Conquering Villains and Capturing Targets Is Harder in Real Life than in Games

50: Send me off like a worried mother on her child's first day of kindergarten.

"Are you joking? We're like ten minutes away from the advertised starting time and we got a crowd full of people out there waiting for us!"

"Yeah! My mom brought my three younger brothers and those little demons can't sit still for long!"

Sakaki held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, don't be yelling at me! My family's out there too! I'm just the messenger. All I know is that the principal wants us to drop everything and go set up a special viewing area in the gym for the superintendent and a bunch of his equally high status buddies who showed up out of the blue to see our show."

Arisa's complexion paled. Why would those people be here?

"Talk about a load of unnecessary pressure." Kiri's characteristically dry delivery made her voice distinctive from the clamour. "If we screw up this performance won't the principal be angry enough to eat us all alive?"

"Oi! Don't say stuff like that, Suzumori! Now you've got me freaking out!"

"It's true, isn't? Didn't you see how much effort she put into the school's seventy-fifth founding anniversary celebration because she knew that one dignitary was coming? This time there's even more than one of them. If this performance turns out to be anything less than phenomenal, we're finished."

"So we'll just give them a phenomenal performance. Problem solved."

All eyes in the room landed on Shizuka who was projecting an air of relaxed confidence. "Why should we be panicked? We gave a stellar performance yesterday and we'll do it again today."

"...I see you're as unflappable as ever, Shizuka-chan."

"I just trust in the abilities of everyone in our class. If it's us, the class that is more united and hardworking than any other, then isn't it guaranteed that the show will be a surefire success no matter who's in attendance?" Her tone was light but the conviction behind her words was unquestionable.

A minute later, Hayato eagerly thumped his chest. "Yoshino, your words are as cocky as hell but I like 'em! Good job! That's exactly what we all needed to hear right now! If it's 3-A, then we can do anything!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Preach!"

"Awesome!" effused Sakaki. Now who's free to go move tables and chairs down from the storage room with me?"

Several hands shot up including Shizuka's. "I'll go."

"I'll go too."

Shizuka peered at Madoka who had volunteered as soon as she did. "Wouldn't your dress just get in the way of heavy lifting?"

"I could hitch it up."

The corners of Shizuka's lips twitched. Well, that was one certainly sentence I'd never thought I'd hear from him.

"What about your wig? Don't you still need to get that fitted?"

Madoka's slightly pushed his bottom lip forward to form an adorably pouty expression. Because he didn't like wearing the long, heavy, and curly haired wig that was a part of his costume for any longer than necessary, since the dress rehearsals he had insisted on waiting until the last possible second before having it fitted.

"That's what I thought." Shizuka patted his head. "Be good. I'll be back soon."

"Alright," he replied sulkily. After a beat, his tone became more serious as he added, "Remember to be careful as you're moving things, okay?"

"Okay." Shizuka nodded helplessly. She had a feeling that she knew what was coming next.

"Don't strain yourself either. Make sure you get other people to carry the heavier tables. Take only the lightest chairs."