So I guess it's a surprise!
I should warn you guys though... you might not see it coming
@mochi.rini: GOD ITS AN AMAZING SONG
Merry belated christmas! I totally missed the timing... what can i say, holiday hangover
And 2011 is already coming to an end! man life goes so fast..
lol okay, next chapter!
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Chapter 84 “Come on, we
have to go interview them!”
The girl with a short ponytail insisted on her idea, bobbing up and down excitedly. Her tiny friend beside her with long black hair and a camera around her neck watched her as though she was thoroughly entertained. The girl with the shortest haircut nodded frantically in agreement with the ponytail girl as she herself also started to bounce in place, clenching the recorder in her hand. The tallest girl, who also looked the most mature despite all of them being the same grade, tapped her pencil against her notepad as though in deep thought.
“I don’t know…” she remarked. “Would people really be interested in reading an interview on a teacher and a 2nd year class representative?”
“Come on, you saw the crowd’s reaction, Mizuki-chan!” the ponytail girl reminded. “That play was amazing! Everybody loved it! This might actually be the way to recuperate our newspaper club again!”
“Kanon-chan is right!” the short-haired girl chimed in. “You know our newspaper club is on a downhill spiral. Also, because there are only four of us and we’re all 1st years, we don’t even get enough budgets. Maybe if we post this kind of story, we’ll get more club members and more attention in the school!”
“And this isn’t
just a teacher and an iinchou we’re talking about,” Kanon quickly jumped in. “You know how popular Takahashi-sensei is!”
“And this iinchou we’re talking about is
the Niigaki Risa-senpai,” Erina added, “one of the top 10 students in the school! Everybody knows her!”
“I can already envision it!” Kanon said, spacing out into a dreamy look. “‘Sleeping Beauty and the Prince: behind the magical kiss’!”
“Well… if both Erina-chan and Kanon-chan want to cover this story…” Mizuki pondered. “Riho-chan, what do you think?” All three girls turned to look at the tiny girl with the camera who had remained silent all along while listening to the girls bicker as though she was watching a sitcom. She shrugged.
“I don’t really care either way,” she said, smiling a little. “Just show me what to take a picture of and I’ll do it.”
“That means she agrees,” Kanon quickly interjected.
“Come on, Mizuki-chan,” Erina begged. “Imagine all the questions you can ask them! What was it like working with your students… What was it like playing a male role… What was your staged kiss like…”
“I guess we could make it rather interesting…” Mizuki mumbled.
“I saw we go now!” Kanon piped up. “Decide quick. We have to catch them before they leave the dressing room and go back to the festival! Then we’ll never find them and we won’t be able to get the article out by tomorrow!”
“… Okay!” Mizuki finally said. “Since we don’t have a lot of other material as of now, maybe this will be bumped up to the cover. Let’s go to the dressing rooms; hopefully, Niigaki-senpai and Takahashi-sensei are still there.”
Kanon let out a cry of victory and joy as Erina squealed and gave Mizuki a huge hug. Riho stood in place, wordlessly observing the scene like she was watching a movie again, and took a snapshot with a flash of light.
** ** **
Good going, Risa, you’ve really outdone yourself this time. For a supposedly smart girl, that was a stupid move. Risa continually splashed cold water on her face although her makeup had been completely erased quite some time ago. She looked up at the mirror to stare at her reflection, her face wet with droplets of water, streaming down her cheeks to her lips where she had kissed…
Groaning in frustration, the bean splashed some more water on her face as though she was slapping some sense into herself. She decided to finally dry her face with a towel before she could freeze her skin with the icy water.
Why did you do such a stupid thing? she thought to herself.
You were supposed to fake the kiss, not actually kiss her! What if someone saw? What if someone noticed? But Risa knew that the audience didn’t think much of their kiss from the way they reacted with a strong applause at the end of the play rather than a confused commotion. Besides, none of her other classmates questioned her actions either. It seemed as though she would safely get away with her mistake this time, but Risa couldn’t help worrying about the possible consequences.
She knew, however, that there was little she could’ve done to stop herself from kissing her teacher. By the time she had laid eyes upon Ai’s “sleeping” face, Risa’s logic and sense had already sailed far away from her mind. It was all instinct from that point on; all she knew was that she wanted to kiss her, and that was it. It was as though her subconscious had taken over and she couldn’t snap back into reality.
Risa sighed as she put the towel down and walked out of the tiny bathroom and into the connected dressing room. She walked over to the chair in front of the mirror where she had left her costume laying there as she had been in a rush before to get out of the uncomfortable suit and into a bath robe. She collected the clothing and hung it on a hanger before putting it back on the clothing rack that was pushed against the wall. As she stretched, she sat down in front of the mirror and checked for any leftover streaks of eye liner or lipstick on her face. When she found none, Risa quickly selected the small bottle of moisturizing cream on the makeup counter and covered her hands and face with it. The excessive makeup had significantly dried up her skin to a papery nature so she took care to use the lotion to restore her original complexion. As she was doing this, someone knocked while peaking in through the small window pane on the door. Risa turned to check who her visitor was as a small but slender and pretty woman slipped in.
