Ichigo stood in the middle of the darkroom that shined a red light from the corner, giving her just enough light to be able to work without messing up any of the pictures. She hummed along to the classical music filling the room around her as she gently rocked a piece of photo paper in the bin of chemicals watching as the black and white image came to life. She had already completed seven photos so far, and this was her last one.
The theme today was spring flowers. She had pictures of tulips, creeping phloxes, nemophilas, and her favorite one so far was the wisteria. She had developed both colored and black and white prints, but black and white ones were her favorite. Not just for the simplistically of its nostalgia, but also because they were easier to make. Color photos required her to work in complete darkness, which would sometimes turn up her anxiety knob, hence the classical music. She would sometimes stress herself out too much, trying to make sure that everything was how she wanted it while at the same time being able to hardly see anything. Whereas her black and white prints were more calming, she could work on them without the backseat anxiety.
She nodded her head along to the beat as she took the photo out and rinsed it off with water before hanging it up with her other pictures. She left the music on as she cleaned up, carefully disposing of the chemicals and washing out her buckets. Once done, she walked over to look at her finished products. She smiled brightly at the photos hung up. They really did look great. Each one of them was unique in its own special way. She carefully stacked them in her portfolio before leaving and locking up the room.
Ichigo made sure everything was locked before walking down the school hallway, humming to herself as she made her way to the exit. She continued to sing along to the song playing on her phone until suddenly she tripped, falling forward onto the cold tile floor with her freshly developed prints scattered across the hall.
"Are you shitting me!" She looked over at what she slipped on and found a large strip of fabric laid out across the hall. She stared at it dumbfounded before slowly crawling on her hands and knees towards her prints, picking up each one.
"Hey, sorry!"
A voice called, causing Ichigo's eyes to dart up to the person who spoke. It was Takashi running down the hall towards her.
"Oh shit, Ichigo, I'm sorry. I must have dropped this," he told her as he picked up the piece of fabric. "Here, let me help," he volunteered as he started picking up some of her pictures.
"What the hell, Mitsuya! I spend the last hour and a half trying to get these developed!" Ichigo yelled as she tried to put the photos back into her folder.
Takashi sighed as he picked up her pictures. "I know I'm really sorry," he apologized again, but before he handed them over, he looked through them, admiring each one of them carefully.
Each one of them was special. There was a color photo of a nemophila, and then there was an unknown one. It was a black and white picture of a flower that draped down gently like a tree. Almost as if it was raining down. It looked like something from an old fairytale, and the more Takashi looked at it, the more impressed he became.
"Hey, Pretty Boy, hand over my photos," Ichigo demanded, causing him to jump slightly as he quickly turned around, holding the pictures up to his chest.
"Did you make these?" He asked as he studied the draping flower picture even more.
Ichigo sighed as she held out her hand, waiting for him to give her back her pictures, "Yes, now can I have them back."
"What's this a picture of?" He asked, tracing the image with his fingers.
"It's a wisteria. Can I have my photos back?" She asked impatiently.
But Takashi just shook his head. "Hey, do you think you could come to the sewing club real fast? I want to make a sketch with this," he asked her as he gave her back one of her photos but kept the black and white one watching as she cocked her head to the side. "You want to do what now?"
Takashi didn't look at her as he played with the image looking at it from different angles. "I want to borrow your photo for a few minutes. I'd like to use it for a bit of inspiration. Is that okay?"
Ichigo eyed Takashi skeptically but nodded her head nonetheless. "For what, though?" She asked as she looked at him curiously.
"I don't know yet, but if you let me, I'd like to make a few sketches with it," he pleaded to her.
"But why do you need to go to the sewing club? What's over there?" She was trying to put the pieces together, but they didn't seem to fit.
Takashi sighed, trying to get her to just agree, "My supplies is there. I need them to sketch."
Ichigo felt a lightbulb go off, remembering what Takashi had told her a few days ago. "Wait, so you really are a part of the sewing club?"
Takashi playfully rolled his eyes as he looked down at her, "Well yeah. I told you I'm a lot of things, but I'm not a liar. Now can I please borrow your picture?"
Ichigo looked at him as he begged and begged before finally nodding her head. "Fine, but I have to work soon, so don't take forever," she told him as she pushed herself off the ground and followed him to the room.
"Don't worry, I'll be quick," he promised as he escorted them down the hall.
Ichigo watched as Takashi stared down at the picture in his hands. She watched as his brow furrowed and a small crease appeared between his brows. After several seconds or so, he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again as he shook his head. He glanced towards her briefly before focusing on the picture once more. As they stepped inside and entered the club, they were greeted with an obnoxiously loud and demanding voice.
"Mr. President, what is she doing here? The club is for members only."
