"And here we are, folks! The moment we've all been waiting for!"
The junior high school students of Seishun Academy were gathered out front under the heat of the round flavescent sun amidst the brightly decorated stalls and ribbon-clad booths. It was 8 o'clock and the beginning of quite a hot day, the wind picking up every now and then but otherwise motionless. This however did not zap the enthusiasm from every face in the audience. The students bore large smiles and grins and watched the groundbreaking ceremony of their Cultural Festival eagerly. They had prepared long and hard for it and finally, they can harvest the results of their efforts.
The student council members, together with the key persons of the Executive Committee carried the groundbreaking ceremony with much formality than most junior high politicians. The president called to the crowd using a microphone whilst each of the members held a portion of the blue, red and white ribbons strewn across the stage, with small scissors in their hands.
The president made a small speech and the Executive Committee Head stated some rules and regulations that students should follow while the festival is ongoing. The students wished they would hurry it up.
Finally, after five agonizing minutes, the president signaled for the ribbons to be cut.
"Let the Seishun Academy Cultural Fest begin!" the Student Council and Executive Committee members chorused with much exuberance. Fireworks shot up into the sky and made jolly ear-splitting booms. The air became thick with confetti whilst the crowd cheered, a roaring sound that reached even neighboring localities.
"There it is... Seishun Academy's culture fest," an elderly woman strolling past by the school entrance commented with a smile.
"They've always made great exhibits," a lady who was holding up an umbrella for the both of them said and looked up at the signage above the gates.
"Indeed. They have those founding presentations towards the end as well. I wonder what they're doing this year," the woman replied.
"We should take a look later, Ma."
"Yes, we should..."
It wasn't long before the festival reached full-blown heights. Only the students wandered the grounds in the first hour but as soon as word got out that the festival was officially open to the public, small crowds of onlookers began to gradually file in.
"Irashaimasen!"
"Takoyaki! We have innovative flavors! Come and try them!"
"Come visit our class booth! You can have caricatures and sketches drawn for cheap prices!"
Things became busy all at once. Pretty much every student advertised their booths and stalls actively, holding up signage, posters and other propaganda while raising their voices.
"Ohh, this is quite lively," Fudoumine's Ishida commented.
"Waah, they sure put much thought on the decorations!" An said, looking around at the colorful premise and busily scanning the stalls and booths.
The Fudoumine Tennis Club and their official manager had casual outfits on with An turning a few heads with her pink miniskirt. The boys glared at any male who dared to look at her for more than millisecond.
"Isn't it fortunate that classes are canceled today? We get to visit Seishun's festival. I wonder what the Seigaku folks are doing," Uchimura told his companions.
"I say the reason why they canceled classes is more fortunate," said Tachibana Kippei with an air of maturity. "It's about time they plan on truly renovating the school buildings. We fall behind other schools on infrastructures."
"They're gonna inspect all the buildings today to see what needs fixing, right?" Mori remarked.
"Yup. And they're planning on installing new buildings as well," Kamio answered before popping a bubblegum inside his mouth.
"Too bad Tachibana-san isn't gonna see those changes happen, being a third year," Ibu Shinji commented.
"Stop it, Shinji. Didn't we agree that we won't talk about the graduation? It's so depressing," Sakurai snapped.
"You know that he's such a party-pooper," Kamio pointed out.
Shinji narrowed his cool-blue eyes at the back of Kamio's head in response. "Sorry that I'm a party-pooper," he mumbled sulkily.
Suddenly, An gave an excited tug at her brother's sleeve. "I wanna eat that!" she pointed at a stall selling varieties of brownies and cakes.
"Don't you want to look around a bit more before buying anyth—" Too late. Tachibana was whisked by the wrist and before he knew it, they were running towards the booth that caught her eye.
"Irashaimasen!" A lively group of girls greeted them. One familiar face was visible by the corner, clad in a frilly pink and white waitress outfit, arranging small pieces of butterscotch and soft cookie crinkles on a silver tray.
"Ryuzaki-san!" An exclaimed in pleasant surprise.
Sakuno was startled by the sudden call and almost dropped the tray of goodies. "Ta-Ta-Tachibana-san..." she stuttered as she saw who it was that called her.
"Which Tachibana?" An laughed and hooked her arm through her brother's. "I told you to call me An."
"An-san," Sakuno said, a bit abashed. "Konnichiwa."
"Konnichiwa," An answered and smiled. "Your outfit looks cute. Is this your class' booth?" she asked.
Sakuno mumbled a timid 'thanks' for the compliment, giving a self-conscious tug at the frills of her apron. Her hair was up into twin-tails secured with pink satin bows. She nodded her head, her twin-tails swishing with the gesture. "We run a small sweets shop," she said, mustering a smile.
"Yo, rep," Ishida said. He was one of the members of Team 3 at camp and thus had been acquainted with Sakuno the most among the Fudoumine folks.
"Ohayougozaimasu, Ishida-san," Sakuno greeted back.
"Oh, you remembered my name. That's touching," Ishida commented with a smile.
"Friends of yours Sakuno-chan?" one of the girls manning the booth asked.
"Hnn," Sakuno answered meekly.
The girl's eyes sparkled. "Then would you mind helping us out?" She gestured towards the rows of different pastries in front of them.
"Well, An wants to buy some so that's not a problem," Kippei said. Upon scanning the sweets, he looked somewhat puzzled. "But aren't these... a bit too tiny?"
The other boys looked from the sides. Indeed, the pastries were practically bite-sized.
