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Secret

Kashima was plotting something. She was unusually discreet about it but she has said a cryptic "I'll surprise you, Hori-senpai" that one day on the train in the evening and refused to elaborate. And nothing happened the following day or the day after. She was unusually attentive and punctual for the club meetings and she gave up on trying to make him play the princess in the newest play and Masayuki Hori couldn't even enjoy the sudden change of pace because she. Was. Plotting. Something.

When nothing has happened for a week, Hori decided that maybe the attendance in club meetings was the surprise. Already a while ago something happened, although Hori had no idea what, making her arrive to the club meetings on her own and roughly on time. She was always late to everything, so he was prepared to cut her some slack there, seeing as she did come on her own. Now, however, it was a week that she arrived exactly on time and didn't even bring any of her fangirls along.

Preparing the props for the next play became such a pleasant work without the continuous screaming and shouting and small disasters cropping up by a dozen each day. It was definitely a nice surprise and Hori decided to let Kashima know, on their way home. She laughed in reply.

'That's not at all my surprise, Hori-senpai,' she told him, green eyes sparkling. 'But if it means so much to you, I can keep it up,' she added brightly and it almost made up for the dread that crept up on Hori. If this wasn't the surprise than what was? What kind of elaborate and spectacular scheme required so much preparation from the Prince?

'Ah, yes, especially the lack of your fangirls,' Hori muttered, trying hard to not overthink the situation just yet. After all, he would have a sleepless night to ponder the impending doom. 'How did you manage to convince them to not come anyway?' he asked. He has tried everything: shouting, threatening, negotiating, bribing… Outright closing the club room worked best, but it became annoying to have to open for every club member who was either late or sent to get something or even going to the toilet.

'Ah that,' Kashima laughed. She sounded incredibly proud of herself as she explained: 'I told them that you promised the next outsider to show up in the clubroom during club hours would be cast as the ugly witch that curses the prince to die in the next play.'

And not only did Hori not sleep a wink that night, but the following day he became aware of the vaguely hostile glances some of the girls were giving him.

Reluctant to alerting Nozaki to a potential manga-worthy material, Hori didn't mention Kashima's secret plan at all during the time he spent working on the manga. He tried, as subtly as he could, to probe Sakura's knowledge about this but the girl was either completely oblivious or a better actress than he gave her credit for. Or he wasn't asking the right questions.

Hori has even considered asking Mikoshiba about it, the guy being Kashima's best friend after all, but it seemed that the relations between them became more strained rather than more relaxed recently. He would have thought that the initial shock and embarrassment about being caught as a mangaka helper, especially when their mutual involvement in the doll house has been revealed, would have faded with time. And for a while it seemed like it would, but then suddenly Mikoshiba started to stiffen when Hori arrived at Nozaki's, his question of "how was your day Hori-senpai?" asked in such a high pitch it screamed of Mikoshiba's desire to hide. He would watch Hori like a deer could watch a hunter. When Hori would say that his day was ok, Mikoshiba would sigh in relief and deflate for a moment, before becoming excessively cheerful and doing everything to not let anybody ask him about his stressed expression moments before.

Come to think of it, didn't Mikoshiba's weirder-than-usual behaviour start more or less around the time Kashima promised her surprise? Hori realized that with a shudder of terror one morning. It could only mean that Mikoshiba knew of Kashima's plan and thought Hori wouldn't approve. Well, "wouldn't approve" was probably putting it mildly, considering Mikoshiba's behaviour.

That day they had no club activities and Hori has planned to go to Nozaki's earlier and maybe finish earlier to get a good night's sleep, maybe. Well, so much for that plan, he thought dejectedly, wondering if the pharmacy would sell him sleeping pills. The last three or four days, since Kashima told him her attendance and diligence was not the surprise, he hasn't slept so well. It was steadily getting better, because there were only so many horrifying scenarios his brain could come up with, but surely the new revelation he has just had would magnify the problem.

He was even considering skipping out on Nozaki and going straight to the pharmacy, when Kashima ran up to him.

'Would you like to go for a parfait, senpai?' she asked, expression and tone perfectly innocent. She matched his pace perfectly. Hori would have thought that was it, her plan was complete and she was going to unravel her secret surprise, but she was dressed in her school uniform and not in one of the club's costumes. She didn't seem to be carrying anything else than her school bag either.

'I can't today, I need to do some things,' he replied, purposefully vaguely. If she knew he was going to Nozaki's, she would insist to follow. And if he said anything about pharmacy, she wouldn't leave him be until he told her everything or a convincing enough story.

'Can I help you? If we work together we'll be done quickly and can eat parfaits to celebrate,' she countered, taking him off guard. She has never proposed to help anything and when Hori looked at her he could clearly see she was serious about her offer. Unable to stifle the fondness he felt, he smiled at her.

'It's nothing you can help with, Kashima, but thanks for offering,' he said kindly.

'No, really, Hori-senpai,' she insisted. Exasperation replaced fondness as it often did when Kashima was concerned, but she ploughed on before he could say anything. 'You're going to Nozaki's, aren't you? You always go there. If I help you with the backgrounds we can be done in half the time it usually takes you.'

It took a moment for the words to sink in, their meaning filtering through exasperation, fondness and all the other feelings Kashima evoked in him. When they finally registered, they hit him like a whiteboard. Not that Hori knew how it felt to be hit with a whiteboard. He stopped with a stagger and looked at Kashima with wide open eyes.

'What?' was the only word he could somehow force past his lips. Kashima stopped as well and looked at him with a smile.

