Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai: Volume7 School Festival Activity meeting

A few minutes later, Kobato entered the room with a nervous look on her face.

She was wearing her usual Gothic clothes, with a cross around her neck too.

I told her to thank everyone again. Even though her face was flushed bright red, she still managed a "T-T-Thank You..." as she bowed her head low.

This was followed by a "Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Kobato-chan's such an angel~~!!!! Come let Onee-chan have a lick!!", as Sena leaped towards Kobato with a gleam in her eye. Yozora's flyswatter quickly cut her short, though, as the topic of conversation shifted back to the School Festival once again.

Six people sat around the table.

I was sitting right at the center, with Yozora to my right and Kobato to my left.

Quarely opposite me was Rika. To her right was Yukimura and to her left, Sena.

This was to ensure maximum distance between Sena and Kobato.

"Well then, anyone have any good ideas?"

Yozora asked us, the club members.

"Thinking back about it, the only activities we managed to come up with before this were a Maid Cafe, a Tarot Booth and... I think that's all."

The Tarot Booth was the spark that eventually led to us celebrating Kobato's birthday party.

"By the way, what kind of activities are considered 'normal' for a School Festival?"

"A Maid Cafe!"

Sena answered Rika's question almost instantly.

"Didn't we already do that!" Yozora shouted back hesitantly.

"In the Galgames I've played, the main character's class always opens a maid cafe for the school festival! There are other cafes too like Butler Cafes, Cosplay Cafes, Animal Cafes and the like!"

"I can imagine a Butler Cafe and a Cosplay Cafe but... What's an animal cafe?"

I curiously asked.

"A cafe where the waitresses cosplay as animals!"

"Isn't that just a type of cosplay cafe? For a moment there I thought there would be animals in the cafe."

"...... Kodaka, having animals in a cafe is unhygienic."

Yozora coolly said next to me.

"T-that's true I guess..."

At this moment, Rika butted in.

"Then again Yozora-senpai, Rika's heard of cafes where one pats cats or dogs while sipping tea. They seem to be called Kitty or Doggy cafes."

"Ah, I've heard of those too. There are indeed cats and dogs in the cafe, are we allowed to touch them?"

"S-such things exist...!?"

Yozora asked in shock. It seems that she had never heard of them before.

".... I see... So such paradise exists after all in this rotten world..."

Yozora mumbled to herself in a low tone, her face full of wonder.

"Yozora?"

"!? N-Nothing's wrong! I-I'll consider a Kitty cafe in the future."

"You still need to consider it?"

"S-shut up Kodaka!! A-Anyone else have any suggestions?"

"May I?"

Yukimura asked energetically. That's Yukimura for you.

"Yukimura?"

Yozora ushered Yukimura on.

"I would like to open a Sengoku Cafe!"

"S-sengoku cafe!? Do they even exist?"

Yozora asked in shock. Yukimura tilted his head in surprise.

"... They don't?"

"How would I know!"

"They do~"

Rika answered coolly.

"Just as its name suggests, the waitresses dress like armored warriors. They usually greet their customers with 'Denka'"

"To think... They actually exist..."

Yukimura revealed the same expression as Yozora previously did.

"There are also similarly themed 'Princess Cafes', 'Little Sister Cafes', 'Tsundere Cafes', 'BL Cafes', 'Otoko no ko Cafes', 'Nun cafes', 'Reptilian Cafes', 'Gamudan Cafes', 'EXA Cafes' and so on. A lot of concept cafes exist in this world."

"Huh... How should I put it, these people are capable of thinking of anything..."

I said half impressed, half dejectedly.

"Since everyone seems to be doing Cafes, I think taste will determine the winner."

"Of course taste is important, but if we can't attract customers in the first place, we won't even get the chance to compete on that stage. 'As long as the content is fine, the packaging doesn't really matter', those are the futile words of an unrealistic dreamer. Of course, even if the packaging is superb, if the inside is horrible it'll all go to waste too."

"......We're talking about a cafe right?"

The conversation seemed to have taken a foreign turn for a moment there.

"If we want to focus on the concept, then the Neighbour's Club should put up a 'Friend's Cafe', don't you think?"

Yozora made a mysterious suggestion.

"F-friend cafe?"

