The rest of the week passed by in no spectacular fashion. The same old same old happened. I went to school, stopped by club after, and either ended up walking or biking home after the day was finished. I spent my evenings in my room doing homework or lazing around on the couch until my parents came home and kicked me off so they could watch their late-night game shows. I'd usually eat dinner with them when they ordered take out, but with Komachi out and about so often these days, I'd usually resort to eating cup noodles or fixing up something simple for myself when my parents came home without food and passed out immediately. The life I lead wasn't a bad one by any means; I wasn't complaining. My existence was comfortable, if not a little bit boring.
But the week that had just concluded wasn't really what was occupying my mind. The main thing that was bothering me right now had to do with the itchy material that was currently cutting off circulation to my head and digging annoyingly into my neck.
I looked at the mirror as my hands fumbled at the buttons of my shirt. The dress shirt that I was trying so desperately to get on was a dark navy blue color. I normally saved these types of shirts for incredibly special occasions. You know, parties, or get-togethers with friends, whatever. So it went without saying that the shirt was still stiff in its original condition, and because it was still stiff from the chemicals or starch or whatever that they injected to preserve the cotton, I was unbelievably uncomfortable as I struggled just to get the thing on.
When I finally finished, I took a look in the mirror. It was by all accounts my shirt; it was one of the few that I had actually bought for myself and not at all a part of the giant clothing pile that my mom would dump on my bed every few months for me to try on. I'd picked this one out on a whim while idly hanging around downtown one time. It caught my eye and I liked it, so I decided to get it.
Naturally, you would think that the shirt would look at least decent on me, seeing as how I'd picked it out personally, but obviously that was far from the case. I looked like I had stolen it from a closet that belonged to someone who was much larger than me. The shirt hung over me loosely, and with how stiff it both looked and felt, I looked like a clown. A clown was definitely the right word to describe my appearance. It could be worse though. There were worse places to look like a clown than at a carnival.
"Oh yeah, you're going to need to wear something nice. I don't want you to embarrass me."
I scoffed to myself and I could see my lips flap a little in the mirror. At the very least I tried to do what Hiratsuka-sensei told me to, even if I did end up looking dumber than I would have by just wearing a simple t-shirt and some jeans. At least she couldn't say that I didn't try.
I peeked at the clock on my nightstand. The red LED letters said: 5:37. Still a decent amount of time before she expects me.
I pulled out my phone to take a look at the texts that she had sent me the day before. I was decently certain I had remembered the correct time, but on the tiny off chance that I was wrong, at least this way I'd be able to course correct before I got a verbal (and probably physical, come to think of it) lashing for being late.
My thumb slid back and forth on the screen until I reached the messages icon. I opened it, pulled up Hiratsuka-sensei's bubble, and let my eyes search over the screen for a second until I got to the right part.
'Be on the fields no later than 6:30. The booth were running is going to be somewhere near the southside so start looking there first'
'And you can't just tell me which one it is? I don't feel like stumbling around like an idiot for half an hour before finding you'
'Dont ruin my fun. What would life be without some surprises to keep you on your toes? ;-)'
'Besides itll be fun to watch you walk around awkwardly for a while! Haha!'
It wasn't fair. It wasn't often that I got a chance to text with anybody outside of my family. And when I finally did, I ended up having to deal with nonsense like this. It was fittingly ironic that the person who texted me the most often was Hiratsuka-sensei herself though. She probably didn't have anybody else to text either, so she had to get all the cheekiness out of her system when dealing with me. I didn't quite know how she managed to pull it off, but she was even more annoying over the phone than in real life.
I continued scrolling with my fingers.
'Right... Can you at least tell me what to look for? Like is it a food booth? Drinks? Games?'
'Dont sweat the small stuff. Just be there at 6:30 and youll figure it all out later'
'Oh yeah, dont forget to wear something nice' Read 9:37 PM.
And that was the end of the conversation. I clicked my phone off.
I'd decided not to even bother asking her for more info. After all, there weren't that many booths; I was sure I could find her after a little bit of looking. It still didn't change the fact that her inability to give me simple directions was annoying though. I was helping her out of the goodness of my heart, and she was still jerking me around (not like that). How typical.
I plopped down on my bed. So I was right that I had some time to kill before she wanted me to show up to the fair. If I recalled correctly, the actual fair itself started at seven thirty, but she wanted me to come early to help set up the finishing touches—whatever those might turn out to be. She'd at least told me that most of the stuff was already taken care of beforehand, that the booth was set up by some volunteers and that the only thing I'd really have to do was operate it and keep her company. On paper, it sounded like the simplest thing in the world: showing up and taking the tickets or whatever of some annoying kids, and heading home after. But with the advent of crowds also came the inevitable feeling of suffocation and claustrophobia. There would probably be way too many people there, and it'd be loud and annoying and generally a pain in the ass, not only just to navigate through but also just to endure in general.