'I bought the books that were out and I studied all the backgrounds you drew, senpai,' she explained, completely misunderstanding his question. Or maybe not. Hori found it difficult to focus through the sudden whirlwind of thoughts clamouring for his attention. 'They are really nicely done, senpai, probably the best about that manga. Don't tell Nozaki, but I don't think I'm really into that kind of stories. Well, Mikoshiba's flowers aren't half bad either. I tried to draw them for fun, but don't tell Mikoshiba either, ok? You can keep a secret, right senpai? Anyway, I was saying: I redrew all the backgrounds you did-'

She was pulling out a stack of papers from her bag and Hori accepted them numbly.

'If you think they're good enough, I could maybe go with you to Nozaki's and draw a part of the backgrounds, so that we could hang out afterwards,' she finished, fidgeting under his incredulous gaze. Because it was the easiest thing to do, Hori looked down at the backgrounds she drew.

They were impeccable. Of course. He looked through a few pages, more to buy himself some time to compose his thoughts than out of any real desire to verify her work. Almost subconsciously he noted some, small mistakes and was about to point them out, along with advice on how to avoid them in the future, when his brain finally restarted some semblance of functioning.

'How do you even know about it?' he heard himself ask.

'Mikoshiba told me,' Kashima laughed quietly. And promptly, she proceeded to give him far more details than he ever wanted: 'But don't be angry at him. He came to ask for help with fashion. Can you believe that? He's the one with all the fashion magazines! Anyway, since I was reading that manga about alchemy, I asked him to tell me what you're all doing at Nozaki's in exchange. He didn't want to tell me about you in the beginning, but I didn't believe him when he said he was working on manga and then I kind of abused his emotional burst or something.'

It didn't fully make sense. Which was not exactly uncommon with Kashima, but there was something off about the way she was speaking. Was Kashima nervous? She sure looked nervous when Hori finally lifted his gaze from the pages of copied backgrounds. She was still fidgeting and if he wasn't so stunned by the situation he would probably take out his calendar to mark the date.

'Ok, ok, but you know: I have a deal with Nozaki. I get something in return for helping him. Why would you want to waste your time doing this?' he asked. Kashima bit her lip. Was Hori hallucinating or was she blushing? She really was, he realized, when she finally met his eyes with a shy smile. The date was becoming more and more mark-worthy.

'Me too, I want to spend more time with senpai,' she admitted, blushing some more. If Hori knew she was referring to his drunken confession he would have burned in shame, but for the moment the shock of the situation was too much to even notice the little "too" in her sentence. He could only stare as she laughed quietly, briefly. 'Senpai is always so busy with the club, but even without it, senpai is always spending time with Nozaki and the others, to make manga it seems. So I thought if I could maybe help with that then senpai would have some time for me.'

'Kashima,' Hori whispered, unsure how to continue.

Looking at the new Kashima, shy and uncertain, it was very difficult to focus on any thought long enough to analyse it. Vaguely, he was aware that his heart was thumping in his chest, faster and louder than could possibly be healthy. The heat on his face was probably a blush, but what was the warmth slowly spreading inside?

The silence was shattered when Kashima laughed again and said that, despite everything, Hori-chan-senpai was the cutest princess she has ever seen. And it was so easy to roll the stack of papers with backgrounds and whack her on the head with it: far easier than addressing her words from before.

'I am not a princess,' he ground out through gritted teeth. But he was thrown off balance by her reply again.

'I know, I know,' she laughed. She knew? Then- 'I realized that Mikoshiba was probably right when he said you're not really interested in being the heroine in shoujo manga. I'm sorry for trying to make you into one,' she added, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish expression.

Mikoshiba has said what?! Hori was certainly going to have a word with him.

'Although in my heart you'll still be my princess, no matter what,' she added. There was no trace of her previous expression and no remorse in her voice anymore.

'Kashima,' Hori growled. She didn't seem to notice, or in any case paid it no heed. Instead, she grabbed his free hand with both of her hands and leaned close to him with a wide-eyed, pleading look on her face.

'Can I go with you to Nozaki's?' she asked urgently. 'I promise I'll be good and I'll do everything you say and I'll help with whatever you need me. It's just that I really, really wanted to show Hori-senpai that new café nearby because I think you'd really, really enjoy it. They have this matcha cake that's not so sweet at all and also the sesame cookies. And I really, really wanted to spend some time with Hori-senpai.'

She really didn't need to make all those excuses and promises, Hori thought numbly. There was no way he could refuse her anything, not when she was giving him that look, with those green eyes of hers glittering with hope and adoration and that faint blush dusting still her cheeks. It was a terrifying realization.

Hori swallowed thickly.

'As if you would listen if I said no,' he said, proud that his voice was steady and his tone nonchalant even in this situation. Kashima literally squealed in joy and even went as far as hugging him briefly with one arm, not letting go of his hand. And Hori started to realize that they were still in the middle of the school's courtyard and that their interaction has started to draw attention at some point, by now resulting in quite an audience. Why that realization hasn't made him shake his hand free from her hold, when he knew exactly how this would be misunderstood, was a question he didn't really want to find the answer for. The fact was that he let her lead him out of the school grounds and he simply knew that, by the following day, the school would be full of rumours about the Prince dating some short guy. And by the end of the following day, his identity as the third-year president of the drama club would also be known to everybody and that was really far more attention than he has ever planned to bring to himself.

Well, if that kept the fangirls at bay during the rehearsals…

Plus, Mikoshiba's expression when Kashima showed up at Nozaki's was definitely worth bringing her along.

And it would take Hori and Kashima about a month before they realized they were actually dating and not only making the whole school think they were XD (ah, that was really, really not planned when I started writing this)