Epilogue of Day2 SIDE:A
Alrighty… Let’s get decoratin’!
*popping*
Isotake-kun, you are free to liven up the room, but please refrain from wasting the party poppers.
Sorry, Mr. Kari! It’s just human instinct to pull on a string when you see one in front of you! Right, Ushio?
No, because I’m not some wild animal who lives off of instinct. Unlike you, we actually know how to choose the right time and place for things.
Right, Nanaki?
……
He’s not listening, y’know. He’s got his headphones on.
Looks like Nanaki’s thinking hard about the playlist for the party. Akuta-kun and Ushio-kun, make sure you focus on your work too!
Ah, Sakujiro-san. Kiroku-kun and Muneuji-kun said that they’d come here after they picked their little sisters up from kindergarten, right?
Yes. They are also doing a bit of shopping while they are out.
Got it. Okay everyone, let’s do our best!
Excuse me, Chief. Do you have some time? I wanted to ask you for your opinions on the playlist.
Sure, what do you have?
It’s best if you listen to it all the way through without putting it on shuffle… What do you think?
It’s great! I can really tell that you put a lot of thought into it.
Awesome… Okay, I’ll go with this then. Oh, and could you tell me which song you like the most out of these ones? I wanna put it in at just the right time.
Hmm… I like all of them, but… I’ll go with this one.
Got it. And there’s one more thing I wanted to ask…
Ah, sorry. Could it wait for a bit? Sakujiro-san was calling for me.
Alright… I’ll wait for you.
……
God, you just do everything the chief tells you to. You’re practically dedicating the entire playlist to him.
Would you stop trying to pick fights with me? I was just trying to ask him for his honest opinion.
And do your work already. You’ve been sitting there messing around with a spool of ribbon for ages. Don’t you have something better to be doing?
*pop*
WOAH, that scared me! I popped another balloon! Hahaha! That’s the seventh one I overfilled!
*sigh…* And keep an eye on Akuta too.
Yeah, but I’m already helping the Night Team with baking. If I have to monitor Idiotake too, I might just pass out from overworking myself.
You never run out of excuses, do you…?
Sorry, Nanaki-kun… Oh. Ushio-kun, that ribbon you have…
What?
That looks like the same ribbon that was used for the little bowtie I saw on the cleaning robot earlier.
You must’ve dressed it up for the party. Thank you.
……
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Not a clue. Y’know, you’re so good at imagining things that it’s almost impressive.
(Sheesh, I can tell he’s lying. He’s never honest with his feelings.)
…Why are you smiling at me like that? It’s creeping me out.
It’s nothing much. I was just thinking that I find it pretty cute when you act all mean like that.
HUH?! …Ew. I’m taking a nap. Don’t talk to me.
Wh… Don’t be like that. The chief was just trying to be nice…!
It’s alright, I’m not upset.
But—
Guys, couldja help me inflate the balloons? I popped a lotta them already, soooo we don’t have many left.
Sure! Do you wanna help too, Nanaki-kun?
*pop*
Wah!
18!
Akuta, you keep on inflating them too much. You should dial it back a bit… Like this.
Whaaat, but that’s so tiny. Balloons gotta be, like, way more big and round and stuff.
(Akuta-kun does overfill them, but on the other hand, Nanaki-kun underfills them, because he’s afraid of popping them.)
Then we go for something more in between… Like this.
Ooh, it still looks just a bit underfilled, but that’s a good start!
Like this? I didn’t pop it, but I can’t tie it.
It’s still huge… Whatever, give it to me. I’ll tie it. Hmm, but…maybe we should let a little bit of air out first.
Noooo, you can’t do that! It’s literally the perfect size!
But you can’t even tie it like this… And you should really just make them smaller anyway. Like how I do it.
Don’t wanna. Your balloons look weak and tiny and boring.
…I’m just gonna let some air out.
N-N-No, don’t! Just give it to me, and I’ll stretch it out so I can tie it!
Woah, dude— Don’t pull on it! Ah!
*whooshing*
(They both let go of it, and now the balloon’s flying around the room…)
Wahpeh… PYAAAAHHHH?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!
(And it hit Ushio-kun in the face…)
Bulls-eye.
Pff… Hahahahaha! Akuta, you rock, dude!
I-Idiotake and Panda…! I’m gonna make you pay for this!
Oops, my hand slipped! Sorry.
We had a big party like this when we were in the Oden Group too, right? When the older kids graduated.
I kinda remember the balloons from back then being pretty big too… Did you blow them up, Akuta?
‘Course I did! They used to call me Aku-chan, the Human Balloon Inflator.
That sounds like a fun nickname.
I haven’t been to a party since then. Well, until I joined HAMA Tours.
Huh? Not even, like, a birthday or…? Ah, never mind. Sorry.
(Oh, yeah. Akuta-kun’s being taken care of by his uncle because of his family situation…)