Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Danganronpa.
Chapter 48:
Kotoko Steps Up Part I
It was the tournament of the decade.
Every race from every country came together to decide the top fighter of the world. To determine just who among the world's fighters could claim to be the strongest. It all started as a way to foster peace among the races. A time where everyone could come and celebrate as one.
Now, it was about deciding just which fighter had the best seed among all.
Seed? Yes, seed! It was an unspoken rule, but the winner of this tournament was promised to have a harem of women of his picking, all who would be willing to pass on his heir for future generations. It did not matter what race he came from. All that mattered was that he was strong and that his power would hopefully pass on to his descendants, so that those descendants would then belong to a certain race, to a certain country, and make them stronger.
No one told our idiot blond protagonist this, of course. He just wanted to battle. He loved to fight! Nothing got his blood pumping like being in the midst of battle. He had been training since he was six years old, raised in an environment that demanded strength. Plus, he just loved kicking ass.
It was through this work ethic that he became the most dominant fighter in the world, perhaps in history. He managed to stomp his competition with ease. There was no other fighter in the tournament that could come close to his level of skill. This was evident to all.
The icing on the cake? He was human!
It was a first. Usually an ogre or one of the beast races won. But a puny, tiny human?
Inconceivable!
But it was the truth.
There was triumph, but it was then that all the troubles started for our idiotic blond protagonist. With his strength proven to all, it was time to get to the baby making. Of course, no one told him this, but who cares about that. All that mattered was acquiring his seed.
This was the mission of the fairies, who sent a freckled redhead as their representative who seemed to hate men at first but developed feelings for our idiot blond protagonist over time.
The orcs sent their most perverted busty purple haired young maiden, someone who had been bullied all her life and felt an allure to our idiot blond protagonist due to his kindness.
The elves sent a blond loli tsundere. A must for any harem.
The mermaids sent their beautiful and graceful princess who had a habit of masturbating in the bathroom.
And then there was the crazy punk goblin chick-!
"Brother, what are you doing?"
Hifumi stopped writing.
He was hunched over his desk, his nostrils bursting with steam as his small pointed ahoge twitched every so often. His room was completely dark, save for the light coming from his drawing tablet. His desk and shirt were covered in crumbs, probably from all the chips scattered around. There were empty soda bottles everywhere.
"Sister, do not disturb me in my sanctuary. I am creating my next masterpiece!"
"Eh?" Yamada Fujiko didn't get it. "You left your door open. Plus, you were letting out a scary laugh when I walked by." She hadn't meant to eavesdrop really. "Anyway, I thought you already finished your comic for the school festival. What are you doing now?"
What was he doing? What was he doing!?
"I'm creating my own work! Never seen before!"
That is what he was doing! Something away from his beloved Princess Piggles. Something even more….base than his other work. Something original.
And it was going to be a masterpiece!
For the first time in her life, Fujiko looked at her brother with worry as he started to let out a dark laugh, his hands moving at lightning speed as he resumed his drawings.
Usually, she was excited to see her brother's work. But now…..well, she only hoped that whatever he was planning didn't come back to bite him in the ass later.
When Yasuke opened the door to classroom 1-A, he felt like he had just stepped into the opening cutscene of a video game. The classroom was already filled by fourteen other students who were waiting for him and Sōshun, assembled together by their president. There was no teacher present, which sort of surprised Yasuke but he didn't dwell on it.
"Man, it's about time." The only one Yasuke had the displeasure of being sort of familiar with, Yūto, immediately broke the silence with a whine as he munched on another one of his pastries. By this point, half his body must be made from the stuff. The perverted Ultimate was seated by one of the desks closest to the door.
"I got here very early in the morning, you know. First one here! And yet, you guys show up late. How is that fair?"
"Oh, oh! It's something you see on TV all the time! The main character always shows up last!" an energetic voice spoke up. Yasuke recognized her as the Ultimate Heroine. She generally had a "normal" appearance, at least by Ultimate standards, having straight, short, and light brown hair and bright blue eyes filled with the same energy in which she carried herself.
"Huh? What kind of nonsense is that?" another female voice said. This one was pompous, not surprising coming from none other than the Ultimate Actress. If the Ultimate Heroine had a "normal" appearance, then the Ultimate Actress was the opposite of that. But that was a given since she was a transfer student who came from one of the Scandinavian countries. Her pure white skin and silver hair reflected that. They were in total contrast to her intense red eyes, but it was those same eyes that had won many hearts, somehow. "If there is a main character here, it's obviously me. I've starred in countless movies and shows, I'll have you know. That should tell you everything you need to know about where you stand compared to me."
"Well, you're definitely on billboards a lot, I guess."
"Can we skip all the nonsense?" Now it was one of the boys talking. He had long, swept-back, dirty blond hair and striking gold eyes which were somewhat obscured by a pair of rectangular glasses. Aside from that, he was covered in various jewelry. "Unlike the rest of you, I actually have things to do. The world doesn't stop spinning, and the money is always flowing."
"I take offense to that!" the Ultimate Heroine objected. "I too have an important job! It's my duty to keep the streets of this city safe! That takes precedence over money!"
"Huh? What's that? A kid's game?" Yūto asked with innocent curiosity.
"It isn't! It's real and dangerous. In fact, I have a rival and everything! He and his evil minion squad could take over the world any day now! He's the supreme evil leader!"
