[Mekakuni] fic: Memories of the Future * ch. 10
Title: Memories of the Future
Chapter: 10
Fandom: Mekakushi no Kuni fanfic
Notes: for 30_kisses
Archive: lj / ffnet
Disclaimer: I do not own Mekakushi no Kuni and am making no profit from writing this.
Words: ~1917
-----chapter 10: #10-----
The end of the play wasn't a blast, but it certainly was entertaining. Masahiro actually found himself enjoying the role of fairy godmother. He improvised on the spot whenever he couldn't remember what his lines were supposed to be...which was almost the entire time. His last scene was a sort of narration about Cinderella's happily-ever-after with the Prince. He was supposed to narrate about how Ezawa was so elated that Kanade's foot had fit perfectly into the glass slipper that he kissed her. That scene would have made both Arou and Eri want to maim the scriptwriter. However, Masahiro didn't quite remember his lines right.
And so he improvised, throwing off the timing of the script, and thus, the kiss. He could see Kanade's classmate wringing her hands out of the corner of his eye. She was probably greatly disappointed that her masterpiece wasn't going the way she wanted. Masahiro wasn't terribly concerned. He was having fun with this.
A flustered Kanade darted her eyes around, not knowing how they were going to end the play without following the script. When he caught her eyes, Masahiro winked at her and mouthed, "Leave it to me," for he was her 'fairy godmother' after all.
"The Prince took one of Cinderella's dainty hands and, look at that! He's about to propose!" said Masahiro, knowing that Ezawa would know to follow. Ezawa knelt down in front of Kanade and took one of her hands, his expression unreadable. Kanade blinked, her eyes suddenly far away, the telltale sign of being suddenly immersed in the future. Masahiro groaned inwardly. Perhaps he shouldn't have had Ezawa take Kanade's hand.
Ezawa, thankfully, wasn't looking at Kanade too closely and the audience was too far away to tell anything out of the ordinary. Ezawa closed his eyes and brought Kanade's hand to his lips, leaving a chaste kiss on the back of her hand.
The crowd cheered just as Kanade snapped out of her vision. She blinked confusedly for a moment, her eyes wandering to seek Masahiro's, before realizing that Ezawa was holding her hand. She could still feel a lingering sensation on the back of her hand.
"May I ask for your hand in marriage?" asked Ezawa, his face as dazzling as ever.
The girls in the crowd swooned. Eri cheered and screamed, "KYAAA!!! EZAWA!!!"
Kanade nodded even as she blushed, only to turn redder when Ezawa swooped her up bridal style.
"And so, they lived happily-ever-after!" claimed Masahiro.
Kanade glanced his way again as they both exited the stage. Something was on her mind.
-----
When Masahiro was finally able to make his way back to Arou through the crowd, he immediately noticed the tall blonde next to Arou. Although the classroom was bustling with students, his eyes easily found her in the crowd. She was one of the few people in the audience who wasn't in costume, like one who had stumbled into a fairytale. But instead of looking out of place, she looked the part of the main character in all her simplistic beauty. She needed no magic to stand out. For once, the thick stack of papers she always lugged around with her was absent. She was shuffling through something else, and she did so with a smile. Smiles certainly didn't follow paperwork.
As he got closer, he saw that the stack she was shuffling through...was a stack of photographs. Kaichou would stop at a photograph, smile merrily, and then hand Arou the photograph she was just looking at, pointing out whatever it was that had caused her to smile.
"Those aren't photographs from the play, are they?" asked Masahiro, announcing his presence.
Arou held up his camera, which turned out to be a small black camera that wasn't a Polaroid or a digital camera. "They're not developed yet," replied Arou. The dark-haired boy looked at Masahiro with a perplexed expression. "Kanade-" he began.
"Oh right," cut in Masahiro, already knowing what Arou was about to ask and feeling no need to keep teasing Arou now that the play was over. "She was worried about the ending."
"The ending?" mused Arou. "Other than your acting, it was pretty good. She didn't have to worry about that."
"Hey, I made the best out of the situation," claimed Masahiro. Kaichou quietly laughed at his indignation as she straightened the photos. His lips twitched into a half smile at the sound of her laugh.
Masahiro coughed into his hand, still trying to sound indignant. It was hard when his facial features kept betraying him. "Anyway, you should thank me for that. The original kiss was on the lips."
Arou's eyes almost bugged out. It was quite a comical expression that Masahiro almost grinned. The other boy only ever lost his composure with matters concerning Kanade. Their relationship really was something extraordinary.
Masahiro jerked his head towards the stage where Kanade was being bombarded by congratulations from the other students in the class. She had her hands in front of her, probably frantically denying any contribution to the success of the play. "She's still over there."
