Using a Mysterious Spellbook Ended Up Creating a Slave Harem - Chapter 37

Around the Time of the Cultural Festival

In front of my eyes, Kojina-san is closing her eyes with a bright red face. It is a situation that looks exactly like five seconds before a kiss.

"K-Kojina-san..."

I can't help but think that her affection and love for me, which had been heightened by magic, had exploded. Deciding that this was the time to reap the rewards of my work, I braced myself and was about to move forward when—

"Sorry~! I'm... la... te..."

The atmosphere-ruining club president, Ichikawa-senpai, walked into the room while speaking and opened the door. At that sound, Kojina-san and I snapped our heads toward the door with tremendous speed.

" " " ............ " " "

I held Kojina-san sideways in a catching position as the president and I stared at each other in silence. She looked surprised to see us, but for some reason, an understanding expression appeared on her face.

"O-Oh, you weren't... late... I-I was... too early..."

As she muttered this, her body gradually backed away.

"S-Sorry. ...For interrupting you."

Stepping out into the hallway just like that, she slowly closed the door. Looking at us one last time, she said:

"Well, please, take your time."

With a click, the door closed completely. Frozen in place by that sound, Kojina-san and I were finally able to move again.

"W-Wait a minute, President~!"

"You've got it all wrong!!"

Opening the door in a panic, we dragged the president back inside, as she had been listening closely just outside the club room. While the two of us worked hard to clear up the misunderstanding, I rejoiced that my plan to conquer Kojina-san was on track.

For now, if I'm going to confess to her without disrupting the cultural festival, it should be after the festival, I thought.

＋＋＋

After finishing the preparations while being ordered around by the president—who gave off a "Yeah, yeah, look at you two lovebirds" vibe—the cultural festival began. My relationship with Kojina-san, which had been awkward since that incident, returned to normal by the day of the festival.

Our school's cultural festival is not particularly grand, lasting only for a single Sunday. Despite that, there are a lot of visitors from outside, so it's tough on the students, especially the second-years who chose food stalls and the sports clubs.

The first-years are in charge of plays, so while rehearsals are tedious, they end up with plenty of free time on the actual day. Since our Class 4 was scheduled for the afternoon, we decided to run the Fortune Telling Club in the morning.

The president's tarot readings were unexpectedly popular, but the problem was the omikuji (fortunes) that Kojina-san was in charge of. A massive crowd of boys, not just students but also outsiders, gathered around.

The president and I couldn't handle it alone, so we ended up calling in the president's friends and Shigemitsu to help out. As a result, although there was a bit of chaos, things settled down without becoming a big enough issue for the student council to step in.

By the time the fortunes were sold out, we were exhausted, so the Fortune Telling Club wrapped up its activities and disbanded. I treated Shigemitsu to food at a stall as payment for his help, and we passed the time wandering around.

Shigemitsu, Chigasaki (who had just returned from the tennis club's stall), and I were in charge of stage props. On the day of the play, all we had to do was set up the scenery, so it was pretty relaxed.

While treating my eyes to the sight of Kojina-san all dressed up, I waited by the side of the stage. The performance was good enough for amateurs, aside from a minor slip-up where a background character with few lines forgot their dialogue and caused a brief moment of silence.

After it was over, everyone went back to the classroom together to carry the smaller props. The large props were left in the gym for now, and they would decide what to do with them at a later date.

As we slouched back to the classroom with a sense of relief and fatigue from finishing our turn, the class rep and assistant class rep stood side-by-side at the teacher's podium. Incidentally, the class rep is a boy named Fukura, and the assistant class rep is a girl named Kinose.

"Everyone, great job today."

"I know you're tired, but please give us a little bit of your time."

The noisy classroom quieted down as everyone focused on the two.

"Tomorrow is our compensatory day off for today, so why don't we all have an after-party?"

"This was actually Esaka-kun's suggestion, but he says we can rent out a certain café exclusively for us."

When the class rep looked at Esaka, he nodded, stood up, and began explaining the details.

