"There's no punishment at all..."
"It really is just a regular cultural festival."
"It feels... a bit unfamiliar."
Saiki could hear the thoughts of the people around him.
Meanwhile, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka seemed to be pondering something else.
[Earlier, Tsukishiro mentioned that this year's cultural festival would be open to the public for the first time.]
[If it's the White Room people, they'll definitely try to use this opportunity to take me away.]
[But it's strange. Recently, they haven't taken any special actions... Did Saiki do something? To make Yagami drop out so quickly, Saiki must have used some very special methods.]
'That's true...'
Saiki replied in his mind.
"Additionally, choosing which area of the school grounds to use is also very important. If you want to set up a shop near the main gate where guests will definitely pass by, you'll need to pay the corresponding rent to the school."
Chabashira Sae continued explaining the details of the cultural festival to the students.
...
After school, most of the students who weren't involved in club activities stayed in the classroom to discuss the upcoming cultural festival.
Koenji Rokusuke was about to leave, but just as he stood up, someone approached him.
"Koenji-kun, you haven't forgotten the terms of our bet, have you?"
Horikita Suzune looked at Koenji Rokusuke with a serious expression.
"Hahaha."
Koenji Rokusuke laughed.
"Of course, Horikita GIRL. I'm not the kind of lowly person who would break a promise. Since I agreed to it, I'll naturally follow through. But I'd like to know, what use will I be if I stay?"
"Even one more person is helpful. Besides, you don't have any club activities, right?"
Hearing Horikita Suzune's words, Koenji Rokusuke shook his head, maintaining his smile, and then sat back down in his chair.
"So, what ideas do you all have for the cultural festival?"
Seeing that most of the classmates had stayed, Hirata Yosuke opened his laptop and smiled as he looked at his classmates.
"When it comes to cultural festivals, the most traditional ideas are selling food or setting up a haunted house, right?"
The classmates immediately began excitedly sharing their ideas.
"Let's do a haunted house!"
"We could sell some desserts!"
"We could collect various rocks and set up a rock exhibition!"
'The other suggestions are fine, but did the last person pick up the wrong script?'
Saiki complained in his mind.
"The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. As for food, I'm sure all the guests will want something to eat, but that might make the competition quite fierce."
Horikita Suzune quickly added.
"Then there's the issue of the budget. Compared to haunted houses or mazes, which can control costs once they're set up, other projects will likely have higher costs no matter what."
"Our class has 39 people, so our current budget is 195,000 points. To be honest, that's not exactly a lot, so we can't make a hasty decision about what to do."
"I have a proposal. May I share it?"
Horikita Suzune raised her hand.
"Of course, Horikita!"
Hirata Yosuke nodded vigorously.
"As Hirata said, the budget allocated for the cultural festival is limited. But just talking about it won't solve the problem. For example, even if we're selling takoyaki at a stall, we'll still face issues like ingredient choices and cooking skills. So, we should first gather everyone's opinions in class and then use personal points to test things out repeatedly."
Most of the students nodded in agreement with Horikita's proposal.
After all, whether it's cooking or performing, actually trying things out is important.
Even though it would cost them out of pocket, if it could earn class points, it wouldn't be a bad idea to treat it as a necessary upfront investment.
"Not to say this proposal is bad, but if we have to pay out of pocket... some people might become less enthusiastic, right?"
Matsushita Chiaki reminded.
"That's fine. I don't want to waste time on half-hearted proposals either. But we also can't let down those who are working hard. If someone comes up with a good idea, they should speak up. If it's adopted, we'll pay the proposer a certain reward. How does that sound?"
Horikita Suzune said.
The class currently had a lot of personal points, so the rewards for proposers could be quite substantial.
"Saiki, what do you think?"
At that moment, Horikita Suzune suddenly turned the question to Saiki.
'Me? What do I think?'
Saiki was a bit surprised by Horikita Suzune's question.
But given his outstanding performance in the uninhabited island exam, it made sense that Horikita Suzune would value his opinion.
"I think it's fine."
Saiki said.
"Yes, I think it's a great idea. Rewarding those who work hard for the class isn't a bad thing!"
Hirata Yosuke said with a smile.
"We'll discuss the specific rewards later. Assuming we win 100 class points in the cultural festival, that would translate to 390,000 personal points for the entire class per month. We could distribute these 390,000 points as rewards to the proposers. This way, there shouldn't be any disputes. Personally, I can also contribute 100,000 points to the class. If multiple proposals are adopted, the proposers can split the points equally."
Horikita Suzune said.
They were now in Class A, and the personal points they received each month could exceed 100,000.
However, for Horikita Suzune, the most important thing wasn't personal points but class points.
Because of the last exam, they had already widened the gap with Class B, led by Sakayanagi Arisu.
But Horikita Suzune felt it wasn't enough. In the future, Class B still had a good chance of closing that gap.
They needed to establish a bigger advantage.
"I'm also willing to contribute 100,000 points to the class."
Hirata Yosuke volunteered.
Together, the two of them were offering nearly 600,000 points, which was no small amount.