“Hey,” she greeted, “are you done changing yet?”
“Ah, no, sorry, Sensei!” Risa quickly apologized, getting up as she quickly rubbed the glob of cream on her face. “It took a while to get the makeup off… I guess I used more than I thought.”
“That’s fine,” Ai chuckled. “I’ll wait for you.”
“Are we going back to the festival?” the bean asked.
“Yes… but you see, I can’t very well walk in here as a teacher and leave as a student, if you know what I mean.” Ai smiled apologetically as she referred to her entire appearance. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a blouse rather than the previous school uniform she had disguised herself with. “I’m going back to the festival to be one of the chaperones. And I was hoping you would join me as I walk around… if you don’t mind, that is.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Risa said quickly, smiling. “Let me just get changed. Then we can leave.” She skittered over to the clothing rack to search for the hanger with her uniform.
“Alright,” the teacher nodded. She calmly walked over to the makeup stand and sat in the chair comfortably. “Take your time.”
Risa quickly spotted her uniform and started to remove the skirt from it. But then, she felt a gaze on her back and slowly turned around to see her Sensei, staring at her with unwavering eyes. The bean blushed slightly as she bit down on her bottom lip.
“Um… Sensei… I need to change.”
“I know, Gaki-san.”
“Uh…. Do you mind?”
“Nope, not at all.” Ai flashed an innocent smile at her girlfriend to receive a glare in response.
“I can’t change if you’re staring at me like that,
Sensei,” Risa mumbled, frowning as her cheeks blushed pink.
“It’s nothing I haven’t seen,
Risa,” Ai answered back wittily, noting the way Risa had flinched at the sound of her name being called. “Relax and just change, it’s not a big deal.”
“It makes me nervous!” Risa argued weakly. “Would you be able to change while I stared at you?”
“Yes, I probably would,” Ai answered without the slightest hesitation, grinning.
… She probably would, Risa thought in agreement, pouting.
Sighing in defeat, Risa turned her back on her girlfriend to face the clothing rack and untied the knot around her waist. The bathrobe opened up and the young girl let it slip off her shoulders to reveal her bare back before letting it drop to the floor. She could feel her teacher’s eyes scrutinizing every angle and curve in her body, clad in modest undergarments. As she made serious effort to ignore her lover’s staring, Risa took her uniform shirt from the hanger and pulled her arms through and buttoned it up with certain swiftness. Then, just as rapidly, she unclipped the skirt from the hanger and pulled it up to her waist. But when she tried to pull up the zipper on the side of her hip, she found herself faced with an unexpected challenge. After some useless effort, Risa turned her head to face her girlfriend with a helpless expression.
“It’s stuck…” she mumbled.
“… Shouganai wa,” Ai sighed, smiling. “I guess it can’t be helped.”
The teacher stood up from her seat and approached her girlfriend who quickly turned back to stare at the clothing rack again. Ai got down on one knee to get eye-level with the stubborn zipper and started to slowly maneuver the bit of material that had gotten stuck. After careful work, the zipper finally slid freely up Risa’s thigh to close up the skirt. Satisfied with her success, Ai stood up and grinned.
“Thank you,” Risa said. “We can leave after I put on my—”
Just then, the teacher slowly wrapped her arms around her lover’s waist, hugging her from the back. The bean froze as her words got cut off from her girlfriend’s sudden action, before she quickly calmed down and put her hands on top of Ai’s that laid on her stomach.
“You know,” Ai murmured in her lover’s ear, “I’ve been thinking of our kiss from before.”
“What kiss?” Risa mumbled.
“The kiss that was supposed to be staged, but happened for real anyway,” Ai chuckled. “You really caught me off guard there. I didn’t think you would dare do something like that on stage in front of all the audience.”
“It was an accident,” Risa admitted, sighing. “I wasn’t planning on kissing you, it just… happened.”
“You took a huge risk.”
“I know, I could’ve revealed our relationship in front of the whole school,” Risa groaned, realizing the heavy burden of her mistake. “I’m sorry.”
“I meant that you took a risk with my patience,” the teacher laughed softly, nuzzling her nose against Risa’s neck. “It was quite difficult to control myself when you were kissing me like that… But I guess I still am a bit more mature than you since I could hold myself back while you let your desires drive you. Really, you should be ashamed, Iinchou.”
“Being class representative has nothing to do with this,” Risa muttered. “I’m still seventeen like everyone else.”
“So it’s teenage sex drive?” Ai asked innocently.
“Not funny,” the bean growled.
“Don’t get upset, I’m only teasing.” Ai laughed again. “And you’re the not only one with desires either. I admitted that I had a difficult time controlling myself, didn’t I?”
“But you
did control yourself,” the bean muttered again.
The teacher laughed once more as she spun her girlfriend around to face her. “True… I suppose I did stop myself from kissing you back.” She slowly pushed Risa back until she reached the wall, and trapped her between her arms. “But now we’re in the privacy of your dressing room where no one is watching… so there is no reason for me to hold back now, is there,
Risa?”
Slowly, Risa allowed her lips to curve up into a smile as she felt her irritation melt away. She really was putty in her teacher’s hand, but she didn’t really mind so much anymore.
