Hello minna-san! MERRY CHRISTMAS! How's everyone doing? I'm not celebrating but kinda get into the Christmas mood hehehehe! Sorry for the late update! Got caught up in some stuffs during the holidays …
Lightyearsaway: yeah! Enjoy this chapter as well! Merry Christmas!
Am loves Syusuke: Arigato! Thanks a lot for correcting me! I'll remember the mistakes…
Craze Izumi: Oh don't worry, serious is out of topic for this fic lol. I am not pairing anyone seriously but there will be pairs… well, juz to spice things up a little. Pairing can prove to be fun sometimes, depending on how it develops hehehe
Hakudoshi-chan: haha but don't take the sock-stealing thing so seriously or expect too much like Mizuki… otherwise get disappointed! You'll understand on later chapters hehehe
Kitmoki: Glad you liked it! Thanks for the review!
Hakugei: Oh yea, those socks belong to Akutsu-chan lol but well, as long as Akutsu have no idea who did it, he's safe…ne? yup, Inui did use photosphop but well, maybe not so horny? lol
RuByMoOn17: yeah, love-love … but only playful stuffs hehe
Ennov: lol Inui's group? Well, Inui have a good way of handling people, though, it sometime may land him into trouble… you'll find out soon enough the reaction of others… in the next chapter I think…
DNA Strand: yup, rokkaku and jyousei will be here too! Juz that in this chapter only the Rikkaidai's' making appearances
Sushi-dono: uwaaaaaa gomen, there won't be yukimura here! Kyaaaaaa I am so sorry because when I wrote this part of the fic, I have no idea of Yukimura's character—partly because I only catch few glimpses of him in the anime. Although I am clear about him now, it's too late to add because by doing so, the whole story will need to be modified, which is, sorry to say, a hard piece of work –cry- I promise to include him more in future…
So your exam is over now! Waiting for result? All the best! Don't worry too much, you'll be fine!
Alaena Flame Dragonstar: yeah, that was my initial plan—to mention everyone in the story. However as the size of member increases, everyone's chance of appearing more decreases… sigh this is so difficult… I don't think it's possible to cut down since everyone is fine with the way it is now…
Undine1: Hahahaha glad you liked them! But then again, I hope no one is expecting too much because I'm afraid you'll juz get disappointed. These chapters on EDay are quite messy, unorganized, missing parts and some are juz plain weird lol. I wonder why I wrote it dat way… anyway feel free to bombard me with questions and I'll try my best to answer them!
Yvie: thanks a lot for your review! Made up my day and really happy that you enjoyed them! Well, somehow hehe you'll juz get some hints of shounen-ai and well, perhaps one or two pairing? Well I guess as the story progress, you'll find more than hints… they are rather obvious but nevertheless, rest assured that everything will remain as comical as possible lol because I too, for one, enjoy a good laugh!
LyToTrOuBlEmAkEr: I'm really touched to read your review –big hug- thanks a lot for reminding me that most of you are waiting for the update! Thanks again! Enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 25—Entrepreneur's Day
Without realizing, the remaining two days for Seishun Gakuen Boarding School students to do last minute preparation passed by quickly. The festival starts officially at ten in the morning and ends at four in the evening. Throughout this six hours of business (regardless of item or service), the group with the highest sales will receive sponsorship for the school trip next month. But in this case, head dorms are not entitled for the sponsorship since the prize is used as a motivation factor for students.
"Sengoku, are you done?" Mizuki asked, placing the items on the tray.
"No and there's a lot more to go…" Sengoku pressed the ENTER tab on his keyboard.
KNOCK KNOCK
Mizuki opened the door.
"Tezuka? What is it?" Mizuki asked.
"Are both of you done with the price? We need to display it up." Tezuka said. They have prepared a small platform in one of the biggest classroom in their school.
"There's quite a number of them… and thanks to Sengoku for searching it so slowly." Mizuki answered.
"Hey Mizuki, that's not nice! I searched them throughout the whole night. I barely get three hours sleep when you came banging at my door in the morning." Sengoku yawned.
"Good for you Sengoku. If I don't wake you up, it's impossible for you to finish these by TODAY."
"Fine fine. You are right, I'm at fault." Sengoku said, taking a sip of coffee from his cup.
