Side Story 2, Earth – Makiko: The Silent Galapagos
Author: かっぱ同盟／友麻碧
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3862be/
Translated by Gumihou
This is Makiko.
The first round of the Cultural Festival Battle between the representatives began at 11:00 am on the second day of the festival.
This was why Yuri and Kuroki-senpai cross-dressed the day before. It was for the Cross-dressing Contest where representatives from various clubs dressed up in drag and competed to see who was the most beautiful.
However, since it was a student event, factors such as original popularity and fame can greatly affect the outcome.
This alone filtered out many of the people who would vote for certain people.
“Once again!! Aoyama High’s famous Cross-dressing Contest! This year, the boys have all shaved their legs and are prepared to take on the stage!”
The Broadcasting Club’s incomprehensible commentary rouses the gymnasium’s excitement to a fever pitch.
The ‘waah wahh’ and ‘yaah yaah’ were ear-splitting.
“…It’s amazing.”
“I heard that a popular second-year student who won this event last year will be participating. Oh, look, there he is. Tanaka-senpai from the Soccer Club, he’s part of Sakuma-senpai’s project.”
“Will Yuri be alright?”
Tooru and I had rushed here to support Yuri, and we were overwhelmed by this unusual atmosphere. It was only then that we understood just how involved this event was.
The setup for this event alone was pretty elaborate.
“We’re allowed one vote per person on the official website of the Aoyama Cultural Festival.”
“Ah, so that’s why everyone is on their phones.”
I took out my own red flip phone from my pocket and accessed the website.
Tooru was already browsing through his smartphone. He had used money earned from a summer job to buy it. He seems to really like the latest digital devices.”
“You’re still using that [1] Gala-phone, huh?”
“Shut up, I’m going to stick with Galapagos for the rest of my life!”
Tch! Only pretentious guys go with cutting-edge things!
Speaking of which, I have never been good with technology. Computer classes are such a pain.
“Hey, it’s starting!!”
Spotlights shone down on the stage, and terrible monstrosities entered the stage accompanied by lively music.
Some of them were clearly there for laughs, like the representative for the Rugby Club. He was… quite incredible.
“I guess one has to do more than just slap on a dress,” Tooru muttered with a dead look in his eyes.
At that moment, a thunderous scream rang through the venue. The popular senior from the Soccer Club had made his entrance dressed as a maid.
He stepped onto the stage to the cheers of ‘So cute~!’ and ‘Pretty~!’ by various high school girls.
Well, he certainly was good-looking enough. To my eyes, he looked like a decently pretty person in a cosplay costume. I have no idea whether he was really ‘cute’ as a cross-dresser. In the first place, we hardly knew him at all.
Then again, he was way better than a lot of these monsters.
‘A normal good-looking guy doing cosplay’ was my conclusion.
“He has a nice physique,” Tooru added.
Well, that much was expected of a Soccer Club’s Ace, right? Still, these cheers are a threat. I spotted Vice-President Sakuma, with her armband, standing at the edge of the venue. She looked very smug.
Soon after that, the mood within the hall suddenly changed. The uncouth screaming stopped, and it felt like everyone was holding their breath.
Yuri had appeared.
His presence was as unexpected as a blooming of an out-of-season cherry blossom.
“Th-that’s totally a girl…”
“He’s totally a man, right?”
Yuri was wearing the teahouse hakama and looked absolutely perfect.
What’s so perfect, you ask? Not only was he cute, but his very gesture, posture, and mannerisms were those of a perfectly refined traditional Japanese girl.
From his modest walk to his beautiful posture and elegant smile, it was all perfect.
I squinted, thinking that he looked kind of familiar before realising that he looked exactly like a younger version of his mom. Well, Yuri had said that he takes after his mother.
“He’s way more feminine than you.”
“Just where did that fellow learn those skills?”
“I think it’s because he watches a lot of plays and observes the female roles. There’s also the fact that he looks like the old lady…”
It would appear that Tooru had also noticed this.
A sigh of admiration seemed to breeze through the venue. Suddenly, the crowd began to stir, and everyone was wondering just who that girl was.
Then, cheers of ‘Yuri-kun!’ were heard. Well, he was pretty famous among the first-year students. For one thing, he always gets top scores on exams.
I have no idea how this will turn out.
I glanced at the Vice-President, who was frowning rather cutely to herself.
However, as though to purposefully ruin this perfect, traditional Japanese atmosphere, Kuroki-senpai finally made it on stage.
