Part B of You + Me = ? Last Chapter...
~You + Me = ? Chapter 18 (B)~
The festival was still on-going until Sunday, and it wasn't until the evening that a problem occurred, especially for Class 2B. Before the closing ceremony and the award giving, Sasaki, Kagami and Kuroko were officially summoned to the Student Council Office through the sound system.
"Well, that was ominous," Sasaki crossed her arms on her chest in a huff as she, along with Kagami and Kuroko walked down the corridor to the east wing of the school building, where their destination laid.
"Do you have any inclination of what this is about, Iinchou (1)?" Kuroko questioned without looking at her.
"We didn't do anything worth calling over, did we?" Kagami seemed to mull over if he or his friends had messed something up.
"I have an idea, but it's better if we just go along with it for the time being. I already prepare something… or actually someone in case we get into trouble," she was confident that her grounding was flawless. Besides, she had made quite a powerful ally in a day. It was a great opportunity to test the influence of that ally.
"Iinchou, you must have been up to something wacky again," Kagami threw her a suspecting glance.
"Maybe… maybe not," she shrugged. "It depends on from whose perspective you see it," Sasaki whistled cheerfully, not in the slightest intimidated despite her soon-to-be opponent being the Student Council President, the weird Arihara Takumi. Surely, he was great in many things in spite of his bizarre ideas sometimes, but he could be a fool too if he was played slowly and nicely.
"Let us hope that it is not about something bad," Kuroko sounded firm when he moved forward.
#
However, apparently it was quite of a problem when the three of them arrived at the office. Arihara was seated at his table, the vice president standing on his right and the executive committee on his left. The treasury and the public relation guys and girls stood behind them, including Furihata and Fukuda. Arihara looked somewhat grim and serious. The other… not really, but they weren't laughing, so they could be somber too.
Though, Furihata and Fukuda visibly looked edgy. Kagami looked upward at them silently asking what was going on, but they only shook their heads, apparently not really knowing why his class was summoned either.
"Sasaki Chinatsu, Kagami Taiga and Kuroko Tetsuya from Class 2B, I presume?" Arihara addressed them while shifting his crossed leg to the left side, both of his elbows rising to relax against the table surface and then he rested his chin on his joined prone hands.
"Those would be us, Arihara-kaichou (2)" Sasaki nodded. "I assume you have something to say to us?" she confidently asked right after Kagami and Kuroko followed her example.
Arihara smiled. "Yah, I was just surprised when I heard both our duo national basketball athletes officially hook up in our Spring Festival. Congratulation, you two," he turned to Kagami and Kuroko appraisingly, his eyes shining and gleaming in amusement.
Kagami ad Kuroko had the decency to feel embarrassed, but mostly Kagami because he sure as hell flushed, sputtering obscenities in his surprise while Kuroko only thanked the president with a slightly bashful look, what with the way he looked down at his shoes, as if they were the most interesting things in the room.
Kagami knew their current relationship was kind of a public secret, but was it necessary for their Student Council President to personally congratulate them like that? Or what, was he making fun of them? Since the others snickered and chuckled, it was close to a jest, right? However, Arihara looked honest and earnest when he praised them, so Kagami was torn between feeling offended and grateful.
"I also heard you guys rocked in your class drama. The response from the audiences was overwhelming in the first day, thanks to your spectacular play," Arihara continued, now glancing at Sasaki.
"Of course. It was the effort of the entire Class 2B, and they are all brilliant." she smiled happily, actually sounding quite sincere when she expressed her gratification of the compliment.
"Good. All was nice and well executed, yet sadly… I heard some… disturbing rumors," Arihara frowned now, looking the three of them calculatingly. "They said you called actors from outside to play in you play. Is that true?"
Ah… so he's talking about those Miracle Rainbows, huh?-Kagami caught up pretty quickly in understanding while Sasaki pursed her lips and Kuroko sighed.
"We have a very good reason to do that. Besides, no one called them. They volunteered," Sasaki argued. "And they weren't professional actors. They were just high school students, the same as us," she showed a deviant look in her narrowed eyes.
"Lies," someone else interrupted before Arihara could say anything and a blond haired girl, which was instantly identified as Kirihara…something (Kagami honestly didn't remember much about her), emerged from the shadow of the room corner. "I have done my research, you know. I know who they are. One of them is even in modeling industry," she tilted her chin up arrogantly, sneering at Sasaki and by extension, at Kagami and Kuroko as well.