"Tezuka, I am afraid we will have to delay our 'plan' … Sengoku will need at least three hours to complete it. We'll open our little 'shop' at 11.30 sharp."
Tezuka sighed and left. This whole thing the head dorms planned to do is driving him nuts, just like every other event they hold since Mizuki became the head dorm for Rudolph. Life is just not the same with him around. Unbelievably, Atobe joins in Mizuki's silly ideas sometimes and no doubt, Sengoku is on Mizuki's side since well, is there even a need to explain this?
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"Oi Echizen, what are you doing here?" Momo asked, smiling at his team mate.
"You too Momo-senpai. What are you doing here?" Ryoma asked suspiciously.
"Ha? I asked you first so you should answer first. Maa, anyway this classroom is our café. Hey do drop by here for lunch." Momo said, pointing to the bar area. "I am in charge of the drinks."
"Heh, not bad." Ryoma said while continue to paste flyers on the doors. "But I don't like western food."
"Hey Echizen, how can you decline a senpai's request!" Momo said.
"Why not?" Ryoma asked without looking at Momo.
"Sigh. You are always the same, aren't you? … Hm? What's this? Obake? Haunted House? Oh, looks fun!"
"Momo-senpai, if you are not afraid why don't you drop by later?" Ryoma gave Momo a wicked smile.
"Oi, you brat. Is that a challenge? You can't use the same trick as Ibu-kun." Momo said. His expression changed.
"What? Ibu?" Ryoma asked.
"Yeah. That idiot—"Momo said but was interrupted.
"Oi Momoshiro! What the heck are you doing there chatting with Echizen? Get your –toot- here and stack the drinks up!" Kamio shouted from one corner of the classroom. Nomura and Touji are arranging the tables and chairs.
"What did you just say? I was trying to get business for our group!" Momo shouted back. However Ryoma believes he need not hear more than that, thus leaving the corridor and moved to the next location—entrance where he can put up flyers to attract more customers.
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"Kaneda-kun, why not try it again?" Ichimura asked. Due to this request, Kaneda pushed the blue button and an eerie sound shakes the background of the ghastly prop prepared.
"We can see the people walking through this alley. When you hear this music being played—count to 10 and then show yourself. Scare them out of their daylights, put on the worst expression. The scarier it is, the more exciting it will be and more people will come for it." Kaneda explained to Shinji. He is supposed to hide behind some so-called-bushes and appear suddenly to scare the people.
"Why do I have to be the obake? I want to sit at the front counter and sell tickets with Echizen. This is unfair. I never get good roles. Previously in the pageant I was forced to be the evil stepmother and now it's—"
"Shinji. Stop it, will you? I am to be the obake like you too." Uchimura said.
"Then what about me?" an irritated Gakuto asked. He just arrived at the hall. Kaneda asked all the 'ghosts' to gather at 7am but so far only Shinji and Uchimura appeared. Not wasting any time, they started with Shinji.
Akutsu stepped in the hall.
"Konoyarou, you want me here early in the morning. You better give me a good explanation."
"Hey obake, have you forgotten that you are supposed to scare the people here today? Of course we are gathering here to discuss about it. But oh well, I don't think you need to put any make up though. This face of yours is more than enough to scare them." Gakuto gave him a scornful look.
"Yarou! You better watch your mouth! I'll just shorten your—"
"Ahahaha… um, I am sorry to interrupt but can we start now? I mean um, later on all of you need to change and make up… and then practice. So I guess we better not waste time…" A timid Kaneda said.
"Practice you say? PRACTICE? What's the meaning of this?" Gakuto shouted. Do ghosts need practice?
"Iya… I um, actually I mean to … ne… for all of you to get used to the dark environment and know your position better." Kaneda answered, sweat trickling down his spine.
"Cih. I know my way around here kozo." Akutsu said.
"Anyway… um, well, this hall is divided into four checkpoints." Kaneda took out his copy of the plan that he roughly drafts out. "The first check point is here—Uchimura." Kaneda points the first 'X' mark.
"The second check point is here—Ibu-kun, third checkpoint near the 'mountain side' is Mukahi-san and lastly is here—Akutsu-san." Kaneda points to the last 'X' sign.
