Chapter 9 – The Culture Festival
As I've said before, the Radiant Garden High Culture Festival takes place on a Saturday and everyone in Radiant Garden has been invited. To accommodate and attract potentially thousands of people—a tenth of that being all the students, the faculty has gone even as far as hiring a catering company to provide food and drinks to the visitors.
It was a good thing too; I don't think class 1-B had planned to sell sushi to thousands of people. I think we had originally planned for maybe five hundred customers at most, since there are also plenty of other classes that decided to redecorate their own classrooms into restaurants. Besides class 1-B and 2-E—2-E being Kairi's class, 2-A, 3-F, and 4-B all decided to make restaurant themed "booths". So between those five classes and the catering company, everyone at the festival got to eat.
I guess the one good thing about being a student at the high school on this day is the free food. All the students were given vouchers for the catered food while all the rest of the visitors/non-scholastic affiliated personnel had to pay for food. Nice marketing and fundraising strategy to be sure.
In any case, when I stepped onto the school campus, I was given a brochure detailing the day's events and where everything was. The classroom themselves had been transformed into booths for their individual activities such as sushi restaurant, coffee spot, amateur theater, psychic hotline, etc. etc. The large theater where the students were sent to every couple of weeks to listen to guest speakers or school-wide meetings was being used to showcase various acts and projects unrelated to classes and clubs; the most important one being the popular student singing group the Gullwings.
Now I haven't actually listened to the group of girls, but from the rumors, they were pretty good and were slated for a record deal with Atlantica Records. But, that's just rumors.
The student club themselves have also opened up their individual rooms to showcase their own works in the comforts of their own room. The Computer Science Club was showcasing their latest programs and games in their own room while the SOS Brigade, under the direction of Sora, managed to get our movie set up to loop in our own clubroom.
By the way, the SOS Brigade has been accepted as a legitimate student club. How that happened I don't know. I guess the application was good as gold.
Or maybe Naminé pulled some strings and made it be accepted by the student council. Regardless of it all, they seemed to have lumped together the Literature club with the SOS Brigade without any second thoughts. They might as well, seeing how we do "share" the clubroom.
I decided to make my way over to my classroom and was mildly surprised by the décor of our previously boring classroom. Origami cranes of various sizes and colors hung from the ceiling held by strings and tape; desks were moved around to make tables and seating; a cashier's box sat on a large table that was set up near the front of the room with a cutting board, a ceramic knife, and stuff for making sushi taking up the rest of the space on the table. What's most surprising is the fact that all the servers were wearing yukatas, even the guys.
"Yo, Roxas," greeted Axel as he waved at me. "We should get out of here before they throw us out." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're not working?" I asked him.
"I helped out with the set up yesterday, that's why I stayed behind. Remember?"
"Oh, right," I replied. Is it a bad thing for me to admit now that I did forget that Axel and Demyx had stayed at school after classes instead of heading straight home yesterday? "Where's Demyx anyways?"
"I think he went to the auditorium for the Gullwings concert," he replied.
"Is that right now?" I asked with surprise, looking at my watch. It was already eleven o'clock and the concert was slated to start at eleven-thirty.
"Wanna go?" he asked with a grin as he pulled out his cell phone. "I can call Demyx right now and see if he saved us seats."
"I can call him myself," I replied as I dialed Demyx's number.
"Hey, Roxas," Demyx's voice came through once he picked up. Noises from the auditorium filtered through the connection, signaling the imminent concert.
"You at the concert?" I asked without preamble, starting my way over to the theater.
"Yup. Axel with you?"
"We're heading over right now, think you can grab us seats too?"
"I can try. Excuse me," Demyx sounded like he was making his way across the aisles or something. "Ah, yeah. I found three seats. It'll be difficult to get to them though."
I shrugged, even though I knew Demyx couldn't see me. "Eh, it'll work. Where is it?" Both Axel and I had made our way out of the classroom building and were crossing the courtyard over to the busy auditorium where students were milling into the foyer of the building.
