Hello everyone! Welcome to "How to Fully Enjoy Summer Nights" Chapter 7! I'm thinking of changing the title to...something else, but I'm not sure yet. I might just chose to keep it this way, to make it easier for you regular reviewers, whom I do have to say brightens up my day. I know it took me too long to write chapter 7, but this was a very hard chapter to write, to say the least. I debated and debated and debated for about a week and a half how to end this chapter and how to start the next one. There has been a lot of editing and I hope I've lived up to my standard in this edition of my fan fiction. So enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Strawberry Panic. If I did, Yaya would become ambassador of Japan and make a virtual reality .hack game.
Chapter 7: Movies and Lovemaking
The girls took up three rows of seats once they settled in the movie theater. It wasn't crowded, seeing as they arrived about an hour early, which was enough time to enjoy themselves before the movie started up. Much to Tamao's dismay, she ended up sitting between Shizuma and Amane. Shizuma kept throwing her furtive glances, which she ignored...or at least tried to without flinching. She didn't dare sit her arm on the cup holder between them, for fear of touching Shizuma. Kaname and Momomi snagged a single two-seat cubicle, a few feet away from where everyone else was sitting. Tsubomi watched in slight amusement as Yaya and Hikari chased each other down the aisles.
Shizuma clapped her hands twice. "Hikari-chan, Yaya-chan! Enough! We're not children, you know!" she called. Hikari stopped in mid-turn around one of the seats, and Yaya stopped a bit too abruptly and fell over. Hikari went into a fit of giggles.
Tsubomi looked to Amane, who looked back. "Want to get food?" Amane asked. Tsubomi nodded and got up, following her to the snack bar.
"Should we ask them what food they want?" Tsubomi asked, smirking back at their lovers, who were laughing and tripping each other.
"...Nah, they're having too much fun. We'll get food without them."
"Good idea. Then we can have an excuse not to get them anything."
"When will they get food, then?"
"That's their problem, isn't it?" Tsubomi said coolly. "They shouldn't be so busy goofing off." Suddenly, she felt someone kick her foot from behind, and she glared over her shoulder. "Yaya-chan!"
"Thought you were leaving without us, huh?" Yaya said, smirking. "You know us better than that, Tsu-chan."
"I told you not to call me that in public..."
"Call you what, Tsu-chan?"
"STOP IT!" Tsubomi crossed her arms, her face red, glaring at Yaya.
Yaya smirked a bit. "Sorry."
Tsubomi rolled her eyes and smiled at her. "Sure you are."
"Of course I am. I'm the most trustworthy person in the world, didn't you know that?"
"My ass," Hikari said under her breath, earning her a punch on the arm.
"What about your ass?" Amane said, looking around interestedly, and Yaya snickered. Hikari's face turned a brilliant puce and she fell silent.
"Let's hurry up and get our food, I'm starving," Tsubomi said, latching herself onto Yaya's arm, to her amusement, and the four Spican students headed off to the snack bar. However, Yaya was less interested in snacks and more interested in the refrigerator full of sodas next to it, which contained Monster energy drinks. Tsubomi rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, no more Monsters for you, Yaya-chan."
"But Tsu-chan..."
"Calling me Tsu-chan is only going to piss me off, you know," Tsubomi said, grinning at Yaya, who frowned.
"But I like Monsters..."
"Oh believe me, I know," Tsubomi said, teasingly. They glared at each other, crossing their arms. Hikari watched them, her head turning from one to the other, and sighed.
"Tsubomi-chan, let her get the Monster." Tsubomi shook her head.
"Why should I?"
"Because...I am your Etoile, and you will do as I say."
There was a long, sickening pause.
"Hikari-chan, you're supposed to be my friend..." Tsubomi said, in a hurt voice.
"I'm the Etoile first, you know," Hikari said importantly.
"Yeah, but we're not at Astrea Hill."
"The title still stands."
There was another long pause, and Tsubomi sighed.
"Alright, then, Yaya-chan...get the Monster, but only one."
"One will be enough. Thanks, Hikari-chan," Yaya said, winking at her, and walked off to the fridge. She came back a few minutes later, happily sipping it as Tsubomi and Hikari glared at each other.
"Is that all you care about, your stupid job as Etoile? Prancing around and enforcing it every time you want something done?! 'I'm Hikari, I'm the Etoile, everyone loves me!'"
"I do NOT act like that all the time!" Hikari's expression was dangerous.
"No, I suppose you don't, only when it's convenient for you!"
