Clarifications for those who read "If I Were You": Oh yeah, starting from now on, I'd be addressing 'Mary' as 'Marry'... besides,「マリ」could be read as Mari, Meary, Marie, Marry, Mary, etc. anywayyyy...
Oh yeah, starting from this chapter, I'm also dropping all of the honorifics except for "Nee-chan" and "Nee-san", and in a few other exceptions...
Aaaaaaaannnnnddddd sorry for the lame chapter title... If you have any suggestions, I'll gladly change the chapter title for you.
Chapter Two: Anticipation...
Kano's POV:
So basically Kido and I started swapping-bodies voluntarily~ It's kinda nice to have an ability that can be easily controlled- but what makes it better is that I could see Kido's very cute expression~! She closes her eyes so cutely and turns crimson rose every time I kiss her! She always looks so vulnerable in those times, so of course she hates it! How many times have we swapped already? Two~ A kiss for us to swap bodies and another for us to go back. Have I been smacked? About a hundred times already.
Well, things happened and today we're going to an outing! We have to wait for Nee-chan since she decided to live in our old house, Kidoand I are going to transfer there after we're done fixing our stuffs- Seto stays since Marry wants to stay in the old base;We also have to wait for Shintaro too since Momo left so early~ She was so excited that she arrived at the base in exactly FOUR O'CLOCK in the morning!
"Ah, It's Nee-chan!" I say as I spotted Nee-chan, (Wow! Her dress suits her!), waiting on a bench under a tree- our meeting place, when Momo stopped me and pointed another figure coming close to her...
"Onii-chan!" she gasps,
"Danchou! Conceal us!" Takane whispered to Kido and the next thing I knew, we were hiding behind a Moca-Cola vending machine.
"Why are we hiding?" Konoha tried asking before Takane stuffed his mouth with some kebabs.
"Shuttap, and watch..." She said with a grin as Shintaro sat near Nee-chan. "Something's about to happen..."
They started a conversation, Nee-chan and Shintaro. Kido's cheeks suddenly turn bright red. Seto smiles and uses the back of his hand to cover his forming blush. Marry covered her pink face but then peeps through the crack between her middle and index fingers. Momo covers her mouth with her hand, presumably suppressing a grin. Takane's grin was growing wider. Konoha's mouth opened slightly and his expression turned from nonchalant to surprised. Hibiya caught up to what's happening and blushed furiously. It seems like I'm the only one who doesn't understand what's going on...
"Uhm, Shintaro-kun-"
"Ayano." Nee-chan and Shintaro said at the same time. They turned away slowly, a slight blush nested on their cheeks.
Oh. They're finally gonna confess to each other, aren't they?
That's when I was suddenly pulled and-
Kido's POV:
The expression of the face infront of me changed from 'neutral' to 'confused'. That face was my own. Kano stared at me in the state of shock, and before he could speak I placed a finger infront of him and mouthed "I'll take over". He clamps his mouth shut and simply nodded. With a smile. And when I was finally feeling good about being able to do something for him, the others sighed. I turned around, alarmed, thinking: Oh shit, did they saw us kiss- then I noticed that their disappointed sighs wasn't towards us. I pried a look into Nee-san and Shintaro's direction. Both have an air of awkwardness surrounding them. No need to tell me. They... didn't confess, did they?
So much for the anticipation.
"Hey guys! Hurry up!" Takane exclaims, showing her frustration in her snarl as she waved to Nee-san and Shintaro at the same time exposing herself from the range of my ability to conceal. I guess I should follow too...
"Mou! What's taking you guys so loooooooong!" I shouted as I exposed myself too. The others followed shortly, forcing the two to start walking to our direction...
"Hai~" Nee-san said with a smile as Shintaro followed shortly after, scratching his nape.
Well, whatever... Kano gives a sign that he's alright... that he could somehow function well and all...
I guess I just need to wait for a chance to kiss Kano now.
-but seems like I missed that chance earlier or something since I can't see any chance at all.