"These aren't for sale, Onii-san. We're giving them away for taste-test," the girl said with a wink. She gestured at the signage at the side of their booth. "You're free to try one of every variety and if you like our sweets, you can visit our class booth in the second floor of the main building. Our shop is in our classroom. We're selling slices and rolls of cakes, and different kinds of brownies that we flavored ourselves. We included unique flavors with our sweets and if you buy a pack with our main five pastries included, you get to choose a slice of cake for free. But do be careful in choosing because some of them have unique flavors like wasabi, mustard and toothpaste," she explained eloquently, sounding like an experienced saleslady.
"Wow, that's interesting," Mori said and placed a hand under his chin, peering at the signage curiously.
"You thought it out real well," Uchimura commented.
"Of course! It's because everyone's competing for the prizes at the end of the festival. If you help us out with our sales, we'd be truly grateful," the girl told them.
"Can we see the prices?" Kippei inquired with a gentle smile.
Whilst they were discussing the set prices and cake flavors, there was a murmuring in the crowd that caught their attention.
"Kawaii!"
"Hey, which class is that?"
"The girl's too cute for words!"
"Kyaa! Who's that handsome boy?"
"They're lifting a banner."
"A parade?"
Distracted by the crowd, An lifted her head and a truly majestic sight greeted her eyes. There's Fujioka Ryouko and Echizen Ryoma in the center of attention, clad in beautiful medieval clothing.
Echizen Ryoma's outfit is easily recognizable. From the triangular hat on the top of his head with its red feather proudly standing out, the green brigand outfit with a brown leather vest, the mud-colored hood hanging under his nape, the quiver made of brown leather with the bow and arrows barely visible from his back, the black boots and the red cloth mask tied on his neck like a scarf, he made the picture-perfect Robin Hood.
Fujioka Ryouko is dressed in a wool gown of the daintiest hue of pale emerald with soft brown silk linings, the angel sleeves becoming on her prettily-angled shoulders. The upper half of her hair is braided loosely in refined styles, delicate bronze flowers stuck onto the tresses at random positions, while the lower half flowed freely onto her back in black waves. On her head, a simple silver band placed like a tiara decorated her hairline. On her feet is a pair of umber-brown ankle boots to complete the look.
They are holding a banner, one on each end, and it read 'Class 1-2 Medieval-Style Café, Introducing the Era of Robin Hood!'
Behind them on the right side is Hoshimura Shuu, dressed like a fine warrior, his outfit a velvet red with black leather armor. On his belt hang a longsword, its hilt glinting in the sunlight. His expression is sober to match the temperament of Sir Guy of Gisbourne. He had to admit that he's quite enjoying portraying Sir Guy's character; too much that he unconsciously makes his facial expressions even outside of rehearsal.
On the left side is Ayase Mami, clad in a red and yellow wool gown with a coat lined with gray fur draped over her shoulders. Her hair is plaited into cornettes and covered with a pale red hauchettes as headdress. She held a small megaphone in her hand and is happily traipsing behind them, totally satisfied with the attention that their small group is getting.
Under the awed gazes of the crowd, Ryoma and Ryouko remained dignified and poker-faced but they internally sighed in exasperation. The reason why they could be found parading themselves in the middle of the grounds dated about an hour ago.
Inside Class 1-2's Room
"Hey, there're already people waiting outside!" Jun said as he peered into a gap in the door. He was standing guard outside while the others were getting ready for the grand opening of their café. His outfit seemed to pique the interest of some passers-by and many began inquiring what their class booth is.
All of the Class 1-2 members are dressed meticulously form head to toe and excited to show off their medieval outfits. They are in the middle of last minute discussion about the distribution of workloads for the booth as well as advertising their café.
"The festival started an hour ago, we're getting quite a late start," Horio commented.
"That's okay, the guests from outside won't be arriving until later. We can get a late start and we already have a line outside," Miyako commented.
"You already received the work schedules that Kurumi-chan distributed earlier right?" Mami asked her classmates.
"Hai!" the class answered.
"Those in the team to prepare the food products, get in position in the counter. Waitresses and waiters, go to stand-by. Those assisting customers to their tables, go outside and set up. Ryouko-chan, Echizen-kun and stupid Shuu, come with me," Mami announced.
"Why am I the only one with the insult added to my name?" Shuu mumbled darkly.
"What do you mean by 'propaganda duty'?" Ryouko said as she read her time schedule.
Ryoma also has the same thing written on his paper for the time schedule of 9o'clock to 11o'clock. He raised an eyebrow. He does not have a good feeling about it.
"Just like what it said, Ryouko-chan. The four of us will walk all over school to do propaganda work," Mami said proudly, placing her hands on her waist in an all-knowing manner. "Handing out fliers is the work of amateurs. We can't get enough attention doing that," she said and waved a forefinger like a teacher.
"Public presentation can catch the attention of many and word of mouth is our tactic! Therefore we'll parade all over the whole school, inside and out, and display our Marian and Robin to as many people as possible!" she declared.
"Eek," Ryoma and Ryouko squeaked in displeasure. They have to walk around the whole school for three hours wearing medieval outfits? Is she for real?
"That way we can advertise the café and the play for Saturday as well! That's great thinking Mami!" Kurumi said, beaming in her purple dress and looking elegant with her hair up in plaits.
"But of course, keep it hushed that Ryouko-chan is the real Robin and Echizen-kun is the real Marian," Mami reminded them, holding up a forefinger in warning.
"Of course," Ryoma said matter-of-factly. "Or else there's no sense in making us switch our costumes just to deceive the people."