I guess Hiratsuka-sensei's company might end up being the saving grace of my night after all. Which was ironic because I was originally contracted to be hers.
It wasn't long before enough time passed that I felt comfortable enough to finally start heading over to the event. I grabbed the cash that my mom had left on the top of my dresser, and I stuffed my phone into my pocket. One last look in the mirror to see that my hair didn't look completely terrible and I was ready.
Did I mention I really don't want to do this?
I decided not to ride my bike to the festival, mostly because of the inevitable crowds that were guaranteed to amass there. Even though I was technically coming early, it was more than likely that the bike racks would probably already be completely filled up by the time I arrived. If I were to take my bike, I'd have to end up tying it around a post or something far away from the school just so I didn't get ticketed by some random rent-a-cop that was hired to patrol the event.
Drunk teenagers were another thing to consider. When teenagers were loitering around the event, they were bound to get into trouble, and a lot of times that meant them doing dumb shit like stealing whatever they could get their hands on. The last thing I wanted was for my bike to be a casualty in their stupid tale of reckless youth.
Anyway, I didn't mind walking. Walking gave me an odd sense of calm, and let me relax a little bit before stepping into the brave new world known as the Autumn Fair. Plus, it allowed me to stretch my legs and get some exercise, and this way I wouldn't have to worry about anything except for what I had on my person.
Keeping it simple. Keeping it real. That's the Hachiman way, you know?
Step, step, step. Walk. Cross the street, avoid the cars. And I was golden.
From the crosswalk I was standing at, I could already see the outlines of what was soon to be the fully in-swing Sobu High Autumn Festival. The vast majority of the booths were practically done being set up, and everything looked almost ready to go. The event as a whole already looked pretty good under the glare of the near-setting sun, and it would undoubtedly look even better once night fell and all the lights were turned on.
When I finally made it onto Sobu's largest field, I marveled somewhat, despite myself. I couldn't say that what I saw was exactly what I was expecting.
There were rides… Big ones. There was a variant of the spinning tea cups ride, very much so reminiscent of the one at Destinyland, one of those spinning machines that would make you puke your dinner out if you rode it too many times, and even a (surprisingly decent-sized) Ferris wheel. All in all, the Autumn Fair actually looked… dare I say it, fun.
Of course there were also a ton of food, drink, and game booths set up as well. As I began to walk around, I noticed there was a fried octopus stand that looked particularly appetizing, and there were of course plenty of drink stands that offered smoothies, and milk teas, and thai teas, and chai teas. No tai-chi, however.
All in all, what I was seeing kind of reminded me of the fireworks festival that Yuigahama and I had attended during the summer. Of course there were slight differences, like the appearance of carnival rides, among other things, but they were comparable at the very least. The whole thing gave off a pretty busy atmosphere, not so much hectic, but that was probably only because there weren't any guests here yet. Once the guests, and their parents, siblings, uncles, and great grandfathers began to show up, I highly doubted I'd even be able to hear myself think with how loud and raucous it was going to be.
I continued walking through the field, my foot making sloshing noises in the slightly dewy grass as I did. There were some other fun things, aside from the rides. In addition to the usual carnival-type fare, there were some photobooths, an inflatable bounce house that I was assuming was for the younger guests, and to my surprise, they even had one of those stands where you threw baseballs at milk jugs to win prizes. I'd thought those things only made appearances in anime or American romantic comedies, but lo and behold, there it was sitting right in font of me.
I was kind of intrigued. Maybe I'd play it later. After all, my mom didn't give me a wad of cash for nothing. I didn't want to blow it all on dumb fair games and food or anything, but I owed it to myself to at least try and enjoy myself tonight.
I walked around for what felt like an absurdly long time, and it was then that I realized that this event was actually really big. I'd always known Sobu's main fields were pretty damn large, but this actually felt like a proper festival both in size and design. Either the budget was upped dramatically for this year's fair, or it was simply my cynicism speaking when I'd told myself that this event would be amateurish and crappy. If the previous years' festivals were this good, then I felt just the slightest twinge of guilt for not at the very least checking them out. My head swished back and forth as I absorbed the atmosphere around me.
I saw plenty of booths and attractions, but nowhere in my line of sight did I see a certain thirty-year-old (?) teacher of mine, despite how carefully I looked. Like I'd said would happen earlier, I ended up walking around awkwardly after a while, my hands in my pockets and my rotten eyes shifting left to right in an attempt to find my booth. Luckily there weren't many people around to see me though, aside from the people who were finishing setting up the stands and those that were preparing to step in to run them.
It wasn't until I heard a loud voice call my name that the night really begun.
"Hikigaya! Over here!" A feminine voice erupted from somewhere to my left, and I turned my head to face the source of that noise.
My eyes fell upon Hiratsuka-sensei, who was leaning against a wooden pole. Unsurprisingly, a lit cigarette was caught in her fingers. She was wearing jeans and a form-fitting brown leather jacket.