"Look, I don't prance around, and I don't abuse my position! If anyone did that, it was Shizuma, and I'm nothing like her! So you better wise up, Tsubomi-chan, because you're not a child and your going to have to deal with people who have a higher social status than you whether you like it or not! And when you graduate, and you have nowhere to go, you'll be thinking 'Gee, I really should have listened to Hikari, I really shouldn't have been such a prat, because I knew that she was saying the right thing when she said that I need some god damn respect!'"
And with that, Hikari stomped off down the aisles to find the room they were in, completely forgetting to wait for Amane and abandoning the rest of them. Yaya looked stunned, she was staring at Tsubomi, who was shaking in rage, and looked to Amane, who had a completely dumbfounded look on her face.
"Let's get back, too," Amane said, and Yaya nodded. They walked behind Tsubomi, who was muttering to herself angrily. Hikari was sitting in her seat, her arms crossed, her eyes closed, mouthing some inaudible words to the ceiling. Tsubomi steered clear away from her, apparently they couldn't bear looking at each other.
"What's up with them?" Tamao asked as Amane sat next to her. Amane sighed and looked to her, handing Hikari her popcorn.
"This and that...to make a long story short, they had an argument."
"Hikari-chan and Tsubomi-chan? They always seem to get along so well together."
"That's what I thought. But I guess friends will have arguments now and then. They'll make up by the end of the night, surely."
By the time people started filing into the movie theater, everyone else in the group started realizing the feud between Tsubomi and Hikari, and kept asking what was wrong. But word didn't get around too quickly before the movie started. Tsubomi and Hikari were of course not sitting next to each other, and so they had Yaya sit between them. And they were both thankful that it was dark, so they wouldn't have to see each other.
About halfway into the movie, when it was just talking and silence following the talking, Yaya stood up and looked to Tsubomi.
"I have to go to the bathroom. Play nice," she whispered, kissing her cheek, and Tsubomi frowned at her.
"Yaya-chan..."
"Don't worry about it," Yaya whispered, winking, and she left. Tsubomi chanced a glance at Hikari. She was dangling her feet above the floor, not paying attention. Tsubomi looked at her until their eyes met, and Hikari leaned in on her.
"What?"
"Er..." There was an awkward silence. "Never mind."
"No, tell me."
"It's nothing..."
"Tsubomi-chan." Hikari crossed her arms, looking stunningly like an adult, if anything.
"Okay, fine...I...um...I wanted to apologize...for my misbehavior. I shouldn't have said...well...those things."
Hikari smiled at her. "Apology accepted, but watch your tongue next time, agreed?"
"Fine. And you watch yours."
"Agreed."
Little did they know that Amane and Tamao were watching them, smiling. "I told you, Tamao. They made up before the end of the night."
"Of course. Well, that's only because they're such good friends, right?"
"I guess."
Yaya came back a few minutes later, sat in her place between Hikari and Tsubomi, and looked to Tsubomi.
"You know what?" she said, a bit louder than a whisper so that the others around them could hear, "I think that Monster gave me bad gas."
There were a few stifled giggles, and Tsubomi sunk lower in her chair. "Oh, Yaya-chan..."
--
After the movie was over, and they bid goodbye to Remon and Kizuna(who were going out to dinner afterwords), the 11 of them walked back to the summer home to sleep. No one could doubt that the movie had been absolutely horrifying to some of the girls, mainly the younger ones. But people like Shizuma and Kaname were laughing at the stupidity of it.
"I mean, come on! The plot was totally unrealistic!" Kaname exclaimed indifferently, letting the frightened Momomi cling to her arm. "I mean, if there weren't so many "what the fuck?" moments in the movie, it would have been good, but..."
"I thought it was horrible," Shizuma said, nodding her approval and stroking Nagisa's hair, who was among the frightened. She was holding onto Nagisa's hand so firmly that it was starting to cramp, so she instinctively moved her hand around her waist. Tamao let out a scoffing noise, and Shizuma noticed, smirking.
"I'm sorry, do you want an arm around your waist, too?"
"I'll pass," Tamao said, turning paler than she already was. Shizuma smirked in satisfaction and returned her attention back to Nagisa.
"Watching Hikari's facial expressions was funny as hell, though," Yaya said, smirking. Hikari flushed and hugged Amane.
"I quite agree," Tsubomi said, who had her arm around Yaya's waist and was being held around her shoulders. "She screamed the loudest out of all of us."
"Out of all the people in the theater," Yaya said, nodding. Hikari flushed even more.
"Shut up! I was scared!" She crossed her arms and gave them her "adult" look. "At least I'M not still a virgin!"
Yaya and Tsubomi flushed. They were, of course, the only couple there who HADN'T made love...not that there was any real reason to except to satisfy their sinful pleasures. But it was still embarrassing to be near their friends, who'd had much more experience than them when it came to relationships.
