Three hours had passed since the festival began.
It was noon, and new guests were arriving to replace the families who had gone to the school first thing in the morning. After receiving a report from Ike and the others, who had gone out to scout the area, I was walking near the entrance when I heard a voice saying, "There it is!"
Ike pointed to where several girls from Ryūen's class were shouting.
"We, the 2nd year C class, are currently competing with the 2nd year B class for sales at the concept café! If we lose, someone might be held responsible and expelled from school!"
The air was clearly alien to the many students who basically continued to serve their customers with smiles and cheerfulness.
A large number of guests stopped in their tracks at the sight of the saddened faces and raised voices.
"Please, can we ask for your cooperation! Please help us!"
One after another, they handed out the flyers they seemed to have been producing. I approached a boy of junior high school age who seemed to have received one of them and asked him if I could take a quick look at it.
On it, offerings for a kimono concept café on the second floor of the special wing were detailed, but it didn't mention the menu or any other price. Instead, it put the confrontation front and center, strongly emphasizing that this was a battle they absolutely could not lose.
"Nah what? This is bad, right?"
The girls' earnest appeals couldn't have been left unspoken. In all likelihood, Ryūen was probably threatening his classmates with expulsion.
"Is he seriously trying to get someone expelled, that Ryūen guy?"
"I doubt it. If a forced expulsion is a penalty, that means he threatened to expel them without their consent. It would be a problem. In fact, if the student who was threatened told the school, Ryūen's position would be jeopardized, and a sharp drop in class points would be inevitable."
"Then that means he's lying! Let's go there now and make them stop!"
"Impossible. His classmates strongly fear the chance he's telling the truth.
Besides, if you listen to the words out loud, all they've said is that they might be expelled from school."
So there was no material to determine that he was lying to the guests as well.
The fact that they don't just settle for a fair confrontation is typical of Ryūen, who comes up with one bold strategy after another.
It was safe to assume that they were working more towards beating us than to be among the top four.
"If we lose, they'll take away 1 million private points, right? Oh no!"
I would love to tell the head-holding Ike not to worry, but it was important to show the public that he was seriously frightened. The importance of the confrontation became more clear.
"What do you want to do?"
"If they want to do this, we'll just fight back with a similar strategy."
"You mean threaten to expel someone too!?"
"No, not that way. We're going to show them that we're also putting all of our effort into the concept café competition as a second year B class. We are ready for that."
"What? And what do you mean ready?"
"Open the cardboard box I brought for you."
I had Hondo and Tonomura take the box down to the ground and remove the duct tape. Out of it came a bunch of flyers.
"This is…! It's a flyer just like theirs!"
"I was planning to put up flyers to drive the guests to the event if necessary.
They beat me to it, but I'm sure it'll be effective nonetheless."
The flyers prepared by Horikita's and Ryūen's class were quickly circulated throughout the school, and word spread that the two classes were competing against each other.
This way, it was also self-evident that they were making big bets on the one-on-one match-up. Knowing about this confrontation will give the illusion that both classes were taking similar risks. It doesn't create the need for me to go out of my way to threaten my classmates.
"I'm going to call the girls who have free hands now and ask them to spread the flyers all at once."
"Okay, okay! I'll let them know right away!"
The process was to have them use their feet directly and have Hondo and the others communicate the information to their classmates. Then, in addition to the predetermined points for distributing flyers, we notified the boys who were running the stalls to let them know that we were confronting Ryūen's class as well.
"Did you hear Horikita's class and Ryūen's class are playing for a lot of money?"
"I heard that the leader of the losing class is getting expelled?"
It seemed that word of the one-on-one match was beginning to reach the ears of ordinary students who had nothing to do with it.
Speculation led to rumors, and rumors led to speculation.
"I'm going back. Let me know if you need anything else."
Ike and the others who delivered meals were always on the lookout for changes in the situation. They nodded their heads in assurance, and I left them to it as I headed back to the special wing. On the way there, I spotted a Japanese-style girl holding a leaflet in a corner of a largely empty corridor.
"Shisase!"
The way she handed the leaflets to the occasional adult passing by reminded me of the lethargic adults I sometimes see at the Keyaki Mall handing out tissues without much enthusiasm. They were just handing out a predetermined number of leaflets in an unobtrusive manner.
"Can I have one?"
"Shassu."
They may not even be aware of our presence, or perhaps they were just thanking us in a small way. She offered me a small thank-you and a leaflet. But as I took it, her eyes locked onto me.
"Geez."
"You've been handing out flyers in a place like this, Ibuki?"
"Go away."
I was looked at by someone who didn't want to be looked at, and she looked away with a disgusted expression on her face.
"I'd heard about you, but I guess that means you're keeping your word."
I had heard that she would dress in a kimono after losing the match with Ryūen, but it suited her better than I expected.
"I guess clothes make the man, huh?"
She stared at me intensely, but I was relieved that she didn't seem to understand much of what I meant.
"It's nothing."
It wasn't easy to get rid of all the flyers when you're handing them out in an unpopular place.
"Maybe you should move to more places. I saw Yamashita and the others handing them out over there."
"You're kidding. Why would I team up with those guys?"
Although I already knew her answer, she immediately rejected me.
"Why don't you take all of this?"
"That's a tall order."
"Fuck, I think I'll just stuff them in a garbage bag and throw them away."
She looked down at the stack of flyers she didn't like and swore. The reason she didn't do so, though, was probably to make sure she avoided punishment in case they lose.
When you win, you force your opponents to do so, but when you lose, you run away. If you continue to do that, you won't be able to compete with Ryūen or any other opponent in the future.
"By the way, what did you confront Ryūen with?"
"I would have preferred a tie-up, but he suggested we play a card game."
"Card game? You mean like poker or something like that?
"Well, it's similar."
The content of the game itself was not important, but the fact that it was a suggestion from Ryūen was what caught my attention. Maybe Ibuki was successfully entrapped. Regardless, at least Ibuki wasn't getting in my way any more.
"I'll spread the word later about what you've been working so hard to promote here."
"Don't spread it. I'll kick your ass."
I quickly dodged a sharp kick as her costume shook.
"Damn it."
"Oh, by the way, the greeting at the café is 'Welcome home, master." Try it out."
"I'll say it if you'll take my kick to your face."
"I think I'll have to pass."
She raised her leg slightly to threaten me, so I shrugged and left.
By the time I returned to the maid cafe, the somewhat relaxed atmosphere that had prevailed earlier in the day was gone, and the largest crowd of the day had begun to form a line.
Horikita joined the lineup, guiding the visitors.
"It looks like you've started handing out the flyers without any problems,"
she said.
"Yes. From this point on, yours and Ryūen's class should start to outpace the others."
"Everything is going according to your plan, isn't it?"
I'm not the one who added the unique color to it, though. Horikata and I nodded to each other and returned to our respective positions.