A/N: This story is a request by JBlaser.
(There's some minor Karmagisa.) I hope you enjoy.
"Have you seen the new announcement?"
"Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it? And so early in the year. Usually this kind of thing would only be held after the exams are through."
"I didn't pick Kunugigaoka for a school that held this kind of contests at all. Isn't the principal usually all about academics?"
Nagisa and Karma entered the classroom to find most of their classmates already present and gathered around Isogai's desk, discussing something. Nagisa went over to join them with a small wave, while Karma retreated to his desk to continue sleeping.
"Hi, guys. What are you talking about?"
"Oh, hi Nagisa. Didn't you see the notice on the school board?" Sugino asked.
"No," the blue haired boy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I was waiting for Karma so we could walk together and he was late, again," he gave a pointed look in the red-head's direction, who didn't even notice, head on his arms on the table. "So I didn't have time to stop by the main campus this morning."
"Look, Isogai took a picture," Kayano pulled him closer by the arm and excitedly waved the boy's phone in his face. The class rep took it from her with a patient smile and put it back onto the table where everyone could see it.
When Nagisa leaned closer the screen displayed a photo of a poster pinned to the school's main announcement board. The colours were obnoxiously bright and the text was curved. All over the page were what looked like stickers of the school mascot. On the small screen Nagisa could make out the words "School Festival" and "Big Beauty Contest".
"Doesn't really seem like the school's style," he commented while he read over the rest of the information.
"That's what I said," Okano cut in.
"All the judges are from the main campus," Nagisa noted with a small frown. "The big five are on there and the other's are either close acquaintances of Asano or teachers that are known to discriminate 3-E." He exchanged a worried look with Isogai.
The other boy nodded. "Yeah, I thought so as well. The timing, the kind of contest and the judges are all too convenient. We crushed the principal's plans a little too often during the last months, so this is probably all another big ruse to humiliate the End Class."
At his words their classmates quieted.
There was a moment of silence until Okajima said, "Hey, it's no problem. We've got lots of beautiful girls in our class."
The girls bleached. "Somehow, coming from you it's not even a compliment."
At least that got a laugh out of the students. Nagisa appreciated the lighter atmosphere. If the school wanted to push them down, the least they could do was to not let their spirits be crushed by it.
At that moment the bell rang and Korosensei flew into the classroom. "Rise and shine, children! We have another beautiful day of learning ahead of us." The octopus rushed around the room at super speed, shaking awake the students that were napping at their desks like Karma and urging the ones standing with Nagisa to their seats.
Once everyone was seated he began talking. "As most of you have probably already seen, the school is holding a festival two weeks from now. The main event will be a beauty contest between all girls from the second and third year. The winner's class will get a free vacation to a tropical island. Beautiful beaches and luxurious food and all paid for by the school! Isn't that exciting, students?"
To the teacher's surprise the class stayed mostly silent. Then Isogai raised his hand. "Sir, I'm sorry to bump your enthusiasm, but it'll likely not be a fair competition. Just another plot by the principal to put E-class down in front of everyone." The rest of the class nodded with dark expressions.
"That is correct," Korosensei's face shifted into the familiar orange circle. "His intentions are fairly obvious considering he chose such a subjective contest. However, what do we do in this class when we're faced with unfair odds?"
"We come up with a game plan," Kanzaki exclaimed.
"We sharpen our second blades!" Kurahashi bumped her fist into the air.
"And we never give up!" Maehera jumped up from his seat while others loudly expressed their determination as well.
"I'm so proud," Korosensei sniffled and whipped imaginary tears away, before sobering again. "You are all correct. Most importantly, no matter what this class is faced with, we fight! If the judges want to humiliate you, make their jobs as hard as possible. We have wonderful boys and girls in this class."
Shouts of agreement rang through the class. All of the sudden the mood was completely changed. Frustration had turned into excitement. Hopelessness to win in determination to show everyone what they were made of. A smile formed on Nagisa's face as well. However, it froze at Nakamura's next comment.
"Hey, how about we send Nagisa in as our second blade. Put him in a dress, some make-up and I'm sure everyone would be stunned by his beauty."
Nagisa winced slightly, his shoulders tensing involuntarily. "The contest is for the girls of the class, Nakarmua."
"I don't see the problem. Do you?" She grinned devilishly. Nagisa wanted to sink into the ground and vanish. The attention of the whole class was now on him.
"I'm not a girl."
"Oh, come on, like they would even notice. We would have that competition in the bag."
Nagisa clenched his teeth and forced his face into a neutral expression. "No."
Nakamura pounded dramatically, but before she could say anymore, Korosensei cut in. "No reason to fight students. While the beauty contest might be the main event, there are extra games for the boys as well. There'll be a volleyball match between each round. Now, who wants to participate?"
