Kabuki Street Community School

[Taiko]

Tomo was on her best behavior at the dance! Well, “best.” She may have shown her appreciation for Kabuki Street Jam’s performance by standing in front of the stage after her favorite songs and stating, “Do it again.” (Whether or not she was listened to!)

She didn’t even start any fights, letting Best Elvis and his gang off with no more than a warning glare.

Most importantly, though, she had kept her pinky promise and had not peeked at Reira’s dress until she arrived wearing it. She managed to communicate her awe and appreciation with her heartfelt words:

“You look good.”

[Reira Tanaka]

"I know what you did." came Reira's response after Tomo's `You look good.`, along with a moment paused by a gentle kiss. Reira had realized a day later after the night of dress shopping that her bank account had a little more in it than expected — all thanks to Tomo's obvious choice of paying in Reira's stead; or that's what she believed.

She had made it half-way through the dance before feeling a tap on her shoulder and being told to go find a jacket (which then turned into two days of detention after some words were exchanged with Ms. Kim Park).

[Yuzuki Kuwabara]

Tap...tap...tap It was the sound of Yuzuki's unsteady foosteps approaching the Rappapa club room from the short hallway off the pool. Unsteady because she was carrying the club room Christmas tree again, along with the backpack full of decorations which she had to stow at home over the year for lack of space to stash it in the clubhouse.

It was a little later than the previous year, but once again she blundered through the doorway, balancing the whole tree on her shoulder. And once more she called out. "Help, it's toppling!" Of course Kaho was quick to rush to the rescue and save the tree from toppling. "How about over in this corner?" Yuzuki asked, pointing a finger beside the door. "From there, Asami can see it from her chair" she reasoned. It was clear to see that in that position, the wyvern head on the wall would appear to be gazing at the festive tree as well, for maximum dramatic effect!

Once the tree was (barely) fitted into it's corner Yuzuki stood back to critically eye the positioning, and directing Kaho to move it a little further out from the wall. "Okay, that's perfect. Text the others and I'll go find Asami. Remember, don't put the star on. That comes last and Asami has to do it"

"How come Asami has to put the star on?" Kaho asked, brushing a piece of spider web from her wallaby sweater.

"Because!" Yuzuki exclaimed, adamant and stubborn. "It's how we did it last year, so now it's our brassband tradition!"

[Taiko]

Tomo spent eight full minutes sitting half-lotus on the club room floor, staring intently at the tree. Twice Neko had trotted over to her lap, meered inquisitively, headbutted her knee or her hand, and moved on, but the girl did not move an inch.

Only after that long period of study did she come to a decision. She kept her eyes fixed on a specific branch as she stood carefully, digging into the pocket of her sukajan for something... something truly festive she had gotten from her cousin the year before:



Satisfied with its placement, she scooped Neko up into her arms and wandered off in search of Reira.

[Asami Ito]

Asami hadn't been present during the setting up of the tree and much of the decorating — though when she did leave her private area, and upon witnessing the new festive environment, the half-oni was left staring at the tree for a moment before abruptly leaving the room behind.

It wouldn't be until a few hours later that she returned with a snowman tree topper in hand. While she had chosen a star last year, there was a reason to her choice for the current. One she didn't exactly seem hard pressed to explain. After retrieving a chair she'd hoist herself up and settle the snowman atop the tree.

[Reira Tanaka]

Reira's addition to the tree was an easy pick! One of the girls on the cheer team handed out ornaments as a surprise, so of course that's what soon appeared on the Rappapa tree later in the day.

[Mallory]

On Friday March 19th, Kabuki Street Community School held its first ever prom! The irregular schedule of KSCS' first school year prevented it from happening, but this year the school's Fighting Wallabies Cheerleading Squad was put in charge of planning and settled on the theme put forward by cheerleader Reira Tanaka: A Starry Night.



The centerpiece was a twinkling bridge surrounded by curtains of stars, where couples and groups of friends posed for pictures. The bridge bore a resemblance to a prop used in the Lofty Lane Theater's production of "Badside Story," but no one seemed to know anything about that (members of the brass band gang Rappapa seemed especially clueless).

The event featured live bands, dancing, food and drinks, and at least one chaperone to "walk around and make sure there's no danger."

[Yuzuki Kuwabara]

Yuzuki had been looking forward to the Starry Night Prom for weeks, and her date to it with Asami. It was earlier in the week that she had gone shopping for her dress, and was able to get in to the salon to have her hair done Friday afternoon. Rappapa's gate guardian was all smiles by the time she arrived, ready to stand on the plywood bridge with the star-decorated backdrop to have her picture taken with Asami. After enjoying the dance and the music and mingling with her classmates she and Asami were ready to go home to change, to get ready for their camp out on Twilight Isle.


(Yuzuki's dress center )

[Asami Ito]

"Just know that when you find out what it is.. My answer will be Yes."

