Chapter Twelve
Yes! I did it! I managed to write another chapter! Woohoo, oh yeah, Woohoo! Celebrations! XD Now this is one chapter that I’m real curious about. Because there have been a lot of bad OCs in fics all over the place, not just on SPPf but on fanfiction.net too. So I’m hoping that my OC Kimi will be vaguely alright. Maybe?
In any case, review replies!
Chelc – Yes, Gen is just <3. He can be the best looking guy in the film industry. =D Yeah, I was thinking the exact same thing about Shigeru and Seiyo! XD And yes, I had Gen mention Kaze no Message for a reason. It’s not the shippiest of songs, but have you seen the translated lyrics? LOL Shinji is totally confusing with how he feels. I always thought Haruka would eat more than Satoshi, somehow. XD Thanks for the review!
Manix – Yes, I loved making that list! Couldn’t resist. Glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one too! Thanks for reviewing!
kawaii-lurve – Hmmm, while my list isn’t a major priority, I will have an explanation at the bottom of each chapter about the new faces to appear in the chapter. Yes, the gossip column! I definitely had fun writing it. XD Thanks for your review!
WolfGirl23 – LOL, Seiyo also writes the gossip column. Their gossip column will be crack too. XD Do note that their writing will be bad, plus I’ve never really written gossip columns before, so I hope it’s good. XD Yes, Gen on the big screen! <33333 Thanks for reviewing!
midnightmoon – Woohoo, new reader! I love new readers. XD Thanks, I try to make my writing good! Thanks for your review!
ContestNoir888 – Lawlz, everyone likes Haruka’s list. XD Yes, another person who wants to see the gossip column! <3 Thanks for reviewing!
Drew and May fan – Thanks for your comments, even though I was bit confused as to how Ash was being OOC. But then again, I barely seem to think about how in-character they are or not. So long as they aren’t opposites to how they actually are, it’s okay to me! Thanks for your review!
kirby8933083 – Wow, so many digits to type. But Mellie Mel Mel, you reviewed my fic! *glomps* Lawlz, learn your Japanese names! XD Everyone in the fic is from the anime except my OC Kimi. There. =D Thanks for reviewing, twin!
Uzamaki Hinata – COUSIN! Yes, Seiyo should appear in more fics. I think she’s perfect for AU High School fics, imo! LOL how about Gen x Hikari x Kengo? Me and Chelc agreed that couple – er, threesome - would work. XD Thanks for reviewing!
Pokewiz – COUSIN! Woohoo, I converted someone to one of my crack pairings! Yaaaaaay! Yes, go the Penguinshippingness! =D Such fun. <3 Thanks for the review!
The Renowned Obscurity – Yay, another person reviewing! Woooooooo, reviews make me go on sugar hypes, I swear. 0.0 Well, I could say all this stuff, but then I might give spoilers! Just have to wait for you to catch up! Catch up for Kouhei! =D Thanks for reviewing!
Gazmof – I feel sorry for Kengo. I always make things hard for him. D= LOL I wish I could’ve fitted in some more Haruka to this chapter, but chapter 13 is promising for more on how Haruka’s coping with the new dorm! LOL, your questions will get answered! Eventually. XD Thanks for the review!
Waste My Time – LOL, if you think my chapters are long then read Uza’s fics. Her chapters are looooooooooooooong! XD *shot for advertising friends’ fics* Yeah, I would be using dub names but like, I have a preference for the Japanese names, so bear with me please? Japanese names sound much cooler than English ones. XD Anyway, I’m glad ya liked it. Thanks for reviewing!
Wow, that was long. 12 reviews to reply to. It’s a lot more than it sounds imo. But then again, I really don’t mind at all. Reviews are <33333333333333
Er, I’ll shut up now. Well, this chapter, two things are certain! In comes my random weirdo OC Kimi and the gossip column! Let’s get this chapter started!
But first things first!
Shippings in this chapter include: Penguinshipping, Pokeshipping, Morpheusshipping (Satoshi x Aoi), a bit of Advance, maybe some Ikari here and there, ugh... I can never work out all the shipping stuff I have in my chapters! Well, you all know it’s Multishipping so let’s just get to the chapter! =P
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Chapter Twelve: Troublesome
Hikari’s POV
Haruka came into our dormitory room with a huge grin. “Shigeru’s publishing a column! Shuu’s going to get what he deserves! I think I love Satoshi right now!” Kasumi immediately looked up and I could see her struggling not to glare at Haruka about the last sentence. Then Haruka’s face went upset as she seemed to remember something else. “And I have to pack up my bags...”
We all sat up, I almost crashed into Nozomi doing so. “Haruka, what do you mean?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“...Satoshi told me that apparently I’m being moved out. This is my last night, so let’s make it count, guys... I hope you’ll miss having me around and not enjoy the new roommates’ company more than you’ve enjoyed mine...” Haruka told us with a sad smile. Nozomi and I went silent, while Kasumi went over to Haruka and slapped her arm.
