Sorry for being away so long! I got caught up on... well, life.
And I'm sorry but no comment replies today! I'm in rush!
But I also realized that answering some of the comments might require me to give away some future events... so I decided to stay on the safe, silence side
Here's the next chapter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 71 Eri shifted her eyes towards every direction except directly in front of her to avoid the death glare from her director. Her fingers were nervously tapping on her knees as her feet mimicked the same action on the floor. You could seriously hear a pin fall in the classroom as nobody even dared to break the silence that was brought by their play director. Eri glanced at her bean friend who was nervously looking back and forth between the hunter and the prey, the prey being the turtle. Her position was quite calm but the look on her face told Eri that she was getting ready to jump in as soon as she got the impression that there might be turtle soup boiling tonight. That was her specialty afterall.
Eri quickly glanced at the person in front of her again and looked away. Damn it, she was really glaring. She had never seen Nakajima Saki so mad before. And she could tell the rest of the students thought so as well since they remained just as still and silent. Even the guys who would usually crack jokes to get over the awkward moments held their tongues.
The turtle managed to catch her Saki’s gaze again through the slight and unintentional flutter of her eyes. Wow, her leering was actually starting to make Risa’s angry expression look tame. Starting, but not succeeding. Still, it was quite up to par with the bean’s attitude when she was in rage, and that was saying a lot. And Eri could really understand why. Afterall, she had missed play rehearsal for quite a number of consecutive days to attend to “other business”, putting her class’s chance of winning that free karaoke party at risk. In fact, Eri was absolutely sure that the rest of her class was just as mad as Nakki. But it helped that the only person who knew of that “other business” and understood her dilemma was Risa, who was quite skilled in toning the rage down significantly within other students. And it seemed that what was left of that anger was completely dissolved now as Eri’s classmates watched the turtle being roasted alive by the director. Fury had turned into sympathetic pity.
“Well?” Saki growled angrily, snapping Eri back into reality.
“… Well…?” Eri repeated nervously with a shaky smile, bracing for what was to come.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Nakki yelled, leaning in until her face was only inches apart from Eri’s.
“Well… I…”
“The least you can say is sorry!” Nakki roared.
“I’m… sorry?”
“Is that all you can say, ‘sorry’?” the director huffed. “Kamei-chan, I’m horrified!”
“Look, I really am sorry, Nakki,” Eri said earnestly, “and to everyone else too. I apologize. You know what? I promise to all of you that today, I will definitely stay for the entire rehearsal.”
“Well, you’d better!” Saki said matter-of-factly. “Or else I would’ve taken that spinning wheel that’s supposed to kill the princess and just—”
“Okay! Good to see that we’re all getting along again!” Risa quickly cut in, not wanting to hear the end of Saki’s warning. “Let’s get to work, people! There’s not much time left before the school festival!”
“Mind if I cut in?”
The sound of wind being cut resonated as all the heads in the room turned to face their surprise visitor standing at the door. The young teacher gave a tiny wave and smiled at her students, throwing in a small chuckle as well.
“Takahashi-sensei!” One of the boys exclaimed happily as the rest of the guys grinned as well. Eri could practically see little wolf tails on all of them, wagging away crazily. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought I might stay after a little and watch how the rehearsals are going for my homeroom,” Ai explained. “A couple of other teachers and I had a bet on whose class would win the karaoke party, you see. No pressure on any of you, of course.”
“Don’t worry, Sensei,” Chinami nodded determinedly. “We know we’ll win this thing!”
“Definitely!” Yurina agreed. “That is, if we can get that last scene right…”
A small silence followed as all eyes shifted towards the troublesome prince and princess at the front of the room. Eri shrugged with an apologetic look on her face. Risa just nervously blinked at her secret lover, who seemed perfectly in character as the responsible teacher.
“I’m sure things will work out,” Ai encouraged. “Everyone’s been working so hard; please continue to do your best!”
“We will, Sensei!” The boys answered in unison with huge smiles as Eri thought to herself that she could’ve sworn she just saw little wolf ears pop out of all the boys’ heads.
