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Kendo stood before the class, the usual confident smile on her face. “Alright, guys, let’s hear some ideas for the festival.”
Ibara piped up. “A stage adaptation of The Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri! I shall play Beatrice, Awase, I think you’d make a fine Virgil, and as for Dante-”
“Slow down, Shiozaki, we did a play last year,” Monoma said, a psychotic smile spreading across his face. “How about a dunk tank? With Class A in it!”
”How about we throw you in there?”, Tokage joked.
“Ooh! Maid cafe!”, Kosei shouted out.
”That’s been done to death!”, Tokage shouted.
Kinoko piped up. “Although… what if instead of maids, we dressed the guys up as butlers!”
The lizard girl slammed the table. “Kinoko, you’re a genius! It would be great to have something for the ladies for once!”
Kendo smiled. “Alright, all in favor?”
Most of the girls raised their hands in excitement. A few of the guys did too.
“It’s decided then. There’s thirteen boys in this class, so why don’t we do this in shifts? Seven the first day, six on the second.”, Kendo announced.
Soon, lots were drawn, and Awase was selected to be among the first group of servers.
Awase pulled the white gloves onto his hands as he smiled. “Thanks for helping me with my hair, Rin,” he said. “Although it feels weird not having my headband.”
”No problem. I think we’re opening soon, we better get the last things set up.”, he replied.
The cafe was busy to say the least. It seemed like the girls from every class were coming to visit, and even a couple of the guys.
”Here you are,” Awase said, setting some drinks down on the table for some grateful first-year girls.
”Man, you’re pretty popular,” Fukidashi teased. “More than me anyway. A speech bubble isn’t really the beauty standard, I guess.”
Awase stifled a laugh as he picked up some empty dishes, taking them to the back. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Later in the day, things had slowed down, but a group of customers still came in, who Awase rushed to greet them.
“Welcome,” he said, bowing, following the script that had been drilled into his head over the past few days.
“Who’s this cutie?”, one of them said. He looked up to see it was Ashido of Class A. And the others were there too. Asui, Uraraka, Jiro, even Hagakure.
Momo was in the center with a crown on her head, looking like a princess with a procession of attendants. “Thank you,” she said. “Oh, Yosetsu, is that you? I barely recognized you!”
He felt his face grow bright red. It was fine when he was alone with her, but all her friends were right there! ”R-right,” he said. “Six then? Please follow me to your table.”
He left for a moment as he went to give their orders, as he saw the girls whisper excitedly to each other, with Momo trying to calm them down.
“Here you are, I hope you enjoy it,” Awase said stiffly as he sat the plates down, turning to leave.
”Hang on! We wanna talk!”, Uraraka shouted.
“Yeah,” Jiro said. “And we got some news for you.”
There were no other customers. Momo smiled brightly. “I won the pageant!”, she shouted.
“I missed it?!”, Awase shouted in alarm. “I’m so sorry!”
”It’s alright, dear,” Momo said. “We came here to celebrate. Apparently it’s been fairly popular, you must have been busy.”
”C’mon! You get to see her every day! Don’t sweat it.”, Jiro said.
Hagakure spoke up. “Jeez, you don’t seem as confident as we thought. She told us about how she met you… like a knight in shining armor saving his princess…”
”Hagakure!”, Momo shouted. “Please don’t say things like that. Yosetsu doesn’t like to talk about that night.”
”Oh, sorry,” she said, slumping over.
”It’s alright, ma’am,” Awase said, trying to get back into character. “Need a refill on your tea?”
”Careful, Yaomomo, don’t let her steal him from you!”, Ashido said.
Both of them were now blushing heavily. The girls soon finished their drinks and left, and Awase collapsed into a chair.
”Damn… I thought I was gonna die of embarrassment there.”
Rin came over and sat next to him. “Relax. Yaoyorozu looked just as frazzled. You two really are a good match.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that.
Later that evening, Awase had changed out of his uniform and into some casual clothes, and finally put his headband back on. He needed to relax.
“Awase! Yaoyorozu’s here for you!”, Rin shouted from downstairs.
”Coming!”, he replied back. Maybe he could finally have a moment alone with her.
Closing the door behind him, he walked down the steps with Momo and sat on a secluded bench. “Congratulations on winning. You going to go again next year?”
”No,” she said. “One time is enough for me.”
Awase smiled. “Yeah. Uh… thanks for coming to the cafe. I’m off tomorrow if you want to hang out.”
”Sure!”, she said excitedly. “I was so busy preparing I didn’t have time to see much of the festival. But I did enjoy seeing you there. I bet you were popular.”
”You think so?”, he said.
”Yes”, she replied as if he had asked if 2+2 was 4. “You’re quite a handsome boy, Yosetsu. The other girls sure seemed to think so when we left.”
She gently stroked his face, and he leaned into her touch. “And I think you’re the most beautiful girl in the world.”
Both of them blushing, they pulled each other into a gentle kiss.
He definitely preferred being alone with her.