A/N : Next chapter of OreTai, and still in Culture Festival arch! This chapter is more like fillers, though... so excuse me for that...
Enjoy this, and excuse my grammar... I do my best! Don't forget to drop a review, okay~?
Oretachi no Taiga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai!
(Our Taiga Can't Be This Cute!)
Chapter 8
Our Taiga and School Culture Festival Part II
Cosplay Café, Ballroom Dance, and Gingerbread
The story spread like wildfire. Soon everyone knew what happened. They were worried, especially the girls who quickly gathered in his table during meal time, asking if he was okay. Kagami always answered that he was fine, that the wounds weren't as bad as it looked like. They didn't really know the real story. Kagami had asked everyone to keep it secret because he didn't want to cause too much ruckus, especially when the culture festival was drawing near.
It had been a few days, and the bruises had subsided. Kagami had got rid of the bandage on his head. Only some minor cuts now and the wounds on his hand had got better. Today Akashi said they wouldn't have any club activities yet he told them for a meeting in student councils room, so Kagami decided he would go to Home-Ec kitchen and made something for the meeting.
"Kagami-kun, where'd you want to go?" Kuroko asked from his seat behind the red head as soon as Kagami got up from his seat.
"Kitchen. Why?"
"The class president said he had something to talk about the upcoming festival. You weren't here when they discussed what our class going to do, right?"
"Uhh… Yeah…" Kagami quickly sat back to his seat. Kagami looked up at the class-president who was now talking about their idea.
"Cosplay café?" Kagami scratched his head as he read the writings on the blackboard. "We're doing cosplay café, Kuroko?" Kagami asked to the boy behind him.
"The idea seemed to be popular among the girls," said Kuroko calmly.
"We want to see Kagami-kun in cool costumes!" the girls giggling like crazy around him. Kagami could only sweat-dropped at this.
"Nee, nee, Kagami-kun, which one do you think is the best, Shinsengumi or butler costume?"
"Noo! Kagami-kun will look cuter in tiger costume!"
"It's too cliché! How about maid costume?"
"No… no… don't you think a red cheongsam would be suitable, especially for the hair?"
"How about Alice themed costumed? Kagami-kun would look cute…"
"Bunny girl costume would be nice…"
"No… no…! Bondage costume!"
Seriously? Bondage costume?! The hell were these girls talking about?! Kagami shivered at the conversation around him. He threw a desperate look at Kuroko, but right now, the teal haired boy had joined the girls discussing Kagami's costume for the cosplay café. Kagami threw a hopeless look on the other boys in the class, but they only smiled and chuckle at the girls' enthusiasm and had indulged themselves in their own discussion. Kagami sighed.
"So what do you think, Kagami-kun?" Kuroko asked him finally as he turned to Kagami. The girls also gave him a hopeful look.
"How am I supposed to know?! Besides, most of the costume you mentioned… Aren't they all girls' costume?! I'm not a girl!" Kagami's face was now flushed with embarrassment.
"Eeeeh? But I think it'll look cute…" said one of the girl disappointed.
"Sachiko-san is right, Kagami-kun…" Kuroko added.
Kagami shook his head firmly as he suddenly stood from his seat and raised his hand to speak.
"Yes, Kagami-kun?" the class president asked.
"Can I help in the kitchen… please?" Kagami said.
"Oh! Sure, Kagami-kun. From what I've heard you're a great cook, right? We're a bit short-handed in the kitchen. I'll leave them to you then."
"Thank you… uh… Sir!"
The girls let out a disappointed whine when Kagami sat back down. Clearly they looked disappointed not being able to see Kagami in maid costume, or red cheongsam, or Shinsengumi costume, or butler costume. Kagami sighed in relieve. Now he didn't have to wear any stupid costume! What's with the girls, anyway? Why did they love playing dress-up? And Kuroko had encouraged them like that…
They discussed the matter for more, and made a list of the menu (seriously… caviar? There's no way in hell a cosplay café in school festival would served that! What's wrong with these rich people anyway?) And planning the decoration they might need. Kagami had made a list of kitchen staff, and that included him and three other girls (who were now giggling). Kuroko and some other guys (and girls) will be the waiter, and now, they were busy discussing the costume they would wear. Kagami and the girls tried to make a logical menu for the cosplay café.
In a few minutes, Kagami had finished to make the list (Waldorf chicken salad mini-sandwich, bite-size croissant sandwich, Rosemary Butter Milk Tea Cake, apple pie, and strawberry tartlets) including different kind of teas. Kagami grinned as they finished and thanked the girls. He gave the list to the class-president who quickly approved the list.
After another short discussion, Kuroko said he had to go to student councils room to help with the work. Kagami offered to prepare snacks for them. Both of them walked out of the class room. Kuroko headed directly to the councils room while Kagami stopped at the kitchen. When he opened the door, he could see Sakurai, Mitobe, and Koganei were there, baking something.
