Chapter 55: The Cultural Festival’s Routine Program
Aiko would be coming to Hoshikage High School today.
First of all, because she was once a student here.
Invited by the school to come back and see her alma mater.
Then, the principal hoped she would agree to let Haruka Mana participate in the upcoming cultural festival program.
According to the tradition of Hoshikage High School’s annual cultural festival, a stage play performance would be organized involving students from all grades and classes.
This year, there was a superstar among the freshmen like Haruka Mana.
Thus, they hoped she could participate and boost the school’s reputation through the cultural festival.
If the request were made through Mana’s management company, it would likely be met with opposition. Therefore, the school could only privately ask Aiko, who was an alumna.
“Sure, no problem,” Mana replied cheerfully upon hearing the news from her mother.
After all, the stage play at the cultural festival wasn’t too serious a program.
It was more of an opportunity for students to mess around with each other or showcase themselves.
So Mana didn’t take it seriously at first.
……
……
The next day.
The atmosphere in the classroom was uneasy.
Until Nagi entered the classroom and greeted everyone with a sunny smile, lifting the gloom from her classmates’ faces.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
Noticing that the class atmosphere was off, Kanade quietly approached Rin.
Currently, Rin was well-connected across all classes and was practically an all-knowing figure.
“Ah, well…”
Rin shrugged nonchalantly in response to Kanade’s question.
“To put it simply, everyone wants to participate in this cultural festival stage play~”
“What?”
Kanade was very confused by this answer.
If it were “not wanting to participate at all,” that would be understandable.
After all, these school programs often require training and rehearsals, which can be quite a hassle. It would be more fun to hang out with friends at the various class-themed shops during the festival.
“Hmph, they’re just blinded by the allure of a woman~”
Rin explained:
“I heard that this time the school specially invited popular actress ‘Yano Ryouko’ to join the stage play.”
“Who, who?”
“Are you really a person of this era? Even someone like me, who doesn’t watch many movies, knows her~”
When Rin mentioned movies, her body involuntarily shivered slightly.
Kanade could tell it was a side effect of witnessing the spirit of Nagi.
“——The queen favored by luck.”
That’s the nickname of the popular actress Yano Ryouko.
Since her debut, she had been smooth sailing.
Her looks and acting skills go without saying, but it is said her luck is astonishingly high.
She consistently wins on variety shows through good fortune and always gets the grand prize in lucky draw segments.
There are even tales of her helping fans in mobile game draws, where a ten consecutive draw led to instant success.
Gradually, in the eyes of ordinary people, she became an embodiment of luck, with the idea spreading that anyone who became her fan would be blessed with good fortune~
She gained widespread fame nationwide.
“Everyone in our class is a fan of that actress, and this class representative position might just be a great opportunity to get close to her.”
“That’s why everyone has become like this?” Kanade finally understood.
Since only one representative can be selected from each class to participate in the cultural festival stage performance, it meant that every student besides herself was a competitor.
“By the way, Rin, are you planning to participate too?”
“No, I’m not interested at all~”
Rin answered immediately, showing no interest in women.
“But everyone actually knows they have no chance, right?” Rin added:
“Let’s not even mention Haruka-san, who was specially invited to participate, or Alice, who isn’t really interested in this kind of program.”
“With her looks and talent, the outgoing, cheerful, and adorable Nagi is definitely going to be chosen by the teachers as the representative, right?”
So when Nagi entered the classroom just now, the tense atmosphere among her classmates was eased.
Rin’s words reminded Kanade.
Though Nagi no longer fears the camera and stage as she did in the past, if she were to stand on stage again and awaken that psychological trauma—
“Rin, I need you to help me with something…”
“Huh? That’s rare? What is it?”
“Can you help me become the representative for Class 1-A to participate in the cultural festival program?”
“Ah? Do you mean—”
Rin was taken aback, looking Kanade up and down.
“—You fell head over heels for Yano Ryouko at first sight?”
“How can a person fall in love at first sight with someone they’ve never met!?”
“I see, Kanade, you like older girls, huh? No wonder you haven’t approached Nagi…”
“That has nothing to do with it!?”