"The posters for the presentations will only be posted on Friday night anyways... It's a good thing to surprise the audience with the gender-bending twist," Miyako said with a smile.
Ryouko turned to Mami and revealed a question that had been bothering her since earlier. "Aren't you afraid that making us switch roles suddenly might influence our acting? After all, we have to stay in character while wearing costumes. That's the main point why we did this collaboration with the class booth."
"As capable as you two are, I'm confident that you won't be confused. Besides, another reason why I wanted you guys to switch places is not only to deceive the people but also for you guys to understand each other's roles. You think in Lady Marian's shoes, Ryouko-chan and you should put yourself in Robin and Robert's place, Echizen-kun. I will hear no more of your philosophical views on trust and whatnot and what should or should not be the action of your characters. I'm not changing anything in the script and you guys have not even once properly displayed a successful romantic scene," Mami told them, slightly scolding. "In other words, you suck, absolutely suck at romantic interaction which is a vital part of our play. Learn some empathy while acting out each other's roles, capisce?"
Ryouko and Ryoma looked displeased hearing their beliefs being antagonized but they have to hand it to Mami because she actually has a point. Switching might actually help them perform a better act.
"By the way, Ryouko-chan and Echizen-kun," Miyako suddenly asked, turning to the two of them. "Are your costumes comfortable?"
"It's okay, I'm not in discomfort or anything," Ryouko replied, looking at the dress.
Ryoma shrugged in response. "It fits fine," he said, tugging at the sleeve of his bandit's outfit.
"It's a great thing that we only have to do minor adjustments on the costumes for them to fit both Ryouko-san and Ryoma-kun, isn't it?" a girl from the costume preparation team commented.
"Yeah, the dress only need to have the hem adjusted three inches," her friend replied.
Ryouko snorted. "It's a relief someone here's only as tall as a bonsai," she said maliciously.
A vein throbbed in Ryoma's temple in annoyance. He glared quietly at her face.
"And Robin's shirts and vests did not need major adjustments as well to fit Ryouko-san's bust size. That's trickier to adjust than the hem of the skirts," the girl commented again.
It was Ryoma's turn to snort this time. "It's a relief someone here is as flat as a washboard," he remarked in the same tone Ryouko had used to indirectly insult him.
Ryouko stared daggers at him in response.
Mami sighed as she witnessed their open hostility. "Nevermind," she thought. "I have five days to make them revert back to their lovey-dovey state at camp," she told herself determinedly.
"Hut, hut, stop wasting time! Everyone disperse and attend to your own duties please!" Mami shouted over their heads. "Kurumi-chan, I'll leave the café to you," she said before ushering Ryoma, Ryouko and Shuu out of the classroom.
As soon as they got out, there were oohs of admiration from the people outside. Then Mami pulled a banner out of nowhere and made Ryouko and Ryoma hold it up from each side. It took them an hour to tour around all five floors of the main building before going out into the grounds.
And so, we see them back at the current time, 10 o'clock at which the sun was at its hottest and the grounds are swarming with people both from inside and outside the campus. Their entrance caused such excitement and everyone craned their necks to get a proper look at the representatives of Class 1-2.
An gave a squeal of delight which made the Fudoumine members look at the direction she was gazing at. Their jaws dropped at the sight that greeted them.
When she was sure that they had the attention of the majority of the crowd, Mami signaled for Ryouko and Ryoma to stop walking. They halted in the middle of the grounds and Mami lifted the megaphone to her mouth.
"Konnichiwa minna-san!" Mami greeted with her most enthusiastic voice. "Guests and fellow school mates! We are Class 1-2 and we're running a Medieval Style English Café in the second floor of the main building! Please pay us a visit and appreciate English tea time while being served by cute boys and girls clad in the ancient fashion of England! And please support our class play in the presentation this coming Saturday entitled The True Face of Robin Hood! You would be able to see the casts of the play serving in the café as well, acting as their respective character as they serve the best-tasting tea, the most genuine coffees and authentic English pastries in our humble gothic-styled classroom!"
Ryoma and Ryouko held up the banner higher over their heads so the crowds can read the details.
"Oh, how intriguing!" some girls in the audience commented.
"So the students would be acting out plays for their founding ceremony for this year!"
Seeing that many are listening, Mami continued. "Class 1-2 proudly presents some of the line-ups of our main cast!" She took the banner from Ryoma and Ryouko and gave them a gentle push towards the crowd.
They looked at her with questioning expressions. "What do you want us to do?" they mentally asked her. She winked in response and gave a small curtsy. "Impress the crowd," she whispered to them.
"I give you Sir Guy of Gisbourne!" Mami announced.
Shuu was a bit startled but quickly regained composure. He stepped forward and gave a bow. The crowd answered with scattered appreciative claps.
"So cool!"
"What a bishounen!"
"He's cute! How come I haven't seen him before? What's their class number again?"
Shuu found it a challenge to keep his face expressionless. The corners of his lips keep on turning up and his ears had started turning pink.
"Bishounen, my butt," Mami said in a vicious whisper, ruining his mood. Before he could throw a dirty look at her, she proceeded with the introductions.
"Our beloved female lead, Lady Marian, the fair maiden!"
Ryouko stepped forward and curtsied gracefully. It is one of these times that her etiquette lessons surprisingly come in handy.
Boys whistled and hooted, and the crowd clapped louder, awed at her grace.
"She's like a doll!"
"Ryouko-tan! You look amazing!"
"How adorable! I wanna take her home!"