Kano's POV:
Whenever there was an 'opening'- A chance to change back, someone would always check on one of us and we'd lose the chance and somehow end up acting an intense staring battle... Well the only opportunity I could see is grabbing Kido by the arm and dragging her into somewhere away from them, activate her eye ability and kiss her... It'll be seen as a normal behavior of 'Kido' anyway- since she hates showing her violent side to Nee-chan, it's kind of expected that she'll drag me off somewhere else to scold me and ask me to behave, right?
But even that chancewasn't given to us.
Before I could grab Kido by the arm, Momo caught me.
"Ki-Kisaragi?" I stuttered intentionally, "Marry too?!" I say, announcing the obvious as Marry coils her arms around Kisaragi's.
Nee-chan grab me by the other, "Nee-" *bites tongue* "-san!"
Takane grins at us as Nee-chan coils her free arm on Takane's, "We GIRLS are going to spend the rest of the day bonding with each other!" She says in her sing-song voice, "And you pieces of crap could just return to the base or do the same." She says in her bitch mode.
"Eh? But I want to be with you..." Konoha says bluntly, making her blush redly- gaining a few smirks from the guys, an understanding look from me (mou... grinning would be Out of Character...), and a few giggles from the girls.
"T-T-T-THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" She declares in a shrilly manner!
"Really?" Shintaro challenges her with a smirk, gaining an infuriated look from Takane. Ohhh... He raises his hands up in defeat.
"Let's GOOOOO!" Nee-chan and Momo declared in unison as Takane scoffs and as Marry simply smiles-
Kido's face looked alarmed. A WHOLE day with the girls. Some sign of sudden realization occurs and horror appears on her face. "Wait- I DON"T WANT TO-" And before I could protest I was dragged into a random department store.
"We've been walking for hours..." I groaned as I walk- no, DRAGGED my feet to the girls' direction... Floating must be nice... If only it was humanly possible for humans to float in the air... That will be nice...
It's scary the way these girls can drag 'Kido' into doing something they want. I'll make sure to apologize to Kido for always laughing whenever this happens -later once we swap back. Well, whatever~ Back into acting as Kido~
Hmm... We've been walking in-and-out of shops with no particular intention to stay for even a minute... let's try looking for a cute dress and show some slight interest on it- maybe that will make them stop for a while...
I stopped right infront of a display, inside a store, a white frilly dress. The top part was simple; it was strapless and was cut cleverly to add volume to the bust. A three-inch silver belt separated the upper part from the lower part of the dress. The skirt part wasn't as simple as its top; It's long length had three layers- probably satin, something-fabric, and gossamer-fabric formed into large white delicate-looking roses that reaches the ground. I can't stop thinking how Kido would look like in that dress. Seeing Tsubomi being surrounded by flowers in full bloom... The irony that her name means 'a flower bud'.
But something was itching me, like something was pretty out of place... Why would someone wear something like this for casual attire?
Oh, a bouquet- I failed to notice earlier that the mannequin was holding one. A bouquet of about-to-bloom white roses, a perfect partner for...
"A WEDDING dress!"Nee-chan squeals from behind, "So Tsubomi is at the age when she's interested to wear one~"
"I-I-It's not how it looks like-" I tried saying while goddamn stuttering- Wait, I DO have to stutter, right?
"You do have taste though..." Takane says, examining the gown from up and down...
"I wonder how it will look like if Danchou wears it..." Marry wonders a loud...
Nee-chan, Takane, and Momo caught on... "I wonder..." the three said in unison as all of their glances shifted to my direction...
"May I help you?" A sales-lady asks. The first thing I noticed is that the store's name was cleanly embroidered on her uniform.
"No Thank Y-"
"We'd like to try on a few of the dresses!" The three declares as they shoved me into the shop, and of course, though hesitant, Marry followed.
