A Lover's Day Hunt.
Summary: It was Valentine's Day and Hilary as the Student Council president decides that the school needs to do something fun for it. So she creates a new game that proves to be more troublesome for the Bladebreakers than fun. One-shot.
A/n: Just something I had to write. Also something to entertain my readers while I work on Shadows of Destiny and Wolves' Reign.
Occurs during chapter three and four of Wolves' Reign. Prior reading not required.
Inspired by Code Geass R2 Episode 12.
Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or Code Geass. Warning: OC included.
13th February
Blink. Blink.
Hilary beamed proudly as she drank in the reactions she received from the announcement she had just made. The blank look on the faces of her closest friends and teammates was something a normal person would categorize as stunned shock but Hilary decided it was merely awe at her ingenious idea.
"A what?" being the only other female in the team, Jade tried her luck at mishearing Hilary's announcement and asking her again.
The smile on the brown-haired girl's face grew. "A Lover's Day Hunt." she repeated, this time with added excitement and enthusiasm. "Come on, guys. It'll be fun!"
"Okay. Just to humour you, I am gonna ask what happens on this Lover's Day Hunt?" Tyson asked skeptically.
"Well, basically as student council president, I've decided that we need to do something fun and radical for Valentine's Day which is tomorrow in case you haven't noticed. So just for tomorrow, classes after lunch hour are cancelled so that every student in the whole school can take part!"
"And…?" Tyson pressed further for more details. The thought of classes being cancelled pleased him but even he knew there had to be a catch.
"And tomorrow everyone will be required to wear this!" from behind her back, Hilary produced two items.
"What are those?" Ray asked warily, staring at the bright coloured heart-sized badges.
One was bright pink with 'Hilary' printed on it in bold black letters in while the other was blue.
Hilary demonstrated by pinning the pink one to her shirt. "Everyone will be wearing a gender designated coloured heart with their names on it and you have to steal the heart of the person you like in exchange with your own. Then that person will be your date for the rest of the day! What do you think?"
She looked at them expectantly, wanting to see their reactions to her explanation. Ray and Max looked uncertain while Tyson was trying his best to stifle his laughter behind a hand. Kai was unreadable as usual. As her last hope, she turned to Jade.
"Um, Hilary…" Jade said slowly as thought she had to consider every word she was about to say. "The idea sounds exciting and fun and I am sure the whole school will appreciate it. But…in case you have forgotten, it's most likely going to be a health hazard to us."
Jade ribbed Max hard, prompting him to say something as well. "Don't get us wrong. I think it's a great idea to celebrate Valentine's Day but…"
"It's stupid."
"Kai!" Jade whacked his arm, shooting a glare at him. "We have got to work on your people skill!"
"I am just being perfectly honest." Kai said, unfazed. "Like Jade said, Valentine's Day is already a health hazard to us as it is already."
"I did not say that!" Jade protested vehemently. "You're taking my words out of context!"
Ray tried to fix the damage. "Hilary, what Kai is trying to say is -,"
Hilary waved them silent. "It's okay, guys. I get it. I understand perfectly why you guys are not so fond of Valentine's Day. It's merely an excuse for fans to ambush you under the pretenses of declaring their undying true love for you. I get that."
"You do?" Max asked hopefully.
Tyson was more wary. "You do?"
"Thank you, Hilary." Ray said in relief. "I knew you would understand."
"That's why I've taken the liberty of taking your Beyblades from Kenny earlier."
There was that moment of utter silence before the storm and Hilary smirked as she watched the horrified and flabbergasted expressions cross their faces.
Tyson was the first to come to his senses. "Now wait a minute! You can't do this!"
"I just did. Now unless you want to see your precious Beyblades and Bitbeasts taken a swirly swim in the toilet bowl, you know what you must do." Hilary said sweetly.
"But Hilary…" Tyson tried again. "You wouldn't dump our Beyblades into the toilet…would you?"
