My stepmother's burden is my ex-girlfriend.

Page 169

Unrealized ideals, accumulated over time, eventually become reality, don't they?

◆ Irito Mizuto ◆

"Um... during today's class meeting, we'll elect the executive committee members for the cultural festival—"

The homeroom teacher, still half-asleep, was issuing orders. Despite being in charge of a class teeming with gifted first-year students, this teacher seemed utterly listless. But for someone like me, not being forced to micromanage is something to be grateful for. Thanks to this, I'm able to be as busy as I am with my side hustle.

"The executive committee's job is mainly to gather opinions from the students in the class and to liaise with the preparatory committee—"

I let the explanation go in one ear and out the other, my eyes fixed on a few loose-leaf papers.

The most important thing to me right now isn't the cultural festival. It's this short story that I'm going to show to Dongtou.

I must finish this novel as soon as possible to prove her wrong. I need to show her that her claim that I'm a special kind of person is just an overstatement.

I'm not used to writing, and I've been racking my brains for the past few days, but I've finally seen the end. As I poured out my excitement into words, the class meeting went smoothly.

"Yes! I recommend Yui!"

"Huh! Wait... Xiaoyue-kun...!"

"She's earnest and gentle—she's the perfect match!"

"Great job!" "I agree!"

"How could this happen...?"

Hmm... is it okay to just write the present continuous tense here? Or is it better to emphasize the past tense...?

"Then Irito and another person—preferably a strong man."

"Yes, yes, yes!" "Pick me! I'm willing!"

"Wow, you're obviously up to something." "You guys are so dramatic—" "You were just pretending to be invisible."

The rhythm here isn't very good... It would be best to add four more words... Hmm...

"Should we just choose Irito?"

"Huh? My little brother?"

"Yeah, yeah. Irito wouldn't have ulterior motives, would he? We're all family."

"Great idea!" "It's Irito-kun, the guy—" "Indeed! Anyway, he's smart—" "And he has a girlfriend, so it should be safe, right?"

"Then how about Irito, the boy? Is that alright—?"

"Yes... um?"

I answered reflexively before finally raising my head.

By then, my name had already been written on the blackboard.

"Uh-huh?"

There was no room for objection, and the situation continued to develop.

"Congratulations on your appointment as an executive committee member!"

"Th-thank you...? It feels like you're forcing this on me... I don't know if I'm capable of handling this..."

"Who wouldn't listen to Eri?"

"Yeah, yeah! Especially the guys, they're practically at your beck and call. They're scared just by nodding!"

Hmmmm? ?

"Go for it, Irito!" "It's frustrating, but it's better than Irito getting kidnapped by bad guys...!"

Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm? ? ?

"Now, let's decide on the next topic—the two from the Irito family! Come up on stage and help us host—"

Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm -- ? ? ? ?

Before they even understood what was going on, they were pushed onto the stage.

Together with Jie Nu, I faced a class of over thirty students.

Among them, I saw Kawanami Kogure's face.

The guy had a sly grin on his face, and for some reason, he even gave a thumbs up.

...That man...!

"(...Uh, what should we do...? Who should speak up?)"

"Does that even need to be said?" the girl asked me softly.

"(It's up to you now.)"

"(What?)"

I stepped back and handed over the meeting chairing duties to Jie Nu.

I'll just be the secretary. Besides, these guys in the class will probably feel it's more natural for me.

Seeing me pick up the chalk, Jie glared at me fiercely and quickly, then said:

"Um... well... so, regarding the content to be presented, does anyone have any suggestions...?"

"Huh? What do we do? What do we do?" "A haunted house or something is a must, right?" "Ugh, this seems like a lot of trouble to prepare." "What do you usually do?" "It's best not to repeat what other classes do."

"Ah...uh, that..."

Although she made a successful debut in high school, her voice didn't suddenly become louder. Her classmates were too busy chattering to hear her soft voice.

The future looks bleak. As I thought this, I wrote "Presentation Content Proposal" on the blackboard.

"Hey, everyone—"

It might be Minami. Just as she couldn't bear to see Yui like this, and was about to tell everyone to be quiet—

—I tapped the blackboard twice.

The noise drew the students' attention reflexively. The commotion, just as my purpose had been, was momentarily interrupted, and I gave the girl a wink.

"Ah... if you have any ideas, please raise your hand!"

Jie's voice finally reached the entire class, attracting attention with its sound, and then the hand was handed over to Jie.

What a model student she is, she really needs to be taken care of.

Seeing me sigh quietly, Kawanami whistled softly, while Minami gave me a "you win..." look. Thanks for the compliment.