Arou gave him a nod as he stood up. "Thanks."
Whether Arou was thanking him for telling him where Kanade was, or whether he was thanking him for averting the crisis of the kiss that would have complicated matters for everyone, Masahiro didn't know. It could have been for both, but either way, that one tiny word spoke volumes. Masahiro inclined his head, acknowledging Arou's gratitude.
The dark-haired boy's eyes were on Kanade, watching her with concern. "Did she tell you what she saw?" he asked.
Trust Arou to be able to tell that Kanade had one of her visions again all the way from where he was sitting in the audience. Trust Arou to conveniently forget that Kaichou was right next to them, able to hear every single word they were exchanging. There was no way that Kaichou wouldn't get suspicious from words like that. What was Arou's intention? Well, of course Arou was concerned about Kanade, but he normally guarded his words much better than this. Masahiro was the one who was a lot more careless about their abilities. Not Arou.
"No," replied Masahiro slowly, wondering what Kaichou was making of this conversation. There hadn't been time during the play to ask Kanade what she had seen, and by the time they had finished taking their bows, Kanade had been caught by her scriptwriter while he escaped.
Arou frowned. "Well, I'm going to save her from her classmates. Be back later." He glanced back at Masahiro, his eyes quickly darting over to Kaichou as well. "Have fun with those photos. I'm sure Kanade would love to see them too," he added before he hurried off towards Kanade. His quiet apologies as he bumped into people drifted back to Masahiro's ears, and soon he was too far for Masahiro to hear.
Masahiro almost sighed as he plopped himself down in Arou's vacated seat. Arou had left him in a difficult situation. Just what was he going to tell Kaichou? Was now the time? Was that what Arou had been planning? Was Arou trying to give Masahiro an opening for him to pounce on, or was it a sign from Arou that he was fine with their shared secret being known for revealing his secret meant that theirs would no doubt come out into the open as well...
"What was all that about?" asked Kaichou as she handed Masahiro a photo before he was even able to answer.
Masahiro took one glance at the photo before all thoughts of secret powers and hard choices and betrayed expectations flew out of his mind. "Where'd you get this?" he asked with a grin. He was clothed in his fortune teller garb in the photo while Arou had blood trailing down his face. Arou's arms were around Kanade, who was in turn hugging a service tray close to her body. Her smile was wide and carefree and his own had closely rivaled hers.
Kaichou grinned. "We have a lot of photos in the school council room from last year's school festival. I thought you guys might like to see the ones that you're in." She held up the small stack of photos in her hand, spread out in a fan-like fashion as if she were holding poker cards. "There are ten or so photos. Want to go through them all?"
"Of course!"
The photo he picked next turned out to be of him in his fortune telling booth. His eyes were closed, in the midst of a memory of the future that had not yet come about. He was holding the hand of a girl he didn't personally know. She was one of the countless customers he had last year who had come to ask him for advice on her relationship, and he had been surprised to find himself happy to impart whatever he could without giving too much away. It had been a strange feeling, being part of everyone else. He had felt like a normal high school student enjoying the school festival, despite the fact that he had been using his powers to bring those smiles to those girls' faces. They had appreciated him for his powers, even though they hadn't known what exactly had been behind those 'predictions' of his. He remembered that he had been glad that he had decided to participate in the school festival. Being merely a bystander would have been lonely.
And that was it, wasn't it? He was glad that he was no longer a bystander.
"Are there any photos of you?" asked Masahiro suddenly as he sifted through the photos. There was Kanade and Eri in their cafe in one photo. Another photo showed Arou in the dark ghost house, the photo itself almost too dark for Arou's figure to be discerned. There were more photos of Masahiro too, but none of the photos seemed to show the school's hard working class president.
"Of me?" questioned Kaichou, surprised.
"Who else?"
Kaichou blinked. "Well, I didn't think they'd be interesting, so I didn't take them from the school council room."
Masahiro raised his eyebrow. "I'd like to see them."
She laughed. "All right, but let me tell you upfront. I wasn't in costume nor was I part of any of the activities. I was just lugging around my thick stack of papers like usual. I don't know who snapped such a boring photo." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "Well, I best be going now. I need to make sure the lights I hung turn on at the right time. If you're still around later, come find me if you still want to see those boring photos. I'll stop by the school council room for them."
Kaichou was always working so hard behind-the-scenes to make sure everything went right. He had thought for sure that he wouldn't enjoy the school festival, but Kaichou's simple "If you don't try it, how would you know?" had spurred his interest.
"Thank you," murmured Masahiro as Kaichou started getting up.
Kaichou turned back, her long hair trailing behind her. "Eh, for what?"
Masahiro smiled and held up the photos. "I'll be sure to show these to Kanade."
She smiled in response.
