ARC: Kinda boring—cept for the end.
"Good morning everyone!" Ms. Tanada greeted as she placed her things on her table and began to tape a large and folded manila paper over the board. "I know that you're all busy with many schoolwork and exams as the school year nears its end. I'm happy to announce that I'll be adding more to your work!"
She grinned at the groans and muttered curses thrown her way. She had been making the same introductory speech all morning and she still found her students' reactions humorous.
"Yep! I don't care whether you're overworked! I will now present to you—" she turned to the paper and flipped it open—"the final task!"
The class was shown a very detailed outline for the Playing House Project. The last part had THE FINAL TASK written and underlined several times.
Ms. Tanada smiled at some of the stunned looks her announcement received. It seemed that some of her students hadn't realized just how much time had elapsed for the project.
"Gosh, I never realized just how much we've done!" a voice commented.
"Well, believe it class, you've really gone so far and I want to say just how proud I am for the hard work you've put into this project."
Ms. Tanada clapped for her students who in turn clapped for each other and their teacher as well.
"But—" the joyous clapping stopped, "but you still have the final task to do. Now, I don't know if you remember what I told you at the start of the term so I'll just recap now. For the final task you and your partners will have a sort of sleepover at the house of your choice."
She noted the glazed expressions of some of the partners who, according to rumors, had really become official couples.
"You have to decide which house you want to spend a whole weekend with, yours or your partner's," she continued. "We will do this experiment two weeks from now because that Saturday will be a holiday so there will be no classes and you can concentrate on your project. During those two days I want you to act like you're actually living like adults. You will do your schedule for weekends, you will do the budget with actual bills from your houses, you will do the grocery—you will do everything that we've done for the past term except for the house hunting and the furniture shopping and apply them to real life."
A hand shot up.
"But teacher I have several siblings and we're a really big family. I don't think our bills will be like those for two people," the student said.
Ms. Tanada frowned.
"That is a valid point," she said. "Thank you for bringing it up."
The student beamed.
"Okay, for those who won't be able to get their hands on actual bills, come to me first and I'll provide you with some. Although they will be a bit different from those you did for your seat work a few months ago. Any more questions?"
"Teacher, do our parents know about this and do we have to evict them from the house during those days?"
"Another good question. My answer is yes, your parents are already aware of this part of the project since the start but I will be meeting them this coming Saturday for further explanations. As to your second point, no you don't have to ask them to go because they will actually be monitoring your progress."
"WHAT?!"
"Yes, I will ask your parents and the parents of your partners to monitor your activities so you see you won't actually be alone for the whole weekend."
Ms. Tanada smiled at the disappointed looks of some of the official couples.
"I will be doing rounds during those days so you can also forget about asking your parents or your house-helps to do the housework. You are supposed to be adults living normal lives. Plus, to make things more exciting, I have asked Mr. Matsu to lend some of the baby dolls he used before to those who were supposed to be expecting babies. Afterwards I will be interviewing your parents about their opinions of the events of the weekend. After that you will have two weeks to prepare your final report."
"So, Teacher how are we going to be graded here?"
"Well, my basis will really be more on whether I think you've learned something from your past experiences and our lectures and discussions in class. This will be more of an evaluation more than anything else."
"But Teacher what if our parents are out of town during those days?"
"Then I will just rely on the parents of one half of the group," Ms. Tanada replied. "Please also tell me so that I can work that into my schedule for the rounds. Any more questions? Okay so what you need to do until then is decide which house you will use. I will be open for consultations any time and if you still have any questions or—"
"What if our parents don't approve of this part? My parents were already kinda against the project from the start."
"Then I will talk with them. Ask them if they can come to school or if I can visit your house to talk with them. If not then I will see them on Saturday. Any more questions? No more? Okay, let's get on with the lesson for today."
— 0 —
Hanamichi quickly changed into his jersey. The finals would be that weekend and their trainings had tripled in intensity.
The door opened and Kaede walked in. His eyes blazed when he saw the redhead. Hanamichi grinned cheekily at him.
"Hey fox, how's your mom's parrot?" he wheedled, slowing down his actions.
Kaede ignored him.
"Oh yeah, Chu will be returning your dad's books next week. Hey, maybe we can all do our weekend project in your house too!
"Shut up idiot!" Kaede finally growled. "I will never let any of your friends step foot on my house ever again!"
"Whatever," Hanamichi said, chuckling maniacally before leaving the room.
Kaede balefully eyed the closed door before sighing and slumping on his locker as his mind went back to the events of a few days before.
He really did not know what had possessed him to invite Hanamichi to look at his newly bought scanner. He certainly didn't want to gloat over his new possession since he knew that Hanamichi and his friends wouldn't be impressed anyway.
Then that very same afternoon the whole Sakuragi gang had arrived at his front doors and he had spent several hours of total chaos. Hanamichi had lost all inhibitions with his friends around. They had chased each other all over the house, taught his mom's pet parrot some swear words, gone through his dad's book collection, and basically acted like the clowns that they were.
That night Kaede had slumped into his bed exhausted beyond belief. It had been hell.
Never mind that the house had actually sounded more alive during those few hours than the whole time Kaede had lived there. Never mind that he had actually wanted to laugh out loud when Hanamichi had sputtered loudly after being dumped in the swimming pool. Never mind that he had actually been hungry enough to eat a lot for probably the first time in his life. Never mind that Mina's plain dinner and Hanamichi's too sweet dessert had actually tasted better than what his cook had ever prepared for him. Never mind that he had to fight desperately the juvenile reaction to blow Hanamichi a raspberry after beating the redhead in a playstation game.
It had been pure hell. Kaede did not have the time of his life during that brief visit. NO. HE. DID. NOT!
Kaede shook his head before resuming changing his clothes.
They would spend the weekend in Hanamichi's home whether the redhead liked it or not. Besides, it was payback time for nearly wrecking his house.
But first he and his partner had a basketball finals to win!
ARC:
1. Nyork! Mental block is so not cool. Life also sucks—I'm all out of creative ideas. But I did get all those nice reviews so I told myself: self, you have to finish this; you owe it to your reviewers to finish the damn thing. So there, guys thanks and hope you like this until the forthcoming end.
2. Oh my, this fic is almost a year old. I'm like one of Ms. Tanada's students. I didn't really realize how much I've put into this little project until I read my previous chapters, in the hope that I will get back the thread of the story. I also realized just how much grammatical error I did. *wince*
3. He-he, ehem! And now the end is near…