One-Shot Collection (Karma Akabane x OC)

Valentine's Day

Hayoung had never seen so much red and pink gathered in one place before. Rose petals of the aforementioned colours littered the floor, while glittery pink and red hearts hung down from the ceiling. The walls were festooned with pink and red heart-shaped balloons, the makeshift platform that would serve as a photo booth later on during the night decked out in hearts, ribbons, lace and glitter. At the very front of the ballroom, an enormous, bright pink banner decorated with the most audacious amounts of hearts and sequins in all shades of pink and red in the world hung. Written across the banner in sparkly cursive was Welcome to Kamishima's Valentine's Day Charity Party. Hayoung had to blink several times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

"What on earth..."

"Were you not listening during our staff meeting, Ms Song? The school has recently partnered up with a charity organisation..." Headmistress Hanasaki rattled on.

Hayoung cut her off. "I heard that perfectly well, Headmistress. But don't you think the student council went slightly overboard with the decorations?"

Hanasaki let out a tch of disgust. "That I can definitely agree on. Ghastly, what they've done with the whole place. I, for one, would appreciate not having flower petals strewn all over the floor. And all that glitter--" she shuddered. "It'll be impossible to clean up. Look, I already see some specks of glitter on the walls already!"

Hayoung's exhaustion was gnawing on her. All she wanted to do right now was head back home, wait for Karma to come back, and perhaps they could start making plans for the actual Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, with the impending charity ball later tonight, she was stuck with paperwork and emails from parents of the students who were interested in attending. There was also more last-minute crap to talk to the student council about. If they worked quickly, perhaps they could be rid of the over-the-top decorations soon enough. Excusing herself, she set out to find at least one member of the student council before the school day ended. At this time of day, they should be holding their daily meeting somewhere in the lobby. True to that, there they were, wrapping up another day's worth of paperwork and discussions.

Hayoung approached, and the five students turned to her, startled. They immediately stopped whatever they were doing and bowed tentatively, wondering what would have summoned the deputy headmistress to their council room. Hayoung didn't exactly have the reputation of being warm and friendly amongst the student body. Seeing it as her cue, she spoke.

"I apologise for the intrusion. However, there have been some things Headmistress Hanasaki has taken issue with regarding the decorations in the ballroom. The... Overwhelming amount of glittery pink and red, for example."

Shizuo Okamura, a confident boy with his black hair swept back neatly stood up, buttoning up his blazer.

"I'll see what we can do about that. I'm afraid that some select members of the council got rather carried away with the project." At those words, he shot a pointed look at the two female members of the student council, who returned his gaze with looks of indignation.

Hayoung ignored them and went back to Shizuo. "If there's still some time to spare after this, I want you to sort out the decorations as soon as possible."

Shizuo nodded with a tight smile. "Of course."

Satisfied, Hayoung made for a different part of the lobby. That was one task done for the day. She hoped for the student council's sake that they could clear up the ballroom as soon as they could, lest they all suffered Headmistress Hanasaki's rage. Settling down in a chair, she went through her checklist for what seemed to be the millionth time that month. Besides the last-minute redecorating, there wasn't much left to handle for the party itself. Except maybe attend it later in the night, in the proper attire. Hanasaki had requested specifically all members of the faculty to attend. Hayoung sighed. At least you could invite anyone you wanted to the ball. Karma could sit through this hellhole with her. Hayoung already had her evening dress ready. The dress code was black tie, and Hanasaki was incredibly strict about it. God forbid she spot any of her faculty or students not dressed perfectly for the occasion. Hayoung knew she couldn't get away wearing the white dress Karma bought for her, and had promptly purchased one for herself.