Chapter Text
CHAPTER ONE
If I Only Had A Brain
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Gosh, it would be awful pleasin'
To reason out the reason
For things I can't explain
Then perhaps I'll deserve ya
And be even worthy of ya
If I only had a brain
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Iwaizumi Hajime is many things. Tooru just wished his Best Friend could see how great he is. When Tooru was at his worst, clouded with dark thoughts on the walk home after losing to Karasuno, Hajime spoke to him. Just a few words, but they meant everything.
“You’re the greatest partner I’ve ever had,” he’d said. “And the greatest setter I’ve ever known. Even if we’re never on the same team again, that will never change.”
No small speech coming from Hajime. It gave Tooru the courage to smile again, but the most he could say in response was, “Back at you!” when Hajime threatened to kick his ass.
Tooru wished he could articulate his words better. Hajime always knew just what to say and when to say it. Sometimes short-tempered, sometimes brash, but always what Tooru needed to hear. He knew Hajime was hurting, too. If only Tooru had the means to express himself outside of a fist bump and a confident smirk… If only he had a stage to perform all the feelings Hajime brought out in him…
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The Aoba Johsai Arts Festival was, arguably, the very last time a third year student could really cut loose and have fun before losing their youthful zest to the torturous college entrance exams. While the first and second year students held booths and projects based on their classrooms, the third year classes would often (voluntarily, so as not to interfere with studying) group together and give the school a big going away present.
Which was why Oikawa Tooru of Class Six, Iwaizumi Hajime of Class Five, Hanamaki Takahiro of Class Three, and Matsukawa Issei of Class One, a week after losing against Karasuno in the Spring Inter-Highs, all heard the same announcement from their individual class representatives that they would be putting on a play.
Tooru’s class rep stood at the front of the classroom, a calm confidence about her that only comes from being the class rep every year since middle school. “It’s a play many of you have heard of, and a lot of you are already familiar with the songs.” She started writing the title on the whiteboard.
Tooru cringed. A musical?
The whispers rose and a group of girls that sat together near the middle of the classroom erupted in squeals.
Wicked.
The class rep continued, “Auditions will be held in the auditorium after classes next Tuesday, along with stagehand signups. Voting will happen after the auditions, so you’re encouraged to sit and watch even if you won’t be participating.” She walked to the front of every row and deposited a stack of papers to the first student to take a sheet and pass the stack down. The poster art printed on the handout looked familiar, something Tooru remembered seeing on Hajime’s mp3 player but nothing he ever thought to listen to. It was a list with the preliminary timeline, all the cast and chorus needed to be filled, and stagehands necessary to put on the play.
Tooru tapped his eraser thoughtfully on his desk. Scouts from pretty impressive colleges had been hovering around their practice matches for months before the Inter-Highs, and the simple notion that they didn’t make it to Nationals didn’t dissuade them of Aoba Johsai’s obvious strength. Some talks of scholarship offers had already begun, so he didn’t necessarily have to worry about studying too hard. He supposed he could grace the play with his talent… Maybe as a stagehand or something low-risk. Put his muscles to good use.
“On Wednesday we’ll open it to a class-wide vote, and roles will be announced on Thursday.” The class was in an uproar, talking about their favorite characters and favorite moments. “Any questions?”
An immediate forest of arms sprouted in a split second, and the class rep called on someone in the second row. “Isn’t this play a little long for us to perform?”
“Yes, we’ll be working with an abridged script penned by the reps in Class Four. It will be about forty-five minutes long.”
“You’re deleting over half the play!” a different student complained.
Tooru paid little mind to the rest of the chatter and read over the sheet in more detail. It had a list of characters, who they were, and songs they would have to sing. Ah, it looked like the play was some sort of spinoff from The Wizard of Oz. There was Galinda, the good witch, and Elphaba, the wicked witch, and a short list of other names.
“Are you thinking about auditioning?” Ikeda Keiko asked from beside him. Once upon a time, Tooru harbored quite the crush on Keiko-chan. They even dated for a couple weeks in their first year, until she decided jocks weren’t cute anymore and that the boy in the baking club was cuter (followed by the boy in math club, poetry club, art club, and a seemingly endless list after). With so much in common personality-wise, they managed to become fast friends after residual feelings faded.
“I don't think this school could handle the true expanse of my talent,” he responded, because despite the fact that Tooru couldn’t sing to save his dearest nephew’s precious life, he wasn't about to admit it. He noticed none of the character descriptions mentioned the character’s gender, sometimes going in very oblique paths to avoid it. Tooru glanced over when he heard another student ask about it.
“It’s an open casting call, so you can audition for any part you want to, regardless of the character’s original gender.”
The class was in an uproar about how they had to have a girl play Fiyero and dress her up like Lady Oscar. Oikawa turned and smiled at Keiko-chan’s long, layered, bright mane of hair. “You should audition for the prince, then.”
“The only one in our class worthy of being a prince is you,” she teased. “I wouldn’t mind auditioning if it was just Class Six, but with all the third year classes participating it seems like too much competition…”
Tooru never strayed from competition. Hell, maybe this Fiyero character wouldn’t be too difficult. They only had one song and a duet. The cast listing described them as ‘An attractive socialite that charms both Galinda and Elphaba.’ Even Oikawa couldn’t deny the resemblance was uncanny. How difficult could it be to learn to sing a couple songs?
“For you, impossible,” Makki said, mouth full of rice from his lunchbox during their break. He sat on the rooftop along with Hajime and Mattsun, plus a good fifty other students enjoying a bit of sunshine before winter truly started to seep in.
“It’s just a couple songs…”
Mattsun seemed amused, stuck between encouraging Tooru to audition or saving him from embarrassment. “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” he simply warned. “You can be stagehands with Makki ‘n me.”
“You can come over if you want,” Hajime said, until that point only quietly digging through his lunch and listening. Tooru had noticed that he seemed extra-attentive, probably pent-up energy due to not having morning practices as regularly. “I have the original Broadway cast recording and the Japanese recording. They’re both good. It sucks that they’re taking away so much of the story, though.”
Makki shifted to pull the folded up handout from his back pocket. “What’d they tell you about it?” he asked, not knowing much about the play himself, as Mattsun leaned in to give the handout a better read-through.
“The original play is a retelling of the events that lead up to The Wizard of Oz, like the backstory of how Galinda became the Good Witch of the North and Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West, and how the Wizard, Tinman, Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow were created. It’s a pretty emotional play,” Hajime answered. His parents loved supporting the arts, and would always buy tickets to big theatrical productions. Sometimes they would take weekend vacations out of town to see them, which always made Tooru jealous. He knew Hajime liked musicals, but he never talked about it much, and stopped going to the theatre with his parents once high school started.
