Prison School: No More Prison

Chapter 26: Tangled

A little warning: This chapter contains cringy writing, sorry :p

Hana's POV.

02:45 PM

"That was amazing, Hana-san!"

"Well done, Hana-senpai!"

"T-Thanks girls… I'll see you later!" I said as sweat covered my face. My karate demonstration went great, even better than expected, actually. We managed to entertain a lot of people.

And now… The big event starts… I'm a bit nervous but, I guess this is necessary for us to fund the summer trip.

…

W-Will it be ok to… do that? In front of so many people?

I cleaned my sweat with a towel as I read my parts of the script…

'The prince then grabs Rapunzel, and gently kisses her.'

… 

A slight blush covers my face, as the sweat fully disappears.

"Hana-san" Meiko appears, bringing me a bottle of water. "Are you ready?"

"Ah, thanks… Yeah, should we go?"

"Whenever you're ready"

…

I grab the script with my small hand.

This is just for the sake of the school… Right?...

"I-I am…"

I grabbed the small four leaf clover next to my backpack as I went to put on my dress.

End of Hana's POV.

Kiyoshi's POV:

03:00 PM

"Kiyoshi-dono, are you ready?"

Gakuto came at me while I was finishing putting my costume on. 

"Well… Yeah, but uhm… I'm a little nervous…"

"Worry not, my friend!" He adjusted his glasses. "You should know by now that our planning was superb! Everything will go right!" He exclaimed with excitement in his voice.

I have to say, even if I'm a bit nervous… It's actually kinda cool to do something like this… I never really liked theater or that kind of stuff but, once you're on stage… I guess it's a bit unique…

I glanced at the people in the yard, at least 400 people were in there, not to take in count more were about to arrive. How the hell did everyone perform so well until now? Even Hana-san made it look like a piece of cake…

B-But… If this goes well, the summer trip, the WTC and our dream will come true…

"... Let's do this, Gakuto"

"Hmm… Indeed" He nodded with a serious smile.

After our brief exchange, we grabbed our props and directly went onto stage.

03:10 PM

The stage was wide, built by many of the amazing students of Hachimitsu, it had a giant red curtain, lights and a big court cover. 

As I thought, many more people joined the crowd. I wasn't sure how many there were but I could tell it was almost a thousand people.

As everyone got ready, the props were being place behind curtains and the girls finished putting up their dresses, the president appeared

Meiko-san went on stage, a microphone in hand ready to start the play.

"Good afternoon, students, families and guests of Hachimitsu" Her voice sounded as strict as always, yet an elegant tone made her speaking much pleasant. "Today, some of our students have brought you many expositions, games and a lot more interesting and fun activities for you to experience. But now, we bring you our finale, the work of many clubs, teachers and students of Hachimitsu Academy. Without further ado, I present to you all 'Rapunzel', played by students of this beautiful school. I hope you enjoy it"

A huge wave of ovation came out of the immense crowd, everyone seemed pretty hyped up for the rest of the play.

A quick peek towards the rest of the guys showed me how worried some of them were. Shingo was sweating a bit, grabbing his hands with a strong grip, while Joe put on a face I never saw, almost literally as the only thing I could see was him biting his lower lip.

On the other side of the coin, Gakuto seemed pretty much relaxed, as if he really wanted to do this, and Andre, who was talking to Risa, didn't look worried at all. He's known for doing embarrassing stuff on public so this doesn't really surprise me.

What actually surprised me, was seeing both Kate and Hana anxious about the situation.

"U-Uhm… Are you two… doing fine?"

"Y-Yeah, why do you ask so, Kiyoshi-kun?"

"O-Of course, dummy, everythings fine…"

Both of them trembled a bit, yet a weird blush was in both of their faces. It feels… Weird… So I simply decided to ignore it as I-

O-Oh…

"Oh shit…"

That was the moment I reminded myself of something…

I had forgotten to read the new part of the script.

