At last, the day of the school festival had arrived.
Machida General High School was packed from early morning.
Class cafés.
Yakisoba stalls.
Stage plays.
Food booths.
And on the outdoor stage—
Silent Riot was performing live.
"Yo! Make some noise, Machida General—!"
Kotone's rap tore through the air.
Iroha's flow followed right behind it.
Mei's turntables thundered across the school grounds.
The crowd went wild.
The entire campus felt more like a music festival than a school event.
Meanwhile, the Mokejo crew had set up a Gunpla exhibition booth.
Rina Shinonome proudly pointed toward one of the models.
"Well? What do you think of this RG Strike Violet?!"
Yayoi Ayuhara smiled elegantly.
"Fufu. Now this is the true glory of the Providence."
Makoto Hiiragi fidgeted nervously.
"M-Mine is still just hobby-level, though..."
Yui Gohara raised a fist.
"GOLD PLATING IS THE STRONGEST!!"
Across from them, a long line had formed at the Lycoris bento stall.
Meguru Hinata shouted from behind the counter—
"Come on! We need more fried food over here!"
Nearby, Nozomu Kitayama was chewing on a gyoza from Yoshu-Shonin.
He glanced toward Takuma and sighed.
"Kunimi... You're surrounded by girls."
He took another bite.
And, as always, the Tachibana sisters were providing commentary.
"...This feels less like a school festival and more like a Machida Universe Expo."
"Yeah."
Momiji looked toward Takuma.
"But the star of the show is still Mr. Oblivious."
"Takuma! Come watch the play with me!"
"No way, haunted house first!"
"Let's go get sweets together! ♡"
"Come watch the martial arts club's exhibition match!"
"...The Literature Club reading is essential."
The girls launched their attacks from every direction.
Takuma, however— was staring at the food stalls.
"...Yakisoba."
He scanned the row.
"Frankfurter."
Another pause.
"Fried chicken next."
He had entered complete food mode.
Near the end of Silent Riot's performance, Kotone shouted into the microphone, drenched in sweat.
"THIS IS OUR YOUTH!!!"
The audience exploded into cheers.
At that exact moment—
Takuma took a bite of grilled chicken.
"...Hmm."
He chewed thoughtfully.
"The seasoning's pretty strong."
Another bite.
"...Yeah. I could go for one more."
Mikiko stared at him in horror.
"NOW?! You're thinking about YAKITORI during the live show?!"
"At least CLAP or something!!"
Then— from the school gate—
"WOOF!!"
A black Labrador came charging straight toward them.
"Whoa!"
Besu leaped at Takuma and immediately started licking his face all over again.
The girls around him erupted into a mixture of screams and laughter.
Mikiko stared.
"...Seriously. How are you popular even with dogs?"
Urara giggled.
"And she's a girl dog too. ♡"
Karen folded her arms.
"At this point, you've gone beyond oblivious. You're generating some kind of popularity field."
Shion adjusted her glasses.
"Observation log: Kunimi is also extremely popular with female dogs."
Hina blinked.
"...Besu is getting more attention than Silent Riot."
Momiji nodded.
"No."
She watched Besu happily wagging her tail beside Takuma.
"The dog just beat every girl here."
Mr. Oblivious himself.
Takuma Kunimi had managed to ignore— the girls' advances,
Silent Riot's live performance, and nearly the entire school festival.
And in the end— the brightest display of affection belonged to one black Labrador.