Full-Scale Launch.

“Uwaah… I’m really sorry. I caused everyone trouble.”

My stomach had finally settled down, so first things first—I needed to apologize to them all.

There hadn’t actually been any major delay in the schedule, but it was undeniably true that everyone had been waiting for me to recover.

“It’s not your fault, Kazunari. I should have packed a little less.”

“No, if we’re pointing fingers, it’s my failure to properly adjust the pacing for Kazunari-san.”

“Um, look, the real reason is that I overdid it at the end. You two aren’t—”

In truth, if it had just been the two of them eating their bentos, things would have been perfectly manageable. The sole cause boiled down to one reckless decision: my final, all-out rush.

Sara-san and Hanako-san were absolutely not to blame.

“Yes, yes—if we keep going down that road, then we’re the ones who let Takanashi-kun push himself too hard. So let’s just agree that no one is at fault here, okay?”

“Seconded~”

“Yeah… Sorry, Takanashi-kun…”

“Understood. But as his older sister, I bear the greatest responsibility of all.”

“If we’re going there, then surely it’s me, as his fiancée, who—”

“Arrrgh! Stop rehashing it already!!”

““We’re sorry…””

The sight of Sara-san and Hanako-san drooping in unison wasn’t exactly rare.

But this time, no matter what anyone said, I was the one most at fault. The last thing I wanted was to see either of them wearing that kind of expression…

“Come on, if the two of you keep making faces like that, Takanashi-kun is just going to start blaming himself even more, you know?”

“!?”

“Kazunari-san, I’m terribly sorry… How could I have—”

“Sorry, Kazunari. I won’t bring it up again.”

“Yeah. Like Nishikawa-san said—nobody’s to blame. Let’s leave it at that.”

If that would make the two of them feel better, then for now, that was fine.

Sure, part of me still thought “It was my fault…”, but dwelling on assigning blame any longer would benefit absolutely no one.

“Kazunari-san…”

Sara-san gave me a faintly meaningful look, then gently took my right hand in both of hers.

She enveloped it warmly, cradling it with unmistakable tenderness.

…Yeah. She saw right through me after all.

“Hey, hey—we get it, you two are close. Time to get moving. Daichi, what about you?”

“My assignment is in a different area, so I’ll excuse myself here.”

A little… no, quite a lot, actually.

He looked visibly reluctant, but unfortunately there was no legitimate reason for him to stay with us any longer.

Uesaka-san had only ever been a special lunchtime guest. This was still, at its core, work… so it couldn’t be helped.

“Nishikawa-san, it was really fun talking with you after so long. Thank you.”

“No, thank you. I enjoyed it very much.”

I wondered if her gratitude was directed at the way he’d stepped in earlier to keep her from spiraling into a dark mood.

From where I stood, though, the stiff, polite smile she’d worn when we first met inside the tent—the smile reserved for complete strangers—was gone.

I hope that means your favorability went up a little, Uesaka-san.

“This isn’t goodbye forever, right? We might meet up again later, and there’s always tomorrow. Right… Daichi~?”

Natsumi-senpai cut into their conversation with a wicked, teasing grin.

She always got weak when the spotlight was on her own love life, yet she never hesitated to meddle enthusiastically in everyone else’s.

“Yeah. If the chance comes up… and it’s not a bother, I’d love to join you again.”

Uesaka-san answered with perfect composure—almost too much.

He looked like a completely different person from the nervous, fidgety guy we’d first met. And every so often, his gaze drifted toward Nishikawa-san.

“Yes. If our schedules align tomorrow as well, shall we have lunch together again?”

“Thank you. Hearing that makes me happy.”

“Today was so hectic we barely got to talk properly. Next time, I’d really like to hear more about you, Natsumi-san.”

“Haha, yeah. I’d like to talk with Tachibana-kun too. About Natsumi, there’s a lot I could—”

“Aaaah, shut up already!! Just go!!!”

