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“Mamoru-senpai, you don’t need to keep pouting,” Kensuke tried to cheer up his boyfriend.
“I can’t believe I missed the last shot, I was so close!” Mamoru held his head down as he replayed the memory in his head.
The two of them had just left one of the classroom’s mini games during Aoharu’s lively school festival. The goal of the game was to hit a bull’s eye target with a rubber arrow to win a prize while being carried by a partner team member. Mamoru didn’t have much confidence in his strength to hold up Kensuke, so he thought he could make the shot by riding on Kensuke’s shoulders. However, his balance faltered in the last second and missed completely.
Kensuke knew his boyfriend had a tendency to pout a little when losing a game, but this was the first in awhile he’s seen Mamoru pout all morning.
“Look, I got some fresh takoyaki from Kai-senpai!” Kensuke offered a bite to Mamoru in hopes of distracting him.
“Ken-kun…” Mamoru was still pouting, but he took the bait and ate the takoyaki off the toothpick that Kensuke was holding.
“Tasty?”
“Mm~.”
“We could try the game again later on our next break!” Kensuke offered. “Maybe we can even persuade Arata-senpai to hold the target easier for you.”
“I don’t want them to make it easier just for me, I want to win the prizes fairly!” Mamoru insisted.
“Then do you want to switch places? I’m pretty confident I can make the shot even if you’re only able to hold me up for a few seconds!” Kensuke said.
“But even if you make the shot with how long I can hold you up, you can only win one prize…” Mamoru sighed.
Kensuke wondered why Mamoru was so hung up on the prizes. He racked his memory at the basket of plush toys that were in the prize basket-
“Ahh~, I see, you wanted the orange bear and the purple bear, right?” Kensuke figured out.
Mamoru’s silence and pout only confirmed Kensuke’s comment was right on the target.
“Let’s see, each game we get three chances to shoot the target, so I only need to hit the bull’s eye with two arrows!”
“Ken-kun, you make it sound so easy!”
“Senpai, have you forgotten I’m pretty good at all kinds of games? Not to mention being on an athletic team, I have a really good sense of balance too!”
“Mm…then let’s give it another go, Ken-kun!” Mamoru cheered up.
“Yeah! Leave it to me, Mamoru-senpai!”
“I don’t mind if the two of you are on break, but don’t loiter around too much,” Ryota spoke up to them from behind.
“R-Ryo-kun! You scared me!” Mamoru jumped.
“Are you on break too, Ryo?” Kensuke asked.
“I’m on patrol duty,” Ryota stated as he pointed to his student council armband. “I have to make sure students don’t loiter around too much and cause problems for visitors.” Ryota seemed to be glaring at them coldly to imply his meaning.
“I better get back to the gardening club then! Later, Ken-kun!” Mamoru ran off in a hurry.
“Oh! Don’t forget to meet up on your next break, Senpai!” Kensuke reminded Mamoru.
“And don’t run too fast in the halls!” Ryota warned and then let out a sigh.
“It must be hard being on the council committee during the festival,” Kensuke said as he noticed Ryota’s sigh.
“I don’t mind it, I just wish more students behaved more diligently in an orderly fashion,” Ryota said and frowned at Ken who was stuffing his face with the last of the takoyaki.
“Mmf! Hey, I’ll be sure to dispose of my trash properly!” Kensuke defended.
“You better, or you’re going to be cleaning up the entire hallway on your next break.”
“Please don’t, Ryo-sama! I made plans with Mamoru-senpai already!” Kensuke begged.
“Then be sure to tidy up and don’t be late for your next shift.”
“Yes, yes. Ah, by the way, I heard there will be a fancy cooking demonstration later that Kou is participating in, are you going-”
“I already told Kou I’d clear my schedule during that time and be there to watch in the first row,” Ryota was already determined.
“Of course, Ryo-sama is very diligent when it comes to Kou-sama.” Kensuke giggled.
Ryota blushed a little. “I don’t need you teasing me, Ken.”
“Fujimura-senpai, do you need help carrying those?” Haruto asked as he saw Mamoru was lifting some pretty heavy decorative garden pots to put on display for the gardening club’s stall.
“I’ve got it, Haruto-kun! I’m trying to build my arm strength!” Mamoru said, though he sounded a bit of breath.
“Building your arm strength is okay, but don’t overdo it and pass out again,” Haruto advised. “Wouldn’t want you ending up in the infirmary again like last year’s school festival.”