"It's off to the left hand side, close to the front and right in the middle. I'll be standing and waving madly when I see you."
I stifled my laughter. "Alright, fine. See you in a bit then."
"Yeah, see ya." I snapped my cell phone shut and pocketed it before taking the stairs two steps at a time with Axel close behind me.
"Eager to get to the concert?" he teased me. I scoffed.
"I just don't want Demyx to get awkward looking for us when other people are asking for the unoccupied seats," I retorted. To be honest, I was looking forward to the concert, but I'm not about to admit that to Axel either. Call me childish, but I'm sure Axel saw right through that retort, since he did snort in response.
"Yeah, sure," he replied. We made our way into the crowded foyer and then into the crowded and dimmed auditorium. The only source of light came from the spotlights that casted white light on the stage.
"Where is he?" Axel shouted at me over the din. God, can't high school students be quiet!? I forgot, I'm one of them.
I looked about the left hand side of the seats and scanned the faces for Demyx. I spotted him just as Axel did. It hadn't been too hard when Demyx happened to be the only one standing in his area and he was waving.
We made our way over and with a couple of "excuse me's" and "sorry's", we managed to make our way over to the saved spots.
"Phew," said Axel as he slumped down in his seat. He took a glance at our view and slapped Demyx on the back. "Nice work, kid," he said.
"Che, you're a kid yourself," Demyx retorted. Is it just me? Or has Demyx gotten more wisecrack like Axel? I should really spend more time with them.
"Roxas?" came a familiar voice to my left. I turned around to see the president of the Computer Science Club seated next to me.
"Hey Pence," I greeted with a smile on my face. It's been a while since I've met up with the other boy, but can you blame us? With him as the president and me as the errand boy for our respective clubs, there really wasn't any time for us to hang out. Not to mention there really wasn't any need for us to meet each other now that I think about it. A sudden thought dawned on me. "Don't you need to be in your club room for your presentations?"
"Nah. I got the other guys to work on it for me right now," he replied. "Besides, Olette practically dragged me out of there for this concert." The named girl leaned forward to show her face to Roxas. If Roxas haven't seen Kairi and Naminé on a daily basis, he would've thought that Olette was really really pretty. But since he's seen Kairi and Naminé—who have been named one of the cutest girls on campus by Axel—Olette seemed normal. Though I must admit, she's probably on par with Kairi and Naminé. Anyways, I'm digressing.
"Hello," she greeted with a wave.
"Roxas, meet my girlfriend Olette. Olette, this is the infamous lackey of Sora Kazano, Roxas," introduced Pence. I glared at Pence for teasing me, but seeing how it was dim and hard to see, I doubt Pence noticed my detesting glare at him.
"Nice to meet you," she said, holding her hand out for a handshake. I gladly took the hand in a gesture of friendship and shook it.
"Nice to meet you too," I replied lamely before realizing that she didn't ask me about Sora. Oh my god, someone sees me as an actual individual!?
"Aren't you going to ask me about what it's like to deal with Sora?" I decided to ask. Granted, no one else that I've met before has asked me about Sora. But, seeing how Sora's name is a lot more well-known than my own, I couldn't help but be curious if other people would want to confirm all the rumors about the said boy.
"Mmm, not really. I'm not into the gossips," she replied with a smile.
"Psh," scoffed Pence. "You don't ask only because you pester Kairi too much."
Oh, so that's why. Makes sense that she's in class with Kairi. Both she and Pence are upperclassmen after all.
Olette slapped Pence on his shoulder playfully before sticking her tongue out at him.
"Oh yeah, very mature," he teased.
"You know it," she replied. I decided to avert my eyes lest I intrude on their lovey-dovey time. It was just in time for the band to take the stage. Of course, I never expected the last members to walk on stage to be none other than Sora Kazano and my brother.
"Oy, Roxas," said Axel as he poked me. "Isn't that Kazano and your brother?"