She pondered his plea, or at least she pretended to. "Hm, I don't know. But are you willing to take that risk?"
The tone of her voice had them swallowing in fear. "No."
Knowing she had all of them tied around her little finger, Hilary smiled widely. "Good. Now that we are all in agreement here, I take it that I will have your full participation for tomorrow's Lover's Day Hunt? Splendid! I'll see you in school tomorrow then."
As Hilary practically skipped from the room, Max and Tyson followed her at her heel, pleading and begging her to return their blades while the remaining three stayed behind, still stunned by what had just happened.
"Damn." Jade muttered in silent awe. "Never knew she had it in her."
"What? That evil streak?" Kai said, looking at her pointedly. "I wonder where she learnt it from…"
Ray allowed a tiny groan. "What are we going to do, guys?"
Kai cracked his knuckles, his crimson eyes glimmering darkly. "Well, I know I am gonna kill Kenny first."
"I mean about tomorrow." Ray said, hating to be the Chief when Kai finally gets his hands on him. "How are we gonna get out of this one?"
"Don't worry. We'll think of something." Jade said. "I know we will."
14th February
Come noon of the dreaded day itself, the Bladebreakers found themselves no closer to finding a solution to escaping this ridiculous event. Through the whole morning, they were followed and watched by practically the entire student body as their fans had began mapping out their movements and their possible escape routes.
By within the hour the event was to begin, even Tyson, fan-lover was starting to feel the pressure of his ever-watching fans as he invaded the cafeteria.
It seemed as through there was no escaping Hilary's Lover's Day Hunt at all.
If Kai himself wasn't involved, he would probably tell them it was good training for their reflexes and stamina.
Then at five minutes to one o'clock, the Bladebreakers parted ways at the cafeteria and spread out around the school area. This, according to Ray, was probably the best and only way they could get out of this in one piece. If they were to remain in a group, they will be taken down in a single ambush attack as soon as the game started, leading to a higher risk of injuries and a lesser chance of escaping.
In other words as Jade would put it so bluntly, it was every Bladebreaker for themselves.
At exactly one o'clock, Hilary's voice boomed over the public announcement system.
"Good afternoon, fellow students! As I am sure you are all anxious to begin our very first Lover's Day Hunt, I have a few words I would like to say first."
Tyson silently cursed the brown-haired girl as he slapped the heart shaped badge onto his shirt reluctantly.
Hilary and the rest of the student council had given out the badges during homeroom period, reminding everyone only to put it on when they were told to. The badge wasn't the needle or button on type so their clothes would be safe from being torn or ripped. They supposed they could be thankful for that. But it also means that it would be easier for it to drop or a determine person to simply steal it from them if they were not careful.
"First of all, everyone is to remain a good five meters away from the object of their affection before the start of the game."
Max gulped loudly as he contemplated hiding in the boy's changing room. But judging by the eager looks on the girls surrounding him in a circle five meters away, he had a feeling it wouldn't make a difference at all.
"Secondly, the objective of this game is to steal the other person's badge and replace it with your own. Once that is done, you and your victim – I mean, lover are to spend the rest of the day together as your reward."
Ray sighed as he studied the girls in front of him wearily. He supposed if he were to be caught, he should be caught by a girl on his choosing. Hm, the short haired one on his left seemed too bouncy and eager whereas the one behind her looked as though she was about to trample over the bouncy one…
"Now, remember. This event is so that you can appreciate Valentine's Day and the ones you love so please play nice and have fun." Hilary droned on, saying this part for the sake of the principle. "The school will not be held responsible for any possible injuries, losses or broken hearts…"
Jade took an uneasy step back, her back meeting the wall as she eyed her suitors warily. She wasn't too worried about escaping them seeing as she had chosen the school garden as her battlefield. Furthermore she had devised a plan to deal with this game once and for all. All she needed was for her partner in crime to do the same in shaking off their pursuers and arriving at the designated spot at the right time.
