After pushing the reluctant Chabashira-sensei into the locker room, I pasted the text I had prepared on my cell phone and sent it to all my classmates at once as a bulk message.
The purpose was to inform the students that Chabashira-sensei will be working as a maid for the last hour only, and to inform the students who were available that they were to go around the school advertising the event.
As intended, the buzz spreaded swiftly through word of mouth. Using teachers, this was a limited, oversized event that students would never be able to pull off. The air in the hallway was buzzing so much that it instantly turned into an uproar.
Chabashira-sensei, dressed as a maid, rushed into the hallway with a red face. "Okay, here I am Ayanokōji, hurry up and let me inside the classroom!"
"We've been waiting for you."
I can't keep showing her off for free, so I led her inside the classroom.
"So, what am I supposed to do here?"
"You don't have to do anything. Just stand still."
"What?"
"I told you, I don't want you to be dexterous. I'm looking forward to working
with you."
Thus, I threw Chabashira-sensei into the classroom and left her to do nothing but stand.
She didn't talk to anyone, but simply stood shyly in the corner of the classroom. Being clumsy, she wasn't able to do anything in particular and needed to stand without talking to anyone.
This was the ultimate eroticism.
We were going to have to make a major shift in our maid cafe policy from here on out. The biggest concern was the large number of visitors who couldn't fit in the classrooms. In order to forcefully solve this physical problem, we had to make the customers pay a reasonable price. The idea was to have a "standing room only" fee to accommodate over-capacity customers. We added a rule that allowed immediate entry upon payment of 1,000 points to enter the classroom.
The first guests waiting in line would be offered entry, and only those who responded that they would be willing to stand in line would be allowed to enter the room first. Some of the visitors waiting in line at this point may complain, but we were willing to take that risk.
"Standing room only, I've never heard of that idea in a maid cafe."
A standing room should be set up on the side of the room where desks couldn't be set up and in the space at the rear of the classroom. This would allow people to enter the room without desks and chairs.
And 2,000 points for a photo shoot with Chabashira-sensei.
This will be sold for more than double the price of a photo of one student.
We hurriedly filled in the guests with the board at the entrance.
"Amazing. Would a customer pay that price?"
"Look behind you."
Kushida, who had been staring at the board, looked back and saw the customers who had paid their bill and accepted the standing room disappear one by one into the classroom.
The current faculty and staff were intrigued by the sight, which they would not see again.
Although homeroom teachers of the same grade were restricted from spending their private points, the number of teachers who were still at the school and in charge of classes other than the second year was, of course, overwhelmingly large.
The adults who worked at Keyaki Mall had a strong image of the Chabashira-sensei as a hard-nosed teacher, as they witnessed repeatedly in their daily lives.
Adults came in like a wave.
Some of the adults from the outside may not understand the significance of this phenomenon. But when it comes to the amount that thought, "it's worth a look," that would be different.
They were tempted by the limited number of people who were willing to take a look, even if they didn't understand what the others were talking about.
The maid café queue was overflowing with more than 10 or 20 people in line. The long line was not decreasing, but rather gaining momentum.
"Wow, that's a lot of people, Ayanokōji-kun." A stunned Kushida pulled back at the hordes of adults pouring in.
"Yeah, I guess so. To be honest, I didn't think it would be this big either."
"How long have you been thinking about this crazy thing?"
"About two weeks ago. I had it in mind as a hidden gem for the festival."
"What would have happened if we had started earlier...?"
"Certainly the lasting effect could have been two or three hours. But another problem arises. Because if you have more time to spare, other classes can do similar imitations."
"Oh, I see. They have less than an hour left, so even if they wanted to imitate us, they couldn't."
If you put on a show using faculty members from both this class and anothert class, the effect would be diminished.
"If we're going to put on a show, we only have this last hour where we can also put on a premiere."
The fact that Kushida and the others had spread the word about the maid cafe in a positive light also helped.
"I see. No wonder I couldn't win."
"Hmm?"
"I realized once again how great Ayanokōji-kun is. He's a nuisance to have as an enemy."
"Your eyes aren't smiling, Kushida."
"I guess it's because I was half glad we were classmates and half pissed off."
She said half and half, but I thought the latter was a higher percentage.
"Don't push me! Get in line here! Please don't push!"
Sudō and his team rushed to create a wall of people and tried to get them to form a line, but it was becoming a crowd as some adults sought to somehow look into the classroom.
But this was business too. The inside was thoroughly concealed and the windows were locked, so the only way to forcefully see inside was to break a windowpane.
Of course, no adult would do such a thing, so we forced them to form a line.
While this was going on, there was no end to the number of people who wanted to take pictures of Chabashira-sensei. Both the 'standing-room-only'
customers, who had entered the store, and those who had already been in the store raised their hands one after the other and asked to be photographed.
"She might be the top individual sales person in the final hour. She hasn't even done anything."
"I can't let any more people in! The second slot is filled up!"
Mii-chan's voice echoed like a scream, and we were informed that the spaces had been filled.
"That's it, huh? It's a shame that the number of customers hasn't decreased at all yet, and there's no sign of them leaving."
Kushida said, wondering if she should be satisfied with the 'standing-room-only' crowd they were able to bring in.
"Not yet. The customers who are left now are in line because they have money. I'm not going to let them leave."
"Maybe we need to carry the tables out or something? But I can't bring the tables with all the dishes and stuff. It would take a lot of work to carry them out."
It was obvious that there was no longer any space in the classroom for guests.
"We can use this location to make the most out of the third slot."
"A third space?"
I turned to all the customers in line and said.
"I'm sorry, but the restaurant is full and no more rooms are available."
After announcing this to them, I got a series of looks from disgruntled adults.
"However, those of you who have at least one point on hand at this time may view the room from this location by paying the full amount of your point balance."
This location was the hallway where the lines were formed for the maid cafe. By opening the door, the obstruction was removed, and by opening the window, the classroom was pseudo-extended.
"Woah, you're using the hallway?!"
"Yes."
"But the full amount could be small, sure, but it might still be hundreds of points... you mean whoever has money and will pay it?"
It seemed that she couldn't believe that there were many guests who would pay the full amount for her, despite how much Chabashira-sensei was in demand.
"No problem. I don't know if it's worth paying a lot of money, but there isn't
much time left. Even if there were nearly 1,000 points left over, there would be a big question as to where and how they could be used."
"Oh, I see... I thought you were going to return the remaining points after the festival is over."
"They've been notified to use them up as much as possible. They'd rather spend all their points than to lose them here. It's not an exaggeration to say that 1
point or 10,000 points are worth the same to the adults who are given them."
In fact, the more points they had, the more they'd think that they had to spend them here. Furthermore, many of the adults who have had to wait this long still remain.
"Please wait there while we go to the checkout in order."
I gave the order and sent a few people to collect the sales. Then I lined up the adults in the hallway and directed them to a position where they could all see into the classroom.
"Now all we need to do is open the curtains that we have been using to hide the classroom."
Doing so completed the third space. The curtains opened all at once and Chabashira-sensei was surprised to see them.
For Chabashira-sensei, it was a kind of public execution, but since we paid the school for it, there was no need to feel bad.
"Oh, oh, I see..."
A teacher who had just previously gossiped about Chabashira-sensei's transformation sounded impressed.
The sight of a familiar, single, and never-before-seen dress on a colleague must have been a powerful stimulant. Thus, the public presentation of Chabashira-sensei continued until 4:00 p.m., using this corridor.
In the end, Chabashira-sensei took first place, surpassing Kushida, with 63 desired pictures.