𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗡'𝗦 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗬! ━━━━ mao isara (on hold)

60. prize (edenstar)

ᡣ𐭩 . no au | angst

Trickstar thought they had won... but how wrong they were as the four Yumenosaki students still stood in their uniforms on stage as the building was now empty. Beside the defeated group was Shuetsu's Eden unit, still standing along with Trickstar - except they all smiled, full of pride and joy, as Hiyori laughed and hugged his arms around Jun and Ibara. Nagisa stood off to the side of the trio, watching his unit mates with glee.

"This isn't fair..."

Mao looked away from watching the Eden unit with their never-ending adrenaline of fortune and glances towards his orange haired teammate. Subaru was clenching his fists tight and then unreeling them, again and again.

"This isn't how it was supposed to go..."

Mao has never seen such defeat or anger ever make its way into Subaru's usually sunlit aura. The usually happy puffball raises his head from looking at the ground for such a long while and then begins moving towards the Eden unit, his footsteps were light but they showed how untamed Subaru was feeling right then and there.

"Subaru-" Mao tries calling out for his friend as the orange haired boy pushed past him without a notice. Mao frowns as he watches on. Fear begins stitching its dark silhouette into his heart as he does so.

"Berry!" The happy tone Subaru used to call out for Ibara Saegusa was of the mocking type. For those who didn't know Subaru, he sounded like his usual self, whereas for those who do know the teenage orange haired boy, that the mocking tone was for an entirely different reason. Subaru only ever mocks others as a test for other reasons to see through their skills and qualities.

"Akehoshi? What do you want?" The older asked after turning and twisting away from his unit mates to meet face to face with Subaru.

"We'd like to make a deal with you, Eden members! Let's do a rematch of this performance - next week!"

"Akehoshi, what the hell? Don't bring us into this. You didn't even talk to us about this idea!" Hokuto scolds from far behind where Subaru stands.

"Why would you want to do a rematch when you clearly know that we will win... again." Nagisa says as he walks up from behind Ibara. His tall stature always wanted to make Mao cower into a corner, no matter how far away he stood from the older student.

"It's like I said: let's make a deal! We'll do a rematch of this performance - but someplace else for a different audience's reactions, except this time... whoever wins gets to choose whatever they wish as their prize and the loser has to give that prize to the winners!"

"I like that idea!" Hiyori laughed.

Mao had a totally different thought to Hiyori. It made the fear in his heart weave further around his body. This was going to end badly... he knew it was.

"It's a deal."

Mao didn't hear the rest, but he did see the way that Ibara and Subaru shook hands and a glint in Nagisa's eyes made Mao more uncomfortable than he has ever been before in his whole life.

...

"Subaru Akehoshi... you're an absolute moron."

"Hokke... I know! Stop berating me - this is the twentieth time you've told me this week!" Subaru pouts.

"I'll stop saying it until you get it through your thick skull that this idea was bad! Not only that, you-"

"Okay, that's enough! Guys, stop arguing, please!" Mao pushes himself in between Subaru and Hokuto, his hands flat and wide as he nears them, making them know not to get near each other for a moment. His attention focused on Hokuto for the first half of the moment, "I'm sure that Subaru gets what he did... It wasn't right, but did you see the way Subaru looked at the time? I'm sure it was just spur of the moment!" Hokuto seems to huff and roll his eyes, looking away from Mao with a frown whilst Mao looked towards Subaru next, "and Subaru-"