A few days before, Hana and Jirard went on a date to an origami exhibit, where they were impressed by all the geometric shapes and creatures and other items made of folded paper. Hana had been struggling to find something to make for Asagao's upcoming student showcase and talent show, but once she finds a giant origami dragon in the exhibit, she and Jirard decide to make their own paper dragon with many multicolored papers folded in different flower shapes. But perhaps they could use another hand in the process…?
Hana and Jirard bent over Jirard's desk, each concentrating on folding intricately decorated sheets of origami paper. Sketches of dragons lay stacked in a messy pile. Hana finished folding a four-petal flower shape and stacked it inside another flower shape. "This dragon tail is coming along nicely," she said with a smile.
"I know, right?" Jirard grinned. "This is gonna be awesome!" He held up his stack of folded origami. "We'll be able to start on one of the legs today!"
"That's wonderful!" Hana took Jirard's folded origami and nested her own on top of it. The triangles in the flowers overlapped each other, creating an illusion of hardened scales.
"Oh, wow!" Jirard's eyes widened. "That looks great! Man, your origami looks so beautiful!"
Hana's cheeks tingled. "Thanks." She set the origami tail aside.
"But you're much more beautiful." Jirard kissed Hana's cheek.
Hana blushed more as she adjusted the dragon tail on the desk. "Jirard!" She giggled.
"What? It's true." Jirard took her hand and kissed her fingers. "And I'm grateful for you every day." He gazed deep into her eyes—and Hana kept her gaze locked with his.
"Oh, Jirard." Hana intertwined her fingers with his. "You really are the most wonderful guy." She rested her forehead against his and closed her eyes.
Jirard chuckled. "You give me too much credit, my dear Hana."
"Nope!" Hana rubbed her nose against Jirard's. "You don't give yourself enough credit." She kissed him, and he pulled her closer to him.
When their lips parted, they stared at each other, smiles wide and hearts palpitating. "I don't think I'll ever get tired of this," Jirard said, brushing her bangs off her forehead.
"Me neither," Hana replied, gripping his hand tighter.
The doorknob clicked. Hana leaned back and looked past Jirard at the door. "Let's not make Shane uncomfortable, though," Hana said with a giggle.
Jirard laughed. "Agreed." Their fingers untwined just as the door opened. "Hey, Shane!" Jirard greeted his roommate with a wave.
"Hey," Shane replied, closing the door.
"Oh, do you need your chair back?" Hana asked Shane, tapping the back of the wheeled chair she was using.
Shane waved a hand. "You're fine." He sat on his bed and pulled out a stack of note cards.
Hana picked out another colored paper and began to fold. As she folded a paper into the shape of a lily—this was going to hold the diamond-shaped tip of the tail—a thought struck her, and her fingers stopped. She swiped a lined piece of paper from her backpack and scribbled on it.
Jirard, we should ask Shane to make the dragon with us. We can all be in the talent showcase that way!
She held the note towards Jirard. Jirard set down the paper he was folding and read Hana's note. "Oh, duh, of course!" Jirard slapped his forehead. "That'd be perfect!"
"Should I?" Hana nudged towards Shane with her head.
"Go right ahead." Jirard beamed. "You're so thoughtful, Hana." He kissed her forehead.
Hana rubbed her neck, her cheeks pink. "I learned from the best, after all." She winked at Jirard.
Shane grunted; whether it was at the two lovebirds or at his notecards was difficult to determine.
"Hey, Shane?" Hana spun around in her chair to face the stoic boy. "Do you want to join us on this project?
Shane looked up from his study notes. "What are you making?"
"A paper dragon." Jirard held up the most detailed dragon sketch from their pile. "We saw one at the origami exhibit we went to and decided to make our own for the showcase."
Shane slid off his bed and walked over to them, taking the drawing from Jirard's hand. "How big is it going to be?"
"Oh, about the size of the desk." Jirard rapped on his desk. "Maybe a bit smaller."
"We want to be able to transport it to the talent show, after all," Hana added.
Shane studied the drawing, his face as stoic as ever. "Sure—"
The door slammed open. "Oh, Shaaaaane!" Jon sang out as Jacques twittered from his shoulder. "You know, we still need another person for our act—"
"NO." Shane narrowed his eyes at Jon. "I already agreed to a project with Hana and Jirard."
"Are you kidding me?!" Jon slumped against the doorframe and slung his arm across his forehead. "Oh, cruel fate, why dost thou torment me so?"
"Fate is not a kind mistress," Jacques intoned. "Now get your fatty bicep off of me."
"Hold on a sec, Jacques, I'm being dramatic for sympathy," Jon muttered. Hana burst out laughing.
"Go ask Jared," Shane said.
"He's already doing a dance routine with Wallid and Luke," Jon replied, his arms falling limp.
Hana's laughter stopped. "Luke dances?" she asked.
"Nah, I think Luke's doing a rap number while Wallid and Jared dance." Jon pushed himself off the doorframe. "You could always do two things, Shane! Like Miss Shizuka said! One project and one thing on stage!"
"No. Go away." Shane's eyebrows furrowed.
"Okay, okay." Jon held his hands up, palms out. "I'm going." He stepped out of the room backwards. "I'll ask Satch if he's doing anything."
"Satch is in a boy band with me and a couple other guys," Jirard called after him.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME—"
Shane slammed the door. He sighed and massaged his temples. "He's been bugging me about that for days."
"Well, at least he's persistent," Hana replied.
Shane lifted an eyebrow. "That isn't always a good thing."
"Says you." Hana stuck her tongue out at Shane. Jirard snickered.
Shane shook his head. "Well, this looks cool." He held up the dragon picture. "I'll help with it."
"Yay!" Hana cheered, clasping her hands together.
"Oh yeah!" Jirard fist-pumped. "This is gonna be awesome!"
"Let's move to the floor so we have more room to work." Hana picked up the neat stack of origami paper yet to be used.
"Definitely," Jirard replied, gathering the rest of the dragon pictures.
Shane chuckled and sat cross legged on the floor. "How many pieces of paper are you going to use?"
"We have a couple hundred in different sizes," Jirard replied, spreading out the dragon drawings. "Just in case we seriously mess up some parts."
"Ten centimeters, twenty centimeters, and twenty-five centimeters," Hana added, organizing the origami paper by color.
"Good." Shane set the design he held atop the other drawings. "I've got a few ideas about how to maintain the structural integrity of the torso, especially this wide chest region."
For the next three hours, Hana and both boys added to the initial design plans, brainstormed which shapes to fold, determined what colors to use, and decided how many sheets of paper total the dragon needed. As the trio sat on the floor folding pieces of the dragon's feet and legs, Hana looked over lovingly at Jirard and sighed. She could better understand how Jirard and Shane got along so well. Jirard was already so warm and open, and in select circumstances Shane opened up and spoke more than five words at a time.
Creating origami structures together—all three of them—was quite fun, and Hana looked forward to showing off the finished dragon with both her stoic friend and her loving teddy bear boyfriend.
{MU: Hana/Jirard is my ultimate OTP for Asagao, so I'm always happy to write more for them! :D If you like the story, or feel it needs some work, feel free to leave a comment or a (thoughtful) critique!}