99 Problems

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Wow, I'm finally getting back to this omake! This is officially the first part of the actual school festival *^*

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Disclaimer: Kuroko no Basuke belongs to Fujimaki Tadatoshi

"Steady… Steady… Annnnnnnnd it's perfect!"

Tomoko and the rest of the class cheered joyfully after the sign was hung up securely above their classroom door. In bold, it read "Class 1-B: QUEST FOR CAKE!" Two weeks' worth of blood, sweat, and tears went into the finishing their class theme and everyone, especially the class representative herself, was glad to see the fruition of their efforts. All around the inside was shelves lined with baked goods and delicious snacks, decorations were placed aesthetically around the room to make it appear like an actual bakery, a cashier counter was by the door with a tip jar, and in the center of the room was a big board that highlighted the main cosplay challenge of their class' bakery if patrons wanted to give it a go.

It was dramatic, but Tomoko almost shed a tear right there at the unveiling.

"You did a great job, Tomoko-san," Kuroko said besides her. She gave the male a bright grin.

"We all did a wonderful job! It looks amazing… Thank you everyone!"

The rest of the class nodded at the thankful class representative and took in their hard work for just a few more moments before someone piped up about the time. "It's almost 10AM! The gates will be opening soon for the public."

Tomoko's eyes widened. "Ah, everyone, places!" she ordered frantically, pointing at all directions as students around her rushed to get to their assigned areas. In the classroom itself, there was going to be a two people manning the cashier at any given time and the switch-offs was every two hours, and a few people will be around the classroom to help with giving out requested bakery goods. That left the other half of the class out on the floor and courtyard to complete the other half of their theme.

"The 10 people who are assigned a character role, please put on your costumes!" she said before turning to the redhead with a sparkle in her eyes, "Taiga-chan, don't forget that you're switching off with Aoki-kun at 1PM. Mr. Shinsengumi~"

"Y-You don't have to remind me..." Kagami sputtered with embarrassment.

"It'll be fun!"

"Tch, if it's so fun, why didn't you sign up to cosplay?"

Tomoko gave the male a matter-of-fact smile, "Because I'm the main coordinator and have to be able to jump in and help out with anything. Plus, we already had five girls sign up to be the female characters so I can't take that away from them~ Did you want me to be the geisha so you won't be lonely, Taiga-chan?"

"As if!" he furrowed his brows in disgust, though his face was still tinged red. "I-It's just a hassle to walk around in a costume."

"But you said you do that for Halloween back in America," she tilted her head.

"Kagami-kun is secretly excited," Kuroko piped up from nowhere. He presented the two a wig cap, which when worn, made the person look like he had a bald top with hair on the side. It was a typical samurai hairstyle of the Bakumatsu period. "He should wear this with his costume, too."

"Where did you get that?!"

"I was by the drama club earlier and it caught my eye. I think it'll fit you nicely, Kagami-kun."

"Hell no!" Kagami waved it away like a disease. "Give it to Aoki!"

"Aoki-kun can't wear this. He has very nice hair."

"And I don't?!"

"No," Kuroko deadpanned. Next to him, Tomoko giggled before breaking up their 'argument' by handing the male his own costume.

"Tetsuya-kun, here's the prince costume," she said. "We didn't even need to tailor it because Hori-senpai is about the same size. You're going to look dashing!"

"Thank you, Tomoko-san," he took it and gave her a thoughtful look. "You would look wonderful in a costume as well."

"Hm, yeah. If only," she smiled before leaving to make sure everyone else was able to get to their places and costumes. "We're almost ready! Let's have a great school festival, everyone!"

The first thing Tomoko did after the gates opened was to hand out flyers with Kagami to the incoming people out in the courtyard so that people will know about and come visit their floor. Their flyers were eye-catching, thanks to Yachi Hitoka's hard work at designing, and many promised to check out their classroom with smiles.

"Hey, what's this challenge game that your bakery is hosting?" a curious middle-schooler asked as two of her friends looked at the flyer with interest. "We can win a prize?"

"Yes!" Tomoko smiled as she went on explaining. "Instead of directly buying delicious snacks from the bakery, participants can pay just 500 yen each and enter into our 'cosplayer hunt' contest! You can go alone or in groups. We have 10 cosplayers roaming around the school and courtyard each carrying a stamp. Your mission is to find each of them and get them to stamp your card. If you can get all 10 stamps within two hours of your start time, then you get our grand sponge cake or five smaller bakery goods of your choice for free," she winked, "That's worth at least 1500 yen!"

