Chapter 4: A New Perspective
My eyes began to flutter open, my body moaning at the miserable night of sleep. A loud thud on the door brought my immediate attention. A quick peek at my clock told me it was far too early for a Sunday. Sluggishly, I threw my blanket to the side. “Coming.” I half yelled at the door. In response, whoever it was knocked faster. Groaning as I reached the door, I pulled it open. To my surprise, a bright-eyed Naomi was standing in front of me, her arm raised ready to knock again.
My eyes went wide at her appearance. A light purple yukata with flowers adorning the design everywhere, a dark purple sash around her waist, and a fully caked up face that is made clear by her hair tied back and adorned with a bright, metallic flower. It’s honestly impressive, and I wondered if Ooe is wearing something similar. It would be nice to see what she looks like dressed up.
“Hisao! You took so long! Why do you look like you just woke up?” She said.
“Because I did.” The question was frustrating. Of course I look like that, it’s 7 in the morning! I should be sleeping until 10 today. Her inquisitive face looked as if she was really thinking about the possibility.
“Hm. Well, are you ready? We have to be out early to hand out pamphlets first.” Ah there it is. I knew there was going to be a catch with accepting the invitation. I let out an involuntary groan. “Don’t worry! It’s not all day. We just have to stack them outside the entrance. They’re smart enough to grab them on their own.” She flashed a smile that was hard to stay annoyed with.
“Okay okay, just let me get dressed.” While I closed the door, I noticed her eyes sweeping behind me, eyeing every detail. Journalists can’t ever turn it off, can they? I really don’t need her finding out little details about me. All I can manage is a sigh as I change into my day clothes and swallow the mess of pills. Slightly easier today, still sucks. When I opened the door again, Naomi was leaning on Kenji’s door, whistling some random tune. For her sake I hope he’s asleep.
“Ready? Let’s go!” She grabbed my hand and tugged me along towards the entrance.
“Hey! I don’t need to be dragged, I can find the door on my own. Is this what happens when Ooe isn’t here to keep you in check?” I struggled to pull my hand free, but she had a strong grip. Naomi doesn’t seem like the girl who willingly takes no for an answer. “Where is she anyways? Weird that you came to find me alone.” Her head barely turned as she replied.
“She didn’t want to know where your room was. Said I found it by unethical means, whatever that means.”
As we walked outside, I was hoping Ooe would be dressed as well as Naomi. Instead of a yukata, however, she was wearing a simple skirt and blouse combo. Essentially an out of school variation of our uniform. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed, I wanted to see her dressed up.
Almost as if she could read my mind, Naomi started in. “I know, how boring, right!” She began to twirl, holding her arms up so the sleeves could hang as well. “Here I am, all dolled up, and she’s dressed like it’s some normal day.” Ooe’s multicolor eyes narrowed as she scowled in her direction.
“You know why I refuse to wear one. It’s not worth the effort.” Her stare seemed to reach Naomi’s core, and honestly made me shiver. Naomi put her hands up and laughed awkwardly.
“You’re right, sorry…” Naomi said, her face looking towards the ground.
“Nakai didn’t dress up either.” Ooe said.
“In my defense, she woke me up about ten minutes ago. I had to throw on the nearest vest.” Ooe sighed and adjusted her glasses.
“Let's get the guides set up before it starts.” Ooe said as she turned towards the school.
Our walk to the newspaper room was quiet. Naomi still seemed to be affected by the penance stare from Ooe, and I’m still not awake yet. I kept bringing my hands up to my eyes, trying to rub the tiredness out of them.
Walking through the school felt odd. Only a few students were scrambling around, trying to finish up some last minute tasks. Other than that, it was empty. Deprived of the usual noise of conversation filled hallways and exhausted teachers making their way through the crowds. Our footsteps echoed through the space as we walked.
When we arrived at the clubroom, we were greeted by the stacks of pamphlets towering on the main table. Looking at them all at once, I’m a little more impressed by the work we accomplished in one day. I suppose even if it was a small part I still contributed to this festival.
