Chapter 6 🎉 School Festival (3)

Back at the two girls, they were rushing to the classroom.

"Ah, I know - we should use the fire stairs! It's a shortcut!"

"As expected from the student council vice-president! You know the school better than anyone of our class", Marin complimented her while trying to regain her composure.

The fire stairs were located at the outside of the school building and connected the ground level up to the third floor in case of an emergency. The classroom in question was located on the second floor. So they hurried, in order not to lose any more time.

"Wait Hanako, I don't think this is a good idea after all", Marin commented hesitantly after seeing the fire stairs, "They are just a grid with a railing."

"Yeah, I know. But it's the quickest way!"

Hanako was already off, dashing ahead, so Marin had no choice but to follow her. Even though she had an uncomfortable feeling jumping the stairs while being able to see everything right below her through the gridded steps.

The two girls were about to pass two boys on the stairs at the first floor who also had the idea to use this path to transport goods for the festival.

"Hanako, we should turn around and take the other way!"

"Huh? But we are at the classroom in, like, 20 seconds. Taking the other way now would be not smart at all!"

It was a reasonable and logical fact. Marin wasn't able to rebuke further and also moved around the two boys, ascending the staircase for one more level.

Suddenly a roaring sound echoed from the sky.

"Over there! This is what I talked about!" One of the boys informed his partner enthusiastically and pointed straight above. It was a rare airplane model that usually wouldn't approach the airport via this route. It was close to the ground so the engines were clearly audible.

"Where is it? I can't see!"

The sun of this bright day was blinding the sight of the two boys as they were monitoring the sky, while Hanako and Marin were just on the stairs above them.

"Ouch, I directly looked into the sun!" One of the boys lamented while turning his face away.

With a shock in her eyes, Marin entered the school building as quickly as she could, following Hanako. Once inside, she sank to the floor with her back leaning against the wall.

"I can't handle it any more!! This is it!!"

"Marin-chan, what's up! Customers are already lined up!" Hanako shouted from a distance in the hallway to the still paralyzed Marin.

The discouraged maid clenched her fist and got up, saying to herself "This whole thing was a terrible idea, Hanako", but moved in the direction of the classroom after all, to begin her second shift.

The afternoon was a huge success as well. There were so many customers that there was a constant line in front of the classroom. Everyone loved the cafe - from students (mostly male), to teachers and parents.

Hanako and Marin were handing out hot drinks and snacks while keeping an inviting smile on their faces. Some warm dishes were available as well, even though they were just microwaved store-bought products.

"There you go!" Hanako said cheerfully after painting a bear character into the foam of a coffee drink for a customer.

"I thought you would get the maid to write a message on the omurice..." A young customer with a baseball cap was mourning.

"Ah sorry, I will do it for you", Marin came to the rescue with a ketchup bottle. Since this customer was located right at the wall of the room, with the other three seats of his table being taken by his friends, it was not that easy for her to write at that distance. She basically had to bend over the whole table, almost laying on it. But she was able to write the requested message "For customer-sama ♥".

While still laying on the table another voice sounded from behind her, "Excuse me, young lady." The man talking to her was Marin's history and science teacher. He had a short white beard and a stern expression. His prominent eyebrows automatically made him look angry. He seemed like the kind of teacher you really don't want to have.

"Oh no", after considering her position and what this person maybe could be seeing, Marin slowly turned around with a bitter smile, "...how can I help you?"

"You see, I would like to order another cup of coffee."

"Ah, sure! I am so grateful! Just a moment!" On the way to the coffee machine she left out a sigh.

It was really stressful. Especially as the first time ever no panties experience of Marin. Hanako however was moving around elegantly as if she was used to it.

"How can she be this natural? It looks like she is not even considering this at all. We are both doing this for the first time. Why is she acting so differently?" Marin was still thinking that today is Hanako's first time not wearing underwear as well.

Towards the end of the shift, Marin left the cafe early, "Good job everyone! This has been a total blast so far! I would love to see you at the concert later!"

Since Marin was the guitarist and singer of the band club, she had another event to partake in today. The gymnasium was turned into a live stage for a musical performance and Marin's club would play songs they practiced.

Entrusting the cafe to the remaining students, she left the classroom and moved over to the changing room of the gymnasium.

When she changed back to her regular clothes for the gig, she remembered that her panties were still being kept in Hanako's bag. However, she lost track of time so she was already a bit late and couldn't afford to run back now - she shouldn't be running at all, as vulnerable as she was feeling right now.

"Well, there is no helping it. This day is a mess. So what else could possibly go wrong. There is only that much bad luck one can have in a single day", she decided to perform her musical act as is.

The audience quickly filled up as the announced time for the musical act approached.

"They are standing right in front of the stage!?" Marin noticed from behind the curtain while the other band members got ready for the big performance.

"Yeah, I heard there are way more people in the audience than we expected. So we had to move around the spectator area", another band member replied while flinging her drumsticks in order to relieve stress.

"This day is the worst", Marin muttered to herself with no one able to hear it.

The performance was a great success and the audience loved it. Some were even singing along to the popular songs that got covered. Marin wasn't able to hit all the notes correctly and also missed a few of the lines she was supposed to sing. She would move around to the song whilst holding the standing microphone in between parts where she played her guitar.

Luckily for her, the hall was very dim, so that the spotlights that were operated by the drama club could be used for maximum effect. Otherwise the first row of students standing directly below her could clearly have seen more than they should.

Sometime after the performance started, Hanako, Saya and Kouhei also joined the audience. They were late because of their cafe and could only get a sight from the very back. They still enjoyed it.

After the final song of the performance ended, a huge applause thundered through the audience.

"Thank you everyone!!" Marin shouted to the microphone while holding it with both hands, her guitar slung around her back. She seemed to not have a problem with being the center of attention, much different to Hanako.

"That was really good, right guys?" Hanako's group of friends commented on the gig.

Since they were tired from this long festival day, they decided to go home soon after and rest up. Marin also decided to go home, after cleaning up the stage.

"Alright, time to go home. Let's see."

"Hanako, I would like to get my panties back now. Where are you" was the message she typed into her messaging app.

Hanako was not the quickest person to reply to messages. But she would reply every time. So it was just a matter of time.

In the meantime Hanako opened her school bag and was surprised to find the missing item of Marin, which she totally forgot about. She was already back home.

"Oh. Oops", was the only thing she could say to herself. She noticed the flashing notification light on her phone and checked the incoming messages. One of them was from Marin.

"Sorry, I will give them to you tomorrow!" Was the reply she typed in.

"Ah, this sounds like I forgot about it. How rude. Let me add an emoji to lighten the mood a bit", she thought and attached a smiling emoji with a stuck out tongue.

Marin was eager to read the message from Hanako once her phone vibrated. But...

"Hanakoooooo!!!!" She almost started crying because of the kind of day she had so far and which was seemingly still not over.