CHAPTER 23

"Hey, hey, Mi-chan, did you hear?"

Setting up an eraser on my desk, I retreated with a sigh. "Saki, can't you see I'm busy?"

"But Mi-chan it's crazy important news!" She poked her head into my personal bubble, glistening with as much energy as always. "I hear there's a really cute transfer student joining the class next door!"

"Are they an anime character?" I asked, picking up one of the many makeshift dominoes I had scattered across my desk.

"Well, no," Saki said. "But—"

"But, nothing," I said, squinting my eyes as I set up the piece behind the row I was making. "Unless it's a transfer student like Kirisaki Chitoge I don't care. Now step away from my desk before you knock these over."

"Oh c'mon, Miyuki." This time it was Yuji doing the talking, leaning over so that his face was hovering over my desk. "Show a little optimism for reality, like you did with the Cultural Festival."

Saki bobbed her head. "You once told me that a high school romance anime can't exist without a transfer student! Moreover, a cute guy!"

"Well if he's a regular human being I doubt he'd be any cute."

I rose my head after setting down the last eraser. The rest of the class was huddled over in the opposite portion of this classroom, twittering excitedly about the said student that was making his appearance tomorrow morning.

Winter break had concluded a day ago, and despite the whole Christmas fiasco with Saki, she'd been discharged from the hospital as soon as the next day and was full of her typical vigour since. She'd even made a stop to my house on New Year's day claiming she wanted to go to the shrine together (to which I was promptly dragged away regardless of my protests, thank you very much).

Then right at the start of the new semester, there was this announcement of a new student transferring in. And Seisein Academy, being Seisein Academy, was treating the news like a world leader was making his appearance or something.

From welcome posters to a musical performance courtesy of the band club—if this genius who decided to enrol at such an extra school expected some means of normalcy, he had another thing coming.

"I hear he's from Europe," squealed some girls.

"Europe? A foreigner?"

"Oh gosh, he's probably gonna have the cutest accent!"

"I hear he's an exiled gangster," the boys were rambling on their own.

"If he's a criminal how could he be coming here?" reprimanded another.

"Heck if I know," said a third, "But if it is true I bet he has some badass stories to tell."

"A badass gangster possessing the cutest accent in existence, exiled from his country with no other choice but to come to a school named Seisein Academy in Osaka, Japan," I summarized as I admired my work of procrastination. Ever since my binge of Tonari no Seki-kun, my fulfilment of killing class time had extended to far boundaries. "You know, maybe this transfer student belongs here after all."

         "I know deep down you're curious too," Yuji said. "What brought him here, what kind of person he is..."

         I sent him a wide smile. "You know, you seem a lot more excited about this boy than I am, Yuji. Don't tell me..."

         Yuji didn't receive my tease with anger and instead with a matching smirk. "Say what you will, but I, myself, am all aboard the Kouyuki ship."

         I narrowed my eyes at him but even then, his smugness didn't dissipate as he leaned back in his seat.

         "He doesn't like me."

         "True. He may already be in love with you."

         Picking up my an eraser from my stack, I chucked it at him. "Oh choke on a sock."

         It was a second after Yuji easily received the throw with a laugh did I realize my unfortunate mistake. I snapped my head back down to see that my sudden jerk in movement had knocked over my erasers, and not in a chronological order dominoes typically would fall. Some were still standing in the end but most had ended up dispersed on my desk.

         My shoulders sagged in disbelief. "This took me a half hour..."

         Saki's arms swung around my neck during my sulking. With a pout, she connected her cheek against mine. "Kouichi-kun may like Mi-chan, but I'm not handing her over to him!"

I slapped Saki away but her impregnable grip didn't loosen.

"Oh, please," Yuji chuckled. "He's always out to get her. You may have an obsession with her, Saki, but we can't be around her twenty-four-seven stalling Kouichi and telling him lies about why Miyuki's running around the building to get away from him."

When I finally broke free of Saki's hold by a successful jab to her abdomen, I dropped my chin onto my palm. "Do you think he still buys that I moved to America?"

         "I think Hiro might've said you nearly got captured by rogue ninjas who are after your bloodline and are on the run in Canada."

         I pursed my lips. "And he bought that?"