Hajime probably would have joined Theatre Club too, if it weren’t for his natural athleticism and Tooru badgering him to join the Volleyball Club in middle school. In elementary school, Tooru recalled fondly, Hajime actually had a very pleasant singing voice and would sometimes sing with the children’s choir. Sometimes he would hum quietly in the gym showers after practice, and it struck Tooru suddenly that soon he wouldn’t be able to hear him sing as often anymore, once school ended…
“But they’ve taken out a lot of characters… I’m curious what the hell they’re doing with it,” Hajime muttered. He seemed somewhat perturbed and was getting that cute wrinkle Tooru liked to tease him about between his brow.
Without hesitating Tooru poked Hajime on his wrinkle and asked, “Which characters were those?” as Hajime automatically smacked his hand away.
“The cast is just Galinda, Elphaba, Fiyero, Madame Morrible, and The Wizard. I don’t get how they’re going to tell the story with just that…” Tooru hadn’t seen The Wizard of Oz since he was a little kid, and the old-style film and sound didn’t appeal much to him back then. Even so, he remembered the plot just fine, but most of those names weren’t familiar to him at all.
Tooru decided it didn’t make much sense to continue asking questions without properly researching the play. He’d borrow the CDs from Hajime and study up. Makki turned the conversation over to something funny his biology teacher said while Tooru observed Hajime being a million miles away, humming to himself.
The walk home was the most pleasant it had been since a week ago, after their final game together. Hajime wasn’t one to talk much, but Tooru was thrilled to listen to anything Hajime had to say about this play. He liked the idea that Makki and Mattsun wanted to be stagehands, and with Hajime as surprisingly into this as he was, Tooru wasn’t about to let this chance slip them by. This chance to do one last final thing as a team.
Hajime’s room is always tidy. Tooru’s convinced he’s never visited once when his bed wasn’t made, and he’s stayed the night enough to know that it’s the first step in his morning routine, before even using the restroom! He only had one bookshelf, on which he mostly stored back issues of Jump and old notebooks from previous school years. Despite the relatively small amount of books he kept, it always smelled like aged paper with a soft hint of cedar, and Tooru loved to tease about his room smelling like an old man’s bedroom. Tooru’s favorite spot on the bookshelf was about a foot of space reserved for a Godzilla plush he had given Hajime as a gift way back in middle school, next to a small framed photograph of them in their Kitagawa Daiichi uniforms after their first official match together.
And while everything looked tidy on the exterior, Tooru knew that Hajime’s desk drawers were a chaotic mess, and hidden under his bed were storage bins filled with all his personal effects he squirreled away for the sake of memories, because Hajime was secretly a very sentimental young man. A shoebox of ticket stubs, a binder of Pokémon cards, birthday cards dating back as far as they can remember…
But near the front, in a flat plastic tub all on its own, was stashed all the old playbills from every performance he saw with his parents, along with CDs, rolled-up posters, commemorative t-shirts now too small to wear, and countless other novelties, many of them signed. Hajime never really bragged about these items, but Tooru appreciated how he always handled them with care.
After a moment of digging, he pulled out two CDs, both with similar covers of a lady dressed in white whispering into the ear of a lady dressed in black with green skin and smirking red lips. “I recommend starting with Jiyuu O Motomete , that’s the big popular song everybody likes.” He flipped over one of the CDs in Tooru’s hands and pointed to the eleventh track. “It’s called Defying Gravity in the Broadway version.”
Tooru loved it when Hajime spoke English.
“Can you sing this version?” he asked, holding up the import CD and enjoying watching Hajime’s face flush with embarrassment.
“Just take them home, dumbass. And be careful with them!” That was as good as a Yes in Iwaizumese.
It didn’t make much of a difference, anyway. The CDs would only be in his possession on the walk to his house next door, burned onto his computer, and then returned the following morning. Tooru turned the Japanese edition case over to read the track listings. “So which one of these is your favorite?”
Hajime didn’t even pause to think. “Anata O Wasurenai, the second to last track.”
“Sing it for me.”
Hajime looked like he’d just sucked a lemon. “What? No.”
“Then how am I supposed to know what’s so great about it?”
“Go home and listen to it yourself, loser. Leave me alone so I can get this essay written.” Hajime was fine with Tooru hanging out when their homework was workbooks or studying, but when it came to writing he needed to focus. As much as Tooru wanted to spend time with his best friend, he didn’t want him to fail either.
In his own bedroom in the house right next door, Tooru popped the CDs in his laptop and began burning them. He looked up some pictures and read wikis about the play’s history and plot. So apparently, Glinda and Elphaba went to school together, and Elphaba had a younger sister named Nessarose who was confined to a wheelchair and falls in love with a Munchkin boy named Boq, who would become the Tinman. There’s a young prince who goes to the same school named Fiyero, who would later become the Scarecrow, that starts dating Glinda but is secretly in love with Elphaba. One of the teachers, Madame Morrible, only targets talented students for advancing her own position. Doctor Dillamond was another teacher, a goat-man, who tells Elphaba that animals are losing their rights, which was the origins of the Cowardly Lion, and it causes Elphaba to start fighting for the social rights of animals. Lots of things happen that lead up to the point where the Wizard of Oz story that Tooru was familiar with began.
It was intriguing. The characters seemed interesting. He listened to the Japanese soundtrack first, because he wanted to understand what he was listening to. He laughed more at some of the songs than he was willing to admit. Around dinner, his mother slid open his bedroom door and found her son lying on the floor with his headphones on and a doofy grin.
“What are you doing?” It was normal for Tooru to hunch over his laptop watching volleyball replays like some sort of manic gremlin, but she couldn’t recall the last time she saw him enjoy himself like this. Her intuition had told her that Tooru would need a significant amount of time to heal after their loss. His smile was a welcomed surprise.
“It’s an album for a musical the third years are throwing together for the Arts Festival.” He stood and followed her to the dining room. The house had filled with the aroma of salmon terikyaki without him even realizing it. His dad was in the kitchen chopping vegetables.
“A musical? That sounds like fun. Are you going to help?” she asked. Tooru automatically started setting the table.
“I might be a stagehand. They probably need my organizational expertise.” He heard his father stifle a chortle behind him, probably in response to the sorry state of his bedroom after exam season, or their backyard after one of Tooru’s at-home practices, or their laundry room after game day. “I don’t know much about the play. And, ah… I’m euphonious but I’m not exactly…”
“It’s okay, Tooru,” his mother said, placing a delicate hand on his arm. “I can’t sing, either.” She gripped his sleeve, staring wistfully into the middle distance like in the dramas she liked to catch up on the weekends.. “I feel like I’ve failed you, in some way…”
“Will this interfere with practice at all?” his father asked, sliding the vegetables off the cutting board and onto a skillet.
