Heh... I know this is pretty fast updating, but I had time... I hope you don't mind...
Chapter 11
"Two weeks?!" Maika burst out incredulously. "Are you crazy? Even the simplest play takes at least two months to prepare!"
"Two weeks." Came the impassive reply. "Not more than that."
"Let's compromise. One month?"
The answer remained firm. "Two weeks."
"Tezuka, I'm telling you that nothing can be done in just two weeks."
"If you recall," He gave her a pointed look. "This is not the drama club. The Kantou tournament is coming up and we have to practice for it. I will not see the team's performance suffer just because of this play."
She threw up her hands in the air. "Okay, fine! But don't blame me if anything goes wrong."
He snorted. Everything had already gone wrong, anyway. There was nothing left to make it worse.
"Hn."
"Oh, and call your team members for an emergency meeting after school."
"The practice – "
"I don't care if it interferes with your practice or what – just do it!!!" She slammed a hand onto her table to emphasise her point, and stormed out of the room to spend her break somewhere where she would not feel an uncontrollable urge to slap a certain team captain's face every time she so much as looked at him.
That idiot! Two weeks!
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"Okay. All of you are here? Good. Let's start." She looked up at them. "First of all, get it straight that this play is for your tennis club, not for me. The existence of your precious tennis team is hanging in the balance, so all of you had better do what I tell you to do. Got that?"
She was obviously not exactly in the best of moods, owing to Tezuka's uncompromising nature.
"Your beloved team captain here," She shot Tezuka a death glare, "has very generously allowed us to spend two weeks on this play."
"And therefore, for these two weeks, all of you are under me. Is that clear?" She probably sounded like a dictator, but she was beyond caring.
A few reluctant "Hai"s sounded from around the table.
"That includes you, Tezuka." The glare which accompanied the icy voice would have been enough to send other weaker people fleeing for their lives. But Tezuka, being Tezuka, did not even flinch.
"Understood." He said automatically.
She looked back at her notes. "Since we have such a short period of time, I have decided to dispose with the auditions."
"Huh?"
"No auditions?"
Eiji voiced out the question hanging in the air. "Then how're you going to choose the roles in the play, nya?"
She swept a glance around the table, and Tezuka suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his stomach.
"You are going to act in the play."
"What?!"
"No!"
"Never!!!"
She brought her hand down on the table hard, making all of them jump. "All of you are to follow my instructions - without question. Understand?"
There was complete and total silence.
"Very well. This is the cast list, and no arguments." She picked up a book and started to read, while all the regulars held their breath.
"Fuji, you'll be Cinderella," There were a few gasps at this – was Fuji-sempai actually going to have to wear a dress?!
"Oishi and Eiji – wicked stepsisters," The Golden Pair high-fived each other – Always together!
"Kaidoh, you're the wicked stepmother – "
"Nya, Kaidoh's so scary! Protect me, Oishi!" Eiji jumped behind his doubles partner.
"Fsssshh…" He had known this play was a stupid idea from the start.
"Inui - fairy godmother."
Momoshiro had a sudden vision of Inui dressed in frilly pink, holding up a pitcher of vile-looking liquid – "This is beneficial to your health, my dear child…" – and immediately collapsed in a fit of giggles.
"Momoshiro as the footman…" He sobered up long enough to be grateful that his role wasn't too bad, before cracking up again at the apparitions that continued to assail him.
"Nya, that leaves Tezuka-buchou and Ochibi! I wonder who's going to be the prince?"
The room suddenly went quiet.
"Tezuka as the prince…"
"I knew it would be Tezuka-buchou!"
"You're too short, Echizen… maybe if you were a few feet taller you could be the prince…"
"Mada mada dane, Momo-sempai."
Tezuka, for his part, was inwardly cursing Maika – at least, until he heard what Echizen got.
"Echizen, you will be the rat who changes into a horse."
"WHAT?!!!"
Suddenly, playing the prince didn't seem so terrible after all.
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Maika sighed. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, it did get worse. With such a ragtag cast, a scene changer who seemed to be all thumbs, and no musicians, the first rehearsal was disastrous, to say the least.
"Nya Fujiko, let's go play!"
She buried her head in her hands. He was supposed to be the evil stepsister, for goodness' sake!
"Eiji, you aren't supposed to be acting nice to Fuji."
"But I can't help it, nya! He's my friend!"
And so it continued.
"Would you like to try my new juice?"
"Mada mada dane."
"Horses aren't supposed to speak, Echizen! And rats don't either…"
"You were a lizard before you became a footman, Momo-sempai. So I suggest you just shut your mouth right now, unless you want to get hit - hard."
But the last straw was during the last scene, where the prince was supposed to confess his love to Cinderella.
"My prince, do you really mean it?"
"Hn."
She strode onto the stage, eyes blazing. "Hn?! What kind of confession is that, Tezuka? You're the prince! The main character! Even if you're not putting in any effort, at least try to look as if you are! Even a block of wood could do it better than you!"
The whole stage was shocked into looking at her.
"This is for your tennis team! It's for you! All of you! Are you clear? Good! Now act as if you understand!" She stormed out, muttering to herself under her breath. "I don't even know why I bother to waste my time on this… making ridiculous demands and then not putting in a single ounce of effort…"
The team watched her go with a sense of amazement. No one had ever given Tezuka-buchou such a dressing-down before.
All eyes swung to Tezuka.
"Practice is over! Clean up before you go."
And he walked out, back as stiff as a ramrod.
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She called a meeting the very next day.
"I would like to apologise for storming off like that," were her unexpected first words. "However, I do not think it is unreasonable for me to expect some effort on your part. And therefore, I am asking everyone to work as hard as you can at your role."
She smiled suddenly. "And I've decided to make it a parody."
Observing the blank faces around the table, she elaborated further. "Which means that even if you forget your lines, just say whatever comes to your mind."
There was a sudden babble of noise at this.
"No more lines?!"
"Whatever we want!"
She glanced towards the right of the table where Tezuka sat, unmoving. He had not uttered a single word to her since the beginning of school, and it was starting to get a little awkward.
"Tezuka, could I have a word with you please?"
He rose, not bothering to look at her as he did so, and trailed her to a corner of the room.
"Tezuka, what's wrong?"
"Nothing." The answer, curt and abrupt was obviously a lie.
"I'm sorry, okay?" She was starting to get annoyed.
"There's nothing to be sorry for."
"Stop being stubborn, Tezuka!"
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Meanwhile, at the other side of the room…
"Nya, Fujiko… don't you think they look cute together?"
Fuji smiled. "Souka…"
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Maika was positively irritated by now.
"You see this, Tezuka? What is it?"
He looked at it. "It's a fist."
"Well?"
"Shall we start practice?"
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Disclaimer; The last part was taken out of Peanuts...
Ja, the next chapter will be the play itself... and I'm really sorry, 'cause I accidentally left out Taka-san... Anyway, review, ne?