21.
Title: Pumpkin Carving
Features: Hikaru, Akira, Waya, Isumi, Nase, Fuku
Summary: Again, self-explanatory title and continuation from Pumpkin Picking.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: I'm still procrastinating...
Needless to say, it shocked everyone that it was the Nase-Fuku pair who'd found the finest pumpkin. If it hadn't been for Fuku's sensibility, who knew what kind of dinner Nase would've requested. He suggested sukiyaki before she could open her mouth and Waya and Hikaru jumped on the choice. After their meal, they went to Waya's apartment to carve their jack o' lanterns.
"No betting which one's the best," Isumi decreed, giving out old newspaper to cover the floor as well as knives and spoons.
"Spoilsport," said Waya.
"He's only looking out for your wallet," teased Hikaru. "Any more losing and you'll be living on bread and water until your next paycheck."
Waya gnashed his teeth, but couldn't attack Hikaru because he was holding a knife in his hand.
Nase cleared her throat and said sweetly, "Boys, boys, it's getting late and I have to be home before eleven. So why don't we get started?"
Waya and Hikaru wisely abided by her. A woman pissed-off was something they avoided like the plague.
"Here, Touya, I'll get the top off," Hikaru volunteered, proficiently cutting around the stem. "You can help scoop out the guts."
Akira looked dubiously at the spoon and then the inside of the pumpkin. In the background, Nase was asking Fuku to dig the seeds and stringy membrane out. Waya and Isumi were using rock, paper, scissor where loser had to do the dirty job.
"Try it," urged Hikaru.
Akira slowly stuck the utensil in and plopped the glop onto the newspaper.
"It's gooey," he stated, vaguely disgusted.
"You're not going to barf or anything, right?" Hikaru asked uneasily.
"No, but you do it," Akira said, shoving the spoon at him.
Hikaru huffed. "Fine. You can at least think of the face we're going to carve."
Akira nodded.
"How about we do a toothy grinning jack o' lantern?" Nase proposed to Fuku and then turned to Akira. "What do you think? Wouldn't that be cute?"
"Yes, Nase-san," he replied politely.
"Drop the formality," she said. "Just call me Nase. Everyone does."
"Alright, Nase," Akira said, any protest dying on his lips because yielding was the safest route.
"How many teeth do you want it to have?" said Fuku.
"Let's see how big we can get the mouth to be," said Nase.
"A pirate," announced Waya. "We're making a pirate jack o' lantern."
Isumi sighed. "I shouldn't have lent him Pirates of the Caribbean."
"Okay, time to outline the pumpkin so we know where to cut," said Hikaru. "But I'm bad at drawing…"
Akira took the marker from Hikaru and examined the orange surface. He carefully drew a grim and sinister-looking face with squinty eyes and a thin frown. Maybe it was Hikaru's imagination, but to him, it resembled Ogata-sensei.
Nase and Fuku were first to declare, "Done!"
Hikaru and Akira were next. The four snacked on candy corns, watching as Waya painstakingly carved the pirate Isumi drew. At last, it was completed. The inside bottom of the pumpkins were already scrapped flat so they put in candles. Since Nase and Akira (Hikaru insisted he keep it) had to bring theirs home, only Waya's was lit.
"We have to take a group picture," said Nase.
No one argued with her, not even Waya. Isumi got his camera and set it on auto. They gathered around the jack o' lanterns, the unlit ones sandwiching the lit one. From right to left were Isumi, Waya, Fuku, Nase, Hikaru, and Akira. They were all genuinely smiling. It was truly a Kodak moment.