I asked Yozora, unable to imagine what a friend cafe would look like. Yozora explained with unexpected confidence:

"Yes, a friend cafe. I just thought of it a moment ago. As its name suggests, we should serve the customers like friends. Anyone without friends would be able to experience the feeling of having friends here!"

"Hmm... A waiter who seems just like a friend..."

I tried to imagine how that would be like.

Waiter A: "Oh, if it isn't Kodaka-kun! What would you like to order, huh? Huh?"

Me: "Ummm... Ahh... I would like... erm... Coffee..."

Waiter B: "Seriously?? Coffee? Why don't you read the atmosphere!"

Waiter A: "Kodaka-kun, you're so hilarious!! (laughs)"

Me: "Er... Ahahaha..."

......

"... I don't think this will work."

"Although Rika's never heard of a 'Friend Cafe', in a nutshell its a cafe where the waiters are closer to you right? Such cafes exist too - cafes where the waiters talk to you casually."

"To be honest, anyone who went to such a cafe would just get pissed off even more."

Me, Rika and Sena admitted.

"Hmm... Friends are really precious, not something a cheap cafe could easily replicate huh..."

Yozora nodded, as if she abruptly understood something.

"Aside from a Cafe, how does a haunted house sound?"

Sena said.

"A haunted house huh, that might work..."

"Meat actually said something logical. The world's going to end tomorrow..."

"To think that Sena-senpai said something logical, aliens are going to invade the Earth tomorrow..."

"Sena-anego said something logical! Is this a sign foretelling a world-shifting disaster..."

Yozora, Rika and Yukimura's voices were tinted with a hint of real fear.

"I've always been logical all along! Listen up, a haunted house is a school festival staple! Going together with a girl into a haunted house, walking through a dark and creepy corridor! Suddenly a ghost jumps out in the middle of the road, scaring my partner so bad she comes running to me and embracing me tightly, causing my relationship with her to rapidly advance!! Kobato-chan, come with me to a haunted house would you!?"

"NO!!"

Kobato instantly turned down Sena's request with a hint of disgust.

"Meat is still revolting as always..."

Yozora facepalmed.

"...Even though it might work, the Neighbuor's Club can't set up a haunted house." I said.

"Why not, Kodaka?"

"We don't have a venue."

Even though Meeting Room 4 was quite spacious, it wasn't big enough to be modified into a haunted house.

"Places like the dojo which are spacious enough to hold a haunted house are likely taken by other clubs already. Plus, we don't have enough... manpower."

"Ah..."

It seemed that Sena realized as well.

Including our advisor Maria, the Neighbour's Club only had 7 people.

"We'll need someone by the entrance right? So that leaves us with 6 people. I don't think 6 ghosts are enough."

Just then, Yukimura said:

"Aniki, as long as you stand in a dark corner, you'll be able to let everyone feel the horror of a hundred vengeful spirits."

"That's not the kind of horror you would expect from a haunted house would you? Speaking of which that was really disrespectful Yukimura!"

"I am deeply sorry."

Yukimura bowed down and apologized, with a faint smile on his cheek.

... It couldn't be that Yukimura was trying to make fun of me, could it?

It was such a rare occurrence I couldn't help but be surprised.

"Hmm, if its the venue I might be able to think of something..." Sena said.

"Huh, really?"

Sena's eyes narrowed, as an evil smile appeared on her face.

"Heh heh heh... Kodaka, you know what wealth and power is right?"

... The daughter of the school chairman was terrifying indeed.

"Rika should be able to make animatronic models of ghosts too. In fact, they might even be scarier than normal human actors!"

Rika said enthusiastically.

"...It seems a haunted house might actually be plausible after all. Lets take a vote."

Yozora said as she wrote "Cafe", "Tarot Booth" and "Haunted House" on the whiteboard.

"Alright, any other suggestions?"

☺

An hour later.

All suggestions for the School Festival were listed on the whiteboard.

• Shrine Games (shooting gallery, ring toss, goldfish scooping etc)

• IQ Challenge

• Drama / Play

• Eating contest (Wanko Soba, Buns, Huge Gyozo, Ramen, Meat)

• Endurance Test (Endure Hot, Endure Cold, Endure Scolding)

• Exhibition

• Band performance (Counter-point: No one knows how to play any instruments)

• Dancing

• Flea Market

• Doujinshi sales (Adult-rated BL Doujinshi preferred)

• Club book sales (Plus point: It's easier to sell to friends <-- Counter point: If we knew how to make friends we wouldn't be here would we?)

