Episode 33: Happy Holidays 2
6:56 p.m., same day— the excitement from Maka and Chrona's coming-out declaration had settled and the crowds of students were slowly returning to their seats.
Without her partner, Tsubaki felt it lonely to sit at her table alone, so she decided to accompany the Thompson Sisters for a while longer as they returned to the stage. Of course, she didn't want to get in their way, so she went to seat herself at the back when Patty suddenly yelped in pain.
"Owwie!" she rubbed the bump on her head whilst handing something over to her sister.
"What is it?" asked Tsubaki.
"You tell me. It has the face of your idiot on it!" she showed her a damaged rocket with a badly-drawn face of Black Star printed on the side.
"This is Black Star's…" looking up to see where it came from, she quickly jumped back to dodge a lot of falling fireworks.
"What's going on?" Liz looked up to see Black Star standing precariously on one of the spires. "Watch where you're dropping your garbage, stupid!" she shouted, shaking her fist at him.
Oddly enough, Black Star did not react. He simply stood there with a big smile on his face …
"BLACK STAR!" all of the students were screaming his name. Banners and posters of him were everywhere. Maka, Soul, and Sid were even holding a large sign with his name written all over it.
"What's going on?" he was understandably confused seeing as he and the Shinigami were immediately greeted by an eruption of cheer and applause the second they appeared on stage.
"Well, since tomorrow's Xmas," said the Shinigami, "we've prepared all of these to celebrate."
"Yeah, but isn't tonight supposed to be a trap for the witches? Why is everyone here?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Well, this is YOUR Xmas present. We're celebrating YOU for all the things YOU'VE done. YOU are the BEST student we've ever had after all," he chuckled, slapping him on the back.
Upon hearing this, Black Star took a moment to take it in. Then, tears began to flow. "R-Really?" he started choking up. Black Star couldn't believe it. After all this time, people finally realized how great he was. It seemed all too good to be true.
"Black Star!" Tsubaki shouted from below but, with 'everyone' screaming the same thing in his head, it was no use. Unfortunately, since the other students knew of his over-the-top antics, nobody took the situation seriously and just ignored him.
"Something's wrong," she said as the wind started to pick up and made Black Star sway back and forth. "I'm going up there," she told the Thompson Sisters. Avoiding Maka's mistake, she took off her heels and dashed barefoot into the school.
Running at full speed, she blitzed through the hallway towards the stairs. In her haste, she paid no attention to her surroundings as she even passed Blair, who was walking nonchalantly towards the entrance.
In the meantime, Black Star was having the happiest moment of his life…
With legions of fans chanting his name and dozens of cameras trained on him, the Shinigami told him to go forth and seize the moment. With fame and recognition waiting for him, only a few steps separated him from his proverbial date with destiny.
Of course, in reality, one small step was all that kept him from taking a tumble and getting acquainted with the stone grounds below.
"It's YOUR time to shine," the Shinigami told him.
"Yosh! My time to shine…" as he was about to take that fatal step, Black Star suddenly stopped midway.
"Something wrong?" asked the Shinigami.
He grinned, "You think I'm an idiot!" He quickly turned and punched the Shinigami square in the mask, sending him flying.
In doing so, the illusion was shattered and Black Star found himself standing on the spire once more. Meanwhile, whoever it was he punched was sent back into the shadows.
"Looks like all that training paid off," he chuckled. Had he been shown that illusion several months ago, he probably would've fallen for it. But thanks to hard work, determination, and Tsubaki's help, he managed to quell a lot of his inner demons these past weeks. So, an attention-seeking histrionic he is not…well, at least not all the time.
"You really think you can beat the GREAT ME!" he laughed out loud.
Ku-ku-ku… so, even an idiot like you can learn a thing or two…
A familiar voice echoes in Black Star's ears. "What? Who are you!" he shouted. As his opponent stepped into the light and answered the question, Black Star could only drop his jaw in shock.