Chapter Text
"Alright, do we have any other suggestions? Anyone?"
3-D's bespectacled class rep Chizue Takahashi smiled around the classroom, glancing from student to student as they all either looked back at her, looked away, looked at each other, or simply shrugged. But when a minute had passed with no one speaking up, Chizue shrugged her own shoulders, then clapped her hands.
"Ok! Since no one else has any ideas, we're going to vote now! Everyone should write their choice on a piece of paper, then fold them and pass them to the front. Yuki and I will tally the votes, and whatever gets the most support is what we'll be doing for this year's Cultural Festival!
There was a slight scraping of chairs and shuffling of paper as the class dutifully set to work. At her desk, Tohru looked thoughtfully up at the blackboard, weighing her options with every bit as much care as if she were taking a test.
And really, in a way she felt like she was taking a test. This was their final Culture Fest at Kaibara High; their final chance to be part of the fun, wild weekend where the whole school banded together to show off their school spirit and creativity. Next year they'd all have graduated; this was their last opportunity to come together as a class.
That meant deciding what to do with that last chance was important, and something Tohru had no intention of taking lightly.
Her eyes were thoughtful as she made her way down the list, weighing all the options with care.
A haunted house was right out, at least in Tohru's own mind; she'd never liked them, and while she would do her absolute best to carry her weight if that's what the class chose, she devoutly hoped they wouldn't and couldn't vote that way herself.
A maid café could be fun. Maid costumes were always so cute, and Tohru was usually a fan of anything that involved food. That was why the next idea, a yakisoba stand, appealed as well, as did a costume café.
Carnival games could be fun too, especially if they got to decorate the whole room like a carnival. Tohru wouldn't want to be a barker herself, but it would be fun to get to watch people play! And the idea of doing a photo stand seemed extra fun as well, especially because it sounded so incredibly novel.
Tohru was still thinking when she was poked in the back by the student behind her, and she reached back and grabbed his folded paper before turning back to her desk and setting the paper down. After another moment's thought, she finally wrote down 'carnival games,' then folded her own paper and passed them both forward.
Once everyone had turned in their papers, Chizue and Yuki got to work counting while the rest of the class relaxed.
"Hey Tohru, what'd you end up picking?" Arisa asked, sauntering over to Tohru's desk. And Tohru looked up at her with a big smile.
"Carnival games! I thought they sounded like a lot of fun, and a lot less messy than doing anything with food."
Plus they wouldn't need to have any health inspections this year, worry about smells, or any of the other complications that came with running a food stall.
Arisa gave her a grin. "Great minds think alike! That was my pick, too. How about you, Hanajima?" she asked, looking at their friend as she also joined them at Tohru's desk.
"It was a difficult choice, most difficult," Saki said solemnly. "But in the end, my heart necessitated a vote for the yakisoba stand."
"Your heart, eh?" asked Arisa. "Are you sure it wasn't your stomach?"
"The heart and the stomach are fueled by the same sentiments," Saki told them serenely, prompting both her friends to laugh. Then Tohru smiled broadly at both of her friends.
"Honestly, I thought most of the choices sounded great! I'd be happy with almost anything we end up with!"
"Seriously?" Arisa glanced up at the list on the board, behind which Chizue had started making tally marks. "I could’ve done with a few less 'costume' choices myself."
"There is certainly a great love of festive attire in this class," commented Saki as she also reviewed the board, prompting an amused snort from Arisa.
"You'd certainly know, Hanajima."
Tohru was giggling. "Well, I think they all sound fun! Maid costumes are so cute, and if we end up with the costume café, there would be even more room for fun looks! And I think the photo stand sounds wonderful, though I don't really know how good I'd be at that one," she said bashfully.
Her friends both leapt to her defense.
"You would be absolutely enchanting, dear Tohru; of that, I have no doubt."
"Seriously, Tohru, you'd be adorable! The only question is whether or not Kyon would make a scene about all the guys who'd want their pictures taken with you."
"You guys!" Tohru said with a laugh, blushing at her friends. But it also felt nice, hearing their votes of confidence.
"I notice you didn't say anything about the haunted house, dear Tohru," Saki said with a smile. "Surely that would also require costumes?"
Tohru hesitated, and both of her friends laughed before Saki hugged her. "I jest, of course. While again, I have full confidence in your ability to look wonderful in any costume-"
"-We know that haunted houses aren't really your thing."
Tohru smiled sheepishly, looking from Arisa to Saki. "I know, it's probably not all that surprising! But don't worry, if that's what the class ends up choosing, then I'll give it my all!"