“We’ll definitely miss you, silly! Anyway, you came in and ruined the mood! We were all trying to guess all the possibilities of how your date would go!” I grinned at this. Kasumi was ranting at Nozomi and me about how she’d wanted to date Satoshi for ages and Haruka snapped him just like that. Better not to mention this to Haruka though.
There was a sudden knock on the door. Before any of us could rush to answer it, the principal walked in. “Daigo-sama?!” Haruka exclaimed, blushing like mad. I really don’t get how Haruka can have a crush on the principal. At least she’s aware that the two will never date. So to me, she’s starting to look like some weird fangirl right now. But then again, I’m more fangirl than Haruka could ever be.
Daigo looked at Haruka and smiled. “The transfer has to happen now. Normally, I’d send someone to talk to you students for me, but I don’t get to interact with students enough so...” If you ask me, Daigo just wants to walk right in on girls in dormitory rooms. But I can’t say that, not to a principal of
Aomizu High.
“Hang on, Daigo-sama! Does that mean I have to pack up all my stuff now?” Haruka asked. Daigo nodded and added that the new roommate has almost finished and will be coming over in ten minutes. “But I have so much stuff and I leave too much junk lying everywhere... Can’t I move over tomorrow?”
Daigo grinned at her. “You seem well informed about this. That explains why you’re not surprised about transferring, just surprised at transferring now. The thing is, tomorrow’s going to be a busy day for you. Because you’re transferring to a new dormitory, some parts of your timetable will be changed and tomorrow, you have a class trip. By the time you get back, packing up with be even worse. Plus we want to switch you and Kimi over ASAP,” he explained with hands in pockets.
I rolled my eyes and asked, “Why is there a transfer anyway?”
Daigo looked at me and smiled. “By request of Kengo’s mother, actually.”
My eyes widened. “Ayumu-san requested that? Why?”
“Mmmm... I think she and Kimi’s mother made some arrangement to do with Kimi and Kengo. I’m not too sure why but we did a random select between Kasumi, Nozomi and Haruka – Ayumu wanted Hikari to stay put – and Haruka got chosen to move,” Daigo replied. He turned away and told us to help Haruka pack and that Kimi will be coming in about an hour.
After he shut the door on us, we all began rushing around the room, grabbing anything that looks remotely like something Haruka would own. I helped fold up clothes, Nozomi was grabbing Haruka’s school textbooks and stationary, Kasumi was grabbing all the extra junk Haruka owns while Haruka was pacing around, throwing some sort of spaz at us.
Why wasn’t I surprised that we wouldn’t help Haruka pack, but pack for Haruka instead?
Haruka was basically telling us that Satoshi was fun to hang out and she now considers him to be her best guy friend, apparently Satoshi’s now taking over for Kengo with helping her out about Shuu, she doesn’t want to move, Kimi’s probably going to be a poor replacement, how apparently she’ll be in the same dormitory as Kanata, Nanako and Aoi. Kasumi’s eyebrows were raised at the mention of Aoi.
“Shigeru told me the other day that he managed to get some gossip on Aoi,” Kasumi commented as she placed Haruka’s hair straightener in Haruka’s luggage bag.
“Shigeru and Seiyo are doing a gossip column. I heard the school newsletter will be released tomorrow. I wouldn’t be surprised if any rumours about Aoi bopped up! Not to mention, probably something about Satoshi and me...” Haruka answered, still walking around in circles instead of packing.
“We’re almost finished with packing!” Nozomi realised, heaving a sigh of relief. “I didn’t think we’d have packed Haruka’s stuff this fast!”
Haruka gave us all a wide smile. “Well, we had four people working on packing up all my stuff! So of course we’d get done faster!”
I counted Kasumi, myself and Nozomi. "No, that’s three people who packed.”
“What? I helped too!” Haruka protested. We all stared at her with disbelief. “I packed my hairbrush!”
“You packed my hairbrush, not yours!” I pointed out, taking my hairbrush back.
Haruka sighed. “Damn it, I did nothing!”
“Thank you. Three people did the packing.” Kasumi, Nozomi and I grinned at each other.
The hour passed and Daigo knocked on the door again. “Finished packing?” Haruka nodded and gave us all a quick hug. Daigo blew a sigh of relief and looked at his watch. “Kimi, you better just get in there and go to sleep. Cuz everyone should be getting to sleep around this time. Haruka, follow me to your dormitory!”
“Alone time with Daigo-san, Haruka!” I called out after her. She gave me a death glare as she walked out the door with the principal. Everything went silent as we anticipated Kimi’s entrance. Kimi’s a cute name, so I suspected that she’d be a cute girl with a sweet personality. I wonder what her mom and Kengo’s mom were arranging between the two.
“Kimi-san? You there?” Nozomi asked as a girl about our age tiptoed in, like she was avoiding some big entrance. We all stared at her anyway, just for being the new roomie. Dragging bags behind her, this girl avoided eye contact with all of us and started setting up her stuff. “Um... Hey, I’m Nozomi! Nice to meet you!”
