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Entering the group chat was good and all, but due to the flood of greetings, invitations, and random arguments, we realized that we couldn’t have a proper conversation there. Taking charge would be impossible. And so, I was forced to use a precious day off.

“Thanks to the fools, I had to trouble you guys. Can’t they return to normal already?”
“I’ve already given up on them becoming proper back in high school.”

Assembly member number 1: Ran. Likely the busiest person here right now. Because of Ayaka’s abrupt participation, Ran is currently grappling with how to adjust her schedule. You can feel the exhaustion oozing from her face. Even so, she answered my call, which I’m very grateful for.

“It’d be boring if they became normal, you know?”

Assembly member number 2: Satoru. Likely the person with the most time to spare right now. He seems to be scheming something behind the scenes, but as expected, he probably won’t act carelessly with the twelve families involved. Damn him, giving Hibana unneeded information.

“It’s been a while since we’ve gathered together like this.”

Assembly member number 3: Kenichi. Representative of the props and artistic production specialists. Whenever Ani held meetings back in high school, these three were present almost all of the time. There are other representatives for different groups, but these three are most necessary no matter the occasion.

“The reason for this gathering is none other than the wedding event the Satsuki family commissioned.”
“We already refused once on our part. It would affect the drama we’re currently filming. The agency somehow managed to squeeze some time, though.”
“I was on board from the start, but no one else wanted to join, so I was starting to worry.”
“As for me, I also have Kotone’s commission, so I’m somewhat hesitant. Having too many eggs in your basket never ends well.”

The three of them had their own circumstances, but due to the bomb that was my participation, the situation escalated quickly. At this rate, however, everyone else will be acting on their own without any clear direction, so a chain of command will be necessary. And that is why we’re here.

“We’ll start filming as soon as the script is finished, right?”
“Until then, Ayaka will be teaching the others to perform.”
“Satoru will observe the operation as a whole and think of what else we might need.”
“The ceremony itself will be handled by the family, so we’ll mainly handle the reception.”
“And Kenichi will coordinate with Satoru’s adjustments.”
“That’s the hardest part. This b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ has absurd requests every single time.”

That’s generally how things go. Ani, meanwhile, is in charge of keeping everything balanced. If anyone goes out of control, he’ll gather people for suppression and smack some sense to them. This time, doing that won’t be easy, so the difficulty level is up a notch.

“By the way, why are you holding your meeting here?”
“I received the owner’s permission, so don’t worry about it. Oh, and bill everything to this guy.”
“Treating me like a wallet, how mean.”

Since it’s my day off today, Kaori is taking charge of the floor. By the way, the Satsuki family promised to shoulder all expenses, but as payment for causing me nuisance, I’m charging it to Satoru.

“I’m not part of this, so it’s none of my concern. Don’t insinuate anything weird, okay?”
“Kaori, do you seriously think that Kotone wouldn’t get her best friend involved?”
“Eh?”
“Our policy is to drag others along rather than being humiliated alone. There’s no way Kotone would willingly join by herself.”
“We suspect that she already made arrangements.”
“Eh~”

Seeing that she gave up without as much as a complaint, it looks like Kaori has adapted as well. In truth, the Satsukis also have an invitation for Kaori as my friend. Kaori was with me during the proposal. So she’s technically not an outsider.

“We’ll shop for dresses together later, alright?”
“I get it, okay. Jeez.”

Neither of us have clothes for attending a wedding. It’s in these situations where it’s nice that we’re not shouldering the expenses. Dresses aren’t something students can afford. We could opt to rent instead, but since we have the opportunity, it’ll be good to have at least one good set.

“Owner, long time! One tankard of iced coffee, please!”
“Listen to me, Kaori. Absolutely never get entangled with her, alright? Remember this.”
“Eh, but she’s a customer, isn’t she?”
“For starters, she’s a nuisance who makes random orders.”

There’s no tankard of iced coffee in the menu, you know. Moreover, what do you mean “long time no see”? Has she been here before Ani ever arrived?

“Hmph, it’s been a while since the last secret menu challenge. I’m sure Saori’s itching to flex her culinary muscles, too.”
“ “We have a secret menu!?” ”

As expected, Kaori and I were surprised. This is my first time learning that there’s a menu neither of us know about. I didn’t call Hiiragi to attend our meeting. She’s got no business being here, yet here she is.

“Ah~ah, we’re completely derailed. Let’s ignore that for now.”
“She has a weirdly overwhelming presence as usual.”
“It’s been a while since I saw Hiiragi, but she’s the same as always.”
“Frankly, I’m super curious about this secret menu she’s getting.”

I’m also curious about this unknown menu. However, if we get engulfed in her rhythm, our discussion will never go anywhere. Right now, we have to decide on what to do at the wedding reception.