"Obviously the school made a mistake when picking her," the Ultimate Actress said with a shrug.
Harsh, but to her it was obvious. Just what kind of title was the "ultimate heroine" anyway? It didn't make sense. This wasn't a video game.
"I'll have you bastards know that I was still speaking," the jewelry wearing boy cut in, looking ticked off. "I'd rather not be here if I can help it, so if we can move this along."
"Well, that's unfortunate. But you're going to be here whether you like it or not," Yasuke said as he walked to the front of the class. Behind him, Sōshun closed the door with a sheepish look and followed after Yasuke.
"What Matsuda-kun is trying to say is that we'd both appreciate it if you could hear us out. This is a momentous occasion, after all."
"That's not what you said in your message, though," the same Ultimate argued while glaring at Sōshun. "You said you had some kind of business opportunity. If this isn't about money, then I'm not interested."
"Oh! Oh!" Yūto raised his hand. "I bet mister president here told us different things in order to get us to gather in this classroom for the first time ever. Isn't that right?"
As if he didn't already know what was going on. How sly of you, Yūto.
"What!? You mean this isn't about me getting a new movie deal!?" the Ultimate Actress cried out, eyes wide in disbelief.
She was followed by the Ultimate Heroine. "And my archenemy isn't in the city then!? Damn you, I can't be tricked like this! The fate of the world is at stake here."
Yasuke turned to the apologetic Sōshun with a raised eyebrow.
"You did your research it seems."
Those student profiles hadn't just been for show.
"Y-Yeah, but this is where the hard part begins," Sōshun muttered, trying to hold back a sigh. Gathering everyone was easy. Trying to make them stay was the hard part.
But Yasuke had already known that.
"Ahahaha, man you guys are a bunch of idiots!" a new voice spoke up. This one was from another one of the female students. She wore a brown hoodie over her school uniform. She had a striking appearance of her own, having long purplish-red hair with cat-like yellow eyes that were slightly covered by her bangs. It was like she was part feline.
"I'm guessing no one here bothers to keep up with the school news, huh. That's why you all fell into the trap."
"Why should I bother with that nonsense?" the Ultimate Actress retorted. "People look up to me, not the other way around. And besides, you're here too. Don't go acting like you're better than me."
"Eh, you shouldn't say that~ There have been some interesting things going on recently. In fact, I was there for one of them!"
"You're not making any sense."
"Hm, but I thought I was. Eisha, am I making sense!?"
She turned to the tall boy next to her. Similarly to the Ultimate Actress, he had pure white skin with matching medium-length hair. His eyes were not an intense red, however, but rather icy blue.
"I think you have to be more straightforward, Rin," the newly named Eisha replied, his voice soft and laidback. It was the total opposite of the now named Rin's energetic voice. "Otherwise they won't understand."
"U-Um." One of the other Ultimates raised her hand. She had long dark-blue hair with two braided pigtails and a pair of exotic green eyes. "Is this about the school festival coming up?"
"Eh~" Rin whistled. She gave the blue haired Ultimate a wink. "I guess someone here has been paying attention, after all. She's right of course. It's our fellow classmates who are putting on a show for the entire school. It's like that pre-summer festival they had going on. Man, there were so many good foods. I could barely eat everything!"
Her words were followed by a loud laugh that had everyone cringing.
The Ultimate Actress scowled at this. "So it's about the idiots next door, huh."
For some reason, she looked extra peeved just referencing class 77-B. Curious.
Sōshun felt relieved. So he wasn't going to have to explain this from scratch. That was good.
Yasuke was also relieved. He didn't want to waste time on something so pointless.
"That's precisely it. We came here today to start planning our involvement in the school festival to make sure that we come out on top. I'm assuming you're all aware about the point system that has been put in place?"
Yūto would have whistled if his mouth wasn't full of delicious pastries. "So you got mister moody here to agree to participate with the festival, huh. Gotta say, that's impressive, mister president. I almost wish you were my rival instead of him."
Sōshun couldn't accept the…..well, let's just call it "praise" and move on.
"Matsuda-kun came to me of his own volition. I didn't have to convince him to participate. He must see the merits of the school festival, and I hope the rest of you will be able to see it as well."
Yasuke was somewhat amused by the boy's misunderstanding. At least this way it would be easier to manipulate him.
"Heh, I had been wondering what this was really all about," another male student said, his expression one of amusement as he cupped his chin. There was no denying that he was handsome, having curly medium-length pinkish-brown hair and blue eyes. "I didn't think I would be dragged out of my lab for something boring if you were the one contacting us, Murasame-kun, and I'm glad to see I wasn't wrong."
Sōshun smiled. "I'm glad I could deliver. As the Ultimate Mathematician, I know just how many people desire your talent, Suzuki-san, and how busy that keeps you. I'm glad you were able to spare some time for this."
"Oh, you flatter me. In the grand scheme of things, just as with my name, I'm nothing special."
So humble.
"I have been waiting for something truly spectacular to happen!" he exclaimed with glee, his arms spread wide. "And it looks like it's finally happened. Now the days don't have to be full of numbers. It's all just so…..perfect and dull."
Yeah, he was quite the character.
"I don't really mind." Yūto's stance on the school festival hadn't changed. "It sounds fun, doesn't it? Plus, we get to interact with so many hot ladies!"
The Ultimate Actress quickly backed away from the tiny boy.
