"My name's Misaki, by the way; Misaki Ayuzawa." "Usui Takumi."
I still don't understand a thing about him. He's kind to me and says such nice things…. Things no one has ever said to me before. But…. "Trust me, Misaki; that player is bad news. From what I've heard he's a womanizer and a cheat." But….
"Hey, Misaki? You who, earth to Misaki?" My back instinctively flinched as a guy named Hinata waved his hand in front of my face. I blinked to him, then the rest of the crowd currently looking my way. "Sorry, what was that?" The awkwardness was growing by the second. "We were asking if you had any ideas for the cultural festival," one of my friends, Shizuko, informed me. "Oh, uh…. not really," I replied sheepishly; I hadn't thought about the festival at all.
"Come on, you guys; the cultural festival's a big deal. Our class needs to think of something good this year. This year college recruitment officers will be coming; if you want a chance at getting into a good university, you'll need to impress them," Hinata crossed his arms while addressing the group. "We all want to get into university," a boy named Takezawa noted. "Then help us think of something," Hinata shot back. I sat back in my chair while gazing out of the classroom window. That's right; they're all going to start the application process for Japanese universities soon. Meanwhile I've already been accepted into Amsterdam….
"Man, I don't know. Does anyone have experience with food or cooking? Maybe we could have a stall," a guy, I didn't know his name, suggested with a shrug. "A stall? Really? There's university reps coming and you wanna do a food stall?" Hinata clearly wasn't impressed, sending him a side-glare. "Well, what do you want? No one else has come up with any better ideas." "Someone must have something; we do this eveeeeeeeery year," our leader rolled his eyes.
I guess I'd been staring out into space for too long again because before I knew it my lips parted an unconscious sliver and Shizuko peered at me. "Misaki?" "Huh?" "Whatcha thinking about?" "Oh, nothing…." This caught Hinata's attention as he turned his head in my direction once more. "If you've thought of anything, don't be afraid to say it. We're just throwing ideas around now; it'd be easier if we had more." "Uh, I don't know…. I was just thinking." "About what?" He encouraged. I drew in a deep breath; it's not that I'm shy or don't want to say my thoughts out loud. It's just…. my mind was on Amsterdam at the moment, and I didn't want to arouse any unnecessary suspicion.
"How about a café?" I heard myself tell the group; my brain wasn't so opposed to this once I realized what I'd done. "A café?" Everyone blinked in surprise; I suppose that was a bit astonishing coming from me. "Yeah. It's a cultural festival, after all; it doesn't have to be a traditional Japanese café. It could be….." I was about to finish my sentence when my mind finally stopped me. "Could be what?" Takezawa urged me to go on. "Uh… erm…. it could be well, something different- culturally different. Maybe…. European?" "A European-style café?" Shizuko reiterated curiously. "Mmmmmm, it's not the worst idea. Only what would we serve? None of us have been to Europe before," Hinata considered while rubbing his thumb under his chin.
I shrugged, trying not to look too guarded. "We could learn to make things. French pastries, Italian coffee….. Dutch waffles?" "I guess we could. But would that be enough to impress the reps?" One guy pondered also rubbing his chin. "If we do them well enough," Shizuko replied. "Well, I guess we don't have any other options. Until someone thinks of a better idea, we might as well go with the café idea," Hinata let out a sigh. "But who will be the servers?" And I shyly raised up my hand. "I can do that," and I'll do it while wearing European-style clothing.