Upon seeing her, I immediately started walking towards her and nodded my head in greeting. "Yo."
"So, looks like you finally found me. Sure took long enough" she said with a puff and a laugh.
The nerve of this woman. And this after she refused to give me even the barest of clues on where to start looking.
"And why do you sound disappointed about it? You weren't the one who was forced to walk around like an idiot for twenty minutes," I said in response. She merely chuckled, and didn't offer a rebuttal.
I took the chance to look around. From what I saw, it looked like the booth that we were going to be running together was… a used book booth. My god. I almost wanted to laugh out loud then and there. And maybe a snicker did find its way out of my mouth.
"…Used books? Really." I tried to keep my voice even but I could tell there was a little bit of amusement leaking out there.
She groaned slightly. "You don't need to tell me. Imagine my shock when I was told I was being forced to run a bookstand of all things. You'd think I'd get something kind of fun at the very least, but I get stuck with this crapshoot instead." Her pouting lips looked oddly comical with the cigarette in her mouth. "I've said it once and I'll keep saying it as long as it holds true. Life ain't fair."
Amen to that. If life were fair, or at the very least uncruel, I'd be sitting at home, grinding away at monster hunter or taking a relaxing bath right now. Anything but this.
"That's a weird thing for a teacher to say. Especially a modern Japanese teacher no less," I began. "I was under the impression that all teachers thought books were supposed to be holy or something. You know, they represent the pursuit of knowledge and whatnot."
She scoffed. "Psh, that's probably exactly what I'd say if a student came up to ask me about it. But you know that's all bs," she laughed. "Books are books. You read them to learn stuff. And it's not like we're reading them or anything here. We're selling them, and I challenge you to find anybody who'd rather do this than work the batting cages or any of the good stuff."
Oh, so there are batting cages. Keeping that in mind.
"That's really hypocritical. I'm not surprised at all," I said dryly.
"See? Like I said before, you understand me."
"I really wish I didn't though," I said as I followed Hiratsuka-sensei further into the booth. It was actually a pretty big one, with used books arranged by genre spread out all across the haphazardly set up tables.
"I doubt we're going to be very popular tonight," Hiratsuka-sensei said.
Yeah, she was probably right. There was food, fun, games, and rides spread out all across the fairgrounds. I highly doubted anybody came here with the express purpose of buying crummy used books that were practically falling apart by their bindings, especially when there was fun stuff right around the corner. Books weren't fun. I think my fellow highschoolers would agree.
"That's a relief." I answered.
I followed her behind the little cash register stand that was set up somewhere near the back of the booth.
"So I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume you know how to work a cash register, correct?"
I nodded.
"Good. So, I'm sure you can guess what your job is going to be. Help any customers who need it find their way around, and point them to the correct sections if they ask for help. The books are organized by genre and labeled accordingly." She pointed to some of the signs that were taped to the sides of the tables that read along the lines of: romance, action, sci-fi, thriller, etc. It all seemed pretty intuitive, so I nodded again.
"Don't be fooled though, there will be people who bug you about which section is which, even when the signs are posted right in front of their eyes." She rolled her eyes in an exasperated gesture. "Check them out when they're ready to pay, and ta-da, that solves that. Any questions?"
It was my turn to roll my eyes.
"Yeah, what are you going to be doing?"
"Me? Relaxing of course." She shrugged and sent a crooked smile in my direction.
"How predictable…" I said. Saw that coming.
"I'm kidding. Just how irresponsible do you think I am?" Hiratsuka-sensei didn't look pleased after I fixed her with a half-lidded glare. "Fuh, come on. I'll be doing the same thing you're doing. Truth be told, this is a job for one, but like I said, you're mostly here to keep me company so it can't be helped."
"Uh huh…" I muttered simply in response. I looked around from where I was standing and noticed that a few more people than before were walking around now. The general crowd still hadn't shown up yet, but it was starting to get more packed—slowly but surely.
"I like your shirt by the way. I'm glad you took my advice," Hiratsuka-sensei said as she folded her arms across her chest.
I looked down at my shirt incredulously. Are we sure we're looking at the same thing here?
The slightly too-large shirt hung over me awkwardly and looked weird on my body. I mean, the jeans I was wearing looked fine I guess, but the shirt didn't do me any favors at all.
"Really?" I asked almost suspiciously. This very well could turn out to be her build-up to a jab at my taste in clothing or something.
"Yep. Blue looks good on you," she answered with a small smile.
She sounded honest enough, so I chose to believe her. I took the opportunity to look at what she was wearing in more detail. I wanted to say that she dressed up for the event as well, but it was hard to tell because she usually wore leather jackets outside of school anyways. Her jeans looked pretty expensive and were surprisingly tight. Skinny jeans I think? I didn't know much about women's fashion I admit, but the dark denim seemed to hug the curves of her long legs well, so the look worked. Aside from that though, she was wearing a dark red blouse underneath her stylish brown leather jacket. I wasn't going to lie, I thought she looked particularly good in what she was wearing.