"Teme, why am I at the last checkpoint area?" Akutsu asked. He's not satisfied with this arrangement.
"That is because—save the best for the last, isn't it?" Gakuto let out a shrilly laugh. He is implying that Akutsu is the scariest among all of them here and he deserved to be placed last to give the best effect to people who might thought that the scare had ended.
"Konoyarou! I'll beat the crap out of you now!" Akutsu plunged forward towards Gakuto. Ichimura and the others restrained him.
"Akutsu! Stop it!" Ichimura shouted.
"This idiot is going to die here today and be a REAL GHOST!"
"Come over if you dare!" Gakuto shouted and provoked Akutsu. And so the fighting continued in the hall till Oishi arrives. Sigh... will their haunted house be a success? Saa…we'll see about that.
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"Hiyoshi-kun can you please bring those over?" Akazawa asked. Hiyoshi nodded and passed the boxes over.
"I like our stall. It's nice and we get a good location too." Masami commented. He covers those fresh fishes with crushed ice.
"Yeah, and it's interesting! But too bad the rest of us are of no help to Kawamura-san." Ishida said sadly.
"Maa, don't say that. All of you helped a lot. Aren't you the ones who packed the sushi in the boxes? Ishida-kun and Hiyoshi-kun will be carrying and selling while walking around ne? That is also hard work." Kawamura said while wrapping the ingredients in nori sheet.
"Ah, there isn't enough ice." Masami said.
"Don't worry, I'll get it." Kawamura said and took off his apron.
Kawamura walks past several stalls and stops near a blue stall.
"Eiji!"
"Ah, Taka-san! What are you doing here?" Kikumaru asked. He was busy arranging the ice cream boxes when Kawamura called out to him.
"Ano… Eiji, we don't have enough ice. Could you give us some? We need it to keep the fishes fresh." Kawamura said.
"Sure! We have plenty of them here-nya, na Kaba-chan?"
"Usu." Kabaji who was behind Kikumaru opened their huge cooler box. He took out one block of ice.
"Taka-san, you need to crush them?" Kikumaru asked.
"Ah, ie… we can do it… thanks a lot Eiji." Kawamura was a little dumbfounded. Kikumaru sounds a little like Atobe though… and while he was leaving, he saw Kaidoh and Nitobe carrying another cooler box to their stall.
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"Fuji-kun, where are we going to put this?" Kentarou asked.
"Over there." Fuji points toward a mini rack that he brought.
"Oh, how considerate Fuji-KUN." Yuushi appeared with the same rack.
"You too Oshitari-KUN." Fuji said, eyeing the mini rack in Yuushi's hand.
"Hey geniuses can read each other's mind dane. They even have the similar thought dane. This is really great dane."
"Oi Yanagizawa, if you start crapping over there you'll cause more trouble." Kentarou said while handing him the song list. "Go to the office and make two copies since you have nothing to do."
Yanagizawa walked towards the office. On his way he passed by group two's stall (Inui's group).
"Atsushi dane!" He waved at his friend.
Atsushi spotted Yanagizawa. He waved back.
"So this is your stall dane. Ei? What are you selling? There is nothing here dane. And no one except for you and Dan dane."
"Er… haha Inui and the others are preparing it." Atsushi answered.
"Why is your group so secretive dane? Still can't reveal it?"
"Maa, you'll know later." Atsushi said. Well, if they display those pictures now they will be in big trouble. That is why Inui said they will only take out those photos half an hour after the event started.
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10am sharp. Seishun Gakuen's gate opened. People are beginning to pour in, be it the students' parents, relatives, friends or outsiders. Most of them clutching blue coupons that they have bought a week before the event—while some are ready with their cash. They can still buy coupons at the main counter.
"We sell the best sushis here! Come to the Kawamura sushi stall!" Ishida shouted while walking around with several boxes of sushi.
Hiyoshi, standing at the corner did the same thing.
"Hiyoshi, is that Kawamura's sushi?" A voice called him frombooth behind.
"Hai." Hiyoshi said.
"Then please give me one box. No, make it two box… can I ask for a favor?" Fuji smiled.
Meanwhile…
"Akaya, don't you think we are a little early?" Jackal Kuwahara asked.
