The Quirky Art of Preformance

Liar

Curling up on Enjiro's shoulder, I tried to ignore the small thump in my heart. I hadn't told him what happened when I left and the only one who knew what was happening was Kacchan who knew better than to bring it up. I didn't need to be awake right now and I didn't want to be, so with a small drop of salty water, I forced myself asleep.

I could hear the class talking around me but I just ignored them. It wasn't until Enjiro gently shook me awake did I actually focus on what was going on.

I stretched out my limbs as Enjiro laughed a little.

"What is it Enji...?" I rubbed my eyes, wanting to fall back asleep.

Enjiro was blushing, leaning away from me slightly. "U-uh, we're stopped, to stretch our legs. D-do you mind...?"

Smiling a bit, I moved to let Enjiro walk out and stretch a bit more- hearing a satisfying click in my joints. Letting out another yawn, I leaned against the glass and curled up into a ball, basically falling asleep the second I got comfortable. I barely registered when we started driving again.

"...When did you get there?"

Blinking, I tried to get rid of the tiredness in my eyes. I could see a figure standing above me and once I wiped my eyes, I could recognise the figure as Aizawa. Stretching out, I gave him a weak smile. "Are we there yet?"

Aizawa looked started by my question as he sighed. "So that's where you disappeared to." Motioning for me to get off, I noticed I was the only one on the bus. Why didn't Enjiro wake me when we arrived?

Hoping off, I noticed not only the bus was abandoned by the whole camp. "Aizawa-sensei? Where is everyone else?"

A scream echoed from the forest causing me to jump. That sounded like Mina.

"They're... busy."

Looking up at him with wide eyes, a slowly backed away. "What do you mean by that?"

Before Aizawa had the chance to answer, a different bus full of people pulled up. The class B student exited, seemingly oblivious to what is happening to my fellow classmates.

"Since you miss the extra training, you can help class B set up the camp," Aizawa told me emotionlessly.

"Wait, we are doing what now," Monoma asked with a wide expression.

"He said we were setting up the camp," Setsuna stated with a smirk- seeming to find Monoma's pain funny.

"But, why wasn't that done before we arrived?!"

"Hey, we ain't going to be doing all this stuff for you," Pixie Bob stated with a mimicking smirk that looked exactly the same as Setsuna's.

Pixie Bob walked from around the back of the bus, putting down our bags.

We were given some pop-up structures to work with and stages to set up. I joined Kendo, Ibra and Hitoshi in setting up a stage. We were given the frame to put together and wooden planks we had to nail down. We had to put up red curtains and the lights and probably should have adult supervision but there was a lot to set up and apparently making four 15-year-olds do it was a good idea.

Not.

"Look out!" Jumping away from the loud crash, I looked at the metal pole that had landed about only a cm away from me.

"Are you okay?" Kendo came up to me, pulling up the metal pole and putting it back on the ground.

"Yeah, only saw half of my life flash before my eyes." Letting out a nervous laugh, I shakingly stood up and walked away from where Ibra and Hitoshi were working.

"Sorry," Hitoshi muttered, quietly.

"No... It's okay..."

I knew Hitoshi was giving me a weird look but I wasn't able to change that.

Helping Kendo hand the pole back up to Hitoshi and Ibra, we held it in place long enough for them to get it in place. This time it won't almost kill anyone. Once the frame was put together we all worked systematically on laying down the flooring, hammering in all the boards. It was boring but eh, we had to do something with our time and my classmates' screams gave us a unique soundtrack.

When we were finally done, we took a break and got some lunch. I didn't feel too hungry but I still ate something- remembering last time I skipped a meal and how badly it ended. The class B students were actually pretty fun to talk to- though I was a little quieter than usual- and they had some fun stories from their exam. Apparently, Kinoko created a huge mushroom set that almost fell over and crushed Vlad King, thankfully he wasn't too angry.

Vlad King sounded really cool, he was a cameraman and he did some amazing animations- something you wouldn't guess from his appearance.

By the time we were done with the stage, we only had five near-death experiences and four collapses. We returned to the main body to see everything set up and some of the others preparing some food for my class. I happily joined in cooking- not really wanting to be doing nothing at the moment. I learnt off Kinoko who was frying some of the vegetables and mushrooms.

Yui was dealing with the tomatoes, occasionally stealing a piece and 'mm'ing excitedly.

Groaning pulled our attention away from the food we were dishing up.

"Enjiro! You made it! I thought they had actually killed you!" Running out, I jumped in the air and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, trying to act as normal as possible for Enjiro- he didn't deserve to worry. He let out a pained gasp, making me back off worriedly. I bite my lip, gently brushing his hair back into place. "What happened?"

"We do not talk about it," Kacchan growled, stumbling passed us and collapsing into a seat.

I fidgeted on the spot, unsure of what to do. Thankfully, Kacchan seemed to notice this as he pushed me into Enjiro's arms. He groaned but happily encased me in his arms and nuzzled into my neck. I let out a relieved sigh while curling up.

Everyone ate and while I didn't feel too hungry, a single glare from Kacchan forced some food down my throat. While the rest of the class went off for the baths, I called Ika.

"Hey, sis, how are you feeling?"

"I-I'm fine..." Lier. It was clear she had been crying and was probably puffy-eyed.

Sighing, I forced my voice to sound as normal as possible. "Just remember that I'm here for you. Auntie and Uncle too, and Kacchan. We are all here for you, Ika."

I could tell she was about to start crying, again- great, I was making it worse.

"I just don't want to forget her."

"And we won't." Letting my fingers ghost over a small pendant that mum had once worn, a long time ago. "But that doesn't mean we can't keep living our lives. We live with her in our heart, her and dad. Get some sleep, Ika."

"Only if you do."

I didn't respond as I hung up the phone, letting the tears slip, even though it was just for a second.

"Izu?"

Jumping up, I saw Enjiro standing by the door frame.

"What's wrong?" In a second he was by me and hugging me close. I let my hand curl around his shirt as I buried myself in his neck. "Izu?"

"D-do you think she would hate me? We gave up on her. We let them pull the plug. We failed her."

Enjiro seemed to understand as he wrapped his arms around my back and held me close. "No, she would never hate you. You let her go, and that was probably the kindest thing you could have done."