LIGHTNOVELSTORY chapter 89
89. Strategy Meeting with Himeno
After school.
I was left alone in the classroom.
A refreshing breeze flowed in through the window that I had forgotten to close, swaying the white curtains.
In the empty classroom, I basked in the wind while gazing absentmindedly out the window.
On the field, the track and field club and the soccer club were diligently practicing, and I could see the tennis club training on the courts beyond.
As I waited for Himeno to return, I thought about how nice it was to spend youth sweating alongside clubmates.
“Calling me out… when on earth is Himeno going to come back?”
Right after class, Himeno had called out to me, saying she had something important to discuss, so I ended up staying in the classroom.
Meanwhile, Himeno had been summoned by our homeroom teacher to the staff room.
Apparently, she had skipped her cleaning duty yesterday and had been chatting with me at a café instead.
She might have been reprimanded for that.
Our homeroom teacher is famous for being strict, so she must be sulking from a scolding right about now.
After a while, I heard footsteps from the hallway, and soon the classroom door creaked open.
I turned around to confirm Himeno’s presence. As expected, she looked remorseful, entering the classroom with a deep sigh.
“I really got chewed out. Honestly, there’s no need to get so angry over skipping one day.”
“That took quite a while. So you were indeed being scolded for skipping your cleaning duty?”
“Something like that. I was told I lack a sense of responsibility. At least I was spared from having to write a reflection paper.”
Himeno approached me and sat down in the seat next to mine. I rested my chin on my hand as I peeked at her.
Her blue twin tails swayed in the refreshing breeze, her large eyes framed by long eyelashes, and her doll-like features wore a somewhat languid expression as she crossed her legs.
As expected of one of the main heroines of “Fusekoi.” Even just looking sulky like this makes for a picturesque scene.
“Well, I sympathize with you. The conversation from yesterday was more important than cleaning duty.”
“That’s true. When it comes to Raito, I can’t sit still… before I knew it, I had dashed out of the classroom. Raito is such an important presence in my life.”
“And that’s why you want to talk to me about Fusekawa today.”
“Yes. I wanted to know if there had been any developments.”
“Wait a minute. There’s no way there would be any developments from yesterday to today. We’re busy with the cultural festival as well.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, my love for Raito was running wild.”
“Love running wild… You don’t seem to be trying to hide your feelings for Fusekawa at all. I admire your boldness in not hiding it.”
“Raito is so oblivious that he hasn’t noticed my feelings at all. He’s really a troublesome person.”
When it comes to the protagonist of a harem-themed romantic comedy, being oblivious and not noticing the girls’ affections is a classic trope. While that might be the correct approach for a mainstream romantic comedy,
I couldn’t help but think how tough it must be for the main heroine as if it were someone else’s problem, when Himeno began fiddling with her smartphone.
She seemed to be skillfully navigating the screen, perhaps receiving a message from someone on RINE.
“While there might not have been any developments regarding Raito, the preparations for the cultural festival are steadily progressing. We’ve been conducting surveys in our class group chat, and about 80% of the responses have been collected.”
“Class group chat? What’s that?”
“Huh? Oh, right, Shindo… you weren’t in it, were you?”
Himeno’s face showed a hint of regret as she glanced between my eyes and the smartphone screen.
It turns out that a RINE group chat was created in class at the beginning of the school year, and I was the only one not invited.
This is completely new to me… Well, I guess it can’t be helped.
Before I reincarnated, Ryusuke Shindo was notorious as a hopeless delinquent, and I wasn’t the kind of character who would get invited to a class group chat.
Normally, no one would invite a villain who constantly causes trouble with classmates into their group.
Himeno smiled awkwardly and showed me the smartphone screen.
“I see. So there was a RINE group in our class. They conducted a survey to choose something from the menu I suggested.”
“That’s right. Well, next time, I’ll tell Raito to invite you. Since you’re also on the cultural festival executive committee, it would be more convenient to have you in the group.”
“Yeah. It would make preparations easier. So? What are the results of that survey like?”
“Like this. It’s quicker to see than to ask.”
Himeno tapped her smartphone and opened the survey results.
And there it was…
“…Huh. Is it really possible for the votes to be this evenly spread?”
“The menus Shindo created are just too appealing. They all look delicious, and the recipes are easy to understand. With this, it’s hard to narrow it down.”
“Even so… right?”
I was left dumbfounded as I looked at the survey results.
There were a total of eight types of menus proposed for the cultural festival’s sweets café.
The plan was to conduct a survey to narrow it down to less than half, but the votes were beautifully spread out, with each of the eight menus receiving roughly the same number of votes.
In other words, at this rate, we wouldn’t be able to decide which menu to actually serve.
Maybe I should have explained each menu one by one and listened to everyone’s opinions…
I know everyone put a lot of thought into it, but honestly, I never expected the votes to be this scattered, and I found myself holding my head in frustration.
Himeno, who called this a development, is truly impressive. No… really.
“This is a problem… We have to somehow decide which menu to go with…”
“I think we should just serve them all. All eight menus are our signature dishes.”
“That won’t work. Do you really think high school students who aren’t used to cooking can make eight types of sweets?”
“Isn’t that what Shindo is for? Come on, you’re good at making sweets, right?”
“No, no… that would be tough. Plus, the more menus we have, the higher the ingredient costs, and we might end up exceeding the budget allocated to our class.”
“Ah, that’s true. I wonder if there’s any way around this…”
Himeno lowered her long eyelashes and silently began fiddling with her smartphone.
It seemed she was glancing at the opinions of our classmates posted in the group chat, while I gathered my thoughts, observing her demeanor.
My high school days in my previous life.
The cultural festival’s execution was handled by the top caste of the class, and I was merely a worker ant, silently following their orders.
Now, having been reincarnated into the world of “Fusekoi,” I found myself in a position to take charge of the cultural festival for the first time. However, bringing many people together to accomplish a single task is indeed challenging. I realized that the struggles can only be understood through actual experience.
In the original story, the protagonist, Fusekawa Yorito, overcomes such hardships and successfully runs a sweets café. He achieves the highest sales and attendance in the academy, even receiving an award from the student council for his efforts.
As I thought about how amazing he was, I felt a strong desire to make the cultural festival a success, just like him.
Even as a villain, I didn’t want to lose to the protagonist.
Perhaps it was from such feelings that I found myself working hard alongside Himeno, exchanging ideas as we prepared for the cultural festival.