While in mid-air, it dawned
on Keiko that this was a ghost she was attacking...she's
gonna go straight through it!
While in mid-air, it dawned
on Keiko that this was a ghost she was attacking...she's
gonna go straight through it!
Oh well. Might as well go through with it.
Keiko thought to herself how boney her ghost was. Tackling him was quite painful, and he was so boney, she heard a faint clatter on the floor when they both hit it.
Keiko's thoughts raced again. Waitasec! Ghosts can't be touched! She moved her eyes to look at the pale boy, completely ignoring the floor growing ever nearer to her face as her ghost's back hit the floor.
There was a loud crack when her face hit the cold tile floor. Her nose throbbed with pain, and tears rushed into her eyelids like a deluge.
The was a silent pause for both of the TUA students to recollect their thoughts after having them scrambled by the rather foolish act on Keiko's part.
Keiko faught with all she had to keep herself from crying. My nose is broken...!
The pale boy moaned, and Keiko felt his voice vibrating against her chest. She quickly sat up, and adjusted her crooked glasses.
The boy stayed laying on the floor for a moment, and then slowly sat up.
The girls in the doorway were all in a huff, whispering and "tsk!"-ing aboutthe scene they just beheld. To say the least, they were quite disenchanted with the stunt Keiko just pulled on their delicate violin player.
Keiko's eyes were really beginning to sting. She sniffed them back. Oh! That made her nose hurt worse!
The boy looked to Keiko. He looked like he was about to eat her alive (quite a stunning contrast to most of the times she saw him with a perfectly straight face).
The boy opened his mouth to speak, but before he made a single utterance, his eyes broke off of Keiko, and he searched the floor beside him for his violin.
Keiko craned her neck, and spotted the instrument behind him.
The boy noticed this, and rolled onto his knees to behold his precious instrument broken at the neck, being held together only by its four strings. His body stiffened in shock. His previously playing hands twitched a bit, and he reached out to pick up his instrument but interupted his movement by instead covering his eyes with his large, thin left hand. He let out a sigh of distress. "Oh, no..."
The girls in the doorway were beginning to drift away in small numbers. The boy didn't seem to care. He was still taking in the tragedy of his beautiful violin.
Keiko's throbbing nose was worsening without receiving the proper treatment of cold compreses. She was doing her best not to cry (it hurt, dangit!), but she was doing a lousy job.
The boy looked still on his violin, muttering below his breath. "My dad'll kill me...how do I...?" he looked up to Keiko, and rose his voice a bit. "You do intend on paying for this, I hope?!"
Keiko sniffed back her tears, and whimpered out a "yes!" in a really weepy voice.
The boy looked at her oddly. "Are you crying?"
Keiko swallowed her bawling just begging to erupt. "No!" She choked out in her weepy voice.
The boy picked up his violin and held it by its severed neck. "Do you see this?! This was a eighty-eight thousand yen violin!"
Keiko's jaw dropped. "Eighty-eight thousand?! Where am I supposed to get that kind of money?!"
The pale (and not-so-delicate) boy stood, "You should've thought that through before attacking me, you idiot."
Keiko's eyes widened, and she stood. "Idiot?! Your manners are rotten, you jerk!"
"Manners?!" the boy shouted back, "What about pushing me to the floor?! Where's that mentioned in the book of etiquette?!"
"Calling me an idiot is the last way to get me to pay for your lousy violin!" Keiko leaned forward to intimidate him.
"You don't have a choice! I've got witnesses! Unless you want my father to get involved and make this a legal issue, you better say you'll pay for this!" the boy was not at all intimidated by Keiko, and his tone became bitter.
"Kakeru! What happened?!"
Both TUA students turned to the voice, and they saw Toseki Mai in the doorway.
Keiko nervously grimaced, and she jumped behind the boy to hide.
The boy had a dark glare in his eyes, and a frown tugging at his mouth. His voice became a monotonous drawl. "Toseki Mai, what a pleasure."
Mai gasped, and ran in. "Kakeru! Your violin! It's broken!"
"Gee, I hadn't noticed." Kakeru glared at the girl as she came close to study the violin.
"How horrible! It cost so much!" Mai stood up, and noticed brown hair just above Kakeru's shoulder. She moved to Kakeru's side to look behind him.
Keiko hurried to Kakeru's opposite side, as though to hide from Mai.
Kakeru had an unamused expression painted on his soft and pale face. Mai moved to the back of Kakeru to which Keiko immediately rushed to Kakeru's front.
Mai's face brightened. "Ah! I knew it! Kei-kun, is this where you've been all this time?!"
Keiko sighed, and muttered just loud enough for Kakeru to hear. "Please, just keep her away from me."
"Funny, I was about to ask you the same." Kakeru replied in an equally low volume.
"Kakeru, are you a friend of Kei-kun's?!" Mai latched herself to Keiko's arm, which gave Kakeru the opportunity to step away from them both.
"It all depends upon him agreeing to pay for the violin he just broke." Kakeru lifted his damaged violin to emphasize his statement.
Mai's eyes widened, and she frowned. "Kakeru, that's ludicrous! He can't afford to pay back that instrument!"
Kakeru glared back at Mai. "Look, the guy attacked me head-on! It wasn't an accident!"
"Let me pay for it! It's n othing to my family, and besides, our fathers are real close!" Mai held Keiko's arm tighter.
"No! He's going to pay for it! Kakeru shouted back. "He should feel the punishment for his actions! You can't just bail out any guy you take a liking to!"
"But Kakeru, he can't get that kind of money by schooltime Monday!" Mai whined.
Keiko thought he arm was going to fall off.
"Yes he can."
The three turned to the fourth voice in the conversation.
The Headmaster Obari leaned on the doorway, still in his tennis uniform.
Mai blinked in silence.
Keiko swooned. His arms! His legs! His skin! His face! "Obari-sama!"
"Shuu-san." Kakeru was surprised to see the Headmast Obari.
"I'll give him the money to pay for the violin." Obari walked up to Kakeru.
Keiko was about to faint. He's standing right next to me!!! Her heart pounded in her chest. "Thank you!"
Kakeru protested. "But Shuu-san...!"
Obari smiled at Kakeru, and put a hand on his shoulder. "We can't have you miss a day of practicing, can we? My most valueable student, not able to perform his art?"
Kakeru blushed, and he lowered his eyes, and turned his head slightly to the side.
