All or Nothing

Volume 1: Chapter 2 Part 1

Part 1

"Horikita-san. Do you have a moment?"

When lessons had flown past, and the end of the day remained in place, a voice captured Kiyotaka's attention. Looking ahead, he found Satou walking up to Horikita. The latter girl had been writing down something in her notebook and was about to pack it up into her bag when she was interrupted.

"Sure. What is it?"

Satou looked a bit reserved, almost like a lost puppy, as she was talking to Horikita, someone she would never talk to outside of class special exams. Considering how she once hated Horikita due to her old nature, and the fact that she once suggested bullying Horikita back in first year, this wasn't exactly a surprise.

"...Can you spare some time to listen to our pitch for the cultural festival? We've been thinking hard about this one and I think what we have as a concept could be a money making grab."

As she spoke, Satou made eye contact with Kiyotaka, signalling to him that he was needed in the conversation too. Nodding to her quest, Kiyotaka packed up the last of his things and began standing up, intending to move to join the conversation between the two girls.

"As long as it doesn't take too much time, then I can spare some. I've got an errand to run with the student council in an hour. What plan do you have?"

Horikita's tone sounded like she wasn't exactly impressed, and if that wasn't enough, her expression portrayed that she wasn't easily impressed too. She had good reason to be like that though. Over the past ten days, quite a few of the Class B students, both boys and girls, approached Horikita with their ideas, guided by the reward that was set up.

However, the proposals that Horikita heard from these students ranged from the traditional to the bizarre. For example, on the same day that the reward for the proposal was announced, Hondou Ryoutarou immediately proposed that selling fried chicken was an idea Class B should pursue because fried chicken was delicious. Unsurprisingly, Horikita shut him down, telling him to come up with an actual pitch. She didn't even show any interest in accepting the idea.

The next day after being rejected, Hondou submitted a proposal for making fried chicken. However, all the proposal contained was a recipe for fried chicken likely picked up from the internet and an impassioned speech about how much he would sell it for and how tasty it would be. Seeing the low-level proposal, Horikita reiterated the importance of a proposal.

"If you were to open a fried food shop, how much would the cost be, where would the store be located, how many human resources would be needed, how much would the fixed price be, how many customers would be expected, and what would be the basis for that? If you can't answer those questions, this idea is as good as gone."

After that, Horikita announced that she would only listen to the ideas of those who had put them together properly. Following that announcement, the number of students who brought in well-developed proposals began increasing. Horikita had put a few of them down on a list for consideration; however, none of the proposals had been adopted yet since they lacked one definitive factor.

From Horikita's expression, it seemed that she was assuming that Satou's idea was the exact same.

"Seeing it would be better Horikita," Kiyotaka said as he arrived in front of the two girls, both of whom turned to him when he spoke. "The idea Satou has isn't really something that can be revealed with just words alone. It's better that she shows it to us practically. If you give Satou at least half an hour to prepare in an empty classroom in the special building, then she can show it off to you."

Satou looked a little more comfortable now that Kiyotaka had joined in on the conversation. Horikita raised her eyebrows at Kiyotaka before talking.

"You know Satou-san's proposal Ayanokouji-kun?"