The girl looked up at us and we got a proper look at her face. She had raven black hair tied back in a low ponytail with her bangs only just above her eyebrows. Her eyes were an emerald green and her clothes were not great. Just a simple white skirt and a black blazer jacket. Nothing really notable. I wasn’t impressed by this Kimi at all. Maybe her personality will be a vague improvement.
“Hello... I’m Kimi Kurozaki... I hope I’ll enjoy staying in the same dormitory room as you three and... And that we can get to know each other better...” Just from that introduction, I already decided that Kimi wasn’t a very talkative, outgoing type of girl but probably one of those smart, quiet girls instead.
“Well, hi I’m Hikari! I heard you were switched to our room because of some arrangement between Ayumu-san and your mom!” I shook hands with her and helped take things out of her bag. My eyebrows rose at the sight of this photo I noticed. “It’s you and Kengo...”
Kimi nodded, taking the photo from my hands. “Our families met at a wedding and so Kengo-san and I were photographed together. My mum wants me to get to know him better for some reason. So I kept the photo to remind myself of what he looked like,” she explained, though we weren’t really understanding it fully anyway.
Nozomi picked up a booklet. “School report! Mind if I see your grades?” she asked. Kasumi stood tall and placed her hands on her hips.
“Why haven’t you mailed your report card back home for your parents to look at?”
Kimi looked somewhat intimidated by Kasumi and cowered into a corner. “I have, but I copied out my school report a couple of times to remind myself of my grades and what I need to improve on...” She stared up at the ceiling. “Plus it means I have more possessions and also have proof that I haven’t quite reached perfection...”
“Perfection? Psh, nobody’s perfect! Anyway, I’m Kasumi,” Kasumi introduced herself, snatching the school report off Nozomi. Reading through it, her face went from suspicious to amazed. “Wow! So you’re the Kimi who managed to level with Shinji in terms of grades! I heard Shinji was really brainy but someone managed to get around the same number of excellences as him.”
Kimi nodded without a word. She continued unpacking her stuff while I tried to hide my disappointment. I was hoping that this girl would be fun and exciting. Instead, she seems too much like those bookworm girls whose entire lives revolve around good grades and studying.
“So Kimi, tell us about yourself,” Nozomi said to the black-haired girl. She looked up at us and smiled slightly. “Go on, you may be stuck with retarded roommates, but we don’t bite.” Kasumi and I faked hitting her in response.
Putting a finger to her chin, Kimi thought to herself, wondering what to say about herself. “My name is Kimi Kurozaki and I come from up north from the wealthy suburbs... I’m fourteen years old and my birthday is on November 12th. My favourite subjects are English, Geography and History... And that’s all I can think of to say about myself...”
“Isn’t that fun? But that doesn’t tell us what we want to know!” Kasumi replied with a smirk.
Kimi’s eyes widened with curiosity. “...What’s that?”
I leaped up in front of her with a huge grin. “We want to know all the juicy stuff! Like who do you have a crush on? Any gossip to share? Any life outside schoolwork?” I felt mean saying that last bit, but I was too caught up with expecting answers from this girl. Eh, I’ll apologise later.
“Crush... I hadn’t really thought about love...”
I sighed in disappointment and glanced at Nozomi. “That’s not fair. We can’t play matchmaker or something...”
“We can still play matchmaker anyway...” Nozomi pointed out, making me realise that Kimi didn’t need a crush; we could still set her up with someone anyway.
We heard a knock on our door and followed by a voice telling us to be quiet, turn our lights off and sleep. Kasumi, Nozomi and I sighed, having so many questions that needed to be asked and things that were needed to be said. Kimi was the first to have finished getting changed into her pyjamas.
I yawned and felt myself get the urge to sleep. Hopefully Haruka’s doing okay in her dormitory. And we still share classes, I’m sure. I hope.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
“READ THIS! READ THIS! READ THIS!” Kengo was banging his fist on the door, with a panicked voice. Kimi was the first to get out of bed – she was already fully dressed, she must be an early bird - and let him in. Kengo rushed in, still in his pyjamas. That didn’t seem to matter to him right now. He was waving the school newsletter in Kimi’s face. His yelling calmed down and his panicked face changed to a confused one. “...Who the hell are you?”
I rolled out of bed – literally – and got up to explain about what happened with Haruka and Kimi. He nodded in understanding, but that wasn’t what was on his mind right now. Handing over the school newsletter to me, he told me to turn to the 3rd page.
Flipping to the page he told me to go to, I began reading the article. “What... is this?”
“Just read...”