Keiko noticed all of this, and her eyes widened. No way! This is strange! She quietly gasped. Far too strange to be healthy!
Obari spoke again, and cut off Keiko's thoughts. "In exchange, the young man..." he drifted off, and turned to Keiko. "...I'm sorry, are you new here?"
Keiko felt crushed. "Yes." She sighed, "I'm Fujishige Kei."
"Fujishige-kun will pay off his debt to me by assisting Mistui-kun in the music hall after school." Obari turned back to Kakeru immediately after Keiko spoke.
Kakeru nodded, and spoke in almost a whisper. "I understand."
"Tomorrow we shall go purchase your new violin." Obari turned to Keiko. "Fujishige-kun."
Keiko was still studying Kakeru's reaction. She snapped to attention when Obari addressed her. "Yes!"
Obari smiled to her. "Please report to the music hall after school Monday. Mitsui-kun will be expecting you."
Keiko blushed, and nodded. "Yes, sir."
"Now carry on, please." Obari headed towards the door. "And Kakeru."
Kakeru seemed to jerk out of a trance he was in. "Yes?"
"Why not rest today?" Obari softly suggested, resting a hand on the doorstop. "You've been working so hard ever since you got here."
Kakeru looked to the floor. "I just want to better myself."
Keiko and Mai both looked on the conversation with blank faces.
"Take a break. We have a full day tomorrow." Obari said, and left into the hallway.
The three teenagers were silent.
Mai was the first to speak.
"What a demanding presence."
Kakeru and Keiko both looked to Mai, who was staring at the doorway.
Kakeru flatly glared at Mai. "You say that about everyone!"
"But this time I mean it!" Mai looked to Kakeru with wide eyes. "He just draws everyone's attention to himself!"
Keiko managed to carefully slip out of Mai's grip.
Mai brought her hand to her face, and looked back to the doorway. "I want to be like that, someday."
"Don't you have somewhere else you can be, Mai?" Kakeru rose his tone a bit.
Mai turned to Kakeru, and rested a hand on his cheek. "THat course you took on manners as a child really did nothing for you, did it?"
Kakeru glared down at Mai. "Manners are wasted on selfish people."
Mai brought down her hand. "Perhaps. But they do make the world a more peaceful place to be in. Try it sometime."
She turned to Keiko, who was watching with much interest. "Don't take antying he says to heart, Kei-kun. He still hasn't grown up." She walked out, "But even so, it was still lovely to see you, Kakeru."
Kakeru didn't reply as Mai left.
Keiko took this as her que to leave. Now that they were alone, she expected him to start chewing her out, and she was in no mood for that. She turned around, and began to tiptoe out.
"Hey." Kakeru said.
Keiko froze, and winced. Great! Here it comes.
"If you know what's good for you..." Kakeru said, "You'll stay away from her."
Keiko loosened up, and turned around to look at Kakeru.
The pale, soft-looking violin player gently set his broken violin in its case. He latched it shut, and took its handle. He lifted it, and turned to Keiko. "I mean it. Stay away from her, or you'll regret it."
Keiko could hear Kakeru's words echo through her head as she made her bed.
He is one strange boy...Keiko sat on her bed, and rested her chin on a fist. But he's not the one haunting the music hall...
"Hey, Kei." Anji walked in. "Been up long?"
Keiko straightened up, and looked up to her brother. "About an hour and a half. How'd the game go?"
Anji sat down on his bed. "Weird."
Even when wallowing in defeat, Nakaijima Youki always managed to look beautiful.
Rina walked alongside her headmistress, hoping that she would soon speak after twenty minutes of walking across the Phoenix School's campus. Actually, she was thinking about how lucky she was, to be contantly seen with someone so beautiful.
Nakaijima's shoes hung on her left index and middle fingers.
Rina never saw Nakaijima behave like this. She was expecting her to get upset, of course...but not to cower and draw back from all communication.
They stood in front of the door leading to Nakaijima's office.
Rina watched Nakaijima open the door, and silently drag herself into her office.
The student council president stood still, not uttering a word as her HEadmistress closed the door in front of her.
Rina stood alone in the hallway. She stared at the door for a moment, and then turned around. Without even a sigh, she began to walk to her dorm room.
She opened the door to her room to find herself alone for the first time in days. If she wasn't at Nakaijima's side, there was always Mai in the background, making her nervous, or one of the teachers lecturing her about how a president of the student council should set an example by taking great, extreme care in her grades, or if not them, Staci was delivering the latest bad news about the Amuro Conspiracy, as she liked to call it.
Rina sat down on her bed, and looked across the room to the full-size mirror that belonged to her roommate. She studied her reflection. You don't look like the loner-type.She kicked off her shoes. She brought up one of her knees to her chest, so she could pull off her red uniform sock. She looked back to her reflection, and remembered Anji's baffling comment about her legs.
She set her foot on the floor, and stretched out her leg. She pulled off her other sock, and stood. She walked up to the full size mirror and extended one of her legs again to examine it. With a few of her fingers, she pulled up her skirt just a few inches, but quickly dropped it when she heard the door open. She flushed a bright pink and spun around to have her back face the mirror.
"Hey Rina-san." a girl walked in, and grabbed a coat. "Man, it's getting cold out there."
Rina weakly smiled. "Chieko-san, were you out on a date?"
"Nope, I'm going now." the girl slipped her arms in her coat, "Be sure to close the window, a cold front's blowing in."
Rina nodded. "Okay, have fun."
"Yeah." Chieko dashed out.
Rina heard the door close behind her roommate, and she turned around to close the window. As she stood on her tip-toes to push the window down, she peeked over her shoulder to catch a glimpse of the reflection of her legs in the mirror. she grimaced, and blushed again a deeper red as she slammed the window shut. Her cup of pens fells off of the table beside her bed.
She ignored the pens, and paced to her closet. I can't let that idiot's babbling get to me...
"Brrrr!!!!" Keiko exclaimed as she opened the door out of the dorm room. The cold air hit her face, and made her gasp. "What happened to that nice Spring weather from yesterday?!"
Otaru breathed into his hands, and rubbed them together. "I think you slept through most of it."
Keiko flatly stared ahead of her, responding silently to Otaru's wisecrack. "So where to?"
"The bookstore." Otaru went down the stairs with a lively step. "I need to pick up something."
