Carnival Delight!
By coolpriss
Disclaimer: If you've been reading this fic, you'd know that no, I do not own SD and its characters. But of course, this fic is mine, as well as Korky, the castle, the maze…heck, the whole 'Lost Paradise' is mine, but why oh why am I still broke? T_T;;
Chapter 7: A Fairytale Ending!
"Sukiyaki, Sushi, Miso soup…"
"Roast Chicken, Steak…"
"Noodles, Pork Chop…"
"Cake, Chocolate, Ice Cream…"
Each dish suddenly appeared as they pronounced it, circling above their heads before finally settling on a huge buffet table filled with different kinds of cuisine. Sakuragi, Miyagi, Mitsui and Ayako stared at the imaginary table, their eyes glittering with delectation, their nostrils flaring with the illusory aroma, their mouths open, watering, as if almost tasting the delicious feast before them.
Akagi was sweatdropping as he stared at the four, his face a mixture of disbelief, disgust and amusement. Then he turned to Korky, who was wearing a shrewd, satisfied smile. The clown approached them cheerfully after the boat ride. Akagi was actually surprised; Korky was remarkably silent after the bumpcar incident that the captain thought the buffoon was finally tired. Instead, Korky's ebullience earlier that day was even doubled after their ride down the Tunnel of Love. He told them excitedly how he "suddenly remembered" about the 'Charmed Castle' and how there are lots of food and surprises at the end of the 'Magical Maze'. The word 'food' was enough to lift the cloud of irritability among his members, and somehow gave them new hope and a sudden surge of energy.
Akagi's eyes narrowed. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" he demanded. He could feel there was something fishy about this clown and his suggestion. "You knew we were hungry. You knew where the food was." Akagi brought his face down, his nose inches from the red ball on the tip of Korky's nose. "Why didn't you tell us?"
Korky backed away slowly with shaking steps. "Er, I…forgot…my…my memory was jumbled by the Roller Coaster ride…and…and…I forgot about it…and…and…when I…when I saw the Castle…I suddenly remembered…" he stuttered. When he was far away from the big captain, he sucked up all the strength left in him and stood up straight. "The restaurants and fast food chains were banned from The Lost Paradise after more than ten people were hospitalized and almost died from food poisoning. The management decided the well being of the customers are their utmost priority and decided to have their own complimentary buffet at the Castle. And it's for free! All you have to do is walk in then walk out of that maze and you've got yourselves the best meal of your life! Plus, you get to explore the Charmed Castle with all its enchantment and charisma! The castle was fashioned after the Palace of Versailles in France, which was in its heyday the most elegant and sumptuous palace in Europe. Typical of the lavishness of the interior decoration is the dazzling and hugely expensive Hall of Mirrors…"
Akagi's narrowed eyes turned half-lidded somewhere in the middle of Korky's tale. His stomach churned and growled. Then his face took on a determined look. "Yosh! If there are no objections, let's all head over to that castle and see if there is truth to all these." He stared hard at Korky the Klown.
Korky, who sighed with relief when Akagi cut him short of his babble, felt his knees turn to jelly at the glare of the 'Gori'. He had heard of horror stories of his fellow clowns about going into that maze to resign but never coming out alive… He gulped. It was the management's way to keep the employees from leaving the place, or so he was told. Then he shook his head hard that his flower hat turned a full 360-degree turn. I've never seen people like these highschool students…they're like…barbarians…or even worse…I'm sure they'll lead me straight to the main office without even knowing it…then I'll just leave my resignation form and leave them looking for their imaginary food…they'll get caught and would be led to the dungeon and then… Korky's sly smile returned, rubbing his palms together as he watched the Shohoku Basketball team walk eagerly into the labyrinth. Then he looked at his side and saw Rukawa gazing at him coldly. Korky's left eye narrowed, a huge sweatdrop appeared beside his face. He followed the kitsune as he entered the maze.
Barbarians…
~~~***~~~
"We've been walking for hours and there's still no sign of this maze's ending!" Mitsui complained.
"Nii-chan, I'm tired…" Haruko whined.
Sakuragi turned to Korky. "Oi!" he held up the clown by the collar. "Where's my food?! If you don't lead us out of here and give us food---"
"SAKURAGI!"