“We will set up most of the pamphlets at a table by the main entrance. The remaining third we’ll have to set up towards the back. A few people sneak in that way every year.” Ooe said as she began to stack them in cardboard. Taking the initiative, I moved forward to help, as did Naomi. When they were separated, Ooe pushed the smaller box towards me.
“Hisao, me and Natsume will carry the heavy one to the front! Can you handle that by yourself?” Naomi asked with a smile on her face. I looked at it. Only a few dozen pamphlets in a light box.
“Yeah, should be able to do it pretty easily.”
“When you are finished, meet us at the food stalls. I think we should start our reviews with breakfast.” A light smile crossed her face, as she picked up the box with Naomi. I did the same, the box being as light as I imagined. Both groups headed out of the school, and once in the open air I went towards the back as they went forward.
The sun had already started to cut through the morning haze, and as I walked sweat was starting to slowly form. Even though the box wasn’t heavy, by the time I reached the table it was starting to strain in my arms. It was a farther distance than I realized. Setting the box down, I took my time to separate everything into piles. A few pamphlets splayed open, one or two made to look like they’ve been grabbed from a stack, and the rest front and center. Easy enough.
It was early enough that no one had started to come in yet. A quick glance at my watch showed 8:33. The event didn’t open until 9:30. As I stretched my arms, I looked around. Most of the stalls were set up completely, but there were a few groups that were running around rapidly to get things finished.
As I walked towards the front to meet the girls, I noticed Shizune and Misha talking to a group. Oddly enough, for once I didn’t hear Misha first. But as I neared the stall, I realized it was because everyone was signing with each other. Shizune quite angrily, a student from 1-1 looking like she might cry, and another that was desperately trying to get Shizune to leave them alone. Even for Misha, this was hard to follow. Her head turned back and forth until eventually she sighed and started looking around. Her eyes found mine and she gave a great big smile, then tapped on Shizune’s shoulder and pointed. She simply nodded and turned back away, while Misha waived. I waved back and kept walking, wondering why my presence warranted Shizune’s attention.
I found Naomi and Ooe a minute later. Naomi was standing quite elegantly as I walked up, but when she heard me she turned around quickly and dispelled any notion of the previous form.
“Hisao! Finally, I’m so hungry, but Ooe says we can’t get food unless all three of us are there so we can try ‘everything’. Let’s go! I saw an onigiri place that was mostly finished over here.” *Naomi grabbed my arm and quickly began pulling me along. Ooe followed, stepping a little behind us as we neared the stall.
A small girl, with dyed red highlights in her black hair and a short bob was running the stall. I wondered if she was a first year, but a sign on the stall said 3-3’s Onigiri Explosion. My class, but the girl running it didn’t look familiar. Have I really been that poor at meeting other classmates? The stall also included a row of onigiri on top, displaying the different options.
“Oh! Newspaper club, right?” The girl asked.
“Yup! I remember you, you’re Mio, right? We did an interview about youth fashion.” Naomi responded.
“Yup! That’s me!” She bowed forward, lifting the sides of her black skirt as she did. With her movement, I noticed the previously hidden prosthetic. Although, unlike Emi, it was her right leg and went beyond the knee. “Only one at this school with any sense. No one puts any effort. Except for you, Naomi. You look wonderful today.”
Naomi smiled and did a little twirl with her hands angled, lifting the sleeves away from her body. “You really think so? I had to wake up even earlier to get it done right!”
“Hi Mio. Sorry to interrupt, but this is the 3-3 stall, correct? Why are you running it?” Ooe asked.
“Oh! Well, my class had plenty of volunteers, and to be honest I didn’t want to be around fried food all day. And! 3-3 was practically begging for volunteers. That big guy in glasses, Taro? He knocked on our door all sweaty, asking if we could fill the morning slot. To make the onigiri for today, they had to wake up early to make them fresh. I’m just helping until they start to wake up from their naps.”
I felt a twinge in my gut at her explanation. I wasn’t expected to help of course, but choosing to help the newspaper club instead of the class project probably wasn’t the best course of action. Even Ooe and Naomi seemed to acknowledge this fact, as a slight shade of red appeared on their faces.
