227 All of You Are My Wings! (1/2)

Chiaki looked at Mika searchingly.

”Alright, I suppose I can accept this.” Her tone of voice returned to normal. ”Since you’ve said all this, I won’t pry anymore. It’s just that when you’re ready to say it, you should tell me… tell us.”

”Okay.” Mika nodded.

The conflict between friends disappeared just like that.

‘No,' Seiji thought, 'there was no conflict to begin with. It was simply youth.’

Then, the three of them reached their class, helped open the temporary confectionery store, and then went together to the school entrance to wait.

Before long, they saw Mayuzumi and Saki.

”Good morning, Sensei…” When Seiji greeted the manga author, he noticed that something was wrong.

Mayuzumi’s complexion didn’t seem so great.

Seiji could tell that it wasn’t due to the crowd. There must be some other reason...

”Sensei… your condition doesn’t seem so good?”

”I… I’m fine.” Mayuzumi smiled faintly. ”I just didn’t sleep very well last night.”

Seiji shot an inquistive look at the editor.

”She definitely didn’t sleep well. I tried convincing her to rest at home today, but she insisted on coming,” said Saki, sighing.

”Today’s the last day after all, and I had lots of fun on the last two days. I’m sure I’ll have fun today as well,” said Mayuzumi before looking at the girl that she didn’t recognize.

”This is Mika Uehara, another one of my friends and classmates.” Seiji introduced Mika to Mayuzumi.

Mayuzumi greeted Mika politely, while Mika returned the popular manga author's greeting nervously. Then, Seiji also introduced Mika to Editor Yoshizawa, and the two of them exchanged greetings as well.

And so, the extravagant five-person team was created.

”Seigo, with four beautiful women accompanying you, don’t you think your life is rather brilliant?” Chiaki asked flirtatiously.

”Of course, I feel that I’ve already surpassed the mortal realm and become a saint, so please address me as the four-winged archangel.” Seiji made a magnificently pretentious pose.

”Four-winged archangel… why’s that?”

”All of you are my wings!”

Mika, Mayuzumi, and Saki were rendered speechless.

Chiaki broke out into laughter at this. ”What the hell’s with wings!? Which anime did you steal that line from?”

”It came from my soul.”

”Who the hell would believe that!?”

Mika and Mayuzumi smiled as they watched Seiji and Chiaki clowning around and exchanging banter. Even Saki allowed herself a small grin.

Their team’s atmosphere soon became lively as they visited the various stands and stores together.

Then, it was time for the school festival’s greatest event for the final day: the ”Field Battle” was about to start!

In the laser tag game, the participants would be split into two teams: red or blue. The red team would face the blue team, with twenty players on each side. Victory would be achieved once one side defeated all members of the opposing side. If the battle hadn't concluded after fifteen minutes, the side with more members remaining would be declared the victors.

The ”dead” members of the victorious side would receive prizes, while the ”survivors” would proceed to the next round. The greatest prize would be awarded if you managed to ”survive” three rounds.

The more rounds you ”survived,” the better the final prize would be. There would be three rounds in total.

The battle was to take place in the gymnasium, which had been modified for this activity. Everyone could only take part by exchanging emblems received from the festival activities for entry tickets and items necessary for battle. Of course, it was also possible to directly purchase tickets and items, but that was rather expensive.

Mika and Chiaki hadn’t participated in yesterday’s activities, so they had no emblems to exchange for tickets. However, Chiaki was rich, so she directly purchased two tickets for herself and Mika.

And so, the five of them banded together, forming a small team. They were about to draw for which color team they’d be on, when a girl approached Seiji.

It was Kaho Miyamoto.

”H-Harano-san…” She had worked up all her courage to finally approach and talk to him as she felt this was the last chance during the festival. ”I-I also want to join this game… Can… can I play together with you?”

She was stuttering badly, looking around everywhere, and sweating profusely.

‘I’ll probably be rejected…’ Kaho thought to herself with zero self-confidence.

Actually, she had wanted to speak with him yesterday, but Seigo Harano had several beauties accompanying him, so she didn’t have any chances to speak to him... no, it should be said that she didn’t have the courage to speak to him.

After noticing that he intended to join this laser tag activity, Kaho felt that this was her final—and only—chance.

‘I’ll grasp this opportunity! I'll join his team, so I can speak to him a little…’ She had this small hope in her heart.

”Miyamoto-san…” Seiji was rather surprised. He didn’t expect that this female classmate of his would come talk to him of her own volition.