Does the Culture Festival Count as a Date?

Yuta leaned against the wall in front of the classroom, waiting for Shiori. They promised to meet there once they were ready.

Shiori emerged from the hall with her hands behind her back. “S-Sorry for taking so long…”

“No worries, I wasn’t waiting long.” He turned toward her.

She wore a baby blue blouse with polka dots and a cream-colored skirt that covered her knees. She sighed in relief. “That’s good…”

Yuta pushed himself off the wall. “So, where to first?”

“H-How about the booths?” She nervously looked to Yuta for confirmation.

“Sure. Oh, Hitomura asked me to come to the game show later. Apparently the president took my advice and chose Hitomura and Kotori as the last pair.”

“W-When does that start?”

“In an hour. We have plenty of time to explore the festival beforehand.”

Shiori nodded and followed Yuta down the stairs and out of the school.

In front of the building were numerous booths. Since Shiori stared at them in wonder, he let her decide which booths to look at.

“A-Are you sure? W-What if you’re not interested in the ones I want to check out?”

“I’m not that excited about the school festival, so I likely wouldn’t care about anything in particular.”

“O-Okay…” Shiori pointed at a purple canopy. In front of it was a sign. From the angle, it was a little difficult for Yuta to read it.

“Churros, huh?”

“I’ve read several books where the main characters get churros on their date! I’ve been wanting to try it…” After a short pause, Shiori realized what her words implied, and her face became bright red. She waved her hands in front of her. “I-I didn’t m-mean w-we’re on a d-date or anything… W-We’re j-just friends… I-It’s j-just that–”

Yuta laughed. “It’s okay. I know what you mean.”

Shiori gripped her skirt in embarrassment. “S-So… Can we get c-churros?”

He realized that her outfit didn’t have any pockets, nor did she have a bag on her. “Shiori… Do you have any money on you?”

She frowned and shook her head.

“I see… I’ll pay for you, then.”

Her face lit up. “R-Really?”

“Yes. Consider it a reward for how much you’ve been learning.”

“T-Thank you, Yuta!”

After purchasing one churro for himself and one for Shiori, they walked around the venue, checking out all the booths. Bright and colorful signs with big lettering were in front of most booths, catching their attention.

There were a few non-food booths, such as balloon animals, a raffle, and a few carnival games.

Despite Shiori not being comfortable around people, she had a huge smile on her face the entire time. Watching her, a warm feeling entered Yuta’s heart. It was a feeling he wasn’t very familiar with. Was it joy? Pride? He couldn’t tell.

“Yuta, are you alright?”

Yuta blinked. Shiori was in front of him with her head tilted, holding a strawberry cream crepe in one hand. “I’m fine. You sure like your sweets, don’t you?”

She nibbled on the crepe. When she pulled her head away from the snack, a lick of cream stayed on her cheek. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily…” Yuta smiled. “You have a little something on your cheek.”

Shiori rubbed a hand against the wrong cheek.

“Here, let me get it for you.” Yuta wiped the cream off her cheek with his finger and cleaned it off with the napkin that came with the churro he had earlier.

Blush rose to her cheeks. “T-Thanks…”

“The game show is about to start. Shall we go?”

“Y-Yes… Let’s go…”

According to the large banner hanging off the rooftop, the game show was going to take place in the auditorium.

Yuta and Shiori passed through crowds of people. There was a sign posted in front of the auditorium, detailing what events were taking place there and when they were. After the game show that was about to start, Nakano’s class was going to perform The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.

They found their seats at the back of the auditorium. When it was time to begin, the lights dimmed, and the curtain unfurled. A spotlight focused on the student council president.

“Welcome, one and all, to the student council’s gameshow–Who Do You Know Best?! Before we start, I’d like to take a minute to share an important announcement. A reality dating show will begin production very soon. This game show is being held to introduce it. The contestants today are the participants in the reality dating show. I do hope you all tune in once production starts. Without further ado, let’s meet our contestants!”

Spotlights light up the contestants, one pair at a time. Hitomura and Kotori were last. Unsurprising to Yuta, they both posed dramatically when it was their turn.

After the introductions, a spotlight flashed on Kanna, who stood behind the scoreboard. She bowed to the audience during her introduction.

When the game started, the spotlights turned off and the stage lights turned on. A question appeared on a large screen at the back of the stage. Smaller screens on either side of the stage showed the same thing for a better view for the audience. On the screens was a question with six answers written below, on a heart-shaped background. The contestants were called up one at a time to guess which answer belonged to which contestant. If they got it right, they were allowed to guess again, up to five times.

Each contestant had multiple scores–an overall score, and a score for each participant’s answers they had correctly guessed.

The goal of the game show was to see who knew each other best and who would have the most chemistry together. As it progressed, it became clear what the pairings for the dating show would start as. Hitomura and Kotori knew each other best out of all the participants, even though they haven’t spoken much. The other two pairs would need to be switched.

After the show ended, Yuta offered Shiori a hand. She gratefully accepted it, allowing Yuta to pull her to her feet. “What do you want to do now?”

“I think I want to watch Nakano’s play…”

“That starts in half an hour. What would you like to do?”

“I-Is there anything you suggest?”

Yuta shook his head. “At previous culture festivals, all I’ve done was study. Speaking of, the exam is three weeks away. Have you made any progress since the last time we met?”

“N-Not yet…”

“Then let’s meet every day for these next three weeks.”

With a nod of agreement, Shiori left the auditorium with Yuta.