"You don't look bad either," I commented.
"Damn right I don't." She puffed her chest out a bit as she spoke, before softly adding, "Thanks."
In front of us, more people were beginning to walk around. Most of them were adults, holding younger kids on their arms as they looked around. It looked like it was still a little too early for the teenagers to get here. Like pack animals, they always seemed to show up in enormous groups and at the same time—almost as if they'd all gotten together and planned to make a grand entrance or something.
But before we knew it, the sun had set, the lights were switched on, and the crowd had arrived. It was packed, and incredibly so at that.
I heard a gun shoot off in my head.
Open up the cages and let the games begin.
Once night had officially fallen, the festival sprang to life. With a flourish, the relatively subdued and sleepy atmosphere that had characterized the fairgrounds less than an hour ago had all but evaporated into the chilled air, only to be replaced by the hustle and bustle of a full-blown festival celebration.
Laughs, cheers, and screams surrounded me on every side as things came to a head. Music was playing from every direction around me, some blaring from the portable speakers that some booths had brought to help advertise their products, while the majority of the noise came from the industrial-sized amplifiers that I had seen on one of the stages from earlier.
Surprisingly, the music wasn't unbearably loud or bad at all. Most of it being played from the booths around us was barely noticeable from where we were positioned, so instead the only music that we were really forced to listen to was the smooth timbre of the saxophones and other brass instruments coming from a couple hundred yards away on the main stage. I'd even found myself tapping my foot idly to a few of the songs. I couldn't help it; it was pretty good.
"Hikigaya! Grab me change for a two-thousand note," Hiratsuka-sensei called out to me. She was looking at me expectantly from a few yards away, one hand gripping a book and the other on her hip.
I complied and shuffled over to the cash register before pulling out the appropriate bills and then making my way back over to her. With a surprisingly quick hand, she snatched the bills from me, and proceeded to divide them up expertly before handing the man his book and due change.
"Here you are. Thank you, and enjoy the festival," Hiratsuka-sensei said with a smile, in what was a surprisingly hospitable exchange. The man gave a short thanks before walking off, small plastic bag in hand.
"We're getting more customers than I expected," Hiratsuka-sensei said, turning to face me.
"Yeah, I've noticed," I answered. "Is that a good or bad thing?"
Normally I was of the opinion that the less work there was, the better, but our jobs would seem horribly pointless if only one or two people ended up stopping by. The flow of patrons that we were getting now was definitely manageable, and in truth not too much of a bother.
"Mostly good. Keeps us busy at least," she responded. "How're the profits so far? Any good?"
I took a moment to walk over to the register and check the damage. After taking a quick scan of the bills and coins that were in there, I answered. "Including the five hundred we just made, we're at about sixty two hundred."
"Hmm. Not bad at all," she hummed to herself. "If we keep this up, maybe we could even close up early and take a look around the festival."
I was doubtful. "Is that really a good idea? We've barely been working for half an hour and you're already thinking about shirking your responsibilities." I shook my head slightly to show her just how disappointed I was in her work ethic.
"Ah, lighten up a bit Hikigaya." She slapped me on the back, and I couldn't help but grunt a little bit at the sudden impact. "The principal said he wanted this booth to take in at least thirty thousand tonight. I'd say we're well on track to do that. Maybe even better than on track, all things considered."
"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged.
"Come on, don't tell me you're not itching to get your hands on some Ikayaki. That stuff is delicious." She almost looked lost in thought as she spoke, her face curling up into a pleasant smile and a little bit of drool dribbling out from the corner of her lips.
She always did have a thing for seafood…
She blinked once to refocus herself before letting out a small chuckle. "After all, this thing only rolls around once a year. Might as well take full advantage of it while we can, right?"
I shrugged my shoulders again. I didn't feel like arguing with her, but it would just be wrong of me if I didn't tell her how I really felt. "I suppose. I'd still feel more comfortable if we finished doing our jobs before screwing around though," I said.
"Ohoh, who are you and what've you done with the real Hikigaya?" She laughed as she grabbed both of my shoulders and began shaking me (rather roughly actually) back and forth.
I had to practically peel her hands off of my body to put a stop to her antics. "Cut it out," I said as I finished swatting her hands away. "I'm just saying that I don't want you to get fired for slacking off too much or something."
How ridiculous. Of all people, I, was the one telling Hiratsuka-sensei that she should be paying more attention to her work. Sometimes I legitimately wondered who the adult was in this relationship.
I expected her to laugh or something, but instead she just answered me in a neutral tone. "You worry too much, but alright. We'll stick around until every last bargain book hunter heads home," she said. I gave her a small nod in response.
"Anyways, I doubt the old geezer would fire me. I'm the best modern Japanese teacher this school's got you know." She made one of those small smiles that didn't leave much room for disagreement. But I decided to press my luck and disagree anyway.
