Chapter Text
As the end of March drew near, so was the beginning of Spring Break for the students at Hope’s Peak Academy. On the Thursday before the long-awaited week began, the 78th class were altogether in their homeroom, a majority of them discussing what to do over Spring Break.
"How about we all go to beach?" Asahina suggested.
"Doesn’t it seem a little cold for that, Asahina?" Sakura asked her friend.
"Yeah. Besides, you always suggest the beach," Leon added.
“‘Cause the beach is fun…” Asahina pouted.
"Wh-Why don’t we have some kind of picnic together?" Chihiro said in his usual timid tone of voice. "After all, we’d be getting out and spending time together as a class."
"I agree with Fujisaki-kun!" Ishimaru exclaimed boldly. "Picnics are peaceful, and could be just what the doctor ordered!"
"Booooriiing…" Leon groused. "Who’d wanna go on a stupid picnic?"
"Oh… umm, s-sorry, Kuwata-kun…" Chihiro sighed, defeated. "It was a stupid idea to being with."
"Kid, don’t let Leon get to ya," Mondo assured the small Hacker. "After all, I don’t see him comin’ up with anythin’.”
"Hey, I’m thinking!" Leon objected.
"Then tell us your idea without straining yourself too much, Kuwata-kun," Kirigiri insisted calmly.
Opening his mouth, the defeated SHSL Baseball Player pouted as he rested his head on the palm of his hand. Eventually, most of the class wound up turning into a frenzy of disagreement and disorder, though students such as Kirigiri, Mukuro, and Fukawa didn’t appear to care much about it. Amidst the commotion, Togami merely stood up and went over to the chalkboard in a rather nonchalant fashion.
"Togami-kun?" Naegi asked. "What are you—"
"Quiet, urchin!" Fukawa snapped. "Byakuya-sama’s writing something!"
At Fukawa’s statement, the other 13 students turned their heads to the SHSL Heir at the chalkboard, which, after he had put down a piece of white chalk, now read “Paris, France”.
"…Paris?" Naegi wondered. "Why Paris?"
"Because we now have somewhere to go for a week, Naegi," Togami answered. "Hence why I wrote it on the board."
"Wow, France!" Sayaka beamed. "I’ve always wanted to go there! That is… for a vacation and not a performance."
"P-Paris is known as the ‘City Of Love’~!" Fukawa sighed dreamily. "That means I’ll finally get a chance at romance with Byakuya-sama!"
"Keep dreamin’, Fukawa-chi…" Hagakure muttered, earning a glare from the Literary Girl.
"So, I assume we’ve all agreed on Paris?" Togami asked.
"Oh, hear hear," Celes confirmed. "After all, part of my ancestry does originate from France."
"I’d love to learn more about Parisian history and culture!" Ishimaru exclaimed happily. "But… I don’t think I could afford a plane ticket."
"Brows is right," Junko agreed. "How’re we gonna get there if everyone’s nearly broke?"
"Well, I’m certainly not going to some filthy commoner’s airport," Togami insisted. "So… I’ll let you guys ride in my family’s private jet. But for this trip only.”
The rest of the 78th class rejoiced in excitement at their future Spring Break trip. A few of them even began talking about what they planned on doing during the week-long trip that lied ahead of them.
"Since it takes about 12½ hours to fly from Osaka to Paris, we’ll need to leave early if we want to get there at a decent time," Togami explained, "Which means… be completely ready to leave at 6 o’clock in the morning on Saturday.”
"Ishimaru-kun, can you make sure everybody’s prepared by then?" Kirigiri asked the Hall Monitor.
"You can count on me, Kirigiri-kun!" Ishimaru assured, giving a salute. "I won’t let you or Togami-kun down!"
"Oh, this oughta be fun…" Leon muttered sarcastically.
"In the meantime, I’ll make all the necessary flight preparations, but only after Kirigiri and I get the necessary approval from the Headmaster," Togami added, leaving the room.
"Fine by me," Kirigiri agreed, following Togami.
Once the Detective and the Heir had left the room, everyone began chattering amongst themselves about their excitement for the trip to France’s capital before they all began leaving the classroom.
"Remember, everyone!" Ishimaru told the leaving students, "I will be coming by your rooms Friday night to make sure you’re all packed and ready for Saturday!" Ishimaru looked at Mukuro, who had her usual stoic expression set on her face in contrast to Junko’s stoked expression. "Are you alright, Ikusaba-kun? You don’t seem as excited about this trip as the others do."
"I’m fine, Sir," Mukuro told him, giving her usual military salute. "I’m… just not one to get overly-worked up over unnecessary things is all."
"Ah, lighten up, Nee-chan!" Junko laughed, throwing an arm around her sister. "It’s Paris, the City Of Lights! I’ve already been there before, but that’s no reason to not go! Besides, you get to spend some time with your favorite sister~!”
"You’re my only sister, Junko-chan…” Mukuro responded with a pinch of humor in her tone. “A complete nutjob, but still my sister.”
"That reminds me, Ikusaba-kun!" Ishimaru piped up as a blush filled his cheeks. "Perhaps on the trip… we too could also spend time together? It doesn’t have to be anything serious, but—"
"Wow, if this is your way of askin’ Mu-chan on a date, then it’s really lame…" Junko remarked snidely.
"A date?!" Ishimaru's blush deepened. "No, no, it’s not a date, Enoshima-kun. I’m merely asking Ikusaba-kun—"
"I’ll think about it," Mukuro answered with a light smile as she and Junko left the room, leaving a flustered Ishimaru behind. She didn't believe it to be a date, but spending time with a good friend like him certainly felt like something to look forward to.
