Healing Kisses (ch40)

So evidently today is "yuri day" and I just felt I needed to post something. This is more of a humor chapter than a cute romantic yuri chapter, but it'll have to do!

This was a fun idea that was proposed to me on twitter~

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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						Chapter 40. The Packet


It always seems to start off as what most people might classify as 'a normal day' before something completely out-of-the-ordinary happens at Seishou Academy.

Only this time, thankfully, it doesn't involved giraffes or weapons or underground stage battles. No, today's case of abnormality is actually quite a bearable one, all things considered.

Claudine and her friends have just arrived at the school building, pausing at the shoe lockers as per usual to swap footwear. There are already dozens of other students here as well, all chatting and greeting one another before homeroom begins. Of course Claudine has already greeted all of her friends earlier back at the dorms. It's only here at school when she first sees most of her kouhai, and she is always certain to greet them politely.

"Bonjour~ Good morning, everyone."

And of course, no fewer than ten first-year girls turn and grin and squeal and shriek.

"Ah! G-Good morning!"

"Good morning, Saijou-senpai!"

"Please do your best again today!"

Claudine tosses her hair over her shoulder with a charming smile.

"But of course. Just who do you think you're talking to?"

The girls squeal again.

"Of course!"

"So cool!"

"Saijou-senpai!"

All around Claudine, her friends are receiving similar treatment from their own fan clubs of kouhai. The nine of them have gotten even more popular after their recent mafia play the week before. With each performance they star in, they just seem to gather more and more fans. Claudine does have to keep an eye on Maya's fans, however, just to ensure none of them cross any lines.

But she's also very aware of Maya's admirers for other reasons. Because she knows people have treated Maya poorly in the past for being head of the class, and that wouldn't exclude kouhai.

Essentially, she sees them as a potential threat in more ways than one. Though luckily no problems have arisen.

As all of the second-years greet and give well wishes for the day to the first-years, everyone eventually begins heading off to homeroom for the morning. Claudine only stays behind for a moment to excuse herself to the restroom.

"Shall I wait for you?" Maya offers. Claudine snorts.

"Who are you, my babysitter? I'm not a child. Go to class, you insufferable woman."

"Very well. I'll see you there, Saijou-san."

Claudine retreats to the restroom, spending an extra moment to check her complexion in the mirror before heading out again.

By now the main lobby is empty and quiet, with only a distant, muffled chatter down the hallway. She starts to hum to herself, enjoying the echo. But as she passes by the shoe lockers once more, she cuts off her song as something catches her eye.

A stack of papers lies ruffled on the tiled floor between two rows of lockers. Clearly, it had fallen out of someone's locker or bag, unnoticed.

Claudine struts right over to it, dutifully prepared to track down the owner and return it. But as she crouches down to pick up the packet, Claudine discovers something very curious about the top paper right away. It definitely doesn't look like an academic test or study guide, but perhaps an essay, just a straight wall of text all the way down.

And in an effort to scan the header for an owner's name, her eye is naturally drawn to a very familiar word that is sprinkled throughout the text of the page.

That is… her own name.

She blinks for a second and looks away.

Have I become so full of myself that I'm starting to see myself everywhere? Has Tendo Maya rubbed off on me that badly?

Claudine blinks a few more times before cautiously returning her eyes to the paper. And this time, not only does she catch sight of her own name, but also… Kaoruko's?

At that point, her efforts to respect the author's privacy are crushed by an intense curiosity and and baffling confusion. So she starts to read a section to herself.

"As the sun sets over the empty classroom, Hanayagi-senpai leans over the desk, where Saijou-senpai is pinned beneath her. With a haughty laugh, Hanayagi-senpai caresses her face, noting the intense red blush across Saijou-senpai's cheeks. And though Saijou-senpai protests and tries to pry her off, Hanagayi-senpai leans closer and closer, until their lips-"

Claudine shrieks, thrusting the pile of papers back onto the ground and scrambling back several paces until her back hits the lockers and she sinks to the floor.

"Quelle- Wh-What the hell-?!"

Flustered and frazzled and blushing (much like she evidently was in this scandalous story she'd just discovered), Claudine looks around wildly as if she were a criminal caught in the act. If someone were to stumble upon her now and think she was the one who wrote such a thing, she'd have no choice but to transfer back to France.

She doesn't even know what to do. This is so totally beyond her expectations of what the papers could have been that she's left utterly and entirely dumbfounded. Does she try to find the rightful owner? Or just leave the papers here and pretend she'd never seen them?