While he had kinda-sorta retired as the team’s captain, he still showed up for after-school practices a couple times a week to stay in shape and keep on the radar of the college scouts. Thankfully, after the big loss, he got a call from a couple recruiters from big Tokyo schools who had seen the game. One had nothing but amazing things to say about Tooru and still expressed interest, and told Tooru to keep his schedule clear after the new year to take a trip to Tokyo and tour the campus.
In Tooru’s case, regular volleyball practice was the same as studying for finals, so of course his parents were going to make sure he stayed on top of it.
“It might get a little chaotic come December the closer we get to the Arts Festival, but… I wouldn’t hate the distraction.”
Still a taboo topic, Tooru could feel his parents take in sharp breath as they brought the food to the table. “So! Stagehand?” his mother asked as Tooru started biting into the salmon first.
“Yeah, Makki and Mattsun are signing up too, so we can be stagehands together.”
“Tooru don’t talk with your mouth full.”
“What about Hajime-kun?”
Tooru paused. Hajime hadn’t said anything about auditioning, but it was clear he loved the play. “I don’t… know…” he mumbled, which was not an answer he usually gives whenever someone asks him a question about his Best Friend. “Probably a stagehand too.” It made the most sense. He could see Hajime teaming up with the kids in prop development from the Theatre Club to help build sets. Hajime, with his sleeves rolled up, muscles flexing, as he hammered a stair prop together. And for some reason he’s glistening even though he’s building sets in the middle of winter?
Tooru loudly gulped his food down.
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The rest of the week carried on and Tooru honestly meant to ask Hajime how he wanted to participate in the play, but for how excited he was the day of the announcement, Hajime hadn’t mentioned it once since. In the past, this usually meant that Hajime had simply forgotten about it and moved on, so Tooru didn’t trouble him by asking too many questions. In the meantime they kept busy helping Yahaba with preparing for the next season, and at night after parting, Tooru filled his free time listening to the soundtrack over and over again.
Despite what he’d thought, he’d grown rather smitten with the music. Once he had listened to the Japanese version on repeat for days, he moved to the original Broadway recording. Tooru’s English comprehension could probably use more attention, but he was able to understand some of it enough to really appreciate the range of the singers. Every song sunk deep into his thoughts and stayed stuck in his head until the afternoon of auditions.
And suddenly, Hajime was nowhere to be found. Normally they met at the volleyball club changing rooms if they were meeting up for practice, or at the shoe lockers if they were going straight home, but that day Hajime wasn’t at the lockers. He waited for him for so long that auditions had already begun.
“Did Iwa-chan say anything to you guys about going to the auditions?” Tooru asked, meeting up with Mattsun and Makki near the entrance to the school auditorium.
It took a moment for Tooru to wade through the sea of people, while Makki replied, “I haven’t seen him since lunch.” The play had garnered a lot of attention so it seemed like almost the entire third year class was here, along with students from other grades. There was a girl on stage singing one of Galinda’s songs in a very operatic alto, and there was a table at the front where a line of third years had formed to sign up to be stagehands or offer up their other talents.
A lot of girls giggled and waved as Tooru passed by towards the stage.
“Thank you, Atsuko-san,” a girl said in the third row. “Next!” Tooru recognized her as Kikuta Jin, the third year president of the Theatre Club and director of most of the performances the club had put on the past two years. And a couple rows behind her, sitting near the aisle, was Aoba Johsai Volleyball Club’s own libero Watari Shinji.
Another girl stood center stage and started singing No Good Deed Goes Unpunished as Tooru approached his teammate. “Watacchi? What are you doing here?”
The second-year looked a little caught off guard but ultimately wasn’t surprised to run into his senpais here. “I came to see this months-long train wreck in real time,” he answered with a cheeky grin. Watari was probably the most musically gifted on the team if talent were measured on technical skill. Tooru remembered that one time he brought some sort of Moog synthesizer to the club room to show off, and the music he posted online always got thousands of hits, so he supposed it made sense that Watari was here.
Still, Tooru was less than impressed and put his hands on his hips patronizingly. “Shouldn’t you be at practice?”
“Are you kidding? Coach would’ve been an idiot to schedule practice over the biggest event of the year.” Tooru had already opened his mouth to snap back when Watari waved a hand. “Relax, relax, Captain. It’s an off day, we’re just resting. Look, even Kindaichi-kun and Kunimi-kun are hanging out in the back.”
Tooru looked up to where Watari was pointing and saw his two dearest kohais splitting a bag on convenience store chips at the very back row.
“I honestly wish my class would do something cool like this. Did you know that seven of my classmates in 2-6 make up the ten members in the Junior Space Explorers club here?” He seemed affronted. Tooru was aware of the club, of course, but he couldn’t take part in any of their activities thanks to his captaincy. It was one of those clubs that a bunch of friends created to kill time after school more than any real research of outer space.
“Fun class.” It must be nice not having to panic about entrance exams. Tooru was jealous.
“It’s terrible. We’re doing a dumb planetary.” Now Tooru was substantially more jealous. “There’s no art involved! Just a room covered in black craft paper and some twinkle lights.”
That sounded exactly how Tooru wished his bedroom looked in primary school. “Yeah, that sounds…” Really freaking cool. “…awful.”
“Thank you Sarada-san,” Kikuta said. “Next!”
Tooru saw Watari shift in his seat and returned his focus to the stage. Keiko-chan was walking to center stage and smiling radiantly, but he knew her well enough to see the nerves in her quaking breaths. Tooru’s heart warmed at the sight of seeing her audition, and couldn’t help but be proud of his friend for actually going through with it.
“I’m Ikeda Keiko from Class Six,” she announced loudly and clearly, already setting herself apart from the other girls Tooru had seen audition so far. Or perhaps that was his own bias showing. “I’m auditioning for any role you think I’d be a good fit for… That in mind, I’ll be singing Nessarose’s segment from ‘Dancing Through Life.’” She waited until Kikuta nodded her head before continuing.
Keiko took a deep breath and began, “Oh, Elphaba-Isn't it wonderful? Finally for this one night– I'm about to have a fun night– with this Munchkin boy Galinda found for me. And I only wish there were– something I could do for her!”
Tooru’s experience with the Volleyball Club was so far removed from the arts that he didn’t really get to experience something like this often. Keiko was an amazing singer, Tooru had always known that and felt somewhat outshined whenever they went to karaoke together. But something about seeing her singing in the spotlight with no backing music to distract just made her that much more luminous. It had been a long time since he had heard her sing, and a pleasant surprise to hear her just as strong as ever.