• Planetarium

• Comedy talk show

• Magic performances

Other suggestions included building a huge maze and underwater kibasen tournaments, but those were deemed too difficult to manage by the club alone.

A beauty contest was also suggested, but it was fiercely opposes by Yozora who soon veto-ed it.

"Hmm... I don't want to do an exhibition here too."

Sena said unsatisfactorily.

Speaking of which, Sena's class was doing an exhibition titled 'History of Tooyo City'"

Its said that Sena absolutely dominated the School Festival, so in order to prevent that from happening again the female students had banded together.

"The only reason I wrote it down is because it's actually quite doable. To be honest I don't like exhibitions either, they lack a sense of fulfilment present in real life." Yozora said.

"It's expected for an exhibition to be boring on the day itself, but everyone working towards a single goal preparing for the exhibition, isn't that an amazing thing?"

Hearing my explanation, Sena told me in frustration.

"Those kind of things only happen when everyone's motivated! The ones in my class are helpless."

To think that "Not letting Sena have her way" could produce such motivation...

"It depends on the context too no? If only they could get hyped up over NETA..."

"That's what I thought too, so I suggested the exhibition be themed 'The omnipotent omniscient goddess Kashiwazaki Sena-sama's photo collection'!! In the end all the female students were against it! Hnnnnnngh... Just thinking about it makes me angry, those idiotic group of female stand-ins...!!"

"You're the idiot."

Yozora spat out coldly.

"Maa, ignoring that idiot Meat, I don't think the exhibition will be any fun on the day itself, so lets cancel that."

Since the other members weren't too keen on an exhibition either, nobody opposed.

Yozora erased "Exhibition" from the whiteboard.

Looking at the whiteboard,

"Hmm, we can try these other backup plans here one by one. We need to visit the flea market and the planetarium once first before we make a decision."

"Ack, we're going to try all of them?"

I asked in surprised, as Yozora nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course. Since we don't know what we should be doing at the School Festival, its best if we expand our perimeters and try everything out."

"Even so this is a bit too much no? We only have a month left, by the time we finish experimenting a month will be over. It'll be best if we slash off a few others too..."

"Oh...That makes sense..."

Yozora once again looked at the whiteboard after listening to me.

"Heh."

She erased "Comedy talk show" without a second thought.

"Wait, why did you erase that first? Isn't that the most suitable backup?"

I protested in surprise.

By the way, I was the one who proposed the "Comedy Talk Show".

Doing a comedy talk show in front of everyone and expressing my humorous side, everyone would then understand I was a pretty funny guy, and dispel my image of being a delinquent. This would then pave the road for me to make new friends, it was absolutely the best plan ever!

""Hmm, it's definitely the best backup plan, erasing that..."

"...Was the right decision Yozora senpai." "...I think it's a wise choice, Yozora-anego." "...Kuh kuh kuh... It's the right choice..."

None of the members outside Yozora had any qualms about it.

"Heh, you guys seem uninterested in humour... Heh heh heh. I wonder if you'll be able to stay that way after listening to my latest joke 『The man in the red fridge』? Heh heh heh. It was when I was alone on the road..."

"If you continue I'll dismember you and stuff you in the fridge Kodaka."

.........

All the other members shot me cold stares, hence I had no choice but to give up.

Yozora continued

"Hmm... Ahh right. Lets remove all duplicates of anything our classes are doing too."

"We already removed 'Exhibition' right?" Sena asked.

"My class and Kodaka's isn't doing anything spectacular. What about Rika and Yukimura?"

"Who knows? Rika's never stepped into class once, so Rika wouldn't know."

"Our class is doing a choir."

"Namaste...?"

A gesture to appease the souls of the dead, why would something like that be held in a school festival--- Ohh, Choir.

"A plan unrelated to the Neighbour's Club huh..."

The only one left was --- Suddenly I realized!

"Say Kobato, aren't there any problems with the School Festival over there in Junior High?"

Of course, St. Chronica Junior High would have a School Festival too, a week before Senior High in fact.

"Kuh kuh kuh... No problem at all..."