A discussion erupted and Nagisa was relieved when it shifted the focus off him. For the two announced matches they would need twelve players, which was less than the number of boys in their class. Itona quickly declined from participating, stating he would rather just watch. That left two boys who would have to sit out and a huge discussion about who'd draw the short straw.
Nagisa kept mostly to himself, satisfied with waiting until his classmates were finished arguing. That was until Karma directed the attention back to him by saying, "Nagisa's way too short to play volleyball. He should help style the girls instead. I'm sure he's great with make-up~"
Why? Why did Karma love to torture him? The red haired devil had a wicked grin on his face as he shot Nagisa a wink. The blue haired boy had to hold back the urge to groan.
Of course Nakamura immediately jumped the opportunity. "Yeah, I bet you know a lot about that stuff. Might even have some premium first hand practice."
Nagisa would rather die than admit that he did, in fact, have practice with all kinds of beauty products – not that it had been voluntarily. His mother loved 'mother-daughter-nights' where they'd spend the whole evening styling each other. Nagisa hated it. But over the years it had forced him to become accustomed to both handling make-up and wearing it himself.
"Come on, Nagi," Karma whined dramatically from the back of the room, "do it for the team."
With a sigh Nagisa finally nodded. "Fine," he said quietly, while staring down at his desk. Karma and Nakamura cheered.
After that it was decided that Justice, as the third shortest boy, would have to sit out as well. He wasn't too happy about it, but agreed to instead keep an eye out for Asano and his pawns in case they planned to cause trouble.
When the teams had been formed, Korosensei quieted the class again. "Very good, boys and girls. We'll use the last day before the festival for a special training. I'm sure Ms. Irina would be happy to give the girls some special first class tips. So don't worry, children. You'll be prepared."
He let his gaze wander over the class, meeting each of their eyes. "We have very pretty girls in our class and I'm sure you all will give the main campus a run for their money. However, girls, always remember that you are more than your looks. You have the spirit of true assassins, you can handle every challenge thrown your way. I believe in you!"
The whole class erupted into cheers.
On the Friday two weeks later the whole school was gathered on the grounds of the main campus. Booths with foods and drinks were set up all over the place and the center was a huge stage that had been decorated professionally. In the background a saint red curtain separated it from the backstage area that, according to the girls, led to the changing and styling rooms. As always the school hadn't half-assed things and even a live band was set up to underline the contest with music.
The students of 3-E stuck together in small groups while they navigated the festival. Huge events like this weren't exactly safe for them. It was way too easy for bullies to separate lone students from the crowd and the kids from the End Class were their favourite victims.
And so Nagisa found himself strolling through the sea of people with Karma, Sugino and Chiba. They had made a stop for some drinks earlier and were now enjoying them while slowly making their way back to the main stage where the beauty contest would start in fifteen minutes.
Nagisa was talking with Sugino, when Karma slung an arm over his shoulder with a smirk. "Hey, Nagi. Shouldn't you be helping the girls get ready right now?"
The blue haired boy threw him an annoyed look and tried to squirm out of his grasp, while simultaneously ignoring how Sugino was failing to hide a snicker. "The first round is 'natural beauty'. That means no special dresses or make-up, so there isn't anything for me to help with yet. And I'm still angry at you for making me do it in the first place."
He finally managed to push Karma off, but he wasn't fast enough before the other grabbed his hand to keep him from leaving. "Oh come on, I was just thinking about how you could help our class win. Totally innocent."
Nagisa thought about how Karma's devilish expression looked anything but innocent and rolled his eyes. "What you wanted was to embarrass me. Let go, I hate you."
"You know that's not true. You love me, Nagi~"
The blue haired boy huffed, but didn't protest. His boyfriend could be such a bother at times. Well, maybe he couldn't blame him too much, considering that he had never told Karma why he hated all that girly stuff so much in the first place.
"Can we go on, please?" Chiba cut in, oblivious to the tension as always. "I wanna see Hayami perform."
"There won't be much of a performance yet," Sugino said as they continued to push through the thickening crowd around the stage to get a good view. "The first is more of an elimination round."
Chiba didn't deem that worthy of a reply.
A few minutes later, Karma, who had the advantage of height, spotted the rest of the 3-E boys and they regrouped. They bleached at Korosensei's disguise. The teacher had chosen a traditional kimono that stood out like a sore thumb between the students in school uniforms. He'd drawn features on his face in excruciating detail, but somehow forgotten to put on a nose. All in all it drew more attention than if he'd gone in his usual yellow form.
Karasuma seemed to think similarly, judging by the heated discussion he had with the octopus. The PE teacher wore his usual suit and while it might have been a little too strict for the event at least he didn't look totally out of place. Irina was nowhere in sight, so Nagisa guessed that she was helping the girls get ready.
