VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter eight

act i

this shouldn't be happening.
( oh but it is. )

chapter eight

❛you talk in your sleep, by the way❜

━━━━━━

Things settle for the rest of the week.

September finally rolls in and she becomes desensitized to Chris' presence. It's not as hard as she thought it would be.

But her current failsafe is that, outside of the classroom, interaction is minimal. They text for homework, pawning the answers to worksheets off each other, and that's it.

It's hardly the makings of a relationship and she lives with that well.

Chiyo and Hiro insist that things are going to change ("I don't know how but they will and you're going to trip yourself up going on like this") but Amara doubts it — until today.

She shuffles into homeroom with Chiyo, a few minutes before class starts; their homeroom teacher, Ms. Hosoni, is already there, thumbing through a stack of papers.

"She's supposed to be announcing something," Chris tells her as soon as she's seated beside him. His notebook and pencil case are neatly arranged on the desk.

"Something," she echoes. "What kind of something?"

Chris shrugs. "No idea, but that's what my friends told me. An event?"

"Could be the Sports Festival. Though I was assuming they'd call it off because you guys were here and accommodating might be . . . much."

"Maybe," he agrees, just as the bell rings.

"Good morning, everyone," Ms. Hosoni says, smiling warmly.

"Good morning," they chorus back.

"You all might've heard some things from your classmates, but I'm here to officially announce that our regular Sports Festival will continue. It will take place on Saturday, October fifth."

Her words garner smatterings of excited murmurs. Amara shares a pointed look with Chris, but to her surprise, Hosoni continues. "And after careful talks with administration, we've also decided to host a Halloween party, with a contest aside it. That will be on the twenty-sixth of October, also a Saturday."

That's new.

High schools here have their share of single-day events like the Sports Festival and the Culture Festival, but hardly dances or parties; things like that are more of a thing in the West.

But Machida does intend to be an international school. They want the best of both worlds? Certainly maximizes their appeal, she muses.

Hosoni explains the details: the theme is supposed to be iconic groups in pop culture, either locally or Western, the minimum being two people. The prize is admittedly underwhelming — only a gift card to a nearby ice cream shop but she thinks most of the student body are more excited about the prospect of dressing up and going to a dance than that.

She hopes it won't be as bad as anything she's ever experienced — awkward school dances in middle school, where people just buy out soda and junk food from concessions and stand around. The Halloween dances are generally even worse because it's basically a guarantee to start sweating profusely under your costume at some point. It's too bad they can't put on an actual dance. The homecoming dance that Monte Vista held in her freshman year was a lot better compared to middle school dances, but that was because shopping for dresses and getting ready for it was exciting to do with Rena. So, she wonders how this one will pan out, whether it'll be awkward and stiff as students adjust or if they'll just ease into it right away.