Kobato gave her usual laugh and replied.

"What are you doing for the Junior High School Festival then, Kobato-chan?"

Sena asked excited. Kobato went "Kuh kuh kuh" as she looked away.

... From the looks of it, it seems that she was doing "nothing".

"Kuh kuh kuh... My Kindred... You have no right to know... "

A cold sweat trickled down her forehead, as she avoided making eye contact with me.

Suspicious...

There was something off about the way she spoke. Thinking back about it, this was exactly how she acted when I asked her about her summer homework ("Kuh kuh kuh... No problem...") which she never did.

... To avoid it happening again in the future, its best I come straight with her now.

"If you don't tell me I won't cook Pork Ramen for you ever again."

"H-Hnngh... To think a low rank demon like you would dare threaten the Exalted Queen of the Night Leysis Vi Felicity Sumeragi... Foolishness..."

"There's still some leftover meat from yesterday in the fridge. I'll eat all of it."

"Hnngh... T-that's not fair..."

"Tell us straight then, what's your class planning to do?"

Faced with my questioning, Kobato made regretful "Uuu..." and lowered her head in shame.

"...M-movie..."

It was so soft it was barely audible.

"A MOVIE!?"

She managed to shock us alright.

Thinking back about it, as long as its not too complicated, a simple camcorder should be enough to shoot a movie.

"Heh... That sounds interesting."

"Hmm... A movie..."

Yozora and Rika seemed interested.

"So your class is doing a movie. What are you in charge of then, Kobato?"

"Kuh kuh kuh... That does not concern you..."

Kobato said as she tried to close the topic.

"If you don't tell us I'm forbidding you to play video games any more starting from today."

"What...!? T-that means I won't be able to complete my training before I enter the second Great war between Angels and Demons with the horrible Gods...!"

"Be honest with us then."

"Uuuu..."

Kobato covered her head in shame.

"...ine"

She muttered something softly.

"Huh? What?"

"...ine"

"What's an ine?"

Was it the name of a character? To think they already distributed the roles, that was surprising.

Kobato lifted her head, looked straight at me and shouted.

"I SAID!! HEROINE!! I COULD ONLY PLAY THE HEROINE!!"

"Heroine!?"

Sena and I yelled at the same time. Yozora and Rika wore equally shocked looks on their faces too.

"Heroine... You? You're the heroine of your class' movie?"

I asked again to make sure. Kobato nodded with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Kuh kuh kuh... Despicable primates... Why is it such that a noble like me must entertain these ignorant children of the day?"

"Being a heroine is great! That's a great improvement!"

I said ignoring Kobato's previous comment.

I was always worried that Kobato wasn't welcome in class... Could it be that she was secretly popular...?

Thinking about it, as we travelled around Japan, I never heard of cases where Kobato was bullied.

"I wanna watch! A movie where Kobato-chan's the heroine must be great! Lets all go watch!!"

Seeing Sena all fired up, Kobato sobbed "Uuu~~ I hate her..."

More importantly.

"Hey Kobato! Since you're the heroine, is it alright for you to be over here in a senior club?"

"......"

Upon hearing my question, Kobato looked away as a sweat trickled down her forehead.

This girl, she ditched her own class project to join us...

I let out a sigh.

"Kobato, since you were chosen as the heroine you should give it all you've got."

Kobato let out a "Muu..." unhappily. Looks like I need to start training her seriously.

"...In this world, there are plenty of others who don't get any roles at all in their class..."

"Uuu..."

Kobato let out a small whimper, and then looked at Yozora, Sena and me.

Yozora gave her a look that said 'well he's not talking about me' before looking away, while Sena let out a faint smile.

"...Right? This is a rare opportunity, make sure you work hard Kobato. A lot of people are counting on you right? That alone is something really amazing. You should only come help out here occasionally when you're free."

I said softly. Kobato stared at me silently for a while, before finally nodding her head with an "...Uhm".

I patted Kobato's head.

"That's good, now that's behaviour befitting the Exalted Queen of the Night Leysis Vi Felicity Sumeragi!!"

"An--An-chan!! Ummm... Kuh kuh kuh... Pat my head more, my loyal kindred... Ufufufu..."

As her face flushed bright red, Kobato's said so, a comfortable look on her face.

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