When the Student Council members originally responsible for greeting guests at the school gate saw Asakura, and with expressions of 'the sucker is finally here' joyfully handed him the greeter's armband and a small flag with the Soubu High School emblem printed on it before fleeing, Asakura immediately realized that he might have been tricked by Amakusa Shino.
This job was definitely not as easy as she said!
The facts also proved Asakura's guess.
Because the number of visitors far exceeded expectations, the number of problematic people naturally wasn't small: for example, those with children performing in the auditorium who wanted directions, or those who brought preschoolers here to use it as a free playground, only for the children to start crying halfway, and also questions like where the restrooms were, where to park conveniently, or which class's program was worth watching.
In short, visitors with questions naturally surrounded Asakura, this 'official staff member', and their clamor made his brain begin to throb.
However, he had no intention of slacking off. After all, if a dispute were to break out with visitors here, it would likely leave a negative impression of Soubu High School on the surrounding guests.
Since things have come to this, I can only work! Burn, my sense of responsibility!
Asakura tried to encourage himself in his heart, then began to face the heavy workload.
"The auditorium is over there. After entering the campus, walk to your left and you'll see it… No, that's the equipment room. No matter how you look at it, that thing can't hold thousands of people, can it? The larger one next to it is."
"For restrooms, ask a Soubu High School student for the exact location after entering the school building. There are restrooms on every floor. If the restrooms on the current floor are full, you can try another floor. What do you mean by 'perfect golden spiral'? What do you want to do to the trees in the courtyard?!"
"We don't have an amusement park here. Yes, there's no water park either. Why are you saying that with an attitude of 'I'll take a step back'? How much do you expect from the Founders' Festival, dear guest?"
Move…
"Lost and found? It's at the Student Council office. You can see the sign on the third floor of the club building. What did you lose, dear guest? What? Love? Your childhood friend you promised to visit the Founders' Festival with ran off with a boyfriend she met who knows when? Sorry, that's not within the scope of lost and found."
After sending off the last defeated young man, who looked completely gray, Asakura finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although he hadn't expended much physical energy solving so many tasks at once, mental exhaustion had already set in.
"I always feel like that last guy might have something in common with Yanami."
Asakura mumbled, wiping the sweat from his forehead. After summer began, temperatures started to rise. Bathed in bright sunlight, even with very low physical activity, he still sweated a lot.
Fortunately, the Student Council had anticipated this situation, so there were special members who provided mineral water to Student Council staff working outside.
Asakura gulped down mineral water to prevent dehydration and heatstroke, while also scanning the incoming visitors with a very 'casual' gaze.
At such times, the passive ability of [Snake], infrared vision, could play a subtle role. Things people carried on them were definitely not as warm as the human body, so dark outlines could be seen on the orange-red human bodies, which had a certain beauty like a 'beggar's version' of a security check X-ray.
Although he thought it was unlikely for anyone to cause trouble at the Founders' Festival, basic vigilance was still necessary. After all, in Japan's high-pressure society, who knew when a mentally unstable person seeking indiscriminate murder and revenge might appear?
"Oh? Isn't that Asakura?"
Suddenly, Asakura saw familiar golden hair.
Then, the archangel-like girl appeared before Asakura, accompanied by her trashy cool friend and a pink slime with a subtly faint presence.
"It's Nijika. I thought you'd come in the afternoon—" Asakura said, a little surprised. "I didn't expect you to come so early."
"Because I heard there would be many guests today, if we came late, there might not be anything left to play with."
Ijichi Nijika said.
After all, the stalls at the Founders' Festival were run by students. First, from a cost perspective, they were different from regular stores, and the quantity of goods stocked would definitely not be much. Plus, the current number of Founders' Festival visitors clearly exceeded the limit, so many classes' food ingredients and consumable reserves might indeed not last until the afternoon.
"As expected of Nijika, you have a strong sense of crisis."
Asakura praised.
"Asakura, are you staff?"
Yamada Ryo asked, looking at Asakura's sash and armband.
"Sort of."
Asakura nodded.
"Then can you, as a guest, tell me where the weeds taste better? And if possible, a free serving of salad dressing would be even better."
Yamada Ryo said.
"…Is this a joke?"
Asakura asked after a moment of speechlessness.
Yamada Ryo: "Oh, right, no dandelions. They're too bitter."
It didn't seem like a joke.
"Even if you're making cold dandelion salad, you should at least blanch it first." Asakura sighed, pulling out a few tickets from his pocket: "These are discount coupons from our class. If you go there, you can get a free rabbit dango. Each of you take one."
"…Asakura—" Yamada Ryo immediately took three coupons, her eyes sparkling, and even her tear mole became alluring: "I love you!"
"Sorry, I have Hitori."
Asakura refused without the slightest hesitation.
"W-what?"
Gotō Hitori, whose name was suddenly called, straightened her back, looking at Asakura with a flustered expression, somewhat at a loss.
"Hmph—" Yamada Ryo glanced at Gotō Hitori's chest, which was accentuated by her straightening posture, and let out a meaningful sound: "Bocchi-chan indeed has quite the capital. As a physical type."
"Please call that a woman's virtue. As a physical type."
Asakura said.
The two looked at each other for a while, then suddenly, with an abrupt and tacit understanding, they clasped each other's hands, a strange feeling of mutual appreciation (or rather, a shared 'stink') passing between them.
"You two perverts, that's enough!"
Ijichi Nijika chopped Asakura and Yamada Ryo on the head with her hand: "Even if it's just a joke, Bocchi-chan will instinctively start looking for a trash can to hide in, and it's a pain to get her out!"
"I, I'm fine…" Gotō Hitori murmured softly: "There are too many people today… Compared to a trash can, I think a broom closet would make me feel safer…"
"I'm not telling you to choose a hiding place!"
☰