"Woah!" the three juniors chorused with excitement. "Who do we have to find?"

"The bakery has a bulletin board with the 10 cosplayers' faces on there. They'll be wearing either a shinsengumi, geisha, western prince, princess, butler, maid, Romeo and Juliet, or Bonnie and Clyde costumes," she said before pointing at Kagami, "If you decide to play after 1PM, he'll be the shinsengumi!"

One of the girls blushed hard when she looked at the redhead and her friend nudged her secretly with a grin. "Thank you for the information! We will be sure to play!" they said before skipping off.

"Yay, I got three!" Tomoko fist pumped with joy. "Taiga-chan, you gotta talk to some of these people too!"

"They don't wanna talk to me," he huffed. "They just keep coming to you."

"Eh? Just stop looking so scary and they'll approach you."

"I can't help the way I look!"

"I think one of those girls was just too shy," she recalled with a thoughtful pout. "She had that same embarrassed look you usually have when I mentioned you. I bet once people see you in a shinsengumi costume, they'll flock you. I heard many girls are in love with the characters in Hakuoki who were also Bakumatsu samurais. You'll be so popular!"

"I don't want that!" Kagami growled. "I can advertise just fine! It's just that you're stealin' all the attention here."

Tomoko grinned as an idea surfaced on her mind. She rocked on the heels of her feet, "I'll go advertise inside the school then. Let's see who can pull more people to come play our challenge game!"

"Hmph, fine. I'll win!"

"Sure~" she said with a wave. "Don't forget I already have three!"

"O-Oi! That's cheating!"

"Tetsuya-kun!"

The blue haired male was surprised to hear Tomoko's voice calling out to him while he was walking down the busy hallway. Even though he was wearing an elegant prince suit, not many people noticed because he had such a low presence. "Tomoko-san," he greeted. "Are you done passing out flyers?"

"Not at all," she grinned as she showed the male her stack. "Taiga-chan and I made a bet to see who can rally up the most people, though. I'm passing them out to people inside the school but it's so hard because I keep getting distracted! Every classroom looks so cool and I want to check them out!"

Kuroko blinked at the distressed girl before giving her a look of reassurance. He took half of her stack and reached out to take her free hand like a true prince. "I'll help you Tomoko-san," he said charmingly. "So we can walk around together and check out each classroom, too."

"You're…"

Tomoko's eyes were wide as she stared into his blue eyes. He wanted this to be romantic, like a prince escorting his dear princess around. It was going to be just the two of them. There seemed to be a moment between them before she broke it by pulling the male around with oblivious excitement.

"You're a genius, Tetsuya-kun! We can find people who are finishing up a classroom to come to ours! Taiga-chan won't know what hit him."

"A-Ah…"

"Let's go to the second-year's floor first!" she rambled on, "Oh, I can get Ko-tan to buy lots of stuff from us because he loves my baking!"

Of course, anything of that sort always flew over the caramel haired class representative's head. It was what's endearing about her, he supposed with a small smile.

"Welcome to class 2-A's Energy Smoothie—oh, Okuma-chan!" Riko greeted with surprise as Tomoko and Kuroko walked into the classroom decorated into a café. "Wanna try our smoothies?"

Tomoko looked around the café and saw that there weren't many people; even as she walked in there was no line like the other classrooms around despite the place being decorated so lively. "Of course!" she replied. "Anything for our senpai, right Tetsuya-kun?"

"Eh?" the older girl blinked for a moment before realizing a second presence behind her and jumped. "K-Kuroko-kun, since when did you get here?!"

"I've been here with Tomoko-san the whole time," he replied impassively before taking a seat with Tomoko by the window. "Hello Hyuuga-senpai, Kiyoshi-senpai."

The other two second-years smiled and waved from behind the counter. Though, their expressions were laced with guilt and horror as Riko skipped over with two glasses of smoothies for the underclassmen.

"Here you go! I came up with the recipe to this one myself!"

Looking at the weirdly bubbling green liquid inside the glasses, Tomoko and Kuroko realized just why the classroom was nearly empty now. There was no way that smoothie looked appetizing to taste… The few people that weren't scared away by Riko's concoctions were drinking a normal smoothie made by the other students in the classroom. But in order to support their friend, Tomoko and Kuroko hesitantly reached over to grab the bubbling drink.