Ichigo felt her eye twitch as she looked over to see the one and only Yasuda Momo standing in front of her, with her hands on her hips and eyes narrowed down at her, raising her chin up slightly defiantly.
Ichigo rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. "Hey, Momo, shut up," she demanded before walking past Yasuda.
"Trouble makers like you don't belong here. You cause nothing but trouble wherever you are, and we don't need that here," Yasuda announced as she gestured wildly in front of her.
Ichigo glared at her as she clenched her fist, but before she could do anything with it, Takashi reached over and gently stopped her arm from moving. "It's okay, Yasuda. I invited her," he explained as he lightly patted Yasuda's shoulder.
Yasuda looked surprised by what she heard. "Oh, well, sorry about that, Mr. President," she apologized as she gently bowed to him.
She looked over at Ichigo, still not looking happy that she was there. But Ichigo ignored her as she followed Takashi around the room, looking at all the students working on their projects. She looked around curiously as she saw all the different projects going around, from bags to dresses to blankets. Anything that you could think of, this group was making it.
"Mr. President, do you think you could help me with this stitch?" A girl asked as she held up her unfinished bag. He then walked around the room as others also asked him for his help. His smile never faltered as he did so. Patiently going around to each person one by one.
He then walked over and showed Ichigo his station. "Sorry about that. I try to make sure everyone gets the help they need before I work on my own projects," he explained to her as he sat down and pulled out his sketchbook.
Ichigo nodded her head gently as she jumped up onto the table next to him and watched as he started playing with his pencil. "It's okay. That's your job. You're really good at this being a president thing," she complimented. His eyes flicked over to hers as he thanked her, cheeks reddening slightly as he averted his gaze back to his paper as he began to draw.
Ichigo hummed to herself quietly as she watched him draw and erase and draw and erase over and over. She brought her knees up and rested her chin on them as she watched him look at the photo next to him and then back down at his sketch, trying to figure out what kind of design he wanted to make.
She smiled softly when she noticed Takashi's nose scrunch slightly as he concentrated more than he should as he attempted to find out what he liked best in his drawing. She rocked herself slightly to the sound of his pencil scribbling against the paper. She saw him draw a lovely skirt with flowers embroidered into it. And just when she thought he was done, he got frustrated with himself and crumbled up the paper, throwing it in the trashcan next to her.
She blinked at him in surprise as he frowned in disappointment at his failure. "What was wrong with that one?" She asked curiously as she bent down and pulled out the paper, flatting it out so that she could take another look at it. "It looks nice to me," she told him honestly as he looked at her curiously. Her fingers traced over the design softly.
"It's a beautiful piece," he agreed, "but I just want to highlight the flower, and I feel like it shouldn't be highlighted with something, something..." He struggled to look for the right words. "I just don't like it on the skirt," he admitted as he shook his head, looking back down at the photo of the flower, rotating it over and over again.
She nodded, understanding the situation as she stood upright, took the image out of his hand, and looked at it herself. She could almost tell why he didn't like the design on the skirt. "You know if it were me. I'd wear a jacket with the flours on the shoulders. Dropping down like they are here," she told him as she leaned slightly into the image tracing the flower with her finger.
Takashi looked at her before taking the photo out of her hand looking down at it again. His expression softened even more as he looked at it. Then he glanced up and met her eyes with his gaze. His lips curved upwards ever so slightly as he gave her a warm, appreciative smile as if he approved of her idea.
Ichigo leaned against the desk as she saw him start to work again when she looked down at her phone and noticed that it was almost 6pm. "I should get going. I have to be at work at 6:30."
Takashi gave himself a disappointing look as he looked down at his blank paper. He was frustrated with himself that he had wasted all that time and still had nothing to show. He handed Ichigo back her picture, but she shook her head, handing it back to him. "It's okay. You can keep it."
He looked confused but accepted it anyway. "Are you sure?" He asked her as he put the picture back down on the table.
She shrugged her shoulders with a small smile, "Sure. It's just a picture. I already have a few flowers. I wasn't going to put it in my portfolio anyway. So it was probably just going to be stored somewhere. Besides, I'd like to see what you come up with." She was only honest about the second part, though. She was actually proud of that picture. She struggled to get good photos of flowers, so she really wanted to put it in her portfolio, but she was more interested to see what he'd come up with.
Takashi looked at her and smiled softly before nodding his head, "Thanks, Little Strawberry."
Ichigo scoffed at him in response as she hopped off the table to slap the back of his head. "Ow," he cried, rubbing his head.
"Ow! Ow ow ow," she mocked his whines with a chuckle. She looked down at her watch and then over to the door. "I should go. See you around, Pretty Boy."
He nodded his head, smiling back at her. "Yeah, okay. Thanks again," he thanked as she nodded, giving him a two-finger salute before turning and exiting the room.