Pick me! Cosplay Cafe!

When asked for opinions on what to include in their stall, Nan immediately raised her hand to speak.

Kawabata looked dumbfounded and said:

"I'm telling you—...this kind of suggestion is usually made by guys, right?"

"I just want to see Yui's cosplay!"

"We want to see! We want to see—!" the students echoed in unison, mostly girls. The boys, perhaps afraid of being accused of sexual harassment, were surprisingly well-behaved.

Cosplay cafes... it's definitely a top choice.

"Uh, this—...is this okay?"

Jie had already been looking to me for help with her eyes since early morning. While thinking, "I'll try harder myself," I asked the class advisor, who was quietly observing the meeting from beside the podium:

"Teacher, do you have any relevant data on our stall performance at the cultural festival before last year?"

"Oh, yes."

The homeroom teacher seemed to have come prepared, pulling out a few sheets of material from a folder tucked under her arm. "Since you brought them, wouldn't it be better to give them to us first?"—that's what I thought, but this school has always had this kind of atmosphere. They don't give anything unless the students ask, or rather—it feels more like they're cultivating students' self-motivation.

After reviewing the information and confirming it, I said:

"...Cosplay cafes also had a track record of setting up stalls last year. I don't think it will be rejected."

"So that means it's feasible?"

"It's feasible, but that also means there's a possibility of overlap with other classes. We don't know what will happen if there's overlap..."

I looked at the homeroom teacher, who finally spoke:

"The number of each type of stall is fixed. If more classes apply to set up stalls than the limit is set, a selection process will be conducted by submitting a briefing."

"What are the scoring criteria for the presentation?"

"We'll assess whether the class is adequately prepared to operate its booth and whether it complies with school regulations. Of course, the attractiveness of the booth itself is also a criterion. Finally, we'll consider the evaluation from the organizing committee—that is, the student council and the PTA."

The homeroom teacher was just like an NPC in a game; once he finished explaining the key points, he wouldn't say another word.

Hmm... I hesitated for a moment, then said:

"It seems the biggest problem is whether we can get cosplay outfits. If we can't solve that, we might lose to other classes during the presentation."

"A briefing... that's something the executive committee should be responsible for, right...?"

"Teacher, is there a rule that someone must give the presentation?"

"This is limited to students in the class. There is no requirement that an executive committee member must go on stage."

That was a quick reply. The right thing to do in this kind of situation is to immediately ask honest questions.

"In that case, let the professionals handle it. Just let the one who seems to be good at it, and who is also the one who made the proposal, do it."

"Looks like you're good at it, and you're the one who proposed it... ah."

I closed the documents and decided to leave the follow-up matters to Jie Nu.

Jie turned back to her classmates and said:

"Uh...maybe it'll work if we can prepare the clothes."

"Yay!"

"However... Xiaoyue-kun."

"Um?"

"If a presentation is required, please come up and give it. You are the one who proposed it."

Nan grinned and said:

"Just this little thing? Sure...but...well..."

"?"

"You'll have to be a model then, right, Yui? If we're doing a presentation, we'll need to provide examples, won't we?"

“Eh…”

"Wow!" The class erupted in excitement.

The girl looked at me with a troubled expression again, but I ignored her this time. If it were one of those overly sentimental cosplay outfits, I would have rejected it from the start; no problem.

"...Okay, fine. I meant if we need to do a presentation?"

I wrote "Cosplay Cafe" on the blackboard, adding a proviso: "※Costumes must be available." Although it was a somewhat reserved conclusion, after a long discussion, no one came up with a proposal that would be more supported than a Cosplay Cafe.

After the class meeting ended, Jie returned to her seat, and several of her friends, including Nan, surrounded her.

"Ah~ I'm so nervous~"

"Yume, you were so cool just now!"

"You did a great job hosting! Your stage presence was very steady."

"Yeah, yeah! You can be more confident!"

"Thank you..."

Jie smiled happily… How realistic. She was so embarrassed just now, but so happy after being praised. Thinking about it now, she was quite composed on stage as the freshman representative. Perhaps that kind of responsibility suited her unexpectedly; it's just that I mistakenly thought she wasn't up to it…

"Hey, Irito, that was great!"

I returned to my seat, and Kawanami flirtatiously struck up a conversation with me.

"You did a really good job rescuing Irito-san just now. I knew you were very shrewd; you just didn't want to associate with others. Everyone else says you're quite capable, too?"

"Right."

"Is that all the reaction you're going to have? It's not like you'll lose a piece of your body if you're a little happy."