In the end, Natsumi-senpai exploded after being used as the butt of the joke.

When those two ganged up on her, even someone as formidable as Natsumi-senpai was helpless.

Still… personally, I genuinely wanted to get along well with Uesaka-san—in every sense of the word—so I welcomed opportunities like this with open arms.

“Well then, before Natsumi gets any louder, I’m going to slip away. If the timing works out, see you later.”

With those parting words and a wave, Uesaka-san walked off.

I stole a glance at Nishikawa-san to gauge her reaction…

Hmm… she still seems pretty normal. Good.

“Now then, sorry to interrupt before we leave, but—”

“Yes. If Eri takes care of them, I’m sure the children will be delighted.”

“I hope so. Then…”

Of course we hadn’t forgotten what Nishikawa-san was about to do.

It was one of the most important parts of the day’s routine.

And so…

Together with Nishikawa-san’s bright, cheerful smile, we decided to tend to the flower beds with extra care—right up until the very last possible minute.

***

“All right, let’s go!!”

“You’re really pumped, Marina.”

“Ehehe, well, we’re all going around the cultural festival together! I was so excited last night I went to bed a little late.”

“Same here yesterday.”

“Right?! We’re totally in sync!”

“Yeah.”

Hayato and Toudou-san exchanged beaming smiles, their easy back-and-forth so heartwarming it made even me grin involuntarily.

“Natsumi-san, if you’d like to—”

“Nope! Pass!”

“…I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“I already know what you’re gonna say, so I’m refusing! That kind of thing… save it for when we’re alone.”

“Fufu… Understood.”

“Ughhh, that smug look on your face is so annoying!!”

Over there, things were as chaotic as ever.

Honestly, though… Yuuji taking the lead and mounting her like that felt surprisingly new. Considering how things looked back when the four of us went to the pool, I’d only ever pictured him being the one getting dragged around.

Apparently Natsumi-senpai was far more maidenly than expected, and Yuuji was far more of an S…

“Well then, shall we get going?”

“Yes. For now, Sara takes point.”

“No. I’ve already decided I will walk right beside Kazunari-san.”

“Sigh… Of course you have.”

Hey, you don’t have to sound so fed up about it…

Walking beside her, huh.

Now that I thought back, the old Sara-san had always positioned herself just slightly behind me. I’d asked her to come up beside me because it was hard to talk otherwise… but looking back now, what exactly had that been about?

“Then it’s simple. Just put Kazunari in front.”

“Right~ That works perfectly.”

“Leader at the head~”

“Yeah, Takanashi-kun, do your best!”

“Kazunari, we’re counting on you.”

“Takanashi-kun, let’s go all out!”

“Leave it to me, Kazunari.”

Wasn’t making this big a deal over walking order kind of overkill…?

It almost felt like they were piling on unnecessary pressure—or maybe they were just teasing me.

Still, it wasn’t really about “the leader goes first” or anything formal. I just… couldn’t quite put it into words, but being able to laugh together with everyone like this made me genuinely happy.

So…

“All right, Kazunari-san♪ It’s time to get to work~”

“Kazunari, let’s go.”

“Then… everyone, shall we?”

“““Ooooh!!”””

All right… let’s do this with everything we’ve got!

The moment had finally arrived—the time to storm the cultural festival together!

***

“…W-Wait, what the hell is this group!?”

“…The president and vice-president… plus the two angels…?”

“…Yokokawa from tennis, and Yuzuki-senpai…”

“…Who’s that guy? He’s on Sara-senpai’s level…”

“…Uoooooh!! The Three Princesses have arrivedddd!!!”

“…Hello!? Get down to the first floor right now!! Nishikawa-san is here too!!”

Umm… how do I even describe this…

“Uh, umm…”

“This is… a bit much, isn’t it…”

“Hard to stay calm with this kind of attention…”

We’d expected some reaction, of course, but the farther we walked, the louder the commotion grew—no, not “grew,” it was exploding.