No. I can't risk anyone else stumbling upon such a thing…

She swallows hard, looks around once more, then slowly creeps back up to the packet of papers. Tentatively, she picks it up again, grimacing as she glimpses more of hers and Kaoruko's supposed classroom affair, then cautiously turns a few pages.

As it turns out, it isn't just one massive tome about herself and Kaoruko doing disgraceful things on school property. But Tendo Maya as well.

Rather, Maya pinning Mahiru against the lockers, or also 'taking care' of Hikari in the infirmary, or 'studying' with Junna.

And then another of Claudine with Karen out in the gardens, and then one of herself with Futaba, and then of her with Nana 'practicing a kissing scene for a play.'

The more she scans the ludicrous pages of fantasy, the harder her heart pounds and the deeper her blush goes. This can't be real. No way such things exist about Claudine and her friends. Did people seriously write these sorts of stories about real people? Their own classmates?

She crouches there on the floor with the packet on her knees, trying to fathom it.

In fact, she's so flabbergasted and at a loss for what to do, or how to react, that Claudine fails to notice the soft sound of footsteps coming up behind her. But she sure does notice the tap on her shoulder and the voice in her ear.

"Saijou-san?"

"Kyaaa-!" Claudine shrieks outright, thrusting the stack of papers halfway down the aisle as she slams backward into the legs of the person behind her. "It isn't mine! I just-"

"Eh? S-Saijou-san? What's the matter?" Maya's hands come to rest on her shoulders as she peers down at Claudine from above. Her curiosity turns to concern as she witnesses Claudine's frazzled state. "Saijou-san, are you all right? You were late coming to homeroom, so I came back to fetch you."

Claudine stammers.

"I… you…" How in the hell am I supposed to explain that-?! Claudine quickly shakes her head, pawing her hair back and trying to catch her breath. "I-I'm fine. I just-"

"I'm sorry to have startled you," Maya apologizes. She offers her hands, and once Claudine shakily takes hold, Maya helps her up to her feet. Maya touches her cheek gently. "Your face is a bit red. Are you perhaps not feeling well?"

"I just told you I'm fine." Claudine pulls away from her, simply because she has no idea what kind of expression to be making in front of her right now. Maya is troubled by her reaction.

"Saijou-san…?" She frowns, then peers behind her to the fallen papers. "Ah, allow me."

Claudine's heart seizes when Maya passes her and approaches the papers. Immediately, Claudine lunges and grabs Maya to hold her back.

"H-Hold on a second! Th-That's not mine-!"

"Eh?" Maya blinks at her, puzzled, then looks back down to the papers on the floor briefly. "But I can make out your name- eh? 'Saijou-senpai'…?"

"Don't read it!" Claudine grabs Maya and hauls her away from the papers, though of course her frantic actions only make her appear all the guiltier. Maya remains befuddled.

"I'm afraid I'm not following. Would you care to explain the situation?"

Claudine swallows again, still nervous to look at her. But she loosens her grip on Maya and inhales slowly, trying to regain her composure.

"I'm not even sure myself…" She lowers her voice in a secretive manner. Maya leans in, ducking her head a little. Claudine tries to think of the best way to explain this.

"Listen… that isn't mine, all right? I think it was written by one of our kouhai… or, from what I saw of it, maybe more than one…"

Maya nods.

"I see. That would explain why you were referred to as 'Saijou-senpai.' But why are they writing about you…?" Maya's eyes suddenly turn hard, and she takes a rather serious grip on Claudine's sides. "Saijou-san, are they perhaps making threats to you or bullying you somehow? Please, if that's the case-"

"It's not. Nothing like that." Claudine is a bit flattered that Maya would worry for her right away, and she even cracks a smile for a moment. After that, she softens her hold on Maya's shoulders. "Don't worry. It's nothing of the sort. I'm… not even sure if it's a bad thing at all… um…"

Maya is clearly relieved to hear that, but still very much confused. Claudine knows she has to give her a straight answer.

"Well… you see… It seems like some of our kouhai have been… writing stories… about us… You and me, and all the others…"

Maya's eyes widen a little.

"Stories? What kind of stories? Is it anything malicious?"

Claudine shakes her head.

"No. But rather like…" She tapers off with a mutter. Maya shakes her head.

"Pardon?"

Claudine huffs and her blush deepens.

"Romance…"

"…Eh…?"

