Chapter 410
Speaking of Miss Shizu, the one who participated was not the person herself. It was her "body double" that I dressed up using Mimicry skill. I used "Great Sage" to dress her up and make the body double performed very cute things; something that Shizu herself would never do. I went all out since there was no limit in utilizing "Great Sage". I was mesmerized that it turned out so well.
Incidentally, it wasn't me - I utilized auto-battle mode. The live concert could be considered a form of performance anyway, so it was only natural I used that mode.
All that happened because of Yuuki's remarks.
I was talking with him about how Miss Shizu's regrets would disappear if only we could save the children.
That was when Yuuki commented.
"Actually, teacher Shizu seems to be interested in being an idol. I was telling her a lot about the world beyond, and she mentioned how she would like to see a concert once. Oh, I wonder if I can somehow make that wish come true — [wink]."
He was saying it so clearly until that last "wink".
He had to be kidding! I thought he was being silly - but I could not prove that statement was false either. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was already pushed to do it regardless of my opposition.
Reminiscing about it now made me even more convinced that it was indeed a dark past.
"Brother, you're being rude to Lord Rimuru!"
"Shuna, you can say that because you were having fun! I was an utter disgrace. I never want to experience anything that embarrassing ever again!"
I got to thinking about the past while listening to the exchange between Benimaru and Shuna.
I felt a little bad for getting Benimaru involved in that concert.
But that was unavoidable.
Originally, it was just Miss Shizu(me) that was asked to participate. But I deemed that too embarrassing and impossible.
However, if the number of performers were to be increased, the audience's attention would be dispersed. With that thought in mind, I decided to invite(coerce) some more people.
As a result, I invited Souei, but he immediately escaped. Shion, on the other hand, proudly declared, "I'm the manager!" I wanted our performance to be good and pleasant to be watched, so I recruited other members.
For some reason, Milim, who was supposed to be busy with work, had decided to participate in the idol contest as well.
Shuna also collaborated, because she was good at singing. Then she grabbed Benimaru's arm and said, "My brother is good at singing, too," without getting his consent, and made him participate as well.
Just like that, the five of us - actually, the four of us - participated in the concert successfully without any incidents.
It was a memory I wanted to erase.
I left all of my performance to "Great Sage", but Benimaru worked extremely hard to do his part. Thinking that he must have been more embarrassed than I did, I felt a bit grateful somehow.
For the same reason, I responded empathically.
"You should be all right, Benimaru. We won't have to wear embarrassing costumes or sing in public this time … I think. Well, there are fight songs, but they are not compulsory. It's like singing together and it's not something conspicuous."
That was my heartfelt statement, but little that I knew, that I was wrong.
However, it was too late when I realized that.
I was about to create yet another dark past ….
# # #
Feeling reassured, Benimaru responded, "That's fine then. I will cooperate with you," and then he sat quietly.
There seemed to be no objections from the others, so I decided to give an overview of this event.
"Well then, I will continue the explanation. I mentioned earlier that students' learning motivation is important, but what's the best way to keep them motivated? Relaxing is important. So this time, I'd like to think about events to refresh our mood!"
While saying so, I wrote "EVENTS" on the blackboard.
Rigurd commented on it.
"So, Lord Rimuru. What are you thinking specifically?"
As expected of Rigurd, he asked the exact question I wanted to bring up. I then continued.
"This is still on the drawing board and not set in stone yet, but there are events like sports festivals or cultural festivals that come to mind. They are events that take place at school. Why don't we use these events as our reference to create our version of events?"
To respond to his question, I gave a concrete explanation based on the memory from my previous life.
For the sports festival, competitions like relay race, ball-toss game, or hammer throw were all feasible.
For the cultural festival, various features or performances could be fun. During my school years, we had a coffee shop, a haunted house, and concerts. We could have the guys dressing up as girls as a gag and serve customers in the coffee shop, but I thought it was probably better for me not to mention that here.
I wrote various possible plans on the blackboard as the ideas sprung up.
"I have a question. May I?"
Shuna raised her hand.
"Yes?"
"Isn't leaving various shops to be run by students not much different from the vocational training we usually do?"
Indeed. In addition to studying at the Terakoya, the students practiced interacting with human customers as one of the preparations for future encounters. It was not surprising that Shuna thought of that activity was unnecessary for the event.
"You're right. In that case, shall we do a sports festival instead? The security forces are busy doing combat every day. Since they are required to do physical activities during training days or rotations, they might not find sports event to be appealing. What if we plan something more extreme to show off their capabilities?"
I replied, in hopes of establishing a common ground with Benimaru and Shuna.
Certainly, her input was reasonable.
The purpose of the event was for refreshing the mood. So it would not make sense to do something similar to the daily activities.
However, Benimaru rejected my suggestion.
"It's an event for relaxing, so it shouldn't have anything extreme. Besides, I'd like to do something different from usual, so I think the security forces should plan a cultural festival, while the Terakoya side should do a sports festival."
That way, even those who did not do daily physical activities could get some excersize, and those who put themselves in battle would enjoy the production activities. That would be good and different experiences to refresh the mind, wouldn't it?
"I see, as the name implies. It's a festival!"
Rigurd shouted happily.
It seemed that he understood my intention.
Following Rigurd, Kaijin agreed.