I was speechless. I stared as Sora took a seat at the drums while the vocalist stood under the limelight in front of a microphone. She looked a lot older than a high school senior, but I guess it should be noted that one should never judge a person by their appearance. So cliché.
Off to her right was a blond-haired girl with her hair bound up with a bandanna and several small braids hanging down over her forehead. The hairstyle was very odd, but rather fitting. She was holding an electric guitar in her hand.
On the other side was well, my brother. Granted, I've always known that he plays the electric bass, but to find out only now that he was playing for the Gullwings? That was a shocker. What the hell.
In any case, the lead singer nodded her head at Sora in tempo of the first song and Sora began the intro percussive segment of the song. Again, I was shocked. He played the drums like he's been playing it his entire life or something. As the bass and the guitar joined in the song, I couldn't help but wonder just how in the world I have never noticed that Sora's part of the band.
The singer then joined in with her beautiful and lurid voice. It was actually really good. Well deserving a record deal as the rumors have said. At the middle of the first song, "Lost My Music", the audience had stood up and acted much like we were at an actual rock concert. Some of them were even waving glow sticks. Glow sticks? Where the hell did you get those things here?
The band got cheers and whistles for their performance of the first song and the band basked in the limelight. Even Sora seemed happy with his face flushed from the exertion. Once the applause died down, the singer introduced the band.
"Thank you for all coming to this concert. We are the Gullwings as you all know, but let me introduce ourselves. I'm Yuna Bikanel. On the guitar is Rikku Home." At the introduction, Rikku played a mean riff that impressed everyone. She sounds like a pro!
"Unfortunately our usual bass player, Chappu Besaid, had an acute appendicitis, so he is in the hospital right now. So in his stead is Tidus Uchiyama who is a first year at Twilight Town University." She gestured to Tidus who plucked a short basic melody on the bass guitar before waving at the crowd.
"Lastly, I'd like to introduce Sora Kazano." She pointed at the mentioned drummer, who simply waved in acknowledgement to the audience. "Sora is helping our band out also since Paine Crimson had broken her wrist at the school's ice hockey game last night. She is in attendance however," she pointed at a girl with spiky black hair who stood up to wave to the crowd.
"The song that we just performed for you is called 'Lost My Music' and we will be selling CDs for our first single after the concert in front of the theater. Each CD is worth 100 Munny and we hope to bring you more of those in the near future. Now our next song, '1000 Words', is our very first corroboration with the school orchestra and the first public debut. We hope you enjoy it."
With that said, Rikku and Tidus both went offstage while stagehands brought a keyboard onstage. Two violinists, a violist, and a cellist also took the stage. Both Rikku and Tidus then came back on stage but this time Rikku was carrying an acoustic guitar while Tidus took his place at the keyboard.
Compared to "Lost My Music", "1000 Words" was a ballad that made the audience sway on its feet. The sensual voice of Yuna Bikanel coupled with the smooth strings and punctuated by the percussive qualities of the drums, keyboard, and guitar proved to me that this group indeed is great. Well deserving of the record deal they were going to get.
"You know, Sora and Tidus aren't bad," commented Axel. Demyx looked like he was in heaven as he swayed to the music and clapped along to the drum beats.
I only nodded silently, unable to find the words to describe the scene.
I think I forgot to mention that Demyx is a music freak. When he's not busy with the billion things that his parents have made him do—you know, all the private lessons that his parents make him take—he's always fooling around with his sitar and listening to music. Of course, even though I've suggested that he join a band or something to showcase his talent, he always stared at me like I had sprouted another head.
"Music is meant for listening and enjoying, not to show off," he said to me rather seriously once.
Yes, I have weird friends. Oh wait, I'm a known associate of Sora Kazano. That explains it all. Whatever, I'm rambling now.
Anyways, at the conclusion of the concert, my mind was blown. I'm in love with the music of the Gullwings.
Oh my god.
Demyx, of course, had gone straight to the table that they had set up in front of the auditorium doors and bought a CD, squealing like a fangirl. It wasn't a pretty sight.
