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Below are the duties of he who is a member of Et Flan de Muse Academy's Garden and Landscape Committee:
- Water the assigned flowerbeds.
- Take care of weeds in the assigned location.
- Catalogue landscaping and gardening tools on the school property. Make sure everything is kept neatly in the shed, too.
- Feed the baby goats.
Jyuka was currently at (4), squatting down to a baby goat's level to feed it hay. He held the hay in both hands like it was a bunch of joss sticks, the baby goat being his altar.
"C'mere~" Jyuka beckoned it with a friendly grin, jostling the hay. The baby goat clopped closer, and Jyuka prepared to lower the hay onto the grass. A sudden weight on his back caused him to drop the hay entirely. "Whoa!" he yelped as he toppled onto his butt. "What the—?!" Turning around was futile; there was a sharpish, mostly blunt pressure on his head. Jyuka looked down, finding himself bound by a foreign pair of arms. On a hand not belonging to him, a middle finger wore a ring with a purple gem. "Ranmaru?!"
"Mm?" Ranmaru hummed drowsily.
"What're you doing?!"
"Cuddling." Ranmaru shifted his face, nuzzling his cheek into Jyuka's hair. "You're so soft and small and easy to embrace, Jyuka."
"Yeah?" spoke Jyuka through gritted teeth. "So's a baby goat. There's one right here. How 'bout you hug that instead?"
Ranmaru eyed the baby goat ahead, contemplating Jyuka's idea. When the little animal was finished with its hay and bleating for attention, Ranmaru crawled to it, releasing Jyuka. The baby goat gladly hopped into Ranmaru's arms.
"Hmm, you are soft and small and easy to embrace, too," said Ranmaru to the baby goat, whom he carefully cradled close to his chest, "but you're not Bakkun. I cannot cuddle you with the intensity I would with him."
"Hey, I'm not Bakkun, but you didn't hesitate to grind your chin into me!" Jyuka grumbled while massaging the crown of his head.
"That's because you're not as fragile as a baby goat, Jyuka," replied Ranmaru, patting the baby goat's back gently.
"Okay, true." Jyuka's eyes widened when Ranmaru reached an arm around his waist. "Whoa, hold up!"
Ranmaru did not 'hold up'. He pulled Jyuka towards him, pressing their sides together before resting his head on his shoulder. The tip of his nose bumped into the hard plastic casing of Jyuka's headphones, his glasses clacking against the headband. He lifted his head soon afterwards.
"Bad idea," Ranmaru concluded, checking his glasses for scratches. When he found none, he put them back on, placed the baby goat in Jyuka's lap, and got up. "I'll see you later, Jyuka," he said as he walked away.
"Uh, yeah, you too," Jyuka replied. Then, he looked at the baby goat. "What the heck was that?"
The baby goat could only bleat.
The student council president has three responsibilities to the student body—ensure order, be their leader, and provide a ideal for them to aspire to be. Sometimes, Uruu had a fourth responsibility—model for Et Flan de Muse's art club. This was one of those times.
Five students formed a curved wall using their canvases. Behind that wall, Uruu stood, facing to the left. His right hand clutched his left shoulder and his left hand pressed on his right hip. His feet were apart, but near, with more weight on the left. Uruu has been holding that position for an hour already, yet his serene expression bore not even a hint of boredom, and has not spoken a word since the painting began, unlike his painters who broke the silence occasionally.
The painter in front of Uruu sighed and lowered her brush and pallet. An adjacent painter noticed.
"Oh, you've finished!" whispered the latter.
The former nodded dejectedly. "Mm. But I feel like something's missing."
"What's missing?"
"I dunno. I guess...something that'll make this painting more than just the student council president posing. Something...that would give this painting a story."
Throughout that conversation, no one caught Ranmaru quietly and nonchalantly entering the club from the backdoor until he hugged Uruu from behind. Uruu flinched, his eyes widened, and he drew a sharp intake of breath, audibly. He finally broke his pose to struggle and see who was embracing him.
"Ai?!" said Uruu. "What are you doing?!"
"Cuddling," Ranmaru uttered into Uruu's hair.
"I do not have time to entertain you right now!" Uruu grabbed Ranmaru's arms, preparing to unfold them from his chest. "Cease this!"
"No, don't cease!" said the painter who was dissatisfied earlier. She was holding up her brush and pallet again. "This is it! This is the 'story'!"
"I like this story too!" said a different painter.
"Yeah, me too!" said another.
"President, please let us paint you being embraced!" said one more.
Uruu furrowed his brow and pursed his lips. "Shall I resume my initial pose?"
"Yes, please!" the painters answered simultaneously, and then the painter in the center pointed her brush at Ranmaru. "And you, try to show your face on the president's right shoulder."
Ranmaru propped his chin on Uruu's shoulder. "Like this?"
"No, not your whole face. Like, kiss the back of his shoulder."
Ranmaru did just that, and also leaned into Uruu's neck, pressing his fluffy bangs into the latter's luscious locks.
"Perfect! Now hold that position..."
The painters returned to silence, albeit a passionate one, whereas Uruu was unable to reclaim his original serene expression. At present, he can only seem disgruntled. Ranmaru ended up being the serene one, even closing his eyes comfortably.
"Uruu," murmured Ranmaru.
"Yes?" Uruu whispered in as little lip movement as possible.
"You're really cold."
"Perhaps you should've found a different time to badger me; a time when I would be at leisure. You'd find me more welcoming then."