"You're so pretty!"
"How old are you?! Are you single, miss?"
"Do you like older guys?"
"Marry me please!"
Strangely, Ryoma felt quite irritated at the calls from the males. "This is a school festival. How shameless of them making this a place to pick up girls," he thought. His hands itch to hurl the arrows on his back at the dudes who called out to Ryouko.
Ryouko however just smiled and waved her hand to the crowd. Ryoma saw her practically shining and beaming at the audience with a lady-like smile on her pink lips and he automatically experienced misgivings. "She's loving this, isn't she?" he thought with a huff and rolled his eyes.
"And our main protagonist, the one and only Robin Hood!" Mami said and initiated the clapping.
Ryoma stepped forward, removed his hat and gave a princely bow that shot arrows at the hearts of all the girls in the audience.
"A genuine looker. Shit, how can a first-year be so handsome? He's making other guys look so plain and he's not even tall."
"Pfft," Ryouko said and covered her mouth with one hand to keep from laughing. Ryoma threw her a poisonous glower.
"Kyaaa! So cool!"
"Ryoma-sama!! Notice me please!"
"Our prince! Seishun Academy's crown prince!"
"How can a first-year junior high school boy be so utterly hot! It's like he's born to wear that outfit!"
"What's his name? Give me his full name! I can't go home without knowing his name!"
Ryoma treated the crowd to one of his rare smiles and waved his hat with elegance. The girls went crazy and began screaming louder. "Tch," Ryouko hissed between her teeth. "They make such a fuss. What's so handsome about Ryoma?" she mumbled and glared at him as he received the praises graciously.
"He's so fiiiiine!"
"Do you have a girlfriend?!"
"Please be mine, Mr. Robin Hood!"
That last comment soared through the air and reached Ryouko's ears. She didn't know how it happened but it just happened that way. Before she could think clearly, she stepped out front and shielded Ryoma by placing an arm between him and the audience.
"Sorry but he can't be yours. Back off," she said, in a not-so-Lady Marian way.
This brought a hush over the whole crowd and Ryouko blinked in confusion as she digested what she had said and done.
Ryoma also blinked, equally confused. He stared dumb-foundedly at the back of Ryouko's head at her exquisitely braided raven-colored locks.
A squeal suddenly broke the silence, a shrill expression of delight coming from no one but Tachibana An herself. "Kyaaa! So cute!"
That broke the ice and the crowd began commenting again.
"Oh, they seem to be good actors! That play might be worth seeing!"
"Chemistry! I see chemistry!"
"Will Lady Marian have that fearless and bold personality unlike the Marian in the original tale? That's so cool!"
Mami stepped up and proceeded with her speech. "Yes, yes, my good sirs and damsels! And there's plenty more where that came from! Our Robin Hood will be unlike any Robin Hood play you had even seen and there are twists and surprises waiting for you on Saturday! By the way, I am the screenwriter and director of the play, Ayase Mami, yours truly! Please spare us your time and support Class 1-2! We will be waiting for you at the second classroom on the second floor of the main building! Thank you very much for listening!"
She curtsied with flair and the audience gave loud roaring claps.
"Well done, little girl!"
"So eloquent for her age... How nice!"
"She's also pretty, such large brown eyes."
Mami gloated at the praises, swallowing her grin.
"Yeah, such large brown eyes, like an owl," Shuu said. Mami sneakily elbowed him.
Amidst the applause, the four cooperated to lift the banner again and waved at the crowd with their free hand. "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!" Shuu shouted and bowed his head.
An suddenly ran towards the four anciently-dressed adolescents and yelled, "Just a moment! Be right back!"
Seeing her fly off, the Fudoumine boys decided to follow her.
"An, don't run! You'll trip!" Kippei shouted after his sister.
"Excuse us. We'll visit your shop later," Kamio said and went off with the others.
"Class 1-2 sure is sneaky... They caught the crowd's attention just like that and even advertised for their play," one of Sakuno's classmates commented, crossing her arms over her chest. "I have to hand it to Ayase and Aoki, they have such great ideas and leadership. A medieval style café... I think there are three café-themed booths this year but theirs seem the most thought-out and unique. And it's related to their class play too..."
"They've also got Fujioka-san and Echizen-kun, the two most popular first-years in the whole school, how can they not attract attention?" her friend said matter-of-factly.
"And they look too good to be true in those outfits! Like a prince and princess."
"It's hard to win against that, right Sakuno?"
Sakuno's shoulders stiffened as she had her name called. "Huh?" she said in confusion.
"Ah, Sakuno-chan, you dropped some of the butterscotch!"
"Eh?" she said and looked down at her feet. Indeed, the piece she was supposed to cut lies on the ground, eating the dust. "Go-gomen!" she exclaimed, crouched down and immediately picked it up.
"What a waste..." one of her classmates said.
"I'm re-really sorry..." Sakuno said timidly, truly apologetic.
"It's okay. Don't mind it," her classmate said as she helped clean the mess.
"You alright Sakuno? You look dazed."
"I'm... I'm okay..."
"Are you sure?" another classmate said suspiciously.
"Yeah. I'm really okay. Maybe it's just the heat," she answered and gave a feeble smile.
"Then why don't you go to the classroom? It's a lot cooler there. You can switch with Mira-chan and help out at the shop."
"I'll do that. Thanks. Sorry for the trouble," Sakuno said and gratefully escaped.
On her way across the grounds towards the entrance of the school building, she passed by Ryoma, Ryouko, Mami and Shuu who were being greeted by the Fudoumine folks.
