Chapter 37

DISCLAIMER: Do not own Baka and Test or anything related to it, also do not own Gintama (should any references appear).

Kinoshita Hideyoshi

As the president had decided earlier that week, they began right after the animals had stolen Phillips' cloak and hat. Hideyoshi, as was his role as Princess Aurora, began to sing as the two of them danced. He was dreading the moment when Kou was going to take the actor's place, but he made sure that the dread was not evident in his eyes or expression.

Then, it came time. He turned around, knowing that Kou would be taking the place of the 'animals'. "But if I know you I know what you'll do; you'll love me at once." He sang, Kou soon joining in as was his role.

"The way you did-" Hideyoshi stopped, as if he hadn't expected the voice. Kou continued on, however. "Once upon a dream~"

"Oh?" Hideyoshi asked, feigning surprise as he turned around to see Kou dressed as a samurai version of Prince Phillips. "Oh!" He exclaimed, before turning and starting to halfheartedly run off. Before he could get even a few steps away in his yukata, Kou's hand went around his arm, stopping him.

"I'm awfully sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." Kou's voice was gentle, faked true and honest words and feelings in his voice and expression.

"Oh, it wasn't that. It's just that you're a, a..." Hideyoshi avoided looking him in the eyes, trying to come off as a shy maiden.

"A stranger?"

"Hmm-hmm." With that, Hideyoshi gave a small nod.

"But don't you remember? We've met before!" His voice was confident, no room of error so far in any of his actions. If this kept up, he would definitely succeed over Akihisa. Hideyoshi could only hope that Kou would make one single mistake.

Hideyoshi blinked, looking back into his eyes. "We, we have?"

Kou smiled at him, a hand going up to his chest as he tried to assure him of the two of them meeting before. "Of course, you said so yourself: 'once upon a dream'!" He took Hideyoshi in his arms again, singing as they danced together. The choir soon joined in; and out of the corner of his eyes, Hideyoshi saw that the president was silently singing along with them.

After several more moments, they stopped dancing and singing. Kou laid his arm around Hideyoshi, a light blush coming unbidden to his cheeks at how close he was to the pervert (opinion, not fact). "Who are you, what's your name?"

Hideyoshi willed the blush to go away, not wanting the taller boy to see his embarrassment. "Hmm? Oh, my name. Why, it's, it's... Oh no, no, I can't, I..." Hideyoshi turned his head away from Kou. "Goodbye!" He started to run off, Kou quickly outstretching a hand to stop him.

"But when will I see you again?"

Hideyoshi stopped, his hands clasping together up at his chest as he looked back at the play-samurai. "Oh never, never!"

"Never?" He asked, taking a step towards Hideyoshi.

"Well," Hideyoshi looked down, playing as if he were uncertain of his answer. "maybe someday."

Another step. "When, tomorrow?"

"Oh no, this evening."

Yet another step. "Where?"

"At the cottage," Hideyoshi began, taking a couple steps back as he looked over his shoulder again. "in the glen." With that, he hurried out of what would be the stage when they actually did the play.

"And cut!" Aoi exclaimed, standing up as she hit the script book across her palm. "Not bad, Fukui! Just as expected from one of our top actors!" She turned her head over to look at Hideyoshi. "Hideyoshi-chan, you were as wonderful and as cute as ever!"

"Thank you." Hideyoshi told her as Kou came over, giving a small nod and a small grin before walking away, most likely to change out of his costume while being filled with confidence that he was going to win. Over the entire performance, Kou had not made any visible mistakes in Hideyoshi's own eyes. He worried for Akihisa and for him himself.

"Well then, everyone take 5! After the break, we'll have Akihisa-chan have her audition!" The president exclaimed, motioning with her script book around at the members as she yelled out further instructions.

Hideyoshi looked over at Akihisa to see the girl approaching him, already close enough for the two of them to speak comfortably. "Do your best, Akihisa." Hideyoshi told her, giving her a smile that he hoped expressed that he still believed in her even though there were feelings of doubt in his mind.

Yoshii Akihisa

Akihisa had watched all of Kou's performance, solely focusing her attention onto him even through Hideyoshi had been right next to him. His singing, dancing, and acting were all top-notch, but she had seen something wrong in his eyes. Well, maybe not wrong... but there wasn't enough of it there... there wasn't enough true emotion in him.