“That is very kind of you, Mio. Could we get one tuna mayo, one salmon, and one pickled plum? We want a variety to rank the stalls later. We will have three rankings! One, all food based stalls. Two, all entertainment, whether a haunted room or a cafe. And finally, we will release the money rankings to see who profited the most.” Ooe said.
“All to be released in our final festival special addition, tomorrow morning! Make sure to tell your friends!” Naomi added in. Mio nodded.
“On it!” She reached below the counter to grab the three we requested. Upon closer examination, the oinigiri on top were display only. Makes sense given the heat.
A moment later she reemerged with the three of them, then handed them to Ooe. With a wink she added “Make sure you give 3-3 and 3-4 high scores!”
“If they are worth it.” Ooe said, but then Naomi cut in front of her.
“It’s tough competition, Mio! The first years were talking about bribes to buy our praise. You’ll have to up your corruption game!” The two girls shared a laugh as we walked away to start our meal. “I like her, if only she joined our club instead of the board game club.”
Ooe handed an onigiri to each of us. “Give it a baseline score now, and I will keep track of everything in this notebook.” She pulled a small pad and pencil from her pocket, opening it to the first page. “At the end we will compare.”
I took off the plastic wrap then bit into mine. Salmon. Not the worst flavor in the world, but of the three it was the most boring. But it wasn’t dry as they tended to be, and the seaweed offered a good texture as my teeth tore through the rice.
“I’d say pretty good. Eight?” I give my ranking first.
“Eight.” “Seven.” Naomi said, followed by Ooe. Ooe recorded the scores then put the notebook away.
“There are six classes that have food in one shape or another. I would like to visit one every hour so that we space it out, otherwise we will become full much too quickly.” Said Ooe. Naomi nodded in agreement.
“Sounds good to me! As long as we get to visit the fun classes in between!” She responded. I simply nodded. There was no reason for me to contest her plan, I was just a guest.
“Naomi, earlier in the morning I think we should go towards the game stalls, don’t you think?” Naomi’s eyes lit up with a twinkle.
“Yes! I think 2-3 is the closest. Let’s go to that one!” She immediately began to turn and run off. I shoved the rest of my onigiri into my mouth and followed after her, with Ooe keeping up.
“That girl.” She said with an exasperated sigh, though a small smile appeared on her lips.
We finally caught up to her at a booth run by two girls I hadn’t met before. One was quite short with brown eyes, dark, neck length hair, and a flatter chest. The other was a taller girl, tanned, and with blonde back length hair. As I neared, I could hear bickering between the two.
“Three tries per 100 yen is the standard!” The shorter one yelled.
“Two tries per 100 yen is more money in the long run, do you want our class to get first in money or not? Besides, a lot of the parents coming today have money to burn.” Said the taller one, her face looking down at the angry girl, a smile playing on her face. Naomi, for her part, was seemingly standing a bit to the side, taking notes as she watched. Ooe came up behind her, closing her notebook abruptly.
“We are here to try the booths, not get next week’s scoop.” Naomi responded with pulled back eyes and held the notebook to her chest.
“But think about the headlines! Class 2-3 bullies poor girl into scamming the festival goers.” The taller one turns towards Naomi, now hearing her voice.
“We are not scamming! Just changing for our audience. Newspaper club gets to try until you win one.” She winked, and I looked at the stall they had set up. It was a classic version of Yo-Yo Balloon. A large container of water filled with firm water balloons. Each water balloon had a rubber band that formed a small loop at the end of it. To play the game, you were given a very thin paper string with a hook at the end. Fish out the balloon and you could keep it, simple enough. But it was still difficult. The paper would get wet and constantly break when you pulled it up. Two tries per 100 yen is a little ridiculous.
“Two tries only for 100 yen? That is a little much, don’t you think? Not everyone wins, and it's very cheap for you to make those balloons and hooks” Ooe says as she looks over the stall, her eyes scanning them. The short one nods.
“See! Even she agrees.”
“Tch.” The taller one doesn’t seem happy about the backup against her idea, but Naomi cuts in.
“It makes sense, don’t you think? I mean, a lot of the donors who come to the festival earn quite a bit. A little upcharge never hurts anyone.” This prompts the tall one to cross her arms under her chest, gloating.
