A/N: Yo people, I'm back!!! It's been too long since the last update so this time it'll be a double update!! I'll just jump right into it!! Please enjoy!!!
It was 8:00 in the morning and the bell just rang several seconds ago, and everyone in 12-F was just getting back to their own seats, waiting for the dull, good-for-nothing self studying lesson to start. Some took out the textbooks that they were unwilling to read so early in the morning, some pulled out their phones from their pocket and started scrolling with half opened eyes, and some just put their heads down on their desks and started to sleep. Subaru was one of those who had their heads on the desk.
"Ah, this is such a waste of time." He heard Hinata said beside him. "We could've devoted this period to much more constructive activities." He said with a small sigh. "Yeah, like reading your manga." Subaru said sleepily, his face flat against the desk. "Just shut the hell up, will you?" Aki said annoyedly from several seats away. "Yeah for god's sake, shut your damn mouths. People here wanna sleep." Haruka's muffled voice came from somewhere near Aki. "Okay okay..." Subaru muttered and buried his face back in his arms again. "What did I do to deserve being shouted at this early in the morning..." He sighed.
"Who knows." Hinata said, shrugging. Several minutes later, Kishitsuji sensei entered the classroom, pulling up the door with a rather unnecessary loud bang and causing many to jump in their seats. "Looks like someone's under the weather already too." Subaru thought ominously. Kishitsuji sensei walked all the way to the teacher's desk and slammed the pile of paper in his hands down, his eyes fixed on the back of the classroom the whole time. Some looked over their shoulders uneasily to check if there was something sinister on the wall behind, but nothing except for the class notification board was there.
"Sensei, what's got to you so early in the morning?" Hinata asked rather boldly, and Subaru gave him a thumbs up from under the table. "Nice one, icebreaker." He muttered. Kishitsuji sensei closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There's one good news and one bad news." He said, his eyes still closed. Everyone stared at him, their heads tilted and drowsiness gone completely. "Good one first." Hinata said. Kishitsuji sensei opened his eyes, scanning the classroom. "I just shouted at the principal in front of all the teachers." He said with a rather satisfied look on his face. Everyone sweat-dropped and mentally face-palmed. "Then the bad one is?" Another guy asked. "The Cultural Festival is coming." He said.
The whole class was quiet for about ten seconds and someone snickered. "Okay. That's very Kishitsuji sensei." Everyone laughed inside their heads and waited for their sensei to talk on. "I was at the weekly teachers' meeting earlier, and the principal just told us that the 12th graders are not to participate in the Cultural Festival so as not to hinder their studies and reviews, and then I told him that it's bullshit because that doesn't even make any sense." He paused and many of the students snickered again. "Then?" Hinata prompted him, and he continued. "He told me to do as told or else, and I said, 'the one thing that I, Kishitsuji Kaname, hate the most in the world is to bow to those who think they are above me and those who try to bind me with unreasonable restrictions, so I refuse!'" He said, and the whole class erupted with laugher this time.
"You know sensei? You really are a living replica of Kishibe Rohan!" Hinata shouted, laughing. "Then I walked out the meeting room and slammed the door in the principal's face." Kishitsuji sensei finished and folded his arms, looking satisfied with himself again. "And now, here's the thing." He said, suddenly serious. The students all sensed the change in mood and quieted down. "The Cultural Festival requires all the classes to have a theme of their own, and the principal decided that 12th graders are not to participate, but we're gonna do it anyways." He said sternly, straightening up a finger. "We're gonna do it, and we're gonna select a theme that is the most rebellious of all options." Kishitsuji sensei finished, and everyone stared at him again.
"So, any ideas?" He asked, clapping his hands together. The students all stared blankly at him. "I've got tons of great ideas of course. But concerning that the Cultural Festival is an event that should bring out the students' spirits, I'll listen to your thoughts first. Plus you're all doing pretty well on your studies, so I figure that we leave the self study crap aside and do some discussing. It won't hurt." He said, and Hinata's hand shot straight into the air. "Yes, Natsuno-kun?" He asked with the whole class half-knowing the answer Hinata was about to give already. "COSPLAY!!!!" Hinata shouted excitedly, immediately followed by a loud shout of protest.
"NO COSPLAY!!!" Everyone else shouted. "Sorry Natsuno-kun. Proposal rejected." Kishitsuji sensei said. "Damn it!" Hinata cursed under his breath, withdrawing his hand. Subaru looked away from him, secretly feeling relieved that he didn't need to be forced to dress up as another Stand by Hinata again. "Anything else?" Kishitsuji sensei asked again. "What about zombies?" A guy suggested. "How's that rebellious?" A girl asked. "I don't know. Zombies feel pretty rebellious to me." He said, shrugging. "Then that's a no." Kishitsuji sensei said, and everyone nodded.
