Youhei smiled and nodded to his partner, Mina.
"Okay. Don't worry," he said, smiling, "everything will be fine. Leave all the talking to me!"
It was the day. The whole class had been preparing for one week for this day. Everyone was excited about giving out their first oral report of the first phase of their "Playing House" Project. Ms. Tanada had given them free reign over how to go about their presentations.
Youhei and Mina were going to do a powerpoint presentation with Mina handling the technical side while Youhei did the actual reporting.
The bell rang and he stood up from the leaning position he had assumed over her table. He patted her shoulder and gave a final smile before heading for his seat.
His smile evaporated immediately as he neared the last row and felt the tension from the two troublemakers seated there. His eyes traveled from his friend to Kaede and back. The two were obviously nervous about the upcoming class. Hanamichi had phoned Youhei the previous night and told him that they had opted to do the regular type of presentation using minimal visual aids. Actually Hanamichi had also wanted to do a digital presentation but he had not mastered the use of powerpoint just yet. Strangely enough, the two had managed to finish their presentations rather early, working even during their basketball breaks. Of course with all the teasing they had received, not much progress had been done during those times.
Youhei smirked at his friend who was practically shaking with nervousness, his brown eyes wide. On the other hand, Kaede was successfully imitating a marble statue. Youhei resisted the urge to pass his hand over the boy's face to see if he was still alive. They had been working on most of their previous report before but that didn't mean that they were already friends. Then again who knew that the Ice King could become nervous over a simple class presentation? Hanamichi was another matter though.
Youhei snapped his fingers in front of Hanamichi's face as he sat down. The other boy visibly started before glaring at his best friend.
"Shit! Youhei! Why'd you go and do that for?" Hanamichi growled.
Youhei shrugged unrepentantly.
"Just checking if you would jump a foot if I did that," he answered before giving out a cheeky grin.
"Fu—"
"Tsk, tsk," Youhei wagged a finger at his friend's face. "You must really be nervous if you're resorting to such profanities."
"Youhei…"
"Yes Hanamichi?" the boy smiled sweetly, knowing that he could get away with taunting his friend since the other boy was too wound up at the moment. He knew he would pay for this after class but he would worry about that later.
His fun was cut short when their teacher gaily entered the room.
"Good day class! So, ready with your reports?"
There were several groans in the midst of the cheers. Obviously some people were as nervous as the two flanking Youhei's seat.
"Okay!" Ms. Tanada said. "We'll go with the numbers you picked last week. I'll just sit over at the back and listen. Oh, by the way, if you have any questions for your classmates don't hesitate to interrupt them. I want this to a free-flowing discussion, okay?"
She waited for the students to nod before walking over to the back, dragging her chair with her.
"Hmm…Ms. Azami and Mr. Kasasagi please start."
— 0 —
The presentations went on. A couple did a small play pretending that they were really living under one roof. That got them several catcalls of kiss! kiss! Several pairs also did powerpoint presentations although Youhei noted smugly that his and Mina's were better prepared and had more effects than the others. Plus they had presented ahead so the others seemed more like cheap imitations.
Near the end of the class, the two most highly anticipated people were called in front.
Youhei had to shake his friend who had been daydreaming of presenting the next meeting and coming more prepared. He was already at the stage of his dream where Haruko was so blown over by his greatness that she asked if she could be his teammate instead.
"Hanamichi! You're up!"
"Huh?" Hanamichi looked around and cursed softly. Kaede was already walking to the front with their visual aids.
He quickly gathered his notes (which were actually just torn pages from his notebook) together, dropping some of them on the floor. It took him several more fumbling and one bump on the head when he hit it on his table, before he managed to gather everything together. He then woodenly walked up to the front and stared at his classmates as Kaede finished putting up the large pieces of paper on the board. He had placed them half folded, which had everyone's curiosity up. Well, everyone who could still think after seeing their idol in front of the class and actually awake.
Finished with his part, Kaede nudged Hanamichi to start. Their plan was for the redhead to do all the talking while the dark-haired boy would take care of the illustrations and whatnot.