-----
Next chapter: #5 ano sa
Chapter: 10
Fandom: Mekakushi no Kuni fanfic
Notes: for 30_kisses
Archive: lj / ffnet
Disclaimer: I do not own Mekakushi no Kuni and am making no profit from writing this.
Words: ~1917
-----chapter 10: #10-----
The end of the play wasn't a blast, but it certainly was entertaining. Masahiro actually found himself enjoying the role of fairy godmother. He improvised on the spot whenever he couldn't remember what his lines were supposed to be...which was almost the entire time. His last scene was a sort of narration about Cinderella's happily-ever-after with the Prince. He was supposed to narrate about how Ezawa was so elated that Kanade's foot had fit perfectly into the glass slipper that he kissed her. That scene would have made both Arou and Eri want to maim the scriptwriter. However, Masahiro didn't quite remember his lines right.
And so he improvised, throwing off the timing of the script, and thus, the kiss. He could see Kanade's classmate wringing her hands out of the corner of his eye. She was probably greatly disappointed that her masterpiece wasn't going the way she wanted. Masahiro wasn't terribly concerned. He was having fun with this.
A flustered Kanade darted her eyes around, not knowing how they were going to end the play without following the script. When he caught her eyes, Masahiro winked at her and mouthed, "Leave it to me," for he was her 'fairy godmother' after all.
"The Prince took one of Cinderella's dainty hands and, look at that! He's about to propose!" said Masahiro, knowing that Ezawa would know to follow. Ezawa knelt down in front of Kanade and took one of her hands, his expression unreadable. Kanade blinked, her eyes suddenly far away, the telltale sign of being suddenly immersed in the future. Masahiro groaned inwardly. Perhaps he shouldn't have had Ezawa take Kanade's hand.
Ezawa, thankfully, wasn't looking at Kanade too closely and the audience was too far away to tell anything out of the ordinary. Ezawa closed his eyes and brought Kanade's hand to his lips, leaving a chaste kiss on the back of her hand.
The crowd cheered just as Kanade snapped out of her vision. She blinked confusedly for a moment, her eyes wandering to seek Masahiro's, before realizing that Ezawa was holding her hand. She could still feel a lingering sensation on the back of her hand.
"May I ask for your hand in marriage?" asked Ezawa, his face as dazzling as ever.
The girls in the crowd swooned. Eri cheered and screamed, "KYAAA!!! EZAWA!!!"
Kanade nodded even as she blushed, only to turn redder when Ezawa swooped her up bridal style.
"And so, they lived happily-ever-after!" claimed Masahiro.
Kanade glanced his way again as they both exited the stage. Something was on her mind.
-----
When Masahiro was finally able to make his way back to Arou through the crowd, he immediately noticed the tall blonde next to Arou. Although the classroom was bustling with students, his eyes easily found her in the crowd. She was one of the few people in the audience who wasn't in costume, like one who had stumbled into a fairytale. But instead of looking out of place, she looked the part of the main character in all her simplistic beauty. She needed no magic to stand out. For once, the thick stack of papers she always lugged around with her was absent. She was shuffling through something else, and she did so with a smile. Smiles certainly didn't follow paperwork.
As he got closer, he saw that the stack she was shuffling through...was a stack of photographs. Kaichou would stop at a photograph, smile merrily, and then hand Arou the photograph she was just looking at, pointing out whatever it was that had caused her to smile.
"Those aren't photographs from the play, are they?" asked Masahiro, announcing his presence.
Arou held up his camera, which turned out to be a small black camera that wasn't a Polaroid or a digital camera. "They're not developed yet," replied Arou. The dark-haired boy looked at Masahiro with a perplexed expression. "Kanade-" he began.
"Oh right," cut in Masahiro, already knowing what Arou was about to ask and feeling no need to keep teasing Arou now that the play was over. "She was worried about the ending."
"The ending?" mused Arou. "Other than your acting, it was pretty good. She didn't have to worry about that."
"Hey, I made the best out of the situation," claimed Masahiro. Kaichou quietly laughed at his indignation as she straightened the photos. His lips twitched into a half smile at the sound of her laugh.
Masahiro coughed into his hand, still trying to sound indignant. It was hard when his facial features kept betraying him. "Anyway, you should thank me for that. The original kiss was on the lips."
Arou's eyes almost bugged out. It was quite a comical expression that Masahiro almost grinned. The other boy only ever lost his composure with matters concerning Kanade. Their relationship really was something extraordinary.
Masahiro jerked his head towards the stage where Kanade was being bombarded by congratulations from the other students in the class. She had her hands in front of her, probably frantically denying any contribution to the success of the play. "She's still over there."
Arou gave him a nod as he stood up. "Thanks."
