Chapter twenty-one. A dazzling idea for a masquerade ball

— And, according to the vote of all third grades, the queen and King of Light, Haire Lin, and Gila Terrikoto... are in second place. One of the main organizers of the event was chosen as the king and queen of the issue: the Demon King and Queen Kazumi Hideki and Kyoko Ame. Please come on stage.

Hideki and Kyoko began to approach from the wings, where they were monitoring the progress of the holiday and were engaged in organizing. They flashed in the hall only for the sake of showing costumes and then only for a very short time. Even though they were on the ballot to choose the king and queen, they should have paid more attention to it.

In sync with the way Kyoko and Hideki approached, Haire and Gila also came closer to the stage, which was quite low, two steps above the level of the hall. Hideki and Kyoko went up on stage and stood next to the microphone, just where they were supposed to be. Gila felt for the remote control in her pocket. How long had she been waiting for this moment? How long had she been smiling and wanting revenge? Her time is about to come. Hideki and Kyoko tried to wear plastic crowns with pressure-reducing plastic pads underneath. Hideki walked over to the microphone, looking around the room. Now! Gila pressed the button.

There was a crack, and five or seven liters of liquid splashed down.

***

The initial idea was simple. Gila borrowed it from an old Gaijin fantasy film: choose Anpan-kun and his litter into the king and queen of a masquerade ball and drag them onto the stage. Then, pour something more demonstrative at the moment of their false triumph and make fun of them. Since neither Kyoko nor Anpan-kun had ever shown supernatural abilities, unlike the girl from the Gaijin movie, then everything would have ended there. Gila wasn't too embarrassed that these actions were planned by one of the main antagonists in the film — anyway, these gaijins don't understand anything, but the idea is good.

— Blood is a little difficult to get, and it's nasty — the thin and pampered Rifu Manomoto, one of Gila's closest friends, curled her nose — We need something that smells disgusting, like from the toilet.

— Fu, Rifu-chan, — joined the second of the closest friends, almost gyaru, always shamelessly dressed chubby Funi Tongari, — This can, of course, be organized, but do it in a bucket, then lift it to the ceiling, and so that no one notices the rope… And it will stink…

— Hi, — Haire greeted him a little indifferently, who had just come in.

— What are you talking about? Kaizo Motoyama cut in on the conversation.

— About how to make the graduation party unforgettable for Anpan-kun and his litter. — I didn't hide Gila. — We want to make sure that they are chosen as the king and queen of the ball, and then pour something vile on top: blood, urine there, a toilet cleaning thing, or something else. But the girls say that it is difficult to put a bucket; it is too noticeable, and it will stink.

Haire thought about it:

— And if you put an impenetrable one in a bag and close it, as this fucking Iron Man showed.

— And how to open it? — Motoyama did not understand — You can't stretch the rope like that… Don't blow it up, right?

Haire grinned:

"Did I mention that you're a genius, Motoyama?" Don't we have some nerd friend who can do something like that on radio control? A fuse-opener?

"Funi—chan," Rifu seemed to remember, "was there some kind of computer otaku in Class 3-1 that was hitting on you?"

—Ugh, he's disgusting..." Funi grimaced. — Thin, black eyes, comes to school late, leaves early… The only thing is that he is dressed neatly, no matter how pale he looks. And sometimes he leaves roses on my desk… Beautiful roses, but he... also eats yakisoba with spices in the buffet all the time and smells of spices from him. Disgusting.

"But we really need to," Gila reminded him. And she didn't even comment on the fact that Funi-chan knows the person she thinks is disgusting surprisingly well. This was not the time for such comments.

— Okay, Gila-sama, — sighed Funi, — I'll try. But what should I tell him? Why do I need a package with a fuse?

— Tell me... — Khair thought about it... — Tell me that you want a bag of flavoring to be poured into your bath from school so that you can do it from your phone or a remote control.

Rifu was on the volleyball team and remembered something:

— Haire-kun, but the gym has very high ceilings. And there are drafts. And you can't lift a too large bag/bucket to the ceiling. And you can miss it with a small one. It would be disgusting if someone else got doused. It turns out that Funi-chan tried in vain. And they'll miss with bleach, and that's it. It's not coal or gasoline or anything exploding or incendiary.

— And if you really doused him with gasoline? — Haire reflected, — it is necessary to make sure that none of our people are standing. And if anyone else is close, then it will be their problem. And prepare lighters. It's just the norm. A lot of gasoline is dangerous, and a couple of liters is nonsense, even if we miss it. And if we get there, then everything is fine

— But if we miss, then what? We need to do something to get it right. Can you stand next to me and pour it out of a bucket? The restless Motoyama couldn't help but say his decisive "kwa."

— No. If one of us is around, he will be ready. Haire was not inclined to underestimate Anpan-kun. Whatever he was, he was far from an idiot.