"I'm not looking to 'have fun,'" the jewelry wearing Ultimate spat out. "I have many jobs around the clock that demand my attention. Do you really think I have the energy to waste on such theatrics?"
"Then think of it as a way to expand your business," Yasuke cut in. He had come prepared for this. He was well aware that this Ultimate was one of the more stubborn ones. He was overly prideful, but that made it easier to manipulate him. "If possible, we could have different investors come in and try to promote their products through the school festival. This is Hope's Peak Academy, after all. The name alone is bound to attract attention. As the Ultimate Entrepreneur, I'm sure you have your connections that you can pull in. Think of how much you could expand with this."
Sōshun hadn't thought of that. "That's a very good point. We were thinking of having simple stalls, but if we can expand on that idea we could make this a lot more exciting."
Profitable too. The higher ups in the school would have less reason to complain then.
"What do you think?" Yasuke stared at the Ultimate Entrepreneur who now appeared to be deep in thought.
"May I ask a question?" A new voice rang out. It belonged to another girl, this one with shoulder length green hair with short braids and purple eyes. She had on a pair of large circular glasses, giving her a far more serious vibe compared to the Ultimate Entrepreneur. "You announced that points were going to be involved. So this is to be a contest, no?"
"Ah." Sōshun nodded, albeit with some hesitation. "That is part of the fun, yes. But ultimately that is only meant to get the students interested in the festival. Ideally I'd prefer if we all just had fun rather than worry about the points."
"But the excitement is in the points!" Rin protested. "And besides, I'm sure Hana-chan here cares a lot about the points."
The now named Hana sighed softly. "I would prefer if you did not speak for me, Kobayashi-san. Also, I don't believe we're acquainted enough for you to address me with such familiarity."
"But that's so boring!"
"That's not the point."
"Stingy."
"How!?"
"Ignoring the buffoons, I suppose I would not mind giving this a shot." The Ultimate Actress smirked. "If it means we can give those idiots next door a reality check, then I'm all for it. And since you have me, Alicia Kristiansen, on your side you'll be able to achieve victory."
"Eh? You want to defeat the other class?" Yūto tilted his head. "Why?"
Alice crossed her arms with a huff. "Isn't it obvious? They have been getting ahead of themselves. Doing this and that and planning whatever they want. So what if they put together some lousy festival? That's no reason for people to act like they're more important then me."
"Oh, so you're jealous that the teachers are paying more attention to them than you." Yūto nodded to himself. "I guess you were lying when you said you didn't keep up with the news around here. Makes sense, you have your pride to consider. So basically you're just an attention whore."
"What-!" Alice openly gaped at the tiny boy's words. It was pretty clear that this was the first time someone was so blunt with her.
"Am I wrong?"
"O-Of course you are wrong! That's not what this is about!" Alice stomped her foot, her face flushed. "I'm not a child who needs all the attention on her, you hear me? It just comes to me naturally. And because of my abilities, I have a responsibility to uphold my image. I can't have my adoring fans thinking less of me. More to the point, I simply want to make sure that the rest of you simpletons don't mess this up. My leadership skills will be invaluable here."
Sōshun didn't know how to respond to that while Yasuke didn't care. As long as she was motivated, then so be it.
"This is clearly a setup," the Ultimate Entrepreneur said as he came out of his thoughts, scowling again. "I don't like being baited like this, but I have to admit that your idea holds some merit. As long as I can turn a profit on this, then there is no way that I can ignore it."
He knew very well that having connections with the student council could prove useful down the road.
That did it for the two loud ones, but how about the other ones? Yasuke scanned the classroom for any other voice of discontent. The Ultimate Heroine was humming to herself but didn't seem like she was against the idea of participating. She probably saw this as an act for the public good, or something stupid like that. The ones that were really hard to read were the Ultimate Archer and the Ultimate Jujutsu User. The former was seated in the very back, her long flowing blonde hair obscuring her eyes from view. The latter meanwhile was in the middle of the classroom, his massive tanned body demanding attention from any onlooker. Neither had said a single word since all of this had started, nor had they shown any outward reaction to anything being said. The Ultimate Seamstress, the Ultimate Botanist, and the Ultimate Librarian had all been quiet as well, but they at least seemed interested.
It was hard to say that everyone was one hundred percent motivated, but this was just the first day. Most importantly, no one was leaving. Yasuke would call this a nice start off point for the time being.
"If no one has any objections, then we can proceed to the main topic of today's class. And that is just what we plan to do for the school festival."
Sōshun would have called it magic, but regardless of how he described it he was still in awe when he saw Yasuke naturally command the attention of the others. As soon as he spoke, they all turned to him, ready to listen. It was sort of weird, given how disheveled the Ultimate Neurologist appeared on the surface.
It made Sōshun's job of simply spectating a lot easier, though.
Smiling to himself, the student council president was more than happy to just stand back and let Yasuke take command of the class.
"A restaurant!"
"Ooooohhhh, I could have all the maidens dressed up as maids and-!"
"Okay, not a restaurant then."
"A traditional restaurant!"
"Eh? What's a traditional restaurant?"
"You don't know, Big Bro? It's basically Japanese style! Instead of wearing stupid maid outfits, the waitresses would wear a kimono."
"Oh, that's a good idea! The girls can all wear real short yukatas and-oof!"
"Stupid maid outfits? But Hiyoko, when you wore it that one time, you looked-"
"STOP TALKING!"