“Should we use our class adviser’s case as a reference?”
“No, that was a special case. We leveraged our greatest advantage of being his student, after all.”
“True, we likely can’t be as indulgent as we were at that time. To begin with, we’ll have to ask the Satsuki family’s permission before we do anything.”
“This time, we also have the constraints of being working adults. The challenge will be how to work through those constraints.”

Having a safe and inoffensive reception is the easiest to manage and there won’t be any risk of accidents. However, if we go for that, there would be no point in having commissioned us. What they want from us is to stir up the venue without being problematic.

“Man, this is pretty difficult.”
“We just have to handle the re-enactment video as we usually do.”
“The overall quality won’t be any issue. As long as there aren’t any weird ad libs, that is.”
“I’ll keep strict watch on that front.”

“The problem is the reception. There’s going to be strict limitations if its indoors, can’t we hold it outside?”
“Like a standing buffet? Either that or we set up tables outside?”
“It’ll be tiring to stand for extended periods, so maybe the latter. But then the weather’s going to be a concern.”

“We’ll have more freedom outside, so I agree with that. As for the weather, should we entrust it to Oodori as usual?”
“A prayer entreating to the heavens it is. It’ll be expensive, but it won’t be our money anyways.”
“Can you really just rely on superstition?”
“Kaori, there are things in this world that can be trusted even though they can’t be understood. After seeing the weather turn clear 90% of the time, it’s really hard not to believe it.”

Oodori’s shrine is tied to the weather and they’ve been apparently entrusted with the weather for a long time. Ani and his classmates only patronize their services when they absolutely have to get something right. However, they do provide student discounts, so each of them would provide their own contributions.

“For our presentation, considering the others, a music and dance performance would be the safe bet.”
“In that case, Isami and the gang can join, so that should do. The dancers should be able to manage if they start practicing now, perhaps?”
“How about a comedy skit like before where the punchline absolutely falls flat?”
“Rallying back after that is extremely difficult, you know? It was a miracle that we managed to recover with an ad lib.”
“If we do that again, there’s no telling what Satsuki will do to the two fools, so that’s rejected. Personally, though, I do want to see it.”

That idiocy was only possible back then because it was our class advisor’s wedding. Ani and the rogue’s den were foolish to trust the confident stand-up pair, but after seeing the audience bored out of their minds, everyone seriously went pale.

“What about a stage fight? Previously, Souji and Nako handled it.”
“I’m busy with something else, so I can’t. If it needs to be done, then it has to be by someone else present.”
“They’ll practically be a sandbag, then.”
“No, Hiiragi should be able to do it. Hiiragi, how’s your neck now?”
“Thanks to Yayoi’s treatment, I’m all healed up~”

Fully healed when it hasn’t even been a week since then? What the hell did they do? I’m honestly curious, but I feel like I shouldn’t know. Still, if Hiiragi’s joining, then we’ll have to be on the lookout for sudden trouble.

“Can you do the stage fight?”
“Barehanded? Or with weapons? I’ll have to do some thorough planning with Nanako for it.”
“Ah, yeah, we’ll have to consult with Nako on that front. Let’s contact her later.”
“Roger~”
“It’s the same with Souji, but why are you people so familiar with the use of weapons?”
“It’s the result of regular battles.”

Frankly, that’s the reason. It’s because whenever Ani and his friends get into fights with delinquents, they pick up whatever’s around and use them as weapons. They were even shocked that they managed to put it into some use in other situations. In Hiiragi’s case, her skirmishes with Yayoi might have also played a role.

“Here it is, the challenge menu. Extra-large jumbo parfait topped with a ton of cakes.”
“That’s a pretty haphazard name. This looks hefty.”

Witnessing the object put before Hiiragi with a loud clang, everyone in the cafe was left speechless. The bowl used was an extra large fruit bowl. Sitting on it was a heap of parfait that reached the top of Hiiragi’s head. And what stood out the most is the various cake slices projecting from the parfait.

“Saori didn’t actually put it together haphazardly, did she?”
“It’s possible that mom made that to vent out stress. Still, how many servings is that?”

No matter how you look at it, it’s not for one person. From a rough estimate, it probably needs four people to finish. However, this cafe doesn’t offer any eating challenges. In other words, how expensive is this one dish?

“Still, Hiiragi could probably finish it, right?”
“It’s a biological mystery where she fits food in that thin body of hers.”
“Enough to freak out everyone.”
“Even I’d probably get heartburn from that.”

I suppose you would need a tankard of iced coffee to push this down. Anyway, I keep her existence out of my line of sight. And thus we then successfully decided on the wedding reception program.

Afterward, although Hiiragi finished it all, it left her unable to move for a while. As usual, she never thinks things through.

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