"I-I can't watch this!" Hyuuga's shout broke their concentration as he stomped over and slapped his hands on the table to prevent the two from taking a sip. He shot a glare at the surprised short haired girl, "Riko, they'll die from drinking this!"

Die…?!

"How rude!" Riko's brows furrowed with irritation as a fist made contact on top of their bespectacled savior's head. "You and Teppei are alive and breathing just fine."

"Ah, but at what cost," Teppei smiled exasperatedly.

"Teppei, even you—!" her lips trembled slightly as she looked down with dejection. She rubbed her bandaged fingers unconsciously. Is it really that bad…?

Tomoko saw how hard the older girl had worked by the cuts on her fingers. Even if the drink wasn't the best, she couldn't let the girl's hard work go to waste like that. She understood how much it meant when people expressed joy eating the food she prepared, so she wanted for Riko to feel the same.

"Well, I'm parched," she declared before taking the drink in her hands with a bright grin. "This is just what I need!"

Gulp!

Everyone stared at the bravery she displayed as she took big sips of the green smoothie. In her mouth, she could feel the sandy texture of the mix likely due to the skins not being properly discarded. But there was something else in there that she could quite place; it was powdery.

"Mmmmmm," she forced herself to keep grinning and swallowed. "I-It's edible… You can really get used to the taste, right Tetsuya-kun?"

The male, who watched Tomoko take a gulp, had did the same so she didn't have to suffer alone. He could barely muster a nod. Riko sighed and shook her head with a small smile, "You guys don't have to force yourself if it's bad."

"No seriously! Though I can make a few suggestions," Tomoko said with a warm expression. "Put more fruits in it and less veggies and peel them all first. Also, I couldn't quite place the powdery substance in the smoothie—what was it...?"

"Seaweed flavored protein powder!" the girl replied proudly.

"Yep, leave that out," Tomoko said with a firm nod. "Then I'm sure more people will come in and order your smoothie. Do let Hyuuga-senpai and Kiyoshi-senpai try it first though, just in case."

Hyuuga's eyes bulged in shock. He had tried to warn them out of the goodness in his heart and that was how the girl repaid him? Underclassmen these days don't respect their seniors at all! "Okuma, how could you be so cruel!"

The girl rubbed the back of her head. Oops…

"Don't listen to him," Riko rolled her eyes before focusing on the two. "Thanks for the tips, Okuma-chan. I'll let you on your way now, but holler if you need anything, okay?"

"Oh, don't mind if I do then," Tomoko handed the girl a few flyers before leaving with a hopeful gaze. "Can you hang this up somewhere or pass it along to your costumers? Tetsuya-kun and I are going around advertising. You guys should come by when your shift ends, too!"

"A cosplay hunt and bakery? Sounds interesting. No wonder Kuroko is in a prince costume," Teppei finally observed as he peered over Riko's shoulder. "We'll come visit~"

As the two waved goodbye and left, another classroom caught Tomoko's attention and she pulled Kuroko along. It seemed to be Izuki, Koganei, and Mitobe's class and they were hosting some type of stand-up comedy show. "We gotta see this! Izuki-senpai's a master at this stuff!"

"Did you hear about the guy who's whole left side was cut off? He's all right now."

"Tomoko-san, please wait..." Kuroko said softly, making the energetic girl pause. While he didn't care where they went as long as he got to spend time with Tomoko, he had to take a moment to digest the horror he just consumed before entering into a world of dry humor.

"Are you okay, Tetsuya-kun?"

A hand reached up to feel his cheeks and he took advantage of it by leaning slightly to the touch and closed his eyes. "Yes. I just need some time to recover from Riko-san's concoction…"

Tomoko giggled, "It was pretty bad, huh? But I'm sure she'll get better at it."

"You're too kind, Tomoko-san."

They spent around an hour walking around the second-year's hall, partly visiting their friends while checking out interesting classrooms and partly handing out handing out flyers to people who didn't know where to go next.

"Thanks for your support!" Tomoko waved at the couple who were on their way towards the first-year floor. Everything had been going pretty successfully; people were receptive of her approaching them and were surprised but interested after she pointed out Kuroko as one of the cosplayers. His costume was intricately designed, after all. She'd have to thank Hori-senpai again later for lending it to her class.

But then, she realized something as well.