“No,” she answered, chuckling. “There isn’t…
Ai.”
Grinning, the older woman immediately pressed her lips against the bean’s, relishing the contact that she had so yearned for. Seeming to know what her lover wished for, Risa wrapped her arms around the woman’s neck and kissed her back lovingly, tangling her fingers in her hair. It was as if the two lovers were back in their fairy tale, surrounded by gossiping trees and curious forest animals, loving each other in their own world. Their conscious was completely preoccupied with thoughts of each other. So preoccupied, in fact, that they barely noticed the flash of light that came through the window pane on the dressing room door.
** ** **
“Are you sure we’re allowed to be up here?” Reina asked worriedly. “Shouldn’t we be down there, with the rest of the students, and wait for the fireworks to start?”
“That’s why we’re up here in the first place,” Eri grinned. “This is the best spot to watch fireworks; a couple of my friends and I did it last year and the view was amazing. Well, at least until Risa-chan caught us…”
The kitten laughed at her girlfriend scratching her head with a helpless shrug. The two lovebirds were on the rooftop, standing near the wired fence before the evening sky. After the incredible chaos that was the class play, Eri and Reina had thoroughly enjoyed themselves for the rest of the school festival, all the while successfully evading Junjun and her crew who continuously tried to stick close in order to tease them. After multiple visits to various food stands and returns to the purikura booth, the couple had finally decided to relax for a couple minutes before observing the annual fireworks, which would mark the end of another Haro Kotogakko festival. The turtle had suggested they go to the roof of the school building, away from the bustling crowd below, to be as close to the show as possible.
“Eri,” Reina started, “I just wanted to say today was a lot of fun. It’ll become a good memory. Arigatou.”
“It was fun for me too!” the turtle replied energetically. “We have to do this more often, nee?”
“Yes,” Reina nodded, smiling sadly for some reason. “As much as possible…”
Eri wrinkled her eyebrows in slight confusion at her girlfriend’s sudden change in attitude as Reina turned her head to stare up into the sky. Her mind seemed to be elsewhere, lingering in past memories… or even the thoughts that were to come.
“Nee,” she called. “Have you ever thought about your future?”
“My future?” Eri cocked her head to the side at the unexpected question.
“Like, what you want your life to be like when you get older,” Reina clarified, smiling a little. “We won’t be high school students forever. Sooner or later, we’ll have to hold our own.”
“I suppose…” Eri slowly agreed, “but why the sudden question?”
“Have you thought about it or not?” Reina insisted.
“… Not very deeply,” the turtle admitted. “Typically, I guess I’d go to college and finish my education there and then get a job… but I’m not sure if I even want to go to college. I mean, it just doesn’t seem like me to want to go to college. For Risa-chan, it’s a given, but for me… I think I’d rather get a job right away.” Eri glanced at her girlfriend who kept her gaze upon the stars. However, as though she knew her lover was waiting for a response, the kitten piped up.
“After I left Fukuoka, all I could think about was finishing high school,” she said softly. “Everything after that was a blank; I couldn’t envision myself doing anything. But recently… I decided that I want to go to college. Being a student for a little while longer doesn’t sound so bad to me. It’s almost like I’m keeping myself young for a little while longer so I can make up for the time I lost in being a part of a family. Now that Papa and I are talking again… I want us to be everything we weren’t able to be before. I’m sure that’s what Mama would want, too.”
Noting the small smile that unconsciously appeared on Reina’s lips, Eri grinned as she placed her hand on top of the kitten’s. “I’m proud of you,” she said. “And I know your father would appreciate your choice, too.”
“Well, of course,” Reina continued, grinning, “you’re in my plans for the future, too.”
“And you in mine,” Eri laughed.
“No matter what happens,” Reina said sincerely, “I’ll always have faith in you. So you must always have faith in me. I won’t ever let you go; you have to believe that. Can you promise me?”
“I promise,” Eri nodded. “And I won’t let you go either.”
Reina let out a sigh of a relief, although something still kept her on her toes. Eri seemed to notice this as she kept quiet, waiting for her girlfriend to say something more. After chewing on her lips for a little while, the kitten opened her mouth again.
“Remember when I said I had something to tell you, earlier today?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“You have to promise me that you’ll listen to the whole story,” Reina insisted. “Every word.”
“I promise, I promise,” the turtle assured. “What is it?”
“… I’ve decided—”
Suddenly, a loud whistle followed by a thunderous explosion made the two girls jump in shock. They quickly looked up into the sky to see various splashes of colors lighting up the rooftop as they heard the crowd below cheer loudly. Eri marveled at the fireworks as did Reina, but the kitten’s mind was preoccupied with something else. She looked at her lover’s face, bright with fascination, and knew it was now or never.
“Eri…”
“Yes?”
“… I’m going back to Fukuoka.”
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a LOT happening in this chapter *cue suspense*
And troubles never end...
Topic: Chigatte mo Iin da yo! ~Mainly TanaKame, TakaGaki~ [FINALE - Ch. 93 - (1/30)] (Read 408999 times)