Once the word registers for Maya, she also blushes faintly.

"You mean to say… they are writing about us… in a romantic sense…? With themselves…?"

"With each other."

"Oh… Oh my…"

Both of them blink awkwardly, unsure of where to go from here. Claudine feels compelled to keep talking.

"I didn't just want to… leave it here. What if someone else sees it? But if I try to find the owner… how would I even go about that? 'Excuse me, was it you who wrote inappropriate content about myself and your other senpai?' "

"Inappropriate?" Maya asks. "Did you read all of it, Saijou-san?"

"I didn't!" Claudine hisses. "I'm not some weirdo! I just wanted to look through it to see if I could find the name of the author somewhere, and what do I find? Scenarios of you kissing Mahiru, or Karen kissing me!"

She's so animated about it that she's caught completely off-guard when Maya's reaction is a chuckle.

"My… that is quite something…"

"What the hell are you laughing at?!"

"My apologies." Maya waves her hand and reels herself in. "You see, it's simply a bit amusing to me to think about such things. After all, all of us are in establish relationships, are we not? So to consider those pairs being mixed is quite ridiculous and clearly fantasy."

"Of course it's fantasy!" Claudine snaps. "Do you really think I'd let Kaoruko pin me to a desk?"

"Oh my. Is that what happened?"

"Apparently! Every single one I was a part of, I seemed to be the one on the receiving end. What's up with that, anyway? While you were always the one initiating-"

"Saijou-san, it sounds to me as if you did read quite a number of these stories."

"Shut up! I was just skimming them!"

"Of course."

"Mechante! Listen to me!"

"Saijou-san, your volume."

Claudine immediately clams up and covers her mouth, once again looking around to ensure no one else is present. Maya chuckles again, then leaves a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Were you perhaps jealous at the thought that I might cheat on you?"

"Why you… you're so full of yourself!"

"I'm only joking." Maya lets go of her and goes to retrieve the papers in question. Picking them up, she flips through as well to scan a few of the contents. "My… you weren't exaggerating… some of these are quite-"

"Idiot! Don't read them!"

"I'm simply curious…" Maya mumbles. "There is one of you and Tsuyuzaki-san, myself and Daiba-san, you with Kagura-san, myself with Isurugi-san and Hanayagi-san… but are there none of the two of us together…?"

"Eh? Aren't there?" Completely forgetting about the ridiculous and embarrassing situation for a second, Claudine's curiosity is piqued even further by that particular question. She leans in beside Maya to peer over her shoulder and glance at the papers as Maya leafs through them. They find stories of Nana and Kaoruko, Mahiru and Junna, Futaba and Karen, Nana and Hikari, as well as themselves with any number of the others. But never Maya and Claudine together. They flip through until the very last page, and come to a rather unsatisfying conclusion.

"Not one," Claudine mutters. "There's probably one in there of each of us with everyone else, but none of us together? What's with that?"

"Indeed, it is a bit strange… especially considering they all seem very interested in our relationship."

"E-Either way, that doesn't matter!" Claudine huffs. "What the hell are we going to do about this? We can't just leave it here."

"I agree. Perhaps the lost and found?"

"That might be the best way… at least we wouldn't have to reveal our identities and that we were the ones who found it…"

"My thoughts exactly. Then shall we drop it off during lunchtime?"

"Fine. But I am not gonna be the one to keep it on me."

"Then I shall keep it safely tucked away into my bag."

"Are you sure? You'd better, because if anyone finds it on your person there's going to be no getting yourself out of it, Tendo Maya."

"I assure you I will be extremely careful."

As such, Maya tucks the stack of papers into her school bag. Claudine glances around the locker area one more time before they hurry off to homeroom together before they can be marked late.

All throughout homeroom, and their other morning lessons, both Claudine and Maya are slightly distracted, as though thinking that someone might just happen to know that they stumbled upon those fantasy stories and have them in their possession, when in reality, no one is any the wiser or suspecting of anything other than usual.

By the time lunch rolls around, Claudine and Maya act as though they are on a secret mission of sorts. Adamant on keeping it a secret from their friends, they make up some excuse to take off together for a few moments, smuggling the papers in Maya's bag as they set a brisk pace for the lost-and-found. It's a shelf set outside the main office, mostly full of misplaced sweatshirts, accessories, and keychains.

Claudine and Maya pass by casually and leave the stack of papers face-down. The thought process of this was to pacify the owner, so they would believe that whomever had found it hadn't even looked at the front or read a single word, and simply picked it up and placed it here without a second glance.