She furrowed her brows as gave Kuroko a once-over. "Have you been giving out stamps secretly without me knowing?"

The male shook his head, "No. I've been with you this whole time but no one has come up to me."

The school festival has started over two hours ago and she was certain that some people have started playing their challenge, so why was it that they haven't encountered anyone? They've been on the second-year's floor and Tomoko was excellent at making her presence known. She was passing out the flyers!

Presence... Oh, crap.

Before she could say anything, her phone rang and she accepted the call just as her classmate's frantic cries entered her ears.

"Tomoko-chan! W-We've got some complaints from participants about not being able to find Kuroko-kun anywhere! They're convinced that there is no such person wearing a western prince cosplay! H-Help, we don't know what to do!"

"C-Calm down, Ayane-chan," Tomoko tried to get the girl to stop panicking as she sighed, her feared thought coming true. "It's my fault, I should've realized sooner that this would be a problem because Tetsuya-kun has such a low presence—"

"No, it's my fault," Kuroko cut in with a sad expression. "My low presence caused this complication..."

"Ah, don't say that! It's not your fault and we can just find another person to replace the role, right Ayane-chan?" she said while consoling the dejected boy. On the other end, Ayane was still babbling.

"The only guy that has a similar measurement to Kuroko-kun is Ukyo-kun, but he's already dressed as Clyde... Oh gosh, what should we do?"

"...This is my fault too... If only I was the same size as most of the guys in our class..."

"T-Tetsuya-kun..." Tomoko patted the male's back while he stood with his forehead against the wall. He was completely inconsolable at this point as more and more problems arose around him. "I like the way you are," she said honestly. "Imagine being as large as Taiga-chan... He's way too tall and I can't even touch his big head!"

Somewhere in the courtyard, the redhead sneezed.

She poked Kuroko's cheek and tried to make him smile by flashing one of her own. Then she moved it to ruffle the top of his head softly, "We're the same height so I can do this!"

Kuroko felt his cheeks warm under her touch, "..."

Wait, we are the same size!

"Ah, Ayane-chan, I got an idea! Wait for us in the classroom!" she said before ending the call abruptly, not leaving the girl any chance to question it. Kuroko was also wondering what was going on as he was ushered down the stairs by the determined caramel haired class representative.

"Tomoko-san, what are we doing?"

They stopped in front of the bathrooms and Tomoko was giving him such contemplating look. "I need you to strip, Tetsuya-kun."

Kuroko blinked.

"Excuse me...?"

It took the girl a few silent seconds to realized that perhaps the way she said her request sounded way too suggestive. "I-I mean, I need you to change out of the prince suit and give it to me," she explained with a sheepish laugh. "I'll take over as the prince!"

"Do you think this will work?" Ayane whispered to Kuroko while they waited for the class representative to come out of the bathroom. "Even though you two are the same height, the suit is a little bigger to fit a male body..."

The girl's words trailed off as Tomoko came out wearing the costume and hair tied up in a high ponytail. While the top would've been a little big on her, she filled it nicely with her chest and only the sleeves were slightly baggy. For the pants, she used a belt to keep the top in place and the rest fit nicely. "How do I look?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Absolutely amazing! Oh my gosh!" Ayane squealed and found herself fangirling over how handsome the girl looked as a cross-dressing prince. "Don't you agree, Kuroko-kun?!" she nudged the male besides her.

"Yes..." he nodded; his expression didn't give much away but he was very star-struck as well, "You look dashing, Tomoko-san." Hearing the same compliment she used before made Tomoko giggle.

"Okay, I've updated the bulletin board with your picture so you're good to go. People should have a better chance at getting this stamp now," Ayane supplied and handing the girl the prince's stamp. "But why don't you stay around the first-year floor for a bit? That way people just starting will see you."

"Good idea," Tomoko nodded with a relieved grin and turned back to Kuroko. "Let's continue with—"

"Ahhh, I'm actually going to need Kuroko-kun for a little bit," Ayane cut in with an apologetic pout. "We need help carrying more trays of pudding and dorayaki to the classroom. They're selling fast!"

Although the blue haired male didn't want to end his one chance of spending time with the girl at the school festival, he understood that he needed to be useful and help around so that the girl could be worry-free. Tomoko spent a lot of time into making everything happen today and he wanted to make sure that things went smoothly from now on.