         "The guy's surprisingly gullible," Yuji reasoned. "You should see how flustered and freaked out he gets; he even said he had to buy a ticket to Canada to search for you."

          "Mi-chan," Saki interjected, frowning. "If you don't like Kouichi-kun, you should tell him."

"That guy doesn't allow the time," I sighed. "He's always making passes at me or living in a delusion that I'm his girlfriend. And hey, I don't mind if his fantasy remains a fantasy—I date countless fictional guys daily myself—but this entire situation is just too bogus. What about a 3D human being—let alone me—is there to fall for?"

         "You don't give yourself enough credit," Yuji said.

          Saki nodded. "You're amazing, Mi-chan! Trust me, I've never seen somebody have such a non-existent social life in my lifetime!"

          "I'm sure he found that aspect of you very commendable," Yuji agreed.

          The chime of the last bell echoed loud enough to notify the entire school it was home time. People let out whoops and cheers and grabbed their bags, but that didn't stop the nasty look I had given the both of them.

          I ascended to my feet and scooped my erasers into my bag. Unlike Yuji who remained smiling as he got up as well, Saki had succumbed to a sweating mess.

          "I only wanted to cheer Mi-chan up..."

          "Insulting me goes a long way then," I spat.

She flinched. The look of dread on her face was easy to pinpoint. I shook my head as I swung my bag over my shoulder. Yuji grabbed his.

           "Saki, hurry and get your stuff," he said, beckoning to the opposite side of the class. "Kazu said we need to head to the clubroom early because we have a request."

         Saki perked up like a puppy. "A request? Yay!"

         She went bumbling past the heart-eyed boys and unimpressed girls who'd shot her looks on her way over. Saki didn't pay them any mind, humming as she collected her things from her desk.

         A groan flew out of my mouth at Yuji's happy-go-lucky energy. "Hell no," I said. "Not again."

         "Now, now. Don't say that, club buddy," Yuji laughed. "I hear it's play related."

        "Play?" I made a face. "As in, we're going to have to act?"

        Yuji shrugged and with that full-blown smile of his, winked. "We may just be getting lead roles."

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        "I want you, you... and you."

       The President of the Drama Club, Nakano Chinami dropped her hand from her chin after snagging my collar and forcing me to join the rest of the people she'd recruited. She spun around to stare at the three of us, bobbing her head and smiling from ear to ear.

        "Perfect." Reaching onto the nearest table, Chinami gave the three of us scripts, her green eyes dazzling with excitement. "Hiro-kun," she said when Mr Frowny Pants received his copy. "I believe you can pull off Grumpy really well."

        "The dwarf?" Hiro asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "Is this Snow White?"

       "Not exactly," Chinami said. "It has a bit of a twist. For example, instead of the dwarfs being dwarfs in the story, we'll have them be princes trying to fight for Snow White's affection."

       Another three members of the Drama Club wearing elaborate dwarf costumes approached us with nods.

       "And when she falls into a slumber after receiving a poisonous apple from the Evil Queen, only true love's kiss will be able to wake her up," explained who I believed would be acting as Sleepy.

       "Which, in turn, can mean any one of us," said Dopey.

       "And whoever does wake her up will basically live happily ever after," finished Sneezy.

Giddily, Chinami turned around. "Yuji-kun, I think you'd be a perfect Happy. You seem like such a big bowl of sunshine; always smiling and all."

       Yuji performed a playful bow. "I'll gladly receive the role, Chinami-chan."

       "And Miyuki-chan," she sang. "I want you to be the star of this play: Snow White."

       Countless thoughts swarmed around in my mind, but one was definitely prevalent. I opened my mouth to produce the fiercest refusal to the said role but was stopped by Yuji clasping a hand over my mouth, and Hiro stepping in to cover for me.

       "She'll gladly accept it," Hiro said.

       I struggled to breathe and after stamping Yuji's foot, he unhanded me with a grimace. I didn't wait to snag them both by an ear. They yelped as I dragged them off like that, as far away from Chinami as I could.

        "I'm not doing this!" I snapped once we reached a standstill a good enough distance away.

        "If I'm playing Grumpy you're being Snow White," Hiro hissed right back, massaging his ear.

