Tango of Mortality
Chapter 10: The Resurgence of the Prank Wars
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Ayashi no Ceres. So there.
The members of the Romantic Soldier Fanclub had deeply regretted the escape they'd had to make yesterday. They hadn't been present to see their great enemy receive her just desserts. But what they had heard going around school about what happened after Maya was covered in paint made them regret insisting on a hasty withdrawal even more. The girls were clustered together in groups based on rank as they milled around the school yard. They had all arrived early so as to use the space between the front gate and the school buildings as a meeting ground. Their mood was an odd mix of triumph and apprehension.
"It's confirmed. Maya was hit by the paint we set up for her." Saemi's right hand, a Second Year named Komei, informed. Saemi and her leading council of members were huddled in a tight group, with the other members hovering close to them.
"Well, that's great, but I didn't expect her to go after Minamino-kun like that. Or even if she did, I didn't expect him to walk her home after she smeared red paint all over him. I need to know what happened after that." Saemi was chewing on her lower lip, a sure sign that she was nervous. Saemi prided herself on her full lips, and this habit was damaging to them.
"We could ask Momoko. She claims she used to know him in grade school, so he might have…" The younger member who'd made the suggestion fell silent at the livid glower Saemi threw her way. Momoko's name was quickly becoming a taboo word amongst the club members since the night of the cleaning incident.
"I won't sink to going to Momoko for information. Maybe one of the boys could find out for us." Saemi wondered which boy they could con into doing this. Her own charms had long since lost their luster with the boys at Kokusai, as the word had gotten out that Saemi Hachiyoru only had eyes for Minamino.
"It's Maya! She's walking with Sayo! And Minamino-kun is coming this way from the opposite direction!" A look out who'd been stationed at the school gate called.
"Which one will get here first?" Saemi asked, eyes narrowing.
"Maya and Sayo." The look out answered. Saemi motioned for the clumps of girls to disperse into groups of threes and fours as if they were all just separate groups of friends conversing. She then indicated that they should clear a path.
Maya and Sayo walked through the school gate a few moments later, both wearing paint-stained uniforms. Maya's entire uniform had a noticeably red tinge to it, as did certain sections of Sayo's. Several of the onlookers snickered, causing both Maya and Sayo to glare at the assemblage of girls. Then Shuichi walked through the school gate.
"Good morning, Minamino-kun!" The girls squealed and started to converge on him. For the first time in his stay at either Meio or Kokusai, he coldly brushed them all off and gave no response. His eyes were fixed on the two figures walking together ahead of him.
"Maya-chan!" He called. The entire assemblage of club members gasped. At no point when he was at Meio or Kokusai had he called anyone by a pet name. The fact that he did so with Maya spoke volumes. Maya stopped and turned back, a surprised look on her face, as if she had expected this no more than anyone else. As Shuichi rushed to intercept her, the club members who were closest noticed something red in the hand that wasn't holding his school bag.
"Here, Maya-chan. This is for you, to celebrate our reunion. I would have brought you one on your first day here if I had known you'd transferred." He handed her a single red rose, which Maya accepted with some reluctance. His face and voice conveyed his usual gentleness, but it was tinged with an affection that the club members had never seen from him before. It was enough to melt their hearts and turn them green with envy all at once.
"Um…Thank you." Maya responded, then added with haste as if she'd almost forgotten something. "That's very sweet of you, Shuichi-kun."
"I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. I hope you won't be offended by the color of the rose because of it." Minamino continued. He gestured toward the stains on his own uniform by way of explanation.
"Huh? Oh, right, the paint was red. No, it doesn't offend me. I guess red is the color everyone prefers for roses." Maya said, looking from him to the rose. Anyone who was perceptive enough would have noticed that on Shuichi's end this appeared to be rehearsed, while Maya was behaving like a forgetful actor who had to be prompted before she could remember her lines. The fan club was so blown away by what they were seeing that they failed to notice these particulars, however.
"Shall we go inside?" Shuichi asked.
"Sure." Maya said, but seemed as surprised as everyone else when Shuichi gently grasped her by the wrist and pulled her inside with him. Sayo lingered outside to savor the dumbfounded expressions that were universal among the fan club members. She quickly ducked inside the building, however, when those faces started to turn sour.
"Sorry? He's sorry for what happened? He's sorry? Why is he apologizing to that witch? She's the one who got paint all over him! And what does he mean by "celebrate our reunion?" What the hell is going on?" Saemi practically screamed at no one in particular. She had sworn to herself that she would be the first and only girl to receive flowers from Shuichi Minamino. Maya had just destroyed that dream.
"It kind of seemed like they'd known each other before she came here." The same unfortunate girl who'd mentioned Momoko before tried feebly to answer Saemi's question. The death glare she received this time was even more terrible than the one before, and Komei made a mental note to strike the other girl's name off the club roster.
"This means war." Saemi snarled.
(Later, during lunch break, in the sports supplies shed)
"This means war." Shuichi explained calmly to Momoko. She was sitting across from him on one of the high jumps. She had been looking dubious when he said he wanted to meet her in a secluded place, but the second those words came out of his mouth her eyes lit up with eagerness.
"Ooh, I love the sound of that. So you're pissed they dumped paint on Maya and you wanna get back at 'em, huh?" Momoko could barely contain her enthusiasm.
"Yes, but we're going to have to plan this carefully. Punishing an entire club is not going to be an easy task." They were interrupted by a knock on the shed door. He and Momoko exchanged a glance and he went to open it. On the other side of the door he was confronted by Tasaka, red-faced and looking as if he'd run all the way there.
