I (30), Who Works for a Black Company and Died While Regretting My Gloomy Life, Started Over From High School! - Chapter 18

18.The unknown word “amazing”.

The next day came and it was time to prepare for the cultural festival.

I was facing my classmates from the podium to discuss with each of the preparation teams for the cultural festival.

“Well, then, let’s get this meeting started. The agenda today is about the large number of requests and consultations that were poured out by everyone at once yesterday.”

“What do you want me to do with that many demands at once? Are you all idiots?” The cool-faced Kazamihara nonchalantly announces the start of the meeting.

Then–

“Hey, what happened to that wood I requested yesterday? Can I go buy some now?”

“The floor decoration team needs to cover a large area, so we need to work fast! I’m sorry, but I need permission to buy more materials as soon as possible!”

” Hey, wait! The wall decorating team doesn’t have much time either!”

“I’m having so much fun coming up with variations of Takoyaki! Hey, I can add more to the menu, right?”

“I’m really sorry! I’m really looking forward to going around with my girlfriend at the cultural festival! Please help me adjust my shift!

As if it was a reenactment of yesterday, an avalanche of self-indulgent requests came flooding in.

(I told you not to ask all at once….! What am I, Prince Shotoku?)

(However, you can’t ignore the fact that the… demands themselves are all serious and as a result, can’t simply dismiss them.)

“Yeah, I can see that they’re really motivated to work on it, and that’s why they’re asking for all these things in order to make it a good festival.

The two of us on the podium whispered to each other as there was too much noise to understand what anyone was saying if we didn’t.

“Yes, I think the enthusiasm is what’s making everyone impatient alongside the lack of time. The fact that we spent too much time deciding what to do was really painful.”

No, so don’t say it like it’s someone else’s problem…

I understand that Kazamihara feels bad about the incident, but she seems to have a much more fast-paced personality than I imagined, so it’s hard to read her thoughts.

“So what do we do now? Do you want to distribute number cards like the counters at the government offices?

There was already a lot of commotion in the classroom, and I was tempted to ask them to line up in an orderly fashion.

But then again, I already heard their demands yesterday.

“No, it’s fine. I’ve got all the answers ready for you.”

“Yes, …?”

“Everyone please be quiet for a moment! I will answer all the requests and inquiries you made yesterday, in order!”

My brain was exhausted from having to come up with individual solutions to a large number of requests, but I managed to raise my voice to keep my spirits up.

I thought I’d never have to deal with this kind of overtime fatigue in this life!

“And before you go, Noroda ……, since you don’t seem to be doing anything right now, I need you to be my photographer.

“What? Why do I have to be…?”

Noroda was about to complain, but was silenced by the cold stares from his classmates.

It was a natural reaction to someone who was trying to skip out on such a busy schedule of the class.

“The photos we take are later posted in the classroom and handed out to everyone. If you don’t take enough pictures or if they’re all out of focus, people will boo you like crazy. Just make sure you do it right, okay?”

” Gu …… you …… shit, I got it ……!

Noroda nodded grudgingly as I assigned him a task he couldn’t skip out on.

It’s hard to have the whole class staring at you like you’re trash.

Okay, that takes care of the prerequisite problem.

“I’ll get straight to the point. First of all, we had a lot of requests for classroom decorations, so we put some extra money in the budget. But basically, we are using a money-saving policy! We’ve asked the student council to get materials for us such as tablecloths, plywood and other materials for classroom decoration, and art materials that we bought at last year’s school festival. We’ll use those and ask for more if needed!”

I took a breath and continued.

“If you want to make the walls look like wood grain, you can use the school’s large format printer to make a simple wallpaper! The fans, bamboo screens, and Japanese cushions that are requested as decorative accessories can all be purchased at 100-yen stores.”

What comes to mind is the recollection of setting up an event venue when I was working as a company slave.

My company doesn’t give any money at all, but they say, “Get us a sign in front of the venue! Something flashy, eye-catching, and nice!” “There’ s nothing flashy about the event booth! Make it a little more spring-like!” They often made such unreasonable demands on me.

Each time, I tearfully set up and decorated the site with 100-yen materials and accessories, amateur balloon art and origami.

“And since I couldn’t get the big wood Akasaki wanted, you can look for free scrap wood by yourself by calling around to woodworking shops and home centers. You can also use a wood stapler to join smaller pieces of wood together!”

“Oh! Making your own …… from scrap wood sounds interesting!

Okay, I wasn’t sure if Akasaki would be convinced by this, but it seems to have caught his interest. Okay, next! Let’s go, go, go!

“We can only add one type of takoyaki to the menu! But the cost of materials for prototyping would be ridiculous, so please limit the number of candidates to two or three!　Hold a tasting contest with the cooking team and make a final decision by the day after tomorrow, and after that, absolutely no changes! Oh, and increase the variety of juice…”

In addition, we do not necessarily allow everything to pass, but we do reject any unreasonable requests.

