It started out like any other normal day for Gakupo. A perfectly ordinary morning.
Again, he had forgotten to close the windows before he went to bed, resulting in his waking up pretty early as the chilly little rain drops attacked his face mercilessly. Just his careless forgetful self, nothing out of the ordinary.
He rose from the bed throwing the lock screen of his phone a quick glance to make sure he wasn't late, and as he would guess, he was pretty early.
Gakupo stretched his head out of the window to take a sniff of the beautiful familiar scent the whole earth smelled of when it rained. He took a deep breath as the wind blew through his long, thick, flowing purple hair. The usual group of children passing by his small rented apartment as they walked to school- consisting of a dark-haired girl in short pigtails, a short, green-haired boy, and a blond boy who wore an eye patch- made a stop under his window like usual, to point their fingers at the groggy-looking male with the outlandish long lavender hair.
"Fairytale boy! Let down your hair!" The pig-tailed girl called like every other day, twirling around in a childish dance.
"Hey! Leave Rapunzel be and stand still, I can't stay under your umbrella if you're dancing like that, and you know I forgot to bring mine!" The green-haired boy complained.
"Hurry up, we'll be late for school! Besides, his hair is already let down, Yuki." The oldest of the trio called as he began to walk in front of them.
"Bye-bye!" The girl waved at Gakupo running after her friend. Gakupo waved back at her, just like he did every morning.
He then went for his morning shower and brushed his teeth. Well, he couldn't remember where he had placed the toothpaste the day before, so he brushed his teeth without toothpaste. But it was still considered brushing, wasn't it?
The twenty years old male then headed to his small kitchen, which also happened to be the living room, the dining room, the wash room, and also where he had left the toothpaste.
Checking out what he had in the fridge, Gakupo decided to make eggplant pancake since he had enough time before he had to leave to university. The heavenly smell of the holy eggplants filled
the place as the pancakes cooked slowly, teasing his taste buds to no end.
Finally when the cooking was over, his agony was to vanish, and his tortured taste buds were to relish encountering the greatness of eggplants.
When he finished his meal, he initially wanted to do the dishes, but seeing the dishes from his last night's dinner still lurking menacingly in the sink like a monster, he decided against it. He convinced himself he was still sleepy and tired. He would do the dishes once he comes back from university… if he wasn't tired by then, that is.
Back to his small bedroom, he started rummaging through the pile of clothes lying on the only chair in the apartment. Finding a nice pair of black pants that matched his favorite shirt, he did a little victory dance before he changed into them. He completed the look with a jacket, and styled his hair into a perfect ponytail, his bangs and a few stray strands managing to escape it. He then threw his bag over his shoulder and exited through the ever-creaking door of his rented wreckage of an apartment, plugging in his earphones and already scrolling down the list of songs on his phone.
Ignoring the existence of the elevator that never in its lifetime functioned properly –as he recalled- , he started descending the stairs two at a time, and at full speed.
Crap. It was only when he arrived at the garage that he realized he had forgotten to change his shoes. He loved his eggplants slippers so much, but they would further destroy his already ground-level reputation. He ran back up the stairs and changed into his favorite –and his only- pair of trainers, bringing his umbrella on the way.
Back to the garage to get his vehicle, he walked swiftly towards that luxurious orchid-colored sports car, and in a different world he would be driving it to school, but in this world, he walked past it, mourning his luck, to ride his rusty bicycle which he had left beside the car of his dreams. Biking in the rain wasn't the loveliest thing in the world, but by now he had gotten used to it.
Arriving to class dripping wet and just in time, he looked around to make sure the professor wasn't there yet, and he was lucky. It was just another normal day for him at Crypton's university for Medicine.
"It's okay." Kaito shion patted a shivering Gakupo Kamui on the shoulder. "I know you'll manage to buy a car one day…I know you will…" He murmured thoughtfully, nodding at his friend and looking deeply into his eyes. Seriously, The blue head's social behavior could give Gakupo the creeps sometimes, not that he was socially better or anything. He probably was more of a mess than Kaito, who had two friends and a girlfriend. At least Kaito tried, while Gakupo never attempted to start a conversation with anyone. If he didn't have his green-haired relative and weird blue-haired friend from highschool at university with him, he would have been alone all the time.
"Th… thanks." Gakupo answered, slightly startled by his bestfriend's actions that he seemed to never come to terms with, eventhough he experienced them on a daily basis.
Then he quickly turned his head, scanning the room back and forth with his sapphire eyes, looking for his favorite pink-haired lady. She was almost the only reason why he attended university. Well, other than the fact that he liked medicine and wanted to be a doctor. But she was a stronger reason to keep him attending his lectures every day.
Just watching her from afar kept him from giving up on his apparently-failing future career. Medicine was a hard field for him but he couldn't fail, because he would never have the chance to see her again had he did.
