In the venerable Takarazuka Revue, the theater troupe for which Seisho Music Academy prepares its students and sends them off to once they graduate, there are two broad roles which one may take: the musumeyaku, who plays women's roles and embodies a feminine ideal, and the otokoyaku, who plays men onstage and adopts a masculine persona. The otokoyaku is expected to exude boyish charm offstage as well, with appropriate dress and mannerisms. Though tempered with a gentle feminine touch, the ideal otokoyaku presents in a distinctly masculine manner. Which lead to a problem with otokoyaku-in-training and feared and revered top star Tendou Maya. One of many problems. Actually, no, there were very few problems with Tendou Maya. Which, Claudine supposed, was a problem in and of itself.
Claudine watched with her breath held as Maya moved a lock of hair behind her ear. Again. Like for the third time in...oh, maybe fifteen minutes. And every time Claudine had watched. Watched those long, delicate fingers take a silky-looking strand between them and maneuver it so that it wouldn't obstruct her vision, thus leaving the world (well, the person sitting in the chair across from her, who happened to be Claudine at the moment) with a perfect view of her flawless, sharp features. But she'd been staring at those features for quite some time, and movement draws the human eye, so Claudine's focus at the moment was on those fingers, and the hair between them. Safely secured, the strands blended together with the others, becoming lost in an ocean of brown. Deep, chestnut brown that flowed down her back like a river, shining with a soft silky texture and so voluminous it seemed to blow even without wind. All topped off with a cute little blue bow. Claudine was rightly proud of her own platinum waves, but Tendou Maya, the otokoyaku she had partnered with, had no right, none whatsoever, to have hair so long, so gorgeous, so…
"Jolie." Claudine had vocalized her thought before she could stop herself. It was in French, though, so she was pretty sure she was safe. She relaxed, and went back to watching Maya intently. And then Maya paused in the middle of turning a page, reminding Claudine of something she always seemed to forget in moments like this: Oh god, oh fuck, she speaks French too oh no oh god-
"Did you say something, Claudine?" Maya said, looking up from her book to meet Claudine's eyes from across the coffee table. Her lips had formed a serene, gentle smile, but her eyes hid a glimmer in them. Oh, she had heard her. She heard her, that infuriating, conniving...ugh.
"I didn't say anything," Claudine said with some considerable venom. Enough to have turned the heads of everyone else in the common room, which of course happened to be everyone. Yeah, of course, everyone wanted to watch the top two students fight. They always do.
Maya set down her book. "Are you sure?" Maya said, her tone level, in sharp contrast to the hidden smugness in her gaze that only Claudine could see. "I believe you said 'jolie,' correct?"
"Yes, and it means 'shut your mouth.'" It didn't, of course, but Maya's French was...mmm, it left something to be desired. Maya probably wasn't that ignorant, but Claudine was taking a gamble. Wouldn't it be funny if she could convince Tendou Maya something like that…
A raised eyebrow communicated that Maya wasn't buying it. Damn. "Are you sure? That doesn't sound right." God she was so sure of herself, it made Claudine's blood boil. She wanted to punch her in that stupid perfect smug face of hers. Well no, not punch her. She would rather...um...uh…
"Yeah, well, uh…" Seemed like the clever retort function of her brain wasn't working right now, clogged up with thoughts of...things she wanted to do to Tendou Maya's face. God dammit, why was she so gay and weak like this?
"It means 'pretty,' right?" Maya said as she leaned forward ever so slightly. "I wonder, what was so pretty just now you had to comment on it?" Her eyes were burning into Claudine's own, daring her to say something honest for once. Well, if honesty was what Maya wanted, then honesty is what she would have. "Care to tell me, Claudine?"
Claudine stood up, relish that now, for once, she was glaring down at Maya. "Yeah," She said through clenched teeth. "You're too pretty!"
Maya seemed genuinely caught off-guard by this, reeling back as her face twisted in confusion. "Wha-"
"Your hair's too long!" Claudine said, pointing accusingly. "It's too long and too pretty and the way you put that stupid bow in it makes it even worse! Your hair's too pretty and I'm sick of looking at it!"
There was a long, stunned silence, throughout the entire duration of which Claudine could feel her face heating up degree by degree. Eight pairs of eyes were burning holes in her, most of all the ones right in front of her. The silence was broken by the sound of suppressed giggling.
"Not a sound from you, you midget!" She said as she shot a hard glare at Futaba, who had nearly doubled over trying to contain her laughter. She did a quick sweep of the room to find there were several other people stifling themselves as well, and determined that this would probably be a good time to leave. Better now than when something even more embarrassing happened, like Maya finding a way to respond. Claudine did not want to stick around for that one, she thought as she hurried to her room. Nope.
It had been a week since the incident, and Claudine had resumed her push-and-pull relationship with Maya without any complications. If she didn't know any better she'd say Maya had forgotten all about it, but Maya didn't forget these things. She was being deliberately silent on the subject. Not that Claudine would ever actually ask her about it, especially considering she had a vested interest in burying the whole thing. Still, it was good to have some semblance of normalcy in their little rivalry. Although there was something off today…
"Saijou-san." The unmistakable sharp tone of voice easily caught her attention Claudine turned in her seat to see Junna standing behind her, looking very businesslike as usual. "Have you seen Tendou-san? I haven't seen her since this morning."
Claudine put a hand on her chin thoughtfully. Yes, come to think of it, she'd hardly seen Maya around today either...what was up with that? "No, I haven't. Désolé." She gave a small shrug.
Junna nodded. "Understood. That's odd, though, I figured you of all people would know where she would be." She adjusted her glasses and looked out the window. "I'm going to check the studio again. It's possible she's practicing there and I just missed her the first time." As Junna made her way towards the door to the dorm Claudine scoffed. Pfff, Tendou Maya. If she really had run off right after breakfast to practice then she would have been practicing for...Claudine took a quick glance at the clock on her phone. So it was around one in the afternoon, meaning that Maya had been at it for around four hours now. On a sunday. Claudine stood up. Well, if she was going to beat Tendou Maya in anything, she would have to train harder than her, and she was already behind.
"Oh, Tendou-san, you're ba-Tendou-san?" The sudden shock in Junna's voice quickly caught Claudine's attention, at which point the words themselves registered in her mind. So Maya was back, and...did something happen? Was she okay? Claudine was about ready to rush to the door when Tendou Maya herself strolled into the common room, and Claudine could plainly see exactly what Junna had been so startled by.
Oh god. What the fuck.
Yeah, it was the same infuriating Tendou Maya alright, except now she had gotten a serious haircut. It now hovered only a little above her shoulders, there wasn't even enough in back to make a tiny ponytail with. And yet still there was so much volume packed into those short little chestnut locks, it still shone in the afternoon sunlight and Claudine was still filled with the urge to run her fingers through it. Worst of all, it framed that lovely face of hers perfectly. Tendou Maya stood before her, looking handsome as fuck with her short hair. Claudine could feel the gay panic setting in again.
"What do you think?" Maya said, stepping forward and sweeping Claudine straight into her arms. Because of course, Tendou Maya couldn't just show off her new look, she had to rub it in her face by doing something like this. Claudine blushed furiously as Maya dipped her low. "Am I still too pretty, Ma Claudine?"
"It's…" A great look for you? "I…" Really really love it? "You're…" So handsome I can't speak? Every sentence seemed to die in Claudine's throat, but her vocal chords still insisted on making noise. "AAAAAAARRRRRGH!"