*~Shigeru heard you Sei~*
Written by the handsome Shigeru Ookido
(But mostly written by Seiyo =P)
Welcome to Aomizu High’s first gossip column! It was about high time we had one! It’s no fun if only a portion of the school AKA MOSTLY US knew about the gossip, ya know? Just wouldn’t be right, imo. LULZ
So we decided that we’ll be the people to fill in the gaps! Hell, if you want us to find out gossip for you, just approach us at any time! If you have gossip to report, you can also tell us! It’s not fair if not everyone knows each other’s innermost secrets!
Anyway, I’m sure this’ll bring us closer than ever. Who knows, you might find someone who likes the same guy you do! Could be the start to a beautiful friendship of fangirling that devilishly handsome grandson of Professor Ookido. ;D
Well, let’s start it off with a teacher. It’s been rumoured that a teacher has been crushing on one of the students! Oh yes, she’s all over him every chance she gets. You’d better believe it. And if you don’t know who I mean, yes I mean that pink-haired teacher Akane-sensei! And she likes none other than one of the most popular (but not nearly as good looking as me) students in the school, Gen!
Next on the list is quite a surprising one. I believe that Shinji has developed feelings for someone! Yes, I’m surprised too. While he may not show it, he desperately wants to get into a certain girl’s pants. Yes, we’re all looking at you, Hikari. I suppose all it means is just another guy you’re off to romp with.
Speaking of Hikari, I’ve dumped ya. Thought I’d mention to ya. But that’s what happens you act like an arse and plot revenge against me. Ugh, Seiyo wants to start typing now. >_>
Hikari isn’t the only girl to be dating multiple people at once. Satoshi is quite the manwh*re himself. Ah yes, he went out with Haruka, was going to date Hikari too and has other girls that like him too! The list of girls that like Satoshi include:
Kasumi
HARUKA I’M SURE CUZ SHE AIN’T DOING SHUU NO MORE
Aoi
Moe
Some other girl whose name escapes me
NOT ME
Hikari, I’m sure >P
Speaking of Satoshi and Haruka, here’s what Satoshi said to Haruka on their
date, which happened last night. See look at our talent, we can get last night’s gossip. “How about this? Shuu can’t date you until he’s proved himself worthy not just to you but to me! As in, I consider him worthy of you too! That way, he has to be a better person all-around! No more arrogant, self-centred Shuu who always gets what he wants!”
You got it. That’s what Satoshi said. Shuu, you better get the message then! Oh yes, Shigeru claims that there’s a Talent Quest coming up and he’s already spoken to the host about it that he’s entered Kengo, Shinji and Shuu in it. He says you three will be doing a dance to ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, no backing out of it, plzkthnxbaibai!
I think Shinji should be Shakira. I reckon Hikari would like that. Maybe Shuu should dress like Shakira too. And Kengo can be Wyclef Jean. That would be a performance worth watching.
Ah yes by popular demand of her roommates, Haruka has been kicked out of her dormitory and is now forced to stay in the same dormitory as her lesbian lover Kanata. Sounds lovely. I hope their two other roommates Nanako and Aoi enjoy watching their romping. Ew, that’s just wrong.
Kimi is now in place of Haruka. Too bad she’s awfully plain to look at. She might get kicked out too. But hey, she’s a top scoring student of her year group – a rival for Shinji with being the top student in their year group – maybe they should hook up because they’re both nerds – Hey! That’s it! Hikari, Kasumi and Nozomi can use Kimi to do their homework for them and stuff! Watch out teachers!
Oh yeah, Reiji is moving back to Aomizu High. All the fangirls that liked him better get their ‘Welcome Back’ banners up again! I heard he was a popular student too! He better not find out that Shinji likes Hikari – or Reiji will like Hikari too! D=
Oh yes, the vote for the next year’s student representative is coming up! So do you think you can stand being in meetings with the staff? Can you influence changes that are needed for the school? Well, vote for me. Or Shigeru. Make us representative and assistant representative! After that then come nominations for the student council! Don’t vote for the following people:
Hikari
Gen (cuz he won’t be here next year)
OH YEAH SPEAKING OF GEN I THINK HE WON SOMETHING, YOU SHOULD ASK
GEN ABOUT IT, HIKARI >D
Hikari
Kengo
Shuu
Satoshi
Shinji
Heeeeeeeeeeeey... You probably shouldn’t vote for Harley either. He’s weird.
Don’t vote for Kouhei either. He stalks Hikari, especially on Wednesday nights.
Oh yeah, I’m hosting a competition to see who can think of the most creative way to kick Daigo off as school principal!
With regards to Hikari’s mother, we’re over and out! Stay tuned for next week’s edition!
I stared in disbelief at the article. Silently, I passed it over to Kasumi to read next. “Did you read it fully?” Kengo asked me. I nodded, speechless. I was silent as Kasumi began ranting after reading the article. Nozomi then read it. After she finished, she passed it on to Kimi, speechless as well.
After reading the article, Kimi told us she was going to go and get breakfast. Kasumi suddenly started undressing, so we had to quickly kick Kengo out of the room too. I think when Kasumi’s angry; she doesn’t really care what she does. That’s what I think anyway.
