CHAPTER EIGHT: School Festival Part III

I can only offer my apologies as to why this chapter is coming two years later, but (in an attempt) to make up for my blunder – by posting two chapters! The last chapter (ten) will be out shortly as well.

Thank you for your support in reviews/alerts, etc:
cherryblossom10, CheRfuLemOv0, monkeywinz, FreyaLin, myHeartache, Fuka, lala4444, ToraHimeSama, 61wisampa, Llyssa-maiden, pigorama, Akane Naomi, Amulet Misty, Firearm-Alchemist, AngelsHeart0908, Squit Ayumin, xladykittyx, lil miss punk, Sakuya, Hiroko-ka, Freyagal, Maki, In Darkness Is Light, Aqemy Von Stein, twiinklestar, kunoichixxkanna, Tasuku-Berry Love, lauralove, anon, SpookyButt, Always have a little Faith.

Short recap;
The School Festival has arrived, but because Ruki was preoccupied with tending with a sick Ryo she was unable to perform her duties. The class, angry, blames her for ruining everything when Ryo steps up and saves her with a mystery plan.


I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated. What everyone said was true. I had to take responsibility somehow. Somebody patted my back gently. When I turned to look, Ryo bounded forward to the front of the class.

He slammed his bookbag down onto the teacher's podium, "EVERYONE SHUT THE HELL UP RIGHT NOW. ARGUING ISN'T GOING TO GET US ANYWHERE."

The class quieted.

"Let's think through this calmly. We still have a good hour or so before the festival starts. Let's make use of it," Ryo said.

"Well, what do YOU suggest we do, Akiyama?"

He flashed his trademark grin. "Of course. I know of one simple solution."

"This is your solution?'' I asked with narrowed eyes.

"Shhhh," Ryo shushed me as he called someone on his cell.

"Why did the whole class put so much faith in you?" I wondered outloud. We'd snuck out of the classroom so Ryo could make his call to whoever it was. Ryo shushed me again, and suddenly, his face lit up.

"Hello? Oh, hey! Yep, It's me, Ryo! Yeah, yeah..."

...

"This is amazing!" Juri exclaimed as we grabbed a couple boxes of cupcakes and headed back towards our class. "Ryo managed to get THIS MUCH food delivered to us just in time! And the price is even cheaper than our previous supplier."

"How does he manage to do all of this?" I questioned, plunking down the box at a table where a group of girls were stacking up the new pastries we'd just received from a random patisserie Ryo called earlier. I had to hand it to him. The guy really did work miracles.

"Skills. I have them," he answered from behind while patting on my head in a mock-condescending manner... and then all the good things I was thinking about him evaporated. Egotistic git. "This is the last box, class pres!" He reported to Juri.

"Nice. We've still got a little over an hour. Let's get this place cleaned up. I'll tell the theatre club we're ready to go! Can you give this to whoever supplied us with this food? It's payment," Juri said, handing me an envelope.

"I'm on it," I replied, "since it's the only useful thing I can do..."

"I'll go with you!" Ryo piped as he followed me down the staircase, towards the exit.

"Unnecessary," I commented, rounding the corner. A large, pink truck was parked at the front which I guessed was the catering truck. "Excuse me, I've got the money for the food..." I called. A familiar pair of long ears popped out from the truck door.

"Oh! It's Ruki!" the bunny, from what I could tell from the ears, flew from the truck and glomped me.

"A-ah, Mika?" I asked. Then, realization hit. "Your SKILLS were just calling up a favor?" I directed at Ryo.

"Don't insult me, it worked, didn't it?" Ryo responded.

"Man! I'm so glad to see you guys again. But I have to make a trip back to the cafe real quick. I'm coming back, though! I'm definitely not missing this festival of yours!" Mika squeaked.

"That's...cool..." I said.

"Totally. Well, see ya later!"

...

"Welcome to the showing of A Midsummer's Night Dream, may I show you to your seats?" I asked for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

"Ah! Ruki-nee-chan!" A high voice called, as somebody tackled me to the floor.

"Huh? Oh. It's you Shuichiron," I breathed. "What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to see the festival," she replied.

"Are you by yourself?"

"No… Alice was here too... I lost her in a crowd of boys. I don't think nii-san will be happy with that," she answered, biting her lip.

"Alice is here too?"

"Yeah. She said she wanted to see Jen working," she giggled.

"Hey! Stop talking about me when I'm not there!" Alice yelled, as she ran up to catch up with Shuichiron. "And why did you run off without me? I promised I'd take care of you today!"

"I didn't run off without you! YOU left ME!" Shuichiron accused.

"How about you two continue this conversation at your seats?" The line behind them was growing longer as they argued, so I needed to get them moving. I pushed them through rows of seats, then, finding theirs, had them sit. "Stay," I commanded.

