Chapter Text
Kaoru drags himself to morning class for one reason only; there’s a cultural festival coming up, and he at least wants to know what they’re gonna do. Plus, if he’s there to express his opinion, he can decline any role he doesn’t want to do.
He expects them to discuss ideas, first a few suggestions and then talk and vote, but instead, sensei tells them the decision has already been made. A friendly competition with 3B? That does sound interesting, but what will they even compete about? Maybe they’ll have cafes? Kaoru wouldn’t mind that — it would bring in a lot of cute girls, for sure.
What he’s not expecting are kissing booths.
“I’m not doing it”, says Shu immediately, crossing his arms over his chest. “Not a chance.”
Towards the front of the classroom, Eichi’s eyes have lit up, and he twists to look at Keito.
Evidently Keito is not amused. “You’re not doing it, you’d catch mono within minutes!”
Eichi huffs. “Noo, I think you should do it~”
Keito shakes his head vehemently. “I don’t think I would make a very popular candidate. What about… Sena?”
Izumi frowns and shoots Keito a venomous glare. “No way. These lips come with a price tag higher than anyone at this school could afford.”
Chiaki, ever so eager to resolve a conflict, slaps his hands on the table. “What about Mikejima-san? Everyone really respects you!”
“Noo”, Madara laughs. “I’d be su~per bored if I sat at one booth all day, though? Mama wants to see the whole festival!”
Chiaki seems to come to some kind of a resolution, and he’s visibly blushing as he speaks. “Eehh… Maybe I could do it! If our class needs a hero, then I... “
Izumi tsks, and pokes at Chiaki’s cheeks. “Don’t push yourself.”
Kaoru hasn’t yet raised his voice, but he’s been listening to every word. No one seems too excited about manning the booth, and Kaoru weighs the pros and cons of volunteering.
There would be girls, right? And, well… boys as well. The thought has Kaoru both intrigued and terrified. If he did this, he’d have an excuse to try kissing boys, and no one would think twice of it.
Besides, if he knows anything about 3B, the most likely volunteer from them will be Wataru… if their booths are close, at least Kaoru has guaranteed entertainment. Maybe he’ll even get to play with a bird. And if Wataru is there, Rei will visit, too —
“Ahh, hey?” Kaoru calls out before he can change his mind. “I could do it?”
There’s a moment before the others realise who spoke, then a stunned silence, and all of their shocked eyes turned to Kaoru.
“Hakaze, it’s okay!” Chiaki bursts out. “You… you don’t have to! I, Chiaki Morisawa, would be happy to—”
Izumi interrupts Chiaki before he can finish the sentence. “Hey, Kao-kun, you really want to?” He shoots Kaoru an appraising look, and Kaoru swallows hard. “If you’re serious, then yeah. No one else wants to.”
Next to the windows, Shu clears his throat, pointedly looking away as he adjusts Mademoiselle’s dress.
“Hakaze, don’t be ridiculous”, Keito scoffs. “You’d have to kiss b—”
“He said he’d do it”, Izumi kicks the back of Keito’s chair.
Kaoru doesn’t know what Izumi’s motivations in this are, but he’s grateful to receive the support. He lifts his chin and takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I’m serious. It’s for the sake of the class, you know? We gotta beat whoever the other class sends, and Moricchi seems nervous.”
To be fair, his class is kind of shitty sometimes, but the line seems to work well enough, though everyone is still looking at him, probably unsure if he really is serious.
Chiaki still looks somewhat embarrassed, but he nods a few times in agreement. “Yeah, well… if you’re sure!!”
After that, everyone else starts nodding too, and the tension dissipates, as they accept that Kaoru is serious about this.
Kaoru sighs, relieved. He barely bluffed himself through that, but now, everything should be easier. He’s still not sure whether this was a good decision, but he’s interested to see how it turns out.
----
Rei’s dozing at their desk, letting the dialogue of their classmates, the shuffling of clothes and papers, and the ticking of the clock lull them not to sleep but to stupor. At the head of the classroom, sensei is explaining something about the upcoming cultural festival. Rei already knows this; they’ve already been treated to complaints from Koga, whose class has been fighting over their theme for the past few days.
A cultural festival sounds like a huge pain—a whole school day where Rei has to be awake during human hours and probably stand in the sun as well. Hopefully if they ignore all the planning, they’ll be left out of it.