"Oh and one more very important thing…" Hilary drifted off, taking a deep breath but she blurted out into the microphone in a loud, enthusiastic voice that deafened almost everyone.
"THE PEOPLE WHO BRING ME THE BADGES OF THE BLADEBREAKERS WILL NOT ONLY GET TO SPEND THE DAY WITH THEM BUT ALSO HAVE THEIR CLUB FUNDS INCREASED TENFOLDS!"
Kai's eyes snapped open in horror at Hilary's sudden announcement. "What?!"
In the distance, he could hear battle cries running through the entire school. He needn't to see in order to know they belonged to the more rowdier and competitive clubs; the rugby and basketball clubs.
Standing on the stairway, only several steps away from his over-excited fangirls, Kai risked taking his eyes off them for a moment to look out the window where he could see several groups converging into one massive pile as they headed to the main building with one purpose in mind.
"Gather our members!"
"Get the horses!"
"Quick! Bring out the nets and booby traps!"
Not for the first time since he learnt Dranzer has been taken hostage, Kai cursed Hilary and her accomplice just as the said Student Council President declared the Lover's Day Hunt officially started
"AND NOW, BEGIN!"
A big grin at her lips when the unison cries of the clubs reached the confines of the student council room, Hilary turned off the microphone and turned in her seat to address the so-far missing member of the Bladebreakers.
"So what do you think, Kenny?"
"The guys are gonna kill me." the glasses boy muttered and sighed heavily.
"A minor problem." she said carelessly. Disregarding Kenny's hurt look, she turned her eyes to the three wide screens on the wall, all of which mapped out the school layout and floors.
With Kenny's 'help', she had ingeniously planted security cameras all over the school compound. Now she could monitor their very movements as to so they do not try anything to hoodwink her.
"Alright…" she muttered under her breath, pressing the button to turn on the cameras. "Where are they?"
Kenny found himself backing away from the low hysterical laughter erupting from the brown-haired girl.
Tyson pulled a fast one on his pursuers, pointing behind them as he shouted. "Tala, what are you doing here?"
As expected, the girls all turned and were disappointed to find nothing behind them but the lunch lady. By the time they had turned back again, Tyson had taken advantage of their distraction and scurried away from the cafeteria.
Congratulating himself for the plan, Tyson narrowly dodged an ambush attack by the swimming club.
"I almost caught him! Quick! Bring the nets!"
Tyson stole a look over his shoulder as he sprinted away and was terrified to see the swimming team giving chase with big nets in their grasp.
"Oh, crap!"
In the corner of the hallway, a security camera taped the capped boy running for his dear life while the mastermind behind the entire event watched. Hilary then turned to a second camera in the gym and found Max locking the door to the boy's changing room from the outside. From inside, muffled screams and giggles could be heard as the trapped females inside tried to break open the door.
As soon as he had taken care off the girls, the gym doors burst to admit members of the basketball team.
"We found him! Get him!" one of them roared.
Holding up his hands to fend them off, Max tried to reason with them. "W-wait a minute! I am part of the club too!"
The president of the basketball club nodded as he edged closer to the blonde. "Exactly. Then you will understand exactly why we need the extra funds. Now for the sake of the club, surrender yourself!"
All at once, the group lunged at Max. Thinking fast, Max grabbed the changing room door, unlocked it and ducked under their attack just as the door flooded open with the girls spilling out in a heap. Both parties collided with each other and crumbled to the floor in groans of pain while Max made his escape.
"Sorry, guys!" Max called back over his shoulder.
Having witnessed Max's quick thinking over the camera, Hilary frowned. Hm, this was not going as smoothly as she had hoped for. She had expected Max and Tyson to be caught within the first ten minutes of the hunt but it seemed luck and wits were on their side this time.
"Clearly I've underestimated them." she said aloud. "Let's see how Ray is doing."