"Another reading assignment?!" Keiko gawked.
"Yup!" Otaru turned around to look at Keiko standing at the top of the steps. He smiled up at her. "I'd like to stop by the music store, too."
Keiko's eyes lit up. "A music store?! All right!" She leapt over the steps, and landed next to Otaru. "Let's hit the road!"
Otaru stuck his hands in his pockets to keep them warm, and begant o walk. Keiko lifted her arms to instinctively link her arms around one of Otaru's, but froze. She remembered that she wasn't Amuro Keiko, but Fujishige Kei. She quickly tucked her hands under her arms, and folded them across her taped down chest tightly.
What odd habits us girls pick up over the years...Now being on the other side of the so-called "battle of the sexes", Keiko was beginning to realize that girls acted just as foolish as boys. Gender had nothing to do with it.
Otaru noticed Keiko's silence as she walked beside him.
Keiko nervously smiled. "Trying to ignore the cold."
"Ah."
Keiko enjoyed getting off-campus. She always functioned better with a variety of environments.
Unfortunately, since the majority of the town was inhabited by students, the stores were mostly vendors selling the latest products to appeal to the "tendy" teenager.
Keiko found these stores' merchandise to be extremely dated, and vowed in her Sophmore year to sway free of all "teeny-bopper trash" and stick with the classics.
"Okay, report time." Keiko spoke up. "I know we had that big discussion about slient moments, but it's not for me, okay?"
Otaru smiled, laughing a bit. "Nothing wrong with that."
"Oh, really?" Keiko smiled. "Okay!" she made fists, and put a determined frown on her face. "I got a job!"
Otaru tripped over a bump in the sidewalk, and fell.
Keiko gasped, and her eyes grew round.
Otaru pushed himself up, and took a gasp of exhasperation as he stood. "You got a JOB?!"
Keiko grinned, "Yup!"
Otaru gave Keiko a nervous stare, and sweatdropped. "Aren't you taking this boredom thing a bit far?"
"You don't understand. I broke someone's violin." Keiko's breath formed tiny clouds as she spoke. "Obaru bailed me out, so I have to wrk in the music hall to pay him back."
Otaru stopped walking, and stared at Keiko in complete awe.
Keiko kept walking, and turned around to face Otaru as she went ahead of him. "Why'd you stop?"
Otaru's mouth was a bit agape, and his brow was furrowed. He blinked and lightly shook his head. "Oh, nothing." He caught up with Keiko. "You seem to enjoy causing trouble."
Keiko frowned, and angrily paced beside Otaru. "That's untrue! It just winds up following me around!"
Otaru furrowed his brow again, and held his chin. He closed one eye, and made a low "hmm!".
Keiko still frowned. "What?"
Otaru's voice remained deadly serious. "It may still not be too late to search for a safer friend..."
Keiko grimaced, and made a fist. "THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"
Otaru laughed a bit louder than usual.
Keiko lowered her fist, and stuck her nose in the air. She spun on her heel and continued walking down the sidewalk. "If you weren't already so bruised, I'd smack you one."
Otaru's eyes lit up. "Oh, that's right. Your friend Rika said something interesting yesterday."
"Rika?" Keiko stopped, and turned around. "I don't know any Rika."
"Oh?" Otaru blinked. "Hmm...Reika?"
"Nope."
"I guess I have her name wrong...red hair? Freckles?" Otaru walked up beside Keiko.
"You mean Aika." Keiko corrected him.
"Right." Otaru dismissed the mistake. "She told me that you hate fighting."
Keiko nodded. "I do. It's stupid." She paused. "But I do believe in defending yourself, if that's why you're asking."
"Well, not really..." Otaru got a bit hesitant in continuing. "Well, what I mean is..." he paused. "...well, I mean...she said.."
Keiko looked to Otaru, who was avoiding eyecontact by looking at the windows of the shops across the street. She smiled gently, and quietly said. "What'd Aika say?"
"She said you don't know how to fight." Otaru faced forward again, and saw in the corner of his eye that Kei was looking up to him.
Keiko turned a slight pink. Aika said too much.
"Which brings me to ask...I mean...I was wondering why..." Otaru kept his eyes ahead of him. "...why...if what she said is true, I mean..."
"Otaru."
Otaru gulped a bit, and looked to Keiko through the corner of his eye. "Yes?"
"Do you ever have an adrenaline rush?" Keiko looked ahead of her, keeping her lips thinly straight and taut.
Otaru used the back of a few fingers to rub the tip of his cold nose. "Yeah, a few times."
"It's one of those feelings where everything seems to go black, except for one focal point." Keiko hugged her arms tighter to stay warm. "And all common sense becomes worthless, y'know?"
Otaru folded his arms as well, and looked at his vapor of breath as he exhaled. He wondered what his friend was getting at.
"Moments like those tend to be unexplainable. Either an instinct kicks in, or you're in danger..." Keiko looked to Otaru and smiled. "When I saw you being treated unfairly, the natural thing for me to do was to let you handle it...you probably could fight better than I can."
Otaru blankly stared at Keiko.
"...but something clicked inside me, and everything looked different." Keiko looked to the sidewalk. "Sometimes people can surprise themselves, when they realize that they can change in just an instant."
Otaru sighed, and held his arms tighter, "I know I've said this before, but I've never met a guy like you, Sempai."
Keiko smiled halfway, but kept her eyes on the sidewalk.
They walked the last few minutes in silence before they reached the bookstore.
Keiko opened the door, and let Otaru walk through.
They were both immensely relieved to find refuge from the merciless cold outside. The bookstore, as huge as it was, had an inviting warmth which attracted the two students further into the aisles and shelves of freshly printed books.
Otaru noticed the distant look on Keiko's face. "Don't wander too far. I'm going to pick up my book."
"Nnh..." Keiko replied, walking towards one of the shelves.
Otaru and Keiko parted ways in the huge bookstore.
Keiko discreetly drifted towards the romance and fantasy section of the store. It was conveniently located near the classics section of the store, so she strategically placed herself at the corner in which the two sections intersected.
In minutes, she found herself deeply immersed the story of a young manga artist who falls in love with her painter assistant. She imagined the artistic painter to be the spitting image of her handsome headmaster. Someone with such delicate features...someone who was purely art in motion! A priceless painting--brought to life!!!
"What a lovely cover."