Apparently, the scenes of the film led everyone to think about setting something on fire. They didn't watch the whole movie, but Gila showed them the final scene several times, and the idea of "burn in the flames of my hatred" or something like that came to the company.

— You can make several smaller packages, and if Anpan-kun and Ame-san are close, open all or part of them.

— And in general, it is not necessary to set fire to them — trying to convince others, Khaire said, not really believing it himself — You can scare them with a lighter.

—Only Lin-kun," Gila turned to Khaira, "we won't succeed if the teachers are around.

"I'll talk to my uncle," Haire agreed, "but I don't think I can get rid of Mizuri—sensei, so I'll have to distract her with something or someone."…

The group exchanged glances as if asking each other what to do.

"Well, it could be..." Haire began, "Some phone call. Or a student who feels bad…

— Oh! I can do that, bro — Motoyama, as always, with the same grace of a rhinoceros, intervening in the conversation — I can break my nose there, or something else, or cry that girls don't like me and constantly run away.

— Are you sure you can do it? — In Haire's opinion, Motoyama was still an idiot;— Look, then I'll ask my uncle to leave only Mizuri-sensei.

— I won't let you down! Motoyama slapped his thin chest.

They watched the final scene again.

- great! We'll shower him and scare him! Motoyama shouted, "And he will be afraid of us all his life."

"But that's not enough," Rifu said thoughtfully... "We wanted him to stink!"

— I told you to pour it, bro!

— It won't work! Haire was almost angry. — He's careful, and he'll suspect something. He'll only be on stage for a couple of minutes. If he doesn't leave at all. And if he goes on stage, then only so that he and Ame-san put on the crown.

— The crown is plastic… Who's cooking it, by the way, bro? Maybe some thorns to put in, or a can of what?

— No, that's stupid. — Funi decided to connect, — But if you add some pad…

— It seems to be with gel, so as not to press, — continued Rifu, — But instead of gel…

— Put something extremely smelly like this toilet liquid. Gila finished.

"It's usually chlorine—based, sis," Motoyama said. - what? — he answered the surprised looks; no one suspected the presence of brains in him — I'm learning chemistry.…

— Don't call me "sis," it's disgusting! Gila almost spat out to say something.

— Whatever you say, bro! Motoyama grinned.

— Hey!

That was the end of it. Technical difficulties remained.

***

The first victim of the "cunning plan" was not Hideki or Kyoko at all; the first was Paso-kun, a nerdy computer otaku from class 3-1. Or, if you look at it from another point of view, the first victim was Funi-chan, who had to make eyes at Paso-kun and ask for help. But staying in Gila Terikoto's inner circle was not worth it, at least in Funi-chan's opinion.

— Paso-kun, I think my skin has become less beautiful; you can take a closer look. — Funi began the conversation, showing in all its glory her not-so-big cleavage.

But Paso-kun had enough.

"I—I don't know, Tongari-san, I don't see the difference, Tongari-san…

- Yes? So you're always staring at me if you don't see the difference, you fool.

Paso-kun could hardly keep from fainting — such an obvious flirtation from a girl who made his head spin was almost too much for him to stay conscious.

Funi noticed this too and decided to slow down and get down to business at the same time:

— Paso-kun, tell me, could you help me…

After hearing about the bath, salt, and everything and realizing that he would cook something that would allow his beloved girl to take a better bath, Paso-kun could not agree. However, it took him almost five minutes to mumble his agreement. He constantly started mumbling, getting lost in describing options, about how it was better and more convenient, but still, he was able to make a promise to do it quickly.

Funi-chan, despite his increasing inner irritation, had to listen patiently and agree with him. In the end, I even had to exchange contacts for communication.

— That's it. He said he would do it in a week.

What Paso-kun, who hardly appeared in class for a week, would have been quite enough for some startup presentation; it even looked pretty. But the main thing is that it worked. His device hermetically sealed the package and could open it and release everything inside either abruptly or smoothly. The second option was useless for their purposes, but the first one needed to be more functional. Paso-kun demonstrated the presence of brains and an aesthetic sense, even if he could not apply this aesthetic feeling to his kind. Although he could do a little, he still dressed neatly and was always upright and well-kempt. By the end of this presentation, Funi-chan caught herself thinking that Paso-kun is not so nasty, especially if he talks about something he knows well. Maybe it even makes sense to talk to him later somehow.… Sometime later…

***

To work with the crown, a Yamagawa was connected, which, as the headman, was busy in preparation. Props such as crowns for the winners of the competition, ballot boxes and ballots have already been purchased and stacked in the warehouse. As well as several prizes-trinkets.

— Yamagawa-san, but look at this crown — Gila, who had passed the "chat with a girlfriend", after a few words of greeting, got down to business — It's completely uncomfortable! You can scratch yourself all over! And it will be a shame not only for the whole school but maybe someone else from other schools will come to our graduation, we have distributed some invitations.