Akihisa didn't know how she knew it, but she just could tell that she could beat him by that. It would require her to release her emotions, and she was ready for that. She'd show the president that she could be a much better actor than Kou if she concentrated her focus onto it!

"Do your best, Akihisa." Hideyoshi told her, giving her a soft smile that instantly sent a blush to her cheeks. As usual, an urge to just hug him and shout out that she loved him coursed through her mind but she quickly pushed it away, knowing that now was not the time.

"I will, so don't worry, Hideyoshi! I'll show Kou who the real actor is!" Akihisa told him, feeling her voice with as much confidence as she could manage while also pumping her fist into the air.

Hideyoshi gave her a bigger smile in response.

Kinoshita Hideyoshi

After Break

The call came out for everyone to get back into position, the play starting right where it had when Kou had his audition. As Hideyoshi turned around, knowing that at the moment Akihisa was stepping into the 'animals' actor's place. "But If I know you, I know what you'll do; you'll love me at once." He sang again, hoping that Akihisa still remembered their practice perfectly.

Akihisa joined in as Hideyoshi continued on. "The way you did-" Hideyoshi stopped not only because it was his role, but also because of the feelings in her words. "Once upon a dream~"

The below is not an actual representation of the actual acting taking place.

"Oh...?" Briar Rose spoke, her face an expression of surprise as she turned around to see who had joined in with her while she had been singing. "Oh!" She exclaimed upon catching the sight of a samurai standing before her. She turned back the other way and started to halfheartedly run off, but her arm was taken ahold of by the samurai.

"I'm awfully sorry," The samurai's voice was laced with genuine concern as he made brief eye contact with her before looking down towards the ground. "I didn't mean to frighten you..."

"Oh, it wasn't that." The girl told him, her own eyes looking slightly away from him as she held up a hand to her chest. "It's just that you're a... a..." The girl's voice trailed off.

"A stranger?" The samurai, Phillips, asked the girl as he focused his eyes back onto her.

"Hmm-hmm." Briar Rose gave a brief nod, shyly glancing at him before looking away once more.

"But don't you remember?" Phillips asked, his voice clearly suggesting that he wasn't a stranger to her. "We've met before!" There was true earnest in his voice as a reassuring smile lit up his face.

Briar Rose looked him back in the eyes, her face growing a slight red blush across it. "We, we have?" She asked, her voice laced with confusion as she couldn't remember when or where they had met before.

The samurai nodded a brief and eager nod as he took a step towards her. "Of course, you said so yourself: 'once upon a dream'!" Phillips gently took her into his arms, singing as they danced together.

After the song, they stopped, Phillips' arm laying around Briar Rose, a light blush on both of their cheeks. "Who are you," Phillips asked her, a smile laying upon his lips. "what's your name?"

Briar Rose blinked, her eyes glancing away from him. "Hmm? Oh, my name. Why, it's... it's..." She looked away from Phillips. "Oh no, no, I can't, I..." Half of her body was turned away from Phillips now, the girl continuing once she had glanced back at him. "Goodbye!" She suddenly told him, starting to run off.

Before she could get far, she was stopped by the samurai's words. "But when will I see you again?" The samurai's voice clearly expressed that he was worried that he wouldn't see her again and it clearly expressed that he did want to see her again.

Briar Rose stopped, shyly and hesitantly looking over her shoulder back at Phillips. "Oh never, never!" She told him, looking down at the ground as soon as she finished saying it.

"Never?" He asked, clear distraught in his face as he stood rooted to the spot, staring after her.

"Well," Briar Rose began, glancing into his eyes before back down at the grass. "maybe someday."

"When, tomorrow?" He asked, hope evident in his voice as he took a couple of steps towards her, a smile forming on his face.

"Oh no, this evening." Briar Rose told him, looking up and maintaining eye contact with him.

His smile grew larger. "Where?"

"At the cottage," She began, looking back the other way as she took a few steps away from the samurai. "In the glen." With that, she hurried away, vanishing into the woodland.

