A/N; Thanks for the birthday wishes! The day was awesome!
Chapter Six: Making Believe
Sometimes you reach what's realest
By making believe.
-Carrie Underwood, 'Ever Ever After
xxXxx
I have mastered all the voices for Frankenstein. It's sometimes a little hard on my throat, especially when I do too much of the monster, but this new tea I've found is helping me from feeling too hoarse. Besides, doing all the separate instruments gives my throat enough of a rest between the vocal recordings. Especially since it's easier to do the voice work last.
I already finished all of the monster's parts, as well as the main cast. All that's left is the 'mob' chorus and the 'angelic' chorus. I tried to offer letting Tsuge be the captain's voice, since that's a non singing role, but he wanted all the voices to be me. It would have been fun to sing with him if he didn't sound like a wounded dog.
I want to be kinder about it, but those were his words, not mine.
I'm really glad Tsuge talked me into getting that recording set. His compilation is nothing short of professional, although he's having trouble keeping his parents in the dark about what we're planning. They want to listen to pieces, so I just finished recording some Tchaikovsky to throw them off the scent. Who knew being an entire orchestra could be such fun?
I've been recording bits and pieces of other musicals as well. I don't care for some of the songs, but the ones I liked are now tucked into one of Tsuge's many flash drives, waiting for their chance to be compiled as well.
I'll be honest; I'm a bit terrified. The talent show is drawing closer. No one will look at me the same again. I'm scared that when I give the principal my parents' real phone numbers, they still won't answer or care.
But as Victor said; I've gone too far to turn back now. There's nothing left to decide.
I am no modern Prometheus, and I have no bride to create. But if I have any say in the matter, souls are going to be lit on fire.
"Why didn't I start keeping a diary years ago?" Haru muttered as she pressed the 'save' button. "This is infinitely better than writing unanswered emails that gloss over my real emotions."
Of which she had stopped sending.
ooOoo
Two months had passed since the strange bombings. Not only were there no leads to who could have done it, but nothing had told of how it happened. There was no evidence of chemicals, technology, or even bullets.
As a result, the school was in a lockdown. The only ones allowed on campus during school hours were the students and teachers. Even the workers that were slowly replacing the glass were forced to wait until after the students had left for home.
Haru wouldn't have minded that, if not for the tiny detail of lunch hour. None of the students could leave the classroom, although they were free to change seats to sit by friends.
When the other students deliberately took up the seats around both of them, Haru and Tsuge instead sat on the floor, in a back corner of the room as opposed to trying to fight for seats.
Actually, considering the fact that their room still had paper over the window openings, sitting away from the draft was a pleasant change.
"So, what's on the menu for today?" Tsuge joked as Haru opened the fairly new bento box. A bigger one had been necessary after they started switching off making lunch and drinks.
"We've got tuna wraps, carrots and celery, and for dessert… gelatin," she answered dramatically, presenting the food like a game show host.
"I made another attempt at lemonade," Tsuge reported as he started uncapping a long thermos. "Mom said where I went wrong last time, so we should be able to actually drink it."
"You know, there's nothing wrong with plain water," she informed him while handing him a wrap.
"Nah, too easy," he countered before taking a big bite. "Besides, I'd feel lousy if I brought water when it takes you over an hour to make lunch."
"Only sometimes," she defended while taking a sip. Her mouth scrunched up a bit. "It's still a bit strong, but much better than last time."
"Oh, puke," one girl muttered.
"Oh, eavesdrop on someone else," Tsuge snapped, pointedly scooting closer to Haru until their sides were touching.
She did a little scooting of her own, since it was kind of funny to watch Hiromi's facial expressions when she did that.
That, and this had become their normal way of talking in private when on school grounds.
Haru pulled out her favorite notebook and opened to a fresh page. If they're trying to make us feel left out, they should try ignoring us, she wrote while balancing the notebook on his leg. She'd have balanced it on her own, but her skirt was a little too short to be able to pull her leg up like he could.
Tsuge finished his bite of wrap before taking a pen out of his breast pocket. I'll be honest, I was sort of hoping my parents were going to follow through with their threat to transfer me after the bombs.
I would have transferred with you. People in this school are… Haru broke off, trying to think of the right word.
Tsuge grinned, and finished the sentence for her. Hypocritical brats.
Yes, that's it. Let's talk about something else for a while, it would only make them happy if we talked about them.
Okay. Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable?
Haru couldn't fight back a giggle. I keep hearing they're a fruit, but that just seems wrong. That means we've been topping pizza with fruit sauce!
Tsuge was fighting back a laugh of his own. Mmh, fruit pizza. Doesn't that make you want to make one?
