Hi

Chapter 16:

Lowering the juice box he'd bought earlier in surprise, he stared at his roommate, "Hey Towa, when'd you get back?"

Looking up from the monitor, she smiled, "awhile ago. I couldn't find you anywhere and I got a message from Aku, so I figured that I might as well head back and wait for you."

He leaned in to read the message on her phone.

'Victory's mine!'

"So you and Dark made up and are now back together, hm?"

Krad frowned, "what? How'd you know? I just got back!"

"Well, Aku won our game, so that could only mean that Dark found you. And then I got this message a little while ago." She held her phone up again.

'So they got back together.'

Running a hand through his hair, he let out an exasperated sigh, "seriously? You two need to stop gossiping like girls, which, I suppose is fine for you, but Aku? Really? As if it wasn't embarrassing enough that you guys know my secret."

Towa shrugged, "it can't be helped since you're the most exciting thing that's happened to us since forever! How can we not talk about you? Oh, but speaking of your secret and Aku being a girl, I have exciting news for you! It's about an upcoming school event, and you're going to absolutely love it!"

"Am I going to love it as much as I loved kiss tag and Sex Ed?"

"You're going to love it even more! Unless you were being sarcastic, in which case, I'm ignoring it and sticking to my statement of 'you're going to love it!'"

He raised a brow and sat down onto the bed next to the girl's desk, "well, you're certainly getting hyped up about this big event. And yes, I was being sarcastic, but go ahead and tell me about it anyways."

"Well," Towa grinned, "you, my dear, will get the chance to be a boy for a day!"

The blond frowned and raised the juice box straw back up to his lips, "Towa, how many times do I have to tell you? No matter how convinced you are that I'm a girl, which is something I strongly disagree with, I'm a guy. Despite how I have to wear a skirt everyday against my will, I'm a guy. And there won't be a single day that goes by where I'm nota guy, okay? One day, you'll see just how right I am."

His roommate let out a scoff, "oh please, you know you'll never be a real guy in my eyes. But that's not what I meant. Next week, we're having a contest between the two schools where all the girls have to dress up as boys and all the boys have to dress up as girls. Then, we're going to separate them into categories. There's the 'cutest', 'hottest', 'coolest' and maybe a couple other ones, and from them, we'll determine who's the 'best overall'. Then we're going to pit the best overall guy against the best overall girl to see who'd win the title of 'most convincing opposite gender'!"

Krad furled his brows, "Really? A school-wide cross-dressing contest? And the teachers actually support this? What's with Azumano and all these strange events? I can't believe they'd fund something like this!"

She shrugged, "The director thought it up himself, so the teachers have to participate too! It's like the last big event we're having this school year, so might as well enjoy it, right? Besides, if you think about it, it makes sense. Our school's for the relatively wealthy, so of course we're going to splurge on useless events and spend a lot of time finding ways to entertain ourselves. Aren't you excited about being able to dress up like a boy for a day?"

"Yes, but that's not the point."

"Come on Krad, it's a surprisingly romantic day. It's kind of like Valentine's Day except instead of just confessing, the girls really get to be aggressive…which is more romantic than it sounds. That, and some of the boys look so cute that no one really has time to care about anything else. Oh, I finished the next volume. Here, it's your turn" she passed him a book, "it's such a cute manga!"

He sighed and began flipping through the pages, "I can't believe you got me started on this. It's so ridiculous. No, love doesn't conquer all, why are they always so dramatic anyways? And no, the appropriate response to cheating accusations is not to show up with flowers. That doesn't make any sense. The least you could do is act a little angry. Don't just laugh it off, god, you're so whipped."

Towa let out a laugh, "I love it when you commentate on the plot."

"Seriously, Towa, no normal person would randomly show up with flowers."

"Unless you're Dark Mousy."

"Right, unless-what?" The two turned to find Dark sticking his head through the window with a bouquet of flowers in his arm. He blinked, "Dark? What are you doing here? And how'd you get past all the security they'd set up?"

Dark grinned, climbed into the room and held out the flowers, "that's why I brought these. And if by security, you mean the guards wandering around, I just told them that I was here to surprise you and so, didn't want to use the front door. They actually went so far as to point out your window to me."

He frowned at his roommate, "you hear that, Towa? There's a huge flaw in your security system, you better get it fixed next time."