Sakuragi stopped and looked at Akagi.
"Don't waste your energy with him. There might be other traps."
Sakuragi nodded and dropped Korky with a loud thud.
"It's eleven-thirty already," Kogure announced. "I'm sure our parents must be worried sick about us now…"
"We have to get out of here," Ayako declared. Her stomach growled in agreement. "We need to get food…"
"Wait! Don't step there!" Miyagi cried, grabbing Sakuragi's shirt backward. The ground suddenly disappeared where Sakuragi nearly planted his feet on. Everyone stared at the huge hole in the middle of the path. That was nineteenth trap they've encountered.
"Oh, great," Mitsui sighed with exasperation. "We're gonna have to turn around again."
"Wait," this time it was Rukawa. He pointed forward. The road stretched before them, having several side roads.
"What is it, Rukawa?" Akagi stared with confusion at the long path in front of them.
"Look hard."
"Are you making fun of us, Rukawa?!" Sakuragi demanded, rushing over to the tall, pale boy.
"There it is!" Kogure remarked his voice just above whisper.
"Eh?" Sakuragi looked forward. He squinted, trying to see what Kogure saw. Then finally he saw red and blue lights in the midst of darkness. He blinked.
"The exit!" Ayako shrieked with delight. "Finally! We're getting out of here!"
"But how?" Haruko blinked at the huge pit occupying the whole road.
"We'll jump," Sakuragi stated matter-of-factly. Haruko nearly fainted. "Daijobou, Haruko-san," Sakuragi said quickly. "Tensai Sakuragi will carry you! You don't have to be afraid! Nyahahaha!"
"That's all the more reason why she should be afraid," Akagi delivered another punch in the redhead's head. "Don't worry, Haruko, we're not jumping. It's to wide." He glanced at the small piece of ground left beside the hedges. "We'll walk through there."
"What? But those shrubs are…" Korky protested as he looked mournfully at his enlarged and reddened left hand. His fingers brushed at the hedge just minutes after they entered the maze and it suddenly grew thrice its size.
"Just be extremely careful not to touch those shrubs. If you're too scared," Akagi added, looking at him. "Then stay here."
Korky looked nervously at the others who were carefully making their way around the dent. Then he looked back at Akagi and gulped. When everyone's on the other side, he took a shaky foot forward. Then another. Halfway through and gaining confidence, his left foot landed on loose soil. As the ground vanished from Korky's feet, he scrambled in panic, grabbing hold of anything his hands could clutch. Looking down at the abysmal hollow he almost fell into, he sighed. Then he turned to see what had saved his life. He almost fell into the hole again as he suddenly let go of the bushes, screaming. He crawled as fast as he could towards the others as he felt his whole body itching and becoming numb.
He waited, panting hard, for the ridicule and laughter of those merciless barbarians. But there was none. Surprised, he looked up and saw the cause of their silence. Standing in front of them with all its grandeur and splendor, was the Charmed Castle. He had never seen it this close before and it was truly enchanting. He saw the drawbridge slowly lowering towards them, as if welcoming them in. Hmm…this isn't bad as I thought…
Sakuragi looked around to see if everybody else was seeing what he was seeing. Then he saw Korky and he exploded in laughter. Vexed, the other members looked at him then turned to look at Korky and roared as well. Korky's hands, legs and even his face were all swelling badly. Despite his thick white make-up, his face, as well all the other parts of his body were bright red. He looks like, well, an over-sized basketball ball.
With the eruption of wicked laughter, Korky's red face turned purple and with a sigh, hung his head low, defeatedly.
"Well, what are waiting for?" Miyagi grinned. "Food, here we come!" He ran towards the bridge and into the brightly-lit castle.
"Oi, don't you dare eat all the food, Ryochin!"
"I'm gonna have some hot noodles then some rice balls and some sushi…"
Korky stared at the brightness of the castle. Finally…he could hand in his resignation form… With a crazed laugh, he ran inside, leaving even Miyagi in a cloud of smoke.
"Eh? Nani?" Miyagi blinked a couple of times when he stepped inside. It was huge with large chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling filling the room with such brightness. He looked around for the clown. He was totally gone.
