[TSSIM] Chapter 416: Sakuragaoka's School Festival

One hour later, Homura, Utaha, and Kotori finally bid farewell to the Hoshino family and left.

On the way back home, Utaha spoke up.

"Hoshino-san's eyes aren't different colors anymore. Yesterday they were, but today they're the same."

"Heh, maybe it's because we're visiting today, so she's toned down her chuunibyou spirit." Homura smiled slightly.

"Also, Hoshino-senpai makes a lot of clothes, but it doesn't seem like she plans to wear them." Kotori added.

"Kotori, do you remember the fourth chapter of the Love Live?"

"Huh?" Kotori was taken aback. "I do remember..."

"When Hanayo visited Honoka's house, what did she see after Honoka let her go upstairs?"

"It was Yukiho doing something in front of a mirror and Umi-chan practicing in secret... Ahh, I see!" Kotori suddenly realized. "Homura-kun, are you saying that Hoshino-senpai is like Umi-chan? She really likes it but is very shy, so she can only do it alone in secret?"

"Let's pretend we don't know. It's not an embarrassing thing, but since she's shy about it, we should respect that." Homura shook his head with a smile.

"Yeah, you're right! As long as Hoshino-senpai keeps making clothes, that's enough!" Kotori nodded in agreement.

===

Back at the Minamiya residence, the curious girls gathered around Kotori, eager to hear more about what had happened with Mya-nee.

"She's amazing, y'know! She made most of our performance costumes!" Kotori exclaimed, still in awe. "And she had so many great ideas. Looking at the clothes she made has really inspired me too."

She pulled out her phone and showed them the photos she had taken.

"Wow~! It really is impressive!" Honoka couldn't help but be amazed.

"By the way, Hinata, Hoshino-san's little sister, sounds just like Homura-kun showed that day. Plus, Hinata is so interesting. She doesn't hold back her words with her sister at all, though it's probably unintentional." Kotori continued.

"Natural black?" Nozomi raised an eyebrow.

All the girls immediately turned their attention to Mashiro.

Mashiro: "…"

'What are you all looking at? I'm not natural black…' Mashiro thought, turning her head away.

"What are you talking about? How could Mashiro be naturally black?" Homura said with a smile, ruffling Mashiro's hair.

'Exactly, exactly.' Mashiro silently agreed.

"Back then it was fine, but now it's definitely just pure evil!" Homura continued.

'Exactly, exact—' Mashiro paused, then bit his arm, though she didn't apply much pressure.

Homura was prepared for it and didn't try to dodge.

Seeing this scene, the girls watched with slight smiles.

Mashiro had always been teasing Homura, and now he finally got a chance to retaliate.

"By the way, let's continue with the lesson. After all, we won't have time next week." Eli reminded.

"There's no need to be so tight, y'know." Homura shook his head.

"It's not about being tight, just wanting to do better." Eli replied, looking into his eyes seriously.

Clap!

"...Alright, let's start the lesson!"

In the end, seeing Eli's serious expression and determination, Homura gave in, clapped his hands, and headed toward the temporary classroom.

Everyone who needed to follow followed, while the remaining ones exchanged glances.

===

Saturday.

It was finally the day of the school festival at Sakuragaoka High School.

Homura and his large group, along with a cat, did not move as one cohesive unit but rather split into several groups.

Homura ended up with Megumi, Utaha, and Eriri.

Mya-nee and Hinata followed the group led by Kotori for entry.

Meanwhile, the others grouped according to their usual patterns, though this was mainly due to the large number of people, which made it inconvenient to enter together.

However, once inside, they could simply regroup.

Still, Homura thought they would quickly disperse again after regrouping. With so many people, it was just too impractical to do anything together, like buying food for example. Moreover, too many people in one group would just block the way for others.

By the way, Kaguya had insisted to her father that she wanted to visit Sakuragaoka for its school festival this time and strongly requested that no extra bodyguards be brought along. After all, having bodyguards with intimidating appearances around during the festival would ruin the atmosphere.

Surprisingly, her father agreed, probably because Kaguya had been very serious and adamant about it, and the location was a prestigious all-girls school like Sakuragaoka.

In the end, Ai was the only one who accompanied Kaguya.

However, with the Fujiwara family's eldest daughter present, having more people would indeed be a bit of an eyesore.

As a result, Kaguya managed to go out this time without much trouble.

And so, after they all entered the school, Homura found an open space and quickly discussed the next steps with the group.

"Homura-kun, I think we should continue to split up. With this many people, it will just be troublesome for everyone." Nozomi suggested.

"Yeah, maybe a maximum of six people per group. Otherwise, the groups will be too cumbersome." Homura nodded.

Looking around, Ayano was left alone.

Ayano: "…"

"I guess I'll join Saori and her group since they have the fewest people." Ayano said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly. "Is that okay?"

"You're welcome." Kuroneko nodded.

"So, will you be with Fumino's group, Mafuyu?" Homura asked.

"Yeah, Kirisu-sensei is with us." Fumino nodded in response but then noticed something was off. "Wait, first name?!"

Mafuyu's face turned red, and she slightly turned her head, staying silent.

Fumino, Rizu, and Uruka all stared at Mafuyu and then at Homura, their eyes widened.

Meanwhile, Ayano wore an expression of someone enjoying the show.

"What exactly happened while we were unaware?"

Fumino asked Homura with a confused expression on her face.

Homura scratched his head, then answered, "Actually, Fumino, you should know about this too. When you called me last time, my relationship with Mafuyu made some progress."

Upon hearing his words, Ayano raised an eyebrow. It had been a while since she last saw them, but it seemed like Homura and the girls around him had some kind of strange relationship.

Ayano indeed didn't know, but the other girls, whether it was Saori, Tsumugi, or Megumi, had been told a lot about it by him.

However, there were still three people who didn't know. Of course, Mya-nee and Hinata were clueless, but there was one more.

"Sagiri-chan, what's going on? It seems like Onii-san and those Onee-san are acting a bit differently…" Megumin whispered into Sagiri's ear. {T/N: Just a reminder, Megumin is Jinno Megumi.}

In truth, Sagiri had only casually invited Megumin to the festival, but she hadn't expected Megumin to agree without a second thought.

At that time, Megumin's answer was, "I don't have any plans for Saturday! It's perfect to get closer to Sagiri-chan!"

Meanwhile, upon hearing Megumin's question, Sagiri thought for a moment, then gently petted Haru's fur in her arms and leaned toward Megumin's ear to explain briefly.

As Sagiri whispered to Megumin—

"EHHH—?!!!" Megumin exclaimed in surprise, shocked by the explanation.

Seeing that all the girls were drawn to her outburst, Megumin instinctively covered her mouth.

She stayed silent afterward, but her eyes were still full of shock.