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“Hey… Uh Natsume-kun? Are you sure this is a good idea?” Tsumugi nervously asked from his high up seat. Natsume, the man in question, looked smaller below him.
“Yes, yes, SenpaAI. This is completely safe, don’t worRY.” Natsume reassured him, which was not at all what Tsumugi was worried about.
“Well yes I'm glad it’s safe- I meant more like why are we choosing to do this in the first place?”
Natusme only made a ‘tsk’ noise and rolled his eyes. Like the answer was obvious. It wasn’t very obvious to poor Tsumugi who shakily asked, sat atop a dunk tank. Ice cold water swirled below his seat. He gulped and looked over to the bright red and white bullseye that with even the smallest force would mean his freezing wet nightmare would come true.
How the hell was he roped into this? Well the same way he was every time something like this happened.
He had no choice.
It was another one of Yumenosaki’s silly little school festivals. Every club had to participate and make some kind of booth, attraction or vendor. And yes, Tsumugi was supposed to be in another club. The Handicraft club to be specific. However anyone can imagine why he was in fact not participating with them. He wasn’t exactly Shu-kun’s favorite person. So instead Natsume had convinced him into helping the gaming club.
Well using the words ‘convinced’ and ‘helping’ weren’t quite right. It was more along the lines of ‘forced’ and ‘serving’. There was no asking. His junior simply came up to him and told him that there was a special role that needed to be filled for the festival and that Tsumugi was the only person that could possibly do it. And who was Tsumugi to say no to a perfect opportunity?
He should have known better than to trust such hopeful and praising words from Natsume. The perfect role turned out to be the victim of a dunk tank. He had no idea where Natsume had gotten the damn thing, it was like the magician had conjured it up out of thin air, and honestly Tsumugi would have believed it.
The whole contraption was mostly made up of the giant glass tank full of frigid water spelling out his doom. His tiny unstable wooden seat was attached to that blinking bullseye which had a sign on it with a pointing arrow reading ‘HIT HERE TO DUNK THE LOOSER’ (which although was pretty true, Tsumugi thought it was a little bit overkill.) It was only 300 yen for 3 balls, which Natsume boasted was a steal and the gaming club was going to make the most bank and win the prize for most money raised. No one knew what the special prize was going to be. Making a secret award was the best way to make idols motivated.
So unlike Tsumugi’s earlier in the year mishap with a Kissing booth, a dunk tank was supposedly his calling. And on one hand he was very happy to help out Natsume and Sora with their club, but on the hand brought nothing but worry to his mind.
But it was too late to voice those concerns when he was already sitting ready for the festival to start atop his dunk tank throne.
“Oh don’t look so worried SenpAI. Or maybe do- that may attract more customeRS. The more pitiful you look, the more likely people will want to put you out of your miseRY!” Natsume laughed to himself.
Sora bounced up and down, excited for the festival as people began to trickle into the school's gate. “Sora is so happy that Senpai wanted to help us with the festival! You thank someone when they do you a favor!!” Sora smiled happily.
Tsumugi just needed to accept his fate and deal with the cards he was dealt. There was really no chance of escaping, even if he found a way off the shaky unsafe tank, Natsume would just catch him and throw him back up there. He was stuck. Luck was never on his side, but maybe he could channel what little luck he had left to make it through the day in one piece. In once dry piece hopefully.
Everything started as normal, the festival began and slowly but surely the slow stream of guests started to trickle in. Most understood how rigged carnival games such as theirs were, not even bothering to give their booth more than glance. A sigh of relief escaped Tsumugi every time it happened, half glad that he wasn’t drawing too much attention. It would truly be unfortunate if the gaming club didn’t raise much money, but was that honestly his problem?
Well that didn’t matter because their first customer had sauntered up to the tank.
And it was none other than Eichi Tenshouin.
The sickly blonde spoke first, with his sights now set on the sad display in front of him, you know he had a lot he wanted to say, “Ah why hello Switch… Tsumugi” he smiled coldly like he always did.
“Eichi-kun…” Tsumugi sheepishly smiled. This whole situation felt riddled with dejavu, reminding him too much of their encounter during their last school festival. He was called a clown. However this time Eichi’s side bitch, aka the true clown, was nowhere in sight. Tsumugi could only assume Wataru was running something for the Theater club and had no time to babysit Eichi.
“I see you’ve decided to take up an actual lucrative business. I applaud you for outstretching your reach to find the perfect addition for your silly little booth. Although calling it silly would be wrong as it's more of a brilliant idea, I’m almost upset I didn’t ask for your help for my own personal dunk tank.”
“Cut the shit Tenshouin, do you want to take a shot at Senpai or nOT?” Natsume hissed through his teeth, tired of the sleazy emperors’ sweet words.
As expected, he shot some stupid excuse to cover up his excitement in partaking in their booth. “As Student council president, it is my duty to make sure all the booths are running smoothly and are up to code standard. So as part of the responsibility I will have to try out your silly little dunk tank, as childish as it is." Tsumugi could practically see Eichi itching to get his hands on those baseballs to take shots at the target.
“That’ll be 300 yen!” Sora sang as he requested the payment from their first customer. Eichi smiled his signature sweet sinister grin, dropped the coins into the small bucket Sora was holding, and was handed 3 baseballs in return.
