Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 55:22. "Cultural Festival"

"Hey, boys, move these boxes."

"We're still short on props, so please ask all the girls to take the materials home today and make sure they're finished before Friday."

"it is good!"

The school building, which is usually quiet after school, is now as lively as during the daytime recess. In contrast, the playground, which is always bustling with sports clubs, is now as calm as the Seto Inland Sea.

Only the wind band club preparing for the Kansai Competition was still practicing tirelessly, emitting discordant sounds of brass instruments from every corner of the campus.

The annual Dongzhong Cultural Festival will be held this weekend.

The atmosphere in the school is therefore particularly impetuous.

In front of the entrance to the 3rd Grade, Class 5 classroom stood a thin cardboard sign with a picture of a cute waitress and the words "Café."

"Operate the coffee machine like this... and then like this... and you have a cup of coffee."

"Wow~ As expected of Miyazawa-san, you're like a professional barista."

The female classmates surrounding Miyazawa Masumi gave unanimous praise and compliments.

"That's not true. My skills are far from perfect." Masumi's face remained calm.

"Miyazawa-san's family owns a coffee shop, right?"

"Ah."

"So do you plan to inherit the family store in the future?" a classmate asked.

Masumi nodded: "After all, there's nothing I want to do, and my father also wants me to inherit the family business."

"Hey, you're already planning what you want to do in the future even though you're still in junior high school." A petite girl murmured, "That's amazing! I'm still completely confused about the future."

"Xiao Kui is really amazing, even though she's only in middle school and she's already thinking about her future."

The tall girl who seemed to be on good terms with her hugged her from behind, and her plump outline, visible even through her uniform, pressed heavily on Aoi's delicate shoulders.

"As for the future, it's not too late to think about it slowly after you enter high school." The tall girl said lazily.

"That's not what Haomei said. Three years of high school went by in a flash."

The petite girl named Aoi puffed up her cheeks like a pufferfish, turned around and pushed Hao Mei who was lying on top of her: "Wow! It's so heavy, move away——"

"Oh, no, I'm graduating next year, and I want to cherish the time I spend with Xiaokui."

"You don't have to stick your whole body to me, uh..."

As Haomei's tall and voluptuous body pressed against her, Aoi couldn't help but let out a strange cry like a frog being crushed.

"Hey, you two 'couples', stop showing off. There are so many people here, at least restrain yourself a little."

The students who were nearby pretended to be annoyed.

The classroom was immediately filled with the sound of laughter from the crowd.

As one of the targets of the teasing, Aoi's face suddenly turned as pale as a cooked octopus.

Hao Mei, however, hugged Aoi tightly with a normal expression, like a clingy puppy: "I want to be inseparable from Aoi for the rest of my life, even after graduation."

"Don't hold me so tight, I can't breathe!"

It was unclear whether Aoi's face was flushed with embarrassment, or red, or both.

Amidst the cheerful laughter and conversation, someone sighed quietly and said in a lonely tone, "It's time to graduate."

The originally lively atmosphere was like being poured with a basin of cold water, and it quickly cooled down.

The young boys and girls with fresh faces and tender eyebrows had expressions that embodied the feeling of parting on their faces.

Because I am reluctant to part with the memories of my three years of junior high school, I naturally exude a similar temperament.

Masumi didn't actually have any deep feelings, but she still lowered her eyebrows and eyes like everyone else. In order not to ruin the atmosphere, this expression was perfect.

He is never shaken by separation.

Perhaps it was from the moment he witnessed his mother's death in the third grade of elementary school that Masumi told himself in his heart: "When the farewell is over, forget that farewell."

There are 3 boys and girls in Class 5, Grade 30 of Dongzhong. How many of them will we meet again after graduation?

Go to a new high school, make new friends, integrate into a new circle... The more you adapt to the new environment, the less you will look back on the past.

It is meaningless to worry about the fragile connections between people. It is enough to just give your all to what is happening at hand.

"Which high school does Masumi want to go to?" a boy asked him. "North High School?"

"probably."

"After all, Masumi's academic performance is very good."

"And then apply to the University of Tokyo?"

"You can't take the exam whenever you want." Masumi shook his head and smiled bitterly.

His grades were good, but they were limited to this public middle school with average deviation values.

What's more, he currently does not have a strong desire to continue his studies.

If it weren't for some special yearning, the desire to become something special, Masumi would have been content with his current life.

He glanced at the crowd, who were feeling a little down, cleared his throat and said:

"On the day of the cultural festival, I will bring some more high-quality coffee beans."

The boys and girls' attention was slowly directed back to the preparations for the cultural festival.

"That's really helpful, Miyazawa-san!"

"Thanks to Miyazawa-san, we were able to successfully open the coffee shop."

"It's okay. My father heard that our class is going to open a coffee shop this year and he's very supportive." Masumi smiled wryly. "If conditions permit, he even wants to get involved himself."

A female classmate covered her mouth and chuckled: "Uncle is such an interesting person."

"This is the last cultural festival of junior high school, so we must do our best!"

To strengthen her resolve, the class monitor clenched her fist towards the ceiling.

"Class 5, come on!"

“Come on!”
Vigorous shouts echoed.

