Owner-sama of the Prism Stars, you can totally write a carnival fanfic if you want. I'd love to read it! :3
On another note, I'm getting sicker every midnight, which is the best time for my ideas to come out and the horrid internet to be available (because I still do legit research for my stories), so let's all hope I get better by then. Stupid colds are stupid. *sniffle*
Disclaimer: If I owned Inazuma Eleven, just imagine the girl-boy ratio. xD
10: The Quartermaster
Otherwise known as the first mate.
The moment Aruto had left the perimeter and Akoto had lightened her load once more, Sokudone had sprinted straight to the microphone-shaped Frisbee-type pendulum ride, leaving the tealnet and the two redheads in the dust.
"Is she always that up for thrill rides?" Aira grinned amusedly from her idle station. Sakuma took a long look around the fair, full of people he knew and had seen around town. Sokudone's retreating figure was beginning to disappear among the crowds. "She's too energetic for our carnival; she'll outride us all!" She giggled. Sakuma finally took a good look at the preppy redhead in front of him.
"You're just as energetic too, you know," He offered a polite smirk. The booth handler returned the gesture with a toothy grin. "It's not a bad thing to keep smiling at the good side of life," Green eyes glinted in the morning light as Aira spoke. "And sometimes the bad parts of it too."
"But it becomes a bad thing if you're hiding your pain, Hono-san."
The Prism Stars captain's smile faltered a small, miniscule bit. "Indeed," Was her safest reply.
"Yuu-chan! Get out of the car and back into the ticket booth! Stop skipping work, will you?" A green-haired tomboy's booming voice made a jet-black haired Hatsune Canna laugh at her spot in the queue. Kami, these Prism Star girls were too funny! Her midnight-black haired companion raised a curious brow. "What's the matter with you, Canna-chin?" She asked, mismatched red and blue eyes finally peeled off her phone screen and boring into Canna's soul.
The latter sweatdropped at the thought.
"Yuu-chan, get out of the car! We need the money to get you in a better one!" The tomboy, whom the childish Yuu-chan had called No Fun Nezu-chan, stomped inside the platform with a remote in hand. Yuu, aboard a bright pink car, gasped. "Don't you dare,"
Click!
All the cars had died down, and as Canna and her companion and the rest of the people in line watched with interest, Nezu pulled on the fluorescent-green haired girl's arm and dragged her all the way to the ticket booth. "Isn't that professional," Kurosaki Maria went back to typing endlessly on her phone. Canna rolled her eyes as a smile crept in.
"Let's just get inside the Bumper Notes, Kurosaki-sama," She grinned, knowing the latter liked the name.
"A score of fourteen headshots, three near-misses, and six misses," Aira counted off the electronic board as Sakuma, who had apparently decided not to test the rides when he was still hungry, speculated the cheerful girl's manner of working. For the past six minutes, she had become an interesting specimen to the tealnet. "Which rewards you with the fourth highest score of all time, and a mustache panda!"
The nineteen-year-old boy huffed with pride. "See that, Usagi-san?" He grinned as he took the stuffed toy when the older man beside him stopped the exchange. "We'll take the bear, if you don't mind," He answered Aira's questioning eyes.
After minutes of a silent debate, Sakuma broke the tension. "Here's our last teddy, sir, please take it and make sure a child doesn't see it."
"How could you let him do that?" The dark blue-eyed Shizu guffawed her head off from her spot at the ring toss booth just beside Aira's. "Did you know they were a couple, though?" Now that stopped the redhead from giggling. "Say what?"
"They are," The amber-eyed boy quipped with a bored chin resting on his palm. "Usami-san is actually from the big city, but he asked my mom to design a villa he had recently purchased," Sakuma explained with leisure. "And that college kid was a wee bit too touchy-feely with him to just be a friend."
"Well if it's love, it's love, right?" Aira's grin was matched with embarrassedly red cheeks. That was her first homo couple after all. Sakuma seemed unfazed, on the contrary. "Sakuma-kun?"
"No-o way it's not," A new voice entered the vicinity, causing a scrunch in Aira's assistant's face. "The homophobe matchmaker speaks," Sakuma sighed. Squatting on the station stool, Aira watched the scene with interest. "Homo love is a falsity; just something Nakamura Shungiku and Fusanosuke Inariya created and popularized for money. Other than that, it's total trash," Sokudone concluded with her head held high.