With his three balls in hand, Natsume directed the president to the red line and prepared him for the final showdown. Tsumugi waited with bated breath, as Eichi wound up and prepared to throw his first ball. He looked dead onto the target, perfecting his aim. Tsumugi winced, closing his eyes prepared for the cold splash of his new reality to come crashing over him, readying himself to become a soggy blue pile of sadness.
“Engh-“ Eichi grunted as he threw his first ball. With all the strength he could muster up he launched the ball towards its target. Tsumugi slowly open an eye to watch and-
It never hit. It actually didn’t even reach, not even coming close to where it needed to hit. With a frown and scoff Eichi clutched his second chance.
“That was just warm up of course.” He covered his ass. He gripped the new ball with the same amount of vigor and chucked it forward once again. This time it ended up even further away. “And so was that-“ He was running out of excuses. Once was sad enough but Natsume and Tsumugi could pretty much tell where this was headed.
The third ball didn’t go much differently. It hit the ground, bounced towards the tank and eventually came rolling back to Eichi’s feet. The man was trying to hide the most pissed off disgusting scowl. He was all kinds of embarrassed after talking such a big game. How silly for Eichi to think he was strong enough to throw a baseball when he could barely breathe without taking extra points of damage.
The emperor slammed another 300 yen into Sora’s bucket and received another set of baseballs. Round two ended about the same as round one. Three more missed shots, all littering the ground about two feet from the target. Tsumugi looked on in shock, he couldn’t believe how Eichi was falling apart trying to dunk him, throwing more and more yen into their hands, demanding more tries, only to be embarrassed further at his sad display.
Tsumugi almost felt like a king above him, sitting on his throne. A throne he previously thought of as sad, pitiful even. Now he sat as his rightful throne above all his classmates and fellow idols. He was untouchable. A god.
“Ugh, Sora this is getting kinda hard to watCH…” Natsume whispered over to his kohai.
“Sora thinks so too, what should we do?” He whispered back.
Natsume sighed, stepping in front of the tank and gesturing for Eichi to stop. The man was breathing heavily, his hair starting to become disheveled as his shoulders shook up and down with his uneven breath.
“Tenshouin, do you wish to step a little closER? So you can at least hit the targET?”
Eichi’s eyes narrowed, not appreciating Natsume’s condescending tone. And Tsumugi suddenly felt in danger once again.
“I suppose this shall be my final shot then.” The emperor said through gritted teeth as he emptied his pocket for the last time and took a large step forward.
Now he was only feet away from the target. Tsumugi gulped. There was no way he was about to get out of this one dry. There was no way Eichi could miss the target with it only inches from his nose. He needed a miracle.
Tsumugi closed his eyes. Eichi took his final aim.
BAM!!
The target was hit. Tsumugi waited for it, soon the cold water would consume him and-
Tsumugi peeled open one eye at a time. He was still high up on his throne? How did he not get dunked? Did Eichi not hit the target square on? If that wasn’t the sound of a bullseye, then what was it?
He looked down. Below him, just in front of the target, was a passed out Tenshouin. Instead of a baseball slamming into the dunk tank, Eichi had slammed face first into the floor.
He gasped and then cried, “Natsume-kun we’ve killed him!”
“GoOD.” Natsume said flatly, “I’ve got half a mind to put his sorry ass up there instead of you but I do not wish to upset Wataru-nii-sAN.” He sighed, upset that his true master scheme was a bust and instead turned to Sora. “Sora be a dear and drag this useless body back to the student council room.”
“HiHi! Sure thing Shisho!” Sora hopped right over the passed out emperor and grabbed both his limp hands to begin tugging him down the hall.
“Do be gentle Sora-kun!” Tsumugi called out, he knew he was never going to hear the end of all this. Eichi would make it his personal goal to make him pay. Somehow it would become his fault.
Natsume jingled the small bucket full of coins, satisfied with the amount already filling the bottom of it. “We sure did milk a lot out of TenshouIN. I knew this was a perfect idEA. I love never being wroNG!” The magician boasted, counting through the treasure they’d accumulated thus far.
Tsumugi could breathe easily for now. However he knew that this chance encounter with someone he knew was not the end of it. In his future he could clearly see more familiar faces coming to terrorize him, and it was only a matter of time before one of them had the pleasure of dunking him. The fair had pretty much kicked off and the foot traffic was starting to pick up, many idols, students, and outsiders visiting the festival began to inhabit the crowded halls. Tsumugi could only pray that the next person to bring his downfall wouldn’t be too soon.
But when did god ever favor his silliest clowns?
And like a ray of sunshine, handed down to Tsumugi from god himself, a figure appeared. Not one of ill intent, or wishing for his downfall. No no. An angelic figure, just for him. A chance to escape.
“Oh hey! Hey Yuuki-kun!” Tsumugi shouted, stopping the hurried boy In his tracks. The boy didn’t look like he wanted to stop, as he anxiously glanced around him before looking up to his caller.
“Aoba-Senpai! N-nice to see you here.” Makoto politely greeted before trying to scurry off.
Tsumugi wasn’t about to lose his chance, “Yuuki-kun do you think I could ask a favor, I mean you did leave me at that kissing booth… All alone… For so many hours...” He wasn’t usually one to play the guilt game but a lot was on the line.
