"Excuse me, where is Classmate Chen Yao?"
Horikita Manabu asked.
"Eh, President Horikita, why are you here..."
Shiromawari Meguru, terribly afraid of the president, asked with an awkward smile.
"I came to congratulate everyone on the smooth running of the school festival."
Horikita Manabu adjusted his glasses, though his expression showed no hint of congratulations.
"Um, I don't really know anything about Classmate Chen Yao; you'd have to ask Classmate Yukinoshita... Right, what did the rest of you want to ask?"
"Same question—we're looking for Classmate Chen Yao."
Horikita Manabu and the others all turned to her in unison and answered.
Tears nearly streaming down her face, Shiromawari Meguru had no idea what trouble Chen Yao had stirred up. She immediately called Yukinoshita Yukino, and in no time she learned Chen Yao's whereabouts.
"He's probably doing something with the Baseball Club—yakisoba or some hands-on activity."
That's what Sawamura Eijun and Goto Hitori's group thought.
"No, he should be at the cinema hall promoting speed-competition knowledge."
That's what Takahashi Keisuke and Suzunoki Rin's group believed.
Takahashi Keisuke and Sawamura Eijun looked ready to clash again, but Shiromawari Meguru gave them an unexpected answer.
"Classmate Chen Yao... seems to be happily enjoying the school festival all by himself..."
Chapter 45 – Yukinoshita Yukino's Visit
Early morning, Sobu High was brimming with festival atmosphere; the ambience was impeccable. Classrooms had been turned into diners, cafés, haunted houses, fortune-telling booths, and DIY game trial halls—plenty of fun spots. Chen Yao had grabbed the school's programme list at dawn, planning to hit every single event in one day.
After polishing off some curry rice and sampling a few trashy homemade games, Chen Yao queued for the haunted house alone.
"Did you hear? That haunted house is getting rave reviews—apparently the girl playing the ghost is super cute!"
"I'm going too, I'm going too! Wanna see how cute the ghost actress is..."
The boys from other schools whispering ahead of him made Chen Yao feel awkward.
"The ghost actress is cute? Isn't that just a backhanded way of saying her acting sucks? My expectations dropped a bit, but I'll still check it out for a study-abroad keepsake."
Chen Yao queued, thinking to himself.
Soon it was his turn; after paying 300 yen he stepped inside to see what the fuss was about.
The atmosphere wasn't bad at all. Though everything was draped in cloth, the skulls and headless armoured knights were intricately made. Along the winding path, actors playing Sadako, a chainsaw maniac, and a wide-grinning ghost made students ahead shriek.
But midway through, a white-haired girl sprang straight out of a coffin, baring fangs and howling "Awooo!" Chen Yao startled—then saw how cute she was: fair skin, childlike face. It had to be her—the one everyone meant: Kagaribi no Kiriue from Class B.
"Awoo... uh, why's it you?"
Kiriue narrowed her eyes and asked in disgust.
"Classmate Kagurazuki, so your class is running this attraction."
Chen Yao was instantly a bit disappointed.
Kiriue, dressed as a Vampire in Dracula garb, actually pulled off the proud Vampire girl cosplay—though she was a Vampire anyway, the gentlemanly outfit added flavour.
Glancing around and seeing Chen Yao alone, she hid a smirk behind her cape and sneered, "How pitiful—did you come to a haunted house alone? No friends, how sad, huff-huff-huff..."
Annoyed, Chen Yao pointed at her and retorted, "What are you mocking me for? Don't you have no friends either?"
"Who says I've no friends? Don't forget Sora's my... oh, right, have you seen Sophie? I heard you were hurt; she rushed here today to see you and watch my haunted-house show, but I haven't seen her in half an hour..."
Kiriue mentioned Sophie and looked around. The home-body beauty had actually come to the school festival.
Chen Yao asked, puzzled, "Haven't seen her. She wanted to visit me, but my injury's almost healed; she should be fine wandering around alone, right?"
Kiriue still looked worried and whispered, "Not necessarily. It's sunny now. Though the windows are covered, if she gets lost and stumbles outside, any part of her touched by sunlight will vanish. She absolutely can't be exposed."
Realising the seriousness, Chen Yao felt it was indeed bad news. Sophie had helped him before; he figured he should find her and get her somewhere safe.
"In that case, I'll go look for her..."
Chen Yao glanced around the large-classroom haunted house. Small as it was, the maze of props and draped cloth made searching tricky.
Just then, three or four boys from other schools behind him entered expectantly. Midway through they spotted a caped girl crouching in a corner and assumed she was the rave-review beauty, crowding forward.
"W-wait, don't come near me..."
The crouching girl quavered.
"Haha, what're you saying, Classmate? Aren't you supposed to scare us? Alright, let me see how cute—uh, how scary—you really are!"
One bold boy yanked off the Little Black Hood's cape—only to find... nothing. The girl stood up, but her head was gone—not a prop, genuinely vanished. The four boys screamed in terror and bolted for the exit!
"Aaaah, my God, she has no head!!"
Chen Yao, still searching, saw the panicking boys and guessed Sophie must be nearby. Following their path, he found the headless Sophie under red lights.
"Looks pretty scary at first glance..."
Even Chen Yao found it chilling.
"Isn't that Teacher Yokoyama? I heard you were hurt; are you all right?" the headless Sophie asked politely, shielded from the sun.
"Miss Sophie, let's worry about you first. Your head's gone—will it stay that way?" Chen Yao asked with concern.
