"The Christmas Festival is only 3 days away! Hurry everyone!" Class 1-C busily ran back and forth between the three 1st year classes. Class 1-A was in charge of negotiations and budgeting money, Aira's class was making the different costumes for the RPG and 1-C did all the building.
"Kora Ome! Why aren't you helping?" Rizumu was holding a log of wood.
"Because~ I already finished making those strange crystal balls Higuchi thought of." She pointed to a box sealed with duct tape labelled "Prizes- Fufu~".
"You actually made them?!"
"Of course. Really… I don't want to be in the science lab for a while! It was so boring doing all those experiments to make the right color…" Rizumu just laughed a bit scared of what exactly she put into those "crystal balls". "Anyway Rizumu, why are you carrying such a large piece of wood? Get one of the guys to move it."
"I want to help too!"
"Ah Rizumu! Watch out for-" Rizumu was falling backwards because she tripped over someone's foot.
"Ah! Why does this happen to me?!" Rizumu tried to balance herself which proved to be useless. Someone behind her caught her shoulders. As she peered up she saw Hibiki.
"Be careful Rizumu! I know you want to help but don't get hurt doing things that are hard for you!" He gave her a smile. She reddened. He slowly let go of her shoulders to make sure she could hold the wood properly.
"Hibiki… Why are you…"
"We also had preparations for our booth but I decided to skip."
"Booth?"
"Un. My class is doing an oden stand." Rizumu looked utterly speechless from what he just said. Ome burst out laughing.
"Nee Hibiki? Are you going to be helping to serve the oden?"
"That's a given Amy. Why would you ask?"
"Because it makes me laugh picturing you serving people hot oden! I can see it now… Hibiki will scoop up some soup base and daikon with a ladle and say 'Omachi! Eat it while it's still hot!'! Ah! I can't wait to see it!"
"It's not that funny! And when would I ever say that?!" Rizumu joined in with Ome's laughter. Hibiki rubbed his head since he couldn't win against 2 laughing girls.
"Can we go to the stand during the festival?" Rizumu looked at him.
"Of course! Come anytime!"
"Oh yeah! I'm going to eat a lot! Wai!"
"Why do I feel so disappointed?" Hibiki wondered to himself as he rubbed his cheek with his index finger. Ome smiled at the scene.
"When will he finally realize it?"
"Wah! Hibiki sama!" Some girls pointed to him as they stood there and admired him. Ome and Rizumu gulped as they got ready for the riot. Girls crowded into the classroom and some girls shoved Rizumu to the side as they went up to Hibiki to either admire him or ask him for his personal profile.
"Ah! Mou!" Rizumu fell on her butt and the 2 desks Ome was trying to sleep on split a part.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Hibiki felt a bit happy about all the attention but when he saw Rizumu on the floor, he rushed to help her.
"When did Hibiki's fans break tables and step on people?!" Rizumu yelled. Rizumu felt herself being lifted.
"Now now everyone… I'm going to be a bit busy as vice president so can we leave it at this?" He winked, causing many of the girls to have nosebleeds.
"If only I could be him…" Many of the boys doing crafting work looked so sad on the sidelines. When the girls finally flooded out they both sighed in relief.
"A re? We're Ome?" Rizumu wondered still not catching on to the fact that Hibiki was holding her hand.
"Am I supposed to be happy that she's not noticing?" And meanwhile…
"Where's the sewing machine?!"
"We need the patterns and designs before that!" Aira's class was also going crazy. Aira was trying to finish the designs and pick the patterns that were going to be sewed.
"Ok blue for these pants and peach color for this top…" Seiji peered over her hard work. He smiled at how hard she was trying.
"Watch out Harune san!" A giant log of wood laying on the wall started shifting and was headed toward Aira. She could only stand there immobilized with fear. Seiji didn't have time to react either. Before anyone in the class knew it, Aira was being held up high by Shou and the pillar collapsed on the desk she was sitting at.
"Safe!" He looked at a surprised Aira above him.
"Kyah! Miyamoto senpai!" Girls yelled because their idol was standing in front of them. Aira was still at a loss of words by the time Shou put her down. Seiji didn't look to happy.