"How 'bout we make the whole class yankis?" Aki said, his gazing traveling over to Subaru. "That's rebellious enough right?" He said. "Hey yeah, that's great! It's gonna be really cool!" Hinata shouted in agreement. "Hm, yankis, is it? Good, good, that's seems just right!" Kishitsuji sensei said, nodding, his voice showing a suppressed excitement. "That's not something a proper teacher should be agreeing to..." Subaru thought, sweat-dropping, but then he remembered that the word "proper" didn't really apply to Kishitsuji sensei anyways.
"Yeah, we can just make Natsuki the leader of the gang since his glares always scare the living hell out of people." Someone said loudly. "What??" Subaru shouted in protest. "And make Kouyou and Tsuyumi be the vice leaders since they are almost equally scary!" Another guy shouted. "Ah?" Aki and Haruka made an almost identical annoyed sound as their heads snapped toward the guy who suggested this idea. "And make Natsuno the stupid guy who's always following behind the leaders." A third guy shouted and the whole class burst into cheers and laughers. "Hey I feel like I am being really disrespected here alright??" Hinata shouted as he stood up, waving his fists, half annoyed and half amused.
"Natsuki-kun, what are your thoughts?" Kishitsuji sensei asked, turning to a dumbfounded Subaru, whose mouth was hanging open. "Uhhhh....." He said, his mouth still open, while the whole class was starting up an uproar. "YANKI!! YANKI!! YANKI!! YANKI--"
"Freaking shut the hell up the Yankees are in New York not here!!!" Subaru shouted with veins bouncing at his temple. He sighed and looked over to Haruka and Aki. Haruka gave him an involuntary shrug that Subaru took as "Fine... do as you wish..." and Aki just nodded again. He then looked back at Hinata, who gave him a grin as a yes, and he sighed again. "Fine fine fine I'll do it you bunch of suckers." He growled and everyone cheered again. "Only let's just make it a yanki cafe or something. It's not gonna look good if the whole class just shouts at everyone who comes to our classroom." Subaru said, picturing the scene in his mind.
"That is reasonable." Kishitsuji sensei said, nodding. "Alright class, since we decided our theme now, we need to discuss the preparation." He said, and the whole class devoted their first period of class to discussing what to prepare for the Cultural Festival. And finally, after an hour of intense discussion, the class ended the students were dismissed.
"Brilliant." Subaru said bitterly as he and Hinata went to Aki's seat. "Look what you've landed all of us in." He said through gritted teeth. "I thought it'd be cool." He said simply, shrugging again. "I'll deal with you after this's all over..." Haruka growled, a contemptuous look on her face. "Yeah yeah whatevs. I know you kinda wanna be a yanki, don't pretend." Aki said, karate-chopping her on the head, which she countered with her elbow. "Huh, is that so? Then I shall show you how I'll be like if I were to be a yanki!" Haruka shouted as she aimed a kick at Aki. He fell back off his chair and rolled onto the floor.
"Oh you wanna fight?" Aki shouted with both arms before his face to defend himself while Haruka jump-kicked him, and the both of the two were out of the classroom. "Just leave those two..." Subaru said, face-palming. "But dude, seriously, you really got time to make outfits for the whole class? You won't have time to study." He asked in a rather concerned voice, and Hinata shook his head and gave him a thumbs up. "Not to worry! I've got it! It's not hard at all! Just get them clothes like Jotaro, Josuke, and Okuyasu and I'll be fine!!" He said, grinning. "Yeah what about the girls?" Subaru asked, and Hinata smirked, clicking his tongue.
"Ever watched Zombieland Saga?"
"Yeah of course haven't we watched it for the club?" Subaru said. "Nikaido Saki is a really good reference!!" He shouted, his hands in the air again. "Hai hai hai I get you alright?" Subaru said, pushing Hinata away from him. "Subaru-kun~~" A girl's voice called and both of them turned and saw Rem throwing herself at Subaru, who caught her but got knocked off his feet. "R-Rem! Please! You're not a torpedo!!" Subaru said as he helped her and himself to their feet. Rem giggled and stuck out her tongue. "Mattaku..." Subaru smiled in defeat.
"What brings you here this time?" He asked, looking at Rem and the rest of the girls, including Ram, Shiori, and Nico. "Rem and the others are here to tell you about the Cultural Festival." Rem said, wrapping her arms around Subaru's. "We heard that 12th graders are not allowed to participate, so we decided to come and see how you're doing, Natsuki senpai." Shiori said. "Oh, that's nice of you." Hinata said with a smile. "But... well... you know... we're actually gonna do it." He added rather awkwardly. "Huh?" All the girls said at the same time.