When the awaited Friday night came, Ishimaru was finishing up on his own packing, checking items off of his “Paris Checklist” as he did so. As expected of the SHSL Hall Monitor, his suitcase was neatly organized with all of his pristine white uniforms (in addition to a few other outfits after much insisting from Oowada and Fujisaki), undergarments, a pair of pajamas, toiletries, and even a few books for him to look at (for Ishimaru believed that Spring Break was no excuse to not study).
'And now, I must go check and see if the others are ready for tomorrow morning!' Ishimaru thought to himself as he left his room and shut the door behind him.
Since Sakura was voluntarily helping Ishimaru with “Trip Inspection” due to the Prefect’s uneasiness with entering a girl’s bedroom, it made things a lot easier. When the two passed each other in the Dormitory Wing, they both gave each other formal salutes and carried on their way. Ishimaru’s first stop was Mondo’s room due to it being closest to his own, and entered once his best friend answered the doorbell rings. However, seeing the Gang Leader’s rather disorganized black duffle bag, Ishimaru immediately began sorting it out.
"Kyoudai, you really need to work on your packing skills,” Ishimaru remarked as he continued organizing Mondo’s luggage.
"Geez, sorry for not bein’ you," Mondo scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Still, it’s almost hard to believe that prick Togami’s actually takin’ all of us to France like this. I've almost gotta give the guy full props!"
"You’ve got that wrong, Kyoudai! We’re not going to France, we’re going to Paris. You need to start listening more both in class and out of it!"
"...Taka. Paris is in France. I’m no SHSL Geography Expert, but even I know that.” Speechless, an embarrassed Ishimaru took his "Paris Checklist" out and added the words “Geography Book” to the list. "Hey, since we’re goin’ to the ‘City Of Love’, maybe you’ll finally be able to take your girlfriend Ikusaba on a date~?" Mondo waggled his eyebrows at the implication, waiting for his best friend's response.
"Yes Mondo, that would be rather appropriate and quite romantic considering one of Paris’ many nicknames and— Ikusaba-kun's not my girlfriend!” There it was. Delayed, but better than no reaction at all.
"She sure ain't at the rate you're goin', but that doesn’t mean it ain’t painfully obvious you’ve got a fuckin’ crush on her. Dude, why don’t you just ask her out already? I mean, you’re not me; you don’t get so nervous to the point where you yell at girls and they run away."
"Very true, but… I don’t think Ikusaba-kun would be interested in someone like me. Besides, dating is nothing but a distraction! I’m the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, and I refuse to let something like that tarnish my morals!"
"Takks, havin’ a girlfriend or hell, even a boyfriend, ain’t gonna tarnish your morals—"
"This conversation is over! Forget it happened!" Ishimaru stood up, moving arms around and thrusting them out as if firing a laser at Mondo. "Forget, Forget, Forget Beam!"
Mondo gave up, laying back while his own bag was organized in his stead. After wishing him a good night, Ishimaru quickly left the room in a flustered manner. Then, he set off to continue his duties as he approached Leon’s room, whose door wasn’t closed completely. Inspecting closer at what was happening, the Hall Monitor could see that his fellow classmate was on his cell phone, using the other arm to sloppily stuff his belongings into his luggage.
"You heard me right, Kazu!" Leon spoke into his phone. "I’m goin’ to France tomorrow! And, I’ve already learned to ‘parler fran-says’. In case you don’t know what that means, I’ve learned to speak French."
"Ha, mes condoléances à la française qui vont entendez à ce que,” he heard the aforementioned Mechanic chuckle from the other line.
"Oh bravo, you can speak French already. Ya only learned it to impress Sonia… which, may I remind you-- how much did she care in the end? Oh..."
"Augh, whatever, Leon! French actually ain’t that bad a language to learn on your own, be it for a fair lady like Sonia-san or not—" The conversation was cut short by Ishimaru entering the room and taking Leon’s phone from him, all while ignoring the Baseball Player’s protests. "Hello? Lee?"
"Souda-kun, I advise you wrap up this conversation," Ishimaru said into the phone. "Kuwata-kun needs to get to bed!"
"Alright, Ishimaru, I’ll make it short," Souda agreed on the other line as Ishimaru held the phone to Leon’s ear. "Au revoir, Leon! Pour s’amuser en Paris!"
"Yeah yeah, bye, Kazu…" Leon groaned. "No one likes a showoff, by the by!"
Once Ishimaru hung the phone up, he went over to inspect Leon’s suitcase to make sure he had the necessary “luggage requirements”. Although his suitcase wasn’t as messy as Mondo’s suitcase, there were still a few things that needed to be organized a bit properly. He lectured him the entire way through, which Leon ignored completely since he'd been more than used to it at such a point. As the Hall Monitor was about to make his leave, Leon noticed he still had his cell phone with him.
"Oi, my phone!" Leon cried, trying to retrieve it. "Give it back, Ishi!"
"I’m confiscating your phone until we get on the plane tomorrow," Ishimaru told him before leaving. "You’ll get it back then, Kuwata-kun. Now, get a good night’s sleep! You wouldn’t want to be tired tomorrow!"
By the time Ishimaru and Sakura had finished their respective “Trip Inspection” duties, it was 9 pm. Although Night Time was typically an hour later, Kirigiri and Togami told everyone to sleep early so they could leave at the expected time. By 9:20, all sixteen students of the 78th Class were fast asleep in their dorms, awaiting the exciting overseas trip to Europe that would begin the next day.