Chapter 30 – “The Costume Catastrophe”

Festival prep hit a new level of chaos the moment Yuuto opened the door to the changing room.

He’d just come to deliver the updated schedule. He didn’t expect to walk straight into the middle of a wardrobe disaster.

The door slid open.

Yuuto stepped inside.

Three girls froze mid-costume.

Rika, Mizuki, and Akari all stared at him like deer caught in headlights. And all three were wearing maid outfits.

Yuuto shut the door so fast he almost ripped it off the track. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know anyone was changing! I thought this was the supply room! I swear this isn’t—”

Akari burst out laughing. “Relax, Yuuto. It’s not like we’re naked. Come back in.”

“Absolutely not,” he said through the door.

“Yuuto,” Rika called, voice tight, “if you run away now, someone else is going to walk in. Just get in here and close the curtain.”

He peeked through the crack. “Is everyone… covered?”

“No,” Akari said cheerfully.

“Yes,” Mizuki squeaked.

“Mostly,” Rika muttered.

Yuuto stepped inside anyway, because somehow not coming in felt worse.

---

Akari posed the moment he entered. “So? How do I look? Cute, right?”

Her skirt was dangerously short and her grin proudly shameless.

Yuuto immediately looked away. “You look fine.”

“Only fine?” she teased, leaning in.

“Great. You look great. Just stop moving.”

Akari pumped her fist. “Victory.”

Behind her, Mizuki was staring at the floor, red from chin to ears. Her maid dress was modest, but the moment she met Yuuto’s eyes, she made a tiny sound and covered her face with her hands.

“I-I can’t do this,” she whispered. “It’s too embarrassing.”

“It suits you,” Yuuto said before thinking.

Mizuki nearly collapsed.

Rika, meanwhile, was half-hidden behind a curtain, wearing the sleekest, most refined maid outfit of the three. Lace, ribbons, clean lines — all elegance.

She refused to step out.

“No,” she said. “Absolutely not. This is humiliating.”

“It looks good,” Yuuto said automatically.

“You can’t even see it!”

“I can see your feet. The rest can’t possibly be worse.”

Rika peeked out, face bright red. “Shut up.”

Akari nudged him. “Say something nice. Properly.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because we worked hard on these and you walking in here like a tomato doesn’t count.”

Rika added from behind the curtain, “And we need feedback for the festival.”

Mizuki nodded shyly. “Y-yes. It’s… important.”

Yuuto swallowed. “Okay. You all look cute.”

Silence.

He sighed. “Really cute.”

All three girls froze for different reasons.

Akari’s grin widened.

Mizuki melted.

Rika nearly tore the curtain down.

--

Just as Yuuto thought he’d survived, Mizuki stepped forward to adjust her apron. Her foot caught a loose hanger on the floor.

“Ah—!”

Yuuto lunged forward to catch her.

They crashed into Rika’s curtain, which collapsed like a snapped tent. Rika yelped, Yuuto fell on top of her, Mizuki landed on Yuuto, Akari screamed in laughter, and the entire rack of costumes tipped over with a dramatic clatter.

They ended up in a tangled heap of frills, ribbons, and mortified hearts.

Yuuto groaned. “This is how I die.”

Rika, pinned under him, hissed, “Kanda, if you don’t move in the next two seconds, I’m throwing you into the ocean.”

Mizuki was trembling with embarrassment on his back.

Akari took a picture.

---

The door slid open again.

Sensei Amamiya stood there in her own maid outfit — a dangerously stylish, adult version that immediately outclassed them all.

She looked down at the pile of students and smiled. “I see team bonding is going well.”

Yuuto tried to crawl out of the disaster zone. “This isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh, it’s exactly what it looks like.” She crouched down, tapping Yuuto on the forehead. “Consider it practice. You’ll need the stamina for festival day.”

“Please stop talking.”

“No.”

--

Five minutes later, everyone was upright and pretending the incident never happened.

Rika still refused to make eye contact.

Mizuki clutched her apron like it would shield her soul.

Akari was scrolling through the photos she took.

Yuuto was reconsidering every life choice that led him here.

Amamiya-sensei clapped her hands. “Alright. Back to work. And Yuuto? Good job complimenting them. You passed the first test.”

“What test?”

She winked. “Surviving adolescence.”