@aya-chii: how smart of you~
@Bamtai: lol that was long enough no worries~
@Tanakacchi: hehehe.... all will be revealed in due time... but not yet
Thanks for the comments guys~
Well, at least it didn't take me a month to update this time
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Chapter 82 “I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
“Nakky, please calm down!”
The three girls that were now dressed as fairies in different colored dresses dashed towards the director to prevent her from trying to bang her head against the wall again. The girl was practically driven over the edge at this point: her two main actresses hadn’t shown up for the final rehearsal and now the auditorium was starting to fill up. Most of the performers were now in costume and on standby behind the curtains. But the worst part was that the leads still were not present.
“Why do they like to torture me so much?” Nakky moaned, stomping her feet. “I can’t take this anymore! AGH!”
“I’m sure there’s a good reason for everything, Nakky,” Yurina comforted.
“Well, at least for Gaki-san,” Chinami muttered. “For Eri-chan… can’t say the same for her.”
Nakky growled at this as she glared at the wall. Maasa sighed. “You’re not helping here, Chii.”
“I could try and go look for her?” Asami offered. She was fully in costume now, starting with the crown on her head all the way to the flowing dress that gave her quite the queenly presence.
“No, no, no, no way,” Nakky said quickly, shaking her head. “I don’t need any more cast members missing than I already am. The guys are looking for them. They’ll find them. Definitely. For sure. … Right?”
“Yeah, of course!” Makoto reassured. She was wearing a boy’s costume with a large red fur cape and a golden crown sat on her head. The beard on her face wiggled as she spoke. “How hard can it be to find two girls in this school?”
“Apparently, very.” Risako glided on stage in her black dress and witch hat with a couple boys panting behind her, out of breath. “None of them could find them.”
“Oh my gosh,” Nakky breathed, about to hyperventilate. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my—”
“Nakajima Saki, just breathe!” Maasa ordered, grabbing her friend’s shoulders. “In and out, in and out.”
“In, out, in, out,” Saki repeated, breathing slowly. “Okay, I think I feel better.”
“Personally, I’m not too surprised about Eri’s absence,” Yurina admitted. “But where could Iinchou be? She’s not the type to be late like this…”
“Maybe she met a cute guy from another school,” Risako joked, grinning.
“There’s no way that girl got a boy before me!” Chinami gasped.
“Why not?” Risako shrugged. “Gaki-san is a pretty girl.”
“Can we discuss the physical attributes of our class representative another time and focus on getting her here instead?” Nakky groaned. “Where IS she?!”
“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here!”
All heads turned towards the frantic voice coming from the side of the stage where the bean in her full costume was running out with her teacher close behind. She was wearing the gray outfit with a large hat and a long sword was attached to the belt on her waist. There had been a fancier costume for the prince but they decided to go for the darker suit since it made more sense, story-wise, for the prince to wear more casual clothes since he was traveling. Ironically enough, Nakky had insisted that Risa also have long hair for the performance since “back in the days”, men had long hair too, especially royalty. So Risa now had hair extensions which created a ponytail that traveled down her shoulder. She had just enough make-up on to bring out her features under the stage lights.
“Where have you been?” Nakky yelled as the bean stopped to catch her breath. “We’ve been trying to contact you for hours!”
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault,” Ai apologized quickly, also panting from running. “I had asked Gaki-san to run some errands for me since I was busy being part of security for the festival… and before we knew it, the time flew by.”
“See, there is a good reason,” Yurina said quickly, trying to calm Nakky down. “I told you Iinchou isn’t the type to bail on us like that.”
“… Okay, fine,” Saki muttered. “Is Eri in the dressing room?”
Risa blinked a couple times in confusion. “… Isn’t Eri with you guys?”
“… OH MY GOD.”
The student director immediately started to hyperventilate again as her face turned pale white. All the fairy girls swarmed towards her as though the girl needed immediate medical attention. Risa gasped as she watched Nakky practically have a nervous breakdown. Everybody started talking at once, half of them encouraging Nakky to breathe while the other half told the boys to go look for the turtle at once. Ai rushed to her student’s side as well, patting her back to comfort her.
“Nakajima-san, shh… it’s going to be okay,” she assured.
“No it’s not!” Saki shrilled. “No, no, no, no, no! I can’t do this anymore, I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore!”
“Nakky, pull yourself together!” Maasa begged.
Everybody continued to talk over each other, trying to figure out a way through this disaster. Ai quickly glanced up at her girlfriend and gave her a look that somehow telepathically got through to the bean. Turning away, Risa quickly pulled out her cell phone and speed dialed her friend with a quick yet precise keyboard work.
“Pick up, pick up, pick up…” she mumbled.