As soon as Maya has left the packet, the two of them scurry away around the nearest hallway corner.

"There," Maya whispers. "Shall we head back now and pretend we never discovered such a thing at all?"

"Hold on a second," Claudine mutters. "I kind of want to see if the owners come by here looking for it."

"Indeed. I admit, I'm rather curious myself..."

And so the two of them wait, hiding out around the corner and acting as though they're just chatting casually with one another so as not to make any passerby suspicious.

They just talk about their classes and dance routines for several minutes, until a chatter arises above the usual hallway din at lunchtime. Several frantic voices call back and forth to each other as flustered footsteps race down the hallway.

"I still can't believe you lost it!"

"I'm sorry! I dunno how it even happened!"

"It better be here or else we're doomed!"

"Our names aren't on it, right?!"

"N-No, thank goodness…"

Claudine and Maya share a glance, then slowly peek from around the corner. A group of four first-year girls are just nearing the lost-and-found, and they shriek outright.

"Oh my gosh! It's here!"

"What?!"

"Thank goodness!"

"Do you think anyone read it?!"

"I hope not… I feel if anyone did they would've thrown it away or something."

As the girls sigh in relief and pick up the packet, Claudine and Maya survey them. They recognize them all as being kouhai in theirs or their friends' so-called 'fan clubs,' girls who admire and look up to them very much and who always applaud and greet them. Claudine grimaces a bit.

"And I thought they were all normal girls…"

"I suppose everyone has their hidden fantasies…"

They quiet down again as the four first-year girls convene back together, flipping through the packet and keeping their voices hushed.

"Is everything still there?"

"It looks like it."

"Good. I'll hold onto it from now on!"

"Hey, hey! Lemme have it. I never got to read that one about Tendo-senpai and Tsuyuzaki-senpai."

"Oooh, that's a good one! I think Kana-chan wrote it."

"Risa-chan's is really good, too!"

"Ai-chan said she was gonna write another one about Saijou-senpai and Kagura-senpai! I can't wait!"

Claudine and Maya keep themselves quiet and hidden, trying not to make a sound as they listen. Evidently, these four girls weren't the only ones involved. It sounded like there was a whole club's worth of kouhai who were invested in this.

"Hey," one girl says. "Are there any about Saijou-senpai and Tendo-senpai? Or Hanayagi-senpai and Isurugi-senpai?"

"Nah," another replies. "Cuz they're together in real life, right? And we love that! So it's much more fun to write about the rare pairs!"

"Oooh, I get it! You're so right!"

"Right? Just getting to watch Tendo-senpai and Saijou-senpai during dance lessons is more than enough! They're so beautiful! I can only imagine the things that they do…"

"Hey, reel it in!"

"Sorry!"

"But maybe we could write a few about the canon couples sometime..."

With this, the girls begin walking back the way they'd come.

Meanwhile, Claudine and Maya are beet-red in their hiding spot.

"These kouhai…" Claudine mutters. "What deviants. I never knew…"

"Well, that was certainly something," Maya says. "They don't write about us because we are together in reality. Though I must wonder what kind of things they think we do with each other behind closed doors."

"Mechante va! Don't even get started with that!"

"My apologies." Maya smiles pleasantly. "Now then, I suppose that solves the mystery. It would appear we have quite the creative fan base, wouldn't you say? Putting their ideas into writing doesn't harm anyone, after all. I don't see any reason to spoil their fun."

Claudine crosses her arms.

"I guess not… but why was I always written as the bottom?"

Maya smirks deviously. She reaches out to cup Claudine's cheek suavely.

"Oh, I think that is very obvious, Saijou-san."

"What the hell are you saying?" Claudine snaps her teeth and nips Maya's palm. Maya laughs.

"You may appear quite feisty, but I think we both know your true position."

"Quoi-?! Don't say such things out loud! You're full of it. I can take the lead just as much as you can and we both know it."

"Really now?"

Claudine growls.

"I guess I'll just have to prove it to you again later tonight then, won't I?"

"Oh? I would certainly like to see you try."

"Mechante… I'll show you a thing or two, all right."

"Then I very much look forward to it."

Together they head off back to join their friends for lunch, both now keeping this… interesting new secret between themselves.

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A/N: Well... maybe this was a good chapter for 'yuri day' haha Again, a concept proposed on twitter, all in good fun!