Work Text:
"You sure you want me to change this?" Miu asks, standing in the doorway of her lab, holding a CD player that Kaede brought to her.
"Yes, please!" Kaede replies. "I only really need you to add some better speakers so everyone can hear the music well in the dining hall."
"Don'tcha have some already in your lab?"
"I do, but I won't be in there. I've got a plan to bring everyone closer together!" Kaede smiles widely. "I mean, that is what this trip is about."
"Yeah, yeah, but, you're not… planning anything pervy, are you?" Miu's face flushes, something everyone was used to by now, but it only makes things more awkward for Kaede.
"No, it's not that kind of 'closer together'!" Kaede tries and fails to keep her blush under control. "U-um, when do you think you might be able to have it done?"
"3, maybe? You good with that?"
Kaede nods. "Mm-hm! Thank you so much!"
Miu blushes at that and quickly turns away to get to work, and Kaede decides to leave her be.
Around 2:05, Kaede gets to work. The first thing on her to-do list is to find Kirumi and ask if she can cater for her small event. The only problem with that though, was that ever since the group got here for their school trip, Kirumi had been constantly working on her maid skills. And that meant she was almost constantly doing something for someone else, and she could be anywhere in the school.
Luckily for her, she catches Kirumi in the middle of doing laundry (which was, in her opinion, not something Kirumi had to do for everyone. She may be a maid, but it's really not that hard to wash your own clothes. Kaede always did her own so Kirumi wouldn't have to go through the trouble of washing hers as well.)
Kirumi doesn't look up from the shirt she's folding. "Good afternoon, Kaede. Is there something you need?"
"Are you busy today?"
"Not exactly. After I finish with the laundry I've been asked to help Tsumugi with sorting her fabrics."
"Oh, okay. I was wondering if you might be able to help me make a fun get-together for everyone, but if you'd be too busy you don't have to." Kaede doesn't want to intrude, and she could postpone it until tomorrow, with more warning to everyone.
"What would I need to do?" Kirumi continues her work, but listens intently to Kaede's request.
"Maybe you could cook some appetizers or things like that so everyone can have something to eat while we're there? I want to have us all gather in the dining hall around 3:30."
"I see. Would you like me to extend invitations to everyone as well?"
"No, I was going to ask everyone myself." Kaede beams, knowing that being personally invited by the host increases the chance that someone will show up. Or at least, that's what Shuichi told her.
"Hmm…" Kirumi ponders the idea for a moment. "I suppose I could ask Tsumugi if she would like to change our meeting to after the get-together… I'll have everything set out for you around 3:15."
"Really? Thank you!"
After talking to Kirumi a bit more about the preparations, Kaede sets out to tell everyone about the gathering. There were only sixteen people in the group, and three of them (herself, Miu, and Kirumi) already knew about it. But it didn't mean finding the other thirteen would be any easier. Ever since the trip started, her classmates spent the majority of their time in their labs to improve their talents. Kaede figured they could use a break from constantly working and get to know each other better. She spent all night thinking about how to convince everyone to go, and that meant she stayed up creating personalized playlists of songs that she thought each person would like. There was, of course, a "general" playlist of upbeat songs that the group could dance to and that she hoped would lift their spirits, which would be playing for the majority of the afternoon.
Using the same list of names she used last night to make sure she didn't miss anyone, she starts to look for the others. The first name on the list was Shuichi, and luckily she knew him well enough to guess where he was right now.
She finds him in the warehouse on the first floor, throwing something across the room and then kneeling down to look at where it was before. She was hoping this wasn't going to lead to any destructive habits.
"Hey, Shuichi!" She says, walking over to him. "What are you doing?"
Shuichi sets the box he had lifted back down, and cranes his neck up to look at her. "Sometimes, if you look under things, you might find a Monocoin or two hidden there. Or, if you throw something, it might bust open and you'll find a few in it."
She nods. "Is that what you're always doing in here?"
"Usually." He shrugs, standing up and brushing dust off of his pants. "I like to use them in the MonoMono Machine to get gifts for everyone… And Kaito told me I should try to get stronger, so I thought throwing things might help."
"Like killing two birds with one stone!"
"Yeah, it's kind of like that… Is there a reason you came here?"
"There is, actually." She starts. "I'm having a really fun get-together for everyone in the dining hall today, and I was hoping you would want to come."
"Is everyone going to be there?"
"If I can convince everyone to!"
Shuichi fidgets. "Kaede, you know I don't do well in those kinds of situations…"
"Yes, and that's exactly why I want you to come!" She places her hands on his shoulders and doesn't break eye contact. "It'll be good for you! You only really talk to me and don't talk to the others enough, and I'm sure that if you do they'll instantly take a liking to you. You just have to give it a try!"
"I'll think about it…" Shuichi stares at the floor, the brim of his hat hiding his eyes from view.
"Please, Shuichi? I promise that if you get too uncomfortable, you can leave and I won't ask you to come to anything else."
"You sure…?"
"I am." She affirms with a smile. "I have to go ask everyone else, but I hope you'll be there!" After letting go of Shuichi, she makes her way out of the warehouse.