03:15 PM 

As I quickly read my parts again and again, the play started.

Everyone in the crowd went silent and watched closely to see what was about to start.

The curtain slowly opened as the crowd cheered. It seemed that most girls in this school were really into love/dramatic stories.

As I watched the curtain open from the other side, I also checked out the first scenario. A small hay house could be seen, next to a big wall full of flowers and vines, on the other side of it, the base of an enormous castle could be seen on it.

"So that's the castle, huh? I'll be climbing it to the top in the last scene…" And for that, I should really check out if they changed anything from the last scene…

As I opened the last page, two people appeared on stage, making me take my attention towards them.

Shingo and Joe came into play, dressed as a poor couple, Shingo being a really poor farmer, dressed in poor clothes, while Joe, was dressed with a poor hood, showing his thin, yet bigger than before, arms. Joe, who was walking with the help of Shingo, was sweating with a hand on his big belly, as his character was pregnant.

As good and in character the two of them look, I have to say it's a bit funny to see them acting like this, I should ask someone to take pictures of this.

"Oh, husband" Joe began speaking, in a sad and tired tone. "I saw it through the window, in the garden next to us, there's a Rapunzel flower. *Cough cough* Please bring it to me… I'm hungry. It will make me feel better. Please… Please!"

Joe surprisingly managed to sound as a weak and ill woman, probably because of his demeanor in general.

"Wow… His acting skills are really impressive!"

"He actually sounds ill!"

Glad many girls in this school don't look surprised at all by this.

"My dear" Shingo continued. "You know I'd love to… But the garden next to us… Is the garde of the two witches…" Shingo grabbed Joe's hands, as his fleek body trembled.

"I understand… I guess there's nothing we can do…"

As Joe disappeared into the small house, Shingo remained looking in his direction with a saddened face. He then looked at the enormous wall, and with a bit of hesitation, he started climbing it.

At the other side of the wall, next to the giant castle, a beautiful violet flower was there. While no one was seeing them, he grabbed it and quickly went through the wall again.

Once on the other side, Joe came out of the house, seeing his husband with the flower, his face lit up in joy.

"Oh, my dear husband, you brought it to me!"

"Of course, my dear, I would do anything for you. Now let's go eat"

As the two of them get into the house, at the other side of the wall, two witches come out of the tower.

"You saw that? Those peasants… They stole our flower" Meiko said with an angry face.

 "I saw it… Their crime shall not go unpunished! Let's go have a small talk with that couple" Kate said with an evil smirk.

A day passed, the small sun hanging from the ceiling of the stage, changed into a moon, the lights changed twice, as the sun raised again. Mitsuko was the one in charge of doing this. I looked at her, her tired face and arms doing her best to carry out everything.

As Joe and Shingo sat on two small tree stumps, the two witches arrived, both of them with angry faces, making the two poor peasants tremble in fear.

"Look Gothel, here is the scum that stole and ate our precious flower!" Meiko pointed at the two of them.

"Would you look at that, Dame, these two peasants truly are dumb. Who would dare steal such powerful witches like us?"

"That's right… We should kill them right now!" Said Meiko as she raised her wand, only to be stopped by Kate.

"Now now… Don't be so naive, Dame, there's something else we could take from them…"

"Please, spare my wife and I, she's pregnant and we need food!" Shingo screamed in desperation, only to be met by Meiko's strong leg hitting his stomach.

"And that gives you the right to steal from us?!"

"Please, spare my husband, we will give you anything you want!"

As Joe tried to help his husband get up, Meiko and Kate looked at each other with a malicious grin on their faces.

"Well then, we want your child… Once the baby comes, it will be ours"

Without many options, both Shingo and Joe quietly nodded, still confused by the sudden attack and proposition.

The four of them disappeared from the screen and time passed again.

As the lights went on and off three times, I turned to Mitsuko, who was looking rather tired of everything.