"What are you talking about? We are fifteen minutes late! It starts at 10!"
"Jackal is right. We are indeed early!" Niou yawned.
"But Seishun Gakuen is surprisingly big. We might need more than an hour to walk around." Hiroshi Yagyuu said.
"Actually, what are we doing here?" Marui Bunta asked, chewing his bubble gum as usual.
"Aren't we here to walk around?" Sanada asked, looking ahead.
"To be exact I believe all of us have our own reason to be here. But too bad Yukimura can't come with us today. He's visiting a friend in Kyoto." Yanagi replied.
"Hey guys! Look at that! Isn't that Kaidoh and Kikumaru!" A surprised Niou exclaimed.
The Rikkaidai team walked towards their stall.
"Ah-nya? Rikkaidai! What are you doing here?" Kikumaru, who had his apron on, turned around to talk to them.
"Do you need to ask that silly question? Of course we are here for the event." Akaya said.
"You are selling kakigouri? Isn't it too early for ice?" Jackal asked.
"Haha! That's the catch! It is early for now but later on when the weather gets hot, nobody will be able to resist this temptation." Kikumaru smiled.
Yagyuu and Niou continued to stay at the shop to talk. Akaya and Marui wandered around together and bumped into Momo—who was on his way to the cafeteria to borrow a scoop.
"Hoi Momoshiro, did you receive those chocolates that I dedicated to you?" Marui asked.
"Ah, Marui-san. Yeah I received them! Thanks a lot." Momo said.
"Hey don't forget White Valentine's Day." Marui winked at Momo and left, leaving him dumbfounded.
Yanagi, Sanada and Jackal walked together.
"Sadaharu!" Renji called out to Inui.
"Oh Renji! You are here! I have been expecting you... Ah Sanada and Kuwahara-san is here too."
"Sadaharu, what are you selling? Why is there a cloth covering the item beneath it?" A puzzled Renji asked. The same question is playing in Sanada and Jackal's mind too.
"Even though you are my best friend but I can't reveal anything till 10.30 sharp. Another three minutes." Inui checked his watch. "If you can wait, you can buy the best few ones. All of them are first-come-first-serve basis. I only have ten copies of the same one. Buy it while stocks last."
Upon hearing Inui's words, all three of them grew curious and decided to wait for three minutes to pass. Soon, several curious-onlookers and passer-bys formed a small crowd and gathered in front of Inui's booth.
"Alright. Dan, Atsushi, take it out." Inui instructed.
While Dan and Atsushi bent down to take something out, Inui pulled away the red cloth covering the table, revealing the hidden item.
"OH MY GOD!" someone shouted as he grabs Kikumaru's smiling photo. "I want this!"
There were a lot of photos on the table. All famous members in the tennis club are there—all the head dorms and regular members. All pictures were secretly taken… but there are others that were taken long before (for example, Inui who had been in the same school with Kikumaru, Tezuka, Fuji, Oishi and Kawamura for three years had some personal collection of pictures that they took together in parties etc that he uses for his advantage now) which makes it more precious than ever.
Dan and Atsushi took out several huge photos (that have been re-sized to make it big: the size of a poster lol) with frames and hang it on top to attract more attention—they are pictures of Akutsu in polka dress and wig (remember the pageant? Lol, yes that costume), Ryoma sleeping soundly on his bed, Fuji in his pageant dress, Chotarou sleeping and Atsushi wiping sweat off his forehead.
"We have more of these (pointing to those huge resized photos) but I won't display all. You'll have to refer to this brochure and tell me the number. I'll take it for you." Inui said.
"And this is my special photo. Do you want to buy it Renji?" Inui showed his friend a picture of himself posing with Inui juice.
"No… no thanks Sadaharu." Renji couldn't believe that Inui is selling something like this.
"Sa… Sanada, let's—"But Sanada is not listening. He is busy browsing through the 4R pictures on the table.
"No pictures of Tezuka?" Sanada asked. Inui turned his attention to Sanada.
"Good choice! Tezuka and Atobe's pictures are limited and priced double of a normal photo. I only have these few selections. As for Fuji and Oshitari, only sleeping images are impossible to take." Inui explained.