“Isn’t it about age? Then is it about gender!?”
“…..”
“Why are you suddenly creating distance? Come on, that’s obviously a joke!?”
…..
…..
During the morning class meeting.
Everything turned out exactly as Rin had expected.
The teacher, with a look of annoyance, stated plainly that he wanted to choose the most outstanding student in terms of appearance—Nagi—as the class representative.
“Huh? Huh—!? Me?”
Nagi pretended to be flustered.
After all, she had a persona of being afraid of the stage.
Naturally, she couldn’t miss the opportunity of the event to solidify her weak image in Kanade’s mind.
At the same time, she wanted to give Kanade the chance to be the hero who rescues her childhood friend.
“U-um! Teacher!”
Sure enough, Kanade’s slightly trembling voice came from behind Nagi’s seat.
This made Nagi secretly smirk.
Nagi then adjusted her facial muscles, showing a mixture of surprise, joy, and a hint of emotion, turning to look at Kanade.
Like a little girl who had just seen her prince charming come to rescue her at a critical moment.
To be honest, Nagi wasn’t interested in this activity.
She had already investigated the script beforehand.
It was a stage play adapted from the fairy tale “Cinderella,” based on “Cinderella.”
Based on her looks, if she were to go on stage, she would not be playing Cinderella, but instead some princess from another country.
The part of her soul that belonged to the male side was very resistant to playing a princess.
Of course, if she were to play a tree or some kind of background prop, Nagi would be very much welcomed.
Another important point was that Alice would likely come to watch.
In that case, she wouldn’t be able to use the power of the Star Eyes, and even maintaining the “acting state” would be difficult.
Then, she’d have to avoid raising suspicions while not violating her persona.
She might even have to stand on stage wearing a gorgeous little dress while playing a princess, all while trying to stay “herself”…
Just thinking about such a possibility made Nagi feel like she was turning into a female knight—
“Ugh, kill me!”
So, Kanade, thank you; I’ll leave this to you~
Nagi gently stroked the star bracelet on her left hand, silently cheering for Kanade in her heart.
“Tsukimi-san, you want to be… the representative?”
The homeroom teacher adjusted his glasses, sporting a “this is going to be a problem” expression.
It seemed he had received instructions from the higher-ups to make Nagi, this pure and lovely beauty, the school’s poster girl.
Meanwhile, the other students in the class were a bit confused, fearing they might inadvertently become a part of this childhood friends’ love play and thus hesitated to act.
Just as Rin was about to launch a counterattack.
A sweet and gentle voice came from the front door of the classroom.
“Isn’t this great~”
Everyone turned to see a tall, brown-haired woman walking in gracefully.
“C-Could it be—”
Some of the students in the class recognized the identity of this unexpected guest from her beautiful face.
Some girls couldn’t help but let out a scream.
The newcomer was Yano Ryouko.
“Sorry~ The principal invited me to tour the campus and I happened to overhear your conversation, which I accidentally—”
Ryouko casually pushed her hair behind her ear while gently covering her mouth to apologize.
“No, no, Ryouko-san, please don’t mind~” Following behind Ryouko was the vice principal, accompanying her on the tour.
From his tone and demeanor, it was clear he valued this star highly.
“I would love to stand on stage with such a cute child~”
Ryouko displayed a gentle and refined smile, her gaze sweeping over Kanade and finally landing on Mana.
“Isn’t this Mana-chan? What a coincidence~”
“Yes.” Although Mana responded in agreement, her gaze towards Ryouko was icy and filled with hostility.
At the same time, she couldn’t help but steal a worried glance in Nagi’s direction.
“S-Since Ryouko-san has said so… then let’s have Tsukimi-san as the representative.”
In the end, under the pressured gaze of the vice principal, the homeroom teacher finalized the candidate for Class 1-A’s performance in the cultural festival stage play.
Nagi, on the other hand, had been secretly observing Ryouko ever since she entered.
Because she was very curious—
Why was a character that only appeared in the Haruka route of “Hoshiyuki 2” suddenly showing up at this point?