"Aira?" He waved his hand in front of her face to check if she was dazed. It took her a few seconds to react.
"Ah! Shou san! T-Thank you!"
"Why are you acting so uptight? It's not like that was the first time." Everyone's eyebrows shot up.
"Not the first time?! What is the relationship between these 2?!" Sweat drops formed on the back of Aira's head. But when she noticed the desk she was sitting at she yelled.
"Ah! My designs!" Some girls in the class snickered secretly. Shou and Seiji caught a glimpse of it.
"Aira Chan-" Seiji started to say.
"Aira! You should be more worried about your health! What would've happened if you really got hit by the wood?!" She jumped at his loud remark.
"I'm sorry but… The class is working so hard for the festival so…"
"But you shouldn't hurt yourself for a bunch of paper! You can always remake them!" Seiji felt overpowered. Shou was definitely doing a better job cheering Aira up.
"But at this rate we won't finish…"
"Then I'm going to help you make those designs!" He rolled up his sleeves and sat down next to her. He winked at Aira making her blush and have to agree with his decision.
"But Shou sama…" Some girls made a group. They didn't like this atmosphere between them at all.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Why are you wasting your time with this class's business?" The senpais asked. Shou felt a bit angry at that remark.
"What do you mean wasting my time? I don't think this is wasting my time! I've decided to stay and help with their RPG."
"But…"
"If you have a problem with it, you can always go find Hibiki and tell him I'm skipping out on the puppet show." He winked at them. They quietly left.
"Whew… That took a lot of energy… Only Wataru can keep winking all day and still get to do whatever he wants..." Seiji didn't know how to help so he just left the room.
"Hey Adams." Ome greeted him at the door.
"Amy Chan. What's up?"
"Nothing much. Why are you leaving the room?"
"Oh I'm just going to get drinks for the class…"
"I hope you aren't leaving because he's by Aira's side."
"That not it!" He yelled which made everyone stop. They went farther out the door and talked instead.
"Then why? You know that even with him there, you can still be by Aira's side."
"I'm not needed when he's there…"
"Adams… I'm sure that Aira herself would be sad if you left her side. Besides I already know that you like her more than she knows it."
"But if I make her sad with my feelings…"
"You have a point there but if you keep hiding them you'll just keep hurting yourself. When you're in love, you can be a little selfish. If you don't then how would you ever win over her heart?" She walked away. As she went up the stairs, a woman appeared in front of her. She had long auburn hair that glistened in the sun but her face was covered by the darkness.
"That was sure a durastic step you too Ome."
"Yeah I know." She sounded like she didn't want to hear it.
"Why'd you tell him to act on his feelings? You know what will happen anyway…"
"Because with this he will get stronger…"
"You really care about the end result don't you?"
"You could say that." She walked away unsure of her decision. As she continued to walk up the stairs she bumped into Mion.
"Ome! Why are you here?"
"Same goes for you. You look really busy…"
"Well I am in charge of the negotiations so I have to keep running to different clubs and teachers to rent costumes and space for the RPG."
"Did you get any connections?"
"Yes! The vice principal let us rent the east building! Then entire building! And I got some old costumes that Aira can definitely make better!"
"Well Shou's there helping her too so those costumes may turn to look incredibly new."
"He's with Aira?"
"Yeah. It seems that his class is doing a puppet show and he doesn't need to help at all."
"So he goes to Aira's class huh? What free time he has when we're working this hard…"
"So Mion how did you get the space and costumes? There must be a catch."
"Wat could you be talking about? I just asked normally…"
"Are you sure? From Mion, I expected you to at least bat your eyelashes. Come on Mion! Do a demo on how to ask someone for a favor!" And because she was pestering her, Mion gave in.
"Excuse me?~ I have a favor to ask of you… Can we rent the east building for our RPG? Please?~" She bat her eyelashes and winked. Ome couldn't help but laugh. Mion had the angry vein on her head.
"That was the best!" Tears were coming out of Ome's eyes because she couldn't hold her laughter.
"Ah! That's why I didn't want to do it!" She ran away.
"Mion! For your hard work something good's going to happen to you soon!" She heard what she said but didn't believe it.
