Chapter 4
Everyone looked nervously at each other as Dr. Nambu signed for the boxes of costumes. He began to pass them out.
"Hy..." Dr. Nambu called out, and Joe leapt up quickly to grab his box. Ken had been thinking about grabbing it back, but the predatory look in the Condor's eyes made him think better of his impulsive desire. Reluctantly, he took the Vin costume Dr. Nambu held out.
Jinpei was smirking when he picked up his Cal costume, and didn't notice what was going with Ken and Joe. The Swallow's jaw did drop, however, when he saw Ryu picking up the Al costume.
"Hey, what happened to Dee?" he whispered furiously in Ryu's ear. "That was our agreement!"
"I switched with Hakase." Ryu confided, his face split by a huge grin.
"Ryu... that's a stroke of genius!" Jinpei approved of the Owl's actions. "But… wait a minute! I'm not buying your meals if you're not the girl!"
"Okay." Ryu shrugged. "I'm just glad not to be wearing a dress! My Birdstyle is revealing enough!"
The Owl's grin faded somewhat when he looked inside of his box. The costume had been ordered to fit Dr. Nambu, and it was definitely a little small. Jinpei's costume, on the other hand, looked like four of him would fit in there.
Dr. Nambu looked into his box and frowned.
"I think they got the sizing wrong on these." he muttered. The Doctor resolved to call the store and have them deliver a bigger size waitress costume. He was uncomfortable enough about showing his legs in this thing, but a dress six sizes too small was another thing altogether. He left for his office to make the call.
Joe slipped out of the room, a devious expression on his face. A worried Ken followed.
"Well, here goes nothing." Ryu sighed, taking a deep breath and wondering how he would be able to wear the costume.