“Hehe..he.. Yeah about that,” Makoto tried to start, “I’m really sorry about never coming back but I actually had gotten caught by-“
The boy was cut off by a blood curdling scream bouncing off the walls of the hallway. People around started to gasp and jump back as someone tore through the crowds, sprinting at an inhuman speed down the hall.
“YUU-KUUN~”
Just the man Makoto was about to name. His face ran cold as all the color drained from his body. It was probably too late. Izumi was already at supersonic speeds, there was no way Makoto could outrun the man.
Suddenly Tsumugi felt a lot better about being up at the tank and not in Makoto’s shoes. Perhaps this was some kind of cruel karma?
Makoto closed his eyes, turned up to Tsumugi, and saluted. A final send off.
Izumi football tackled Makoto, the force sending both the boys sliding down the hall. After a bit of wrestling, the older had gotten a good enough hold on the blonde and began dragging him down the hall with a happy skip. As Makoto was dragged off he looked like he was on the brink of death (passing out) and shouted one final message to all ears listening.
“Tell Trickstar I love them.” Then he promptly passed out.
“YeeSH.” Natsume cringed. “I think I’ve seen enough deaths in one dAY. And that one was especially hard to watch happEN.”
Tsumgugi agreed, “I’m just glad Sora-kun didn’t have to see that one.”
With a nod of agreement not to talk about what they just saw, wether it was a failed assassination or kidnapping attempt, they were not about to be accessories to a crime.
Only choice was to press on and hope that was going to be the highest dramatics Tsumugi was going to see that day. But this was Yumenosaki at a festival… so it was never the end. And there wasn’t even going to be a moment of peace between the two encounters was there? Tsumugi could only pray the next student to walk onto their scene would be at least a little normal.
A very familiar click clack of expensive sounding shoes echoed down the hall in a way that was all too familiar to Tsumugi. Like a war veteran's flashback, he could tell exactly how his next encounter was going to play out. Not normal in the slightest. And his suspicions came true when the insulting bad pink haircut came into his sights. Tsumugi had a perfect view atop his tank to really see the balding top of the man’s large head. It was none other than Shu Itsuki. Another one of the last people he wished to run into so soon into his day. If Eichi didn’t get the satisfaction of dunking him first, Shu would stop at nothing to not only have that victory over Eichi’s head, but be pleased to bring Tsumugi some kind of misery along with it.
The clacking stopped. Tsumugi noticed someone else trailing behind Shu like a lost shadow. It was of course Mika. Which made Tsumugi feel a little better. They were friends after all, and it took a lot for Mika to be nasty like his mentor could. Plus Mika was a little too dumb for his insults to really pierce anyone. Tsumugi felt a moment of brief confidence before that was flushed down the toilet by the harsh tone of the pink man standing impatiently in front of his tank.
“Ahem, Aoba.” He cleared his throat, Mika had finally caught up and clung to Shu’s side as he watched many passerbys move around them. Shu continued, “If I would have known you were participating in such an embarrassing booth I would have saved you the trouble and had you come help out with ours, behind the scenes of course, we can’t have people seeing your connection to Valkyrie. Not even the filly masses of this uncultured crowd deserve that.” He chuckled.
Natsume made himself known before Tsumugi could open his mouth, “Why hello Shu-nii-sAN. I didn’t know you would be visiting my booTH, me and Sora’s booTH.” He emphasized him and Sora, knowing that once Shu knew it was theirs his opinion would flip 180. Which it did.
His eyebrows flew up in surprise. “Oh my, well I suppose looking at it further it is quite the elaborate setup. I must say it is a rather eye-catching booth…” His eyes quickly flitted about the booth, obviously making zero sense of what it was. He became embarrassed as he couldn’t quite figure it out. “Your- uh… Your booth of-“
Mika caught wind of the poor man’s confusion and loudly whispered into his ear. “It’s a dunk tank Oshi-san…”
“-Dunk tank! Of course!” The elaborate antique gears in his head began to turn and it was all clicking, “Why I must applaud you then, boy, using Aoba as an almost prize, an incentive, for those to want and dunk him into the frigid water below. I say you certainly have me pulled in by your marketing scheme. I am almost jealous that I didn't think of this for our booth.”
“Ah yes well-“ Tsumugi tried to defend himself. Of what, he did not know. Shu cut him off.
“How much is it for a try?” Mika grabbed his arm as if to say no, but Shu simply shook the boy off and walked closer to Natsume.
“I’m happy you’re interested in supporting our club Shu-nii-sAN. It’s only 300 yen for three throWS.” Natsume shoved the bucket towards the man as he dropped the coins in. Mika looked betrayed.
“And you said Chibisuke is helping too?” Shu said, now holding the balls, extending his neck every which way searching for the small boy.
“He had to clean up a small meSS. He will return soON.” Natsume omitted the part about Eichi eating shit. “Please step up to the red line and try to hit the targET. Good luCK~”
Shu scoffed as he shuffled into place, shaking Mika off his side. “I don’t need your luck, I’m going to dunk Aoba all three times with these.” He said in total confidence.
The man took aim, narrowing his eyes and preparing for his throw.
“Go Oshi-san go!” Mika shouted, doing his best to cheer on Shu, but being a traitor to Tsumugi.