"Wait, wait, wait! When did Miss Saionji-oof!"
"Not another word from you."
"Ooooohhh, Miss Pekoyama, your sword strikes are so deliciously painful! I can almost taste heaven at this rate!"
It was utter chaos.
Chisa was starting to wonder how her wonderful kids had ever come together to organize anything if this is how they planned things. A part of her wanted to jump in and take action to make sure there weren't any other distractions, but she didn't do that. She just stood in the back of the classroom as Naruto and Chiaki stood side-by-side in front of the class. After her announcement, Naruto had taken charge of the discussion about their plans for the school festival.
The blond was by the podium while the Ultimate Gamer was by the chalkboard, chalk in hand and ready to write down their ideas for the school festival.
So far, they had none.
"You're all thinking far too small," Byakuya argued, his arms crossed. "If we want to beat the others, we can't just put on any dumb performance. I will not allow it."
"Stupid pride," Kazuichi grumbled from the back, finally able to sit up and talk. He was ready to become religious after yesterday's events. He was sure he had seen a glowing bridge at one point. "It isn't that serious. It's just a dumb school festival. I've been to a ton of those."
"I will not have my name put on something unbecoming."
Nekomaru was in agreement. "Too true. If you are to fight, you never hold back."
Gundham smirked. "So it's war, then."
He could get behind that. Spreading the influence of the Tanaka Empire would do the world much good.
Mikan still didn't like the sound of that. "Y-You don't have to put it like that."
"Byakuya has the right idea," Naruto said, catching everyone's attention. "Ibuki has her amazing music, but it's not something that we can all participate in. The restaurant idea might be a little better, but…."
"I knew you would come to my way of thinking, Uzumaki-kun!" Teruteru exclaimed with tears in his eyes.
Peko was already getting her sword out again.
"It's not like that, you perverted idiot." Naruto scratched his cheek as he tried to explain himself. "With a restaurant, we could all have positions which is nice. But I don't think that's us."
Chiaki tilted her head. "Us?"
"Yeah. It doesn't fit us, I guess. With the festival, it all just felt natural. But I don't get the same feeling with the restaurant idea."
"Probably because of Hanamura," Mahiru said, sweatdropping.
"Oh, you flatter me."
Mahiru ignored the cook.
Naruto wasn't so sure about that. There was just something…..missing. A spark of sorts. He didn't know how he could explain it, though.
"I sort of understand what you mean," Sonia said with a hand under her chin. "I don't feel as excited about that idea as I did with the festival. Why would that be? So strange."
Feelings were complicated, Sonia figured.
Fuyuhiko almost laughed out loud. The two blonds were so similar sometimes it was hilarious.
"We just scrap the restaurant idea. I don't feel like serving a bunch of nobodies anyhow."
Mahiru waved her hand in dismissal with another sweatdrop. "You think everyone is a nobody."
Fuyuhiko didn't dignify that with a response, mostly because the redhead wasn't entirely wrong.
"An event where everyone can participate, huh." Nagito hummed as he thought about this problem. The Ultimates were in a bind, and he was more than happy to help. If he could. "It seems so simple but difficult at the same time. If this were a play, then I'm sure everyone would have a part to play. Ah, not that you guys already don't of course. That is not what I'm trying to say."
Did he just pull off a rhyme?
Hiyoko huffed. "I don't understand any of that. Can anyone translate crazy?"
She looked at Gundham when she said this, but the Ultimate Breeder just ignored her obvious attempt to bait him.
Naruto on the other hand was looking at Nagito like he was a genius. "Wait, what did you just say, Nagito?"
The luckster blinked. "Hmm? Did I say something weird?"
Well, you did just rhyme, but forget that part.
"You only say weird stuff, you weirdo," Hiyoko said with another huff. "Big Bro, are you trying to take what he said seriously? That's only going to lead to something bad, you know."
"But a play sounds like the perfect idea!" Naruto said with growing excitement as he pointed at Nagito. "It fits everything we need! With a play, everyone can have a part. I'm sure it will be pretty unique too!"
He doubted any of the other classes would come up with something like a play.
"Ah, what a wonderful idea!" Nagito clapped with a smile. "Leave it to you to come up with something like that, Uzumaki-kun."
Huh? Naruto was confused. Nagito had been the one with the idea, so why the heck was the boy giving him the credit?
"That definitely sounds doable," Chisa said, her face thoughtful as she mused Naruto's suggestion. "It's grand without going over the top."
Not a bad middle of the road idea.
Byakuya smirked. "I see no issue with such a suggestion."
There was a lot of charm to a play, after all.
"Oh, Ibuki gets to be an actress!" The girl's eyes were full of stars. "But what shall Ibuki do? She's already good with music. If she's a great actress too, I'll be eaten alive by my fans!"
She had fans?
Hiyoko crunched up her nose at that. "Ew, that sounds gross. And anyway, that's not important. Everyone already knows I'm the true star of the show here. Don't go hogging the spotlight without my permission."
"Ehehe, you're so cute, Hiyoko-chan~"
"S-Stop saying that!"
Fuyuhiko ignored the two girls in favor of asking a question of his own.
"What kind of play are you thinking of doing? It better not be some dumb shit."
"I think that's asking too much," Mahiru muttered with a shake of her head.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched. Fuyuhiko and Mahiru were so similar sometimes, especially when it came to making fun of him.