"U-Uhm… Are you sure you're okay?"

"O-Oh, don't *yawn* worry, Kiyoshi-kun, I can handle this…" As Mitsuko answered me, her eyes closed more and more…

Well… I hope everything goes okay.

After an actual dramatical scene where Dame and Gothel stole the poor peasants babies, Joe cried like the baby itself and Shingo got his ass beaten again, the second act was about to begin.

Hana laid at the top of the tower, on a small balcony. As we obviously couldn't attach a giant wig to look like the actual hair, we painted a rope yellow so we could imitate it.

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" One of the witches screamed. And so, Hana threw her hair so they could climb.

Now, it was my time to do my entrance… I would be riding a horse trying to listen to Hana's singing…

The problem is… The horse itself…

"Kiyoshi-dono… Please try to not step on yours truly's face" Gakuto whispered inside the horse costume. Andre was surprisingly really quiet right now.

As soon as their dialogue finished, I got out of my 'horse' and called Hana.

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your hair!" I have to say it was a bit cringy, but it's too late to change plans…

As Hana threw her rope and I did my best to climb it, we met on top of it.

"W-Who are you? You are not one of my mothers!"

"No, I'm not! I'm the prince, I've been watching you sing from this tower for a long time now… I'm in love with you!"

To my surprise, Hana got really flustered, pretty good acting by her side.

"I see… But my mothers can't find out about your existence! If they do, they'll kill you!"

"I don't care about that! For you I'd die!"

Even I got a bit flustered after saying that. The crowd seemed to really like it, as most girls were looking at us and taking photos… I hope Chiyo doesn't misinterpret this…

As I climb off and go off stage, the witches come back, and Hana continues her dialogue.

"Oof… You are heavier than him…"

"What?!"

"Who?!"

As Kate and Meiko grabbed Hana, who tried fighting off, they cut her hair. She cried, they laughed, and everyone was pretty much having fun in the crowd. By now this looks really good.

And so, my time to come back into the scene arrived.

As I got into the castle again, I called for Rapunzel's hair again. This time, when I climbed, I was met by the two presidents of the student councils.

"Look who we have here?" Kate said.

"The one who tried to steal what's ours, I see…" Meiko answered angrily.

"We should make you pay for what you did!"

And so, Meiko grabbed me, and sent me flying towards a bush nearby.

Sadly, there was no pillow or anything behind the bush, just the cold floor, but it gave it a cool effect. The prince, or rather I, was blinded.

As I wandered through the forest, I managed to arrive at the king's castle, once I entered, the king himself apparead, making the whole school scream at his appearance. 

"Oh, my son, what is thy problem?" King Gakuto asked me. "What happened? Why are you hurt?"

"Oh, father… I fell in love with a mistress… But two witches have her captive, and they hurt me pretty badly as you can see. For I, can't… I beg for your help! I want to save that lady, and make her my princess. Even if I can't see her, I want to make sure she is safe"

"I see… Yours tru- I shall give you my best guards, for you too take down those witches!" Poor Gakuto, I can see he's doing his best. "Please, aid my son in his search for true love"

And so, Risa and Andre entered in their big armors, the crowd was already screaming over Gakuto, and when they saw the number one couple of this school, all they could do was take photos and drool over them.

And so, the three of us went to the forest. Guided by Hana's voice, we managed to find the way towards the castle.

"Love will prevail"

"We'll make sure of that, Prince"

"I beg you, please kill those witches, I'll take care of my precious Rapunzel"

And so, we arrived.

"Witches! Witches! Come down now!"

I screamed with anger, and the two villains appeared.

"Who dares?"

"The prince again?"

As they came down, the guards fought them.

Well, at least Risa and Meiko did, it was quite the spectacle from afar. None of them were holding back, it seemed like they forgot that they were acting.

On the contrary, Andre and Kate were almost having fun poking at each other with her wand and his sword.

