Although Asagumo Chihaya made it sound impressive, in reality, the so-called 'school gate date' indeed lacked a date atmosphere.
Asakura was fine; he was likely affected by the Snake magic and actually quite enjoyed sunbathing. However, Asagumo Chihaya, with her magic depleted, was just an ordinary weak girl. Even though she claimed to be 'very heat-resistant,' dressed in a full kimono under the sun, she quickly looked wilted.
Asakura naturally wasn't so brainless as to wait for the girl to suffer heatstroke and collapse before trying to fix things.
"I told you the sun is really strong right now..." he said, helping the girl to the shade of a nearby tree with an exasperated tone. "It's probably like Solar Beam not needing a turn to charge."
"If you put it that way, am I a Water-type Pokémon?"
The girl seemed to be in pretty good spirits.
"From a Pokemon perspective, you should be Celebi."
Asakura replied, "But you actually get that reference..."
"I felt like Takuma-kun would like that kind of game, so I vaguely looked into it..." Asagumo Chihaya said with a gentle smile.
"Let's get some water first..." Asakura said, looking at the bottle in his hand and sighing, "The juice... it's all gone."
The girl gave a polite smile that implied 'even if it wasn't gone, I wouldn't drink it.'
However, Asakura didn't notice the deeper meaning of her smile and just mumbled, "The mineral water hasn't arrived yet. If worst comes to worst, there's drinkable tap water near the sports field. Nukumizu (brother) said it tastes pretty good."
"Nukumizu is good in every way, except his obsession with tasting tap water is hard to understand..." Asagumo Chihaya said with a faint smile.
"Anyway, you rest here. I'll go back to the entrance first..."
Before Asakura could finish speaking, a familiar voice came from nearby.
"No need. Asakura-kun can go and enjoy the school festival with the person he cares about."
Asakura looked over and saw that it was Amakusa Shino, who was walking towards the entrance.
"Amakusa Student Council President, are you personally coming to relieve me?" Asakura couldn't help but be a little surprised.
"Because we're short-staffed, but we've managed to handle the peak. After this, things should get a bit easier on both sides..." Amakusa Shino seemed quite pleased with the opening of the school festival, saying cheerfully, "So Asakura-kun is also free from his gatekeeper duty. Sorry for wasting so much of your 'wonderful~' time."
As she spoke, the Student Council President glanced meaningfully at Asagumo Chihaya, who was sitting in the shade beside Asakura.
"Indeed..." Before Asakura could speak, Asagumo Chihaya responded first, "I hope the Student Council will be more fully prepared for such events in the future."
Although she was subtly challenging Amakusa Shino, Asagumo Chihaya's tone was calm and steady, and her demeanor was polite, making her sound not at all aggressive.
After being momentarily choked, Amakusa Shino didn't argue much, just said sternly, "I've received your feedback. We'll prepare better next time."
After all, factually speaking, she had indeed misjudged the popularity of the school festival. Faced with a much larger crowd than expected, she was caught off guard and had to press Asakura into service.
"Then, as my apology, I'll tell Asagumo-san an internal piece of news that was originally scheduled to be announced this afternoon. Remember not to tell anyone else before then, okay?"
Amakusa Shino made a mysterious shushing gesture: "Asagumo-san should know what event is happening on the night of the school festival, right?"
"If I remember correctly, it's the folk dance party held on the sports field, the kind where everyone dances around a bonfire—" Asagumo Chihaya replied. From her lack of hesitation, it seemed the girl had probably memorized the entire school festival schedule.
"That's a lie..." Amakusa Shino abruptly interrupted Asagumo Chihaya, stating directly, "While it is indeed a folk dance, everyone dancing in a circle only happens at the very beginning. Most of the time is actually reserved for ballroom dancing, the kind where two people dance in a circle."
Asagumo Chihaya's eyes widened, and she instinctively looked towards Asakura, only to find that Asakura had also just turned to look at her. Her gaze immediately darted back in a fluster upon meeting Asakura's eyes.
Amakusa Shino showed a playful smile at this sight.
She continued, "However, as is well known, the Student Council often struggles with pride and insecurity, making it difficult to proactively invite someone they like to a folk dance. So, we've prepared a countermeasure: this afternoon's event, 'Heart-Pounding Soubu High School Treasure Hunt.'"
"Is a name like a reskinned mobile game event really okay?" Asakura couldn't help but quip.
"Perhaps it's a bit too childish for kids, but it's just right for the mobile game audience."
"You just nonchalantly equated middle schoolers with childishness, didn't you?"
"Asakura-kun is too concerned with such trivial details."
"Am I the one at fault?"
"The treasure you're looking for in the treasure hunt is the 'Holy Grail,'" Amakusa Shino said, ignoring Asakura's retort, "Bring the cup to the Student Council office, and you can choose one reward from '1 Folk Dance Invitation Ticket that the other person (limited to Soubu High School students) cannot refuse,' '20 All-You-Can-Eat Cafeteria Set A Coupons,' or '1 Application Form for a 10% Increase in Club Budget.' There are a total of seven Holy Grails, so the success rate is actually quite high."
"Setting aside the others, isn't that 'cannot refuse invitation ticket' a bit much?" Asakura asked, "Students will protest, won't they?"
"No problem. Before the school festival, didn't the Student Council issue an agreement to all students in the school?" Amakusa Shino retorted.
"That long, tedious safety precautions and commitment to abide by school festival safety regulations form was from the Student Council? I thought the school wanted to shirk responsibility in advance..." Asakura suddenly realized.
"The agreement for the invitation ticket is also included. If they sign that and then don't follow the rules, the Student Council has the right to punish them..." Amakusa Shino said.
"That's too sneaky! Is this really legal?" Asakura still felt something was off. He questioned, "And isn't it a bit excessive to punish students for something like this?"
"The punishment is that all subject teachers will thoroughly grade that student's summer homework, and if the accuracy rate is too low, they'll have to retake the exam..." Amakusa Shino explained.
"Are you a devil?! Does anyone actually do summer homework seriously?!"
"As the Student Council President..." the girl said proudly, tidying the armband that represented her position, "my authority is limitless."