An Unheard Voice - Chapter 7: Chapter 7

"Hello, class, and welcome to.. theater club." Mr. Kaito said. It was awkward for a few seconds, since there's barely anyone here..
"Hang in there, Kaito." Ms. Meiko pat his back, and left.
"Wooo!!!" Tsukasa and An cheer, clapping. Akito punches her back, and she slouches in pain.
"Thank you. Anyways, today I have an announcement! An Shiraishi, and Toya Aoyagi have joined our theater club!"
Technically, they were forced to since I said please once and they rushed over here. I want to repay Tsukasa in every way, he needed more crew members for this play. We're on the stage, and I somewhat hide behind Akito. Wait, the teacher didn't say his name-
"GO TOYAAAA!!!" Tsukasa cries. I wave at him, and a purple haired boy laughs.
"I'll introduce everyone!" Mr. Kaito ran off the stage, and went to the purple guy. (HSJWI im not funny) His glasses and hair were messed up. The teacher can be so unprofessional at times, good grief.. not to mention his shirt isn't tucked in again.
"I'm Rui Kamishiro, it's nice to meet you all. I hope you're all prepared for the 'training' I have prepared for you with my new inventions, heh.. haha..." Kamishiro began laughing hysterically. The teacher sat him down, and pat his head.
Kamishiro is scary.
"If you don't know me already, I am Tsukasa Tenma! Toya's closest friend!" Tsukasa sat up, as he was in the audience. It was silent for a few moments, until Mr. Kaito tapped Kusanagi's shoulder.
"Huh? wait, Toya-?!" She sprung up from her seat, and I waved.
"I'm hurt! How could you not remember me?!" An sobbed, running into me and almost crushing my bones with her hug. Akito had to pull her away. "Stop being his bodyguard all the time, loser."
"Shut up." They glared at each other.
"A-Anyway, we actually do have another member, but--"
The door slammed open, and a girl jumped on Kusanagi, knocking her into the next aisle.
"Nene~!!!" The pink haired girl squealed, squeezing her neck. Kusanagi tried breaking through, but the girl wrapped her legs around her, too. Eventually, Kusanagi got too weak to try and fell.
"Oh, Emu, you're here.. even if you go to an all girls school and technically are not supposed to be here.. Introduce yourself!" Mr. Kaito said, checking outside.
"Oh? New members!!" She hopped through every aisle, and jumped on the stage, shaking my hand rapidly. "Welcome!! I'm Emu Otori! Emu means smile!!" As I was dizzy, she pulled my cheeks upward.
"Hi again, Emu!" An says.
"Heya, An!"
I wave, and she tilts her head.
"Don't touch him." Akito grabs her by her shirt, and places her gently next to An.
"Huh? What's this my Emu senses detect??" She goes through Akito to me again, and looks close to my face. We stare at each other for a few seconds, and she makes a weird face. I don't get it. "Hmm.." She walks backwards, off the stage.
"Emu!!!" Kusanagi shouts, running to hold her.
"Forgive me, Nene.. but I must go on to the next world.. one where half and half.. smiles.. bleh." She put on an emotional performance, and Kusanagi screamed 'no' as she held Emu close.
An claps, wiping away her tears from her bright red eyes. How does she cry so fast?!
"Thank you, thank you!" Otori bows, as Kamishiro throws flowers. "I, Emu Otori, will be the one to make half and half smile!!" She steps on Kusanagi's head, making a hero pose.
"His name is Toya." Akito rolls his eyes, and once again, the teacher introduces us all.
"Okay you all, introduce the roles to them! I'm going to get coffee.." Mr. Kaito moved Otori aside, who was talking nonstop.
"Okay, I'll explain the story first. It is inspired by 'Sleeping Beauty' by Giambattista Basile. But the disney version.. Anyways, I don't think I need to explain any furthe-"
I raise my hand, and he calls on me. Then I held up the paper, but Kamishiro can't read it.
"Toya's never seen sleeping beauty."
They all stand in shock, and Tsukasa takes a while to remember. "Oh, yeah."
"Really?! Wow, I'm.. surprised." Kamishiro chuckles, and begins to explain. "It's a tale of a princess who is cursed by Maleficent, when she turns 16 she will go into a deep sleep and never awaken. But, Maleficent added only by a true love's kiss. Maleficent said this because she believed true love didn't exist. But in the end she gets awakened by a kiss by the prince, blah blah blah, alright let's get to it!" He claps, and the crew gets in their positions as Tsukasa gives me and An the scripts.
"Toya, do you want to be a stage crew?" He asks, and I nod. I still get the script, though.
"We have 2 weeks to do this, guys! Well, everyone besides Akito. So An, you have a dwarf role." Kamishiro says, and Akito rolls his eyes.
"Huh?! Akito, you're in the theater club?!" An turns her head to him, shocked. I didn't know either.
"Yeah, it's to get away from doing soccer. They always come to me, never giving me a break." He sighs.
"Yippee!!!" An kicks her feet, and smiles widely.
"Why are you so excited..?" Akito asks.
"This is the first time I've been invited to a play! They're usually kicking me out of them." She laughs, grinning. What has she been doing..?