Once Kasumi finished putting on her outfit for the day, she announced to us that she was going to leave the dormitory room too. Nozomi and I glanced at each other as Kengo was let back into the room.
“Hikari, you know how you told me about what you wanted help with? You said that you wanted help with your mom and how she’s a teacher at this school? Well, I have an idea...” Kengo told me, shuffling his feet nervously.
Nozomi raised an eyebrow at me but I decided not to explain the situation to her. “What’s your idea?”
He gulped and took in a deep breath. “Make your mother lose her job as a teacher at this school.”
What?! Nozomi looked like she’d been bowled over. I never expected him to suggest anything so absurd. My mother having a job here also means she’s got money to support the family. I doubt she’d want to leave her new job so soon.
“Kengo-san, are you serious? We’re students. How could we make a teacher lose their job?” Nozomi questioned Kengo’s idea quickly. She spoke up in place of me. No matter, we would’ve asked the same questions.
Kengo shrugged. “Well, another option is for Hikari to change school. It’s easier to change school then change job, isn’t it? Maybe? But I don’t want Hikari to change schools. I want her to stay but I feel that either she reconciles and tries to get on even terms with her mother, or her mother gets forced to leave...”
Oh, maybe what Kengo means is making my mom want to leave the job? But us, reconciling? She expected too much from me. I hope the teachers don’t read the school newsletter, not with that stupid gossip column printed on those pages. Sometimes I wondered if my mom was that bad, even with her trying to force the idea of perfection onto me.
Kimi spoke of perfection last night. I wonder if she gets the whole ‘perfection’ concept. I wonder though, what is perfection? I’d been taught to be beautiful and always work to be beautiful and to achieve high grades. No wonder I’m so superficial and why I’m easy to make fun of in stuff like that gossip column.
Here I go again, getting sidetracked again. The gossip column and Kengo bringing up the problems with my mom gave me that melancholy feeling once more. It frustrated me with how I can’t just stand up and face the problems with my head held high.
“I think it would be great if I could work out things with my mom... But I don’t think I could stand continuously living under the same roof as her. That’s exactly why I agreed with going to the same boarding school as Kengo.”
Nozomi nodded sympathetically as Kengo spoke, “So how about this? Let’s get you reconciling with your mom and then get your mother wanting to leave the school!”
It was weird. That may have been the answer that had been lingering in my mind all this time, but I would never feel so strongly about that solution until someone brought it up. Is that weird, to that way? I wonder.
Smiling up at Kengo, I agreed to his plan. “Yeah! That’s perfect!”
But it still seemed absurd to me. Are we seriously going to try and kick a teacher out of keeping their job? Is this going to go down in history as the first time that students plotted to make a teacher leave their job? Maybe?
Kasumi came storming in, still managing to balance trays of food. “I got breakfast!” she announced with an irritated voice. She glared at Kengo. “Why are you still here? Go perve on your roommates!”
Kengo went bright red and apologised quickly. “I was just about to leave! See ya later!” He made a hasty exit.
“So what’s going on, Kasumi?” Nozomi asked. I suspected that Kasumi would
tell us what was up regardless of whether we asked her about it or not.
“I went to the cafeteria and saw that Kimi kept being pushed to the back of the line by annoying students shoving in front of her so I said I’d get breakfast for you guys myself. Kimi said that she’ll have breakfast in the cafeteria then go to the library to study before first period. Haruka was around and told me she didn’t like Satoshi in the way the article said and added that timetables got switched around so she shares fewer classes with us... Then guess what happened next?!”
We had no idea what happened next. At a school like this, I made the assumption that anything could happen.
“Aoi asked me if it was true that I liked Satoshi and I was like, ‘What’s it to you?’ and then she got annoyed, which made me annoyed! So she was like, ‘Settle this at lunchtime!’ So I have to deal with her at lunchtime, not to mention Moe and others... Honestly!” Kasumi started eating noisily, trying to eat her breakfast as fast as possible.
Is it just me or were the dramatic events that began from when Gen first asked me out just the beginning? Just the beginning of crazy events yet to come!
Shinji’s POV
I read the article over and over again. Twenty times. I even proofread it once. Shigeru and Seiyo fail entirely at creating good gossip columns.
Satoshi was laughing insanely though, while Shuu was shooting him the evil eye. “I can’t believe Shigeru thinks that all those girls like me! It’s ridiculous!” Satoshi was in hysterics. The sound of his laughter is going to drive me insane.
“Did you really say those things about me? Are you going to stand in my way?” Shuu asked Satoshi, a harsh tone in his voice. Satoshi stopped laughing and glanced over at Shuu, raising an eyebrow in question. “What you said to Haruka... On your date. I thought you were in support of me.”
Satoshi stuck his tongue out at Shuu. “Well then clean up your act!
Complaining to me ain’t gonna help! You’re not the only friend I have to look out for!” Satoshi turned to me. “And you! Do you really like Hikari?”
