French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 119: -Kazuya- My Fabulous Friends

Behind me in the kitchen, Nikki was going on and on to Miyuki, who was trying desperately to get her gloves on right, but they were so fussy today. Really, it was just her nervousness. 

"I don't need a date, I decided," he said proudly, puffed up like a rooster in pride. He was adjusting his orange wig, setting the curls right in a mirror we'd set up on my work table. "I'm the MC of the evening. That's my job. I'll be the director of ceremonies. Someone needs to do it, am I right? Who's going to do it, the DJ? I don't think so." He chuckled the last of it, as if he were the genius of geniuses. Miyuki was having none of it, however.

"You mean you couldn't find a date even at Cinderella Bar, could you?" Miyuki made an even more amused chuckle under her breath as she did her gloves' snaps for the tenth time and looked suspiciously at them. She undid them again. 

"Well, you don't have a date, either."

She gave a long, long sigh. "Maybe I should have gone for Charlotte, after all," she said, staring at her snaps in a frustrated way.

"Not likely," Chidori answered from across the room, fluffing up Hanako's skirt. Today, Hanako was not in drag. He was in a dress that he liked, showing another part of himself that he often didn't. This royal blue evening gown was an expression of his simple love of women's clothes. Just himself. His simple, wavy blonde wig was an expression of that, too. Chidori scoffed at Miyuki, though. "She told me yesterday that she wouldn't go with you, because she wants romance."

As Miyuki let out a long noise of rejection, Nikki interrupted her. "See, that's what I was talking about. That's where I got the idea. I wanted to go to Cinderella Bar, so I could find romance. I didn't find anyone last night, but I'd go back. There's still a chance."

"I told you, unless you want to date another queen you are out of luck. It's a drag bar. You said you don't date queens. And may I say, that is incredibly narrow minded of you. Including hypocritical. Look at you right now. It's like you're saying you wouldn't even date yourself." She gestured wildly at him. 

It was true. He was wearing a dress I hadn't seen in a while, too fancy and specific for anything we usually did. It was a chapel length gold high-low dress, fluffed out with tulle underneath and crinoline. Though a gold color, it wasn't outrageous. It was special, royal looking. The top was a very tight corset. How he could even talk, I didn't know. He was wearing elegant black opera length gloves that didn't need snaps, unlike Miyuki's. Gold bangles were on his wrists. His legs were in black stockings with lace tops, shown off with this dress. Gold heels were on his feet. A long black bow that was attached separately on the back of the dress made it sweet looking. A black collar with gold pendant was on his throat, and on his head was a golden tiara, finishing off the look. 

He tried to snap his fingers at her to make her stop talking, but he failed due to the gloves. She put her hand on her hip, and what a magnificent hip it was. She was wearing a reproduction of a 1920's House of Worth evening dress in a typical cylinder shape of the period. She'd talked at length about it when she'd first gotten here. It had a plunging light gold v-line neck, going beyond the chest. Underneath was a white piece of almost see-through material, being risque but still covering up. Beyond this, was an intricate beadwork and see through material of many subtle colors, an art deco masterpiece. This was on top of many layers of a robin's egg blue chiffon or tulle or gauze that went to the floor in waves. I could not tell the vintage fabric, and I didn't want to ask, because then we'd be here all night. It went perfectly with her usual chin-length dark red hair, played up in even more waves than usual, making it a 1920's style. 

I looked away from them, admiring my own clothes. Unlike them, I wasn't dressed in women's clothes. Each one of them looked magnificent. Truly royal. But, I had chosen something more subtle. If everyone was dressed like them this evening, then I'd be the one standing out.