The ball whizzed through the air and banged right into the wall behind the target. Tsumugi jumped in his seat with a surprised ‘eek’.
“Tch.” Shu clicked his teeth. “Kagehira’s bothersome yelling distracted me!” Mika made a small and sad ’ngha’ behind him.
Shu had the power that Eichi lacked. The sovereign was surprisingly strong. For as weak and fragile Shu appeared to be, there was a hidden strength behind those slender arms and legs. Now Tsumugi was rightfully nervous. With the right precision and accuracy, he could easily be dunked over and over for the next hour, or longer if Shu decided to take out a small loan.
Ball two went almost exactly the same. It whizzed through the air at an unprecedented speed, but missed the target by a mile. Same with his last shot, being even further from his target.
“I will admit I’m not the best at sports. Kiryu made me play catch a lot as a kid in return for playing with dolls, not that either of us minded of course. As barbaric of a game it is, I did learn a thing or two on how to throw.”
Tsumugi almost fell out of his seat. Shu could throw a mean fastball and Kuro of all people taught him that?? If this was Shu's power he was suddenly more terrified of Kuro showing up to take a crack at him. He’d probably break the target itself!
“I’d like another round boy.” Shu demanded, throwing more coins at Natsume, who gladly accepted them and put more baseballs into Shu’s powerful hands. All it would take is one lucky shot, one perfectly lined up shot and Tsumugi was a goner. A wet, soggy, waterlogged goner.
“O-Oshi-san!” Mika tried to speak up, but was forgotten in favor of something Shu needed to prove.
Three more missed shots flew by. Then another 300 yen. And three more missed throws. And more yen, and more throws, and so on. Tsumugi had lost count. And Shu wasn’t getting any closer. After every wasted trio of throws, the silent swearing under Shu’s breath grew louder and louder. He wasn’t getting anywhere, and the gaming club was just getting richer and richer off of trust fund babies' horrible abilities to throw baseballs at targets.
Tsumgi finally felt safe enough to peel his eyes away from the untouched target, and his eyes were getting tired from watching balls fly every which way. Instead he decided to speak down to the very nervous Mika. He was watching, eyes unmoving from Shu’s figure as he gnawed at his nails.
“Mika-kun?” Tsumugi called out to him, the boy jumped at the call of his name. Christ he was really on edge.
“W-What’s up Tsumu-chan-Senpai?” He sheepishly asked, another fast ball whizzing by.
“I know this is good business for Natsume-kun and Sora-kun’s club, but don’t you and Shu-kun have your own booth to get back to?” Yes, Tsumugi was simply looking out for his fellow classmate and kohai, he definitely didn’t want Shu-kun and his major league baseball pitches to leave while he was still nice and dry.
“Ah right…” Mika softly sighed, never a good sign. “Oshi-san told ya not to help at our booth right? Well we had a booth for a little while. I mean we prepared fer one… I was gonna make my cute little plushies and Oshi-san was gonna make accessories to sell ya know? But 20 minutes in he decided his designs were too good for the dirty ph-philistines- and so we aint doin’ the booth no more.” Mika struggled to pronounce Shu’s fancy word but he got it in the end.
Tsumugi wasn’t surprised by Mika’s explanation. Shu was flippant like that. “That’s very unfortunate, you seemed excited about doing the booth, no?”
“Ye! Well ‘m excited to be doin’ any kinda thing with Oshi-san. If he didn’t wanna do the booth no more then we ain't doin’ the booth. It’s ‘kay though cause were here now I guess…” Mika trailed off, kicking at the ground.
“Preposterous!” Shu cried, cutting in between the conversation. “Have you cast some kind of hex on these balls??”
Natsume loudly snorted at Shu’s horrible wording. Once he collected himself he reassured the man, “I promise there are no spells or magic Shu-nii-sAN. You simply just suck at this, but you’re welcome to quit at any tiME. Do not feel pressured to help us with our funds, there are plenty of other students willing to be the first to dunk SenpAI.”
Shu was now even more enraged. He fished into his uniform pocket for more coins, but came out empty handed. He had run out of cash. He panicked for a second, realizing now was probably the worst time to run away and call it quits. With no other options left he did the only thing he could do.
“Kagehira, I need more money. Empty your pockets and forfeit it all over to me! This has now become a Valkyrie related matter.”
“Wh-what? Oshi-san yer not makin’ sense! I don’t got any money, all I got is our Valkyrie funds. And ‘m not too smart but even I know that ain’t a good idea.” Mika stuttered, stepping back from the onslaught of his enraged leader, demanding for money like he was a crackhead in need of his next hit.
“This is a matter of pride, Kagehira! I have an honor to hold up!” Shu lamented, dramatics at an all new high, as he begged.
Tsumugi was now really lost. What honor? What pride? It didn’t matter because Shu was on a warpath and was digging through all of Mika’s pockets as the assaulted boy cried out in resistance.
Mika crumbled to the ground, ravished by Shu’s greedy hands. His uniform messed up and jacket practically torn off his body. If anyone else saw his state, they would have believed something else horrible had happened to him.
Shu paid no mind because he had already plopped more money in the bucket, which was already almost half full, and was handed his ammunition once again.
“V-Valkyries funds…” Mika cried from his spot on the floor.