Towa shook her head, "don't be so critical, Krad! Didn't you hear him? He's here to surprise you! That's so sweet! Besides, he's Dark Mousy, do you really think anyone here has the ability to stop him from going where he wants?"

The blond paused and realized that his roommate was right. Turning to the other boy, he frowned, "oh you're good. I can't believe you're the kryptonite this place's security, and you didn't even do anything to earn the title."

Dark mock-pouted, "what are you talking about? I do plenty to earn my title!"

"Towa, please tell Dark that standing around doesn't count as doing something."

"Krad's right on this one. You can't just stand around and look pretty, that doesn't really count as doing anything. I guess you were jut born this place's kryptonite."

He grinned, "I bet I could stop you from sneaking in."

"Agreed," Dark leaned in, "if I ran into you, I wouldn't even have a reason to sneak in anymore, now would I?"

"That's not what I meant. Why are you here anyways?"

"Oh right, I came here with a purpose, didn't I? So you heard about our upcoming event right?"

Krad raise a brow, "The big cross-dressing one?"

A nod, "The very same."

"And what about it?"

"…so I kind of need the biggest bra you have…"

He shifted uncomfortably under his roommate's stare. "What?"

Towa leaned in to inspect him closely, "This is amazing, Krad. I never thought I'd say this but, you actually look like a guy! Here, put these sunglasses on. Wow! And a pretty good looking one at that! I can't believe this! You could probably get a job at a host club or something! It's like you transformed right before my very eyes!"

"What are you trying to say? And why are you even surprised? You know I'm not actually a girl!" Fixing his white suit jacket, he glanced over at the girl, "You, on the other hand, still look like a girl. I'm telling you, guys and leggings don't mix well. You just look like a teenage girl who's about to run off with her biker boyfriend after she got into a fight with her parents over whether or not he was a bad influence on her. She argued that he was a nice guy but her parents obviously disagreed, so she ran off with him and they somehow get caught up in a gang fight or a dance off."

"…I could always try putting on a beard or a moustache!"

The blond quickly shook his head, "Oh please don't. Just put on a pair of jeans-put those down, not skinny jeans, and I'll drop the matter, okay?"

"Yes, sir! Are these jeans okay?"

"No. Why don't you just wear mine and use a belt?"

Towa raised a brow, "Krad, do you know how much bigger you are? Look at me! I'm tiny!"

"Are you calling me fat?" The second the words left his lips, he paled slightly. He really needed to go back to being a boy soon.

His roommate on the other hand, didn't notice anything unusual with his comment. "No need to take it personally, I just meant the fact that you're way taller than me and that it'd look absolutely ridiculous even if I were to roll the pant legs up. Are you worried about your weight?"

Trying his best not to act flustered in any way possible, he rolled his eyes and got up, "No, of course not. What am I, a girl?" Waving the girl away, he sighed, "…just put your jeans on and let's go already."

While I try to remember what being an actual guy is like.

That day, the two of them walked to school. Dark had sent him a message earlier saying that there was no possible way for him to ride a scooter in a skirt, so that left them with no other choice but to walk. Deciding to avoid getting mobbed by the girls at the dorm, they left through the window; a habit that they'd picked up ever since Krad's escape from the boys' dorm.

Once outside on the street, Krad couldn't help but smile to himself as girls turned their heads to stare at him. Of course, it happened when he dressed like a girl too, but it just felt more appropriate when he didn't have to pretend to be the opposite gender. But then that happy feeling soon turned into amazement when they reached their school. With all the girls dressed as boys, some more convincing than others, he almost felt like he was at an all boys' school…until they opened their mouths.

"Hikari-sama? Is that you?"

"You make such a good looking boy!"

"Hikari-chan, please marry me!"

"You're even hotter than most of the actual boys!"

He grinned and adjusted his shades while his roommate glanced over at him, "you're totally enjoying this, aren't you?"

"I can't help it, now can I?"

"Sure, bask in this masculinity while you can, eh?"

The girls continued squealing, "You even have the voice pat down! Hikari-sama, you're so cool!"

"Leader, today would be as good a day as any to expose him, don't you think?"

"But Leader, he's so good looking! Please don't!"

"But think about it, if we expose him, then he'll have to dress like that all the time!"

"I kind of like him in a skirt though, and we get to stare at him all day when he's here. If we expose him, he'll have to go to the boys' school."