“Well then, Director-san,” Ai bowed a little at one of her frustrated students, “I hope you don’t mind me sitting in for this rehearsal.”
“Of course not, Sensei,” Nakki smiled. “Pull up a chair and feel free to observe.”
Eri raised an eyebrow as she saw a tiny wolf-like tail also grow out of Nakki. Not as noticeable as the boys, but it was there. And her director suddenly seemed considerably happier after Ai spoke with her. It seemed that Takahashi-sensei was having quite the effect on girls as she did on the boys. Not that she could blame any of her peers; Takahashi-sensei was just perfect. So perfect, that she was good enough to suit Risa’s selective taste that was very hard to please.
“This is the first time I can understand why you fell for her,” Eri whispered to her friend, gently elbowing her side. “Takahashi-sensei really is ideal, isn’t she?”
“Don’t go falling for her, Kameha,” the bean warned. “I’d hate to see you get as annoying as the rest of them in this classroom… fawning over her like that…”
“So you see the ears and tails too?” Eri gasped, smiling. “So I’m not crazy?”
“… What are you talking about?” Risa asked slowly, turning her head to show her confused expression to the turtle.
“… Nevermind,” Eri sighed. “Just my overactive imagination, I guess…”
“Okay, let’s get this rehearsal started!” Nakki yelled, pressing her mouth against a rolled-up script to use it as a megaphone. “Run it from the beginning of this scene!”
Eri, Makoto, and Asami quickly arranged a couple of chairs in a row to act as a bed for the princess. When Saki signaled to start, Eri quickly lied down on top of the chairs and closed her eyes to make believe she was in a deep slumber. Risa came marching forward from the side and stopped before the turtle’s chair-bed.
“Here is the beautiful princess I’ve heard of,” the bean read, making her voice a little deeper, “still deep in slumber.” Risa knelt beside Eri’s body and stared at her friend’s face. “But how do I wake her…?”
Trying to ignore the burning stares at her from everyone in the room, Risa lifted her hands to gently stroke Eri’s cheek, following the script. Swallowing hard, she then proceeded to slowly lean in closer to the turtle’s face, their lips only inches apart.
“Any spell… can be broken with a true love’s kiss… My princess…”
“CUT!”
The bean fell backwards, shocked from the loud voice ordering her to stop. But she was confused to find that the voice did not come from the usual person who called her out. Eri sat up and blinked a couple times, also bewildered at the new interruption.
“Sensei?” she guessed.
“Sensei!” a couple of the students said, surprised.
“Sensei?!” Nakki yelled, confused.
“What is she doing…?” Risa mumbled under her breath, chewing on her lips.
“I’m so sorry for stopping you, Gaki-san,” Ai apologized, bringing out her most sincere expression. “But… I couldn’t help but feel that you didn’t deliver the right emotion for those lines.”
“… Deliver?” Risa exhaled sharply in disbelief.
“Yes, I just felt that there was something missing,” Ai shrugged innocently. “But what do I know, maybe it’s just me. But that was just my opinion… What did you think, Nakajima-san?”
“Well… I can see Sensei’s point,” Saki nodded. “All this time, that’s how Iinchou’s being performing all along so I just let it go but… I can see why the delivery is a bit lacking. Try to put more emotion into it, Gaki-san!”
“… Oh, I’ll give you emotion, alright…” Risa muttered, forcing a tight smile. “I’m sorry. I’ll try that again.”
Eri lied down on the chairs again and whispered in a low voice so that only her friend could hear. “Is Takahashi-sensei mad?”
“Oh yeah, she’s mad,” Risa grumbled back. “Mad with jealousy and immature foolishness, that is.”
She’s seriously going to use this kind of childish method? What kind of joke is this? Please stop before you take it too far… “Take it from the top!” Nakki yelled through her paper megaphone. “Ready? And… action!”