“Where is your enthusiasm from before Kagehira!” Shu huffed as he threw the last of his new set of balls. “Drat.” He spat.
Natsume was only starting to get a little worried as he shot Tsumugi a pitiful look. Was it time to cut the man off before disaster struck? Mika had finally recovered and was hovering behind Shu just waiting for the misery to end. Tsumugi simply hugged his seat and wished for it all to be over soon.
“One last try.” Shu said through gritted teeth. Holding onto his last ball. Was it his last because it was obvious by the huffing and puffing that Shu was at his limit, or because Valkyrie's already very shallow funds had finally run dry.
He got in position, raising his fisted ball, and took his shot. It flew straight through the air and finally made its long awaited contact with its target with a long BANG. Like in slow motion, Shu’s eyes went wide with triumph, Natsume sighed in relief, and Mika just about passed out. Tsumugi almost didn’t register what happened. The target. Hit. Bullseye.
But nothing happened. He didn’t fall into the ice cold death below him. His seat didn’t budge, it didn’t even shake at all. Nothing.
Shu’s eyes went from elation to betrayal, his face twisting into a new horror. Everyone braced themselves for the words that were about to spill from the man’s mouth.
“That hit! What kind of fraudulent business are you running here boy?” Shu immediately turned to Natsume to point a blaming finger into his face. “I hit that target and as per the rules of this game, Aoba should be knees deep in that water. Where is my prize! My prize of seeing a deservingly miserable and wet Aoba!”
“Hey now,” Tsumugi tried to interject, “let's not say deserving.” His words went unnoticed by everyone.
Shu had taken hold of Natsume and began to shake him in his blind rage. “You dare deceive me? Shu Itsuki? Were you two in cahoots? Working together to drain the pockets of innocents like poor Kagehira here? Or to purposely swindle those like me, taking advantage of the pitiful sight of Aoba, even more pathetic than usual.” Then Shu gasped, still holding on tight to the boy in front of him, “Or has this demonic blue creature forced you to take his side in this hideous ploy just to spite me! Has he tricked you into ruining your poor precious Shu-nii-san?”
Now no one knew what the fuck Shu was talking about. He was no longer angry about being ripped off, and had somehow gotten so off topic. Loudly declaring nonsense to the open air, they began to get stops and stares, quite the amount of people huddling around them noticing the commotion.
Natsume didn’t appreciate the shaking and was about to snap. And Tsumugi could only breathe relieved that he was safely in the air and nowhere near Shu’s angry clutches. Mika, on the other hand, was getting increasingly nervous by the stares and Shu’s tantrum. He finally chose to step in, practically yanking Shu off of Natsume with a few strong tugs.
“Okie Oshi-san I think it's time to go!” He cried loudly, shuffling Shu away from everything. “‘M so so sorry about all this!” He said bowing profusely. “I fergot his meds this morning…” Mika sighed as he led them back down the hall, Shu still screeching nonsensical accusations until the pair was out of sight.
“It’s really always a pleasure seeing the Valkyrie duo huh SenpAI?” Natsume said, flustered and shaken, still not believing what just happened.
“Yeah.” Tsumugi answered him. He had nothing else to say.
Just then Sora bounded back down the hall.
“Hihi! Sora came back! He also saw Mika-chan-san and Shu-nii-san down the hall! Sora told them about the booth and they both started shouting, it was weird!” The boy said happily, bounding right up to Natsume.
“Good work Sora but maybe avoid them and the handicraft room for a whiLE.”
So the fair continued on. With Sora back on the team they could properly work together to attract more customers. Who could say no to the adorable Sora and enchanting Natsume? And the pathetic Tsumugi too of course.
They had a couple miscellaneous players, students from the normal course, taking turns trying to dunk the idol. Some were idols from other schools or faces the switch trio just didn’t recognize. There seemed to be a track record of people missing, or just not hitting the target hard enough. It just seemed idols just weren’t very good at throwing balls. Maybe they just excelled in other ball handling categories, if the idols of Yumenosaki were any example.
That, or the whole thing was somehow rigged. Knowing Natsume that very well could have been the case. Maybe it was magic, or perhaps some luck was finally shining through for poor Tsumugi. No soggy bouy here!
But even if things weren’t physically soggy, the mood was about to become a lot more dampened.
Two pairs of midnight black hair walked amongst the crowds. A greaser one was ahead and looked to be pulling the other along against his will. It was the Sakuma brothers. Once they came into clear view of the tank, it was obvious what was going on. How Ristu had even allowed Rei to tug him around like that was beyond Tsumugi. Rei was as giddy as a child, much the contrast to his usual grandpa vibe. He was overjoyed that Ristu had agreed to whatever was going on. Ritsu’s face was one of pure disgust. Like the arm grabbing his wasn’t his dear older brother, but made of a million cockroaches or millipedes. But once his blood red eyes fell upon Tsumugi’s throne, they lit up. Tsumugi gulped.
“Onii-chan!” Such a simple word could cause so much strife.
Upon hearing that name being called, Rei whipped around to face his brother, eyes starry and bright. “You called for me my darling wonderful Ritsu? Are you finally deciding to have a fun festival time with your onii-chan!” He cried out in delight.
“Not you Anija.” He said plainly, kicking at Rei’s knee and causing the elderly man to buckle and almost fall. “My Onii-chan is up there doing a dunk tank.” Tsumugi sheepishly waved.