Arisa was looking at the board again, and at the assortment of tally marks. "Well, I don't think you really have to worry about it, Tohru. Looks like the people are pretty clear about what they want, this year."
Before long, Chizue was calling for everyone's attention, and the students all returned to their desks. Once again, the class rep was smiling brightly, and her voice was excited as she announced, "based on the votes, class 3-D will be doing a photo stand! Thank you all for all your ideas, and all your votes. But now that we've decided on what we're doing, the next step is to figure out all what we need to do for it!"
Now that they actually had a plan, the class was a lot more willing to speak up.
"We'll need backdrops, right?"
"Yeah, so those'll need to be painted. And built?"
"Did we just want to paint them on drop cloths? Then we could just hang them against the walls and not have to worry about building something big and bulky."
"Oh, I like the idea of hanging them. That'll give us more room for options!"
"Yes, we should make sure we have a bunch of choices. We want people to be able to find something they like!"
"We were gonna have a bunch of costumes, right?"
"Yeah!"
"And we'll need camera equipment. If we can swing it, we should try to have more than one camera setup, maybe two? Or even three."
Yuki was writing rapidly on the blackboard as the class chatted away, jotting down headings labeled 'backdrops' and 'props' and 'costumes' and 'camera equipment' and 'promotions.' Then he glanced at Chizue.
"Did we want to figure out what scenes we actually want to offer? We should most likely figure that out before we start assigning any committees."
Chizue promptly nodded, then turned back to the class. "Yuki's right, we should decide what our photo-ops are actually going to be! So if anyone has any ideas, please speak up."
Once again, 3-D was filled with ideas.
"Feudal Japan!"
"American Old West!"
"Secret agents!"
"Super Sentai!"
"Ooh, what about magical girls?"
"Maid café!"
"Idiot, that's not a photo-op!"
"It is too!"
"Maybe a fairytale castle?"
"A European graveyard."
That suggestion, delivered in Saki's quiet monotone, drew several looks from her classmates, and she shrugged. "I just thought it might be nice to offer something less expected."
In the end, after much discussion and some more voting, they class eventually decided on feudal Japan, an American-style saloon, a Super Sentai mecha, a fairytale castle, and a classic riverside setting with cherry blossoms in bloom. Several students had wanted to expand the selection further, arguing that more choices were better, but since each scene would require costumes and the creation of a backdrop and props, five was already a tall order with the time they had to prepare.
Besides, the backdrops weren't even half of it.
"Ok...so that takes care of the scenes," Chizue said as Yuki underlined the selections. "So we should probably talk about the costumes."
"Actually, Miss Takahashi, I was thinking that if the rest of the class was ok with it, I'd like to speak to my brother about helping us with that," Yuki said. Immediately, the suggestion was met with a chorus of approval from the rest of the class, who remembered Ayame vividly from his help with last year's class play.
"That would be wonderful, Yuki!" Chizue said happily. "But will you be able to speak to him soon? If he can't, then we want to have a backup plan ready to go as soon as possible."
Yuki nodded. "I'll check in with him after school today."
"Wonderful!"
What followed next was more discussion, that time about what sort of costumes they wanted for each scene. How many. And with what accessories. Followed by even more discussion about what types of props each scene should have available, whether those props could be sourced or made, and how. Next, discussion about the cameras, and whether or not they should offer physical photo prints or just offer digital files. Then it was time to divide up into committees, with every student being assigned to either backdrops, props, equipment, or promotion and business, with one question mark up next to Yuki's name beside 'costumes.'
Chizue was beaming by the time the last roles were filled. "Alright, everyone, thank you much for your hard work! I think that's pretty much all we needed to do today; I'll present our outline at the next student council meeting, but since we're not doing anything with food we should be good to get started on our preparations. Before we break into our committees to discuss next steps, does anyone else have any questions?"
A few hands promptly shot into the air.
"Can we volunteer for roles at the actual festival yet?"
Chizue shook her head. "No, we're going to figure all of that out closer to then. But just as a reminder, everyone except the actual photographers should anticipate being needed for pictures during their shifts."
A collective groan rose up from half of the class, and Chizue laughed. "Well, we are offering photo-ops! What better way to set a scene than by having costumed extras?"
"Oh, no one's arguing that part, Class Rep," Yusuke called out with a grin. "I'm just wondering why we don't just pick the prettiest people and just have them be the assigned models for the whole thing?"
Hiroshi was grinning at Kyo as he agreed. "Yeah, wouldn't it be for the best to pick the finest 3-D has to offer and put them front and center?"
Kyo didn't say anything, but the look he was giving his friend could probably melt steel. Fortunately, Chizue prevented Kyo from needing to say anything.