"That's definitely not happening…" She stepped back into her classroom and sat down to write down the budget. She needed her glasses to write all the big numbers. Some girls squealed as someone came into the classroom.
"Mou! So noisy!" She was about to get up when someone took off her glasses. Because of the change in vision, she felt a bit dizzy.
"Mion?" Wataru grabbed her arm as she stumbled.
"What are you doing Wataru?! Give me my glasses!"
"No way! Not until you take a break!" He put a can of soda on her cheek.
"Ah! Cold!" She jumped. Wataru looked like he was really enjoying making fun of her tsundere personality.
"So funny…"
"Mou! I'm going to get mad Wataru!"
"You're already mad aren't you Mion?" He was trying to calm her down because he might have gotten her too hyped up. He put his hands on her shoulders.
"What is it?" She eyed him suspiciously.
"And if I said I just wanted to see Mion?" A shade of red appeared in the middle of her face. He looked surprised at her reaction too.
"W-What are you… talking about?" She faced the other way. He let go of her shoulders and covered the lower part of his face. It was to hide the tint of red on his face too.
"Mion Chan! I have the costumes!" Higuchi came in. He stopped smiling when he saw Wataru. He wasn't exactly trying to pick a fight with Wataru, he was just surprised that a super idol wouldn't mind going to classroom to another super model and still act childish.
"Hi Higuchi Kun!" Wataru tried to be friendly.
"You don't have to greet him Higuchi."
"Mion! That's mean!" He looked at her with teary puppy eyes. Her eyebrow shot up as she blushed yet again.
"Don't be fooled by his act…"
"Did you hear that? How could she say that to Wataru sama?" Girls that stepped into the room from the hallway whispered. Mion wanted to stand up for herself but she was scared that Higuchi and Wataru would start hating her for being so stubborn and mean to other students. She kept quiet and let them talk. Wataru glanced at her.
"Is this what Amy was talking about? Why isn't Mion saying anything?"
"Ah… I understand that Mion can sound strange and is very sharp-tongued but in a way it is fun to toy with her. After all her reactions are hilarious!" He gave her a boyish smile.
"Chotto! I'm-" He leaned forward and stopped when his face was next to Mion's ear. Some of the girls gasped. It took a lot of willpower for Higuchi not to say anything.
"Not to mention, you act mean so no one finds your weak points and insecurities. It's really easy to tell Mion Chan." He lifted his face as Mion felt embarrasssed for more than one reason.
"But Wataru sama! Using that kind of attitude with you…"
"If I say that it's ok and I like this fiesty personality of hers will it all be ok?" He winked. The girls retreated.
"Like… And Mion Chan…" Mion thought to herself.
"Where's Rizumu?" Mion asked on the morning of the 23rd.
"It's been 10 minutes…" Aira said glancing at the dressing room curtain. She was already in her Kaguya Hime costume. She had a long black wig over her regular red hair and the widow peak bangs made her look like a real princess. However the layers of kimonos and obis made Mion feel happy she didn't wear it because it looked incredibly uncomfortable.
"Ah! She's coming out!" Mion pointed to a pouting Rizumu popping her head out from the curtains.
"What's wrong Rizumu Chan? Did you get dressed into the costume I made for you yet?!" Aira's eyes sparkled hoping she'd get to see Rizumu in the blue costume she made for her.
"Ah.. About that… I don't think I'll be able to wear that…" She was blushing as she gripped the pink curtains.
"What are you saying?! We've already made the costume and it's almost time for the ceremony to begin! Even if the class lets you wear your uniform, Aira and I will not!" Aira nodded in the background.
"But it's too revealing!" She whined.
"Eh?! Aira!" Mion blushed too.
"It's not what you think! The outfit only exposes your belly button! That's just how it is!"
"Oh… Te! What a second! Why is her belly button being exposed?! And hurry up and get out here Rizumu! We are short on time!" Mion was getting really embarrassed.
"Ah… That's because Rizumu is Princess Jasmine…" She pointed to an embarrassed Rizumu in Jasmine's blue outfit and her orange hair tied back just like Princess Jasmine's hairstyle except some hair that was kept to the front sides of her hair with her regular bangs. "Kawaii! It suits you Rizumu Chan!" Aira and Mion smiled at each other.
