chapter 20: a play or not a play?
The warm breeze filled the whole Miyagami gakuen campus. The school which was made especially for the Jinguuji heiress to enter school just like her friend, Nanaho. A perfect all girls' school to some and the perfect job opportunity to those who works there.
Each class is having their lecture with students who are willing to learn and participate.
"I believe the correct answer to that is 1876." A smiling Siena answered when her teacher asked the year Bell invented telephone. Her teacher had asked another question about the first launch of telstar satellite and the setokai accountant had raised her hand.
"The answer is July 10, 1962 to February 21, 1963." Mayura answered meekly.
The science labs students are conducting different experiments.
"Ah! Kuon don't hog all of the sulfur! I still need some of those!" Nanaho said with an annoyed look on her eyes.
"I'm not hogging it Nanaho. It's your fault that yours had been all used up." Kuon replied.
Campus kitchens are filled with students of home economics class.
"Ne puuchan, do you think kaichou would want a cake?" Rino asked happily to her puppet.
The puppet opens its mouth. "yep! Now start baking Rino."
"oi I'm the one who would bake for Kanade-kaichou!" Kaori said with fire in her eyes and a mixer in her hand.
"nya! I bet your cake wouldn't taste as good as Rino. Right Rino? Eh?" the puppet saw it's holder's face smeared in batter. "Alright... The two of you would bake a cake." he said in defeat.
Minamo laughed at how Rino looked for a few seconds before turning her attention to her own creation. She smiled and took a deep whiff of the sweet aroma of her freshly baked brownies. "I'll give this to nee-chan!" she said happily.
The gymnasium is full of life by the determination of the athletic students.
"Sayuri catch!" the gambler said as she passed the ball to her glasses-wearing friend. Sayuri caught the ball and had aimed for a layup shot which added a point to the two assault member's team. The two gave each other a high five for both of the good assist and the nice shot.
"We're great! Awesome! Magnificent!" Rein said in enthusiasm, hugging her friend tightly.
Sayuri nodded and just smiled softly at her gambling friend. "Yes we are."
The grounds are filled with happy students that followed their kaichou and the vehicle squad captain on their way to their class.
The setokai kaichou smiled at her fans and gave them a small wave of her hand. The assault captain looked at her kaichou with a sleepy expression and smiled a little when she saw how her kaichou was being very happy.
"Boss seems happy. Because of Kuga and Rino? The red head asked in English.
Kanade looked at her and beamed a smile. "Cindy, its kaichou. Anyway, it seems so. Natsuki is someone out of the ordinary. Much like you, Nanaho, Rino, and the rest of the setokai." She said in a cheery tone. She and Cindy had arrived inside the campus and went on their way to their classes, leaving the Jinguuji fan club unattended by kanade.
Life in Miyagami is peaceful. As everyone enjoyed their stay at such prestigious school, the place made it such a remarkable place to stay---
"TO HELL WITH YOU AND THIS PATHETIC SUBJECT!" Natsuki yelled out which echoed through the whole class and their neighboring classrooms.
---Or not. To a certain blunette, the day was just horrible.
Natsuki was in her advance literature class, glaring at her teacher while Shizuru was silently smiling as she watched her bodyguard argue with their teacher about certain matters. The matter, as made the angry blunette angry, was the fact she has to present the small skit her teacher had made her do to pass her subject. But as stubborn as a mule, the setokai bodyguard just wouldn't give up.
The other classmates of the blunette were busier imagining how the play would turn out. how Natsuki would act so valiantly around Shizuru, who was put to the part as Cinderella. All of them wished that they were to be in the brunette's shoes but the thought of how the beautiful, Fuukan exchange student's glare would make them feel hell as to touch the ice princess, gave them the fear of not trying.
A loud slam of the palm to the green chalkboard boomed at the advance lit class and everyone, who wasn't Natsuk, turned their attention to the teacher. Her teacher's face was etched with both annoyance and anger towards the blunette. "Kuga! If you won't do this you'll fail my subject!" she practically yelled at the lazy blunette who was looking outside. She felt her veins starting to apprear in her forehead. "For Christ sake Kuga! Of all the Setokai members I've handled, you're the most handful!"
Natsuki ignored her teacher and stood up from her seat, picking up her bag from behind her chair and swung it to her back as she starts to make her way towards the room's back door. "I'm outta here." she said without even looking at her teacher. She heard her teacher yelling some sermons and a few curses but she didn't mind them. She reached for the door's handle but came to a complete stop, or freeze, when a sweet Kyoto-ben accent rings to her ears.
