The Half-assed Prince

Culture festival: Part 2

It was the second and final day of our cultural festival. I still couldn't believe that Kei and I had gotten into a fight and successfully made up. He promised me that we would do everything that I wanted to do to compensate for our lost time the day before.

This was bound to be another hectic day. After doing my duties as a committee representative, I had another duty as a vendor for our takoyaki stall. At least I'd be with Kei the whole time so I figured it wouldn't be that bad after all. I looked forward to finishing our shift so that he and I could spend some sweet, precious time together. I would make sure that I would do the things that I had originally planned: first, I wanted Kei to feed me takoyaki (I knew it was cliché but still I was just a girl); then we would walk around the school, hand in hand as we visited the classes of each Karasuno's members; then I would ask him to go into a horror house, where I would pretend that I was scared (though I didn’t really need to) as I wrapped my arms around him; and lastly, we would watch the fireworks together with our hands intertwined, then... then... Kyaaa!! I caught myself smiling like an idiot as I imagined what would happen and somehow I felt ashamed of myself. Karasuno's volleyball team would be having an exhibition at around 3:00, so before that I'd be alone with my Kei.

The weather was so hot, being summer and all, but selling takoyaki made it worse. It felt like I was stuck in a furnace. I wiped the sweat off my forehead for the hundredth time and noticed that the heat also seemed to make Kei cranky. He had been in a bad mood ever since we started our shift. He was glaring the whole time and that kind of bothered me. At this rate it wouldn’t have mattered if our classmates tried their best at inviting people to try our takoyaki, since his death glare would keep the customers away. I called out to him and motioned for him to smile, stretching my lips with my thumb and index finger. He raised his eyebrows at me and stretched his lips sideways, trying to smile, but they just contorted into a grimace. It only made his face even scarier. Kei and I had our break at around 1:00. I had two hours to wander around school with him and to complete my plan.

First, we bought takoyaki from our stall and sat on one of the benches under the trees. We shared the takoyaki. After Kei took a bite, I immediately opened my mouth.

"What? Do you want me to feed you?" He asked as he knitted his eyebrows.

I nodded.

"Are you that tired that you can't feed yourself?"

I didn't answer and just let my mouth hang open. Kei let a hopeless sigh and fed me.

Mission #1: Complete.

After we ate, Kei and I started checking out the other classes’ stalls. As we walked around the school, he quickly slipped his fingers into mine. It felt nostalgic, somehow. After spending such a long time ignoring each other, it felt like a dream to be holding his hand again like this. I was so happy.

We visited each of the volleyball team’s classes, starting with our fellow freshmen. Kageyama's class was doing a butler cafè, and we were lucky to catch him on duty. He looked dashing in his black suit over a white button-up shirt, with a black bow tie and black pants. I called out to him and waved, but his immediate reaction was to frown at Kei who was, at the moment, obviously trying to contain his laughter. I glanced at his face: one moment he was stoic, then I heard a snort, followed by a chuckle, until finally he burst out laughing. Kageyama turn bright red. He still managed to glance at me and give me a curt nod before storming over so he could kick Kei out of the room. Kei still snickered from time to time as we headed over to the other building where the second years' and third years' classes were, and I playfully slapped his arm each time.

Mission #2 and #3: Complete.

Fortunately, Tanaka's class was doing a horror house. It was my chance to complete my mission #4. Tanaka was wearing a zombie costume. His face was powdered white and with a few trickles of “blood”. Tanaka was so convinced that he looked scary but, in all honesty, he wasn't. He looked rather funny. I didn't say it, of course, but I didn't need to because Kei cracked up the moment he saw Tanaka. I elbowed him on the side to tell him to stop because I was afraid that we would be kicked out again, which would mean I wouldn't be able to complete my mission #4. Fortunately Tanaka was in very good mood and ignored Kei. He even let us enter the horror house for free. I immediately clung to Kei's arm when we stepped in. It wasn't that I was afraid of ghosts, but I couldn't stand dark places. Kei led the way and I kept my eyes closed. My whole body felt cold, and every inch of my skin was so sensitive I could feel even the slightest gust of wind. I felt like the world was closing in on me, so I tightened my hold on Kei’s arm. I was sure he could hear my heart as it beat furiously in my chest. Suddenly a girl’s scream pierced through the silence and I couldn’t stop a whimper from escaping my lips. Kei didn’t even tense up or flinch or jump as we trudged on until we reached what I imagined was the second half of the maze. I couldn’t be sure since I couldn’t see anything. I still couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. I could hear zombies grunting, witches laughing, wolves howling and who knows what else as we made our way through the horror house, and I was pretty sure some guys from the class tried to catch Kei off guard by sneaking up on him, but Kei wasn’t fazed. Then all of a sudden I felt something on my shoulder. I was so startled that I made the mistake of opening my eyes and found myself face to face with a white lady, glaring at me as she held my shoulder. My eyes grew the size of the Jupiter as I screamed at her. I quickly swatted her hand away and dragged Kei through the exit. I didn't know what happened next. All I knew was I was catching my breath when we got out. My heart was pounding so hard that I could already hear it. As I was gaining back my composure, I saw Kei laughing on the side. He was laughing so hard that he was clutching his stomach and I could see tears at the corner of his eyes. I punched him in the arm to let him know that I wasn't pleased with his reaction.