— And what should we do? Terikoto-san, there are no others for sale, but to make a crown out of cardboard, it is unstable; it will fly off immediately, although it is safer…

- Well, I don't know... — Gila pretended to be embarrassed, — But let's think about it. Girls," she turned to Reef and Funi, who, as usual, kept her company. Do you have any ideas?

— Well, sometimes there are pads on hoops with ears, soft ones like that — Funi saw a little reddened, although she, gyaru, was not shy about it; there was no reason, maybe, too, to put something like that.

It came out so naturally that Gila suspected for a moment that Funi was just a brilliant actress, then remembered that she had to offer pads to Reef, and internally calmed down. Funi was just a natural fool who forgot the instructions altogether, but in any case, it was to their advantage.

— I see, but how to do this? Do you have any ideas?

Here, finally, I was able not to make a mistake to the Reef and quickly spoke:

— I think I can do something. Gila calmed down internally, but Rifu did not add another line according to plan, but I will need help. It seems that Motoyama-kun was in the do-it-yourself circle; I'll ask him for help.

— That's great, — Yamagawa-san, either did not suspect a trick or did not dare or did not want to object — I will still need help to fix the voting boxes. There's a problem with the lock. I'll ask Motoyama-kun to help with that, too. Or... Manomoto-san," she said to the Reef, "you can ask him from me.

Gila had a slightly different course of action in her plans to switch ballots, but this proposal was very useful and made it possible to simplify a lot.

The preparation of the crowns in this way went like clockwork; it remained only to fill the crowns with what was needed. But the filling suddenly had difficulties.

***

With bleach, as Motoyama-kun explained, Motoyama-kun failed, and he asked for help from Rifu. More precisely, he asked for it from Khaire, who sent him to Gila, and she, in turn, already to the Reef.

— Motoyama-kun, please repeat, what exactly is the problem?

"Manomotochan, everything that's on sale in the cleaning products department right now doesn't smell bad enough. Manomoto-chan, isn't he angry? Then I'll tell you more. I read a little; in the past, ammonia was used, which stinks like urine. Well, or bleach, like chlorine dissolved in water, Manomoto-chan. It is still on sale, but it is too flavored. Mezumi-sensei should be in the chemistry room right now, he's pretty sleepy at this time of day, and he closes the reagent cabinet later. Let's try to talk to him. If he talks to you, I'll go to the locker. If you're with me, then—Manomoto-chan will have to try. And if they get caught, we say that we wanted to experiment.

The chemistry teacher at their school was Mezumi-sensei, a rather tall guy with shaggy hair who had recently graduated from college, was very fond of chemistry, and his wife and child, who was not even a year old. Actually, the latter was often the reason why Mezumi-sensei, who did not look fully awake in the morning, looked completely sleepy in the evenings.

— Well, all right. — I did not argue with the Reef. She appeared in chemistry lessons, but did not understand anything and did everything in her power to be as far away from chemistry as possible. And from the chemistry teacher too.

Motoyama-kun greeted and was able to engage Mezumi-sensei in a conversation about the process of making soap in the Bronze Age, the deciphered Sumerian recipe, which is almost five thousand years old, and how the Sumerians could have reached their production chemical process. Mezumi-sensei even perked up for a few minutes and stopped looking so sleepy.

Rifu took a few steps. She didn't really want to borrow reagents, but if Gila had instructed her, it was still better than talking to a teacher. She looked at the open cupboard and searched for the English letters for chlorine. Motoyama even wrote to her on a piece of paper just in case. Yeah. A small vial stood separately. However, there was something else besides the designation "chlorine." Well, it doesn't matter. Motoyama will figure it out.

When he saw that Rifu was returning, Motoyama turned the conversation off:

—Okay, we should probably go, Mezuri-sensei. And yes, I agree, the fact that the Romans got soap thanks to their yokai or gods of the place, is extremely funny.

He and Rifu left the office, and the nervous Rifu almost started running when Motoyama, walking calmly and steadily, grabbed her arm:

"Let's go slowly and calmly, Manomoto-chan. Don't run, Manomoto-chan. It's okay, Manomoto-chan. Over there. Motoyama pulled Rifa into the enclosed space under the stairs.

— Here — she pulled out a vial. Is that enough, Motoyama-kun? Look, it says chlorine right there; it's the same symbol that you showed me: the first one is like in English, "Cat," and the second one is just a wand. However, there is another one; it looks like an "n"…

"This one doesn't mean anything special; it's okay, Manomoto—Chan!" That's enough, Manomoto-chan! I did a great job. Manomoto-chan! Motoyama said, pocketing a small bottle with a tightly closed lid that had "HCl" written on it. "That's what you need, Manomoto-chan.

Rifu did not see Motoyama's smile as he turned away.