The Ultimate Stride | Prince of Stride Fanfiction |

17 | Drunken Fun

| {Kyouko's P.O.V.} |

    Since when did street festivals become so tiring?

It wasn't the first festival I had been to since moving to Tokyo, but this one was different in many particular ways because of the oddly given circumstances.

This time I was with the Stride club, and after working together with them for as long as I had, I knew one thing about them that a lot of people didn't.

    No matter where they go, they'll always manage to attract a whole lot of unneeded attention.

    And I'm the one who always gets caught up in their mess.

    I tried to ignore it, but the feeling of being watched was constantly nagging at me from the back of my mind as I overheard some of the things people around us were saying as we passed them by.

"Those boys are so attractive! I wonder if they're models."

    Only part-time ones.

"Those yukatas are extravagant, but don't you think they're showing off just a bit too much?"

    You think?

"That girl looks like she wants to kill someone..."

    I DO.

Groaning, I stretched my neck to peer up at the night sky in hopes of finding some sort of mental solace to escape the reality I was living in.

I love Diane, but this is all her fault.

After the club had finished all the photo shoots that crazy woman had planned out for us, she decided that having her designs displayed through one of the most popular clothing magazines in Tokyo just wouldn't be enough to satiate her hunger for publicity.

So what did she do?

She sent us hell, that's what she did.

I had nothing against the concept of going to a nice little evening festival with my friends while dressed up in a yukata, but after going through a day like mine, I was just exhausted.

    Physically and emotionally.

"I feel like my head is going to explode," I huffed into the cool night air as I pathetically tried to keep up with the rowdy bundle of boys marching ahead of me.

They were all still wearing the yukata's Diane had designed for them, so our group stood out like a sore thumb in the vast crowd of commonly dressed people.

    Each of the boys' designs were vibrant colors that corresponded with their everyday style, and having them all lined up made them appear as some sort of walking talking rainbow of good-looking guys.

They shine too brightly, it makes my eyes hurt.

But even so, I still couldn't make myself look away from them as I analyzed the details of each club member's yukata.

    Hozumi (who had removed all of his girl makeup prior to us leaving the studio) was wearing a pale-yellow yukata that had little white flowers etched across the front of it. You could say it was a girly pattern, but Hozumi's boyish features balanced it out just fine.