'Noisy'.

Alina muttered.
It's a cultural festival, of course.
If you listen carefully, you can always hear music. The yellow voices and lingering scents of the students and the general public passing by us. Cackling and giggling. It was very lively.

They say that when people get crowded or gathered or emotional, it causes the random number generator to go haywire. Normally, the generator generates 0's and 1's randomly, and the ratio of 0's and 1's will be the same in the end, but after 9.11... On that day, when people around the world were terrified, outraged, grieved, and vengeful, the random number generators of the world became biased. The human mind, dyed in horrifying colors, affected the subatomic and quantum dimensions. It is unthinkable, but it really happened, and it is an event that cannot be ignored.
In other words, I fantasized that this school must be boiling with invisible human energy.

'You have zero motivation.
'That's the way my face is structured. Forgive me.
'I don't feel the energy.'
'You just look like that. Inside, you're a motivated young man.
'I wish I was chained up instead of just being a cow to be eaten.'
'Alina, you are a cannibal.

I thought it would be absolutely boring for the two of us to go wandering around together, but it turned out to be quite interesting. We went around the school in circles so that we could catch glimpses of all the class events, even if we didn't want to. And if you take off your armband, you are just a student. It's good to skip school and have a little fun. Although I wonder if the neighbors would be into it.

'Alina, wait a minute.
'I hope you're not going to kidnap a little girl again.
'Keep your voice down! I'll be falsely accused!

She agreed to wait with her arms crossed. I stopped by the first grade class.
First graders in aprons. They make crepes here.

'Ma'am. Two crepes.
'Eh, miss-- oh, yes! I understand!''

Analyzing Alina's personality, the result is 'she doesn't participate in cultural festivals.
I don't know how Alina spent her time at the festival we held in our first year. I am not going to ask her directly. But I'm sure she was not very active. When I imagine her wandering alone and lonely, I feel like snuggling with her.
I wanted her to have a good time, and since she was always wrinkling her brow, she should loosen up today. That's what I'm trying to say.
I pay and watch the crepes being made. I was impressed by the dexterity with which they were made.

'Oh, isn't that Comet-senpai?

I heard a voice behind me and turned to see a face I had recently recognized.
Taku Nakatani. A first-year high school student.
From the same junior high school as Arina Hiba. A person who knows Alina's basic personality. Someone who has feelings for Arina.
He once met Arina again for the first time in many years. He tried to tell her about his feelings for her, but she had already become a different person from the one Taku knew, and she rejected him vehemently, which made him depressed. I don't know what happened after that.

'Oh, Taku. You're making crepes?
'I'm not very good at it, so I leave it to the girls. I'm putting more effort into advertising. Are you alone, Comet-senpai?

I'm lost. Should I tell him that Alina was waiting for me in the hallway with her arms crossed? Or should I just leave it vague? Either choice would be awkward, but I'll stick to protecting his mental health.

'Yes,' he says. A lonely man alone comes to buy a crepe. It's a lonely, lonely world.

Then, at an inopportune moment, a female student, who was concentrating on making crepes, said.

'Here you go! Crepes for two!
'Oh, thank you.
Two?

Taku nodded his head.

'I was going to give it to the idiot in my class. You know, the one who wore the horse mask at the opening ceremony? That's him. That's him.
Oh, so that's how it is. That guy stood out, didn't he?

Huh.
Makoto. I'm glad you're crazy.

I'm going back then. Enjoy the festival.
Yes!

Oh, shit. We almost got caught. If they find out I'm working with Alina, they won't say it, but they'll be embarrassed. He'd wonder if I was dating Alina. It will take a lot of time to completely dispel his suspicions.
As soon as we got out into the hallway, Alina was showing the map to the public and saying this and that. Alina was smiling gently. Her face was genuine and her voice was soft and pleasantly resonant. I was fascinated by her, which is something I don't usually see.

She looked away from the public and immediately turned to me.

'You're late.
I'm sorry. Here, I'll give you this.
'Oh, my. Thank you.



She accepted the crepe with a puzzled look on her face.

'Do you want to eat it somewhere else?
'Why don't you just walk away?'
'As a member of the public morals committee, that's ......'
'It's a cultural festival, right? You're allowed. We have to have fun, don't we?

It was a selfish assumption on my part, apparently. Alina is having fun.

I like festivals. It's fun.