This is just to beautiful! romeo and juliet It’s that time of year again, Hyakkaou Private Academy is busy putting together the annual school festival.The first years are setting up booths for food, and the third years are preparing for the haunted house. ‘Preparing’ is going a bit overkill, because it’s mainly just Midari romping around wearing different costumes, and Yuriko trying to get her to settle down. Meanwhile, Yumemi is holding auditions for the school play, which would be performed by the second year students. So far, half the class has performed in front of the idol, but none have gone as far to impress her enough to earn a main role. She waves a trembling boy off the stage and reads the next person off the list. “Saotome, Mary?” She calls out. The blonde walks on stage and crosses her arms. “Well?” Yumemi asks. “I refuse to perform,” Mary says bluntly. “You have to, all second years must participate in the play,” Yumemi says, leaning back in her chair. “Well I don’t want to,” Mary growls. “You have to,” “Just give me some stupid one line part and be done with it!” Yumemi grits her teeth. “Can you memorize lines well?” “What? Um, yeah, I guess,” “Good, then I’m giving you the part for Romeo,” Yumemi says, scribbling the word ‘romeo’ next to Mary’s name. “Next!” “Wait, Romeo?” Mary scoffs. “Isn’t that the main part?” “Yes it is,” The idol says without looking up. “What, why?” Mary shouts. “I asked for a side part!” Yumemi looks up and glares at Mary. “You piss me off. Suck it up and get off the stage,” Mary looked like she wanted to say something else, but shut her mouth and stomped off the stage. The rest of the afternoon was spent placing people into parts they didn’t ask for or didn’t deserve, but frankly Yumemi was too bored to care, she had lost her kind demeanor after about the second hour of auditions. The main roles in the end went to Mary Saotome as Romeo, and Yumemi herself as Juliet. It’s not because she’s greedy (well maybe a little), but literally none of her classmates had what it would take to play a larger role. “Excuse me, Yumemite-san,” Someone says from behind the idol. “Eh?” Yumemi turns and finds Yumeko Jabami standing behind her, a small smile on her face. “Oh, hello Jabami-san. What do you need?” “I was just wondering who got the part of Juliet,” She says thoughtfully. “Mary-san had gotten the Romeo role, and I was curious about who would play as her lover in the play,” “Ah. Well, I have decided I would play the part, Jabami-san,” Yumemi says, standing up. “Oh…” “Is that a problem?” Yumemi narrows her eyes. “Well...I had just assumed-” “Assumed what? Did you want the part of Juliet?” “I do as a matter of fact-” “Well, that’s just too bad Jabami-san, you didn’t make the cut,” The idol says with fake kindness. She struts past Yumeko, who’s looking rather...upset. “Maybe next time, dear~” Yumemi leaves the gambling addict behind her, feeling rather satisfied. Meanwhile, Mary paces around the classroom, chewing at her nails. “God damn it,” She growls. “Yumemi can be such a bitch sometimes,” Suzui smiles at the ranting blonde. “If I were you, I’d be happy I got such a big part,” She glares at him. “Shut up Suzui, I never asked for a main role. In fact, I asked for a side part! And that son of a bitch makes me Romeo!” Mary shouts. “I swear, she has it out for me,” “What did you do to her?” Suzui asks. “I don’t know!” Mary slams her hand on the boy’s desk, making him wince. “W-well, maybe it’s not anything against you. Maybe she was just cranky? There were a lot of auditions after all,” “God, stop defending her, you twit,” Mary says. She sighs and sits down in her chair. “I just hope the person who plays Juliet will be someone I don’t hate, but that’d be unlikely,” “It’s Yumemi,” Yumeko say suddenly, walking swiftly into the classroom. “What?” Mary says, deadpan. “She gave herself the Juliet part,” Yumeko says. There’s a smile on her face, but her voice sounds...off. Mary sighs and softly thumbs her head on her desk. “**** me…” Yumeko rested a hand on the blonde’s head and giggled softly. “It’ll be alright Mary!” Mary faces Yumeko and frowns. “Really? Name one good thing that will come out of this,” Yumeko just giggles again. “You’ll see~” And with this cryptic message, the gambling addicted skips off, leaving a confused Mary and Suzui to mull over her words. “Well…” Suzui says slowly. “...you’re screwed,” Mary groans and hits her head again. After a few rehearsals and script reading sessions, Mary has her lines memorized, but she’s far from prepared for the play. The thought of acting alongside Yumemi, and as her lover, sickens Mary to no end. She’s already tried backing out several times, but Yumemi is determined to keep her on the cast. Yumeko has been making herself scarce for the past few days. She comes to school late, disappears during lunch, and goes home early. It’s really been stressing Mary out, she could use some of Yumeko’s antics to distract her from the hell she is going through in rehearsal. There’s only a few days left until the festival, and the hatred boiling inside of her for Yumemi and this stupid ******* play is hotter and bigger than hell itself. “It’s really not that bad,” Suzui tells her. “Shut up Suzui,” She’d mumble. It may seem like she’s over reacting, but she isn’t. It really is