Amidst the orderly and loud voices, Masumi looked around the carefully decorated classroom and could deeply feel the high-energy spirit of the final year class.

◇

When I walked out of the station, it was already completely dark.

Neon lights shine brightly over the city of Kobe.

When Hakodate, Hokkaido, is illuminated, it's hailed as one of the world's three greatest night views, worth a million dollars. And the people of Kansai, unyielding, boast that the view from Mount Maya's Kikuseidai (Kukusei Terrace) offers a view of Kobe's nightscape, worth tens of millions of dollars.

If calculated based on the electricity prices at the time and the yen-dollar exchange rate, these tens of millions of dollars were indeed a real amount and not an exaggeration.

But... can it really be calculated like this?
Then the night views of big cities like New York, London, Tokyo and Singapore would be worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

With boring thoughts in mind, Masumi dragged his feet listlessly and pushed the door open to walk into his own coffee shop.

At 7:10, the shop had already closed, and his father, Ken Miyazawa, was wiping glasses at the bar.

"I am back."

Without even looking up, my father asked calmly, "Have you eaten?"

"Well, I solved it with my classmates at school."

"so."

The bland conversation between father and son ended abruptly in just a few lines.

Masumi returned to his room, closed the door, threw his schoolbag on the floor, and fell exhaustedly on the bed without changing his uniform.

Although I don’t have to go to class, the various preparations for the cultural festival are still quite tiring.

When I closed my eyes and was about to fall asleep, the phone next to my pillow rang.

Masumi picked up the phone. It was her elementary school classmate Asakura Mamoru calling. She heard a filthy male voice over the phone.

"Hey, Masumi, it's been a while since we last chatted. Did you miss me?"

"Don't use such disgusting words."

"I finally managed to connect with you, and this is how you treat me?"

"It's so noisy over there, what are you doing?"

"I'm still in the music classroom. I've been preparing for the Kansai Tournament lately, so I don't finish until nine every day."

"That's really hard work." Masumi said casually.

Asakura Mamoru was a male classmate of Masumi's who was a good friend in elementary school.

He was not the kind of person who would take the initiative to contact others after graduation, so his relationship with his elementary school classmates had become as distant as strangers, with the exception of Mamoru Asakura, who kept in touch with him from time to time.

After graduating from elementary school, Asakura Mamoru went to a well-known wind music school and joined the school's wind music club as a saxophone player as he wished.

"I must join a club with a lot of girls."

That's what he said to himself at that time.

"Now your wish has come true?"

"Not at all." Asakura Mamoru's distressed voice came from the phone: "The ratio of men to women in the department is as disproportionate as one to nine. Let alone a harem, not even one has confessed to me."

"You're actually still thinking about starting a harem? That's so superficial."

Even though he couldn't see it on the other end of the line, Masumi shook his head.

"Alas, it seems like the boys in the wind band club aren't treated as men at all."

Asakura Mamoru sighed, "On the contrary, the atmosphere among the girls is quite ambiguous. There is a senior who plays the trombone in our club. She is a super beauty and is admired and loved by many girls in the club."

"You didn't try to confess?"

"I wouldn't dare. A guy who interferes with lesbian relationships deserves death. I'll definitely be thrown out of the window by the angry girls."

Masumi smiled softly when he heard this, as if he could imagine Asakura Mamoru's frightened look from his tone.

"By the way, the East Middle School wind band club has also qualified for the Kansai competition, right?"

"Well, I see they practice every day."

"Will you come to the game?"

"Of course, after all, the girls in our school's wind band club are quite cute."

"You didn't come to see me! You're a man who values ​​women over friends!"

On the other end of the phone, Asakura Mamoru chattered on for a long time, then sighed tiredly, "Break time is over. I have to go practice."

"Well, come on."

"Of course I am really looking forward to the competition!"

"Not nervous?"

“Of course I’m nervous, but I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

After saying this hurriedly, Asakura Mamoru hung up the phone.

However, the last words that came out of his mouth pressed against Masumi's eardrums, making a piercing noise.

He put down his phone and stared at the ceiling in a daze.

look forward to……

It's amazing how Asakura Mamoru can speak so freely about things he hopes for and insists on.

For some reason, Masumi actually felt a little envious of this situation.

He turned over and faced the wall. His uniform jacket was wrinkled badly from the curling up movement.

I could hear the sound of my own even breathing, and I could vaguely hear a hint of anxiety and self-mockery.

——On this pale blue planet.

I never had any expectations of who I would be today.

One day, my future self, who uses today as an excuse, will also be speechless.

"..."

After tossing and turning several times.

— crunch!
Masumi suddenly straightened up from the bed, and the sound of a spring swaying could be heard.

My sight caught sight of the calendar on the wall. The day 21st was circled in red pen, with the words "Cultural Festival" written on it.

I'm not sleepy anymore, so I go downstairs to practice making coffee.

His father had already returned to the room, and Masumi operated the coffee machine with ease by himself.

Time was like the coffee beans being ground into powder in front of him, passing by little by little, filling the gaps between the days.

In the blink of an eye, the target date arrived.

Thus, the last cultural festival of junior high school began——

(End of this chapter)