       "It's a fun twist on this play," Yuji agreed. "Let's just have fun."

       "You can say that because you're not the one getting the lead role!" I shouted.

        "Um, Chinami-san?" Tamaki-wannabe's voice trailed into our bickering, snatching our attention. He was standing on the sidelines beside Saki, a hand raised as well. "I think you forgot one more person you can add to your play."

        Chinami tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear, and her face lit up.

   "Ah, yes!" she squealed, rushing up to them. Her neck whipped right as she scooped up her hands. "Saki-chan! How would you like to play the Evil Queen?"

       Wannabe from beside Saki gawked with his jaw touching the floor. Saki, on the other hand, was a grinning mess when the other members of this club gave her a script similar to the rest of ours.

She held up a fist, a fire lit in her soul. "I-I'll be the most wicked Evil Queen you'll ever see! You won't be disappointed!"

        Saki sent me a wide wave and even went to the extent of blowing me a kiss. I couldn't help but shiver. This was turning out to be more hectic than I imagined.

        Still... A tiny smirk upturned the corners of my lips when my gaze fell upon an awkward Wannabe who had been left entirely in the dust.

       "Um," he tried calling for attention again, "Chinami-san?"

       Chinami pried herself away from Saki, happily bounding up to him yet again. "Oh, right. Thank you so, so much for letting me borrow some actors for this play, Kazuya! I know I begged you in class but I was really in need! The original actors doing it can't make the day and I was panicking and—"

       "You're welcome," he cut her off and slapped on the best smile he could. "Though you asked for my help but you haven't given me the most important role yet."

       He stared at Chinami in an urging manner—a face screaming 'bestow upon me the leading male role now'—but Chinami only returned a puzzled glance. At least, until she smacked her forehead as if she couldn't believe she didn't understand him sooner.

      "Right," she said, bobbing her head. "We need three more actors. The two remaining dwarfs, and the leading Prince who, spoiler alert, shall be the one to awaken Snow White from her slumber."

       Wannabe began nodding his head with much excitement.

       "Kazuya," she started, smiling broadly, "Do you—"

       "But of course, Chinami-chan," he responded, taking her hand and dropping into a dramatic bow. "I'll take up this honour with as much passion as I can. I will not bring this play any shame."

       "Awesome!" Chinami squealed. "So you do know three good-looking guys we can recruit for these roles?"

      Not only me, but practically everyone else within the room had succumbed to a fit of uncontrollable laughter. Chinami whipped her head around in bewilderment, while Wannabe himself was frozen in his half-bow state.

         Let's just say it wasn't long before the dude slunk away to his signature corner, in brooding murmurings and mushroom growing.

         Chinami, being the innocent eleventh grader she was, had worry etched onto her creatures. "Kazuya? What did I do...?"

          "Three good-looking guys?" Yuji swung himself into the conversation, giving her a grin of reassurance. "We happen to only know two; would they be okay?"

       "Of course!" Chinami said, regaining her smile. "Thank you so much!"

       "Already notified them," Saki commented, slipping her cell phone away. She flashed us a thumbs-up. "They'll be here shortly—"

       "Be Hoshino-san's prince?" Kouichi screeched as he slammed open the door. His dishevelled head of matted black hair snapped left and right at a frightening speed. In less than a second he barrelled toward me. "O-of course I'll be her prince! I'll be the prince-iest prince, prince! Please take me as your prince!"

        I was out of breath just being as close to him as I was. Thankfully, Hiro nudged him away from me but that only exposed me to just how all over the place this guy was. Frankenstein hair, glasses barely hanging from his right ear, uniform ripped and snagged in a couple areas. It was almost as if he jumped a fence on his way over. And the freaky thing was, knowing Kouichi that probably was the case.

        "Good-looking with glasses..." Chinami extended out a thumbs up. "Your appearance can use a little work but sure! Welcome to the play, Doc!"

        Kouichi blinked away from his daze and spun around to take in Chinami and the rest of those giving him amused smiles. When he realized we weren't alone, Kouichi shrank away from embarrassment.

        Hinata chose that exact moment to come strolling through the doors. He momentarily paused to get a good look around, as if nostalgic to the amount of craziness we'd built around ourselves. Then, he smiled warmly.