"Cheers," Kagami said as he entered the kitchen.
"Hello, Kagami-kun…" said Sakurai.
"What're you doing?"
"Mitobe-senpai wants to bake gingerbread," said Sakurai. "How're you doing, Kagami-kun?" asked the light brown haired boy as he scrutinized Kagami's face and still bandaged hand. Kagami smiled and quickly dismissed it.
"I'm fine. How about you, Sakurai?" asked Kagami.
"Ah… I'm sorry… I'm fine…" said the boy with his usual small smile. "You want to join us making the gingerbread, Kagami-kun?"
"Sure… I'd love to."
When Kuroko entered the student councils room, it wasn't as hectic as usual, since they've been settled for the school festival. Kise had laid his head on the desk after finally, after four sleepless afternoons; he managed to get the Book done. Momoi looked satisfied and took note of the council's budget and all that. Murasakibara had slept next to the PC while Midorima was talking quietly to Akashi. Aomine was still in suspension.
"Good afternoon," Kuroko greeted as usual.
"Hello, Kurokocchi~!" Kise greeted with a bright smile.
"Where's Kagamin?" asked Momoi.
"In the kitchen. He said something about trying some recipes," Kuroko said. "Is there something that we still have to do?"
"Ah, actually we're gonna discuss about host club event for school festival-ssu~" said Kise. "Akashicchi had a plan for that…"
"Which we will discuss after Taiga joined us. In a mean time, I'd like you to help me with this paperwork," Akashi said as he motioned towards a pile of papers. "I need to sort this for later."
Even though they grunted, no one refused. Akashi still sat on his seat reading a book while Kise, Murasakibara, Kuroko, and Momoi helped to sort it out. Midorima sighed. It looked like Akashi had turned to one of his mood swings. Probably because the incident a few days ago, and the fact that Aomine was still in suspension. He only hoped Kagami would came quickly since somehow the taller red head always managed to calm Akashi down.
It took almost an hour before Kagami returned with a huge box with him. He looked cheerful as always, even with some cuts still presented on his face and his bandaged arms.
"Sorry it took me longer that I'd thought," Kagami said with a bright smile. "Huh? Everybody's here? I lose track of time when I met with Mitobe-senpai and baked something."
"What is it, Kaga-chin~?" Murasakibara's ears perked at the mention of the word "baked".
"Just some gingerbread…" said Kagami as he opened the box in his hands. "I have a lot of fun decorating it."
The club members 'ooh'-ed and 'aah'-ed when they saw the gingerbread. At first they thought it was just usual men shaped gingerbread. When they looked closer, some of them had red hair, blue hair, purple hair, yellow hair, light-blue hair, green hair, and even the girl ones with pink hair. They were wondering how many icing Kagami had used to decorate it. Kagami only grinned and said Mitobe, Koganei, and Sakurai helped him to decorate them.
"Kagamin, these are so cute!" Momoi giggled as she took one that looked like her.
"Ah! This is me-ssu!" said Kise as he took the one with yellow hair. "The purple one would be Murasakibara and the green one would be Midorima-ssu!"
"You don't say, Kise-kun," said Kuroko as he took the one with light-blue icing.
"Nee, nee, Kise-chin look…" said Murasakibara as he poked Kise to get the blonde's attention. "I bite your head off." And with that he bit the head part of Kise-shaped gingerbread, smirking as he munching it.
"Eeeeh?!"
"Kise-kun, I tear off your limbs," Kuroko said calmly as he took another Kise-shaped gingerbread and broke four of its limbs before ate them.
"Not you too, Kurokocchi~!" Kise whined. "Kagamicchi, do something-ssu!"
"What? What am I supposed to do? They're having fun. Here, you can have this special one," said Kagami as he put gingerbread in Kise's hands. Kise looked at it. It had red hair, almost the same as Akashi-shaped one, but one had a certain addition above its eyes. Carefully drawn unique eyebrows that quickly reminded Kise of the red head beside him. "It's too bothersome to draw the eyebrows, so I only made one."
Kise quickly stopped his whine and jumped in glee as he showed his new possession to the rest of the club members.
"I got the Kagamicchi one-ssu!" he yelled in delight. Kagami only smiled at his friends' antics. Midorima (who was now eating the Murasakibara-shaped one) turned to see a small plastic bag next to the box.
"Kagami, what's with that one?" Midorima asked.
"Oh, it's for Aomine. I baked something for him too since he couldn't join us for today," said Kagami.
After they finished all the gingerbread, Akashi started the meeting.
"Okay, so for the festival, host club and student council will hold an annual Miss Teikou, and for the prize is a dance after the festival and one day date with any member of Host Club," said Akashi. "Though Daiki's weekend pass has been revoked, I'm sure I can do something to make an exception for this time only."
