When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield

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Chapter 29: Himegasaki Festival Showdown – A Date with the Fairy

“This way, Kanbara-kun!”

Right on time, I met up with Kazama.

She was still wearing her maid outfit—by choice, apparently.

She must’ve really liked it.

And honestly? I wasn’t about to complain. Total eye candy.

As for me, I hadn’t changed out of my butler uniform either.

Partly because I was too lazy to change.

But mostly because I figured it’d help us disguise our little date.

Since we’d be walking around the festival together—and she was one of the top Princesses—

We needed to fly under the radar a bit.

Getting swarmed or hit on would just waste time and cause unnecessary chaos.

Wearing these outfits, people would probably just assume we were out promoting our class café.

Win for the class, win for us.

Two birds, one stone.

“Lucky me, huh? I got the best slot. Tomorrow and the day after, all the outsiders flood in.”

“Yeah, last year was brutal.”

“Total nightmare. I wasn’t a Princess back then, so it wasn’t too bad for me, but if I had been? Yikes. Tsuchiya-san was in my class and she had a rough time.”

Kazama had been elected as a Princess during the end-of-term election last year—

Which meant she wasn’t one during the previous festival, and narrowly avoided the madness.

Thinking about it now, that ‘Princess’ title really did carry a ton of weight.

Kazama had been just as cute last year,

But this time? Our class café was packed—all because of that title.

And once the general public rolled in…

Yeah, the crowds were going to be insane.

“Sounds like we might get even more visitors than last year.”

“Ugh, please no. Spare me the nightmare.”

Yeah, with students from other schools and random outsiders flooding in,

Kazama’s exasperated groan was more than justified.

Last year’s chaos had become the stuff of legend.

Come to think of it, I was a nervous wreck back then too.

I hated crowds so much, I pretty much barricaded myself in our classroom.

Which, surprise surprise, meant I came out of it with barely any memories of the festival.

I don’t know the exact numbers,

But one thing’s for sure—this year’s turnout was already looking wild.

Honestly, it made today’s early slot feel like a lucky break.

“No point stressing about tomorrow. Let’s just enjoy today, yeah?”

“Right. So… what’s the plan?”

As per tradition, the entire date itinerary was left up to the girls.

Not because I bailed on the planning—

This was something they insisted on from the beginning.

“I thought of a few ideas, but… why don’t we just wander around until the play starts? It’s only day one, so I don’t really know where everything is yet. And besides, I’m already having fun just walking and chatting with you, Kanbara-kun.”

“Roger that.”

And with that, my festival date with Kazama officially began.

This year, I’d been so tied up with our class café

That I hadn’t had the chance to check out any of the other exhibits.

So yeah, I’d definitely been curious.

Plus, scoping things out now might help me later when I had to navigate this whole thing with the rest of the Princesses.

As we strolled through the halls, chatting and laughing,

Kazama suddenly came to a stop in front of one of the classrooms.

“Let’s check this one out!”

“Oh, a festival booth, huh.”

The classroom had been transformed into one of those classic festival setups.

When it comes to school events like this, you can always count on the usual suspects—

Ring toss, goldfish scooping, target shooting—your standard festive lineup.

“You into this kinda stuff?”

“Sort of.”

“Huh. Didn’t expect that.”

“I used to hate it, actually. But back in middle school, I got invited to a ton of festivals. Guess I got used to it. Part of the price of being popular, you know? Boys would always try to show off and impress me—it was kind of adorable. Too bad I had a natural knack for this stuff, and they all ended up embarrassing themselves.”

Kazama grinned proudly and stepped up to the shooting gallery.

And wow—she was ridiculously good.

Starting with the target shooting, then moving on to yo-yo fishing and ring toss—

She crushed every single game like it was nothing.

Watching her breeze through them all in a maid outfit?

Not gonna lie… kinda cool.

“Come, your turn, Kanbara-kun!”

I got dragged into the fun and gave it a shot myself.

“…Huh. This is harder than it looks.”

Unlike Kazama, I hadn’t touched a festival game since middle school.

Guess that ex-shut-in curse was still clinging to me—

I just couldn’t get the hang of it.

If this were a video game, I’d be dominating.

But real-life festival games? Nope. Not my domain.

“Here, I’ll give you a few tips.”

Kazama kindly tried to teach me her secrets—

But alas, I remained hopeless.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t land a win.

Total flop from start to finish.

Apparently, I just didn’t have the talent for this kind of thing.

While Kazama stood beside me laughing, calling me “so bad at this,”

We hung around and soaked in the festival vibe.

I didn’t win a single prize—

But I still had a blast just being there with her.

“Well then, it’s about time for today’s main course.”

Stepping out of the festival booth, Kazama checked her watch with a playful grin.

“Isn’t it a bit early?”

“It’s the play everyone’s talking about. If we don’t go now, we’ll lose the front row seats.”

I was supposed to go on a date with all four Princesses during the festival—

But today, Day One, had a bit more breathing room in the schedule.

Not because Kazama got special treatment or anything,

But because of Shiranui and Tsuchiya’s play.

“Tomorrow and the day after, it’s gonna be packed. Outsiders will flood in, and the whole place’ll be a madhouse. Today’s definitely the best shot. I’m sure plenty of people are thinking the same and heading there early.”

“Yeah, fair point. If we’re gonna watch, might as well snag the front row.”

“They probably want Kanbara-kun cheering them on from up close too, you know.”

“…”

This play starring two of the school’s Princesses was already the talk of the campus.

Once the general public rolled in tomorrow, the gym might get so packed we wouldn’t even be able to get inside.

Which was exactly why this play had been quietly slotted into my date with Kazama—

Mandatory viewing.

