Athletic Festival Arc
18 Multi-Tiered Bento and Meeting

The rainy season ended and with the sun shining down upon the world slowly but surely, summer arrived. Today was finally the day of the athletic festival.

"Meru-nee."

Meru, who was in the kitchen making a bento and breakfast, looked over her shoulder.

"What"s up?"
"Um…sorry. I want to go see your athletic festival, but I have club activities, so…"

Kei"s club activities conflicted with Meru"s athletic festival. Meru stared wide-eyed at Kei when he said that guiltily.

"You didn"t come last year, either. Why are you making that face?"
"I mean, isn"t this year different from last year? It"s the first time since you became a student council executive…"
"Ahh, it"s not really any different now that I"m an executive."

Meru stood slightly on her tiptoes and patted Kei"s head while he made a regretful face.

"Meru-nee…"
"That"s right, don"t be sad, Kei. We"ll make sure to take in Meru"s gallant figure enough for your part, too."

Shigeharu said boastfully as he appeared with a bedhead. Kei clicked his tongue angrily. Meru smiled wryly thinking that in either case, they were being overly caring.

"Also, Meru. I can"t help wondering about the amount of food you"re putting in the bento."

Shigeharu looked toward the bentos. He and Mariko hadn"t told Meru beforehand that they were going to go see the athletic festival, so the bentos on the dining table should be Meru and Kei"s.
However, while Kei"s bento was the same as always, Meru"s was not her usual small bento, but rather a multi-tiered bento.

"Ahh, it was decided in yesterday"s meeting."
"What was decided?"

In response to Kei"s question, Meru heaved a heavy sigh while heating up the pot for miso soup.

Meru thought back to yesterday when all of the executives of the student council had gathered in the student council room for the first time in a while.

"Then, is it okay if we go with this allotment of duties?"

They were discussing various arrangements for the athletic festival in the student council room. Since Fuuga and Laila would mainly not join in on the student council duties, the roles were mostly divided amongst the other four.
Because Hayate was the president and Shoutarou had avoided partic.i.p.ation, they took a slightly larger part of the a.s.signments. As a result, Meru and Yuuri evenly divided the remainder.

"In that case, we can consider today"s meeting over."
"Meru-chaaan!"

At Hayate"s signal, Fuuga hugged Meru. By the time Meru thought Oh, c.r.a.p, it was already too late and her eyes narrowed.

"I couldn"t see you since I had practice in the morning, during lunch, and after school. I"m completely suffering from Meru deficiency!"
"Uwah, you had that kind of annoying disease, huh…"
"It"d be ok if we were at least in the same cla.s.s! Why are we in different cla.s.ses!?"
"Please ask the teachers about that."
"Meru-chan! You"re so cold!"
"I"m hot!"1

The shorter Meru was with Fuuga, the tighter he held her. Meru let out a pained "Gweh" in a voice that seemed like something was going to come out.

"Fuuga. Won"t you get a grip and let go? If not, you"ll become the second Shoutarou, though?"

When that was said, Fuuga turned his eyes to Shoutarou. Ever since the conference, Shoutarou had been facing off against doc.u.ments. Fuuga"s face paled and he separated from Meru.
However, Fuuga and Laila were wondering why Shoutarou"s workload had tripled.

"Shou-chan, what did you do?"

Laila asked while drinking black tea. Shoutarou answered with displeasure while pushing his gla.s.ses up.

"That"s what I want to ask."
"You can really talk!"

Yuuri looked at Shoutarou as though he was looking at trash.

"Oi, Kusuhara. You clear up this misunderstanding, too."
"That kind of thing is a pain, so I"ll pa.s.s."
"Ugh, you…!"

From the unusually angry Yuuri and Shoutarou and Meru"s conversation, Laila could guess the circ.u.mstances to some extent and muttered "That"s youth" merrily.
Not understanding, Fuuga continued to pursue an answer after that until he was finally shot down by Shoutarou"s abusive language machine gun.

"That reminds me, Ruu-chan. The madeleines from the other day were delicious. Thanks!"

When Laila said that reminiscently, the fallen and gloomy Fuuga responded quickly.

"Madeleines?"
"Yeah. Ruu-chan brought them in the other day. Handmade ones."
"…Meru-chan! I didn"t get any!"

Fuuga shook Meru"s shoulders with teary eyes. The shaking was excessive to the point that she felt sick.

"I mean, Rengetsu-kun, you were surrounded by your fangirls, urp…"
"I wanted them even with that!"

Fuuga shook Meru wholeheartedly. Meru regretted being intimidated by the fangirls and giving the portion she had made for Fuuga to Takimoto.

"Rengetsu-kun, Kusuharsan is about to become a mummy."

The shaking stopped when Yuuri calmed Fuuga that way.

"But I"m also certainly curious about Meru"s home cooking."

Hayate muttered while drinking the tea Laila had poured.

"No, it"s not particularly anything special…"
"It was super delicious! According to her friend Uemursan, Ruu-chan has had a kitchen knife in her hands since she was three and her ability is at the level of a chef in a high-cla.s.s restaurant!"

Laila talked like he was giving some trivia facts. Meru"s eyes narrowed as she imagined how much fun Maiko had had exaggerating to that extent.

"I want to try eating that."

Yuuri muttered, swallowing Laila"s words whole.2 Fuuga"s eyes gleamed as he thought of something.

"Meru-chan! Make my bento for tomorrow!"

After which, it was unanimously decided that she would make enough for all of the executives, which brings us to the present.

"I can"t believe the world-famous student council executives have that kind of meeting."

Kei said slightly shocked while Shigeharu guffawed beside him.

"Kei. Go wake Mom up."

Meru told Kei while turning off the gas and picking up the bowls. Kei obediently listened and left the kitchen.

"He listens to you well as always, huh, that kid."
"You too, Dad. If you"re planning to come to the athletic festival, fix your bedhead."

Meru pushed Shigeharu toward the washstand. "Is it that bad?" Shigeharu combed out his hair and Meru nodded honestly.

"Meru."

Shigeharu called Meru to a halt as she headed back to the kitchen.

"Is it fun? School."

It was something he definitely wouldn"t have asked before. Meru had a slightly surprised expression, but soon smiled.

"Yeah. Very."

The morning sun was dazzling. It was ideal weather.

1 Fuuga uses the word for cold things in j.a.panese, which also means cold-hearted, etc. in this context. Meru takes it literally and replies that she"s hot to counteract Fuuga. Probably obvious, but I decided to make a note anyway. I thought about doing "warm" since we also have warm-hearted, but it"s not quite the right nuance.

2 In case you haven"t heard this before, it means taking them at face value.

Well…I really wanted to release a second chapter today since this one and the next one are really short, but a friend came to visit and I didn"t have time this week, either. Because this fact annoys me a little bit,, I"m going to release another chapter later this week. I"m not positive as to when, but I will tentatively say Friday JST. Keep an eye out!