Around five minutes later the band started playing a few loud beats to get the attention of the crowd, before quieting down again. A spotlight turned on and the principal stepped up to give a short introduction speech. Something about confidence and presenting yourself and your achievements with pride - if you deserved it. Somehow he managed to twist a contest about looks to lead back to his principles of academics.
Nagisa tuned him out. Instead he watched as Irina re-joined the group, slightly out of breath from hurrying over. "How are the girls? I hope everything went well?" Korosensei seemed to be even more nervous than the girls had been.
Irina grinned with a hint of pride. "They're ready. The skin care routine and hair products we went through at the pool yesterday really paid off. They're all shining today!"
Nagisa hoped that would be enough. He had a bad feeling about this.
The band began a slow classical piece and the contest began. Because there were still so many participants in the first round, they stepped onto the stage in groups of five to be judged. The groups had been chosen at random. A points out of ten system would be used. Everyone with six or more advanced to the next round.
The first ones that stepped onto the stage were two girls from second year, two that Nagisa recognised from their year but didn't know the exact class of, and Okuda.
The shy girl with the glasses looked over the crowd nervously, but her stance was straight and determined. Her hair was out of its usual style and flying free. The locks had soft waves to them. The colour of her glasses matched her eyebrows to a tint and Nagisa wondered if Irina had repainted them.
Next to him Karma let out a whistle and Nagisa elbowed him in the side with a stern look, to which the other laughed sheepishly. Even though, Nagisa had to admit that he had never seen Okuda look that nice.
However, when the judges raised their numbers for each participant, 3-E was shocked to see Okuda getting only a three out of ten. "How?" Maehara exclaimed loudly. "That's so unfair."
Nagisa wasn't sure if the judges had heard him or just wanted to deliver an extra jab when one of them said, "Glasses are a real turn off. They turn down looks and obviously don't do anything in terms of smarts for her. Why does she even wear them?"
The gathered students laughed, while 3-E was quietly seething. "That's so unfair. They're just looking for excuses to let her fail," Sugino grumbled.
"Well, that much was to be expected," Nagisa replied with a sigh.
The next rounds went by similarly with the judges using half-assed excuses to fail the girls from 3-E or just giving them low numbers without explaining. The boys watching clenched their fists in anger, but there wasn't anything they could do. Their teachers weren't faring much better.
When the first girl from 3-A entered the stage, Karasuma had to physically hold Irina back from storming up there. "No way that's her natural face!" she shouted. "That girl is definitely wearing make-up. I can see that from here."
Nagisa had to agree with her. While there weren't any bright colours, the girl's eyes stood out more than what was natural, her brows were just a bit too perfect and her cheeks were tinted in a slight pink that he was sure wasn't a natural blush. Sadly, he knew pretty well how decent make-up highlighted your face without being too obvious.
"Isn't wearing make-up against the rules in this round?" Isogai asked with a frown.
A boy from behind them snickered. "Can you prove she is wearing some? You wanna go up there and rub her face? Pervert."
Isogai turned back around without answering.
The girl got 10 points while Kurahashi, whose hair was shining in the sun, was eliminated.
Most girls from 3-E were the same. By far the most infuriating judging was of Nakamura. The class had held high hopes for her. She was naturally one of the most attractive girls in the class and after Irina's treatment her blonde hair was flowing and shining like gold. Her bright blue eyes stood out against her smooth, well-toned skin. She was truly stunning.
As soon as the judges gave her a reluctant eight, class 3-E cheered loudly. But their applause was cut short when the principal stepped up to the judges. Not even a minute later they suddenly changed their minds and declared that Nakamura would have to be disqualified, because "her foreign looks gave her an unfair advantage over the competition".
After that Karasuma had to hold back more people than just Irina.
In the end only two 3-E girls passed the first round - Kayano and Kanzaki, whose beauty not even biased judges could deny, though they had still gotten unreasonably low points.
Their mood was sombre after that. The girls were seething with anger and the entire class had decided to retreat to the school roof for the half hour break until the boys' volleyball match would start. Up here they felt more at ease, the familiarity of the wind gently brushing their faces calming their anger. In Nagisa's opinion, being so high above everything was both a calming and freeing feeling. It reminded them who they were. They were assassins!
"The school might be working to put us down, but we'll fight back," Isogai declared.
"Yeah, we haven't lost yet," Nakamura said with uncharacteristic seriousness.
"We'll just put everything we have into our last two representatives," Kurahashi agreed. "Kanzaki, Kayano, we believe in you!"
"We have your backs. Anything you need, we'll make sure to get it."
"Thanks guys," Kanzaki blushed a little at the overwhelming support. "The next round is styling with whatever we're given, though, so I'm not sure what you can do to help there. But we really appreciate it."
"We won't let you down." Kayano bumped a fist in the air.
For the second round the participants would each get a random outfit to wear and limited make-up to use. The topic was 'bring beauty to anything'. As the name suggested the challenge was to work with whatever you were given and transform it into something special, beautiful in the way you wore it.