"Hello, Tachibana-san," Ryouko and Ryoma greeted the Fudoumine captain. After all, more respect should be shown to the captains.
"Hello. Looks like you're doing well. How's your club?" Tachibana Kippei replied.
"Things are moving like clockwork. We finished the ranking tournaments before the festival preparations," Ryouko answered.
"Can I take a picture? I'll show it to my friends and make them visit after school tomorrow to add to your sales," An said.
"That's a deal," Mami replied and shook hands with An.
"Hey, how come you're the one giving permission? It's not your photo that she's gonna take," Ryoma complained.
"She sounded like she's selling us out," Ryouko commented.
"A bit closer, Ryouko-chan, Echizen-kun..." An called out, her phone camera pointing at them.
Ryoma took an impulsive sidestep towards Ryouko and they bumped shoulders. It sent a spark through their bodies and they flinched, their cheeks turning pink.
"One, two, say cheese!"
At the clicking sound of An's camera, Ibu Shinji suddenly showed up out of nowhere and stood in between Ryoma and Ryouko. The photo taken resulted in quite a funny one with Shinji standing poker-faced in between Lady Marian and Robin Hood while the two looked sidewards at him with startled expressions.
"Ibu-kun! You messed up my shot!" An said, looking at the picture and frowning.
Shinji ignored An and shifted his blue eyes to Ryouko. "Hello, Ryouko-san. Long time no see," he said, his expression as bland as ever.
"Hello, Shinji. It's nice to see you," Ryouko greeted back.
"You look pretty today," Shinji said, his face and tone expressionless contrary to the sweet statement.
"Shinji... he..." Kippei said, his usual composure sliding off a bit.
"He complimented her directly! This is the first time he ever did such a thing!" Kamio exclaimed.
"Thank you. You look cool in that jacket as well," Ryouko said, feeling the obligation to return the compliment she got.
"Are we going to stand here all day? Don't we have to tour the whole campus before 11o'clock?" Ryoma suddenly said without bothering to hide the slight irritation in his tone.
"How come you guys are here? Don't you have school?" Ryouko asked An, totally ignoring Ryoma.
"It's cancelled. There's a campus inspection by the management," An answered. Her eyes shone as she took in Ryouko's appearance again. "That dress looks so divinely beautiful on you! Even better than that wedding dress at camp!"
"You think so?" Ryouko said, tugging at the skirt. "It's a little hot though."
"It's really nice to see you guys here and I hope you can enjoy our festival but like Ryoma-kun said, we're running on a schedule. We still have to go by the next building and the gymnasium so if you would excuse us..." Mami said and smiled at the Fudoumine folks. She took out a notepad and retractable pen from the pocket of her dress and scribbled something.
"If you go by our café and present this to the counter, we'll treat you to 50% off on all of your orders and a free refill of coffee each," she added and handed the written note to An.
"Sweet," Kamio remarked.
"How generous of you... We'll use it well," An smiled as she received the note.
"Thanks rep!" Uchimura said and gave a salute to Mami. He belonged to Team 5 which Mami represented during camp.
Mami winked in response. "Now we should go. We'll see you guys around!"
"Wait, I need my pictures. I wasn't able to take a good one," An said, suddenly remembering.
And so, the four allowed themselves to be photographed. An took another photo with just Ryoma and Ryouko and a selfie with the two of them. Satisfied with the shots, she let them go in peace.
Shinji looked reluctant to see Ryouko leave with her classmates and the displeasure showed on his face. "See you later Shinji," Ryouko told him and smiled.
He nodded, quite dispirited.
"Come see our play on Saturday. There're no classes for Saturday anyway right? I'd love to see you in the audience," she said, emitting a radiant light about her.
Shinji's eyes softened. "I'll come and see it," he said, smiling his rare half-smile.
"Are you coming or not?" Ryoma's sharp voice cut into their conversation.
His bad mood affected Ryouko and ruined her temperament as well. "Okay, okay! Why're you in such a hurry?" she said irritably, held up her skirt and stomped towards him in an unladylike manner.
Shinji smiled softly at her retreating back. Fujioka Ryouko is such a beautiful and interesting girl. He couldn't help himself from looking at her; she always successfully steals his eyes. Whether it is only his eyes that she was able to steal, not even Shinji can answer that question.
By the side, Ryuzaki Sakuno proceeded to the school building entrance with a more dampened mood. "Indeed, Ryoma-kun and Ryouko-san looked good together. They've always looked good together and even other people think so," she thought.
And now they're even paired up in the class play as lovers. A lot of people will see the presentations and they'll think the same as the spectators just now; that they suited each other really well. She doubted that she has the confidence to see that play.
Is it really impertinent of her to think that she could keep herself by Ryoma's side? She looked forward to the festival so much, and prayed every night that she gets to spend time with him in enjoying the culture fest. But at the rate things are going...
"Cheer up," she told herself, giving her cheeks a slap. "It's only the first day. The festival lasts a week. There are many chances," she thought in determination and smiled. "Maybe I can take some goodies to Ryoma-kun after the day wraps up. The strawberry shortcakes turned out really yummy. Everyone would have to stay for the play rehearsals later. I can catch him before it starts." With that anticipation in mind, she walked towards the entrance with more bounce in her step.
~~~
"Finally, we're back..." Shuu and Mami chorused as they reached the door of their classroom. They looked completely drained of energy and practically slumped to the floor near the back entrance. Touring the whole campus was more tiring than they thought. They had to repeat the performance they showed in the grounds five more times and were barely able to finish within the designated time of three hours.
