Chapter 1

Wait up~! Aniki! Out with the demons, in with the fortune!

Urghh! Yuuta-kun wants me to wait! I wanna wait for him—ngh, I wanna do everything for him…!

Fight it, Hina-chan~! Just be like a demon—harden your heart and ignore it so we can get away~ ♪¹

Like a demon, yeah! It’s just for Setsubun! It’s just part of the game…

But Onii-chan really wants to do whatever Yuuta-kun wants!

You can’t, though~? C’mon, come this way ♪

Gah, don’t pull me! Yuuta-kun~! I’ll see you again when Setsubun Festival’s over! Sorry about all this, but I’ve gotta go, okay?

But I told you to wait! Urghhh, I lost them~?!

(Grr, he’s still as quick as ever when he’s running away… Well, if Aniki was seriously trying to escape, there’s no way I’d be able to catch him.)

(He’s done nothing but run away from me ever since we were kids—I’m used to it by now. And every single time, I was able to find and catch him in the end.)

(But that’s because Aniki was always going easy on me. I’d just start crying, and he’d take pity on me and stop.)

(If Aniki ever really tried to get away, I wouldn’t be able to stop him.)

(It’s just this same game of tag over and over and over. But I don’t think that’s gonna work this time around—I might never get to see him again…)

(I’m getting nervous, Aniki.)

(Ugh, and pissed off, too! Like what, do you just have no idea how much you mean to me?!)

Heyyy~ Yuuta-kun! How are things looking?

Oh—Isara-senpai… and Anzu-san, too. How are you guys?

No time for small talk. The situation is so confusing right now, I can’t make heads or tails of it. Anzu and I have been running around trying to get things under control.

Huh? You guys are in charge of the event, right? So you’re not supposed to be the ones running around.

Just leave all of that to the little guys~ ♪

I’d love to, but we aren’t getting anywhere just talking about it in the tent…

It looks like they’ve got a spy working on the staff.

And that spy’s been feeding us false intel and leading us around by the nose.

It takes one to know one—I was a double agent for a while in the past, so I was able to picked up on it.

And on top of that, Sakasaki and Sakuma-senpai got hit and came over to our side… But I can’t help but shake the feeling that they’re up to no good.

On the surface, they’re cooperating with us just fine. But they’ve got something up their sleeves.

Setsubun Festival is already in its final stages, and the amount of demons who’ve been turned is increasing.

This group was under Sakuma-senpai’s command when they were all demons.

The amount of friendly foes we’ve got on our hands is multiplying. And if things continue this way, we’ll collapse from the inside.

So basically, before everything goes up in flames…

Anzu and I are trying to get in touch with people we trust—like the Vice President who’s been resting in the nurse’s office—and deal with this mess.

It’d be bad if Setsubun Festival ends before we figure out who’s playing games with us.

For me, for Anzu—for everyone, really.

Wow… That’s, um, well—good luck with that.

But is it really okay to be telling me this?

I guess you think I’m trustworthy, but I’m in the light music club, so I’m like Sakuma-senpai’s underling right?

You are, yeah. But Anzu said you can be trusted with this.

And if Anzu trusts you, then I trust you. You’re a good kid at heart, anyway; you never really cause any trouble.

You’re friends with Sengoku too, right? He’s got a good judge of character, so if you guys are friends then you’re definitely not a bad person.

Ahaha, you’re giving me way too much credit~… Wait, wait. Sakuma-senpai got hit?

I guess even he couldn’t stand up to a weapon like that, huh?

Mm~… Actually, that’s another doubt we have.

Ritsu is always pretty hostile toward his brother, so you wouldn’t think it’s weird if he pulls an all-out attack against him, right?

But the thing is, those two have actually been getting along recently.

It’s not a lot at all, but if you compare how they were in the spring to now, they have gotten closer.

They don’t see each other a lot at school, but at home they’ll talk and even cook together on totally friendly terms.

I only know this ‘cause I live close by and go there a lot.

So I can’t help but wonder why he’s acting so bloodthirsty now. It kiiinda seems like an act, or like they’re making a point of how bad they get along.

But that’s just how I see it.

I think… Ritsu knows what his brother’s trying to do, and so he’s helping out in a way that isn’t too obvious.

Which is like, why can’t he just be honest and open about it? But Ritsu is a total tsundere when it comes to his bro. Or I guess it feels more like he’s a little kid?

…You Aoi brothers, on the other hand, have been acting so friendly with each other that it’s unnatural. Have you guys always been so worried about stepping on each other’s toes?

Honestly, though, right now? You guys seem like strangers more than anything.