Chapter 48: School Festival

In Japanese, "matsuri" means festival, celebration, or temple fair, so the Japanese "school festival" is equivalent to a school celebration, similar to China's campus culture festival.

In terms of form, the main participants of the activities are classes and clubs.

Class exhibitions are mainly based on classes, conducting sales, exhibitions, or service activities; club exhibitions are based on clubs, conducting performances, competitions, games, selling self-made products, or selling club journals.

However, what many people don't know is that the school festivals widely held by various universities in Japan, except for a small part that are historical traditions, are mostly byproducts of the student movements in Japan in the 60s and 70s.

On Friday morning, Asano Aiko drove to Akiwara Yuto's door. After the latter got in the car, she drove to the destination—the "VERA Festival" site at Tokyo Woman's Christian University.

After getting out of the car, Akiwara Yuto took out his notebook, preparing to record well; after all, these are good materials that can be written into novels and cannot be wasted easily.

As soon as the two walked into the school gate, several tall girls in maid uniforms were waving their hands with signs in one hand, while enthusiastically greeting them.

Both sides of the road were filled with all kinds of small stalls; some were selling oden and other food, some were small activities like goldfish scooping, and some were students playing and singing with small guitars...

Walking step by step into the crowd, Akiwara Yuto clicked his tongue in wonder at these stalls, while constantly writing something in his notebook.

Beside him, Asano Aiko, who had dressed up specially, couldn't help but roll her eyes at him.

After being invited to go to the school festival the day before yesterday, she had agreed subconsciously.

But after going back, her whole mind was blank, and she didn't know what she had said.

She felt that Akiwara Yuto was very excellent and was also very grateful for his help to her all along, but she thought that the other party had always treated her as a work partner and didn't have that kind of view. Moreover, she also thought that the other party was pursuing that Miss Ikawa.

But for some reason, she also had a little joy in her heart, always feeling that she was finally valued by him.

These complex emotions gave her an unspeakable sense of guilt, so much so that she hadn't slept well in bed for the past two days.

However, for this "date," she specially applied pink nail polish, changed into the skirt she had just bought, and put on high heels that could make her look taller, but the other party didn't even look at her the whole way.

She was a little discouraged; she felt that she might have misunderstood Akiwara Yuto, and it turned out that the purpose of coming today was still work.

Akiwara Yuto didn't know her thoughts. Seeing that the crowd on the road was getting larger and larger, he subconsciously grabbed Asano Aiko's wrist and pulled her to the side to avoid them being separated by the crowd.

Asano Aiko was surprised after discovering that her wrist was grabbed.

She found that her face was a bit hot, but she didn't refuse, instead lowering her head slightly and silently following Akiwara Yuto to the side.

After walking for a while, seeing that there were fewer people, Akiwara Yuto took the initiative to let go of her hand, then pointed to a small stall not far away and said with a smile: "Asano, let's go eat something."

Asano Aiko felt a sense of loss; she didn't know whether Akiwara Yuto was intentional or unintentional, but her feelings were strange.

She was a bit distracted, but after hearing Akiwara Yuto's suggestion, she came back to her senses, nodded, and was led by him to that stall—this was a small stall selling taiyaki.

After Akiwara Yuto paid, the female college student acting as a server at the stall enthusiastically helped them pack it and brought it over.

Akiwara Yuto handed one to Asano Aiko, and then he started eating too.

Taiyaki, although it has the word "fish" in its name, is actually a snack made of flour, sugar, and other materials. However, its shape is that of a fish, which is why it got this name.

It is precisely because of its shape that three major schools have even derived, including eating from the head, eating from the tail, and eating from the belly.

Akiwara Yuto tore open the package and bit off the "fish head," finding it a bit like the red bean cakes he ate in his past life, slightly sweet—he was a little disappointed; after all, he was a grown man and didn't have much interest in this kind of dessert.

After he finished eating, he looked at Asano Aiko, found that she was still eating slowly, and then glanced at the watch on his left hand, finding that it was almost 9:40.

Asano Aiko noticed his action and asked: "Akiwara, is there something?"

Akiwara Yuto nodded and replied: "It's almost time, let's go to the theater to watch the stage play."

"Stage play?" Asano Aiko was a bit puzzled, but she quickly reacted: "Is it the one you are the screenwriter for?"

Akiwara Yuto had indeed told her about the stage play before, but she didn't pay attention, only thinking that he was using this as an excuse to pursue Ikawa Akemi.

Unexpectedly...

She suddenly seemed to realize that the purpose of coming today was to watch Ikawa Akemi's performance?

What is this? Inviting me to be a third wheel?

She was a bit angry, feeling that she was really crazy to have so many wild thoughts.

At this time, there were more people on the field, and many people were walking toward the theater. Akiwara Yuto was worried about getting separated, said "sorry," and grabbed Asano Aiko's wrist again, pulling her forward.

If they don't go early, there might not be any extra seats in the theater later, so they should enter a little earlier.

Asano Aiko found that she was grabbed again. She wanted to let go, but for some reason, she didn't do so.

Looking at Akiwara Yuto's slightly thin back, she suddenly realized another problem.

Why does she care so much about the other party?

Akiwara Yuto pulled her wrist, dodging the crowd all the way, and finally walked to the location of the stage play. He let go of her hand, took out his wallet, and bought tickets from a female student in work clothes—they were two seats in the middle of the third row—the position was a bit average.

However, he didn't care, as long as it didn't particularly affect the viewing.

Another girl acting as a staff member pushed open the door, letting the two of them walk in.

Akiwara Yuto took Asano Aiko inside, and while walking, he began to size up the theater.

This theater was not particularly large, but it could accommodate about 1,000 seats. By the time they came in, more than half of the seats were already full.

The two looked at the tickets in their hands, walked to the corresponding seats according to the address on them, and sat down.

At this time, Akiwara Yuto heard a slight commotion in the distance. He looked up and found two middle-aged men in gray suits being guided by staff to the VIP seats in the back row.

He had a guess in his heart, suspecting that one of them was the detective novelist Ikawa Akemi mentioned.

At this time, the lights on the field dimmed, the curtains on the stage slowly opened, and the performers began to appear one by one... ===== CHAPTER 49 =====