"The district on the other hand…" I trailed off for dramatic effect. And I got my just desserts. A light smack on my head. "Ow," I said in monotone.
"Just can't keep your mouth shut huh? I swear, your brain is like a cesspool for smartass responses," She said disapprovingly with a slight frown. It was pretty obvious that she wasn't actually upset though.
I couldn't help but smirk back at her, which earned me a laugh.
As time elapsed and we continued doing our jobs to the sound of melodic, drifting jazz in the background, we'd suddenly found that we'd been working for quite a while.
As I had expected, the work was mostly boring and pretty much consisted of doing the exact same things over and over again. The only remotely fun thing about it was getting to make fun of Hiratsuka-sensei a little bit and watching her get flustered at some of my comments, but aside from that, it wasn't anything too stimulating. I thought somewhat downtroddenly for a second that I'd much rather be enjoying the festival as a guest instead of a laborer. Though, the hypocrisy stung me a little bit because if I hadn't been forced into working in the first place by Hiratsuka-sensei, I definitely wouldn't have even come to the festival at all. So it was a double-edged sword in that sense.
I was helping an elderly man pick out a book from the romance section, when I suddenly heard my name being spoken.
"Oh, it's Hikki," the voice said.
Having tried and failed to use my limited knowledge of romance novels to persuade the man into buying something, I turned towards the source of the noise to see two girls walking towards the booth with both food and bags in their hands.
It was Yukinoshita and Yuigahama.
"Yo," I said with a slight nod. They waited for me to finish dealing with the man (who wound up buying nothing in the end annoyingly enough), before walking up to the table and greeting me.
"Yahallo Hikki! I didn't know you were working a booth!" Yuigahama said in an obnoxiously cheery tone.
"Yes Hikigaya-kun, I was initially going to say that it seemed beneath you to work such a lowly position, but then I remembered who I was speaking to." Of course Yukinoshita opened up the conversation with an attack aimed directly for the throat. I wanted to roll my eyes badly, but opted not to.
"Wasn't my choice. That woman over there forced me to keep her company." I nodded my head towards Hiratsuka-sensei who looked to be talking to a middle-aged lady about something or another, probably book related I was guessing.
"So what kind of booth is this? I don't see any price signs around." Yuigahama was looking behind the cash register for a big sign or something that would spell out prices or products or whatever. But in doing so, she clearly missed the BOOKS that were laid out right in front of her eyes. Airhead.
I wordlessly lifted up one of the hardcovers from the table and held it in front of her. She looked at it, then at me, then crinkled her nose before saying, "…Books? Really?"
"That's what I said," I shrugged.
Yukinoshita seemed to be thinking about something as she hummed before saying, "Do you carry any books in English?"
One of my eyebrows rose questioningly. Leave it to Yukinoshita not only to show interest in a used bookstand while at a festival, but also to look for novels that weren't even written in her native language to read. Show off.
"Yeah, I think I saw a few over here." I flicked my head towards the back and motioned them to follow behind me.
They did, and we wound up somewhere near the back of the booth where the less popular books were kept. Yukinoshita began to grab some of them interestedly and began flipping through a few of the pages.
"Are you really planning on buying books here Yukinon?" Yuigahama asked after a few seconds had passed.
"Hmm, if they're in good condition and reasonably priced, yes." Yukinoshita answered without looking up from the book she was currently skimming. Yuigahama, seeing that her companion was absorbed in her task, turned to me instead.
"So Hikki, have you checked out the rest of the festival yet? There's soo much cool stuff this year," Yuigahama said.
"Nope. I've been stuck here the whole time," I said. "Thanks for inviting me by the way," I added sarcastically.
Yuigahama looked slightly surprised at that before she suddenly spoke up in a loud voice. "Huh?! I didn't think you wanted to go! You should've asked me if I was going or said something abou—"
I cut her off before she went into full meltdown mode. "I'm joking. I wouldn't have gone even if you had asked."
She calmed down slightly a bit at that and smiled relievedly.
For the record, I hadn't actually expected her to invite me or anything. I was simply poking fun at her, that was all. Maybe it did sting a little though.
"Well, you wanna go around with us? We kinda just got here and there's a ton of stuff left to see," she offered kindly.
I gave a small smile before addressing her. "Nah, I need to stick around and run the booth."
It was true; I had work left to do. Also, I didn't want to intrude on what the two of them had going on either, so I politely declined her offer.
Plus, leaving Hiratsuka-sensei by herself after all the trouble she went to force me here would be pretty crappy.
Yuigahama nodded. "Oh okay. If you want to, you could text me later if you finish early or something. Yukinon and I can show you which activities are worth the money and stuff haha," she laughed.
"Yeah, maybe," I responded. I thought at that moment that I probably wouldn't end up taking her up on her offer, but I answered positively anyways. I was suddenly tapped on my shoulder by a finger. I turned around to see Yukinoshita holding four books in her hands and looking at me with an impatient glare.
