Chapter 92
[123]
“Food? Check. Lighting? Check. Decorations? Check.” Makoto Niijima finished going over the points on her clipboard as she walked around examining the gymnasium in full student council president mode.
“Makoto, I think you can relax.” Dr. Maruki reassured her. “Everything looks great. Why don’t you go hang out with your friends?”
“Thanks Dr. Maruki, but I really need to finish going through this. Besides, they texted me that they’re running a bit late.” She replied, checking her phone. Her costume was that of a witch, complete with a long black dress and pointy hat. She had a broomstick but that was sitting in the corner as it was too inconvenient to carry around constantly.
“Alright, if you insist.” Maruki complied. He’d been rather lazy with his costume, taking an old lab coat and cutting some frays around the end and messing up his hair to give him a mad scientist look. He’d also purchased a pair of novelty glasses where the fake eyes hung out on springs. As he walked away he scratched his right arm which was growing increasingly itchy.
“Okay,” Makoto turned back to her clipboard. “We’ve got punch and dipping sauces. The projector is set to play some classic black and white movies in the background. Now all that’s left is to make sure everyone mans their appropriate stations and we’re set.”
“Yo, Makoto!” A voice called from behind her. Turning around she spotted Ryuji walking in with his date, Hifumi Togo. Ryuji was dressed as a pirate, complete with a hat, jacket, hook hand, and eyepatch. Meanwhile his date had gone all out with her outfit, dressed as a historically accurate samurai and holding a katana at her side.
“Ryuji! Hifumi! Glad to see you two could make it.” She greeted the couple with a smile. “I hope you two have a great evening, but Ryuji, don’t forget you’re watching the snack table at 8. We don’t want anyone’s drinks getting spiked. Understand?”
“Yeah I know, don’t want a repeat of the other night.” Ryuji replied nonchalantly.
“What happened the other night?” Hifumi raised an eyebrow
Makoto crossed her arms and scowled at Ryuji who’d just realized what he said.
“Uh, I’ll...tell you later. Why don’t we grab some snacks?” He suggested, changing the topic. “The others are on their way in, I saw them out front!” He called back to Makoto as he and his date walked off.
Completely unrelated to that, Makoto began to check her hair and makeup one last time before the party. Not for anyone in particular, certainly not Ren who could walk in at any moment and see her. As she adjusted her costume, she made sure to show the tiniest hint of cleavage. Again, for no one in particular.
“Makoto!” Ann’s voice called out to her. Moving to greet her, Makoto got an eyeful of what she was wearing and instantly grew ten times more self-conscious.
The blonde beauty had decided to go as the Black Cat, a well known vigilante in Tokyo and occasional partner to Spider-Man. The black skin tight costume left little to the imagination, and the zipper down the middle was pulled far lower than most other girls would dare. Ann already drew eyes with her stunning looks, but this was far beyond that.
“Ann...welcome.” She greeted half-heartedly, averting her gaze from the other girl. “Did you get here alright?”
“Yeah, some assholes tried to grope me on the subway though. But I took care of it.” She cracked her knuckles menacingly.
“Oh, I see.” Makoto responded, trying to look anywhere else.
“Uh, everything okay?” Ann looked at her curiously.
“Yep! Just...making sure everything is set up okay!” She lied, forcing a smile. It had been a while since Makoto had felt this hostile towards Ann, but she couldn’t help herself. Now that she knew Ann was interested in Ren too, she couldn’t help but feel she was in competition with the other girl, and losing horribly at that. And Makoto hated losing.
“Oh hey, Ren’s here!” Ann changed the subject, running to meet the boy with Makoto chasing after.
Ren, rather than choosing to buy a costume (he was broke after that mess with Kawakami) had opted to show up in his Spider-Man suit, though he left his mask off since he didn’t want to be too obvious.
“Ren!” Makoto scolded him as discreetly as she could. “What are you doing!? You don’t want people to know that you’re actually...y’know.” She gestured to the suit.
“Nobody’s gonna know.” He smiled at Makoto, gesturing to the other guests present. “Besides, my costume isn’t exactly original.” She looked out to the other students and saw at least six others dressed in the same outfit as him, granted they looked store bought and didn’t fit their owners nearly as well as Ren’s.
“Cheap imitations of my work. Truly shameful.” Said Yusuke, suddenly standing next to Ren. Yusuke’s costume was...interesting to say the least, though it came as no surprise to anyone who knew him. He had chosen to come to the party dressed as a traditional geisha, complete with white makeup, yukata, and his hair tied in a bun. His already androgenous appearance made him a very convincing girl. Had he not spoken, the others might not have recognized him.
“Uhh, Yusuke? I think you might draw the wrong kind of crowd with that outfit.” Ann stated.
This seemed to confuse Yusuke. “What do you mean? Many of the students here showed great interest in my costume.” He pulled out several slips of paper. “Several even gave me their phone numbers. However, when I spoke to them, they did seem to lose interest quickly. Perhaps I need to work on my speaking skills?”