"Un… It looks good Rizumu."
"Thanks Aira, Mion… But… Why aren't you getting changed Mion?!" She pointed to Mion still in her uniform.
"I don't need to get changed until the end!"
"Unfair! Get changed Mion! I want to see the costume Aira prepared for you!"
"It's too girly for me! And I don't want to say such lines to the male players!"
"It's ok Mion Chan! I'm sure it'd look good on you! And only certain players will go your route! All the players have different tasks for which direction they choose to go to!"
"That doesn't make me feel better!"
"Quit complaining and get changed Mion!" Rizumu pushed her into the dressing room. "So Aira what exactly is Mion coming out as?"
"Fufu~ You'll see soon Rizumu Chan…"
"Even if this dress's color is lilac… I can't act like her!" Mion wanted to get it over with so she she put on the light shade of purple dress.
"Chotto! Takamine san! I need to do the extensions for your hair!"The stylist came in and sat her down. Mion was getting more tense with the less time she had until she had to go show her best friends her appearance. The stylist added blond extensions to Mion's hair making her hair look longer. Only one side of her front bangs got extensions that were the same length as the ones applied to the back.
To make it easy for readers, Mion looks like how she looks in Dear My Future only with long flowing hair on the left side of the front of her hair(basically a play on Hyein's hair).
"Wah! Pretty!" Aira and Rizumu clapped for Mion. Instead of Sleeping Beauty's regular long sleeved dress, Mion had a purple off shoulder dress on (like Princess Belle) with purple gloves that reached to her elbows in place of it.
"It's good but I can't possibly give that kind of task to a male player…"
"Task?" Aira motioned for Rizumu to lend her, her ear.
"Mion Chan's class decided that her task for her role would be to dare the male player to kiss her. If he does he passes the test…"
"Eh?! Kiss?!"
"Calm down Rizumu Chan. It's not on the lips! Anywhere on her face or even her hand is fine!"
"Hey wouldn't that be too easy? After all a guy is stronger than a girl… And wait. Why is Mion's task that?!"
"Well Ome and the teachers said they'd take care of it. Not to mention Ome is going to announcing all the tasks and has surveillance cameras planted in weird spots. And Rizumu Chan! Mion Chan's Sleeping Beauty, Princess Aurora!"
"Oh! I didn't notice… But in any case whew… That means I'm saved from anything strange…" Rizumu sighed.
"Ahaha… Wasn't your task for the guy to successfully catch you?"
"Yeah… I better run as fast as I can… What about your task Aira?"
"I have to ask the boy to…"
"Hm… When you think of Kaguya Hime… Ah! Proposal!" Aira covered her mouth as Mion blushed.
"Mou! Just what kind of torture are they making us go through?! Even Aira has to ask a guy to propose to her!"
"MARs! Don't forget your headpieces!" Rizumu put on the blue headpiece Jasmine wore, Aira put on the japanese headpiece that hung over her forehead and Mion wore the small gold colored crown Princess Aurora always had on her head. As they walked they saw KIYUMI waiting at the door to the entrance of the RPG. Mii was disguised as Belle with a light green dress. She had white gloves on. Rie was a blue haired version of Alice in Wonderland and held a small stuffed rabbit in her hand. Her dress became a double layered yellow dress. Kiri was Rapunzel with long, curly blond hair and a long sleeve scarlet dress on.
"You 3 are so cute! I'm glad the dresses fit perfectly!" MARs smiled at them.
"Is what you're doing justifying your feelings for Callings?" That question continued to bother KIYUMI.
"T-Thank you…" They said a bit happy.
"Really! It suits all of you! I thought it would be good for Mii Chan to become a reserved princess just for these 3 days! And Rie Chan being Alice really is cute! I pictured you as someone that liked to adventure and explore! And Kiri Chan, I imagined you as Rapunzel because I'm sure you are the type that is waiting for her prince but would use your own strengths to get him just like Rapunzel that dropped her hair down for her prince!" Her kind words made the girls feel guilty especially Kiri when she heard the words, "use your own strengths to get him". They looked up at MARs and wanted to return the compliments.
