Facade

The Competition

Monday came and of course Saito didn't come to the meeting on Sunday. He went to school, classes were dismissed because of the competition. Outside the school there was a big stage. He saw some students wearing purple-white uniforms, probably from Ryoko Academy. Shiruki Academy was the biggest high school in the town, so they were having the competition there.

"Saito!" Hitomi ran to him.

"What do you want, Kimura?" Saito asked irritabley.

"Hello to you too." Hitomi crossed her arms and pouted.

"Just get to the point."

"Right, the teacher said we should go 'backstage'. Since we are competitors and all that."

Saito rolled his eyes and followed her. What she meant by backstage was just some room behind the stage. There were about sixteen people inside it. When they went inside, he noticed that the students from Ryoko moved aside, almost timidly. Saito grinned, thinking it was because of him.

"Well, look who it is!" The voice was full of arrogance, but Saito didn't recognize it.

He turned around and it was a student from Ryoko. It was a guy with obviously bleached blonde messy hair and greyish eyes. He had a leather jacket, which didn't fit the uniform, and generally had the troublemaker vibe.

"You talking to me?" Of course, Saito immediately went on the aggressive tone.

"Thoma-San! Long time no see!" Hitomi giggled and waved.

How does she know that guy, Thoma or whatever? Ryoko academy is in the whole other side of town.

"I see you're already taking henchmen by your side." Thoma said mockingly, reffering to Saito.

Saito wanted to say something, but Hitomi started talking.

"Aw, don't be like that! You're talking as if though I'm a villain!" Her tone was overly sweet, as if she was trying to annoy Thoma.

"That's because you are. There's a reason why everyone's scared of you, Kimura." Thoma stated while glaring at everyone of his schoolmates.

All of them looked away shamefully. That also bursted Saito's bubble. Scared of Hitomi? Really?

"Hahaha! Of her? Come on!" Saito laughed.

"Ah, so she hasn't started with her shit. Just imagine if she pulled the same thing that got her expelled-" Thoma started with a mocking grin.

"Shut up, Nakasato." Hitomi said a bit menacingly, but as if she realized what she did added with a sweet smile:

"It's a bit personal, isn't it?"

Thoma just grinned. Saito meanwhile was trying to understand what he just heard. So she went to Ryoko before she moved here? That would explain some things.

"Heh. Don't worry. Soon you'll be shown as the empty little bitch in sheep's clothing that you are." Thoma eyed her with expectation.

"Don't worry, you're ex girlfriend will finally put a restraining order on you." Hitomi smirked, raising one eyebrow in expectation as well.

This obviously hit a nerve for Thoma.

"Don't you dare bring her up!" He yelled, stepping closer menacingly.

"Students, the competition will start soon. Get ready." A teacher announced as she walked in.

Thoma only glared at Hitomi, disappointed he couldn't do anything because of the teachers presence.

"I'll beat you, Kimura." He whispered and went away to his team while still glaring at her.

Saito only stared in confusion at what the hell just happened. He looked at Hitomi questioningly, expecting an answer.

"Well, that was fun!" She said happily and walked away to Yoko and Koiichi who were talking in the corner.

Saito grunted, angry that she just ignored him. He followed and went to them as well.

The competition started. The teacher walked outside, only to come back to yell something.

"First grade, first competition, cooking!" She yelled and a skinny girl walked outside with a happy looking boy following her.

The teacher continued with the process. If was finally time for the second year.

"Second year, first competition, cooking!" She yelled and waited for the competitor.

Saito got nervous and didn't know what to do. Hitomi pushed him to the teacher. The teacher just lightly took him by the shoulder, closing the door behind them. Before the door closed he nervously looked at Hitomi, looking for any kind of comfort. Hitomi put a thumbs up and mouthed a 'You can do it!'. That didn't help at all.

He went to the stage with a very grumpy looking girl. There were two mini stoves on the stages and their jobs were to cook something in thirty minutes. He did that as fast as possible, tripping quite a few of times and almost burning his meal. The judges however said his meal was better, which made him jump around in happiness. He earned a lot of laughs from the public watching, which made him cool down. Saito awkwardly sat down at the chairs for the people who are done with the competition.

Next was art. Yoko proudly went on stage, only to angrily loose to a grinning boy. She was sweating such delights as 'Fucking shitheads' and 'Dick licking pussies'. She sat down next to Saito while mumbling about how people don't know true art.

Next was math. Koiichi timidly walked in stage, also tripping. He threw the paper on the floor after he lost, because he, out of nervousness, calculated that 4+5 was 20. He sat down next to Yoko, who was still swearing for her lost battle for true art.

And finally, there was singing. Hitomi walked on stage with an arrogant smile. She pulled the mic close to her lips and started singing gently. Amazingly, she was actually pretty good. Awesome, if even perfect. She was definetly gonna beat the previous guy. But something happened.

"She lip synced!" Thoma yelled decisevly.

Somehow, Saito thought that was more logical than her actually having talent.