As expected, the little expectations I had were completely crushed on that day .

            On a poster crammed full of notices, was a poster that held the information of the contestants . Their cla.s.s, name, and even a picture… There was the picture of when Christine-sama was advertising for the drama club . Other contestants had pictures that drew out their charm points . Only my picture was like a normal ID picture . Yep, it was the picture for my student handbook .

            “It’s the beginning of h.e.l.l…” (Maria)

            “You’re exaggerating . ”

            “You’re thinking it’s someone else’s problem!”

            “Don’t worry about it . ”

            In contrast to me, who wanted to just grab my head and scream, Keito was calm as usual . I didn’t want to go see the board alone because I might have gotten disheartened and started crying . It might have been better to have asked Primera and Eru instead . They would be kinder .

            However, I don’t want to talk about the match between Christine-sama and me . I don’t think Primella or Eru would spread rumors, but I might become paranoid . This way, I can avoid feeling that way . After all, even walls have ears . I don’t know where or when someone could be leaning against the wall eavesdropping .

            “There are more contestants than I expected . ”(Maria)

            “Yeah… Ten people, huh . ”

            Even if I hadn’t been selected, there would have been plenty of partic.i.p.ants . Give me back my peaceful school festival!

            I didn’t recognize any of the names besides Christine-sama’s, but as expected, all of them were beauties . Just by looking at the bulletin board, you could tell everyone was sublime . Right now, there were still some white spots on the poster, but they would soon disappear .

            When I was contacted about the festival, I received numerous “necessities” handouts . I had thought, “what’s necessary for a festival?” Reading through all of it would have been troublesome, so I just skimmed it .

            One thing included was an artificial flower to be used for voting . Using the flower, students were supposed to stick it by the picture of the candidate they liked most to keep the voting results obvious . Students even bet on the contests . Of course, unofficially .

            “As expected, Christine-sama will win overwhelmingly . ”

            “She is the poster girl for the drama club… Though, this is my first time seeing her . ” (Keito)

            The ten contestants had the same amount of s.p.a.ce on the poster and it had just been put up . Even so, under Christine-sama’s name, there were already red roses placed here and there .

            “These flowers are really well made . They aern’t losing their shape at all . ” (Keito)

            That’s probably not the impression they wanted you to have . I had thought Keito was looking at Christine-sama’s face with a serious expression since it was his first time seeing her, but his gaze was actually directed towards the artificial flowers .

            He was that impressed .

            “Do you think I can keep this if I don’t vote?”

            “They don’t plan on collecting them, so I think it’s fine . ”

            You’re not supposed to be wondering about that . As an adolescent boy, shouldn’t you be thinking of other things? Even though there are so many pictures of beauties lined up on the board… Or is that just my own bias?

            I wonder if I should be rea.s.sured that he hasn’t changed at all .

            “This will last a long time and the color is just like the real thing . ”

            “Come to think of it, you also tried making these sometimes . ”

            “I was only my dad’s helper though . ”

            Basically, Ikebana [flower arrangement with living flowers] is quite common, however, there are more instances where artifical flowers can be used . You can send it to people who are allergic, you can use it as permanent decoration, and so on . It can’t be helped that an imitation has more uses than the real deal sometimes .

            “What are you going to do…”

            “After the festival, I’ll give mine to you, too . ”

            “Ooh, thank you . ”

            Keito was acting as usual, so I found myself relaxing . Well, it’s within my expectations for him to be the same as usual… Although he was slightly different from what I thought it would be like .

            Well, if Keito did become Christine-sama’s fan, I think I would have mixed feelings about it .

            “As a contestant, what are you going to do?”

            “We have a meeting with the contest committee . ”

            “Today?”

            “After school . ”

            “Then, I’ll wait for you . There isn’t anything going on with the gardening club, as usual anyway . ”

            It seems like the gardening club has various things going on for the festival, but it’s mostly tending to the flower bed . It’s not different from what they normally do, well at least not for Keito .

            I heard that they also decorated the arch for the festival but… It had the same feeling of usual . The gardening club has guts to do that . You could say they’re cheeky .

            “I’ll just go to the flower bed then?”

            “Yeah, the usual place . ”

            “Got it . ”

            After the meeting, I’ll definitely be fed up the contest, but at least I’ll be able to look forward to walking and talking with Keito afterwards .

            Keito probably knew I’d feel that way, so he brought it up . I knew that Keito isn’t as straightforward about being kind to me after all .

            “Then, see you after school . ”

            “Yeah, work hard in cla.s.s . ”

            “Maria, too… Don’t sleep in cla.s.s . ”

            “I-I don’t sleep!”

            After tapping the area around my eyes a couple of times, he waved goodbye and turned to leave . I watched as his back grew further and further away before he finally rounded a corner . Then, I also rubbed the area around my eyes .

            My eyelids felt heavier than normal, but my eyes weren’t bloodshot, nor did I have dark circles under my eyes . My complexion wasn’t poor and physical condition looked fine .

            When I checked my face in the mirror this morning, I looked the same as usual .

            “… Did he find out?”

            That I couldn’t sleep much last night .

            Were the dark circles forming under my eyes now? Thinking they might have been, I took out my compact mirror to check . Do I look different from my picture… even though it was my own face, I wasn’t sure .

            “How’d he know…”

            How does Keito see me? He really is mysterious . Maybe my att.i.tude was different and I just didn’t realize it, or something about me was different that I didn’t notice .

            In the end, no one else besides Keito pointed out my fatigue .

            … How strong is Keito’s sixth sense?