Regular visitors who had no idea what was happening just stood there dumbfounded.

“Ah… guess I really am the plain one here.”

“No, I’m basically in the same boat. I’m not even from this school, remember?”

“Oh, right. Still… this is insane. And wait—Marina, people are calling you an ‘angel’?”

“I-I don’t know anything about that…!”

The shy Toudou-san’s face was already beet-red; she shrank slightly behind Hayato’s shadow.

Hayato gazed at her with the most blissfully happy expression I’d ever seen on him.

“Man, it’s been forever since I got mobbed like this.”

“Forever? So this has happened before?”

“Yeah. Back when it was just me, Sara, and Eririn at a festival—it turned into pretty much the exact same chaos.”

I’d heard the story before, but seeing this level of uproar at the school festival made me wonder if the original event had actually been even wilder than he’d described.

“Sigh… This is so noisy. At this rate, I won’t be able to enjoy the festival with Kazunari-san at all.”

“Wife, don’t forget we’re still on the clock.”

“I know. But still. Kazunari-san, which classroom should we start with?”

“We’re supposed to check the empty rooms anyway, so let’s just go through them one by one for now. If anything looks interesting, we’ll stop there.”

“No objections~!”

“We should probably be strict about time management and pick the best ones.”

“Personally, I’d like to stop by and see my old classmates.”

That made sense. Nishikawa-san used to attend this school, so of course she had old friends and former classmates here. We should probably budget a little extra time for those stops.

***

Walking through the halls with Sara-san always drew attention—it was practically routine by now.

I’d grown used to it (even if I didn’t want to be), but today’s situation was on another level entirely.

We were currently on the third floor, home to the third-year classrooms—the students who had been here the longest and therefore “knew” the most.

“…Whoa, holy crap, Nishikawa-san got way more mature-looking…”

“…For real. Rankings just shifted hard.”

“…Standing next to Satsukawa-san is just unfair…”

“…Haa… I never thought I’d see the Three Princesses reunited…”

“…And who the hell are the other guys? Vice-president I get, but…”

Word had clearly spread that Nishikawa-san was back at school for the first time in ages.

The moment we started down the third-floor hallway, guys—er, upperclassmen (almost all male)—came pouring out of classrooms. Plenty were leaning out windows to stare. It looked like something straight out of a low-budget horror movie.

“Sigh… This is going to be more annoying than I anticipated.”

“Yes… considerably more than I imagined.”

Even Sara-san, who normally ignored crowds like they were insects, looked visibly fed up this time.

She surveyed the grotesque scene before her with the same cold, disdainful eyes she usually reserved for trash.

“Why are there so many idiots…?”

Hanako-san muttered under her breath right behind me. I had a feeling her expression matched Sara-san’s perfectly.

“Kazunari-san, let’s finish the inspection-only rooms as quickly as possible. I’m prepared for a certain amount of hassle.”

“Right. Everyone—full speed ahead.”

“““Roger~!”””

After giving the signal, I deliberately adjusted my armband so it was clearly visible—both to emphasize that we were here on student council business and to silently warn people: “Don’t try talking to us unless it’s necessary.”

Whether that message would actually get through was another story.

A quick glance sideways showed Sara-san doing the exact same thing with her own armband. The faint rustling behind me was probably Hanako-san following suit.

Now… let’s see how this goes.

***

“This stuffed animal is adorable.”

“Right? We made them ourselves!”

“Ugh… now I feel kinda bad about shooting at it.”

“Haha, hearing that makes me happy and conflicted at the same time.”

As long as we ignored the crowd, the patrol was proceeding smoothly enough.

Thanks to us over-emphasizing the “student council” part, so far no one had tried any weird pick-up lines. Small mercies.

Right now we’d stopped in one particular classroom.