"Dance?" Kagami asked.
"Yeah. In Teikou, after the festival, the school usually held a ball-ssu," said Kise. "So, we will dress up in costume and dancing all night long!"
"Eh? I don't know about this…" said Kagami. "I-I mean… what costume? And what dance?"
"Of course it will be ballroom dance. As for the costume, usually the students provide it by themselves, but for us, Kise's mother has handled everything since she's a famous fashion designer."
"Don't worry-ssu! Everything's under control."
They continued to discuss further preparations, including the hall that they would use for the ball. Kagami didn't join the conversation. He was busy with his own mind, and it seemed like this attract Kuroko's attention as he softly nudged Kagami's side.
"Something wrong, Kagami-kun?" the teal haired boy asked.
"Uh? Huh? N-no…" Kagami mumbled.
"If you have something to say, just say it, Kagami," said Midorima.
"Uuh… Ummm… Can I abstain from the event?" Kagami asked.
"Eeeeh?! Why, Kagamicchi?" Kise asked.
"I… w-well, I cannot dance…" Kagami mumbled. His face flushed. He could only embarrass himself if he forced himself to dance with his two left legs! He was never good at those kind of things anyway.
"Well, if it's just that, we can teach you then," said Akashi. "It's pretty simple once you learnt it. Tetsuya, Ryouta, and I can teach you."
"Eeeh~? But I want to dance with Kaga-chin too~" Murasakibara said as he pouted.
"How'd you supposed to dance the girl's part if you're much taller than him?" asked Midorima. "But right now, the student council's schedule is pretty busy already, Akashi. Do you think it's wise for you to take care of the lesson too? You can leave it to Kuroko since he'd done his part with the culture club."
"E-eeeh? Not fair-ssu!" Kise whined.
"How about I helped Kagamin?" asked Momoi. "Since I'm a girl, so you guys could work and I can teach Kagamin. Besides, Ki-chan had grasped the concept of budget accounting already."
Akashi looked thoughtful for awhile before he smiled.
"Sure. Then I'll put him in your care, Satsuki," said Akashi.
"Leave him to me, Akashi-kun~!"
Kagami couldn't find Aomine when he searched for him in his room. He walked around the dorm, holding the bag of gingerbread in his hand, and yet, the dark-blue haired boy couldn't be found. Kagami had asked around, and all he got was negative answers until he remembered one place he hadn't search for the boy. Kagami walked up the stairs towards the rooftop. Usually, the door was locked, but it seemed like someone had found a way to unlocked it.
Kagami opened the door as the gust of wind blew from the creaked door. Tonight's sky was clear. And since the school was located quite far from the busy Tokyo, he could see the stars clearly. Kagami's gaze swept around the roof until he found a familiar figure, stood up with his elbows propped up on the railing.
"There you are, Aomine!" Kagami called. "I've been looking around for you," said the boy as he walked closer to the dark blue haired boy.
"Hm? Bakagami? What'd you want" asked Aomine.
"Here, I baked it this afternoon for the others and it's your share," said Kagami as he thrusting the bag to Aomine. The tanned boy looked at the bag and opened it, to find gingerbread of host club members. Aomine chuckled at the one with dark blue hair and somewhat browner colored than the others before brought it to his mouth.
"The only one who can eat me is me!" he bit off the gingerbread's head and munching on it for awhile.
"What the hell with that?!" Kagami couldn't contain his laughter anymore. Aomine only smiled as he kept munching the gingerbread.
"This is Akashi," said Aomine as he pulled the red haired one. "Where's the you-shaped one?"
"I only made one and gave it to Kise," said Kagami.
Aomine pouted at the words. He took the one with yellow icing as hair and bit the head off without mercy. He continued to munching it while Kagami had sat on the ground next to Aomine's feet with his back rested on the railing. The wind blew his hair and made Kagami shivered since he only had his T-shirt on. He rubbed his arms to give them some warmth.
"Are you stupid or something?" asked Aomine as he took off his jacket and threw it to Kagami. "If you want to go to the rooftop at this hour, at least wore proper clothes!"
"Hey! It's not my fault it felt so chilly up here at night!" said Kagami. "And besides, I was looking for you all over the place and didn't think to put on any jacket when this place came to my mind." Kagami put on Aomine's jacket and smiled at the warmth. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Bored," Aomine mumbled.
"Haha, I knew it. Akashi told me about the host club event for festival."
"About that Miss Teikou thingy? Yeah, I've heard about that from Kise. Too bad my suspension is over on that day."
"So, you'll come to the festival?"
"It can't be helped," Aomine shrugged. "I probably just spent the day wondering around and eating," said Aomine. "How about you?"
"Hm? My class makes a cosplay café, so I'll be in charge for the kitchen," said Kagami. "You should to our class, Aomine."
"You cook? Sure I'll come. Just make sure you cook something delicious, Kagami!" said Aomine as he smirked.