That is what Asami told Yuzuki well before the girl knew the prom would take place; back in mid November. Asami was never one to go back on her word, nor did she want to in this case, and would be accompanied by Yuzuki to the star-filled night. Many guests of the evening kept clear of the Sukeban, though as the night went on it seemed many were too focused on their own carefree enjoyment of the evening that Asami soon enough became just another in the crowd... and much like them, she felt the same as her focus seemed solely on Yuzuki; at least for a couple of dances. While her friends enjoyed themselves Asami seemed much in the same. She stood there, listened, commented briefly, but simply lived among the talk and laughter and felt at ease in her own way.

Asami hardly smiled. She either wore neutrality, anger, or her salty expression — but a rare smile did appear as she stood beside Yuzuki on the plywood bridge for their photo.

[Yuina Hirano]

Since she had just finished moving in at the Kubo's house even ahead of graduation, Yuina arrived early along with Haku to the school riding with Kiyomi. She was able to spend some time raiding the cafeteria for some leftover brownies before heading to the school's theater dressing room to change into her new dress and put the finishing touches on her makeup. During the dance she took time to chat with her classmates, but mostly reserved her time for dancing with Haku and having their picture taken at the bridge.

[Mallory]

After hearing that the prom was short on chaperones, Mallory excused herself from her usual horror movie night with Eri to help out!



She took pictures for people posing on the bridge, helped the yearbook photographer find good shots, and made sure the snack and punch bowls were getting refilled, keeping busy as she made a number of circuits of the prom, tiring as they were--

--up until her in-laws arrived at the end of the first hour. "Oh, I can manage... It's only a few hours," she protested, but Shiori kindly offering her arm and saying she wanted to catch up with her and Eri at the Satos' house was not something she could easily decline. She made her way out, replaced by a new chaperone, an eccentric history teacher and her father-in-law, Roka Maeda.

Surely he'd manage. Even if he wasn't allowed to smoke in there.

[Taiko]

There were very few occasions when Tomo would put on the dress, but what made the cut, in her mind, was "This is important to Reira." After selling a couple of pieces of A/V equipment that may have had a passing resemblance to something that had gone missing from a local theater, she bought a dress for the event after asking the workers at the department store for something "with the rocks that look like stars." Because Starry Night, right?



She danced. She danced well, a trait of Tomo's that may have only been known by her friends in Rappapa and a scant few others. And when she danced with Reira, or watched her few close friends dance, she often smiled.

Prom meant that graduation was almost upon them, and that meant change. But change so far had meant Rappapa, and Reira, and Koro and Neko. So she danced without worry or sadness, but a calm, meditative, confidently hopeful curiosity for whatever was to come.

[Reira Tanaka]

Everything had to be perfect. From the decorations she so painstakingly helped pick and set up to the dress she wore the night of the prom. Red was her signature color, it always had been. From her youth of playing Sentai to the sukajan she wore. Red had a deeper meaning, it was the color her mother wore in many of the pictures she had of her. Reira had no real memory of her outside of stories and photos.

While her father had chosen to run out on them, it was fate that took her mother.. and many years later, her grandmother as well — which then led her here; not at the prom itself.. but the current life it intertwined with.

Maijisu. It's what she was. She attended Majisuka All-Girls' Private High School and when she came here it earned her the privileges and status that surrounded it. She had lived what many had heard tales of. Of the current and former Heavenly Queens, of even the Sukeban; they had attended the very same place, walked its halls, and climbed near or to their very peak. Reira had been one of those who climbed near, and the very same can be said with her current life.

Vice President of Rappapa. The second Heavenly Queen (Tomo being bumped to 3rd due to their own inner rivalry). And at Majisu.. Gate Guardian. Each of those titles came with memories. Happy, sad, frustrating, but memories that she'd carry with her after graduation. She wasn't sure what would come next or what fate would send her way, but she was happy in the ongoing present. The smile she wore as she danced with Tomo and posed with her on the bridge, the laughter she shared with her friends as they goofed off and joked, and the reflection she felt when she took a short trip to the club room to get her jacket when she felt cold.

As she stood in the doorway she couldn't help but recall the time spent there.

"Wonder who will take it next.."

[Roka]

When Shiori fetched him from his reading, Roka was a good sport about chaperoning the prom so that Mallory could go take it easy. "All you have to do is walk around and make sure everyone is safe... and not smoke" , she'd told him. He frowned a bit at the not smoking part, patting at his shirt pocket uncertainly. All the same, before leaving for the school he figured a prom deserved a good sport coat at least, and dug into his closet to find a good one. Old they might be, but they all still fit.

[Kaho Arai]

The First Heavenly Queen of Rappapa hadn't expected to go to the prom, not having a date and so had wandered over to the Sato's house to spend Friday night. When Tsubame offered to be her date, she quickly found her tickets and borrowed a dress from Saori. All the Sato's shoes were too big, so Kaho had to wear her sneakers instead. Nobody really seemed to mind, and it only made dancing easier. She had a big grin for the picture with Tsubame on the bridge.



(Kaho's borrowed dress, only it was worn with her blue canvas sneakers)