Scout

"Are you going to give up!?"

These are the words that the black-haired beauty said to me. I don't understand why she said that. I don't even know this girl. But I've gone ahead and asked.

"Allow me to be rude, but who are you? Maybe you know my situation but you don't really care about it, right? So please, leave me alone for now."

I turned my back to her and continued to walk on my way, ignoring her question to me.

"You want to get back at them, right? You don't want to... fall like this, right!?"

I turned my back to her so I can't see her face, but... I can feel like he just clenched her fists to that declaration of her. What is she thinking? What's with that? What do you know about me anyway?

I turned my head towards her and asked her directly.

"What do you want from me?"

"Of course! I'm here to... scout you!"

Scout?

+++++

Scout? What's with that? I don't understand a damn thing! What the hell's happening here!? Our Idol group is not popular enough to have scouts! What a sham!

"Umm, just so you know, our Idol group is not that popular so there's no way someone would scout us, you third-rate con-artist."

If you're a con-artist, you should have done a better job of deceiving me. Even normal people would be wary of your sudden appearance like this. She should be escaping as hard as she could by now.

I took a peek at her once again and just saw her laughing so hard. I kind of remember Ayano Katachi in her laugh. But why is she laughing?

"Wow! You're so cautious! Don't worry, I'm actually here to scout you. But don't misunderstand, I'm not here to scout your group. I'm here to scout you, and you alone."

Me? Being scouted!? What the hell!? Is this a sham? Don't let my guard down, the possibility still exists that she's just messing with me. But the possibility of what she's saying is true is not zero.

"Well, can we have a good long talk at the cafe over there?"

+++++

I was invited to the cafe by this girl. She said that It's her treat but what if she suddenly leave this cafe and let me pay for everything. In the end, I didn't order anything. She ordered one coffee. I can at least afford one coffee.

"Well, shall we go to our main topic?"

"Could you please introduce yourself first. It's kinda rude suddenly talking to me without even introducing yourself."

"My, my, you're a rude man yourself but you hate it when someone is being rude to you? You're actually contradicting yourself."

After she said those words, she suddenly broke into mild laughter. Now, the way she laugh reminds me of Yumeko Arimoto. Well, I hate to admit but she's actually right about that one.

"Well, my name is Hanamaru Kyouka. Well, Hana for short."

Well, your surname is kind of a kindergartner, huh?

(Hana Means flower, and if It's added with Maru, It's going to have a different meaning. Hanamaru is the flower being drawn to kindergartner's test papers if they've got a perfect grade. What Araragi said is a Japanese Joke but I think only a few of you will get it.)

"Let's get down to business, shall we? Apparently, I'm already scouting you since your match with Ryota Kaneshiro."

That long? Why? Is there's even reason for that?

"But first, why are you scouting me? Let's have that as the first topic."

I proposed the reason for her scouting to be our first topic. I'm just really curious about her reasons for doing this. The other things would be for later.

"Well, that's no problem. But first, the cultural festival is coming now."

Yup, the cultural festival. Every summer, almost all of the high school in Japan would celebrate this certain festival while Summer. It would be strange if a cultural festival is not being held.

Well, all they actually do is to build some stalls and play. Compete who got the most sales, then have fun. That's all there is to it, really.

"Well, your school is Ahogane, right? Then, that makes things easier. I'll explain it to you, bit by bit, so listen closely."

I leaned closer to her so I can enhance my hearing skills. I want to hear her more clearly so I don't miss any details.

"Apparently, all of the schools funded by rich people will have a meeting regarding the cultural festival. The school's representatives like student council president, principal and more."

I see, that actually makes sense. Given that they're all schools funded by rich people. But what's the purpose of the meeting?

"Well, they're going to talk about The Grand Cultural Festival."

What the hell's this Grand Cultural Festival? Now, I'm getting lost to our discussion. Well, I didn't reply to anything and just continued to listen.

"For further explanation, The Grand Cultural Festival is a festival being held in some place with the big shots of people as guests. In short, It's the rich guy's own Cultural Festival."

What?! The rich people's own Cultural Festival!? This is getting messed up! But at the same time...

"Hana, continue what you're saying."

"Oh? What's with that dirty grin on your face?"

This is becoming interesting.

END OF CHAPTER 37

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