family were giving all of the posters to our family as a set. No, I had no memory of asking them to give it, though? They just gave it. Well, I was the one pictured, so that was pretty obvious to an extent, but…

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R oyzjle rypv vbl byzzoyu oblal vbl rspvlap olal pvkzz pvwnj wr, vbld ldvlale vbl nzyppassx yde tallvle lhlausdl.

“Ohlausdl, tallvkdtp.”

“Qallvkdtp, Fyjwuy-nbyd.”

“Fyjwuy-nbyd, xsadkdt!”

“Qsse xsadkdt, Fyjwuy-nbyd.”

“Fyjwuy-pyxy, tsse xsadkdt!”

Ebld R ldvlale vbl nzyppassx, lhlausdl oyp yzalyeu ypplxczle qsa psxl alypsd. Mblu olal rascyczu vyzjkdt ycswv swa swvkdt vbl eyu clqsal ulpvlaeyu, aktbv?

“Ohlausdl kp iwkvl lyazu vseyu. Elal usw rlabyrp oydvkdt vs ekpnwpp swa swvkdt sd Fyvwaeyu?”

“Yes! I was thinking to discuss with Sakuya-sama, and I was quite surprised when everyone had come already!”

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Come to think of it, Azami-chan was the one who arrived the latest out of everyone here. I wouldn’t say she always arrived last, but she was almost always last. For her to arrive unusually early, on top of everyone else coming early too, was…

“Oh! Sakuya-sama, you are using the strap too!”

“Yes. I had thought it would be a shame to properly use it as it is a memento, but I had decided such things would be better used after all…”

This was a memento that we had bought together, so I did want to keep it safe somewhere. But there was no point in an unused strap sitting in a desk drawer. That didn’t mean to say get it dirty on purpose, but it was better to use it then to leave it there.

“Precisely~! Everyone is using it as well! We are all matching!”

Well, of course we’d be matching… we bought the same one…

“But are you using it too, Akane-chan? I know that you collect merchandise, and I thought you were keeping it because it was limited edition…”

“I… had bought three, so…”

“Huh!?”

What!? Three? One for personal use, one for appreciation, and one to keep safe!?

“Ahaha! I knew you’d do that!”

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“Azami-chan… It is rude to laugh… As it is a limited item, one does not know when it will sell out; and everyone wants to obtain the things they like, yes? Do you not have items like that, Azami-chan?”

“Sakuya-chan…”

I could understand how Akane-chan felt. I didn’t expect her to buy three Nyan-chan limited edition straps, but I could understand the feelings themselves. It was rude to laugh at that.

“Hmm… oh! That is true! I have bought ten sets of Sakuya-sama posters, after all!”

“Huh!!?”

Ten sets of posters? And she bought them?

I had received quite a large amount of posters. There were quite a lot of different shots, so one set would have quite a lot of posters. And ten sets… Speaking of that, she said she bought them; were they on sale?

“Are those posters being sold?”

“No! I was told that one person could only receive one set, so I had told the academy that I would buy them if that was the case and to give me ten sets! Then they asked me to order the posters directly from Konoe-sama, so I had bought ten sets!”

Woah… what else to say… woah…

No… hold on? Had everyone else bought some too?”

“Had you all… perhaps purchased some too?”

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“Huh~? No way~! I just got one set.”

“I as well… Rather, I could not do such awe-inspiring things as saying that to the academy and contacting Konoe-sama like Azami-sama did.”

Renge-chan latched on to what Yuzuriha-chan was saying. So basically, it was something like this. The Five Norths Association members could complain to the academy all they wanted, but that would be hard for normal families. All the members here were from high-ranking families, but there were still students who weren’t from high-ranking aristocratic families.

If only families of high-ranking aristocrats were allowed to attend the school, only a few students would be of age to attend the school even if there were a hundred families. Touka Academy wouldn’t be able to exist in that case, so quite a few families who weren’t high-ranking aristocrats attended the school.

But the school still required an extensive investigation and lineage, or rather heritage. The nouveau riche who earned their money one or two generations ago couldn’t enter Touka Academy.

Without being a second or third son of a branch daily or marrying into a distinguished family, you couldn’t easily enter Touka Academy. You might wonder how a school like Touka Academy existed with that high hurdle, but that was because of the Five Norths Association members’ families heavy contributions. That was why the academy couldn’t come on too strong with the Five Norths Association families. 

The Five Norths Association members were strongly connected to the academy after graduation, so horrible things would happen to Touka Academy if they made enemies of the Five Norths Association. Because of that, the Five Norths Association had strong authority and influence, enough to say that they had a kind of special privilege. Azami-chan had been able to order the academy to do things because she was a member of the Five Norths Association and one of the Seven Shining families.

“More importantly, let us discuss Saturday.”

“Yes, let us.”

Satsuki-chan agreed with Tsubaki-chan. Come to think of it, Satsuki-chan hadn’t said anything earlier, but did she get posters too? Maybe I was the only one among us who spontaneously said that they didn’t want posters of themselves? Was I the weird one?

　　～～～～～～～

We talked all day about the outing—not just the morning, but also at break and during lunch—and got excited. Thanks to that, my relationships with everyone had gotten stronger. I really understood just how important it was to spend time with everyone doing something.

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After school, I said farewell to everyone else, then headed to the salon with Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan. As expected, not everyone was going to go to the salon, but we had to show our faces there. I honestly wanted to talk more, but everyone else had lessons or something, so we had to talk again tomorrow.