We arrived at the gym.

Wearing our matching maid-and-butler outfits, I figured we’d stick out like sore thumbs…

But turns out, we weren’t the only weirdly dressed ones around.

Guess cosplay was par for the course today.

We actually blended in better than expected.

Since we got there early, grabbing front-row seats was a breeze.

Before long, the gym was packed wall to wall with students.

With two Princesses in the lead roles, the hype was absolutely real.

The play? Romeo and Juliet.

Shiranui played Romeo.

Tsuchiya took on the role of Juliet.

And then—the curtains rose.

To my surprise, it was way more legit than I expected.

Most people probably showed up just to see the Princesses…

But by the time the play hit its stride, the whole gym had gone silent—

Everyone totally absorbed in the performance.

Especially Tsuchiya.

Even for someone like me with zero theater experience, her acting stood out.

She absolutely lit up the stage.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Her performance was incredible, no doubt—

But Shiranui’s Romeo had just as much presence.

Cool, confident, and completely captivating.

I sat there, mouth slightly open, totally entranced…

When suddenly, my eyes locked with Shiranui’s.

Dead on.

Direct eye contact.

And out of nowhere, Kazama clung tightly to my arm.

“K-Kazama!?”

I turned to her in a panic—

Only to see a faint smile tugging at her lips.

But she wasn’t looking at me.

Her gaze was aimed somewhere behind us.

…Wait.

Was that supposed to be a jab at Shiranui?

But her line of sight didn’t match up at all.

Actually, now that I think about it—

I did hear some kind of weird groan from behind us a moment ago.

Still confused, I glanced back toward the stage.

But Shiranui didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.

After that, nothing else happened.

We just sat quietly and enjoyed the rest of the play.

The performance was seriously top-tier,

And before I knew it, the show wrapped up beautifully.

Without thinking, I found myself clapping along with everyone else.

“That was such a great show!”

Kazama looked completely satisfied as she said it.

“They were amazing.”

“Right? Both of them were so good at acting. There’s no way I could ever pull that off.”

I had to agree.

“…Okay, yeah, the play was great. But what was that stunt in the middle? Were you trying to mess things up or something?”

“Mess things up?”

“Shiranui’s gonna be mad, you know.”

Kazama tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.

“I wasn’t trying to mess with Shiranui-san.”

“Huh? You weren’t?”

“The person I was teasing was over there.”

She glanced back over her shoulder—

And I followed her gaze.

Standing there—fidgeting, awkward, and looking way too suspicious—

Were Kanon and Tsukihi.

The second they noticed us staring,

They bolted like they’d just been caught red-handed.

“Maybe they came to spy on us, or maybe they were just curious about the play. Still, peeking at someone’s date like that? Kinda rude, don’t you think?”

“So that’s who you were messing with.”

“They kept staring over here the whole time. Don’t tell me… you seriously didn’t notice?”

“…Not even a little.”

Kazama let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Come on. Even I’m not mean enough to mess up someone’s play on purpose.”

So that weird moment just looked like sabotage by pure coincidence.

Now I felt kinda bad for even suspecting her.

“Sorry for doubting you.”

“No worries. I’m not mad or anything.”

I just hoped Shiranui didn’t take it the wrong way either.

“All right, reset time! Let’s keep this date going.”

With Kazama tugging at my arm, we headed off to explore more of the school festival.

Along the way, we ran into some of Kazama’s friends, who stopped to chat for a bit.

Then there were the guys working food stalls—grinning ear to ear as they slipped her freebies.

At one point, a whole group of dudes who clearly got struck by Cupid’s arrow started gathering around after catching sight of her in that maid outfit.

Being with Kazama kinda felt like I was always caught in the middle of a crowd.

Before, I probably would’ve found this whole scene exhausting.

But now… weirdly enough, it felt kinda nice.

Guess I’d changed a bit.

Eventually, our date started winding down.

“Today was a blast. Thanks, Kanbara-kun.”

“I should be the one thanking you. I had a great time.”

And that wasn’t just lip service.

Spending time with Kazama really was fun.

Probably because she looked like she was genuinely enjoying herself the whole time—

Always smiling, always keeping the conversation going.

It made it easy to relax… to just enjoy everything.

For a moment, I felt like I could actually picture what it’d be like to date her.

“See? Being with you really is nice. The flow of conversation is smooth, your vibe isn’t bad, and best of all—you’re super easy to tease.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment… minus the teasing part.”

“But really, I had so much fun. Even better than last year.”

“Now that you mention it, how was last year for you?”

Kazama tilted her head, thinking it over.

“Hmm… it was fun, I guess. I went around with some friends. Oh, and there was this guy I was ‘working on.’ I kinda dragged him around all day.”

You little heartbreaker.

Good thing she wasn’t a Princess back then.

If she had been, that might’ve turned into a full-blown scandal.

This year, at least I had the butler uniform to help us fly under the radar… probably.

“I mean, I spent the day with that guy. But it felt totally different from now. I wonder why? Maybe it’s ‘cause I didn’t really like him that much. Things ended up feeling kind of dull. Back then… I was just treating it like a game, you know?”

A game, huh.

Not that I had any room to judge.

I’d been “gaming” the Princesses myself this whole time.

Sure, for me, it had been a matter of survival—

But that didn’t mean it felt the same for the girls.

“Anyway, today’s date with you was super satisfying. I kinda feel like teasing you even more from now on.”

“…Please don’t.”

I said that—

But judging by the smug little grin on Kazama’s face,

She had no intention of stopping.

“Well then, shall we head back to the classroom?”

“Yeah. Time to get back to work, I guess.”