Kido's POV:
We've been following Kano and the girls for the past two hours or so... If only I could, I'd walk right to them and knock off his head- I would 'cuz- why is he acting so blankly? His act is a disappointment. He reacts to next than nothing except for his tired feet and pictures of those sexy-looking beautiful models in the shops- If he could just get a frigging clue that Nee-san and the others are just waiting for him to show some reaction on- well, anything at all!
Oh... he stops... AT A FRICKING BRIDAL GOWN STORE- FUCK YOU KANO, I KNOW THAT YOU'RE BREWING TROUBLE- but the dress that he stares at... really does seem good...
"hmm... she does seem spell-bound to the dress..." Seto remarks with a smile, ughhh... act like Kano...
"pfft... of course she does~ She wouldn't be Kido if she doesn't like those girly things~" Oh god, please make sure that I'm saying these things correctly -On another note... "That 'she' noticed the dress... I wonder why though..."
"Of course she notices it. Girls like those kind of stuffs, and she's still a girl after all..." Hibiya says, crossing his arms infront of him, I smiled a little.
"Yup, yup~ Hibiya-kun is right! Danchou... really is a girl after all." I say with a grin. Ugh, that idiot... Did he really just allow them to drag him inside...?
Shintaro just sighs, "Kano, c'mon, let's just leave them be... we've already wasted two hours just following them... I think we should stop..."
"Ne, Shintaro-kun. Let's have a bet- I bet that you'd like to see how Nee-chan looks like in a wedding dress~" Instantaneously, I get a reaction. "I also bet that you'd like to see Marry-" I say pointing to Seto, "-Momo, and Takane-" I say to Hibiya, Konoha respectively, "-In a wedding dress too~!" Their faces were absolutely priceless –even Konoha's!
"Well~ Whatever, I want to see them up close too!~ Saa, who's coming with me?"
"Can I help you with something?" An attendant confronts us, maybe puzzled that a group of guys entered a store for bridal gowns- Well, I won't blame her.
"Ah- We're just looking for our companions, they said that they're in this shop- or are there other branches of this store throughout the mall?"
"We have five other outlets throughout the mall."
"FIVE!" I said in a surprised manner, none of the people with me reacts... "Seto, try calling Kido..." I suggested, and for some reason, he does so and gains an answer, immediately, he puts it on hand-free.
"Ah! Kido We-"
"H-h-h-h-hai?" with that, Seto blushes,
"M-M-M-M-Marry?"
"Ah! Seto-kun- MI-MI-MINNA-SAN?!" Marry says as she appears from one of the fitting rooms –In a frilly white wedding gown with light pink highlights. Seto blushes... no... how do I explain this to you... I don't know...
Marry blushes too and disappeared into the room where she appeared from. Seto, of course, ran after her immediately. "M-Marry! Wait!"
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE?!" Someone shouts, Ene. Alarmed, Konoha dashed off too, I followed along with the other guys, and saw all of them –ALL of them in bridal gowns.
Now that I'm closer I see Marry's dress in full length, It was frilly all right -her whole ensemble from head to toe consisted of frills; her veil, her dress, her gloves, even her bouquet of camellias... EVERYTHING had frills on it. It somehow complimented her wavy hair the same way the light touches of pink in every part of her dress compliments her eyes, her complexion, and her very pink cheeks...
Nee-san who wears a shocked and embarrassed expression, also wore red (as expected). A red Chinese wedding dress. Her hair was styled in a clean up-do and was fixed in place by two red ornamental chopsticks. Her long gown that barely reached her ankles was decorated with images of flowers and had a slit on the right side that starts from an inch above her knee to the length of the dress. She wore it nicely...
Ene -for the first time, had her pig tails off, and had instead chest-length straight hair. She wore a classical choice. Her whole gown seemed to be made of silk; her top was cut into a shape that resembles a heart, beads and pearls adored her neck, her silky white gloves stops above her elbows, her skirt speaks volumes of layers of fabric, her train was unusually longer and her bouquet was that of pink and yellow roses. I never thought that she'd pick something so simple and plain. I always thought that she being "Super Pretty Cyber Girl Ene", she'd choose something so 'big' and 'fab', well if anything, it shows how simple she could be at times...
