(Omg so there was a reference to the Grimm's Cinderella last chapter. And I think the rest of the chapters are gonna be in Ryuko's POV.

So... Um... I think I wanna make another Ryushot book after this one. I think it'll be an idol Au or real fantasy instead of me taking fairytales and saying "haha mixing pot".)

Shinya wandered throughout the halls of the palace. He was nervous. Just thinking about the ball just made him sweat. Was he to greet every single woman in one night? How long would it last? Would he be able to sleep? What if all of those girls were disgusting and unmannered? What if he found someone and never saw her again? What if she was intimidated by him?

"Shinya!" Keigo shouted, hitting his shoulder.

"Shi-" he almost cursed. "You startled me."

"Sorry about that. Do you think you're going to enjoy yourself?"

"I doubt I will, but I'll try. I've never been good with women. They're complicated. Did you feel this about Rumi? Or is that too personal?" He asked, hoping he didn't step too far into Keigo's personal space. Keigo just put his hands behind his head, scratching his hair.

"Definitely. She was difficult till the day she... died. Believe it or not, we were gonna start a family... but... all that utter bullshit happened. She was perfectly healthy then she just started coughing up blood and shit and- and-" Keigo stopped himself. He was getting angry and it was visible. "Sorry. Those weren't things you needed to know." He sighed.

"It's fine. You can tell me if you want." Shinya said. He wasn't gonna tell him to shut up while he talked about his dead wife, he was going to listen to Keigo's story.

"Nah, it's fine. We should go do something." Keigo gently smiled. Shinya nodded. If he wasn't comfortable then he would respect it.

-------

"Ryuko!" Himiko shouted. Chitose had given her several tasks each day, today was going out with Himiko to buy a dress. Ryuko just planned on wearing her mother's wedding gown. It was old but it looked new, as she had only worn it once.

"Hm?"

"Look at that one! It's so pretty!"

The dress was fucking hideous. It looked like menstrual blood. Whatever. If Himiko wanted it and she could get out sooner, she could have it.

Ryuko did her grocery shopping while Himiko picked out her menstrual blood dress. She had money and it must've been cheap with how hideous it was. Chitose said she would just wear a dress of hers.

Nejire's memorial was still there. It had built up more and more. It had candies, teddy bears, food, and other nice things that made Nejire happy. The bakery itself was still closed but it seemed like they were preparing for something. Inside there was a big cake and Mirio and Tamaki were inside with Mirio's girlfriend, Kaoruko. They were decorating it. It must've been for the ball with how big it was.

(I hate the word ball omg-)

Himiko bought her menstrual blood dress and looked so proud of herself. Ryuko did have the heart to tell her it was hideous but... who cared? It was Himiko! Was that petty or...

Yeah even if it was petty, Ryuko didn't care-

"Cinderbum, lets go home." Himiko said pointing at Ryuko's... bum. Ryuko didn't know that nickname? Oh god did she- did have cinders on her? She twisted her dress around to try and see only to see nothing except the dusty red cloth she always wore in the market. "Pfft! You fell for that!" Himiko cackled.

Self control. Self control was the only thing keeping her from hitting a child over a dumb joke.

(Me realizing that I've made a mistake and- HOLY SHI- I'm gonna be laughing for a while-)

"Alright, just give me a moment." Ryuko said. She needed to fix how she was holding everything. Especially since Himiko threw her dress's bag at her forehead. In the grocery bag was just food for her friends.

"Hurry up! I wanna get home to Catsuki!"

They were going to be walking for another twenty minutes, Ryuko was silently cursing Himiko out.

(I love making Ryuko seem so much different than Cinderella just so I can wheeze-)

The walk back was actually quite pleasant. Fumikage and Mina, a small pink bird, helped lift the dress's bag, actually she felt bad and would prefer them eat all their friends' food instead of carrying what probably weighed fifty pounds.

(Y'all I'm at a play Uncle's house and they have an American Bully and I'm sneezing so much omg-)

So the day was meh so far. Perhaps tomorrow would be better.

(Sorry for a short chapter. I felt bad for not getting a chapter out. I get to go all out with what I wanted to do in two chappies.)