She completed the segment to a smattering of applause, even from Watari, and Tooru noticed Kikuta whispering to the boy taking notes to her right. “Lovely, Ikeda-san, thank you! Next!”
Tooru turned back to Watari, who had a pleasant smile. “She was better than I thought she’d be!”
“She sits next to you in class, right?”
“She does, but it’s not like we’re breaking out into song every period or anything…”
“Yo, Cap,” Makki said, approaching towards them followed up by Mattsun. “There’s a lot of people that wanna help with the production, so it looks like they’re cutting off sign-ups soon. You’d better hurry.”
“Don’t worry, Makki. Even if they close up registration, they’ll always make space for the…” Oikawa trailed off when he noticed the next auditioner taking center stage.
Makki, back to the stage, remained oblivious. “…The?”
Tooru was thunderstruck. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “…The …Great…”
“Hey Makki, he must mean ‘The Great and Powerful Oz.’ I think the play is getting to him,” Mattsun chuckled.
“My name is Iwaizumi Hajime from Class Five, and I’ll be auditioning for the part of Fiyero.”
The two knuckleheads’ eyes snapped open wide and they turned around to see Hajime, unaware of them being in the crowd, looking towards the director and her crew. When Hajime took his first big breath before singing, Makki turned and glared at Tooru. “Don’t you dare.”
It was already too late. Tooru was already walking towards the stage.
“ The trouble with school is– they always try to teach the wrong les— ”
“IWA-CHAN!”
It wasn’t that Tooru was going out of his way to sabotage Hajime’s chances at landing a part, it was more that he was upset that his Best Friend never told him a damn thing about wanting to audition. And of course, as is the most auspicious of Best Friends rites, Tooru was granted every argument to make Hajime’s life a living hell. There are no secrets between Best Friends.
“IWA-CHAN!! YOU NEVER SAID YOU WERE AUDITIONING!” Tooru nearly shouted, loud enough to interrupt Hajime and earn him a death glare he’d long-since grown immune to.
Tooru had nothing to be afraid of. What was a stage in an auditorium but a volleyball court in an arena? He was used to being the center of attention, so it didn’t phase him to make a little scene by sitting his ass on the stage and sliding around, getting up on his feet and sauntering towards his Best Friend.
“Shittykawa,” he growled, not so much a greeting as it was a threat. Hajime was embarrassed. His face was bright red, a sight Tooru rarely got to see when it wasn’t caused by exhaustion on the court.
“I’m surprised you’re trying out for the dashing prince instead of the munchkin boy. It would make sense, given your height.”
“Go.”
“But I suppose Fiyero does have his strengths. After all, neither of you have a brain!”
“Leave. Now.”
“Aw, but I wanted to audition too! Surprised? I decided to keep it a secret for The Great and Powerful Oikawa-sama’s Grand Theatrical Debut!” Predictably, a lot of younger girls in the audience squealed. Tooru pandered to them by giving a dainty wave. “So, allow me to pick up where you left off.”
He stood in front of Hajime, staking his claim on the attention of the room. “Believe me, I’ve been kicked out of enough of them to kno~ow!” God, his singing was atrocious, but it earned a pretty loud bout of laughter from everyone in the audience. From the corner of his eye, Tooru could see Hajime approaching him. It wouldn’t be long before he was yanked offstage. “They want you become less callow– less shallow—”
“You could learn a thing or two about that at Dear Old Shiz, you piece of crap.” Hajime reached his arm around Tooru’s neck, attempting to pull him into a headlock, but Tooru escaped easily.
“Iwa-chan, you’ve grown so slow in your old age! Ahem –But I say why invite stress in?”
Tooru dodged another lunge, but held onto Hajime’s arm to pull him back, pressing his chest into Hajime’s impressive back. He wrapped his arms around Hajime’s biceps, a feat that wouldn’t last long, and locked him in place. “Stop studying strife–”
“Let go of me!”
“And learn to live–” Hajime was able to flex large enough to break free, something that Tooru was sure he would expend far too much energy thinking about his next lonely night in bed, and attempted to escape. “The unexamined–” This time, he managed to grab onto Hajime’s hand, thick and calloused, and spin him right up against Tooru’s body. Hajime was an ace wing spiker, after all. Despite all the bulk and muscle, he was ultimately light on his feet. “–Liii~ii—”
“OKAY boys. Thank you,” Kikuta projected, holding up her hand to shoo them away. “Next!”
Hajime, still breathless and pressed against Tooru, decided to ignore him and turn towards the director. “But I haven’t–”
“We’ll take your audition into consideration, Iwaizumi-san and Oikawa-san. We have a lot of auditioners to go and can’t waste time. Next!”
Hajime sighed in defeat, then shoved Tooru off him. He stalked off the stage without another word.
It was the silent treatments, Tooru knew, that signified he was really in trouble.
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After hours, when the sun had set and most of the students had returned home, Kikuta and the rest of the participating theatre club third years held a meeting.
“Not a lot of good singers, this time around,” Kikuta sighed, flipping through the notes that her assistant director, Saito Makoto, took throughout the auditions.
“Ikeda-san from Class Six stood out,” Saito commented.
“It was a shame Oikawa-kun had to ruin Iwaizumi-kun’s audition,” a girl sitting across the table sighed. “I went to the same elementary school as them, and Iwaizumi-kun used to have a really nice voice. I always wondered if it survived puberty…” She was Yazawa Miwako, a small girl with big hair and even bigger dreams, as well as the head of costuming and prop design.
“He used to sing?” Kikuta asked, trying to remember the audition before Oikawa interrupted. Iwaizumi did seem to have a nice, level timbre to the opening line, but that part of the song is more spoken than sung so it was difficult to get a proper assessment.
“I’m in the same class with Matsukawa Issei, one of the stagehands,” a boy sitting next to Yazawa pitched in. He was Kazune Ryuunosuke, and was in charge of backdrops and large set dressings and worked closely with her. “After we announced the musical, I heard him mention something about how Iwaizumi-kun sometimes sings in the showers after volleyball practice and isn’t half bad.”
“Hmm…” Kikuta mumbled, and Saito took that as a sign to put a star by Iwaizumi’s name. “And what did we think about Oikawa-kun’s audition?”
“Was that even an audition? I thought he was just messing around,” Kazune said, though he paused to consider a moment. “Well, I mean, if he really was trying to audition for Fiyero, Oikawa-san definitely has the attitude… Even if he’s never acted before, I get the feeling that emoting for a crowd won’t be difficult for him.”