Once more, I am questioned that. It makes me sick. I want to say that I don’t like her. Yet I can’t abandon how it felt to have something to do, that someone else would do too. This revenge plan I thought, was the first time I’d really let anyone in. Hikari was willing to go ahead with this revenge plan. We were going to get revenge on Shigeru. Together.
Before, I’d have never dreamed of getting involved with anybody, doing anything. I wondered if I’d softened up a bit. Plotting out things like revenge was something I usually did by myself. But somehow, doing something like that with someone else, someone like Hikari made me feel better.
And yet I didn’t want others to know how I felt. It’s worse when they cut straight to the point. I’m just left looking the fool when I’m trying to deny something they got right about me. It was a habit I grew up with. I never liked being predictable. And I couldn’t stand the thought of actually liking someone, having a crush.
Feelings of love weren’t supposed to matter and yet at the same time, they mattered. I hated the fact that Shigeru got something right about me. It made me hate Shigeru even more. I wish I was like Kasumi and felt no guilt at the thought of beating up on someone when they did something I didn’t like. It would be so much easier.
But no, I ended up being one to retreat to the shadows, one to deal with things from afar. I was subtly not being upfront with matters.
“Well, do you? Shigeru heard you Sei says that you do...” Satoshi turned to Shuu. “What’s the ‘Sei’ part supposed to mean anyway?”
“'Sei’ as in Seiyo and ‘say’. The article’s written by Shigeru and Seiyo. Get it?” Shuu explained before storming out of the dormitory room. Personally, I’d like to leave the room too.
Satoshi leapt onto my bed to sit beside me. “Hey, with Shuu gone, you know what that means...”
I backed away immediately to the other side of the room. This is Satoshi. And he worded everything wrong and gave me the wrong image. If only I could get that innuendo and connotations out of my head. “What the hell are you on about?”
“Tell me if you like Hikari or not!”
“No!” I left, slamming the door.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I was sitting by myself in the cafeteria, eating my breakfast in silence. Ignoring the annoying people that kept shouting, “YOU LIKE HIKARI!” at me and all these people in the cafeteria reading the school newsletter, I noticed someone sitting by themselves.
Absent-mindedly, I went from focusing on my breakfast to watching them. I managed to eventually remember the person’s name as being Kimi Kurozaki, the one student who manages to stay ahead of me in class.
“Who’s Shinji looking at?!” a voice interrupted my thoughts. I jumped up when I sensed that someone was right behind me. Turning around, I was disgusted at who was right in my face. Harley. Ugh.
“Harley, if you dare mention anything about Hikari, I’ll-”
“You’re checking out Kurozaki-chan!” Harley said in a whimsical tone. I glared at him. How could anyone think I’d do something like that? “Well, go on! Chat to her!” Harley yanked me up from my seat and pulled me along to the table Kimi was sitting at. I got shoved into a seat right beside him. “Well, enjoy your chat!”
Harley pranced off, satisfied with what he’s done. Other students were giggling at us and others were signalling for me to start talking to her. I stood up and slammed my fist on the table. “I DON’T LIKE HIKARI AND I’M NOT TO GOING TO CHAT UP SOMEONE I’VE NEVER TALKED TO IN MY LIFE!”
“If ya don’t like Hikari, why would you make so much of an effort to deny it instead of laughing it off?!” a student yelled back, others agreeing with him.
“It’s Shinji, he never laughs at anything!” another added.
I clenched my fists, anger building up inside me. Slumping down in my chair, I felt stung. No matter what I said, they wouldn’t listen. That’s it. I’m going to make one last attempt, if it doesn’t work, I’m out of here. “I don’t like anybody! I actually like being the school outcast who isn’t interested in interacting with anyone! In fact, if it weren’t for that day Shigeru threatened to blackmail me, I wouldn’t be here and you guys wouldn’t be making false accusations!”
“Give it up Shinji! We all know you like Hikari!”
“IT ISN’T TRUE!” I yelled, banging my fist on the table once more. The students laughed and shrugged my opinion on the matter off. Everyone finished off their breakfast as I hung my head low in frustration. Eventually the cafeteria was empty, leaving just me and Kimi.
“Are you denying it... because you know that deep down, it’s the truth?” Kimi asked calmly, breaking the silence between us. I sat up immediately, glaring at her. “See? Whenever anyone mentions it, you react in a way different to how you normally would.”
I turned away from her, crossing my arms. “Is everyone going to question me about how I feel about Hikari? Because I don’t think of her in the romantic sense. Not at all.”
“Are you starting to think of her as more a friend then?” My eyes widened as I heard this question.
I placed my elbow on the table and glanced at her over my shoulder. “Do you think that you know exactly what I’m thinking?!” She didn’t respond. “So I finally see someone as a potential friend. So what? What’s it to you? We wouldn’t be speaking if it weren’t for that gossip column and that damned Harley! If it weren’t for that damned Shigeru, none of this crap would’ve happened and I could just get back to living the life the way I wanted!”