“Guh! You’re right! I need to save my energy for the mini game!” Mamoru remembered.
“Mini game?”
“Ah, it’s the one where you have to hit a target with rubber arrows to win prizes!”
“Oh that one. Is Fujimura senpai trying to win a lot of prizes?” Haruto asked curiously.
“I don’t need to win a lot, but there’s two specific prizes I want to win for Ken-kun!” Mamoru shared. “I won’t get to enjoy the school festival as a student with Ken-kun again next year so…”
“I see,” Haruto understood. “Then I can give you some tips, Mamoru-senpai.”
“Really, Haruto-kun?!”
“Yeah, I played the mini game you mentioned earlier and won quite a bit for Shou-senpai.”
“Please teach me!!”
Kensuke peered over the crowd to search for Mamoru at their meeting spot.
“Oh, Mamoru! Sorry I’m a bit late! My shift ran a bit longer because I got roped into a dance off,” Kensuke met up with Mamoru.
“A dance off? I would’ve loved to see Ken-kun dance!”
“Koi recorded it, so I’ll ask him to send me the video and show you later,” Kensuke said. “So ready to tackle the mini game?”
“Mm! Ah, but I was thinking about it Ken-kun and I feel more confident to shoot the arrows now!” Mamoru told Kensuke.
“Oh? You want to try again?” Kensuke thought they were going to switch places to win the prizes.
“I was talking with Haruto-kun earlier and he gave me tips on how to aim better since he’s won a lot of prizes before!” Mamoru explained.
“Oh yeah, I think I overheard You-senpai saying that Haruto almost cleaned them out of prizes.” Kensuke laughed. “Alright, then let’s give it another go!”
“Mm!”
The two of them entered the classroom for the archery game. When they entered, Mamoru noticed on the prize shelf that the purple bear was still in the basket, but the orange bear was gone.
“Mamoru-senpai, is something wrong?” Kensuke asked when he noticed Mamoru looked a bit disappointed.
“Ah, mm-mm, it’s nothing Ken-kun!”
“Oh, Mamoru, Kensuke, you’re back again?” You saw them come in.
“Yeah, we wanted to play again!” Kensuke said. “We won’t lose this time!”
“Just to remind you we don’t give couples discounts.” You grinned.
“We know that!” Kensuke felt teased as they paid the same number of game tickets to play.
“So who’s gonna do the archery this time?” Arata asked as he came out to hold the target.
“I’m going to try again, Arata-kun!” Mamoru volunteered.
“Good luck!”
You started the music for their timer as Kensuke lifted up Mamoru. Mamoru recalled what Haruto taught him and started to aim at the target.
“Oh~, he’s got a better form this time compared to when he was fumbling with the arrows,” You commented.
“Mamoru-senpai, you’ve got this!” Kensuke tried to cheer him on as he kept his balance steady.
Mamoru took the first shot, but he missed of course.
“I’m sorry, Ken-kun!”
“Don’t mind! You still have two more chances!”
“Should I hold the target higher for you, Mamoru-san?” Arata asked.
“Arata! No handicaps!” You scolded Arata.
“It’s okay, Arata-kun! I’ll shoot it properly!”
Mamoru took a deep breath and aimed again.
“Got it!” Mamoru hit the bull’s eye with the second arrow.
“Great job, Senpai! Just one more to go!”
Kensuke thought Mamoru flinched and hesitated for a moment, but Mamoru quickly aimed for the target before the music ended.
“Ah-” His hand slipped at the last minute and it looked like it was going to miss the target again, but somehow it managed to land another bull’s eye.
“We did it!”
“Way to go, Mamoru!” Kensuke quickly put Mamoru down and pulled him into a hug. “We won twice! You can get the two prizes that you want!”
“At least you guys won’t run us out of prizes like Haruto,” You said as he brought the basket of plush prizes over. Here you go, Mamoru, you get to pick two prizes.”
“M-Mm!” Mamoru looked happy, but somehow he sounded a bit conflicted. He quickly picked up the purple bear that he really wanted to win for Kensuke, but since there wasn’t an orange one Mamoru hesitated a little at picking a second prize.
“Mamoru?”
“Ah! I think I’ll pick Mr. Panda-san as my second prize! I could give it to Haruto-kun as thanks for giving me advice on how to win.”
“No, you should keep it for yourself. Haruto swiped most of our prizes already,” You strongly advised.
“Thank you very much!” Kensuke and Mamoru took the prizes and left.