"Why is it impossible?" Jackal asked. He too, has been browsing through the pictures.
"Fuji and Oshitari are very careful. They set alarms in their room and you will trigger it if you enter without knocking. They even know who walks pass their room at night. Indeed, they are more cautious than ever this whole week. There's not a chance for me and the others to enter their room secretly." And Inui did not reveal that he does not dare to edit Fuji and Oshitari's images… there's no end to the torture he'll receive if he offends those two…
"How about it Sanada? Any picture that captures your interest? Since you are the buchou (yes, I changed this fact again) of Rikkaidai, I can give you discount." Inui said with a wicked smile.
"No… no thanks." Sanada said, his mind still busy thinking about meeting Tezuka later.
"Waaaaaaaah! Look over there! They are selling pictures of the Tennis Club's regular members!" A group of middle junior boys rushed towards Inui's stall. This caused Sanada, Yanagi and Jackal to drift apart.
"Renji!" Sanada called out to his team mate.
"I'm here, Sanada." Yanagi appeared behind his buchou.
"Hm? Where's Jackal?" Sanada asked.
"He… he was here a minute ago…" Yanagi said, recalling Jackal standing just a few feet away.
"Well, we'll meet up with him later. Let's go." Sanada said and moved towards the tennis court.
Meanwhile…
"Where… where am I? Where are they?" Jackal wandered around, looking for team mates.
He sighed. Now he's separated from all of them. Is it possible to actually bump into at least one of them in this huge school?
One of the best ways is to go back to the first stall to find out whether his other two team mates are still there.
"Ano… Kikumaru, did you see Yagyuu and Niou?" Jackal asked.
"Hm? They left 10 minutes ago. What happened?"
"Ah… I lost them—"
"Fsssh Kikumaru-senpai! Taihen! Inui-senpai is selling our pictures at his stall!" Kaidoh rushed back to his stall.
"NANI? Inui selling our pictures? My picture?"
Kaidoh nodded. "The Beauty Pageant Picture is there as well."
"WHAT? ME IN THAT STUPID DRESS-nya? I-N-U-IIIIII!" Kikumaru shouted angrily.
"Kuwahara-kun, please look after the stall for me! Kaba-chan is away and Nitobe is having a break-nya. I'll be back soon!" Kikumaru said and left with Kaidoh.
"Ha……….?" Jackal stood in front of Kikumaru's stall. He didn't know what to do.
"Ano… can I have one lemon flavor?" A girl stopped in front of the stall.
"Ah… um, yeah, right away." Jackal said and get in the store, putting on a blue apron. Well, he had seen the vendors did it… this should be the way…
"Arigato!" The contented girl took her bowl of lemon-flavored ice and left
"Oh hey look there! There's a kakigouri shop! I'm very thirsty after eating those biscuits! Why don't we get some?" a group of girls rushed to Kikumaru's shop.
"Please give me lemon favour!"
"I want lime!"
"Me! I want strawberry!"
"I want berry flavor!"
"Mango!" … Jackal is so occupied that he had no time to think about his team mates' whereabouts.
---owari---
A/N: This is just the beginning for Seishun Gakuen's E-day! There's four part to the E-day and this is just part one!
Here, sneak preview for the next chapter—Chapter 26: Entrepreneur's Day II
Both Akaya and Marui are contented. Isn't it good that they decided to come here today? The thing is, they were so busy browsing through those tons of pictures that they did not pay attention to Jackal's announcement.
However…
"Renji, did you hear that?"
"Yea Genichirou. Jackal asked us to go over to the Haunted House."
"What a sudden request. I thought he doesn't believe in ghost." Renji said, completely misunderstood Jackal's message.
"Anyway let's find the Haunted House first." Sanada said and both of them wander around.
No doubt Jackal reached the counter first. He saw Ryoma sitting on the left counter and Oishi on the right counter.
"What is this?" Jackal asked, puzzled.
"It's two groups combined together… however we are not sharing the sales." Ryoma answered. "You decided to come here after all?"
"Ha? No… I am waiting for my team mates here."
"Osoi na… where is Yuuta? He's supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago." Oishi mumbled.
---Ends---
A/N: So what happened? Jackal was separated from his team mates… will he ever see them again? At least, in this school… alive?