“We only have two male roles, Fiyero and the Wizard,” Saito added. “Nobody auditioned for Wiz, though.” Meaning, that if they were to take both players in the botched audition into account, only one of them would get the role of Fiyero, and the other would be stuck with the less flashy role of an old man.
Kikuta stepped in, “We knew auditions would be spotty, which is why we didn’t restrict the roles to gender.”
“So– what? You expect Galinda and Elphaba to be played by men?” Kazune laughed. Yazawa beside him suddenly gasped loudly, cupping her hands over her mouth. It was too late, she already captured the attention of the room. Kikuta lifted her brow expectantly.
“I just… The thought just occurred to me… You know, Oikawa-kun likes to playfully antagonize Iwaizumi-kun all the time, right?” she asked. Judging by the looks in their eyes, the rest of the meeting was catching on rather quick.
Saito whipped his head over to Kikuta. “Stop. I know what you’re thinking. You can’t.”
Kikuta gave him a look. “Well, lucky for you, it’s not up to me. Almost the entire school saw their audition today, so both their names go on the ballot. We’ll get final say in all casting decisions, but Oikawa-san has presence. He’ll put asses in seats. It would be foolish not to cast him, if he’s serious.”
“And if he wasn’t?” Saito asked.
Kikuta shrugged mercilessly. “Then he shouldn’t have auditioned in the first place.”
✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀
So, Tooru has a deep, dark secret.
Something he’s only come to terms with relatively recently, and something that he’s not altogether willing to admit even to himself, unless it’s in the middle of the pitch night.
He might… have developed… somewhat emotional… good emotional… warm fuzzies emotional… feelings… for his Best Friend.
Tooru’s certain that these feelings were built up over time, but he never actually stopped to consider them until one summer break in his last year of middle school when he went on a family vacation.
“I wish Iwa-chan were here…” he’d muttered sadly, looking out the window as they passed by rural farmland. The same rural farmland that he saw the last time he looked up from his phone an hour ago. Nothing but an endless expanse of rice paddies. Unfortunately, this was also the summer where Iwa-chan jumped into a creek with his phone in his back pocket and as punishment his parents refused to buy him a new one until school activities started up again.
They were going to be gone a week, which isn’t even the longest time he and Hajime had been separated before. Hell, they’d gotten into fights with silent treatments that had lasted longer than a week, but it still sucked. It wasn’t like Hajime would miss him, anyway. His family would be taking a long weekend to Osaka to see a play - some sort of adaptation to The Wizard of Oz - and that kind of stuff sometimes distracts Hajime from Tooru more readily than Tooru wanted to admit from his Best Friend.
Attention would be nice. Any of kind attention, Tooru had thought while the rice paddies slowly started being replaced by buildings. It would be nice if Hajime looked his way more often. Tooru wouldn’t mind him saying nice things to him sometimes, things other than “Nice toss!” or “Good work!” after practice. Maybe… Tooru wouldn’t turn away some skinship. He was always quick to wrap his arm around Hajime’s shoulders, or touch his arm to get his attention, but at most the only times Hajime ever touches him is a slap on the back during games or a punch on the shoulder when he’s been acting out.
Nice touches. A hand resting on Tooru’s shoulder. Playfully digging fingers through Tooru’s scalp. Holding Tooru’s… hand…
This was probably the first substantial gay thought Tooru’d ever had. And it made his stomach do back flips, somersaults, cartwheels, painful splits. It was like his stomach was standing on the high dive at the school swimming pool during a test of courage and just… swan-dived leaving a gentle ripple behind. Like his stomach knew what the fuck it was doing and telling his brain there was nothing to be afraid of. Water’s fine. Jump right in.
So he did.
Hajime holding his hand!! Hajime holding his hand with interlaced fingers , like the way lovers do on TV! Hajime… kissing him!
Young Tooru almost couldn’t contain it. The thought made him so happy he had to work to not actively squeal and alert his parents to this sudden awakening happening in the backseat of his mom’s grey four-door sedan. Unfortunately, he had squirmed a little too much during his revelation and caught his dad’s attention.
“You alright, kiddo?” he’d asked. “Been awfully quiet back there.”
Tooru gulped. “Fi ne. ” His voice cracked. “All fine, dad. Are we there yet?”
The rest of the trip was spent hopelessly enamored with his Best Friend, whom he couldn’t talk to or text or even see until he returned home at the end of week. Tooru couldn’t even remember what they did on that vacation, only the feeling of disappointment when he returned home, rushed over to Hajime’s house because he just wanted to see him and tell him everything and maybe kiss him in a moment of passion!–
Only to have Hajime open the door in a pair or ratty old volleyball shorts, a shirt with armpit stains from the hot, humid summer, and greasy-flat hair. It hit him like a bus that, yes, this was his Hajime. The one that would punch him in the shoulder for acting out, the one that would yell mean things at him for being late to practice.
“Iwa-chan,” he’d mumbled. “You stink.”
Hajime had the gall to look offended. “Well if I’d known you were gonna be coming over I would’ve showered! Don’t just cold-call someone’s house expecting them to be dressed nice.”
“Iwa-chan, you should at least shower daily! Just because we’re not in school right now isn’t an excuse! Go, shower now, I can wait.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Hajime had turned and trudged down the hall to the bathroom. It was like he was still a child, the way he complained about taking a bath. He poked his head out the door to give him the stinkeye when Tooru mentioned putting on clean underwear when he was through. Hajime had only been missing ten minutes before he returned, fresh as a daisy, wearing shorts that weren’t falling apart at the seams and a newer tank top. Tooru smiled widely when his Best Friend joined him in the living room, but something was different. Something had smelled different.
“What’s that smell?”
“What? Nothing.”
But Tooru could tell Hajime was flustered. “Is that– is that scented deodorant?” It smelled like like crisp salt water. Like Hajime had just stepped out of a beach, sunkissed and smiling. Hajime started using deodorant regularly once they started practicing volleyball in their first year of middle school, but always unscented.
“Shut up!”
“No– no… I mean. It’s nice.” Tooru’s face had been too bright red to face Hajime, so he’s not sure what kind of face his friend made in response.
All he knew was that Hajime still wears that same scent of deodorant to this day. He has a stick at home and a stick he keeps in his volleyball bag, plus a spare kept in his gym locker just in case.
Tooru had wondered if maybe it was a fluke. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, fondness makes the absence longer. Perhaps the strong palpitations in his chest whenever he thought of Hajime were just a byproduct of not having him by his side 24/7. It seemed reasonable.