But the signal droned on until Eri’s recorded voice rang out, announcing that she could not come to the phone at this time and if the caller would kindly leave a message, she will get back to him or her as soon as possible. Risa groaned as she slammed her phone shut. Before she could wallow in her hopeless despair longer, a different idea came to mind. Flipping her cell phone open again, the bean dialed a number that she had received some time ago, just for reference. The signal continued until a familiar voice answered.
“Moshi-moshi?”
“Tanakacchi!” Risa exclaimed as relief washed over her. “You picked up!”
“… Yes, it’s
my cell phone so
I picked up,” Reina said slowly, hinting at sarcasm. “What do you need?”
“Is Eri with you right now?”
“Yeah, she’s right here.”
“… And where’s that?”
“The infirmary.”
Risa felt her heart drop. The infirmary? What the hell were they doing there? “Um… did something happen?”
“Yeah, Eri kind of twisted her ankle,” Reina sighed. “It’s not that bad but she can’t walk for another hour or two.”
“… WHAT.”
Risa felt her chin drop and lock into its place to create an utterly shocked expression on her face. What was happening? Was her friend okay? Was she in pain? She was always such a klutz; an injury was bound to happen at one point or another, but her timing was certainly terrible. What was going to happen with the show now? They couldn’t have a Sleeping Beauty play without Sleeping Beauty!
“Don’t worry, she’s fine,” Reina reassured through the phone. “I’m taking care of her so relax.”
“But… but the play...” Risa mumbled.
“Figure something out,” Reina sad flatly. “You’re supposed to be brains of this school, right?”
“B-but—”
“Break a leg out there. Bye.”
The phone clicked as the kitten hung up, leaving the bean speechless. She noticed that her teacher and her classmates were all staring at her, waiting for the verdict. Nakky seemed to be in a world of her own now as she spaced out but she was sure to be listening.
“… Eri is hurt,” Risa said finally.
“How badly?” Ai asked.
“Bad enough,” the bean mumbled. “She can’t walk at the moment. She can’t be in the play.”
“OH MY GO—”
“Nakky, cool it!” Yurina yelled before the student director went ballistic again. “Okay, I’m… I’m sure there’s a way out of this. What usually happens when someone can’t play their part?”
“Well… there’s usually an understudy, right?” Asami said.
“Yes, but we didn’t assign understudies!” Nakky moaned. “It’s all over!”
“Shikkari shite yo, mou! Pull yourself together!” Maasa urged. “Isn’t there someone who can replace Eri?”
“All the girls already have their own parts to cover,” Risako said. “There’s no one left from our class who can play a princess.”
“Can’t we get someone from another class?” Chinami asked.
“This is a battle between classes, remember?” Makoto reminded. “The prize is that karaoke party!”
“It’s all over!” Nakky groaned.
Risa bit down on her lips. She wished that there was something she could do. Her class had worked so hard for this play; they couldn’t possibly quit now. It wasn’t fair and she refused to let so much effort go to waste. If only there was someone…
“I can play the part.”
All heads turned towards their teacher who stood up and spoke. Risa’s eyes widened as did the rest of her classmates’. Although the students looked at her as though she had three heads, the teacher seemed perfectly sane.
“… Um… Are you allowed to?” Yurina asked slowly. “I mean… Sensei is… a sensei.”
“There’s no rule that says teachers can’t help their class,” Ai shrugged. “And I know most of the lines from watching you kids rehearse. I think I can manage.”
“… Well, why not?” Risako shrugged, smiling. “Sensei is really popular in this school. Maybe this is even a good thing.”
“I suppose we don’t have a choice,” Asami sighed. “I think Sensei can do it too, though.”
“Nakky, what do you think?” Maasa asked. “You’re the director; it’s your call.”
“… I say,” Saki started, slowly getting to her feet, “put Sensei in a dress right away and someone get some makeup on her face! Quick, we don’t have much time!”
“I’ll help,” Chinami volunteered. “Let’s go, Sensei!”
“I’ll be ready in a minute,” Ai smiled.
As she dashed off the stage and towards the dressing room, she quickly winked at the bean and grinned. Risa, who was still frozen since she hung up the phone, felt her chin drop even further down. So Eri was hurt. She couldn’t walk. So now Sensei was the princess. Her princess. The princess she would kiss. Because she was the prince. She was going to kiss Sensei on stage. In front of people. People she knew. People that knew her. Not a real kiss. But still. A fake kiss that was still very much like a real kiss only it’s fake.
Things couldn’t be more confusing.
** ** **
“Alright, is everyone here? Mittsi and Linlin!”
“We’re here!.”
“Captain and Yajima?”
“Here.”
“Natsuyaki and Suzuki!”
“Present!”
“Okai and Maimai?”