Ichigo pulled her sweater vest back, trying to cool herself off as she stood next to the stove watching Yuzuha as she carefully fried the fish on the pan. Today in Home Ec, they were required to work together to make a meal using the ingredients presented to them, and being the amazing cook Ichigo was, Yuzuha took control of cooking pretty much everything. She was just in charge of cutting the ingredients and making sure she looked busy whenever their teacher came by.
"Why are you even wearing that thing?" Yuzuha asked, pointing to Ichigo's sweater vest. "You do know it's almost summer, right?"
Ichigo leaned up against the table, looking around to make sure that their teacher wasn't looking. "It's because my blouses don't fit anymore. I couldn't afford new ones this year. I'm saving up, but something always seems to come up, and I can never afford a new one. So I'm hiding it behind my vest."
"It looks fine to me."
The girls looked behind Ichigo to find Hakkai and Takashi working next to them. Hakkai was standing at the table, making some kind of sauce, looking over at the girls while Takashi was cooking at the stove.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were invited into this conversation, String Bean," Ichigo mocked, rolling her eyes at him.
Hakkai sighed as he turned his attention to Yuzuha, who was still trying to fry her food. "Yuzu, why are you friends with her? She's so mean," he whined.
"She's not mean," Yuzuha insisted.
"Yes, yes, I am," Ichigo smirked as she flicked a bean sprout at him. The sprout flew through the air and landed directly on the top of his head.
Takashi stopped what he was doing, turning around to look at the two of them as he started wiping his hands on his apron. His eyebrow raised as he turned to see Ichigo standing with her arms crossed over her chest and an arrogant smile on her face. He could feel his lips twitch upward, and a slight smirk appeared on his face as he walked up and flicked the sprout off of Hakkai's head.
Ichigo huffed, propping her head on her hands as she leaned forward on the table. "Like I already said, the uniforms were expensive, and I couldn't get a new one, and none of them fit," she raised one finger up for every excuse she gave.
Takashi raised his eyebrows once more and glanced down at her sweater vest, not able to see the problem with her shirt. "What's wrong with it?"
"I grew boobs over the break! That's what's wrong. See!" Ichigo announced as she dramatically lifted up her sweater showing them the open buttons that were supposed to button over her bust. The buttons were missing leaving her with only her undershirt to cover her breasts.
"Hey, put your vest down!"
Takashi laughed as Hakkai jumped up and yelped, dropping the spoon from the sauce bowl, spilling sauce all over the table as he covered his face, embarrassed that he saw Ichigo's open shirt.
Ichigo frowned as she rolled her eyes but grabbed her vest and pulled it back over her chest. "Hey, you were the one that wanted to know. Besides, it's not like you saw anything. I have a shirt underneath," she mocked him.
Takashi chuckled as Hakkai regained his composure, leaning forward on the table, chewing on a carrot as he looked back over at Ichigo. "So, what was more important than a uniform that you desperately needed?"
Ichigo shrugged her shoulders as she played with the ends of her hair. "Well, I needed a new camera, so... yeah," she told him as she nonchalantly waved her hand in the air.
Takashi chuckled as he took another carrot and shook his head. Remembering the expensive camera she kept in her backpack. "Sounds about right. So are you just going to wear your sweater until next year then? Not your smartest idea, Little Strawberry," he joked.
Ichigo glared at Takashi as she threw a bean sprout at him, which he easily dodged. "What are you going to fix my clothes for me, Pretty Boy?" She retorted.
Takashi shrugged his shoulders as he ate another carrot, "Sure, if you want. It doesn't look like it needs to be tailored drastically. I could widen it up for you," he offered as he looked over at the stove and saw Hakkai checking on their meal.
"No thanks," Ichigo declined. "If I don't have money for a new uniform, then I don't have money for a tailor."
Hakkai rolled his eyes as he turned around and broke a carrot into small bits, playfully flicking one over at Yuzuha, who got mad and threw it back at him. "Oh, don't be stupid, Taka-chan's not going to charge you," he scoffed.
Takashi smirked over at them. "That depends," he teased, looking back up at Ichigo as he leaned his elbows on the table, leaning closer to her.
Ichigo raised a brow as she watched Takashi's smirk slowly fade, "On what, exactly?"
He rolled his head back, "On how long it takes."
Yuzuha rolled her eyes as she reached over and flicked Takashi on his forehead. "Oh, don't be stupid." She then looked back over at Ichigo, ignoring Takashi's whining. "He'll fix your shirts. I'm not going to let you walk around in a sweater vest all year."