"It'll be something amazing of course. You can't doubt me on this."
"Oh?" Sonia looked excited as she stood up from her seat. "Does this mean you already know the story of our play?"
"Yeah, maybe." Crossing his arms, Naruto closed his eyes and hummed. "I have a good story I think we can act out. I'll have to make some changes from the original, but I think it can work. I'll probably need some help with that."
He wasn't a writer, after all.
"Eh, I don't really do any of that writing stuff." Akane picked her ear with a bored look. "Call me if you need any muscle."
"We are going to need to set up a stage just like with the festival," Peko pointed out.
"Yeah, but it won't just be that." Naruto smirked as he reopened his eyes to look at Akane. "You'll be acting too."
Akane grumbled. "That sounds annoying."
"You will learn to love it."
Chisa sweatdropped at this. "I think you could have phrased that a little better, Uzumaki-kun."
He was the class leader now. He needed to have more tact!
Chiaki meanwhile was writing all of this on the chalkboard. At the very center was the word "play." They now had their idea in place.
Mikan poked her fingers together. "W-Who is going to be the main lead?"
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Ibuki waved her arms. "Is this a romance story!? Is there going to be a kiss!?"
"A kiss!?" Kazuichi jumped up to his feet as he felt a new surge of energy hitting him. "If there's kissing in this, then I demand to be the main dude! A-And of course, Miss Sonia can be the heroine!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's not romance, you idiot. So you don't have to worry about that."
Kazuichi fell back to his seat with a cloud of despair hanging over him.
Hiyoko snickered at the sight. A saddened Kazuichi always made her smile.
"If you're already this sure about the content of this tale, the least you could do is recite it for the rest of us," Gundham said without his usual snark.
"Ibuki agrees!"
Sonia smiled. "Mhmm, I would like to hear what you have in mind as well, Naruto."
"It's weird if you put me on the spot like that." Naruto chuckled awkwardly while running a hand through his spiky hair. "It's a small story that I hold dear in my heart. My master was an author. He wrote several books throughout his life. I think the very first one he published was his best work. I sort of have it memorized. And I want to have that as our play for the school festival."
The other Ultimates, even the stubborn ones like Gundham and Akane, felt touched after hearing Naruto's explanation. They knew how much the man had meant to the blond, despite the overwhelming perversion which Teruteru considered a bonus but that was beside the point. It was like Naruto was sharing another part of his heart with them. It was not something any of them took lightly.
Chisa on the other hand had to stop herself from frowning. She had no idea who Naruto's master was or what significance he had. Even as ignorant as she was, she could still see the change in her students' faces after hearing Naruto's explanation.
How strange. There was something more going on here. Of that, she had little doubt.
"It's not a very complicated story honestly," Naruto carried on, oblivious to the others' thoughts. "It's about a traveling ninja who goes on a journey and encounters different people along the way, all the while he's trying to find the answer to world peace."
"That sounds lovely," Sonia said, her features soft.
Naruto beamed at her words.
"Yeah. It's a great story. The main character never gave up. It's where I get my name from actually."
Mikan really wanted to read this book, but she didn't say anything. She only struggled to keep herself from crying.
"Heh, it sounds like the kind of crap you would enjoy." Fuyuhiko shot his fellow blond a smirk. "I don't think I could ever enjoy a story like that, but it sounds interesting enough. I say we do it."
Mahiru was amused. "You didn't have to say that first part. We all know you're just trying to act tough." The Ultimate Yakuza just scoffed as he looked away from her, but it was pretty obvious that he was blushing. It just made Mahiru all the more amused but decided to give him a break before she turned to Naruto with a smile. "Sounds like a plan to me."
Akane grinned. "Yeah, it's not bad."
"It's inspiring!" Nekomaru was openly crying. There was no shame in showing one's passion, after all. "I would love to read such a tale for myself!"
Yeah, Naruto felt the same way. Unfortunately, he was no writer. But in the future, perhaps….
But now wasn't the time for that.
"If no one is against it, then it's decided!"
Class 77-B had their plan of action.
The coming days were filled with something akin to anticipation. Nothing exciting happened per se, but everyone could feel the tension brewing in the air. Even without speaking to one another, they all knew that they were working toward a common goal. For different reasons of course.
Mahiru's flyers probably helped with that. They ensured that every student, Ultimate or not, knew about the school festival.
It was during this time that Naruto and the others finished getting their idea together. This mostly came to assigning roles for the play as well as how they were going to get their stage ready.
Sonia was obviously put in charge of design, and the princess eagerly accepted the role. Nekomaru, Akane, and Gundham were put in charge of helping her as "the muscle."
The Ultimate Breeder had complained a little about this, arguing that he was better suited to directing the play. With a title such as "The Tales of a Gutsy Ninja," who was more suited than he?
No one else had backed him up. Well, except his Four Dark Devas. They were always on his side.
Naruto had already expected to be put in charge as the director. His co-director was more surprising.
"M-Me?" Peko hadn't believed what she had heard when multiple fingers had been pointed her way.
"It's a no brainer," Mahiru had shrugged. "This is going to feature physical drama. Who better to capture that but you and Naruto?"
The two had the most combat experience out of their class. Nekomaru and Akane didn't count in that regard.
Hiyoko hadn't been pleased about this, and she had made this known. But in the end, just like with Gundham, she had been out voted.