While the other boys were fighting their volleyball match, Nagisa followed the girls and Irina to the changing rooms. In front of the door he hesitated. He couldn't just walk in there!
Luckily, Kayano pulled him towards the styling room instead. "Come on, you can wait in here." Some of the other girls fetched the clothes from the other room to see what they had been given to work with.
"They can't be serious!" Nakamura exclaimed. "An old farmer's costume and a potato sack? Those are the worst possible options. There's no way we got that by coincidence."
At that moment Yada entered the room. "You're right. I just talked to Justice and he said he was watching when they distributed the outfits and it wasn't a random process like they wanted to make us believe. Everyone else's clothes are just normal shirts or sweatpants. Some of 3-A's girls even got light summer dresses."
"So what do we do now?" Irina asked. "I can try to style you up with the limited make-up we have, but there's only so much I can do for the clothes."
"And who draws the short straw and has to wear the potato sack?" Kataoka added.
Kayano took it from her with a cheerful smile. "Don't worry about it, I can work with this." She inspected fabric with a critical expression, before she took a pair of scissors from the nearby accessory table and started cutting it up.
"Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?"
"Nowhere in the rules is it stated that I can't change the clothes, only that I have to wear them." With a grin Kayano unravelled up the bottom of the sack and extracted multiple strings of fabric. "I could use some help with this," she waved over some of the girls. "Braid this into thicker stings, please. I wanna make a belt out of it."
They got to work, half the girls quickly weaving the strings together, the other half leaving with the contestants to help them change. While the girls were busy in the changing rooms, Nagisa turned to inspect the make-up. He cringed at the sight of it, but swallowed back any negative associations. It was fine. He was just helping the girls.
There wasn't nearly as much as he had hoped. One eyeliner pencil, some green eye shadow (at least that would match Kayano's hair) and obnoxiously pink lipstick. Nagisa bit his lip while trying to formulate an idea of how to combine those options.
When Kayano returned, the potato sack hung loosely off her. It wasn't as bad as Nagisa had expected. She had cut the top half to three finger thick straps over her shoulders and the fringy bottom actually looked quite good. But it still wasn't anything prize-worthy. Kayano's hair was down as well and Nagisa caught himself staring for a moment. He had never really seen her hair out of its pigtails before.
The girl smiled brightly at him. "Hey, could you already work something out for the make-up?"
He nodded. "The range isn't great, but I thought we could think unconventionally. The pink lipstick is way too intense, so I wouldn't use it. Instead we could put on the green eyeshadow and underline the eyelids with pink."
"I like that idea." Kayano joined him at the table and inspected her face in the mirror. "Maybe we could use the eyeliner pencil as a replacement for black lipstick. It'd give a special tad and work nicely with the colour of the fabric."
Nagisa agreed and together they worked on putting on the make-up. Kayano rimed the undersides of her eyes with the eyeliner. After that Nagisa carefully painted her eyelids green and the girl added the pink lines under it.
"We could try to use the lip gloss as light blush as well," Nagisa suggested while he re-sharpened the eyeliner pencil.
But Kayano shook her head. "No need. I can blush on command if I need to."
The blue haired boy was impressed. "Really? Where did you learn that?"
The girl didn't answer, just smiled at him and turned towards Kanzaki. "Are things working for you?"
The girl gave an unspecific hum and Irina stepped back from painting the girl's face with a frustrated sigh. "No matter what I do, I just can't get her to sparkle the way I want to with."
"The trick is to not try to press more out of the outfit than it can naturally give," Kayano said. "Think of it like you aren't wearing but acting it. In your case I'd go for shy and cute instead of outstanding and bright. Bring life to the wallflower beauty from a hundred years ago."
Everyone stared at her in stunned silence, causing the green haired girl to blush. She quickly turned back to Nagisa. "Let's just finish this."
He painted her lips black, which was hard with a eyeliner pencil. Once they had finished the make-up, he held up a necklace. "That was with the accessories. The gummy bear pendant looks kinda silly though."
Kayano just took the jewellery, clipped it around her neck and slipped it under the fabric. "Sometimes just the chain of a hidden necklace around the neck can be pretty enough."
At that moment Nakamura came over with the finished piece of braided fabric. "We finished the belt."
"Thank you." Kayano tied it around her waist twice and secured it with an extravagant node.
The end result was surprising. The sack now hugged her waist and fell down straight below her hips to just above her knees. It appeared like a modern style dress. All in all she looked really good. Nagisa was impressed. He wondered where the girl had learned professional re-styling like that.
Kanzaki was also finished by the time the band announced the beginning of the next round. They wished their two contestants good luck and made their way towards the spectator area.
The next thirty minutes were filled with girl after girl walking onto the stage in a line, presenting themselves shortly at the front and closing their round by disappearing back behind the curtains. The process was repeated several times. As expected everyone else had gotten normal or in some cases even pretty outfits.
