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 a campus culture festival in China.

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

Class exhibitions are organized by class, conducting activities such as sales, displays, or services, while club exhibitions are organized by club, conducting activities such as performances, competitions, games, selling handmade products, or selling club publications.

However, what many people do not know is that while a small portion of the campus festivals widely held by various Japanese universities are historical traditions, the vast majority are byproducts of the student movements in Japan during the 60s and 70s.

……

On Friday morning, Asano Aiko drove to the front of Akiwara Yuto's house, and after he got into the car, she drove to their destination—the site of the "VERA Festival" at Tokyo Woman's Christian University.

After getting out of the car, Akiwara Yuto took out his notebook, preparing to record things properly; after all, these were good materials that could be written into a novel and shouldn't be wasted easily.

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

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

Walking step by step into the crowd, Akiwara Yuto clicked his tongue in wonder as he looked 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 she was invited to go to the school festival the day before yesterday, she had agreed subconsciously.

But after returning, 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 grateful for his help toward her all this time, but she thought that he had always treated her as a work partner and didn't have those kinds of feelings. Moreover, she also believed that he was pursuing that Miss Ikawa.

But somehow, she also had a feeling of small joy in her heart, always feeling that she was finally being valued by him.

These complex emotions gave her a sense of guilt that she couldn't put into words, to the point that she hadn't slept well in bed for these two days.

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

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

Akiwara Yuto did not know her thoughts. Seeing the flow of people on the road increasing, he subconsciously grabbed Asano Aiko's wrist and pulled her to the side to avoid the two of them being separated by the crowd.

After Asano Aiko discovered that her wrist had been grabbed, she was surprised.

She found that her face was a little hot, but she didn't refuse; instead, she lowered her head slightly and followed Akiwara Yuto silently to the side.

After walking for a distance, Akiwara Yuto saw that there were fewer people, so he 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 bit of a sense of loss; she herself didn't know if Akiwara Yuto had done it on purpose or unintentionally, but in any case, the feeling in her heart was 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 stall selling taiyaki.

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

Akiwara Yuto handed one to Asano Aiko, and then he also began to eat.

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

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

Akiwara Yuto tore open the packaging and bit off the "fish head" in one go, finding that it was a bit like the red bean cakes he ate in his previous 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 glanced at Asano Aiko and found that she was still eating slowly, so he looked at the watch on his left wrist and found that it was already almost 9:40.

Asano Aiko noticed his movement and asked, "Akiwara, is there something the matter?"

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 little confused, but she quickly reacted: "Is it the one you served as the screenwriter for?"

Akiwara Yuto had indeed told her about the stage play before, but she hadn't paid attention to it, 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 little angry, feeling that she was truly crazy for having so many wild thoughts.

At this moment, the number of people in the venue increased again, and many people were walking toward the direction of the theater. Worried about getting separated, Akiwara Yuto said "sorry" and grabbed Asano Aiko's wrist again, pulling her forward.

If they didn't go early, there might not be any extra seats left in the theater later, so it was better to enter a little early.

Asano Aiko discovered that she had been grabbed again. She wanted to pull away, but for some reason, she didn't do so.

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

Why did she care so much about him?

Akiwara Yuto held her wrist, dodging the crowd all the way, and finally arrived at the location where the stage play was being performed. He let go of her hand, took out his wallet, and purchased tickets from a female student wearing a work uniform—they were two seats in the third row in the middle—the location was a bit average.

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

Another girl acting as a staff member opened the door and let the two of them walk in.

Akiwara Yuto brought Asano Aiko inside, and as he walked, he began to look around at this 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 filled.

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 saw two middle-aged men in gray suits being guided by staff to the VIP seats in the back.

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

At this moment, the lights in the venue dimmed, the curtain on the stage slowly opened, and the performers began to appear one by one...