Sophie put her hood back on and shook her 'head'. "No worries, it'll grow back in a while. I meant to look around, but accidentally let sunlight hit my face... oh, looks like it's returning."
Soon her cute face and entire head glowed back into existence—a charming silver-haired loli.
"Nice—being a Vampire makes recovering from such a serious injury so easy..."
Chen Yao couldn't help but admire; it really was more convenient than being human.
"Glad you're okay. Your injuries seem nearly healed too. Whew, that's good. When I was buying Kadokawa manga I saw your series on hiatus because of injury—such a crisis! If angels weren't hunting us, I'd have rushed over immediately to heal you."
Sophie looked at him anxiously; it was hard to tell whether she cared more about his health or his manga updates.
Chen Yao smiled. "Yep, I'm basically recovered. I used to be Undead, but now this body is 100 % human—just kept some powers. Recovering from being hit by a train in a few days... if word got out I'd probably be hauled off for human experiments."
"Um, right—how did you know I was on campus? I hadn't even called you yet; I wanted it to be a surprise..." Sophie tilted her cute, loli face, puzzled.
Chen Yao answered, "Classmate Kagami told me. She was worried you'd get sunburned—though you've already caught a bit..."
Just then his phone rang. Curious, he pulled it out and saw the caller: Yukinoshita Yukino.
Frowning, he picked up. "Classmate Yukinoshita, why ring me out of the blue? Something up?"
"—Where are you right now, Classmate Chen Yao?"
"I'm poking around the haunted house."
"—By yourself?"
Yukinoshita's tone sounded oddly incredulous, as if solo haunted-house trips were taboo in Japan.
"Yeah, solo. Got a problem with that?" Chen Yao curled his lip.
"—Come out anyway. Quite a few people are here looking for you; you need to meet them."
"A bunch of people? What for?"
"No idea. Just head to the Student Council room—I'm still handling their requests; they're all there."
She hung up, leaving him bewildered. He was a lone wolf; who would hunt him down during the school festival?
After returning Sophie to Kagaribi no Kirie, he made for the council office. Yukinoshita had taken on their festival workload, doing nearly everything alone; the students drafted from other classes either couldn't or wouldn't, so she'd been swamped.
The council area was spacious. Snow-no was in Shiromawari Meguru's presidential office crunching budget numbers. He knocked; she glanced up from the paperwork, then dove back in.
"Those people were taken by President Shiromawari to—"
Too busy to let him ask, she started, then paused mid-sentence, pen hovering.
"I heard your shoulder was hurt—how is it now? Still sore?"
Yukinoshita asked, eyes on him.
Chen Yao blinked. "No, it's fine. How's your foot?"
"Better, thanks to your liniment... The school wants you to push for promotion, but no need to kill yourself. I also heard Classmate Goto played a huge part—you've trained a fine student."
She smiled.
Rare praise from Yukinoshita caught him off guard. "It's her own talent; she's tougher and braver than we thought—just over-thinks things. Still buried?"
Yukinoshita exhaled, weary. "The council's swamped; I have to help—especially Sagami. It's her job, yet she's always distracted..."
He vaguely recalled Sagami—rumor had it she was useless. Watching Yukinoshita volunteer for unpaid drudgery, Chen Yao—no saint—decided not to bother her and went next door to see who wanted him.
Yet as he left, she paused again, gaze lingering.
Chen Yao opened the council lounge door—only to find the frosty Horikita Manabu and his secretary. Horikita stood, smiling. "Ah, long time no see, Mr. Chen Yao—"
Before he finished, Chen Yao shut the door again.
"How rude! Slams the door like he can't stand the sight of us..."
Tachibana Akane huffed.
"He's sharp—no matter. Now that he's here, I'll say my piece."
Horikita chuckled, unbothered.
Chen Yao left without hesitation; the moment Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School's president appeared, trouble loomed, and he wanted none of it.
But a familiar voice stopped him.
"Sensei."
He turned. Four girls studying commemorative photos down the hall now looked over—Goto Hitori and Yamada Ryo among them.
"Goto, bandmates, what brings you here?"
He grinned.
"We came to check your injury—are you all right?"
Ijichi Nijika, Yamada Ryo, and Kita Ikuyo bowed; Ijichi asked with a smile.
He bowed back. "Pretty much healed—thanks for coming all this way."
"Wow, you got clipped by a train and you're fine already? Are you even human, Mr. Chen?"
Yamada quipped.
"Hush, Ryo—don't be rude," Ijichi hushed her.
"I'm just saying; I like the guy."
Ijichi clapped a hand over Yamada's mouth and gave Chen Yao a wry smile. "Ignore her—her brain's missing a screw."
"Hit by a train?" Kita Ikuyo blinked, puzzled.
Chen Yao realized Yamada might know his secret; yet the aloof girl didn't seem the gossip type.
He noticed Goto Hitori wearing the cap he'd given her. "Goto, why the helmet at school?"
"Without it I couldn't muster the courage... Your school's elite—my grades are hopeless. You're not ashamed of your dumb student, are you?"
She hugged her head in despair.
He ruffled her hair. "Nonsense—you're amazing. Everyone's good at something; you just aren't into textbooks. And bookworms can't necessarily shred guitar like you."
The four girls felt he saw things clearly—top student yet free of arrogance.
"Is this friend of yours also with you?" he asked, looking at Kita Ikuyo.
Kita's cheeks flushed under his direct gaze.
Strange—she wasn't the blushing type, yet something in his eyes struck her like an arrow, leaving her oddly nervous.