"Is she actually in trouble?!" Runa laughed wildly as she munched popcorn.

It was the beginning of the battle between Yumemi and Yumeko and Yumeko was already in the lead. Yumemi's raw talent in singing was no match for the raven-haired girl and things were just firing up. You grabbed some popcorn and kept quiet.

"That must be Yumemi's professionalism. She's making it look like a heated rivalry to get everybody fired up." Kaede crossed his arms and stated. If you didn't know him, he would look confident. But having known him since childhood, you caught him pouting. You raised an eyebrow at him briefly and he quickly looked away from you.

"It's going according to the script?" Runa pushed. "But you know, the one time you think everything's going your way, things tend to go spectacularly wrong behind the scenes, right?"

You busted out in a giggle at Runa's obvious hint at sabotage, causing Kaede to narrow his eyes just slightly at you. He wondered what antics you were up to, if any.

"I've prepared for every contingency. Just shut up and watch." Kaede adjusted his glasses.

Runa leaned over and whispered to you.

"Interesting... Who's being conned into thinking that everything's going according to plan? I wonder which one?!" She giggled again, offering more popcorn, which you graciously took.

The next game was quick. In fact, you had hardly blinked before it was started, explained and over.

Extreme Old Maid: three aces and one joker were in play and whoever was left with the joker was the loser. Yumemi decided that because she was the host that she would have the joker first.

And as luck or "luck" might have it (you never knew with the Yumeko or the student council at this point), Yumeko drew the ace out of Yumemi's hand and won the game.

"That was quick." You whispered to Runa. "Boring."

"Agreed. But I'd rather we just get it over with and skip to the juicy bits." She snickered back.

"And that's why we're not lovers." You laughed with a smile.

You didn't see it, but Kaede frowned at this. He held some form of jealousy with it. He would have given the world to have long, drawn out foreplay with you. Hell, he would give anything to have you talk to him.

But instead, he shook his head and cleared his mind of the negative thought. He had to focus.

The next game was again, a game of chance that wasn't quite that. Guessing the audience member's birthday month. But of course, as luck would have it, Yumeko rolled Meari's seat number.

"The funniest thing is," You leaned over to Runa, "Yumeko would never know anyone's birthday. So even if Yumemi tries to cheat off of her because she doesn't know it, it won't matter."

"That's pretty funny." Runa laughed again. "Do you see the look on her face? She's losing it."

"It's kind of sad... I think... I think she's going to lose actually." You frowned. "I don't want Memi to lose..."

"It's not your fault she sucks at her own games, Princess." Runa shrugged. "She picked them."

"Yeah but--"

"This wasn't me at all, trust me. This was just her sucking." Runa nodded.

"Alright..." You nodded. "if you say so."