After calming Demyx down from his zeal for his new CD, the three of us made our way to the various "restaurant" booths of the classrooms. Of course, we made our first stop at class 1-B. Even though there was a line, it wasn't long before it was our turn.
We sat down at a "table" and ordered two cucumber rolls and three rice balls for 150 Munny. Slightly overpriced in my opinion, but it's for a good cause.
I think.
Soon enough, our food came and we devoured them with vigor, since it was almost 1 PM by the time we sat down. Having been up since 8 in the morning, I was more than happy to eat the sushi and believe it to be delectable. Though thinking back on it, I think someone added too much vinegar to the sushi rice.
We then made our way over to class 2-A and bought ourselves each a box of fried rice that they had procured from the nearest Chinese food restaurant. I would've preferred to be able to sit down in their classroom to eat my rice, but it would appear that they had cordoned it off so they can make the other stuff that they had advertised they were making. So, we had to make due and eat from our boxes with plastic spoons as we made our way down toward class 2-E, where a long line of people stood waiting for seats.
"Welcome to the coffee shop!" greeted an enthusiastic second year girl as we paused.
"Is Kairi in?" I decided to ask, even though I wasn't in the mood for coffee just then.
"Yup," she replied. "But you'll have to wait in line if you want to see her," she grinned. Great, I have to pay admissions just to see a friend. I think I'll pass for now.
"Uh, I'll pass for now," I replied, looking over to Axel and Demyx, who were eying the staircase probably wondering what class 3-F and 4-B were selling. I recalled that neither Axel nor Demyx have a penchant for coffee. Axel couldn't drink it because it would make him too hyper or something while Demyx disliked the bitter taste of coffee, much preferring the tea drinks, especially the tapioca milk tea type of drinks.
So, foregoing seeing Kairi in a sexy outfit, I followed Axel and Demyx up to the third floor and went over to the classroom for 3-F. There, they had brought several portable electric stoves, an ice chest full of beaten eggs, containers of diced ham, and bags of shredded cheddar cheese. At the stove were several cooking-savvy third years who were making ham and cheese omelets. With the smell of deliciousness in the air, we eagerly awaited our turn and doled out 75 Munnys each for our ham and cheese omelets. It was very, and I mean very, delicious.
With high expectations, we made our way up to the fourth floor only to be disappointed to see class 4-B closed, having sold out all of their tapioca teas. Consoling the disappointed Demyx, we made our way out of the classroom building and into the main courtyard where a large tent was set up for the catered lunch. We each grabbed a bit of everything before finding us a spot underneath an oak tree. And for the first time in months, I found myself enjoying the company of my old friends as we chatting about school, the festival, the latest movies and games, and more. It had completely erased my mind about the movie, the SOS Brigade, and, most importantly, Sora.
But, good things always come to an end too fast and we finished our free food and found ourselves out of good topics to converse about without engaging ourselves in pointless debates. Axel had pulled out his brochure of the festival and was now perusing the schedule of events.
"Divination, talent show, computer exhibition, classical concert, improv… hmm," he hummed thoughtfully, "The SOS Brigade presents 'The Adventures of Kairi Fischer – Episode 00'. I wouldn't mind seeing it."
"I've seen it already, I'll pass," I replied casually.
"Why, that bad?" he frowned slightly. I guess he had high expectations for it.
"Well, no…" I said rather evasively. "I just don't feel like watching it again. But you're more than welcome to go check it out."
"Well, I'd like to watch it too," said Demyx, standing up. "Come on, Axel. Catch you later, Roxas?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied. I was rather miffed to discover that my two old friends would rather watch a stupid movie than hang out with me. Yet, seeing how it's a festival and I hadn't suggested anything else to do before Axel noticed the viewing of our movie, I guess I can forgive them for wanting to watch it.
