Chapter 4 - Duel Festival
Many people with communication disorders have a disposition which does not allow them to join their friends when they see them with someone whom they don't know.
And the emotion they feel…
Is something that others might call jealousy.
—————
12PM
Komi was waiting in the kitchen for the next order when Otori Kaede called out to her.
"Hello Komi-san!" Otori said slowly.
Komi looked over to see her.
"Najimi-san said your break is early, so you and I can go now. I was wondering if you wanted to explore the festival with me?"
Komi froze. She pointed to her skirt and pulled out her notebook.
'My skirt is too short, I don't want to go outside,' Komi wrote.
Otori wondered why she wrote in a notebook instead of talking but didn't decide to question it.
"That's fine. Do you just want to hang out in the storage room then?" Otori said.
Komi paused then did a small nod.
—————
Meanwhile…
"So where do you want to go first?" asked Tadano.
"Do you want to go to the fortune teller?" replied Onemine, pointing at a pair of purple curtains with a sign above.
The duo walked through the curtains and saw a table with a lady sat behind it.
"Would you like me to read your fortunes?" the lady said deeply.
"Sure!" Onemine replied cheerfully.
"Offer me your palm."
Onemine stretched her hand out and the lady started tracing her fingers around Onemine's hand.
"This tickles!" thought Onemine.
Rubbing Onemine's lower palm the lady said, "Your hand is emitting affection energy. This means that you have met your soulmate, and that you will be together in the coming two years."
The woman moved to Onemine's upper palm. "You will get married at 25 and will have 2 kids," she said mysteriously.
"I shall now do the young man," stated the fortune teller.
Tadano placed his hand out.
The lady traced his palm and said, "Your reading is the same as your friend here."
Onemine was now incredibly flustered.
Tadano, oblivious to the implications replied, "Oh that's strange," Tadano paused. "Anyways, thanks for the fortune telling!"
Onemine and Tadano walked out back through the curtains.
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Or the fortune teller was wrong. Yeah, that's it! Fortune telling is quite unreliable after all!" Onemine reassured herself in her mind.
"That was weird," thought Tadano.
—————
Otori and Komi were sitting down at a table in the storage room connected to the maid cafe. The room was dark and dusty and had fluorescent lights.
Otori and Komi were asking each other questions and getting to know each other.
'I saw you talking with Onemine-san earlier. Are you two friends?' wrote Komi.
"Yeah we've been friends since elementary school. She's really nice isn't she?" Otori replied cheerfully.
Komi nodded hesitantly.
Otori started talking and Komi did the same with her notebook, they talked about school, what they enjoy and other things.
After a while Komi paused. She wanted to ask Otori if she wanted to be friends but she had never been able to do so without Tadano. Collecting her thoughts she wrote, 'Hey Otori-san, do you want to be my friend?'
Komi winced. Otori smiled and nodded.
—————
Tadano and Onemine were walking away from the fortune teller. Tadano turned to face Onemine.
"So where do you want to go next Onemine-san?" Tadano asked.
"Um, I decided last time, you should get to choose this time," Onemine replied.
"In that case, I heard that some of our classmates were in a band playing a concert at the gym, how about there?"
"Sure!"
The two started walking to the school's gymnasium.
—————
Komi breathed a sigh of relief. Otori had agreed to be her friend!
Otori and Komi picked up the conversation from where they had left off.
"Are you friends with Nene-chan as well?" Otori asked Komi.
'Yes, about two weeks ago she became my friend. Although I don't know too much about her, she mostly talks to Tadano,' Komi wrote.
"Oh, that's unusual, she normally quite talkative. In that case do you want me to tell you about her?" Otori replied.
Komi nodded.
"Well she cares for everyone, kind of like how a big sister would. She was a big fan of anime. She still is but she hides that now," said Otori, getting more melancholy.
"Nene-chan was very different in middle school. She had pigtails and was a really big otaku. She would always be reading manga and doing impressions of characters from them while hanging out with me during lunch breaks," Otori said gloomily.
'What happened?' wrote Komi.
"She was bullied about it, but she didn't seem to mind. However, the bullying became worse and worse. Onemine tried to pretend she didn't care but I found her multiple times crying at remote places at the school. Eventually she changed her hair style, stopped bringing manga to school and stopped doing her impressions."
Otori was on the brink of crying.
"She threw away her entire personality. It felt like she was a different person. She also seemed sad to change who she was. Worst of all, I didn't even try do anything to help! I was afraid of being bullied as well!"
Otori burst into tears. Komi was surprised and stood up and walked towards Otori to comfort her.
"It-t's n-not fa-ir! S-he did-n't de-ser-ve it!" Otori cried.
Komi wiped away Otori's tears and hugged her.
"I'm worried for Nene-chan. The girl who bullied her is at this school and I don't know want her to be scared or anything like that."
Komi scribbled quickly on her notebook.
'Who bullied Onemine-san?' in very messy handwriting.
"Yamai Ren," Otori whispered, holding back tears.
—————
Onemine and Tadano were nearly at the gymnasium when they decided to stop to get Onemine some food. Tadano had omurice earlier at the maid cafe but Onemine hadn't eaten since breakfast.