"Remember, we'll be letting the customers weigh in. If they want extras at all, how many, boys or girls, what kind of costumes they want...as we can, we'll be doing our best to accommodate them. If any of you strongly prefer not to be in pictures you can talk to Yuki or I and we can see about giving you something else to do instead, but in general we hope to have all of 3-D step up and smile!"
Kinoshita raised her hand. "Will customers be able to request specific students to be their extras?"
She was attempting to be nonchalant but none of her classmates were fooled, especially not with the way her eyes were fixed on Yuki the entire time she was talking. But the entire class was interested in hearing the response, seeing as how most of the people who'd voted for the photo op to start with had done so assuming that the answer to that was 'yes.'
Yuki himself was hardly ignorant as to why, as much as it pained him to acknowledge. But he still gave Kinoshita his usual polite smile as he responded, "Yes, customers can request specific extras from the people on shift if they want them."
As Kinoshita thanked Yuki with a beaming smile, Tohru couldn't help but give him a sympathetic look. He knew, as pretty much the entire class did, that he himself was sure to be the biggest draw for their class, and he was already resigned to it. As much as the idea had been pitched as ‘allowing customers to be transported to another reality,’ the inclusion of the 3-D students as extras had been part of that proposal from the start, to 'offer something that only 3-D had.' It was doubtful there was any student at Kaibara High that came even close to touching Yuki's popularity, so allowing customers to choose to take photos with him was basically giving 3-D a license to print money.
The class as a whole was pretty much all there for it...
But Tohru could guess what Yuki must be feeling and how much he wished 3-D had chosen literally any other option.
Since no one had any other questions, it was on to the next thing.
"Ok, everyone! You can go ahead and break into your committees now, but don't worry about doing too much just yet. Today is pretty much just about setting up a schedule of work times, or even just planning your first actual meeting. Remember, we only have five weeks to get everything ready, so we all want to make sure we're staying on top of everything!"
With Chizue's cheerful directive, the room was once again filled with activity as students got up and moved around, quickly finding and settling into their groups.
"Damn, Kyon, I bet you're pretty excited about this, aren't you?" Hiroshi asked, grinning widely as he turned in his chair to look at his friend. "Must be an absolute dream for you, not having to do anything at the festival this year except stand around and look pretty."
Since Kyo hated both standing around and having his picture taken, they were all aware that Hiroshi was joking. But that didn't stop Kyo from giving Hiroshi a disgusted look as Yusuke also turned his chair to lean on Kyo's desk.
"Yeah, totally stoked here," Kyo said with a grumble. "Seriously, outta everything we could've done, we had to go with 'dress-up and pictures?'"
Yusuke shrugged. "Well, why not? I voted for it."
"Me too," Hiroshi agreed instantly.
"What made you idiots wanna do a thing like that?" Kyo demanded, glowering at the pair, and they exchanged a grin before answering,
"Money!"
"...eh?"
"Honestly, Kyon? They've kinda got a point," Arisa said, coming over and standing by Hiroshi's desk. "I mean, we've got the Prince in our class, after all."
"Exactly," Hiroshi said, giving her an approving nod as Saki and Tohru also joined them. "And this being our last year and therefore Yuki's last year, just think of the rampant desperation among the student body to commemorate their time with him. I wonder if we could convince him to take extra shifts during the festival," he mused thoughtfully.
Kyo was still sporting a somewhat pained look, but it had softened slightly when Tohru joined them. Tohru smiled back, her own look almost shy despite the fact the two of them had been dating for over two months.
"Well, I still think it's kinda dumb," Kyo repeated, but with less heat that time. Then it was time for the six of them to get to the matter at hand.
"So...props!" Arisa said, looking at them all with a grin. "This oughtta be fun, don't you think?"
"I must admit I'm rather excited," Saki replied placidly. "While I'm not artistic in a way that lends itself to backdrops, I think I will nevertheless enjoy the challenge of sourcing."
"Yes!" agreed Tohru enthusiastically. "It's going to be kind of like a big scavenger hunt, isn't it?"
"Lest you ladies forget in your excitement, it's not just about finding but fabricating, too," Hiroshi pointed out. "Like, for example...a bar."
Tohru gave him a surprised look. "You really think we need to have an actual bar, Hiroshi?"
"But of course, dear Tohru, beloved of my beloved friend!" At that, Tohru blushed and Kyo rolled his eyes; even with as long as the two of them had been dating, teasing them had yet to grow old for either of Kyo's friends. "What's the point of having a saloon scene if people can't be behind the bar?"
"Or on top of it," Yusuke said with a grin. "Don't forget the American Old West side."
