Not your typical highschool romance {SOuKokU}

Chapter XXXVII

Chuuya's pov

'What the hell am I doing here?' was the only thought running through my mind as our entire morning was spent rehearsing walking up on stage and standing in queue like how we would do it on Prom night.

"Alright," Mayline, a foreign student from the Student Council and also head of the Prom planning committee spoke. "So first we get the Kings. Ayaka, you're on."

Ayaka, who was another girl from the Student Council and Prom planning committee, was apparently going to be introducing the 'Guests of Honour' that night, and until now, I would have never believed that one would have a talent for announcing, but this girl certainly did.

Her voice was smooth and clear, loud but not demanding, and if it were anyone else trying to pronounce 'Fyodor Dostoevsky' using a fake Russian accent, the guy probably would've walked right out of there; but even he seemed to be intrigued by how Ayaka spoke.

"Now moving on to our final event... We have tallied your votes and let me tell you that whoever our Royals are for tonight, we will not be disappointed."

She called out our names and we were then led onto stage by Mayline. Even after practicing twice before, she still insisted she accompany us onstage until the actual event, so our body would register the movement she wants and it'll come and go as naturally as it could at Prom. And my brain had a hard time registering if that were actually possible or not.

Fyodor walked up the few steps, and Mayline almost immediately pulled him back down by tugging at his sleeve. If it weren't for his reflexes, he probably would've ended up butting the floor hard; but instead he landed next to Mayline, slightly wobbling.

"You can't just 'walk' up on stage like that!" she explained, air-quoting the word 'walk' with her fingers.

"But that's how I 'walk'," Fyodor Dostoevsky air-quoted the word too, which would give anyone the impression of him trying to mock her, but the guy looked too sincere, or maybe even proud, to do that. "There wasn't any problem earlier."

"Look buddy," she hooked her hand onto his shoulder. "Prom night has to be perfect. And so, this has to be perfect. And my job is to perfect the imperfections. D'you know what that means?"

Before Russian punk could even open his mouth, she answered for him.

"It means that when I see something wrong and out of place, I will correct it. Now get back up there and do it right this time!"

Her tone changed from slightly annoyed, to slightly demanding and kinda pissed off, so everyone knew that she was not in the mood to be messed with. And the only person who actually had and would have the guts to do it, was Dazai. After about five seconds of the two intensely staring at each other, Fyodor walked back up on stage, and even if I couldn't figure out what he had changed while walking, Mayline looked very much more pleased than before.

"Good, good, now was that so hard?" she beamed up at Fyodor.

Not waiting for a response, she gestured for Ayaka to call out the next name.

"Osamu Dazai."

"..."

"..."

"...Osamu Dazai?"

I looked around, and sure enough, the brunette wasn't there... anymore.

"Wh- Wh- Where's Dazai?" Mayline looked like she was so close to throwing a fit.

"He was just here. Maybe he got called off somewhere?" Higuchi guessed.

However, knowing Dazai, called off or not; he definitely wouldn't have spent another second practicing for absolutely no reason at all. Thinking of how he ditched almost made me feel like a coward for actually staying behind for this.