“All right, let’s decide on our class event. If anyone has any ideas they’d like to try, please raise your hand and speak up.”
Kent stood at the podium to moderate, while Josette prepared to write on the blackboard behind the teacher’s desk. Then, opinions began to trickle in.
“I want to try making and selling handmade trinkets as a group.”
“I want to do a baked sweet potato stand, since it’s popular lately.”
“Singing a song all together.”
“How about a play?”
“What about simple games like ring toss?”
Josette wrote down the suggestions on the blackboard in her neat handwriting.
“If there are no other opinions, I think we should take a vote on these. What do you say?”
As Kent was about to wrap things up, a male student raised his hand.
“Bobby, do you have something to say?”
“Yeah. You see, a few years ago, there was a class that did a haunted house. They say that couples who went in became even closer, and if a boy and girl who weren’t dating yet went in, they’d end up dating afterward. Apparently, doing a haunted house really helps relationships progress. I don’t know what a haunted house is, but I think this is worth doing!”
“OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!”
Everyone was captivated by Bobby’s suggestion.
“Kent, what is a haunted house?”
“If it’s what I’m thinking of, it’s something where you create a spooky experience using sound, lights, and special effects to scare the customers, making it seem like ghosts and spirits are present. There’s also the kind where people dress up as ghosts or spirits to scare people. Some involve riding in vehicles, but for a school festival, it would probably involve setting up such effects in a classroom and having customers walk through.”
Josette quietly asked Kent. Kent explained what he knew about haunted houses.
“Why would such a frightening thing lead to the progression of relationships between a man and a woman…”
“Isn’t it the ‘suspension bridge effect’?”
“What is the suspension bridge effect?”
“I believe it’s an effect where people who meet while feeling anxiety or fear are more likely to develop romantic feelings. In this case, the anxiety and fear would be from the terror of the unknown, like ghosts and spirits.”
“Hearing that explanation, I sort of understand.”
After hearing Kent’s explanation, Josette said as if convinced.
“As expected of Kent. You know so much. I was worried about what we’d do if nobody knew, but it’s a relief to have someone knowledgeable here.”
Everyone in the class, including Bobby, listened intently to Kent and Josette. They all nodded in understanding of Kent’s explanation.
“Then, we’ll take a vote.”
It seemed like everyone had their own aspirations, and after hearing Bobby’s idea, almost everyone became motivated, so no other opinions were offered. Kent decided to hold a vote to decide on the class event.
“By majority vote, it’s decided! We will have a haunted house!”
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
The haunted house received about 90% of the votes and was decided by majority. Everyone applauded.
(They all think our relationships will progress, but we’ll be the ones doing the scaring, so we won’t get to enjoy that benefit…)
Kent thought to himself, feeling relieved that their class event had been decided. Afterward, they decided on roles and assigned responsibilities.
“Once we report what was decided today at the next meeting, the class event will be settled. After each class’s report is finished and approved, they’ll discuss what the school as a whole will do.”
After homeroom ended, Josette approached Kent to summarize the day’s events.
“I pretty much decided on the role assignments myself. I hope that’s okay.”
“That can’t be helped. Since no one knew what a haunted house was, it had to be left to you, Kent.”
Regarding the role assignments, since no one knew what kind of event a haunted house was, it was decided to leave the details to Kent, who knew them, resulting in him unilaterally deciding on the roles. Then, Kent and Josette compiled the points to report at the next meeting before disbanding for the day.
“Well, I have to help out at the shop, so I’ll be going now.”
“Thank you for everything, Josette. Good luck with your work.”
“Thank you. You too, Kent. Oh, and don’t forget about the day after tomorrow!”
“I know.”
“Then, farewell.”
“See you!”
After bidding farewell to Josette, Kent headed toward Marie’s Bakery, his part-time job.
“Hmm? There are quite a few people gathered.”
When Kent arrived in front of Marie’s Bakery, he saw people conducting surveys on the vacant lot next door.
“Hello. What are you doing here?”
“Hmm? We’re surveying the land to build a structure here.”
“What kind of building will be built?”
“I don’t really know. We just received instructions from the client and weren’t given any details. Sorry.”
“I see. Thank you for your time.”
Kent said to the surveyors and entered the store.
“Kent, welcome back.”
“I’m home, Catherine.”
As soon as he entered, Catherine, who noticed him first, called out to him. There were quite a few customers, and the others were busy working, unable to greet Kent.
“Looks busy. I’ll help out right away.”
“Thank you. Then, could you collect the empty trays of bread?”
“You got it.”
As Catherine instructed, Kent began collecting the empty trays from the shelves that no longer held any bread.
“I’ll take these down. I’ll bring replenishments from the back right away.”
“Please do.”
Kent took the collected trays to the bread workshop in the back.
“Marie, I’m putting the collected trays here.”
“Ah, Kent, welcome back. Thank you for your help right away. We have some freshly baked bread here, so please take care of it.”
“Sure thing.”
Kent took the trays of freshly baked bread from the workshop and made several trips to arrange them on the shelves.
“Speaking of which, I don’t see Rachel or Caro and her companions.”
Normally, even with this many customers, the shop could be managed without such frantic movement, but the shortage of staff seemed to be increasing the workload. Kent asked Marie when he returned to the workshop.
“Well, the second store seems to be quite busy, so not only the store manager Rachel, but also Caro, Patty, and Elnet are helping out there.”
“What? Elnet too?”
“Yes, originally Elnet went to help first because it was a slow time when problems tended to arise, and then Rachel and the others went over.”
“I see.”
At this hour, Elnet should have finished work to practice swordsmanship, but it must be so busy that she had to go help out. Looking around the store again as Marie had told him, Kent saw Marie making bread in the workshop, Catherine and Al at the bread counter, and Emily and the younger siblings of Patty, Bry and Antoni, and Till in the dining space. He couldn’t see Hanako or Clara.
“Hanako isn’t here.”
“…Now that you mention it, you’re right. I hadn’t even noticed until you said something.”
Marie said with a puzzled look, wondering why she hadn’t thought of Hanako until she was prompted.
“Is Clara busy with her main job?”
“I haven’t seen her today, so that might be the case.”
“You mentioned before that there was a vacant lot next to this shop, didn’t you?”
“Yes, there is. I heard someone bought it a few days ago.”
Kent recalled the adjacent land and asked Marie.
“I saw surveyors when I arrived earlier, so it looks like some kind of building is going up.”
“Is that so? Given the location, I’d assume it’s a shop or a house…”
This area is a little outside the city center, with houses and shops scattered around, and some plots of land are still vacant. It’s an area with room for further development, so it wouldn’t be strange for a new building to go up, but something was bothering Kent.
Kent and Marie expected the day to end at closing time, despite the busyness, with a bit of small talk. However, an incident that would prevent this was about to occur.