"I'd like to buy these."
"Sure," I said as I took the books into my own hands and began searching their covers for price stickers. As I did, I saw that some of the books she had chosen were incredibly thick and judging by the size of some of the words alone, probably insanely difficult to read. Especially considering they were all written in English.
"What's up with buying all English books? These can't possibly be any fun to read when you're stuck translating every other line…" I said disbelievingly. Her grasp on the language was undoubtedly better than mine, but even with that in mind, the stories she picked looked ridiculously complicated, and nearly impossible to fully comprehend without a degree in foreign language studies.
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a frown. "Just because your abilities are sub-par, that doesn't mean mine are. I've been frequently told that my English is almost perfect," she said haughtily. "In fact, the reason that I'm buying these books in the first place is so that I can learn new vocabulary."
The look she gave me was one of pure and unadulterated triumph. If my interpretation of her facial expression was accurate, it looked as if she'd expected me to be completely and utterly impressed with her abilities and intelligence.
"Whatever, Yukinerdshita," I shrugged.
Yuigahama laughed nervously and Yukinoshita looked like she was ready to burst into flames, if her angry, completely wide eyes were any indication. However, just as she opened her mouth to throw what would undoubtedly be a sharp retort my way, somebody else spoke up.
"Yukinoshita, Yuigahama. Fancy meeting you here."
Hiratsuka-sensei had her hands on her hips as she addressed the two girls.
"Hello sensei," Yukinoshita said.
"Yahallo Hiratsuka-sensei," Yuigahama bowed in an unnecessarily formal greeting. The contrast between her formal gesture and her incredibly informal speech prompted me to let out a dry chuckle.
"Something funny Hikigaya?" Hiratsuka-sensei looked at me with a smirk and a knowing eye.
"Nothing."
Having totaled up the amount that Yukinoshita's books cost all together in my mind, I briefly pushed past Hiratsuka-sensei and made it over to the cash register to print out a pre-emptive receipt and grab a plastic bag.
After I walked back to the crowd of two girls and a woman, I said, "It's 1750 total."
"Are you sure I can trust your mediocre math skills?" Yukinoshita asked with a sarcastic smile.
"Add it up yourself if you really want to," I replied as I placed the books into the small plastic bag.
"I already did," she said as she grabbed the books from my hand and handed me a two thousand yen bill. A quick trip back to the register, and I returned with her change.
"Yuigahama-san, shall we get going now?" Yukinoshita faced Yuigahama as she spoke. "I thought I saw an interesting booth a little further down…" she added in an oddly small voice. It was certainly a contrast between her challenging tone from earlier. She was probably talking about the plushy booth a few stalls down that sold Pan-san plushies though. Gosh, even when she was trying to be vague, she was still so obvious. I didn't choose to call her out on it, however.
"Okay, let's do it Yukinon!" Yuigahama responded energetically.
Yukinoshita turned to face us before speaking. "Goodbye Hiratsuka-sensei. Hikigaya-kun." She gave us a curt nod, which we both returned.
"Bye!" Yuigahama added with a wave. "By the way, I'm getting hungry again. Can we get some taiyaki before we go?"
"No. The booth I wanted to check out is right over here. Maybe after."
"Oh come oooon Yukinon…"
Their voices eventually melded into the other loud voices and sounds of the festival as they walked further and further away.
"1750 yen closer to our goal," I said simply.
"Not bad. I'm glad Yukinoshita could contribute to our noble cause," Hiratsuka-sensei said. She suddenly reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette. I looked at her with a slightly curious expression and she chuckled. "Take over for a second. I'm going to take a smoke break in the back."
And by the back, she meant behind the tent most likely. "Sure," I answered.
The time after that passed by much like it had before. I did my job with as much enthusiasm as I could muster (not much), and once again I found myself slightly itching to go check out the rest of what the festival had to offer.
Maybe we should call it an early night after all.
The music was still going full swing and the festival was still in its prime, with loud and excited patrons wandering from booth to booth, looking for food, games, and other entertainment. Some of the booths that were located directly around us looked pretty fun. There were a couple of American games that I recognized in addition to the usual stuff that showed up at these types of things.
The atmosphere was definitely an exciting one, that much was a given. Frenzied. Frenzied was probably the word I'd use to describe the incredibly vibrant mood that this place gave off. There seemed to be so much constant movement and commotion that I wouldn't have been surprised if a fire started on the spot just from the pure energy that seemed to be exuding from the place.
Oddly enough, I found myself kind of wishing that a fire would start. Not for any malicious purpose or anything, but just so I could finally get rid of these damn chills. I shivered as I gripped slightly at my forearms. Goosebumps were trailing along most of their lengths and I had to grit my teeth to keep them from clacking together. There was simply no escaping the autumn chill that persisted during this time of the year. The autumn season was almost always cold, and even if it didn't rain or snow, the wind itself seemed like enough to give you frostbite.