Rei scowled with a “tsk” which he tried really hard not to direct at Tsumugi, but he could tell it was for him.
Natsume took the moment of silence to insert himself and play salesman. “Why hello there Rei-nii-san and Ritsu-kun, interested in dunking Senpai heRE? He makes for a wonderful target, though it is against the rules to throw the balls directly at hIM, so don’t tRY. I charge extra for thAT.” Tsumugi hoped that last part was just a silly Natsume joke. It probably wasn’t.
Ritsu looked interested, Rei looked betrayed by this.
“Hm? I will admit he does look very dunkable, almost the perfect target.” Ritsu slyly said, a plan hatching in his brain. “I think I shall give it a try.”
Rei’s mouth hung open in surprise, like he couldn’t believe what his ears were hearing. Maybe he had forgotten his hearing aids.
“Woah Woah Ritsu! Hold on.” He threw himself in-between Ritsu and Natsume, “I can be a way better target, I would do a way better job up there getting dunked!” He was practically frantic, trying to prove his worth to his little brother.
“Tsumugi!” He begged at the base of the tank, fully on his knees as if praying to a benevolent god above, “Let me sit up there and prove it! Please!”
“Gyah- What!” Tsumugi was shocked by Rei’s frantic cries. “Swap? Rei-kun, you want to get dunked!?” He looked over to Ritsu, who was grinning like an idiot. His master plan had worked. Tsumugi gulped again. He looked down to Natsume, seeking some kind of guidance. His face was also smiling, like his own devious plan was falling into place. “Y-yeah, sure!”
“Well you heard the man, get your ass up there Rei-nii-sAN. Oh and Ritsu-kun, this is going to cost double.” Natsume jingled his bucket in front of the young vampire.
Ritsu smiled, fangs peeking from his curved lips, “Trust me, I would even pay triple for this.”
So with Tsumugi safely climbing down off the tank, and Rei hobbling up atop it, the two had successfully swapped with no slips or broken hips. Tsumugi tried to slowly scurry off, maybe Natsume wouldn’t notice if he quietly slinked away… But of course he did, grabbing his arm and twisting it while grinning menacingly as if to say ‘where do you think you’re going?’. Tsumugi stopped and let himself be tethered by the evil man’s grasp.
Ritsu, however, was already in stance with a ball gripped tight in his fist, anticipating his soon to be win.
“I’m all ready for you Ristu~ Go ahead and dunk your onii-chan n-“
The whole sentence didn’t even leave his mouth before Ritsu had thrown the ball right center smack into the bullseye. It happened so fast. Tsumugi didn’t even see the ball as it tore through the air and made contact with the target. And he swore he heard the thing crack with the sheer force Ritsu chucked that ball.
SPLASH.
Rei was successfully dunked. It was so sudden and surprising he hadn’t a moment to prepare and was floating, still shocked, in the icy water. Like an expired vampire soup. Ritsu would have liked that joke. After a while it was getting concerning that Rei hadn’t resurfaced, still floating face down in the water like a dead fish. Tsumugi was starting to fear they had killed a second senior with their dunk tank.
“Oh it killed him.” Ritsu said, no concern whatsoever behind his voice. He looked more than pleased with himself, that he not only got to dunk his worthless bother, but sent him into a freezing water induced cardiac shock.
Before Tsumugi could cry to Natsume about the third accessory to murder they’d become, Rei finally resurfaced from the water. He also somehow looked pleased. You could tell even through the soaking strands of black hair, that honestly made him look like that Ring girl, he was overjoyed to hell and back. Tsumugi just felt relieved that Ritsu didn’t get him instead.
“Shit.” Ritsu cursed, mood turning sour now that Rei wasn’t actually dead. “Well even if that stupid bug didn’t die, it was worth seeing him drowned. A memory I will cherish, thank you Switch.” Ritsu bowed slightly and turned tail to leave, abandoning his brother and fleeing the situation.
“Ritsuuu~” Rei sang with open arms, trying to climb out of the tank and give his dear brother a hug. He slipped over the edge and fell to the floor with a wet thud. As this was happening Natsume was unconcerned with anything other than getting Tsumugi back on the damn tank, and was pushing him up the ladder once more.
The whole situation was made better when Keito walked on the scene.
He stopped right in front of the booth. Turned his head to see everything that was happening. Tsumugi tried to stay steady on a ladder while Natsume not so gently shoved him. Ritsu power walked away, like he was fleeing from a crime. And a sopping wet Rei crawling on the floor after him, a puddle forming behind him like a fucked up slug.
All he could do was push up his glasses and sigh. The most disappointed sigh ever. You could almost hear him say ‘incorrigible’. He threw no balls.
Tsumugi prayed to god that the worst of the day was behind him. They were more than halfway at this point and so far he was still high and dry sitting on his loser throw. At least part of his morning prayer was so far true. He was still undunked, but it came at the price of running into practically the entire roster of Yumenosaki.
Earlier Wataru had drifted by obviously looking for Eichi. He didn’t stop at the booth thankfully. Tsumugi didn’t think he could handle getting called a clown again. You could tell Wataru wanted to say something, but noticing the tiny Natsume standing nearby probably persuaded his not so intrusive thoughts to actually stay intrusive this time.
