Friday arrived to end the week as always.
This normally would have been the beginning
of another boring day, but today they had no classes.
As one of the school’s unique events, they
spent an entire day holding a beauty pageant. And as practice for the school
festival held in fall, refreshment stands were set up in addition to the stage.
The students had dubbed it the Little Festival or the L-Fest for short.
“Honestly, I can’t believe she asked me to
do this.”
Akiya complained to himself while looking
up at the stage that looked more like the set for an idol concert than a school
beauty pageant.
He was not part of the student council, but
in the week leading up to the L-Fest, he had helped out on the direct orders of
the student council president.
He complained, but he had also hoped
helping out would give him a chance to have sex with her again. Unfortunately,
they had not done anything since having sex in the car, so he felt half dead
inside.
And today he had been given a cutting-edge
movie camera and digital camera as Yunori’s dedicated cameraman.
He was about ready to ask her just what he
was to her.
“Why do I have to do this?”
He walked limply toward the best spot to
shoot from.
He wanted her to ask someone else to take
care of these odd jobs. If possible, he wanted to see her on the beauty pageant
stage from the audience like everyone else.
“But maybe this is for the best.”
After some thought, he realized it was a
good thing he was doing this.
Once he calmed down, he decided he would
not enjoy having someone else filming or photographing her. If someone filmed
her with their ulterior motives on full display, he would probably get mad
enough to punch them.
“But why are there so many people here?”
As soon as he arrived in front of the
stage, he flinched back a little from the number of people pressing in around
him.
Boys with cameras were shouting angrily and
fighting for the best spot to get a good shot.
“Do I have to get in the middle of this?”
He knew how fanatical people got about the
beauty pageant, but he had not expected the fight for the front row to begin so
early.
They probably all wanted to see the
president who had won the past two years, but they were on the verge of
rioting.
“Hihiro-san, over here.”
A girl the president had asked to hold a
spot called out to him, so he walked her way.
But as soon as he arrived, he felt
countless murderous looks stabbing into him.
He had been let into the stage side of the
fence keeping everyone out. He was the only one there, so no one would get in
his way and he could film from any angle he wanted.
“Oh, and please wear this on your sleeve.”
The upperclassman girl handed him an
armband that said “Student Council”, but he kind of wished he had been given
this before arriving.
The surrounding gazes had settled down once
they realized he was with the student council, but he still felt some prickling
deadly looks on his back.
(I hope they get started soon.)
The looks stabbing into his back produced a
cold sweat as he earnestly hoped for the pageant to begin. He knew the
president would likely be the final contestant to appear, but as things were,
he had no guarantee he would survive to the end of the event.
(Well, I’m sure Yunori’s going to win
either way.)
Even as he feared for his life, he could
predict the outcome well enough.
It seemed wrong for the student council
president to win an event hosted by the student council, but everyone expected
her to be a shoo-in.
Incidentally, Yunori was known as the queen
of the school both because she was the daughter of the school’s administrator
and because she had won this beauty pageant two years in a row.
“The day all you boys have been waiting for
is finally here! And you won’t believe how many contestants we have for you
today!”
After a loud sound effect, the stage’s
lights turned on and a girl from the broadcast club appeared as the energetic
host.
“First… First, let’s listen to me sing…
Just kidding! Check out this swimsuuuuuuuit!”
No matter how much anyone tried to deny it,
this was what the beauty pageant came down to. The host girl threw off her
uniform like it was a cloak to reveal a light blue bikini.
“Ohhhhhhhhh!”
A tremor ran through the crowd as they roared
in excitement at the girl’s swimsuit.
“Nya ha ha ha ha. Now, that’s what I like
to hear. Okay, our first contestant is the ace of our girl’s basketball team
who joined the school just this year. Her boyish charm will…’
The host girl called a girl in a basketball uniform to the stage. At the same
time, camera’s flashed and the year’s beauty pageant truly began.