Takamura Suoh closed the door behind him and gave a weary sigh.
Ijyuin Akira, who'd just come down the hall with a tray of tea and cookies
gave him a puzzled look.
"What's wrong, Takamura-senpai?"
{Kaichou = president}
"Kaichou," was Suoh's one word response, though the one word was all that was needed.
"Oh! Is Kaichou avoiding his paperwork again?"
"Hai," Suoh sighed again, "Sometimes I feel as though the only way we could get Kaichou to diligently do something is if we were female."
Akira stared at him for a few seconds before exclaiming, "Sugoi! What a great idea, Takamura-senpai!"
With that said Akira handed Suoh a tea cup, some cookies, and then opened the door to the Elementary Division Student Council room.
"Akira! I have been looking forward to your food all day. We simply must take a break to properly enjoy it," Imonoyama Nokoru's warm greeting floated out the open door. Suoh meanwhile was trying to figure out exactly what in what he said was a good idea. Finally he dismissed it as irrelevant and went on his way.
The next day Suoh arrived at the council room early on Akira's request.
When he got there he found not the Elementary Student Council Treasurer,
but a strange dark haired girl. He was about to ask who she was when
the girl spoke...
"Ohaiyo, Takamura-senpai!" and was revealed to be Akira.
"Ijyuin, why are you dressed like that?" Suoh asked after the shock
wore off.
Akira looked confused, "But... it was your idea, Takamura-senpai."
"What was my idea?"
"That we'd have to be female to get Kaichou to do his work."
"Oh." Was the only response Suoh had to that.
Akira smiled brightly and held out a wig and a girl's school uniform.
"Here you go Takamura-senpai!"
Suoh took the items reluctantly. Staring down at them he asked,
"Where did you get these from, Ijyuin?"
"Mothers have a whole box full of wigs in the attic and I just borrowed
the uniforms."
As Suoh looked at the items he held in his hand, then at the brightly
smiling Akira he thought to himself, This will never work... but...
Suoh knew that to get his 'Kaichou' to work he'd try anything.
So he sighed and went off to change.
Suoh looked in the mirror that Akira, who was quite please with the
results, had dragged him to. He looked like a female version of himself.
Or like his mother had when she was younger. Now wasn't that a disturbing
thought? The school uniform was just a little too small but not noticeable
so. The wig Akira had chosen was the same blue as his own, only much,
much longer. Past his waist in fact... and styled by Akira in two
pigtails which looked disturbingly like Azuya Nagisa's hairstyle.
Suoh eyed Akira, he still couldn't figure out if the hair style was deliberate
or not.
Akira meanwhile had shoulder length, wavy black hair, some of which
was pulled back with a bright pink bow. With the exception of the
wave and the bow colour Akira looked like an older version of Ohkawa Utako
(Suoh didn't think that he'd ever seen Utako with any other colour than
yellow in her hair).
Suoh sighed, this was so demeaning. Akira meanwhile was getting
excited. Suoh gave one more sigh before turning to Akira.
"Now let's go over the details once more."
"Hai!" Akira exclaimed.
When Nokoru entered the council room he was met by a very different
sight than he was used to. Flipping his fan open so that it covered
his wide smile he asked, "Who might you two lovely ladies be?"
Suoh sweat dropped, He can't possibly be falling for this.
Kaichou has a sixth sense when it comes to woman... there's no way we can
be fooling him.
Akira grinned and cheerfully responded, "Kaneko Jun desu! Ohaiyo,
Kaichou."
Suoh forced a smile and tried to keep his voice light and girlish, "Suzuki
Sugi desu. Ohaiyo."
"Ohaiyo," Nokoru greeted, "A pleasure to meet you. Now, if I may
ask, what brings you here?"
Suoh somehow still managed to keep his voice light, though inwardly
he was despairing over the feeble cover story, "Takamura-sama, and Ijyuin-sama
couldn't make it today, so they sent us to assist you."
"I'll have to thank them later," the fan snapped closed and Nokoru gave
them a warm smile.
Suoh nodded. Nokoru actually seemed to be believing this. Suoh
was amazed... was this actually working? Well, now for the final
test, of both the plan and his acting abilities.
"Kaichou!" he exclaimed in his best panicked voice, "I do so want to
do a good job, but with this pile of papers I fear we shall never get done!"
And there really were a lot of papers. They seemed to have migrated
off of Nokoru's desk and were piled, almost up to the ceiling, around his
desk. There must have been tens of thousands of papers to go through.
A good weeks worth for any normal person and a good day's worth for a diligently
working Nokoru.
Suoh added the final touch on his acting job, "I simply feel faint at
the thought that we might not get done."
Akira nodded in agreement, though the big smile on his face negated
the effect. The fan was up over Nokoru's face again and written on
it were the words, Diligent worker.
"Please be assured Sugi-san, Jun-san, we shall surely get through them
all. In fact I'll start on them right now," and Nokoru did just that.