When Kanzaki walked out, laughter became loud and comments were thrown about how 'the outfit showed where she belonged'. Nagisa felt bad for the girl. Everyone had done a great job at styling her up and making the most of the peasant clothes. While she might not have been beautiful in a traditional way, there was definitely a certain attractive appeal in her laid back plain outfit. The one point by the judges wasn't justified in the slightest.
At Kayano's appearance, on the other hand, barely anyone found a reason to make fun of her. The confidence with which she strutted onto the stage like she belonged there, her professional posing and the modern style potato-dress didn't leave the judges with much of a choice but to pass her.
3-E let out a collective sigh of relief. They weren't out of the contest yet. They still had a chance and the next round would be right up their - or rather Irina's – alley.
When the two girls returned, they consoled Kanzaki - though she seemed to handle her result better than expected – and congratulated Kayano. The green haired girl was fired up with excitement. "Let's go get some pudding to celebrate!" She exclaimed, dragging Nagisa and a few others after her. "I've seen some delicious sweet booths over there. Come on, it's my treat."
One hour later Kayano held her stomach, her face twisted in a pained grimace. Nagisa gave her a worried look "Are you okay?"
"No, I eat way too many sweets," the girl complained. She looked like she wanted to add something, but then she suddenly put a hand over her mouth and rushed off.
Her classmates exclaimed in worry, so Kanzaki went after her to check if she was alright. Ten minutes later Kanzaki returned. She was frowning and twisting a lock of her hair around her finger. "Kayano isn't feeling well. She got sick in the bathroom."
"Oh no, is she okay?"
"She'll be fine, but I don't think she'll be able to participate in the next round," Kanzaki explained.
"What?"
"You can't be serious! She's our last contestant. We can't just give up!"
Nagisa was just as disappointed as his classmates. They had come so far and their chances hadn't even been that bad. If they had to forfeit the final round, all their hard work would have been for nothing.
"Wait, who said we don't have another option?" Karma cut in. Nagisa didn't like the smirk he displayed. "We can just send someone in in Kayano's place."
The others exchanged confused glances. "But all the other girls have already been eliminated," Sugino said. "They can't participate in another round."
"But we do have someone who hasn't participated yet. Nagisa!"
What? He couldn't be serious!
Nagisa stared at the red-head in horror. Just the thought of posing as a girl in front of the whole school sent cold shivers down his spine.
"No! No way!" The blue haired boy vigorously shook his head. He desperately looked around, but most of his classmates looked thoughtful. He could see them considering the idea and his hope sank.
"Come on, Nagi~," Karma drawled, "we could dress you up nicely. You'd be the beauty of the show."
Nagisa balled his hands into fists to hide their shaking. He couldn't do it. The image alone made him nauseous. He just couldn't. "No, Karma, I won't do that!"
The red haired boy blinked, taken aback by his unusually stern refusal. However, by now their classmates had taken a liking to the idea and took over in trying to pursue him.
"I know you don't like it, but you're our best bet, man." Sugino put a hand on his arm. "I'd really love to see Asano's face when we win and it'd be great if we got that prize. One week on a tropical island sounds amazing, doesn't it?"
"But..."
His protest was cut off when Yada chirped in as well. "Yeah, do it for the class, Nagisa. Please!"
"I can't wait to dress you up in a sparkly dress and some make-up. And I'm sure there's a lot that can be done with your hair. He'll let all the other girls pale in comparison! We'll have this in the bag!" Nakamura grinned and leaned an arm on his head.
Nagisa was too distracted to even shake her off. Other girls. But he wasn't a girl. He didn't want to cross-dress in front of the whole school. He didn't want to. Just the thought made his skin crawl. But they weren't leaving him much room to protest.
"B-but...but I can't even participate. I didn't go through the earlier rounds," he desperately tried to reason his way out.
"There aren't any explicit rules against joining in the contest later in replacement of another student. You'd do your classmates a great deal by doing this." Korosensei gently put a tentacle on Nagisa's head. "But remember that no one is going to force you if you don't want to."
Nagisa swallowed hard. "I don't want to," he said quietly. He looked around at his classmates' hopeful faces. They had been giving it their all, it wouldn't be fair of him to not do the same. He took a deep breath. "B-but I'm going to do it. For the class."
Cheers erupted around him and his classmates started to thank him and pad him on the back. Nagisa followed it all like in a trance.
Guess I'm doing this then.
"All right girls, this one is 'free styling' so I took the liberty of using my connections to get us some premium stuff," Irina declared. "Let's make Nagisa into the prettiest girl of the school!"
The girls cheered. Nagisa, who was seated in front of a mirror, winced lightly at her choice of words. Almost all female members of the class along with Irina and Karma of all people were gathered in the backstage room with him.