"Harune Aira… That suits you…" Mii started.
"Really? Thank you for the compliment Mii Chan!"
"Amamiya Rizumu… It's not bad at all… That costume…"
"Really? Thanks Rie! I was worried about what it would look like since my belly button is exposed…" They laughed together.
"Takamine Mion… You look joli. Really…" She gave her a weak smile which surprised Mion.
"Thank you. You look pretty too Adams Kiri."
"Nani Nani?! Is this a gathering of princesses?" Higuchi dressed up as a pirate ran over to them. Adams and Sasahara followed him. The older brother of Kiri was dressed up as a soccer player (well more like he looks like he's really going to play in a soccer game as a regular) and Sasahara was a samurai with a small hair extension tied in a ponytail.
"Wah! Adams why does that costume suit you so much…?" Rizumu was really holding the urge to laugh.
"It should since Onii sama IS a soccer player."
"Eh? Really?!" MARs all yelled at the same time.
"Yes…" He stroked his hair.
"Anyway… Jiro what do you mean a gathering of princesses? You knew that I was going to be Alice in Wonderland yet …"
"Ahaha… It was a light joke Rie. Lighten up ok?"
"No way!" She pouted.
"Are these 2 always like this?" Mion asked the nearest person to her, Mii.
"Hai… It's amazing that they're not childhood friends…" And suddenly, Mii was hugged by a happy Adams. Kiri didn't look happy.
"Maybe it was a bad idea to have Mii wear greenn even though it is her favorite color…" Kiri muttered.
"Eh? Why?" Aira asked.
"Onii sama loves to be a pair with any girl that wears green when he wears red or vice versa. Those are his favorite colors… Mii… This might be an unfortunate 3 days for you…" Kiri could only stare at her brother going crazy hugging Mii.
"Chotto! Adams san let go of me! I need some space to breathe!" Aira laughed at Mii pushing Adam's chin away from her. Mii looked at her happy smile.
"I guess it was really too much to think that Harune Aira would like Kiri's older brother…" As Kiri stepped back she bumped into Sasahara.
"Ah sorry!"
"Watch where you're going."
"Ok! I already said sorry so stop glaring at me!" As she turned to walk to the other side, the last of her extended hair got stuck on the fake sword Sasahara was holding.
"Is something like that even possible?" Aira looked at the sight of Kiri's extensions stuck between the fake sword and the prop covering it.
"What a pain…"
"Sorry for being a pain!" She tried her hardest to get it out but with no luck.
"Don't move." He opened the prop and the extensions came out. Kiri was relieved and tried to walk away quickly so she didn't have to argue with him. "Wait." He grabbed her arm. That surprised everyone in the group.
"What?" He reached for the end of her hair and worked on untangling it.
"It was tangled." He let go of the hair when he was finished and look Kiri in the eye. She felt a bit hot and moved away before he could see the tint of pink developing on her cheeks.
"Is everyone ready?" Ome's voice was on the loudspeaker.
"Hey let me talk too Amy!" Another voice was heard. Not to mention, it was a guy's voice.
"Stop grabbing the mic! You're going to break it Baka-Eve!"
"I'm Steve Lin Idiot-Ome!"
"Fine! Whatever your name is, let go of the mic! We need to start the ceremony!" MARs, KIYUMI and the 3 boys looked utterly speechless because this was the first Ome acted like a fiesty girl arguing with a boy they didn't now of.
"Anyway… It is 5 minutes to 10. As freshmen of Aono Gakuen let's make our collaborated work pay off these 3 days!" Many people cheered.
"Also to participants of this RPG… This kid and I, Amy Zhang will be monitoring all the players' movements so no 'unfortunate' incidents occur during this fun activity we've set up! And now that it is 1 minute until the start of our school's Christmas Fest, everyone participate in the countdown k?" Everyone counted down in sync. Everyone excitedly counted down whether it was hand movements or verbally speaking.
"10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1!"
"And as of now, Aono Gakuen's Christmas Fest is open to the public!"
~Taking the first step toward building friendship can be difficult but hey, your future's going to turn out better :D~
