episode_0039

They say that happy times go quickly.

The time of the cultural festival passed quickly.

After the first day of the cultural festival, today is the last day. As such, there were quite a few events.

If you use a class theme for two days, you will inevitably get tired of it, so on the second day, the school tends to prepare a lot of events.

‘Awards ceremonies are one of those things.’

However, the award ceremony is the final highlight of the cultural festival.

There were quite a few things to do before that.

For example, things like small sports competitions or plays.

“A play proposal. You came to us, right?”

“That’s right. Although I refused.”

Among them, the play was a classic play called Romeo and Juliet, and we were also offered roles.

And that too in the roles of the two main characters.

There was also a theater department, but the theater department directly expressed its opinions and asked questions.

‘But I still refused.’

Although I was tempted for a moment by the idea of becoming a lover with Riya, we had never acted in the first place.

There is nothing more embarrassing than going out and ruining something.

Anyway, after enjoying so many events, the time for the final event of the cultural festival, the awards ceremony, soon arrived.

“Awards ceremony, auditorium, right?”

“It starts soon, so let’s go.”

We, the award candidates, also headed to the auditorium.

As soon as you enter the auditorium, what you see is Yuwon and Asuka sitting on the floor. And it was Ho-yeon and Haryeong.

“Come quickly!”

We headed straight to them as they waved their hands and urged us on. It wasn’t uncomfortable to sit down as they had already taken our seats.

“There’s Haryeong too?”

“They say it’s okay to have outsiders. Because our school auditorium is spacious.”

“That’s right.”

Our school’s auditorium is quite spacious. Even after accommodating the entire school, there are still quite a few seats left.

Because of this, outsiders can also come in, which is a good thing for Hoenn.

“It’s been a while.”

“It’s been a while, senior.”

Ha-ryeong and I had been seeing each other for quite some time. There needs to be a point of contact before we meet or not. Do I want to come in between those two?

Since we go to the same academy as Riya, we’ve met a few times, but it’s only been half a year since I met her.

“There you two! You must have been prepared to fight us!”

At that time, Asuka, who was watching us from the side, said that and pointed at us.

Come to think of it, the reason Riya was able to submit the application without permission was because of Asuka’s precedent.

If you think about it, Asuka was the culprit.

And yet you are so confident. I wanted to hit him at least once, but if I hit him, he would get really hurt, so I stopped raising my hand.

“Resolution. No need.”

Riya, who was next to her, spoke quietly but clearly to Asuka.

A kind of provocation.

And above all, it is a clear provocation.

Asuka seemed upset and tried to say something, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the large microphone coming from in front of her.

“Finally, the highlight of this cultural festival! It’s awards ceremony time!”

The emcee in the auditorium was the second-year student council president. He appeared at quite a few school events, and he had a good personality, so people knew his face.

He came forward, said a few meaningless words, and then immediately started the award ceremony.

Maybe it was because it was a lot later than expected, but the award ceremony went on right away.

“The first award to come out is the Male Popularity Award!”

There are a total of five candidates.

Two second year seniors. One third-year senior. and me.

“…Why me?”

Why is my name listed there? I didn’t do anything particularly noticeable.

The answer to that question came from Yuwon next to me.

“You’re popular.”

“…For what reason?”

“He has a pretty handsome face, is athletic, and is especially ace. Her personality is also good…”

“..Stop!”

At that moment, it seemed like a barrage of compliments followed, but I covered my ears. I was weak to compliments.

“Yes. Sihyeon is awesome.”

Riya suddenly wrapped her arms around me and my heart almost stopped for a moment, but I tried to calm it down.

Riya and my heart were so close.

…Liya’s direct praise was too much for me.

“Then, here’s the next award!”

Fortunately, the Male Popularity Award was given to one of my second-year seniors.

Anyway, it’s not like first graders are the most popular.

Of course, the fact that the difference in votes is at most 10 votes is quite scary.

“Female Popularity Award! There are four candidates this time!”

The next award following the Male Popularity Award was, of course, the Female Popularity Award.

There were four candidates, and surprisingly, half of them were people I knew. Because you are by my side.

“Liya and Asuka?”

There was one candidate each from the third and second years, and the other two were Riya and Asuka.

right.

This is a very valid fact.

‘Riya must go up.’

