Chapter Text
“Just… a little… bit… higher…!”
Anzu had tried standing on her tiptoes and searched the empty hall for a stool. She had tried taping a tack to a meterstick, but couldn’t get it unstuck, pulling the poster she pinned up right back off the bulletin board. Now, for lack of any other ideas, she was jumping up and down attempting to somehow smack it into the small window of open space in the top left corner.
“…Anzu?”
She jumped again, this time out of surprise. Her case of tacks slipped from her hand, scattering a rainbow of pins across the floor.
“H- Hokuto!” she gasped out, wheeling around to face the speaker. “You caught me off guard there. Did you need help with something?”
Hokuto cocked his head.
“Not particularly. It looks as though you could use some help though,” he laughed, bending over to retrieve the tacks.
Feeling her ears going red, Anzu dropped down to help him.
“Sorry about these. I was just about to grab the samples for Trickstar’s next outfit and head to practice, but I figured I’d get this posted before other students start heading home.”
Hokuto straightened himself out with a soft “hmm,” reaching a hand down to Anzu.
“I’ll put it up for you, and then we can go together. How’s that sound?”
“Perfect ♪” she replied, offering the poster up to him as she stood herself.
Hokuto looked at her with a confused frown, then took the extended poster with a sigh.
“Is here okay?” he asked, holding it up to the empty corner tentatively.
“Yup! Thanks for the help, Hokuto. I was starting to think I’d have to go ask someone in the staff room to post it for me.”
Pinning the colorful page in place, Hokuto read the handwritten pop out loud.
“Let’s see… ‘Wondering how to make your lyrics sound better? Let’s all practice writing poetry together!’…? What’s this for?”
Anzu beamed, excitedly balling her hands up in front of her chest.
“Remember how everyone had to write lyrics to a short song for Kunugi-sensei’s class?”
Hokuto nodded.
“Akehoshi forgot to do the assignment and wrote ‘kira kira kira kira’ for the whole thing while Kunugi-sensei took role.”
Anzu giggled.
“Yeah, I saw that too! Anyways, Sensei and I were talking, and we decided it’d be good practice for everyone to try writing and sharing some poetry. It’s surprisingly hard expressing yourself in so few words, isn’t it?”
Hokuto nodded as Anzu continued.
“Like it says on the poster, we’re going to make a little display corner in the first floor passage. People can leave their poems out, and then anyone passing by can read them and write reviews on little comment cards. That way, people can get feedback from all sorts of points of view!”
“Oh?”
“Yup! After all this time, I still haven’t joined a club yet even though I’m kind of supposed to. No one’s really said anything about it, but…” Anzu blushed. “I thought maybe a casual peer review club anyone could use anytime would be fun.”
Hokuto looked thoughtfully up at the poster, then turned back to Anzu with a soft smile.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea. I read a lot of poetry in the drama club, but I haven’t really written too much myself outside of class. I’ll try putting something together tonight. Would you mind being my first reader?”
Anzu’s eyes lit up instantly. She grabbed Hokuto’s hands, shaking them happily up and down with a bubbly smile.
“I’d love to! I can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!”
Hokuto squeezed down on Anzu’s hands gently with a laugh.
“Ahaha, I’ll do my best, then.”