Arisa was nodding her head. "Yeah, we'll definitely need a bar. And I think we're gonna need to make something for the feudal Japan scene, too...maybe a torii gate?"
"Or a building façade," said Saki thoughtfully.
"I think we should have picnic gear, for the riverside scene," Tohru said with a smile, and the others nodded their approval for the suggestion.
"We probably oughtta touch base with the Prince on some of this stuff," Arisa said musingly, looking at the group. "Like, are headpieces and hats and jewelry things props, or are they costumes?"
"I'd say costumes, but that's an excellent point," Yusuke said with a nod before looking at Tohru. "You can be in charge of coordinating with Yuki!"
Tohru felt underqualified for being in charge of anything, even though she knew it wasn't actually something complicated. "Well, I mean, if you all think I'd do a good job at it-"
"-It's just talking with Yuki, Tohru" Kyo said, amused. "Pretty sure you'd be doing that anyway."
When he put it that way, it did sound pretty silly, and Tohru giggled a little sheepishly. "Well, I guess I can do it, then."
"That'll be a good start for us figuring out what we need to source," Yusuke commented. "We wanna wait until after we've heard on the costumes to get started?"
Arisa was shaking her head. "Nah. I mean, it'd be good if we heard back right away, but some of this stuff might end up taking longer than we think, especially anything we have to actually make. I say we try to get started on this sooner rather than later."
Saki nodded. "I concur. Would it work to schedule our first formal prop committee discourse for this Wednesday?"
"No," Tohru and Kyo both immediately said at the same time, then exchanged a smile before Kyo added, "I can't do Wednesdays, or Fridays, or Mondays."
"Geez, Kyon, really? Way to be a team player."
"Hey, some of us’ve gotta work, Hiroshi."
Tohru smiled around at them all. "I can do any day that works for everyone, as long as I'm done by four-thirty on days I'm scheduled to work."
"Well, I'm sure we can easily manage those parameters, dear Tohru," Saki said with a smile at her friend before glancing around. "I have no conflicts."
"As long as I'm able to get to work by five, I can do whenever," Arisa agreed.
"I can't do Mondays or Fridays either," Yusuke said, then gave Kyo a teasing grin. "Guess our little trysts are finally exposed, Kyon!"
Kyo rolled his eyes and snorted. "Like I'd ever be interested in someone as annoying as you."
"Hey, personality doesn't matter when it comes to flings, only raw passion."
"Pretty sure your passion'd be just as annoying as the rest of you."
As Kyo and Yusuke fired back and forth at each other, Tohru couldn't help but smile at them. Yes, Kyo's voice and expression both suggested he was annoyed, and maybe it was true that he actually was. But there had been a time, not too long ago, when he never would have even entertained Yusuke's teasing; when he would have clammed up, gotten flustered, or gotten angry.
Those things were happening less and less often those days. Tohru hadn't been sure about that at first, as the changes had started coming on very gradually. But since the Curse had broken, Kyo had slowly but surely been starting to open up, to people beyond Tohru and Kazuma. He laughed more openly, and more often; actually participated in conversations, rather than just growling or shrugging. Teased, and allowed himself to be teased in return. And didn't automatically assume the worst of anyone's intentions.
It was wonderful to see...even if it could also be a little embarrassing sometimes.
Hiroshi was giving Tohru a sympathetic look. "Sorry, Tohru; it's gotta be rough, watching your guy flirt with his side piece. Now, I'm not about to try and get in the middle of true love, but if you ever find yourself needing a shoulder to cry on-"
"-Then she'll always be able to find one on dear Arisa or myself," Saki cut in smoothly.
"That's right," Arisa agreed instantly. "If Tohru ever needs any comfort, then you can back the hell off and leave it to us."
"Or you could all back the hell off and remember who she's actually dating," Kyo snapped, earning him a disapproving look from Saki.
"You mean the person flirting with someone else, right in front of her?"
"I'm not fli-" Kyo broke off with an annoyed sigh, then looked around at the group. "How about tomorrow, after school? Even if Yuki doesn't know the costume stuff yet, we can still start figuring out what we wanna have so we can figure out the timing for finding or making it. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be pretty easy, but just in case we're not, we might as well get started."
Everyone agreed with that plan, and Tohru couldn't help but beam at Kyo as she voiced her approval. It never failed to make her happy, seeing him speak up and get involved; him stepping up and taking charge was something even better.
For so long he'd held himself back, not wanting to take part in life; now, even if he was nervous, he was making an effort.
The bell rang shortly thereafter, and the committees broke up to clean before they all left for the day. And as they got to work, Yuki came over to Tohru with a smile.
"Are you excited about your committee, Miss Honda?"
