Chapter 48

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Start of culture festival!!!!!

Title: Satou-san, who isn’t supposed to be pretty

Satou-san is not pretty. I’m talking about her face and appearance, but she’s not a pretty woman no matter how you look at it in a favorable light. I don’t dislike her face, in fact I like her face, but I can’t deny that her face is still plain and unrefined. Maybe it’s fair to say that she has a face that could be found anywhere, a face that’s like that of ten other people. Of course, she’s special to me, but I’ve never heard anyone else think more highly of her than I do, either. After all, by all accounts, Satou-san should not have been pretty in anyone’s eyes.

That Satou-san appeared with a different face. On the day of the school festival, just before the play was to start, she was in a busy classroom.

“Yamaguchi-kun, isn’t it funny?”(S)

I could hear a vaguely unsure voice in the midst of the commotion. The figure standing in front of me, craning her neck, was supposed to be just Satou-san. I had just put on a pair of full-body tights and a rat-eared hood over my head, when I saw her standing in front of me, shaking her head. The ears are made of cloth that will not be crushed even if you wear a horse headgear. She approached me, who for all intents and purposes looked like a mouse. Of course, I immediately recognized her as Satou-san. There was no way I could mistake her voice for someone else. There was no way I would have missed her face, but the moment I saw her, I was frightened.

Satou-san was wearing a black dress. She was wearing a black dress with a long skirt and a camisole with thin shoulder straps. It wasn’t glamorous, but the fine lines that fell smoothly down made her look incredibly mature. A light purple shawl was draped over her bare shoulders, and the skin peeking out from between the bare shoulders was intensely white. Her hair wasn’t in the usual single knot. Her hair, which was as dark as her dress, was pulled into a chignon and held behind her head. The slightest amount of unraveling hair (bunny hair) left at the nape of her neck was swaying around. And on her face, that supposedly not particularly beautiful face was well made up. There was no lipstick sticking out or cheeks that were redder than they needed to be. Her lips were tinted a deep red, with fine lamé sprinkled around her eyes and her cheeks slightly rosy in color. Her upturned eyelashes were throbbingly long and seemed to make a sound every time she blinked. Satou-san, who had taken on a different appearance, was right in front of me.

“…Yamaguchi-kun?”(S)

But in spite of that, her voice was the same as always, Satou-san. Her tone was reserved and cautious, and she wanted to worry about me.

“Are you okay? You don’t look good, but…”(S)

Her expression, with the corners of her eyebrows lowered, didn’t seem to match her voice, perhaps because of her makeup. I was jittery at the discomfort.

“I’m fine,”(Y)

I answered, but my voice went up as high as it could go. I don’t know if my classmates heard me or not, but right afterwards, I heard a great deal of laughter from somewhere in the classroom. Maybe it was my imagination. Even if it wasn’t my imagination, it didn’t matter. I didn’t have time to think about the other guys. Because in front of me was Satou-san.v I’ve never seen Satou-san, whose voice is the same as usual, but I’ve never seen her like this before.

“Are you nervous? It’s almost time for the show.”(S)

Her red lips moved. They were glossy and soft.

“Well, sort of…”(Y)

By contrast, my lips were dry and flaky. I even blurted out a bland response

“Me too,”(S)

Satou-san nodded her head again. That’s when the shawl almost slipped off her shoulders and she hurriedly held it down. Maybe it was because it was cold, but she was showing signs of worrying about her shoulders.

“I’ve been thinking about whether or not I’m going to fall on stage or if I’m going to be able to say my lines properly, so my mind is full of worries since a while ago.”(S)

My mind is occupied with other things. The impending play has completely slipped my mind. My only three lines of dialogue have blown away, and now I’m thinking of only one person. I can’t see anything else.

“But I’m a little relieved, I guess. Everyone gets nervous, even Yamaguchi-kun, so who wouldn’t be?”(S)

She laughed lightly, but she seemed to have a lot more time to spare than I did. I didn’t have any room to spare. I was nervous. I was more nervous about Satou-san than I was about the school festival play. It’s funny.

Satou-san is not pretty, and she is not beautiful. I’m not the only one who thinks that. Everyone knows that. But with the dress she wore for the play, the way she styled her hair, and the makeup she wore, I thought she looked strangely beautiful. I didn’t realize how beautiful a girl can be even if she isn’t beautiful at first. I didn’t know that one piece of makeup could make a girl look so different. It’s so unfair.

“Yamaguchi-kun?”(S)

Her voice brings me back to myself. The buzz in the classroom returns. The atmosphere in the class before the show is exuberant and a little noisy, perhaps because of the tension. Satou-san looks up at me as if to draw my attention back to that side.

“Are you okay? You still don’t look good.”(S)

I can’t look directly into her eyes. I rushed to look away.

“No, you’re not. I’m not in the mood for it because I don’t have my makeup on yet. I’m going to paint my face with color and draw a beard and then I’ll feel better.”(Y)

I thought I heard laughter again from somewhere at the explanation, which was not even an excuse. But Satou-san doesn’t notice. ‘I see’, she said, patting her chest. The shawl has slipped off again.

“Did you do your makeup yourself, Satou-san?”(Y)

I asked somehow, and she smiled.

“Nope. I asked someone and got it done.”(S)

“Is it possible for you to change your hair?”(Y)

“Yeah. I couldn’t do it alone.”(S)

In the corner of the classroom she pointed to, a group of girls were tying each other’s hair and helping each other with their makeup. They seemed to be enjoying themselves in harmony.

”…Heh.”(Y)

I was a little disappointed. So is this hair only for today? Is it impossible to have it done on other days, but only for today’s school festival play? What a waste. It’s much better than the usual sexless single knot. Even the makeup looks good on you. If you do it every day, you’ll be baffled all the time until you get used to it, so you’ll be in trouble. I’m bothered by it now, too. I’m baffled. I know I have something to say, but I can’t bring myself to say it.

“You look great in that outfit.”(Y)

Finally, I mentioned the fact that she’d been there. How long had it been since she had approached me? All that time I had been wearing tights and a rat-eared hood, and now I could finally speak properly. I told her what she was probably most eager to hear. She blinked with his upturned eyelashes. Then her cheeks flushed a little more, and she flashed a redder lip.

“I’m glad. I’m glad you said that, Yamaguchi-kun.”(S)

I thought it was a very meaningful muttering. But I didn’t even have time to ask what it meant.

Satou-san is beautiful today. Other than that, I can’t see anything else.

After she left, I looked into my hand mirror and slathered foundation on my burnished, upturned cheeks. I pulled more rat whiskers on it. Three on the right and three on the left. As I was pulling the third one on the left, I was approached by Yukawa-san.

“Yamaguchi-kun, weren’t you surprised by her a moment ago?”(Yukawa)

A teasing smile was reflected in the corner of the hand mirror. She was already dressed as Cinderella, but she had a face that didn’t look like Cinderella at all.

“You are so beautiful, aren’t you, Satou-san? That’s what you did.”(Saiki)

Next to her, Saiki-san popped up next to her. She should have played the lady too, but she has a mischievous grin on her face, like a naughty child.

“You must have fallen in love with her again. No?”(Saiki)

I kept my mouth shut, knowing that anything I said would get me a grave, so I kept my mouth shut. But it made the third beard on the left look like a quivering line.

The last cultural festival. Our class’s turn will be coming up soon. And yet my head was full of one person.

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