Maybe on the weekend. Movie night, my place?
Tsuge was about to write something when the notebook was suddenly snatched away by Machida.
"Give that back!" Tsuge snarled, standing up in a fury.
Machida took the time to read it while keeping the notebook away from his ex-teammate. "So, the two of you think the rest of us are hypocritical brats?"
Tsuge managed to catch him long enough to wrestle the notebook out of his grasp. "It sure would be nice if any of you would bother to prove us wrong. Now back off and get a life." He then turned back to Haru and sat beside her again.
'That was mortifying,' she thought to herself as her friend pointedly wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Honestly; we can't even have a private conversation without people having to know what we say," he muttered to her.
Haru tiredly leaned her head against his shoulder. "Maybe we should try learning sign language."
"Hey, that's not a bad idea! But it's still ridiculous that we have to go that far," he whispered against her ear.
Haru nodded in complete agreement. 'It's bad enough that we can't talk about our project during school. Do people really have to get in our faces about every little thing we do or say?'
"So, did you drill him?" Machida snarled, bringing Haru back to the real world.
"Of course not. I wouldn't point a drill at Tsuge to save my life."
The tall boy laughed at that one, and gave her another affectionate hug.
"That's not what I meant!" her ex-crush snapped, although she could tell that he was surprised at her response. "Did he tell you what he likes about you?"
"As a matter of fact, I did," Tsuge interjected with a low growl. "Unlike some people, I don't hesitate to tell a girl what makes her attractive. Or unattractive," he added in Hiromi's general direction.
That hurt the girl, but Haru could only feel a twinge of guilt.
'It's her own fault. If she wasn't a back-stabbing groupie, she might have had a chance.'
ooOoo
Tsuge finished up the final touches on Haru's computer, and then set the file to play.
Haru nodded in time to the music, still amazed at Tsuge's talent. "You know, for someone that can't do anything with instruments, you sure know how to arrange them," she was able to say once the music was done.
Her friend gave her another boyish grin. "It's a lot like puzzle pieces, actually. If put together correctly, something beautiful appears. Speaking of which, it's time for my favorite part." Without another word, he offered her the headset.
The brunette placed it over her head and adjusted the microphone close to her mouth. Once ready, she gave Tsuge the thumbs up signal.
They had finished recording Frankenstein, but they were having fun recording random songs from the other musicals Haru had been practicing.
He grinned and placed his finger over the record button and used his other hand to count down from five.
Haru closed her eyes, and let the music wash over her, until she was no longer… herself.
Instead, it was almost like she was a controlling mist as the curtain pulled up, revealing a athletic man smirking from the side of a fancy carriage as university students gathered around him.
"The trouble with schools is
"That they always try to teach
"The wrong lessons.
"Believe me,
"I've been kicked out of
"Enough of them to know.
"They want you to become
"Less callow, less... shallow
"But I say, why invite stress in?
"Stop studying strife
"And learn to live
"The unexamined life-" he held on as he started strutting between them, with one particularly beautiful blonde following close behind.
"Dancing through life
"Skimming the surface
"Gliding where turf is smooth
"Life is painless
"For the brainless
"Why think too hard
"When it's so soothing-"
That time it wasn't because Fiyero was holding onto the note.
Haru opened her eyes in surprise, revealing Tsuge trying desperately to keep his guffaws at bay, but failing horribly. She tilted her head at him before giving a confused look. "What's wrong?" she asked while pulling off the head gear.
"I-I'm sorry," Tsuge managed to gasp between guffaws. "It's just… Machida would make a good Fiyero."
"Not really. He eventually grows a brain." But then she got an evil grin on her face as she replaced the head set, keeping the microphone to her lips.
The next voice to leave her lips was unmistakably Machida, even as the prince melted into the school boy.
"Dancing through life
"Swaying and sweeping
"And always keeping cool
"Life is fraught less
"When you're thoughtless
"Those who don't try
"Never look foolish
"Dancing through life
"Mindless and careless-"
It was much harder to hold onto the imagery this time, since Tsuge's laughter kept increasing, but it was just enough to solidify the image of Machida as the shallowest of princes.
"Wait, wait; I can top that!" Haru insisted after a minute or so, switching to Hiromi's voice for the stalker-ish blonde.
"Now that we've met one another,
"It's clear we deserve each other!
"You're perfect-"
"You're perfect!" Machida's voice interjected before Haru was able to blend their voices into one.
That trick had taken over a month to perfect.
"So we're perfect together
"Born to be forever
"Dancing through life!"
Poor Tsuge was rolling on the floor now, laughing hysterically.