“Exactly! More money from those that can afford it. We should go for it.” But then both pairs of girls look at me, their motives spoken clearly without words. Picking a side sounds like too much trouble, so I racked my brain until I came up with a solution.
“What if the three of us play the game? If we get it in three, then you should move it to two tries per payment. Since it's too easy. But if we can’t, then I think it's fair.” The two girls behind the booth seemed to take their time thinking it over. But then they both nod in unison.
“Fair enough” “Okay!” They spoke at the same time. So then the three of us ended up squatting next to the big pool. Naomi’s eyes glistened with bright fire, and Ooe had a calmer but extremely focused look . Naomi went first and plunged her hook into the water. She pulled up triumphantly, but it broke when she went too fast. Ooe giggled.
“Naomi. You have to take your time with it. Watch.” Her hook dangled a bit on the surface, then went just below when she neared the rubber loop. But she took too long. When she slowly pulled the hook up, the paper was soggy and snapped. Naomi responded eagerly.
“Oh? I watched very closely. Looks like you broke it.” She laughed as Ooe’s giggle turned to a frown. It was my turn, and all the girls were once again looking at me. Trying my best to learn from their mistakes, I kept my hook out of the water until the last possible moment. I saw the loop float to the top perfectly and dipped my hook. It was in the water for just a moment before I pulled straight back up. My pressure was consistent, not an abrupt pull, and I held my breath as the balloon was pulled. Then, I had it. Fully out of the water, unbroken.
My chest felt a surge of happiness as I smiled and laughed. I looked up at the two girls, Naomi was cheering loudly and Ooe had the faintest smile on her lips. My own face had a smile, perhaps the first one in a while. The tall one cheered while the smaller one behind the booth pouted a bit.
“2 tries per 100 it is.” She huffed. Right, the bet. I looked towards Ooe and Naomi again, and I saw Ooe glance. Her eyes were patient but they flickered back to the balloon as I held it in my hands. For a few seconds I thought it over, then held it out to her.
“Here. Since you lost your argument, you know. I figured you could have this as a way to make up for it. I don’t want to carry it around all day.” I said with indifference. But even as Ooe fought to control herself, I saw the way her eyes lit up with glee as she reached out for it. Before she spoke, she cleared her throat.
“Well, thank you, Nakai. I appreciate it.” Her hand reached out slowly and she took it with a small smile. But the minute she had it, her wrist gently began to flex up and down to bounce it.
“Eight, because the game was fun but I didn’t win.” Naomi said with a laugh.
“Eight from me as well. You guys really shouldn’t be arguing all day if you want customers.” I said.
“Ten” Ooe said, pausing the bouncing just long enough to record our scores in the notebook. Afterwards, we said goodbye to the two behind the stall and made our way around the rest of the festival. It officially opened which caused our speed to slow down dramatically as the lines for some stalls were becoming very long. In particular, 1-1 had an ice cream stall that we waited in for ten minutes, but it was simply store bought ice cream that earned a measly 5/10 from us. Naomi suggested they could have done shaved ice instead, and I agreed. Effort means a lot in a festival like that, though I suppose I shouldn’t judge others effort.
In the early afternoon after we visited most of classes, we ended up in the place I least expected. Members of 3-1 walked around us as we sat at a small table with frilly decorations covering the sides. A small vase of red plastic flowers sat in the middle, and girls in classic maid costumes moved around us. It was an interesting sight. The maid costumes were old fashioned, covering everything and making them look like the real deal. But a few girls wore hearring aids and some had advance looking cochlear implants attached to their heads. It was a unique contrast between the historical look and the modern tools. I could hear distant yelling from the classroom next door, probably from the ones preparing the orders.
For once, Naomi was quiet, her face a bit red as she slowly sipped at her tea. On the other hand, Ooe was observant. Her eyes watched every detail, notes being recorded at frightening speed.
“Their uniforms are nice, but you can tell from the way the fabric bunches they haven’t been tailored. I wouldn’t expect a school festival to do that much, but it must count against them nonetheless. They seated us well enough, but the way they deliver the food will be a true test. Not the food quality itself, mind you. That is never important. Only the delivery.” Her voice was consistent, professional. It scared me a little.