Sakuragi stepped in front of him looking left and right. "Where's the food? Where's the food?"
"There's nothing in here," Mitsui frowned, stepping beside Miyagi. "But mirrors."
A huge hallway stretched before them, surrounded by tall mirrors. There was no other way to go but forward, towards the row of glass.
"We can't go back," Akagi informed them. "The drawbridge just closed."
"NANI?!"
"We'll just have to go forward and find someone who can lead us back to civilization." Akagi walked forward. He looked around but couldn't see anything but his reflection.
"I thought this was supposed to be the 'Charmed Castle' filled with food and not the House of Mirrors," Ayako muttered, looking around herself.
Haruko wrapped her arms around body. "This place is creepy…"
"Ah! Daijobou, Haruko-san! Tensai Sakuragi is here! I won't let anything bad happen to you, Haruko-san! Nyahahaha!"
"Do'aho," Rukawa muttered as he passed the two.
"Nani?!" Sakuragi and Akagi said at the same time. Sakuragi peered curiously at Akagi who was sweatdropping. The redhead followed his captain's gaze and sweatdropped himself. The end of the hallway of mirrors led to a dark, narrow, spiral stone staircase that looked like it went straight to the dungeons. A cold shiver went down Sakuragi's spine.
"I thought we already went in the Haunted House…" Ayako tried to laugh nervously.
"Now, I'm really scared…" Haruko gulped.
"Nonsense," Akagi declared. But his own voice quivered slightly. "There's got to be someone else in here. We'll just have to find him and ask him to let us out." He took a step forward and a torch beside him lit up ablaze. Screams filled the entire castle.
"Quiet!" Akagi thundered after he realized it was only the torch. "C'mon! Follow me." And he continued to make his way up.
The others behind him looked at each other. Then Kogure stepped in next. "We'll never get out of here if we don't move." He smiled weakly.
They went up in silence for several minutes.
"When is this gonna end?" Sakuragi complained. "I'm tired. And hungry."
"Urusai!" Mitsui shot behind him. "Just get going, will you?"
"Te me, Mitsui!"
"I can see the end!" Kogure called out. "Hayaku, minna-san! We're almost there!"
"Can you see any food, Kogure-sempai?" Ayako was bringing up the rear, dragging the panting Haruko with her.
"Iie, I can't see anything…it's too dark…"
Sakuragi suddenly stopped. He started to sniff the air. Then he gave a loud yelp. "Food! I can smell food!" He ran past Miyagi and Kogure and Akagi and burst through the entrance, sniffing. The rest of the team followed shortly after him, everyone out of breath from their run.
"Where's the food?" Miyagi demanded, looking around.
They were now at the rooftop, with the whole city below them. The lights of the carnival were like sparkling jewels. They could almost see the train station they got off that afternoon to get to The Lost Paradise. It was breathtaking.
"Wow…" Haruko gasped, looking around her with wide-eyed wonder. "Sugoi…"
"Everything looks so small up here," Ayako agreed.
Then they heard another cry from Sakuragi. "Food!" Then the redhead disappeared behind a wall.
Everyone followed behind him, their stomachs grumbling. Sakuragi was right.
Behind the wall was a long buffet table filled with all sorts of food. The team gave one cry of relief and set out to devour the delicious food. Then a loud scream stopped them dead in their tracks. Still holding their food, they slowly turned around and saw Korky the Klown pointing a shaking finger at them.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Korky demanded, stomping towards them.
"What else do you think we're doing?" Mitsui countered, taking a huge bite off his fried chicken. "We're eating."
"You're eating the President's food!" the clown continued, grabbing the food off their hands and setting it back on the table.
"What? Hey, give that back!" Sakuragi seized back the bowl of noodles he was downing, but Korky won't let go.
"This isn't your food!" Korky argued, pulling the bowl towards him.
"Yes, it is!" Sakuragi pulled the bowl towards him harder.
"Anou…" a quiet voice interrupted the two.
"Urusai!" the two shouted in unison. Each grabbed the bowl so hard that it slipped from their hands and landed right into the owner of the quiet voice's head.
Sakuragi and Korky both stood there, eyeing the small, fat man, with the bowl on his head, noodles all over his hair and the soup dripping from his double-chin. Then suddenly, Korky rushed forward the same time as Sakuragi burst into laughter.
"NYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!" Korky took the bowl from the old man's head and tried to clean him up, chanting his apologies. He glared at Sakuragi. "You…red-haired monkey! Apologize to the President now!"
"Anzai-sensei?" Akagi gasped once the bowl and noodles were cleared from the man's head.
"Eh? Nanda yo?" Sakuragi turned to the old man. "Kyaa!" He rushed towards the fat, old man and stared at him. Then Sakuragi's face widened into a smile. "Oi, oji," he said as he played with the old man's double chin. "Why didn't you just tell us you were here too? And what's this crap about you being president or whatever--"
A plate crashed on Sakuragi's head, stopping him. He turned towards Korky, who was fuming indignantly.
"Why'd you do that for?!" Sakuragi faced the clown angrily.
"Stop disrespecting the President!" Korky fired back at him just as mad.
"Ah ha ha ha," the old man laughed almost the same manner as Anzai's. The two stopped bickering and looked at him. "I think I better introduce myself first. My name is Ueda Masanobu, President and owner of The Lost Paradise." Then he closed his eyes and smiled. "Also a close friend of Anzai-sensei of Shohoku. Daijobou, Korky-kun, you've just resigned and so you don't have to defend me anymore. Gomen nasai, minna-san if I'd trapped you in here, but Anzai-sensei told me about you and I just can't let you leave without seeing my Paradise's main attraction…"
Everyone just gaped at him for a moment. Then he continued. "It's time. Minna-san, isn't the sky beautiful?"
Everyone stared at him then looked up at the night sky. It was filled with reds and blues and golds as fireworks continued to explode at the black, velvet heavens.
"Wow…"
Miyagi slowly reached his left hand towards Ayako's shoulders. The manager stiffened and blinked a couple of times then sighed and shrugged, allowing Miyagi's arm to rest on her shoulders.
"It's beautiful…" Kogure whispered, a soft smile in his face.
Mitsui turned to gaze him and smiled. "Aa."
"Sugoi…" Haruko gaped at the fireworks. "Somehow, I feel like a princess…"
Sakuragi turned radiantly at her. This is my chance…the perfect opportunity to tell her… "Haruko-san…" Then he saw Rukawa on the other side of Haruko. Sakuragi suddenly squeezed himself between the two, pushing Rukawa away.
"Do'aho…" Rukawa muttered, glaring at Sakuragi.
Sakuragi glared back and was about to say something when Haruko turned to him.
"Sakuragi-kun?"
Sakuragi's head snapped back to Haruko. "Haruko-san…anou…wa…watashiwa…anou…"
It was truly a magical moment.
"Ah! The Magnificent Night Show! At exactly twelve midnight, firecrackers are sent flying high into the sky, sending different colors to fill the vast night sky! It is a superb way to end the night and welcome the dawn of another beautiful day! It is also the signal that the carnival now has only an hour left till closing and--hey, what are you doing?!"
The moment Korky opened his mouth, the magical moment was gone and was replaced instead by annoyance. Akagi turned his eyes towards Mitsui, Miyagi and Sakuragi, who all wore identical expressions. Akagi gave a short nod and the four each took hold of a bloated, red limb or arm.
"At the count of three," Akagi told them, swinging the protesting clown.
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three!"
And the four threw the screaming clown off the rooftop with all their might.
"IIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
And they lived happily ever after…I think…
************************************************************************************************The End**
A/N: Yep, it's all done! The last chapter! Thank you so much, minna-san for reading and reviewing!!! Arigatou gozaimazu!!! *bows gratefully* Well, what do you think? Hope you all liked it!! Well, at least most of you. Kyo: I doubt if you're still reading this, but sorry if I didn't warn you about the slight HanaRu in this fic. Well, the whole thing isn't really HanaRu but I did place some slight yaoi suggestions regarding the two. I didn't think anyone would mind since there are lots of HanaRu fics out there. Okay, I'll stop being defensive now and just admit the mistake. Once again, sorry for not giving the rightful warning. Other than that, I do hope everyone else enjoyed this as much as I did! For the last time in Carnival Delight!, please read and review!!!