Keiko dropped the book on the floor, completely frozen. She heard the smooth, luscious voice on the other side of the shelf. It couldn't be!!
She picked up the book she had dropped, and rested it on a random shelf. She quietly rushed to the edge of the row, and stuck her head out to peer on the man in the the other aisle behind her.
Ah! It was! Her handsome headmaster was in the same building--better yet--the same SECTION as she! It was fate!! Her handsome artist had come to her!
"I didn't know they made books like this anymore."
Keiko nearly slid down the shelf that she leaned against. That gravely tenor voice rang all to familiar in her ears as well.
Shiranui Kakeru, the testy violinist from the day before, accompanied the beautiful headmaster. The fragile-looking musician opened the book. "And such bold printing, too..."
Keiko went back a step, and clung close to the shelf. What kind of errand is this? She spotted a dark black case at Kakeru's side. She furrowed her brow, and looked up at the two. If it weren't for the height difference, it would've been difficult to distinguish the two from even a slight distance.
No doubt, Obari was the handsomer of the two, but their coloring was identical! Their skin was like porceilain, and their hair a sleek black. Though Obari's chin was much broader, their profiles were both gently etched, their noses smoothly sloping and ending in a perfect point. Both of them had dark, dark brown eyes.
Keiko frowned. Perhaps they were brothers? Wait, no...different last names...and their ages were at least eighteen years apart. Cousins, maybe? It's possible...but if they were related, you'd think Obari would be a bit more hush-hush about his obvious favortism.
Keiko began to think a few nasty thoughts. Besides, that ill-tempered child couldn't possibly be of the same breed as the wonderful Obari clan!
She watched them further examine the book, as she continued her analysis.
But what would explain this? Keiko bit the inside of her cheek. You can't exactly qualify this as violin shopping.
Otaru tapped Keiko on her shoulder, to which she made a huge gasp and spun around to see her best friend with his book.
Otaru only got a singular syllable out of his mouth before Keiko grabbed his neck underneath her arm in a tight headlock. She slapped a hand over his mouth in order to silence him.
"Don't move!" she hissed, and watched the violinist and headmaster.
Otaru did his best to keep his balance, and Keiko kept a tight grip on him.
"I loved this book..." Kakeru closed the book, and put it back on the shelf. "What a priceless addition to a private library."
Obari put a hand on top of Kakeru's, preventing him from pushing it in all the way.
Kakeru's eyes widened, and his head jerked up to look at Obari.
Obari looked at Kakeru with his gentle brown eyes. "Let me buy it for you."
Both Kakeru and Keiko gasped. Keiko's arm wrapped tighter around Otaru's neck. Otaru let out a muffled grunt of pain, and winced.
"But, Shuu-san!" Kakeru drew his hand back.
Obari pulled out the book. "I enjoyed a wide array of activities in high school." He handed Kakeru the book.
Kakeru timidly took it, and ran one of his hands across the cover.
"Sadly, time restraints prevented me from doing a lot of extra-curricular reading." Obari warmly smiled at Kakeru.
Keiko grew angrier by the second. This is soooo not fair!!! That jerk doesn't serve all that attention from Obari-sama...!!! Her biceps tightened around Otaru's neck as she scrornfully envied this prize student of Obari's. Her fingers stiffened, as though yearning to grab a hold of that undeserving brat's neck.
Unbeknownst to her, her left fingers were clawing into Otaru's face!
Otaru used both of his hands to pry her arm off from around his neck. He took a huge breath through his nose, and took a quick nip at Keiko's seemingly possessed hand.
Keiko screamed, and flew a good three meters away from Otaru.
Kakeru and Obari both jerked their heads up to see Keiko jump into their aisle.
Kakeru had a pink tint across his face, and it grew red as he saw Keiko appear.
Keiko held her bit hand, and glared at Otaru, who was still hidden in the other aisle. He was on his knees, gasping for breath. He rubbed his throat, and looked up to Keiko.
Keiko turned her head to the two gentlement she was previously spying on.
"The violin-breaker." Obari, for the first time ever, looked just the slightest surprised.
"You!" Kakeru made a fist, and immediately his gentle stature had dissolved. "Were you spying on us!?"
Keiko's eyes were locked on Obari. He's so cute when surprised! she swooned. And he remembered me...!
Otaru remained hidden, and watched from behind the shelf, which served as a barricade.
"Hey!" Kakeru called.
Keiko snapped to attention. "Wha--?!"
"You were spying on us, weren't you?" Kakeru's eyebrows furrowed angrily.
"Why woudl I do that?!" Keiko shouted back. "Think awfully high of yourself, don'tcha?!" She folded her arms, and did her best to ignore her throbbing hand.
"Then what are you doing here?!" Kakeru folded his arms, still holding the book.
"Duh. Getting a book." Keiko over-aununciated her words. "And being that I just came back from Spain, Sen-or..." she stressed her Spanish just a little heavily. "I'm having a little trouble finding my way around!"
Kakeru critically glared at Keiko.
"Buuuut I seem to know where I am now." Keiko smirked. "So hasta manana, pal." She turned around,and walked towards the recovering Otaru. She passed by him. "C'mon."
Otaru stood, and quietly rushed to Keiko's side. "Is that him?! Whose violin you broke?!"
"Did you pay for your book already?" Keiko asked, ignoring his question.
"Yeah." Otaru held up his book.
"Great, then let's get out of here."
Keiko felt relieved to get out of the bookstore. Things were getting just a little crowded for her liking.
Otaru kept pressing on Keiko to answer his question.
"Sempai! Did you break Kakeru-san's violin?!" Otaru asked. "Please say you didn't!"
Keiko turned to Otaru, and they both stopped walking.
Otaru waiting for Keiko to say something, but didn't expect her to say it with a smile.
"Let's eat something." Keiko smiled.
Otaru agreed, and they rushed into a tiny bakery at the corner of the town's main intersection.
"I keep getting the feeling that you're trying to avoid the question." Otaru said as he slid into the booth seat across from where Keiko sat herself.
"Don't be silly." Keiko opened up a menu pressed between the salt and pepper shakers. "I just wish to be comfortable before beginning a long conversation."
Otaru pulled down the menu separating them with a singular index finger. "Are you comfortable yet?"
"Not until I order something." Keiko pulled up the menu. "I hope you're hungry, because you gotta order something, too." She searched the menu. "I can't eat in front of someone else unless they're eating."