Hanamichi cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and—squeaked. His face turned bright red.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot?" Kaede hissed. "Can't you even do a simple report right?
"Hey! I'm just getting warmed up!" Hanamichi hissed back, getting some of his bravado back. He cleared his throat again, glanced at his notes, then began.
"Well, we're here to report about what the stupid fox—ouch!" Hanamichi yelped when he felt Kaede's shoe step on his. He glared at his partner who glowered back.
"Just do the damn thing, moron," Kaede muttered. "And skip the name calling!"
"Hmp! Then you better shut up!" Hanamichi said. He waited for Kaede to say something. He continued when it was evident that the other boy was not about to interrupt again.
"Anyway, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," he shot a glare at Kaede. Several of their classmates protested at his words but he ignored them. "We are here to report about all the stuff we've done for this thingy for this class. First we have the budget."
Kaede walked behind Hanamichi and unfolded a paper and revealed a graph of their budget.
"We placed a high percent for food 'cause everybody needs to eat. Especially to maintain this genius'…genius!" Hanamichi nodded sagely. "Also we placed—ah heck! You can read them so we'll go on to the next one—"
"Yes we can read them Mr. Sakuragi," Ms. Tanada interrupted. But I think we'd all like to know why you put that kind of value for those items, hmm?"
Hanamichi and Kaede looked around and noted the glazed eyes of most of their classmates. Hanamichi opened his mouth to protest but Ms. Tanada beat him again.
"At least I would like to know why," she said.
"Stupid, just tell her," Kaede warned. "She might flunk us if you don't."
Hanamichi frowned at him but complied with his suggestion.
"Okay. We put a big percent for housing 'cause the houses cost a lot. And then there's clothing and insurance and health 'cause the fox here always gets into accidents so we need lots of money for those stuff."
Kaede resisted the urge to bop Hanamichi's head.
"You're the one who always gets into fights and will probably eat up our budget for health and insurance budget!" he mumbled.
"Furniture is important and we gave about ¥11,526 for that. We made a lot of extra for the "Others" part for the bills and social obligations and what my mom always calls "contingencies" which I think means all those emergencies that happen sometimes. Transportation's not that much important 'cause we got a place near where we want to work so we just use our bikes. The fox can't drive a car anyway 'cause he'll just crash it."
"And you'll get speeding ticket everyday, moron," Kaede finally said out loud, getting into the report for the first time.
Several people squealed at finally hearing him talk.
"Look what you've done! Now we'll never get this report done!" Hanamichi said, eyeing the hearts flashing from Haruko's eyes.
His partner just rolled his eyes and looked at their teacher who yelled, "Quiet!"
It was proof of how much Ms. Tanada had influenced her class that everyone became silent at once.
"Good. Go on Mr. Sakuragi."
But Hanamichi was not listening to her. His eyes were wide and he was looking at the doors of the room where several cameras had materialized.
"Eeeh! Rukawa! Look over here!"
Ms. Tanada groaned. She then used her most powerful weapon: The Terrible Gigantic Head of Doom to make the students outside the classroom immediately disappear.
"Ehem! So, please continue Mr. Sakuragi."
Hanamichi cowered a little before nodding and proceeding.
"Uhm…uh…" he looked at his notes but they gave him little assistance.
"The house, you moron," Kaede hissed.
"Oh! Yeah! The house! I knew that! Erm we chose this," Hanamichi pointed to an illustration that Kaede had just revealed. It was a sketch of the apartment that they had chosen a few months back. "It's an apartment that's okay with our budget plus there's this switch that's like an elevator and can make the living room rise up and make another room underneath. It's really cool!"
Ms. Tanada smiled at Hanamichi's enthusiasm.
"Nice find," she commented. "Now please go on quickly because time's almost up."
"Oh! Right! Uhm…here's a list of the stuff we want to put in our house. Most of them are from sales so we actually have extra left in our budget for furniture."
"Hey what're those pictures?" one of their classmates asked.