She was perfection in the form of a human. She was beautiful, smart, kind, sweet, and gifted with a melodious voice that would haunt his mind like an earworm, as her words would echo in his mind endlessly like a lovely disease that wasn't described in any of his medical books. She wasn't popular or anything, and not everyone could read behind her shy nature, but Gakupo most definitely could, and he was in love with what he saw. Had he been less of a coward wreckage with no money, friends, social skills, or even medical skills on that matter, he would have tried asking her out. Probably. There was no telling, maybe he would have still shied out even if he was a worthy human being.
Just as his eyes finally spotted the salmon-haired beauty, professor Al entered the room smiling like his usual self, towering over the class in his overwhelming height, deservingly earning his title among his students; Big Al.
"Good morning." He greeted, putting an end to Gakupo's daydreams right as they started, and the students greeted back in union.
"I assume you have memorized your lesson from the last time? Because today we'll test your knowledge and put your skills into practice. Don't worry if you don't do too well, you'll get better with time." Professor Al announced.
What lesson was he talking about was beyond the purple head's knowledge, as he had been quite distracted last time because She was sitting in front of him. He remembered she smelled of strawberry and vanilla, but anything else that had taken place that day wasn't registered in his mind.
"Before we start, who can tell us what do we need to do before we start performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on someone?"
Professor Al observed the raised hands, and finally nodded at Hiyama Kiyoteru, one of the best students academically.
"Check if the patient is conscious. If they appear unconscious tap their shoulder and ask them loudly and clearly 'Are you okay?', if they don't answer call the local emergency number, then begin giving them CPR." Kiyoteru recited the words he knew by heart.
"Correct. Now who will tell us how to do CPR?" the professor asked.
"Darn, I haven't studied this one yet!" Gumi complained, giving Gakupo a backslap. "But surely it isn't just me… please tell me you haven't studied this one either… I can't stand being lectured alone~!" She hissed.
"We've seen CPR in movies before, we'll manage, I hope." Gakupo replied, scratching his head.
"Should've known. Keep it up, lazy cousin!" She grinned at him.
"Megurine-san, would you like to answer?" Professor Al made his choice, successfully catching Gakupo's attention for the first time in the day.
"Lay the patient on their back and kneel next to their shoulders. Place the heel of one hand on the center of their chest, then place the heel of the other one over it and lace fingers together. Make sure to keep elbows straight, and align your shoulders over your hands. Using the weight of your upper body, perform 30 compressions, followed by two rescue breaths. After you make sure the airway is clear, that is." Luka answered, a bit hesitated.
"Excellent. I see no need to give any further instructions, as Megurine-san and Hiyama-san gave perfect answers. Today we will be learning how to actually perform CPR on special training mannequins to mimic real-life CPR. Hiyama-san, Megurine-san, you'll be the first to try so get ready. Everyone else, stand in lines, you'll go after them." With that, professor Al left the room for a moment to ask for the medical training dummies to be brought in, giving Gakupo the chance to er, check how Luka was doing. He wasn't stalking her or something, he wasn't that obsessed… Who would call him obssessed just because the strawberry and vanilla scent coming from her beautiful, freshly washed hair stuck in his nose over the weekend?
"Eh? Poor, poor Luka-chan!" the popular twin-tailed girl, Miku, kind-heartedly mocked her best friend. "You'll lose your very first kiss to a mannequin!"
"That's not a kiss! It's a rescue breath!" Luka shrieked at her friend, her cheeks gaining a reddish tone. "B-besides, you too will do that when your turn comes!"
"mouth-to-mouth, all the same, it is a kiss." Miku clarified, tapping the taller girl's forehead to help the new information pass through her thick head, as she liked to think.
"Oh, and no, I won't be losing my first kiss. My first kiss happened more than three years ago." She added with a smug face. "Joke's on you."
"No way! Are you saying that Luka of all people hasn't had her first kiss yet? Have you never been on a date?" Meiko shouted loudly, causing more people to turn their heads at them, and thus enlarging their audience.
"Stop it!" The pink-haired student shushed, even more blood flowing towards the skin of her cheeks. "Guys, please!"
"If you're just not sure how, Kaito and I can show you!" Meiko added, enjoying the agony apparent on her friend's face.
"Isn't there anyone you like? I can help you arrange a date, I know some people who'd kill to go out with you!" Gumi joined the conversation, shaking Luka's arm enthusiastically to catch her attention. Gakupo rolled his eyes at her from the other side of the room.
"Well, there might be but..".
Luka honestly had someone that she liked. Someone awkward, clumsy, lazy, idiotic, dense enough to never realize her feelings no matter how many times she tried to approach him, but most importantly, someone sweet and caring, and always ready to help. What got her interested in such an idiot was something she couldn't understand, but after all, love couldn't be rationally analyzed. If only he wasn't so dense! Did she really have to confess to him on her own for him to notice her?