Otaru pulled out a menu. "It's only polite."
"Ever eaten here before?" Keiko asked from behind her menu.
"A few times." Otaru pasued. "What're you ordering?"
"Something hot." Keiko looked at the hot entrees, "The quiche Lorriane seems to dominate their menu."
"I'll probably get a warm sandwich and a cup of their house soup." Otaru closed his menu. "Call me boring."
"Boring." Keiko called from behind her menu.
Otaru smiled, and was about to pull away her menu. "Enough hiding."
Keiko pulled back. "Scanning the sweets."
Otaru let go of the menu. "Warm cheesecake is the best."
Keiko wrinkled her nose. "I have cheesecake everywhere..."
"You do? Lucky stiff."
"I mean, do they have anything different?" Keiko drifted off. "Warm and different..."
"How about pecan pumpkin pie?" Otaru leaned over, and pointed to the item on the menu.
"Pecan pumpkin?" Keiko read out loud. "That is a bit different."
"With a cup of cider or cocoa, it's my dad's favorite." Otaru said, sitting back down.
Keiko set her menu down on the table. "I'll try that, then."
A waiter came by to take their order, and Otaru quickly dove back into the conversation once the waiter left."Now, was it Kakeru's violin you broke?"
Keiko let out a sigh. "You won't let up, will you?" she paused, and realized that Otaru was waiting for an answer. "Good grief...okay, yeah, it was him..."
Otaru's jaw dropped, and his mouth hung open.
Keiko noticed this, and took her teaspoon. She stuck it in the table's sugar bowl, and then jammed it in Otaru's mouth.
Otaur gagged, and yanked out the spoon.
Keiko picked up her menu again. "I keep getting reactions like that, and I stop telling you my life stories."
"Do you know who Kakeru is?!" Otaru gasped.
Keiko's eyebrow twitched with aggrevation. He's sounding like my brother...
"Lemme guess..." Keiko sighed. "The school's star violinist?"
"The school's star PUPIL!" Otaru waved Keiko's spoon. "His father is the sole patron of the Academy!"
"Big whoop. A brat worth his weight in gold." Keiko droned, and looked up to the ceiling. "Are they playing Le Couple?"
Otaru listened carefully. "I think so."
Keiko leaned back in her booth. "What an awesome song."
Otaru rested his chin on a fist. "Yeah. Emi has such a beautiful voice."
Keiko closed her eyes, and propped her glasses on top of her head for a short moment. "I wish I could just push all thoughts of that jerk outta my head, and enjoy myself for today."
Otaru looked across to Keiko, who put her glasses back on her nose.
"I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?" Keiko leaned onto the table.
"Yeah." Otaru looked at Keiko. Their faces were now close enough for Otaru to see the eyes behind the thick glasses Keiko wore.
"Here's your drinks." the waiter set their glasses of iced tea on the table.
Both teenagers sat back.
"Now they're playing Mr. Children." Otaru took his lemon and squeezed it in his tea.
"Yeah. Are they releasing an album soon?" Keiko did the same, and added sweetener.
"Dunno. Loved last May's single, though." Otaru stirred his tea, and set the spoon down.
Keiko reminded herself to ask for a spoon the next time the waiter came around. She used a finger to stir her tea, and wiped it on her napkin.
"Me too. I liked the coupling song better, though." Keiko said. The conversation is dying! She wasn't about to go into a panic. "Say, what book did you get?"
Otaru lifted up his book. "Oh, this?"
Keiko took it, and read the lettering on the spine. "Sherlock Holmes and the Crown Jewels: In Play Form..." Keiko muttered, and looked up to Otaru. "Why don't you just get the novel?"
"This is what the drama club's doing." Otaru replied.
"Drama club?!" Keiko rose her voice as the watier set their meals in front of them. "Are you in the drama club?!"
"Ever since Junior High!" Otaru gave Keiko a victory V.
Keiko felt a brooding disappointement loom over her. And here I thought I wasn't the only talentless person in the world...
"We're starting up next week. That's what all that reading material was." Otaru took the book and opened it. "Us Seniors have a busy year ahead of us, especially with Obari-sama pressing on his championship regime."
Keiko cut off a piece of her quiche wedge, and ate it. She looked up to Otaru, who held his sandwich with his left hand, and looked in his book.
She remembered her resolve about telling Otaru her secret. when would be the best time? Certainly not now! But what if the longer she took--the worse the result? The bigger the lie? The sooner the better, perhaps.
"Hey." Keiko sputtered, setting down her fork.
"Hmm?" Otaru asked, still reading his book. He didn't even take a second to look up to her!
Keiko chickened out. "Can I try your soup?"
Otaru looked to his soup, and then to Keiko. "You want to ask for a spoon?"
"What's wrong? Are you infected?" Keiko asked.
Otaru shrugged,and slid the soup on its saucer across the table to Keiko.
Keiko noticed that Otaru went right back to his book as she picked up his spoon from off the saucer. You are so dim...she thought as she loked at him while lowering her spoon in the bowl. Why can't you figure it out? That I'm a girl? It's so obvious! She looked to her full spoon, and sipped the soup. Yuck! She wrinkled her nose, and dropped the spoon.
Otaru looked up in a start when he heard the spoon clatter on the table.
"Yuck! Cream of brocolli!" Keiko drank some tea.
"Don't like it?" Otaru smiled.
Keiko wiped her mouth with her sleeve, "I hate brocolli."
Otaru took the soup, and pulled it back. "I see."
Keiko tossed him the spoon, and sat back. "Don't spend all your time reading. We've still got the music store to hit."
Otaru nodded, and turned the page.
Keiko flatly stared across to him. He's not listening. She sighed and watched her baby-faced companion read. I know it's not your fault that you don't know I'm a girl...it's my lousy fault I'm in this position. I'll have to take the rap. She suddenly made a pouty frown. "Hey, the soup."
"What about it?" Otaru truned the page once more.
"Eat it already." Keiko folded her arms.
"In a minute." Otaru said, not taking his eyes off of the page.
Keiko sighed, and furrowed her brow. "I bet you'd listen to me if I was girl."
"If she were like you, that's highly unlikely." Otaru folded his page,and set the book down.