"Ara, sensei shouldn't force my Natsuki. But if it's to help her, may I be the prince and someone else from the class can take the part of princess?" Shizuru said with a sweet, façade smile that she can use to trap their teacher to her plea.
Hearing the request of the Kyoto-ben brunette made their teacher forget Natsuki and focus her attention, which has a wide smile, toward Shizuru. She went towards Shziuru's desk and gave the brunette a flirting wink.
"oh? If that's what Fujino-chan wants then who am I to argue?" the teacher said in a flirting manner. She leaned down to the brunette, with their faces inches apart with a seductive smile plastered on her face. "well then since the pretty lady requested then I'll be your princess." She placed her right index finger under Shizuru's chin and slowly closing the gap between them.
'ew, ew, eww! Teacher too close, not Natsuki, EWW!' Shizuru's mind began to put up a small video of her holding a naginata and pointing it at her teacher's neck and giving her the most dangerous glare she can muster. But her thoughts were cut short when the said finger was retracted from her chin by a strong gripped hand. She looked at the owner of the strong hand and saw a fuming blunette with rage shown onto her beautiful emerald orbs.
"NEVER TOUCH SHIZURU OR YOU'LL DIE." Raging Natsuki threatened. She has her hand gripped tight on her teacher's wrist and her left upper lip twitching slightly which showed her pearly white sharp cannines. She flung her teacher's wrist aside and looked at Shizuru. She saw the brunette had an amused look on her face and she couldn't help but to calm down. Her enraged eyes slowly faltered and let out a deep inaudible sigh. "One day you'll be the death of me…" she whispered.
The whole classroom went dead silent. The teacher painfully rubbed her wrist but kept it low as the delinquent student and the fuukan exchange student looked at each other. Emeralds stares at crimson and everyone felt that something would definitely happen.
To everyone's surprise, Natsuki slowly walked to Shizuru's side, bowed gently and reached out her hand to the brunette. "May I know who this fair lady is so that I can ask her for a dance?" she asked huskily, giving the brunette a dashing smile that even their classmates find very handsome.
Shizuru suppressed a giggle and just looked up to the dashing princely Natsuki. She knew the line that Natsuki spoke and she immediately decided to play along. Giving her dashing Natsuki a sweet smile and placed her hand atop of Natsuki's offered one and let her be pulled up by the blunette. She responded by a sweet smile as gratitude in helping her stand up from her seat. "Ara! it was sweet of you prince, but I must decline in answering who I am. But maybe I can give the prince her dance if she wants to." Said to the blunette as she guided her prince to the front row.
"Well then I shall call you my princess." Natsuki said, positioning themselves to a small waltz.
Shizuru chuckled. "Ara, my prince had already claimed me her princess." She smiled and let the silent dance go on with the both of them, thinking that they are in a fairytale where she is the princess and Natsuki is her prince.
Natsuki silently smiled and swayed through the silent music. Waltzing gently, she ignored all the swooning classmates and the wolf whistles hey give towards them. She was lost in her own fantasy. A fantasy between her and Shizuru. She felt her heart thumping loudly when her princess snuggled closer to her as they continue on dancing.
"You know, I fell inlove with you at first sight." Natsuki said while gracefully taking the lead in their waltz. She wasn't thinking of anything at the moment and her mind was going on autopilot.
The brunette smiled at her partner. "Is that so? Ara I didn't know the prince was such a flirt." She chuckled slightly. She felt her heart slowly beating faster than normal but decided to ignore it. "But it's an honor to be told as such by you."
Natsuki raised a brow upon hearing the brunette's comment. "You must think I jest fair lady? Clearly everyone could see how beautiful you are and to my eyes, I can see that you are also beautiful at heart." She affectionately tightened her hold on the brunette as she glided their dancing gracefully. "Everyone would ask for your attention at first glance…" she stopped for a while and looked at the window which shows the blue sky. "Or you love per chance." She said with a sigh before continuing their dance.
Everyone was gazing at them with hearts in their eyes. They find the two a perfect match as they could see the look that the two give to each other. As they could see how the dance, looks and gestures they do, it wasn't like a small play that was supposed to be. Instead to their heart-filled sight, the two was somewhat, confessing to each other.
"I wish this could be forever." Shizuru said, sighing a little as she danced with Natsuki. She buried her head at the blunette's shoulders, smelling the perfume that her friend had put on.