"Woof woof, throw me a bone," Alice said sarcastically. I laughed as I headed back to continue my duties.

"I see you're doing pretty well, Ruki," Ryo commented as he passed by.

"Pretty well without you," I responded. He smiled at me, and I could feel my insides melting again.

"When's your shift over?" he asked. "Maybe we could hang out."

"I'm working all day today. My free day is tomorrow. Oh, but I have to help Juri set up tomorrow morning," I answered.

"I was about to pop into the kitchen to help with the food myself. So, you're sure you have freetime?"

"Yes, yes."

"Okay then. Your tomorrow is mine!"

"Hey! Waaaait!" I called after him, but he'd already disappeared. I grumbled to myself as I led the next guest to their seat. For the rest of the time, I kept wondering to myself if he'd consider this some sort of date of some kind. The thought made me feel slightly happy but annoyed at the same time. I tried to shake it off my mind, but the idea kept prodding my mind.

...

"Nice going everyone! Today was a success. Much thanks to Ryo for getting us a cater last minute," Juri announced at the day's end. "We've still got tomorrow left of the festival! Thanks for all of your help through all of this. We did it!"

A crowd of cheers erupted before we broke off to clean up. I trailed behind Mika to help her pack up some of the extra food.

"Hey, Ruki, do you have any feelings for Ryo?" Mika asked.

"W-why are you asking that?" I replied, my heart skipping a beat.

"Oh, just wondering. It's just that I think that I like him."

"Is that so?" I said, my voice sounding a bit higher than usual.

"Yeah. We get along really well, so I think we'd make a good couple." Mika continued confidently, "I'm pretty sure that Ryo feels the same way."

The tray of cakes I'd been holding tumbled to the floor. I jumped up, surprised at the loud CLANK the tray made when it hit the ground.

"Ah, oops. Sorry," I said nervously, kneeling down to pick them up. An awkward silence filed in between us as I continued cleaning up. When I got up to throw away the ruined cakes, Mika spoke again.

"If you don't say anything, I'm going to confess to him today. I'll ask him to be my boyfriend."

"And?" I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

"You don't have anything to say...?"

"Why would I?"

"Well, you and Ryo seem really close. I just thought that -"

"HAHAHA! Close? That's funny," I laughed dryly, after a pause, I continued - "I...I'll be rooting for you. I hope things go well," I answered. It would probably be the best for Ryo.

"Thanks," Mika smiled. "Well, I think this is about it," she commented, plopping down another box in the back of her truck. "I might swing by tomorrow. See you then."

"Bye..." I called, as she drove off.

...

"Ruki? Hello? Ruki? RUKI! RUKI MAKINO!"

"Ah...oh. Hey. Sorry Juri," I said.

"You keep spacing out this morning. Is something wrong?" Juri asked, hands on her hips. "You're not much help if you keep doing that!" It was the final day of the school festival, and I was doing some setting up for our class event.

"Sorry," I said again.

"Hmph. Oh whatever. I want to know what's up with that Mika girl! I mean, I'm glad she helped us out, but she's always clinging around Ryo!" Juri complained.

"Oh," was all I could say.

"Ah! But today you're going to go on a date with Ryo, right?" Juri questioned. "You should take that chance to confess!" She squealed.

"Confess? Confess what?"

"Oh, don't you deny it," Juri sang.

"Yeah, okay," I answered.

"You're pretty much living together now, and, no, I don't believe the maid stuff you were talking about before. I think you should take a swing at it, or else he may really go to Mika," Juri said.

I didn't answer. We spent another couple of minutes in silence as we cleaned up and unpacked.

"Ah, can you get something out of the closet for me?"

...

"Woww, I didn't think you'd get all dressed up for me! It looks really good," Ryo commented.

"Then don't think so," I replied, picking at my yukata. "Juri managed to force me into it." She innocently pretended she needed something from the storage closet when she suddenly pushed me in and locked the door behind her. The rest of the tale was too scary to be put into words. In the end, I emerged wearing this ridiculous outfit.

"The pink color suits you," he said as he took me hand and led me through the crowds.

"Pink?" I asked. The yukata was yellow.

I cursed under my breath as I missed again at the ring toss station. Ryo laughed in amusement.

"Y'know Ruki," he said. "There's a certain trick to this."

He took the last ring from my hand, and with one flick of the wrist, it flew from his hand to the center cone. The winning cone.

"Congratulations!" the girl running the booth said cheerily as she handed him a large teddy bear.

"Well?" he said, smiling smugly.

"I wanted the water gun, but I guess this is acceptable," I replied, shrugging. I moved on to the next booth. I had been playing booth to booth, but I hadn't won a single thing! Ryo, on the other hand, didn't have enough hands to carry everything he had won so far. It was irritating.

I knew what was coming. He expected me to give up and beg for him to help me. Then he would oh-so-casually take my hand as he tried to teach me the little tricks and hints that would help you win this rigged festival games.

