Chapter 115: Eating Outside

The rainy season cleared up and hot days continued. Summer had come. I wanted to pack lunch outside once the summer had come, but with this heat, I didn’t want to eat outside anymore.

I wasn’t horribly bad with the heat. I had to endure harsh heat and cold from Master’s training, so I was used to it. But that didn’t mean I’d subject myself to the heat on purpose. I would immediately go to a cool air-conditioned room, and anyway, there were few people who’d eat outside on a hot day on purpose. At the very least, there weren’t any of those people at this upper-class academy.

“Even though the rainy season’s over, we’re still at the cafeteria~.”

“Then you can eat outside alone, Yuzuriha?”

“Huh~! But I don’t like the heat~.”

Everyone talked about random topics lively while eating lunch. We were already tired of the cafeteria menu, but we didn’t have any other alternatives. We knew that we couldn’t eat lunch outside during the rainy season, but we didn’t feel like eating lunch outside in the heat after the rainy season ended. As expected, we’d probably be eating outside in spring or autumn…

We were tired of the cafeteria. In the classroom, we would be eating in our own seats and sitting separately. If we set up the salon, we’d have to bring Ibuki and the others. We couldn’t set up in the other empty classrooms, so we wouldn’t be able to endure lunch there. And even if we wanted to eat lunch outside, now wasn’t a good time for rich young ladies to be outside.

Well, ultraviolet rays were quite strong in May and June, so that wasn’t a good time for rich young ladies to be eating outside either. So basically the earliest we could eat outside was after summer; September was too early, so maybe October was better.

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Jwv kd Xnvscla, vblal’e cl ydsvbla prsavp eyu… kv’e cl dskpu okvb yzz vbl ralryayvksdp… ps okvb vbyv, vblal oswzed’v cl y pkdtzl eyu obld ol nswze lyv swvpkel, aktbv?

“Rq kv’p tsddy cl vbyv oyu, obyv ycswv ekdkdt swvpkel vbl pnbssz…”

“Twb?”

R xwvvlale vbyv yde lhlausdl zssjle yv xl olkaezu. Twb? Pke R pyu psxlvbkdt vbyv olkae? Rq ol rlvkvksdle Mswjy Gnyelxu, ol nswze lyv swvpkel, aktbv…?

“Rq ol rlvkvksd Mswjy Gnyelxu, ol nyd lyv swvpkel, nsaalnv?”

“Twb, olzz…”

“Tsolhla… vbl pnbssz sdzu rlaxkvp… lyvkdt swvpkel obld ol’al fskdle cu swa qyxkzklp, aktbv?”

“Twb? Rp vbyv ps?”

There were definitely a lot of problems associated with going outside the school. That was why eating outside was on an approval basis, but…

On paper, the system was so that you could eat with your busy family if they were only available at noon, or to celebrate a birthday and other celebrations… I knew that much. But that was just on the surface, right? Wasn’t the system implemented for students unsatisfied with the school food so they could eat outside?

After that, we talked about normal topics, but I still didn’t understand. I’d ask the teacher afterwards.

　　～～～～～～～

Before I went to the salon after lessons ended, I caught up with my advisor to discuss eating outside the school. The teachers were the same as last year too, so I had the same teacher as first grade.

“Teacher, may I have some of your time?”

“Yes? What is it? Kujou-san.”

When I called out to them, didn’t they jump a little? Was I imagining it?

“I would like to ask about eating outside the school. I have gotten a little bored of eating from the cafeteria menu, but… I have heard that one special condition of eating outside is that you must be eating with your family. Can I not go outside to eat with my friends?”

“A-… are you referring to… the usual group with Tokudaiji-san, Saionji-san, and the rest?”

The teacher’s face froze up quite a bit, right? Was I imagining it?

“Yes. It is the group that I usually eat with, however…”

“Seven court families… two from the Seven Shining families, and one from the Five Norths families…”

“Teacher?”

I was still in the middle of talking to them, but the teacher made a weird face and muttered things under their breath. Was it okay? Had I said something weird?

“If I cannot, then I shall find another method…”

“No! No! You do not have to worry, Kujou-san! I will talk with the school headmaster and the board chairman! Is it okay if I reply tomorrow?”

Huh? Was this something that they had to ask the headmaster and the chairman? If it was that troublesome, they could’ve just said that I couldn’t do it. For now, let’s say that to them.

“Do you have to go that far? In that case, would you not say that it is impossible…”

“No! It is not impossible! If you are saying that you cannot wait until tomorrow, I shall contact your family afterwards!”

Huh? The conversation had gone in a weird direction, right? I was just a little tired of the cafeteria menu and there was a system in place for eating outside the school, so I just wanted to ask under what conditions we could eat outside, but?

“You do not have to contact my family; it is enough to inform me tomorrow at the academy.”

“Thank you! Then, I shall inform you tomorrow!”

The teacher stiffly lowered their head while walking with the same arm and leg moving forward. What was that…

“Sakuya-sama~! Let’s go to the salon!”

“Y-Yes… let us go…”

Well, maybe I just shouldn’t worry. The teacher did say that they’d be asking the headmaster and the board chairman, so if it wouldn’t work, they’d tell me so tomorrow.

　　～～～～～～～

The next day, the teacher was standing at the entrance lobby when I came to school. Had something happened?

“Greetings, teacher.”

“Good morning!”

They seemed energetic in the morning… was teacher that kind of person? In the classroom, they seemed more… like the calmer type, but… they had been acting like this since afterschool yesterday. What on earth had happened?

“Since you are here, what has happened?”

“Yes. Yesterday, the headmaster and the board chairman gave their permission. You, Tokudaiji-san, Saionji-san and the others may eat outside of the school. Just tell us the date and time and the formalities will be taken care of!”