“Wanna give it a try? We’ll give the student council members the special ‘thanks for your hard work’ discount~”

“Sara-san’s turn is mine to—”

“Wait, it’s my turn right now, isn’t it!?”

“Nishikawa-san, over here, c-come on…”

“““…………”””

“Hey! You guys over there—scram!!”

Sara-san, Nishikawa-san, and Hanako-san unleashed their combined assault.

A freezing “Cold Stare Stream Attack” detonated.

The panicked female students immediately dragged every single idiot back inside.

“S-sorry! Um… please, by all means, go ahead!!”

For some reason she was practically begging now. We exchanged glances.

It seemed over-the-top, but when I followed the quick glance one of the seniors shot toward the hallway… I got it. With this kind of crowd, they were probably desperate for any chance to draw attention and promote their stall.

“I want to try!”

“Sounds fun. Count me in too.”

The moment Natsumi-senpai expressed interest, Nishikawa-san immediately raised her hand to join.

But I knew the truth: Nishikawa-san had wanted to do this from the very beginning. After all, she was the one who’d stopped in front of this classroom first.

“I’ll…”

Sara-san sent me a questioning look—“May I as well?”—and I nodded. We were technically working, but in my mind I already had the perfect justification: “cooperating with crowd attraction.” So it was fine.

“Then I’ll join too.”

“Wah! Satsukawa-san is playing!?”

“Yesss! We’ll take photos and blast the promo right away!!”

“…Oi, the Three Princesses are all doing it!”

“…Hey, move! I can’t see!”

“…Lower your damn heads up front!!”

“…Shut up!!”

The instant it was decided that Sara-san and the others would participate, angry shouts and excited cheers erupted from the hallway. At this rate, ordinary visitors wouldn’t even be able to get close.

But on closer inspection, there were students in other schools’ uniforms mixed in too.

“Okay, the three of you—each take one of the guns on the table.”

“Got it~”

“Yes.”

“Understood.”

And so, what Sara-san and the others were about to challenge was… cork shooting.

The shelves inside the classroom were lined with prizes everyone had apparently brought from home—including the handmade stuffed animals they’d mentioned.

In front of us was a long table holding three cork guns—the classic festival kind.

“Five shots each. Good luck~”

The receptionist(?) senior delivered a line that sounded oddly familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. A small plate of cork bullets was brought over and placed in front of each girl.

…This might actually be kind of legit.

“All right! I’m definitely winning something!”

Natsumi-senpai moved first. With practiced hands she picked up the gun and—yep, she knew exactly what she was doing. One of the key tricks in cork shooting is not to load the bullet first.

You pull the lever before anything else.

“Then I’ll…”

Nishikawa-san seemed to know the rule too and began preparing her gun… only to sadly load the cork right away. Still, little slip-ups like that were part of the fun, so I kept my mouth shut and didn’t ruin it by pointing it out.

As for Sara-san, the most important one…

“Um…”

She was holding the gun, but otherwise doing nothing—just standing there looking a little lost.

Wait… could it be that Sara-san has never played cork shooting before?

“S-Sara-san, if you don’t know how—”

“I’ll teach you—”

“Wait, no, let me—”

“No need.”

The boys who had been hovering on the sidelines, waiting for their chance, leaped forward eagerly… only to be cut down mid-sentence and completely ignored.

Sara-san didn’t even glance at them, her disinterest crystal clear.

“Kazunari-san…”

Ignoring the three frozen figures right in front of her, she turned to me instead. With a slightly troubled expression, she called my name in a small voice.

That face… it’s unfairly cute. You’re playing dirty…

“…Hm? Kazunari-san?”

I thought I heard the receptionist girl mutter something, but right now Sara-san came first.

I moved to her side and took the gun from her hands for a moment.

“It’s not hard. First pull this lever until you hear a click, then load the cork bullet like this…”

I demonstrated slowly while explaining. Casually, I checked the cork bullets too—they looked brand new, no chips or cracks. No problems there.

