About ten minutes passed. Shouko looked around the classroom. Everyone had returned—except for the person who usually sat next to her. She kept glancing at the door, unable to relax.

Finally, unable to bear the silence in her heart, she asked the teacher dozing off at the podium, "Takeuchi-sensei, do you know what Miyamura went to do?"

Her voice drew curious glances from several classmates nearby.

Takeuchi-sensei lazily looked up and answered without much interest, "Miyamura went downstairs to buy something."

Then, pulling out his phone from his pocket to check the time, he added, "It's almost time. Don't worry—he should be back soon."

Just as he finished speaking, Akira appeared at the door with a knock to announce his return.

"You got it?" Takeuchi-sensei's tone suddenly sharpened with interest, very unlike his earlier sleepy demeanor.

Before Akira could reply, a gruff voice behind him interrupted.

"Kid, this is the right class, yeah?"

A middle-aged man carrying two large cardboard boxes appeared behind Akira at the door.

"Right here. Please just leave them at the steps near the podium." Akira quickly stepped aside to let the delivery man pass.

The classroom erupted into quiet murmurs. Some sharp-eyed students had already spotted that the boxes were filled with drinks—and they quickly figured out what Akira had done.

After the man set the boxes down, Akira bent over, pulled out a chilled yellow-bottled drink, and handed it to him with both hands.

"Thanks for your help today," Akira said sincerely.

The man cracked it open, took a long drink, and wiped the sweat dripping from his brow. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he exited the classroom.

"Takeuchi-sensei, will you hand them out?" Akira turned to the podium, setting two purple-packaged drinks on the edge.

"Got it," Takeuchi-sensei nodded immediately.

Akira then grabbed two bottles of the yellow-packaged kind and returned to his seat.

"A-Akira... You didn't buy all these drinks just to treat the class, did you?" Shouko whispered as soon as he sat down, looking surprised and touched.

Before he could answer, Takeuchi-sensei clapped the chalkboard hard with his hand.

"Clap, clap, clap!"

Once the students had quieted down, Takeuchi-sensei cleared his throat and spoke up:

"These two boxes of honey mulberry lemonade were brought by Miyamura-kun. They're good for the throat. Consider this a little boost before the singing competition—he's treating everyone! Let's all give him our thanks and do our best to get first place!"

"Come up in order, and don't make a mess, okay?"

The room burst into cheers and applause. Dozens of "Thanks, Miyamura-kun!" rang out.

After all, someone was giving out free drinks—it cost nothing to be grateful.

"These are for the two of you."

Takeuchi-sensei handed the two purple bottles to Ishida Shouya and Shimada Ikki as they walked up.

"You two aren't singing today, so I asked him to get something a little different just for you. Consider it a special treat—teacher's orders."

Shouya and Ikki simply thanked him and returned to their seats.

Within five or six minutes, every student had a bottle in their hands. Takeuchi-sensei clapped the board again.

"Alright, quiet down. There's still about an hour before we head down."

But realistically, there were only about 30 minutes left—prep time included.

As things settled into a low murmur again, something curious happened.

About ten minutes later, a few boys who had finished their drinks noticed something odd.

The bottom half of the bottles had a small clear circle not covered by the label. Through it, one boy saw the phrase: "Another Bottle."

He blinked, looked again, and excitedly whispered to the people around him: "I won a prize! Look—'Another Bottle!'"

The news spread fast. Other curious students who hadn't finished their drinks quickly downed them and checked.

Almost every single one had "Another Bottle" inside.

The chatter spread.

"Is this a guaranteed win?"

"Mine too!"

"Everyone who finishes the drink wins? That's insane!"

Even Ishida Shouya, who had been uninterested, gave in to the curiosity and gulped his down.

He looked through the window at the bottom of his bottle.

"'Another Bottle,' huh… Wow."

He turned to Shimada Ikki and Hirose Keisuke beside him. "You two check yours too!"

Seeing that nothing bad had happened to Shouya, the two shrugged and chugged their drinks.

Shouya eagerly snatched their empty bottles and read the text aloud: "'Another Bottle' again!"

"It's on all of them," Keisuke muttered.

"Takeuchi-sensei!" a student suddenly called out.

The teacher, still half-absorbed in his phone, looked up. "What is it?"

"My drink says I won another one. There's still time before the performance—can I go down and exchange it?"

The request triggered a wave of noise in the classroom:

"Mine too!"

"I won as well!"

"This is rigged in a good way!"

"Can we all go down together?"

"Clap, clap, clap!"

Takeuchi-sensei smacked the blackboard again, this time looking annoyed.

"Kawai, grab a big bag. Everyone put their winning bottles inside. Sato and Anzan—take them downstairs to exchange."

Sato had been the one to ask first. Anzan sat next to him.

"Ehh...?" Kawai Miki clearly didn't want the task, but as class monitor, she sighed and went up to the front, pulling out a black plastic bag and beginning the collection.

Seeing she was moving too slowly, Takeuchi-sensei called Ueno Naoka to help.

In the end, only about seven or eight students hadn't finished their drinks. Everyone else's bottles were collected into the bag.

"You two, get going now," Takeuchi-sensei said as the two boys headed out the door.

Back at her seat, Shouko turned to Akira, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Akira... did you buy these just because they all had prizes?"

Akira simply smiled, giving her an evasive shrug.

"Maybe it's just good luck?"

Shouko squinted at him, clearly not buying it—but let it slide for now.

She turned the conversation to another topic, while Akira leaned back in his chair, grinning faintly to himself.

------------

POWER STONE!!!

Support me at patréon com/Lukas25