Kanata had also stopped by briefly. He had no interest in trying to dunk his classmate, but he was really really interested in the tank itself. The fishy boy even tried to climb the tank to submerge himself into the water. It took Natsume and Sora to peel Kanata off the glass like he was some kind of sucker fish. Later he was scolded and carried off by Chiaki and his band of misfit meteor rangers, apparently they were performing a live show and were looking for him. And that concluded Tsumugi’s run in with the oddballs.
Lots of other idols had been spotted by Tsumugi’s watchful eyes from atop his tank. Watching the bustling tops of the crowds made for some entertainment, counting all the multicolored neon heads of hair that made up the idol course. You could easily make out who was an idol and who wasn’t by the color of their locks.
He spotted many of his fellow idols. A parade of rabbits had made their way through the halls periodically, all four of them in a line like a little train of baby bunnies. It was quite cute to watch them navigate through the crowds on their quest to wherever they were headed. Mama had weaved his way through the crowds as well. He was speeding down the hall, most likely on the run from the student council, in trouble for who knew what this time. Tsumugi also saw the Valkyrie pair walk by the booth again, but Mika had expertly distracted Shu and quickly shuffled him away from the booth. It helped Tsumugi breathe a little easier.
But thankfully he didn’t see anyone else who was going to cause him to lose any more years off his lifespan.
The festival had come to a close. The last few people were dwindling from the halls. And Tsumugi still sat, high and dry. He had made it. For the first time all day, he finally felt at peace. His unit-mate, however, was not.
Natsume was getting antsy. In that way where he was trying hard to not look antsy, but anyone could tell with his nervous pacing and fidgeting hands that he was very antsy.
“Shisho, don’t look so nervous!” Sora tried to calm the boy. “If we don’t win the prize for the most money it's okay! Sora is just happy we were able to have so much fun today together!”
A smile eased onto Natsume’s face. “Thank you SoRA, but your Shisho made a bet with some people and if he doesn’t win it then there’s going to be a lot of curses that need to be placed on thEM.” A threat.
“I’d be surprised if we didn’t win.” Tsumugi imputed his unwanted two cents, “I mean we practically emptied the pockets of two of the wealthiest students.”
“That is trUE.” Natsume hummed, his nerves washed away, “And we got a lot of cash out of the normal course suckeRS. Oh and I suppose I have to thank you senpai, it wouldn't have happened without you I gueSS.” Natsume said in classic tsundere fashion.
Tsumugi was about to file this moment away in the ‘pleasantly warm and happy memories shared with Natsume’ folder of his brain until something interpreted his thoughts.
The squeaking noise of a marker drawing against glass.
Natsume had seemed to discover it as well and turned around to find its source. Tsumugi tried his best to peek over the sides of his tank (which for some reason wasn’t allowed to leave yet) and help search.
Then their eyes fell upon it together.
A tiny, criss-cross-applesauce sitting catboy, scribbling lines of music notes onto the side of their dunk tank. Leo Tsukinaga.
The one in question looked up to meet the watchful eyes.
“Can I help you?”
“What the fuck are you doing writing on my dunk taNK.” Natsume hissed.
“Well what’s your dunk tank doing being the paper for my sheet music, huh?” Leo hissed back. It was a catfight now. “I had a revelation of musical genius! And I had to start writing it down immediately! My newest masterpiece is being born into this world as we speak!” He exclaimed, then turned right back to etching more notes up the walls of the tank.
“You better stop thAT” Natsume threatened, it went unnoticed and unheard. When Leo started to create, all outside sounds, smells, sights, and distractions were blocked out. He was ready to die for his music and he’d almost done it once or twice.
Leo was way too busy writing his silly little song. He had gotten up from his seat and onto his knees to travel up the tank and by the bullseye, just cranking out lines of music. It was pretty unintelligible, the random scribbles of lines and notes, it didn’t seem like a cohesive song. But then again, some art seems nonsensical to outside eyes, but is perfectly understandable by its creator. That's just how genius were, Tsumugi supposed.
“I said stOP!” Natsume growled, trying to pry the marker from Leo’s fingers. He was met with much resistance as the two tug-of-war-ed back and forth. With every pull and tug, Leo’s closed fist around his marker fell closer and closer to crashing into the target. Tsumugi could feel his anxiety flood back in.
“N-Natsume-kun! Leo-kun! The target-“ He tried to warn. It went ignored. He did the only thing left, try and climb down off the tank.
Natsume whipped around and stared right at Tsumugi like he could shoot lasers from his eyes and kill him, “Don’t you dare get off that tank SenpAI.” Tsumugi sat right back down.
Leo suddenly got angry that he wasn’t the topic of conversation and tugged back his marker, freeing it from Natsume's fist. “HA! I win!” He declared.
Then he stood up, stretched and was about to walk off.
“Where do you think you’re goiNG?”
“Dunno.” He shrugged, pissing off Natsume even more. "I’m hiding from someone so don’t tell them you saw me shhh.” He winked as he trotted off. Leo had abandoned his ‘masterpiece’ most likely forgetting all about it. And that person he was hiding from was most likely Izumi. But no one was going to tell Leo that Izumi had found a different play thing to keep him busy.