"Oh, and Momoi agreed to teach me how to dance for the host club event," said Kagami without thinking. Aomine stopped and looked at Kagami for awhile.
"You don't know how to dance?" asked Aomine. "Isn't that a requirement with your family background and all? At least I know a few moves since it's a compulsory subject you have to know to inherit a family business."
"I used to live with my mother, remember? And is that wrong if I can't do a simple ballroom dance moves or whatever?"
Aomine snorted. Well, he didn't really care much.
"Well, I'm sure Satsuki can help you," said Aomine. "Even if you have two left legs."
"Shut up, Ahomine."
Kagami stood up from his position and returned Aomine jacket. The dark-blue haired teen looked at Kagami in question, but the red head only smiled brightly at him.
"Sometimes it's nice to have a civil conversation with you, Aomine," said Kagami.
Aomine couldn't help but return the smile. Well, for today, he'd let Kagami off the hook for awhile. He watched as Kagami walked back to the door from where he came from. But before he opened the door, Kagami stopped and turned around.
"Ummm… On the festival day… After I finished my shift in the kitchen, do you want to go wandering around with me? I-I mean… this is my first school festival since I came to Japan… a-and… you said you didn't have anything to do… so…" Kagami couldn't help but felt his face was blushing. Why did he ask Aomine of all people?! Surely there was someone who could go with him, right? So why the pervert ganguro?!
Aomine only chuckled when he saw the way Kagami's face changing in color, but he nodded.
"Sure," said Aomine.
Kagami's face turned redder at Aomine's answer. Why didn't he refuse? It would be much easier for both of them since Kagami always considered Aomine as insensitive bastard and pervert ganguro! And yet, he couldn't help but felt happy. He turned around, quickly left Aomine alone and ran to his room. He slumped against the door, clutching his left side of the chest while the blush on his face wouldn't disappear.
Why…
Why did his heart beating so fast?
"Kagami-kun, you've been spacing out a lot lately," said Kuroko when he and Kagami helped a bit with the decoration for the culture festival. "Is something wrong?"
"No. Why do you think like that?" asked Kagami.
"Well, it's easy to read you, Kagami-kun. You're like an open book."
Kagami's face blushed a bit. Was he that easy to read? Well, come to think about it, Kuroko always knew if there was something happened to him, and the light-blue haired boy maybe can give him some answers for his problem now…
"Uuhhmm… so… I uh… I asked someone to accompany me to the festival… after I done with my shift in the kitchen…" Kagami said slowly as his face turned red once again. Kuroko's ears perked up at this. Did he…? Did Kagami just told him he would go on a date on the festival day? Kuroko tried to maintain his usual passive expression, though deep down his feeling was messed up at Kagami's declaration.
"And then…?" Kuroko asked. Good… His voice was still monotone as usual. Keep up the poker face… the poker face…
"I-It's kinda spur out at the moment… I mean… I didn't mean to ask him in the first place… I just…"
Him? So, Kagami's date was a boy. This is not good. Not good at all.
"A-and then… I-I don't feel so good… I mean… I felt… There's a funny feeling in my stomach… and… my heart was… beating faster than usual…" Kagami bit his lips, looking worried. "I was… wondering if I catch some… sickness… and I'm afraid I can't go to the festival…"
Okay, now Kuroko needed a moment to gather himself. Was Kagami that idiot? Funny feeling in the stomach… Heart beating faster… Just… What kind of place he grew up in? And what made him worried was not what he could wear, or how should he treat the date! What made him worried was the thought of he might be sick and he couldn't go to the festival because of it. Just what are you, Bakagami?! An angel?!
"H-Have you go to the school nurse?" asked Kuroko. He almost couldn't contain himself anymore.
"I haven't… Do you think I should—?"
"No, no… You don't have to, Kagami-kun," he didn't need some school nurse to tell Kagami he might be in love with someone. Let's just keep him oblivious. "I'm sure it's only the excitement for the festival. It's your first, right?"
Kagami nodded vigorously. He smiled brightly at Kuroko.
"Then, let's just enjoy it," the pale blue haired male returned the smile. "Ah, by the way, Kagami-kun, who's your friend that you asked for accompanying you around?"
"Hm? It's Aomine," Kagami answered casually.
"Oh, I see…"
Kagami had turned around and asked his classmates for something else to do since he'd done with the task there, he didn't realize the murderous aura around Kuroko as the boy pulled out his cell phone and texted the other members of what he just heard from Kagami. There was no way they would let that ganguro had a date with their angel. There was no way! Even though Kagami was oblivious with his own feeling, they weren't sure with Aomine.
That sly bastard!
Kuroko smirked as he closed his cell phone.
They would make Aomine paid for that…!
A/N : And there you go! Please review so I can get the next chapter going~ ufufufufufu~