Natsuki tensed up upon feeling the hot exhales of the brunette. She shook her head to regain her focus on what she's doing and stopped to look at the brunette. "This would never end princess. For I will forever be with you." she said softly. Pushing the brunette gently away from her shoulders and looked straight at her crimson eyes, she smiled and kneeled down in one knee with her right hand holding Shizuru's own right hand. "Will you be my bride princess?" she asked huskily, beaming a wide smile to Shizuru.
The sudden proposal made the entire class squeal. They find Natsuki, kneeling infront of Shizuru and asking for marriage, very sweet aswell as romantic. They all envied Shizuru for being the lead female on their small play, since it was a surprise for them to see Natsuki really doing her project. Even their teacher found it very romantic and decided to grade them based on their acting skills.
The brunette was taken aback by Natsuki's question. She took it not as a line but as a real proposal from her bodyguard. 'Natsuki… are you really proposing to me?' she asked herself, looking at Natsuki's emerald orbs that show a glint of hope for a positive heart pounded fast she swore her face was going o blush if she won't stop staring at the blunette's handsome smile. 'It's either she means this or she's a good actress.' She blinked a few times to clear what she's seeing from the blunette. She opened her mouth slightly to answer but the school bell suddenly rang thatindicated the end of class. "I guess the bell had rung and it's time for my leave prince. It was…." she smiled at Natsuki and pulled her hand back. "Fun dancing with you. Maybe one day, when the two of us meet again, I can tell you how I really feel. By that time I hope you believe me." she walked towards her chair at the back and grabbed her bag. "Goodbye prince." She said in a lonely voice as she exited their classroom.
Natsuki was stunned. She was still kneeling down on one knee and has her sight on the closed door which the brunette had just exited. But she was not alone, even her classmates and her teachers were shocked at the sudden exit part of the so-called princess.
"Well she didn't have to do the 'running away by 12 midnight's bell' part." The teacher stated with a still shocked look on her face. She had a few approving nods from her students that agreed to what she had said. She looked at Natsuki who was frowning and was on her way to her seat. "Well it seems Kuga-san had passed my subject for the time being. I guess I should congratulate Fujino-san for her efforts to this log-head." She said with a smirk.
"Why you!" Natsuki yelled with her brows twitching in annoyance.
The teacher felt danger when Natsuki had started to be her normal self again. she grabbed her things from her table and ran towards the open door. "Class dismissed!" she yelled out through the corridor as she ran for her life.
Natsuki gritted her teeth and fixed her bag before making her way to the exit of the classroom. She ignored all the praised that her classmates had given her and to those who even dared touch her received a full, terrifying death glare. 'tch! That woman would be dead if she wasn't my teacher. The hell with grades! I just did that to let her know that Shizuru must not be touched!' She grumbled and lazily walked towards the exit. She decided to go hang around the setokai office to avoid any fan attack.
Back at Shizuru, she was at the ladies comfort room looking at her face to the mirror which has a few water beads running down from her cheeks. She had rinsed her face away of her blush that she was trying so hard to suppress the moment Natsuki had given her a smile. She placed her right hand above her chest and felt the fast heartbeat that her heart was emitting. 'my heart… ara Natsuki's way in words has such a tremendous effect.' Her lips slightly curved upward and she dropped her hand to her side. 'her dashing smile had this effect on me while Reito didn't. I do believe I am inlove with her.' she trailed her thoughts on the blunette's previous acting. 'I hope she too would believe that I have loved her the same way but I was just too dense in my own feelings thinking that it was a friendly emotion.' The realizations came to a halt and she decided to go to her next class before she was marked late.
But the two wasn't the only ones who are having a bit love problem. At the Miyagami setokai meeting room, Nanaho was sitting alone at the round table and has her head down to the table. Grunting loudly, the assault captain rammed her closed fist to the hard table. "I can't even think of anything! I don't want to lose her!" she yelled out loud. She was confident that nobody will hear her due to the fact that everybody is at their own classes.
"I'm her bodyguard but I'm feeling this way for her!! Darn it!" she yelled out again, pounding her right fist to the table.
"So what if you feel something for your ward?" a voice said in a mocking tone.
Nanaho quickly spun around to see who spoke to her and found the setkai bodyguard, leaning at the door frame with her arms crossed and a bored look on her face. She scowled at her intruder and leaned back at her chair, ignoring the blunette's presence.
Natsuki smirked and pushed back from the fame and went to sit beside the assault team captain. "ignoring me won't help you." she said lazily, leaning at the backrest of her own chair with hands at the back of her head.
The fuukukaichou twitched a brow when she heard Natsuki speak again. "this is something far more trivial Natsuki-san. Kanade isn't someone you can go up to and say you feelings." She groaned.
