Book 2: Chapter 27: Side story: Raymond's Determination Final Part
The days passed in the blink of an eye and the first day of the school festival quickly arrived. Cyril had shown up early in the morning, but he stayed absent because of the Student Council’s play. Raymond and the rest of his classmates gathered inside the courtyard on the terrace of the café.
“At last, the school festival is finally about to begin and yet, Cyril isn’t here. It seems that the other classes are looking down on us, saying that without Cyril, our Class A cannot even be considered an opponent!” Luke said, giving a speech while scrutinizing the faces of his classmates. Seemingly in response, the rest raised their voices and echoed the sentiment, calling out: “So what if we don’t have Cyril! As if we’d lose to the other classes!”
“That’s right! We’ve been chosen to become members of Class A due to our performance in the entrance exam. Even if Cyril isn’t with us, there’s no way that we would lose to the members of the other classes! However, that is the very reason why it’s not necessary for us to feel like we have to beat them. Up until today, we did everything possible for us to do. We’re just going to demonstrate that here today!”
“Yes!”, their voices echoed, perfectly synchronized. That they answered in unison without requiring any cues served enough proof to the fact that they indeed had become one unit. Basking in this comfortable sense of unity, Raymond began his shift as a waiter.
On the first day, it wasn’t really that busy, especially before noon. The reason for this was that, naturally, the noble children’s parents were stopping by their own children’s programs. On the other hand, the servants’ parents would first visit the program of their master’s child before visiting their own. Although the situation was quite different for the commoners, it was still a given that on the morning of the first day, the most crowded places would be the programs organized by the noble courses and the market stalls. Therefore, the first day was quiet for the servant courses. Even considering Cyril’s connections, that wouldn’t have changed. At least, it shouldn’t have.
As a matter of fact, the shops of the other butler courses were empty, save for a guest or two loitering here and there. Despite this, right after Class A had opened their café, an enormous queue lined up. The number of customers had already far surpassed their highest estimates and Raymond’s classmates grumbled: “Why are there so many customers?!”
“It seems that the culprit is the crêpes; the sweet dish that Cyril had prepared. At any rate, the orders for these crêpes just keep coming in. Quickly, prepare to increase our crêpes’ production!”
“Did you say crêpes? Isn’t that the product that Cyril said we’d start selling at our café, and use it as an opportunity to make them popular with the nobles? So then, why are there suddenly people queuing up for them on the first day?!”
“Ah!”, Luke’s voice abruptly rang out amidst the cacophony of their classmates’ chatters. Suddenly attracting everyone’s attention seemed to have made Luke feel somewhat awkward. Sensing that he knew something, Raymond pressed him for answers immediately.