Chapter Text
it was like any other thursday, thursdays at yoba academy in spring were calm. they were also pizza days, so that’s almost all that a certain pink-haired could thinking about in drama class —which was right before lunch—, if not for some other random thoughts about music. she was looking out the window, caring little to none about the casting for the next play the second years would do.
it was romeo and juliet this time. and of course, shinobu was the (wannabe edgy) type that despised romeo and juliet. if anything, she would describe said story as cheesy, ridiculous and a complete exaggeration of how reality worked most of the time. after all, for shinobu inuyose love per se had always been a useless feeling.
yet, when she heard that kyoko yamate was casted as juliet, she limited herself to simply roll her eyes, as her face turned dark.
that’s right: shinobu thought of love as useless feeling... but still, she could never get over those feelings of love that she had always had for kyoko; even after what was now four complete years.
“j-juliet? ...that’s a very complicated and honorable role, thank you for entrusting me with it, i’ll do my best to reach even further than everyone’s expectations!”, kyoko said, lightly flustered yet happy about the idea of portraying such a romantic character. after all, as charming as the brunette could be, she was very inexperienced and thought purely about love.
“aww, as rightful as ever, kyoko!“, esora was the first to comment, with a teasing tone. she was followed by the tallest of the unit, who decided to cheer for kyoko with some positive comments towards her. however, the green-eyed still had something more to say. “i wonder who would be the lucky girl who will have to kiss kyoko ~”.
kyoko, who had a dumb, happy grin across her face because of yuka’s praise, suddenly turned bright red. she hadn’t thought of the kiss scenes that were needed for the play. and of course, she out of all people wouldn’t back down by doing a mere staged kiss. kyoko had promised to do her best —not as if she wouldn’t have either way—, and she was a person loyal to her word.
“it’s not as if that’s the most important thing of the play, geez”, shinobu suddenly turned around and commented, joining the conversation, “don’t make kyoko get nervous in the very beginning of this thing with such idiotic thoughts”.
yuka and esora simply smiled playful, noticing shinobu’s jealousy, while the latter also blushed for defending kyoko so directly in the spur of the moment. her jealousy had gotten the best of her, but she would never admit that she had such feelings to begin with. still, when she turned around to look at kyoko’s reaction, that characteristic genuine, bright and completely oblivious smile that the brown-eyed directed towards her made shinobu calm down almost instantly, and just as always.
so, with that last interaction, all of the unit quieted down to hear who was being chosen for the other lead role; well, all of them but the gold-eyed one who turned to the window once again. after all, shinobu didn’t want to hear who was going to play kyoko’s lover, and she would’ve never expected to hear what the teacher would say next:
“well, i think that inuyose could work for the role of romeo”. and so, it took shinobu more than a few seconds to realize what was happening at the moment, as she had all of the classroom’s eyes on her.
“huh?!”, that’s all that she could respond when she finally got out of her trance, turned around and realized that the teacher herself had suggested for her to play romeo, “that’s crazy! if i’m completely honest i don’t even like the story to begin with! c’mon kyoko you have to side with me on this one, we wouldn’t work as lovers”.
the light-haired turned to the brunette for help, she was going to ask for her to interfere and take her side on it when she noticed that the brunette seemed somehow upset with her — no, kyoko wasn’t upset, she was hurt.
“is it because of me?”, that was all that kyoko asked. shinobu could see that she was trying to hide it, but it was the typical kyoko, always so pure, always feeling like a burden to other people... and it hurt shinobu too, that kyoko was always like this; but after all the typical shinobu wasn’t honest with herself either, so she could never tell kyoko all that she thought about her and reassure her.
“no it’s obviously not because of you, idiot! geez... you’re really twisting my arm right now, y’know that right?”, the shorter girl responded. she didn’t want to cause an scene, so she decided to back down with that being said.
yet, shinobu could still feel kyoko’s eyes on her. she tried to ignore them for the first few seconds but eventually looked back at the the girl. and of course, the latter looked like an upset puppy if anything. sometimes, she really made it hard for shinobu to deny stuff to her. she could never tell kyoko what she thought for her out loud, she could never even begin to accept it... but she could do this much, right?
“just to be clear...!”, shinobu started talking once again, this time what it seemed to be towards the whole crowd. her tone seemed grumpy if anything, yet a bit flustered, and still firm. “i wouldn’t mind playing romeo if everyone agrees to it, especially kyoko who’s going to play juliet”.
shinobu looked back at kyoko again, with her pale cheeks that had just turned into a subtle tone of red. kyoko’s eyes were shining, now she seemed happy, though shinobu couldn’t quite understand why; or maybe she simply preferred to deny the most logic reason for such behavior.
“i think that with the bond that kyoko and shinobu have, it would be best if both of them took the lead roles. after all, they know the other so well to the point that they could seem like lovers in the eyes of an outsider”, commented rei at the back of the class, followed by the rest of hapiara agreeing with her. for shinobu, it almost felt as if everyone had turned against her today.
eventually, almost everyone in the class kept making comments agreeing, and the cast ended up with both the dj and the leader of peaky as their corresponding leads.
——————————————
“ugh, i can finally catch a break”, shinobu commented as soon as peaky p-key chose on one of the tables at the cafeteria. she sat down, took the soda that she had bought and then opened it up. “kyoko, you really put me in a difficult position back there, y’know? i’ve told you like a dozen times that i just don’t like the story, dumbass, we literally read it together”.
the brunette laughed apologetically as she sat down next to the shorter girl. yuka had ended up casted as friar laurence while esora was the main director, so both of them were merely watching the scene, knowing that they had little to nothing to worry about themselves when it came to the play’s major development; at least in the eyes of the public.
“i’m aware that it was wrong, but you know how i can be sometimes”, kyoko responded, then her face got brighter. “but i’m sure that only us are meant to play these roles, shinobu, it was destiny! i couldn’t simply let you back down, we’re going to make a great romeo and juliet, the bestest!”
“eh?! listen to what you’re saying you moron, what are you even talking about?!”, shinobu yelled back at a now excited —and as dense as always— kyoko.
the other pair simply laughed at those exaggerated reactions that they’re already used to, coming from conversations between kyoko and shinobu. it was merely the beginning but the play already seemed like it would be much fun. after all, yuka and esora’s plan of convincing their drama teacher and their classmates that the shorter girls would be the perfect romeo and juliet seemed to have worked perfectly.
now, if shinobu and kyoko were smart enough to not mess this up, yuka and esora were sure that by the end of the play the two would be at the very least extremely near confessing. after all, they were aware of certain things that might end up pushing them towards it even more. if they really loved the other, then this was their best chance of being honest about it once and for all.
“hey shinobu, did you know who is going to be playing paris? ~” esora asked in a playful tone, knowing how much this would get a reaction out of the pink-haired, as much as she may try to hide it or deny it.
“who?”, shinobu asked trying to make it seem like she didn’t care much, while she proceeded to take a sip of the soda can that she had just opened. she wasn’t very invested in the play at least of now obviously, but if esora was bringing the person if this role up, she knew that it must be for an actual reason.
“kyoko’s beloved suitor... will be rinku-chan herself”.