I've never really thought badly about cosplay, to be honest.

After all, wasn't I an otaku who read light novels in middle and high school? Though I didn't finish reading many of them all the way through. I'd either forget about them while waiting for the next volume, or the official publication of sequels would stop because they weren't selling well.

However, I never thought about trying it myself. If I had been incredibly handsome or had an amazing physique, I might have wanted to give it a try, but well, I wasn't someone who was that confident in my appearance. Of course, since it's just for fun, I suppose that doesn't really matter, but at least that's how I felt.

After becoming an adult and getting a job, I was just busy working. Sleep became precious, and I often found myself nodding off after coming home or falling asleep early, so I just stopped enjoying hobbies.

So what about in this world?

"Kotone, Kotone, look this way!"

I instinctively turned my head at my mom's voice, and click, she took a photo.

Yes. In this world—well.

I'm what you'd call a beautiful girl. If I had appeared in the middle of a novel, I could confidently say I'd be treated as a heroine based on my looks.

I guess you could say I'm in a position where I can wear anything that suits my face. This isn't simply a matter of appearance, but rather a case that has become somewhat "chronic."

First of all, honestly, all the "uniforms" I wear in this world fall into the realm of cosplay.

No matter how young my body is, from the perspective of someone with an adult mind, kindergarten uniforms, elementary school uniforms, and randoseru backpacks look like nothing more than cosplay worn by someone who doesn't match the age.

Even with sailor uniforms that high school students wear almost every day during the semester, I find myself thinking, "What even counts as cosplay anymore?"

Setting aside the fact that this type of uniform is rarely worn in the country I used to live in, from my perspective, this is the uniform that appears in light novels. Honestly, what clothing should I be embarrassed about at this point?

That's also why I can wear cheerleader uniforms or swimsuits without feeling awkward.

Above all, my mom would be disappointed if I didn't wear them. In that sense, our house is full of photo albums that could be dangerous if they fell into someone else's hands. If the photographer wasn't my mom—well, anyone who didn't know us would be shocked by the collection of elementary, middle, and high school pretty girl uniform and swimsuit photos.

"...Mom, I wish you wouldn't use flash in the club room."

It's not a problem now since there aren't many guests yet, but if there were other visitors, everyone would look our way whenever the flash went off.

"But Kotone is just too cute!"

I wondered whether my mom's words could be considered criminal or not.

Well, I think it's acceptable because she's my "mom." If she weren't my mom, it would have been incredibly creepy.

Actually, at first, I was going to go for something like a maid outfit. Like wearing an apron over hakama to look like a waitress.

But that wouldn't give off a "Literature Club" vibe. If it were a Tea Ceremony Club, that would be different.

So what we chose was clothing that "waiters" of that era might have worn. Dress pants, white shirt, vest, and gloves.

If I had to say, it could also look like a butler's outfit.

When we thought about "famous writer's attire," that's what came to mind, and the clothes were relatively easy to find.

"Seeing Kotone in pants instead of the usual skirts is cute too. I definitely need to preserve this in photos."

"..."

"But, Kotone. You won't be wearing clothes like this next year, right?"

When Mom says that, I have nothing to say.

Well, that's true.

I can enjoy the festival with Kaoru-senpai and Izumi-senpai, but I won't be the main character then. For Mom, this might be the last time she sees me in this outfit.

Speaking of which, there is one senpai who's wearing similar clothes to us.

Just then, a guest arrived at the club room entrance.

I was a bit slow to react since I was talking with my mom.

The person who walked straight toward those guests was someone who, like me, wore dress pants that made her legs look long and slender.

Despite wearing what would normally be men's attire, it actually emphasized her figure, making her lines even more visible. Honestly, I don't know how to describe it from an observer's perspective.

"Welcome to Hanagawa Literary Café."

Hana-senpai greeted the female guests politely.

"We have books, tea, coffee, and snacks prepared for your enjoyment. If you'd like, I can guide you—"

"No."

But the guest refused Hana-senpai's offer with a refreshing smile.

"If possible, I'd like to be guided by someone else."