I refused to give in.

"What's this?" I asked the person at the booth, who was shuffling a small stack of cards.

"It's a guessing game," he explained. "There are two cards marked with stars out of this pile of six. You have to pick one."

He dealt down the cards faced down.

This seemed easy enough. It was based on luck, so even the Master Ryo didn't have the upperhand on this.

"I think it's this card," Ryo said, pointing to the outermost one. I picked the one on the opposite end.

The guy flipped over both cards.

Ryo's had the star.

"I give up!" I announced, ripping the hairpins out of my hair and letting it fall past my shoulders. They were starting to make my head sore. "I played every single game here and lost every single one!"

Because I always lose when it comes to you!

Ryo gave me a sympathetic smile as he followed me. I was heading back towards the school to find Juri. I didn't care if today was my day off, I suddenly felt like working.

"Don't feel too bad," Ryo said sympathetically. "You know they're rigged."

"Yeah. They're rigged so that you win."

"Perhaps they're in favor of handsome, dashing, young men."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"I'll treat you to something. C'mon Ruki! Get into the festival mood!"

I turned around to sock him in the nose, but I was face to face with the large teddy bear he'd bought. I stared at it for a long while before bursting into laughter. He pulled the bear aside, revealing his smiling face.

"Congratulations!" someone said, startling me. I jumped up to see someone from Class F approaching us. "You're the 100th couple to pass by today! And for that, you get a free photograph at our photo booth."

"Oh, we're not a…" I began, but Ryo rushed past me. He hooked his arm into mine as he went, dragging me into the photo booth.

"Oooooh," he said excitedly, gazing at the numerous buttons before us. He poked through a couple of frames on the screen, picking the one he liked best. I just watched in amusement as he browsed through them.

It was then I realized that I'd never been in a photo booth before. It was more of something Juri would do.

"Smile!" Ryo announced.

"Wha?" I was caught off guard when the flash went off. "Hey, I wasn't ready!"

Ryo was already sliding out of the booth to the printer to check and see how our picture came out. I followed after, glancing over his shoulder at the print in his hands. He had picked out a Hello Kitty template for our picture. Ryo was smiling, wide as usual, whereas I had a bewildered, confused expression on my face.

Ryo laughed as he pointed at me in the photo.

I snatched the prints away and stuffed them in my pocket, but he was still snorting as he walked on. I couldn't help but join him. His laughter was becoming contagious.

Well, what do you know? I thought to myself. I'm actually having fun.

I chomped down on my last piece of takoyaki.

"I wanted that one," Ryo said as he watched me dispose of the container with sad eyes.

"Go buy your own," I said mercilessly.

"But Ruki dearest," he began.

"Nope!" I said, covering my ears. "Not listening!"

"Ruki…"

"Still not listening…"

"Ruki!"

My shoe caught something, and I tumbled forward. I felt our photo booth print slip out of my pocket as I landed.

"Well, I was trying to tell you that there was a bucket there…" Ryo said, looming over me. He offered out a hand, which I took. I picked up the picture as I got up, Ryo paused, looking at my hands.

"What?" I asked.

"Where did you get that?"

I peered down at my hands. It wasn't the print I was holding, but the photo of Ryo and his father. I must've had them in my jeans and transferred them to my yutaka while I was changing…

"I just…" I started. His eyes looked dangerous. I was suddenly reminded of the argument he had with his Mom. Holding the photo now, I felt like I was the intruder.

"Were you snooping?"

"I…" I said. "No. It was lying on the floor the day you fainted." Even in my own ears, I sounded oddly defensive.

He tore the photo out of my hands, ripped it in half then dropped it to the ground. "There. It's gone."

"What are you doing!" I snapped, snatching the pieces from the ground. I turned on heel and headed towards the school. Surely there would be tape.

"Hey, give that back."

"You discarded it. Finder's Keepers."

"It's not yours to keep."

I whipped back around. "And it wasn't yours to tear. You know, I used to admire you… maybe it was a miniscule part of my brain that thought that… but it was still there. Why are you running away from your problems now?"

"That's none of…"

"My concern?" I asked, putting a hand to my chest. "Oh, yes it is. It is so my concern, because… because…"

I didn't dare complete that sentence.

A long moment passed between us, glaring angrily at each other. And though we were at odds now, this was probably the most honest we'd ever been between one another. Ryo ran his hands through his hair in frustration, then blew out a slow exhale.

"Sorry, okay? I'm sorry. I blew up and I shouldn't have," he said.

"But you're not going to confront your father," I said, not afraid to put it in words as I held up the torn photo pieces. He looked taken aback that I knew it was his father in the picture, but regained his posture.

"Never," he replied.

"Then I can't accept your apology," I said, spinning around and leaving him in the dust.