Subaru and Hinata briefly explained everything to the girls. "So yeah, we're gonna do it anyways." Subaru finished. "Wow, your sensei is amazing." Ram said, impressed, and Subaru nodded in agreement. "He sure is amazing." He said. "But it is such a shame that he is wasting energy on students like Barusu." She added, and Subaur's brow twitched. "That last sentence is very not amazing." He said, frowning. "Ne ne, Subaru-kun, what's your class's theme?" Rem asked curiously. "Hm, I don't think I'll tell just yet." Subaru said, smiling with his eyes closed. "Hm, well, then, Rem doesn't think she'll tell you ours either." Rem said, imitating Subaru. "Fair enough." Subaru said and they all laughed.
"Hey, by the way, where're Bea-ko and Emilia-tan?" Subaru asked, looking down at Rem, who was still clinging to his arm. "Beatrice-sama is in the classroom reading the novels that Natsuno-san lent her, and Emilia-sama is with her friend." Rem answered with a smile. "Oh, who's she with? Kawagome-san and the others?" Subaru asked, and Rem shook her head. "No, Kotoha-san, Yui-san, and Aya-san left our classroom without Emilia-sama earlier. Rem's not sure who she is with right now." She answered, and Subaru frowned slightly. "Hm, okay, we'll ask her later." He said, and Rem nodded.
"Oh, Natsuno-san, Beatrice-sama says she's almost finished reading and asks if there is any series of the horror genre." Rem said, turning to Hinata. "Horror, is it? Alright, tell her I got the message." He said, nodding and giving her a thumbs up. "I thought Bea-ko's not good with scary stuff." Subaru said. "Beatrice-sama is always willing to try out new things, even if it is something that isn't her usual preference, unlike you, Barusu, who's a," Ram turned away with her mouth covered. "Wimp." She finished, letting out a small laughter of despise.
Luckily, the bell just rang, saving Subaru from another argument with the pink haired demon. "Yeah yeah yeah the bell just rang so get back to your class now." Subaru said, pushing the girls out the classroom. "Dude, be gentle to them." Hinata said, laughing and knocking him on the back. "I already am!" Subaru said out of gritted teeth. Rem giggled and led the others away back to their classroom. "See you later." They waved and disappeared at the end of the hallway. "Uggggghhhh......" Subaru groaned as he got back to his seat, slamming himself down in the chair.
"I know they like to tease you from time to time, but you gotta be grateful, really, seriously, really." Hinata said, sitting down as well. "And be careful too." He added as he saw all the guys glaring at Subaru and him with jealousy burning in their eyes menacingly. "I know... but they're nothing..." Subaru said weakly. "What concerns me now is the unknown mana in this world... The real threat is yet to be revealed..." Subaru thought, and then something else came to his mind.
"Rem just said Emilia-tan is with her friend but she isn't sure who that is..." He thought, an ominous feeling creeping up his throat, and he closed his eyes and shook his head vigorously. "No no no no no! Subaru you're being too paranoid! They have the right to have friends and not introduce them to you! There's nothing wrong about that! Plus this's your original world without those maniacs and creeps! Don't worry!" He thought firmly, trying to ignore that bad feeling in his heart. "All I gotta do now is to brace myself for the future! Study! Let the girls enjoy their lives! And the most current challenge, Cultural Festival!!" He shouted in his mind, feeling slightly better again.
Soon, it was almost the Cultural Festival, and during the three weeks prior to the event, everyone in the school was doing their best preparing for it, and Subaru and the others in 12-F were no exception. Subaru had devoted most of his free times watching shows with delinquents and Bōsōzoku in them, trying to learn the way they talk and act as he was supposed to be the leader that day. He did quite a good job imitating them, and at one point, he even accidentally scared Rem and Emilia so badly that he had to reveal to the girls that he was just doing that for the preparation for the Cultural Festival.
On the other hand, Hinata was producing clothes for the event at a rather unbelievable speed. Two days after their discussion, he brought fourteen sets of clothes to the class and gave one to each guy, and another two days later, he brought another twelve sets of clothes for the girls, and then he didn't show up to school till the next Tuesday afternoon. Subaru later heard from him that he got yelled at pretty badly at home because of his lack of focus on his studies and got grounded for four days straight before he promised his parents that he wouldn't mess with other things and would only focus on his studies before the big exams.
Finally, it was the night before the Cultural Festival. "Subaru, time for dinner." Emilia called as she knocked on his bedroom door. "Coming." Subaru answered and came out. "How's the final preparation?" Rem asked as she helped Emilia put all the plates down on the table. Subaru gave a weak smile and sat down. "I think it's fine. Just hope we don't get into too much trouble tomorrow." He said, heaving a sigh while the other girls sat down as well. "It'll be fine. You've all worked so hard for it!" Emilia said encouragingly. "Ram'll make sure she visits Barusu's classroom tomorrow." Ram said, smirking. "To look at Barusu the wimp acting like a punk." Subaru chose to ignore the smirking girl and turned to Rem instead. "Still not telling me what you're doing then?" He asked, smiling more brightly this time. "Nope." Rem and Emilia said in unison, giggling.