Ryoma and Ryouko, having more superior stamina than the two looked more decent. Walking under the heat of the sun was no different from playing tennis in an open court.
"Ah, you guys! Don't just stand there! It's real busy you know!" Kurumi suddenly said as she leaned out from the window, holding the muslin curtain aside.
"Give us a break. It's really tiring to do propaganda duty," Shuu complained.
"Then do you think we're not tired?" Kurumi said and pointed near the front entrance of the room. The four followed the direction where her forefinger is pointing and was amazed at the spectacle that they saw. The line for their café had reached half the hallway.
"You did your propaganda work a bit too effectively," Kurumi said, half-smiling and half-wincing. "It's truly a great thing that we made those time schedules meticulously but still, we're in a bind here."
They peered inside the classroom and things were going smoothly. It was a full house and the waiters and waitresses traipsed busily from table to table. Some are taking pictures with the guests. It was one of the complimentary services of their café for the customers to take pictures with the students dressed in their costumes.
"Hmm... It's not that disorganized, it's the line that brings a bit of problem," Ryouko said and placed a finger under her chin. "What about those number plates that I made you guys prepare? I already told you what to do with a long queue."
"Well, we're doing as you said; giving people number plates for them to come back later but it's a bit taxing. A lot of the people in line want to patiently wait and refused the number plates. Our fellow classmates are asking me if they should hurry their service," Kurumi said.
"Okay, I understand. Let me take over for a bit. Tell everyone not to rush and keep the pace comfortable for the guests," Ryouko replied and entered through the back entrance.
"Hey, isn't it your breaktime starting right now according to your time schedule?" Ryoma suddenly asked. He saw her time schedule earlier and it was the perfect carbon copy of his. Each of the members of Class 1-2 were designated a break of two hours in the morning, a thirty-minute lunchbreak and another two hours in the afternoon so that they can take some slack from their own booth and look around the festival to enjoy it fully. The shifts were carefully orchestrated by Mami, Kurumi and Ryouko to make sure that there would always be a group manning the booth and providing service whilst the others are on break.
"This will only take a few minutes. Why don't you go and scram? I saw that it's also your break-time. Maybe there's someone who would once again treat you with free ice cream coupons or something," Ryouko said as she took the number plates from Kurumi. She didn't know why she said that but it just slipped.
When they were out on the grounds earlier, she saw a glimpse of Ryuzaki Sakuno standing by the stalls, looking fixatedly at Ryoma. Ryouko was suddenly reminded of what happened last Friday. She still had not recovered from what happened that afternoon when Ryoma turned his back to her to accompany Osakada and Ryuzaki. And so from Saturday until the start of the festival, all they did was quarrel constantly. It was all she could do to force herself to cooperate with him for the sake of the class booth and the play.
Ryoma was ticked off at the tone of her voice and dipped into a sour mood. It was her fault that he turned his back on her that day. She was happily accompanying Fuji-senpai at lunchtime and they were getting along so well; while he, her supposed best friend was constantly ignored by her. He just did that to get even. Besides, why the heck is she mentioning such a thing in their current situation? Fujioka Ryouko is so random and more capricious than the weather. He would not tolerate such attitude from her.
"Fine," Ryoma remarked, his tone cold as ice and turned around to the direction where they came from, the arrows on his quiver clicking as he stormed off.
"Ehh??" Mami said as she witnessed the startling turn of events. A tic went off on the corner of her left eye in her irritation. What use is it pulling some strings to make their time schedules identical to each other when they won't even spend their break-times together? As much as she wanted to do something, she was too tired to speak out and interfere. "Ah whatever! I'll try harder later!" she screamed internally.
"Echizen's gonna prance around the stalls looking like that... So we don't need to do more propaganda work tomorrow right?" Shuu said, interrupting Mami's thoughts.
"Do look in your time schedule, you blockhead. We're gonna do it every morning until Friday," Mami remarked, sounding like a tyrant.
"Ehhh?" Shuu whined in complaint.
"What 'ehhh'? You want me to shove that 'ehhh' back to your throat?" Mami told him threateningly.
~~~
At the same time that Ryouko and the others were busy advertising, An and the Fudoumine regulars took their time in touring the part of the festival set in the grounds. They met a few Seigaku members on the way and said hello. The Seigaku regulars however doesn't seem to be out in the grounds. They thought perhaps Tezuka and the others manned the booths of their own classes located in the individual classrooms.
After finishing looking at each of the stalls, they decided to go to the main building to check out the class booths. As they go on their way, An walked a lot slower. She was busy fiddling with her phone, in the middle of sending Ryouko and Ryoma's photo to her classmates with an invite that they go together to Seishun's Cultural Fest together after school the next day. She just finished typing out the invite and was completing the selection of the recipients.
"Risa-chan might be interested as well..." she mumbled. "Oh well, I'll just invite all of them," she added after a second and quick-tapped the names of the girls in her class.
"An-chan! Tachibana-san told you to hurry up! We're gonna leave you if you walk like a turtle!" Kamio suddenly called out to her.
Startled, she looked up and saw that she was way behind her brother and the others. "Hey, no fair! You should wait for me!" she yelled back, hurried tapping out the contacts, completed the recipients, pressed send and dashed to catch up with the boys.
"You guys are mean," she said as she reached them.
Little did An know that she had initiated something unpleasant in her hurry to send her message. One name in her contacts was tapped by accident.