"Take away the flesh and organs," Her close friend countered. "It's still love, Done."
"The only reason why salad manages to make its way to kids' meals is because parents make it look good," Huffed the blackette female. "A small factor of loving someone is their physical appearance," She continued. Sakuma readied himself for a reply. "That, and love causes recreation; more love spreads as there are more people to receive it!"
Shizu fanned herself as if the match was getting even more heated. Aira grinned at the act.
"At our current state worldwide, do you really think recreation is a must?"
"Ooh, honey, here's some popsicle for that burn!" Blue-eyed ginger Misani took out a chocolate one from the cooler she had been assigned to. "It's on me," She winked jokingly at Done. Aira and Shizu giggled uncontrollably in their seats and even Sakuma had an amused smile. The violet-eyed orphan exhaled like a bull and forcefully took the popsicle.
"Arrogant yanayatsu," She stuck her tongue out and stomped out of the scene. Sakuma could practically hear his close friend screaming 'progress report' at Genda on the phone.
"Well that's something you don't see every day," Shizu whistled as she resumed manning the ring toss. "At a carnival, no less."
"Amen, sister," Misani waved adieu to the girls and the boy as children ran to flock the 'Popsicle Lady'.
"I don't understand how she could be that unwelcoming, though," Aira's chin perched on her two palms. "But I sorta get where she's coming from; why else was woman created?"
"So man has a backup if other man isn't as satisfying anymore." Sakuma's nonchalant response turned the Prism Stars captain's head towards him. "I also get your side of the story, but she's right – man with man is kind of unethical, don't you think?"
"Hono-san—"
"Please," The latter offered a smile, "Just Aira."
Sakuma blinked, cheeks pink from the genuine kindness. Years of being Sokudone's close friend had made him accustomed to adorable hostility, something the Lady of Tsuntsun excelled at. "Well, Aira-san, have you fallen in love with a girl?" The addressee shook her head. "How about a boy?"
Aira's fair cheeks turned pink again, but triplets had beaten her to answering the question. "'A boy'?" A dirty blonde scoffed amusedly. "Even a stadium couldn't fit all those guys!" The lone male in the trio grinned. "And love? What love?" The tomboy triplet's sun-colored orbs flashed with wonder. "Don't be fooled by Captain's looks, she's a player!" And the triplets all had matching smirks, enjoying their captain squirm in the presence of a guest.
"Claira, Adrian, Zoey," Aira exhaled patiently. "What happened to the booths you were assigned to?" And immediately the trio fled, their momentary freedom now ruined by their object of bullying.
"A player, though?" All topics about homo and heterosexual love forgotten, Sakuma had a grin of his own.
"Captain, you're really something."
"So how's Sakuma? And Kami, what's with this fate text of yours anyway?"
"Ichirouta, do you believe in destiny?" Violet orbs scanned her view as she slurped on an energy drink.
"…Is this a trick question?"
"…" At the deadpan, Kazemaru sweatdropped on his end of the call. "Well, yeah, I guess…"
"Well then let's say the matchmaker played Japanese fate for a while,"
"Meaning…?" What a worrisome cousin…
"If Koujirou had an 'unplanned' stood-up blind date, Sakuma has just met the captain to his first mate."
"…"
"What, too pirate-y?"
"It rhymed, you weirdo."
I think I'm going to end it here. xD Next chapter has also been planned out but let's just hope the internet doesn't betray me (my siblings and I are all torrenting things).
Hatsune Canna and Kurosaki Maria's owner-sama-tachi~ Your OCs have made their debuts!
Shungiku Nakamura is the mangaka for the BL Junjou Romantica and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi both of which I'm currently reading and the anime I've finished watching. Fusanosuke Inariya is the mangaka for the BL Maiden Rose. I haven't read it yet but I've seen clips of the anime/OVA. :3
And for the fujoshi who got the Usagi/Usami taking the bear reference, I applaud you! :))
Reviews, flames, opinions, problems, complaints, favorites? :D
-Strawbeariiis