“I’m so tired..”

Amane heard the school broadcast announcing the end of the cultural festival, and let out a long sigh.

After his parents left, his classmates teased him lots. He was already tense from doing service work, which he was suited for, and with his classmates piling on, the mental stress extended to his body.

But those too came to an end. Once he heard the repeated broadcast, Amane stretched out his shoulders in relief.

“Oy, good work everyone! We sure were busy!”

Once they were sure the customers left and the broadcast was aired, Itsuki laughed away and gathered all the students.

The seemingly short yet long cultural festival came to an end, and everyone’s face was brimming with accomplishment, and also fatigued, for they were so busy.

“Let’s not be so hasty to count the money. We need to clean up, and that’s the toughest part. It’s going to be harder than the setup. The school informed us that they’ll handle the trash, so please sort them out ASAP.”

“Ehh.”

“Don’t wanna, it’s too troublesome.”

The class lost all motivation once cleaning up was mentioned, and there was a lingering laziness. Amane gave a wry smile as he understood them while getting ready to clean up, stuffing the trash from their business into a bag as he heard Itsuki’s voice.

“Alright alright, we can celebrate once we’re done. We get a day off tomorrow, so let’s get down to work.”

“Same to you.”

“I’m working and giving instructions..ow, I know, stop messing around.”

Itsuki proudly puffed his chest as he stood before the blackboard, and some sniped back at him. He started laughing and joined in on the cleaning, probably because he was used to it.

“We’ll be required to pay a certain sum after the celebration, so don’t spend all the earnings.”

“Uh oh, do I have money down?”

“You wrote your name on the book, saying that you’ll be joining, right? If you don’t have enough, go borrow, or you can borrow from me. 100$ interest rate per day, by the way.”

“What’s with the high rates?”

“Don’t like it, get to work, and I’ll charge you less interest.”

“You got to work though.”

With his classmate slapping his shoulder, Itsuki raised his fists, yelling that they would hurry with work before they would go celebrate, and cheered them up. Amane gave a wry smile as he saw this, and dumped the remaining cutlery into the bag. Mahiru too watched Itsuki.

“He really is energetic.”

“That’s how he is.”

“Where is the celebration held?”

“He said he booked a karaoke room, and we’re free to join a second party (family restaurant).”

They needed to state their attendance for the celebration party beforehand. Amane did not participate in the previous year, but Itsuki would not be the only friend there. There were Mahiru and Chitose, and he was on better terms with his classmates. Though a little embarrassed, he was going to participate.

Truth be told, he really did not want to sing in front of others, and hoped to just listen, but Itsuki probably would shove the microphone into his hands, and he started to wonder what he should do.

“I told mom and dad since they’ll be staying over, and it’s okay for me to be a little late. I don’t really like crowded places though. Will be going home after karaoke.”

“I do intend so too. Dinner is prepared.”

“You’re capable.”

“I do have to do this, so that I can spare less effort once we return.”

Amane was impressed that Mahiru had plans for dinner, and quietly grinned to himself at the word ‘return’. Mahiru blinked away a few times in confusion.

She gave a quizzical look, wondering if there was anything, but Amane did not answer her silent question, and merely shrugged as he focused on cleaning.