"Oh, brother…" Kenny muttered dejectedly in the background of the student council room as the camera screen focused on the Chinese boy now.
Apparently the aggressive girl had indeed trodden over the bouncy girl before she herself was trampled over by a trio of squealing girls and as much as Ray wanted to help her, his self-preservation kicked in and he was fleeing the stampede of girls like a cat running from a pack of dogs. He ran as fast as his legs would let him before he turned a corner of the school building and came to a screeching stop at the sight before him.
"Enter the SEDUCTION SQUAD!" Hilary's voice boomed over the intercom. "Let's see you resist this, Ray!"
Ray stared dumbly at the scantily dressed girls in front of him, all striking model-like sexy poses in the centre of the outdoor basketball court for his benefit. His mouth hit the ground hard as a furious blush coloured his cheeks.
Think Mariah! Think Mariah! Think Mar- Oof!
Hilary cheered when finally one of her schemes worked. On-screen, she could see Ray being tackled to the ground by his initial pack of pursuers and like the predators they were, the girls began ripping into him, going for the elusive badge. Ray's desperate pleas for help and mercy could be heard but alas, none of his teammates were dumb enough to risk themselves for him.
"One down, four more to go." Hilary applauded herself for seeking out the cheerleading team's help beforehand. "Now for Jade…"
The camera video flicked to where Jade was last seen and to Hilary's surprise, all she could see was an area scattered with unconscious bodies. From the looks of it, she guessed Jade must not have held back and had beaten them into submission before making her escape.
Frantically she switched through all the cameras until she caught glimpse of dark hair near the clubhouse, dodging the attempts of the science club to hinder her senses with coloured gasses. The gasses in turn clouded the camera view and by the time it had cleared, the target was no longer in sight once more.
"Kenny, your science club failed! You said they have thought everything through!" Hilary wailed to the boy. "And now Jade has escaped!"
Whimpering under his breath, Kenny merely responded by burying himself deeper into his nonsensical typing of his final wishes before he died by the hands of his teammates.
"Fine! That just leaves one more person to track!" Hilary jabbed the buttons of the computer so hard that Kenny winced.
Skimming through the entire building from exterior to interior, she was surprised to find Kai actually sprinting through the hallways of the third floor as he was chased by his squealing mass of female fans. He ducked into an empty classroom by the back door and his chasers all followed, the first wave crashing bodily into the chairs and tables and causing a chaotic crumpled pile of gasping bodies.
Wasting no time, Kai slipped out through the front door and slammed it shut before locking it. He proceeded to do the same to the backdoor, thus effectively locking one fourth of the school's female population in the room before taking off again, this time heading for the stairway.
Hilary had a feeling she knew where he was heading to.
"Not bad, Kai. But I am not letting you off that easily even if you are team captain." Hilary chuckled as she pulled the microphone to her mouth. "Ladies and gentlemen, Kai Hiwatari has been spotted heading to the roofs of Block B. Corner him!"
"Damn you, Hilary." Kai uttered under his breath.
He covered another flight of stairs. Behind him, he could hear the sound of a student stampede making its way to his location now that Hilary has given it away. As he came to a random door, it slid open and a hand shot out to yank him in by arm. Kai allowed himself to be pulled into the darkened storage room as Jade closed the door just as the mob rounded the corner and missed their hiding place by mere seconds.
"That was close." she muttered. "We should be safe here for a while."
"Hilary has lost it." was all he had to say.
"Clearly." Jade agreed, discretely opening the door a crack to check. "Although…"
He looked up at her upon hearing her hesitant tone. She closed the door carefully and turned to settle down beside him.
"You have to admit this is kinda fun." she confessed with a small shrug.
Kai snorted. "You've lost it too."
She punched his arm lightly. "Hey, I've never celebrated Valentine's Day before." Kai sighed as he rested his head against the wall. "Neither have I."
"I guess that makes two then." she said quietly.
He glanced alongside at her, pondering something over in his mind before reached up to remove his heart badge.