Haru tried desperately to finish the song. More than a few giggles were getting interjected into the dialogue, until she finally gave up. She pulled off the headset to laugh with him. "Okay, that song's ruined. I'll never be able to perform that one without thinking of those two again."
Tsuge finished up a few more guffaws before he stopped the recording. "That's okay. It was worth it," he wheezed, although his body was shaking when he managed to sit on the usual chair. "Wow. Why hasn't anyone thought of laughter as exercise?" He tenderly touched his stomach like he had been doing push ups.
Haru thought on that for a second. "Too easy," she decided. "People want to suffer to look good."
"But if there's a fairly painless way, wouldn't people want to go through that? I'm saving this," he decided, adding a few 'lol's to the song's title before saving the additions.
"That's like asking Hiromi to stop humiliating herself for a boy she can't have and try for one she can."
"… Touché. I wonder who would have her," he mused.
ooOoo
Haru and Tsuge gaped in complete shock the next morning, just before school started.
Tsuge was the first to speak, although it was low and horrified. "… It was funnier when you were spoofing them."
"That's because I have a clean mind," Haru murmured, glad that she had skipped on breakfast again as her stomach churned in disgust. "Do you think it's real, or just to get under our skins?"
"Does it matter?" he grunted, wrapping her arm in his before marching into the courtyard and past the couple plastered against each other and the tree they were making out under.
But as they past, Hiromi opened one eye at them. Her look darkened, even as her lips kept going over Machida's. 'If only looks could kill…'
ooOoo
Haru sat alone in the principal's office, opposite the man that liked to imagine himself a second father to her.
But in reality, he was little more than a parasite that wanted to stay in her good graces.
"Haru… I have to admit that I'm worried," Principal Yami managed to say after he finished playing with the pencil on his desk out of nerves.
"What is making you worried, Yami-sensei?" she asked in a calm challenge. 'As if I didn't know.'
"I've been hearing such… troubling things lately. Things that could ruin your image for good."
A grim smile overtook her lips. "If they're troubling enough to make you call me in here, I can tell you they're lies. There are some stupid girls in my class that want me to be the villain since I won't be the victim; that's all."
"So there's nothing improper going on between you and Tsuge?" he begged, getting right to the point.
"He's nothing less than a gentleman to me. We could have his parents standing in the corner of the room and not feel the need to change a thing we do." 'Some days, that's precisely where they are.'
"And yours?" he pressed.
'If I were more like Hiromi, I might consider jumping a boy just to get a reaction out of them.' "My parents have nothing to object about." 'I never even told them that I'm seeing Tsuge. They never walked in when he's home with me.' "I appreciate the concern, Yami-sensei, but if you've been hearing anything bad, it's just rumors. You know me better than that."
The principal relaxed noticeably. "Thank heaven. It's so hard to tell what's real and what's not when words fly."
"Speaking of which, here's my new number," Haru remembered, using his pen and scratch pad. "I had to unplug the home number and change my cell, thanks to the ones responsible for those rumors you keep hearing." 'I even had to change my email address to stop the harassment.'
His face darkened. "That would be who, precisely?"
"What do you plan to do? Even if you drag them into your office and make them confess or apologize over the intercom, it won't erase what they've been saying or texting about me."
He growled and got up from his desk to pace. "I am getting sick of all the drama. Just tell me who it is, and I'll see to it that they either grow up or get suspended for a month!"
Haru brightened. "Hashima Hiromi, Noda Aiko, and Mizumi Yura. Plus Machida's been inviting himself into private discussions between myself and Tsuge. We're really getting sick of thinking of ways to keep things between us and not the entire room."
He hurriedly wrote down the names. "All of them are in your class?"
"Yes, sir. I stopped caring if they like me or not, I just want them to back off and leave me and Tsuge alone."
"Done. I'll have a nice little chat with them, in whatever direction it needs to go." Then he set the pencil down to fold his fingers in front of his mouth. "Now onto real business; the talent show's a mere month away. I invited Nashima-san to it, but he wanted to know if you want him there," he scoffed, like it was a ridiculous question.
'Meaning he wants to know if I found my fire.' "I would be greatly honored if he would come. I have something very special planned." 'He'll know that means yes.'
"Oh? What would that be?" he asked eagerly.
Haru shook her head with a naughty smile. "Not telling. It's a surprise."
"The programs need to be made, Haru. The one making them needs to put something next to your name."
"Then put a question mark there, or just say the piano."
That made him relax noticeably. "So you are sticking to the piano."
"It's what I'm good at, after all," she countered with a now- forced grin.
"Good girl. I knew you would come around eventually."
'Then why were you nervous enough to speak to 'my mother'?'
"But we really should discuss proper arrangements-"
"My arrangement is solid the way it is."
