ch401-ch420 · 403-ch403
Chapter 403: Otori, the Grand Finale
"Ugh, I can't eat another bite......"
I've eaten enough chocolate that I'd be happy not to see any for a while.
I mean, who expected ones THAT big to show up......
"Here, Haru-kun—stomach medicine."
Mia-mama-san hands me stomach medicine and water.
"Thank you very much."
I thank her without lifting my face off the desk.
While Kasumi-san tidies up the warehouse, I evacuated to Mia-san's shop.
"And this one is from me. Here you go too, Mii-chan."
And so, the plan to get chocolate from Mia-mama-san as well.
Right on schedule—ugh, I don't want to look at chocolate anymore......
But that makes nine.
"What's this? A shuriken? I've seen this shape before. Ah—did you use that mold from back at the house?"
Mia-san takes out the chocolate she received.
"Mia-san. Nothing from you, Mia-san?"
What about Mia-san?
If possible, I'd prefer something other than chocolate.
"Nah, ain't got none. You got more than you can eat from Kasumi-san, didn't ya?"
That's not the issue here.
No matter the quantity, it's one piece per person for the count.
"I wish you'd be a bit more mindful of that sort of thing. It's Valentine's Day, you don't have to go playing with Anego-chan and the others today of all days. We had lots of customers come by for Mii-chan again today, you know? Oh—and I told the customers these were Mii-chan's handmade, so play along, okay?"
Come to think of it, Mia-san is dressed up all cute for going out.
Not her usual boyish look—she's wearing something frilly, and it makes me worry she might get kidnapped.
Apparently there's a Valentine's chocolate party with Anego-san and the others coming up.
Ugh, I thought if I waited here the older girls would show up, but they're doing it elsewhere......
"Then—then give me that one."
"Huh? Isn't that the same one you got from kaa-chan?"
No no—same or not, if it's from a different person, it counts as one piece!
"Mii-chan! That's exactly the problem! What matters is WHO it came from—right?"
"Ah...... it's Kasumi-san!"
She's entered 【Presence Detection】 range.
She'll be here any second.
"What!? Not good—hide it, quick! This one too!"
"Sure, sure. I'll tuck it under the counter like always. And don't forge—...... no, not today. Take it home tomorrow or so."
Amid all the bustle, Kasumi-san approaches.
Which means I got one from Mia-san too—the ten-piece milestone, reached.
The next day, I got some from Soushi's mother and Mimiko as well, bringing this Valentine's to a close at twelve pieces.
I hear Soushi only got chocolate from Hayashi-san, Akane-san, and Mia-mama-san—nobody but Aikawa.
And after working SO hard cleaning the water tank as Endo-san's helper, he didn't get anything from Endo-san.
Too bad for him, huh.
Apparently Endo-san's surroundings were crawling with male staff members hungering for her attention, and he couldn't even get close.
I checked whether Hiramatsu-san got any—apparently the only person Endo-san gave chocolate to was the branch manager.
The staff's rebellion may be near.
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"And now, to close the graduation ceremony, we ask for a few words from our President. Everyone, please rise. Kasugano Haruki-kun, the floor is yours!"
DANGEROUS—!!!
No, I mean, I KNEW something was off when there was no address after the send-off speech.
Whoa—Otori-san is glaring at me HARD.
I definitely told the principal the send-off address should be Otori.
This isn't my fault.
Otori, Otori, "grand finale" (o-tori), see?
And so the final speech got passed to me.
Ah-hah-hah-hah—we almost had a catastrophe on our hands!
No—anyway, I've got to get through this situation somehow......
"Ahem. Everyone here will be members of society once you graduate, so let me tell you about the three bags that matter to a working adult......"
Wouldn't it be nice if dungeons dropped item bags?
Something with 【Storage】 attached, maybe......
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"Pffft—my stomach. I'm done. What was that, 'your mom'? That's a wedding-speech gag."
No no, that was genuinely close.
Rehearsal saved us—if that had been the real thing, it would have been a major incident.
Otori's parents would be there too—imagine coming to see your daughter deliver the graduation address, only to hear some weirdo rambling about three bags.
It might have become a lifelong trauma for Otori.
Rehearsals matter, huh.
But I went and complained to the principal properly before Otori could catch me outside the gymnasium, so it's fine.
On the day itself, I should get to just sit there.
"Good grief, Aikawa-san, you're laughing way too much. Still, you're pretty relaxed, huh. Aikawa-san, aren't your results posting tomorrow too?"
Souma-san has a point.
Tomorrow, the results for the universities I applied to come out, and the graduation ceremony looms the day after.
Aikawa told me the vampire girl and the delinquent girl already passed the national universities they applied to—but among the students from our school who took national/public exams, quite a few failed.
The current students roared with laughter, but only about half of the graduates were laughing.
They gave up precious study time—with second-term exams still ahead—to come to the graduation rehearsal.
I can understand not having the composure to laugh at a farce.
No, but really—I'm sorry.
The one at fault is the principal, through and through.