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It started off as normal a day as ever. Hori and Sakura were busy with their usual duties while Nozaki took a phone call from Ken in the other room. It was surprisingly peaceful.
Until Nozaki re-entered the room.
Whatever Ken had told him, he had obviously taken pretty bad. Sakura knew that the slightest bit of criticism from the editor could greatly upset the mangaka, and so she placed down her inking tools. Turning to the taller boy, she asked, "What's wrong, Nozaki-kun?"
He dropped his head into his hands as he dramatically mumbled between his fingers, "I'm a failure."
"You're not a failure. What did Ken-san say," Sakura patiently asked.
"He still hates, Suzuki," he continued to mumble.
Hori resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing just as well as Sakura, the other boy's penchant for blowing everything out of proportion. So he asked, "What exactly did he say?"
The taller boy finally looked up to answer his assistants more clearly. "He said Suzuki is boring and needs more character development."
Sakura deflated. Nozaki knew that already. His earlier attempts had done nothing to fix his protagonist's character. Instead of pointing that out (it would only be pointless) she said, "You just need to look for ore character references. You need someone to inspire, Suzuki. Like, Mikorin does for Mamiko."
"Weren't you using Kashima as a reference," Hori asked, returning to his duties now that the meltdown had been mostly avoided. Nozaki picked up a few of his notes as he replied, "Just a few of her attributes. Suzuki isn't a flirt."
"Well, what are you looking for exactly," Hori inquired.
"Hmmm," Nozaki hummed thoughtfully as he thought hard about his light haired protagonist. Sakura and Hori felt a headache coming on. Shouldn't he already know this?
After a few minutes of awkward silence, Nozaki finally answered, "Someone who is loyal, kind, caring, smart, and strong."
Sakura shook her head in disbelief as she pointed out, "Doesn't that sound too perfect. A character has to have some flaws, don't you think?"
Nozaki instantly deflated again as he admitted, "You're right."
"Actually, I know someone who fits what you're looking for pretty well," Hori suddenly spoke up as he looked up from his work. "Meet me before school starts tomorrow."
"You guys made it," Hori greeted the two underclassmen as he met them outside the archer club's entrance. "Let's hurry. They're about to start."
The three peeked around the corner. A row of students were lined up, wearing traditional dark hakamas and white kimonos, carefully aiming their long bows.
"What are we looking at here, Hori-senpai," Sakura asked, feeling a little uncomfortable that they were spying on the club.
"Not a what, a who. The girl giving orders at the end," he pointed out.
Sakura followed his gaze. And she was surprised she hadn't noticed the girl earlier. She was probably about Seo's height with long black hair and startling blue eyes. Something about her presence commanded attention, sort of like Kashima.
She was busy, patiently going over something about an upcoming competition.
"That's Higurashi Kagome, a classmate of mine. She's also captain of the archery club, in the school's top thirty students, on the track team, and sometimes fills in for members of the drama club," Hori explained.
"Wow," Sakura stated, impressed a student could accomplish so much. She was almost too good to be true.
"She is impressive," Nozaki stated as he continued to stare at the girl, trying to picture her as Suzuki. "And she had all the character traits I mentioned?"
Hori nodded his head as he steadily avoided their gazes. Nozaki and Sakura were starting to get curious as to what he was hiding.
He finally caved and explained, "Well yeah, she does. But she's also..." he trailed off, struggling to find the right words to describe his friend.
"Also what," Nozaki pressed.
"Oi, Koda, what did I say about treating your bow with respect," Kagome suddenly yelled as she stomped over to the member in question who had been twirling around his long bow. Though he easily towered over her the boy, Koda they correctly assumed, was cowering beneath her withering glare as she reamed into him.
"She has a bit of a temper," Hori admitted. "She usually is pretty nice. Just don't get on her bad side."
"So, she's a tsundere," Nozaki and Sakura thought at the same time. Looking back at the girl, they saw she was now smiling encouragingly at the other members.
"We should have her meet, Mikorin," Nozaki suddenly stated, wanting to see the chemistry between the two.
"Eh, we can't just force-," Sakura started to protest before Hori cut her off. "Leave it to me, Nozaki."
Kagome sighed, unsure why she was doing this. Sure, Hori was her friend, but acting? Surely, there were others who were better suited for this than her.
Besides, didn't that second year usually star in his plays?
And as soon as Kagome reached the entrance to the clubroom where he was waiting of her, she asked him (she probably should have earlier, before blindly agreeing).
"Oh, we just need your help for Friday's show. Kashima, has a family obligation that day," he explained.
"But why me," she asked. He shrugged and answered, "You're the only one who fits the part. And don't act like you can't act. You were a regular member until you quit at the start of the school year."
"But-," she tried to protest before he cut her off. "You still owe me."
He had her there. She gave in with a huff as she said, "Fine. So, what's this play about anyways?"
"A gender flip. It's about a princess who has to rescue her prince."
Kagome snorted in amusement at that. Still she followed her classmate to the stage. There were the usual club members, busy trying to work on the set, a few students she had seen around school but hadn't actually met, and Hori's star troublemaker herself. She was surrounded by a horde of bickering fangirls who were distracting the club members, destroying the set, and looked to be terrorizing a red headed student.
Hori looked like he was about to have an aneurysm.
Taking pity on her fellow third year, Kagome stepped forward. "Kashima," she yelled, startling all those around her. The blue haired girl instantly brightened up at the arrival of the older girl. "Higurashi-hime. You're a lovely sight as always."
"Can it, Kashima," Kagome said with a roll of her eyes, as she quickly took charge. Eyes narrowing, she ordered, "If you're not in the drama club and only here for, Kashima, get out now."
There were a few protests but none of the girls dared to oppose her. This wasn't the first time she had to kick them out after all. Her glare followed them as they marched out of the clubroom.
Hori clapped her on the back. "You're a life saver, Higurashi."
Kagome laughed as she turned to the three students who remained behind, a ginger haired girl who looked much tinier than she was compared to the giant standing next to her, and a boy with red hair. Smiling brightly, she greeted the other students.
They were all a little taken back by her sudden change of demeanor. But that didn't stop them from greeting their upperclassmen. Mikoshiba was the last to do so. He dramatically ran a hand through his red locks as he smirked flirtatiously and said, "When a girl smiles, she's as beautiful as a blooming flower."
He immediately turned as red as his hair, and he found himself in a fetal position.
Sakura held her breath, expecting the older girl to explode just as she did with Kashima.
Kagome only laughed though as she crouched down next to the deeply embarrassed boy. "Well aren't you sweet."
Sakura looked up to Nozaki to see if he had anything to say. She found him scribbling like a maniac in his notebook. It seemed like he found himself another muse. It made sense, Sakura guessed to herself. All of Nozaki's characters were based off people from the opposite sex.