6 Cultural Festival Part 1

"Another year, another cultural festival," Shujinkou sighed. Shujinkou glanced around his surroundings and couldn't help but feel like the odd man out in a sea of happy faces. Everyone looks forward to the school's cultural festival, but he's always been indifferent about them. In fact, he wouldn't even be exploring the school right now if it wasn't for what happened yesterday.

The day before, Shujinkou watched Sayori voice her excitement for the upcoming festival.

"I can hardly wait for the festival tomorrow!" Sayori beamed.

"You seem to be excited for tomorrow," Yuri said.

"Of course. Tomorrow the school turns into a building with a ton of cafes. That means there will be a lot of food to eat," Sayori grinned. Shujinkou couldn't help but chuckle to himself. He knew food was the main reason for Sayori's excitement.

"Well, while you're destroying all the food, I'll be playing all the games," Natsuki said. "Luckily my class isn't doing anything, so I'm free all day."

"You're class isn't doing anything? Sayori said surprised. "Neither is mine. What about your class, Yuri?"

"Ah, my class is participating in the festival, but they have no need for me," Yuri answered.

Shujinkou noticed Yuri's face was a slightly downcast, but didn't have much time to think about Sayori's eyes made their way to him.

"My class isn't doing anything either," Shujinkou said, trying his best to hide his relief. If there was one thing about the festival that Shujinkou was very estactic about, it would be the fact that his class wouldn't be involved in it, since that would mean that would mean that there was a higher chance that he would have to spend most of his working. But since his class is not, that guarantees that he can spend the entire school day alone with his thoughts like usual.

"You guys are lucky," Monika sighed. "I'll be spending most of my day helping my class. I was really looking forward to enjoying the festival too."

"What's your class doing?" Sayori asked.

"Eh… I rather not talk about it," Monika weakly smiled with red cheeks. "Anyway, I think it's time we call it a day. See you all later."

Monika grabbed her bag and quickly left the club room before anyone else could speak up. Shujinkou couldn't help but find Monika's behavior very suspicious. She usually has no problem discussing anything, so it was very surprising to see her dodge a question like that. But like before, he didn't have much time to think as Sayori turned her gaze back at him. He looked around and realized that they were the only one left in the club room.

"So, what are you going to do this year, Shujinkou?" Sayori queried.

"Uh… the usual I guess?" Shujinkou answered.

"Eh? But the festival is about having fun and to have fun at the festival, you have to have fun at the festival! You shouldn't keep avoiding the one day where everyone is happy!" Sayori cried.

"But I'm not really interested in it," Shujinkou argued.

"You never really gave the festival a try," Sayori pointed out, showing visible concern. "Promise me you'll at least try to be happy at the festival this year."

Shujinkou was taken aback by his friend's concern over him skipping the cultural festival. He couldn't understand why she was making such a big deal over such a minor thing, but he also couldn't deal with Sayori wearing such a dark expression.

"Alright… I'll try," Shujinkou conceded.

"Yeah!" Sayori cheered. "You'll have fun. Trust me."

Shujinkou finished reminiscing and continued walking through the school looking for something to do.

"Maybe I should see what Monika's class is doing," Shujinkou thought. "No, no. She didn't seem to keen on sharing what they're doing. Maybe it's better not to go, even though all this speculating is making me even more curious."

Shujinkou continued to wonder what he should do until he noticed a familiar face sitting on a nearby bench.

"Yuri?" he called.

Curious to who would call her, Yuri looked up from her book and was surprised to find Shujinkou standing in front of her.

"Shujinkou… What are you doing here?" Yuri questioned.

"I was just looking around and happened to notice you over here," Shujinkou answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh…" Yuri responded.

Shujinkou sat down on the bench with Yuri, causing his fellow club member to shyly turn her attention away from him.

"That's right. Yuri seems to have a hard time talking to me sometimes," Shujinkou thought. "Maybe if I bring up a subject she likes…"

He then curiously glanced down at the cover of the book Yuri was holding and noticed that it was the same book she picked out for him.

"You're still on that book?" Shujinkou asked.

"Ah, I was just rereading it," Yuri answered, her gaze returning to Shujinkou. "What about you?"

"I'm actually not reading it right now," Shujinkou answered. "It kinda gave me nightmares last night."

"Sorry!" Yuri immediately apologized, averting her gaze once again. "I didn't mean to pick out something that would give you nightmares!"

No, no, it's not your fault," Shujinkou assured her. He watched Yuri quietly play with her hair for a minute, before she turned back towards him with curious look on her face.

"Does that mean that you won't pick it back up?" Yuri asked, visibly worried.

"No, I'll get back to it," Shujinkou answered.

"Ah… that's good," Yuri smiled with red cheeks.

Shujinkou nervously scratched his cheeks and decided that it would probably be best to change subjects.

"Hey, Yuri, can I ask you something?" Shujinkou queried.

"Ah, S-sure…" Yuri stammered.

"How come you aren't enjoying the festival with your friends?" Shujinkou asked. To his surprise, Yuri turned away from him and started to play with her hair once more.

"I… I don't really have people who would want to spend time with me like that," Yuri admitted, clearly saddened by that fact.

Shujinkou was surprised by the revelation, until he remembered the story Monika told him a few days ago. Yuri said she was too weird to fit in club about a subject she liked. Was that because she thought she was unable to make friends with anyone?

"I see… well, you have one today," Shujinkou smiled.

"Eh?" Yuri responded, turning back to Shujinkou. "W-What are you saying?"

"Let's explore the Cultural Festival together," Shujinkou suggested. "I'm sure we'll find something fun for us to do."

"B-But you wouldn't want to spend the entire day with someone like me. You would have more fun on your own," Yuri insisted.

"Yeah, maybe I could have fun on my own, but even someone like me knows that these kind of events are more fun to do with friends," Shujinkou grinned.

"Friend?" Yuri repeated.

The timid girl quickly glanced towards her book and then closed her eyes. She then took a deep breath, opened her eyes and smiled.

"O-Okay," Yuri agreed, smiling bashfully.