At the end of his third year of middle school, his Best Setter award pretty much granted him automatic entry into Aoba Johsai on a sports recommendation. He was separated into a different class from Hajime, which was terrible, but with it came new friends, and a welcomed distraction named Ikeda Keiko. She was beautiful, smart, could keep up with Tooru’s maddening pace, didn’t mind that he was more dedicated to sports in the least. She was the perfect girlfriend…
But she didn’t smell like sea salt. She didn’t smack him upside the head when he said something stupid. She did very little to make Tooru feel special, other than allow him to practice tongue-kissing with her on his couch when his parents were gone. It set up for a disturbing trend after they broke up. No pretty face, no special talent, no amount of kissing or touching could tear Tooru away from the sport he loved, because that sport felt like the main thread holding himself and Hajime together.
And over the next few years, Tooru started to notice other changes about Hajime, like how he was starting to grow into his ears, and how his shoulders seemed to test the seams of his school-issued collared shirt, and how his voice had lowered, but never lost it’s steady, comforting rhythm. He still yelled, still punched, but Tooru found himself enjoying those moments, because it meant at least Hajime only had eyes on him.
Tooru could never forget the cartwheels and the swan-dives of his first discovery, but he found the infatuation was still there, still strong. Just, different. Every day he was discovering newer and greater things to be in love with. And sometimes he allowed himself to get carried away in imagining Hajime actually wanting to hold his hand, and kiss him, and more and more and more until it caused Tooru to blush hotter than the sun.
And then he would get wrenched back to reality by seeing him flirt with a girl in the hallway. And the way he kept secrets from him, like wanting to audition for the play.
Tooru rolled over to his other side on his futon, unable to be comfortable. The moon outside was too bright and the blinds weren’t helping. It would be one in the morning soon. Tooru sat up and peeked open the blinds and– yep, Hajime’s bedside table lamp was still on. Living next door to each other still had its perks, he supposed. He unlocked his phone to the same text screen he’d been staring at all night.
♡♡♡Iwa-chan♡♡♡
SENT 8:31PM : I’m sorry Iwa-chan!!
SENT 8:45PM : I’m really sorry, it was just supposed to be a joke
SENT 8:46PM : I can talk to Kikuta-chan tomorrow
(っ˘ω˘ς )
SENT 8:46PM : Maybe try to get you a private audition
(♡ω♡)
SENT 9:27PM : Iwa-chan come on, I’m sorry
SENT 10:11PM : I’m getting ready to go to bed. Are we still going to morning practice tomorrow?
SENT 10:34PM : good night hajime
Tooru frowned. Normally calling him by his given name would get him some sort of response. He wished so hard that he had the words the properly tell Hajime everything, to tell him how sorry he was and what he meant. He wished he could at least tell him how amazing it was that he tried to audition in the first place. He was braver than Tooru had been. Instead, his gift of words was wasted on pointless ridicule.
SENT 12:56AM : ever stop to think that centaurs have two rib cages?
RECEIVED 12:56AM : GO TO SLEE P.
SENT 12:56AM : I would, except there’s this blinding light shining into my window, I can’t seem to close my eyes at all~ (￣ ￣|||)
After hitting ‘send,’ Tooru leaned back to his window and peeked through the blinds just in time to see Hajime’s bedside lamp blink off. He turned his attention back to the screen to see if Hajime would say anything else, but his phone gave no notice.
SENT 1:02AM : You never answered my question earlier, don’t be rude.
RECEIVED 1:04AM : u dont get to lecture me about politeness u diseased sack of dogshit
RECEIVED 1:04AM : & of course were going t practice tmrw morning
SENT 1:05AM : That’s not the question I meant ☆⌒(ゝ。∂)
RECEIVED 1:06AM : go 2 sleep crappykawa
SENT 1:06AM : (っ˘з( ˘⌣˘ )♡
The emoticon didn’t elicit a response, which Tooru figured it wouldn’t. He sighed and locked his phone for the night, placing it on the floor beside his futon. Tomorrow he’d apologize to Hajime appropriately and they’d move on.
✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀
Hajime was waiting by the front gate to Tooru’s house like he usually did for morning practices. His set frown made it clear that he still wasn’t going to humor Tooru with conversation, but Tooru was growing into the type of adult who refused to let silent treatments fester.
“I’m sorry Iwa-chan. Please forgive me,” he said slowly and clearly, making sure to bow at a perfect angle.
Hajime rolled his eyes, looking around to make sure nobody else happened to be walking around them this early in the morning. “Get up, dumbass.” He started walking away, and Tooru straightened himself and caught up quickly.
“This doesn’t excuse my behavior,” he added, staying formal. “But Iwa-chan, you should have told me you were auditioning. I could have helped.”
“Ha! How could you have possibly helped?”
“You know! With acting! With stage presence! Annunciation! When you gave your introduction you were practically mumbling.”
“What difference would it have made once they heard me sing!?” he snapped back, showing his usual aggression that, for some horrible masochistic reason, never failed to put a smile on Tooru’s face. It was rare for Hajime to show such overwhelming confidence in something that wasn’t athletics-oriented.
“I wish you would sing for me more often. If Iwa-chan can’t sing for me, what are his chances for singing in front of a live audience?” Feeling that their rough patch had officially been smoothed over, he wrapped his arm around Hajime’s shoulders, bringing him in close. “What if my darling Iwa-chan gets discovered by a talent scout and becomes the next teen heartthrob!”
“Well, you can breathe easy,” he said, not pulling away from Tooru’s hold. “Thanks to you, I lost my shot.”
Hajime still seemed really upset about it, but Tooru felt like if he pushed the topic again it would just cause him to get angrier, so he let it go. They were almost at the school and turned their focus on volleyball for the next hour until it was time to get ready for classes. After they parted ways at the shoe lockers, Tooru entered his classroom and saw a group of students crowded around a stack of handouts on the teacher’s podium at the front of the room.
“Remember to only take one if you were at the auditions yesterday,” the class rep said loudly. “Fill out the ballot and return them to me before lunch. We’ll have the results for the final casting decisions outside the auditorium tomorrow morning. Please only vote once for each character listed. Whoever doesn’t get cast for a main role will be put in the chorus. Please choose wisely!”
Well, Tooru technically witnessed the auditions yesterday. It occurred to him that after they were shooed offstage and immediately left the auditorium, Tooru never got a chance to sign up to be a stagehand, and Mattsun had told him that they were probably going to cap off the list of volunteers. But… on the other hand, Tooru had more fun playing around with Hajime onstage with a crowd than he thought he would, so maybe he could beg Kikuta-san and get himself into a chorus position or something.