He was wearing the same hakama as Yuri, but he also had something else in his arms. [2] He rushed towards Yuri and made him hold one side, and together, the two of them opened up the [Kappa Alliance] banner. The two of them looked like representatives of heaven and hell.
“W-well, so long as Yuri does his best, it should be fine, right?”
“Why did Kuroki-senpai have to show up…”
It was a nerve-wracking situation.
Hopefully, their presence doesn’t cancel each other out…
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The ‘Appeal Time’ was so chaotic that it was hard to put into words.
There were about 30 participants, but let’s talk about the more memorable ones.
First, Track and Field’s ‘Takoyaki Hatch’, otherwise known as Senior Matsua, a shot putter who made it to the inter-high school championships.
He stood in the middle of the stage in a pure white wedding dress (who knows where he got it from) to a venue filled with boos. His daring act was to shot-put a bouquet of flowers into the audience. However, it was not well received.
I did find his act quite amusing, though.
Next was Class 3-8’s ‘Red Riding Hood Swordsman’, Senior Yamagata from the Kendo Club. It was quite clever of him to utilise the red hood to cover his shaved head, but I’m afraid he looked more like a Jizo statue with a red hood on.
He did a series of impressive (and manly) kendo forms with his bamboo sword, but it all defeats the ‘cross-dressing’ part of the act. Still, they were probably there just to participate and not win anything.
It was a pretty fun act, actually. Too bad it didn’t have a chance of winning.
Next was Brass Band Club’s Taki-senpai, a second-year.
He had a pretty good vibe going on, being part of the Cultural Club and all. He was relatively small and though a bit unsociable, he looked pretty cute with braided hair and our school’s sailor uniform. He played the trumpet on stage and, what can I say?
I know girls like that, so he’s pretty legit.
From the beginning till the end, he remained cool and aloof. I guess people who liked being scolded or stepped on by cool people would like him.
Yep, he has a pretty cool vibe going on.
“Finally, our great favourite!! Last year’s champion, Tanaka Teruyoshi of Class 2-1 is back!! This time, he turned up as a part of the Blue-Black’s Maid Butler Cafe staff! What a lovely frilly maid outfit!!”
Finally, the main favourite appeared.
Tanaka-senpai waved his hand at the crowd with a refreshing smile.
“Tanaka-kun, you seem fired up this year. Are you going for the win?”
“Hey~ it’s not Tanaka-kun. You may call me Tanaka-san or even Terumi-chan~ If you come to our cafe, you may call for Terumi~”
As a reminder, his real name is Tanaka Teruyoshi.
He seems pretty popular and knows how to work the crowd. Still, his voice was rather manly despite the girlish drawl, so it contrasted perfectly with his frilly outfit. Even I laughed out loud a little.
He glanced over at Vice-President, who was watching intently from the side and did a typical Akihabara maid gesture on the spot [3].
“Oh my, the crowd’s pretty excited.”
“Hm, the points are pouring in.”
Yuri hasn’t even appeared yet, but already there were people voting. Well, I guess we can count those people out.
“Ah, there’s Yuri.”
“…And Kuroki-senpai.”
Looks like our warriors decided to appear together.
Yuri was as picture-perfect as ever. As for Kuroki-senpai, my brain has automatically pixelated him as a defensive gesture.
“Now, here come this year’s dark horses in the Cross-dressing Contest!! From the Cultural Club’s collaborative ‘Do You Know Our Kappa?’ project, we have First Year’s Yuri Shizuka from Class 1-1 and Third Year’s Kuroki from Class 3-3, also the boss of the Cultural Club! They entered the contest as a duo in shockingly high-quality hakama uniforms from the Tea Ceremony-style Cafe, which also operates under the same theme! Yuri-kun, there are rumours that you are the favourite to win, what do you say to that?”
“No way! No way! Our Shuzu-chan doesn’t speak!! Don’t ruin everyone’s dreams!!”
Yuri just nodded with a smile as Kuroki-senpai did all the talking. Well, it looked like Kuroki-senpai had elected himself into the supporting role of a manager or something. However, I must concede that this was a good strategy. After all, no matter how girly Yuri looks, he was still a boy. This way, they could preserve Yuri’s ideal feminine image.
If Kuroki-senpai had planned this, he was a true strategist.
For his Appeal Time, Yuri did his tea ceremony thing. Thus, promoting the teahouse and showing off an elegant, feminine figure. In contrast, Kuroki-senpai, who looked like a man in a dress, Yuri’s feminine appeal was even more evident.