“Then hold it like this… and aim with one eye.”

“Eh? Is it okay to lean forward that much?”

“It’s fine. As long as your feet stay behind the counter, you’re good.”

“O-Okay! I’ll do my best!”

The troubled look vanished, replaced by a bright, happy smile.

I could have guided her into an even more aggressive stance, but Sara-san was wearing a skirt, after all—and the crowd behind us was almost entirely guys. I had zero intention of giving them even the tiniest glimpse of anything extra.

“…S-Sara-san… just smiled!?”

“…Uooooh, too cute!!”

“…H-Hey, isn’t he way too close to the vice-president!?”

“…W-Wait, those rumors… they’re not real, right?”

“…I heard they work together in student council, so maybe a little more than others…?”

“Okay… pull here, and…”

Sara-san repeated each step out loud as if confirming my instructions. Watching her made my heart race a little—forgive me.

Once the cork was loaded and she started to take aim, she finally noticed the three still frozen on the other side of the counter.

“You’re in the way. Move.”

“““Y-Yes!!!”””

They wilted at her openly annoyed tone and slunk away dejectedly.

Sara-san ignored them completely and steadied the gun. She adjusted her angle this way and that, checking her sightline.

“Sara, Eririn—are you ready?”

“I’m fine.”

“Ready here too.”

The three exchanged quick nods of confirmation. The moment they did, cheers erupted from the hallway crowd.

“Satsukawa-san, do your best!!”

“N-Nishikawa-san, I’m cheering for you!!”

“Goddess—!!”

“Yuzuki-saaan!!”

“Natsumi-chan, fight—!”

I knew they were just cheering. They probably didn’t mean any harm… probably.

But honestly? They were just loud. At this point they were nothing but a nuisance.

And with all that noise, the girls wouldn’t be able to concentrate. So I—

“Excuse me, could you please be quiet—”

“Shut up! Can’t you even watch in silence!?”

Silence.

***

Dead silence.

Sara-san’s razor-sharp words sliced through the hallway crowd in an instant, shutting every single idiot up.

The seniors inside the classroom fell quiet too. An eerie stillness settled over the entire area.

And once again… I’d been completely useless…

“Ufufu, Sara’s really fired up, huh.”

“Of course. Since Kazunari-san took the trouble to teach me, no matter what it is, I will give it everything I have.”

The expression on Sara-san’s face as she held the gun had lost every trace of a smile or ease. She looked exactly like a professional sniper zeroed in on a target—impossible to believe she was an amateur.

But still… so cute!!

“…H-Hey, just now—”

“Shh!”

“…I know, but still, right now—”

“…Be quiet. You’ll mess her up.”

“…Yeah, it’s not like just calling a name is a big—”

“““……………Eh?”””

“All right, one more time from the top… ready, and—!”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

The three nodded and leveled their guns toward their chosen targets.

Sara-san, following my advice exactly, ignored the big prizes. The muzzle she aimed was pointed at a small mascot—a cat.

“Here we go~”

“““Ready—!!”””

Pop!! Pop!!

Compressed air propelled the corks forward in unison.

Unfortunately none of the three managed to hit anything on the first shot—but it was only round one.

Besides… looking at it, the distance from the counter to the prizes here seemed a little longer than usual. It might actually be pretty tough for girls.

“Hmm… maybe aim a bit higher next time.”

“The power felt a little weak… Oh, right, earlier Takanashi-san mentioned—”

“I see. So with that feel, aiming around there… then next time—”

It looked like Sara-san and the others were already calculating corrections based on the first round. They were getting seriously into it.

“Um… Senpai, are they actually getting serious about this?”

“Y-Yeah, looks like it.”

“It’s just cork shooting, right?”

“You can shoot, but you can’t be sho—”

“Stop, Hanako-san. Don’t finish that sentence.”

…For some reason I couldn’t help but butt in.

Never mind my own weird interjection—more importantly, Sara-san and the others…