"So, what do you want to eat?" asked Tadano, standing in front of a section of the festival with a group of food stands in front of them.
Onemine looked around then exclaimed, "Oh, they have baked potatoes! Those are my favourite!"
"I'll get a baked potato while you reserve a spot for the band, sound good?" said Tadano.
"Oh sure!" Onemine replied, jogging to the nearby gym.
Tadano walked towards the potato stand. It was striped yellow and red and had a potato sticker on the front.
"Hello there how can I help you?" kindly asked the student running the stand.
Tadano forgot to ask Onemine what topping she wanted! Suddenly, he remembered Onemine saying something about her favourite potato topping back when he was at her house.
"Can I get a baked potato with the skin taken off and aioli on top please?" Tadano responded.
About a two minutes later Tadano was handed his potato and ran off to find Onemine.
—————
Onemine had found a spot on the sidelines of the gym where not many people were and waited for Tadano. Not soon after, he entered the gymnasium and started walking towards the side where Onemine was.
Tadano handed Onemine her baked potato.
"Thank you!" Onemine looked down at the potato. "Tadano-kun, how did you know what order I wanted? I forgot to tell you!"
"Oh, you said how you like potatoes when me and Komi were at your house," Tadano replied.
Onemine smiled at Tadano.
"I can't believe he remembered that! I didn't even remember telling him that until he told me!" thought Onemine.
Onemine felt a weird feeling in her chest.
"Hey Tadano-kun, I'll pay you back as soon as I can because I don't have any money on me. Sorry!" Onemine apologised.
"No. You don't need to pay me back," Tadano stated firmly.
Onemine didn't know what to say. Her phone beeped in her pocket but she completely missed it.
After a bit of silence, Onemine exclaimed, "Oh look, the band's about to start!"
Up on stage five girls walked out. Nakanaka and Yamai were among them.
Nakanaka tapped the mic. "Hello, thy populous! I am Arvot Les Primavera though some of you may know me as Nakanaka Omoharu! We are Perro Rabioso and these are my associates, Ojousa Mako, Hanya Toumatsu, Bosa Towa and Yamai Ren! We will performing multiple sound pacts for thou!" Nakanaka shouted in a pompous voice.
Onemine was discomforted with the sight of Yamai. Tadano noticed this.
"Hey Onemine-san, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Onemine replied quickly.
Tadano looked sceptical.
"Ok, as long as your fine."
The lights in the gym went out and some coloured lights on the stage turned on.
Tadano and Onemine chatted a bit while listening to Nakanaka's band.
—————
The band finished playing their last song and started moving their equipment off the stage. Nakanaka took the mic, "My gratitude lies in you, my fellow travelers!"
She then walked off stage with the rest of Perro Rabioso.
"That was really well done, I liked all of the songs they played!" said Tadano.
"Yeah, Nakanaka-san was really good on vocals," Onemine stated.
"Well, there's an hour left till the festival ends, we should probably go back to the cafe," said Tadano.
"Oh I forgot all about that!" Onemine replied.
—————
Komi detached herself from the hug.
"Yamai-san bullied Onemine-san! Onemine-san did seem uncomfortable around her when we were making onigiri," thought Komi.
"I'm sorry I wasted your festival. I shouldn't be crying like this," Otori apologised.
Komi wrote in her notebook. 'No. I'm your friend right? That's what friends are for.'
Otori started to cheer up. The door to the storage room opened up.
"There you two are! We're about to close up shop, so come out and help pack up!" Najimi chuckled.
The two girls got up and went back into they maid cafe.
"Onemine-san's out enjoying the festival," Najimi sighed.
"She got to spend the whole day with Tadano-kun," Komi gloomily thought.
"At least we are only open for 2 more minutes so we shouldn't have to do any more work," Najimi said.
Suddenly, the members of Perro Rabioso walked through the door of the maid cafe.
"This abode is perfect for resting!" Nakanaka exclaimed.
"Seriously, Nakanaka-san! Two minutes before closing!" Najimi called out.
"My name is Arvot Les Primavera, but if you wish to call me 'Nakanaka' you may."
"Fine. Anyways, come sit down and we can serve you," Najimi replied, clearly annoyed at the sudden arrival of more customers.
The members of Perro Rabioso all sat down at a huge table with ten seats.
"I'm doing the ordering so I don't have to hear your stupid way of talking, Nakanaka-san," stated Yamai.
"What does thou mean, I am Arvot Les Primavera, saviour of the dragon realm!?" Nakanaka exclaimed.
"Your so annoying, stupid otakus and chuunibyous," Yamai mumbled.
"I heard thy slander! Does that mean you hate thou?!" Nakanaka shouted.
"No, not hate. I just think your cringe," Yamai replied.
Nakanaka was taken aback. "How dare you!"
Ojousa, Hanya and Bosa were just watching the conversation play out.
"Can you two stop so I can take your order?" Najimi asked, now extremely annoyed.
"Ok. We'll have one of everything please," asked Yamai.
"Ok, I'll get you your food," Najimi sighed.
Najimi shut the doors to the cafe so that no one else would enter. They then walked towards the kitchen to start making their food.