"And cut!" Aoi exclaimed, standing up as she hit the script book across her palm, a bit louder than the time after Kou's audition. "Akihisa-chan! Unbelievable! Not only were you able to keep up with Kou, you were even able to give your words, actions, and even your eyes more emotion! Such emotion! It's perfect for this kind of love-story!" Her face had a large smile on it as she turned her head to look at Hideyoshi. "Even you Hideyoshi-chan! All of your expressions and words looked and sounded so much more in-depth! I loved it!"

"Does this mean Akihisa won?" Hideyoshi asked Aoi, leaning forward as his hopes surged.

"It sure does!" The excited president exclaimed as she held out a thumbs-up to Akihisa before looking over at Kou. "Sorry Kou-kun, you did well but the kind of emotion Akihisa-chan placed into it is like that of a person who is in love!"

Upon overhearing her exclamation, Hideyoshi's face lit up with red upon hearing that Akihisa could be in love with someone. It would make quite some sense considering the emotion that she had been able to put into her audition, but the question was who she loved.

"Hideyoshi! We did it!" Hideyoshi let out a surprised gasp when he suddenly felt Akihisa's arms going around him, the girl snuggling into his chest with little restraint.

Hideyoshi only smiled, placing a hand on the top of her head. "Yeah, we did."

Could Akihisa be in love with him...?

Shimada Minami

The Next Day

"So you got it? That's wonderful!" Minami exclaimed, jumping up out of his seat after Akihisa had answered his question. Normally, he wouldn't have been so excited to find out that Akihisa had a good chance to kiss Hideyoshi, but this meant that she was going to be in a good mood and that would increase his chances to get her to go on a date with him.

"Yeah! I showed that Fukui-boy who the real actor is in the drama club! Well, of course, Hideyoshi is a much better actor than I am..." Akihisa said, praising Hideyoshi with a light blush on her face as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Don't forget to do the same thing during the actual play." Hideyoshi told her as he sat calmly at his seat, facing towards the two of them.

"Don't worry~ don't worry~" Akihisa told him, putting up both of her hands in self-defense. "I tried so hard to memorize them that they're stuck in my brain, and I don't think they're going to come out anytime soon!" She added an optimistic laugh at the end of her sentence.

Well, it was now or never.

Mustering up his courage as a blush started to cover his face, Minami took a step towards Akihisa. "Aki," He began, immediately catching the attention of the girl. "y-you've been working quite a bit for the last several days, haven't you?" Minami asked her, his face slowly growing redder.

"Yeah, I've been working so much that I haven't even touched any of the few video games I have left!"

"W-well... w-would you... l-like..." Minami's face grew bright red as he looked down at the floor and muttered his last words of the sentence he had been trying to say out loud.

Akihisa blinked. "Is there something you want to ask me?"

Minami nodded before taking a deep breath and then taking a forced step forwards. "Aki, w-would y-you like to go o-on a date with me?" He asked, nervous of Akihisa's answer yet anxious for it.

Akihisa was silent, a blush falling over her face as she continued to look at Minami. "I... I..." The girl was hesitant of her answer, looking down at the floor as she tried to think of what to say.

Minami didn't know why he did it, but he found himself glancing over at Hideyoshi. He knew that Hideyoshi was his love rival, but still, he found himself looking towards him for help anyways, for his assistance...

Hideyoshi averted his eyes slightly, glancing down at the floor just a little before looking up at Akihisa. "Akihisa, you've been working pretty hard lately, this could be a good chance to relax a little and have some fun."

Akihisa glanced over at him before looking up at Minami. She didn't begin immediately, but after a few moments of apparent thinking, she began. "I suppose... going on a date with you... could be fun..." To try and make light of her slow answer, she gave off a small, reassuring laugh at the end.

Minami brightened up. "T-then this Sunday? At 2:00? We could meet at the station!" He leaned towards the girl, his whole being radiating joy and relief.

Akihisa gave a soft smile. "Yeah... I'm looking towards it!" She happily responded.

Minami smiled back. Even though he didn't know if all of Akihisa's words and actions were genuine, that wasn't going to stop him from trying to win over Akihisa on their date.

A/N: Anyway, quality over quantity and again, time constraints. Don't have internet at my house at the moment, so that represents a small problem in updating.

So, as before mentioned - time constraints, We'll have to go without an extra and I'll just make a larger extra next chapter which shall (should) be their date! I wonder how that is going to go.

Anyways, due to time constraints, I was only able to proofread Minami's POV-part.