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At Hardy Pro
Part 3
“…… And with that, the 1st Round Table Meeting of the ‘Ultramarine Alliance’, formerly known as the Entertainment Appreciation Society, is now in session.”
Sunday, the next day. Tetsuhiko thus proclaimed to the members gathered inside my house first thing in the morning.
The living room was wrapped in tension. The other participants present were Kuroha and Shirokusa. It was a new beginning with a total of four members.
Acting as chairman, Tetsuhiko drove the proceedings forward.
“Without further ado, here are the official terms Maria-chan has sent over. I’ve printed them out, so please do try reading them on your own.”
There were two A4-sized pieces of paper, densely filled with words.
I immediately lost the desire to read.
It was like a contract or something. The kind of thing that made you feel sleepy immediately after starting to read it.
“How is it, Tetsuhiko? Did they add anything weird outside of the conditions Momo mentioned yesterday?”
“Nope. It all sounds about right for Maria-chan. You can think of the terms written here to be unchanged from the ones she mentioned yesterday. Anything outside of that is more or less legalese, or additional conditions to prevent rule-breaking.”
President Shun aside, I thought that Maria hoped for a contest that would be fair and square. She had probably been kind enough to prepare the contents of the contract too. If the latter passed through Tetsuhiko’s checks without a problem, then naturally I had no objections to raise either.
“The commercial is going to be for a sports drink that is set to go on sale in the near future. What Kachi’s father has told us is that he ‘wants to market the drink to young people, so we should opt for a youthful approach’. You were supposed to bring some samples of the drink, Kachi?”
“Here they are.”
From a hand-carry bag Shirokusa retrieved and laid out four bottles of a sports drink I had never seen before.
Kuroha murmured as she picked up one of the bottles and glanced over it.
“So then, what are we going to do? I’ll be able to commit myself fully to this, since all the clubs are taking a break this week, but……”
“What should we do?”she asked, to which “what should we do?”…… would have been my honest reaction. I was three times as motivated as anyone else, but I didn’t yet have so much as a vision.
“What are your thoughts, Tetsuhiko?”
“More importantly, you should be asking about Kachi’s.”
Our gazes coalesced onto Shirokusa. Shirokusa herself, however, hadn’t been listening to the conversation.
“…… Yes, this way………… okay, that’s cleared. …… Yes, everything’s alright. This way we can win……”
Shirokusa was reading the contract-esque list of terms, all the while muttering to herself.
Of the things she muttered there was a phrase that caught my attention, to which I didn’t let slip the chance to ask her about.
“Shiro, can we win……?”
In the instant that I so inquired of her, Shirokusa slapped the paper onto the table.
With a loud bang the dark clouds which had started to drift in broke up.
Shirokusa rose to her feet, and faced me as I sat at the dining table with an undefeatable smile.
“–We can win.”
“Wait, really?” I thought to myself for a second, but Shirokusa’s eyes were filled with spirit and conviction.
The cheer that gave me instantly cleared away the anxiety which had lain in the depths of my heart.
“I see, so we’ve won then–” as I said that I smiled back at her.
My gaze met Shirokusa’s and we grinned meaningfully at each other. It was a very delightful feeling.
“Erm, Haru…… Kachi-san aside, you clearly don’t understand what’s happening, do you?”
“Shh! Shida-chan, don’t you know that Sueharu just adores these kinds of chuunibyou-esque developments? Let him be.”
“Yes, of course I knew, but…… all the same it makes me embarrassed just to watch.”
“I took a picture of you smiling earlier so I’m going to be making that into a tweet. With captions, of course.”
“You moronnnnn! Tetsuhikooooo! You do that and I’ll kill youuuuu!”
If he did that to me of course I’d feel like dying!
“Heheheh! I’d like to see you try!”
“Shut up!”
It was a firm voice that made us stop. Shirokusa stared fixedly at us with both hands on her hips.
“We don’t have much time. Listen to my plan and then act to make it a reality. If my plan materialises – then we won’t lose.”
Tetsuhiko and I put down the fists we had brandished, while Kuroha nodded.
–Let’s do it. And then let’s win.
As I so murmured, we all gathered wordlessly towards where Shirokusa stood.
I understood.
That if a girl who was timid at her core had said that much, then what she said could not be mistaken.
We listened to Shirokusa’s plan and began to move.
Towards the end of September in my second year in high school, as scent of autumn began to hang in the air–
The battle with our youth on the line commenced.
CClaw Translations 