Whether Arou was thanking him for telling him where Kanade was, or whether he was thanking him for averting the crisis of the kiss that would have complicated matters for everyone, Masahiro didn't know. It could have been for both, but either way, that one tiny word spoke volumes. Masahiro inclined his head, acknowledging Arou's gratitude.
The dark-haired boy's eyes were on Kanade, watching her with concern. "Did she tell you what she saw?" he asked.
Trust Arou to be able to tell that Kanade had one of her visions again all the way from where he was sitting in the audience. Trust Arou to conveniently forget that Kaichou was right next to them, able to hear every single word they were exchanging. There was no way that Kaichou wouldn't get suspicious from words like that. What was Arou's intention? Well, of course Arou was concerned about Kanade, but he normally guarded his words much better than this. Masahiro was the one who was a lot more careless about their abilities. Not Arou.
"No," replied Masahiro slowly, wondering what Kaichou was making of this conversation. There hadn't been time during the play to ask Kanade what she had seen, and by the time they had finished taking their bows, Kanade had been caught by her scriptwriter while he escaped.
Arou frowned. "Well, I'm going to save her from her classmates. Be back later." He glanced back at Masahiro, his eyes quickly darting over to Kaichou as well. "Have fun with those photos. I'm sure Kanade would love to see them too," he added before he hurried off towards Kanade. His quiet apologies as he bumped into people drifted back to Masahiro's ears, and soon he was too far for Masahiro to hear.
Masahiro almost sighed as he plopped himself down in Arou's vacated seat. Arou had left him in a difficult situation. Just what was he going to tell Kaichou? Was now the time? Was that what Arou had been planning? Was Arou trying to give Masahiro an opening for him to pounce on, or was it a sign from Arou that he was fine with their shared secret being known for revealing his secret meant that theirs would no doubt come out into the open as well...
"What was all that about?" asked Kaichou as she handed Masahiro a photo before he was even able to answer.
Masahiro took one glance at the photo before all thoughts of secret powers and hard choices and betrayed expectations flew out of his mind. "Where'd you get this?" he asked with a grin. He was clothed in his fortune teller garb in the photo while Arou had blood trailing down his face. Arou's arms were around Kanade, who was in turn hugging a service tray close to her body. Her smile was wide and carefree and his own had closely rivaled hers.
Kaichou grinned. "We have a lot of photos in the school council room from last year's school festival. I thought you guys might like to see the ones that you're in." She held up the small stack of photos in her hand, spread out in a fan-like fashion as if she were holding poker cards. "There are ten or so photos. Want to go through them all?"
"Of course!"
The photo he picked next turned out to be of him in his fortune telling booth. His eyes were closed, in the midst of a memory of the future that had not yet come about. He was holding the hand of a girl he didn't personally know. She was one of the countless customers he had last year who had come to ask him for advice on her relationship, and he had been surprised to find himself happy to impart whatever he could without giving too much away. It had been a strange feeling, being part of everyone else. He had felt like a normal high school student enjoying the school festival, despite the fact that he had been using his powers to bring those smiles to those girls' faces. They had appreciated him for his powers, even though they hadn't known what exactly had been behind those 'predictions' of his. He remembered that he had been glad that he had decided to participate in the school festival. Being merely a bystander would have been lonely.
And that was it, wasn't it? He was glad that he was no longer a bystander.
"Are there any photos of you?" asked Masahiro suddenly as he sifted through the photos. There was Kanade and Eri in their cafe in one photo. Another photo showed Arou in the dark ghost house, the photo itself almost too dark for Arou's figure to be discerned. There were more photos of Masahiro too, but none of the photos seemed to show the school's hard working class president.
"Of me?" questioned Kaichou, surprised.
"Who else?"
Kaichou blinked. "Well, I didn't think they'd be interesting, so I didn't take them from the school council room."
Masahiro raised his eyebrow. "I'd like to see them."
She laughed. "All right, but let me tell you upfront. I wasn't in costume nor was I part of any of the activities. I was just lugging around my thick stack of papers like usual. I don't know who snapped such a boring photo." She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "Well, I best be going now. I need to make sure the lights I hung turn on at the right time. If you're still around later, come find me if you still want to see those boring photos. I'll stop by the school council room for them."
Kaichou was always working so hard behind-the-scenes to make sure everything went right. He had thought for sure that he wouldn't enjoy the school festival, but Kaichou's simple "If you don't try it, how would you know?" had spurred his interest.
"Thank you," murmured Masahiro as Kaichou started getting up.
Kaichou turned back, her long hair trailing behind her. "Eh, for what?"
Masahiro smiled and held up the photos. "I'll be sure to show these to Kanade."
She smiled in response.
-----
Next chapter: #5 ano sa