Ms. Tanada almost sighed as she neared the impossible duo seated at the last row. One was half-sleep while the other was openly snoring.
She managed a small smile as she reached out for the piece of paper from white fingers.
"Your partner seems to be extra tired today, hm…Rukawa?" she commented at the raven-haired boy.
"Hn," Kaede answered and proceeded to follow his partner's example.
"O~kay!" Ms. Tanada said loudly as she swiveled and walked to the front. The two boys immediately sat up. Hanamichi had dark circles under his eyes because he had stayed up all night typing their report.
"Your next assignment will be the last for the first phase of the project. You've almost made it through the first part. Now, all you have to do is make—your grocery list!"
— 0 —
"Since we're here, I'll do my grocery too," Kaede stated to his approaching partner.
Being a Sunday, and their only free day, the two had agreed to meet at the local grocery and do their homework.
"You go your way and I go mine," Kaede added as Hanamichi stopped before him. "We'll both make our own lists and just compare later. Is that clear idiot? Good."
Kaede immediately turned around, grabbed a basket, and proceeded to a random aisle, closing his ears against his partner's screams.
"Rukawa you bastard! Who do you think you are!"
Hanamichi stopped after several minutes of futile yelling. The store guard had tried to hush him up but he only glared at the guy before huffing and turning away. He then fished out from his pocket a bunch of discount coupons he had cut out the previous day. His stomach rumbled.
"Hmmm…maybe I should have eaten something before I left," he muttered as he grabbed a basket. "Maybe one of these coupons can give me a free snack—ak!"
The boy had not been paying attention to where he was going and had slipped on a mop left by one store boy. Needless to say Hanamichi had to be pacified by half of the staff of the store before he stopped yelling.
The poor boy was only consoled when he was given free samples of a new brand of cheese spread on some crackers.
"FOOOODDDD!"
The redhead passed his hand across the tray containing the crackers and the next moment all the food was gone.
"Ah! Sir! Please! You can only take one—"
"More!"
Not one to argue with a six-foot tall scary guy with red hair, the girl and all those gathered around complied. However, after several more trays of crackers, Hanamichi began to choke.
"Oi—hak!—don't you have—ak!—free drinks—wak!"
"N-no sir! But there's a guy at the other end of the grocery that's giving out free samples of some juice—"
The girl found herself talking to a mushroom cloud. Hanamichi had bolted to the indicated stall. Several gulps later he was leisurely walking along the aisles leaving behind a very traumatized stall-keeper.
Meanwhile, in the middle of an aisle filled with parked grocery carts was Kaede—being mobbed by a horde of fangirls. It seemed that his groupie had managed to learn that he was inside the same building as them and had converged on the brunette star. Wild-eyed and actually showing some emotion on his face, the boy tried to free himself from the mob but the carts were giving him a hard time.
"Chikuso!" he muttered.
"Kyaa! He cursed!"
"So cool!"
Becoming quite desperate and a little scared, Kaede jumped into a cart and kept hopping until he finally skidded to a stop at the end of the aisle. His fans tried to follow him but they were stuck in the middle of the parked carts.
"Rukawa!"
"Wait for us!"
"We'll do your grocery shopping for you!"
Kaede didn't bother to even glance at them as he sprinted towards the farthest aisle from the screaming crowd.
When he was sure he was safe, he began to finally began his shopping. He came across several chocolate syrups and his eyes lit up. He took a bottle and read the label. He went on to read the other labels afterwards.
Fifteen minutes later he was still reading the labels for the third time. He was a perfectionist in everything. He would buy nothing but the best chocolate syrup. After five more minutes, he finally made his choice and he moved on to a pile of canned soup.
Hanamichi found him staring at the pile ten minutes later.
"Hey, Rukawa whatcha doin'?" the redhead asked, licking the free candy he had wheedled out of yet another store guy.
"Shut up stupid! I need to concentrate," Kaede hissed as he glared at the huge pyramid of cans.
Hanamichi leaned closer and looked from Kaede's face to the pile and back.
"What're you staring at that for? Why not just get this one," he said as he grabbed one can from the top.
Kaede glared at him then at the can.
"No, you moron. That has a dent," he said, pointing to a tiny dent at the top of the can.