"I am! I think it's going to be a lot of fun, figuring out and finding things to make the pictures more fun! We didn't talk too much today about what things we want to get, but what we already know is very exciting!"
"Oh?" Yuki couldn't help but be charmed by her enthusiasm, and he looked at her curiously. "Like what?"
"Like a bar!" she said brightly, earning her a blank stare in response.
"A...bar?"
"Yes! You know, for the saloon? Yusuke and Hiroshi pointed out that people will probably want to pose behind it, or even sit on top of it! So we're going to build one," she said, beaming at him.
The idea of Tohru building anything, especially something that needed to be structurally stable, was somewhat laughable and also a touch concerning; Yuki found himself wondering just who that 'we' she was talking about meant.
But he couldn't fault her for her enthusiasm, or her energy level.
"Well, if the rest of the prop committee is even half as confident as you, Miss Honda, then I'm sure the class can expect great things from you all."
"I hope so," Tohru giggled, then paused. "Oh, and Yuki, I'm in charge of checking with you on things like hats and accessories and whether those fall under props or costumes. If it's not too much trouble, could you please let me know after you've talked to Ayame?"
"I could," Yuki said thoughtfully, then smiled at her. "Though actually, Miss Honda...you don't work today, right?"
She shook her head. "Nope!"
"Well in that case, would you like to just come with me this afternoon? I was thinking that rather than calling my brother I should go ask in person, and you know he's always happy to see you, too."
And Yuki himself was always happy to have a buffer along, when it came to dealing with Ayame.
Tohru's eyes lit up in reply. "I'd love to! It's been a while since I've seen Ayame and Mine, it would be so nice to say hello to them!"
He returned her pleased smile with a teasing one of his own. "It's a date, then!"
Both of them couldn't help but notice the way Kinoshita and Iwata's heads whipped around at that comment, and Tohru felt that familiar awkward tension his fangirls always created. But once they realized Yuki was talking to Tohru, they both relaxed and went back to their cleaning, leaving Yuki and Tohru alone.
That was another thing that was taking some getting used to, albeit in a good way overall. Ever since Tohru and Kyo had gone public with their relationship, the animosity that had permeated every interaction she'd had with the Prince Yuki Fan girls had vanished completely almost overnight. Suddenly they were all polite and friendly to Tohru, treating her as though she were simply any other girl.
Mostly.
But while that was largely a good thing, Tohru couldn't help but wonder how it all felt to Yuki. He and Machi had been dating for as long as Tohru and Kyo, but while Tohru and Kyo's relationship had become common knowledge, Yuki and Machi's was still a secret. Tohru knew, of course, as did the rest of the Sohmas at school, and Yuki's good friend Kakeru. But beyond that, Tohru was pretty sure it wasn't known; not even Saki and Arisa were in the loop.
Yuki and Machi mostly avoided each other at school. Now that their time on the student council was over, there weren't really any excuses for them to see each other at school that wouldn't make people immediately suspicious. They'd tried, early on, to have lunch together with Kakeru; the assumption had been that Kakeru's presence would kill suspicion towards Machi, but a sudden increase in hostilities towards her had disabused them of that notion.
Yuki had struggled trying to figure out what to do after that; he hated the idea of Machi suffering for his sake, and he also hated being forced to hide something he wanted to celebrate. The whole concept was still mind-boggling to him: that he was special enough to justify that kind of interest.
And not only that kind of interest, but also that kind of vitriol...
At least now he could talk to Tohru in peace.
Yuki, Tohru and Kyo all left school together, Tohru and Kyo walking hand in hand until Kyo had to go to the dojo,
"Are you going to be the usual time getting home tonight, Kyo?" Tohru asked, giving him a smile, and he grinned back in return.
"Yeah, but you really don't gotta move dinner later 'cause of me, Tohru. I don't mind eating stuff that's been reheated, honest."
"I know, but I like it better this way," Tohru said affectionately. "And Yuki and Shigure said they don't mind either, so it isn't a problem!"
Kyo shot Yuki a glance, which Yuki responded to with a shrug. "It's just forty-five minutes, you Stupid Cat, it's not like any of us are going to starve in that short time."
Kyo snorted at that, then looked back at Tohru. "Well, you try'n have fun at the shop, and I'll see you later."
"Have a good afternoon!"
Yuki pointedly turned away as Tohru leaned up to give Kyo a kiss; even though there wasn't much to it, he still felt uncomfortable, seeing them act that romantic. But the kiss was over soon and Kyo was on his way, to attend the class he took and the one he was now teaching. And Yuki turned back to smile at Tohru as they continued home to drop off their book bags, change, and depart for Ayame's shop.