And just then, Tamao's cell phone rang. She smiled and picked it up. "Hello? Oh, it's you, Shizuka..."
"It's Tamao's girlfriend," Nagisa whispered, smirking at Tamao, who took a swipe at her with her open hand.
"Yes, I'm coming back home tomorrow...what time? I don't know...probably somewhere around four in the afternoon, why?...Oh...well sure, I'd love to...does six sound okay? Alright. I'll see you back at home. Bye...er...love you too..."
Tamao hung up, looking sheepishly happy. "That was one of my friends back at home. We're planning to hang out when I get home tomorrow."
"Oh really? What does "hanging out" include?" Shizuma asked, smirking devilishly, and Tamao turned pale, as usual, and turned away from her. There was no more discussion on the matter.
--
It took a long while for sleep to come to the girls. A few couples were already in their rooms, it was sure apparent when someone would walk past their rooms in the hallways. Most of them, who were still aroused from the movie, were wandering aimlessly through the darkened house. That gave the older girls a very evil, but amazing, idea.
Amane and Yaya, unnoticed by everyone else, walked outside into the backyard with Kaname, Momomi and Tamao. They spoke in low voices so they wouldn't be overheard.
"Erm...anyways, like I was saying, we should pull a prank on the little snots," Yaya said, rubbing her hands together. "It's brilliant. And it's the perfect night to do it."
Momomi and Kaname were instantly intrigued. Amane, however, stayed on the logical side of things. "They'll be scared out of their wits. They're already traumatized by that horrible movie," she offered.
"Heh, I know that perfectly well," Yaya smirked. "But it'll teach them who's boss around here, ya got me?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea," Kaname said, nodding her approval. "I've been wanting to get that Tsubomi ever since Truth or Dare..."
"So here's the plan," Yaya continued. "We'll each have our own area of the house. It's the reason I've brought...these," she said, and pulled out a bag full of black clothing and masks. "We'll enter through the front door."
"But won't Shizuma and the others think we're robbers?" Momomi asked quizzically.
"I have that covered. Tamao will go back into the house and open the door for us when no one is around," Yaya said, as though she had thought all this out beforehand. "And then we'll go hide through the house."
"And then what?" Momomi asked, getting more and more exited.
"We're going to pants them when they're not looking, of course!" Yaya said, snickering. "It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!"
There was a slight pause. "You've been watching Emperor's New Groove a bit too much, haven't you, Yaya-chan?" Amane asked.
"Don't blame me, it's Tsubomi's fault. You should see her house, it's nothing BUT Disney. She has a toaster that sings 'It's A Small World" when toast comes out..."
"Enough with the Disney. Let's do this!"
"YEAH!"
They dressed into clothes, and Tamao took her position inside the house. Once Hikari and Tsubomi went off to wander up to the attic, she gave the others the signal and they entered the house.
"Alright, you know what to do. Move out!" Yaya said excitedly, and the girls all took their positions through the house. Yaya hid under the dining room table, Momomi hid in a dark corner of the living room, Kaname ducked under the kitchen counter, and Amane covered herself in a sheet and lay herself on the floor. A few minutes later, Tamao was walking through the room with Hikari, Tsubomi and Nagisa, and for some reason, all went in separate directions.
"Tamao, how come I get the feeling that someone is here watching us...?" Hikari asked in a small voice. Tsubomi gulped a bit and wandered off into the dining room.
"Y-yeah...it's kind of creepy..." And just as she said that, she passed the dining room table and a hand reached out and grabbed at her ankle.
"KYAAAAA!" she yelped, and jumped about a mile and a half into the air. Hikari, startled, took a few steps back and was grabbed around the waist by Amane from behind, and she proceeded to screaming too. Nagisa simply stood there, looking horrified.
"W-what?! What happened?!" Nagisa asked, and she backed into a wall against Momomi, who jumped out and growled, making Nagisa jump. Shizuma came downstairs moments later, staring around at the chaos that had become of the room.
"What the hell is going on here?! People are trying to sleep!" Shizuma said, irritated, and Nagisa ran into her arms out of habit.
Yaya got herself up from the ground, pulling her mask off and laughing. "Oh...man...that...was...HILARIOUS!" And she collapsed on the floor again, giggling uncontrollably. Tsubomi's face was flushed with anger, and Hikari was in a corner, pouting.
"It certainly was NOT!" Tsubomi said, throwing a shoe at Yaya's figure rolling on the ground, who sprang out of the way. "You guys nearly gave us all a heart attack, you jerks!"
"Hey, it was all in good fun!" Yaya said, frowning. "Jess, Tsu-chan, lighten up!"