"Yeah, it's a shop run by an acquaintance of mine, so the fee will be cheap. Specifically—"

The fee he mentioned could certainly be called cheap. Though the boys had to pay more than the girls, which was very typical of Esaka.

"—From 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, which is after lunchtime. Since we'll be serving the food ourselves, we get it for this price."

"What if we order extra drinks or food?"

"Whoever orders it pays for it. But I intend to have them make it cheaper than the regular menu."

"Got it."

"Next, regarding the location of the shop—"

The address he gave didn't seem to be an issue either. It was about twenty minutes from the school's nearest station via train and walking, so no one would be unable to go due to distance.

"—So with that said, I hope everyone can participate. ............Preferably, Kojina-san too."

At the end, Esaka called out to Kojina-san. With everyone's eyes fixed on her, she glanced at me, let out a soft sigh, and replied.

"...Right. Okay. I'll go."

" "Ohhh...!" "

"...A-Ah. Thank you."

The boys stirred with excitement when Kojina-san agreed to attend. Even Esaka seemed taken aback, offering his thanks with a hint of fluster.

"Alright, the rest of the time until the end of the cultural festival is free time. Dismissed!"

At the class rep's words, the classmates stood up noisily from their seats. Watching Kojina-san leave the classroom, I wondered what I should do.

"Saida. What are you doing now?"

"Let's see. I think I'll head to the club room for a bit."

"To clean up?"

"Probably."

I replied to Shigemitsu, who had called out to me, and got up from my seat. Now then, I wonder if anyone is there?

＋＋＋

When I moved to the Fortune Telling Club room, Kojina-san and the president were already starting to clean up. There wasn't that much work, but I helped out and we finished up in a short time.

After returning the desks and chairs to their original layout, we all sat down for no particular reason. That's when I brought up a topic to Kojina-san.

"Kojina-san. Got a moment?"

"...Yes."

"About the class after-party tomorrow, do you want to go together?"

"Together?"

"Yeah."

At my suggestion, she closed her eyes, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"Sure. I'd love to."

"Really? Great. Then, let's meet at—"

We decided to meet at the nearest station and set a time. Then, Kojina-san pulled out her smartphone and said to me:

"In that case... shall we exchange contact info?"

"...A-Ah, yeah, let's do that."

Flustered, I grabbed my smartphone and exchanged contact details with her. The president watched us with an exasperated expression.

"You two... hadn't exchanged contact info yet?"

"Well, yes, that's right, President."

"It wasn't necessary until now."

We conversed with the president—who looked like she wanted to say, And yet you were about to kiss?—and passed the time until the cultural festival came to an end. Thus, the cultural festival that brought me closer to Kojina-san drew to a close.

＋＋＋

The next day, I arrived at the meeting spot at the station a few minutes before the time I had promised Kojina-san. She showed up right on time, looking lovely in her outfit.

I had seen her in casual clothes at the president's house before, but she possessed a different charm than when she was in her uniform. Feasting my eyes on such an extraordinarily beautiful girl while meeting up with her, I swallowed my joy and spoke to her.

"Hello, Kojina-san."

"Hello. Did I keep you waiting?"

"No, it's fine. I just got here myself. ...Well, shall we get going?"

"Yes."

We would probably arrive at the café venue just right before the after-party was set to begin. As I walked side-by-side with Kojina-san talking about what happened at the cultural festival, my phone started ringing.

"Sorry, give me a second."

"Go ahead."

After speaking to her, I checked my phone and saw it was Chigasaki. I thought about ignoring it, but since he seemed like the type to call repeatedly, I reluctantly answered.

"Hello?"

"Saida? Where are you right now?"

"I'm almost there. I should make it before the start time."

"I see."

"I'm definitely attending, so tell them that."

"Got it. So, is Kojina-san the only one left then?"

"If you mean Kojina-san, she's right next to me. See ya."

"Whaaaaa?! H-Hey—"

I abruptly cut off the call and put my phone away. It started ringing again immediately, but this time I ignored it completely.

Because right before our eyes stood the café that was the venue for the after-party.

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