“Greetings.”

I opened the salon door in a good mood and sat in my reserved seat. Satsuki-chan and Azami-chan first went to their factions and monryuus, so I was alone for a while. It wasn’t like I had to stick by them day and night, so I enjoyed my short free time.

My time with everyone was important, but spending time relaxing alone like this was important too.

“Greetings, Sakuya-chan.”

“Greetings, Kaya-san.”

But after a short while, the time I spent alone drew to a close. That was also good. I could act aloof c but in the end, I was lonely, and I couldn’t hear being on my own. Kaya-san, who came immediately, was somewhat healing to me. She was a little scary, but that was also good. Sometimes… just sometimes… I wondered if there was something wrong with her, but…

“Oh… come to think of it, Kaya-san.”

“What is it?”

When I said her name, she replied immediately with a smile on her face. It was a very pretty face. It was the face of a girl entering puberty like a transition period where she was changing into a woman; that moment when she couldn’t be called a kid nor an adult. I was a little enchanted by her, then remembered what I had to say and opened my mouth.

“What are the pairs going to do at Takatsukasa-sama’s party?”

Talking about our memories of the outing was amazing, but you couldn’t talk about the past forever. Now that our outing had ended, that thing was Enju’s party. I really didn’t want to go, but I had to.

But everyone had to attend as a pair, and I didn’t know what they were planning to make us do as pairs. I wasn’t told anything, so I wanted to ask Kaya-san. 

“It’s about that? Why not talk to big sister about more fun topics instead of something so boring?”

“Uu…”

Kaya-san coquettishly tilted her head, and my heart leaped. I got the feeling more and more that Kaya-san was gifted with a bewitching charm.

“Well, it is fine… I haven’t heard anything of what we’re doing as pairs.”

“Is that so…”

They were making us come as pairs, so I thought we’d be doing something as pairs. Since Kaya-san wasn’t told anything either, was I just needlessly worried?

“Huh? Kaya-san, that strap…?”

As we were talking, Kaya-san pulled out her phone and I recognised the strap attached to it. That was the matching Nyan-chan strap that we’d bought. Akane-chan did mention that the strap was a limited item that should only be bought in Nyan-chan Land, though…

“It’s cute, right?”

“Yes. It is cute. I actually have the same strap. We seem to be matching, Kaya-san.”

I said that and took out my phone. It was the same limited Nyan-chan strap that Kaya-san had.

“I had heard from my friend that this can only be bought inside Nyan-chan Land. Have you been to Nyan-chan Land, Kaya-san?”

The attractions and rides were for younger people and there were many rides targeted towards kids, but there were highschoolers who liked Nyan-chan and a lot of adults collecting merchandise. It had that age range, so it wouldn’t be strange for Kaya-san to have gone to Nyan-chan Land.

“Yes, I have.”

“Oh! Where did you go?”

No way, did Kaya-san like Nyan-chan too? It was really a good thing to have that outing. I could even get excited with people I didn’t go with about the same topic! We could talk about a lot: what we rode, what the inside was like, and what souvenirs we got.

Once I’d talked to Kaya-san a lot about Nyan-chan Land…

“And then… wait, huh! What?”

“—gah! What is it?”

I was surprised when I saw Kaya-san’s wallpaper. Kaya-san, who may have noticed, immediately hid her phone. Right now, that was…

“Kaya-san… this may be rude, but could you show me your phone wallpaper?”

“…why?”

　Right now… the wallpaper that I had seen for just a moment… pictured there was… wasn’t that us at Nyan-chan Land wearing cat ear headbands? Maybe that was us… after she’d seen us at Nyan-chan Land yesterday.

“No… I had just noticed that your wallpaper is a picture in Nyan-chan Land. Could you please show me?”

If… if Kaya-san had nothing to feel guilty about, then she’d just show me the wallpaper. If she did have something to feel guilty about… then she wouldn’t show me.

“Well, it is fine?”

For some reason… my heart started thumping stronger due to nervousness. Then..,

“Huh?”

The picture she showed me on her wallpaper was… it was definitely a girl I didn’t know… wearing a Nyan-chan cat ear headband in Nyan-chan Land.

“That’s my friend’s younger sister, who I went to Nyan-chan Land with when I bought this strap. She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“Uh, um, yes, she is. I had also bought those cat ear headbands.”

“Oh! That would’ve been nice to see.”

I replied to Kaya-san without letting the tension I felt show. Was I just overthinking? Of course Kaya-san would have that strap. People would take pictures when they went to Nyan-chan Land.

The strap was a limited item, so it wouldn’t be strange for people who knew about it to get it. Kaya-san had gone with an acquaintance too. When we went, we also wore cat ear headbands, so a lot of people must’ve as well. I was just being overly self-conscious, or rather just overthinking.

“Then…”

After that, I calmed down and had a fun conversation with Kaya-san.

　　～～～～～～～

While looking like nothing had happened on the surface, Kaya-san let out a small sigh.

That was pretty risky… it was good that she’d taken a picture of a girl walking past who looked similar.

No matter how much she always wanted to see Sakuya close-up, she couldn’t recklessly make Sakuya her wallpaper. This time she’d managed to quickly change it, but she had to be careful from now on. Kaya-san’s lips lifted in a grin.

“This time… you’ll exchange menu orders with me. Ufufufu.”