"No, I mean your body temperature is really low."
"It's probably an effect of my genetics."
"You're like a big popsicle stick."
"And you are akin to a baby koala."
"Are you saying you're my mother?" Ranmaru inhaled deeply and hugged a little tighter. "Mommy..."
Uruu turned to glare at him. "Would you stop—"
"Don't move!" the painters barked, and Uruu was forced to revert to his pose.
Half an hour later, the painters were finished. In their paintings, Uruu was a beautifully distant and anguished being in the warm embrace of a loving Ranmaru. After receiving profuse thanks from the members, Ranmaru and Uruu left the Et Flan de Muse art clubroom, and parted ways.
The architecture of Et Flan de Muse Academy was unlike a conventional public school in Japan. For one, it had sloped, tiled roofs. The main building, however, had a mostly flat roof, rimmed with sloping tiles. It was a restricted area. Only with special permission could any student go up there.
Homura, being a delinquent, did not bother getting special permission to nap on that roof. He would nap until he was bored, or until he sensed someone coming to him. Today, the latter happened, and Homura awoke to Ranmaru straddling him. His eyes bugged out.
"Uh..." Homura glanced at Ranmaru's hands, which loomed over him in a gropey manner. "The fuck are you doing?"
"I'm trying to figure out a way to cuddle you without touching your back," explained Ranmaru. "Like this, maybe?" He grabbed the sides of Homura's chest, eliciting a squeak.
"No! Hands off!" Homura snapped, and Ranmaru complied. He sat up. "Just do it normally."
Ranmaru promptly wrapped his arms around Homura and rested his chin on his shoulder. "You're so hot, Homura."
Homura stiffened, his face flushing red. "What?!" he said with a crack in his voice.
"Your body temperature is so high. You're a big hot water bottle."
"Oh. Well, I'm from the Ignis Clan."
"Hmm... Yeah, that's it..." Ranmaru mumbled drowsily.
"Hey." Homura shrugged, shaking Ranmaru lightly. "Don't nap."
"But you were..." Ranmaru yawned "...just now..."
"Now ain't a good time to sleep here. Around this time, some sad losers are gonna show up—"
The doors to the stairs swung open with a loud BAM! The sound made Ranmaru sit up straight. When he turned around, he saw three male students, dressed in a fashion similar to Homura's. Each one had a weapon—a bamboo sword, a rusted L pipe, and a chair, respectively.
"Sorry to interrupt your romantic get-together," said the student wielding the pipe, "but we're not sorry. You've got ten seconds. Ten, nine..."
Ranmaru turned to Homura, showing him six fingers.
"They're the ones who wanna fight," Homura huffed. "I'm just doing self-defense. Now, go."
Ranmaru pursed his lips. At the moment the countdown reached five, Ranmaru stood up and briskly made his way to the stairs back inside the building. As soon as he closed the doors, he heard battle cries and hitting noises. He also heard cries of pain, none of which were Homura's.
Every school morning, without fail, Et Flan de Muse Academy will play its anthem through the school's speaker system. That was the speaker system's main use. The only times it plays other music would be during the cultural and sports festivals, and during those times, some people might speak too.
On this eventless day, Takara's voice was resounding throughout the school.
"Ahem, ahem. This is a summoning for Ai Ranmaru-kun from Class 1-A. Please report to the A.V. club to retrieve your textbook. You forgot to take it with you today and I'm worried you'll need it for class."
Ranmaru practically sprinted to the audiovisual clubroom. When he tried to stop, he skidded a whole meter past the door, which he threw open upon finally reaching it.
"Hiya!" Takara greeted him happily, waving a textbook.
"Takara, is Bakkun with you?" Ranmaru inquired breathlessly.
"Bakkun? No, he's watching the bar, right now."
Ranmaru visibly deflated. "Oh. Then, I guess you'll have to do."
Takara raised an eyebrow, watching Ranmaru approach him. "Hmm? What do you—Oh." He froze up when Ranmaru hugged him, pressing his cheek to his shoulder. "Having a Bakkun withdrawal?"
"Yeah," Ranmaru said sadly. "I've hugged everyone else, but it's really not the same."
"Aww, you poor thing!" Takara patted Ranmaru's head with his free hand. "Hang in there, pal. You'll reunite in couple more hours. Or maybe you can just reunite now."
"How?" Ranmaru asked, and was answered by Takara opening his Heaven's Door and the both of them falling into it.
When the doors opened again, Ranmaru and Takara landed on something plush. That was Bakkun, as a bed.
"Bakkun!" said Ranmaru, happily.
"Bakkun!" Bakkun squeaked back.
Ranmaru laid on his belly, sprawling out. "I've missed you!"
Takara slipped to the floor so Ranmaru could have Bakkun to himself. Bakkun promptly shrank, allowing Ranmaru to embrace him completely.
"There's really nothing like you, Bakkun," said Ranmaru while rubbing his cheek against Bakkun's. "Everyone had their good points, but you're all good points."
"Bakkun, bakkun~!"
"Mm-hmm. Okay." Ranmaru detached Bakkun from his face, and then took his hands off him, letting Bakkun float nearby like a balloon. "I'm ready to go back to school." He manifested his Heaven's Door.
Ranmaru waved goodbye to Takara and Bakkun before stepping into the doors. "Ran, ran, rararan~" he sang as he skipped through the purple space to his next destination, marked by another Heaven's Door. Light spilled from the doors when they opened. Ranmaru leapt into that light with his most enthusiastic smile today.