The red haired boy had dropped out of the volleyball team in order to use this prime opportunity to get pictures of Nagisa getting dressed up. At first the other boys had protested that Karma was one of their best players. But then Karma had claimed that someone would have to help Nagisa change and that he wouldn't let anyone else do that. Nagisa was sure his intentions hadn't been that innocent.
Right now, for example, he was happily taking pictures as Irina held dress after dress in front of the short boy for the judging girls to choose from.
"How about baby blue? It'd fit his hair."
"Nah, it would be too monotone to have the same colour for everything," Kataoka waved it off.
"How about this pink one then?"
"Uh, do I get a say in this?" Nagisa asked timidly.
"No!"
One dress after the next was held in front of him and it became increasingly difficult for Nagisa to keep his smile up and hide the way he was shaking. He hated every single second of this.
He flinched when the girls suddenly erupted into excited squeals. "This one! This one is perfect!"
Irina was holding a white shoulder split dress. It had some tiny accents of lace and was sparkling in the light. It was truly beautiful, but Nagisa cringed at the thought of having to wear it.
"Go put it on," Irina pushed him towards the door. "And undo your hair as well. I wanna style it later."
Nagisa just nodded, not trusting his voice. He took the dress and left towards the changing room with Karma in tow. Once he had gotten undressed, the other boy carefully helped him put on the delicate dress and the fine transparent socks.
"Gosh, you look gorgeous in this." Karma ran a hand down the fabric at his side and back. Then he pulled him towards the mirror. He carefully untied the blue hair and let the long locks flow down. "Precious," he mumbled as he ran his fingers through it and gave Nagisa's neck a small kiss. "Let's go back to the others."
Karma turned and left the room, but Nagisa stood frozen in front of the mirror. The bright fabric of the dress complemented his hair and skin-tone nicely and long blue locks framed his face. The picture was pretty. But it wasn't him. Staring back at him was the image of a pretty little girl.
His shaking increased and his eyes started to feel damp. But Nagisa refused to let any tears fall as he sank to the floor, his back pressed to the wall and his face buried between his knees. He couldn't go out there like this. He couldn't let anyone see him.
At that moment the door opened again and Karma returned. "Nagisa, you coming?" Then he spotted his boyfriend on the floor and was next to him within seconds. "Hey, Nagisa, what's wrong?"
The blue haired boy just shook his head. He needed a moment to regain control over his voice. "I can't do this, Karma. I look like a girl."
"Yeah? That was kinda the point."
Nagisa desperately shook his head harder. "You don't understand! It feels like at home when my mom dresses me up. Like I'm being forced to be something I'm not and I can't ever feel like myself."
In the state he was in Nagisa didn't realise what he had let slip until he heard Karma's sharp intake of breath. "Whoa, whoa, wait a sec! Your mother does what now?"
The bluenette averted his gaze. But it was too late. The secret was out, might as well explain everything. "Mom always wanted a girl. It's also the reason why I'm not allowed to cut my hair. Sometimes she likes to pretend I'm her daughter. She forces me to wear dresses and make-up. I hate it."
Karma swore. "Why did you never say anything!? We'd have stopped always teasing you and pressuring you into cross-dressing."
"It's okay," Nagisa reassured him quickly. "I can take a little teasing from you and Nakamura. This situation just became a little too much. I really don't want the whole school to see me looking like a girl."
"You don't have to do this. We can still stop everything. Beating 3-A and winning the vacation ain't that important."
For a moment Nagisa considered it, but then he shook his head. "It's okay, I'll do it for the class."
Karma still looked worried. "I can at least tell everyone to stop teasing you then."
"That's not necessary. I know you guys don't mean any harm, so I don't mind too much if it's just you. All those other people are the problem."
"Don't worry about them. Once Irina and the girls are through with you, no one will even recognise it's you," Karma reassured him. "You can show them what true beauty looks like without being directly connected to the image."
A small smile spread on Nagisa's lips. "I guess you're right." He pulled himself up and smoothed out the wrinkles in the dress. "I think I'm ready to go back and face the demons."
"I'm the only demon here." Karma grinned.
When they re-entered the styling room Nagisa felt considerably better. While he still didn't like the idea of having to wear make-up, he didn't dread it as much as before. Meanwhile, the girls had used the time to set everything up.
Nakamura pulled the chair out for him with a smirk. "If you'd please get seated, young lady."
Her words still stung a little, but Nagisa managed to keep the smile on his face. He sat down and was instantly swarmed from all sides. Kurahashi started to paint his nails with pink nail polish, Okuda carefully strapped shoes – a pair of open golden heels – onto his feet and Irina started working on the make-up.
Nagisa shifted uncomfortably as she applied the moisturizer but didn't protest any of it.
Firstly, Irina took up the primer and patted it equally all over his face. She used some kind of glowing base that would not only help the later applied make-up to hold better but also added a soft, airbrushed tone that made his skin look like it was lit from within.