Risa marched in fromt the side again, putting a bit more manliness into each step. “Here is the beautiful princess I’ve heard of, still deep in slumber.” The bean looked upon her friend with loving eyes, imagining that it was the face of her own girlfriend. She slowly knelt down and further gazed into Eri’s sleeping face. “But how do I wake her…?” She gently lifted her hands to stroke her friend’s cheeks but this time, she even ran her fingers across her lips as well. Eri’s lips trembled a little as her expression scrunched up for the slightest second in confusion. Risa understood that perhaps she was overdoing it a little bit with the acting, but she knew that it would definitely have an effect on her teacher. Although she felt that her actions went against her own philosophy, part of the bean wanted to act in an immature way just like Ai was. She wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine.
“Any spell can be broken… with a true love’s kiss, my—”
“CUT.”
Risa’s body jerked backwards as she let out a frustrated sigh. She had seen this coming but she didn’t realize that her lover would be so quick to stop her, and forceful enough to cut off her line. While Risa whipped around to glare at her teacher, Eri merely turned her head sideways to face her director, since she was too lazy to get up. Ai’s lips were curved up into a tight smile as her eyes blazed with fiery anger.
“Did I not deliver enough emotion, Sensei?” Risa asked with the slightest hint of sarcasm.
“Oh no, Gaki-san, you had lots of emotion there,” Ai said innocently. “Rather, you had too much emotion. I think toning it down just a little bit might help. Don’t you agree, Nakajima-san?”
“I completely agree, Sensei,” Nakki nodded assertively.
“… Fine,” Risa said, forcing a smile. “I’ll run it again.”
“Is it just me,” Eri whispered under her breath, “or is there some sort of war going on between you and Sensei?”
“I can’t help but think that you chose the wrong moment to snap out of your aho self, Kame,” Risa grumbled, rolling her eyes.
“Nobody else is noticing because they don’t know the true relationship between you two,” Eri explained. “But seriously, I have to get this rehearsal over with and leave; Reina’s waiting for me. I can’t afford to get cuts every single time we try to do this scene.”
“Tell that to Sensei,” Risa muttered, “because I’m not backing down. Let’s see who wins this fight…”
And so, for the next hour, the entire class spent the time watching the same scene replay over and over again at the front of the room. Whenever Risa’s face got close enough to Eri’s to make one believe that they were really going to kiss and get this rehearsal over with, the same voice would yell out to stop them. As the clock ticked on, Risa got more and more exhausted, trying to act calmly and maturely through practice. However, her weariness made her lose focus which only gave Ai more excuses to cut the scene. And the teacher sounded so intelligent and assertive in pointing out the flaws in Risa’s acting, that Nakki would end up being convinced by her words as well. Time passed on mercilessly, with no progress being made whatsoever.
“… My princess—”
“Cut. You sounded a bit too bland there, Gaki-san.”
Sensing her anger boiling up to her head to finally explode, Risa gritted her teeth to cool off just enough to prevent herself from going berserk. Eri looked at her friend with a worried look, as though she knew perfectly well of what was to come. The bean whipped around to glare at her teacher, who stared back with a blank face.
“Sensei, it’s already been over an hour since our rehearsal started,” Risa said through her teeth, failing in hiding her obvious frustration. “We won’t get anywhere if you keep calling out my acting skills.”
“But Gaki-san, this scene needs to be absolutely perfect,” Ai sighed, shrugging. “Don’t you agree, Nakajima-san?”
“I do agree…” Saki said hesitantly, “but I’m starting to think this is getting a bit long too… I kind of wanted to run the entire play today…”
“See, Sensei, everybody’s sitting here just watching and doing nothing,” Risa said, squaring her shoulders as she gained some encouragement from Nakki’s words. “We should get this over with and move on.”
Seriously, just get over it… “… Well, I was just trying to help,” Ai said quietly, immediately gaining the sympathy of most students. “I’m sorry if I caused trouble, minna.”
“That’s okay, Sensei!” Asami said, smiling. “We don’t need that much practice anyway; things will work out.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Makoto agreed. “After this scene, our play might as well be perfect.”
“Maybe the problem with this scene is that Iinchou and Kame-chan are such good friends,” Saki thought out loud. “They can’t see each other as lovers. Iinchou, do you have a lover?”
