Chapter 39: Showdown! [side Mishima Satsuki]
It's October now, and our class is crazy busy getting ready for the maid café!
Honestly, I want to focus on the beauty contest since I have prep for that too! But I join everyone in the preparations.
I really don't have time for this, but as one of the top clique girls, if I slack off at the class event, my footing will get shaky.
All I'm doing is backstage stuff—menu boards, decorations, things like that.
Kageno-chan, think about my position and assign me somewhere good, okay?
When I said that, she complained, "You don't always help with the culture festival prep, so you get stuck with the one-off backstage stuff!"
Apparently, getting the maid uniforms ready is somehow going to work out.
But it looks like I can't have just mine be flashy.
If I want it to be flashy, I have to do it myself? Isn't that harsh?
I'm the class ace, aren't I?
Kageno: "You're getting yours made through a friend-of-a-friend, so you can't be picky!"
And it's not even mine alone—they'll lend it out to classmates when I'm not around.
What's with that? So unfair!
Kageno: "Four costumes is the best we can do with the budget! We can't just let them sit unused when you're not here!"
Kageno-chan looks busy, lol.
But I'm working hard at my diet for the beauty contest too.
By the way, there were five classes applying to do maid cafés, but only two slots, and our class 5 won a spot in the lottery, lol.
I must be lucky, lol.
Huh? The other class is the next-door class 6?
☆ ☆
It was a mid-October afternoon while we were prepping like that.
Osada: "Hey, I'm from class 6 next door—"
Suddenly Osada from the class next door barged into our classroom?
As the class rep, I'll deal with this.
"What do you want? We're busy, you know?"
Osada looked around at us with a thin smile and said,
Osada: "So, class 5 and us have the same event, right? Maid café? Every now and then Mishima's been kind of looking down on us, right? It's really starting to piss us off. So, let's have a showdown?"
Huh? Why with class 6?
Mishima-san? What are you doing? A showdown?
The others are all whispering and staring at me, kind of blaming me.
I mean, Osada totally acts like a gal or a yankee when she talks to me!
And I heard straight from Kuzu-kun that the fat girl in her class confessed to the top boy in our year, Kuzu-kun, and totally bombed—okay, I did make fun of that.
Maybe I made fun of them a bit too much, lol.
That's when Kageno-chan from my group came over,
Kageno: "...Hey, Satsuki? Are you sure about this? We might not even win, maybe we shouldn't..."
I mean, I'm here too, so it's not that bad, right?
"Hmm? But I think we can win, don't you?"
Kageno-chan, looking flustered, said,
Kageno: "We're not even sure our maid uniforms will be finished! If she challenged us, she must think she can win, right?"
Even Akino-san from the second clique showed up,
Akino: "...Mishima-san, maybe they're confident they can win? Like, they have some reason. Osada-san might look like a yankee, but she can actually think things through, you know?"
Wait, so they did the math and still think they can beat class 5 with me on their side?
...If all else is equal, class 5 has the advantage because I'm cute!!
Give me a break!!
Fine, fine—I waved the two of them off and told Osada straight,
"A showdown, huh? Fine by me!"
Osada grinned—she's actually serious about winning?
Kageno-san and Akino-san both went "Whaaat?!"
Osada: "So, let's see? Whoever's maid café makes more sales wins, okay?"
"That's fine."
Osada: "Then, how about the loser has to use honorifics and be super polite to the winner for the rest of the year? Oh, and priority for the washroom."
"Deal."
There's a restroom and a washroom in the hallway between classes 5 and 6.
The boys don't care, but the girls fight over the washroom space because of makeup and stuff.
The other bathrooms are pretty far, so I don't want to walk all the way there.
It's not like I'll die if I win or lose—it's a pretty chill bet.
But using honorifics would be humiliating... If I lose...
I just need to win! Osada's class 6 doesn't even have any cute girls, right?
There's no way I'll lose! I pump myself up!
Back when people called me that plain beauty, lol, I was simmering, but now I'm different!
I've learned a lot, lost my virginity, and I won't lose to anyone anymore!
I accepted the challenge.
I thought that was the end of it, but—
Osada: "Hey, you and I should bet honorifics until we graduate, okay?"
Huh?
In poker terms, is that a raise? Upping the stakes?
You only do that when you think you'll win, right? Is she bluffing?
What the heck?! She's underestimating me!
For someone who looks like Osada...
"Fine! So, that's on top of the maid café showdown?"
Osada: "You're in the beauty contest, right? If you win Miss First-Year, you win. If not, you lose. Sound good?"
It sounds like I'm at a disadvantage... Miss Hokusho might be tough because of name recognition, but is this okay?
But if Nagase isn't running, there's no other really famous beauty in first year...!
"Miss First-Year, right? Fine."
I make sure not to show any nerves as I say it.
This is a showdown between me and Osada.
"No sabotage or anything, okay? Or are you entering too?"
Osada: "I'm not entering! Honestly, I respect your confidence! And no, I won't sabotage you. If I did that and won, you wouldn't admit defeat, right?"
Osada's betting on me losing rather than her winning—even raising the stakes, lol.
There's no way I'll lose to someone with a mindset like that!
⬜︎ ⬜︎ ⬜︎
Class 5 vs Class 6
Mishima vs Osada
Two showdowns began without Tomonaga-san ever knowing, lol.