Oh… was that why they came all the way here to wait for me to come? I didn’t think that teacher would go that far, but it looked like teacher was the type of person who would indeed go that far. They were my advisor last year too for the whole year, but I didn’t know that at all. Sorry, teacher.

“Is that so? Thank you for going that far. I have not talked with everyone yet, and we have not made a reservation at the store, so I shall seek permission to eat outside later.”

“Yes! Certainly!”

I bid farewell to teacher, who was still stiff. They were a unique teacher who exhausted their efforts for their students. In the beginning, I thought they were a quiet, non-energetic teacher, but I had to reevaluate my opinion. 

And also… what was this? Getting permission to eat outside the school was pretty easy as expected. When I told everyone, they’d be happy, right? We couldn’t eat outside the school all the time, but now that we were tired of the cafeteria, our feelings would change after one day of being able to eat outside.

When I thought about going to the cafeteria with nothing to look forward to every day until summer break, being able to eat outside for just one day and having something to look forward to made a huge difference.

“Greetings, everyone.”

“Greetings, Sakuya-chan.”

My classmates who were usually early returned my greeting. Apart from the usual girls who were part of Lady Sakuya’s group, my other classmates who came at this time mostly returned my greeting. That was a very good thing.

I thought about telling Satsuki-chan now about what the teacher had said, but I gave up on that. It would be better to tell everyone at once when we were all gathred and see their reactions. Thinking about that, I decied to keep quiet about it until lunchtime.

　　～～～～～～～

At lunchtime, the usual people went to the cafeteria and sat down at their usual seats. Once we had more or less finished lunch, I waited for the idle talk to lull and cut in.

“Everyone, I have secured permission for the seven of us to eat outside the school. I am not pressuring you all to go, but what do you think?”

“…huh?”

Everyone stared blankly at my words. Yes yes. I wanted to see these reactions. As I hoped, their lips turned upwards.

“D-Did you really apply?”

The one to first come to her senses was Yuzuriha-chan, like I thought. Yuzuriha-chan was unexpectedly bold, or rather quite levelheaded, or rather an airhead…

“Oh… the permission will come later. I asked hte teacher if I may eat outside with you all, and they went to ask the school headmaster and the board chairman. They then gave permission. I merely need to commnicate the date and time, and it will then be approved.

“Even going to the headmaster and the board chairman…”

“As expected of someone from the Five Norths families~…”

I was thinking that they’d be acting differently… what was this response?

“Um… Sakuya-chan… is it okay to do such a thing?”

“Huh?”

Satsuki-chan was worried and looked at me for some reason. What? Was something wrong? Whether it was okay or not, I was just asking a teacher something, right? If I couldn’t do it, they could’ve just said that I couldn’t do it…

The fact that Satsuki-chan seemed worried made me feel like I had done something wrong. Was I in trouble? What should I do? If I told the teacher that they didn’t have to do that, could we work something out?

“You don’t have to worry so much. You’ve already said it, so it’s too late, right? More importantly, Sakuya-sama has already gotten permission for us to eat outside, so let us all pick a good store, okay?”

Woah… as expected of Azami-chan… she really was a leader. Or rather, maybe I should be under Azami-chan too. If I left everything to Azami-chan, she could handle all of it. In the first place. I wasn’t the leadership type, and on top of leading a bunch of lower elementary school girls, I was an old uncle on the inside, so that was hard for me. I’ll leave it to you, Azami-chan!

“That is true… Either way, it is too late… And it is better to think of how to make good use of it.”

Yes yes. Satsuki-chan was now acting as normal. She was a little malicious, just like the usual Satsuki-chan.

“Oh! Then, I want to go to that popular shop!”

“Huh!? But I want to go to that…”

“Please wait. This is a good opportunity, yes? We should go to a shop where it’s hard to get reservations for, right?’

Everyone began happily talking about what shop to go to. They had all acted weirdly, so I thought that I did something bad, but seeing everyone talking so happily while picking shops made me think that it was good that I had consulted with the teacher.

“However, if we go to a shop where it is hard to reserve dinner, we will be eating lunch on a weekday, so it wll be empty.”

“But shouldn’t we prioritise the places that we want to go to?”

Everyone was serious… I understood what Renge-chan and Yuzuriha-chan were saying. Even if we got reservations for a shop where it was hard to get reservations for during the weekend dinner, it would be pretty empty. It was easier to go to restaurants that you normally couldn’t go to by aiming for those hours. 

But what Yuzuriha-chan was talking about going to places that you wanted to go to, rather than picking from shops that you couldn’t normally go to or popular shops…

But but, you were curious because you could go to shops that you normally couldn’t go to. When you knew that it was popular and that it was hard to get a reservation, that also got you interested and made you think that you wanted to go.

“Sakuya-chan, what do you think?”

“Huh? Me? Hmm… if it were me…”

Everyone was talking about the various shops they wanted to go to. This time was also good. Going outside was fun too, but being able to make plans with everyone and talking about where we wanted to go was also a precious time.

Going to the actual place and having fun there was important time too, but… because we thought over and talked about things like this, we were able to have more fun when going to the actual place.

We talked a lot, and after much hesitation, I made a phone call to book the place immediately on that day, and I told the teacher about the date and time after school. I hadn’t even applied yet, but the teacher already gave their oral permission.

I didn’t know if that was official permission, but since I had asked beforehand, it was safe to assume that it was official permission. I didn’t know about the other girls, but it should be fine with this matter. Anyway, the teacher had already asked the headmaster and the board chairman.

Because of that, I had something to look forward to before summer break. We could all go out together again, albeit for a short outing. We had already decided on where to go, but we still talked about other shops, what was good, and what was good to order from the menu.

It wasn’t that far in the future, but I wanted it to come soon. The day we could eat outside…