“EH?!”
Before Risa could even have a chance to answer the touchy question, Eri quickly cut in as she feared that her bean friend may flop. “Of course she doesn’t! Risa-chan has never had a lover before! I mean, seriously, who would want a stingy uptight iinchou as their girlfriend, right? Am I right? Ha-ha…”
“… Gee, thanks, Kameha,” Risa muttered, glowering at the turtle. “But… what she said… I don’t… have… a lover…”
“Maybe that’s the problem, then,” Ai said, smiling mischievously. “Gaki-san just isn’t experienced enough in this area. You see, this scene would be a piece of cake if you are more aware of this sort of thing… like me. I am older, afterall.”
“… Even if I did have a lover—which I don’t—I don’t think I would want a sharp strict teacher like you, Sensei,” Risa shot back, going on offensive.
“Well, I don’t think I would want someone like you either!” Ai retorted back. “Trying to be a big adult when you’re truly just a bratty kid on the inside… a kid who can’t even do a simple kiss scene right!” Risa glared at her teacher as she marched forward to face her properly.
“I would be able to do it right if you would stop cutting the scene!”
“I’m cutting the scene because you’re not doing it right!”
“Then why don’t YOU do the scene since you’re SO experienced and PERFECT?!”
“Maybe I WILL!”
Suddenly, Ai turned to the girl beside her and lifted her chin up. As she cupped Saki’s cheek, she pressed her thumb against her lips and kissed the tip of her own fingers, barely avoiding the student’s lips. Eri gasped softly as the rest of her classmates froze at their teacher’s sudden and bold move. As Ai released her, Nakki staggered backwards, her eyes wide in shock, and fell into a chair.
“Excuse me for using you like that, Nakajima-san, you were the closest one,” Ai smiled sweetly, clapping her hands together to bow slightly. She could hear some of the boys cussing under their breath, wishing they had been the one sitting close to their teacher. Ai faced the bean again with a blank expression. “And that’s how you do a kiss scene.”
Unlike Ai’s expectations, Risa seemed rather calm towards what had just happened in front of her. But upon a closer examination of her girlfriend’s face, the teacher could understand more than she wanted to. Risa was hurt: her eyes showed so much shock and pain as her lips quivered ever so slightly that only Ai herself could see it tremble. Just her gaze alone was enough to make Ai question her actions and feel guilt.
“… I’m going home,” Risa whispered quietly. She quickly grabbed her backpack from her desk and ran out of the classroom before anyone could stop her. Eri nervously looked around at her fellow peers who were already questioning the reason for the prince’s departure.
“Um, Risa-chan is probably just upset that she can’t nail the scene,” Eri reprimanded quickly. “You guys know our Iinchou; she can’t stand being anything else other than perfection! Ha-ha…”
“But… what about rehearsal?” Risako asked. Her last spoken word quickly triggered Saki’s mind to fall back down to earth as she quickly stood up again.
“What, Iinchou left?!” she moaned in despair.
“Yeah… and seeing that the prince isn’t here… there’s no use for the princess either… right…?” Eri said slowly, inching towards her own backpack to grab it and sling it over her shoulder. She winked at her director and smiled as she made her way towards the exit. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow! Bye now!”
“W-wait! But you promised you would stay—”
Before Saki could finish her sentence, Eri had dashed out of the classroom like the world’s fastest turtle. Groaning in frustration, she slumped down on her chair again as the other students sighed and just went back to scanning their own scripts. As Ai looked down on the girl, it seemed as though her brain had already discarded the memory of her teacher almost kissing her, like a true actress’s mind.
But Ai herself could not forget. The kiss that she had almost made out of a sudden spark of anger and jealousy… as well as the pained look on Risa’s face. She had obviously hurt her… and she had betrayed her trust.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll try my best to write faster! I'm sorry!
Topic: Chigatte mo Iin da yo! ~Mainly TanaKame, TakaGaki~ [FINALE - Ch. 93 - (1/30)] (Read 409992 times)