So Naruto and Peko were going to be working together as the two writers for their play. How very exciting.
Chisa had cheered for this decision.
The Li'l Ultimates had kept their promise to help and had arrived during multiple occasions to see how they could lend a hand, as well as play with Kurama whenever possible. Kotoko had been the most excited, loudly proclaiming that she was going to be giving them all acting classes. And for free.
Obviously they should feel indebted to her, she thought.
Fuyuhiko had almost called her a "lil bitch," but that was neither here nor there.
This had left Naruto with only one other thing to do: speak to the student council. This was mostly just to get some things in order, like the beauty pageant as well as Ibuki's request to put on a concert for the whole school.
"They accepted!?"
Ibuki had stars in her eyes again when Naruto delivered the good news to her.
Naruto grinned. "Yeah. They thought it was a good idea."
He wasn't going to tell her that they also wanted her to participate in the beauty pageant. He could think about that later.
"Ehehe, Naruto-chan, you're well connected~ You're helping Ibuki so much!"
"Don't mention-oof!"
Really, he should have expected her to tackle him. Honestly. He was either getting too complacent or Ibuki was the fastest person in existence when she was excited.
"I totally have to mention it, though!" Ibuki was cheering as she happily straddled him and rubbed her cheek on his. "You're too amazing to Ibuki sometimes!"
Naruto blushed. Why was she so comfortable doing stuff like this?
"It really was nothing!"
He tried to push her off him. Thankfully he wasn't stuttering this time.
Sadly, Ibuki held on to him tightly and wasn't letting go anytime soon. It would make for a very embarrassing scene if anyone walked by.
"You know, there are a lot of empty classrooms around here. No need to take up space in the hallway."
Oh no. That voice.
Naruto instantly sat up, bringing Ibuki along with him for the ride. Now it looked like she really was straddling him as he held on to her on his lap.
Ibuki didn't let that bother her. She only blinked a few times as she tried to remember something.
"Eh? Who are you again?"
She looked familiar to Ibuki, but she couldn't quite remember.
Naruto didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
"You don't remember me!? How rude! I am the sweetest, most delectable person in the world!"
No, she was not.
"Delectable!? You mean Ibuki can eat you!?"
Bad Ibuki.
Naruto just sighed. "Ruruka, I didn't know you were on this floor."
They were outside the student council office.
"I go where I please!" So said the Ultimate Confectioner with a hand on her hips. Her cheeks were puffed out as she pouted. "What's with your reaction anyway!? Here I am helping you out and you haven't even thanked me yet! Tell him he's being a bully, Seiko-chan!"
Next to her, Seiko hung her head low as she tried to not draw attention to herself. "A-Actually, I still have some experiments to conduct, so I was hoping I could-"
"Nu-uh! You can't do that." Ruruka cut her off with a huff. "We already said we were going to beat this ungrateful whiskers at his own game. You can't back out now."
Since when had Seiko made that promise!?
"H'mph, sounds tedious." For once, the ever loyal Izayoi didn't agree with his girlfriend. He even seemed ticked off about something.
"E-x-c-u-s-e m-e?" Ruruka slowly turned to look at her two friends. "Why can't you two show me support during my standoff!?"
This was a standoff?
"We're in a Mexican movie?" Ibuki asked, confused.
Naruto didn't know what a "Mexican movie" was, but he didn't dwell on it.
"Don't forget that we're also trying to prepare for the school festival. Especially since we're going to blow everyone out of the water! That's a promise."
"KYAAAHHH!" Ibuki started rubbing her cheek against his again, much to Naruto's embarrassment. "I love it when you get fired up like that!"
"Stop doing that!"
"Never."
Ruruka rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please, you're out here skipping class with your girlfriend while the rest of us are actually working. It just sounds like old stinky cheese to me."
Seiko wanted to point out how they had left a lot of the grunt work to Jun, but she kept this to herself.
Poor guy. He had sworn vengeance against both Naruto and Ruruka for dragging him into something so "stupid," as he put it. Ruruka only said that he was a whiner, which is probably why he didn't have any muscles. How any of that correlated, Seiko didn't know. But such was the mind of her friend.
"You hear that, Naruto-chan~ People think we're an item. We could totally sell this."
Naruto didn't even want to think about Ibuki's intentions right now, which is why he merely stood up with Ibuki still clinging to him. At this point, he was done trying to fight her off. It just wasn't worth it.
"If you think we're just messing around, I guess my deception tactic work. Ninja skills to the max."
Hopefully she bought it.
Ruruka pouted again. "Yeah, whatever. If you think you have the edge on us just because you know the student council president, then you have another thing coming. Show him, Yoi-chan."
Naruto almost bit his tongue from trying to hold in his laugh when he saw the absolute dead look on Izayoi's face as he brought out a pair of cat ears from his coat. He proceeded to place them on his head with the same dead haunted look on his face. Like he had just been put through the world's worst torture.
"Ta-da!" Ruruka looked smug as she pointed at the Ultimate Blacksmith. "I present to you the first attraction of our haunted house!"
Oh, so that's what they were doing.
"But that's not scary." As usual, Ibuki pointed out the obvious. "He looks totally cute. Those ears make Ibuki want to pet him!"
Izayoi glared at her. "Don't you dare."
"Pfft. Cat boy."
"You're asking for it, you sorry excuse for a punk."