He sat down at his desk, grabbed a file, read it, and stamped his approval.
Suoh stood staring at him in shock for a whole minute,
I can't believe
this is working. Perhaps we should have thought of it a long time
ago.
Akira touched his elbow and Suoh snapped out of his revere. Shooting
one last look at the diligently working Nokoru, Suoh sat down at his own
desk and started to work as well. Akira sat happily at his desk,
pleased that everything seemed to be going so well. But of course
it would be... after all it was one of Suoh's ideas. Smiling broadly,
Akira pulled out his abacus and began calculating the costs for the upcoming
ball.
By mid afternoon, Suoh was still having trouble believing how well everything
was going. He had to keep shooting glances at Nokoru to make sure
that he really was working... and working hard. Already the piles
had been halved. It was really quite amazing... and then he noticed
Akira standing up. Looking at the time Suoh noticed it was almost
afternoon tea, which meant that Akira must be going to fix some tea and
snacks, just as he did at this time everyday they worked.
Suoh tried to very subtly get Akira's attention. If he went now,
as he always did, surely Nokoru would notice and the jig would be up, sort
to speak. His efforts must have been too subtle for Akira didn't
notice them and he left the room, just as he always did.
Suoh spent the next fifteen minutes sweating. This was starting
to tax his nerves. The last thing he wanted, especially this late
in the game, was for his best friend and that 'special someone' he was
to protect to figure out that he had just spent a better part of the day
in drag. Not to mention that once figured out, this wonderfully diligent
attitude of his would dissolve and the paperwork would start piling up
once more.
Just as Suoh was working himself up into a good worry, Akira came through
the door carrying a tray on which sat milk tea and a mouth watering apple
pie (sorry, couldn't help myself). Nokoru watched all this with interest,
the fan once again hiding his face.
Akira walked right up to Nokoru's desk and asked, "Would you like some
tea and pie, Kaichou? I'm afraid it's not very good, as I made it
myself but..."
"I'm sure it is delicious, Jun-san, I would love some," Nokoru punctuated
his words by closing his fan and taking a piece of the pie. Akira
smiled widely and poured the tea. Suoh almost fell over in relief.
He didn't notice!
As soon as Akira had finished serving Nokoru, he picked up his tray
and walked over to Suoh, "Would you like some Tak-" he broke off as soon
as he noticed the warning look Suoh was giving him, "Um... would you like
some tea Sugi-senpai?"
Suoh shot Nokoru a glance. He was very immersed in his tea and
didn't seem to have noticed the slip up. Suoh wondered briefly if
he had walked through a field of four leaf clovers before accepting the
tea. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Nokoru.
"Jun-san!" Nokoru exclaimed as soon as he had finished his tea and pie.
Akira looked at him. "That was wonderful, you're as good of a cook
as Akira is!"
Akira blinked as though not knowing how to take that. He was a
genuinely humble person and this was a double complement... though if he
truly did not feel that his cooking was the best normally, then getting
compared to it was... Akira started to get very confused as he thought
about it. He blinked a bit before hesitantly saying, "Arigato, Kaichou."
Nokoru beamed at Akira, "You're quite welcome, Jun-san."
As Akira sat back down, Suoh steadied his hand, which was starting to
shake quite badly. This day was definitely testing his nerves.
They managed to get a couple of hours of work done before the inevitable
happened. That's the thing about having tea, though it may be delicious
and actually quite soothing at times, you are going to have to go to the
washroom sooner or later. But even this was going to be a trial,
for when Suoh stood, so did Akira and Nokoru.
Suoh kind of twitched. If Nokoru had to go at the same time as
Akira and Suoh it meant that they could not use the boys washroom without
revealing their secret. Which meant that they would have to venture
into the forbidden realm of the girls washroom.
As the three of them wondered down the hall, Akira and Nokoru had a
friendly conversation. Meanwhile Suoh fretted and pondered on what
the forbidden realm would look like. It was probably very pink.
Maybe it had flowers and other such girlie stuff all over the place.
Of one thing he was certainly... it was likely better than the boys washroom.
The three of them stopped in front of the washrooms. Nokoru headed
for the boys washroom and Akira made as though he was going to follow him.
Suoh grabbed Akira's sleeve and yanked him into the girls washroom.
Suoh leaned against the inside of the door and sighed. So far
so good. Now all he had to do was make it through the rest of the
afternoon. He forced himself to relax.
Then a voice broke into his thoughts and he stiffened once more.
"Konnichi wa! Have we met before?"
Suoh and Akira looked up in horror to find Ohkawa Utako and Azuya Nagisa
at the sinks washing their hands. Immediately both their faces went
red and they stammered out together, "K-k-konnichi wa."
Utako dried off her hands and peered intently at the two boys.
"What's wrong? Are you two ill, you look a little flushed."
