I (30), Who Works for a Black Company and Died While Regretting My Gloomy Life, Started Over From High School! - Chapter 20

20.Under the artificial starry sky

　1-C presentation, ” Demon extermination ball throwing.”

The participants were given five fist-sized balls, and threw them at the students dressed as demons, a classic target hitting game.

By the way, it’s a toy ball for infants, so it won’t hurt at all even if it hits you.

And – one unique element of this game is that these demons will skillfully evade the ball.

“Damn it! Get hit, get hit, get hit!”

In order to show off to Shijoin-san, I tried to throw the ball with my well trained body that I had worked out by running early in the morning. But the boys, who were dressed up in demon masks, waist wraps and red full-body tights, evaded it with a minimal amount of movement..

“Yes, senpai who came in with the placard there! You missed all five balls!”

“Damn, that’s oddly difficult ……! You’re not planning on giving the customers any prizes!”

The girl playing the announcer told me that I had failed, and I couldn’t help but to complain.

Even though there was a rule that the demons were not allowed to step out of the circle, which was about one meter wide, they were able to dodge the ball with their subtle twisting and dancing movements.

What kind of masters are they?

“Well then, I’ll do it next! I’m going to avenge Nihama-kun’s death, so please watch me!”

” Ooh, you’re really motivated, Shijoin-san.”

Shijoin-san, a girl who looks so gorgeous in her yukata, declared with the same excitement as an elementary school boy, despite the fact that she looks even more sexy than usual.

When she received the ball from the receptionist, she set up the ball, saying, “Mufu!” and threw it towards the demons excitedly.

(Oh …… this is no good. The ball goes quite a bit over the demon’s head… Hmm?)

I knew It was going to miss, but for some reason the demon character dropped his hips.

And then, with the spring in his legs at full throttle, he jumped vertically, and Shijoin-san’s ball hit him right on the face.

“Ah, a hit! The first shot by the senpai in yukata was a hit! What was that? Didn’t you deliberately take the hit by yourself?”

The announcer was confused, and the demon character, who had attracted a lot of attention from the people around him, remained silent under the demon mask… crossed his arms and turned his face away.

（This demon character! When it was my turn, they were all like, “I’m not willing to take a hit!”,、But when they’re dealing with the beautiful girl Shijoin-san, “I’m going to take it no matter what!”）

However,… I can understand how they feel.

If a beautiful Japanese woman like Shijoin-san, who looks like a cherry blossom spirit, is throwing a ball at me, I’m not sure if I can do my job of dodging it.

“Wow, have you seen that, Nihama-kun? All the balls I threw hit the target….! Maybe I’m a genius!”

The ball that Shijoin-san threw with excitement flew in the wrong direction at every shot.

But the demons were acting like goalkeepers, reaching out their hands, sticking out their heads, and sometimes even jumping up to get themselves hit by the ball.

…… Why don’t you guys join the soccer club?

“Yu, the senpai in yukata, all of five throws hit! …even if your opponent was a beautiful woman, you should be more careful, stupid boys! I’m not going to let you give away the prizes this early in the game.”

Then a furious announcer girl broke into the room, grabbed the demon character by the collar and started shaking him, causing a ruckus at the scene.

” Mmm-hmm! It was a lot of fun! Games at festivals are really exciting, whether it’s a ring toss or target shooting!”

Shijoin-san, who was in a state of great excitement, said happily.

It’s been like this since we started going around to each class under the pretext of advertising.

( It’s refreshing because you don’t often see a childlike expression like this. … She’s like an excited puppy and has a different kind of cuteness than usual)

In the “Water Play World,” participants were absorbed in water yo-yo fishing, and in the “Quiz Contest,” they were actively pressing the button and answering as fast as they can.

When she saw the first Gundam statue at the “Cardboard 2m Statue Exhibition,” she said, “Look at this, Nihama-kun! This is the Arbalest!” I mistook it for a robot from a famous sci-fi military action novel, and was told by the production team, “That’s also a masterpiece, but it’s different! This is the Arbalest!”

[TN:Nihama is refering to Full Metal Panic. ARX-7 Arbalest]

However, the diligence with which she always held up the placard and did not neglect to advertise while moving around like this was truly typical of Shijoin-san.

“Yeah, festivals are always fun, no matter what kind of game it is! It’s like how ramen tastes so great when you eat it at the top of a mountain!”