that bad. Yumemi hounds her over every small thing. If she messes up her lines, if she trips during the scene, if she looks at someone funny. It pisses her off, and Suzui is only making it worse. She can’t wait for this entire thing to be over, but she’s dreading doing the actual play itself. And kissing somebody she despises. Honestly, she used to love Yumemi and her music (she’d never admit that though), but now that she’s learned how much of a little bitch she can be, she’s been placed near the top of her mile long shit list. And Yumeko...Yumeko’s starting to work her way up to the top too. The fact that they haven’t spoken in days, it worries Mary. She really misses that stupid gambling addict. The fact that she’s been missing...it feels as if she’s avoiding Mary. Thinking about it makes something inside the blonde sore, as if she feels like she’ll throw up. Everything that's been happening, especially Yumeko’s absence, is really taking it’s toll on her. The morning of the festival, Yumeko knocks on Yumemi’s dressing room door. “Huh? Oh it’s you Jabami-san,” Saori, the idols manager, answers the door. “What do you need?” “Hello Saori-san!” Yumeko giddly shakes her hand. “I would like to talk with Yumemi-san if she’s in,” “Oh, um,” The girl adjusts her glasses. “Hold on a moment, please,” Saori closes the door and Yumeko can hear voices from inside the room. The door opens again, and this time it’s Yumemi herself who greets her. “Jabami-san, hello!” Yumemi says with a smile. “How can I help you?” “Hello, Yumemite-san!” Yumeko shakes her hand too. “I was wondering if I could gamble with you.” “Eh, gamble?” The idol says. She taps her chin in thought. “Mm, maybe not right now...how about after the school festival, yeah?” She starts to close the door, but Yumeko stops it with her foot. “I do believe...” She says taking something out of her pocket. “...that you don’t have a choice, Yumemite-san,” Yumeko holds up a house pet tag, and smiles innocently. “What? When did you-” Yumemi says, eyes going wide. “Oh, I may have got myself into a little bit of debt, silly me!” Yumeko giggles. “But why would you challenge me? You already tried to ruin my career once!” “Oh...because you have something I want, Yumemite-san…” A few hours later, the festival starts. Students mill about leisurely, stopping at food vendors and going through the haunted house (although they promptly leave afterwards when Midari pulls a gun out on them). As the beginning of the play draws nearer, more and more students find their way to their seats, eagerly waiting for the show. Behind stage, however, a mass panic has broken out. Yumemi is nowhere to be found, and they’re supposed to go on at any moment. “Well where the hell did she go?” Mary shouts. She’s a smidge relieved that they’re delaying the show, but extremely pissed that the idol couldn’t even show up on time. That girl sure has some nerve. By now the show has started, and the idol is still nowhere to be found. Mary will be on at any second. “E-excuse me, Saotome-san,” Someone tugs on the sleeve of Mary’s git up. “Eh?” Yumemi’s manager stood behind the blonde, an uneasy look on her face. “Oh, you're...what’s her name. Where’s Yumemi?” “Um, that’s what I wanted to speak to you about, Saotome-san. You see-” But before she could finish, Mary was pulled away by one of the stagehands. “You’re on now Saotome-san,” Before Mary could respond she was pushed to the side of the stage. She took a deep breath and stepped onto the stage. “Is the day so young?” When the next two scenes ended, Mary walks off stage and immediately collapses in a chair. They’re only a little ways in and Mary is already drained. Yumemi still hasn’t shown up yet, and the first Juliet scene is happening...right now. Mary sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. The rest of the stagehands are watching the scene from the side of the stage nervously. “Nurse, where is my daughter? Call her forth to me,” The girl who plays Lady Capulet tells the Nurse. “Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old, I bade her come. What, lamb! What, ladybird! God forbid! Where's this girl? What, Juliet!” The Nurse shouts, her voice wavering ever so slightly. “How now? Who calls?” Someone says. Yumeko walks on stage dressed in Yumemi’s costume. Mary’s mouth falls open. “Madam, I am here. What is your will?” Yumeko says. She catches Mary’s eye and smiles. The rest of the scene goes along smoothly, Yumeko says her part word for word. Mary simply watches in awe. When the scene is over, Yumeko approaches her. “You better close you mouth Mary, you’ll catch flies,” She says with a giggle. She snaps her mouth shut and blinks. “What...are you doing?” Yumeko only giggles again, and starts pushing Mary towards the stage. “I’ll tell you later! Break a leg!” The scene is going okay at first, but then Mary messes up one of her lines, because she just realized she has to interact with Yumeko. And it’s almost time for their first scene together. Which means… She chokes on air, sending her into a coughing fit mid-line. The next scene seems to fly by. Yumeko does her part, Mary does hers. Then suddenly they're in front of each other. Mary swallows hard, trying her best not to have her voice crack. “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, this holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss,” Yumeko smiles. “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss,” Yumeko says playfully. Mary’s heart skips a beat. “Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?” Yumeko is inching closer to Mary. “Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer~” The way the gambling addict says this makes Mary shiver. “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; they pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair,” “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake,” Mary swallows hard again and steps closer, resting her hand on Yumeko’s waist “Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged,” Yumeko leans forward and kisses Mary as soon as those final words left her mouth. It surprises Mary slightly. When she had kissed Yumemi during rehearsal it was bland and lifeless. Just two people pressing their mouths together. But with Yumeko...there’s actual passion. Like she wanted this...needed this. Mary’s face flushes, red and hot, and when they break the kiss, her eyes are as wide as saucers. Yumeko’s eyes are closed, and her cheeks are just as red as Mary’s. She shudders slightly before opening her eyes again. “Then have my lips the sin that they have took,” She says, just above a whisper, as if she was talking to Mary herself instead of Romeo. Mary takes a shaky breath. “Sin from thy lips?” She brushes a finger across the taller girl’s lips. “O trespass sweetly urged. Give me my sin again,” She initiates the kiss this time, kissing Yumeko with vigor and excitement. She feels Yumeko sigh through her nose, and she grabs the sleeve of Mary’s costume tightly. It feels like an eternity before they stop kissing. When they do, they just stare at each other, breathless. “You kiss by the book,” Yumeko says. And Mary wants to laugh. And cry. She wants to do both at the same time. She completely forgot this was a play, and held back the urge to giggle, or sob. When the scene is over, Yumeko is on Mary again. Her hands cup the blonde’s face, her lips pressing against her own. Mary just embraces it, wrapping her arms around the taller girl’s neck. She didn’t know she had wanted this (well maybe just a little), and doesn’t want to stop. She loves the feeling of Yumeko’s body against hers, her hands on her face, her lips on her lips. It was all so good, Mary feels as if she’s getting drunk on Yumeko. “Um...you guys,” Suzui says nervously. “What, you idiot?” Mary yells, agitated. “There’s still a play to do,” Mary sighs dramatically. “Yeah, fine,” she grumbles. Yumeko only giggles and pecks her on the cheek. “We’ll talk later, alright?” The play went on, all the scenes went smoothly, the kissing scenes better than smooth. Then they approached the final scene. Though, Romeo and Juliet are both dead in it, so Mary and Yumeko didn’t bother sticking around. The sound of giggles and smooching fill the empty halls. “Mm, Yumeko…” Mary says, breaking a particularly long kiss. “How did you even get Yumemi to give you the part? How did you know every line?” Yumeko giggles and brushes a loose lock of hair from her face. “I’ve been practicing whenever I got the chance. Before, during, and after school. It’s not that hard to learn lines, you know. “This morning, I approached Yumemi and gambled her for her part as Juliet. It was a rather easy win,” Mary blinks, bewildered. “How….did you get her to gamble you?” Yumeko reaches into her pocket and pulls out a chain, a house pet tag dangling on the end of it. “I challenged her to a public match,” She says with a smile. “Don’t worry I can pay it off easily,” “You got yourself into debt...just so you could be Juliet?” Mary says slowly. “What the hell, Yumeko? Why?” “Because, what better way to confess than to kiss your love interest during a play.” Mary’s heart pounds against her chest and her face flushes bright red. “O-oh?” Yumeko slides her hand up Mary’s arm. “I assume you like me too?” Yumeko says anxiously. This is all too new for Mary. Not the confession part, but the fact that Yumeko sounds nervous. The girl who defeated nearly all the student council members and came back from a debt of 310 million was afraid Mary wouldn’t reciprocate her feelings. “Yumeko, of course I like you, how could I not,” she plants a kiss on Yumeko’s cheek and watchs her relax. “Although you could have done something a little less elaborate than getting yourself into debt to gamble someone for a part in a play,” Yumeko smiles sweetly. “I like to go big or go home, especially for you Mary~” Mary blushes again. “Y-yeah, whatever,” She leans in and kisses the gambling addict once more. “So does this mean we’re girlfriends now?” Yumeko says, resting her forehead against the blondes. “I’d like that,” Mary whispers. They stand there for a minute, staring into each other's eyes. Then Yumeko pulls away and runs a little ways down the hall. “Romeo, oh Romeo. Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” Yumeko shouts with a grin “Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet,” Mary smiles and plays along. “I take thee at thy word. Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized. Henceforth I never will be Romeo,” For the rest of the evening, they skipped along the halls, calling out their lines punctuated with kisses.
