The wind blew coldly outside, really cold, nipple-erecting cold! Caught up in said wind were golden boughs from the Tree of Knowledge in Eden; yet not one person recognized them as such. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Regardless, within the school building that day talks were being held concerning the cultural festival which was approaching quicker than an Kenyan runner.
"Please….someone HAS to have a better idea than a brewery or an Intifada….", the tiny class president, Chiyo Mihama stated with a sigh. Her vice president, good ol' reliable Tomo Takino, was no help in the matter.
There was naught but silence at that moment save for a slight mumble of, "Men's asses." from the far back of the classroom. Finally, two hands were raised and Chiyo called on them for suggestions.
"How about be forge religious relics and sell them to pilgrims.", the first boy suggested.
"…What?", was all Chiyo could respond with.
She, in turn, called upon the second boy.
"Maybe we could do a kissing booth with Takino-san?", he suggested with a blush on his face.
Tomo just laughed triumphantly. Yomi, on the other hand sent the boy flying across the room with a miraculous kick to the midsection.
"Err….maybe this may work.", Chiyo said, quickly assembling a suggestion box and hanging it at the front of the room.
The class broke up then, with some member lingering behind and mulling about.
"Nice suggestion box.", Yomi said to Chiyo.
"I hope it spawns better ideas….", she bemoaned.
They watched in tandem as the new girl in class, Ayumu Kasuga, commonly known as Osaka, approached the box and inserted a folded sheet of paper.
"Oh Osaka-san, you suggested something!", Chiyo said, pleased.
"Uh-huh.", the girl nodded. "I like the idea of that kissin' booth with Tomo."
"Oh god…", Yomi groaned as the nearby Tomo blushed profusely.
"I think it should be five yen for a smooch and one hundred for some tongue action.", Osaka mused idly.
"Osaka….shut up..please.", Yomi suggested.
Tomo just stood there in abject near-terror. Her heart pounded from the overbearing nature of what may be going on inside the head of so-called Osaka.
'Does she…like me?', Tomo mused in her own brain.
"Osaka, are you crazy? No one would pay one hundred yen to make out with Tomo.", Yomi said.
"Who knows?", Osaka shrugged her shoulders and wandered off.
A meeting of the class that was held subsequently proved to be a flop. Chiyo panicked during the meeting, citing that the idea had to be presented within the next hour.
"How about a stuffed animal exhibit?", one girl suggested.
"Seems too…", Tomo pondered the thought for a moment. "…gay."
The girl sighed.
"Do YOU have a better idea?"
"Of course!", Tomo said. "We can have a stuffed animal exhibit….a SATANIC stuffed animal exhibit!"
The entire congregation went silent. Chiyo sighed.
"It is original…and at least it's an idea.."
"ALLL RIIIGGHHHTTT!!", yelled Tomo, jumping atop a desk; wielding the Lance of Longinus.
"Where did she-", Chiyo began.
"Don't ask.", was all that Yomi could say.
"No, no, no!", cried Tomo. "The Fourth level of Hell goes over THERE!"
A boy scrambled by, carrying a series of stuffed bears decked out with inverted crosses and corpse-paint. Another girl nearly tripped over a scale model of the Hellish city of Dis.
"Gah! Don't break anything!", screeched Chiyo-chan as she stumbled towards a group preparing to boil some blood for their model of the river Phlegethon.
"Looking pretty good, eh?", Tomo chuckled.
"I'm not so sure this is a good idea…", Yomi said.
Tomo just slapped her on the back heartily.
"Of course it's a bad idea! But, it's a GENIUS bad idea!"
Chiyo, moving towards her good friend Sakaki, noticed her habitually setting up a Satanic looking shrine which contained grim and frostbitten animal plushies. Sakaki was adjusting them to be just perfect upon their palatine.
"Sakaki-san!", Chiyo called out to her.
Sakaki continued to adjust the animals even though they seemed to be in a Golden Mean already.
"Sakaki-san?", she questioned.
Sakaki still did not respond, instead focusing on a black seal plushie that dripped realistic blood from its lips.
"Yes….properly grim.", Sakaki mumbled to herself more than anyone.
Chiyo slowly backed away…
Soon Kaorin burst into the room and presented everyone with a set of devil horns. Of course, popular vote noted that Sakaki looked the best in them.
"Oh god…it's right out of my dirty dreams…", Kaorin mumbled, blushing.
Just then, the full-body devil costume appeared. It received a proper 'grim' rating from nearly every member of the class. Only one person did not vote 'grim', and that person was none other than Tomo Takino.
"You're not wearing it right!", she accused.
"Not wearing it right?", Chiyo questioned.
"Yeah…..like underwear that's too small."
"Uhh…"
Tomo managed to get the person in the suit to allow her to show the class how to 'wear it like a real man'. She tore the head piece off the current wearer, revealing it to be Osaka.
Osaka grinned at Tomo. "Oh, ya like it rough, do ya?"