"I will see you later," Kuroko said as he was pulled away by his classmate. Tomoko waved goodbye and watched them disappear down the hallway among the mass of people before heading down the opposite way.

If she can't explore with Kuroko, she will still explore by herself!

She walked near class 1-A and saw that the glass windows were taped up with black tapestry and grew curious. With how busy her two weeks were, she didn't get a chance to ask Midorima or Akashi what they were working on. Walking closer to the entrance, she saw Takao standing by the door for admissions.

"Tomo-chan, I'm so glad you're here! Woah, you're wearing a prince costume? How charming~!" the male greeted with wide eyes. "Come in, come in!"

"Hi Takao-kun!" she greeted back with a smile. She read the sign above their heads, "Starry Night?"

"Ah, our class collaborated with the astronomy club and created a planetarium for the public to view. We also have a bonus fortune telling booth at the end! It's actually what sparked this collab in the first place," he explained. He leaned in with a whisper, "Shin-chan's pretty mad about the fortune telling booth though, because he claims that it was disrespectful to Oha-Asa or whatever."

"Don't tell me... Midorima-kun is giving out the fortunes?"

"Hahahaha, unfortunately he's not! But that would be funny, right?" Takao's eyes sparkled with a tear. "He's stationed at planet earth to tell people about the wonders of our planet~! But actually all he's been doing is taking pictures for people at his station since we crafted our planets to be a photo-op paradise. Wanna go see him? I bet he'll be instantly less annoyed."

Even if Tomoko had said no, the male wasn't taking it for an answer as he ushered her into the dim classroom that was sectioned off for each planet. "Princess Shin-chan! Your prince is here to save you from boredom!" Takao sang as he shoved Tomoko at the green haired male, causing the two to collide before he skidaddled away. "Bye bye!"

"Takao!" Midorima shouted angrily but the male was long gone, so he choose to look down at the person that was shoved his way and make sure they were okay. He blinked in surprise when he realized who it was, "O-Okuma?! Why are you dressed like this?"

"Hi," she grinned at the annoyed-looking male meekly. "My costume is out of this world, right?"

"..." his brows twitched at her attempt at a pun before he huffed. He couldn't possibly admit that she looked good cross-dressed. It was too embarrassing for him. "That is absurd."

"Takao-kun told me you were in a bad mood. Is it really because of the fortune booth?"

"Oha-Asa is the only one that can give out correct readings of horoscopes. Besides, a planetarium and fortune telling do not mix. I was opposed of this idea from the start," he claimed. "But Akashi sanctioned it due to majority rules. How foolish."

Tomoko chuckled behind her hand and looked up at the male, "The point of the school festival is for everyone to have fun, right? So what if the booth's not accurate... You guys did a fantastic job at planning the rest of the planetarium! You should have a little fun too. Let's explore!"

"I cannot leave my post," Midorima frowned.

"Come on," Tomoko rolled her eyes as she pulled the on the reluctant male's arm to move his feet. "We live on planet earth, nobody's gonna need a description of that. I wanna see Pluto!"

"Pluto is no longer a planet."

"Wait, seriously?!"

"I see you have not been paying attention in class."

"Aw, cut me some slack... I have an astronomy quiz coming up, can you tutor me?"

"Absolutely not."

"Midorima-kun, pleaseeeee~"

As they walked through the different illuminating planets together with the girl chattering animatedly, Midorima felt his annoyance dissipate away. Takao was perhaps right, that Tomoko did come to save him from his boredom.

Though, he was still going to kill the male later for being absurd and calling him a princess.

"Oh, this is pretty," Tomoko's voice cut off his thoughts as he looked at what she was pointing at. It was Saturn. "I wanna take a picture here!"

"Fine, give me your phone," he said with his hand outstretched. The girl blinked at him weirdly.

"No silly, we're going to take a picture together. Takao-kun said you guys worked hard to make this a photo-op paradise, right? It'll be a shame if I don't get at least one picture here."

"But—"

"Excuse me," Tomoko didn't let the male finish and walked behind him to hand her phone off to another student who was stationed there. "Can you take a picture of us?"

"Oh sure!" the girl with short hair said with a light smile. "I didn't know Midorima-san had such a cute cosplaying girlfriend. The prince suit looks super good on you, by the way."

Tomoko grinned proudly at the compliment as Midorima stiffened at the misunderstanding, "We are not a couple, Fujioka."