"how so? She isn't a princess."
"yes she is. She's the Jinguuji heiress, same rank as an actual princess. She OWNS this school, this lot, aswell as the whole Miyagami Island."
Natsuki tilted her head a little, confused in how the kaichou could own the whole island. they were all still highschool and it's impossible to own such a place. "you're joking." She said in disbelief.
But the auburn-haired captain glared at her subordinate seriously. She placed both her elbows to the table and rested her chin atop of her clasped hands. "You don't know Kanade too well Natsuki-san. She is the only heir of the Jinguuji conglomerate and thus in protection of her life, her family bought this whole maximum security island to be her own school." she explained.
The blunette scoffed at Nanaho's explanation. "this explains a lot. I was wondering why everyone was so protective of the kaichou. but to the topic, is that why you can't fall for her? because she's a Jinguuji?" the blunette asked in a serious manner.
Nanaho just nodded her head for an aswer to the blunette. She took a deep sigh and had now rested her forehead at her clasped hands. "It's because the family would think low of Kanade if I were to confess my feelings." She took another sigh. "I was her bodyguard actually. At an early age, I was trained to protect the next heir of the Jinguuji family, but she freed me from that. but as I could see her at that time, she was lonely. Therefore I decided to be with her, by her side always so that she won't be lonely anymore."
Natsuki's lips formed a soft smile. she could see that the assault captain could feel love towards their kaichou. Removing her left hand from the back of her head and placing it atop of Nanaho's hair, she gently patted the assault captain's head in comfort. "I'm not good in comforting and such but I could see how much you value the kaichou." she said in concern. Nanaho looked up to her in confusion. " if it would help, the kaichou is just toying with me. you know what I mean." She stopped pating Nanaho in the head and stood up from her seat.
"I know. Thanks Natsuki-san." Nanaho said in appreciation.
Natsuki smirked and stretched her arms upward. "no need. Besides, it's the least I could do. Now I'll be on my way. Thank you aswell Nanaho-fuukukaichou!" she said happily as she made a dash out of the office.
The sudden exit of Natsuki made Nanaho tilt her head to the side and raised a brow confusingly. "what's she's running away for?" she asked to no one.
*ding ding ding* "calling the assault captain! Natsuki Kuga had skipped class again!" the loud speaker that's connected to the teacher's faculty echoed to the office. "I repeat! Natsuki Kuga had skipped class again!" the speaker repeated.
Nanaho's question was answered. She had now realized why Natsuki was thanking her also even if she didn't do anything for the blunette. Bolting up from her seat, she run after the blunette who had escaped her unknown crime. "NATSUKI KUGA! I'LL HANG YOU BY THE MANGO TREE WITH FIRE ANT IF I EVER CATCH YOU!" she yelled while running after Natsuki who was 100meters away from her.
"HEY ATLEAST I HELPED!" the blunette answered back, keeping her distance away from the angry Nanaho as possible.
They ran out of the setokai building and onto the fields. They even passed the other setokai members with Shizuru, having a picnic at the grassy ground.
"those two are very much alike." Kuon said.
"pingpon! VERY MUCH alike Kuon. Don't you agree, kaichou? Fujino-san?" Siena asked, looking at the kaichou and former fuuka kaichou which was clamly sipping tea with a smile on their faces.
The puppet in Rino's hand rose up and started flapping it's cotton-filled mouth. "I could say the same with those two aswell. Hey Rino, Kaori, give the food to kaichou." he ordered which the puppeteer gladly oblige and gave Kanade a slice of cake while Kaori gave the others aswell.
The pale-violet haired kaichou thanked her loving cousin and looked at the running bodyguards. "it seems those two are having fun."
The girl beside her nodded her head and put up a façade smile. "indeed they are Kanade. But those two aside, I won't lose to you Kanade Jinguuji." Shizuru said with fire in her bloody eyes.
The Jinguuji heiress chuckled and nods her head. "then do your best Shizuru I won't lose either.." she dared. " even if you are Natsuki-san's object of affection." She chuckled again, hoping it would provoke the fuukan kaichou to act according to her heart's desire.
"Natsuki won't be yours and I'll make sure of it." Shizuru replied, smiling one of her vicous, venoumous smiles.
The others looked at the two kaichou and felt some evil aura looming out. they shivered at the sight of the two, smiling at each other while having such competitive intent at the back of those smiles.
"women inlove are so scary." Puuchan remarked which everyone except Kanade and Shizuru agreed to.