Tomo made a strange, disgusted face and ordered Osaka to remove the rest of the costume, which she did in a manner not unlike an exotic dancer. Tomo quickly put on the costume and spun about before running off with psychotic energy. She rocketed down the highways and byways until she reached the entrance to the school.
At that same moment, a certain brown haired girl in glasses was reaching for her school shoes that had taken up residence with her pet gnome in her shoe compartment. Just as she was about take hold of said shoes she noticed, out of the corner of her eye, a terrible demonic creature bearing down on her.
"WHAT THE HELL!!", she cried out as the beast hopped atop her, tacking her to the floor.
"HELLLOOOOO YOMMIII!!", the creature greeted cheerfully in a voice she immediately recognized.
"God dammit, Tomo…."
Moments later, Yomi dislodged Tomo and forced her to walk back to class with her. Tomo had removed the demonic headpiece and was not holding it under her arm as they walked.
"That damn thing was hellish.", Tomo noted, indicating the head of the costume.
"I can imagine…", Yomi droned.
"I think I peed myself…", Tomo mumbled, but no one heard her comment.
"Hey, Tomo…why the heck did you run all the way downstairs just to attack me?", Yomi asked.
Tomo placed her black-nailed hand on her chin for a moment in thought.
"Hmm….Well, what can I say? We're stuck together! Like sperm and eggs!"
"What?", Yomi questioned, feeling her breakfast well up in her stomach.
"You know what I mean!", Tomo said with a dismissive hand gesture.
They continued their trek for a moment before Yomi spoke again. "You looked….a bit grim back there…"
"REALLY!? Did I just hear you right!? I looked G R I M!!", Tomo jumped up and down in abject hyperactivity.
"Calm the hell down!", Yomi reprimanded.
"You're just grumpy!", Tomo laughed, flailing her arms about, not noticing when her right fist clocked Yomi directly between the eyes, knocking her unconscious.
Silence pervaded the area until one passerby screamed in terror.
"EEK!! A DEAD BODY!!"
"Huh?", Tomo said, turning this way and that before seeing Yomi.
"EEEK! A ROTTING CORPSE!!", cried another passing student.
"No, no , no!", Tomo waved her arms about. "She's okay! Just fainted or something…"
"SOMEONE HAS TO CALL THE COPS!!"
"No!", Tomo said, turning to her only option: mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Leaning over, she placed her lips on Yomi's and blew air into her lungs.
"EWW!! SHE'S KISSING THE DEAD BODY!! FREAK!!", cried one student as she ran off.
Tomo blew two more breaths into her lungs before Yomi's eyes flew open. Yomi sat up in a huff, throwing Tomo off her.
"What the heck, Tomo!?", she screamed, blushing madly.
"Hey, what can I say? Just gotta make out with ya!", Tomo laughed wildly.
There was much pain applied to her skull at that moment.
The cultural festival was a success, with the visitors content at the sight of so many Satanic stuffed animals. Much of the class headed home afterwards, yet Tomo, Chiyo and Osaka stayed behind to clean up and mull over the day's events. Yomi entered afterwards, sighing and telling the group about her sadness over the event's end. Subsequently, Tomo had the bright idea of giving one more round of blasphemous black metal; Tomo on guitar, Osaka on drums, Chiyo on bass and Yomi on vocals. The sound nearly shattered the foundation of the building but it made the group feel more at ease about leaving that year's event behind.
Walking home that evening, Yomi brought up the earlier events to Tomo.
"Tomo, why the heck did you kiss me earlier?"
"I was saving your life!", Tomo rebutted, blushing profusely.
"That felt more like a kiss…", Yomi said.
Tomo halted and looked at Yomi bashfully before encapsuling her in a tight hug. "There! The reason I uhh…..kissed you was because you're my best friend! You understand how I really am…"
Yomi missed every word after that. She was too focused on how strange it was to be hugged like this by Tomo. Tomo was suddenly revealing all these secrets to her and it was her job to keep them…
"…and that's why I'd like to thank you again, Yomi.", Tomo finished. Even though Yomi had spaced the hell out during Tomo's speech she knew to thank the girl back and hug her with all her love put into the action. As they hugged, they heard a small cough from behind them; turning they saw a girl in a light blue track suit and short, spiked brown hair looking at them.
"Excuse me, but…you've been like that for awhile now. Could you like….go somewhere else to get it on?", the girl said.
Tomo and Yomi just screamed in terror and ran off, hand in hand towards their farewell point. The jogging girl just shrugged and mumbled, "Crazy carpetlickers…"
Tomo and Yomi stood panting when they reached the point where they commonly went their separate ways and stared at each other in embarrassment.
"Yomi….did we look like total lovers back there?", Tomo questioned.
"Of course not!! That girl just WANTS us to be…."
"Yeah…that's it…"
"See you later, Tomo.", Yomi said, taking off towards her own house.
"Peace!", Tomo called, running back to her own abode.
That night, their minds were possessed by nothing but thoughts of the other and why fate must be so very terrible.
"I only wanted to touch her butt a little..", Yomi mumbled before she drifted off to sleep.