"That's some of the stuff we really like," Hanamichi walked over to the illustrations and pointed at the various sketches. "That's the sofa the fox likes and here's a chair made from those little walnut nuts. Anyway, the last list is our weekly grocery. We actually went to the store to get that done. Let's see…we have food and—"
"It's mostly chocolate and junk food," someone commented.
Hanamichi glared at the guy. "The teacher said to make a list of what you actually like and use so that's what we did. Got any problem with that?"
His classmate quickly shook his head.
"Good. Anyway, what was I saying…oh yeah, we have food there and some stuff for washing the dishes and clothes and for cleaning the house. So, there."
Both boys looked at Ms. Tanada.
"Whom did you ask for information?"
"My mom helped and Youhei's mom too," Hanamichi answered.
"And the real estate agent," Kaede muttered.
"And the real estate agent," Hanamichi parroted loudly. "And that grocery person who fainted when I got that prize from his store."
Ms. Tanada nodded, pleased that they had really done some footwork for the project.
"Your budget looks realistic enough. And yes, contingencies mean those little emergencies that crop up once in a while that need extra money. Buying from sales is a nice idea too. It will not only save you some money, you may find little treasures from those places too."
She stood up and started walking back to the front.
"Okay, are there any questions?"
"Rukawa! What's your favorite chocolate?"
Ms. Tanada and Hanamichi glared at the girl who had asked the question. Kaede merely stared at her as if she was crazy.
"Any relevant questions?" Ms. Tanada clarified.
The girl pouted but stayed silent.
"Okay, if there are no more questions," the teacher looked around the classroom missing the glare Hanamichi was giving to all his classmates should they be cocky enough to ask stupid questions, "let's give these two a round of applause."
"If only for the fact that they actually managed not to kill each other over the past few months," she added silently.
Hanamichi beamed at everyone, especially at Haruko who looked like she was really clapping for him. Behind him, Kaede began putting down their visual aids. He finished just as the bell rang.
"Okay, we'll go on with the reports next week," Ms. Tanada announced. "I hope you will all give as good reports as those we have heard and seen today."
Everyone started fixing their things. Ms. Tanada looked at Kaede who had finished folding the papers he had used then at Hanamichi who was still smiling at Haruko.
"By the way, who did all those illustrations you used?" she asked.
Hanamichi looked at her.
"Oh the fox did all of them," he said. "That's our agreement he does all the drawings and I do all the talking."
"You idiot!" Kaede growled.
"What did you say?" Hanamichi snarled back.
"Look what you've done!" Kaede snapped.
Hanamichi and Ms. Tanada suddenly realized how silent the room had become. All three turned to face the class and found everyone staring at them. Hanamichi backed up a step at the auras emanating from most of his classmates.
"Ms. Tanada can I ask one last question?" one eerie voice asked.
"Uhm…all right..."
"Good…Rukawa, would you be willing to sell those illustrations for ¥1,000?"
"No! I'll pay ¥2,000!"
"¥3,000!"
The next teacher of Class 2-3 found himself in the middle of a very heated bidding session when he entered the room. Up front were Hanamichi and Kaede playing tug of war over some pieces of paper. Meanwhile, Youhei was presiding over the bids, which had reached ¥10,000.
"I bid ¥10,500!"
-TBC-
A/N:
1. A new phase has started. Be afraid, people of Kanagawa! Nya-ha-ha-ha!
2. I like Youhei. Anybody else thinks that he deserves more screen time? And that he shouldn't be saddled with Haruko in all those other fics? I mean, I like the girl but I think Youhei deserves someone better. Dontcha think so?
3. Just one question, are Hanamichi and Kaede becoming too OOC?
4. To Kuroi Neko-kun, the 'she-he' problem in chapter 7 happens because the two are supposed to be writing about a fictional coach hence the he. But they based that coach character on Ms. Tanada hence the she. They just keep forgetting that they're supposed to be using 'he' in their stories. Am I making sense here?
5. Of course, to all who reviewed the last chapter thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can't thank you enough! Thank you! You keep me hanging in there and writing more! Thank you!