It didn't help that I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt. Honestly, I blamed Hiratsuka-sensei for my misery. She'd told me to dress up nicely, so I had. Obviously wearing a jacket over a dress shirt would just serve to hide away the fact that I had dressed up, so I'd decided not to, and to just stick with wearing a simple shirt instead. What I hadn't been told however, was that the weather at night during an Autumn Fair would be the absolutely, bitingly, make-you-want-to-kill-yourself variant of cold.
I was shaking and I could already feel snot dripping from my nose.
"Cold?" Hiratsuka-sensei asked after standing beside me. She smelled like an odd mix of perfume and ash.
"Nope. This is just my defensive Shikotsumyaku stance," I responded sarcastically. My arms were still wrapped around my body.
"For some reason, I highly doubt the Hikigaya clan possesses any kekkei genkai, let alone one as powerful as that," she responded with an indulgent smile.
I rolled my eyes at her and decided to ignore her unsurprisingly intimate knowledge of shonen ninja abilities. "Obviously. It's freezing out here. Couldn't you have at least mentioned that the temperature was dropping so low tonight?"
"Isn't that what the weather app is for?"
I mumbled something incomprehensible in response. She got me there. It was technically my fault that I'd come unprepared tonight. I was just making excuses, even though I knew it was my fault that I was going to end up a popsicle after all was said and done.
She shook her head lightly. "Here." She slowly started to peel her brown leather jacket off of her as I stared at her dumbfoundedly.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"What does it look like? Giving you my jacket so you don't accidentally start vibrating through the ground."
She proffered the jacket to me in one hand and shook it lightly when I didn't take it. I felt my cheeks heat up… from the cold probably. Yeah, the cold. I could appreciate the sentiment, but not only would wearing an older woman's jacket be indescribably embarrassing, but given that she was slightly taller than me, I doubted it would even fit right, and I'd end up looking even more stupid than I did now—chattering teeth and all.
"Nah, I'll be okay," I said and pushed her arm slightly away. "Besides, you'll just end up getting cold if you take off your jacket. One of us is going to suffer either way, so it might as well be me." I shrugged through my stiff shoulders.
She huffed lightly. "Oh wow, aren't you chivalrous?" she asked sarcastically. I raised an eyebrow at her tone. "Come on, don't be so stubborn. Just take it." She shook the jacket slightly harder this time. "There's no need to worry about me. I've already got a little special-something to fight off the cold," she said with a sly smile.
I couldn't help but furrow my brow at that. "Like what?" I questioned her.
She suddenly reached into the pocket of her jeans and produced a small, shiny metallic object. It looked to be about six inches long and had a little cap on it. I looked at it questioningly as it was presented to me. By the way she was looking at me, I was guessing that she'd been expecting me to know what it was, but I didn't.
"Am I supposed to know what that is?"
She looked slightly taken aback. "You've never seen one of these before?" she asked, a hint of surprise on her face.
"Nope. Is there an electric blanket in there or something?" I asked out of genuine curiosity. If she'd somehow managed to fit an entire blanket into that tiny, compact container, I definitely would have been impressed.
She scoffed loudly. "You're too innocent for your own good Hikigaya." She shook her head, still smiling. "It's a flask. Let's just say this stuff'll keep you twice as warm as any old jacket."
As she spoke, understanding dawned on my face. Ah, it was alcohol. Again, unsurprising. What was a little bit surprising though was that Hiratsuka-sensei would be willing to drink on the job, especially when her boss might be around to catch her in the act. But what she was saying did make sense. I'd heard before that alcohol heated up your body quickly and could help you fight off the cold when there was nothing else. It was like using your body against itself to warm yourself up.
"Oh. I thought you were acting a little bit cheekier than normal tonight. That explains a lot," I said. I earned a smack on the head for my troubles. The jacket that she had offered out before had been slung over her shoulder, and she looked around quickly before stuffing the flask back into her pocket.
"I haven't had any yet idiot. I was only planning on drinking some if you didn't show up tonight."
I looked up at her when she said that. That caught my attention slightly and I stopped my shivering for a second.
What, had she expected me to just break my word and outright ditch her or something? Even she must've known that I wouldn't just leave her here alone when I'd already said I'd help her. The fact that she had even thought far enough ahead to prepare a contingency plan to compensate for my absence was a little bit insulting to me.
"Why wouldn't I show up? I wouldn't leave you here alone after I already said yes," I said, looking at her.
She shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to be prepared." She gave me a small smile, but it wasn't hard to see that it wasn't one of her usual ones. It was weird how sad one simple, yet otherwise meaningless sentence could sound to me. I wasn't an idiot. I could tell just by what she said that something like that had happened once. A completely different scenario and context maybe, but nonetheless I'm sure something like that had happened once.
"Maybe, but it was a waste of your time because I would never do that." I turned my gaze directly to her face so that I could get what I wanted to say across fully and effectively. "Seriously. I wouldn't just leave you."