"Why, hello, Kirihara Ayano-san from Class 2A, I thought you were hiding your shameful face in the shadow because you are ashamed of your own class play the other day. I couldn't figure out why you felt the need to research those instant actors-substitutes who even didn't have any script and yet went to the play anyway as a bunch of amateurs. I'm certain that my class play migrated ocean wide away from our original manuscript, you know, since someone decided to sabotage our original actors. Yet, your class didn't stand a chance on defeating our class play audience' response, how pitiful." Sasaki turned her sweet poisonous sarcastic smile at Kirihara while the blond girl visibly flinched before she snarled at Sasaki with unrivaled resentment.
"Are you making accusation?!" Kirihara challenged, sounding affronted.
"Who, me? And whom did I accuse of doing such horrible thing without remorse?" Sasaki's smile never faltered, if not, it grew more prominent. Kagami gulped and Kuroko looked slightly concerned because they almost could see the spark of electricity between those girls' eyes.
"Ladies, pipe down will you," Arihara warned, but identical irritated glares from both Sasaki and Kirihara were thrown at him in response, and he visibly sweated out a little bit. "We are civilized people, here. Don't start a cat fight in my office."
"Kaichou! She broke the rules in performing her class drama play! Her class should be disqualified from the popularity poll!" Kirihara sniped.
"I didn't remember breaking any written rules, though," Sasaki huffed, staring at the president expectantly.
Kagami raised his eyebrows. "It isn't in the written rule?" He turned to Kuroko who shook his head slightly.
"If there is, I surely do not notice it."
"Well, it isn't really written per se, but normally since it is Seirin Spring Festival, it should be done by Seirin students…" Arihara mused, though he seemed to regard Sasaki's reason as passable. At least not grave enough to disqualify Class 2B completely from the popularity poll. "Asking other school students to cast in your class play is too much, don't you think? What happened to the rest of your class members?"
"Everyone got their own roles, not just on-stage, but also off-stage, Arihara-kaichou," Sasaki defended her argument insistently. "And, I told you that we didn't ask for them to perform. They offered, at least their leader did."
Sasaki smirked at Kirihara and she bristled and hissed at her like an angry cat.
"Who are these people, actually?" Arihara raised his eyebrows now, apparently very curious.
"Actually, why don't you meet the leader yourself? He's here after all," Sasaki's smirk was now directed at him.
"Akashi-kun is here?" Kuroko widened his eyes.
"What?!" and Kagami was alarmed.
"There is no need to be surprised, Kagami Taiga." Then someone opened the door to the office, revealing Akashi Seijuurou's figure in all his glory.
"Geeh! Akashi?! Why the hell are you doing here?!" Kagami instantly squeaked in shock seeing the shorter red head. He looked as majestic and charismatic as usual, but that was what annoyed Kagami most.
"I have a private matter to attend to," Akashi paused and his gaze flitted slightly to the back of Arihara's shoulder, meeting Furihata's wide, surprised looking eyes. Akashi's lips corner twitched up slightly, a small smile blooming. "I'm here for my Kouki."
Furihata flushed in response while Fukuda stared at him and then at Akashi in disbelief, opening and closing his mouth ridiculously.
"But, I heard my friend here," Akashi continued, tilting his chin up to move his eyes on Sasaki's glittering ones, "-need some evidences that she did not break any specific rules of the festival itself. I did offer her to help with the drama play, because when she sought help to Student Council, they were unable to help her. You could ask your public relation staffs behind you, to that dark haired one and Kouki." He looked at Arihara with an absolute confidence in his mismatched orbs and Arihara turned to address both Furihata and Fukuda to confirm it.
"It's true, kaichou. Sasaki-san did go ask for the student council for help, but it was at recess time, so no one except me and Fukuda were in the office." Furihata said and Fukuda nodded in support.
Arihara frowned. "You should have reported such thing immediately," he huffed.
"We did. You said we could just write it up and you'd read it later," Furihata reminded him.
"Oh… well, I guess it is student council's mistake. Alright, Class 2B is permitted to use the help then, no penalty." Arihara shrugged nonchalantly. Sasaki's eyes lit up in triumph while Kagami and Kuroko let out a sigh of relief. Even Akashi seemed to approve the decision.