"Minamino…what…the hell…do you think you're doing…in a supply shed…alone…with my girlfriend?" Tasaka grated out as he tried to catch his breath.
"Who told you that?" Minamino asked. He looked over Tasaka's shoulder and saw Sayo standing a few paces behind him. She gave him a little wave. "Oh."
"Dammit, Minamino, people make out in here, y'know. What was I supposed to think?" Tasaka grumbled once everything had been explained to him.
"Oh, gee, Tasaka, why don't you just tell them that we make out in here, cause that's basically what you just did." Momoko sighed, throwing up her hands.
"So you want to destroy your own fanclub, huh? I was wondering when you were finally going to snap. The fact that it was something happening to Maya that made you do it has brought you up a few notches on the humanity scale, as I see it." Tasaka said, ignoring Momoko.
"So, Minamino, I assume you have some master plan to accomplish this?" Sayo prompted. They had all taken shelter in the supply shed now.
"I don't think Kaito would exactly be thrilled that you're in here alone with me, Sayo." Shuichi said, a subtle indication that she wasn't welcome here. He wasn't sure how much he trusted Sayo, which by default meant he didn't trust her with this.
"Oh, please. I told him about you giving the rose to Maya this morning. He's done worrying about you stealing me from him, not that that ever would have happened anyway." Sayo said, flipping her hair as if it were a physical dismissal of his comment.
"Don't worry, Minamino, she's okay. She got hit with the paint too, so she told me she wanted in on teaching Saemi a lesson." Momoko reassured him, then stopped as she realized the implications of what she'd said.
"So, you had plans to do something even if I had done nothing." Shuichi said, raising an eyebrow.
"Er…um…well, you see…" Momoko began. Shuichi had somehow managed to make her feel as if she'd done something wrong.
"You're a good friend, Momoko." Shuichi said, favoring her with a gorgeous smile. Momoko grinned back while Tasaka scowled warningly at Minamino to stop acting to damn charming around his girl.
"Wait. If you're here, who's with Maya?" Shuichi asked, turning to look at Sayo, panic suddenly chilling him to the bone.
"I asked Kaito to keep an eye on her. I wouldn't worry anyway, though. Those fangirls aren't smart enough to formulate another plan that quick. It would take them at least a week to come up with something to top that stunt with the paint." Sayo reassured him.
"Oh. I suppose that's true. They could still torment her, though, but if Kaito's with her she should be all right." He sat back, visibly calmed. "Now, as to that next hit Saemi and the others are no doubt planning even as we speak. I want to catch them in the act."
"You mean get them in trouble?" Momoko asked.
"Not necessarily. If we could get them in trouble, so much the better, but if we could catch them in the act and then activate our own trap…" Shuichi watched as the light of comprehension went on in Momoko's eyes.
"The prank wars." Momoko said, satisfaction seeping from every pore.
"What?" Sayo asked, looking from her to Shuichi. "What does that mean?"
"Uh oh. This could get us expelled." Tasaka groaned, but there was a hint of excitement in his voice that betrayed his true feelings on the matter.
"Only if we do it on school grounds." Shuichi said.
"Do what? What are the prank wars?" Sayo asked, annoyance creeping into her normally neutral voice.
"It's something Maya and I used to take part in when we were kids. It would usually start out with me making her mad, then her setting up some elaborate trap to get back at me. In other words, a prank. Then I would do it to her, and she to me, and vice versa until someone admitted defeat. I had brains and creativity on my side. Maya had that in addition to every single kid in school as her ally. I think you can probably guess who admitted defeat most often." He gestured toward himself in case no one got the hint.
"So…you're going to declare a prank war on the Romantic Soldier Fanclub, and you'll do it by springing a trap on them right as they're about to play another dirty trick on Maya. Sounds like the funnest thing I've ever heard of." It was official. He could tell be the tone of her voice. Nothing was going to prevent Sayo being involved in this.
"Hey, wait a minute. You're going to make Maya go through something like the paint incident again? I don't think I like it." Tasaka said doubtfully.
"I don't plan on letting them go through with it, at least not all the way. This also means we'll have to have Maya under constant surveillance. Sayo, you live with her, so you're the best suited for that job." Shuichi looked questioningly at Sayo to see if she had any problem with that.
"It's not like she annoys the hell out of me or anything, so I should be able to handle it." Sayo said flippantly, shrugging her shoulders.
"Now, about the fanclub itself. We don't have any insiders, so finding out when they're going to make their move will be difficult." He looked to Momoko, figuring she would be the most able to solve this problem.
"Oh, don't you worry. I've got that covered. How d'ya think I found out about the paint thing so fast? I don't necessarily have an insider, but I do have someone who knows an insider. Kazumi Jitachi, twin sister of Kazuko Jitachi, both First Years. Kazuko is part of the club, Kazumi isn't. Kazumi thinks her sister's too good to be part of such a bimbo club and would do anything to get Kazuko out of it. If that means the destruction of said club, fine by her. She'll be able to get us the goods." Momoko grinned.
"Tasaka, I take it I can count on the help of you and the soccer team should we need it?" Shuichi turned to the other boy.
"Help you destroy your own popularity? Hell yeah. Seriously, you have no idea how many of the guys have been praying something like this would happen. It's no fun going to a school where all the girls are only interested in one guy." Tasaka said.
"We're on, then. Let's just hope we can do this as perfectly as I want it done."