Ryouko went and distributed his contact number at camp before so that all the representatives can reach him when necessary. As instigator of the camp, he had at least that much responsibility, Ryouko had said. An had forgotten to delete the contact after camp ended.
At that time, the said person was in the middle of private tutoring.
"Sometimes, similar strategies can be used by the marketing, the advertising and sales departments as the nature of their work has the same foundation..." the middle-aged male professor with horn-rimmed glasses said as he took the laser pointer and pointed at the projection on the white screen.
The young man behind the desk with his arms and legs elegantly crossed had his back leaned relaxedly on the soft backrest of his swivel chair. His regal chin was held up and he listened to the lecture with a half-sober expression, keeping his purple eyes on the screen.
Suddenly, one of the three mobile phones on his desk vibrated. The tutor stopped talking when he picked it up. The young man gestured for him to continue as he opened the message that he received. The professor proceeded with his lecture and was startled when his tutee suddenly pushed his chair back from the desk, peering at the screen of the mobile phone with a frown.
"Keigo-obocchama? Is there something wrong?" The professor asked.
Atobe was too busy staring at the message to pay attention to him. At camp, that girl forced him to save the contacts of all the female representatives so that he would know who they are if they sent him messages regarding camp matters.
The name that flashed as the sender was 'Tachibana Imouto' (Tachibana's little sister) and the text stated, "At Seishun Academy Cultural Festival. Let's check it out tomorrow as a group! It's really fun!" The message has an image attached wherein a familiar girlish figure smiled to the camera wearing some sort of old-fashioned gown, standing close next to a poker-faced boy wearing the same medieval styled clothing.
"Obocchama?" the teacher asked again.
"Sensei," Atobe Keigo finally spoke, glaring at the photo on his phone. "Sorry but today's lecture is cancelled. Let's reschedule some other time. I have somewhere I need to be in."
~~~
Fifteen minutes later after dealing with the matter at their booth, Ryouko could be seen walking around the grounds. She carefully set time schedules with twenty-minute intervals and distributed them together with the number plates so that those in line would know what time they can get their turn to be serviced in the café. She persuaded them to check out the other creative booths while they wait their turn.
Since it was Lady Marian who talked to them and they were able to take selfies with her, the line eventually dispersed without dissatisfaction. Ryouko had impressed those standing in line with her excellent acting skills. She was quite elegant and eloquent, the perfect epitome of grace, mindful that she is not Fujioka Ryouko at the moment but rather the sweet and noble Lady Marian. It's too bad those people did not know the real her to see through her hoax.
After snapping off at Ryoma like that, Ryouko regretted what she did after her mind was cleared. To a stranger, it would seem like she was wandering aimlessly but truth be told, she was looking for any signs of Ryoma. She does not plan on making up with him completely but she should at least be civil and treat him respectfully.
Their fight had lasted for a week already and she could feel herself backsliding on her intentions to humiliate him using Robin's character. Maybe it's about time that she stopped being stubborn. It's the cultural fest and it only comes once a year. Who else would she want to enjoy this time with other than her dear best friend?
Ten minutes had passed since she started walking around but she had not come across even the shadow of Ryoma. She was thinking of specific places where he might be and considered going up to the rooftop when a noise disrupted her thoughts.
There was some sort of turmoil in one of the stalls that was built like a small stage. There were a lot of girls in front of the stall and they were yelling something in an alternate manner. Curious, she went closer to the area.
"1,800 yen!" a girl from the crowd said.
"1,900 yen!" another hollered.
"2,100 yen!" came someone's shrill voice.
"Wah... it went up to 2,100. As expected of the popular Fuji," a senior boy near Ryouko said. "The starting price was only 500, y'know..."
"How can he not be popular? He's handsome and smart and one of Seigaku's finest tennis players. He's called a genius even when we were first years and since they won the Nationals this year, Seigaku had become even more famous," his friend replied.
"Fuji also participated at that Goodwill Games with American players. That was broadcasted on TV," another one commented.
"Now that you mention it, I see a lot of girls in the audience who doesn't belong to our school. They must have seen him play in the Nationals or the Goodwill Games. It's so nice to be handsome and good at sports at the same time. Girls flock to you."
Ryouko turned her attention to the stage and saw Fuji Syusuke standing in front next to a girl with a megaphone. He was wearing a quite uncomfortable smile and is clad in a costume that does not need second thoughts to be recognized. Over his plain white shirt is a velvet doublet with gold embroidery. He had on a pair of dark grey breeches while on his brown head is a blue-black plumed hat. Ryouko's simper widened. "The perfect Romeo Montague," she thought.
"Fuji-kun! Look here!" a girl from the audience shouted. He turned to the source of the voice and waved his hand reluctantly.
The girls screamed hysterically as if they are in an idol's concert.
"What's going on, I wonder..." Ryouko thought and approached the three gossiping seniors to post a query. "Excuse me, senpai," she said, tapping the back of one of the boys.
The three turned to her and blushed at the sight of the black-haired girl with the flushed cherry-blossom cheeks and lustrous rust-colored eyes clad in a strange outfit and looking like an ancient princess.
"What's this excitement about?" she asked them, her voice playing like music through their ears.
"It's Ryouko-chan," one of the boys mumbled.
"Seigaku's princess, Fujioka Ryouko-chan," his friend added.
"She's so cute," the third one mumbled audibly.
Ryouko cocked her head to one side and blinked. "I believe that is not the answer to my question," she told them. Inside her head, she said, "Yes, honorable senpaitachi, I'm as adorable as heck. Now answer my freaking question."