Kimi still wouldn’t respond. She stood up and began to walk away. As she reached the door, she swirled round to stare at me. “...I’d like to be able to just be ignored. I wouldn’t want to be the talk of the school either. Normally if someone was taking out their anger on me, I’d back away and not say what I think. But somehow, with you, it’s okay. I can put up with you.”
I shot up onto my feet also. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? It’s not like you’re the only person to willingly listen to me yell at-” I cut myself off. It’s true. Not many people really care about what I have to say. They always try to shrug it off or avoid dealing with it.
Is that why Reiji said he was going to go to a separate school from me for a year? I used to go to him to complain about stuff when I wanted to avoid some angry outburst. Maybe he couldn’t take it any longer.
“Shinji-san, I heard that Aoi-san and Kasumi-san were going to have a fight. I think you should go see it.”
I folded my arms again. “Why do I care if some stupid girls are fighting over a guy who’s too oblivious to care?”
“If you do, I’ll tell you about how to handle Shigeru-san. And...” She opened the cafeteria door and took a step out. Holding the door open, she told me, “...Now I have some idea of how the world is like from your eyes. You make me wonder.”
As she departed from the cafeteria, I sat back down on my seat. Staring up at the ceiling, I began to think. This Kimi Kurozaki is certainly interesting. If she has any slight idea about me, then already what she’s been through must’ve been unusual to most.
This girl - who people say is my rival in who gets to be the top student – seems to somewhat intriguing.
I still didn’t like the fact she knew the truth.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I started my lunchtime with a pessimistic and excruciatingly irritating outlook on life as I spent most of the day trying to get it into everybody’s heads that I don’t like Hikari the way they think I do.
Kasumi and Aoi were standing in the middle of the basketball courts glaring at each other. A lot of students were beginning to circle them, all keen to see a catfight. I saw Kimi standing apart from that crowd, waiting for me.
Just as I approached her, Moe stepped in between Kasumi and Aoi. “Why did you call out this fight and not include me? You two aren’t the only people to like Satoshi!”
“I don’t like Satoshi!” Aoi snapped, going bright red. I can’t believe Kimi is suggesting that I witness a stupid argument like this.
“Then why are you going all bright red? Then why did you suggest we argue over this here and now?” Kasumi questioned with a smirk.
“It’s not like that! And anyway, you don’t like Satoshi either, do you?” Aoi shot back. Kasumi’s eyes widened and she grinned evilly.
“What makes you say that? Satoshi is like... the shotgun to my wedding!” Kasumi replied, with a determined stance.
“Satoshi’s the physical to my education!” Oh lord, they’re coming up with the lamest things to say as an attempt to prove that Satoshi is their one and only. Love-obsessed fangirls sicken me.
“Ah! But Satoshi is the chemical to our romance!”
Moe waved her arms about, trying to get herself involved. “Satoshi is the Watashi to my Makenai?” Kasumi and Aoi blatantly chose to ignore Moe. I don’t even know why Moe wants to get involved anyway.
Satoshi approached the crowd and everyone made a gap so he could walk to the middle. “What’s going on? I heard my name!”
Moe immediately glomped him with a huge grin. “These girls are trying to claim you as theirs!”
Satoshi raised an eyebrow. “Huh? But I don’t belong to anybody...”
The crowd circled round once more, this time, focusing on Satoshi. “Choose a girl, choose a girl, choose a girl!” they chanted in unison. This troublesome situation seemed to be making a turn for the worse.
But in a sense, I couldn’t help but admit to myself that I think Kimi was making a point here. When those people are telling me that I have a thing for Hikari, like Aoi, I’d deny it. Then because of my reaction, everything would continue, I’d get more frustrated and so, why am I still surprised when people still keep annoying me?
Now I realise. If I didn’t react so much, if I weren’t taking everything so seriously, then things would get less troublesome for me. It was only because of the anger building inside me that I hated Shigeru so much. If it weren’t for him, I could have continued being the school outcast, the guy nobody talks to.
In that fight over there, everyone is going about the situation the wrong way. Kasumi and Aoi just look like idiots, trying to bring the other down. If I didn’t realise that me plotting against Shigeru was just as bad, then I could’ve continued looking the fool next to him.
I could still hate Shigeru, but I could learn to deal with it. Too bad I was born an intolerant person who wouldn’t take crap and let the other have the last laugh. I just felt so stupid for not realising that I was as bad as those love-crazed girls.
But now I know that I don’t have to be like Moe and try to get myself involved and try to come out on top. I could just come out on top by not making such a big deal out of things, making the other person look stupid and in the wrong.
Of course, I usually get portrayed as the bad guy. But I didn’t care about that. If they don’t know or want to listen to my side of things, it’s their problem. I’ll let the one who is at the centre of the problem sort it out. And if it’s me at the centre of the problem, so be it.
