Disclaimer: Sunrise
Tokyo, September, 2020
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"Here, your lunch box," Kira said as he passed Athrun his store bought lunch.
"Oh, thanks," Athrun said, taking the box from his friend.
"Why don't you wipe out that scary makeup first?" Kira commented as he sat beside him, with a sour face.
"Huh? But don't you think this make up would make people stop by at my booth?" he replied as he savored his meal.
Athrun and Kira were currently sitting at the stairs near their class, having their lunch break. Around them, people were busy with the things they prepared for their festival, especially the third grade, since this would be their last event.
Athrun and Kira's class was opening a haunted house—well, haunted class— and Athrun got the role to play as one of the ghosts. Kira, internally scared with those things, saved himself by volunteering to be in the entry, collecting the entrance fee. There were two shifts, morning and afternoon. Kira chose the afternoon shift since more people came in the afternoon, so it would feel less scary. While Athrun chose early shift, because after he finished helping for his class, he would have to go help his robotics club, which would be showcasing his masterpiece that got the first place in his last competition. And since Cagalli would be coming, if he got all his duties done early, he could enjoy the rest of the festival with her.
And he already prepared something for her.
"Ah, right. There is someone I want to introduce to you," Athrun said in between his bites.
"Who?"
"Lacus and I have been seeing her together, we wanted to ask you to join, but you were always busy. I called her today so—"
"Her? Is she the one who got your heart?" Kira remembered the one Athrun had told him the other day.
"Stop with all that already, will you?" Athrun shouted, embarrassed.
"My bad," Kira chuckled, secretly enjoying Athrun's rare flustered face. "So, who is she?"
"Her name's—"
"Kira! Athrun! There you are." Lacus walked toward them, holding her own lunchbox. "May I join you?" she asked, and both of the guys nodded in reply.
"Lacus… you brought them, right?" Athrun asked hesitantly.
"I brought them, rest assured," Lacus said, her face a little bit reddened.
"I'm extremely sorry to bother you and thank you so much!" Athrun plopped his hands in front of him, "I'll do anything you want later. Just ask me anything," he said, offering his gratitude.
Kira could only stare at them, curious, "What did you do, Athrun?" to which Athrun just brushed it off, so he turned to Lacus, whose face turned a few shades darker.
"Athrun just asked for my help, no big deal," she tried to brush it off too, and hopefully Kira didn't ask further. Though he probably would know later when he sees Cagalli, Lacus thought. They intended to introduce Cagalli to him. "Ah, Athrun, then how about I help her change? I think it's better if she got it from me and not you."
Athrun imagined handling what he had asked from Lacus to Cagalli, and she would probably have the same reaction as Lacus. "If it's not too much to ask, then will you do it for me?"
"Leave it to me," Lacus smiled. She was kinda looking forward to what would happen between Athrun and Cagalli.
"What are you guys talking about?" Kira scolded, feeling left out. When he was busy practicing for inter-high, Lacus and Athrun had been spending more time together behind his back, so he felt like a third wheel who didn't know anything. Though it seemed like there was another person joining them. And they were planning to meet up later.
"You'll see later," Lacus just chuckled. After her talk with Cagalli, she was starting to see where she was going from now on. But it was for later, now she wanted to enjoy the time she could spend with her friends. "Kira, after you finished with your shift, would you like to stroll around the festival with me?"
"Sure," Kira answered shortly.
"Athrun."
Turning around, Athrun saw the girl he had been waiting for, who wore the same uniform as the entire girl in his school.
"Do I really have to wear this?" Cagalli asked, tugging at the skirt. It wasn't too short, but she was just not used to wearing skirts nowadays. She didn't even own a skirt. The last time she wore it was when she was still commuting to Junior High School.
She was a little bit surprised when she came here this afternoon, looking for Athrun and he greeted her with bloody-zombie makeup and escorted her to his robotic club booth. True to his words, people did come to the booth, but since people were more scared than interested, he wiped up his makeup at the end. Athrun had a good time showing up his skill to Cagalli, as well as entertaining people who came to his booth by showing his first place winner robot, a mini robot that was made for cleaning purposes-such as picking up garbage and debris. There were also students from nearby junior highschool, and he was hoping his booth could attract more new club members in the future.
And after he was done helping with the club, Lacus came, helping Cagalli change to a school uniform. It was Lacus' summer uniform-she was wearing her autumn one currently. Cagalli wondered how Athrun got Lacus to agree to lend her the uniform.