After they left, You sighed and turned around to confront Arata. “Arata, don’t think I didn’t notice you moving the target during the last shot to make Mamoru win.”
“Ah, so you did notice after all, You-kun,” Arata chuckled. “I just wanted to play the hero and help them out a little since Mamoru-san was trying so hard.”
“Playing hero is nice and all, but don’t give too many handicaps. I don’t want to have to run outside to find more prizes.”
“Speaking of prizes…didn’t we have an orange bear prize before in the basket? What happened to it?”
“If you wanted to win it for yourself, too bad. Another student won it already while you were on break and I’m not telling you who it was.”
“Well, that orange bear did come as a set with the purple one. It’s too bad Mamoru-san couldn’t win it…You-kun, why are you grinning.”
“I’m not saying anything~. You’re not the only one who gets to act cool.”
Since there was still time left on their break, Kensuke and Mamoru decided to rest outside near the flower beds to take a break from all the excitement. It was a good thing there weren’t any stalls set up in that area so they could have some peace and quiet.
“I’m really happy you won the prizes you wanted, Mamoru-senpai!” Kensuke congratulated Mamoru again.
“Mm…” Somehow Mamoru didn’t seem as happy as before.
“What’s the matter? Do you not like the prizes after all? Or did you want to win more?” Kensuke wondered what was wrong.
“Ah, it’s not that! I’m really happy with these prizes!” Mamoru tried to smile, but Kensuke could see it was forced.
“Hmm.”
“Anyway, I know it’s not giftwrapped or anything, but here! This one is for you, Ken-kun!” Mamoru handed the purple bear to Kensuke.
“For me?” Kensuke was a little surprised.
“Mm! I wanted to win the purple bear to give it to you, Ken-kun!” Mamoru revealed his plan. But then he sighed. “To be honest, there was also an orange bear next to the purple bear earlier the first time we played, but I guess someone else won it before us.”
“Ohh, so that’s why you looked a little sad.” Kensuke already understood, but he kept it a secret.
“At least I can give you the purple bear! Even though we only started dating a month ago, since it’s our last school festival I wanted to make lots of fun memories together.”
Now it was Kensuke’s turn to pout.
“Mamoru-senpai is being unfair.”
“E-Eh? Did I say something wrong?”
“Silly, even though you won’t be a high school student next year, we’re still going to see each other at next year’s school festival. You better come and visit!”
“Of course! I was already planning to, Ken-kun!”
Kensuke smiled and leaned in close to kiss Mamoru on the forehead and then quickly on the lips.
“Ken-kun!” Mamoru blushed.
“What? Am I not allowed to kiss my boyfriend when he’s being cute?”
“It’s not that! What if someone sees?”
“There’s no one around except the pretty flowers you’ve grown, and they won’t tell a soul,” Kensuke pointed out. “Besides, half the school already knows we’re dating.”
“What?! Half the school?!”
“Honestly I don’t mind telling everyone, that way I can say Mamoru-senpai belongs to me!” Kensuke teased.
“Ken-kun!”
“Haha! Anyway, I have a surprise for you too, Senpai! Close your eyes!” Kensuke changed topics.
“It’s not a prank, is it?” Mamoru asked as he closed his eyes.
Mamoru felt Kensuke take hold of both of his hands and put something soft in them.
“Okay! You can open them now!”
Mamoru opened his eyes and gasped. “Ken-kun! This is-!”
Kensuke had put the orange bear Mamoru had seen earlier in the prize basket in his own hands.
“The orange bear! You really wanted it, right?”
“Yes! But how did you get it? I didn’t see the orange bear when we went again!” Mamoru was confused.
“Ah, the truth is after you left for the gardening club, I still had a bit of time left on my break,” Kensuke explained. “So I quickly went back to the archery game and played again! Though I was only able to win once since You-senpai made it harder for me since I had to team up with him.”
Mamoru looked at the orange bear and wanted to cry.
“Thank you so much, Ken-kun! I’ll treasure the orange bear forever!” Mamoru hugged it tightly.
“Yeah! Take lots of pictures with it for me when you start university next year! I’ll do the same with the purple bear you gave me!”
“Ah, I know! Why don’t we take one now with the bears together? Um, where’s my phone?” Mamoru fumbled around.
Kensuke was quicker and pulled out his phone to take a selfie. “Say cheese, Mamoru-senpai!”
“Wait, Ken-kun! I’m not ready!”