The ballot was a list of all available characters – Elphaba, Galinda, Fiyero, the Wizard, and Madame Morrible – with empty spaces by their names, and a list of all the auditioners names to be hand-written in those empty spaces. Tooru looked down the list, saw Keiko-chan’s name and smiled, continued scrolling through, and…
Oh. Huh. There was Hajime’s name, right under Keiko’s. Tooru was glad that he was still under consideration, because at least that meant Hajime had a chance to–
Oh no.
Tooru hoped his face wasn’t as pale as it felt when he discovered his name on the list of the potential cast members.
“This is so nerve-wracking, don’t you think?” Keiko-chan whined as she settled into her desk beside Tooru. “It feels like cheating voting for yourself… It also looks as if some people who auditioned didn’t get their names on the ballot.”
Tooru balked. “Seriously?” Now he felt even worse.
“Well, I’m sure you saw, but some of those auditions were really rough… Why are you so shocked, though? I thought yours and Iwaizumi-kun’s audition was really cute!”
“That wasn’t– ah… Thank you…” Tooru muttered, too embarrassed to ham it up like usual but his usual hubris still pulling strong. Of course, Keiko-chan knew him well enough to see the difference.
“What on earth are you worried about? I thought your audition was funny. And I had no idea Iwaizumi-kun could sing! Even though I didn’t get to hear much of it, I guess…” Tooru felt another sword pierce his heart. “You’re lucky to have such talented friends.”
He took another look at the list, remembering some of the things Hajime had told him and what he had gleaned from his research. The play was going to be abridged, and some roles were going to be written out to save time. “The character song you auditioned with, Nessarose, she’s not on here…”
“Oh, I knew that going in. I didn’t want to audition for a particular role because, honestly, if I got cast as Galinda or Elphaba I’d probably turn it down. I wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure,” Keiko-chan laughed. “But if I sang a different song from the play, I hoped that it would prove I’m familiar with it and they would know how my singing voice sounded so they would take that into consideration.”
“How forward-thinking of you Keiko-chan,” Tooru complemented, voice distant as he tried to comprehend that the entire third-year class was going to see his name on this ballot and laugh at him . He turned his attention back to the list to make his decision. Keiko-chan probably would make a good Fiyero, but since Hajime made it onto the list and actually auditioned for the role, he wrote his friend’s name in instead. Tooru wasn’t sure how much Kieko-chan would want to play an old man, so he put her name down for Madame Morrible. For Galinda and Elphaba, he recognized some of the names on the list as girls from the choir club that were members of his fanclub and wrote them in. The Wizard was a boy in his class that had apparently auditioned, although Tooru must’ve missed it.
After he finished, he folded his ballot in half and tucked it away until lunch break, where he passed it along to his class rep. It was too cold to eat comfortably on the roof anymore so they settled on the Volleyball Club room, one of the few places they could eat comfortably without Tooru constantly getting called out by passing girls.
“Okay spill,” Mattsun said as soon as Tooru entered the room. Hajime and Makki were already there, too. Tooru slid off his school shoes and placed them on the shelf by the door with the others. “Who’d you vote for?”
“A gentleman never talks politics at the dinner table,” Tooru said with a huff. Although instead of dinner it was lunch, and instead of a table it was a (hopefully) clean towel spread on the floor, and instead of gentlemen it was four of the grossest boys in Aoba Johsai.
“Iwaizumi as Fiyero and Oikawa as Madame Morrible. I wanna see Oikawa as the token schoolmarm,” Makki said.
“See, I thought that too, but I think Oikawa would make a better Galinda. He’d look amazing in that periwinkle ball gown.”
They got a good laugh from Tooru’s whining response. Of course he’d look amazing in a ball gown. This bone structure was wasted on baggy men’s clothing. “Well I voted for Iwa-chan to be Fiyero,” Tooru said, giving in and revealing his ballot.
Makki grinned. “Ahuh. And yourself?”
“If they’ll have me, I’ll join the chorus, but I made sure to vote for people who were more deserving of the roles.” It wouldn’t be fair to everyone else working so hard on this production to throw himself into this challenge on a whim if he wasn’t even sure he could do it. Since they were cutting so many roles for the sake of time, that meant that the roles remaining were even more important.
Hajime seemed surprised, Tooru hoped it was a pleasant surprise. “You really wrote me in for Fiyero?”
“Of course! But my vote comes at a high cost. You’ll have to sing for me.”
“Much too high a cost,” Hajime muttered, smirking.
Mattsun was laughing, beside himself with giddiness. “Oh my god, is Iwaizumi smiling?”
Tooru had been investing too much of his attention to his lunchbox that his head snapped to his Best Friend beside him. It was the smile Hajime wore when he was humoring Tooru’s wishes and it was probably Tooru’s most favorite smile because it meant Hajime would agree with almost anything he said.
“What song?” Hajime asked, and Tooru was reeling.
Obviously Defying Gravity , but the club room wasn’t well insulated and they’d gotten in trouble for being too loud before. Dancing Through Life was too long and took forever to get warmed up. For Good was Hajime’s favorite song, but guaranteed to make Tooru cry, couldn’t have that. Popular would definitely make Hajime uncomfortable and make lots of funny faces. But, while they were on the topic of Tooru in a ball gown…
“ I’m Not That Girl ,” Tooru replied with a smile. Mostly for laughs. It would be funny to hear Hajime sing a song from the outspoken, wistful perspective of a girl. Haha. Funny.
“The first one or the reprise ?”
Tooru hoped his face wasn’t as bright, iron-hot red as it felt. The reprise directly led into what was probably the sexiest song on the entire album , and Tooru didn’t exactly want to give himself away just yet. “The first one, it’s better,” he fibbed. Maybe someday he’d be brave enough to ask Hajime to sing the reprise to him, but for now it seemed best to feign nonchalance.
Hajime’s eyes glanced up towards the right, his mind thinking fast to remember the lyrics and the music. He wasn’t really going to–
“Hands touch– Eyes meet– Sudden silence– Sudden heat…”
Tooru had screwed up. It didn’t matter what song Hajime sang, it was always going to be unfathomably attractive. Tooru had only really heard him sing once, at a karaoke night when their friends had stepped out of the room for a moment, and he was only brave enough to sing alone. The rest, a few times when he eavesdropped on Hajime taking a shower after practices. It was usually just a dull hum, melodic and pleasant, but nothing solid. This, though. Hajime’s true voice, not blown out by a speaker or lost behind running water. It was warm, a bit of a rough croak to it that made it more alive and substantial.
The rice in Makki’s chopsticks fell back into his lunchbox. Mattsun’s mouth was agape. Hajime was smirking at the reaction, trying to keep his voice steady and not laughing, as he continued to stare towards the wall and avoid eye contact with his friends.