Saiki, on the other hand, wasn't particularly interested in personal points. He also didn't have any special ideas for what to do at the cultural festival.
'If it's selling desserts, that might be good. But no one's brought it up, and I'm not planning to suggest it either.'
...
Over the next few days, the class had heated discussions about the cultural festival.
Many students offered suggestions to Horikita Suzune, who recorded all the ideas.
Saiki noticed that during this time, Matsushita Chiaki and Sato Maya were particularly active.
With a little use of his psychic abilities, he could easily tell what they were planning.
"Um, Horikita, could I borrow a bit of your time?"
Three weeks later, Sato Maya approached Horikita Suzune and initiated a conversation.
[Sato actually came to talk to me? This is a first.]
Horikita Suzune was surprised, as this was the first time Sato Maya had actively sought her out, but she didn't show any particular expression on her face.
"What is it?"
"About the cultural festival, we've been thinking a lot... Didn't you say before, Horikita, that if we had ideas, we should share them?"
"Yes, proposals are always welcome..."
"I've come up with a proposal, a strategy that will definitely win us the cultural festival!"
As soon as she said this, Sato Maya's face lit up with a smile.
[Horikita would never guess that our plan is a maid café!]
'A maid café?'
At that moment, Saiki could clearly hear Sato Maya's thoughts.
As for the term "maid café," he was only interested in the last three words.
After all, if there were maids, the café would become too noisy, losing the quiet atmosphere a café should have.
"Then, please submit a proposal."
"Yes! Of course, I've prepared one... But if possible, could we meet later? I'd like to show you in person, Horikita..."
"Is that so? That's fine, but where should we meet?"
"How about in an empty classroom in the special building in 30 minutes? I've already gotten permission from the teacher!"
"An empty classroom?"
"Please!"
After saying this, Sato Maya quickly ran out of the classroom.
'Since she only called Horikita, it has nothing to do with me.'
Saiki thought to himself and prepared to leave.
But at that moment, Sato Maya suddenly returned and loudly said to Saiki:
"Saiki-kun, you should come too! As a guy, your opinion is also very important!"
After saying this, Sato Maya left.
'...'
"Hey, Saiki-kun, do you have time later?"
Horikita Suzune turned to Saiki and asked.
"I... sure."
Saiki could only nod.
At this point, he couldn't refuse.
After chatting with Saiki for a while, the two of them left the classroom and headed to the special building.
When they reached the classroom Sato Maya had mentioned, they found Hasebe Haruka there for some reason.
"Hasebe? Why are you here?"
Horikita Suzune asked in surprise.
"Um... I'm here to keep watch. I don't think anyone would come to the special building after school, but just in case, I'm staying here."
"Keeping watch? Unlike what I imagined, you've thought this through quite well."
[Although I told them before not to talk about this casually, I didn't expect them to even arrange for someone to keep watch.]
Horikita Suzune thought to herself.
[Not only that, but they've covered the windows so no one can see inside.]
"Well, let's see what's inside."
Horikita Suzune said curiously.
"Ah, just wait a moment. Next, we'll simulate the experience. Please, Horikita and Saiki-kun, act as customers and experience it!"
"I see. That's fine. Compared to looking at a poorly written proposal, this form is much better for understanding."
Horikita Suzune nodded, intrigued by the activity they had arranged.
Saiki looked at the door, his vision gradually penetrating it to see the scene inside. However, he didn't say anything and simply followed Horikita Suzune inside.
The first thing that caught their eyes was a colorful space.
The source of the color was the decorations that had transformed the previously plain classroom into something uniquely beautiful.
"This is..."
"Welcome! This is the maid café, Maimai!"
Sato Maya and Matsushita Chiaki, dressed in exquisite maid outfits, stood there. Their well-proportioned figures were accentuated by the maid uniforms.
Wang Mei Yu, on the other hand, was wearing a cheongsam, exuding an Eastern charm.
'Yare yare, it does look somewhat impressive. But I still think maids and cafés don't really go together...'
Saiki thought to himself.
After being led to their seats, Sato Maya handed them a handmade menu.
"What would you like to order, Master~?"
Sato Maya looked at Saiki, seemingly saying this on purpose.
"Wait a moment. Before ordering, can I ask a question?"
At that moment, Horikita Suzune spoke up.
"Huh? What?"
"These preparations must have taken a lot of time and money, right?"
"Matsushita, how much did we spend again?"
Sato Maya couldn't quite remember the exact amount and turned to Matsushita Chiaki, who was better at math.
"The preparation took about four days, and the costs were surprisingly not too high. The total was 13,200 personal points. We split the cost among a few students, so each person paid around 3,000 points. The expenses included renting three outfits, as well as origami and colored pens for decorations, which we bought at a general store. The tableware was our own, so that didn't cost any points."
"Very good."
Horikita Suzune nodded.
"In that case, please try our cooking! Master, what would you like to eat?"
Sato Maya returned to her maid persona and asked.
"Then, I'll have a coffee and a strawberry cake."
Before Horikita Suzune could finish, Saiki spoke up first.
'Although I'm not fully supportive of this project, as a café, these basics have to be done well.'
Saiki's gaze became serious.