Natsume let him just meander down the empty hall and out of view. Just sighing in relief that the little orange guy was gone and out of his hair. The announcement to the winner would be soon, and it seemed that Tsumugi wasn’t going to be off the hook until someone won this damn contest.
Then like god himself had spoken through the heavens, the intercom system came to life with its familiar chiming beep. It was Nazuna’s voice that spoke through the speakers.
“I hope everyone had a wonderful school club festival! Remember to give a huge thanks to the Student council for helping prepare and fund the event!” Natsume rolled his eyes, Nazuna continued, “Now for the part I’m sure everyone is most excited for, time to announce the winning club of who raised the most money.”
Finally, Natsume smirked, feeling confident again. Sora hopped up and down with glee. Tsumugi just wanted it to be over.
“Drum roll please!” Nazuna stalled, maximizing excitement. Tsumugi gripped his seat. Sora did a tiny drumroll on the side of the tank with his fingers.
Then the bunny took a deep breath and shouted into the mic, “Congratulations to the Track and Field Club and their kissing booth!”
“WHAT?” Natsume screamed. “ANOTHER KISSING BOOTH?”
He didn't know what was more embarrassing. That a kissing booth had actually raised more money than Tsumugi’s dunk tank, or that it was the track and field club that decided to do a kissing booth. If the Trickstar kiss market was plentiful enough to warrant a kissing booth, then kisses from Arashi Narukami alone could probably fund an entire hospital. It was no wonder they had won.
“I-I’m sure it was c-close, right Natsume-kun?” Tsumugi tried to make things better, maybe soften the blow a bit, but he was never good at that.
Natsume growled and stared daggers at him again. “EmbarrassmeNT!” He shouted at the senpai. He balled his fist and slammed it into the target's bullseye with even greater force than Ritsu had with his baseball full of brotherly resentment. This was a new kind of resentment. Tsumugi resentment.
The contact with the target caused it to completely shatter and break off its hinge. Tsumugi gulped. And then yelped. He almost made it. He almost made the whole day without getting dunked. But now that Natsume had lost the contest, he was unsafe.
The seat gave in, and Tsumugi fell into the cold water, for the first time all day. He didn’t scream, he didn’t cry out for help. This was the universe writing itself.
He plunged into the water, enveloped by its cold wetness. Water splashed over the sides, spilling a little to take into account the new body floating in it. Tsumugi’s head finally broke the surface as he came back up for air. The previous air being knocked out of his as he gasped in surprise at Natsume’s fist slammed smack in the middle of the now broken bullseye. Soggy hair hung over his eyes and covered most of his face. He looked and felt like a miserable drowned cat. His uniform clung to his skin, because of course Natsume made him wear his school uniform. It was pure suffering.
Natsume burst into laughter, and Sora followed suit. The sight of their very soggy senpai was enough for them to forget their anger and sadness over not getting to win.
Something boiled in Tsumugi. He felt bitter, upset at his fate. Angry that it was always him. Why him? Why not someone else who had to suffer instead? Why was he the go-to man to get others to pay up large sums of money just to say they were the one to dunk Tsumugi Aoba? He sat there, dazed and confused, cursing the world. All while still standing neck deep in the chilled water, letting more and more of it soak into his uniform and messy hair.
But it was kinda funny.
The whole day he was anxious and terrified of getting dunked and drowned. But was it that bad? Not really. It was actually kind of fitting, who was he to get mad at all this when in the end it was bringing joy to others. All the money was going to help Natsume and Sora’s club. They got to laugh and feel delighted for the first time all day while working at the cursed booth. And he got to make memories for others, there was no way Ristu was going to forget about dunking Rei like that. So what if his misery brought joy to people. Would feeling a little discomfort here and there be the end of the world for the sake of others? Well that seemed to just be Tsumugi’s silly little life, but hey, it wasn’t too bad.
“Maybe loosing that stupid competition was worth it to finally see Senpai get dunkED?” Natsume finally calmed down from his laughing fit. “It’s not every day we get to see his hair so straigHT? Hmm SoRA?”
“Haha-! Sora is happiest when Shisho and Senpai are happy too! Today was so much fun!” Then Sora turned to Tsumugi, still submerged in the water, “And thank you Senpai for helping us!”
“Thank you Sora-kun, and sorry for not being pitiful enough for us to win Natsume-kun.”
“Perhaps their club deserves iT, and maybe I won’t go and curse them for taking this win from mE.” He was joking, god, Tsumugi hoped he was joking. “Oh also I completely rigged the dunk tank so maybe this was my own personal karMA.” He nonchalantly hummed.
“What-“ Tsumugi didn’t think he heard right. “Why did it only dunk me when you hit it then? Natsume-kun?”
Natsume had already packed up their winnings and grabbed Sora’s hand to lead him down the hall. He was just going to leave like that? Waltz right down the hall and not answer any of Tsumugi’s burning questions?
“Thanks for your help again SenpAI.” He waved from behind, not looking back. “You’ll be a huge help and clean all this up rigHT? It's the last thing you can do for not getting that wIN.”
“N-Natsume-kuuun!” Tsumugi wailed, his calls going unanswered.
It was dark out now. The festival had long since closed. Tsumugi was probably the only soul still in the building, still standing in that goddamn dunk tank. It was getting even colder.
“Achoo-“