More than Best Friends?

Chapter 28 - The Cultural Festival

The weekend of the East Horizon Academy Cultural Festival had finally arrived.  Various booths and stalls were set up around the school courtyard, and there was even a stage that had been decorated for the event.  Henry tried to keep a positive attitude while he was working at one of his class's food stands, but he wished he was walking around with Pe instead.  He frowned, as he was stuck here when he wanted to be feeding her some cotton candy or ice cream.  He felt better as he saw his good friends Kyle and Yuki approaching him.

"Hey guys, did you want anything?" he asked, picking up a pencil and notepad.

"Yeah, I wanted to try some of the takoyaki!" Kyle said, clenching his fist, "Yuki said it's good, I've never had it before."

"Well, you're in luck, since we just prepared a fresh batch," Henry motioned to his classmate, who then placed eight pieces of takoyaki in a cardboard tray and handed it to him.  He put some eel sauce, mayonnaise, bonito flakes, and shredded seaweed on top before giving it to Kyle.  At least he didn't have to actually make the food, otherwise, they probably wouldn't be allowed to have any more food stands at school.

"Woah! This looks awesome!" Kyle exclaimed, his sky blue eyes sparkling.  "I wanna eat one right now!"  He poked one of the fried dough balls with a toothpick.

"Wait!  Not yet, they're still-" Yuki tried to warn him, but he had already popped it in his mouth. "Hot..."  Kyle winced as the piping hot takoyaki sat on his tongue; he felt like his mouth was on fire.  Yuki shook his head; he loved his boyfriend, but sometimes he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"Blaaah..." Kyle stuck his tongue out, hoping the cool autumn air would soothe the burning sensation.

"You're such a dork," Yuki said, patting his shoulder.  "Come on, Ky, let's go get you something to drink."

"Pe's class is doing a café inside, they'll probably have some water there," Henry remarked.

"Cool, we'll go check it out then," Yuki said as he took Kyle's hand.

"Could you tell her I'll stop by in a little bit? My lunch break is coming up soon."

"Sure, we'll tell her for you." Kyle started to drag Yuki away in search of something cold to drink, and Yuki waved bye to Henry as they walked off.

~*~

Adrijan tugged at the collar of the charcoal black montsuki robe as he looked in the full-length mirror.  Their class had decided to go with traditional clothing as the uniform for their café.  He had never worn a hakama before, but he had to admit that he looked damn good in it.  Some of his chest was revealed from the fabric being slightly opened, but he didn't mind.  He smirked a bit as he turned around, satisfied that his occasional weight-lifting was paying off.  Suddenly, the sliding door of the empty classroom opened, and he flinched from the sudden scraping sound.

"Oh, here you are," Pe said, "Your shift starts soon."

"Did I put this on right?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck.  She smiled and nodded, a faint pink blush present on her cheeks.

"Here, I'll help you with the obi," she said, approaching him.  He nodded and handed her the sash, turning around so she could tie it.

"Is it supposed to be a bow like yours?" he asked, his face beginning to heat up from the gentle feeling of her fingers on him.

"No, it's different for boys' clothes," she shook her head and loosely tied the thick belt into a tidy knot on his back.  He turned and looked down at her, his nose now inches from hers as she fixed the haori-himo near his chest.  As she finished securing the woven cords, he took her hands in his own and gazed into her sparkling eyes.  She stared curiously at him, her long lashes fluttering as she blinked.  He said nothing, his cheeks now red as strawberries and hers a light pink shade.