"It's..." they said, blushing even redder.
"Class 3-6 is having an auction booth. They pooled handcrafted artworks, knitted sweaters and stuff and pre-loved items and sold them with a starting bidding price," one of them finally said.
"Hmm..." Ryouko said, displaying an amused smile. "So Syusuke-senpai is now a handcrafted artwork..." she commented with a laughing twinkle in her eyes.
"Ahahaha, no Ryouko-chan..." the second senior explained. "They're also auctioning off the time of their class members, mainly the cast of their play on Saturday. They're doing Romeo and Juliet. I guess that's their strategy to gain more spectators for their play and get revenue for their class booth at the same time. It's quite clever actually."
"You get to spend three hours maximum with the person being auctioned if you win the bid. So far three people had been auctioned off. The most expensive one was at 1,200 yen," the senior Ryouko tapped added.
"Hmm..." she drawled. "So Mami's not the only one good at thinking up these kinds of strategies..."
"Fuji's so popular that his bidding is taking quite a long time. The girls are also very excited," the third one said.
"I can see that..." Ryouko said, her lips turning up in a wider smile. "So interesting... I haven't seen Syusuke-senpai look so uncomfortable before. It's kinda amusing."
"Yea, he's usually always smiling and looking cool..." one of the boys said.
Suddenly, they noticed something strange.
"Hey. Did Ryouko-chan call Fuji 'Syusuke-senpai' just now?" he whispered at his friend's ear.
"Yea, I think so. Unless I heard it wrong..." the friend whispered back.
"But didn't your friend Miyano say that Ryouko-chan never addresses a senpai with his first name? He's in the tennis club so he should know..."
Meanwhile, the bidding was going a bit out of hand. The girl with the megaphone serving as the hostess of the auction looked quite delighted while Fuji's expression turns gloomier with each second.
"2,800 yen!"
"3,000 yen!"
"You bitch, stop bidding!"
"Whatcha say? Are you starting a catfight?"
"3,500 yen!"
4,000 yen!"
"4,500 yen!"
Fuji's face couldn't be painted until...
"10,000 yen!" a voice, steady and confident went soaring through the crowd, catching everyone's attention.
"Te-te-ten thousand yen?" the hostess stuttered, unable to believe her ears. Fuji blinked and scanned the crowd to see who said such a ridiculous amount.
"Oi, oi, this is just a petty auction for a cultural fest... Who's so dumb throwing away their allowance like that?"
The necks of the crowd swerved towards the back and a girl in ancient clothing, prim and pretty as a princess stood with her right hand raised up, a cheeky smirk playing on her rose-bud lips.
The hostess snapped to her senses and went to stand behind her pedestal. "Ten thousand from the pretty girl in medieval clothing!" she announced.
"Ten thousand going once!"
Fuji was dumbfounded as he looked at Ryouko with surprised blue eyes. She caught him looking and responded with a saucy wink as if saying 'I'm doing you a favor here'. Fuji's lips turned up in a smile.
"Ten thousand going twice!"
The hostess paused for a second before smiling in satisfaction. She picked up the gavel and gave three loud strikes. "Sold to the pretty babe in medieval clothing for 10,000 yen! Please go here in front to make your payment and claim the Romeo of Class 3-6, Mr. Fuji Syusuke! He's yours for a full three hours!"
There were scattered claps as Ryouko made her way through the crowd amidst buzzes and murmurs.
"Isn't that the freshman manager of Seigaku? She's prettier than what the rumors say..."
"10,000 yen... Well, I heard she's rich anyways... It's nothing to her."
"Maybe Fuji put her up to bid for him."
"Nonsense. She wasn't here when the auction started two hours ago."
"Did she just went and save her senpai?"
"I smell something fishy... I've seen them in the grounds eating lunch together a couple of times before..."
"Dating?"
"Oh no. Not Fuji-kun!"
"Throw out Fuji. It's Ryouko-chan who would be such a loss to all the boys in school."
"They couldn't be dating..."
"Oh I wish they are! Just look at how picture-perfect they are!"
"You wouldn't know if they're really dating or not. You guys should stop spreading unverified stories."
"Indeed," a cold voice suddenly pierced through their conversation like an ice glacier.
The squabbling spectators felt a dark and ominous presence behind them and they reluctantly looked over their shoulders.
"You should not spread such silly, unverified stories," a fiery-eyed Robin Hood spat out, his tone flat and freezing. Each word was said with conviction etched in stone, and he is glaring blazingly at the stage on which his Marian and Romeo Montague stood gazing at each other with smiles on their faces.
Those who had seen his face swallowed their spit in fright. Is that the same facially-paralyzed boy who only ever showed expression on the tennis court? Why does he look like a freaking prince of darkness?
Right. Echizen Ryoma and Fujioka Ryouko are famous around the whole school as childhood sweethearts. There were even rumors about their disrupted young love.
The sun is hot on their heads but why do they feel as if winter is coming?
Uhh, choose your prince. Will it be the bishounen who's a prince at heart, the gentleman blessed with a princely smile or the spoiled brat that can qualify as a real-life blue blood? XD
I only started writing this yesterday night and it's such a good thing I finished the chappy before bedtime. XD
Hope you like it and please anticipate the next chapter! I won't take long with it as I have become an indispensable employee in our clinic and my supervisor lets me do what I want since he can't afford to fire me! hahaha I can now openly write during duty! XD
And just in case you're wondering... Yep, I'm a GoT fan. So that title is intentional. XD Who's watching Season 8?!