       "You guys haven't changed."

       "Hinata!" Saki cried, throwing him into a hug.

       Yuji seized a struggling Hiro and ran towards Hinata with his arms raised as well. "Dude, we haven't seen you in forever!"

       Even Wannabe had dragged himself out of his corner. "Hinata!" he blubbered. "You won't believe this madness!"

        "Guys, let me breathe," Hinata laughed, attempting to keep his balance from within their circle of bombardment. He even picked up his head and sent me a sweet smile and wave.

        I complied and gave him a similar gesture in return. Kouichi, who was stuck witnessing the madness that was our group until two months ago, shared a means of confusion with the rest of the Drama Club.

        Chinami soon broke out of her daze and approached the group. "Just who in the world is this good-natured hottie?" she said. "Bashful, perhaps?"

       Hinata turned to look at Chinami, prying Saki off of him as well as a sputtering Wannabe. "Bashful?"

       Chinami merely grinned. "All we need is the Prince the cast is set!"

       "B-but Chinami-san," Wannabe whined, scratching at the floor with a hopeful puppy-dog pout. "M-me. Give me a role."

       Chinami flickered in eureka. "Ah, if you wanted a role, I have the perfect one for you, Kazuya!"

       Wannabe brightened like a little kid.

       "A role?" he repeated. "What is it? What is it?"

       "You can be Miyuki's pet dog!"

       Wannabe's expression fell flatter than a board.

       "...Dog?" he echoed.

       "Sparky," Chinami elaborated. "Any good story needs a bonding moment between a protagonist and their dog!"

       As well as the others, I was a snickering mess. I had to refrain from doubling over in laughter. Even just approaching him and holding out the page where his sole line was placed was enough to riddle me with more humour. "You heard her, Sparky," I teased, "Go all 'woof! woof—I'm the star of this play!' another day."

Maybe if I was upstaging this Wannabe I could have my fun with this role after all.

Chinami maintained just as much mirth.

   "Then it's official!" she cheered. "Snow White and the Seven Princes is officially underway."

   Taking a look around, I stifled back my laughter. More like Miyuki and the Seven Bishounens, but hey, I wasn't the one writing this thing.

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       "If you let me stay I'll keep house for you. I'll wash and sew and sweep and cook..." I heaved a sigh as I ambled through the hallway. We'd tried rehearsing after we all gathered but since that ended in a mess I decided to be the first one to slip out.

        The only thing not making my detour so peaceful was the many lines I had to have down by memorization in two weeks time. Being a lead was no joke; heroines had it tough, huh?

        As I scrutinized each line that belonged to me (which was basically every other one), I was rudely knocked by the shoulder. The script slipped from my fingers and with a grimace, I peered down to see where it'd fallen. Just as I dropped down to pick it up, the one who'd decided to bump into me crouched over and scooped it up for themselves. They raised it to eye-level before my fingers could dare graze it.

         A sonorous chuckle flooded from their mouth, rich enough to belong to a male. "Ooh, a lead in a play?" he whistled. "So people in this school are interested in theatrics, too?"

        I craned my neck upwards, attempting to swipe the script from his hands. "Where the hell are your manners—"

        My words got lodged in my throat. And when I removed the script from his fingers to see his dark, but equally shocked face, I knew I wasn't the only one.

       "No way," he cried, eyes widening to the point of saucers. A happy-go-lucky smile plastered itself on his features. "You go here?"

       My mind had succumbed to a jumbled, nonsensical state.

       I couldn't move my move. I couldn't force my lungs to operate no matter how much carbon dioxide was building up in my system; I couldn't even stop myself from gawking at him in utter horror, pleading this was a nightmare.

       Kenzou Hibiki.

       The name was replaying like a broken recorder in my mind.

       Over and over.

       And over.

       And over again.

       Raising his chin, the black haired male leaned his face even closer. He approached me until he was within dangerous proximity, golden eyes containing a mischievous twinkle. "It is you, Miyuki!" he cheered, his charming voice oozing a harsh familiarity. "It feels like it's been forever! Don't you remember? It's me, Kenzou Hibiki—your ex!"