"But what? you're too shy?" Gumi guessed with an excited grin on her face.
"Uh-huh. And a bit of a tsundere." Miku nodded at the intently-listening group. "Want me to tell you the name of the piece of trash she likes? He's one of our colleagues." She teased.
"It's too late for her to schedule a date anyway. She'll be kissing the doll in a matter of minutes! O' heavens!" Meiko sighed dramatically, as if sorry for the calamity befalling upon her pink-haired comrade.
"Did you get that dramatic pose?" Rin asked her twin Len, who was recording the whole thing using his phone's camera.
"No joy in the world compares to embarrassing a friend." Miku coolly added, standing in front of the camera and twirling a strand of teal hair between her fingers.
"You'll pay back for this!" Luka scolded the group. "I'll poison your food or kill you in your sleep or something! And drop your damned camera, Len!" She threatened, stepping on the blonde's foot with full force.
"Dude, I think the girl you like is angry and frustrated. Anger is such a deep emotion isn't it?" Kaito who was standing in the other side of the room beside a bewildered, nervous Gakupo, wondered calmly in a wise tone.
"Gee, you're quite the observant, aren't you?! God! I just…ugh!" Gakupo complained, tapping his foot.
If only he could do something to save his princess from losing her first kiss! Well, he technically could, but there were two problems that he needed to overcome if he was to save her; the first was that he didn't have time, and the second was that he wasn't sure she even knew of his existence. Well he had tried to talk to her a few times before, but he always ended up saying stupid stuff and throwing silly jokes, making a total fool out of himself. And there was that one time when school was over and it was raining and she wanted to go back home so he offered her his umbrella (He could go home umbrella-less, it wasn't going to kill him.), but his offer was reduced into valueless dust as a fancier guy offered to drive her home with his luxurious car. But at least, she didn't choose the other guy over him; she politely rejected both offers, as her own driver was coming to take her in a few minutes.
She needed him to save her… No, he needed to save her. He wanted that first kiss to be his.
No one beside him should have it, not even a mannequin. But what if she hated him? What if she was disgusted by him? On the other hand, losing her first kiss to him was still less of a merciless fate than losing it to a doll, or wasn't it?
"Maybe the mannequin will turn into a handsome prince if you kiss him!" The teal-haired girl mocked, caressing her bestfriend's cheek for dramatizing effect.
Luka's hands balled into fist as she tried her best to keep her anger without erupting like a volcano.
"Miku, I swear.."
The pissed off girl didn't have the chance to continue her warning, losing her anger as he circled his arms around her lovingly. Her mind went blank for a second, drowning in the eggplant-scented warmth she had always longed to experience. He leaned in and his lips brushed quickly and nervously against hers, afraid that he might be slapped, but she couldn't let the moment she'd been waiting for decades end there so quickly.
He wanted to back away but she stood on the tip of her feet so she could kiss the tall purple-haired idiot again. He froze in his place for a second realizing that he wasn't slapped or kicked away before he kissed back.
They lost themselves in time and place, the existence of anyone other than them fading away… until they finally heard professor Al clearing his throat. Their private delightful world crumbled down and fell apart as they noticed the whole class staring at them. Luka's friends were gaping at them in complete terror.
"You finally did it, dude, you finally did. But in the most awkward, terrible, and horrifying way. That's so you dude. It's just who you are." Kaito commented supportively in his own way, shocked yet proud of his friend. Sometimes, Gakupo couldn't tell if his friend was actually trying to be nice or sarcastic.
"What did I miss? That was a nice show, but I wouldn't classify it as CPR training. What did we learn from that?" Al lectured the flustered, embarrassed couple, maintaining a calm tone.
"It's my fault." Gakupo took blame of his rash actions to protect his princess.
"It's not a fault!" Luka corrected, holding onto his hand.
"How to not lose your first kiss to a mannequin, that's what we learned, professor." Miku answered smiling sheepishly.
"What a valuable lesson! Unfortunately, this is not the right time for it. I want to see you two in my office today." He casually stated, letting the reddish pair go and moving into the core of the lesson. "Hiyama-san, please go ahead and show us how CPR works."
Luka quickly let go of Gakupo's hand after she could finally take in what happened. Fortunately, nobody was staring at them at the moment as they were focused on the cardiopulmonary resuscitation practice, but they were surely going to be the university's hot topic for a long while.
"I'm er,… sorry." He apologized for all the trouble he caused, looking away shamefully.
"Brick-head. I hate you!" His beloved still-embarrassed, pink-haired lady replied, with a trace of anger, punching him in the stomach.
"Friday, 6 p.m, your favorite sushi restaurant?" He timidly asked, scratching his head.
"Only if you'll kiss me again like that." She replied, a faint smile gracing her beautiful face.