Work Text:
Night before Monday, week 1:
It was the night before the so-called hell weeks. The weeks that every teacher decided to schedule a test, presentation, or essay. But that was always so boring, wasn’t it? Only spending the free-time on studying or writing and barely getting enough sleep. Someone had to make things interesting during this dark period of time in their lives. That someone was of course Shinoa.
”Hey Mitsuba,” Shinoa whispered in the darkness.
”What,” Mitsuba responded, clearly annoyed at her for talking when she was trying to sleep.
”These upcoming weeks are going to be so fun!” Shinoa giggled. ”Don’t you think so?”
”What kind of sane person would possibly think that the hell weeks will be fun,” Mitsbua muttered in a monotone voice.
Shinoa turned around in her bed to face Mitsuba, who was facing the wall. ”Oh well I think tha-”
”Shinoa. Stop. Talking,” she interrupted. ”I am trying to sleep.”
”Alright… Goodnight,” she whispered with a smirk on her lips, not expecting an answer from the pissed of Mitsuba.
***
Monday, Week 1:
Shinoa had woken up way before Mitsuba. It was easy not to wake her up, considering she is quite a heavy sleeper. During the time that Mitsuba was still asleep, Shinoa had put a plastic spider on the toilet paper. It looked almost realistic, and it would scare her friend for sure, especially if she discovered it right after she had woken up.
The first thing Mitsuba noticed when she woke up was that Shinoa was already up. It was odd, considering she didn’t have any morning classes that day. Mitsuba was suspicious, but only cast her a vigilant look before going to the bathroom. As she was moving towards the bathroom, Shinoa smirked to herself, knowing what was about to happen. The moment the bathroom door was locked, she left the room without a sound.
Mitsuba’s deafening scream confirmed that the prank was a success. It could be heard loud and clear, even from outside their shared room.
”Shinoa what the hell!” Mitsuba yelled and yanked open the bathroom door, but was surprised when she noticed that she had left.
The last thing Shinoa heard before she was too far away was Mitsuba’s furious scream.
”Fine…” Mitsuba mumbled to herself. ”It’s fine. If she wants to have it that way then so be it. Game on.”
***
Friday, Week 1:
It took a while for Mitsuba to figure out how she would prank Shinoa. After long thought and planning, she had found a perfect day and time for her to do it. On the Friday the same week, Shinoa only had afternoon classes, while Mitsuba only had morning classes. That meant that right after her classes had ended, she could fix up the prank directly and then simply wait for Shinoa to fall for it.
The first thing Mitsuba did when she got back from her class was to find a bucket large enough to fit over someone’s head, but small enough to be able to balance on the bathroom door. After that she filled it with cold water and ice cubes. That way, if Shinoa took a long time getting back to the room, it would still be ice cold water.
Sure enough, Shinoa got back a few hours after Mitsuba had set up the prank. When she opened the door, she saw Mitsuba sit on her bed and read a textbook.
Probably studying, Shinoa thought. She removed her backpack from her back and placed it on her bed. She stared at Mitsuba who was reading, or so it looked like. Though she had the textbook open and her eyes was on a page, they looked hollow, as if staring into the void. Shinoa was suspicious, but decided to brush it of.
She felt a cold wave hit her as soon as she opened the door. A bucket fell down on her head and made the room seem dark. Shinoa gasped out of shock. Under the bucket, she heard Mitsuba snicker.
”There, now we’re even,” she said, and continued to read her book, this time actually reading and not simply staring blankly at the page.
Shinoa, who now was cold and wet, smiled to herself.
Oh, so this is how it’s going to be then, she thought. Just you wait.
She carefully removed the bucket from her head and took a warm shower, already planning her next move.
***
Wednesday, week 2:
Shinoa had to get her revenge. She had to prove that she was the master of pranking. She had to get the last prank. So what could she possibly do now? If she woke her up in the middle of the night she would be enraged. That was perfect. Now all she had to do was to find the right night and time to do this.
No one wanted to be woken up at 5 AM on a Saturday, right?
She had to be discreet though. Mitsuba could not find out about it.
***
Saturday, week 2:
The vibrating feeling of Shinoa’s alarm made her wake up. She had no problem waking up in the morning, and she was a light sleeper, meaning she woke up easily. A few days back she had gone and bought an air horn and a pair of ear plugs. She prayed that the neighbours would not wake up from the sound.
She moved quietly in the room, opening the bag in which the air horn and ear plugs was in. She carefully picked up the air horn and put the ear plugs in. She tiptoed to Mitsuba’s bed and stretched out her arm so that the air horn was close to her ear. Then she pressed down the button hard.
”What do you want I’m up!” Mitsuba jolted up in shock. At first she was confused as she was woken up so suddenly, but then she saw Shinoa laughing so hard that she almost couldn’t stand. She took a deep breath, trying to not burst out the foul words she was thinking.
Oh she was going to get her revenge. And Shinoa would regret ever starting this game of pranks. Mitsuba crawled back down under her warm blanket and tried to fall back asleep.
***
Tuesday, week 3:
It had been nearly a week since Shinoa’s previous prank. At first she expected a revenge, but as the days passed by she lost all thought about it. She had two tests this week plus an essay to write, so she had been quite busy. Both her and Mitsuba had a lot of studying to do, so she didn’t really think that anything would happen.
Oh, she was wrong.
The prank that Mitsuba pulled that day wasn’t big, but it was enough to make Shinoa take revenge.