“Ooe? Do you possibly do this type of thing often?” Her eyes flashed to me for a second before going back to observe the way the maids moved around the room.
“Often enough. Part of why I was asked to join the newspaper club was my previous blog work. I wrote about a new cafe once a month for a couple of years. As I learn more, my criteria grow stricter. Though, I give leeway to amateur events like this. Part of me is impressed with the way their uniforms blend into their aids. Most maids remove anything not strictly related to the costume, even piercings. So, this is a unique change.”
“I still feel uncomfortable. Don’t you think it’s weird how cute they try to act? And the whole welcome home master part gives me the shivers.” Naomi responds, looking at me with pleading eyes.
“I have never actually been to one. It’s alright, so far. Uniforms look cute.” I remember when Shin wanted to go, and I had agreed at the time. But Mai threatened to beat us if we went, calling us perverts. So, our trip to Akihabara was cut short. Ooe’s eyes flashed with respect as she nodded.
“They are cute uniforms today. I will give them that. Whoever designed the costumes did their job well.” Ooe said, just as our orders started to come through. Naomi had ordered a parfait, Ooe a piece of spongecake, and I chose the omelette rice. They placed the spongecake in front of her, and to Naomi’s horror they did a magical spell to increase the flavor. It was quite amusing to see the different reactions. Naomi, normally the excited one, held shocked eyes and could only stare. Ooe had a weird smile on her face as she watched the spell.
When my omelette was placed in front of me though, my breath caught momentarily in surprise. Drawn on top was a heart with ketchup. While normal, it was a reminder of my problems when I had gone most of the day so far without thinking about it. Naomi noticed my annoyance and looked towards me with a small bit of worry.
“Did they get it wrong, Hisao?” She asked. I shook my head, steeling my face.
“No no, just didn’t expect the heart is all. But it looks better than I expected.” I dug into it with my spoon and took a bite. The flavor wasn’t anything special, but for a school project better than nothing. Ooe started to eat her cake with a focused intensity while Naomi dug into her parfait with relish. We stayed quiet as we ate except for the noises of pleasure coming from Naomi every so often. At the end Ooe continued her rapid scribbling of notes.
“Ten,” I said. The omelette wasn’t terrible and they nailed the aesthetic, so they earned a high score from me.
“Six” Naomi said. “I still don’t like it, but the parfait was amazing!” Ooe seemed to be in deep thought as her eyes stared at the notepad. With a flurry, she wrote her score and spoke.
“Nine. They did well for an amateur event, though their service at times left something to be desired.” With the scores finished, we stood and left together. This was the last one on the list, so Ooe started to lead us to the newspaper room.
“Hisao, if you could help us with the rankings. We don’t have to write a lot, we usually just give a short blurb about each stall and then publish it in the morning. But me and Naomi always disagree on placings, so we would appreciate it if you could vote in ties.” I nodded.
“Happy to help, I was able to enjoy the festival all day thanks to you guys.” And so we set to work. Ooe was typing like a machine, and gave every stall a short description. Within two hours we had a list compiled for the two categories, though the majority of that time was Naomi and Ooe arguing where to place everything.
There was a good amount of stalls for each category, and it came down to the wire for the final rankings but we finally had the lists.
Food:
2-2 Karaage
3-3 Onigiri
3-2 Noodles
3-4 Takoyaki
1-1 Icecream
Entertainment:
Maid Cafe
1-4 Pet Cafe
2-1 Concert
2-3 Game Stall
1-3 Play
2-4 Haunted Room
1-2 Game Stall
The maid cafe ranking took the longest. Ooe was adamant it deserved the number one spot, but Naomi refused to allow something so weird to be that high. In the end I broke it up by saying I liked it that high too, and told Naomi we can put the pet cafe second instead of third as a compromise. Which we agreed at first was too high, seeing as it was just the student’s own pets running around a classroom, but she loved it since a dog licked her face. It also had the unintended effect of knocking down the concert which was extremely well done. Another student from 3-3 was involved in that though, which explained why our class was scrambling for volunteers from elsewhere even more.