“Hearts leap in a giddy whirl– He could be that boy– But I'm not that girl…”
He moved onto the second verse, a little louder and a little more bravado. Tooru was stunned, but in theory it wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to seeing on the court. When Hajime was good at something, he liked to show off. He didn’t necessarily do it for adulation or recognition, but just to test his limits and know he could.
“Don’t dream too far– Don’t lose sight of who you are– Don’t remember that rush of joy– He could that boy, I’m not that girl…”
The bridge was Tooru’s favorite part of that song. Painfully familiar yet beautiful.
“Every so often we long to steal– To the land of what-might-have-been– But that doesn't soften the ache we feel– When reality sets back in…”
Unless his eyes were deceiving him, was Hajime… acting? He looked genuinely sad singing that verse, and the emotion in his eyes reflected in his voice, becoming soft and wistful. Tooru wanted to regret his song choice but couldn’t bring himself to actually believe himself, couldn’t bear to tell Hajime to stop.
“Blithe smile, lithe limb– She who's winsome, she wins him– Gold hair with a gentle curl– That's the girl he chose, and heaven knows– I'm not that girl…”
Up until that point, it was as if Hajime was in trance, just staring at the wall and singing this song that he knew by heart beautifully. He glanced to Tooru, then turned his eyes to the others when Tooru whispered, “Keep going.”
“Don't wish, don't start– Wishing only wounds the heart– I wasn't born for the rose and the pearl– There's a girl I know, he loves her so– I'm not that girl…”
Hajime finished the song with a deep breath, then his face broke into a laugh and he tried to hide his face behind his hands. Makki and Mattsun dove in, tackling Hajime to the ground and collectively shouting, “That was amazing! Oh my god!! Holy shit??”
Tooru wanted to bust open the door and shout to the entire school that his Best Friend, Iwaizumi Hajime, is the most talented, most flawless, most perfect specimen of man in all of Miyagi and Oikawa Tooru is in love!!! But instead, he grabbed Hajime’s head and smothered his hands through his hair, like some sort of payback for holding out on him this whole time. It’s just as well. Tooru didn’t have the words to describe how perfect Hajime was anyway…
✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀
Kikuta stood at the doorway to the Class Six classroom. “Tsubaki-san, do you have the ballots?”
The class rep handed off a manilla folder, stuffed with her class’ votes for the play. Kikuta took a moment to flip through them to make sure everything was in order before sparing a glance across the room. “Is Oikawa-san around?” She hadn’t seen Iwaizumi in the Class Five room either and wanted to talk to them about their audition.
Ikeda Keiko was sitting nearby, eating lunch with her friends in class. She raised her hand to get Kikuta’s attention. “He usually eats on the roof with other boys from the volleyball club, but they’ll probably be in the clubroom today.”
Kikuta’s soul grimaced. The gymnasium and sports clubrooms were on the opposite side of the school as the auditorium, but she had already collected all the ballots and the lunch break was still young. She thanked Ikeda and Tsubaki, then started her walk towards the clubrooms. The sports side of the school was foreign territory to her, but most of the rooms were vacant during the school day. Thankfully, all she had to do was follow her ears.
There was a loud ruckus coming from one of the rooms on the second floor. She ascended, naturally light on her feet, and moved down the cement walkway towards the noise. Oikawa’s distinctive laugh was amongst them.
“Of course! But my vote comes at a high cost. You’ll have to sing for me.”
“Haha! Oh my god, is Iwaizumi smiling?”
Kikuta had her hand poised to knock, but paused. What were they talking about? The play, it had to be the play. She glanced around to make sure she wasn’t making a fool of herself, but the door to the clubroom was mostly obscured from classroom windows. She carefully placed her ear against the door to hear better.
“What song?”
That was definitely Iwaizumi.
“I’m Not That Girl.”
That was definitely Oikawa.
There was a short pause, and Kikuta kept waiting for Iwaizumi to bite back or refuse – it was a pretty feminine song, and someone like Iwaizumi didn’t exactly fit the profile – but instead the sound of his voice filled the space around them. It was like there was no door between them at all, his voice carried so well. The song in itself is a low song, handled well with Iwaizumi’s baritone levels. Kikuta was curious what his true range was. Meanwhile, she felt like melting into the door, his voice was so smooth and warm.
When he finished, his friends started shouting and the sounds of bodies being tackled to the floor could be heard down the hall.
“VOLLEYBALL! SHUT UP!” one of the rooms below yelled like this happened on the regular, their words echoing and the boys quieted the laughter immediately.
Kikuta stood up quickly, worried that they would open the door and notice her. She had originally visited to ask Oikawa questions about the seriousness of their audition, but what she just heard eased her concerns. She carried the ballots back to the auditorium with confidence.
✿❀✿❀✿❀✿❀
Tooru and Hajime hadn’t thought to arrive at school early Thursday morning. Even though they arrived earlier than normal on a morning without practice, the front courtyard was clustered with students in their school jackets, talking animatedly despite the soft autumn chill.
“What the-?” Hajime muttered, noticing how weird this was as well.
They walked further into the courtyard, to the side with the shoe lockers, when Tooru noticed something odd. A lot of the clusters seemed to be looking at them specifically. Not that Tooru was unused to the attention, but… even this was a little much. He moved to huddle closer to Hajime, but noticed he was already several steps ahead, bypassing the shoe lockers completely and heading straight for the eastern wing of the school where there were even more students than usual.
“Iwa-chan…” he whimpered. “Where’re you going?”
“They said they were going to post the cast list today,” he said, making a beeline for the auditorium. It was like parting of the sea the way students dodged out of their way. Tooru followed, briefly led the march, was passed by Hajime, and before they knew it they were neck-and-neck sprinting towards the auditorium.
“WALK!” they heard a teacher scream, but by that point the auditorium was in sight and the way students were whispering and pointing at them only added to Tooru’s haste. The crowd around the bulletin board outside was huge, but as soon as students noticed them, they were quick to dodge out of the way.
It was a single, standard sheet of paper stapled to the upcoming events section, locked under a plate of glass. They both scanned over the page quickly.
Aoba Johsai Arts Festival Presents:
Wicked
Produced by the Aoba Johsai Third Year Class of 20XX, the Aoba Johsai Theatre Club, and generous donations from the Aoba Johsai Theatre Club Alumni
Cast:
Chorus
Watanabe Sarada
Nakamura Atsuko
Ito Mamiko
Yamamoto Kagumi
Sato Tadafumi
Suzuki Tetsuya
Madame Morrible
Takano Rei
The Wizard
Amano Hikaru
Fiyero
Ikeda Keiko
Galinda
Oikawa Tooru
Elphaba
Iwaizumi Hajime