And now, here she was, in a classroom that Lacus showed her, where Athrun had waited for her.
"It suits you," Athrun complimented. He felt somewhat happy to see her in the same uniform as his, like she was his real classmate. The summer uniform really suited her. And he noticed too that she was wearing that dark wristband again; the color was a little bit off with the uniform, which was light colored—light blue shirt, cream colored sweater vest and cream-brown tartan skirt. But well, it was small details.
"What are we gonna do anyway?" Cagalli asked as she approached him.
"Pretending as a highschooler," he answered.
Cagalli was surprised for a while, when Athrun continued, "Since you never go to high school, so I want to let you be a high schooler for a little bit."
"It won't be much different with junior high, I bet," she replied. Though she was touched that Athrun was trying to give her something she would never be able to experience.
"Let's start as a new student on our first day. You can sit in front of me," Athrun said as he sat in the nearest seat to him, while Cagalli sat hesitantly at the seat in front of him. Clearing his throat dramatically, he poked Cagalli on the back, and reached out his hand as Cagalli turned around. In a friendly manner, he introduced himself, "Hi, my name is Athrun Zala. I'm from Sugamo Junior High, and you?"
Albeit hesitantly, which made her feel like she was actually on her first day in high school, Cagalli replied, "I'm Cagalli Hibiki, from Mito Third Junior High." It wouldn't harm anyone to use her own alma mater, right?
For a while, Athrun was distracted at the new fact of where Cagalli actually came from. But without pushing his luck, he replied without pressing more detalis, "Wow, it must be a lot different from Tokyo, right? There are a lot of nice places there, I heard. Though I've never been there," he tried as friendly as he could, fearing Cagalli would take a step back again from him.
"If you have time, go to the Plum Garden in spring, it's a sight to see," Cagalli suggested, easing herself.
"Can I call you Cagalli? What club are you going to join? Is there anything that picks your interest?"
"Club…" she had never thought about it. All the time she went to junior high, she had never joined any club, for she was taking care of her grandparents. No one ever really asked her about it, and since she moved from her hometown, it never crossed her mind ever again. So now, when someone asked her out of the blue, she wasn't sure how to respond.
"What do you like to do then?" Athrun asked softly, this was one of the reasons he wanted to let Cagalli have this experience, even though it might not be that much of an experience.
"What kind of club activities do they have here?" Cagalli asked, trying to follow Athrun's game.
"Hmm, I already decided to go to the Robotic club…"
"Nope. I'm not good with that kind of thing," Cagalli cut him immediately, which made Athrun chuckled.
"Or do you prefer sports? Or indoor activities?" Pondering on the options, Cagalli was silent. If it was her back then, she might have joined a self-defense kind of club like Judo or Aikido, but just like that, Kira's face came to her mind, and she was reminded by his adamant to stop fighting with other people and to take care of herself more.
"There is also broadcasting, photography, and a volunteer club…" Athrun continued.
"Volunteer?" Cagalli suddenly called out.
"Yeah, if I'm not mistaken they usually volunteer at social activities, like cleaning the park, guarding the crossroad where children often commute to school, or helping in institutions such as foster care, senior nursing house and other places." Athrun explained eagerly seeing Cagalli showing interest, though he was a little bit surprised that Cagalli was interested in such activity. But remembering the day he met her, he thought it wasn't that strange after all.
"It would be nice if I can join the volunteer club," Cagalli mumbled, even though Athrun offered her to experience High School life, she wouldn't be able to experience that one directly.
Athrun knew that too, so he felt a little bit guilty for asking this question.
"It's okay, it's not like I would miss the volunteering act altogether. Hopefully I'll be able to do it in the near future," Cagalli said, seeing Athrun's guilty face.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you I'm taking the test so I can continue to college, right? I'm actually planning to continue to learn more about caregiver, and hopefully I can get a job in that field."
"Oooh, this is the first time I heard about it. Do you mind if I ask why you are choosing that field?" Athrun smiled as he got more glimpse of Cagalli's personality.
"I used to take care of my grandparents, and so I want to have a career path in that field," Cagalli said, trying not to reveal too much, but starting to want to share some of her story.
"I think that's quite a noble path," Athrun responded, impressed. Most teens would only think about their school life and eventually started thinking about their future just before their last semester, because of their teacher's demand. But Cagalli had already prepared it from the time she took that labor job, which meant she had planned it from the start. His respect for her was soaring even more. "What kind subject do you like the most?" Athrun said again, back to his role.