He blinked in surprise. It wasn't very often that Haru put her foot down right in front of him.
"Lunch hour's almost up; did you need anything else?"
He gave her a wary look before slowly answering. "... No, as long as you believe that your plan will touch Nashima-san."
Haru stood to her full height. "Yami-sensei; if what I have planned doesn't impress him, nothing can. I've been working on it for months."
Her principal relaxed at that, and waved his hand for a dismissal. "Then hit him with your best shot."
Once she was facing away from him, she allowed herself to smile wickedly while leaving his office. "Challenge accepted."
ooOoo
Sakura was staring at Haru's house in wonder. "Wow," she breathed, taking in the thorns and roses with delight.
"See? Didn't I tell you Haru lived like Sleeping Beauty?" Tsuge beamed, thanking his friend with a warm look.
"It's so pretty! Can I have a rose?" Sakura pleaded, pulling a bit on Haru's long cream skirt.
"Sure," Haru laughed, plucking one blossom and removing the thorns with her thumbnail. Once the grey rose was tucked lovingly into Sakura's long black hair, the older girl took her by the hand, and led both her and Tsuge into the thick bush, which had decided by then to leave Tsuge alone.
That night had been much like her birthday, except that it was just the three of them, and fruit pizza instead of a cake. Sakura snuggled happily in the small space between Tsuge and Haru, clutching a borrowed Muta in her tiny arms.
"Ooh, I love this part," the tiny girl sighed as Aurora and Philip began dancing through the forest.
"Too bad it's not very realistic," Tsuge noted, giving his sister a small squeeze. "I mean, falling in love with someone you've never met just because they've got a kick-awesome voice?"
"The Phantom did it," Haru pointed out.
"He was also psychotic and lonely."
"But he had a pretty voice, too!" Sakura protested.
"Sis, it takes a lot more than a voice to make or keep a relationship. If it didn't, Haru here could have anyone on the planet!"
"Tsuge!" she protested.
"It's true, and you know it!"
"You can sing? Will you sing for me?" Sakura begged.
Haru gave her friend an irritated glare, but she didn't stand a chance against the girl's puppy eyes. Pulling her onto her lap, she placed her lips close to her ear, and began singing low in her own voice for once.
"I know you
"I walked with you
"Once upon a dream.
"I know you
"The gleam in your eyes
"Is such a familiar gleam…"
Once her rendition was done, Sakura wasn't conscious to give her verdict. Haru beamed at the girl lying on top of her, and placed a kiss on her brow before looking up at Tsuge. He'd fallen asleep, too! Oh well, they weren't due to be home for a few hours.
Soaking in their mere presence, Haru sat back and enjoyed the movie until the needle pricking scene comically woke up her companions.
ooOoo
"Hiromi, I'm telling you; it's a lost cause," Aiko tried to reason over the phone. "I mean, the idea of pranking Haru was funny at first, but this is long past funny now. You heard the principal yesterday; if we do anything else to her, we can kiss our plans for summer break goodbye. My parents are taking me on a cruise; I can't risk losing that!"
"So you're chickening out."
"Hiromi… just let it go. She's too well protected, the Mary Sue. If you still want to prank her, wait until her guard's down."
"But that will take months! She could be engaged to Tsuge by then!"
"Oh, now you're just being ridiculous. Someone like Miss Perfect is going to end up with a producer or a lord."
"Lord?"
"Well, there's too much competition for princes, and you do have to admit that she channels the whole 'classic lady' vibe with more klutz attacks."
"That is just plain ridiculous!" Hiromi fumed as she stormed around her room. "What has she ever done to deserve something like a lord?"
"For crying out loud; that was just an example! What I'm trying to say is that I really doubt they'll stay together. Everything you do against Haru will only harden Tsuge against you. Is that really what you want?"
"… She's already poisoned him against me."
"Besides, didn't you get together with Machida?"
Hiromi scoffed. "Just to make them jealous. It didn't work."
Aiko sighed. "Hiromi… you're fun to hang out with. But if you want to go after Haru, you'll have to get Yura. She hates her more than I do."
"She told me to get you. You know what? Fine! I'll do it on my own, and I'll do a better job than with you two!"
"You know, I saw the look on her face at that game after Machida insulted her. We've also got the entire school convinced that she's a skanky boyfriend stealer. Is it really worth it to do anything else, Hiromi?"
The girl scoffed as she shut off her phone. "Here I thought Haru came up with dumb questions."
xxXxx
The first song is 'Dancing Through Life', from Wicked. The second one is 'Once Upon a Dream' from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. This is strictly a disclaimer, since just about any Disney fan would know that song.