"Here."
She glanced at him and the out-held badge in surprise. "Huh?"
"You're the only girl I would give my heart to willingly." he said with a tiny smile.
She stared at him in disbelief before rolling her eyes and scoffing softly in amusement. "Never knew you were one for corny cheesy lines."
He chuckled. "I know. But I guess that is the whole purpose of these…shenanigans."
"Hm, I thought you were doing this for Dranzer." she teased, absently taking his badge from him.
His crimson gaze watched her toy with the material as he replied. "Initially." he said with a curt nod to indicate he hasn't forgotten the prank that was pulled to get them to agree to this.
She needn't ask what had changed. Instead, she removed her own pink coloured badge and replaced it with Kai's badge. Then in a tender gesture, she pressed her own to Kai's shirt right over where his real heart laid beating and leaned up to give him a quick kiss to his lips.
"Thank you." she said. "I love you, Kai."
His arm wrapped around her tightened as he held her closer to him. "Love you too." he whispered.
Knowing he was usually never one for sappy words, these words spoken aloud held more meaning than any actions he had showered on her earlier. Sighing contently, she resigned to nesting in his arms, at least for the moment before they had to leave their sanctuary from the craze that was Valentine's Day and face their disappointed fans and devoted school activists. A random thought occurred and she couldn't help but voice it out.
"Is Valentine's Day gonna be like this every year?"
"Probably."
"….I hate Valentine's Day."
At the end of the day, Hilary was flabbergasted to realize her plan had not gone exactly as she had envisioned it. Lover's Day Hunt had ended with the ringing of the school bell and most of the students looked forward to leaving, exhausted and drained after an afternoon of chasing and hunting.
As for the Bladebreakers, only Ray and Max were caught. Ray had crumbled to the Seduction Squad also known as the cheerleading team whereas Max had unwittedly stepped into one of the traps set up by the 'Nature's Lovers' club. As promised, they were to spend the rest of the day on a double date with their respective captors. Of course, explaining to the school board why half the council yearly funds had depleted by the second month of the year would require some crafty thinking on her part…
Kai and Jade had given her the slip, exchanging hearts with each other once they had escaped their pursuers. Hilary blamed herself for not foreseeing that plan but supposed it can't be helped.
That leaves the last remaining member who was still missing in action. Still walled up in the student council room, Hilary filtered through all the surveillance cameras in search for an elusive Tyson. Kenny had long left the premise of the school in fear his teammates will be after his head.
"That's odd." she muttered to herself. "It's not like Tyson to be so good at hiding all of the sudden."
So engrossed she was with her hunt that she failed to notice the second door in the room opening quietly as a certain capped figure exited it.
Tyson grinned as he slowly but surely crept up to the unsuspecting mastermind. Since escaping the swimming team and the rugby club's attempts to ambush him, he had retreated to the one place they would never think of looking for him. The pantry of the student council meeting room.
Hence for the duration of the game, he had spent it hiding out in the pantry while helping himself to the cakes and biscuits there. Once he had ran out of food, he decided it was time to turn the tables on Hilary, which was now.
It took sometime for Hilary to pick up on the second presence in the room through poor attempts to suppress laughter. But by the time she had whipped around, Tyson had already swiped her badge from her.
"Hah! I got you now, Hilary!" he crowed as he dangled her pink heart in front of her face as all she could do was stare at him in shock. "Look what I have here! Take that, Lover's Day Hunt!"
When Tyson began dancing around the room, realization began to kick in for the stunned girl.
"TYSON! YOU MORON! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS!" she burst out at him causing him to pause in mid-dance.
"Um, I win?"
"NO, YOU IDIOT! IT MEANS WE HAVE TO SPEND THE REST OF THE DAY…TOGETHER!"
A/n: Happy Valentine's Day or as I like to call it, Happy S.A.D: Singles Appreciation Day!! Now R&R!