"It's just a little dent!" the redhead argued.
Kaede stubbornly shook his head.
"No. Stupid. I want one that has no dent," he stated before bending in front of the pile. "I want this," he added as he pointed to a can right in the middle.
"But it's in the middle of the pile," Hanamichi said, pointing out the obvious.
"Hn. Just do your list , moron, and leave me alone."
"I can do that later. I wanna watch this."
Kaede ignored the other boy. He went on to poke "his" can, ever slowly managing to disengage it from the pile. He was so intent on what he was doing that he forgot about his partner.
The maniacal giggling first alerted him that something was up.
Then the can next to his choice began to move. Soon, the redhead had triumphantly removed one can, which he held out to Kaede.
A flame of competitiveness erupted in the other boy's eyes. He immediately pushed his can and smugly held it out to Hanamichi. The redhead retaliated by moving another can. The two then plunged into an intense game of Uno using canned soups as toy pieces.
This led to an intense game of throw-the-grocery-item, which led to a storewide panic.
"Clean-up crew on aisle 15!"
"Clean up needed along aisle 10!"
"Help! Two maniacs are throwing kelp at each other near the vegetable stand!"
"One personnel needed at aisle 8. Somebody used the oranges as bowling bowls."
It took several minutes for the store staff to find the culprits. By then they were easy to find since they were both covered in flour, vegetables, various sauces, and different confectioneries. Hanamichi was actually eating some of the sweet stuff covering his hand.
"Oi, you two! Get your hands up and stop this nonsense!" a guard shouted at the two.
The man was immediately pushed aside by a group of Rukawa fans who magically appeared out of nowhere.
"Don't you dare throw our beloved Rukawa out!"
"He wasn't doing anything."
"Throw this monkey out!"
"WHAAAATTT?" Hanamichi screeched, glaring at the group.
"You did this to him!"
"We'll never forgive you for making our Rukawa dirty!"
"Making him dirty?" Hanamichi saw red. "He was the one who started this! Oi Rukawa—huh? Rukawa?"
"Waah! Rukawa, where are you?"
"Where'd he go?"
Rukawa's fans panicked. It seemed that their god had used Hanamichi's diversion as a way to sneak pass the crowd. Quickly seeing an escape, Hanamichi used this moment to also make his getaway.
It was one of the guards who noticed that both culprits had disappeared.
"Huh? Hey, where did that red-haired guy go?"
"Arg! We lost both of them!" another guard growled.
"Split up they can't be far."
The Rukawa fans also took this advice and went off in different aisles shouting their idol's name.
Meanwhile, Hanamichi saw Kaede just about to exit the store. He was going to call his partner when he saw a box near the entrance. He quickly approached it and found out that it was a fukubiki. He gleefully inserted a hand inside and drew out a golden ball. He immediately showed this to the grocery clerk standing nearby.
The clerk gulped, consulted a list of prizes, and gulped again.
"Nyahahaha! This genius has won a prize!" Hanamichi leaned closer to the clerk. "So what do I get?"
"Con-congratulations sir…you just won ¥10,000.00 worth of free groceries."
"Nyahaha! Hey, Rukawa! The genius got a prize, which he will use right now! Nyahahaha!"
Rukawa stopped, turned, and went back inside.
"What the—hey, what're you doing back here Rukawa? I thought you were going home already."
"You made me lose my grocery and my list," Rukawa answered, snagging a new basket. "You owe me so I'm cashing in on your prize."
"WHAT? No way! I won't share my prize with you!"
"You have no choice, idiot!"
"Arg! Noooooo!"
The last comment was uttered by a very harassed store manager.
-TBC-
A/N:
1. And with this chapter ends the first phase of Playing House. Please tell me what you think of this part and do watch out for the next phase.
2. Oh yeah, a fukubiki is like a lottery box or drum. Your prize is determined by the color of the ball you get. Stores usually use this to attract customers. Anyone seen Card Captor Sakura the movie? That's how Sakura got her free trip to Hong Kong.
3. Last but certainly not least, thanks to those who have reviewed. You continue to inspire me to do better chapters. (Actually you also make me nervous because I keep thinking that my next chapter may not be as good ^___^;) But seriously, thank you for all your support!