I could hear her barely noticeable gasp even over the loud sounds of the festival around me. Her face looked surprised and her features were drawn wide for a second. She stared at me for I'm not completely sure how long and I matched her gaze. However, after a few moments, she coughed lightly before turning away to face the crowd that was passing by.
"Oh. Thank you," she said quietly.
We both sat in silence for a bit, our eyes staring out at the passerby's that seemed to breeze past our booth on their ways to undoubtedly more interesting activities.
My trance was broken when a hand suddenly drew near to my face. Not this again… "I still don't want your jacket," I said exasperatedly.
"Your parents would kill me if I let you die while in my care, and there are still a few things left in this world that I want to try," she said with a smile. A much brighter one this time.
"I'll seriously be okay. I've dealt with worse."
She rolled her eyes and sighed out a little bit, her breath visible in the chilly night air. Maybe I was being a little bit stubborn, but I really didn't want to wear her jacket. I wasn't going to go out and claim that I was the manliest guy in the world, but even I had enough pride not to wear women's clothing in public. Plus, it'd look especially awkward on my skinny frame.
"Fine. At least drink some of this then." The metallic object from earlier was once again taken out of her pocket. Instead of the jacket, this time Hiratsuka-sensei's hands were offering me the small flask filled with god knew what.
I felt my eyes grow a little bit wide before I spoke. "You know you're offering alcohol to a minor right? You could get in big trouble for this."
"Hey, spoilsport. I didn't ask you to go and report me, now did I?" She said with a click of her tongue. I just stared at the metal container that was resting in her palm.
Alcohol… It went without saying that I wasn't a big drinker. Though, I'd be lying if I said I'd never tasted some before. Every kid's tried a sip now and again when his dad's drunk at a party and insists he man up and at least try a little bit. Though, as it were, there never really was a reason for me to drink alcohol. I wasn't exactly big in the party scene, so I never got 'wasted' like other drunk highschoolers did at those big kegger parties. As far as taste went… alcohol was bitter as all hell. If I was looking for something to quench my thirst, I'd be better off drinking black GEORGIA coffee. At least I could get that down without wanting to spit it back up first. But, as it went, I wasn't a big alcohol guy which is why I was sort of surprised I'd been offered some at all.
"I normally wouldn't do something like this, but you look like you're about to pass out. Even a sip will make you feel ten times better." Hiratsuka-sensei shook the flask a bit and I could hear some liquid splash around in the metal casing. My eyes met with hers for a second and she gave me an encouraging smile.
She was right. I was cold. Really, really freezing cold. And I'd already made up my mind that I wasn't going to wear her darn jacket. I supposed that one sip couldn't really do all that much damage or anything.
I finally grabbed the container out of Hiratsuka-sensei's hands and ducked slightly behind one of the support beams to hide from the view of passerby's. I looked at Hiratsuka-sensei one more time and she was still smiling, her jacket hanging across her shoulder and her arms folded across her chest. I turned to the flask and unscrewed the top off slowly. Peeking one eye into its opening, I could see there was some type of brownish liquid contained inside. I put it under my nose for a second and inhaled, and yep. It smelled like booze, just as I'd thought. Mystery solved detective.
I shrugged my shoulders and decided to just get it over with. I put the flask to my lips and swallowed as much as one gulp would allow. And suddenly, the back of my throat felt like it was on fire. My eyes shot wide as I struggled to contain a loud cough.
"Wow, you're a regular booze-hound Hikigaya. You aren't supposed to drink that much in one sip."
"Could've…warned me," I choked out through my burning throat. She laughed and then put the flask to her mouth before taking a sip herself. She tilted her head back and swallowed loudly before peeling it away from her lips and wiping the remaining liquid off with her bare arm.
"Ah. It doesn't get much better than Barbancourt," she breathed out in satisfaction. "This is strong stuff so I'm going to limit how much you drink. I don't want you passing out on the job after all."
I grimaced. "That's fine. I think I've had enough for a lifetime anyway."
"Lightweight," she laughed.
We continued working after that, our job requiring our attention every so often as the occasional customer would stop by to ask about this or that every once in a while.
The alcohol definitely did its job. Merely a few minutes after I had ingested it, I was already feeling significantly warmer. It felt like my whole body was blushing; I could feel my blood flowing through every appendage. The part of my body that probably felt the alcohol's effects the most however, was my face. Even without touching them, I could tell that my cheeks were flushed completely red and were practically radiating heat off their surfaces. Even my ears felt abnormally warm.
Keeping me warm wasn't all that the drink did though. I felt a pleasant buzzing sensation as I leaned against a support beam. I felt sort of… weightless, and it was hard to describe, but it felt pretty good. Even though the taste had made me want to throw up, the effects that it produced might've made it worth it. Maybe.
Hiratsuka-sensei and I kept it up after that, chatting about random things when there were no customers present. When there were, we would sell them books and answer their questions. And before we knew it, we had reached our goal.