“Both present!”
“Okay, we’re good!”
Junjun relaxed in her seat after making sure all of her girls were in place. They were sitting in a single row near the front where they had a pretty good view of the red curtains that currently draped over the stage. She put her arms around her girlfriend who was sitting beside her, staring intently at the program.
“It’s a good thing these girls all listen to me well enough,” Junjun said proudly. “It makes my job a lot easier.”
“One person is still missing, you know,” Sayumi said, yawning.
“What?” The panda quickly looked around and counted off again. All of her girls seemed to be present. “Who am I missing?”
“Tanaka-san isn’t here yet,” the bunny said. “Didn’t you save a seat for her?”
“Yeah, next to Mittsi over there—”
Junjun stopped as she realized the chair next to Aika was empty. She blinked a couple times and looked all around her, but the kitten was nowhere to be found.
“That’s strange,” she muttered. “Maybe she’s back stage with Kame-chan.”
“Maybe,” Sayumi shrugged.
A sudden explosion of applause startled the couple as they directed their attention towards the stage. A short girl with long wavy black hair had come out through the curtains. She had a huge smile plastered on her face but Junjun could tell that the girl was rather nervous standing up there in the spotlight.
“Thank you all for coming today,” she announced loudly. “I’m Nakajima Saki, the director for this class’s play. Some safety procedures today include no flash photography, no cell phones or any other electronic devices that may make noises.”
“Are all your cell phones off?” Junjun whispered to her girls. They all nodded or gave a thumbs-up in response.
“Also, due to unforeseen circumstances,” Saki continued, “there has been a slight change in the cast. The role of the princess will now be played by none other than our homeroom teacher, Takahashi Ai Sensei!”
A mixture of murmuring and cheering came from the audience. There seemed to be some confusion as to why a teacher was in her students’ play but Takahashi-sensei indeed was popular enough to get most people to disregard that peculiarity. Sayumi’s eyes widened before scrounging up in puzzlement. Junjun slowly smiled as she started to get a clear picture in her mind of what was really going on.
“Why is their teacher in the school play?” Sayumi asked in a hushed tone to her girlfriend. “What about Kamei-san?”
“I’m guessing that Reina just wasn’t prepared to reign in her jealousy,” Junjun chuckled. “This is kind of interesting though…
the Takahashi Ai playing a princess? This, I have to see.”
“
The Takahashi Ai?” Sayumi said, confused.
“Ah! I got it! I got it!” Aika exclaimed in a loud whisper. “Takahashi Ai of Fukui! The legendary yankii who all of Japan feared! That’s her, right? Right?” Junjun smirked as she nodded, remembering how frantic Reina had also been when she had texted her the day she had met Ai.
“Is that true?” Captain gasped. “It’s really her?”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it!” Airi squealed. “We’re really going to see
the Takahashi Ai!”
“Do you think we’ll be able to meet her in person later?” Miyabi asked, full of hope.
“Wait, what is she doing in a school play, though?” Chisato asked. “And she’s… a teacher?”
“It’s a long story,” Junjun said. “For now, let’s just enjoy the show.”
Congratulations on protecting your girlfriend, Reina…** ** **
“It worked! It worked! It actually worked!”
Reina and Eri squealed quietly as they gently high-fived each other. They were sitting together in the very back of the auditorium, right underneath the sound booth, where the darkness hid their presence well. There was white gauze wrapped around Eri’s leg to feign injury.
“I guess this means Sensei did her part of the mission well,” Eri sighed. “I wonder how Gaki-san is feeling right now.”
“Probably somewhat glad, right?” Reina shrugged.
“More like nervous to death, I bet,” Eri giggled. “Gaki-san always holds herself together well but she’s actually really pure.”
“Well… how do you feel right now?” the kitten asked, hesitantly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean… I do kind of feel bad,” Reina mumbled, “for pulling you out of the play you worked so hard on just because of my own insecurities… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, Reina,” Eri assured, smiling warmly. “I’m glad you were honest to me about your feelings. Besides, I mainly practiced only during the last week or so. I’d rather sit here with you and watch the show. As a part of our date.”
Reina smiled at the turtle’s reassurance. She kissed her on the lips before turning her attention back towards the stage where the red curtains were trembling as though they were about to open.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen,” a voice boomed through the speakers, “Class 2-4 would like to present to you, ‘Sleeping Beauty’!”
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Time to write this fairy tale
In case you didn't notice, I put up a new random poll, just for fun.
The poll result, does not, in anyway, affect my intentions on writing this story or my next one
Topic: Chigatte mo Iin da yo! ~Mainly TanaKame, TakaGaki~ [FINALE - Ch. 93 - (1/30)] (Read 409006 times)