Actually, I forgot to check the nominations for other awards, but I thought there would be Riya.

If not Riya, who would go up to that table?

“Si-hyeon, a third-year student was killed?”

Surprisingly, the person who won this award was a senior in his third year preparing to become an idol.

“Something is wrong with this.”

If Riya didn’t win this award, this was an election that went wrong.

The possibility of election fraud cannot be ruled out.

“No… It’s strange that Riya, who doesn’t really do any external activities in the first place, is on the list.”

“Ri, you don’t talk to other people, right?”

As they said, it was an amazing thing that Riya, who did not engage in any external activities at all, was nominated…

Still, it wasn’t good.

If you’re nominated, you’ll vote right away!

“Huh…”

Of course, all of this was just what I said in my heart.

I don’t think I can say something like this when Riya is next to me.

Anyway, after that, the awards continued. There were a lot of categories to begin with, and there were more hidden awards than anything I had seen before.

When the end came like that.

The main event of this awards ceremony has begun.

“Then we will now receive the Best Couple Award, which is the main event of this awards ceremony!”

There were five couples nominated for the award.

Me, Riya, Asuka, and Yuwon. Other than that, three couples I don’t know much about.

It was funny that about half of them weren’t a couple yet, but the candidates were.

“First of all, we are the first-year candidate Baek Si-hyun and Riya, a couple! ”

“Wow!!”

Why are there cheers?

Why do other people like it more?

“They are a famous childhood friend couple, and they became a hot topic even more in the last interview, right?”

Along with the host’s words, a video appeared on the screen in front.

That scene from the surprise interview with me and Riya the other day.

And of course, that statement was also included.

[“Likewise, Riya is more important to me than anything else.”]

[“…It’s like my heart.”]

“Kaaa!!”

Why did you say that!

It was definitely impulsive, and I was caught up in the flow of Riya’s words, so the words came out without my knowledge…

Even though I regretted it, I regretted it so much.

“Did you say something like that?”

“Our Sihyeon is all grown up now.”

“Ugh…! me too! I should have said something more provocative too!”

He said this to the other guys next to him and patted me on the back.

Even though Riya was trembling next to me with her face red.

“Ahh…”

Riya, who was blushing, turned her head and covered her face, avoiding Sihyeon’s gaze.

She was also embarrassed because she remembered what she had said at the time.

When the two of them were embarrassed by each other like that.

After introducing all the candidates, it was now the host’s turn to announce the winners.

“Now, we will announce the winners of the Best Couple Award!”

And right after those words, the image of the winner appeared on the screen behind him.

A male student with black hair and a female student with unusual silver hair.

It was me and Riya smiling.

“This is Baek Si-hyeon and Riya, candidates 1! Congratulations!”

The winners of the Best Couple Award were none other than Riya and I.

I had expected…

We were candidate number 1, so there must have been a lot of eyes following us while enjoying the cultural festival.

But now that it was truly confirmed, it felt different.

I was embarrassed, and I secretly felt good about being linked with Riya as a lover.

“Then, the winners, please come up to the podium!”

The first person to wake up after those words was Riya, not me.

Riya naturally extended her hand to me, and I took her hand and got up from the floor.

“Let’s go.”

With those short words, we went up to the podium.

As soon as I went up, there were a lot of eyes on me, but it didn’t really bother me.

I have received quite a lot of these looks.

“Then, please tell us your thoughts on receiving the award.”

The host who said that handed me the microphone.

What should I say? It filled my head for a moment, but what I wanted to say was simple.

“Thank you for choosing me.”

This can be said to be bland and uninteresting.

But I don’t think there are any words that can convey my true feelings like this. Because we are not lovers yet.

There were many things I wanted to say, and there were things I wanted to say, but I did it only after we became lovers.

It was time to think like that.

“I like it.”

That’s what Riya said next to me.

She looked at me with a faint smile.

Likes.

Did he say that because he was on the podium? The truth was not known.

But the emotions she sent me with her eyes gave me an unspoken certainty that she was sincere.

‘Likes….’

The moment she said that and saw me, I once again brought out a thought that had been hidden deep in my heart for a long time.

Something that I had forgotten, pushed away in my mind because I was afraid to bring it up.

Something that only recently made its presence known again.

‘…confession.’

confession.

Sooner or later, I will convey my feelings to Riya.