Momo, as expected, had a bizarre taste. She picked a mixture of vintage and "haute couture" - She had a simple embroidered top that covers up to her palms and to her waist- After that, nothing else could be considered as normal. The 5-inch gold ribbon that separates the upper and lower part of her dress also serves as the boundary of 'normal' and 'abnormality'. A gigantic gold-colored wire hoop, that starts from her waist under the belt and ends just shortly below the knees, was enamored with random things from white ribbons, chains, flowers, to a pair of wooden doves pecking at a piece of fabric that even had the word 'wedding' beautifully embroidered to it. To be honest, the hoop looked like a cage, the contents inside could barely be seen like Momo's long top (her top stops just above her knees), and her white nearly-knee high boots. Her bouquet is something pretty strange too, It was a bouquet of orange, green, blue and golden roses...
"-What happened-" Kano was able to say as he materialized from behind a curtain. After a second he simply disappeared into thin air...
Was he... also wearing a wedding dress...?
"Tsubomi!" Nee-san exclaims after the feat, mindlessly, I immediately went after the figure that disappeared somewhere before me, into what was behind the curtain.
Kano's POV:
It was swift and chaste, it was purely accidental though... Out of pure embarrassment, I dove back into the curtains of the dressing area. After realizing how stupid it was, I decided to turn back, only to meet Kido face to face. Our lips brushed each other for a moment, but there was that tingling sensation, and it was enough for the two of us to swap back. The two of us stared at each other for a moment... When I realized that the others might've seen us kiss, I looked at their reflection from the mirror. They seem somehow worried or puzzled, at least none of them caught up on what just happened between Kido and I... When I returned my glance towards Kido, I see that her cheeks turned tantalizing red... I was also able to really look at the dress the attendant put on me- or rather, Kido's body. If anything, it fits her perfectly just the way I imagined it to be. For some reason, Kido starts fidgeting and somehow got the veil to cover her face...
"Hahahaha, now what are you trying to do? Pfft-" I say, trying my best to really stop laughing, especially that Kido got really annoyed. Involuntarily, my hands went up and brushed the veil off her face. Kido's eyes widened in surprise... and... her face somehow gets closer... and...
"-you may now kiss the brideeeeeeeeeeee"
[Cue: throwing up innards outwards...]
"Mou... Takane-Sempai... you're such a mood killer..."
"pffftttt- I'm sorry- I just- I can't- My stomach!"
Kido, out of instinct of course, immediately pushed me away. It's a lie if I said I wasn't hurt- but. I wasn't really trying to kiss Kido earlier, right?
I cocked my head towards Takane's direction and flashed my ever-famous Cheshire grin, "E-NE-CHWANNNN~"
"Oh~ What is this Kano-san-" She asks with a grin, "Are you challenging me?"
-Bonus: After the Bridal Dress-up-
Marry: "Seto-kun, how did I look earlier?" (she meant the dress)
Seto: "k-k-k-k-kawaii..." (he means Marry)
Marry: "I know right!" (she meant the dress not herself)
Ayano: "Ehh? Really?!"
Shintaro:"That Chinese wedding dress didn't really suit you..."
Ayano: "EHHHHH? Didn't I look like a leading actress or some-"
Shintaro: "No."
Takane: "...w-w-w-what..."
Konoha: "...the wedding dress suits you..."
Takane: "t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-thanks..."
Konoha: "You should let your hair down more often-"
Takane: "I'LL NEVER DO THAT FOR YOU!"
Momo: "Ku-ku-ku~ So~ Hibiya, how was my dress earlier~"
Hibiya: "It was so weird, Oba-san..."
Momo: "Eh?"
Hibiya: "No one would wear something like that for a wedding."
Momo: "EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?"
Kano: "Kido's underwear was cute-"
*Random stop sign flies towards Kano's direction*
-End-
Thnx for reading... to be honest, I think I like Momo's bridal gown most-