Isekai Mizuki S2 - A Doki Adventure

Chapter 21 - Festival Discussion

The afternoon following Natsuki and the trio's meetup, everyone met up in the clubroom to discuss festival preparations, since it was going to begin soon. "Okay, everyone! If you remember what we talked about yesterday, we're going to be discussing it now. We have had three ideas for the festival so far:

- Complimentary treats
- Lines of books
- Reading poems aloud

Before I begin assigning tasks, should we add anything else?" Monika asks, tapping the desk in front of her with a pen. Everyone thinks about it for a second. "How about we host a little poetry contest for the guests? Winner gets a prize: A free copy of "Portrait of Markov: The Blood Eye!" It's a limited edition book, and the only bookstore selling these had limited stock. I managed to get my hands on three copies, my intention being two. I originally planned on buying one for Yuri, and one for me, but I accidentally bought a third," Isekai suggests. He reaches into his bag and holds up the book.

"Good idea!" Monika comments, writing it down. "Anything else?" she asks. Sayori raises her hand. "How about a small overseas food stand? I've been hearing that people wanted to try food from overseas, such as French fries, pancakes... OOH! Isekai, you cook things like that, right?" she suggests, shifting her focus to her friend. He nods. "You're clearly craving food, but you're right, people have wanted to try it," Natsuki comments, ultimately agreeing with her.

Monika huffs, and writes it down. "Alright, anything else?" she asks again. No one says anything. "Very well then, here's how it goes. Today is Tuesday. We'll get a head start on preparations. We should have a player capacity, i.e. how many papers and pens should we have ready?" Monika asks. "Perhaps fifty should do..." Yuri suggests, tapping her head. "Well, I guess that's reasonable. Is anyone able to buy these?" Monika asks.

Isekai sighs, and says he'll do it. "You sure?" Masahiro questions. "I have lots of money, but no one knows that, or where I get it, or how I get the profit," he replies, pulling out dozens of high-value yen bills. "How do you get that?" Natsuki asks. Isekai looks at her, and says "Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."

"Well, that puts Mizuki-san on the job of getting fifty papers & pens," Monika states, writing it on the board. "Anyway, next comes the food stand. That'll be left to Mizuki-san as well, because only he can whip up food from overseas. I hope you're okay with that," she continues, scratching her head. "Eh, it's okay," he replies, shaking it off.

"Next, our complimentary treats will be left to Natsuki-chan. Cupcakes, cookies, bake what you want," she goes on, writing it on the board. "Shuuchaku-san, I hope you'll have no problems with helping me set up the bookshelves and sort the books by genre?" Monika asks. Yuri shakes her head, saying "No problem."

"Okay, remaining people are Hanae-chan, Hiatari-chan, and MC-kun. I suppose I can split you off to help one of the three. Okay then, starting with MC-kun, you three can choose who to help. Go ahead, now!" she states, gesturing to Natsuki, Yuri and Isekai. Masahiro clears his throat. "I think I'll pick..." he says, stopping short as the world freezes and three choice boxes appear in front of him.

The first one says "Isekai," the second one says "Natsuki," and the third says "Monika & Yuri." As Isekai waits for the choice to be made so that he can move again, he notices that a computer cursor is choosing between the three. It clicks on Isekai, but a box appears that says:

"ERROR: ISEKAI.CHR FILE NOT FOUND. RETRYING..." is read on the box.

"ERROR: ISEKAI.CHR FILE NOT FOUND. SEARCHING "This PC" FOR ISEKAI.CHR FILE..." it continues, initiating a computer-wide search. It still finds nothing.

"ERROR: ISEKAI.CHR FILE DOES NOT EXIST. REMOVING CHOICE BOX..."

"The fuck?" Isekai questions. "So this place really IS a video game... then who talked to me after my phone gained the ability to manipulate the game...?" he asks himself, pondering on the subject. The choice box with his name is deleted, and it is left to a choice between Natsuki or Yuri & Monika.

The cursor selects Natsuki, and the world begins to move again. "Alright then, so MC-kun will help Natsuki. You two?" she states, looking at Mitsuki and Sayori. The latter immediately chooses to go along with Isekai, which leaves Mitsuki to go with Yuri and Monika. "Alright then, I shouldn't keep you here any longer. You all have work to do," she says, packing up. Everyone gets ready to leave, and wait for Saturday, which is tomorrow, to start getting the materials.

On the way home...

Isekai and Masahiro are on the former's motorcycle. As they are on their way, Isekai speaks up. "Do you ever feel like the world freezes out of nowhere, or there are certain decisions that don't exist whatsoever?" he asks, prompting Masahiro to think. "No, not really. I do feel like I'm more powerful than I should be sometimes, though, if that might interest you. Hopefully you're not some conspiracy theorist, haha!" he replies, making a joke at the end. Isekai laughs too, as he thinks about it a little more.

"But, really. I've been noticing... Sayori hasn't seemed too cheerful lately," Masahiro says to him. His friend thinks about it, and agrees. "We should talk to her," Isekai suggests. "Mhm..."

To be continued...