Me and Ai

Chapter 42: What to Wear

Chapter 42: What to Wear

Well, today is a bright and wonderful day! I'm eating lunch with everyone today since everyone's free. It's been a long time since the last time I got to eat with everyone; even Ichinose-san is here. I'm excited for Haruka's song and for STARISH's debut! Who would have thought that Saotome-sensei would allow them to form a group? They must sound really good! Only four days left till graduation and it's only now that I realize that I'm missing an important element for my graduation audition...I have nothing to wear.

"WHAAATTT? You don't have a costume yet for your performance?!"
Tomochan was sure surprised when I told her that.

She stood up and went over to me and grabbed my shoulders.
"There's only four days to go and you have nothing to wear?! What's wrong with you?! What the hell did you do these past weeks?!"

I let out a wry smile while Tomochan was shaking back and forth.
"I-I was absorbed in practicing my performance. I guess it just slipped my mind?"

Tomochan stopped shaking me and sighed.
"You have to think of something quick or else you'll have nothing to wear for your performance! Do you have anything in mind?"

"Umm...actually I don't know what to wear. Hehe...?"

Everyone had disappointed and worried faces.

"That's not good, Kaori-chan. What are you going to do?" Haruka said.

"Sigh...I truly don't know, Haruka. I have no idea what to wear. What about you guys? Do you already have your costumes?"

"Yeah, our costumes were finished last week. So we got no problem." Syo said.

Now I really feel worried. I can't believe I forgot! What the hell was wrong with me for forgetting?! The hard part of thinking of what costume to wear is that it should be perfect for Kaori and Kaoru. There is no way that I am going to try switching costumes during my performance; there's no chance for that based on my routine. Don't tell me I'm not going to graduate simply because I forgot to have a costume?!

"Hello everyone! It's nice to see everyone eating together!"

It was Tsukimiya-sensei. He saw all of us eating together here in the cafeteria. He noticed that I was quite distracted as if I was thinking worriedly about something.

"Eh? Is something wrong with Kaori-chan?"

"It seems the lady forgot something important about her performance for the graduation auditions." Ren-san said.

"Hm?"

"Kaori doesn't have an outfit for her performance." Masato-san said.

"WHAT?! But graduation is just four days from now?! Kaori, is this true?!"
Tsukimiya-sensei looked at me in the eyes.

I gave out a crooked smile. "...it seems to be the case. Hehe...?"

Tsukimiya-sensei frowned angrily and grabbed my arm.
"You're coming with me then! We are going to take care of your costume right this instant!"

I was being dragged across the floor and I was waving at my friends as I disappeared into the hallway. See you guys later. I can't believe that I am so easy to kidnap. At least this is for a good reason though haha.

Tsukimiya-sensei brought me to the faculty room and we started discussing the design of my costume. He took a pen and a couple of papers to sketch on.

"Alright Kaori, what design were you thinking of?"

"...actually I don't have any idea."

"What?! That is definitely not good! Alright, here are some designs I have in mind. The first one is like this..."

Tsukimiya-sensei was sketching a lot of designs and discussed them with me; he sure is serious and into this. However, after I don't know how many designs he presented to me, I ended up not choosing any of them.

"Seriously, Kaori? You didn't like any of them?"

"It's not that I didn't like them, it's just that they don't fit a certain criteria I had in mind that is quite important."

"What would that be?"

"I was thinking that I need to wear something that would be perfect for both Kaori and Kaoru. Based on the flow of my performance, there's no time for me to switch costumes so I need to wear something that's perfect for Kaori and Kaoru."

"I see. Hmm..."

Tsukimiya-sensei looked at me from top to bottom.

"Kaori."

"Y-yes?"

"Could you tie your hair into a pony tail?"

"Huh? Okay."

I don't know what's up with Tsukimiya-sensei's weird request but I tied my hair into a ponytail anyway.

"Is this fine, sensei?"

Tsukimiya-sensei looked at me again intently.

"Ah! I have the perfect idea!"

Tsukimiya-sensei then started sketching really fast and he looked like a scientist who would have said eureka out of nowhere and started writing a bunch of concepts and formulas on his journal. It was quite impressive. After some minutes of waiting, Tsukimiya-sensei finished.

"Kaori! How about this design?" he gave out a big grin.

"...is it no good?"

"...Tsukimiya-sensei, it's wonderful! I like it and I think that it will be perfect."

The design of the costume was unisex and Tsukimiya-sensei explained that it would make me look androgynous especially if I were to tie my hair into a ponytail. The design was a white six-button double-breasted coat with cerulean blue trimmings on the collar and the coat cuffs and a gold band around the upper arm area of the left sleeve, white trousers, white long sleeved polo shirt inside with cerulean blue cuff buttons, knee high black boots, and black gloves. My hair tie was to be wrapped with a cerulean blue rope and I would have a golden chain hanging on the right side of my trousers.

"I'm glad you like it! Now since the design is settled, it's time to go shopping for the cloth to be used!"

Tsukimiya-sensei grabbed his hand bag and dragged me away again. We ended up at a cloth store where he's a regular customer and bought the cloth for my costume. After which, Tsukimiya-sensei brought me to a tailor shop and had my measurements taken and the tailor said that she can finish the job within two days. We then returned back to campus and I can't believe that my problem was solved just like that. I'm so lucky to have Tsukimiya-sensei to help me; he's always there to help me. Tsukimiya-sensei is so reliable! I wish Hyuga-sensei could help me too since he's my homeroom teacher but he's usually busy with his live action drama shooting. Oh well, at least now I'm sure I will be complete. Haha.