“Yeah...That’s what it is.”
“My Lady Ann,” A voice spoke in a fake Spanish accent. “I have come to steal your heart.”
When the group turned towards the voice, they spotted Morgana trying his best to look mysterious by hiding behind his cape. Judging by the hat, mask, fake mustache, and outfit, he had come dressed as Zorro and was trying his best to be in character.
“Oh, hey Morgana.” Ann greeted casually.
“A rose, for one as beautiful as yourself.” He knelt down, presenting Ann a single rose. “Please, take it and accept my love.”
“Yeah, no thanks.” She turned away and continued to speak with the others.
“Hello everyone!” Came the cheerful voice of Haru as she greeted her friends.
“Hello Har-AGH!” Makoto screamed in surprise at Haru’s costume.
The girl was dressed in a wedding gown that was caked in blood and torn in several places. The most horrifying part of her costume however, was her face which used makeup and props to appear as though she had a cleaver buried halfway through her already rotting head. The realness and the gore of the costume was enough to scare anyone if they were caught by surprise.
“Like it?” Haru asked with a giggle. “Takemi helped me with it. I wanted it to be as bloody as possible!”
“Yo.” Takemi greeted casually, walking up behind Haru. Her makeup was made to look like the bottom half of her face was peeling off and exposing the muscle and bone beneath. “Who’s ready to party?”
“Wow um, y-you certainly do good work Dr. Takemi.” Makoto said, averting her gaze once more, this time to avoid vomiting.
“Yeah well, I see a lot of this stuff in my line of work. Wanna hear about this one patient I had whose entire nose got cut off? I’ve got pictures.” She held up her phone.
“Ooh! Ooh! I do!” Haru jumped excitedly.
“Maybe another time.” Makoto replied before turning to Ren. “Where’s Futaba?” She asked, looking around for the smaller girl.
“She’s saying bye to Sojiro, he drove us here so that no one on the subway messed up her costume.”
“Oh what did she come as?”
“NEO!” A small figure dressed in pink appeared striking a pose while holding a bow. When no one responded she seemed to lose her enthusiasm and droop her arms. “Featherman…” She finished quietly.
“Oh right Neo Featherman, I think I’ve heard of that show.” Makoto tried to remember. “Which one are you supposed to be?”
“Pink Argus! Obviously! She’s the leader in the most recent incarnation of the show! She’s played by the incredible Yukari Takeba and is a total badass!”
“Yukari Takeba?” Ren asked, surprised. Was the singer from the Velvet Room really also the star of a...kid’s show?
“Alright, well it looks like everyone is here now so why don’t we all go enjoy ourselves?” Makoto suggested. “Ann, you and I are on catering duty for the first half hour so why don’t we-”
“Actually,” Ann interrupted. “Do you think maybe you could handle it yourself? I was hoping to enjoy the party a bit first. I promise I’ll take the shift right after.”
“But...the schedule…” Makoto weakly pointed to the clipboard as Ann walked away with Ren in tow.
“Thanks a bunch!” She waved back. “Ooh, why don’t we try this?” She suggested as the two walked off into the crowd.
“Oof. That girl plays dirty.” Futaba commented. “Hoarding him all to herself, that’s low.”
Makoto scowled at Ann’s back as the other girl purposefully leaned her chest against Ren. The student council president didn’t consider herself a violent person, but right now, she wanted to flip Ann over her shoulder again. Right onto her stupid pretty face.
“You okay there Makoto?” Ryuji asked, grabbing some punch for him and Hifumi. “You look a little...heated.” He chose his phrasing carefully.
“I’m. Fine.” She said through gritted teeth. “Watch the punch bowl for me.” She got up and marched into the party in search of the blonde.
“Wait! But my date!” Ryuji called after her.
‘Ann wants to play dirty huh?’ Makoto thought to herself as she pushed through the crowd. ‘That’s fine.’
‘I can play dirty too.’
[Bonus]
As Takuto Maruki excused himself from the gymnasium, claiming he needed to use the restroom, he couldn’t stop himself from scratching the itch in his arm.
Why was it so damn itchy?
It was almost like the itch was under his skin, in his bones and muscle. And was it getting hotter in the school? Why did it suddenly feel like the temperature rose drastically?
This itch!
He continued to scratch at it harder and harder until the skin was raw. But that wasn’t enough. It felt like the itch was spreading now! Throughout the rest of his body! Like his insides were on fire.
“What...is...this?” He asked himself as he ran to his lab. Whatever it was, he had to examine it at once and find what was wrong. If it was something in his formula, then he could fix it...right?
When he finally reached his lab and slammed the door behind him, he began to scratch his entire body. It was like his skin needed to come off of him! Almost as if he was...shedding.
A clacking noise sounded as a small object hit the ground. Picking it up to examine, he held the object under the nearest light source. The object was flat and green with a diamond-like shape. Maruki had seen this kind of thing plenty of times when cleaning Iggy’s terrarium, but that couldn’t be right. Could it?
“A scale?”