If I were to grant everyone’s demands, there would be no end to it.

“If you have any plans for club activities or anything, please report to Kazamihara-san or me by tomorrow after school! I’ll make a shift list in Excel to make sure nothing gets left out! Basically, there should be no sudden schedule changes!”

Don’t ever make a sudden schedule change in the middle of the shift!

There’s no greater scheduler-killer than a sudden shift change, you know!

“I’ve also made a store systematic …… manual! It includes a diagram of the classroom layout, a system for meal tickets and payment, a recipe for takoyaki, the order-taking process, how to put up receipts, …… and much more! If you have any problems, please refer to this manual first!”

………… hmm?

After I finished my explanation, I looked around the classroom and saw that my classmates, who had been so noisy, were all looking at me as if they were taken aback.

They looked shocked, and their eyes were black and white.

(What the hell is ……?　What kind of reaction is this?)

Feeling something strange about this situation, I handed out the manual for the staff of the Japanese-style Takoyaki Cafe.

And for some reason, as I flipped through the manual with a puzzled look on my face, everyone seemed more and more at a loss for words.

What do you mean? what’s going on?

“What’s with the ……, this deadly detailed manual? How to take orders, how to report orders, how to keep money, what to do if a customer causes a disturbance, etc. ……”

For some reason, Kazamihara, who is standing next to me, makes a dumbfounded remark.

“Yeah, It’s just an easy to read manual of what was in the preparation materials at the planning stage, but I made it because the customer service and accounting staff was having trouble understanding it.”

“Oh, ……, you were thinking this thoroughly from the planning stage?”

“What? Of course, it’s natural to think of ways to deal with problems that might be expected so that you don’t get into trouble, and to fix things tightly from the planning stage, right? Otherwise, “This part is bad!” “This part is not good enough!” “There’s no way I can adopt a plan full of holes like this!” “You’re such a useless person!” You’ll be scolded all the time.”

“No, I mean, besides the cursing. …… how twisted do you think the minds of your classmates are in your head , Nihama?

Oh, no, well, I don’t think the …… class would be that bad, but I’m not completely at ease.

After all, I’ve spent 12 years in a group of twisted minds.

I’ve never been a very capable employee, so I have the habit of weighing all the factors and doing a lot of prep work to avoid getting in trouble!

“Now, ……, I think I’ve answered most of the requests you asked yesterday. If there’s anything new, tell me now.”

I looked around the classroom and saw that everyone was still silent with their handouts open.

What is it? Something strangely shocking about …….

“Hey…, Nihama…”

“Oh, what is it, Tsukamoto?”

In the silence, it was Tsukamoto from the baseball team who slowly raised his voice.

What’s up? I’ve already adjusted the shift for you and your girlfriend’s date.

“You’re …… amazing, aren’t you ……?”

“How so ……?”

I was very confused by the words that I hadn’t expected one bit.

Amazing ……? What’s amazing?

“No, because when you think about it…, we have been pouring out a lot of arbitrary requests and consultations, right? It’s not normal for… to be able to handle all of that in a single… day…”

“Yeah, …it’ s really great… I’ve dismissed them as things that I just can’t do, but I can see that you’ve thought a lot and came up with a way to deal with every request, trying to make it as realistic as possible…”

In addition, the athletic girl’s Fumihashi also uttered words of praise in a sympathetic voice.

Is that a compliment to …… me?

“This manual is thicker than the… customer service manual I got at my part-time job, but it’s so easy to understand.”

“I thought your explanation was great when you proposed the project, but …… you’re such a reliable person, aren’t you ……?

One by one, my other classmates complimented me.

I couldn’t understand the situation.

(Am I being praised…? I’m not sure how to respond.)

In elementary, junior high, and high school, I had zero value in my own classes.

I was just a guy who didn’t matter whether I was there or not, a guy who could be thrown away.

So, if you laughed at me, ignored me, or made fun of me…

I had never imagined a situation where someone would say, “Wow.”

(….. it’s totally not like… second life is not what you expect it to be… …hmm?)

I suddenly became aware of Shijoin-san sitting at the back of the classroom.

She was smiling at the fact that I was being praised by everyone. She made a cute, smug face and warped her ample breasts.

Well, anyways–

“Haha …… I didn’t think I’d get compliments from this many people. Thank you, everyone.”

I was a little embarrassed by the unexpected praise.

“…… Well, but this …… manual is so detailed and obsessive that it’s a bit of a turnoff. …… Seriously, you made this in a day?”

“Yeah, I’m really grateful, but …… um, I mean, it’s so amazing that you can handle that many requests in one day, it might be a little crazy …….”

“It’s like this …… awesome but scary …… no, it’s awesome but ……”

Oh, come on!

Don’t suddenly remove the ladder!

“Did you have to say that? If you’re going to praise me, praise me to the end!

And so the preparations for the cultural festival proceeded.

The day of the event arrived in a flash.