"I think I would be sufficient."

"No, no, I'd prefer that person with the tied hair over there."

"My hair is tied too, you know."

"No, no, what I mean is that I prefer Kotone-senpai."

"You and Kotone will still be senpai and kohai next year, but this is my last year as your senpai, you know?"

"Since we'll be at different schools, you won't really be my senpai anymore, right?"

"But you still call Kotone 'senpai.'"

That's right. The girl Hana was dealing with was Shii.

She's been going to the maid café where Shii works whenever she gets the chance to tease her, so it seems Shii has really taken a dislike to her.

As I looked around, my eyes met with Souta's.

When I gave Souta a slight nod, he smiled bitterly and approached Shii.

"May I guide you?"

"Onii-san."

I thought Shii would immediately smile brightly when Souta came over, but instead, she gave him a strangely wary expression.

As I wondered why, I noticed the two friends who had come with Shii were staring at Souta with their mouths slightly open.

Ah.

I felt somewhat absurd. So a harem protagonist is a harem protagonist after all?

"I-I'll go too!"

Even though there was no need for three waiters to attend to three guests, Tsugumi rushed toward them, saying this.

Should I be grateful that Nanami is still tied up in her classroom?

Or should I report the situation to her by email right now? I seriously considered what to do about the girl from another class who had unintentionally become like a childhood friend—

"Is it okay to just leave them be?"

"Well, it should be fine."

I decided to leave them alone despite my mom's question.

They might be bickering, but they're all smiling. That's good enough, I suppose.

*

"If I had known Hana would work like that, I would have participated too. It's not like I'm studying while I'm here anyway."

I don't know how to respond to Kaoru-senpai who says this so confidently.

Well, she has a point.

"We need to take turns anyway. Maybe you could borrow clothes from someone with a similar size to you, Kaoru-senpai? It should fit more or less."

We need to enjoy the cultural festival too, and above all, the Literature Club had an enormous number of members compared to the classroom size. If everyone became waiters at the same time, we might end up with more waiters than guests.

The cultural festival runs for a total of two days. So we promised to take turns working here.

"Oh, but wouldn't I be taking away someone else's job then?"

Izumi-senpai, who was listening beside us, nodded vigorously.

"Well, I'm not sure."

At least Harumi seems to want to play more enthusiastically than work.

Somehow her social circle expanded tremendously during her first year, and Harumi had quite a few friends in other classes too. More precisely, friends of friends, friends of friends of friends... that sort of expansion.

And Yuu just purely has a personality that finds working troublesome. ...Somehow I feel like if both of them lent their clothes to Kaoru and Izumi, the clothes would be too big in various ways, but at least they wouldn't be too small.

"Hey, you weren't thinking something strange just now, were you?"

Izumi-senpai tilted her head looking at my expression, but I quickly shook my head.

"It's nothing."

"Hmm."

Izumi-senpai, whose eyes narrowed at my words, looked around briefly and then let out a small sigh.

"Still, you all really worked hard. The atmosphere is completely different from last year."

"Last year was fun too."

"...Really?"

Izumi-senpai looked up at me with round eyes at my response.

"If last year hadn't been enjoyable, I wouldn't have thought about having fun this year too. I would have just thought about killing time."

At first, that's really what I had in mind when I joined. Because it looked easy. Just reading a few books and spending the rest of the time chatting.

But during my time here, I grew to like this place.

So, even much later. I wanted this place to exist as a space. Even after years pass, I wanted there to be kids sitting in this classroom, eating dorayaki and chatting.

And even if left dusty and neglected on a bookshelf, someday a curious child might carefully open our traces to see what kind of writing their seniors from the past had created.

Is that too romantic?

"..."

Izumi-senpai lowered her head for a moment, took a few deep breaths, and then looked up. Judging by her slightly reddened eyes, she seemed to have held back some tears.

"...After we take our exams, we'll still be at school for a while... Let's make sure to write down what happened today."

"That sounds good."

I answered.

Thinking that it was truly something worthy of the Literature Club president.