Next on the list was Rantaro. She wasn't actually sure where he would be, although usually he would be in either his lab or the library. Being the Ultimate Survivalist meant he didn't always have to be studying, and he often spent time in other people's labs (namely Kiyo and Maki) to learn from them.
Thankfully, he wasn't hard to find. After beginning her search for him, Kaede spotted his familiar head of green hair coming down the stairs.
"Rantaro!" She calls, stopping him in his tracks.
Kaede repeats the pattern of find the person > ask how they're doing > invite them to the gathering > move on with everyone else until at last she's invited everyone and can take a breather in the dining hall.
"Are you tired already?" Kirumi seems to appear out of nowhere.
"A little bit. I'm just waiting for everyone to show up." Kaede glances up at the clock. 3:13. She isn't sure when Miu came by with her improved CD player, but it certainly seemed to look better sitting on the center of the table.
The room itself didn't have much done to it, except for a few streamers here and there. The table was covered with delicious looking food; she would have to thank Kirumi properly for it later. The stack of CDs she brought in her first trip here were still sitting comfortably in one of the chairs.
The first person to arrive is Gonta, exactly at 3:30, because it's "what a gentleman should do." Kaede suspects he stood outside the door until 3:30 and walked in.
The next to arrive are Tsumugi, Angie, Himiko, and Tenko, all in a group. Tenko makes a comment about being glad no "degenerate males" have shown up. Apparently Gonta is the exception.
After them, Keebo, Rantaro, Maki, Kiyo, Kaito, and Miu show up at varying times until 4:00.
The room had finally started to get lively, but Kaede wonders where the other three are… She could understand why Ouma wouldn't show up, but not the others.
Ryoma and Shuichi do, eventually, show up together, and Kaede immediately goes over to greet them.
"You came!" She beams at the pair.
"Didn't want to put a damper on the mood by not showing." Ryoma sighs, tugging at his beanie. He starts to walk away, but Kaede stops him.
"Hold on! I made something for you!"
He doesn't seem to believe her. "For me? You couldn't."
"I did!" She leads them to the table and pulls out the 'CD chair', stacked with the personalized CDs she made for everyone. "I had to ask Miu how to put songs on blank CDs, but I made one for each of you! Including you, Ryoma." She sifts through the stack to find his, and when she does, takes it out to show him. She hands Shuichi his as well so he won't feel left out. "If you want, you can listen to them."
"...Thank you." Ryoma murmurs, looking down at the CD in his hands. "I'll listen to it."
Kaede assumes he doesn't plan on listening to it now, so she takes the initiative and steps around Ryoma, taking the CD from him and swapping it with the 'general' one still in the CD player.
The room quickly fills with a mellow guitar melody. Hopefully this is something he likes…
And she thinks she sees a smile appear on the shorter one's face.
Until Ouma appears seemingly out of nowhere, running up to the table.
"Is that music for Ryoma?" He asks, and Kaede nods in response.
"I made one for everybody… If you really want to you can pass them out."
"Why don't we just listen to the first songs on all of them? That way we'll be able to tell if you really made individual disks for everyone, or if you just copied them all from one."
"We all know the only one here who would do something like that is one of you!" Tenko shouts at Ouma, in an attempt to defend Kaede.
"Oh well. We're listening anyway."
In a way, having every song played for everyone right in front of her was a bit embarrassing. She had picked them all in the hopes that everyone would like them, but listening to them all here wasn't ideal.
But, in the end, everyone seemed to like the songs she chose for them. There were a few comments on the quality of her choices, but they all kept their personalized CDs near them throughout the evening.
Kaede eventually sits down to observe her friends. She notices Ouma trying to sneak up on people, and tricking them with petty jokes (for example; "The word 'gullible' is written on the ceiling.")
Tenko, Himiko, and Angie tend to stick together, always following each other around. The three seemed to be a lot closer lately.
She watches as Maki tries to slowly sneak out of the dining hall undetected, until Kaito notices and quickly pulls her back to the center of the room. Kaede can't help but laugh.
Ryoma and Shuichi tend to stay close together, talking quietly. Shuichi later tries to leave the same way Maki did, but Kaito drags him back in just the same, linking arms with both of them so they "couldn't leave even if they wanted to!"
Keebo and Gonta seem to be enjoying themselves the most. Whenever one of them wanted to attempt a popular dance, Kiyo fact dumps and shows them how. Despite the "I thought the only move you could do was the robot…" comments from Ouma, Keebo was having a good time. Kaede notices Miu keeping an eye on the three, most likely observing Keebo.
The evening ends on a good note, and Kaede's goal is achieved. The group is closer, and everyone leaves happier than they came. A part of Kaede wishes the night wasn't over yet, that it could've lasted longer or been better, but she knows this was enough. She's starting to help Kirumi with the clean-up when there's a tap on her shoulder.
It's Shuichi. And he's not wearing his hat.
"Um…" He begins. "I had fun today."
"You did?" She smiles at him. "I'm glad to hear it. I hope everyone else did too!"
"I think they did. Do…. do you think we could all do something like this another time?"
"Of course!"
"Thank you…" Shuichi nervously rubs his arm before leaving.
Kaede watches him leave, smiling to herself. She would have to do this again next week.