"That's true…who would've ever thought that he was actually a guy. Leader, what are we going to do?"

"Leader?"

Risa continued gaping. She hadn't expected the blond to look thatgood. And despite her plans to expose him, she didn't think having confidence in being able to approach him while he looked like this. It would've been so much easier to deal with if he was wearing a skirt. "We…we'll expose him next time!"

While basking in the attention he was getting as a guy, he noticed something missing, "hey Towa, where are all the 'ladies' at?"

"If you're talking about this lady, then I'm right here," a voice interrupted them.

The two turned around only to find a female version of Dark's group standing there. He gave an amused snort, "you guys are way too good at this. Are you wearing make up? Wow…you actually look really good, especially Satoshi. I never expected him to look quite so…good."

"I know, right? He's a natural at this!" He waved happily to Towa, "you still look like a girl, Towa. I guess not everyone can pull off being a guy quite like Krad, hm? Ugh, I don't know how you ladies do this every day! Skirts, bras and make up? It's way too much work!"

Towa shrugged, "you get used to it. Dai-chan! You look so cute! I can't believe my eyes!"

The redhead merely stood there and blushed, "thank you."

But then she looked over to the next person, "Cass looks like a really strict older sister, and Aku…looks like a big sister from the yakuza or something."

Krad blinked, "she's right, you know? The only thing you really need to look the part are the tattoos."

Towa grinned, "Maybe he should just be a geisha then."

He shook his head, trying to hide his snickering, "No, look, when he balls his fists like that, he definitely looks like someone from the yakuza. He looks like he's about to beat someone up."

His roommate's smile widened, "But he's probably one of those surprisingly delicate types, no? Cass, you better take real good care of this one!"

Aku glared at the two, "You guys…"

Krad shook his head, "Don't worry, you look good! Really!"

Suddenly, Dark leaned in close, "And what about me, Krad-kun?"

With his wig on, a light black trench and daringly high heels on, the boy winked at him. He returned the grin and tilted the other boy's chin upwards, "why you look absolutely stunning today, Dark-chan."

Placing a hand on the blonde's waist, he grinned back and leaned in to narrow the gap between their faces, "of course. I had to be. It wouldn't do if you or anyone else were to outshine me. After all, I have to make sure that at the end of the day, you're still mine. I can't have any girls or boys stealing you away from me, darling."

"I wouldn't worry about that, babe. Like I said earlier, absolutely stunning. I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hands off of you today."

Narrowing the distance even further, Dark smiled, "why even bother trying? I wouldn't complain."

They moved closer, and closer, and closer.

And then they broke away.

"Alright, let's get counting! Remember, to keep the number of 'unconscious' and 'nosebleeds' separate! "

Later, during their break, they were enjoying their meal on the roof together. Towa frowned, "what do you mean you two had a bet on how many people you could make faint and how many nosebleeds you could cause?"

Krad took a bite out of his lunch, "that's exactly what it means. And we would've let you join in, but everyone knew you'd be one of the casualties. Dark's estimates were surprisingly close."

"Practice makes perfect," was the reply. "By the way, Krad. I guess this is what you'd normally look and sound like, hm? Without the makeup and all that jazz."

"Well I don't normally wear suits like this…why?"

Dark grinned, "nothing, it just makes me happy to see this side of you too." Aku made a throwing up noise in the background. "Oh, shut it, Aki-chan. And it's actually Aki-chan today!"

"Shut up! It's because I was too lazy to put this damn thing on properly!"

Getting up, Krad patted the dust off his pants, "I'm going to grab a drink. Does anyone want anything?"

"Apple juice!"

"Chocolate milk, please."

"An ice coffee for me."

"I'm fine, thanks."

Dark and Towa got up, "hey, wait, I'll go with you in case you get mobbed." The two exchanged looks before running after the blond.

On the way to the vending machine, he turned a corner only to run into someone. He winced and immediately extended a hand to help the person up, "Are you alright?"

"Ow, yea, thanks…"

"Sorry about that."

Then there was an awkward moment when they both saw who they were talking to. Almost immediately, Risa scrambled back onto her feet, "Y-y-you! I know w-who you are! I already have a plan! I-I swear I'll get you!"

Watching her run off, he blinked, "what was that about?"

Towa shrugged, "either she's figured out who your big secret and just swore that she'd expose you…or she's developed a big lezzie crush on you now that you look like a super hot guy?"