"Akito is the prince, Tsukasa is the king, Emu is maleficent, and Nene and I are stage crew. And I'm also the director. And now welcome Toya to the stage crew! An, the other dwarfs should be here soon. We're at the part where sleeping beauty is about to turn 16 so far, so-" Kamishiro said, as a hot pink haired girl walked in. "Perfect! There's our princess."
"I need to get my script first, I'll be back." She exits. "I left it at my school." An and Akito go up on stage with Otori, while Kusanagi and Kamishiro sit next to me.
Princess? Akito is the prince.. wait. I flip through the script, looking for it. My mother says in all fairy tales, the princess is always destined to marry the prince. Except my father never allowed me to read or watch them, so mother said 'unlike us' afterwards. and Kamishiro said she gets awakened by a kiss, and.. Oh no.
'[ The Prince kisses Sleeping Beauty ]'
... Akito.. is going to kiss that girl?
"Toya? What's wrong? Emu said she senses you were down." Kusanagi asks, handing me a pencil to write on the script.
"But Otori isn't near us?"
"I know her well. But is everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay. I might just be a little tired."
"Do you want to lay on my shoulder? This might take a while." She offers, and I stare at her. I usually lay on Akito's. I'm scared I'll crush her. She stays silent for a moment, then throws the script at me. "I-I didn't mean it like that!" She whispers-shouts, grabbing my paper and covering her face with it. Ouch.
"Are you two done?" The girl appears behind us, and I fall forward. "Woah there-" I clench my heart, feeling it pounding like crazy. Akito comes to help me up.
"Yo, Pinkie Pie." Akito waves. He already knows her?
"Hey, Ed Sheeran." She laughs, and he rolls his eyes. "Gross, we're halfway to the scene. Plus, I still don't even know your name."
"Okay, Ms. Mysterious." He says, and they walk up on stage. They seem to get along really well... Wait, I should be happy for him. My mother never said anything about a prince marrying a man. What am I thinking? I should let it go.
But it's so hard to do that. I can't. My heart hurts. Why am I feeling this way? Some sort of envy? Weird.
"..." I saw Otori looking at me from a distance, but she's not smiling. Huh?
"Cut! Good work, everyone! We're up to where the prince finds the princess, see you all on Monday! Remember, club meets after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays! Have a good weekend, everyone!" Kamishiro says, and everyone grabs their bags and leaves.
"Come on, Toya. Bye, no name." Akito says, and she waves, leaving. I go to him, but Otori stops me. "What do you want with him?"
"I need to speak to half and half for a moment. Please excuse us!" She takes me outside, and I look at Akito, who sits down to wait.
"What did you need?"
"You're not happy! I can sense it! Tell your big sister what's wrong, my uh- my.. child?" She says, hugging me.
"What do you mean?"
"Something's wrong!"
"Nothing's wrong."
"Don't lie to me!!" She shouts, and I drop my pencil. She pouts, and looks at me. "When I say I'm going to make someone smile, I'll walk through hell itself just for the sake of your happiness!" I sigh.
"It's just a role in this play, it's not a big deal."
"I knew it! It's because your soon to be boyfriend is going to kiss someone else! A good old fashioned love rivalry!" She says, with a magnifying glass. I blush, and my eyes widen. My WHAT??
"No need to be shy, now! It's okay, it's just a kiss! You'll be able to kiss him plenty more times!" She says, stroking my hair like she's my older sibling.
"I don't like Akito..!"
I pulled myself away, flustered. She grows confused, and thinks.
"So you don't like him..?" Otori says, sitting on the floor. Do I?
I remember how he protected me from the erasers when we first met, and he actually wanted to be friends with me. When he stood up for me during the game, I was happy.. nobody would do that. I get a weird feeling around him too, and I get happy just by the thought of him. And whenever I see him smile, I just want to smile with him. Wait, my heart is beating loudly right now.. This isn't from embarrassment, is this..
Love?
"I like Akito..?" I whisper, and Otori looks up. She jumps on me, hugging me tightly.
"I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!! My Emu senses never fail me!!" She giggles, squeezing me tightly. I'm too flustered to even feel physical pain anymore.
We go back inside, and I find Akito asleep. I can't even look at him anymore, this isn't okay! But his face is so mesmerizing when he's sleeping.. I slap myself. Snap out of it, Toya! He hasn't stolen your heart!! SNAP OUT OF I-
"Toya? Are you back already?" Akito rubs his eyes, in a sleepy voice.
F- I'm gonna ignore what I was about to say.  It felt like an arrow shot through my heart just now.
"I- Uh- H-" I try to form words, but I forgot I had my notebook with me. I can't think straight right now.
"If you're ready, let's go. I can't stand sitting in these chairs." He sighs, holding my bag too. My mind is everywhere right now...
"Bye, Akito!! Bye, Toya!! See you soon!" Emu waves, with a wide grin. Usually I'd wave back, but she knows a secret I could never tell anyone. Let alone Akito, since it's about him. I feel my face heated up, and I can't hear what Akito is saying. I'm too lost in thought. I've never had this feeling before... I've heard about it somewhere, but what was the name..?
Oh, that's right. How did I not realize until now?
I have a crush on Akito.