"Ibuki doesn't know what you mean!"
Izayoi's whole face started twitching. Ruruka on the other hand waved away Ibuki's concerns.
"Nah, he just needs some final touches. You'll see! Your faces will despair when you see it all finished. Our haunted house will take us to the top!"
"But should we really be telling our plans to our enemies?" Seiko wondered out loud.
Ruruka's eyes widened at this. "AH!" She cradled her head in panic. "Darn, I gave it away! Whiskers is just too slick with his social skills!"
But….Naruto hadn't done anything?
'I can't believe I asked her for help,' the blond thought with an internal sigh. Worse still that he was actually starting to like her. It wasn't that he thought Ruruka was a bad person. It was just difficult to get along with her with how superior she thought she was from everyone else. Byakuya was the same way, but it was different with him. Maybe because Naruto knew the guy didn't really mean it? It was difficult to explain. He just knew that Ruruka was similar to how Neji and Sasuke used to be, and everyone back home would attest to how much he butted heads with those two back in the day.
"I bet you couldn't even scare Teruteru-chan, and that guy is a wimp!" Ibuki booed and gave the trio a thumbs down.
"We'll prove you wrong!" Ruruka started to boo her back.
It was like watching two little kids talking smack in the playground. Naruto was just glad he had never behaved like that before…..right?
The three girls became distracted with their "trash talking" that they completely missed someone else walking past them into the student council office. Naruto and Izayoi were not so early distracted, however. They noticed the individual right away.
Izayoi did not recognize him, but Naruto did.
The blond's eyebrow rose when his eyes met Yasuke's. It took him a few moments to remember the guy, but it wasn't very easy to forget an asshole like him, or so he thought to himself.
Yasuke on the other hand just gave him a bored glance before continuing on his way, not saying a word.
Izayoi felt compelled to ask, "Who was that? Seemed to recognize you."
He could feel a sense of the disdain from the guy toward the blond, something that Izayoi was beginning to feel as well.
Naruto shrugged. "Just some asshole I met a couple of times. Real annoying."
They were always everywhere in his life.
"Coming from you, that could mean a lot of things," Izayoi replied with a blank look.
Was that an insult?
More importantly, why was Yasuke going to see the student council? Naruto was a little curious but decided to let it be. It wasn't his business. He had more important things to worry about. Like transforming Jiraiya's novel into a play.
Now if only he could stop Ibuki and Ruruka from barking at one another.
Chisa knew she should feel proud. Her adorable students were all working together to achieve a goal. It was the sort of thing that youth was all about! It made her feel all warm to see them all having fun and talk things through with one another.
It left her feeling a little lonely is all. After all, what good was she if they were learning all these important life lessons without her?
'It makes teaching so easy but so boring.'
Life was all about overcoming obstacles.
Truly, it was the first true crisis of her teaching career!
Well, she could mess around later. She still had another job to do here. She needed to act as Kyosuke's spy within the school. A task easier said than done. In recent years, Hope's Peak Academy had become like a small nation with how seriously they took security. One would think they were safeguarding a big secret that could change the world.
Chisa knew she was closer to the truth than she would have liked. There was no other reason for Kyosuke to have sent her here if that wasn't the case.
But where was she going to begin? She was confident that no one was suspicious of her employment here. Well, the headmaster probably was, but Chisa felt sure he had no concrete evidence. Otherwise, he never would have hired her in the first place.
'I guess I could take a look around the Reserve Course.'
That idea didn't sound too bad. Her adorable students had all split up for the day, all prepping themselves for their play. Chisa was genuinely looking forward to seeing what they put together. Although she did have to pout a little at the fact that none of them had asked her for help yet.
They were so independent.
'Hmm, I could have sworn that-'
Someone caught her eye in the courtyard that gave her pause. It was Mahiru. The Ultimate Photographer was handing out flyers again. At this point, there probably wasn't any need for that. Everyone at the school knew what was happening.
'She's so diligent.'
It made Chisa smile again. She knew why Mahiru was working hard, and it wasn't just because of her friendship with the others. She was doing it specifically for Naruto's sake.
'To be young and in love.'
She had barely just graduated high school herself, but that was neither here nor there.
Chisa was about to approach her to see if she needed help but stopped when she noticed someone else approach the redhead. The uniform made it clear that it was a Reserve Course student. She was a blonde and bore striking similarities to a certain someone in her class. Her mind connected the dots pretty quickly.
It was Fuyuhiko's younger sister. The boy's file had told her that his sister had transferred into the school right around the time that Chisa had been employed. Lacking a talent of her own, she had been placed in the Reserve Course. Chisa was aware that the girl only got in because of her family's deep pockets, but she wasn't going to point that out. Despite her lack of talent, Chisa saw no reason to put her down.
Until she noticed that Mahiru flinched when the blonde got closer that is.
With a furrowed brow, Chisa inched her way closer to the duo, doing her best to hide her presence for as long as possible.
"-doing something so pointless? Everyone already knows about the festival," Fuyuhiko's sister was saying.
Mahiru flinched again as she lowered her gaze to the ground. "This isn't about promoting the festival. I'm promoting my class's play. We want as many people to attend as possible."
Chisa was a little surprised. Mahiru moved fast.
"A play? That is what you came up with? Oh man, that's so sad that I can't even begin to laugh!"
Those words caused Mahiru's eyes to turn sharp as she looked straight at the blonde. "What did you just say?"