Nagisa carefully watched each of her actions in the mirror while trying to keep his hands from fidgeting.
Next, Irina moved on to applying the foundation with a brush. Nagisa wondered how she had managed to find one that fit his natural skin-tone on the spot, or if she just always carried every option with her.
"I envy you for your skin," Irina muttered as she put the small dose back in her bag and pulled out some bronzer application instead. "I don't even have to use concealer."
She carefully dipped the brush in the bronzer and used it to brighten and highlight some parts of his face. First she went over the jaw, the cheek bones and the hairline. Then she brushed minimal amounts onto the bridge of his nose and the high points of his cheeks.
Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, Nagisa felt heat rise to his cheeks when he realised how Irina's work highlighted all the female aspects of his face.
"He's blushing so much we won't even need to apply rouge," Nakamura snickered.
At her comment Nagisa's face became even redder. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Karma not being able to resist snapping another picture.
Irina waved the students back as she collected her colour pallet for the eye shadow. She started by adding a light blue base on his eyelids plus slightly over their edges. Then she applied a slightly darker, glittery light blue over it.
Next was the mascara, the part Nagisa always dreaded most. There was just so much that could go wrong with it. But Irina was professional with that as well. She curled the lashes of his eyes upwards and precisely wiggled the mascara at their roots. Then she worked the brush to the tips. The result was the perfect image of thick, pitch black lashes.
Last she picked up pink lipstick. The colour matched the one of his nails. His lips were first lined, then the actual lipstick was added with a brush. It was finished by a cover of lip gloss that let his lips shine in the light.
By the time Irina was finally satisfied with her art work on his face the nail polish had had enough time to dry.
Next, the female assassin started on styling Nagisa's hair. She brushed it until not a single hitch was left in the long locks. After that she picked up a curling iron and slowly started to style some soft waves into the hair. The locks fell around Nagisa's face in light waves in a way he absolutely hated. But even he had to admit that it looked very nice. Irina finished up by putting a pink flower in his hair and securing it with a needle.
"Wow, that looks so great, professor Bitch," Kurahashi exclaimed. Nakamura took the camera from Karma to take a few pictures herself.
"Oh, I'm not finished." Irina pulled out a bag with jewellery from seemingly nowhere.
Nagisa bleached. "Is that really necessary?"
"Yes, sweetie. We're gonna go the full way."
She pulled out several pieces of gold and silver and eyed them critically. The girls gave their input and together they decided on moon shaped earrings as a hidden reference to Korosensei. The earrings were silver with golden rims. Matching to them, they handed him delicate golden cuff bracelets with silver accents. The final piece of jewellery was a diamond necklace.
In the end Nagisa felt like a christmas tree. Never before had he worn that many accessories. When Irina pulled out a bottle of rose perfume on top of everything, Nagisa leaned back in the chair as much as possible. He would smell like roses for the rest of the day. Something he'd rather avoid.
"Could we not use that? Please?"
Irina just huffed like he had asked something ridiculous. "Absolutely not. It's the finishing touch."
"But the judges won't even notice..."
"It's about the authenticity, brat."
It was a losing battle.
When Nagisa finally stood up from the chair after what felt like hours, he almost fell. Luckily, Karma caught his arm. The blue haired boy needed a moment to get used to the heels and regain his balance. During that time Karma whispered in his ear, "You probably don't wanna hear it, but you look absolutely stunning."
Despite himself, Nagisa blushed a little. He realised that everyone present was staring at him. It made him incredibly uncomfortable. Even Nakamura had forgotten to take pictures. "Something wrong?" he asked.
"You...you just look so beautiful," Yada said. Everybody agreed full-heartedly. Nagisa wasn't sure if he should appreciate the compliment or feel offended.
Only a few minutes later Nagisa hurried out onto the stage as the last of the contestants. Irina had held him back to check everything over one last time. The final round had only ten students left. All of them stood on stage, forming a line so the judges could decide on the winner.
The announcer had just finished explaining how another 3-E student would step in for their former contestant when Nagisa entered the spotlight. He noticed how everything instantly went quiet and all eyes were suddenly directed at him. His face heated up and he really wanted to flee back behind the curtain.
But instead of laughter or teasing, shouts of admiration erupted in the crowd.
"She looks so good!"
"Who is that? Does anyone know her?"
"How is the 3-E girl so beautiful?"
"I wanna ask her out on a date."
"Man, I think the winner is pretty much clear."
Nagisa's face grew even hotter than before. On one hand he hated how everyone saw a girl in him – though that was still better than if they had recognised him – but at the same time a small spark of pride filled him. Mostly for the great job Irina and his classmates had done.
The other contestants were gaping at him in open disbelief as well. They seemed just as stunned by his beauty as the spectators. One of the two girls left from second year suddenly stepped forward. She first bowed towards the judges than him and declared, "I forfeit. I know that I can't compete with her. She deserves to win."