Tanaka-senpai is very popular with the girls but had trouble gaining male voters. As a result, Yuri swept up most of the male voters, along with votes from most of the first-year students and, of course, all of the Cultural Club’s votes. This ultimately put the Kappa Alliance’s Yuri & Kuroki Cross-dressing Combo way ahead of Tanaka-senpai.
I silently tapped away on my Galapagos phone with one hand and put in my vote.
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“Oh, it looks like we won.”
“Well, that’s to be expected.”
Yuri maintained his silence till the end, just nodding and smiling winsomely at the crowd throughout the entire act as Kuroki-senpai made all the noise. It was kind of like looking at a silent mascot and their PR manager. Still, it was clear that we won through great effort, the hakama was of high-quality material, as was Yuri’s makeup and wig.
Winners get to give a speech, which Kuroki-senpai made use of to promote the ‘Do You Know Our Kappa?’ project.
“Um, we, the Cultural Club Alliance, that is the ‘Kappa Alliance’, is holding a collaborative project ‘Do You Know Our Kappa?’ at the old building. Enjoy a Japanese-teahouse-style cafe, a haunted house-style exhibition room, as well as a mysterious (?) movie all featuring the Kappa as a theme!
At the Japanese-style Cafe, you may experience authentic Japanese matcha tea and hospitality from the Home Economics Club and Tea Ceremony Club. The exhibition room allows you to learn about the history of Kappa. The movie was produced by the Cultural Club, watch as we work hard to capture a Kappa in the wilderness. A must-see production that included a tap-dance performance with the kappa to fight off the mosquitoes!
Oh, at 1 pm today, a Kappa is scheduled to escape somewhere in the school. For anyone interested, you can take part in the capture of the Kappa and take a commemorative photo with it later…. Finally, Shizu-chan can be found at the Japanese-style Cafe, so please come and see her there!!”
Kuroki-senpai declared as he held up our Kappa Project placard, a smug look on his face.
He was… smirking smugly at Vice-President Sasaki, who was frowning to herself in her corner. Shizu-chan had a non-plus expression on her face.
By the way, Shizu-chan had been nodding along to everything Kurkoki-senpai had been saying, only to go ‘Huh?’ at the final bit.
My condolences. It looked like Yuri would have to be in that outfit until the end of the Cultural Festival.
Meanwhile, the entire venue was chanting ‘Shizu-chan, Shizu-chan’.
I glanced at Vice-President Sasaki again. She was twirling her hair at the end of her finger. The expression on her cute little face was cold.
Goodness, I think I just saw something scary.
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“Phew… it’s stuffy under this.”
“Good job, Shizu-chan.”
“You were very popular, Shizu-chan.”
Yuri, who had slumped down in exhaustion backstage, looked at Tooru and me with an indescribable expression on his face.
He was hunched over, which was very unlike him, with a wig in hand.
“Well done, First Year Yuri!!”
I turned at Kuroki-senpai’s oddly thick, familiar voice and… saw a Kappa.
“… …”
“May I know who this is?” I asked, politely, just in case.
“I’m a Kappa!”
“You’ve changed costumes?” said Tooru.
Our senior was wearing a Kappa costume that was more creepy than cute, all raring up for some action.
“It’s about time for my release! I shall now run around the school as planned in the ‘Do You Know Our Kappa?’ schedule.”
“Ah…”
That’s right, he did mention something about a Kappa being released at 1 pm or something.
“Right now, it is time for the Kappa Catching Game, everyone is welcome to participate!”
“You’re really amazing, Senior,” said Tooru.
I was pretty impressed by Kuroki-senpai’s stamina, ideas and bold actions.
“You guys will be in charge of battling out the next Club Representative Match. Do your best!”
“Uh… sure,”
Since our seniors put in this much effort, as juniors, we have no choice but to say ‘yes’ on our part.
That afternoon was the moment I realised we can’t just do our bit half-heartedly…
[Gumihou: Did my best so that the descriptions don’t flow too awkwardly]
[1] The Garakei aka The Galapagos Keitai (cellphone)
https://sabukaru.online/articles/the-mysterious-early-world-of-japans-cellphone-culture
Japan: the country where flip-phones refuse to die (lol)
https://www.engadget.com/2014-05-19-japan-flip-phones-gara-kei.html
[2] Add details, because it was just not there
[3] It’s unclear what this gesture is, but probably something cute. A ‘kyun~’ gesture with both fists just under their chin, perhaps?
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