"What?! Hold on a sec! That's not fair at all!" Only Kirihara announced her protest hard.
"Ah, I recall your face," Akashi turned his electric gaze at the blond girl and she winced in reflex. "You seemed to be very restless when you peeked in the dressing room yesterday as I caught your gaze. Would you be so generous to explain your strange behavior, miss?"
Kirihara looked cornered for a moment before she harrumphed and turned around to walk away, out of the office, probably running away to save her face.
"Well, at least she knows how to pull back when it is her loss," Sasaki huffed as well, still narrowing her eyes at the ajar door since Kirihara didn't seem to bother to close the door in her brusque leaving.
"Is it alright not to question her about the sabotage?" Akashi queried, raising his eyebrow slightly. Isn't she responsible for that?-was left unsaid, but it was quite clear in his expression.
"It's fine. It wasn't that serious," Sasaki dismissed it easily.
"No, I think it was quite life-threatening, though. It's a wonder they could survive Coach Aida's cooking assault…" Kagami muttered guiltily, a bead of sweat sliding down his cheek.
"So, Arihara-kaichou, is it alright if we go back now? I believe all problems are solved." Kuroko chimed in so suddenly, surprising the others. Even Kagami was surprised, slightly forgot that he was there. He berated himself inwardly for that. "And… the closing ceremony is about to begin." He notified.
"Oh, yeah, of course. You can go…" Arihara blinked once, twice, seeming to be brought back from his train of thought during Akashi, Sasaki and Kirihara's conversation earlier. He set his gaze at Akashi for a moment before offering a friendly gesture. "Thank you for helping with our school festival. You seem to be a very capable leader."
"I am a capable leader," Akashi easily corrected, causing the others to sweat drop. "Now, Kouki, come. I'm here to pick you up." He once again turned his inviting gaze at Furihata and the brunet immediately excused himself from the office and practically flew into Akashi's waiting arms.
"S-sorry for making you wait, Akashi-kun…"
"It's Seijuurou for you, remember?"
The others could only gape at that too sweet, dreamlike view where Akashi put his hand on Furihata's lower back while smiling gently at him, guiding him to exit the room, in stunned silence.
"Tell me I fell asleep somewhere and was dreaming." Kagami couldn't help rubbing his eyes, still disbelieving his sight.
"I believe Akashi-kun seriously took a liking on Furihata-kun," Kuroko commented in leveled tone to Kagami's total horror.
~Kagami x Kuroko~
Every student attended the closing ceremony. They were grouped according to their class and were anxiously waiting for the popularity poll winner to be announced. The MCs, who were picked personally by the Student Council President, enthusiastically led the ceremony. There were speech from the principal, the student council president, and the head of the festival personnel before the event moved to the award.
And now… it was an award for the hottest guy in Seirin High.
"Aaaand, the title of the hottest guy in Seirin High falls to…" the round light was spun very fast before it finally fell directly on…
…Kiyoshi's head. "Huh?" he blinked, pointing at himself, looking dumbfounded in the spotlight.
"Kiyoshi Teppei from Class 3B!" the announcer cried out and the applause was instantly rose like a flood-gate.
"Wow, congrats, man!"
"Kiyoshi! Congratulation!"
"Awesome!"
Shower after shower of praise were thrown in Kiyoshi's direction as he blushed slightly. He dutifully laughed in easy, cheery look as he was called to stand on the podium, along with the other award winners.
There was the prettiest girl, the nicest guy, the weirdest guy, the most favorite person, and finally the most adored couple.
"Kagami Taiga and Kuroko Tetsuya from Class 2B!" the announcer shouted in cheer and everyone applauded again, even merrier than the previous ones.
"Seriously?!" Kagami really didn't expect that there was that kind of award. Besides, what the hell?! He and Kuroko only started their official relationship two days ago for God's sake!
"At least we didn't have to pose as Prince Kagami and Doll Princess Kuroko in this award," Kuroko seemed to take the solace in not having to cross-dress this time. Kagami though, still felt rather incensed because their relationship wasn't a spectacle, damn it!
Still, they still had to come up on the podium. Kiyoshi congratulated them with a nice smile and both Kagami and Kuroko turned rather pink when the other winners followed Kiyoshi's example. They even ensured them that they were totally rooting for them.