Takashi lightly smiled as Ichigo rolled her eyes, playing with the bean sprouts in her hands. He really didn't mind fixing them for her. It's not like it would take him forever to do. He would probably have them all done during the weekend, just in time for her to wear them going back to school. Yuzuha was right, though. She couldn't walk around with a sweater vest on all year.
"Come by tonight, and I'll have them ready before Monday," he told her, watching as she nervously looked up at him, hands still fiddling with the bean sprouts.
She looked down at her feet as she spoke softly, "Are you sure? Time is money, and I don't have money."
Takashi shrugged his shoulders, looking over at his friends before back down at her. "None of us have money. Just think of it as a thank you for the picture you gave me," he smiled as he looked over at the Shiba siblings, who were nodding their heads, agreeing with Takashi.
Ichigo thought about it for a moment as she placed her chin on her fist. "Fine... I'll stop by later tonight," she finally agreed.
Yuzuha clapped her hands excitedly. "Awesome! Now you won't die of a heat stroke next month," she teased.
Ichigo stuck her tongue out at Yuzuha as she went back to the stove. Ichigo stared off as she grabbed another handful of sprouts, playfully tossing them in her mouth when their teacher walked over and slapped down on her table.
"Bell, you better be doing more than just sitting around and eating bean sprouts while Shiba does all the work again!" The woman demanded. Ichigo froze as she felt their teacher glaring at her from the back of her head. Her eye twitched as she watched Takashi and Hakkai quickly turning around, acting as if they had been working the whole time.
She swallowed hard as she turned around and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm uh… I was cooking the fish, but I let Yuzuha take over while I got everything else ready," she lied as she turned around, quickly dumping the rest of the sprouts into a pot of cold water, which she forgot to heat up as she began stirring it quickly, pretending to be cooking.
But their teacher was not buying it as she told Yuzuha to give her the spatula and forced Ichigo to step in and take control of the stove. Ichigo looked around nervously at the group of friends staring at her as she stood in front of the stove, knowing that nothing good would come out of it. Ichigo looked nervously behind her as she locked eyes with their teacher.
"Well, go on. Cook me something," their teacher cocked her hip to the side, bringing her grading clipboard up to her face. "If you've been cooking this whole time, then you wouldn't mind making an extra fried fish," she baited, ready to catch Ichigo in her lie. She knew that Ichigo never does anything in her class. Always piggybacking off Yuzuha, and she was finally ready to call her out on it.
Ichigo opened her mouth but closed it when she realized that there was no way in hell she was going to get out of this. She knew she wouldn't win, but she couldn't risk it by saying she knew nothing of what they were doing.
"Also, know that if you screw this up, you'll be by yourself for the rest of the year, and I'll be forced to fail you. No more hiding behind anyone's work," their teacher smirked down at her waiting for Ichigo to crack.
Ichigo nodded her head as she looked over at the piece of fish next to her. The only thing she knew was that she needed to get it from the counter to the pan, then to the plate, and somehow have it fried without blowing anything up. And it also needed to be done quickly. "Yeah…okay," she stuttered before quickly grabbing the pan and turning around. "It might take some time..."
"It's fine, Bell, we have all the time," their teacher mocked as she waved her off.
Ichigo looked nervously over at Takashi and the Shiba siblings but noticed that Hakkai wasn't with them anymore. She was totally about to lose Yuzuha as a partner and fail this class. But just as she was about to wrongly panko her fish, they heard a loud crash from the back of the classroom.
Everyone turned around and saw the mess of broken glass from the plates spread out around Hakkai, who just shrugged his shoulders apologetically. "Sorry, Sensei, it was an accident," he apologized.
Their teacher sighed and rubbed at her temple and shook her head, slamming her clipboard down on the table in frustration. "You know what, never mind, that's enough today!" She announced as she turned to the rest of the class. "Everyone can start cleaning up now. Get started!"
Ichigo jumped up excitedly as their teacher left her, no longer caring about harassing her anymore. She hurried over to help clean up before their teacher could change her mind as she dropped the fish on the counter and hurried over to help clean the broken dishes. Ichigo ran over and grabbed a broom hurrying over to the mess. Getting as far away from their teacher as possible.
She walked over and smirked as she bent down to Hakkai, giving him a playful nudge on his arm. "Thanks, Bean Pole," she smiled lightly.
Hakkai smiled as he shook his hand and started throwing away the glass. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a huge clutz," he assured her.
Takashi glanced between them as he wiped down the table watching the two laugh together. A fond smile tugged at his lips as he shook his head at them both. He was amused, knowing fully well that Hakkai had purposely knocked over the stack of plates in order to save Ichigo from the wrath of their teacher. He felt a sense of pride knowing that Hakkai was finally warming up to the Poison Strawberry, and to his enjoyment, Ichigo was slowly enjoying being around someone that wasn't Yuzuha.