Now, bored the hell out of my mind, I decided to wander about the school campus and popped into class 1-E just in time to catch the last part of the play that Riku played a role in. His expressions seemed to be rather consistent even live on stage. Giving him credit for his work, I stay to clap for him at the conclusion of the play before making my way over to class 1-A to watch Naminé at work. Surprisingly, even though she said that class 1-A was doing divination, Naminé was sketching out people on a new sketch pad with her crayons.. It would appear that class 1-A decided to also offer the services of the artist and for 100 Munnys, Naminé will sketch a portrait complete with coloration.
The hint of smile on her face was all I needed to know. She's enjoying her job a lot.
Without Axel or Demyx by my side, I returned to the line outside of class 2-E and flipped through the brochure once again while I waited for my turn. It wasn't long before I was shown my seat. After all, it was almost 4 PM and the festivities were ending.
Sitting at the desk, the pungent smell of coffee and tea assaulted my nose, bringing a smile to my face. I didn't have my caffeine for the day and I'll be damned if I don't get my coffee before I go home later.
"Hi, Roxas," greeted Kairi as she handed me a piece of white printed paper that had been through a lot of abuse for the day. I scanned the menu and settled on a cup of caramel macchiato.
"A tall caramel macchiato," I said.
"Coming right up," she replied with a smile as she took the menu from my hand. I took a glance at her uniform and found it rather normal and bland compared to the costumes that Sora made her wear. She sported a black dress shirt and a black knee-length skirt, much like the ones I'd expect a businesswoman to wear. Around her waist was tied a long black apron that just added to the darkness of the uniform. It was a stark contrast to her pale skin and shining red hair.
I took my eyes off of the girl who made some small talk with her classmates while she waited for the barista, another classmate, to make the coffee on a rather lustrous metal espresso maker, complete with coffee drippers, milk steamers, and such. The expert hands of the classmate quickly made my caramel macchiato and Kairi brought my drink over in a paper cup. At least I'm not being served in some espresso cup that was washed in the bathroom or something.
"Enjoy," she said with a smile.
"Thanks."
I took a sip from the crafted coffee and relaxed as the caffeine went down my throat. I didn't care much that it wasn't exactly the best coffee I've ever had, but it didn't taste like burnt water, so I didn't mind it too much. Having a taste of the coffee, I decided to add a little bit of sugar to adjust the taste.
As I sat there savoring the semi-decent coffee, I looked about me at the other patrons of this temporary coffee shop. Group of students sat here and there at the tables chatting with each other, some of their coffee appeared to be largely untouched while others, having wasted however much time they've already wasted, quickly downed their own drinks with a look of grimace as the sharp taste of cold caffeinated drink went down their throat. As for myself, I took my time with my drink until I realized it was getting cold. I quickly downed it before paying for my bill and saying my "good-bye" to the still smiling Kairi.
The festival was coming to an end and I dread having to return to the clubroom to clean up. The lure to just leave the campus is highly tempting. Even with the caffeine now coursing through my veins, I feel extremely lazy. Thinking back on it, I've just wasted a perfectly good Saturday at school doing absolutely nothing. I didn't even go to the clubroom to see if I would be received as a famous movie maker or anything.
That's wishful thinking right there of course. Why in the world would a high school made movie make me famous?
I stopped in front of an open window that overlooked the school courtyard. In the distance, the winter sun was setting. It was only 5 PM but already the sun was setting. It sucks to live at a high latitude region on Gaia. I looked down at the school courtyard to see people bustling about taking apart the tent that covered the food line while others stood around chatting. I laid my eyes on Tidus and Yuna, who were engaged in conversation, and made up my mind.
Damn me for deciding to leave the cleaning up part of the club room to the others in the SOS Brigade and if I have to pay for my laziness on Monday, then so be it. But tonight, I'm relaxing at home.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belong to Square Enix. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya belongs to Tanigawa Nagaru. Yada yada yada.
A/N: Huzzah, another chapter done. I think this is the hardest chapter for me to work on since all the excitement's over, haha. Next chapter will include a short descript of people's reaction to the movie and the start of Sora's next "project". We're more halfway through this series though, so thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