"That wouldn't count as a big lezzie crush then, Towa. Besides, she's in love with Dark, isn't she?"

"Hey, there's no rule stating that a girl can only fantasize about a single person."

Krad raised a brow, "I find that highly unlikely. Wait, so if it isn't that, does that mean I've been found out?"

"You worry too much, I bet she's just fantasizing about you…and Dark…"

Dark poked his head out from the corner, "I hope you're only fantasizing about me though, Krad. Is she gone?"

The blond sighed, "Yes she is and I'm not a girl. If you say anything else, you're just going to give Towa another nosebleed. And how can you even walk in those heels?"

"These pumps look scarier than they actually are. They're pretty comfy, actually. Anyways, let's get those drinks before people notice us!"

After they grabbed the drinks, on the way back, in the stairwell, Dark handed the bag over to Towa, "sorry, Towa, could you go on ahead? I'd like a moment with Krad."

The girl shrugged, "sure. I'm expecting a call anyways. Seriously, why do family vacations always fall on such important dates? I really wanted to see him in a dress today too!" She winked at the two, "oh well, don't take too long now, you two."

The violet haired boy grinned, "We won't. And don't go eavesdropping on us now, or we'll know since you'll probably be hyperventilating or something."

"I would not! I swear, you guys are victimizing me in your horribly attractive ways."

"You know you like it in that strange masochistic way of yours."

"I guess you got me there."

Once the girl left, Krad spoke up, "so?"

"It's not much, I just wanted to say that even if everyone finds out about your secret, that won't change anything between us, okay? Actually, I rather like seeing you like this." He leaned in, "and as proof of my sincerity…" and placed a kiss on his lips.

Then there was a flash from a flight of stairs down where Saehara stood, looking like a rather unflattering girl in his wig and dress, with a large grin on his face and a camera in his hands. A moment later, he took off, "this is going to make the front pages for sure!"

Krad frowned, "I can't believe this. We have to get it back!"

There was a tug on his arm, Dark shook his head, "don't worry, we'll get it back." He opened the door to the roof, "Aku, need a favour! Saehara's camera, ASAP!"

And clearly deciding to save his questions for later, Aku took off.

Towa shook her head, "look at anego go…he definitely belongs in the yakuza."

Cass smiled, "but isn't it cute? Be right back, I'll go make sure he gets that camera back."

Awhile later, the two returned with the camera. Cass was clutching his stomach from laughing too hard while Aku looked displeased. Towa tilted her head to the side curiously, "what happened to him?"

"Guess which little ninja princess just expanded his fan club?"

"Please don't say it…"

Dark grinned, "Oh? Ninja princess now is it? And how'd that happen?"

Even the redhead joined in, "please tell us, sempai!"

"Did you know that those things in his wig are actually kunai? So as he was chasing that kid down, right? And that kid was pretty talented. I've never seen anyone run that fast while taking pictures before. Oh, there's probably pictures on that camera, feel free to follow along while I tell this story."

They turned on the camera and began scrolling through the pictures until they came across a picture of Aku running, "Okay, got it, keep going."

"So Aku's chasing him while he's snapping away, then at one point, I guess it looked like the kid was going to get away or something so princess here grabs one of the kunai and chucks it. Amazingly enough, it actually ended up nailing the kid's dress to the wall, and so, we were able to catch up to him. Then after, the kid was still too busy taking pictures and gushing and wouldn't hand the camera over, so I had to step in. And on our way back, we kept getting approached by people who wanted pictures with the 'ninja princess', not that any of them got to, but it was fantastic. I bet you'll be able to find a video of it online or something later."

They scrolled through the pictures of Aku's action-packed adventure, then through Cass' very threatening expression, and then they looked back up at the pair. "You're actually really scary when you want to be, aren't you?"

Dark raised a brow, "What kind of relationship did you get yourself into, Aki-chan? Really, I worry about you sometimes."

Aku let out a sigh, "I wonder about it at times too. But on the other hand, this is all your fault, Dark! You and your stupid favour! Look at how everything turned out!"

The eldest chuckled, "what are you talking about, ninja princess? I think everything turned out rather well. I'd even go so far as to say that this is the best event that the director ever thought of. Besides, I thought you looked really good, and I'm obviously not the only one. By the way, guys, you can go and delete that picture of you kissing, but don't delete anything else, okay? I want to make copies."