"Oh, sorry," she blinked, somehow unconvinced. "Anyway, are you ready for the picture?"

"Midorima-kun, get down more or your head's gonna get cut off in the picture!" Tomoko pouted as she pulled him near her level. The closeness between the two was making the male's body heat up slightly; the girl was unbothered as she cheesed hard and leaned in near his own face. Once the picture was snapped, Midorima could let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding and Tomoko skipped over to see the picture. "Ah, thank you!"

"You're welcome," Fujioka replied.

"I'll send this to you too, Midorima-kun!" she showed it to him, and he stared at the picture for a moment in wonderment because of how beautiful Tomoko looked when she smiled like that. He didn't know if he could afford to have such a picture on his phone without staring at it for too long like a creep.

"Hey, it's the prince cosplayer!" a voice piped up, cutting their moment short as two students wearing another school's uniform ran up to Tomoko with a victorious look. "Please stamp our card! We're halfway through the challenge!"

"Of course!" Tomoko nodded happily as she pulled out her stamp. Meanwhile, Fujioka's blank brown eyes were on Midorima the whole time, watching his microexpressions. Catching her look, the Midorima blushed and tried to explain.

"Like I said, we are not a couple."

"Yes, I heard you," she raised her brows. "But that does't mean you don't want to be, right?"

"A-Absurd!"

"Bye Tomo-chan~" Takao said before his face scrunched into a terrified look because Midorima was right behind him. The vice president looked mad and embarrassed and positively was going to kill him. "P-Please come back!"

Unaware, Tomoko only waved them goodbye before skipping off. There was a loud commotion down the hall and she wanted to check it out. Upon drawing closer, she realized why there were so many girls crowding around and squealing. Class 1-C was putting on one of their scheduled fashion shows!

"I wonder if Mura-kun and Kise-kun are in this one?" she wondered to herself as she tried to get a better look over the sea of heads. She was glad that she wasn't incredibly short for a girl and thus was able to get a decent view of the "stage" that the class constructed. Slowly, students dressed in fashionable clothing walked out and strutted their stuff as the audience cheered and squealed. When the blonde model came out, Tomoko swore the entire floor rumbled as girls erupted into a squealing mess. Nice going 1-C... Ticket sales must be through the roof! she thought with envy before also cheering for Kise. "Wooo, Kise-kun!"

Despite the girl's cheers was being drowned in the masses, for some reason the model was specifically able to pick up on her voice and his golden eyes zeroed in on the sight of her with shock. The casual smile he had on his face was now fully adorned with radiance. Needless to say, the crowd was swooning.

I-It's Kuma-cchi! But why is she dressed like a prince?! Kise was over the moon with joy. He can't wait to get off the stage so that he can go hug her immediately! She came to see me! Me!

Nevermind the fact that Murasakibara was also part of class 1-C.

"Where are you going, Kise-kun?" the director of their class' fashion show whispered when the blonde tried to make a run for it after returning behind the wooden board separating the stage and backstage. "You still have one more outfit!"

"Ahhhh, but Karin-chan," Kise said urgently, and then quieter, "I need to go see Kuma-cchi!"

"No, you can do that after the show! Stop whining."

"You sound like my manager..." he said with a sigh before an idea came to him. He whipped out his phone and sent a quick text to the caramel haired class representative to come towards the stage. In a few moments, his phone pinged with a reply from the girl.

"Sorry Kise-kun, it's too crowded up there. I can't get to it..."

Kise pouted but his eyes lit up again when he was called to wear a different outfit to get ready to go back out. Murasakibara, who was sitting on a stool with bags of snacks in his arms and unaware of the blonde's source of happiness, looked over with a bored expression.

"What's wrong with you."

"Nothing~" he chirped. Since the giant helped a lot with construction and decorating, he was excused from the fashion show itself and was lazing around eating snacks backstage until he was needed for heavy-lifting. Kise figured it was a good thing since then he can secretly make off with Tomoko by himself without the giant even knowing. A large grin made its way to his face as he walked back out.

"Kise-kuuuuuun!"

"He's so handsome!"

"Kyaa!"

"Yes, it's me again~" Kise smiled charmingly as he addressed the crowd. He wasn't suppose to have a line or even talk while walking as a model, but the fans loved it nonetheless. "I have a small request! Will the girl cosplaying as a prince please come up on stage!"

