ImmediatelyWriting's One Shots

#35. Ao Haru Ride - Kou/Futaba) A True Love's Kiss

Summary: During their schoolplay, Kou's the prince Futaba's looking for.

Fandom: Ao Haru Ride
Ship: Kou/Futaba
Genre: Fluff, School Play

part of Shipbruary 2021!

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"Raise the curtain!" Kou's voice echoes through the backstage.

He pushes past all their classmates, who can't wait to get a peek at their public. He has to be the first one to go up stage, which seems to have him a little on edge; though Futaba thinks it's more likely to be because he suddenly had to deal with the change of Snow White, aka Yuri, calling in sick at the last moment. They had to assign a new girl to the main role; that girl's Futaba, who's more nervous than ever before. She initially refused any roles, since she wanted to be the one who took care of things backstage, leaving her as one of the only girls without a role.

Futaba personally thinks Murao would've been better suited to the role of the cheerful princess, she was way too anxious to even be considered when it came to choosing a new actress.

Futaba's standing ready next to the door with shaking hands. She's watching at Kou as he takes place behind the microphone, mainly because she has to go up not long after he is done introducing the play, but also because she thinks he looks amazing in his suit.

He's in a red and golden costume that almost seems tailor-made for his body and his hair is slicked back with gel which makes him look very princely.

"Good evening, friend and family of the 2nd year students," Kou says in a loud voice, Futaba's never heard him talk that loud; she always considered him to be quite quiet for a guy. "I'm Kou Mabuchi, the class's representative, and I would like to welcome you to our stage play of Snow White."

As soon as Kou walks off with the microphone, Asumi walks up as the evil queen she is.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall!" she shouts in to her tiny microphone while pacing over the stage, drawing all attention to her. "Who's the prettiest of them all?"

"You sure think you are," Futaba mumbles to herself while watching Asumi get mad about the narrator, aka mister Tanaka, telling her that Snow White is the fairest of them all.

"Snow White!? That goody-goody?" Asumi shrieks in anger, before waving with her hands frantically. "Put an end to her!" She storms off stage and Futaba knows what time it is; time go on stage.

She feels her heart pouting in her chest as she strolls onto stage in the oversized Snow White dress. She feels like a kid who's been pushed in a dressing-up basket; why couldn't her costume be as well-made as Kou's? More questions like that cloud her mind, but she can't let them bother her.

She focuses on Kou's older brother's voice that sounds through the speakers, and tries to remember which pauses are cues for her text.

"Snow White, on the other hand, had no clue that she was the fairest of them all. She just washed the linen, as usual. She just hummed her song, as usual."

Futaba skips onto the stage humming a happy song, realizing that this would've looked so much better if Yuri had been the one doing it. Fortunately, Futaba had been the one who's been doing rehearsals with Yuri and Kou every evening after school, so she practically knows the script by heart.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Futaba asks the audience when she's reached the carton well.

Her stomach turns when she sees all the friends and family in the audience. "Will you make sure not to tell it to anyone?" She turns to the so called well and looks down, whispering, "This is a wishing well, did you know that? If you say a wish and you hear it echoing, your wish will come true."

She wishes into the well, for her prince; her Kou.

These would've been Yuri's lines, she would get Kou, but in the end it's Futaba who's meant to end up with the boy she's had a crush on since elementary school. She loves Yuri, but Kou's her prince.

She gets grabbed from behind, by the princely Kou, who for the first time ever smiles at her.

"Oh!" Futaba whoops when she gets lifted up from the ground, before struggling out of Kou's arms.

"Oops—" Kou's smirking at Futaba, almost making her snort in laughter. "— did I frighten you?"

Futaba turns her back to the prince, walking away with her head held high; just like she'd seen Yuri do at practice. And, of course, Kou shouts for her, telling her not to run away before grabbing her hand. His hand is so warm, Futaba always wondered how it felt when this happened to Yuri.

She lets herself fall into the prince's arms and they get to act all cheerful and lovey-dovey until mister Tanaka's voice starts talking again; time for them to walk off stage hand in hand.

"You're doing pretty well," Kou whispers to Futaba as soon as they're off stage.

"Was that a compliment?" Futaba jokily asks him. "Kou Mabuchi is giving a girl a compliment?"

Kou rolls his eyes at her before looking around. "A girl? Where?" He chuckles teasingly before patting her on the head and telling her he's just surprised she's able to do it without practice.

"Well thank you," Futaba says with a wink, before she hears it's time for her to go on stage again.

The rest of the stage play goes pretty well, but that's mainly because one of the seven dwarfs is Kominato and he's able to give her some gestured cues for when she's supposed to speak.

She does exactly what she has to, even throwing herself onto the floor so realistically that she actually scrapes her elbow in the process. From there her script is easy; just play dead.

She's been laid down at a table with a bouquet in her hands, and she's lying there for so long that her neck and back are starting to ache. Only a little longer until Kou's part's here! She tells herself when mister Tanaka starts talking about how the evil queen has been defeated, but the dwarfs all wept over their deceased Snow White.

"The prince, who had searched far and wide for his beautiful princess, had heard that the lady with a skin as pure as white can be slept deeply in the middle of the greenest woods."

"I have one last wish," Kou's voice sounds in the distance. "But one wish."

His voice sounds so princely, Futaba just wish she could open her eyes and peek at Kou as he wanders over the stage, but she has to wait a little longer until she can look at Kou again.

"To kiss my love one more time," Kou says, suddenly so much closer.

He must be hanging over her right now, her heart's beating so quick even though she knows there's been a deal between Kou and Yuri that no kissing would be involved. But still, it feels like something excited is about to happen and not just the end of this ever-lasting play.

Kou leans in closer, Futaba can feel his breath against her face; is it time to wake up yet?

She's about to sit upright when Kou's hands wrap underneath her head, but something doesn't go the same way as the million times that Yuri and Kou practiced this scene. Instead of a fake kiss, Futaba feels Kou's lips on hers and it's like the world disappears.

She wraps her hands around Kou, kissing him slowly as she sits upright. It's when Kou lifts her up from the table and their lips part, that Futaba hears the deafening applauding of the audience. As she's carried off stage, she realizes what this means; Kou would never kiss her without a meaning behind it, he never kissed Yuri for the play, but he didn't even hesitate when it came to Futaba.

In the end, it's Kou carrying Futaba off stage, not as the prince who saved Snow White's life, but as the boy who finally returned her love.