"I most certainly will not lighten up! You need to stop being so immature! Honestly!" Tsubomi scoffed, and she stomped out of the room. Yaya rolled her eyes and stood up.
"Well, I guess the night's done, my merry men. Off to Camelot!" she exclaimed, and the other girls giggled and followed, tapping their feet against the ground and heading off to their respective rooms.
--
Kaname Kenjou was typing away furiously at her computer in her and Momomi's room, looking very concentrated. Momomi was slightly irritated and rolled on her side to face her back.
"Are you done?" she asked.
"No," Kaname said firmly. "I've still got to send these letters to the new Spican Student Council."
"If they can't figure out how to run things around there, then they don't deserve any help," Momomi uttered, stubbornly. "Honestly, what are we doing, giving them advice? We have long since graduated."
"I know," Kaname gritted through her teeth, still typing.
"Then why are you giving into their demands?" Momomi demanded.
"Because they obviously have no idea what they're doing. Shion said that we were the most brilliant student council there for a while. We've been top-notch since fourth year, don't you remember?"
Momomi smirked. "Of course I do. The glory days, I'll never forget them."
Kaname rolled her eyes. "I could do without some memories of "the glory days", thank you very much."
Momomi looked a bit confused at first, then giggled. "If you're talking about what happened in first year, I understand you perfectly. People just...had to get used to knowing you, that's all. You were a bit different, hun."
"I noticed that a while ago, thanks for the reminder that I was the school freak," Kaname said, rolling her eyes. Momomi walked over to her and lay her elbows on Kaname's shoulders.
"Are you still sulking about that? I mean, seriously, it was a long time ago. Most of those kids are probably over it by now, and they have no idea who you are anymore. You earned your respect."
"Of course I did," Kaname said, looking up at Momomi and grinning. "But I never would have if it weren't for you."
"Damn right, and don't you ever forget it," Momomi said smugly, kissing her and walking back to the bed. "Honestly, I thought you were such a cute first year."
Kaname was silent for a moment. "...Oh really?"
"Yes," Momomi said, smiling. "Want me to crank out the pictures?"
"No," Kaname said quickly, twitching. "I was so...awkward-looking."
"Oh, you were cute, though. I mean, once you stopped being so emo-ish and got some friends. Oh, when did you lose that innocence?"
"In third year when we first started dating," Kaname said, spinning around in her computer chair to look at Momomi, grinning. "That one night after the Star Festival, don't you remember?"
Momomi twittered nervously, avoiding Kaname's gaze. "...Maybe..."
"You do remember," Kaname said, raising an eyebrow.
"...Yes, I do," Momomi said. "I mean, how could I forget that...particular outing?" She pouted and looked to the ground, slightly embarrassed.
Kaname got up from the computer, at last, and sat next to her girlfriend, a true, genuine smile on her face. "You know what? I love you."
"Oh, you do?" Momomi said sarcastically, raising her eyebrows. "I never got that memo."
"Really. You practically saved my life in school, over and over again. And I always took you for granted. I never appreciated it, because..."
"Because you were always trying to find yourself," Momomi said, looking up at her. "You were always trying to prove yourself in every way possible. To everyone. And you want to know something?"
Kaname blinked at her. "What?"
Momomi smiled and poked her nose. "You did, my lovely Kaname."
Kaname paused a bit, and smiled. "Come on, let's get to bed."
"Don't you have work to do?" Momomi said, looking over Kaname's shoulder at her full inbox of messages.
"Screw working, I can do that during the week. This is supposed to be a vacation, right?" Kaname said, and she walked over to the computer and turned it off, watching the Toshiba sign on her computer fade out, and listening to the revving of the computer go down to a soft hum. And Momomi watched her the whole time, examining the movements of the girl she knew so well, and smiled.
"Hey Kaname," she finally said, as the two settled down in their bed, Momomi clinging to Kaname as usual.
"Hm?"
"What do you think the future holds for us?"
Kaname blinked at her. She had never thought of anything like that before. She had always lived for now, for that moment, never thought ahead unless it was for something tactical or strategical. And Momomi was looking at her with that look, that one look that told her she had better be serious about this.
"Momomi, I really have no idea. Why are you so worried about the future, anyway?"
Momomi stared at her for a second, then shook her head and curled up next to her arm. "No reason...just wondering..."
Kaname rolled her eyes. "Goodnight," she whispered, but Momomi was already sleeping. She smiled inwardly; the girl was always quick to sleep. She supposed it was a contrast to herself, Kaname had always stayed up for hours at a time, thinking to herself. It was as though Momomi didn't have a single thought troubling her mind, a single bad thought in her soul. She was as innocent as innocent could get. And Kaname wouldn't have her any other way.