The violet haired boy pursed his lips as he stared at the picture of him and Krad from earlier, "maybe that'd be a good idea. Since we already have a normal picture of us kissing, this might be nice, just for the contrast. Anyways, I think I look pretty hot here, don't you?"

Later that day, finally back in their room and back into normal clothes, Krad plopped onto the bed with a loud groan. "Towa, cheer me up! I can't believe I lost the contest!"

"Well, at least your self-esteem can't be completely shattered. I mean, at least you won the title of 'most convincing girl-guy'. It can't really be helped, I mean, from what I've seen, the title of 'most convincing opposite gender' is more often awarded to a guy than a girl. Besides, Dai-chan was absolutely adorable! I guess he just makes a better girl than you make a guy."

"Thanks, and that's supposed to help my self-confidence, how?"

"Still sulking over losing to Dai-chan?"

The two turned at the voice, "Dark!"

Krad frowned, "you know, you really have to stop sneaking in through the window like this. Seriously, go back to using the door."

He laughed, "No way! Whenever I come through the door, everyone ends up crowding around your doorway and eavesdrops on us. When I talk to your 'guards', I get to make a personal request for a little privacy, and since there's only 2 of them, they won't say anything to anyone else until I'm gone."

Towa crossed her legs, "So what are you doing here anyways?"

"Oh, the ninja princess and her mighty protector wanted some privacy. I didn't really mind since I wanted to drop by anyways."

The blond raised a brow, "drop by to do what?"

"What else? To cheer you up, of course. And I know the perfect way to do it." He turned to Towa with a wide grin on his face, "ninja princess."

His roommate perked up, "of course! Why didn't I think of that? Ninja princess!"

And with the two watching him expectantly, he sighed, "yea, fine, I want to watch it too. Hurry up and find it."

"Just leave it to me!"

A lot of murmuring in the background.

Aku's back as he ran down the hall, then Cass's.

"Oi, Saehara, stop taking pictures of me and hand over that camera!"

"Why do you want my camera?"

"Just hand it over already!"

"No way!"

The silver-blonde's fists clenched as he reached up into his wig and pulled out one of the weapons that was being used as a hairpin, "You stupid…unconvincing…girl, get back here!"

And he chucked it and caught the boy's dress, effectively attaching him.

Murmurs of awe.

"Gah! …that was so cool!"

"Stop taking pictures of me! Hand over that camera!"

"No!" The boy lowered his voice, though it was still somewhat audible, "…actually, tell you what. I'll hand this over if you tell me Hikari-chan's secret."

"…what?"

"I heard them earlier! Dark was saying that it'd be bad if her secret was to leak out to everyone, what was he talking about?"

Aku quickly turned away, "Tch, like I'd know. Go ask him yourself. Just give me the camera and scram."

"…fine, then for this camera, let me take a picture of you posing with me for the newspapers tomorrow then! I've always to take a picture with a ninja princess!"

Then Cass stepped in.

"Sorry, pictures with the ninja princess aren't allowed. Now hand over the camera."

"Y-yes, sir."

"That's a good boy."

Then the crowd came rushing in with cameras.

Krad was gaping at the screen while Towa turned and stared at their visitor seriously, "Dark, that was absolutely hilarious and kind of cool, but what did Saehara mean by Krad's secret?"

Dark covered his mouth to hide his frown, "crap, he must've heard us in the stairwell when he took that photo…I was telling Krad that nothing would change between us even if his secret leaked."

The blond gave a weak laugh and pointed at the monitor, "Guys? This video's already gone viral. Look, the number of hits just jumped up a couple hundred-thousands. Everyone at school's probably watched it by now."

The other boy sat down and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "so what should we do…?"

Nya~

Look who updated what after how long! I'm always more productive when I'm procrastinating for some reason. Let's see, for this fic, I'm estimating that there'll be maybe 2ish chapters left? I'm really hoping that I'll get around to finishing a couple of my fics since the plots never really leave my head unless I write them out. After editing this fic from beginning to end, I realized just how much my style's changed since I started. Then I wondered if I'll ever 'retire' from writing fics. Though updates may become less frequent, I hope I won't stop writing ever, just because it's so damn fun. Anyways, enough of my rambling. If I don't update before Christmas, and New Years then have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years! Much love to all my readers! Please continue supporting me in 2012 as well (until we all die)! Enjoy!