Chapter 6
"Yosuke," Teddie asked curiously, "why is Kanji-chan looking down Nao-chan's shirt?" He frowned thoughtfully. "I thought it was bad to do that."
"What?!" Yosuke asked, his eyes snapping onto their two friends on the other side of the food court. "Is she… batting her eyelashes at him? It's so awkward that I can't even tell if that's what she's really doing."
"Be nice, Yosuke. Not everyone's a natural like Prince Teddie," the bear replied, batting his eyelashes in Yosuke's face.
"Hey - cut that out!" Yosuke exclaimed, shoving him away.
"So, what do you think they're doing?" Teddie asked.
"It looks like they're studying. And Naoto's trying to flirt with Kanji. And she's really bad at it," he laughed. "No one's ever going to believe this," he added with a sigh.
"Don't worry, Yosuke, this bear will back you up!"
"Umm, thanks, Ted. I think."
"Do you think I should go over and say hello to them?" Teddie asked.
"No," Yosuke replied. "I don't think anyone should interrupt whatever that awkward moment they're having is." Teddie shrugged and went back to work.
Naoto felt like a complete idiot when she went home that evening. She hated feeling like this. Like such a… girl. She wasn't supposed to feel this way, and she definitely wasn't supposed to be spending time crying over a boy. She felt like such a fool. He didn't notice me at all. Her phone buzzed.
Heeeeyyy, Naoto-kun, how did it go with Kanji-kun? Tell me everything! ≧◡≦
NOTHING 2 TELL. PLAN FAILED.
What?! Oh no, I'm sorry, are u ok? Want me 2 call you? ‧º·(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )‧º·˚
NO. I AM FINE. GOODNIGHT.
She had no interest in being consoled. She knew that Rise meant well, but Naoto was a very different kind of girl. While the plan had seemed simple enough, it was not right for her. The problem was, she had no idea where to go from here. Her phone buzzed again. Probably Rise, determined to try and fix things. Naoto sighed and looked at the text.
Hey, Naoto. Just wanted to say thanks for helping me study. Was real nice of you.
Despite the tears still streaming down her face, she couldn't help smiling.
UR WELCOME. ASK ME ANYTIME.
She didn't wait for a reply. She went to sleep feeling hopeful, with a smile still on her face.
Unfortunately, nothing really changed after her ridiculous attempt at flirting. Rise kept trying to talk Naoto into giving it another try, but she just couldn't. She had made a big enough fool of herself already. There was also another fiasco to deal with at the moment. The culture festival was coming up at school, and she had been notified by the other girls on the team (mostly by a very angry Chie) that someone had signed them all up for a beauty pageant. Naoto was glad she wasn't alone in thinking it was totally unacceptable. She honestly could see any of the other girls agreeing to it, but not herself. It was much too soon to put herself out there in such a feminine display. She was still wearing the boys' uniform to school, and still receiving many letters of affection from very confused girls each day. Parading around on a stage in female attire in front of the whole school was completely out of the question. Until Rise whispered in her ear on their way to the roof to confront the boys. "I bet Kanji-kun would love seeing you up there looking all cute. This could be your chance to get him to notice you!"
"Wh-What? I-I don't think… he hasn't been interested in anything else I've done. So why would he want to see me l-like that?"
"Duh, Naoto-kun! Because he's a guy! Guys love seeing girls being all cute and sexy like that! He'll be totally hooked once he sees you on the stage!"
"Shh! Rise-san, lower your voice. And I don't think this will work, so I am not going to degrade myself in front of the entire school."
"What are you two whispering about?" Chie asked. "I hope you're working on a plan to get back at them! We need to make them pay!" Satonaka-senpai could be incredibly scary when she felt strongly about something. Thankfully, Yukiko took her arm and spoke to her softly.
"I don't know that we need to go that far, Chie. We don't even know of they're behind this yet," Yukiko said gently.
"Oh, they're the ones behind it alright! I can feel it," Chie replied. The girls arrived on the rooftop first. A few moments later, the boys showed up, looking awfully calm, as if they had no idea why they were asked to meet. "You!" Chie yelled, walking up to Yosuke and stabbing a finger into his chest. "You're the one responsible for this, aren't you!"
"What?! I have no idea what you're talking about!" Yosuke squeaked. The rest of the conversation consisted of the two of them yelling at each other, Yosuke admitting he was guilty, Yukiko yelling at him, and Rise cheerfully asking Seta if he wanted to see all of the girls on stage. Finally, Yosuke decided to throw the other boys under the bus.
"It was mostly Teddie's idea! You want to see them in the pageant too, don't you Kanji? Naoto, Kanji says he really wants you to be in the pageant." Naoto was stunned. Could this really be true?
"What? I never said that. I didn't say anything at all!" Kanji insisted.
"Silly Kanji, just tell her that you want to see her on the stage!" Rise chimed in. Not helping, Rise. Naoto couldn't even form words at this point. Everyone started arguing again. After a while, Kanji made his way over to her. Naoto's heart was pounding in her chest.
"Listen, Naoto… Don't let them push you into anything. You don't have to be in the pageant if you don't want to. You should do what you want."
"O-Oh. Th-Thank you, Kanji-kun. That's very… helpful." And then the bell rang. Lunch was over already. Naoto stayed back from the group a bit as they headed back down the stairs. Rise waited for her.
"What did he say to you?" she asked. "I couldn't hear over all the shouting."
"He said that I shouldn't be in the pageant if it isn't something I want to do," Naoto answered flatly. She felt completely drained of emotion.
"What on earth does that mean?"
"It means that he doesn't care if I do it or not. So you can stop trying to convince me that it's a great idea," Naoto added. Rise took her arm and hugged her side as they walked.
"Oh, Naoto-kun. I'm sure that isn't true. Don't lose heart!" Naoto sighed and went back to class with a heaviness in her chest.
The next morning, she arrived at school to find the other three girls waiting for her at the gates. They kept giggling. This can't be good. "Hey, Naoto-kun!" Chie called to her brightly. "We put our amazing revenge plan into action!"
"What plan is that?" Naoto asked, feeling alarmed. Yukiko snickered.
"We signed the boys up for a pageant of their own!" Rise said with a wicked smile.
"It's a.. a cross dressing pageant!" Yukiko exclaimed, falling into a fit of laughter.
"Oh, shh, Yukiko, here they come!" Chie said, punching Yukiko on the arm. "Let's try to act like nothing's going on. I want this to be a big surprise."
"Heeeyyy, senpai!" Rise greeted Souji with a flirtatious smile. Naoto rolled her eyes and headed to her locker. She had a feeling it would be better not to be around when they found out.
As she expected, there was another confrontation on the roof at lunch time. Yosuke-senpai was not pleased at all. The others were a bit more accepting, especially when they realized that neither the girls or the boys could withdraw from the pageant. Once you were signed up, there was no backing out. Naoto felt bad for them, since they were in the same boat as she was. Except for Hanamura, who had brought this on all of them. Everyone dashed off when the bell rang, afraid to be late to their afternoon classes. Naoto hung back when she realized Kanji hadn't moved at all. "I… I had nothing to do with this. They told me about it afterwards." He looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Were it up to me," she added, "I would have left you out of it. You had nothing to do with signing us up." He shrugged.
"Thanks, but Hanamura would have found a way to drag us down with him anyway. So it's all good." Naoto nodded.
"We should go. We're going to be late to class." He nodded, and they walked back to class together in silence. It was going to be an interesting week at Yasogami High.