—————
Komi, Otori and Najimi were just about finish preparing the last sum of food the band had ordered when someone knocked on the door.
"I'll get it," said Najimi.
Najimi grudgingly walked towards the cafe's entrance. They slightly opened the door to see who was knocking.
"Oh, hello Tadano-kun and Onemine-san! Come in!"
Komi heard this in the kitchen and panicked. "I can't let Tadano-kun see me in this size of skirt!" Komi panicked, staying behind the counter so no one could see the lower half of her body.
Tadano and Onemine walked through the door to the cafe and saw Yamai and the rest of Perro Rabioso.
"So where have you been? I sent you a message ages ago telling you to come back to the cafe because the festival was nearly over," asked Najimi.
"Oh, I must of missed it!" Onemine laughed nervously.
"Oh well, we just made a ton of food for the band, how about you sit down and we can all eat together? Me, Komi-san and Otori-san will make some extra food."
"Sure, that sounds great!" Tadano exclaimed.
"Just wait here while we finish up the cooking, ok?"
"Wait, surely we should get to decide whether we want to share? It's our food," Yamai stated, hearing Najimi from across the room.
"I don't care!" Najimi giggled.
There were 4 seats on either side of the rectangular table and 2 seats on either end. The members of Perro Rabioso excluding Nakanaka all sat on one side. Nakanaka sat facing Yamai on the other side, sitting in the middle.
Najimi and the other girls came out the kitchen and went to sit down, with Onemine and Tadano following.
Tadano sat down on the other middle seat, next to Nakanaka. Komi wanted to sit next to Tadano but decided not to because she didn't want him noticing her skirt. Onemine sat next to him instead.
Otori sat down on the end of the table diagonally to Nakanaka. Najimi then sat on the other end of the table. Komi with no other choice sat down next to Nakanaka.
"Hello Princess Komilia! Now pleasant of you to bestow your presence next to me!" Nakanaka boasted to Komi.
Yamai was staring daggers at the chuunibyou, wanting to sit next to Komi.
"We can all eat now!" Najimi spoke.
Everybody started grabbing food to put on their plates and eating the huge amount of food that was prepared. People were chatting and enjoying the meal.
Onemine was a bit uncomfortable around Yamai, but managed to block her out of her mind.
Nakanaka was eating her food when she saw Tadano next to her.
"Hello Tadano-kun, I didn't see you next to thy. How was the festival?" asked Nakanaka.
"Oh me? I was with Onemine and we went around the festival. We actually listened to your band. It was really good!" Tadano replied.
Nananaka was surprised, "Thanks!"
Nakanaka paused.
"We should hang out more. We haven't really talked much since high school started." she said, dropping the chuunibyou voice.
"Sure, that sounds good," said Tadano.
—————
Komi had left her notebook back in the storage room, so she couldn't talk to anyone on the table. Otori tried to start a conversation with Komi but failed. Strangely, Otori was speaking very differently to earlier, sounding klutzy and uttering her words very slowly.
This left Komi with only her own thoughts. "Today was fun, I didn't get to explore the festival but I met Otori-san at least. Onemine and Tadano hung out," thought Komi, her face drooping at the last thought.
Otori noticed this, "Hey Komi-san, what's wrong?" asked Otori, speaking slowly.
Komi shook her head.
"Oh, ok."
—————
Everybody was finished eating and nearly all the food was gone.
"Wow, I didn't us to get close to eating that much food!" Najimi exclaimed.
"Yeah, I'm stuffed," added Onemine.
"That festival was so fun! You guys go home, I'll lock the doors and bring the profits to the office," Najimi giggled.
"No, I'll take it. That money isn't making it anywhere near the office if you're taking it," Tadano responded.
"Aww, no fair! I only want to take a tiny bit!"
"Najimi you go home, I'll lock up and bring the money to student reception, ok?" Tadano questioned.
"Fine!" They paused. "Alright let's go!" Najimi shouted, running outside the cafe, pulling Komi and Otori along with them.
"Come on! We have to catch up to Komi-san!" exclaimed Yamai, as her and the rest of the band left as well.
Tadano and Onemine where the only ones still there.
"Um, today was fun. Thanks for the potato," Onemine said quietly.
"Oh, it's no problem," Tadano paused. "I'll see you on Monday, I have to go deliver this money to the teacher."
"See you on Monday!"
Tadano left the room and started walking to the office.
—————
Author's Notes
Another chapter done! This one was longer than my other chapters because I didn't want to split the festival into two more chapters. There's also a bit more use of characters different names due to how relationships work in Japan so here's the full names for the characters if anybody forgot:
Komi Shouko
Tadano Hihohito
Onemine Nene
Otori Kaede
Najimi Osana
Yamai Ren
Nakanaka Omoharu
I've been thinking about making longer chapters but releasing them less often. I'm not sure whether I should do that though. Onemine is also about to get a lot of development soon so that's something to look forward to.
Also I checked the viewers statistics again and I HAD 300 READERS. It's crazy that so many people have read this story.
This Author's Notes has been getting quite long so I'm going to sign out. See you next chapter!
Next On Bonding Over Homework: Festival Aftermath