Keiko grimaced, but then sighed. I guess I deserved that. She watched Otaru pull his soup in front of him. It does lead me to wonder, though...what would be different if he met me as a girl? Keiko thought about it, for actually, the first time. Would he have, perhaps, never saught me out? Keiko pushed down the lemon in her iced tea. What will happen when I tell him? Will we do things like this still? She picked up her glass, and sipped her tea. Would we do it as a date? She looked across to Otaru again, who stared at her with a straight face.
Keiko nervously sweatdropped. "What's wrong?"
"Are you thinking about Kakeru again?" Otaru asked.
Keiko laughed. "No! No! He's far from my mind!"
"It looks like something's bothering you!" Otaru replied, his voice suddenly regaining its cheerfulness.
"No, not at all!" Keiko smiled. "Just waiting for you to finish so we can check out some CDs."
Otaru put his napkin up on the table. "I'm done."
Keiko put her napkin on the table, and stood. "Great, let's go." She left her payment and a tip on the table, and the two left.
"Nice place." Keiko commented as they walked back onto the sidewalk. "How far is the music store?"
"About two blocks." Otaru put his wallet back in his pocket. "Most of the good stores are along this main street."
Keiko nodded, and folded her arms tightly, getting cold again. "Planning to buy anything?"
"Not sure. They have a listening booth in the back where you can sample new albums." Otaru answered. "I've spent hours at a time there."
Hours?! Keiko thought to herself. How unusual! "What were you not doing that you had time to do that?!"
Otaru turned to Keiko, and replied with a smile. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was an insult!"
Keiko nervously smiled, and held her hands up in defense. "Sorry, I worded that really wrong!"
"What was I not doing...?" Otaru looked to the cloudy skies. "...fighting."
Keiko sweatdropped, realizing she had just been rebuked. "You're tough."
"I'm glad you think so." Otaru replied.
Keiko sighed, and looked at the windows of the stores they passed by. The sun began to peek through the clouds, and the dark green sweater Keiko wore absorbed the heat really well.
Otaru unbuttoned the collar of the white shirt under his sweater. "Finally, it's beginning to warm up."
Keiko glanced at Otaru,and looked him over. In her opinion, he had much better fashion sense than her brother...she examined her less-than-formal combination of a sweater and jean. She shrugged and held her elbows. So Otaru's Mister Almost-Perfect. Big deal. Keiko thought. What do you expect when you're Miss Worthless Do-Nothing? Everyone could pass as perfect.
"Sempai!" Otaru shouted to get Keiko's attention.
Keiko looked to Otaru, and he was a few feet behind her, holding a door open. She had passed up the store. She burst into laughter, and ran back. "Zoned out again!"
Otaru went in after KEiko, and KEiko slapped a hand over her nose. "It stinks in here!"
"Put your hand down!" Otaru pulled down Keiko's arm.
Keiko's nose wrinkled. "What's that smell?"
Otaru kept his voice low. "The owner's a heavy smoker. Don't make a scene."
Keiko breathed through her mouth. "Geez."
Otaru paced over to a sie of the store, "Just start looking around, it's in alphabetical order."
Keiko nodded, and went over to K. She began to flip through CDs. Nothing new by Kawamura Ryuichi...she moved over to R for Rouage. She moved slowly into the S section, and she approached SMAP, a popular boy group. Next would be Speed...then Spitz.
She hit hips with Otaru, and they both jumped. Otaru laughed.
"You're not looking at SMAP, are ya?" Keiko teased.
"Don't be gross." Otaru looked down at Keiko's hands. "Looks suspicious to me, though."
Keiko jerked her hands off of SMAP's latest album. "Don't be gay!"
"You're the one holding the SMAP album."
"I'm looking for Spitz, believe it or not." Keiko continued browsing the CDs.
"Really?" Otaru said. "They're my favorite group."
"I love Spitz!" Keiko exclaimed. "Favorite song?"
"Are you drilling me?" Otaru replied.
"Why would I do that?" Keiko smiled.
"It's 'Kimi ga Omoi de ni Aru Mae ni'." Otaru replied, "Yours?"
"I have so many..." Keiko sighed. "I guess it's currently 'Cherry'."
"That's a nice one." Otaru picked up one of Spitz's albums, and read its track listing.
Keiko grew close to Otaru, and lowered her voice. "Can we hurry up here? The smell's making me sick to my stomach."
Otaru smiled at Keiko. "You'll get used to it."
"I don't want to." Keiko replied.
Otaru held up a CD. "You're in luck. I've made my choice."
The two walked up to the cashier, and an old man with a cigarette walked in from a back room.
"Do you ever go broke, kid?" the old man took the CD, and entered its source code.
"I manage my money well." Otaru replied with a smile.
The old man looked to Keiko, who was getting pale. "Who's your sick friend?"
Otaru looked to Keiko. "Oh! He just has a troubled stomach."
"Probably needs to put something on it." the old man put the CD and a small packet in a bag. "My wife picked these up, she could use a bit less sugar in her diet."
Otaru took the bag. "Thank you." He took Keiko by the arm, and led her out.
"Come again!" the man took the cigarette otu of his mouth, and tapped it in an ash tray.
Keiko gasped for air outside. "Oh, does the air taste good!"
Otaru opened up one of the individually wrapped candies, and popped one in his mouth. "So do these..." he offered Keiko one. "Strawberry."
Keiko unwrapped it, and popped it in her mouth. "What time is it?"
Otaru pulled up a sleeve, and looked at his watch. "About a quarter `til three."
"It's too early to go back..." Keiko slowly strolled by a camera shop, and looked in the window. She stopped,and turned to the window. "Hey, how much money do you have left?"
Otaru walked up beside her, and looked in the window. "About two-thousand yen."
"Great. Help me buy this camera. I have an idea!" Keiko ran inside of the store.
Otaru's eyes widened, and he ran into the store after her. "S-sempai! Wait a sec!"
"Don't worry, I'll reimburse you back at the dorm!" Keiko turned from the counter to grin at him.
Otaru stuck his hand in his back pocket, and pulled out his wallet. He sighed, and pulled out the last of his money. He muttered something below his breath, and walked up to the counter.
"What'd you say?!" Keiko noticed Otaru's inaudible utterance.
"I said 'I'm glad you're not a girl! I'd be broke by my first date'!" Otaru rose his voice.
