Chapter 128: Cultural Festival Live Performance ①

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Translator: Soafp

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I had assumed that, as the light music club president, she’d respond with her usual playful joke.

Instead, the club president’s cheeks turned bright red. Clutching the hem of her dress tightly with both hands, she took a step backward.

“W-Well, actually…”

She looked away, trailing off.

…That reaction. Could it be…?

Takagi seemed to realize it too. His eyes widened as he straightened his posture and asked again.

“W-Wait… President… don’t tell me… you’re not wearing spats?”

“I-It’s not like I did it on purpose! It was out of my control, or something…”

“Did something happen?”

I found myself leaning forward as well.

In the nightmare, I had never learned why the president wasn’t wearing spats, or why she’d chosen such revealing underwear of all things.

Scratching her cheek awkwardly, she explained,

“I only had one pair of spats. I’d set them aside, but my mom misunderstood and threw them in the wash.”

She only owned one pair…?

Well, if she rarely wore them, it wasn’t impossible.

Even so, that explanation still didn’t sit right with me.

(That doesn’t explain why she’d deliberately wear sexy underwear.)

Even if her mother had washed her underwear along with the spats, she’d normally have another pair to change into.

At the very least, it was hard to believe the only spare underwear she had was something so provocative.

Which meant—

(The president’s hiding something.)

What exactly was it?

One thing was certain: whatever the reason, she’d deliberately chosen not to wear spats and had put on revealing underwear instead.

Could she… somehow be getting bullied?

Takagi scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I guess it couldn’t be helped. Just make sure nobody sees your underwear.”

“Oh? I’m more worried that you’ll suddenly flip up my skirt.”

“N-No way! Even I wouldn’t do something like that on stage!”

“So that means you’d do it if we weren’t on stage?”

The president chuckled as she teased him.

Apparently, she wasn’t taking Takagi’s warning very seriously.

Part of it was probably because of his casual tone, but more than that, she herself didn’t seem especially concerned.

After clearing my throat, I addressed her.

“Actually… I happen to have a spare pair of spats and underwear.”

“Huh? For girls?”

“Yeah.”

The president blinked in surprise.

“Fukagawa-kun… why are you carrying around girls’ spats and underwear?”

There it was.

…I figured she’d ask.

I simply used the excuse I’d prepared beforehand.

“Well… I have two girlfriends, right? So just in case, I keep a full change of girls’ clothes with me.”

“I see. I guess a guy with two girlfriends really does live differently.”

…Was it just me, or did that sound oddly sarcastic?

Well, I couldn’t blame her for not being entirely impressed.

Takagi cut in with an intrigued,

“Hoo…So if I start carrying girls’ spats and underwear around all the time, I’ll become as popular as Fukagawa?”

The president answered without missing a beat.

“If you did it, you’d just end up looking like a pervert.”

“Why!?”

“Because you’re Takagi.”

“That’s completely unfair!”

She laughed softly.

“Alright then, I’ll go change.”

Leaving those words behind, she walked away.

That should settle everything.

Surely she wasn’t going to ignore the spare pair I’d given her.

“Well, I’m heading off too. I need to change into my stage outfit.”

“Got it.”

I was still wearing my butler uniform, so I grabbed my stage clothes and left the gymnasium.

Man, I’ve changed outfits so many times today…

That was what I was thinking when—

“Huh…? President?”

For some reason, the president—who should’ve already left—was standing there, clutching the brand-new spats I’d given her.

Her expression looked painfully conflicted.

She slowly walked toward me.

“Hey… Fukagawa-kun… could you listen to me for a little while…?”

She spoke timidly, completely unlike her usual self.

Just as I thought…

Something was definitely going on.

“Of course.”

We moved behind the gymnasium.

Looking around nervously to make sure no one was nearby, she hesitated.

“I…”

“Yes?”

“A-Actually…”

Her hands trembled slightly.

“I-I’m… wearing… rather revealing underwear right now…”

“Yeah. I figured.”

“Y-You’re… not surprised?”

Well, I’d already known that from the nightmare.

“My girlfriends have worn underwear like that before.”

“I-I see… I suppose that’s just what I’d expect from you, Fukagawa-kun… But somehow, that makes me feel relieved.”

It seemed staying calm had been the right choice.

After taking a deep breath, she continued.

“The reason I joined the light music club… was because someone I liked was already in it.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… He was an upperclassman who’s already graduated. I wanted more chances to be around him, so even though I wasn’t interested in music at all, I desperately studied it and listened to rock nonstop.”

Little by little, she told me what had happened back then.

As she’d hoped, joining the club had allowed her to grow close to her senior.

Before long, she’d become genuinely passionate about rock music herself.

Eventually, the two of them started dating.

“When my first live performance was over… we promised we’d… have sex for the first time.”

“…So that’s why you wore revealing underwear to the concert?”

“Pretty much. Senpai always said girls looked sexier in underwear like that. I wanted to make him happy… and I wanted it to become the best memory possible…”

…Couldn’t you have just changed into it after the concert?

The thought nearly escaped my lips.

But seeing the seriousness in her expression, I held it back.

“The concert ended without any problems. Afterward, we were about to head to a love hotel like we’d promised… but for some reason, another girl was there too.”

“…What?”

“When I found out what was going on… it turned out Senpai already had another girlfriend—the one he actually loved. He really wanted the three of us to do it together, so he’d apparently convinced her. With her approval, he planned to make me his second girlfriend.”

“…”

No wonder she’d looked at my relationship with Nodoka and Airi with such complicated emotions.

“So… what did you do?”

“Well… saying ‘of course’ might be a little awkward, considering your situation.” She gave a bitter smile. “Anyway, I was furious. I flatly refused. That would’ve meant he’d been using me all along.”

“So you broke up.”

“That’s right. Which is why I’m still a virgin. Looking back… maybe I should be grateful I never gave myself to someone like him.”

Our situations were similar in some ways, but fundamentally different.

Airi and Nodoka had talked everything through together and, after reaching an understanding, confessed their feelings to me.

If anything, I was the one who’d hesitated until the very end.

“But President… what does that have to do with you still wearing revealing underwear now?”

“W-Well…”

She looked away again before quietly answering.

“Ever since then… I’ve developed this strange superstition that I have to wear revealing underwear whenever I perform live…”

“…”

She’s quite something herself, I couldn’t help thinking.