Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 131, Section 7: "Can even working professionals trigger cultural festival events?"

"Well then, seniors, I'll take my leave now."

"Oh, be careful on the road, dog food."

"See you."

When it was time to close, Masumi went outside and turned the signboard over; there were still customers inside who hadn't left.

Shiratori was organizing the interview materials from the day, while Mr. Hojo was engaged in a fierce battle with the light novel serialization; both of them looked ashen-faced.

"Gentlemen, this shop is already closed," he said softly as he stepped forward.

"Oh, sorry."

Mr. Hojo closed his laptop and packed his things with a distressed expression.

Before that, Masumi glanced at it and thought it was something like, "No matter how hard I try today, it's too late, so forget it."

The scene on the other side of the White Bird is quite different.

"Wait a moment, I'll be done soon."

Although she talks nonsense, her action is quite amazing. She has already written several pages of content and exhausted herself in the process, nodding frequently and looking sleepy.

Masumi noticed that the ends of her hair were slightly damp and asked, "Did you just wash your hair?"

"No," she replied, forcing herself to stay awake. "I just used the restroom to wash my face and perk myself up, but I accidentally fell asleep in the sink. Oh well, it's okay."

No, it doesn't really matter.

"If someone were to suddenly die in our store, it would cause bad rumors and disrupt our booming business," Masumi thought cruelly from a capitalist's perspective.

—The wind chimes rang.

As soon as Mirai and Chiai entered the store, they were startled by the stiff, mournful atmosphere.

"Uh, what is this?"

"You're back." Masumi turned to the two girls, her lips twitching almost imperceptibly. "Chiai... what's this?"

"Ta-da! Asahina Chia, 2nd year, Class C, Municipal Kita High School, 17 years old."

Qian'ai twirled gracefully under the coffee shop lights, her composed and dignified uniform skirt rippled with a beautiful arc.

"Happy! Lucky! Smile! Yeah!"

She poked her cheeks with her index fingers, flashing a distinct idol smile, which, combined with her bright light blue school uniform jacket, created a very school idol atmosphere.

"Are you planning to repeat a year of high school?"

"No way!"

Qian Ai pouted in dissatisfaction, "I was forced to change into this outfit because I went to Beigao today."

Although she was forced to do it, judging from her radiant expression, she clearly enjoyed it.

“However…” Qian’ai’s smile was filled with curiosity, “Even though it’s been almost two years since I graduated, this uniform hasn’t shrunk at all.”

"This means I'm in great shape, right? Hehehehe."

According to big data surveys, female high school students grow an average of only about 1 centimeter in height, and in most cases, students will buy uniforms that fit their size.

Therefore, the only thing you need to pay attention to is your weight.

Putting those aside for now, Masumi raised another question: "So why did you sneak back into your alma mater so many years after graduation?"

"You didn't know, Masumi-nii?" Chiai blinked. "The cultural festival at Kita High School is the day after tomorrow!"

"I heard Jiu Yuan mention it a couple of days ago. I thought it would be a while before it started. I didn't expect the cultural festival at Beigao to start so early."

“Not only the cultural festival, but also the school trip in the third year is very early.” Rinne quietly walked over and said, “It’s around June every year.”

“I see.” Masumi nodded.

“On the second day of the cultural festival, my friends from the light music club and I were going to perform at the gymnasium. When Chiai found out, she volunteered to make our performance costumes,” Mirai explained.

"Oh right, since the third-year seniors have retired, Toyama-senpai and the others will also be coming to fill the gap in the musicians."

"Toyama and the others are from another school, right? Is that okay?"

"Yes, the application has been approved."

I didn't expect that a high school like Taipei High School, which is good for college entrance exams, would be so open-minded about its cultural festival. Masumi vaguely remembered that Shinjiro once said something like, "The only thing we don't do half-heartedly is the annual cultural festival." We always need to leave students some space to relax and release stress.

"Also, the day of the cultural festival happens to be the store's day off, so if possible, we hope everyone can come and have some fun."

As she spoke, she took out printed, hand-drawn admission tickets from her bag and distributed them to several people.

Kurokawa Mio took the ticket and stared at the cute hand-drawn ghost on it. "Is the future class going to run a haunted house?"

"Hmm, are you interested, Mio-neechan?"

"Interested." She nodded, her eyes sparkling. "Is this haunted house for two people?"

"Because the classroom isn't very big, but since everyone here is a girl, a few more people shouldn't be a problem..."

"It's okay, two people are the best!"

Kurokawa Mio stared intently at Masumi with almost no attempt to conceal it, her gaze as intense as a spider's predatory intent, sending chills down Masumi's spine.

Masumi pretended not to care about the burning gaze and asked Mirai in a calm tone, "Is it okay to give away so many free tickets like this?"

"It's alright." Future waved his hand. "In fact, if everyone can go, the number of attendees will increase, which will be a great help to us."

Chia Ai also explained from the side: "All the expenses of the Taipei High School Cultural Festival are borne by the students. The school will not contribute a single penny. Not only that, 50% of the profits must be paid as taxes, so no one cares about profits and only cares about popularity."

Or rather, it's because there's simply no way to talk about making a profit.

"I see."

"Cultural Festival..."

Haiyue stared intently at the ticket she was clutching tightly in her hand.

"Never been there...I want to go..."

"Huh? Haiyue has never participated in a school festival?" Qianai's face was full of surprise: "How could that be? Every high school has one, right?"

"No... my school only has... computers..."

"Computers?" Qian Ai squinted and pondered for a moment, then suddenly tapped her fist. "Oh, it's a correspondence high school, right?"

(Note: High schools using the telecommunications system and colleges that conduct online teaching generally adopt a credit system. Students obtain graduation qualifications by submitting reports, participating in face-to-face and special activities, and taking credit recognition exams.)
"It seems like...that's how it is..."

"That's a real shame. I went to the Kita High Festival with my friends last year. It was so much fun. We even watched a movie made by a club called SOS Brigade in the audiovisual classroom."

"I've seen the movie..."

"It's not just a movie, there are many other interesting things too, but it's okay, let's just treat this as Little Moon's precious first experience." She smiled and took the jellyfish girl's hand.

Haiyue nodded weakly, "I understand... It's my first time... I'll do my best..."

Masumi listened silently to their conversation, feeling that her mind must have been corrupted by Seno. Thank goodness he wasn't there, otherwise…

"What first experience? What are you guys talking about? Why didn't you include me?!"

Accompanied by the creaking sound of slippers on the wooden stairs, Ms. Mami appeared in front of the group in a flurry of activity.

Because she was on the first floor, she made sure to dress more discreetly, not in the unguarded outfit she had worn that morning. Her skin from her shoulders to her lower abdomen was covered by a short-sleeved T-shirt, and she wore sweatpants over her legs.

"This is for Asami-nee."

In the future, I will give the last admission ticket to Asami.

"A cultural festival? Huh~ I didn't expect that even a working adult could trigger a cultural festival event."

"What happened at the cultural festival?" Chiai complained, "Asami-nee is talking nonsense again."

"Oh, that's it. It was proposed by people who are successful in real life. It exists for the sake of successful people and is a celebration for those who are successful in real life." Mami said seriously.

The others could only nod.

"So, Mami-nee is planning to go?" Mirai asked softly.

"Of course, I have to go and support Chihiro's live performance, and it's also a chance to recharge my youthful energy after a long time."

"I see. I'm certainly happy that Asami-nee is willing to come, but... is the manuscript okay? What if this delays Asami-nee's progress...?"

"No problem, no problem, there's plenty of time."

As she said this, her face held an expression that was anything but reassuring.

(End of this chapter)