Keiko's face grew red. "Don't tell the world!" She turned around, and fiddled with a fingernail. Angry tears began to brim her eyes, and she glared at her fingernail. I've taken enough of these insults! Who does he think he is?! Her bottom lip truempled as she held back tears. I oughta desk him--! She stopped her raging thoughts, and closed her eyes. She took in a slow breath. Calm down, Keiko. It just an innocent tease...nothing personal. He doesn't know any better.
"Sempai?" Otaru blinked. "The camera?"
Keiko turned around,and plastered a goofy grin on her face. "Just had to get out my money!"
"Why are you so secretive about it?" Otaru blinked.
Keiko put a hand behind her head, and laughed. "I'm not secretive!"
"Are you hiding something?" Otaru asked. "Let me see!" He reached for Keiko's wallet.
"I'm not hiding anything!" Keiko dodged out of Otaru's way, and dropped her wallet on the floor. "Ack!" she lunged for it, but Otaru swiped it up.
Otaru opened the wallet, and looked in it. "No extra money, so you weren't being stingy."
Keiko reached for it. "Of course not!"
Otaru turned his back towards Keiko to block her. He turned to the pictures, and looked through them. "Are these your parents?" He saw a picture of Madoka and Shinji. "They don't look Spanish."
"Duh, we just live there." Keiko flatly stared at Otaru. "Can I have it back, please?"
Otaru turned to a picture of Naoki, Aika, Anji, and Keiko. His eyes lit up with recognition, and a delighted smile spread across his face. "Ah! I know them!"
Keiko came to Otaru's side, and she looked at the picture. "Yeah. There's Anji, Aika, Naoki, and..." she trailed off. Me. Will he figure it out now?
"Is that Amuro-kun's sister?!" Otaru held the wallet a bit tighter, and brought it closer. "She's cute!"
Keiko furiously blushed. "Don't be stupid!"
"Really! Are you really just friends with her?" Otaru took out the picture to get a better look at it.
Keiko managed to snatch the photo and her wallet. She opened up the wallet,and stuck the photo back in. Idiot.
Otaru grinned."You're blushing again!"
"Shut up!" Keiko closed her wallet, and stuck it in her pocket. She rose her arm, and leaned over the counter. "Excuse me!"
Otaru folded his arms and smiled. "She is cute, Sempai."
"Hey, mister! I need to be helped here!" Keiko waved her elevated arm. Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!!!
Otaru leaned on the counter, and rang the bell on the desk.
"Yes?" a man looked to Otaru.
"My friend and I would like to look at that Polaroid in the window, please." Otaru smoothly said, discreetly tapping the sign just above his knee to draw Keiko's attention to it.
Keiko looked at it, and sheepishly gulped when she read "For Assistance, Ring Bell." on the sign.
Otaru had a tiny smile as he looked to Keiko in amusement.
"Here you are." the man brought Otaru the camera. "It's fifty-two hundred."
"You sure, sempai?" Otaru handed it to Keiko.
Keiko tooked through the viewfinder. "Does it come with film?"
"Yeah. Each additional pack is nine-hundred fifty-six yen." the man said.
"One roll's enough." Keiko set it back on the counter. "I'll take it."
"All right." the man rang it up, and boxed it. "Thank you for your business."
Keiko took it out of the box, and loaded it after payed the cashier. "Perfect."
"What are we going to do, Sempai?" Otaru asked with a curious face.
"You'll see." Keiko hung the camera around her neck. "C'mon." She rusehd out of the store, Otaru following close behind.
"You're insane!"
"Shhh!" Keiko hissed, crouching behind the entrance way to the Phoenix School. "Keep it down!"
"Do you know what happens if we get caught on the girl's campus without authorization?!" Otaru whispered.
"Sure. But I know the places teachers avoid." Keiko pushed her back against the wall. "Just stay low, and follow me. It's easy."
"I don't like this."
"Believe me, you will." Keiko whispered, and stuck her head out just far enough to see in. "It's clear."
Otaru shifted nervously.
"C'mon!" she rose, and ran behind a hgue topiary a few meters away.
Otaru followed straight behind, and ran to Keiko's side. "I can't believe this! We're sneaking into the girls' school!"
"And we've barely even started. Stay close." Keiko whispered, and darted across the walkway to the gym, behind an air conditioning system.
"We wanna get over there." Keiko put a hand on Otaru's shoulder,and pointed to a dorm building.
Otaru looked over the air-conditioning vent with curiousity. Keiko saw a teacher (her Freshman Algebra teacher, actually) heading towards them. Without a word being said, Keiko put an arm around Otaru's waist, and pulled him into the cut grass.
She hit the ground with him, and they froze. Keiko listened closely, waiting for the teacher to pass.
Keiko lifted her head, and used the arm around Otaru to push herself up.
Otaur looked up to Keiko, his eyes wide and alert.
Keiko could only hear the two of them breathing.
"Sempai?"
"Shh!" Keiko didn't look down to him.
Otaru watched Keiko's eyes dart side to side behind her glasses. He's never gotten a good look at his friend behind the glasses. Is that odd?
"She's gone. Now's our chance." Keiko got on her knees, and let Otaru sit up. "Go!" she darted across the lawn, and reached to the steps to the dorm building. She hid beneath the stairwell, and looked across the lawn to watch Otaru, but didn't see him anywhere. Her heart sped up with fear suddenly at not seeing him.
She felt a shove on her shoulder, and she gasped. She dug into the grass, and scambled away from the source of the shove. She spun around, and fell on her backside.
Otaru waved, smiling. "Didn't get much warning there!"
Keiko got on her hands and knees, and crawled over to Otaru. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Are you scared?" Otaru blinked innocently?" "I thought you've been on-campus before!"
"Sure I have! All the time last summer!" Keiko huddled close to Otaru.
"Then why are you so nervous?" Otaru asked.
Keiko looked to Otaru. She was close enough to sense a weak trace of cologne. She was barely ever close enough to a guy to notice it, except for her brother and father. She reached over to Otaru, and grabbed his nose between her index and middle fingers. She leaned in towards him, and looked over the rim of her glasses. She lowered her voice to a low hum. "Why don't you hush up a bit so I can listen for teachers?"
"Sorry." Otaru whispered.
Keiko let go of his nose, and leaned back against the solid cement stairway. "It'd be so much easier if the stairs were hollow." She paused for a moment.
Otaru watched Keiko with eager anticipation.
"Sounds clear." Keiko whispered. She pushed herself up on the top step, and hissed. "Now!"