Everyone looked around in confusion before their eyes landed on Tomoko, who was also blinking with surprise. "What? Me?"

Yes, you, Kuma-cchi! Kise wanted to shout excitedly but he coughed behind his fist and nodded. "I couldn't help but notice that your outfit deserves to be on stage. Wouldn't you all agree?"

"Now that I look at it, her outfit is so cool!"

"Wow, I'm so jealous!"

Chuckling nervously, Tomoko made her way up to the stage as the crowd parted to let her through. The power of being an influencial model... she thought as Kise helped her up with excitement dancing in his eyes.

Backstage, the girl named Karin was perturbed. "What is Kise-kun doing?!"

"Being extra," Murasakibara replied with a crunch of his chips. Hmmm. I'm running out~ I'll go down to the food stalls and buy some takoyaki. "When's the end of my shift?"

"Eh..." the girl thought for a moment before waving him off. She had to take care of the situation on stage still. "You can leave now. Come back at two!"

"Okay~"

Back on the stage, Kise was on his own fangirling about Tomoko's cosplay. He hadn't thought so far as to what the purpose of bringing the girl upstage was yet, he simply just wanted to be close to her and show her off. I'm sad she didn't wear the maid outfit I brought, but Kuma-cchi looks so cute in anything! Cute cute cute!

"Um," Tomoko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly as the crowd looked up at her curiously. Kise was off on a world of his own so she decided to speak, "Since I'm up here, please check out class 1-B's bakery. You can also play our cosplay hunt challenge to win bakery prizes at the end!"

"And Kuma-cchi's baking is amazing!" Kise attested with a promising grin.

"Really? If Kise-kun says so..."

"Let's check it out!"

Karin didn't understand. How did the stage turned into an advertising ground for class 1-B? "The fashion show, Kise-kun!" she stage-whispered at the model, urging him to wrap things up. She did not sign up for this!

The male laughed and took hold of Tomoko's hand. "It's the end of the show, so we're bowing," he said with a wink. The girl complied and the audience cheered as the two disappeared behind the wooden board.

"I can't believe—I don't even know where to—" Karin rubbed her temple while the blonde's bright smile blinded her into oblivion. It was impossible for her to get mad because he was too good looking. "Nevermind... Go, your shift is over."

"Yay!" Kise, happy to get out of trouble, turned to Tomoko and hugged her tightly. "You did so great out there, Kuma-cchi! I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to enjoy the festival with you~"

Tomoko tried to find her breath and squirmed out of his tight embrace. She looked around backstage and didn't see someone. "Mura-kun's not here?"

"Murasakibara?" A guy piped up. "Oh, he left a few minutes ago. Something about getting more food."

"Awww," she sighed, knowing that she just missed the giant.

"Kuma-cchi, you still have me..." Kise pouted pulled her back towards him. His finger touched her lips as his eyes shone with seriousness and longing; if it weren't for them being backstage, his fangirls would throw a riot. "Don't toss me aside like that."

"..."

Despite the intimacy, Tomoko only blinked before letting out a laugh at the situation. Kise grew confused and dejected at why the girl wasn't swooning, and he let go with a complaining sigh. "Sorry Kise-kun..." the girl tried to stifle her laughter and clutched her stomach. "I just can't get the image out of my head because it just looks like you're trying to seduce another male... Pffft! Because I'm dressed as a prince, y'know... This is like a fujioshi's dream..."

H-How does she even know what fujioshi means?! Kise panicked internally before pouting again. He knew of people who cross-dressed and convincingly looked like the opposite gender, too, but no matter how he looked at Tomoko, she was just a beautiful female in his eyes. He didn't get why the girl was so dense and oblivious to his feelings!

"But what if you tried on our princess dress? Pffft, then we'd totally look the part~!"

"...Kuma-cchi!" the blonde was getting angry; not for real, of course. It was more like a childish tantrum. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her out of the classroom in a huff. "Don't make fun of me like that."

"Ah, I was just joking... I didn't mean it," she simmered down and apologized immediately. "Kise-kun—? Where are we going?"

"I'll show you!" Kise only vowed and continued to pull the girl along. "I am a man and I can be your prince in shiny armor!"

x

Oho, what is Kise up to? I'm not sure how many parts I'm going to split the school festival yet, but as you can see the first part is already pretty long and we only got through like, half of the boys... But I hope it was a joyful read! More shenanigans to come ;)