Tuesdays was usually the longest days for Shinoa with classes from nine in the morning to six in the evening with a few breaks here and there. After that long day she usually collapsed in either the bed or desk chair. That specific day, she decided to sit down on the chair by her desk, but her butt didn’t meet with the soft padding of the chair. No, Mitsuba had placed five small needles on the chair with the point upwards.
”Ouch!” Shinoa screamed as she bounced back up on her feet. She wasn’t pissed. No, she was wearing a smirk on her lips. Luckily, Mitsuba wasn’t in the room at the moment, so Shinoa could start planning her next move in peace. This time, she would get the last prank. and Mitsuba would not be able to see it coming.
***
Sunday, week 3:
The hell weeks were almost over. Mitsuba only had one test left, but it was a major part of her final grade meaning she had to study a lot for it. Shinoa’s hell weeks were also almost over with only two minor essays to write before the next Friday. Sundays was their usual study day. The one day every when they both sat down by their desks and studied.
During the entire day, Shinoa had looked at the clock, thinking about the perfect time to pull the prank. She had everything prepared. All she had to do now was to execute it.
”Hey Mitsuba,” Shinoa said and poked on Mitsuba’s arm, making her remove one of the ear-pods. ”Wanna go see the fireworks later today? I hear it’s gonna be an amazing show by the lake.”
”Yeah sure whatever,” Mitsuba mumbled and put back the ear-pod that was blasting loud music.
Shinoa shot a glance at the clock hanging on the wall. The firework show would start at about eight, which was in about five hours. So when should she prank her? During the show would ruin a beautiful moment, while doing it after would be too late, meaning the perfect time would be right before. Shinoa hid her face as she grinned.
—
After almost four hours of cramming, Mitsuba decided to take a break. Shinoa had finished studying for the day long ago, and was only waiting for Mitsuba, so that they could leave for the firework show.
”Hey Shinoa when and where did you say that firework thing would start?” Mitsuba asked.
”I didn’t, but at around eight by the lake,” Shinoa answered, trying to keep her poker face. She knew that this time, she would win.
Mitsuba stretched her entire body in the chair. Then she stood up and started to get ready to go. As she was getting dressed, Shinoa decided to make her move.
”Hey… Mitsuba,” she started to say. Her friend looked at her in worry.
”Yeah is something wrong?”
”You know how we’ve been pulling pranks at each other for the past few weeks,” Shinoa explained, ”and I was just thinking… Maybe we could call a truce?”
She looked at Shinoa in surprise. It didn’t look like the normal Shinoa. The normal Shinoa would never call a truce, especially not with something like this. Mitsuba pulled down her shirt over her torso and crossed her arms. Shinoa reached for her bag and pulled out a bottle of coke.
”I got you a peace offering,” she smiled.
A soft drink would really be refreshing right now, so she kindly accepted the gift, though slightly hesitant because of the previous pranks Shinoa had pulled. Mitsuba sat down by her desk and opened the bottle.
What happened next was not what she was expecting. The bottle sprayed out all of the coke. It landed on Mitsuba’s face, clothes, and study notes. She was gripped by panic when she saw her handwritten notes drenched in coke. She tried to save some of them, but her hands was also covered in the drink, so it wasn’t of much use.
”No no no no NO!” she yelled in panic. Then she looked up at Shinoa, barely seeing her shocked face as her own eyes was covered in tears. ”You ruined it! You ruined everything!” She threw her notes on the floor and stormed out, slamming the door shut.
Shinoa stood still in shock. She thought it would be just another innocent prank. She had only put a mentos inside the bottle cap. Just one prank. One that would get Mitsuba to maybe get a little pissed of, but then just shrug it off. She looked down on the coke-covered notes. Most of it was still readable, so she took a photograph of them before it was all still gone.
I have to apologise to her, Shinoa thought as she cleaned up the mess she had caused.
After Mitsuba’s desk was clean, Shinoa set out to find her friend. She was probably not in the building, considering she most likely wanted to get as far away from Shinoa as possible. So where could she be? The library was closed, and almost everyone would be at the firework show.
That’s it! The firework show! Shinoa thought and ran out from the room, shutting it quickly before running towards the lake.
***
There she found Mitsuba, sitting down under a willow and looking up on the fireworks blasting in the sky.
”Beautiful, isn’t it?” Shinoa asked Mitsuba. She looked back and saw her friend stand there with her head slightly down.
”You’re not gonna pull another prank again, right?”
”No… I am here to apologise,” Shinoa explained and sat down next to her.
Mitsuba gave her a questioning glance, but didn’t say a word.
”I’m sorry for what I did… I managed to save most of your notes, if you want them.”
That one act of kindness was enough proof that Shinoa was honestly apologising and not pulling another one of her pranks.
”Thanks… But after I got here I realised that I already got a copy of them before,” Mitsuba laughed at her own mistake. ”Those notes was just to help me learn more.”
”Oh…” Shinoa said as she realised that she had gotten her hands covered in coke for nothing. ”Well, still. I’m sorry for what I started.”
”It’s okay,” Mitsuba repeated. ”It was actually quite fun. I think my grades even got better because I had so much fun.”
Shinoa felt her body grown warmer as she heard those words. ”Really? You know, laughing gives you a longer life.”
”I guess you will be immortal then.”
”Yeah…” Shinoa leaned on her friend’s shoulder as they watched the end of the firework show together. ”You smell like coke,” she laughed, though not moving away.
Mitsuba’s sarcastic response was expected, ”I wonder why…”