Chapter 15: Play Day

Lei peaked from behind the curtains, there were so many people. The Geffite Grand Atrium was filled to the brim. He trembled with both excitement and anxiety "Why so many people?" he asked himself.

"Simply because it's the first of December. A day commonly referred to as: Play Day, it's a yearly event where all the best magic schools would duke it out in a competition, one that didn't involve any magic at all." Rae explained. Lei cocked his head towards Rae, he gave the girl a mildly surprised look.

He then eyed the redhead suspiciously 'I didn't ask her to explain…' Nonetheless he shrugged and asked her a question "What do you mean by schools? You mean to say this play involves other schools?"

The smile on Rae's was proof that she was more than happy to answer his question "As the name suggest, Play Day was all about the fine arts of acting. Each respective school would choose a section or two, from the freshmen batch of course, consisting of forty students, no more, no less—" she would have said much more but the Drama-club's president was breathing down her neck.

"He didn't need to know that?" she said with a venomous voice. Her eyes were intense, as if she wanted to kill. Lei slowly crept away.

"B-But!"

She gave Rae a threatening and chilling stare. "You've still got props to carry! Let's go!" the woman dragged a very frightened Rae by her collar, into the back of the stage.

The Drama Club Pres/Director/Dominatrix winked at Lei, he shuddered. "The curtain's coming up in a few minutes." Lei took in a steady deep breath. "Hey look it's Yuki!" she waved to Yukino who was coming from behind, I turned around and stammered. "Y-Your… Gorgeous!" he managed to say. He couldn't help but admire her in her fancy dress, her hair was rolled up elegantly and she seemed to glow under the stage light.

She smiled back and tilted to the side, for some reason she looked cuter when she did that Lei thought. Someone bumped his shoulder so hard that he nearly lost balance. Lei quickly grabbed that person by the shoulders. "A-Azami?" he muttered in disbelief.

She ignored him and disappeared into the back of the stage too.

"She's still mad at me after that incident a week ago." he sighed.

The cheers and clapping from the crowd was almost deafening. One of his classmates gave Lei a thumbs up. Play Time was over. It was time for the real thing. Lei took in three deep breaths, as he always did when he was nervous. "I can do this!" he said with conviction.

The curtains were being pulled up and the light of the setting sun danced on stage.

Lei wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. He didn't expect acting to be so difficult. The fact that he had survived last fifty minutes had been something of a miracle to him. Specially those scenes where he held Yukino in his arms, the feel of her body against his was really something to think about.

He plopped himself down on a bench fanning himself with his hands. His train of thoughts were stopped when Rae elbowed him in the ribs, a little to hard. He fell from the bench, and somehow he found it relaxing, to be thinking of some other thing rather than the next scene. Rae laughed too and offered him her hands, he took them and stood up.

Lei was glad, that took away some of the tension "I'm sorry, I was a little too brash." she helped him straighten out. "Thanks, but you don't have to help." he offered.

The girl frowned and leaned in close looking at his eyes. "You have nice eyes." she suddenly said out of the blue. Lei found himself blushing. Rae looked at him from head to toe as if she was sizing him up, she clapped her hands. "Wait stand still." she said. Lei did that and she came closer and closer till they were just an inch apart.

Rae looked up at his face "Y-You're tall…" she extended her arms to his collars "I can't reach it, please bend down for me." she asked cheerily, Lie complied and she re-adjusted his collar, after which she fixed his neck-tie. 'She's like a girlfriend.' he thought whimsically.

Rae finally finished, she clapped both hands together and beamed him a genuine smile "All done!" she winked at him "Ok Romeus, you've just got one more scene to go!" she said before standing up and leaving. But before she did, she planted a kiss on his cheeks.

Lei's eyes followed her figure, then she stopped, and turned around on one foot. She cocked her head to the side and stuck out her tongue. "That's just for good luck! Nothing more!" she yelled back at him.

"I know!" Lei shouted back.

"Hey, the next scene is a kissing scene… Think you can bear it?"

"Probably." He said in a voice that didn't sound to convincing.

Azami found herself pinned to a corner, in front of her was the director, carrying a gown and grinning from ear to ear. She looked at the kendo-girl with a strange glint in her eyes.

"Yukino's missing." the drama-club president said in a grim tone.

Azami shrunk under the girl's prying eyes, something was up! She could feel it. "Not my problem." Azami replied.

The woman apparently was too busy to hear her what Azami just said. She was walking around Azami in circles, her eyes darted from her head, toes and everything else in between. She clapped her hands twice and three other girls appeared from behind her.

"Could work." she muttered while rubbing her chin.

"I'll do the hair! It'll take just a minute!" one of the girls shouted enthusiastically.

"What can work?" she asked, hoping that the answer wasn't what she thought it would be.

"I think I've found my new Julliane!" she blurted out triumphantly.

Maybe it was temporary insanity or sheer desperation Azami thought. But they wouldn't be able to make her play that damned part, oh no! She'd bet her life on that. She reached for the pommel of her katana but—her eyes snapped open, it wasn't there! One of the girls dumped her blade in a chest nearby and closed it shut. The four girls closed in on her "P-Please…" she begged in a timid voice.

The girls laughed and dove in for the kill. They pinned her down on the ground with little difficulty. "No! Please I do—" her screams were muffled by a piece of cloth. The drama-club president pulled out a compact mirror from her pockets. "Take a good look at the girl in this mirror." Azami stared into the face of a terrified girl, the director closed it shut and laughed, a laugh that caused shivers to run up Azami's spine. "Cause next time you look at this mirror, this girl will be gone!"

Lei thought heard a barely audible scream not to far from the stage a couple minutes back, he shook his head. It was just stress, probably? Nothing more than that. He took in three deep breaths once more, it wasn't working for him anymore, this time he couldn't suppress his anxiety.

"Don't!" a beautiful girl screamed in protest. Lei strained his eyes, the dim light made it difficult for him to see who this girl was. "Curtains are gonna go up! in ten seconds." He heard someone from the staff cry out. He got into place, the girl who was previously screaming was now on the fake platform, she was shuffling her feet with both hands behind her back looking very nervous.

He smacked his palm to his forehead. That was Yukino! He cursed himself for not noticing the costume! 'I must really be tired.' he thought. He waved his had to catch Yukino's attention, she was waving a fist at him. 'Eh? That's not like her, that's much more like something Azami would—" the lights were switched on, the curtains started rising up. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light…"What in Nifleheim!"

She waved an accusing finger at him and said "Iwiilkillyoulater" she shot him a furious glance. But that just made her look even more beautiful to Lei.

Lei saw the director waving her hands, he read her lips "Three."

Azami now fashioned a new hairstyle wherein her long flowing hair was somehow given braids and thick bangs. Her skin seemed to give off a rosy glow instead of the usual pale white, her cheeks were reddening and luscious crimson lips topped it all off.

"Two"

"One"

"ACTION!"

Azami stepped into the spotlight and after a moment's hesitation she looked at Lei with meaningful eyes. "I love you!" she shouted with such passion that he was surprised himself.