"N-nothing's wrong, Utako-san," Akira managed to stammer out, turning
even redder than before.
This only caused her to peer closer at Akira and Suoh. She once
again asked, "Have we met before? You two seem very familiar.
Don't you think so, Nagisa?"
"Hai," Nagisa replied in her soft voice. With that voice all coherent
thought fled from Suoh. "Though I'm not sure where I've seen them
before." She smiled sweetly and introduced herself, "I'm Azuya Nagisa
desu, pleased to meet you."
"Ohkawa Utako desu." Utako give them a little curtsey and then
looked at them expectantly.
Suoh's eyes widened as he realized he couldn't remember his made up
girls name. All he could do was stare at Nagisa and blush.
Beside him Akira was having the same problem as he stared at Utako.
Utako meanwhile was getting a little irritated at their rudeness.
They had given their names, it was only polite of them to do the same.
Finally the names came to them in a flash of inspiration and they both
shouted them out at the same time.
"Jun desu!" "Sugi desu!"
Utako and Nagisa blinked at this very loud confession of names.
Suoh and Akira sweated for a bit before they were reminded of why they
were there in the first place.
Akira bowed and said, "E-excuse me." before running for the nearest
stall. Suoh followed his example. After they were finished
and had exited the stalls to wash their hands they found that Utako and
Nagisa were still there.
"So, what are you doing here anyway, Jun-san, Sugi-san?" Utako asked.
It was obvious that she was suspicious of them.
Suoh and Akira dried their hands and tried to think of an answer, "Um..."
Utako held the door open for them, still looking expectantly at them
expectantly for an answer.
"We're, uh, here to help-" Suoh started to say, but was interrupted
by Nokoru.
"Ohkawa Kaichou, Nagisa-san," he greeted warmly, "What brings you here
on a Sunday?"
Utako gave Nokoru a small curtsy and answered, "Konnichi wa Imonoyama
Kaichou. We decided to come and cheer you guys up when we heard that
the backlog of files was so bad that you were being forced to work on a
Sunday."
Nokoru gave a small nervous giggle and held up his fan in front of his
face, "Well... we're almost finished. It's a pity though that Suoh
and Akira couldn't be here today. I'm sure they would have loved
to have seen you lovely ladies again."
"Not here? Where are they?"
"They couldn't make it, but they sent Jun-san and Sugi-san to assist
me."
Utako looked disappointed. She looked at the two guys in dresses,
who under her scrutiny again immediately stiffened up.
Nagisa smiled and inputted softly, "That was nice of them."
Nokoru grinned, "Yes, it was."
Utako frowned as she looked at 'Jun' and 'Sugi'. She could have
sworn that she had known them from somewhere, but she just couldn't quite
put her finger on it. She decided to leave it as a mystery to ask
Akira later and turned back to Nokoru, "Well, Imonoyama Kaichou, we don't
want to take too much of your time, perhaps we should be going now."
"I understand Ohkawa Kaichou, but I'm almost finished. I was wondering
if I could ask you a favour?"
"Of course Imonoyama Kaichou."
"Come to the council room, I'll explain as soon as I finish the last
stack of papers. There is tea and pie while you wait. I'm afraid
it's no longer hot but still very tasty. As good as anything Akira
has every made."
Utako and Nagisa bowed in consent.
Nokoru stamped the last paper and smiled. Regardless of how much
he put it off it truly was a wonderful feeling to finish. Now he
had several weeks where he could let it pile up again.
He looked up, and saw that 'Jun' and 'Sugi' were all finished their
work as well, and were currently sitting on the couch, having a conversation
with Utako and Nagisa. Or to be more specific, were presently being
interrogated by Utako.
Nokoru's smile grew and he opened his desk drawer to pull out a camera.
He stood up and everyone turned to look at him.
"Now, Ohkawa Kaichou, I was wondering if you could get a picture of
Jun-san, Sugi-san, and myself?"
Utako broke off her interrogation and answered, "Hai, Imonoyama Kaichou."
She took the camera and Akira and Suoh went to stand with Nokoru, one
on either side of him. They were more relaxed as they realized that
this day was soon to be over, and without either Nokoru or their girlfriends
finding out about their day in drag.
The flash went off. Utako made as though to give back the camera
but Nokoru held out his hand to stop her. "One more, if you please,
Ohkawa Kaichou."
So Utako diligently raised the camera to her eye again. Just as
her finger pressed down on the shutter Nokoru pulled off Suoh and Akira's
wigs and their day of drag was forever captured on film.
A few other translation notes.
-senpai; is, if I'm not mistaken, a way of referring to an upperclassman.
{Ohaiyo = Good morning}
{Hai = yes}
{Arigato = Thank you}
{Konnichi wa = good afternoon}
Nokoru; Seeing Akira and Suoh in dresses was worth doing all that
paperwork. ^-^
Written by Koneko, and completed August 31, during yet another sickness.