Otaru followed right behind her, and she opened the door. They both ran it, and dashed into a broom closet.
Otaru slammed the door shut,and the two TUA students leaned against it in complete darkness, panting for breath.
Otaru sounded like he was smiling. "I can't believe it! You actually got us in!"
"Are you having fun yet?" Keiko said between breaths. She wasn't sure about Otaru, but she was having the time of her life.
"Are you kidding?! My blood is pumping!" Otaru replied.
"Y'ready to go back out?" Keiko asked.
"I don't know what you have planned, Sempai..." Otaru was panting a bit.
"You willing to go through with it?" Keiko put her hand on the doorknob, "No turning back from this point on."
"You make it sound so dangerous!" Otaru was on the verge of laughter.
"It is." Keiko cracked the door a bit to let some of the light shine through.
"I'm ready." Otaru gave Keiko an encouraging smile.
Keiko smiled back. "You're so awesome." She looked through the crack. "Keep you listening sharp at all times, you got it? And tap me on the shoulder if you hear anything."
"Right."
Keiko slipped through an opening in the door just large enough for her. Otaru silently followed.
Keiko scanned both hallways, and took Otaru's wrist. If he got caught, they'd both take the heat.
She ran to the end of the allway, and huddled over the doorknob of the dorm room at the very end. She felt a tap on her shoulder as she began to turn the doorknob, and with lightning-like reflexes, she tugged on Otaru's arm, and they fell behind a maid's cart.
Keiko's heart sped, and she held Otaru's head in a vice-like grip. She pressed his face into her abdomen nervously, and clenched her teeth.
Otaru let our a muffled grunt, and she released him suddenly.
Otaru was on his hands and knees, and Keiko sat on her bottom, her legs stretched out and her arms serving as support as she leaned back on them.
"I heard something." Otaru whispered.
They both paused, and Keiko peeked over the bin of bedsheets to eye the hallway. She sat back down. "Dummy! That was me turning the doorknob!" Her blood pressure lowered at this discovery.
"Oh." Otaru nervously smiled.
They both heard the footsteps of the maid behind the door they were against.
Keiko and Otaru's eyes both widened, and they gave eachother panicked looks.
Keiko leapt up,and cralwed over Otaru's legs.
"Sempai!" Otaru whispered.
"Get up, dangit!" she hissed back,and began to turn the doorknob. It turned easily, to her relief, and she put her weight on it. It wouldn't budge. Stuck!
Otaru ran to her side. "Hurry!"
Keiko turned it again, and they both saw the door of the room beside them open.
Both Keiko and Otaru slammed their shoulders against the door and it burst open.
The maid they heard opened the door to the dorm next door, and missed seeing them by a split second.
Otaru and Keiko both struggled to keep their balance. Keiko fell on the floor, while Otaru managed to remain on his feet. Otaru spun around, and slammed the door shut.
Keiko leapt up,and pushed herself against the door next to Otaru, and buckled the latch above the doorknob.
They pulled away from the door, and let out sighs of relief. They looked to eachother, and slapped their right hands together in a tight grip.
"We did it!" Keiko laughed.
"That was so close!" Otaru replied in the same tone.
There was a long pause as they clutched eachother's hands.
"Now what?" Otaru peeped.
"Oh, yeah." Keiko sweatdropped. Almost forgot. She took her camera, and sat on a bed. "This is Aika and Naoki's room."
Otaru's mouth gaped.
Keiko glared at him. "Stop it!"
Otaru closed his mouth, blushing.
"We take a picture on their bed, and leave it here." Keiko got a desk chair,and stacked a few books on it. "It'll drive them up the wall."
"That's cruel!" Otaru scolded with a sympathetic smile. "I almost feel sorry for them!"
"Just almost, right?" Keiko set the timer on the camera. "Get on the bed."
"Don't be so forceful, Kei-chan!" Otaru said in an effeminately softer voice than his own. "This is our first date, after all!"
Keiko blushed a deep red. "That's so gross, it's not evern funny!"
"I do it all for your reaction, Sempai." Otaru smiled, sitting on the bed.
Keiko sat next to him, frowning.
Otaru grabbed Keiko's cheeks,and pulled them in a way to distort her face. "You make the funniest faces!"
--click--
"Ah~! You messed it up!" Keiko pulled away from Otaru, and set it up again. "Now let's try a nicer pose."
She sat back down, and rested an elbow on Otaru's shoulder. She made a gun with her left hand, and grinned. She aimed her "gun" at the camera. "CHHEEEEEESSSSEEE-burger!"
--click--
"Perfect!" Keiko stood, and took out the pictures. she set them on the table, and she put the camera around her neck. "One final stop."
"What?!" Otaru gasped. "We can't just go out the window?!"
"No way!" We gotta visit Rina-san!"
--click--
"Much nicer." Keiko watched the picture develop on the table. "Won't she blow a gasket."
"Who's Rina-san?" Otaru asked.
Keiko looked at Otaru in shock. "Where have you been?! The Student Council Pres!"
"Oh, she she beat Toseki Mai this year!" Otaru slapped a fist on his open palm.
"Yeah. I don't know which one's worse." Keiko sighed, and opened the window.
"Probably Rina. At least Mai could demand an audience." Otaru said. "This Rina girl is hardly a public figure."
"But Mai's the queen of mean." Keiko stepped up on Rina's bedside table, and she pulled herself through the window. "Be careful."
Otaru jumped out the window, and landed next to Keiko.
Keiko searched the grounds. "There's a gate not far form here. We can leave that way instead of through the way we came."
"Which way is safer?" Otaru stuck close to his companion.
Keiko gave Otaru a blank look. "Neither way is safe." She began to move, gesturing Otaru to follow her.
"That's not what I wanted to hear." Otaru said as he hurried behind her.
Keiko turned the knob on the side gate door. "Smooth as butter." She smirked, and opened the door so Otaru could pass through. "After you!"
"If you insist!" Otaru passed by her.
Keiko closed the door behind her, and let out a wild "YAH-HOO! THAT WAS SO SMOOTH!!!"
Otaru laughed, and leaned against the gate. "I can't believe I just did that!"
"And this is just our first week!" Keiko flexed her arm, and shaded her eyes from the glare of the setting sun. "Imagine what the rest of this year could possibly hold for us!"
End Chapter Six