Deafening silence took over the place for a moment as she left the stage. Then clapping filled the air. At first it was just the 3-E corner, but then more and more of the students started applauding as well.
Inspired by the girl's action the other contestants walked forward one after the other. They all forfeited and left the stage until only Nagisa and an especially proud girl from 3-A were left. She gave him an angry look, but the peer pressure and her awareness of her realistic odds lead her to turn around without a word and leave as well.
Suddenly, Nagisa was alone on the big stage. He blinked in confusion. What did just happen?
"Uh," the judges seemed to be just as overwhelmed by the development. "I guess that makes the mysterious girl from 3-E the winner then. Congratulations, you look absolutely beautiful."
Loud cheers erupted from where Nagisa's class was watching. And after a short moment most of the school joined in.
The rest happened in a blur. Nagisa was handed a certificate and the tickets for the tropical vacation. His classmates soon surrounded him, complementing and congratulated him on his win. Some pictures were taken and Korosensei was crying in pride. The mood was loud and bright.
Later, Nagisa found himself back in the changing room with Karma where he finally got to change back into his normal clothes and wipe off the make-up. The red haired boy helped by putting his hair back up into its usual pick tails. Once he was back to looking like himself, Nagisa sighed in relief. He felt lighter. But somehow standing up on that stage in the end hadn't been as horrible as he had expected. It had been like acting a role, just like Kayano had said earlier.
Karma pulled him close and gave him a kiss. "Thank you for going through with it for the class's sake." Then he added, "I'm gonna print out that picture and put it on the wall in my room, though."
Nagisa pulled away from him and gave him a stern look. "No, you'll not."
Karma just grinned.
One month later 3-E arrived at the tropical island. The sky was bright blue and the sun painted the golden beaches and green palms in a soft light. The hotel was surrounded by green forest and the most beautiful flowers. While the outside was nature and idyll, the inside of the building was pure luxury. Everything was decorated elegantly and clean to a peak. Differently from their previous class trips they had multiple bedrooms, each holding up to four people. And the food was an experience in itself. Kayano and Korosensei were both drooling at the sight of the dessert buffet.
After they had explored everything in a chaotic whirl of over-energetic students, they decided to spend their first day at the beach. The hotel had direct access to the ocean and there were sun loungers all over the beach. Irina immediately claimed one of them and after some pursuing Karasuma sat down in the one next to her. Korosensei had already flown off to who-knows-where ten minutes ago.
The students gathered a few hundred meters away with towels, blankets and some of the great food the hotel offered for take away. Most of them were wearing light beach clothes with their swimsuits underneath. They prepared their beach picnic while talking lively among themselves.
"It's so beautiful here," Kurahashi sighed with a happy smile once they were all settled.
"We have to thank Nagisa," Sugino said. "He's the one who won us this vacation."
The whole class erupted in shouts of thanks.
"He was so beautiful, there was no way he would have lost. Even if the others hadn't forfeited," Maehara added, causing the boy in question to blush furiously.
"You hear that, Nagi?" Karma jabbed him in the side and grinned down at him. "Everyone agrees on how good you looked. You should totally wear that dress again in honour of your win." The red-head pulled out a bag that he had previously hidden between his beach stuff. "Look, I even brought it with me!"
Nakamura screamed in delight.
Nagisa politely declined, but of course the two of them wouldn't take no for an answer. They chased him across the beach. With their longer legs they soon caught up to him and Karma tackled him to the ground. Nakamura held him still while Karma pulled off the boy's shirt and quickly slipped the dress over his head.
The blue haired boy's protest went unheard. Though he was struggling, Nagisa couldn't quite hide his smile. Really, he should have seen this coming. He had told Karma that he'd be fine with wearing the outfit again if it was in the privacy of just their class, so he should have expected the red-head to take advantage of that now.
By the time they finished putting him in the dress Nagisa had stopped struggling. He didn't protest when Karma pulled out and added the familiar jewellery. He also untied the blue hair. Though they didn't have any make-up this time and he wasn't able to wear the shoes in the sand, Nagisa still looked stunning by the time they were finished with him.
Impressed and approving shouts came from their classmates when they walked back over.
"Oh, let's do a bunch of beach pictures and poses," Kayano squealed excitedly. She pulled Nagisa in front of the ocean and twisted him around into a model pose.
Karma looked like a child on Christmas, which in his case meant his birthday at the same time, as he took pictures from as many angles as possible. "Absolutely gorgeous!"
After a few minutes Nagisa found that he actually enjoyed posing for the cameras and he started laughing freely along with his classmates. It didn't take long until some of the others joined him and things soon turned into a war over the best beach picture.
What they didn't notice was that their happy cavort was watched and kept on camera for the yearbook by a certain smiling octopus.