"Aww, they are adorable!" the girls giggled at Kagami and Kuroko when they fumbled slightly; giving a short speech about how they felt to be regarded as the most adored couple.
Honestly, Kagami had no idea what he was saying because his heart beat really hard and he was super awkward standing in front of people and talking. It was utterly different from performing in drama play since there was no script and he had to speak out his feeling. He remembered thanking the participants for picking him and Kuroko, though… so he guessed he didn't mess up entirely.
Kuroko, on the other hand, didn't really show his feelings with his expression, but he said something sweet about Kagami and the girls squealed at him for being too cute. Kagami wanted to swipe his feet up and kiss him then and there, but he refrained from doing so because doing that publicly was out of option. He had embarrassed himself enough. Thank you very much.
Done with the individual award, now it was the time for the collective award. "And the most popular class goes to… CLASS 3D with their High School Host Guiding Club!" the MC threw the flowers and the confetti to the whooping Class 3D, while the others clapped their hands in awe.
"Of course we are the champion!" Riko laughed merrily, jumping and holding Hyuuga to dance with her in total joy. Hyuuga only grinned at that while Izuki lifted both his hands to the sky, looking very thrilled as well.
It continued with the award of the most delicious café and food-stand, which fell into Koganei and Mitobe's class, 3C, and the most amazing drama play that of course fell into Class 2B with their extra-ordinary Doll Princess drama.
~Kagami x Kuroko~
The award for the individual winners turned out to be tickets to stay over at the hot-spring inn near Fujiyama and the tickets came in pair, so the winner could take a friend or a lover in the first two days of the spring vacation. The award for the collective winner was money, a lot of it, to be used to add the class fund, to maintain the class, to improve the class room, or to simply divide between the class members.
Kuroko stared at the ticket on his hand. If he wanted to go, he could always use Kagami's pair ticket. So, what would he do with his own ticket, then?
"Kuroko, are we going to the hot-spring?" Kagami slipped his hands and arms around Kuroko's body while resting his chin on Kuroko's shoulder, looking at the ticket on Kuroko's hand. Yes, he was visiting Kagami's house and they had been playing card while listening to western CD that Kagami owned before Kagami declared he was hungry and went to cook some supper as he left Kuroko to read his novel. Then, he found the ticket slipped between the pages.
"I want to go, though. We can use your ticket and I think I will give my own ticket to someone else," Kuroko turned aside slightly, giving Kagami a light kiss on the cheek.
"Hmm… do you have someone in mind?" Kagami asked, touching the tip of the ticket.
"Not really, I guess I have to make random offer to one of our friends," Kuroko shrugged before he slipped the ticket back into the page and closed the book. "Now, what are we having for supper?" He looked at Kagami's eyes, his stomach rumbling slightly.
"I knew it. You date me for my cooking skill," Kagami accused, but there was no heat in his tone and he was grinning, so Kuroko guessed it was quite elating.
"That and this," Kuroko reached his hand to tangle on Kagami's hair, pulling the strand down lightly and mashed his lips into Kagami's laughing ones.
"Of course it is," Kagami chuckled and shifted his body so he could angle Kuroko's face to deepen their kiss.
Both Kagami and Kuroko didn't know what lay in front of them afterwards, but they felt that their relationship would be able to stand a chance to survive. It might be difficult if they were alone, but there were two of them and they had support from their friends.
It might be scary and full of uncertainties, but both Kagami and Kuroko knew that what they had together was something very powerful.
Of course it was.
Because you + me = love.
End of Chapter 18
You + Me = ? ~Fin~
Additional Notes:
1)Iinchou: Class President
2)Kaichou: Chief/Student Council President
A/N: It's done. Yes, this chapter is the end of the story. No, I don't plan any sequel, but tell me if you have any idea for any sequel *lol* I don't know, maybe the hot-spring trip or something, but honestly I haven't thought about that at all *sweats*.
Also, thanks a LOT for sticking with me till the end. I hope you enjoy every chapter just as much as I enjoyed making it. And-and, of course feed-back… dear lord I need a LOT of feed-back to increase my competency in writing…
Alright, I think it's enough babble. See you guys in another project!
With love,
lunaryu~
Previous: Chapter 18A