With nobody noticing, Friday morning arrived, and the pace sped up. Now they had only hours to make everything perfect, and not all stalls were fully ready.
The Cat Coffee needed a new banner since it got ripped in the middle during the hanging process. Sumiko dashed to the Kamini brothers, begging them for help. If anybody could solve this, it was them.
Unlike her, they had contacts and money. She knew she would pay them back no matter what. Her parents worked hard to allow her study here, and over the summer she had a part-time job.
Rigaku refused any payment, no matter how much she insisted. Just like everybody, he wanted for this Fest to be successful. Arriving in front of the coffee shop, he saw severe damage.
'Careful sewing could fix it, but hardly in a few hours.' He squatted, taking both pieces. They adorned the black base with cat's heads and Cat Coffee in the middle. The black and white trim added a minor detail and allowed to hang this without making holes in the main body.
'Wasn't this supposed to be Cat Cafe?' He remembered Freya pointed out a difference between coffee and cafe to a few students who asked for help. 'Guess nobody realized this mistake. But well, it's not technically wrong either.'
"I'm sorry," one boy bowed his head. "It's because I tripped."
The surrounding girls sighed.
"Sorry, can't fix this," one responded.
"Yeah, we need to think about how to put it together."
The girls went into counting how many boxes they had for takeout, plates, and utensils with coffee cups and ingredients.
The school cooks offered to bake simple cakes, as they couldn't fit any oven. Also, it was against the rules as there was an enormous risk of getting burned. They could have only a fridge for drinks and ingredients for sandwiches and simple snacks.
The same went for grilling or frying. They allowed only selected stalls with an adult supervisor to sell simple fast-food, and they had to have a fire extinguisher at the hand. Thankfully, only once there was a small fire caused by a malfunction.
Rigaku stood up, looking at it from a higher perspective. It folded in the middle, hiding the middle letters.
"Caffee?" he asked himself.
Kumiko checked the place he was looking at, seeing it upside down.
He again kneeled down, pushing the pieces together to create the new word.
"How about this?"
The group gathered, whispering, and ultimately finding it great. They called this place Cat Coffee for so long nobody thought a minor change could enhance it. And "Caffee" had a pleasant sound, too.
The sewing was much simpler since they didn't need to worry about fitting it as before. Kaneko took care of it on a sewing machine, so she had it done in less than half of an hour. Her abilities even sparked an interest in the Hand-Craft club. Perhaps it could re-open in the next semester.
Happy Rigaku returned to his stall, finding the decorations were hung up. The flowers made by Satos were simple, made of colorful crepe papers. Since it didn't look like it could rain would fall anytime soon, they didn't need to worry for it to be destroyed.
While he checked his list for the tenth time, he went through it again. Despite being used to planning, he couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. Anything could happen with the horses, but Mrs. Sato ensured them both were calm. Especially Princess, who celebrated her forty-fourth birthday.
Nothing could make her angry, and she watched the world with wise eyes but with a curiosity of a small child. Rocket was a lot younger and could be mischievous when he wanted. Mr. Sato often found his cap in Rocket's mouth. That would explain why he targeted Kagetsu, searching for a hat to snatch.
Today they wanted to give them a trial run, so they would get used to the new environment. Kagetsu drew signs of respecting the horses by avoiding loud noises, music, and sudden gestures to ensure everybody would have a great time.
Mr. Arima, Sumiko's uncle, helped them to erect a place for the horses to relax. It provided shade, a place to stretch their legs, and heaps of straw to munch on or lay on. Students could take their photos or record videos. But if they wanted to have a photo, they needed for Freya or Rigaku to assist them.
"How's it going?" Kagetsu asked from behind.
Rigaku turned around, his eyes cast on the paper. "Quite well—" He almost bit his tongue, seeing his youngest brother in a cat costume. "What's that?"
Kagetsu scratched behind his fluffy cat ear. "I checked on the cafe, seeing the new banner, and they realized the costume leaning shop sent them the wrong size." He adjusted the miniskirt.
"I... couldn't resist trying it. They kinda heard I'm... cross-dressing... kinda... and it fits me." He lifted his arms, entwining his fingers, balancing on his heels. "So, I offered them help with distributing the menu, posters, map of the festival, and so on."
"I see." Rigaku nodded. He still needed time to adjust to his brother's clothing choices.
"But don't worry, I'll attend to this stall too! How about a few hours for cats? Then I'll switch with you, so you and Freya can enjoy the festival."
His oldest brother blushed, pushing his glasses up to mask it. But his brother was preoccupied with training his cat paws and meowing.
"Mnau... Mnauu... Mnnau...?"
"You mean Nyaan?" Rigaku corrected him.
"I was thinking I could greet the guests with meowing in different languages." Scratching on his cheek, his brain whispered to him that it was a dumb idea.
"That's interesting. Actually, last year there were a few visitors from Europe. I've checked the school newspapers the other day, but they didn't include what countries they were from."
"But that's still amazing! I'll go to practice!"
"And speaking of cats, how about we take the kittens with us? Ai is with them at home, but we can't do this every day."
"Do you think they would like it here?"
"No, it would be too noisy. Let's ask the staff that will stay over the weekend. Perhaps somebody could keep an eye on them."
Finding the kind soul didn't take that long. The kitchen chef used to have six cats and seeing the pictures melted her heart alongside the coworkers. Naturally, pets weren't allowed in the school, but who could say no to those big eyes?
The youngest member of the kitchen crew had a ten-year-old niece who would come for a visit over the weekend, and she loved animals. When the niece heard about them, she couldn't wait to see the kittens.
The kitchen was off-limits for obvious reasons, but the nearby classroom had enough space. The kittens knew how to use their toilet as their mother pestered them for leaving their business everywhere.
Rigaku promised to move them to the school by the next morning, including their food and some toys. With this, he could scratch another line from his list.
Later, Mr. Sato would arrive with both horses as his wife had to check on the farm. The students checked them, taking photos, and for some, this was their first time seeing a living horse. Of course, the noblest students refused to touch them without gloves, if at all. All animals were too dirty for them.
On the other hand, the less V.I.P. part of the students circled the animals, taking selfies and photos, petting them, and giving them snacks Satos allowed. Rigaku and Freya tried each to take a few photographs with the Polaroid camera to get a good feeling.
It was easy to operate, but sometimes taking the right angle could be problematic. Not to mention Rocket fidgeted, messing the shots, but in the end, they turned into an unforgettable memory.
Rigaku only added a quick note to their sign that Rocket loves caps, especially the soft ones.