I Fell in Love with Someone I Shouldn't Have Fallen in Love with

Cultural Festival

As the summer vacation came to an end and the second semester begins, the teachers and my classmates all suddenly shifted their focus towards the upcoming exams.

I think I’m doing well in my studies thanks to Souji-kun.

My homeroom teacher even gave his stamp of approval on my career path form saying,

‘Keep up the good work. You will be fine.’

Souji-kun says he also has no problem with his career path form.

Rather, Souji-kun even said that the homeroom teacher told him,

‘You are more than capable to enter this high school, why don’t you aim a little higher and pick a better high school?’

However, in the end, Souji-kun said that he won’t change his mind about the high school he is aiming for because he doesn’t want to commute by train or bus every day to school.

Lately, I’ve been refraining myself from visiting Souji-kun’s room all night long on weekends.

I still prepare and bring snacks for him, but I make sure to leave his room after talking to him just around 5 minutes.

I don’t want to disturb Souji-kun studying, and I’m anxious about Mama finding out.

Instead, we’ve been exchanging more messages on our phones lately.

Souji-kun also started sending slightly longer text than before.

‘I wonder, will you be involved in club activities in high school? You were in the basketball team at your previous high school, weren’t you?’

‘Yeah. That’s right, but I’m thinking of taking a part time job instead of joining a club activity.’

‘I knew it, I wonder if it’s okay to have a part time job or something like that in public school.’

‘I don’t know the details about it myself, but I think I can do it if I get permission.’

‘But if I don’t join a club activity in high school, will we be able to hang out and take a detour together after school before going back home once in a while?’

‘Yeah, I think I will have more time than I do now. I think we can do it once in a while.’

We often message each other like this.

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In October, we have a cultural festival at our school.

It is the last festival for me as a member of the literature club.

Our club organizes a reading session for the festival.

The reading session is held in the literature club room. Each of the literature club members read poems and short stories of their choice aloud for the audience. I used to think that the literature club was a rather small and modest club compared to other clubs, but on the actual day, we have quite a good turnout. We even have more audience than expected, we have to hurriedly bring extra chairs from the empty classrooms to accommodate everyone.

I decided to recite a collection of poems from a French literature called ‘The Flowers of Evil’

To be honest, I don’t really understand the content of it because it’s quite difficult, but I’m interested by the title and decided to go for it.

In the evening, after the cultural festival ended, I receive a message from Souji-kun.

‘I attended the reading session by the literature club earlier. Ami-san’s ‘The Flowers of Evil’ was very emotional, I was captivated.’

‘Souji-kun came to the reading session!? I was too nervous to look at the audience, so I didn’t notice you.’

‘Yeah, I was sitting at the back.’

‘I see, thank you.’

‘By the way, why did you choose ‘The Flowers of Evil’? Is there something bothering you?’

‘Eh? Why? The reason I chose it was simply because I’m interested in the title. There is no other particular reason for it.’

‘I see. Okay then.’

‘More importantly, I was really happy to hear Souji-kun sing again!’

That’s right, Souji-kun sang a song in front of the whole school again as the student council president.

During the opening ceremony of the cultural festival, after the speeches from the principal and the parent teacher association president, Souji-kun, the student council president, delivered the cultural festival opening declaration with a song. At that time, a second-year student who is also a member of the student council played the piano accompaniment, while Souji-kun sang solo.

‘It’s not like I want to sing in front of the whole school again. I had no choice.’

‘I knew it, did the teachers told you to sing for the opening ceremony?’

‘Apparently, the principal liked my song during the student council elections, so he requested me to sing for the opening ceremony. Well, at least that’s what Takamatsu-sensei told me.’

‘It was the principal’s request!? That’s awesome…’

‘Hah… So, I decided to choose a famous song by Miyuki Nakajima, the same singer from the song I sang during the student council election.’

‘This time it was a song I knew. It’s ‘Ito’, right?’

‘Yeah, that’s right. I discussed my song choice with the student who supported me with the piano beforehand.’

‘Did you also practice for it?’

‘Yeah, we practiced together about three times before performing.’

‘It seems like the student council is quite busy…even though it’s not the student council’s job to perform a song during the opening ceremony.’

To be honest, I was nervous all morning about the reading session, but thanks to Souji-kun’s singing, I got motivated and was able to deliver my poem successfully.

I actually wanted to tell Souji-kun about this, but I didn’t because I think it seem like a heavy thing to say.