#the rumors in heroine tarumono make more sense as people probably guessed there was Something going on

[yume-fanfare]

translation - two people at the school festival

this is a translation of one of the four short stories HoneyWorks posted at the beginning of the pandemic!  it’s written by Kosaka Mari, you can read it in japanese here. this was translated from this spanish translation by mieltrabajos.

Other stories:

The whereabouts of the roasted beef

Who is the owner?

Aiming towards the heroine, Suzumi Hiyori!

Two people at the school festival

The day before the school festival classes ended early in the morning, and the afternoon was left to prepare the setup and atmosphere for the classrooms.

Yuujirou and Aizou usually couldn’t stay after school because of their jobs, but that day they also changed out of their uniforms and got to work.

Their class was working on a haunted house so some students were preparing the props in the courtyard while others sewed the costumes in the classroom.

Which was good, but remembering the squeaky screams of the girls made Yuujirou sigh tiredly. They had chased Aizou and Yuujirou after that, but luckily the boys managed to slip away and run to the courtyard.

Aizou and Yuujirou would be wearing vampire costumes. They had tried them on a bit earlier and the girls were very flustered at the sight of them.

And now, they were painting the walls for the haunted house.

Yuujirou stared at his partner’s face. Aizou’s expression was as serious as ever as he carefully painted each brick of the wall with a paintbrush.

Half an hour passed like that, without either of them saying anything.

Some classmates were making noise nearby as they set up some cardboard boxes. Apparently, they were supposed to be coffins.

(………………I’m sleepy…………)

Even though it was November, the weather was nice and warm and it made Yuujirou want to sleep.

He usually slept at his desk when they were in class but now he definitely had to help, as he was part of the class.

It looked interesting, so he added another one.

He took a bucked of red paint, put his hand inside and placed it against the brick Aizou had carefully painted, leaving a dripping red handprint. A bloody mark.

As he repeated the action, Aizou shook his shoulder. He apparently couldn’t take it anymore.

“Hey!”

“Why are you carelessly staining what I so beautifully and tidily painted?”

“What?” Yuujirou turned towards him and was met with a piercing glare.

“Isn’t this supposed to be a haunted house?

“Yes but…! Put it somewhere else.”

“Where should I put it, then?”

“Hah?!” Aizou exclaimed, raising his eyebrows. “I was painting here first! So I’m staying!”

“No.”

After lifting his hand from the wall, Yuuujirou mercilessly pressed it against the brick Aizou had just painted.

“Ah!” Aizou yelled, irritated.

Yuujirou laughs, seeing his partner wiggle the brush he was holding.

“Oh, yes? If that’s the case… look!” Aizou added paint to the last color, trying to cover Yuujirou’s handprints.

“What? What are you doing?”

“You did it first~”

Yuujirou glared coldly at Aizou, who kept covering the handprints as vengeance.

He pulled the red paint can towards him, put both of his hands inside and pressed them against the wall again.

“Ah! What are you doing? Stop it, idiot!” Aizou hurriedly tugged Yuujirou’s clothes.

“Who are you calling an idiot?”

“You’re the only one here!”

“Ah, you’re going to make me fall, stop it!” As he said that, he purposefully hit his shoulder against Aizou’s.

Even though he was the strongest of the two, Aizou wobbled and screamed as they both fell to the ground.

“Well, actually... The colors look pretty good…”

“I know, right?”

Their gazes met and they laughed comfortably.

This is my daily life with my partner.

Even with some arguments, we’re a combination that works together perfectly.

Yuujirou remembered what the staff and the people who worked with them often said: “They look like really good friends”. Inside his heart, Yuujirou muttered “What gave you that idea?”

It had been more than a year since their unit was formed, but it didn’t feel like that much time had passed. 

Whenever they met face to face, they always fought each other. But even so, they were there for each other.

“Huhhhhh.... But still, you should apologize!” Aizou violently threw away the brush and grabbed Yuujirou’s shirt with both hands. “That’s for standing in my way! You’re ugly!”

Yuujirou tried to escape by pushing Aizou’s face.

Unexpectedly, Yuujirou burst out laughing.

“Hey! Now you’re getting paint in your face too!” Aizou yelled. A large red handprint covered his face from his chin to his cheeks.

“Today’s recordings are going to be so fun! You’ll stand out!”

“You too! You’ll see!” Aizou put his hand on another can and tried to paint Yuujirou too.

Yuujirou kicked him.

“Yes, sure!”

Some students were laughing in the distance. “What are they doing?”

Both of their faces turned still as they said: “Eh?”

“Stop playing around!” A girl’s voice emerged from the mess, surprising the rest. “Hey, I’m looking at you two!” It was their classmate, Suzumi Hiyori, holding two cans of paint.

This has taken an uncomfortable turn now…

She stumbled on some wood and dropped one of the paint cans.

They both got up to try to help, but in that moment, the can fell on top of Yuujirou’s head.

Hiyori who had fallen on the ground too furrowed her brow and stuttered:

“I-I’m sorry!”

“Ah, ahhhh… Um…” Hiyori opened her mouth, scared and nervous. “It’s… I…”

Both boys, covered in red and green paint respectively, looked at each other with a vague idea in mind. Yuujirou’s head dripped with paint. Another can slowly rolled down to his feet.

“Suzumi-san…” They both called at the same time, and Hiyori turned blue from fear, abruptly moving backwards.

“Uh, I’ll get a towel…”

She secretly had a part-time job as their manager-in-training, but she was supposed to be just a classmate now. Mostly, she tried to avoid them as much as possible.

Grabbing her shoulders as she tried to escape, Yuujirou and Aizou smiled.

“Can I defend myself…?”

---

As soon as they got to work after school, their manager screamed an “Oh!” and dropped her cup of coffee. The female staff member who was about to leave dropped her jaw too.

“What is this?! It’s too different to your image color! What is up with that pizza-looking hair, we have a TV recording today!” The woman placed her hands in her hips. She looked like a demon.

“Y-y-you two! W-why does you hair look like tomato or pepper?!” they exclaimed.

Yuujirou and Aizou looked at each other, frowning. They had managed to clean their faces and hands, but their hair was still dirty.

“I’m sorry…”

“I am sorry…”

They both apologized in a whisper, looking regretful.

Yuujirou gazed towards the ajar break room door. Hiyori, who had been observing from there, jumped to the hallway, her voice shaking:

“Uh! Eh… I’m going to buy blue and yellow dye… y-yes!” After saying that, she ran towards the elevator and got off.

“That’s all?!” they boys expressed angrily.

It had been a couple of months since she had joined with the problematic duo.

And so, she was getting used to a noisy daily life.