"Why can't you just stop being so nosy, in fact?" Beatrice snapped, folding her arms and frowning. "It'd be pretty horrible if someone like you turns up, Betty supposes." She said. "Totally agree with you, Beatrice-sama." Ram said, nodding. "Oh fine, I won't go. But in case you yell at me for not telling you in advance tomorrow, Hinata and the others said they'd like to see what you're all up to, but they're not going without me, so hope you don't feel too bad for not having them coming over just to get rid of me." Subaru said with his arms crossed as well, raising an eyebrow at the two girls. Beatrice's frown deepened as she eyed Subaru for a few seconds and groaned something inaudible. "Fine fine fine, Betty supposes." She said bitterly and turned away.
"Hai hai, let's all stop here and have dinner alright?? Or the meal's going cold." Puck said, appearing out of thin air and landing on Beatrice's head, patting her softly on the forehead. Beatrice sighed and glared at Subaru again, and the others laughed. "Ittadakimasu." They said together and dug in. About half an hour later, they were all finished. They quickly went over their homework and studies and the final presentation for the event tomorrow and decided to go to bed early. "Rem, could I have a word?" Subaru asked before the girls all went back to their room. "Of course, Subaru-kun." Rem said and walked to him. "Nee-sama, Emilia-sama, Beatrice-sama, please go to bed. Rem will be back soon." She said over her shoulder to the rest of the girls. They nodded and entered the room.
"What is it you want to tell Rem, Subaru-kun?" Rem asked, looking up at him. Subaru scratched his head and looked down at her with a small frown on his face. "Uh, well, tomorrow, we really are gonna be, uh, well, quite messed up there, so it's okay if you don't wanna come..." Subaru said, his eyes on the wall behind Rem's back. "Mn-nh, it's fine, Subaru-kun. Rem's not going be afraid at all. Plus, you've already told Rem about it last time. What's bothering you, Subaru-kun?" Rem asked, shaking her head and leaning forward, placing her hands on Subaru's chest.
"Man, you sure are sharp." Subaru said, smiling defeatedly, and Rem giggled. "That's because Rem's always looking at you, Subaru-kun." She said. "Does Subaru-kun wants to talk about Emilia-sama?" Rem continued, and Subaru looked away a bit awkwardly again, and nodded. "I know I might sound paranoid and creepy to say this, but I'm still feeling that something's wrong about Emilia. I'm not sure what it is but... somehow... I don't know, it's just a weird feeling..." Subaru didn't really know why he was getting that feeling. He didn't want to sound paranoid, and he didn't want to let Rem think that he was hallucinating or imagining things, but he just had to say it out loud. He looked back to Rem, and to his surprise, she seemed concerned as well.
"To be honest, Rem thinks she has a similar feeling as well. She's been noticing that Emilia-sama often goes to meet someone that we don't know during recesses. Rem has asked her several times who she's spending her time with, but she wasn't telling." Rem said, her expression serious and worried. "Is Rem becoming too sensitive?" She said, looking at up Subaru. "It's okay Rem, it's totally natural. It just proves that we really care about Emilia, right? Well, tomorrow's the Cultural Festival, let's just try to keep an eye on who she's hanging out with, sounds good?" Subaru said, giving Rem a reassuring smile, and Rem returned it with a firm nod. "But most important of all, have fun, okay? This's the first big school event, well Halloween was pretty big too but this one's even bigger, and it'll be very memorable." He said, giving her his signature thumbs up.
"Hai, Subaru-kun." She took hold of his hand and gave it a small kiss. "Goodnight, Subaru-kun." She said, and went back to his room. Subaru stood there for about ten seconds, chuckled, and returned to his room as well.
It seemed only seconds had passed after he lay down and closed his eyes when the alarm went off in the next morning. They all woke up fairly fast and did their routines and had their breakfast in a rather more excited manner, and in no time, the five set off to the school.
They parted at the stairs, and the moment when Subaru stepped foot in the corridor where his classroom was located, he sensed the difference in atmosphere. The tension in the air was high, and it was quieter than usual. He walked passed the other classrooms apprehensively, feeling that many eyes were on his back, and when he arrived at his classroom door, he stopped there and took a deep breath.
"OOOOOOSSSSUUUUUUUUU!!!!" He shouted with all his might and he banged open the door.
A/N: Okay!!! First half of the double update!!! I'm really sorry for not updating for such a long time. It's summer now and I should be writing more, but I'm going to university now and there're a lot more things to deal with than I had imagined, with all those class enrolling crap and other stuff, and I have summer sessions now, which is really freaking tiring and time consuming, hope I can survive it as well as university :P Anyways, the next chapter is waiting for you, so please continue reading and enjoy, and please remember to vote and comment and follow me!!!