After that she just fell into her role easily.
"Senseeei, Athrun is passing notes during lecture," Cagalli said, pretending to call him out in the class to their teacher.
"Wha-I'm not!" Athrun followed her lead, making his face look flustered.
They constantly change situations, imagining what would happen if they were classmates.
"Athrun, have you done your homework? Can I take a look a little bit?"
"Did you forget your homework again?"
"I was out with Lacus all day yesterday so I haven't got the time to," She clasped her hands in front of her. "Pretty please?"
"This is the last time, you hear?" Athrun sighed, giving in to her.
"Thanks! I know I can count on you!"
And then another one.
"Cagalli, let's take a picture together."
"No way! I don't want to take pictures while wearing a skirt!"
"Come on, just one pic!"
"I said no!"
"Don't you want to memorize this day? I wont show it to anyone else, please?" Athrun pleaded, waving his own phone, indicating to take a we-fie.
"You better keep your promise!" Cagalli flushed, and agreed to one photo.
And so on, until Cagalli suddenly asked one particular question.
"Athrun, do you have someone you like?"
Not like her other question, this time, Athrun couldn't answer immediately. He froze, his lips couldn't move, and his face suddenly felt a little bit warm.
"Ah, sorry, was that too much?" Cagalli refrained herself, feeling flustered herself. Since when she became this noisy?
"Umm, that's…." why was he so flustered, he thought, like he couldn't give her an answer.
"Then, please forget it, I'm sorry I asked weird things…"
"Umm, do you want to go to our haunted house? I should say it came out pretty decent, if you ask me. You're not afraid of this kind of thing, are you?" Athrun suddenly stood up, trying to get out of the awkward situation.
"No, I kinda like horror themed things," Cagalli followed, thankful for the change of subject. "Will it be crowded?" she asked as she trailed behind him, walking out of the classroom. Idly, she remembered that Kira despised horror things, and would suffer through summer whenever the local TV aired ghost stories, since Cagalli loved to watch them.
"I don't think so, we are about to close soon since the classes must be back to its previous state before 6pm, so I think we still had some time." Athrun said, checking his watch.
"Is it okay for me to come in front of your friend with this outfit?" Cagalli asked, not so sure and feeling self-conscious. What if they realized she wasn't one of them?
Walking down the stairs to get to his class, Athrun replied nonchalantly, "It's okay, I don't think they will even remember. This school is huge; I don't even remember all the students in here."
"They won't ask?" she tried to make sure. But who was she kidding? They would ask questions, for sure.
"Then we'll just have to distract them," Athrun grinned. "I also wanted to introduce you to my friend." He walked a few steps in front of her, so he slightly turned his head back.
"Ah… right… What's his name again?" she asked him back, trying to sound casual, while inside, Kira's name was like a big neon sign in her mind, like she couldn't ignore it even if she wanted to. Stop, it could be someone else, she scolded herself.
"His name is—"
"Kira, where are you going?" they heard a familiar voice said in a hurried manner from downstairs, and a series sound of hurried footsteps.
"Lacus…? And Kira too?" Athrun mumbled, confused. He thought Kira was still in their class, since he was still in charge. And Lacus… well, as she had already done her performance with the chorus club earlier, she was free now.
Walking two steps in one stride, Athrun was going to check what made his best friend sound like he was in a rush. In the middle of the stairs, Kira was suddenly in front of him. "Athrun!"
Looked like he ran all the way here, Athrun thought. "Kira, why are you—"
"Cagalli, where is—"
Before Kira could finish his own sentence, something caught his attention from the corner of his eye, the one who stood behind Athrun.
"Cagalli-nee," Kira whispered.
His real family, the only real family he had left, the one he had been looking for, the one that he almost gave up to see again, was now here in front of him.
"Ki…ra…" he could hear her mouthing her name in disbelief.
None of them moved, except for Lacus who finally came to join them. Athrun could only turn his head back and forth from Cagalli to Kira, confused as to how these two knew each other already.
But suddenly, as Athrun was about to ask her for an explanation, as Kira was about to leap at her, and as Lacus was trying to start talking, Cagalli ran away.
"Cagalli-nee!"
"Cagalli!"
Ignoring their calls of her name, she left them all.
AN: Yay, they finally met.
What do you think? I was thinking about explaining more about the festival, but afraid it would be too long so I decided this is enough for me.
The pretending game is kinda inspired from 'Mairimashita, Senpai', if anyone read that manga.
See you next chap,
Cheers~