And so, I climbed the hair once more… 

Hana, or Rapunzel I should have said, Laid upon me.

"Oh, Rapunzel, My princess, I came here to save you…"

"M-My prince… I'm so glad… But now that I don't have my beautiful long hair… You won't love me anymore…"

"Rapunzel… I love you for your beautiful voice, your charming being, and your captivating cuteness… I love you for who you are, my princess…"

As the battle from behind the tower ceased, the lights pointed towards Hana and I…

W-Wait what? Should this really happen?

"B-But I have a confession to say, my princess… I'm blind now, your beautiful voice guided me here, but now that I can't see you anymore, you shouldn't be with an useless man as I"

As Hana cried, her tears ran through my face… And so, my blindness was cured.

"I-Impossible… I can see!" I cried. "Oh my darling Rapunzel"

"Prince… Would you marry me?" Hana looked at me flustered, with a pretty smile on her face.

"O-Of course"

…

And now, the curtain closes, the play ends and-

…

W-Why isn't it closing…

"Kiss you two!"

"Yeah! We want to see the kiss!"

"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Everyone in the crowd started to cheer for us to kiss but… I can't kiss someone like-

When I turned back to Hana, she was flustered, red as I've seen her before… 

It was the same face she had when I first tried to kiss her… Or when she took those photos… Or when she was in my room… 

I-Is she for real?! Will she go this far for the trip?!

B-But… I can't! N-Not in front of such an audience and Chiyo!

And so… I froze.

End of Kiyoshi's POV.

As Kiyoshi stayed still, without knowing how to move, Hana closed her eyes and assumed a pose for them to kiss.

Kiyoshi, without many options, started sweating like a pig, while looking at Hana with embarrassment.

'I-Is it really okay? I mean, I understand it's for the play b-but…'

On the other side of the tower, Mitsuko held the lights that were pointing at them… Her eyes held together as best as possible, but she was slowly getting more and more sleepy.

'I-I guess… I have no choice… I'm sorry Chiyo… This is for the WTC… I-I'm sure she'll understand…'

Kiyoshi got closer to her, the people in the crowd cheered, and he closed his eyes too…

Just then… Mitsuko fell asleep, letting go of the light she was holding, making it fall directly onto stage, hitting the base of the tower.

One of the planks of the stage went flying, hitting the ceiling props, making the sun and moon fall towards the rest of the crew, making them run to the opposite side of it. Just then Mitsuko woke up, understanding that her bad luck started having an Rube Goldberg klutz effect again.

The tower the three were in, started shaking, slowly about to crumble, as Mitsuko tried to get down from the other side, the rope that once was Rapunzel's hair, got stuck to her feet, making her trip, and send flying the rest of the lights onto stage, making ever more chaos that there already was.

'Whats going on-' Kiyoshi opened his eyes to find the whole stage falling apart, Hana followed.

'Kiyoshi, w-what the hell is-' They were interrupted by their side of the tower falling to the other side of the stage, leaving Mitsuko alone on top of it.

As her side was about to fall towards the mess of lights and broken glass, one man ran towards the falling tower.

'Mitsuko-dono!!" He screamed with the top of his lungs, and the tower fell towards him.

…

Silence… 

Dust covered the whole stage. Everyone in the crowd was holding their mouths shut while gasping.

Once the dust cleared, one man appeared. 

Gakuto was holding Mitsuko in his arms, princess style. The crown that once was on his head, fell to the floor, revealing a plastic bottle underneath it.

The whole crowd went silent, everyone just stared at them.

"... u-uhm… The end?" Gakuto said with nervousness in his voice.

…

"...THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Someone screamed in the crowd… And everyone followed.

Everyone screamed and cheered from the top of their lungs, clapping and chanting over the sole guy that stood there…

Even with this strange turn of events, it was sure to say…

The plan was a complete success.

To be continued…

End of the Festival Arc.

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