So here, normally I’d just step right in and tell everyone that they’re behaving like idiots, but I won’t no longer. Otherwise the problem would shift to me. So how will Satoshi sort the problem? If I were him, I wouldn’t choose anybody.
“I can’t just choose a girl like that, ya know...” Satoshi mumbled weakly, but the voices in the crowd were overpowering him. Looking over at Kasumi, she seemed to have calmed down a bit from the whole ‘Satoshi is mine!1!!’ fad and was more showing concern for him.
Kasumi pulled Moe away and pushed her into the crowd. She then proceeded to stand beside Satoshi, tall and confident in herself. “Look at all of you! You’re just a bunch of idiots!” The noise died down, wanting to hear what she had to say. “You don’t sort out problems like this by just going, ‘Ooh, I’ll choose so-and-so!’ Do you think any sane person could do that? And just for the record, I know he wouldn’t choose Moe. Honestly, her name makes me think of an otaku! Satoshi wouldn’t date an otaku! As for Aoi, Aoi looks like a boy! Go find yourself a girlfriend! Plenty to choose from in your dormitory!”
And the catfight raged on.
I turned to Kimi and asked, “So this is what you wanted me to see? So I’d learn my lesson?”
Kimi looked at me, her black ponytail swinging to the side, her green eyes shining at me. “You can think of it like that if you want to. I just wanted someone to come see someone else make fools of themselves. Even if two of those people are ones I’ve shared dormitory rooms with before.”
I frowned, feeling sure that she wasn’t being truthful. “Dishonesty pisses me off, okay?”
“But I’m not lying. I’m stating the truth, just not the truth you want to hear,” she replied coolly. As she was about to walk off, another thought struck her mind. “Shinji-san, you do know that Hikari-san will be available, yes? If you are interested.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not interested! Plus there’s all those guys hanging around her likes flies. Like Kengo, Gen and...”
“I’ve been told by my parents that there has been some arrangement with Kengo-san, and Gen-san leaves this school at the end of the year. But I suppose if you’re not interested, then I guess it doesn’t matter.” Without another word, she broke off from the crowd and made her way in the direction of the library.
Kimi Kurozaki, I’ve been told is one of the shyest and most anti-social people in the school. From that, I always assumed she was bad at communicating with others. But from the way she was able to talk calmly with me, I wondered if in a sense, she seemed normal about it is because she relates to me in a way.
It was weird, but I got the sort of vibe that she wasn’t really shy, but she really didn’t want to stand out at all or have anything to do with gossip, rumours or anything of the sort.
And what she said about Kengo and Gen. It’s true that Gen is leaving. Hikari will have read the school newsletter and will be trying to find out what’s going on with that.
What about Kengo? She mentioned that there’s been an arrangement regarding him. I wonder, what is this arrangement?
Somehow, I almost liked the idea of Hikari being freed up once and for all. I couldn’t explain it, but in a way, I’d started looking out for her more often. It was like I found someone I did care about, even if slightly.
But that isn’t the main thing.
There are a lot of weird happenings going around this school. I’m going to get to the bottom of all this and find out exactly what has been going on.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Okay, dang that was some long stuff! XD Once I’ve done this author notes, this post will have taken up 17 pages or so! XD But then again, review replies take up space. Well, before I continue:
Aoi – She hasn’t appeared in any dub eps thus far. She has however, appeared in the Summer School arc that aired in Japan. She has short blue hair and looks extremely tomboy-ish. She’s kinda like a female Satoshi, I guess. Her hair colour is blue, so I like her hair colour.
Kimi – She is an OC. She sprung up in my mind when I decided that I wanted a change of pace in terms of character types. A lot of the characters are pretty out-there in terms of being extroverted, outgoing, bubbly, generally noticeable characters. Kimi was created to be anything but a happy, bubbly personality, I guess.
Plus hardly any of the girls in my fic are quiet types like her. Kimi will play quite a significant role in the story but definitely not big enough to surpass the very main characters. XD
I haven’t planned anything for her in terms of shipping, so I’ll leave that up to readers, I suppose. =P Eh, I don’t want to give more info on her, but I hope I made her somewhat mysterious and have you guys more curious about her and what the deal with her is.
Anyway, way, way! What did you guys think of the gossip column? I was mostly after the crack factor, so I deliberately made it as blatantly terrible as possible! XDDD And LOL, Kengo wants to get Hikari’s mom kicked off the teaching staff! Isn’t it crack though, to come up with the idea that the perfect way to solve things is make a teacher lose their job?
Well, next chapter:
- Satoshi figures out a way to decide on which girl he’ll choose! John Tucker Must Die, anyone?
- Shuu decides to go to extreme lengths to get what he wants! Even if it spells trouble for Saori!
- Making Ayako-sensei want to leave her job is harder than Kengo expected...
- What is this arrangement that Kimi mentioned?
- Will Shinji work out anything?
- Hikari learns about the scholarship!
So, with that to get your minds wondering, I’ll leave ya now to review! Adios!