Naomi stretched across the table while Ooe was at the computer writing up the section for the earnings section. We had reports throughout the day, so we knew who would end up where, but we had to wait for the final numbers before printing.
“Naomi, you know we will have to come after the fireworks to get this printed, right?” Naomi groaned from the table.
“I knoooow.” Her voice dragged. “But it’s worth it for all the yummy food I got to eat today.”
“There’s fireworks too?” My old school held festivals occasionally, but we never warranted fireworks at the end of them. Part of my voice held a level of excitement. Naomi smiled.
“Yup! Natsume and I found this spot in the woods last year. It’s close to the fireworks, so you have to look nearly straight up. It’s great.”
“We should actually get going now. It takes a few minutes to get out there.” Ooe said. Naomi jumped off of the table.
“Let’s go!” She said as I followed them outside, a small smile on my face. Watching fireworks with them sounded nice, like something friends would do. I guess, at this point we are? I’ve been spending a lot of time around them, but it’s been just as a helper. I wonder what they think. Naomi seems overly friendly to everyone, so maybe Ooe is the bigger test.
As we walked across the school grounds, we neared the forest path. Tall thin trees that created the forest. There was plenty of room around them which allowed moonlight to fly through the green leaves that hummed softly in the wind. I could see deep within the trees the local shrine. Naomi stopped at the edge. She whispered something to Ooe, then took off in the opposite direction.
“Hm? Where is she going?” I asked Ooe. She continued onto the path, barely turning to me.
“She will join us when she can. Has something last minute she forgot about. Don’t worry, she is fast.” It was quiet now with the two of us. As we walked further into the forest, the distant crowd was steadily forgotten and only the sound of cicadas could be heard in the quiet night. It was the first time outside of the morning swim that me and her were alone. Quiet was expected.
“Ooe. Thank you for inviting me today. I enjoyed it, even if I had to help carry pamphlets around.” Her ear twitched when she heard me speak.
“No worries, Nakai. We appreciate your help.” Short and to the point. I kicked at a random pebble as we walked. Her mouth opened before closing again. She squeezed the water balloon in her hands. I hadn’t noticed she still had it. After a few seconds she spoke. “Naomi - well - we were wondering if you would like to join the newspaper club officially?” Her face kept straight ahead while she spoke, but I still noticed the tips of her ears glowing red.
“Really?” I said surprised. “I don’t have much experience writing articles, or reporting. I just like to read, really.”
“That’s no problem. You can help edit and with printing days. That would be more than enough.” I took a minute to think it over. I have enjoyed the time spent with them this week, and I guess the work isn’t that hard. It’s not like the school has a literature club, so I don’t have many other options. Sports are out of the question and I can’t paint to save my life. Could be worse than hanging out with two cute girls after school.
“Sure, I can do that.” She nodded her head a little stiffer than usual.
“Good. Good.” We stopped as we entered the clearing behind the shrine, a nice open spot in the trees in the direction of the school grounds was visible. I turned around as I heard the clop of wooden sandals quickly approaching.
“Oh good! I didn’t miss them. The line for the bathroom was so long, I had to run here.” Naomi was bent over, her breathing ragged as sweat dripped from her forehead. Ooe turned to say something, but then a loud boom interrupted us. I looked up at the sky which was starting to light up with an explosion of colors. Blue, red, green, purple, fireworks of all different colors darted the sky with the occasional golden shower mixed in. We all became mesmerized by the sight. This spot was close enough that I could hear the explosions as they came, feeling the shockwave just moments before.
Each explosion lit up the three of us, and I looked down just enough to notice Natsume’s eyes. They seemed to shine brighter than the bursts of color did. The details on her face were fully magnified in the contrast of darkness and explosions. It was the first time I ever truly looked and studied her face. The way her glasses framed her face, the gentle curve of her cheeks. I was going to be spending a lot of time with her in the coming weeks, between the morning swims and the club meetings. The bass from a particularly large firework reverberated in my chest, and I felt a smile tug at my lips as I turned back to the fireworks. For the first time in months, I looked forward to tomorrow.