In the front of the room, sensei reveals that the idol course third years will be running a kissing booth for each class. People will be able to pay a certain amount to kiss whoever is staffing it, with a loose competitive aspect to see which class can raise the most funds for idol activities. Rei’s trying to fall asleep, but they can’t help but perk up at this idea. A potentially horrid concept, but interesting to say the least... And who would 3A choose? Rei can imagine how it would go, probably with Tenshouin offering, Izumi and Shu flat-out refusing... Perhaps Chiaki would offer in that charming way of his. With Rei’s luck, it won’t be anyone cute but instead someone like Keito, guilted into it as vice president, or perhaps even Madara. Not cute.
No one in 3B seems to be coming forward to nominate themself. Admittedly, Rei is feigning sleep, and Kanata and Leo aren’t even present, which is already nearly half of the class.
A few rows in front of Rei, Kiryu raises his hand. “Should we vote on it?”
The rest of the class - all few of them - nod. Rei lifts their head half an inch off their desk, and catches sight of Wataru, sitting next to them and grinning in a way that makes Rei’s stomach drop.
Oh, there’s nothing good about that expression. Rei lowers their face back down and mushes it against the cool surface of their desk.
Unfortunately, Wataru will not be stopped. “Oh, oh! I have a suggestion,” he says brightly. He knows Rei isn’t asleep, and yet he’s talking loud enough to wake them...?! “If we want to get customers, then I think we all know who’s the best choice.” He pauses, as if anyone is going to challenge him. “And no, I’m not talking about myself.”
As if cruelly playing along, Aoba and Kiryu turn in their chairs to look curiously at Wataru. Rei continues trying to become one with their desk.
“I can vouch,” Wataru continues, after pausing to build suspense, “that dear Rei is an excellent kisser. I think we should all collectively choose them...☆”
Sensei sighs, long-suffering. “We can vote on it.”
Rei hates that this is happening. A kissing booth might be fun, and last year they certainly would have enjoyed something like that, but they’re old now, and the combination of a day in the sunlight and all those teenage hormones might just kill them. Of course, Wataru probably thinks it’s funny, or perhaps he has something even worse up his sleeve. And he had to go and tell the whole class that they’ve kissed before. Well, not that that would surprise anyone. Hopefully it’s not too late to stop him from causing more damage.
“H...” Rei tries. Wataru ignores them. “Hibiki-kun...” Wataru is too far away for Rei to physically restrain him. “I do not want to do a kissing booth...”
No one hears their weak complaints, and no one votes against Wataru’s suggestion. Ah, they are all traitors, especially Kiryu and Aoba, always causing Rei grief... It’s not fair... And Wataru’s the worst of them all. Rei will have to lecture him later, even though they’ll probably just get laughed at.
After their fate has been sealed, sensei clears his throat. “Well... Sakuma-kun. You have been chosen, so if you would wake up, please...”
Ah, Rei’s being given an out here. Well, they will certainly not ‘wake up’.
Sensei clears his throat again. “Sakuma-kun...”
Unfortunately, Wataru is not done being a menace in Rei’s life. Out of the corner of their eye, Rei sees him bounce up out of his seat. “I’ve got this!” he says, striding to Rei’s desk. He leans over them, lips ghosting over their temple. “You’re so cute when you’re pretending to be sleeping,” he whispers, inaudible to the rest of the class.
Rei scrunches up their nose, which clearly isn’t the response Wataru wanted.
“Rei~i,” he murmurs, petting Rei’s hair, “I’ve got some great news for you!” He pokes at Rei’s face. Rei wishes they could bite his fingertip off.
With this sort of onslaught, it would be too obvious if they kept faking sleep. They turn their head to the side and frown up at Wataru. “Hello, Hibiki-kun.”
Wataru’s whole face lights up when Rei stirs, which somehow makes the whole thing more frustrating. “Oh, hello! Good morning! Hey, hey, we chose you to represent our class, just now!”
Rei makes a show of grumbling and pulling themself up, regarding Wataru tiredly. They squint around at the rest of the class, most of whom look unamused. “Aoba-kun...? Nito-kun? Et tu?”
The others just shrug at them. Sensei sighs. “You can just explain it all to Sakuma-kun later, okay, Hibiki-kun? I don’t feel like explaining it twice.”
Wataru just laughs and pets Rei’s hair again. “It would be my absolute pleasure!”