And I was more or less elated, too.

In any case, just walking around the cultural festival with Shijoin-san was like a dream come true, but the girl of my dreams was having so much fun going around with me that she’s in high spirits.

How could I not feel elated?。

“Ah! Nihama-kun! Let’s go there next! I’ve been curious about it for a while”

Shijoin-san, who had already conquered most of the classes’ events, pointed to a sign that says “Totally Handmade Planetarium”.

“This… is a lot narrower than I thought…”

” Yeah, well, it’s …… a handmade dome. ……”

The male student at the reception desk said, “Hmm? Just the two of you? We’re having a live performance in the gym right now, so it’s empty. You can have the whole place to yourselves.” We were led into the hemispherical planetarium dome that they had created inside the classroom.

But the inside was set up in a circle of chairs, but not high enough for a boy to stand up completely, so it was much like me and Shijoin-san being alone in a pitch-black tent.

Whoa …… our shoulders touched just now… !

And girls smell so good…..

In the midst of this mental distress, a student’s voice came from the outside, “Let’s get started!

The darkness quickly turned into a fantastic starry sky.

“Wow, …!”

“Wow, …amazing …!”

It seems that the floodlights were also handmade, but they must have put a lot of thought into them, because the starry sky projected inside the dome shines with a strong outline.

If you look closely, you can see that the dome itself was made up of extremely clean curves to smoothly reflect the visuals shown in the projection, indicating that a great deal of calculation has been put into it.

“Wow …… it’s so beautiful …… they can do something like this with handmade …!”

Shijoin-san said in admiration, but I also had the same feeling.

It’s not as good as a planetarium at the museum, of course, but I can’t believe that a high school student could make something like this with such a limited budget.

“It’s beautiful. …… It’s like the light of youth. ……”

I couldn’t help but to utter such an old-fashioned line.

The students in this class must have worked very hard to achieve this quality.

It’s a little dazzling to see the vitality that only high school students can exhibit, which they can no longer do when they become adults.

Each of these magnificent star lights appeared to be the radiance of the foul energy of youth.

” What are you talking about, Nihama-kun?”

Perhaps, because she’s more excited by the glow of the starry sky, Shijoin-san says as she moves her body even closer to mine, which is sitting next to her.

“Sometimes you speak like an uncle, but …… Nihama-kun and I are still in high school. But I think you can be anything you want to be and go anywhere you want to go, you know?”

“I wonder if that’s……”

I wonder if that’s really the case.

My knowledge and experience are the same as they were in my previous life, but my body and mind are still young enough to be a high school student, and so far in this life, I think I’m doing fairly well.

But sometimes I get anxious.

Can the future I’m heading into again …… really be changed?

“…… Please don’t make a face like that.”

I noticed that Shijoin-san’s face was getting closer to mine, as if she was peering into my eyes.

“Isn’t it Nihama-kun who actually showed us that the future can be change if we take a step forward?”

“Eh……?”

“I think our class presentation would never have been as good as it was during the …. meeting, and I don’t think everyone in the class would be willing to work as hard as they are now. But …, Nihama-kun changed that situation for us.”

At a distance that almost took my breath away, Shijoin-san continued.

“I was really impressed. Instead of just watching how things would turn out, Nihama-kun took on the challenge of changing the situation, even if you were forced to do it, and succeeded. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but…… you did your best and showed us an example of changing the future.”

“Me?… changed the future… ?”

“That’s right! The one who has the power to change the future is you, Nihama-kun! So… I don’t know what you are worried about… but please cheer up!

“Shijoin-san…”

It was strange.

The anxiety I had felt earlier melted away.

Just by receiving these words from a certain girl.

“And don’t forget it wasn’t just our class’s presentation’s future outcome that had been changed…”

“Eh… ?”

“I’m having a lot of fun right now, but if the class wasn’t united or enthusiastic, I wouldn’t have been celebrating the cultural festival with such an uplifting feeling. So … let me thank you again.”

As our gazes met in a very close distance with each other, Shijoin-san softly spelled out the words.

“Thank you, Nihama-kun, for giving me such a fun cultural festival.”

The girl in the pink yukata smiled as if she was blooming under the artificial starry sky.

It was the brightest star for me, dazzling brighter than any constellation in heaven.