Chisa noticed how Mahiru's change in demeanor caught Fuyuhiko's sister off guard, but she shook it off.
"Y-You heard me. A play is so plain that anyone could have thought of that. I'm sure it must have been your idea, right? To think that this school actually considers you an Ultimate. You don't belong to stand in the same level as my brother."
Mahiru took a step toward her, her eyes narrowed.
"I'm going to let that pass because of my respect of Fuyuhiko. But don't disrespect our play again, or I will make sure you regret it."
This was the first time Chisa was hearing Mahiru threaten someone, or call Fuyuhiko by his first name so casually.
"Now if you'll excuse me."
Mahiru handed the blonde one of the flyers before walking off, leaving her completely speechless.
Chisa felt like she had just stumbled onto something very interesting by mistake.
Now, what was she going to do about this?
"You know, this place reeks of old people."
"Young master, we are guests here. That's a rude thing to say."
"Ahaha! Nah, Fuyuhiko is totally right! The old man wouldn't mind, cuz he knows he's old."
"I swear, what am I going to do with the two of you. How we avoided an accident at the party is beyond me."
Naruto only laughed more as he sat down on the table with drinks in hand. Seated next to him were Fuyuhiko and Peko, who had come to visit him so that he and Peko could continue with their work on the play.
"Peko-chan, you have no idea how many people have said that to me before."
"If someone has a problem, just give them a little cut," Fuyuhiko said, shrugging as he accepted the drink. It was tea. Not his usual choice, but it was whatever. "We work for the yakuza, Peko. You gotta remember that."
Naruto wanted to snort. More like Fuyuhiko was the yakuza as far as Japan was concerned.
Peko felt like she was going to get a headache.
"Let's….just move on, shall we?"
"Gladly!" Naruto turned to Fuyuhiko. "Not that I mind having you over, but why did you come? Didn't Sonia need your help with some stuff?"
Fuyuhiko shrugged again. "Broad just wanted some extra hands like with our festival. I lent her some of my men. My old man is feeling giddy about hosting another festival. We made a killing last time."
Oh yeah, that had been a thing. Naruto had sort of forgotten that Fuyuhiko had used their festival to earn his clan some extra money. Truly, the Ultimate Yakuza was a capitalist at heart.
"We're almost done putting the whole thing together." Naruto began to explain what he and Peko had been working on for the past few days. "We've decided on the climax and what the characters are going to be…..except for the protagonist."
Fuyuhiko didn't get it. "Isn't that something you decide first?"
Peko looked amused. "What Naruto means is that he does not want to play the protagonist despite it being the most obvious choice in the world."
"Oh." Fuyuhiko nodded. "So he's being stupid again."
"First of all, fuck you." Naruto cleared his throat as Fuyuhiko shot him a smirk. "Second, I didn't think it would be right for me to take the spotlight like that without asking everyone else. We're already doing my play."
"So basically, bitching, bitching, and some more bitching."
Peko let out a soft laugh. "I wouldn't be so crass, but yes."
Naruto grumbled. "I hate it when you two team up."
"Suck it up, buttercup." It was obvious Fuyuhiko was enjoying this. "Stop bitching and just do it. We already left this in your hands. No one is going to complain."
They all wanted to see the story that held a special spot in Naruto's heart. It was all the better that they were helping him with it.
Naruto relented. "Fine! But if Kazuichi starts complaining, I'm sending him to you."
"As long as you don't make out with the princess, there won't be any complaining."
Of course not. This wasn't Icha Icha. Although those books had more than just kissing.
"With that settled, there's only one final thing we haven't decided on," Peko said. "The ending."
Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow at this. "How so? I thought all of this had been written down by your master already."
"Yeah, but I'm not sure how to-"
Naruto's explanation was cut off when there was a knock at the door.
The three Ultimates looked at one another. It was already getting pretty late. The others were still at the school for sure, and Naruto was confident that Tengan wasn't coming to the house tonight.
"Did one of you order a pizza or something?" Fuyuhiko asked.
They had not.
There was some more knocking, this time more frantic. It was enough to make Naruto stand up and head for the door. Fuyuhiko and Peko followed after him. They didn't think it was going to be something dangerous, but for some reason all three felt uneasy.
Naruto was already readying himself for an attack until he finally opened the door and saw who it was.
Kotoko.
The girl was wearing some kind of nightgown that no kid should be wearing. She was shaking uncontrollably and her eyes were full of tears. It was obvious that her spirit was totally crushed. This was the total opposite of the Kotoko that Naruto had last seen at the school just earlier today when she had been happily helping them with their play.
"N-Naruto…..!"
The girl cried out his name with such fear that Naruto could do nothing but step back as she crashed into him, her arms wrapped tightly around his torso for a hug. Her tears only increased as she started to openly cry. The pain in her cries caused his heart to ache for the girl.
Fuyuhiko and Peko were left standing behind him, feeling as confused as he was.
Even so, Naruto didn't hesitate to hug her back. He might not be understanding the situation pretty well, but he was well aware that the girl needed a hug now more than ever.
This was shaping out to be a night that would not be easily forgotten.
Yes, I live.
Life has just been busy. Graduation. Work. Masters Programs.
Adulting is hard.
Anyway, here is the continuation. I wonder how many are still expecting an update.
I hope it was enjoyable.
Till next time.